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A COMPREHENSIVE HECOKD OF

VoMcs, Travels, Ciscoyeries, Aiveutiires auil Wbale-FisliiBg

IN THE

ARCTIC REGIONS

Foil ONE THOUSAND VKAIIS.

WITH A FULL AND 1!F,LL\HLE HISTOHY OF THE LATE EXTEDI-
TION UNUKll CILVKl.ES FKANCIS HALL

IN THE

II.I.-J^^A^TJi:i> l^OI.A^Ii IS

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(IK CAl'TAIN lU MDIMiTON AM> CoMl'AMO.NS
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ALSO, AN ACCOUNT OF THE 8EAHCH MADE FOR THE CASTAWAYS

r.V TIIK

IlI-ISTKATKII with One ni-M>IIEI> ANI> SuVKXTV-riVK KNOnAVINdS AMI MaI'S.

WUITTEN, AND COMPILED VUOM AfTIIENTK! SOUIICF.S,

IIV

ALE XANDKll IlVDi:, A. M., KKV. A.C. IIAI.DWIX, AND liKV. W.L GAGK.

TOWIIUII IS ADDED A SKKTCII VV I'l;. K A N P., IIV TkoF. I'll A lU.rs \V. Sll 1 KI.DS, 1). 1).,
OK riilM'KTO.N (ul.l.Ktii:.

io P '''

PUELISHE3D BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY.
IIARTFOI.M), CONN.:

rOLUMTJTAiX r.ooK COMPANY.

W. E. BLISS & CO., TOLEDO, OHIO : F. UEWIXU & CO., SAX FRANCISCO, CAL.

1874.

En.cre.1 acconling to Act of Con,re.s. i„ the ;,ear 1874 by

THE COLUMBIAN BOOK COMl>ANV.
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Wa'shington.

INTRODUCTIOX.

The Arctic Regions, cold, dreary and desolate, liave
been tlie tlieatre of the most heroic e\j)loit8 and dar-
ing adventures tli'^ world lias ever seen. Here the
genius of such men as l^affin, Harentz, Hudson, Parry,
Ross, Franklin, Kane and Hall, has found am[)le scope
for develoimient ; and a taste of the i)erils and haid-
ships of the Frozen Zone oidy served to incite them
to new encountei's. No vision of "sunny fountains
rolling down their golden sands," or ambition for
conquest and usurpe«l power filled their minds: but
the love of adventure, the advjuicement of science,
and the holier impulses of humanity, were the lode-
stones which drew them towai'd the Pole.

To chronicle faithfully and in an attractive man-
ner the brilliant achievements of these a<lventur<ms
spirits, and to present, incidentally, graphic j)ictures
of Life and Nature in the Realms of Frost, is the
object of this book. In it, culled from scores of vol-
umes of Arctic Literature, are condensed the most
interesting records of a thousand years, commencing
with the discovery of Iceland by the Northmen in 801.

TNTItOlU'CTKiV.

Wliilo no important cxiu'ditlon, nor ovon tlio cxjx?-
rioncii of wIuiUms, has Itccn ovcilookcd, prctmiiu'iico
has been ^ivcn to the most intcrcstiiiL;- on«'s, aii<l w lu'ii
prat'tii'abli! the story is told in tlie cxjjloi-crs' own
^vor(!s, as in the case of Franl<lin and Kane; no one
uill rcijfrct that so nuu'li space has lu'cn assigned to
their inimitalde narratives.

The histoiy, discoveries and disasters of the Pol.jris
E.\]tedition, with tlie perils and escapes of tlie divided
crew, are fully narrated, lunl in connection with the
thrillinL? diaries of .I(»hn Ilcrion and Ih'rniMiin Sir-
mans, ju'esent one of the most interesting I'pisode.s of
Arctic Adventure.

Franklin and his crew no h)nger need relief, and
thauk.s to tlie Pacific Railroad a jN<trth-west Passa-.c
would be of no value. A voyage to the Noi'lh Pole
seems to Ix! the only thing remaining to be (h)ne in
the way of Arctic research, " wheieby a notable ndnd
can make itself famous." The discoveries of o»ir
countrymen liave pointed out the only route tliither,
"wljlch can be tak<'n with any ])rospect of success; and
apj)earances indicate that an English exjjedition on a
grand scale will soon attemj)t to foUow in tlie tiack
of the Advance and Polaris. It is hojied that no
reader of these fascinating ])ages will be stinndalcd
thereby to join in the hazardous enterprise; but tlna
all who c(mtemj>late the heroic daring, sublime for-
titude, and Christian faith and resignation under most
desperate circumstances which many Ai'ctic exjjloiers
have disjdayed, will be strengthened in their purpose
to make the voyage of life with hope and courage.

CONTENTS.

iKCTCII or THK LIFK OF DR. KANK 1

CIIAI'TEU I.

TiIK AUCTK; IlKlilOXS.

Thi) Arctic Circlo— Tim Arctii- Oci'un— Tim Arctic \lj;lit— Tho Mid-
ni^lit Sun — Sunimi-r iitid NViiniT— 11 iiulirul Provirtiuu if Niitiir-—
ChuractirlBtic Fuaturt'S — Arctic Ksi)l(ircr8 17

CIIAI'TKU II.

EA11I.Y DI8COVKUIK9 AND IIISTOHY.

T\w Scandinavian Mariners ind llii'ir Vof a;ji's — Discovery of Icclund —
Eric ill'! lied — Discovi^ry of (Jrccnliiiul — Tim NorthnKMi in .Vnmr-
ica — Nortlurn Vovaifuof Colunibua— Sinry of tlit) I'lirly (Irccnlimd
Settlers — U'lir and Pe>tili;ncu — Si-arcli fir tiie 1)^1 ColDnists— Huns
Eycdc- — The Moravian Missions — A V'ist t > Liclitenfels — Tlie native
(Jn-enlanders — Tliu Cahots and tlieir Voyajjes — The Lubiadi)r Col-
ony — Frtcch and Portuguese Explorers '33

CIIAPTEIl III.

KNOMSII EXPKDITIONa TO THE NOKTII-E.V8T.

Expcflition under Sir Iluirli VVillouglilty— .\ Sloriu off the North Cape
— Nova Zeiiibla Scenery — \ Winter on the Laidnml Coast — Fiite of
the Explorerp — Clinncelor'H Visit to Moscdw — Tlie Stiarchthrilt and
her Cruiee — Enj^liah Adventurers in Asia — Lake Baikal — Pet and
Jackson— Mistakes of a Oe()<,'rai)her 40

CIIAPTKK IV.

DUTCH I.XI'ICDITIOXS TO TIIIC NOnTH-EAST.

Wm. IJarentz— The Orang-- Islands— Noosinjr a Bear— The Cape of Idols
— Second Exjjediiion — A Hnsaian Craft — Anionjf the Sainoiedef —
Corueliz Hyp — Discovery of Bear Islands and Spitzbcr^en— Impris-
oned — Buildinjf a House — Life nt Icy Pi)rt — A Winter of Ilanisliips
—Feast of the Kings — The Sliip Deserted — ley Ramparts— Death of
Barcntz 47

fi CONTKNTfl.

CIIAPFER V.

ARCTIC VnYAORH (IF FKf»HIHIIKR AND DATtS.

Karly Engliih AdvonturiTH— Martin Friil)i»lu'r— " Mi-U Inooijnlta"—
Fight with Ksquitimux — Ui'lic* of lost Sailors— Fonmlc rrisonor* —
Tri'Bi'hory of the NutivoH — FrubiHluT'H tliinl Kxpi>(lition — A Storm —
Till' Kxpi'dition Astniy— "All in not (Jolil that Olittorii"— Sir Huni-
pliroy (tillKTt— L0H8 of the " Squirri'l" — John Davis — Thi' " Lnnil of
Di'Holntion " — A (irconlnnd Dance — Voyage with the Morniaid —
Evquiinnux Incantations— Kxuuraion tu tlio Interior — The Sailor*'
AVarning — DcHcrtiun of Ships S9

tTIAI»TER VI.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF IIKNIIY III'II.ION AND OTIIF.RII.

Weymouth's Expedition— A cowardly Crew— Fate of ('apt. Knight—
An Esquimaux Attack — Hudson's Polar Voyage— A Mermaid— Voy-
age in the Half-moon— IIudNon'H last Voyage — Trouhle with the Sail-
ors— Discovery— In Winter-',iiiirters— Mutiny— The Tragedy in Hud-
eon's Bay — Adventures '.;'" tlie Mutineers 85

CHAPTER VII.

ARCTIC VOYAOE8 OP BAFFIN AND OTIIERfl.

Button nnd Bylot— Capt. Gibbons' Adventure- Buffln's early Voyages-
Memorable Discoveries — Fotherby's Voyiige — Danish Expedition —
MunkA disastrous Voyage — The F-:: and James Expedition — A
Winter of SufTering— Final Escape — A lost Expedition— Heme —
Mackenzie — Phipps- Cook 105

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ARCTIC WIIAI.E-FIHIIERY.

Early Fishing Expedition — The Spit/bergen Seas — Adventures of Cap-
tain Edge— Dutch Enter])rise — A Winter in Spitzbergen — An Arctic
Tragedy — Years ».f Peril — The Whales' Paradise — Shipwrecks —
Meinoriuls of the Hollanders 122

CHAPTER IX.

THE ARCTIC WHAI-K-KISHKRV. (cOXTIXfED.)

Whale Catching in Baffin's Bay— Disasters in Melville Boy-" Baffin's
Fair" — Yankee Whalemen— The Dundee WlialingSteamers- Rescue
of the Polaris Crew 13C

CHAPTER X.

CRUISE OF THE ISABELLA AND ALEXANDER.

Ross nnd Parry's Expedition— On the Greenland Coast— A Secluded
Race — Esquimaux Ideas of a Ship — The Arctic Highlanders— Signal ^
of Return HI

<'t)NTKNTfl. vii

riiAiTKU xr.

rRriKR or tiik iikci a ano nnirKR.
I'nrry anil Litlilon KxiMulition — Kntt-rinK LiinrniiUT Siiunil— Hopes ami
I )iitni)ii()intiiu'ntii— Dreary Sliorm— Tlu' Ili-wiird Knrnid — WinUT-
«Hmrttr!i iind Aiminfmcntu— 'riu> Ni)r«li (Jiort^iiin 'riu-atre— Firo !
Fire I —A llrfuk-up— A KUi-ci-sfful Kxpi-ilition 131

CIIAITKU XII.

rRClKR or TDK rt KY AND IIKCI.A.

