I began this book in one snowstorm and finished it in an-
other. Between the two my work was lightened by patient and
gracious people who helped make the writing of this book a
rare pleasure. My family, especially my wife Irene, has not only
endured but aided and abetted my vague ways and solitary week
ends. Several difficult passages were overcome while enjoying
the hospitality and the quiet study of Martha and Russell W.
Knight in Casco, Maine.

Stephen Phillips has been very generous with his many rare
books on Arctic exploration. Vilhjalmur Stefansson has given
me good advice and welcomed me to his incomparable library
at Dartmouth. His former assistant librarian, Mary S. Fellows,
suggested obscure and important references. Members of the
staff of the Boston Athenaeum, as cheerful as they are com-
petent, have furnished other literary sources. The Trustees of
the Peabody Museum of Salem have been always encouraging,
and my colleagues in the museum have given the friendly su-
perior help which is my constant good fortune. Particular ack-
nowledgment is made to Paul O. Blanchette, who has been in-
defatigable in finding books, M. V. Brewington who has read
this entire manuscript and made many excellent suggestions,
and to Eugenia N. Ford, whose ingenuity successfully deciphers
my erratic penmanship. To Veronica Ruzicka I am grateful
for the clear maps. None of these kind people is responsible for
any faults that may herein be found--the responsibility is of
course mine alone.

In the interests of clarity and consistency I have arbitrarily
solved the problem of changes in geographical names by using
modern forms except in quotations and, in a few instances,
where the obsolete form is important to the context.

Ernest S. Dodge

Danvers, Massachusetts
13 March 1960

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