trip to Greenland in the
following year. Somewhere in my subconscious self, even so long ago as
that, there may have been gradually dawning a hope that I might some day
reach the Pole itself. Certain it is, the lure of the North, the "arctic
fever," as it has been called, entered my veins then, and I came to have
a feeling of fatality, a feeling that the reason and intent of my
existence was the solution of the mystery of the frozen fastnesses of
the Arctic.

But the actual naming of the Pole as the object of an expedition did not
materialize until 1898, when the first expedition of the Peary Arctic
Club went north with the avowed intention of reaching ninety north--if
it were possible. Since then I have made six different attempts, in six
different years, to reach the coveted point. The sledging season, when
such a "dash" is possible, extends from about the middle of February
until the middle of June. Before the middle of February there is not
sufficient light, and after the middle of June there is likely to be too
much open water.

During these six former attempts made by me to win the prize, the
successive latitudes of 83 deg. 52', 84 deg. 17', and 87 deg. 6' were attained, the
last giving back to the United States the record of "farthest north,"
which had for a time been wrested from it by Nansen, and from him in
turn by the Duke of the Abruzzi.

In writing the story of this last and successful expedition, it is
necessary to go back to my return from the former expedition of 1905-6.
Before the _Roosevelt_ entered port, and before I reached New York, I
was planning for another journey into the North, which, if I could
obtain the essential funds--and retained my health--I intended to get
under way as soon as possible. It is a principle in physics that a
ponderable body moves along the line of least resistance; but that
principle does not seem to apply to the will of man. Every obstacle
which has ever been placed in my way, whether physical or mental,
whether an open "lead" or the opposition of human circumstances, has
ultimately acted as a spur to the determination to accomplish the fixed
purpose of my life--if I lived long enough.

On my return in 1906, great encouragement was received from Mr. Jesup,
the president of the Peary Arctic Club, who had contributed so
generously to my former expeditions, and in whose honor I had named the
northernmost point of land in the world, latitude 83 deg. 39', Cape Morris
K.