I'lirry ami Ljod'h Kxpidition — Tin- Siivani-I»luiiiKTH— Uipul^o llay —
Frozin in— TliioviiiK Nativi-K — "Tho KivalH"— " Tin- MtTiy Dimtirii"
— KKiiuiniaiix Xfijfliltorii Didrovcrrd — A»t(ini»liiiiK tlic NntiviH~An
KxourHicin — A Fi(iht with Walnir«~Sliipp»Ml by Ice — Ajfnin Fri)Zin in
— A rlii'iTinff Spc'ctacU- — Tlie fair KH<|itiniaux — An KMiuiinaux Magi-
cian — I'arry'H third Expedition 1G3

ciiArricu XIII.

VOYAflK OK THK IIdKOTUCA AMI TIIKNT.

Iltiohnn ond Franklin's Kxpi'diticn— Tin- HindizvnuM at Mandaicna Bay
— An Avahuiclii'— On till' Kdj^e of tho Ice— A DanKcroiiH Toxition —
Escape tu Fair llavi n IH 1

CMIAITKK XIV.
ihasm.in'm nusT i.am> kxi-kditiox.

Arrival at York Factory —IV'rilo of River Navipation— A Winter'^ Jour-
ney — Tentinj; a C'onjuriT's Skill — Indian Customs — Interview witli
Akaitclio— The Wintir at Fort Knterprise— lUciption of a Cliief—
Down tlie Copperniine Kiver — Bloody Falls— Kncounter with Esqui-
maux—Voyage on the I'olar Sea— The Heturn Journey conmieneed —
t'ros.sinjf u Kiver — Exeitinij Adventures — Building a Canoe— Sejiara-
tion of the Mi'n — Junius missing— A Deserted Fort — StJirvation —
Life at Fort Enterprise 184

OIIAITER XV.

FnA.VKI.IN'S FinST LAND KXI'KOITION (rONTlXri.H.')

Dr. Richardson's Narrative — Suspicious Conduct of Micliel— The Mur-
der of Hood— Richardson Shoots Michel— The Retreat to the Fort-
Arrival of Indians— Relief at Hand— The Journey to Fort York 218

» CHAPTER XVI.

pkanki.in's SKCOSD I.ANI> KXPEIHTION.
The Rendezvous at Oreat Bear Lake- Tlic Winter at Fort Franklin —
At the Mouth of tlie Mackenzie —The Expedition in Troul)le— Contest
with the Esi|uiniaux—.\ Brave Interpreter— Voyage along the Coiwt
— Second Winter at Fort Franklin 231

CONTKNTS.

cnAiTEii xvir.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF LYONS, IllOIXIIY, AXU OTIII'.ns.

Scorcsby's Diricovi-rics— Excursimi on .Inn Ahivfii— Anion;; tlio Moun-
tiiins— AlVrilous Dfucent— Dt'sorti'd Ihiliitations— CniiseoftlR'Uriper
— Saliino's lU'searflit's in Ilijjh Latitudt's— C)ii tlic llast tini'nland
Const- Scientific Problems Solved — Lyon's Second Voyaj;e — Tlie
Sniiw-lmntin^' — Hay of (lod's Mercy — Beecbey's Kxi)e(litii)n — Ap-
jiroiicli to Kanicbatka — Tlio Lawrence Islanders — C'listoiiis of ilic
Alaiikans — Wreck of the Baryc— Skiriiiisbes with the Natives 238

CILVPTKU XVI IL

I'AKIJV'.S ru.AU VOYAGE.

The Ilecla and Her Otitfit— In Treurenlieri,' IJay— The Start f)r the Pole
— A Journey on Ice — Drifting South — A Hopeless Undertakini; —
Ileclu Cove 255

CIIAPTEPt XIX.

EXPEniTION OP .IC.HN AND .lAME.S C. HOSS.

Exi)edition of John and .Tames C. Itoss — Tlio Victor}' — Life at Ilolstoin-
bern — Arrival at Fury IJeach — Frozen In— Winter at Felix Harbor —
King William's Land— Discovery of the Magnetic Pole— The Victory
Deserted— Voyage in Open Itoats — Uescued by the Isabella — Keturn
of the Lost I'^xplorers 2C1

CIIAPTEll XX.

GEORCiK hack's KXrEniTIONS.

Overland through Canada — AVoman's Rights at Norway House — The
Batteaux and Canoes— Indian Suimner F^ncampments — '• Raising the
Devil" — Sad Fate of Augustus — Running the Rapids — A Desolate
Region- Voyage in the Terror— Fearful Ice-drift 278

CHAPTER XXI.

I.AXn EXI>EI>ITI<)NS OK DI'.ASE, SIMPSOX, AND RAK.

A Winter's .Tourney— On tlie Coasts of Alaska — Down ICseape Rapids —
Winter-Ciuarters on Great Bear Lake— Return to Red River Settle-
nicnt— Simpson Jlurdercd — Dr. Rae's Explorations 288

CHAPTER XXII.

franklin's last VOYAGE, WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.

Birth and Education — l^arly Passion for the Sea — A Jlidshipman at
Trafalgar — At Battle of New Orleans— Arctic Voyages— Governor of
Van Dieman's Land — The Erebus and Terror — A Lost Expedition . . . 296

CHAPTER XXIIL

SEAKCIIE8 FOR FRANKLIN.

Expeditions of 1848 — Voyage of Ross to I^ancaster Sound — Overland
Search by Richardson and Rae — The Herald and Plover 304

CONTKNT8.

CIIAITKR XXIV.

SEAUCIIES FOU FUANKLIN. (CONTIXLED.)

Austin's Squiulron — Discoveries at Bcechey Island— Sledge Expedition
— Larrior i'igoous — Cruise of tlic Trincc Albert — The Lady i'raiikliu. . 310

CIIAITER XXV.

8KAUC1IES FOR FUANKLIN. (cONTIN'f ED.)

Ci)llinson .'ind McCiiire's Expcilition— Cruise of the Investigator— On the
Cojist of the Continent— Up Prince of Wales Strait— Frozen in — Dis-
covery of ;i North-west Passage— A Xiglit Adventure— Life at Mercy
15,iy-McCiintoek's Cairn— Third Winter in the Ice— Helief at Hand
—Visit .)f 1/ieut. Pirn— The Ship Deserted— Hetrcat to the Resolute—
(h'uise of the Enterprise — Recent Death of McClure 317

CHAPTER XXVI.

SEARCHES FOR FUANKLIN. (coNTINrEn.)

Second Cruise of the Prince Albert— Party Separated from the Ship —
A Xiu'lit at Ciipo SeppinjJts — Ik Hot's Rescue Party— Winter at Batty
Bay — A Visit to Eury Beach — Somerset House 332

CHAPTER XXVII.

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN. (( ONTIM T.n.)

Expeditions of 1852 — Belcher's Squadron — News of McClure — Pim's
Journey to Mercy Bay— Kellett's Adventures — Ahandoninent of the
Ships — Ik'turn to England 330

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN. (cilNTINrED.)

Inglefield's Voyages — Cruise of the Plianix and Lady Franklin — Death
of Bellot — Lieut. Cress well — Dr. Rae at Repulse Bay 345

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE FIRST AMERICAN I'.XPr.DITION.

TIic Advance and Rescue— Off Newfoundland— The Arctic Day — Crown
Prince Islands —Kayaks 349

CHAPTER XXX.

THE FIRST AMKRICAN K.\I'EDITION. (CONTINUED.)

Icohprg Scenerj' — Wonders of Refracti(m— Arctic Navigation — Borgs —
A Race — A Pinch — Animal Life — Frozen Families 372

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.)

The Crimson Cliffs — An .Arctic Garden — Trapping the Auks— Good-hyo
to Baffin — Franklin's Eneami)ment Discovered — The Graves 399

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTIirUED. )

Visit to the Resolute— The Rendezvous— A Gale— Order for Return—
Frozen in— Drifting— Fighting the Enemy— The Aurora— Crisis— A
Race of Pale Faces — Midnight of the Year — Returning Light 428

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.)

A Gale — An Escape — Floating Bears— Esquimaux Guests — A Night
Scene — In an Ice Trap — The Escape — Tlic Governor's Mansion — The
Feast — Feats of the Kayaker — Conclusion 478

CHAPTER XXXIV.

DR. KANE's second EXPEDITION.

Rensselaer Harbor — Camp on the Floes — Sudden Alarm — The Rescue
Party — The Wanderers Found — A Bivouac — Esquimaux Visitors —
Death of Baker — Adventures of Morton and Hans — Signal Cairn —
The Record— The Arrest— The Punishment— Our Wild Allies-
Hunting Excursion — Esquimaux Homestead — A Bear Fight 519

CHAPTER XXXV.

DR. KANE'S SECOND EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.)

The Cabin by Night — ^The Hut in a Storm — Hans Discouraged — Day
Dreams— Joyful News — A Sun Worshiper — Famine at Etah — A
Walrus Hunt — The Delectable Mountains — A Deserter — A Morning
in the Cabin— Shunghu's Daughter — A Noble Savage — Enterprising
Hunters 572

CHAPTER XXXVI.
DR. Kane's second expedition, (continued.)
Farewell to the Brig— Approach to Etah — A Midnight Festival — A
Crystal Palace — At the Open Water — Good-bye to Esquimaux —
Embarkation — Weary Man's Rest — The Esquimaux Eden — Lost
; Among Bergs—" The Seal ! "—Terra Firma !— The Welcome C04

CHAPTER XXXVII.

the iiartstene relief expedition.

Narrative of John K. Kane 635

CHAPTER XXXVIIL

FRANK MN'S fate DISCOVERED.

Dr. Rae's Discoveries — The Fox Expedition — Franklin's Monument —
Winter in Bellot Strait — McClintock's Discoveries— The Cairn at
Point Victory — Crozier's Record— A Buried Boat— Return of the Fox
—Relics of Franklin— The Story of the Lost Expedition C41

CONTENTS.

