Evening star., 1927-12-10
DESCRIBES
BAFF|N ISLAND TRIP
5000 Square Miles of Terri
tory Eliminated From Map
as Result of Exploration.

Navigating in salt water and find
ing their boat in a position shown as
so miles inland on existing charts was
one of the experiences related by
George Palmer Putnam last evening
before members of the National Geo
graphic Society at the Washington
Auditorium. This adventure and sub
sequent observations to check their
findings resulted in eliminating from
the map about 5000 square miles of
Bahin Island. scene of explorations of
the party headed by Mr.. Putnam last
Summer. There still is enough of
the island left, however, not to affect
its rank as the next largest island in
the world to Greenland. he said.
Mr. Putnam went North in the
Morrissey, schooner of Capt. Robert
Bartlett, whom he characterized as
"the worlds greatest ice navigator"
With the party were two 1i-year.old
boys, including David Putnam, and
the motion pictures shown revealed
these lads in games on ice foes, and
playing foot ball with fish spears as
goal posts before the more serious
work of the expedition began.
Robert Peary i'm Party.
Another member of the party was
Robert Peary, son Of the discoverer
of the North Pole, whose skill as an
engineer was put to the test in affix-
ing q new propeller between tides
after crunching ice packs had torn
the old one off and otherwise damaged
the little schooner so that it had to
sail before the wind as did early ex-
plorers. The speed made by this mode
of navigation, including the help of
motor boats, was miles i'm seven days.
Motion pictures of remarkable ice
scenes were obtained, despite continu-
Gus rough weather which the speaker
described as being call weather; no
climate" One of the most remarkable
Of the motion pictures was that of an
iceberg capsizing, the first of it's kind
obtained for the films, and other views
show the coastal peaks of northern
Labrador, rising 5000 and 1000 feet
near the waters edge, and affording
view which cannot be duplicated,
the lecturer said. anywhere along the
Atlantic from Ellesmere Island to
Patagonia.
Other motion pictures depicted in
teresting customs of the Baffin Island
Eskimos, a thrifty, courageous, kindly
and honest people who, Mr.. Putnam
said, would not take a match without
asking for it. When given one, the
Eskimo would split the match in half
to make it go a longer way in light
ing his inevitable pipe.
Slsillful Wood Carvers.
These Eslimos are wood carvers of
skill, and one of their ingenious devices
is pair of wooden spectacles with
narrow Sits to shield the eyes from
the intense glare of the sun.
One of the patriarch Eskimos told
the explorers that he had concluded
the Southland must be a dreary land,
indeed, after he had watched, for
many years, the ice floating south.
1t is the Eskimos, and not the South
Sea Islanders, to whom the palm for
dancing must be given. Arriving on
a Thursday morning at an Eskimo vii
lage, a dance started in their honor,
the speaker said, and when they left.
on Monday morning, the dance still
was in progress.
A major scientific result of the ex-
pedition, aside from the mapping of
the shores of Fox Channel. was the
discovery Nthat region of the nesting
place of the blue goose. seen by the
thousands over Louisiana each year.