The Oregon daily journal., August 16, 1908, Page 29, Image 29

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Who Went on Pea
first Expedition
' T'T7HEN Commander Robert E. '
MIs Peary left a short time ago
again to brave the perils of
the North in his quest of the elusive pole,
he took with him on his staunch little ship,,
the Roosevelt, a small, specially constructed
billiard table, several bushels of new music
tolls, an automatic piano, several dozen
decks of cards and a miscellaneous litter of
recent fiction and magazines.
On the face of it such an item of news
does not seem important. That is, to per
sons who have not been on an Arctic ex
ploration. But if one pauses to think of
the long nights of such a voyage, the in
terminable periods when time seems dead;
when the stars craze one with their monot-
ony in the gloom of evening, and when the
vast sheets of ice ttflect a ceaseless white
glare under sunlight, he will realize the
T TTAS in 15S6 tbtt Lieutnnt Penj, tb?n
I of th engine ricf deptrtiiect of the
1 United State 2 tT, wcuring; a 1it of
abaenre, took a' trip to tha head of BafEn
bay in a whaling veel, And traveled about a
hundred milea inland. . t
For tba frt tuna be newtd the comptra-
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'fa
value of an automatic piano and books of
fiction.
Of the daily life of the 'Arctic explorer,
the little incidents which relieve the tedium
of the journey, of the adventures, umm
portant in themselves, but blending into
romances of life afar North, little has been
written. And yet to the northbound ad
venturer the daily life may be atkrill with
excitement or it may almost weary one into
melancholia.
What is the daily life of such explorers f
What do they witness day by day as they
arise f How- do they amuse themselves?
From a point of novelty few northern
explorations equal the first expedition of
Peary in the Kite known as the North
Greenland Expedition of i8qi and i8q2,
and the West Greenland Expedition of
iSqi. The West Greenland Expedition
was composed of a number of men who
accompanied Peary to McCormick bay,
where a house was built and where the win
ter was spent. These men had never been
in the North, and their experiences were
novel and interesting.
.
tivelj erea country, and came, to tbe conclusion
tbat to reach the- moat northern point the beat
mean wxa to trarel rerUnd. Tbe expedition
which waa projcte4 eoma year later waa Bent
under tbe awpicea of the Acidemy of Natural
Sciencea of Philadelphia.
Tbera wer with retry, hi wife, Langdon
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY HORNING, AUGUST 16, 1903
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Gibson, chief assistant; Eivard
Astrup, John M. VerhoefF, miner
alogist, of Louisville, Ky.; Dr. F.
A. Cook, surgeon, of New York,
and ilatthew Ilensen, a Philadel
phia negro, who has accompanied Peary on all
bis eubseqaent trips.
On th 6ame bont the men who character
ized themsefA-es as the West Greenland Expe
dition were Professor Ang-elo Heilprin, then
executive curator of the Academy of Natural
Sciences; Professor Benjamin Sharp, corre
sponding secretary of tbe academy, and expert
in invertebrate zoology; Professor J. F. Holt,
of the Central High School. Philadelphia,
zoologist; Dr. William FJ Hughes, of Philadel
phia, ornithologist; Lev W. Mengel, of Read
ing, Pa., entomologist the late Dr. William
H. Burk, botanist; Drf. Robert N. Keely, sur
geon of the expedition and tho late Frazer Ash
hurst, of Philadelphia, and Alexander C. Ke
nealy, a newspaper correspondent.
VETERAN CAPTAIN PIKE
On June C, 1S91, the expedition left Brook
lyn, N. Y. The boat returned to St. John's,
where it had been chartered, on August 23.
Peary's party landed at McCormick bay, in lati
tude 77 degrees 43 minntes north.
In charge of the crew of the ship was Cap
tain Richard Pike, who had been master of the
Proteus, which took the ill-starred Greely expe
dition to Fort Conger in lfiSl, ami who also had
charge of the relief expedition of 1h3, when the
boat waa crushed1 in the ice near Cape Sabine.
Captain Pike, during long hours of the journey,
would thrill the company by telling of hia har
rowing experience. ,
The party left Sy3ncy on June 12, and ex
pected to pasa the strait of Belle Isle and into
the North Atlantic without running into ice.
To their dismay, howeTer, they met early one
of the foea of Arctic traveling an ice floe. In
an account of the voyage. Dr. Keely aya:
Wa remembered the "dreadful talea we had
all read of the final outcome of o many-Arc tio
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tiji.'3tll ty .
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Of Ml
raw
expeditions," and thought of the number of faith
ful men who had lost their lives by such an ac
cident as had overtaken our boat.