•w

CHAPTER XXXIX.

ARCTIC 8IIIERIA AND ITS EXPLORERS.

Siberian Exiles — Voyage of Dcslmcf—Bering's IJiscoveries— Chelyus-
kin's Explorations — The New Siberia Islands— Anjou's Travels —
WrangcU's Explorations — Skill of Siberian Sledge-drivers — The
" Great Russian Polynia " — The Lower Yenisei CG3

CHAPTER XL.

TRAVELS IN ALASKA.

The Aleutian Islands — Expeditions of Dall and \\rhyniper — Up the
Yukon— A Winter at Nulato— The Alaskans— Sitka C7(5

CHAPTER XLI.

DR. haves' expedition.

The Voyage to Smith Sound — Winter at Port Foulke — Sledge Journey
— Grinnell Land— Capo Lieber — Return (>82

CHAPTER XLII.

SKETCH OF CHARLES F. HALL, AND HIS EARLIER ARCTIC TRAVELS.

Early Life — Proposes to Search for Franklin — Secures Passage in a
Whaler — Captain Buddington — The "George Henry" — Frozen in at
Field's Bay — Visit from Ebierbing an.l Tookoolito— Excursions — Fro-
hishcr IJelics — "Fisherman's Lutk" — Second Winter in the Joe —
Return Home — Second Journey to the North — The Monticello — Resi-
dence on the Northern Coasts of Hudson's Bay — A visit to King Wil-
liiim's Land — Relics of Franklin's Expedition CSC

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE POLARIS KXPEDITION.

Captain Hall's Plans — The Polaris and her Crew — Sketch of Otficcrs —
On the Greenland Coast — Pisco — The Expedition at Upernavik —
At Tessuisak — Hall's Good-bye to Civilization C'Jfi

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE POLARIS KXI'EIJITIOX. (CONTINUED.)

Adrift on the Floes — Off the Labrador Coast — A Fearful Position — Sig-
naling the Tigress — Rescued— Startling News from the Polaris — The
Castaways at St. John's — Suspicions — The "Frolic" — At Washington . 70(5

CHAPTER XLV.

THE POLARIS EXPEDITION. (CONTINUED.)

The Polaris in High Latitude — Tiiank God Harbor — Hall's Journey to
the Nortli— Hall's Last Dispatch— Death of Hall— Joe's Story-
Funeral <if Captain Hall — Tlie AVinter at Polaris Bay— Outside of the
Ship — Returning Day — Bear Hunting— Excursions to the North —
Soparntion from the Polaris — The Drift Southward — The Rescue-
Joe and Hans 711

Co.NTK.N'rs.

CIIAPTKll XLVr.
TiiF, roi.Aiii.s r.xrr.iiiTiox. (c; ntini.'kd.j
Journal of Ilcrm.in Sii'iiians, a Sciiiimn rf tlio Pilaris, Kxtcnding from
June I'Oth, 1871, to October l-'tli, 1«7-' 731

ClIAPTEU XLVII.
THE roi.Aius i;xri:i)iTiox. (coNTixt-'ED.)
Diary of John lU-rron, Stewar<l of tlio Polaris, Kept wliile Drifting on

tho lee from October 15tii, KS7L', to April oOtli, 187a 750

CIIAll'EU XLVIII.

rOI.ARIS SEARCH AN1> UEI.IEF I.XI'EDITIOXS.

Cruise of the Juniata anil Tisjrcss— The Little Juniata— The Tigress on
the Trail — Buddinuton's Camp Discovered— Interview with Ksqiii-
inaux — Signaling tho Juniata at Niijht 7C9

ClIAPTEU XLIX.

THE POLARIS EXPEDITION. (COXCLIDED.)

(.''aptain TSuddington's Narrative— The Polaris Wrecdved and Deserted —
Preparing for Winter — Visit from the Natives - The Vi'iiiter nt Life-
Poat Cove — The Start Homeward — The Jcurney Southward- las-
cued by the llavcnscraig~A Dundee Whaler 776

ClIAPTEU L.

GERMAN Aurru: i;xi'i:i)iTioNS.

Destruction of the "Hansa"— Crui.-i' of the " Germiinia " — Important
Discoveries— Payer's Expedition— The " Tegitlioti"" and "Isbjorn". . 787

ClIAPTEU LI.

SWEDISH AN:> NOItWECIAN EXPEDITIONS.

Captain Carlscn's Voyage— lee Haven Uevisited — Uelics of the Dutch
Expedition — Nordenskiold's Expedit(m— The Winter at Mussel Uiiy —
Startling News — The lee-Pound Fishernu-n and Their Fate-Cruiso
of the "Albert" and "(inienhind "—Disaster on the Nova Zenibhi
Coast— The "Diana" and "Samson" — Projiose<l I'.nglish Expedi-
ti .n toward the North Pole — Tribute to Captain Hall 793

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Paoe.

1 The PoLAnis in High Latitudk.^. (Front hjiiece.)

2 PoKTIlAlT C)F Dii. Kank 1

■3 llorsK IN Havana wiikiie Uii. Kane I>iei) 10

4 TUE IjEHtl'E _. 18

C I'oiiTiiAir OK Sill John Kkanki.in 19

6 Scene dn the (Jkkeni-am) t'oAsr 83

7 View op Fi^^kkunaks, (;hi;eni.anii, 33

8 MoiiAViAN Si/rTi.i;.Mi;M' at Lriitenfki.s, 83

9 Ships A monci ItEu.is. 30

10 WlNTKlt IN ^ll)^<(<)\V 4-1

11 Ships EsTANoi.Kii IN Icn, 46

12 Lake Kaikai.. Kasti:kn Si:ieuia 47

13 Votive C'lmss and Midniuht Stn— N<iitTUi:i:N Uissia r>8

11 The Land of Desolation 73

IS FliEKillTEII IcnilEIHi, 73

1(1 The Mii)1)i.i: 1'ai k 81

17 A Sketch, 84

18 Ks(iri.>!Arx Htwi-TiCAMs 03

lt( lisijii.MAix Snow UoiMis 93

20 AiicTif AiiioiiA. 109

SI View on thi: Spit/f.kiuien Coast .. 109

2d Approaching Winteu -Jajieb' Uav 115

23 Arctic Paiihki.ia 115

81 The Ici-IJocnd IlAUiioK 1I«

25 The Kavakkk in a (Iai.k 1-21

20 A Whaling Scene 141

27 Kayak and Oomiak, M3

23 Whalers Stopped nv the I'ai k 113

89 An IceCatuedual 144

30 Cape Isabella 117

31 Cate Alexandeh 117

32 Track op the IIecla and (Ikipei: 157

33 Parry's Ships in Winter (^lAinKHs, 157

31 Stranded, lOj

35 The "Merry Dancers," 107

SO Watchinu rou Indian IIocse-Thieves, ISH

87 lIuNTiNO ON Snow-Shoks 191

88 DisonsED Htfpalo Uiinteus, ]!)1

39 IIUNTEUs' Winter Camp t>00

40 A Ilt'NOUY UXPLOIIEII, 217

41 Overland ExPLouER? 230

43 A Station op the IIidson's Bay Company, 231

43 The Mariner'si I'ompass 2.'i7

41 Pethopaulski, Kamchatka S-'O

45 Uosey-Combfd Iceueiiu, 25-1

XIV

ILLUSTUATJONS.

46 Jack AND Ilia "Dker," 980

47 An IcB Briuue, 877

48 Indian Summkk Encampment, jgO

49 MUOHE llUNTlNO IN CANOES 28|>

60 A Lead Tunuuuu tub Kloe 387

51 WlNTEIl CUUItlKIW or TUB I'UIl COMPANY, 288

5'J KiioDED Beku, 809

53 llUMMOCKS, 316

54 BEEcnET Island, 340

65 The IcB-BAiutiEn, 340

6() Toe Advance and Uescue at Navy Yard S53

67 Oim First Icebehu 363

68 The Sukkebtoppen, 369

5i» Entekino Uisco, 869

C;; Disco IlcTS, 360

01 Inspectors' House, Lievely, 869

62 Amono the Bergs, S69

63 Group of Seals, 370

64 ICEBERO 371

65 Glaciers of Jacob's BiauT 373

66 In A Foo, 373

67 Tracking, 381

68 Kayacks, 381

6U Woman's Boat 382

70 The Devil's Thumb, 3M

71 Melville Bay, 394

7'J Esquimaux on Snow-Suoes, 398

73 Looking for Water, 403

74 Bessie's Cove, 403

75 Tub Advance in February, 465

70 Winter in tub Pack, 465

77 Bird'b-Eye View op Ice-Floe 484

7S Es(iuiMAux Beauties, 489

79 Tub Governor's Sons 493

80 Saluting tub Provknese, 495

81 Good-Bye to the Prince Albert, 490

82 Interior of a Native Hut, L'peunavik 499

83 The Governor's Mansion, 506

84 Harpooning Seals 517

85 Fastened to an Iceberg, 621

86 Parting Hawsers, 521

87 Sylvia Headland— Inspectino a Harbor 527

83 The Advance Frozen in at Kensselaer Harbor, 527

89 In the Tent, 533

90 Pinnacly Berg 533

91 Tub Rescue Party, 634

92 Loading the Faith, 643

93 First Meeting with Esquimaux, 643

94 Tent on the Floes, 649

03 The Bear in Camp, 649

96 Gathering Moss 549

97 Morton and Hans Entering Kennedy Channel 553

98 Morton and Hans LEA^^NG the Channel, 553

99 Kennedy Channel, 561

100 View from Cape Constitution, 561

101 An Es(iuiMAUX Homestead, 567

102 Wild Dog Team 567

103 Arctic Moonlight, 573

ILLUSTRATIONS.

