The Somerset Herald

Lieut. Peary's Expedition.

New York Sun: Lieutenant R. E. Peary, U. S. N., of the United States Navy, who is going to explore the north coast of Greenland, delivered a lecture in Chickering Hall last night before the American Geographical Society. He detailed the plans he had laid out for the trip. The body of the hall was filled.

Lieutenant Peary was introduced by President Daly, of the society, who said he believed that the expedition, which is soon to start, had more chance of getting at the north pole than any ever yet attempted.

Lieutenant Peary began his lecture by giving a brief history of Greenland from its discovery in the year 900. Geographically and topographically, he said, Greenland had been a land of mystery and constantly increasing interest ever since its discovery. It had been traced further toward the north pole than any other land. He believed that its entire interior was submerged with ice and snow, which was constantly getting deeper. He told of his trip in 1886, when with one companion, starting from Bisco Bay, he traveled nearly due east 100 miles into the ice desert and attained an altitude of 7,000 feet above the sea level.

This expedition, he said, convinced him that an expedition might safely explore the whole interior of the land and the coast from the interior.

He would start, he said, with a party of five, or six at most, and would land in Greenland, at Whale Sound, early in July next. The remainder of the season would be spent in putting up winter quarters and laying in stores of meat, making scientific collections, making reconnaissances of the inland ice, and, if the season is favorable, in putting up an advance station for supplies near the southern angle of Humboldt Glacier.

The winter would be spent in making and fitting sledges, in making skis the Norwegian snowshoes, and in practicing with the skis. In early spring a party of four or five would start over land on the ice and snow for Humboldt Glacier. One man would be left behind to take care of the supplies. If the weather is good and traveling fair the party would push on from Humboldt Glacier, north ninety miles, to Petermann Fjord, where another supply depot would be built and two of the party be left to return by sledge and skis to Whale Sound. The other two or three would push on to the head of Sherard Osborn Fjord, and establish a third depot. They would then go on to the head of Inglefield Fjord, establish a fourth depot, and from there push on to the north coast.

Under the head of what was to be gained by the expedition, the Lieutenant said that the mystery of the geography and topography of the country would be solved.

THE NORTH POLE might possibly be discovered, and if it was not the most practical route to it would surely be found. He did not consider the trip to be a very dangerous one. The only element to be feared was the exposure to cold, and, with an ample supply of clothing, that was not a thing to be feared. There were no wild beasts or venomous reptiles to be encountered, as there were in explorations in tropical countries, and malaria and fever were unknown. The dangers he considered no greater and the discomforts no more than would be encountered in northern Norway or Siberia, or no more than is experienced every winter by the farmers in North Dakota and Montana and their families.

At the end of the lecture stereopticon views of icebergs and natives of Greenland were shown and explained by the Lieutenant. The expenses of the forthcoming expedition will be paid in part by the Philadelphia Academy of Science, and the American Geographical Society, the National Geographical Society, and various other scientific bodies and also promoting the enterprise.