"Sentiment, however, had but little endur
ing place in such, a practical company. We made
our way toward the open water that skirted the
ice floe, hoping by so doing to find a clear chan
nel which would ennblo us to pass the strait and
emerge on $e open sea.
"The whole day was spent searching in vain
for such a channel, going backward and for
ward from one side of the atrait to the other;
but nothing was accomplished except obtaining
views of the-lonely shores of Labrador and New
foundland. "One channel was found which appeared to
lead to open water beyond, but, after following
it a couple of miles we foundurselves blocked.
The ice quickly closed in behind us, and we were
unable to advance; our retreat was cut off, and
there was but little prospect of our being ablo
to escape for several days."
The boat was in the narrowest part of the
strait of Belle Isle, and only 52 degrees north.
Disconcerting a the impediment was, members
of the party amused themselves taking photo
graphs and shooting wild ducks. Finally tbe
vessel drifted near to the coast of Newfound
land. A boat came out from shore, struggling
through the ice. It contained three fishermen.
They came to plead for medicine. Over in the
village, they declared, many people had died.
The village waa the victim of an epidemic simi
lar to influenza. Medicine was given the men,
who, in turn, took letters from the party, prom
ising to mail them on a ship eipected to arrive
in ten days.
For several days the vessel was locked in the
ice. anowDauing oecame ine spori oi tne party.
Out on the floe they would hold pitched battle.
On deck, however, during the day, they could
work without coats on. the air being so spring
like. Fissures in the floe were also located and
fishing engaged in. If any cod were caught.
Daylight at thia time lasted from 2.50 A,
r
1 1 f, '
iff. y
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2
3:
M- until 9.30 P. M. Finally, breaking from the
ice, the boat sailed into open water and through f
a choppy sea that washed the deck. ' On June 23
they caught sight of Greenland.
On June 25 the island of Discoe, seventy (
miles distant, wa3i sighted, and Godhavn, located
on this island, was visited. There, after visiting
the Governor, the party made a tour of inspec-,
tion among the Eskimos. Thia waa filled with '
elements of novelty.
"The Eskimo dwelEngs,' as described by Dr.
Keely, "were huts built of turf, with roof made'
of boards covered with the, same material. They i.
were about fifteen feet square, and usually built ?
on the slope of a hill. They were entered by, a
tunnel about ten feet in length and two or three
feet in height, running, out from its side.
"Before entering, it is mita essential to call
to some of the inmates, who-then knock out tqr
or three of the ugly-lpoking dogs which congre-'
pate in and about the openings of all the hruts.'
After this precaution, one goes down on hands
and -knees and crawls through the tunnel." 1
Although the men were indescribablydirty,j
the women, the travelers found, were quiteclean.j '
"The married women," Dr. Keely wrote, , "are!
distinguished from those who are single by-liav!
ing their hair twisted in the form of a roU,-fourj'
or five inches in height, on the top of the-head,)
and tightly wrapped with a cord. The single
women dress their hair in various styles, as
fancy dictates, the female children wearinjj- t s
sometimes like that of their mothers.
FIDDLERS OF THE'FAR NORTH ' .
"I saw not a single slovenly looking-woman, j
and, if they had! not such an abominable odor of !,
grease and rank fish oil about them, they would I
have been quite attractive." :
At Godhavn the party whiled away much'
time taking pictures. Sunday was enlivened hf) -a
native dance. To the surprise of the visitors,!'
the old Eskimo fiddlers played tunes resembling , j
negro and Irish melodies. Dr. Keely secured',
his guitar from the ship and delighted the EJ .
kimos by accompanying them. ' M r.
Some members of the party - explored! thei'
valley of the Red river. The water of this river jt '
was found to be actually red. being colored by j . . -mud
carried down from red sandstone cliff. '.
The valley was blooming with yellow poppieai"" ; '
nrJ flrnrer of various colors. Yet from the TI-j
ley in the distance the aarty could e iceberg
floating in Discoe bay. And above them biased
the midnight sun. Mosquitoes were a reminder '
of home in this desolate region. ' i
Among the Ei-kimoa that visited the ahlpr
was one fat, ruo"gy fellow who had the reput-'
tion of being able to eat more than any other S
man in Godhavn. There wa Story current to
the effect that he and hi wife killed calv
eral miles from the village and began to eat it, j
gorging themselves to such an extent that they ;
were- unable to return" to "their home for two
dayt.- An exhibition of this. fellow's power on.
the Kite convinced tie inrused party of the'
truth-of the story.
Leaving Godhavn, the boat steered ccrth,
"ward along the ccasUand oon sighted rTprr s
vik, 180 mile wsy. Upon their arril, t'.i
party .wa visited by the Governor and J, t-'
sistant, but the greeting, acobrditg to tha as'