When the return journey was begun on June 3rd Peary had nine dogs and fourteen days’ rations for them, and thirty days’ half rations of biscuits and oil, and seventeen of frozen meat for the men. On the 10th there were only six dogs, and on the 22nd one alone survived. The men had four biscuits left when they reached the house at Whale Sound. The results which Peary claimed were the discovery of Independence Bay, of the northern end of Greenland, of a channel dividing that great mass of land from large islands to the north, and of Greenland’s insularity, and for many years these features have been shown on the maps. It has now been found that he did not discover the actual north end of Greenland, and that his channel does not exist. Peary nevertheless did real good in improving the condition of the Arctic Highlanders by supplying them with canvas and improved weapons. With better means of obtaining sustenance the death rate is said to have decreased and there are signs of an increase in the population of this most interesting northern tribe. Dr Cook’s census gave the number at 233. Peary discovered near Cape York, and brought home, the three great meteoric stones from which the Arctic Highlanders used to obtain the iron for their knives. CHAPTER XXXVIII THE TRANS-POLAR DRIFT. NANSEN AND THE VOYAGE OF THE _FRAM_ Fridtjof Nansen, our foremost living Arctic worthy, a devoted scientific enquirer and a profound student of Arctic history, had always taken a broad view of the Arctic problem, mainly with reference to currents and ocean depths. But the discovery of articles on the coast of Greenland which had drifted westward from the wreck of the _Jeanette_ off the Liakhov Islands, first gave him the idea of his great enterprise[157]. Nansen conceived the project of forcing a vessel into the pack on the Siberian side, and being drifted across the polar ocean. From most Arctic experts the idea received no encouragement whatsoever, but I had a full belief, based on careful study, in the successful issue of such an expedition[158].