Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/99

 anchored at last in Discovery bay, on the coast of Grinnell land, where Greely and his men went ashore to select a place suitable for a camp, to be named Fort Conger. Then the Proteus steamed away, leaving a small company of men alone in the Arctic solitude. But they were too busy to feel lonely, and began to work hard in order to make a comfortable home for themselves. The house was built of wood covered with tarred paper, and stations for the instruments were erected near at hand.

The cliffs around Discovery harbor rise from a hundred to a thousand feet in height and nearly surround the bay, which contains about twenty square miles of ice floe. Game was plentiful. Large flocks of eider ducks visited an open pool near by, and herds of musk oxen were to be seen in the distance, grazing quietly. The Arctic summer was at its height, and the slopes were covered with grasses, mosses, and buttercups.

Under the direction of Lieutenant Greely, the men took observations, explored the country, and built depots. The depots were built at convenient distances from Fort Conger, and were stored with supplies of food for the use of exploring parties. At last so much had been accomplished that Greely thought he might safely leave the camp and try to reach the interior of Grinnell land.

With three companions he started from Fort Conger, April 26, 1882, traveling over ice which was in good condition, so that the party moved rapidly. Greely found that two openings along the coast, which he had supposed to be bays, were large fiords. Here he came upon layers of remarkably clear fresh-water ice. It was deep blue in color and contrasted beautifully with the opaque white ice of the ocean floes. Without doubt a river or glacier emptied into the fiord. Magnificent moun