104 Thb Ice-Foot Canopt 673

I(>5 Tub Bhiu in uek Wintkk Ckadlk 67U

KMl APlMiOACIIINO TUB DE!«EI(TE1I lluT 679

1117 Tub Opkn Wateii, 670

105 AucTic Sea-Oi'll8 685

liKI KiUEii Island Di'ck.i 685

110 Tub Waluiis Hf.sxBn 601

111 Tub Atluk. oh Heal-Hole, 600

lia SUOOTINO Seai 600

ll;l WaLUUS SPOIITINO 600

111 E:4()UIMAL'X rollTHAITX— 1'AI'I.IK— AnAK— ACCOMODAH, COS

115 UltERNLANU ClIILDKEN I'l.AYINCI HaI.I., 000

llti Catcuinu Ai'Ks 000

117 HoatC'ami' I.N A Stohm. 017

lis OOOD-IIYE TO THE EtHJIlMArX, 017

110 UlKI)i< or I'llOVIKENCE (-'I.IFFS, 0^7

I'Jil I'as!iin(» the I'lHiiaoN C'Lirrn 0'J7

Itil Cape Welcome, 03.1

Vii Orn FinsT K avak im

l-i'J The Faith, rM

121 A Small Wateii Pahtv (i-'iO

123 DiacovEKY op Fiianklin'h C'aiiis 0-13

120 Relics op the Lost Exi'loi!k1!s 048

127 The Gredi's and Tekuou i.s the Ice-Stukam t),j7

128 Funeral op Sir John Franklin tiri7

12!) A I'oLAB Beau I'knic W>3

l.'IO Exiles En iioute pou Siiieuia 0(13

131 A Siberian Fort 0*,j

132 Travelinu in Kamchatka, O'.ii

13.3 Aleutians C'atchino Whales OTO

134 Fort Xclato, Alaska— Al'roiul Liuiit, 070

13.) A Deer Corrai tM

130 View op Sitka, Alaska O'i'i

137 Portrait op Captain Ci;ahles ]•'. Ham (liW

1.38 Portrait op Caitain S. O. HruuiNoToN 0!)8

i;!0 Portrait op Captain (Jeorue E. Tyson, 003

140 SlIlNALINU THE TlOliESS 7(1.1

141 FiTNEBAL OP Captain Hall, at Polaris Uav, 718

142 A Bear Hunt, 7;iO

143 Meeting op the Flors 740

141 Formation op Himmock-* 708

14,> LiPB on the DllIPTIMl II K-FlKI.I) 7(10

IKi Portraits ok .Ioe, Hannah, and Sylvia 772

147 The 11 ansa Crushed— Escape op tukCkew 7S7

148 Count Wilczec in Nova Zembla 701

140 Relics of the Putcii Expedition, 703

150 Barentz's Hoi'se at Ice Haven 703

Aiid Twenty SinuUer Engraving's.

MAPS, Etc.

CmciTMPOLAn Map 1

Map op the American Arctic Sea, 2.3

Ancient Map op Spitzberoen, 120

Chart opthr Whale-Fish Islands .308

Chart Suowinu the Discoveries op Kane, Hayes, and Hall, (i-W

FaO BLUILES, 6-19-050

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>0'

t A

.t'

A S K E T (• II O V T II K 1. I V K O V

KLISllA KENT RANK, M.D., U. S. N.,

PROF. CIIAULES W. SIHELDH, I). IL, OK miNCETON COLI-EOE, X. J.

The Life of Dr. Kant! is alreaily a fireside talu. Kvory one is
faiiiiiiar with it as llio story of a youiijjf kiiijfht-frraiit of |iliilaiitlin>])y
and si'ient'c, who traversed nearly llio wliole surface of tlie ylulx", within
the short period of fourteen years; wlio (gathered here and tliere a
hiurel from every walk of physical research in which he strayed ; who
phniii'ed into the thick of perilous adventure, abstracting in the spirit
of philosophy, yet seeinj^ with the eye of ])oesy, and loviuiij with the
lieart of humanity; who penetrated, under such impulses, even {o the
Northern pole of the planet and remained secluded amidst the horrors
of two Arctic winters; wiio returned like one come back from another
world, to invest the very story of his escape with the chanus of litera-
ture and art, and transport us, hy his graphic pen, into .scenes we
scarcely realize as heloiiiiin^ to the earth we inhabit; and who died at
length, in the flush of his manhood and the morning of his fame,
lamented by his country and the world.

To write the story of such a life ivs it should be written, would bo
impossible within the limits assioncd to this memoir, and notliini^ more,
therefore, will be here attempted than such a sketch as may serve to
introduce this new edition of his works to the reader. As we trace the
asual bioy-raphical themes, though in the briefest manner, it will bo
found that his origin and education, the leading events in his career,
the prominent traits of his character, liis p\iblic services, and his private
life and last moments, together yield an impression which is suited at
once to justify his fame and perpetuate the lessons he has left to the
world. •<

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

Elisha Kent Kane, the leader in the American search for Sir John
Franklin, was born in Philadelphia, Fob. 3, A. D. 1820. He received
the name of Iiis grandfatlier, wlio had liimself been named after his ma-
ternal grandfather, the Reverend Elisha Kent, of "Kent's I'arisli," N. Y.,
and he was baptized by his nnclc, the Reverend Jacob J. Janeway,
D. D., then pastor of the Second I'rcsbyterian Church, which hi»
parents attended.

Oil the father's side ho was descended from Colonel John Kane, of
the British Army, his great-grandfather, who came from Ireland to tlr.
colony of New York about the year 1756, retired to Dutchess County,
and there married Miss Sybil Kent, dangliter of the clergyman above
nanie<l, and aunt of Chancellor Kent. Ills grandfather, Elisha K. Kane,
■was a successful nierchant in Albany and New York, who married Miss
Alida ^'an Rensselaer, daughter of Ccncral Robert Van Rensselaer, of
Claveniek, and subsequently removed to riiiladelpiiia. His father, the
late lion. John K. Kane, a graduate of Yale College, and successively
a member of the Philadelphia bar, Attorney-General of the State, and
Judirc of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Pennsvl-
vania, was well known as an acute and learned jurist witliiu his profes-
sion, as an influential statesman of the old school of politics, an active
promoter of the arts, sciences, and charities in Philadelphia, an siccom-
plished scholar in classical and English literature, and a courtly gentle-
man in society. And the culture, efficiency, and tact which distin-
guished him in every relation of life were not wanting in his honored
son.

On fhe mother's side he Avas descended from Thomas Leiper, a
younger son of a Scotch family of French origin, who came in search
of fortune about the year 1764, to the colony of Virginia, and thence
to PeiMisylvaiiia ; built extensive mills near Philadelphia; aided in
forming the First City Troop, and served with distinguished gaHantry
in tlie battles of Trenton and Princeton ; united, after the war, with
his warm piMsonal friend, T'resideiit Jefferson, in organizing the polit-
ical party which looked to him for its leader ; and as a zealous advo-
cate of public improvements, laid down the first experimental railway
constructed in the United States. ILj married Miss Elizabeth Coltas
Gray, the daughter of the Hon. George Gray, of Gray's Ferry, and of
Martha Ibbetsou Gray, whose generous services in nui"sing the sick and
wounded prisoners during the occupation of Philadelphia by Lord
Ilowe, attracted public testimonials from both parties. Their daughter,
Jane Duval Leiper, as Mrs. Kane, illustrated the traits proverbial in
the mothers of great men by combining with the virtues of the Spartan

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

matron, tliat ciicriiy, nerve, elasticity, and warm-licartediicss wliich
became famous in her son.

Oil both sides, his ancestry in tliia country, it will be seen, dates
before the American Kovohition, being derived in the paternal line from
Irclanil, Holland, and Enjrlatid, and in the maternal line from Sctitland,
England, and France, while the corresponding religions blended in it
were the Episcopalian, Dutch Reformed, ami Congregational, with the
Presbyterian, Quaker, Methodist, and Moravian. And the names whieli
it embraces are here mentioned, not merely because he has himself
written then), with a just pride, upon the map of the Arctic seas, but
also as serving to explain that rare combination of varied and even
opposite elements of race, of creed, and of culture, w hich entered into
the formation of his character.

When Mr. Kane and Miss Leipcr first met, they were in tlie prime
of youthful strength and beauty ; and after a courtship, the romance
of which has become a family tradition, they were married, April 20,
1819. Elisha was the eldest of their children. Three other sons and
a married dau<rhter are stiil livinn;.

In Dr. Kane, as in most men who aeliicve greatness, the lioy fore-
shadowed the man. Arctic explorations were prefigured by juvenile
feats of daring and contrivance. His biographer relates that when but
a child, he scaled the roof by moonlight with liis younger brother,
while the family were asleep, feeling repaid for the perilous adventure
by the "grand view" from the chinmey-top. Traits which afterwards
shone out before the world, already a[)pearcd in the school-room and
on the playground, wliere he became a spirited little champion of the
weak and oppressed, repelling imposition from any quarter with uncal-
culating courage, and yet fus quick to forgive as to resent an injury.
His tastes, too, began to show the bias of coming years. He had his
own small cabinet of minerals, birds, and insects, and his chenucal lab-
oratory, the latter to the fretpient alarm of the household — and his
favorite books were Uobiuson Crusoe and Pilgrim's Progress.

But if it is easy now to trace the beginnings of his career, it was not
80 easy then to forecast it. Fonder of sports than of books, full of
generous but ill-regulated impulses, and impatient of control, his
course as yet was like that of a mountain torrent which has not found
and made its channel ; and it was only when he began by his own
etforts to retrieve his neglected education, that parental anxiety was
relieved.

His father would have had him follow in bis own footsteps at Yale ;
but his inclination was more towards science than learning, and the

mma

LIFE OF DK. KANE.

! .

I' I I

, ?

optional course of study which the University of Virginia ullowcd, was
found better adapted to his somewhat exceptional genius. lie was in
his seventeenth year when he entered the university, and during the
year and a half tliat he studied there, made good progress in the clas-
sical and mathematical course proscribed, as well as in liis own chosen
sciences of chemistry, mineralogy, geology, and civil engineering. It
was at tiiis time he said to his cousin that he "intended to make his
mark in the world." And the resolution seems to have derived im-
pulse from an event which abruptly ended his collegiate course a little
before the time of graduation. I'rostrated by an acute rhcumntism of
the heart, ho was wrapped in a blaidcet and taken by slow journeys
home to Philadelphi.i, where he endnreil frightful paroxysins of pain,
and for days appeared to be on the brink of deatli. He recovered, to
learn from his physicians that he might fall as suddenly as by a muslcet
shot. The decision with which he went back to the duties of life was
only anticipated by his father's counsel : "Elisha, if you must die, d'
in harness."

