The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-03-29
Lieutenant Peary


ces1uliy fight herd of them. The
musk oxen. and other animals Of that
part q the world are tame. They
have never seen men. walked up
within ten feet Of a musk OK and took
Ms picture. These animals are dan.
gefous If the musk OK rms Al ali
ne Il liable to run at you. HIS actual
ws,ghtis rom 700 TO 800 pounds but
when he Is coming at you he looks as
e he would weigh two tons. The musk
OK becomes very fat IN summer but
N winter be falls away to skin and
bones. he is wandering In his hab-
It's He iss compelled TO roam over
vide areas in search of the willow
on which he lEss.f IN winter he must
Keep on the go or starye to death. He
has 70 browse over many acres to get
sene meal.s If the willows are buried
Under snow, he goes after them With
nose and hoof and horns; and no
steam snow plow can beat him when
he goes head foremost into a snow
drift to dig out the willows barred
beneath. lfNew York City could i'm.
port heard Of musk oxen. and turn
them intefthe street in time Of deep
Wings bow to solve the snow shovel.
Ing proposition
No Moss or ,Ltchens.
When Lieutenant Peary was asked
whether the Iceland moss, on which
the lapland and Alaska reindeer feed,
furnishes sustensnce for the animals
Of North Greenland. he said no, so
fas as he. knew. He had never seen
any Of the moss there. nor were there
any liehens Of any kind. That is much
farther north than Laplahd or the
most northern coast of Alaska.
Fish are scarce in the Arctic ocean.
Lieutenant Peary said that She saw
few or none far from land, although
they may live in the deep far from
the surface. Be made few sound
ings and found the water over 5000
feet deep. The sounding iron brought
up oczs, mud, and small pebbles which
were brought back to the United
States and will be carefully examined
by microscopists. The examination
may throw light on conditions In the
depth Of polar seas.
Breaking Fish.
Although the Arctic ocean Is poor
in fish life, yet the landlocked lakes
Of the adjacent islands are full of the
finest front in the world. They aver.
age a foot and a half long. Lower
down on the coast sea fish are numer.
GUS. At times they run to the shore
in vast schools, On such occasions
the Eskimos leap into the shallow wat.
er and With their hand throw the fish
on the shore by the ton. They quickly
freeze solid, and there they lie until
wanted for food Then the Eskimo
will take his fish and strike It on a
rock. it win fy In fragments Ike an
iciele, and the pieces are ready to. eat
without further preparation. Frost
has done all the cooking that the .Es.
kimo wants.
DriftWood.
Soon after Peary's return from the
north the newspapers gave an account
OF driftwood which he found on arc.
tic ice, and they stated that the find.
ing Of this. wood gave him the clue
which LED to the discovery of new
land. 1t. was said that he decided the
wood came out Of river west of his
winter quarters, and by going In that
direction he found the land. When
asked about this, Lieutenant Peary
said:
The neWspapers we're mistaken. /
found drittwood on the ice, not near
my winter quarters, but far out in the
polar sea. This driftwood had moth.
ing to DO with the discovery of new
land. never supposed that it came
from that land. My opinion is that It
came from come river Of North Ameri.
ca emptyiDg into the Artlc. ocean,
perhaps the Mackenzie. It may have
come from Siberia. I brought some
of the wood home with me. and botan.
lists will examine it, and may be able
TO determine from the species the coun.
try from which 1t came
Portable Boats.
There are few things which arctic
explorers have not thought OF and
tried. The ignoramus sometimes
thinks he can make Suggestions which
have not occurred to the explorers.
Lieutenant Peary spoke Of the great
difficulty and danger in crossing the
lanes Of open water where the ice was
broken, and the layman might suppose
that the solution OF that difficulty