Here another kind of derrick, made like those that are used for lifting heavy guns on board ship, was brought into service, and the mass of metal was slowly lifted and lowered into the hold.
The ship had been lightened as much as possible to make room for this enormous weight, but for all that the vessel was sunk much too deep in the water for safety when she finally started on her homeward journey.
Scientists say that the meteorite is a mass of metal, and is practically composed of material similar to the steel armor used for armor-plates. All are agreed that it is the largest meteorite ever discovered.
Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him a party of Esquimaux, who are to spend the winter building an Arctic exhibit for the Natural History Museum. The materials they will use have all been brought back by Mr. Peary. They are to build a little scene which will show the Esquimaux in their national costume, occupied in some of the typical Arctic employments. The figures that will illustrate these pictures will be modelled after the Esquimaux themselves.
There are six Esquimaux in the party brought back on the Hope—three men, a woman, a boy, and a girl. They, men and women alike, wear trousers of polar-bear skins, sealskin coats, moccasins made from tanned sealskins, and fur hoods.
To make them more comfortable, Lieutenant Peary had allowed them to pitch a tent for themselves on the deck, and here the family was established, in company with their four favorite dogs, from whom they could not bear to be parted. These dogs are very useful in the polar regions. They can draw sledges over the ice, and are used by the natives much as the people of warmer climates use horses.
Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him some relics of the unfortunate Greely expedition which went to the Arctic regions in 1881, to establish an observation station for our Government. Owing to the non-arrival of expected supplies, the Greely party suffered the most terrible hardships, and was eventually rescued at Cape Sabine in Grinnel Land in 1883, after eighteen of the party had perished from cold and hunger.
Greely established the station, and, after his rescue, was raised to the rank of general, and was given a special government appointment for his services.
When Lieutenant Peary arrived in New York, he was asked whether he thought that Andrée had been able to reach the Pole in his balloon.
He said that he feared it had not been possible for him to do so. According to all he could hear, the winds had been unfavorable all summer, and the chances were that the adventurer had been carried in an opposite direction to the one he had intended to take.