Because of the impossibility of making correct allowances for refraction, I have made a rough allowance of -9ʹ for refraction and parallax in all my observations.
The tent pole was a hickory floor slat of one of the sledges. It was 6 ft. 6 ins. high, 2 ins. wide, and 1/2 in. thick. This stick was marked in feet and inches, to be used as a measuring stick. It also served as a paddle and steering oar for the boat.
By pressing this tent pole 6 ins. into the snow, it served as a 6 ft. pole to measure the shadows. These measurements were recorded on the observation blanks. Absolute accuracy for the measurements is not claimed, because of the difficulty of determining the line of demarcation in long, indistinct shadows; but future efforts will show that my shadow measurements are an important check on all sun observations by which latitude and longitude are determined.
[14] Peary claims to have seen life east of this position. This is perfectly possible, for Arctic explorers have often noted when game trails were abundant one year, none were seen the next. In these tracks of foxes and bears, as noted by Baldwin, are positive proofs of the position of Bradley Land—for such animals work only from a land base.
[15] Observation on April 8, from original field-papers. April 8, 1908, Longitude 94°-2ʹ. Bar. 29.80, rising. Temp. —31°. Wind 2, Mag. N. E. Clouds St. 3.
| 94° | 0 | 21°—59´—30´´ |
| 4´ | 0 | 21 —08 —20 |
| 60 | 376´ | 2 | 43 — 7 —50 | |
| 6—16 | 21 —33 —55 | |
| 56´´ | I. E. | +2 |
| × 6¼ | 2 | 21 —35 —50 | |
| 14 | 10 —47 —55 | |
| 336 | —9 | |
| 60 | 350 | 10 —38 —55 | |
| 5—50 | 90— | |
| 7— 9—33 | 79 —21 — 5 | |
| 7—15—23 | 7 —15 —23 | |
| 86 —36 —28 |
Shadows 32 ft. (of pole 6 ft. above snow).
[16] After trying to explain this impression fifteen months later to a Swiss professor, who spoke little English, he quoted me as saying that the sun at night about the Pole was much lower than at noon. No such ridiculous remark was ever made. In reality the eye did not detect any difference in the distance between the sun and the horizon through the next twenty-four hours. There was no visible rise or set, the night dip of the nocturnal swing of the sun was entirely eliminated. We had, however, several ways of checking this important phenomena, which will be introduced later.
[17] The Fall of Body Temperature—The temperature of the body was frequently taken. Owing to the breathing of very cold air, the thermometer placed in the mouth gave unreliable results, but by placing the bulb in the armpits, when in the sleeping bag, fairly accurate records were kept. These proved that extreme cold had little influence on bodily heat; but when long-continued overwork was combined with insufficient food, the temperature gradually came down. On the route to the Pole the bodily temperature ranged from 97° 5ʹ to 98° 4ʹ. In returning, the subnormal temperature fell still lower. When the worry of being carried adrift and the danger of never being able to return became evident, then the mental anguish, combined as it was with prolonged overwork, continued thirst and food insufficiency, was strikingly noted by our clinical thermometer. During the last few weeks, before reaching land at Greenland in 1909, the subnormal temperature sank to the remarkable minimum of 96° 2ʹ F. The Eskimos usually remained about half a degree warmer. The respiration and heart action was at this time fast and irregular.
In the summer period of famine about Jones Sound the temperature was normal. At that time we had an abundance of water and an interesting occupation in quest of game, but we often felt the cold more severely than in the coldest season of winter.