The times., 1898-06-12
penry's Adventures I'm the North.

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'.Northward Over the Great Ice" by
Robert L. Peary, u. S. N, is a book
which will prove interesting to all people
who love tales of adventure and daring
II IS. according to the title-page, "a mar
rative of life and work along the shores
and upon the interior ice-cap of Northern
Greenland in the years 1856 and 1S9l'9 -
The present edition is in two large vol
umes. and contains maps, diagrams. and
more than eight hundred illustrations
nearly all of which are reproductions OF
photographs. A few of these pictures are
somewhat blurred, owing to the circum-
stances under which they were taken
but most OF them are remarkably clear
and fine. The illustrations, in fact, are
among the most notable features of the
book The frontispiece of one volume Is
q fine portrait OF Peary himself, while
that of the other is an equally good por-
trait of Mrs. Peary. One of the most
charming Illustrations of all is a full
page picture of Marie Peary, the baby
who was born within the Arctic Circle.
When the sun dawned at the close of
the long Arctic night, the baby was sew
eral months old, and her father records
that she delightedly endeavored 10 catch
luG BOl0en OAR dI sunshine as IL lS1l
across her bed. The picture shows her
grasping at the sunbeam.
The style of the book is clear and fore
ible, but 1t might be possible TO criticise
the author for the way in which he
strikes the personal note. The first per-
sonal pronoun, singular, occurs somewhat
oftener than is absolutely necessary, and
there is perceptible In all the chapters a
sort of restless and insistent egoism,
of q he
worth of the deeds recorded, but rather
Injuries the book from a literary point of
view. But, after all, when man is so
possessed with q purpose that he will
dare all dangers and endure all suffering
for the sake Of fulfilling his desire, per
haps he ought not to be expected 10 write
a perfect book about his experience when
Al is over.
AS for the adventure in the book, there
is enough of ii to satisfy the most rabid
sensation hunter. There is starvation,
loneliness, walrus fighting, explorations
IN unknown lands, perils of ice, perils of
snow. perils Of sea, nearly everything
except perils Of savages. Peary seems
20 have gotten on remarkably well with
the Eskimo tribes and he is of the opin-
ion that they would be in no way i'm
proved by attempts at civilization through
contact with the Caucasian. He has. as
the pictures in his book show, studied
them most thoroughly from an anthro-
biological standpoint, and there are pic
lures on pictures of individual and typi-
cal Eskimos. and of their homes and hab-
its. He believes them 10 be descended
from a race Of Northern Siberia. driven
by wars across Behring Strait.
The present book is a record of no less
than three trips TO Northern Greenland
and of several Winters passed in that icy
region. One Of Peary's expeditions was
undertaken for the purpose Of discover
ing whether Greenland is an island or
not, and was made over the ice-cap TO the
northern end. His idea is that after many
successive trips TO the northward, on each
Of which caches of provisions are de-
posted for future use, the North Pole
may finally be reached. He tried an eX-
pertinent in this direction which is de-
sorfbed in the book. He went for some
distance to the nOrthWard across the
Great Ice" as IL is called by the natives.
and made caches Of provisions, petroleum
and other necessaries, after which he re-
turned TO his quarters by the shore. The
next Spring he pursued the same route,
but found that his provisions had been
showed under, or something else had hap
pened 20 the signs which he had left TO
indicate their whereabouts He had at
the beginning OF this last expedition a
party of fourteen, including himself.
Seven were white men, one a colored
man. and five Eskimos. The plan was
that the men were to be divided into three
forces, each going a different way. but
when il became plain that the trip
would be more dangerous than anyone
had supposed. some of the party con-
cluded to go home, while others were
disabled, and the party dwindled finally
10 three. One was Peary himself, an
other was Hugh johnson Lee. whom
Peary describes as "a typical Yankee
boy as full of sand as one of his
own Connecticut sea-beaches," and the
third was Matthew A. Henson, a Virginia
negro, in turn cook. hunter. dog driver
housekeeper and bodyguard unhesitat-
ing and tenacious as bulldog says the
explorer. Full credit is given TO these
two plucky companions, and Peary says
OF them, No man could have been more
fortunate than ] in having two such
brave, loyal comrades. and no man could
have been more unfortunate than l in
that ] was unable 10 reward their cour-
age and loyalty with full measure of
success" After the departure of the rest
OF the party these three went alone
through innumerable dangers and priva-
tions feeding the sick and disabled dogs
70 the dogs that survived, and finally. on
reaching Independence Bay. coming upon
a herd Of musk-oxen just in time TO save
themselves from actual, inevitable star
u. O
the trip is particularly vivid and forceful.
Peary says:
More than one explorer has seen the SUBMITS
Of land rise from below the sea horizon,
until at last, he stepped upon the virgin shore,
they lowered Ear above him. Many Others have
crept along tcrtu0us coast, constantly opening
up new bays and headlands; nut never before has
an explorer, after travelling for weeks, in
ending day thousands Of feet above the sea-leyel,
seen the peaks and valleys Of 4 new land lying
in the yellow midnight sunlight far below him,
and has literally descended from the sky upon
his maiden prize.
Cortez, II is true, looked down from the noun
tains which circle the great plain Of Mexico, up
on the glistcning lakes and the wonderful city;
and Balboa, upon that peak in DaTien." looked
down upon the smiling Pacific; but what an un-
imaginable contrast here.
For them trees rustled IN the warm. perfumed
breeze and the panorama spread before them
glowed with fullest tropical Opulence.
For US hissed the driving snow, borne the
freezing breath Of the heart Of the Great Ice,.
and the new land far below was but barren
heap Of fragments Of earth's skeleton.
Yet. by contrast with the frozen desolation
Immediately around us, even those bare, primeval
bones seemed warm and inviting.
Some four miles from the tent we passed a
Tles of huge concentric creVasses ranged like the
benches in amphitheateT, from the crest nearly
70 the foot Of OF the ice-slopes.
Several miles beyond these. and lower down,
we entered upon a tract. some two OF three miles
in width, intersected in every direction by mar
row crcvaSses- and dotted with peculiar ice
mounds from tpo 20 three feet high, formed by
the freezing of the moisture in the air exhaled by
the creyasses These crevasscs. covered with
snow crust were difficult to detect and almost as
soon as We entered the tract Matt went into one
up TO his waist il was his first introduction 10
cTeyasse. and it naturally gave him a pro-
nounced shake-up, and bleached his dark face,
though he said little MY turn came next: then IL
was the other OF both Of us, with one leg
or both and part Of our bodies, down in the vii
lainous cracks, till got hardened, and made
effort TO avoid them, but walked straight
ahead though constantly the qui viye to throw