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Paper: New York TimesCity: New York City, NY. Date: Wednesday April 22, 1896 ENGINEER PEARY'S DETAIL Still Much Mystery over His Being Placed on Waiting Orders Washington, April 21. - There is much mystery surrounding the detachment of Civil Engineer Peary from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the action of the Navy Department in placing that officer on waiting orders. The denial from Exeter, N. H., to the effect that Lieut. Peary has neither the funds nor plans for another polar expedition has not made the matter any more clear. The detachment of Mr. Peary from duty was not accomplished in the regular fashion. The Navy Department has its routine for doing everything; all orders follow one system, and all business pursues an established channel. The orders which affect civil engineers, for instance, would naturally come through the Bureau of Yards and Docks, under which bureau such officers are stationed. Order may originate with the Secretary or at the navy yards or in the bureaus but everything ordinarily passes through the bureau to which the duty pertains. In the Peary orders this routine was omitted, and the bureau people know nothing of the orders beyond what has been published in the papers. There has been much speculation among Navy Department people regarding Mr Peary's future plans. A friend of the officer said to-day: "It is possible that Mr. Peary will devote his period of waiting orders to a lecturing tour, to recoup himself for various heavy expenditures made during his arctic experiences, or as a result of them. It is also possible that he may join an expedition to Southern Greenland, well within the limits of whalers, where Peary discovered the largest meteorite ever known. The party dug around the object but it was too large to be conveyed to the ship, which could not be brought near enough without extra means of lifting the interesting specimen. The Philadelphia Academy of Sciences is desirous of obtaining the meteorite and I understand that institution is willing to fit out an expedition to bring to this country this Peary "find."
Paper: New York TimesCity: New York City, NY. Date: Saturday, October 03, 1896
RETURN OF LIEUT. PEARY BRINGS BACK FINE SPECIMENS FROM THE NORTH Excelleent Collection to Illustrate the Life and Characteristics of the Eskimos - It Was Gathered for the American Museum of Natural History in This City- Casts and Skeletons of the Natives and a Team of Dogs Lieut. Robert E. Peary, the artic explorer, returning for a cruise in northern latitudes, arrived in the city yesterday from Sidney, Cape Breton, July 16, in the steamship Hope. The object of his voyage this time was not one of exploration, but to secure ethnological specimens of the northern Eskimos for the American Museum of Natural History in this city. Speaking of his voyage to a reporter for THE NEW-YORK TIMES yesterday at the Grand Union Hotel, Lient. Peary said he had been successful even beyond his most sanguine expectations. He has brought back specimens illustrating fully the life and customs of the northern Eskimos, both in Summer and Winter. The specimens include tents, cooking utensils, furs, several sledges, with their implements, a number of kayaks, or canoes, with harpoons and other implements, and complete sets of clothing, from the little short skirt of the infant up to the clothing of the adults. The first apparel worn by infants consists of a skull cap of sealskin and a skirt made of bird skins, reaching to the waist. When the infant is one year old, it is provided with a hood and coat of foxskin, bearskin trousers, and sealskin boots. The costume of the adult is practically the same as that of the child a year old. There is no caste among the Eskimos. All are equal, and the better dresser is usually the better hunter. Fine Collection of Furs The collection of furs is complete, and is regarded as especially valuable by :Lieut. Peary. from the fact that the tribes are changing rapidly in their custons, as a result of the frequent visits of ships to that region. Lieut. Peary's collection also includes skins and skeletons of the walrus, skeletons of the narwhal, which, on account of its long horns, is supposed to be the original of the unicorn of fable; skeleton of a white whale, skeleton and skins of seals, skins of the artic reindeer, and a large collection of arctic birds. Of the ornithological collection, the king, or male, elder is considered the most beautiful, but the birds of the far North are not adorned with sucj brilliant plumage as those of the tropics. Albert Operti, the artist, was a member of the party, as Lieut. Peary'd guest, and he secured a large number of valuable sketches and studies, which will be developed in oil. He also secured a large collection of casts, showing the head, face and bodies of the natives. This collection is unique because it is the first that has ever been obtained. While the natives are timid, rather like a race of children, Lieut. Peary said he had no diffuculty in getting them on board ship for the purpose of securing the casts. Many of them has seen the Lieutenant before, and felt that they were safe in his hands. Another collection which Lieut. Peary prizes highly consists of anatomical materical to show the skeletons of the natives which will be mounted and placed on exhibition in the museum. Lieut. Peary says he knew in life several of those bones he has now brought to this city. Brings a Team of Dogs Lieut. Peary brings back a number of live specimens, including two handsome polar bear cubs, which have been christened Polaris and Casslopea, and a team of ten dogs. The dogs are pronouned magnificent specimens as to markings, including the gray wolf, black, black and white, and the pure white. The Lieutenant believes there will be no trouble in keeping the dogs in this climate if have plenty of shape and the proper food. He doubts, however, if they could be worked in this climate. Referring to his voyage, Lient. Peary said he covered move ground then even before, although he had attemped but little in the way of exploration. the temperature he said was not disagreeable on board ship, as there were only a few days when its was very low. On these occastions the fog froze on the rigging, the white sheets and spars giving the ship a most picturesque appearence. When asked for his opinion as to the results of Nansen's expedition, Lieut. Peary said: "Nansen has discovered more in a negative way than in the affirmative. The long drift of his ship to the northwest shows that that section must be thrown out in the future in efforts to reach the north pole. If Jackson's explorations, which he is making entirely by land, along the Franz Josef route, also fail, then the only course to be followed will be the north from the northern end of Greenland, via the archipelago, which I discovered on my last voyage. I saw there land masses from a height of 4,000 feet, but saw distinctly that they were detached from the mainland. "Lockwood and Brainerd of the Greely party went as far north as 83 degrees 24 seconds and they could see land nearly as far north as 84 degrees, but did not know it was detached from the mainland. I proved the insularity of Greenland and found the archipelago, and I believe that explorations further north must be along the shore line of these new-found land masses. The islands are of such a character that they could hardly be traversed. Talks on the Polar Region "It is nonsense to figure that abnormal conditions are to be found if the pole is ever reached. The discover is as likely to find land as water, but no one can hazard a guess as to what will be found. If land, it will be the same as in the northern part of Greenland, which the same vegetation. If water, it is likely to be a sea which is frozen over from nine to eleven months of the year, theIce during the remainder of the year beig broken up into fields. "It is impossible to describe the hardships of arctic exploration. No one who has not experienced it can appreciate what it means to be in darkness for three or four months. When the first sunlight comes, members of the exploring party look at each other in surprize. The skin is then of a greenish-yellow hue, like a plant that has been kept in a cellar during the Winter." On board the Hope with Lieut. Peary was a party from Cornell University, In charge of Prof. Ralph Tare. This party brought back a large collection of specimens for the museum at Cornell. Another party was headed by Prof. Alfred Burton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lieut. Peary says he will probably not make another voyage to the North next year, but he expects to send a ship to make further collections. His leave will expire next month, but it is expected that it will be extended. Mrs. Peary is with his in this city, and they will remain here for several days. The collections, which fill two cars, are on their way from Sidney, and are expected to arrive some time next week. |
