The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-13

letter from Dr. Cook to Brancl1e, dated March r. The two men rejoined the other four men who had been left behind, and the six returned to Anoratok, arriv- ing May [ This information was obtained not from the two Eskimo boys, but from the six men who returned and from Franclxe himself, and was known to us in the summer of 1908, when the Roosevelt first arrived at Etah. The information is inserted here as supplementary to the narrative of the two boysO
 After sleeping at the camp where the last two Eskimos turned back, Dr. Cook and the two boys went in a northerly or northwesterly direction with two sledges and 20-odd dogs, one more march, when they encountered rough ice and lead of open water They did not enter this rough ice, nor cross the lead, but turned westward or southwestward short dis tance and returned to Heiberg Land at point west of where they had left the cache and where the four men had turned back.
 Here they remained four or five sleeps, and during that time I-took-a-shoo went back to the cache and got his gun which he had left there, and few items of sup plies.
 When asked why only few supplies were taken from the cache, the boys re- piled that only small amount of pro- visions had been used in the few days since they left the cache, and that their sledges stlll had all they could carry, so that they could not take more.
 After being informed of the boys nar- rative thus far, Commander Peary sug- gested series of questions to be put to the boys in regard to this trip from the land out and back to it.
 These questions and answers were as follows:
 Did they cross many open leads or much open water during this timer Answer, none
 Did they make any caches out on the ice? Answer, no.
 Did they kill any bear or seal while out on the ice north of Cape Thomas Hub bard? Answer, no.
 Did they kill or lose any of their dogs while out on the ice? Answer, no.
 With how many sledges did they start? Answer. two.
 How many dogs did they have? An- swer: Did not remember exactly, but something over 90
 How many sedges did they have when they got back to land? Answer: Two.
 Did they have any provisions left on their sledges when they came back to land? Answer Yes, the sledges still had about all they could carry so they were
  cache.
 From here they then went southwest along the northwest coast of Heiberg Land to point indicted on the map (Sverdrups Cape NorthwesD.
 From here they went west across the ice, which was level and covered with snow, offering good going, to a low island which they had seen from the shore of Heiberg Land to Cape Northwest. On this island they camped for one sleep.
 The size and position of this island, as drawn by the first boy, was criticised by the second boy as being too large and too far to the west the second boy calling the attention of the first to the fact that the position of the island was more nearly in line with the point where they had left Heibers Land Cape NorthwesD and the channel between Amund Ringnes Land and Ellef Ringnes Land.
 This criticism and correction was ac- cepted by the first boy, who started to change the position of the iisland, but was stopped, as Commander Pesry had given instructions that no changes or ensures were to be made in the route as drawn by the Eslsimos on the chart.
 From this island they could see two lands beyond (Sverdrups Ellef Ringnes and Amund Hinges Lands). From the island they journeyed toward the left hand one of these two lands (Amund Ringnes Land), passing a small island which they did not visit.
 Arriving at the shore of Amund Ring nes Land. the Eskimos killed deer as indicated on the chart.
 The above portion of the state ment of the Eskimo boys covers the period of time in which Dr. Cook claims to have gone to the pole and back, and the entire time during which he could t1.1 el~ to 1t.
 The answers of the Eskimo boys to Commander Pearys series of independent questions, showing that they killed no game, made no caches, lost no dogs, and returned to the land with loaded sledges. makes their attainment of the pole on the trip north of Cape Thomas Hubbard a physical and mathematical impossibil- ity, as 1t would demand the subsistence of three men and over 20 dogs during R journey of 1040 geographical miles on less than two sledge loads of supplies.
 If 1t Is suggested that perhaps Dr. Cook got mixed and that he reached the pole, or thought he did, between the time of leaving the northwest coast of Heibers Land at Cape Northwest. and his arrival at Ringnes Land, where they killed the deer, we must then add to the date of Dr. Cooks letter of March IT, at or near Cape Thomas Hubbard, the subsequent four or five sleeps at that point, and the number of days required to march from Cape Thomas Hubbard to Cape Northwest Ia distance of some 60 nautical miles), which would advance his date of departure from the land to at least March 25, and be prepared to ac- cept the claim that pr. Cook went from Cape Northwest (about latitude So1a de- grees north) to the pole a distance of 570 geographical miles, in 27 days. After killing the deer they then travelled south along the east side of Ringnes Land to the point indicated on the chart where they killed another deer. They then went east across the south l part of Crown Prince Gustav Sea to the 1 south end of Heiberg Land, then down | through Norwegian Bay, where they se- l cured some bears, but not until after | they had killed some of their dogs, to | the east side of Graham Island; then eastward to the little bay marked "Eid' S | Fiord" on Sverdrups chart; then south | west to Hells Gate and Simmons penin- | sula
 1 Here for the first time during the en- l tire journey, except as already noted off | Cape Thomas H. Hubbard, they encoun- 1 tered open water On this point the boys l were clear, emphatic. and unshakable. 1 They spent a good deal of time in this | region, and finally abandoned their dogs | and one sledge took to their boat. crossed l Hell's Gate to North Kent up into Nor l folk Inlet, When back along the north | coast of Colin Archer peninsula. to Cape 1 Vera, where they obtained fresh cider l duck eggs. Here they cut the remaining | sledge off, that is shortened 1t, as 1t was I {.