The Cairo bulletin., 1909-09-11

the party made slow time to the west
as il felt its way along.
The northern Grantland coast is
likely to be exceedingly difficult to
traverse, especially in the early spring.
on account OF masses of sea ice that
have been pressed on the short or
broken into great blocks and strand
ed along the sea edge.
Ii is no wonder that it took the
party fifteen days TO travel westward
as far as Cape Columbia. 1t is very
likely that Commander Peary sue
ceeded before winter set in in each
ing supplies to the westward, so as
TO accelerate little the westward
movement OF the sledge party before
it struck out northward over the sea.
Not Far From Old Berth.
On his expedition of l905-'06 hetried
hard To force the Roosevelt a good
distance to the west of Cape Sheri-
dan. but the ice baffled him For one
reason or another. on the edge Of the
arctic winter last year, he did not. OF
could not take his vessel along the
northern coast of Grantland to the
west of Cape Sheridan, and so h.
old berth in the ice in the winter OF
1905-l906.
Arriving at Cape Columbia on March
Is, the sledges turned to the north OF
the sea ice. The explorer had laio
stress upon the fact that he intended
10 travel much further to the west
than on his trip in 1906. His dispatch
shows, however, that he did not tax,
to the sea any farther to the ives.
than he did on his earlier trip. II
therefore. his route was really mucl
farther west than that which he ha,
traversed earlier he must have tray
oled considerable distance to the
over the sea ice.
The sledging conditions could no,
have been very unfavorable, for the
journey both north and south, Do
counting the detentions at water
openings, was made in very fast tim,
for sledging on the ice of the oper
polar seas. 1t is not at all unusua
in sledge work. within forty or fit,
miles of the land. for the pressure
of the ice on the coast to result H.
the breaking and piling up of the ic,
into pressure ridges from rs to 100
feet in height. and sometimes OF great
length, SO that It is difficult to cross
OF circumyent them.
Met Few impedments.
Commander Peary says nothing In
his summary OF being detained BY
pressure ridges or hummocks. and /,
is very certain that he met with nC
OF this sort, such as
made his attempts to reach the polt
in 1902 continuous and terrible
A great obstacle, and the one thai
prevented him from
reaching the pole in 1908 was the wide
" alter lanes or leads, some of them
so long that he could not get around
them. One of them kept his party
idle In camp for a week, and the
total delay from these causes was
fatal to his plans
Conditions were different last
spring, though he was held up by
eads on the northern march about
two weeks. He seems to have derived
.wo direct advantages from his very
arly start. In the first place, IT
would not be much later in the season
hat the water lanes would deevlop SO
lar as to threaten him with defeat
md then his early start gave him all
he more time to carry out his work
before the widespread breakup OF the
lea ice would make sledging impos-
dble on the polar ocean,
Peary's summary seems to show that
he was little over 81 days on the
Quincy from the land to the north
pole. In this time he was delayed
bout IA days by water leads, leaving
! little more than three weeks fol
he actual sledging work.
We may get a good idea of the
Verage rate of travel by taking the
irst sea and the north pole records
lie passed the British record Oh
4arch 2, and reached the pole on
april G. The distance between them
5 400 statute miles and the time in
aaking the journey was "a days, In
luding the time of detention by water
eads. This is an average of a little
ess than twelve miles a day which
$ the best record ever attained fol |
sedging on the open polar
ca.
Got There Early, Too.
The italian, Cagni, OF the duke OF |
he Abruzzi expedition, who made tn,
tghest record till Peary beat it in |
90G made an average of only about |
even miles a day on his great Jour
ey, and In ten days, on account Of |
.eep snow, they covered only 43ht
allies to the north Of their ship. Cagni |
expressed the wish before he started /
hat he might iIbe able to.make ten
niles day. but said he kney this
'as impossible.
Peary has not only reached the
ole, but he has attained 1t at an ear
Ter date In the year than any of the
Their high records In the Arctic have |
cen made, He was at the mole one