Where we were, one day and one night constituted a year, a hundred such days and nights constituted a century.

Had we stood in that spot during the six months of the arctic winter night, we should have seen every star of the northern hemisphere circling the sky at the same distance from the horizon, with Polaris (the North Star) practically in the zenith.
[Illustration: THE RECONNOITERING PARTY AT THE POLE (On the Sledge are Merely the Instruments, a Tin of Pemmican and a Skin or Two.) (Note the Firm Character of the Surface Ice.

Snow Shoes Were not Required Here)] All during our march back to camp the sun was swinging around in its ever-moving circle.

At six o'clock on the morning of April 7, having again arrived at Camp Jesup, I took another series of observations.
These indicated our position as being four or five miles from the Pole, towards Bering Strait.

Therefore, with a double team of dogs and a light sledge, I traveled directly towards the sun an estimated distance of eight miles.