rn
with these two Eskimos, one sledge, and eighteen dogs.

After about four hours' sleep, I turned everyone out at five o'clock in
the morning. The wind had blown violently from the north all night, and
still continued.

After breakfast Bartlett started to walk five or six miles to the north
in order to make sure of reaching the 88th parallel. On his return he
was to take a meridian observation to determine our position. While he
was gone I culled the best dogs from his teams, replacing them with the
poorer dogs from the teams of the main party. The dogs were on the whole
in very good condition, far better than on any of my previous
expeditions. I had been throwing the brunt of the dragging on the
poorest dogs, those that I judged were going to fail, so as to keep the
best dogs fresh for the final spurt.

My theory was to work the supporting parties to the limit, in order to
keep the main party fresh; and those men who I expected from the
beginning would form the main party at the last had things made as easy
as possible for them all the way up. Ootah, Henson and Egingwah were in
this group. Whenever I could do so I had eased their loads for them,
giving them the best dogs, and keeping the poorest dogs with the teams
of those Eskimos who I knew were going back. It was a part of the
deliberate plan to work the supporting parties as hard as possible, in
order to keep the main party fresh up to the farthest possible point.

From the beginning there were certain Eskimos who, I knew, barring some
unforeseen accident, would go to the Pole with me. There were others who
were assigned not to go anywhere near there, and others who were
available for either course. If any accidents occurred to those men whom
I had originally chosen, I planned to fill their places with the next
best ones who were all willing to go.

On Bartlett's return the Eskimos built the usual wind shelter already
described, and Bartlett took a latitude observation, getting 87 deg. 46'
49''.

Bartlett was naturally much disappointed to find that even with his
five-mile northward march of the morning he was still short of the 88th
parallel. Our latitude was the direct result of the northerly wind of
the last two days, which had crowded the ice southward as we traveled
over it northward. We had traveled fully twelve miles more than his
observation showed in the last five marches, but had lost them by the
crushing up of the young ice in our rear and the cl