The ship had been lightened as much as possible to make room for this
enormous weight, but for all that the vessel was sunk much too deep in
the water for safety when she finally started on her homeward journey.

Scientists say that the meteorite is a mass of metal, and is practically
composed of material similar to the steel armor used for armor-plates.
All are agreed that it is the largest meteorite ever discovered.

Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him a party of Esquimaux, who
are to spend the winter building an Arctic exhibit for the Natural
History Museum. The materials they will use have all been brought back
by Mr. Peary. They are to build a little scene which will show the
Esquimaux in their national costume, occupied in some of the typical
Arctic employments. The figures that will illustrate these pictures will
be modelled after the Esquimaux themselves.

There are six Esquimaux in the party brought back on the _Hope_--three
men, a woman, a boy, and a girl. They, men and women alike, wear
trousers of polar-bear skins, sealskin coats, moccasins made from tanned
sealskins, and fur hoods.

To make them more comfortable, Lieutenant Peary had allowed them to
pitch a tent for themselves on the deck, and here the family was
established, in company with their four favorite dogs, from whom they
could not bear to be parted. These dogs are very useful in the polar
regions. They can draw sledges over the ice, and are used by the natives
much as the people of warmer climates use horses.

Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him some relics of the