Turning from the profession of a civil engineer to that of a pliysician,
in his niueteenth year, he was matriculated in ttic Medical Department
of the University of Pennsylvania, and after attending one course of
lectures, while yet an undergraduate, he was elected one of the Resi-
dent Physicians in the Hospital at Blockley. His preceptors and asso-
ciates have all publicly spoken of the remarkable zeal and success with
which he prosecuted his studies and performed his dnties in these posi-
tions. Indeed his graduating thesis on the subject of "Kj-estcin " was
80 highly esteemed that it was published by a vote of the Faculty, and
attracted the general notice of the profession. It is still quoted as an
authority botli in this country and abroad.

It had become plain that Dr. Kane's cardiac disorder combined with
his scientific tastes and aspirations to untit him for the routine life of a
practitioner, and that travel, adventure, and incessant activity were with
him a physical need as well as a n)oral impulse. He had no taste for
the social blandishments under which young men born to ease and ele-
gance too often waste their prime, and the stagnant political condition
of the country at that time afforded none of the generous careers \vhi(,'h
have since been opened to them. Neither could he accept for himself
the fate of a mere invalid tourist or reckless adventurer, intent on
crowding into a short lifetime the utmost amount of mere aindess
diversion. There must, if possible, be a color of scientific enthusiasm
to sanction his life of physical hardihood.

His father, acting upon this enlightened view of his case, applied for

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

liim to the Secretary of the Navy for the post of surgeon in the scp-
vioe; and after passing tlic required examination so creilitahiy tliat the
disqualifying state of liis health was overlooked hy the Board of
Examiners, he was appointed ])liysipian of the Chinese Endiassy,
which sailed in the frigate Biandywine, Commodore Parker, in May,
1843.

During the two vears that lie was ahsent upon this his first extended
tour of travel, ho made a complete circuit of the globe, sailing around
tlie coast of South America, across the I'acific Ocean to Southern and
Eastern Asia, and returning by the overland route through Europe,
across the Atlantic to the United States. And that spirit of dauntless
research which actuated l)im through life seems every where to have
brought with it its own proper atmosphere of marvelous incident and
peril.

AVliile the vessel remained at Rio de Janeiro, after participating with
the diplomatic corps in the coronation of the Emperor of Brazil, he
visiteil the Eastern Andes for a geological survey of that region. At
Bombay, where the legation awaited some months tlie arrival of its
chief, Mr. Gushing, by the overland route, he seized the opportunity for
similar inland journeys, exploring the cavcrned tenq)les of Elephanta,
traveling by palanquin to the less known ruins at Karli, pas^inn; over
to Ceylon, and cngagino-, with some ofllcers of the garrison, in the ele-
phant hunt, and the otlier wild sports of the island. But it was at
Luzon or Luconia, a Spanish possession in the China Sea, tliat tliis
adventurous spirit, though under a scientific impulse, passed tlie limits
of prudence in bis far-famed exploration of tlie crater of Tael, a vol-
cano on the Pacific coa.-t of the island, in a region iidiabited only by
savages. Crossing over to the capital city of tbe island, during one of
the long delays of Chinese dijilomacy, he procured an escDVt of natives
from tlie Archbishop of Manilla, (by means of letter^ from Ainerican
prelates which he had secured before leaving home,) ami in coiii))any
with his friend Baron Loo, a relative of Metternich, penetrated across
the country to the asphaltic lake in which the island vulcano is situ-
ated. ]]oth gentlemen at first descended together, until they rearhcd
a pre(;ipi('c overhanging the cavernous gulf of tbe crater, when the
baron saw further progress to be impossible, but the doctor, in spito
of the remonstrances of the whole party, insisted upon being lowered
over the ledge by tueans of a rope made of bamboos, and held in tho
hands of the natives under the baron's direction, until he reached tho
bottom, two huudred feet below. Loosing himself from the cord, ho
forced his way downwards through the sulphurous vapors, over tho hot

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

r' :l

t '

aslics, to tlic green, boiling lake, dipped liis specinicn-bottio into its
waters, voturiicd to the rope, several times stninbling, abuost stifled,
and with his boots charred, one of them to a coal, but sneceeded in
again fastening himself, and was hauled np by his assistants and re-
ceived into their hands exhausted and almost insensible, llomedies
brouglit from the neighboring hermitage were .ipplied, and he was so
far restored that they could proceed on their journey. Rut rumors
spread before them among the pigmy savages on the island, of the pro-
fane invasion which had been made into the sacred mysteries of the
Tacl, and an angry mob gathered around them, which was only dis-
persed by one or two pistol shots and the timely ariival of the padres.
The trophies of this expedition were some valuable mineral specimens,
a bottle of sulphur water, a series of graphic views from recollection
in his sketch-book, and a written description of the volcano by one of
the friars, which, after many wanderings, was put in his hands as he sat
at the home dinner-table, twelve years afterwards.

Resigning his post in the diplomatic mission. Dr. Kane practiced his
profession in Whaujpoa, un.til he was sufficiently in funds to pursue his
journey homeward through Calcutta by the overland route. After
exploring the interior of India, including the Himalaya mountains, he
was admitted with his friend, Mr. Dent, a British official, into the suite
of Prince Tagore, one of the native Hindoo nobles, then on his way to
the court oi' Queen Victoria, and traveled under this safe conduct
through Persia and Syria, as far as Upper Egypt. At Alexandria he
received, through an introduction by Prince Tagore to the Pasha Me-
hcmet Ali, a special firman by which he was enabled safely to traverse
the region of Egyptian ruins. But the journals of a large part of this
expedition, as of the whole previous tour, were unfortunately lost by
the upsetting of his boat in the Nile. In the ruined temple of Karnak
ho met with Professor Lepsius, the renowned Egyptologist, with whom
he traveled some time, and at Luxor he proved that archaeological re-
search is sometimes more curious than effective, by climbing, as had
never been done before, between the colossal knees of the statue of
Memnon, in hopes of finding some hieroglyph on the underside of the
tablet in the lap of the figure.

His sensitive organization, throughout life, seems to have reflected
with peculiar intensity the disease of every country through which he
traveled. As at Macao he had been prostrated by the rice-fever, so at
Alexandria ho was seized with an attack of the plague. When suffi-
ciently recovered to pursue his journeyings, he set out for Greece, and
made the tour of that classic land on foot. Athens, Flataca, Mount

LITE OF DR. KANE. f

ITelicon, Themiopyla;, Piirnassua, were snccessively visiteJ, after which
ho passed to Trieste, and thence tliroiigh Germany to Switzerhmd,
where tiic glaciers of the Alps yielded him the ice-theories which he
afterwards tested in the Arctic regions.

His design liad been to return to Manilla, in the island of Luzon,
with a license from the Spanish authorities to practice his profession ;
but failing in this, or iMinquishing it, he at length yielded to urgent
solicitations from home, and returned by way of Italy, France, and
England, to the United States.

Dr. Kaue was at this time twenty-four years of age, and had already
developed the traits for which he was subsequently distinguished. The
Reverend George Jones, chaplain to the Chinese Embassy, sj)eiiks of
him as "then very youthful-looking, with a smooth face, a florid com-
plexion, very delicate form, smaller than the common size; but with an
elastic step, a bright eye, and great enthusiasm in manner, which also
mixed itself with his conversation, lie seemed to be all hope, all
ardor, and his eye appeared already to take in the whole world as his
own." And another of his associates in the diplomatic mission,
Fletcher Webster, Esq., has said that " in social intercourse, although
agreeable and very bright when called out, he still seemed to be think-
ing of something above and beyond what was present. To his great
ecientific taste and knowledge, and his energy and resolution, he added
a courage of the most dauntless kind. The idea of personal appre-
hension seemed never to cross his mind. He was ambitious, not of
mere personal distinction, but of achievements useful to mankind and
promotive of science."

On his return to Philadelphia, he successfully devoted himself for a
time to his profession, both as a teacher and practitioner of medicine,
though being still a titular sui^eon of the Navy, he had put his name
on the roll as " waiting for orders." Accordingly, three weeks before
the declaration of war against Mexico, in May, 1846, he was ordered to
the coast of Africa, in the frigate Uniteil States, under Commodore
Reed. When at Rio Janeiro in 184,1, he had received, in return for
professional services, from the famous Portuguese merchant. Da Sousa,
introductory letters to his commcrcical representatives on the African
coast, by means of which he now visited and examined the slave-fac-
tories; and while the frigate was in harbor, he also joined a caravan
going to the interior, and was presented at the court of his savage
majesty the king of Dahomey, where he became convinced that even
the horrors of the middle passage were merciful compared with those
from which its victims had been rescued.

LIFE OF DR. KANJ:.

ii:

From tliis comparatively inglorious field of the public service, Dr.
Kane was transferred by a virulent attack of the coast-fever, which,
after bringing him to the point of death, required his immediate return
liomc. He reached I'hiladolphia utterly broken in health, but eager to
mingle in the stirring scenes then passing in Mexico, from which ho
had been withheld during his ten months' absence. AVhcn scarcely
yet convalescent, ho hastened to Washington, obtained credentials aa
bearer of dispatches to General Scott, then in the Mexican capital, and
after stopping in Kentucky to procure a horse, said by one of his col-
leagues to have been "the finest animal ever seen in Mexico," pursued
his journey to New Orleans, and thence across the Gulf to Vera Cruz.
It was while on his way to the interior that an afiair occurred, the well-
attested facts of which bring back the romance of chivalry as a reality.

Dr. Kane, having been unable to procure an American escort, had
intrusted himself to a Mexican spy-company, under Colonel Domiiignes,
and was approaching Nopaluca, when they encountered a body of
contra-guerrillas, escorting Generals Gaona and Torrejon, with other
Mexican officers. A short and severe contest ensued, resulting in tho
capture of most of the Mexican pai'ty. During the fray, the doctor's
charger carried him between young Oolonel Gaona and his orderly,
who both fell upon him at the same moment. Receiving only a slight
flesh hurt from the lance of the latter, he parried the sabre-cut of tho
former and unhorsed him with a wound in the chest. Soon afterwards
ones came from young Gaona to save his father, the aged general,
■whom, together with the other Mexican prisoners, the renegade Do-
mingnes and his bandits were about to butcher in cold blood. Dr.
Kane instantly charged among them with his six-shooter, and suc-
ceeded at length in enforcing humanity to the vanquished, though only
after himself receiving a lance-thrust in the abdomen and a blow wliich
cost him the loss of his horse. But still another act of mercy remained
to be performed. As the old General sat beside his son, who was
bleeding to death from his wound, the doctor, with no better surgical
implements than a table-fork and a piece of pack-thread, succeeded in
taking up and tying the artery, and thus saving the life which he had
endangered.

