The United States decided to establish two stations, one at Point Barrow, Alaska, and the other in Lady Franklin bay. The command of the expedition to Point Barrow was given to Lieutenant Ray. Adolphus Washington Greely, a lieutenant in the United States Army, was offered command of the other, and when the enterprise was made national in 1881, he accepted the commission. The arrangements necessary for the journey were soon made, and Greely and his companions sailed on the _Proteus_ to Newfoundland. They left that island on July 7, 1881, and headed for the north. The _Proteus_ sailed through Davis strait and Baffin bay, passing the wonderful “bird cliffs,” which rise perpendicularly for over a thousand feet out of the sea, and are broken only by narrow ledges. Neither Eskimo nor animal can reach these rocks, and here, safe from harm, the birds lay their eggs and hatch out their young by the tens of thousands. Greely’s men shot many birds and secured hundreds of eggs. [Illustration: BIRD CLIFFS.] The _Proteus_ passed through Smith sound and Kennedy channel, and reached Lady Franklin bay in safety. She 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.