362 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS reaching the Stepping Stone Light, Mr. and Mrs. Peary, and members and guests of the Peary Arctic Club transferred to a tug and returned to New York. Mr. and Mrs. Peary re- joined the ship at Oyster Bay. They were accompanied on board by President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The president in- spected every part of the ship and shook hands with all aboard. As he was going over the rail Peary said to him, **Mr. Pres- ident, I shall put into this effort everything there is in me — physical, mental, and moral. ' ' The president replied: **I believe in you, Peary, and I be- lieve in your success — if it is within the possibility of man.'* At Sidney, Cape Breton, the ship filled with coaL Outside the harbor Mrs. Peary, the children and two or three friends were transferred to a tug. On the west coast of Northern Greenland, midway between Kane Basin and Melville Bay, is a little oasis amid a wilder- ness of ice and snow. Here with animal and vegetable life in plenty a little tribe of Eskimos make their home. It is about two thousand miles from New York City, as the bird flies, and about six hundred miles north of the Arctic circle, or half way between that line and the Pole. Here the Roosevelt picked up the little dwellers of the frigid zone who were to help in the struggle farther north. These people were Peary's friends. For eighteen years he had known them and was regarded by them as friend and bene- factor. He had earned their gratitude by furnishing them supplies when starvation stared them in the face. He had left implements for hunting and utensils for work which made them better able to protect themselves against the rigors of the North. Nearly three weeks were spent in the Cape York-Etah re- gion in selecting Eskimos to accompany the expedition, and in purchasing dogs, furs, and other items of equipment. The
- ' buying*' was really bartering. Peary had lumber, knives,
cooking utensils, matches, etc., which the Eskimos needed, and the Eskimos had dogs and supplies which Peary needed. The members of the ship 's party included at starting a total of twenty-two men. When Peary steamed out of Etah there