The gratitude of the rescued ^^exicans knew no bounds, and when it
was found that their deliverer was himself sufi'ering from his wounds,
he was taken by General Gaona to his own residence, and there mirsed
for weeks by the ladies of the family, with every attention that wealth
and refinement could suggest. A tissue of circumstantial as well as
personal evidence has saved the chronicler of this incident the risk of

LIFE OF I)U. KANE.

..r

sccniiiiG; a romancer. Tlie published letters wlik-li passed between tho
Ainciricaii and Mexican stiver. lois of I'licbla in rcgar 1 to Dr. Kane,
iiitcirliann'(!(l his praises; and uii his irtiirn to I'liiladclphia, nidrctlian
stni'iity of the most distin;;-uished genllcmeii of the city united in pre-
scMiting him with a sword, as a memorial of "an incidtMital ex[)loit
which was crowned with the ilistinction due to gallantry, skill, and
success, and was hallowed in tiic Hush of victory by the noblest hu-
manity to the van(]uislied."

Alter the Mexican war, in January, 1S40, Dr. Kane was attached to
the storeship Siipjdy, Conunander Arthur Sinclair, bound for Lisbon,
the Mediterranean, and Uio Janeiro. The diseases which he had suc-
cessively contracted in ('hina, Kgypt, Africa, and Mexico, had made sad
inroads upon his health, and the voyage, though without much of in-
cident, at least served to recruit his strength, lie was next assigned to
the Ccnist Survey, and had settled into its round of duty, when he was
suddenly called to the great work of his life.

"On the 12th of ^b'ly,'' he writes, " while bathing in the tepid waters
of the (iulf of Mexico, I received one of those courteous little epistles
from Washington whicli the electric telegraph has made so familiar to
naval officers. It detached mc from the coast-survey, and ordered mo
to proceed forthwith to New York for duty upon the Arctic expedition."
For months before, the civilized world hail resounded with the cry to
the rescue of Sir John Franklin, and the Goveriuucnt, moving in sym-
pathy with the whole country, had resolved upon sending in search of
tho lost navigator the two vessels, the "Advance" and "Rescue," under
Conunander Do Ilavon. Dr. Kane, who had repeatedly volunteered
his services, was made .senior medical officer and naturalist of tho ex-
pedition, and on his return, published its history in the form of a ""Per-
sonal Narrative," collected from his private journals. The ci'uise lasted
during sixteen months, but resulted in little more than the discovery
of Sir John Franklin's first winter quarters and tho graves of three of
his men.

In proceeding to organize the second United States Grinncll Expe-
dition under his own command. Dr. Kane had before him an ol>ject
worthy of his matured powers and noMcst aims, and gave himself to
the task with tho zeal of a votary. Dut what discouragements, what
disappointments, and what difiicultics entered into that great under-
taking from its outset to its close, ran be but partially seen through
the veil of delieatc reserve which ho has thrown over them. Some-
thing, however, may be learned in legard to them from another source,
and upon authority as competent as it is disinterested and liHuorable.

LIFE OF DU. KANE.

Hi
'1!

Cnptaiii Sliomrd Osborne, of Ilcr Majesty's Navy, in a paper advoca-
ting fuitlier polar exploration, holds the following language : —

" It is only fair to Dr. Kane to say, that never in our times has a
navigator entereil the ico so inditterently prepared for n Polar winter.
With only seventeen followers, two of them mutineers, without a steam-
power for his solitary vessel, without proper sledge-equipment, without
any preserved fresh meat, and a great insufficiency of preserved vege-
tables, and with only coals enough to servo for twelve months' fuel, the
only marvel to mo is, that he over returned to relate his sufforino's.
They are only to be equaled by those of the navigator "James," in
Hudson I»ay, two centuries earlier. God forbid that I should be
thought to cast one reflection xipon those warm-hearted Americans who
came nobly forward and said, " We too will aid in Arctic enterprise ;"
but the fact is that enthusiasm and high courjxgc, without proper
knowledge and equipment, on such service, infallibly lead to the suft'er-
ing which Dr. Kane's followers endured; and it is that which best
explains how it was, that whilst our sailors, far beyond the Esquimaux,
waxed fat and fastidious, Kane's poor followers had to eat the raw flesh
of animals to avert tlic ravages of scurvy, brought on by a poisonous
dietary of salt meat. This much to meet the objections of those who
point to Dr. Kane's thrilling narrative with a view to frighten us from
Arctic exploration ; and I may add, that I know well that chivalrous
man never penned those touching episodes to frighten men from high
enterprise, but rather to caution us to avoid his mistakes, and to show
us how nobly the worst evils may bo borne when the cause is a good

one

The narrative of that expedition is before the reader in this volume.
When first given to the world, it excittnl an intense interest and drew
forth universal eulogy. All classes were penetrated and touched by
the story so simply, so modestly, so eloquently told. Autograph let-
ters from the most eminent names in every walk of life were written in
its praise. Medals and other costly testimonials were sent by the Queen
of England, by different Legislatures in our own country, and by scien-
tific associations throughout the world. The mere casual notices of
the press, as collected by his friend Mr. Childs, the publisher, fill sev-
eral albums of folio size.

But the recipient of those nonors was not destined himself long to
enjoy them. To the seeds of former diseases never fully eradicated,
had been added that terrible scourge of Arctic life, the scurvy, together

* Paper on the Exploration of the North Polar Rcjrion, rend before the Royal
Geographical Society, Jan. 23d, 18G5, by Captain Sherard Osborne, U. N., C. B.

from
alfons
high
show
good

Royal
B.

' :

'ii

LIFE OF nil. KANE.

with tlic cxlinustinj^ litcniry labors iiu-idciit to tlic piiblicaiioii iif tliis
narrative, liiitiri'iy uiuU'restiiiiating those lahors (uf wliich iiuleeJ hut
few can form an aiiciinate conception,) he inul been quite too thoiij^ht-
Icssof tiie claims of a body he had so loii^ been a(!custoined to subject
to his purpose, and oidy awoke to a discovery of the error when it was
too late. With this nielanelioly conviction, ho announced the comple-
tion of the work to a friend in the modest and touching .sentence: —
"The book, poor as it is, has been my coflin."

lie left the country for Kuiiland under a presentiment that lie .should
never return. For the first time in his life, departure was shaded with
forcbodiu!^. It was indeed an alarming symi)toin to find that iron
nerve wh'w.h hitherto had su^tained him under shocks apparently not
Ies.s severe, thus begimdng to falter; and yet even then the great pur-
pose of his life he had not wholly abandoned, but, in spite of the nio.st
serious entreaties, was already projecting another Arctic Expedition of
research and rescue.* Before, however, he could make known his plans,
or even receive the honors awaiting him, successive and more virulent
attacks of disease obliged him, under medical advice, to seek the last
resorts of the invalid. Attoudeu by his faithfid friend Morton, he
sailed for Cuba, where he was joined by his mother and two of his
brothers, and devotedly nursed during a lingering and painful illness,
until his death on the IGth of February, 1857.

No man of his age was ever more proudly and tenderly lamented.
The journey with his remains from Havana to New Orleans, and thence
through the Western States to Philadelphia, became but one long
funeral triumph, with the learned, the noble, and the good mingling in
its train. State and civic authorities, literary, scientific, and religious
bodies, followed his bier from city to city with lavish shows of grief,
until at length the national ob.sequies were completed in the Hall of
Independence, in the church of his childhood, and at the grave of his
kindred.

Dr. Kane, so far from being one of those mere personages who move
in a halo of applause, had only to be known in order to convert the
coldest criticism into sympathy with the popular feeling. Whatever
faults belonged to him — and his nature was too rich and strong to bo
without them — yet the man himself was fully worthy of his mission,
and had been actually endowed with gifts and traits quite as remark-

* The particular project to which he then reverted with special interest, was on©
which he had entertained in 1852, looking to a combined land and sea expedition
down Mackenzie's River, and through Behring's Straits. See Paper on Alaski,
lately read by his brother and literarj' executor, General T. L. Kane, before the
American Geographical Society.

LIFE OP 1) II . KANE.

al>Io as any of tlio circutnstimces wliieli onnspirctl to make him nn object
of siicli general adiuiiatioii.

W'lifii lit Ills prime, lieftirc disease liad Ix-'^mi to waste liis frame, his
personal aitpi^araiiee was extremely yoiitlil'ul aiul liandsonn;, almost to
the (le;free of ii feminine delieacy of form and feature, with an air of
cleLcan<'e and fashiim, stij^tjestivc at tirst sinht of anylhinix Imt hardy
exploits and j)liysieal ondiiraiice. Unt as his eharacter matured, the
lines of his faci; revealcil tlu! energy and pnr[ti>s(> within. 'I'lierewas a
certain yi;v.<r;/C(' wliieh diverled attrntinn from his delieieiit stature.

Temperate in meat and drink, he had none of the small vices which
deprave the body, hnt was rather in danger of negleetinij;, or overtask-
in<; it, by tlu^ reckless eneriry with which he subjected it to his behests.
The stinmhis with which he repairt'd the waste of mental apj)lication
was natural rather than artitieial. lie would leave the nninuseri|>ts of
his book, to seek relaxation in a midnight ride upon his favorite stallion
"Gaona," or in a rapiil walk before breakfast, lie was a splendid
horseman and marksman. In the excitements of the chase he had the
keenest relish, and yet for suffering animal creatures often showed a
tenderness that in another might have seemed sentimental.

Natural scenery and objects lie surveyed with the eye of an artist as
well as that of trained scientilic observation. His journals in all parts
of the world were filled with sketches, some of them Hnished juetiires,
others mere pen-and-ink outlines with verbal notes. "Could they be
placed before the publie," says the artist who illustrated this work,
"they would add still further, if that were possible, to his reputation
as an Arctic explorer."

