os, and Marvin took the other. The divisions of
Goodsell, MacMillan, and Henson were to build their own igloos this
first night. Bartlett and Borup being in advance, would each build an
igloo at every one of their camps. I, being the oldest man in the party,
was to take one of these, and the order of precedence in which the
divisions of Marvin, MacMillan, Goodsell, and Henson were to occupy the
second of the already constructed igloos had been determined by lot at
Columbia, the first lot falling to Marvin. Later, when Bartlett's
division alone was in the lead, there was only one igloo already built
at each camp on the line of march.

The day twilight, which now lasted about twelve hours, had disappeared
entirely by the time the last sledge reached this first camp. It had
been a trying day for the sledges. The new "Peary" type, by reason of
its shape and greater length, had come off best. Though two of these had
suffered minor damages, none of them had been put out of commission. Two
of the old Eskimo type had been smashed completely, and another nearly
so.

The dogs were soon fed, and each division went for supper and rest to
its own igloo, leaving the rugged surface of the ice to the darkness,
and the howling wind and drift. The march had been a somewhat hard one
for me, because, for the first time in sixteen years, the leg which I
had broken in Greenland, in 1891, had been causing me considerable
trouble.

The door of my igloo had scarcely been closed by a block of snow, when
one of Henson's Eskimos came running over, blue with fright, to tell me
that Tornarsuk was in camp, and that they could not light the alcohol in
their new stove. I did not understand this, as the stoves had all been
tested on board ship and had worked to perfection; but I got out and
went over to Henson's igloo, where it appeared that he had used up a
whole box of matches in unsuccessful efforts to light his stove. Our
stoves were of an entirely new design, using no wicks, and a moment's
examination disclosed the trouble. It was so cold that there was no
vaporization from the alcohol, and it would not light directly as at
higher temperatures. A bit of paper dropped into it and lighted was the
solution, and there was no further trouble.

The failure of even one of our alcohol stoves would have seriously
impaired our chances, as the men of that division could not have boiled
the tea which is absolutely necessary for work in those low
temperatu