s of this plan have been here set forth so explicitly because
the faithfulness with which they were carried out constitutes a record
which is perhaps unique in the annals of Arctic exploration. Compare
this scheme, if you please, with the manner of its execution. As had
been planned, the expedition sailed from New York early in July, 1908,
July 6, to be exact. It sailed from Sydney July 17, from Etah August 18,
and arrived at Cape Sheridan, the winter quarters of the _Roosevelt_, on
September 5, within a quarter of an hour of the same time it had arrived
at the same spot three years before. The winter was occupied in hunting,
in various side journeys, in making our sledging equipment, and in
moving supplies from the _Roosevelt_ along the northern shore of Grant
Land to Cape Columbia, which was to be our point of departure from the
land on our drive for the Pole itself.

The sledge divisions left the _Roosevelt_ from February 15 to 22, 1909,
rendezvoused at Cape Columbia, and on March 1 the expedition left Cape
Columbia, heading across the Polar Ocean for the Pole. The 84th parallel
was crossed on March 18, the 86th on March 23, the Italian record was
passed the next day, the 88th parallel on April 2, the 89th on April 4,
and the North Pole was reached on April 6 at ten o'clock in the morning.
I spent thirty hours at the Pole with Matt Henson, Ootah, the faithful
Eskimo who had gone with me in 1906 to 87 deg. 6', the then "farthest
north," and three other Eskimos who had also been with me on previous
expeditions. The six of us left the much desired "ninety north" on April
7 on the return journey and reached land at Cape Columbia again on April
23.

It will be noted that while the journey from Cape Columbia to the Pole
consumed thirty-seven days, (though only twenty-seven marches) we
returned from the Pole to Cape Columbia in only sixteen days. The
extraordinary speed of the return journey is to be accounted for by the
fact that we merely had to retrace our old trail instead of making a new
one, and because we were fortunate in encountering no delays. Excellent
conditions of ice and weather also contributed, not to mention the fact
that the exhilaration of success lent wings to our sorely battered feet.
But Ootah, the Eskimo, had his own explanation. Said he: "The devil is
asleep or having trouble with his wife, or we should never have come
back so easily."

It will be noted in this comparison, that practically the only