His art'eetions for home and kindred were absolute passions. In his
love for liis motlier especially, he was a child to the last. His imagin-
ation strove to brighten even tin; Arctic waste with dear and familiar
associations. The ice-bound haibor in wliicli he was imprisoned was
made to echo with names ofteiest heard at home. lie was really
prouder to call a new land or river after one of his own kinsmen, than
to christen it for a Washington or a Tennyson ; and the sledge in
which he sought the object of a world-wide fame was most precious in
his eyes as a memorial of his brother "Littln Willie."

His lieart, in<leed, was as warm as it was i:<rge and noble. No ele-
vation and vastness in his scliemes of philanthropy, no absorption in
their pursuit, and no reputation gained by their success, ever made him
insensible to the cla'.ns ot the hmnblest upon its regards. Throughout
life he had numerous dependants who looked to him for relief and
maintenance, and at every step he performed acts of kinchicss with an

iii*iiW*IW>

1, I r E O F D i: . K A N R .

uiicalciiIatinfT (generosity. In dik- of Ms voyairi"* lio snvcd tho life of
an iiit'iiiit whoso itiotlior was too ill to iiiirsf it, by liiinself taking,' ciitiio
cliar^o of till) littli! siiflorcr. A yomin; orjiliaiicil iiii«lslii|iiiian, witli
wlioni ln^ rrail tlic Uilih^ ami Siiakspca; ' on tin- vi>yai;i! to lliazil, wlicu
fomiil to i>r ilvin" of (.•onsimiution, was taki-n Inmio with him anil ten-
derly imrscil lintil his iK-ath as one of thi: faniily. It woul.l have l.ccu
straiiLjc if sui'h allhiritt. alVt'ction ha I not l>ccn. in soiiu" instances, lav-
ished upon an nnworlhy ohject, as when a youn<x cniinil whom ho
soll^•ht to reform hy hrin;;'inn' him unih-r thi^ home intluenccs, was sud-
di'iiiv ii'is-.in;f with some vaiuaMt' jeweh'y. Hnt that kniirlitly iMmam^o
and simi>lieity tinij;in<^ his ardent nature, if ev. r (|ui\utic in tin' eyes of
the iirudent, could never havo exposed iiim to the serious mi^a]ipre-
iieiisidii of any hut interior souls.

Tho writer of tliis skettdi, as tin; cuhiiiist at the <ilise(|uies of I)r.
Kane, jj;avo an oxpression of the pui.'ii; ostimato whiidi has sinee heeti
onlv confirmed l>y Iiis more intimate knowiedi;e, and in' can not now
(h» bolter than hero to reproduce so mucli of it as rehites to Iiis moral
traits and achievements.*

"As a votary of srionco, lie will indeed receive fitting; tiihutes.
There will not ho wantinj^ those wdio shall do justice to that ardent
thirst for truth, which in him amounted to one of the controlling' pas-
sions; to that intellect so severe in induction, yet sauaeioiis iu conjec-
ture ; and to those contrihutions, .so various and vahiai)le, to the existing
stock of human knowlede'c. I>ut his memory will not he cherished
aloue in plulosophi(! minds. His is not a name to 1h' honoied only
within the privileged circles of tho learned. There is for him another
laurel, iireener oven than that which science weaves for her most jiiftej
sons, lie is endeare(l to the popular heart as its chosen ideal of tho
finest sentiment that adorns our earthly natui'o.

" I'hilanthropy, considered as among things which arc lovely and of
good re|>ort, is the flower of human virtue. Of all the pas^il)ns tluit
havo their root in tho soil of this present life, there is none which,
■when elevated into a conscious duty, is so disinterested and pure. In
the domestic affections, there is something of mere blind instinct; in
friendshi|), there is the limit of congeniality ; in patriotism, there arc
the restrictions of local attachment and national antipathy; but in that
love of race which seeks its object in man as man, of whatever kindred,
creed, or clime, earthly morality appears divested of tho last dross of
selfishness, and challenges our highest admiration and praise.

* See Report of the Joint Committee n])i)ointC'd to receive tho remains and con-
duct tliL> obsequies of liie late Elislia Kent Kane, in Dr. Elder's Biography. Funeral
Discourso delivered iu tho Second Presbyterian Church.

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

I '■

"Provulcnce, who jroverns the world by ideas, selects the fit occasions
and men for their illustration. In an age when philanthropic senti-
ments, through the extension of Christianity and civilization, are on
the increase, a fit occasion for their display is otfered in the perils of a
bold explorer, for whose rescue a cry of anguished affection rings in
tlie ears of the nations ; and the man found adequate to that occasion
is he whose death we mourn.

" If there was every thing congruous in the scene of the achieve-
ment, — laid, as it was, in those distant regions where the lines of geog-
raphy converge beyond all the local distinctions that divide and sepa-
rate man from his fellow, and among regions of cold and darkness, and
flisease and famine, that would task to their utmost the powers of
buman endurance — not less suited was the actor who was to enter upon
that scene and enrich the world with such a lesson of heroic benefi-
cence. Himself o{ a country estranged from that of the imperiled
explorers, the simple act of assuming the task of their rescue was a
beautifid tribute to the sentinvjnt of national amity ; while, as his war-
rant for undertaking it, he seemed wanting in no single qualification.
To a scientific education and the experience of a cosmopolite, he joined
an assemblage of nioral qualities so rich in their separate excellence,
and so rare iu their combination, that it is ditiicult to effect their
analysis.

" Conspicuous among them was an exalted, yet practical benevolence.
It was the crowning charm of his character, and a controlling motive
in his perilous enterprise. Other promptings indeed there were, nei-
ther suppressed, nor in themselves to be depreciated. But that passion
for adventure, that love of science, that generous ambition, which stim-
ulated his youthful exploits, appear now under the check and guidance
of a still nobler impulse. It is his sympathy with the lost and suffer-
ing, and the duteous convi(;tion that it may lie in his power to liberate
them from their icy dungeon, which thrill his heart and nerve him to
his hardy task. In his avowed aim, the interests of geography were to
be subordinate to the claims of humanity. And neither the entreaties
of affection, nor the imperiling of a fame, which to a less earnest spirit
might have seemed too precious to hazard, could swerve him from the
generous purpose.

" And yet tiiis w.'is not a benevolence which could exhaust itself in any
mere dazzling, visionary project. It was as practical as it was compre-
hensive. It could descend to all the minutiic of personal kindness, and
gracefully disguise itself even in the most menial offices. When de-
feated iu its great object, and forced to resign the proud hope of a

ii>---'.f.»>x.-. .-^:L«t

LIFE OF DK. KANE.

pliilanthropist, it turns to lavish itself on Lis suflfering comrades, whom
he leads almost to forget the commander in the friend. With unselfish
assiduity and cheerful patience he devotes himself as a nurse and coun-
sellor to relieve their wants, and buoy them up under the most appall-
ing misfortunes ; and, in those still darker seasons, when the expedition
is threatened with disorganization, conquers them, not less hy kindness
than by address. Does a party withdraw from him under opposite
counsels, they are assured, in the event of their return, of a " brother's
welcome." Are tidings brought him that a portion of the little band
arc forced to halt, he knows not where in the snowy desert, he is off
through the midnight cold for their rescue, and finds his reward in the
grateful assurance, " They knew that he would come." In sickness ho
tends them like a brother, and at death drops a tear of manly sensi-
bility on their graves. Even the wretched savages, who might be sup-
posed to have forfeited the claim, share in his kindly attentions ; and
it is with a touch of true human feeling that he parts from them at last,
as ' children of the same Creator.'

"Then, as the fitting support of this noble quality, there was also an
indomitable energy. It was the iron column, around wliose capital that
delicate lily-work was woven. Ills was not a benevolence which must
waste itself in mere sentiment, for want of a power of endurance ade-
quate to support it through hardship and peril. In that slight physical
frame, suggestive only of refined culture and intellectual grai'o, tliere
dwelt a sturdy force of will, which no combination of mat(M'iul terrors
seemed to appall, and, by a sort of magnetic impulse, suiijocted all
inferior spirits to its control. It was the calm power of reason and
duty asserting their superiority over mere brute courage, and compelling
the instinctive homage of Herculean strength and prowess.

" With what firm yet conscientious resolve does he quell the rising
symptoms of rebellion whicii threaten to add the terrors of mutiny to
those of famine and disease! And all through that stern battle with
Nature in her most savage haunts, how he over seems to turn his mild
front toward her frowning face, if in piteous appealing, yet not less iu
fixed resignation !

"But while in that character, benevolence appeared supported by
energy and patience, .so, too, was it equipped with a most mMrveloas
tact. He brought to his beneficent task not merely the resources of
acquired skill, but a native power of adapting himself to enierijcncies,
and a fi.'rtility in devising expedients, which no occasion ever seemed to
bafile. Immured in a dreadful seclusion, where the combined terrors
of Nature forced him into all the closer contact with the passions of

LIFE OF DU. KANE.

man, lie not only rose, by Jiis energy, superior to tliern both, but, by
his niiuiy executive talent, converted cacii to liis ministry. Even the
wild inmates of that icy world, from the mere stupid wonder with
which at first they regarded his imported marvels of civilization, wore, at
length, forced to descend to a genuine re>pect and love, as they saw him
compete with them in the practice of their own rude, stoical virtues.

" To such more sterling tjuaiitics were joined the graces of an atHuent
cheerj'aliu'aa, tliat never deserted him in the darkest hours — a delicate
and capricious humor, glancing among the most rugged realities like
the sunshine upon the rocks — and, above all, that invariable stamp
of true greatness, a beautil'ul modesti/, ever sufficiently content with
itself to bo above the necessity of j)rctension. These were like the
ornanients of a Grecian building, which, though they mny not enter
into the effect of the outline, are found to impart to it, the more
nearly it is surveyed, all the grace and finish of the most exquisite
sculpture.

