Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-23
Fourth InstaIIment.
THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE.
By pr. Frederick A. Cook.

Copyright, 1909, by the New York Herald comp9ny. Registered in Can ada in accordance with the Copyright Act. Copyright in Mexico under the laws of the Republic of Mexico. All Rights Reserved)
 Storms now came up with such force and frequency that it was not safe to venture out in kayaks. A few wal ruses were captured from boats, then sea hunting was confined to the quest of seal through the young ice.
 A similar quest was being followed at every village from Annootok to Cape York. But all sea activity would now soon be limited to a few open spaces near prominent headlands.
 The scene of the real hunt changed from the sea to the land. We had as yet no caribou meat. The little auks gathered in nets during the summer, peared fast when used as steady diet. We must procure hare, ptarmigan and reindeer for we had not yet learned to eat with a relish the fishy, liver like substance which is characteristic of all marine mammals.
 Guns and ammunition were distrib- uted, and when the winds were easy enough to allow one to venture out every man sought the neighboring hills. Francke also took his exercise with gun on his shoulder.
 The combined results gave a long line of ptarmigan, two reindeer and sixteen ihares. As snow covered the upper slopes the game was forced down near the sea, where we cosld still hope to hunt in the feeble light of the early part of the night.
 No Anxiety for Winter.
 With larder fairly stocked and good prospects for other tasty meats we were spared the usual anxiety of a winter without winter supplies, and Francke was just the man to use this game to good effect for he had a way of preparing our primitive --ovisions that made our dinners seem quite equal to a Holland house spread.
 In the middle of October fox skins were prime, and then new steel traps were distributed and set near the many caches. By this time the Eski- mos had all abandoned their sealskin tents and were snugly settled in their winter igloOs The ground was cov- cred with snow and the sea was nearly frozen everywhere.
 Everybody was busy preparing for the coming cold and night. The tenn perature was about 20 degrees below zero. Severe storms were becoming less frequent, and the air, though
 
 greeable. An ice fort was formed and the winter sledging was begun by short excursions to bait the fox traps and gather the foxes.
 All these pursuits, with the work of building and repairing sleds, making dog harness and shaping new winter clothing, kept up a lively interest while the great crust which was to hold down the unruly deep for so many months, thickened and closed.
 During the last days of brief sun- shine the weather cleared, and at noon on October 24 everybody sought the freedom of the open for a last glimpse of the dying day. There was a charm of color and glitter, but no one seemed quite happy as the sun sank under the southern ice, for it was not to rise again for 11S days.
 The Eskimos took this as a signal to enter a trance of sadness in which the bereavement of each family and the discomfort of the year are enacted in dramatic chants or dances.
 But to us the sunset of 1907 was in- spiration for the final work in direct ing the shaping of the outfit with which to begin the conquest of the pole at sunrise in 1908. Most expedi- tions have had the advantage of the liberal hand of a government or of an ample private fund. We were denied both favors.
 ButAve were not encountered with a cargo of misfits devised by home dreamers. nor was the project handi- capped by the usual number of novices, for white men at best must be re- garded as amateurs compared with the expert efficiency of the Eskimo in his own environment. Our food supply contained only the prime factors of primitive nourishment. Special foods and laboratory connections did not fill an important space incur larder.
 Nor had we balloons, automobiles, motor sIeds or other freak devices. We did, however, have an abundance of the best hickory, suitable metal anj all the raw material for the sled and its accessories which was henceforth to be linked to our destiny.
 The sled was evolved as the result of careful study of local environment and of the anticipated ice surface northWard. We did not copy the Me Clintock sled. with it's wide runners, which has been used by most explor- CTS for fifty years. Nor did we aban- don the old fashioned iron shoes for German silver strips.
 What a Polar Sled Should Be.
 The conditions which a polar sled must meet are too complex to outline here. In a broad sense it seemed that the best qualities of the best wood Yukon cled could be combined with the local fitness of the Eskimo craft, with tough hickory fibre and sealsHin lash ings to make elastic joints. With plenty of native ingenuity 10 foresee and provide for the train of adaptabil- ity and endurance the possibilities of our sled factory were very good.
 For dog harness the Eskimo patterns was adopted, but canine economy is such that when rations are reduced to workable limits the leather strips dis appear as food, To overcome this dis aster the shoulder straps were made of folds of strong canvas while the traces were cut from cotton log line.
 A boat is an important adjunct to every sledge base of operation. It is a matter of necessity, even when fol- lowing the new coast line, as is shown by the mishap of Mylius Erickson; for if he had had boat he would himself have returned to tell the story of the Danish expedition to East Greenland. Need for a boat comes with the conditions of the advancing season. Things must be carried for several months for a chance use in the last stages of the return. But since food supplies are necessarily linn ited. delay is fatal. Therefore when open water prevents progress a boat becomes in the nature of life pre- server.
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