ndertaken
to write a brief autobiography, giving particularly an account of my
Arctic work.

I was born in Charles County, Maryland, August 8, 1866. The place of my
birth was on the Potomac River, about forty-four miles below Washington,
D. C. Slavery days were over forever when I was born. Besides, my
parents were both free born before me, and in my mother's veins ran some
white blood. At an early age, my parents were induced to leave the
country and remove to Washington, D. C. My mother died when I was seven
years old. I was taken in charge by my uncle, who sent me to school, the
"N Street School" in Washington, D. C., which I attended for over six
years. After leaving school I went to Baltimore, Md., where I shipped as
cabin-boy, on board a vessel bound for China. After my first voyage I
became an able-bodied seaman, and for four years followed the sea in
that capacity, sailing to China, Japan, Manilla, North Africa, Spain,
France, and through the Black Sea to Southern Russia.

It was while I was in Washington, D. C., in 1888, that I first attracted
the attention of Commander Peary, who at that time was a civil engineer
in the United States Navy, with the rank of lieutenant, and it was with
the instinct of my race that I recognized in him the qualities that made
me willing to engage myself in his service. I accompanied him as his
body-servant to Nicaragua. I was his messenger at the League Island Navy
Yard, and from the beginning of his second expedition to the Arctic
regions, in 1891, I have been a member of every expedition of his, in
the capacity of assistant: a term that covers a multitude of duties,
abilities, and responsibilities.

The narrative that follows is a record of the last and successful
expedition of the Peary Arctic Club, which had as its attainment the
discovery of the North Pole, and is compiled from notes made by me at
different times during the course of the expedition. I did endeavor to
keep a diary or journal of daily events during my last trip, and did not
find it difficult aboard the ship while sailing north, or when in
winter-quarters at Cape Sheridan, but I found it impossible to make
daily entries while in the field, on account of the constant necessity
of concentrating my attention on the real business of the expedition.
Entries were made daily of the records of temperature and the estimates
of distance traveled; and when solar observations were made the results
were always carefully n