"Anil yet strong and fair as were the proportions of that character in
its more conspicuous aspects, we should still have been disiippointed
did we not find albeit hidden deep beneath them, a firm basis of reli-
(/ions si'idiiiii'iit. For all serious and thoughtful minds this is the purest
charm of those graphic volumes in which he has recorded the story of
his wonderfid escapes and deliverances. There is every where shining
through its pages a chastened spirit, too familiar with human weakness
to overlook a Providence in his trials, and too conscious of human in-
signilicance to disdain its recognition. Now, in his lighter, more pen-
sive moods, we see it rising, on the wing of a devout fancy, into that
regi(Mi where })icty becomes also poetry :

' I have trodden the deck and the floes, when the life of earth seemed
suspended, its movements, its sounds, its colorings, its companionships;
and as 1 looked on the radiant hemisphere, circling above me, as if
rendering worship to the unseen centre of light, I have ejaculated in
hnniility of spirit, 'Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?'
And then I have thought of the kindly world we had left, with its
revolving sunlight and shadow, and the other stars that gladden it in
their changes, and the hearts that warmed to us there, till I lost myself
in the memories of those who are not; and they bore me back to the
stars again.'

"Then, in graver emergencies, it appears as a habitual resource, to
which lie has come in conscious dependence :

'A trust, based on experience as well as on promises, buoyed me up

LIFE. OF DR. KANE.

at the worst of times. Call it fatalism, as yon ignorantly may, tlicro
is that in the story of every eventful life which teaches the inofHciency
of human means, and the present control of a Supreme Agency. See
how often relief has coaio at the moment of extremity, in forms
strangely unsought, almost at the time unwelcome; sec, still more, how
the back has been strengthened to its increasing burdens, and the heart
cheered by some conscious influence of an unseen Power.'

"And, at length, we find it settling into that assurance which belongs
to an experienced faith and hope : —

' I never doubted for an instant, that the same Providence which
had guarded us through the long darkness of winter was still watching
over us for good, and that it was jet in reserve for us — for some ; I
dared not hope for all — to bear back the tidings of our rescue to a
Christian land.'

" We hear no profane oath vaunted from that little ice-bound islet of
human life, where man has been thrown so helplessly into the hands of
God ; but rather in its stead, niurnuired amid Iho wild uproar of the
storm, the daily prayer, ' Accept our thanks and restore us to our
homes.' Let us believe that a faith which supported him through trials
worse than death, did not fail him when death itself came.

" In the near approach of that last moment, he was trantpiil and com-
posed. With too little strength cither to support or indicate any thiiif
of rapture, he was yet sufliciently conscious of his condition to per-
form sonic final acts befitting the solemn einergenc}'. In refcrcnco to
those who had deeply injured him, he enjoined cordial forgivrnos. To
each of the watching group around him, his hand is given in the fond
pressure of a final parting; and then, as if sensible that his ties to earth
are loosening, he seeks consolation from the requested reading of such
Scripture sentences as had been the favorite theme of his thouo'litful
hours.

"Now he hears those soothing beatitudes which fell from the lips of
the Man of Sorrows in successive benediction. Then he will have
repeated to him that sweet, sacred pastoral —

'The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He niaketh me
to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil; for Thou art with me: Thy rod and Thy staff, they com-
fort me.'

"At length are recited the consolatory words with which the Saviour
took leave of his weeping disciples : —

'Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also ia

LIFE OF DR. KANE.

me. In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I
•would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.'

" And at last, in the midst of this comforting recital, he is seen to
expire — so gently that the reading still proceeds some moments after
other watchers have become aware that he is already beyond the reach
of any mortal voice. Thus, in charity with all mankind, and with
words of the Redeemer in his ear, conveyed by tones the most familiar
and beloved on earth, his spirit passed from the world of men."

With these last and sublimest lessons of his life, it is fitting that
this sketch should close. Let every American youth, who reads his
story, remember that, in an age of materialism when old faiths seem to
be decaying, he illustrated, as no man ever did before, the spiritual ele-
ments of our nature, and the entire compatibility of deep religious con-
viction, not only with humane cftbrts, but with physical researches and
with earthly toils, successes, and honors. He will not indeed have
lived in vain should history hereafter rank him among the harbingers
of that peaceful era when charity shall become heroic, and science be
reconciled to religion.

S')

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' CHAPTER I.
THE ARCTIC REGIONS.

The Arctic Circle, as laid ihnvn on our maps, is a
line drawn around the eartli, parallel Avith the ecpiator,
and distant in every direction twenty-three degrees
and tw^enty-eight minutes from the Noi-th Pole. It
separates the North Frigid from the North Temperate
Zone. Within this circle lie the Arctic Ocean ; nearly
all of Greenland ; Spitzhergen, Nova Zembla and
other islands ; northerly portions of Norway, Sweden,
Lapland, Russia, Sil)eria, Alaska, and British America ; '.
and the almost unkno^vn I'egions uorth-westerly of
Greenland.

The Arctic Ocean is enclosed Ijetween the northern
limits of Europe, Asia, an<l America. Several large
rivers from the three continents flow northerly into it
or its tributary Avaters. It has an area of over four
million S(piare miles, and girds the Pole Avitli an ice-
locked coast of about three thousand leagues. It is a
mysterious sea, and has for centuries baffled the re-
search of navit2:ators.

But the Arctic Circle, lying between latitudes sixty-
six and sixty-seven degrees, must not be considered
as the boundary of the Arctic Regions, for the char-
acteristic temj)eratures and ])henomena of far higher

latitudes extend with some exceptions many degrees

'■^

THE ARCTIC KEtilONS.

:' I

111

farther to the Houth. loeland, Avhich may well be
considered an Arctic country, lies outside this circle ;
and the researdies of the lamented Hall durinjx his
first ex])edition were made considerably helow this
line, and it is not known that he reached muchhigher
latitudes durin*,' his later residence on the northern
shores of Hudson's Bay.

AVithin these hyperborean regions Nature is marked
by the most stupendous features, and the forms she
assumes differ from her attitudes in our milder cli-
mates almost as widely as if they belonged to another
l^lanet. The scenery is aAvful and dreary, } et abound-
ing in striking, sublime, and beautiful objects. The
sun forseveral monthsof the year is totally withdrawn,
leaving behind him a desert waste of relentless frost,
and the darkness of a prolonged Avinter which broods
over the frozen realm, save when the mafcniiicent
Aurora lights up the gloom, or the moon, which for
days continually circles around the horizon, reveals
the weird beauty and desolation of the scene.

Dr. Kane, in the most fascinating narrative of his
second exi)edition describes an Arctic moonlight night
as f olloAvs : —

" A grander scene than our bay by moonlight can
hai'dly be conceived. It is more dream-like and super-
natural than a coml )ination of earthly features.

"The moon is nearly full, and the dawnino; sun-
light, mingling with hers, invests everything with an
atmosphere of ashy gray. It clothes the gnarled hills
that make the liorizon of oiu* Ija}', shado^v■s out the
terraces in dull definition, grows darker and colder as
it sinks into the fiords, and broods sad and dreary
upon the ridges and measureless plains of ice that
make up the I'est of our field of vieAV. Rising above

THE AIICTIC IIEUIOXS.

all tills, and sluuliug down into it in strange coniLlna-
tion, is tlie intense nioonllglit, glittering on every ei-ag
and s])ire, ti-ueing tlie outline of the Inu-kground m ith
contrasted l)riglitness,an(l j)rinting its fantastic profiles
on the snow-lield. It is a landscape sudi as Milton or
Dante might imagine, — inorganic, desolate, mysterious.
I have eonie down from deck with the feelings of a
man who has looked upon a world unfinished l)y the
hand of its Creator."

At length the sun rea])i)ears al)ove the horizon, and
as a com])ensation for his long absence shines \niinter-
ruptedly for the l)alance of the year, although his
rays are frec^uently obscured hy mist and fog. This
continual sunlight strikes the traveler as the strangest
phenomenon of the Arctic sunnner.

As the sun accpiires elevation, liis power inci-eases.
The progress of the frost is checked, the snow grad-
ually wastes away, the ice dissolves, and \ast fi'ag-
nients of it are })recipitated along the shores with the
crash of thunder. The ocean is now unLound, and
its icy dome disrui:)ted with tremendous fracture;
enormous fields of ice thus set afloat are broken u{)
by the violence of winds and currents, or drift away
to the south, and the icebergs take up their stately
march.

The annual formation of ice within the Arctic %vorl(l
is a beautiful provision of Nature for mitigating the
excessive ine(j[uality of temperature. Were only dry
land there ex])osed to the sun, it would be absolutely
scorched by his incessant beams in summer, and
pinched in the darkness of winter by the most intense
and penetrating cold. None of the animal or vegeta-
ble trilies could at all support such extremes. But in
the actual arrangement, the surplus heat of summer

:i:

;i,

!'i

• 1

'i '<

I HI

THE ARCTIC REOIONS.

is spent in melting away the ice ; and its deficiency in
winter isj j)artly supplied l)y the infiuti.ce of the ])ro-
gress of congelation. As h)iig as ice n is to thaw
or water to freeze, the temperature of tne atmosphere
can never vaiy heyond certain limits.

For what is known of the Arctic regions tlie world
is indebted, principally, to the exj)editionH Avhicli, from
time to time, have heen sent out l)ydift'erent nations —
some to search for new routes to China and the In-
dies, some to look for the North Pole, and some, in
later times, for the relief of the lost navigator. Sir
John Franklin.

Tlie thrilling experiences and observations of many
of these expeditions have l)een written '^nt by mem-
bers thereof, and the penisal of their i tives Avill
give the reader a more vivid and far i.. ^ interest-
ing conception of life and nature in the frigid zone
than can be obtained from the study of volumes of
didactic description. As it is the i)lan of this book
to give the history of these expeditions, and t) do it
to some extent in the words of the explorers them-
selves, full inf onnation as to the characteristic leatures,
phenomena, inhabitants, and animal and vegetable
life of the Arctic regions will be found in succeeding
chapters.

' n\

L*«=4;

CHAPTER II.

EARLY DISCOVERIES AND HISTORY.

One thousand years ago the mariners of the Scan-
dinavian Peninsula were the b(jldest of navigators, and
the most successful ones of their age. They possessed
neither the sextant nor the compass ; they had neither
charts nor chronometers to guide them ; but trusting
solely to fortune q,nd their own indomitable courage,
they fearlessly launched foilh into the vast ocean.
Their voyages, distinguished by a strange mixture of
commerce, piracy, and discovery, added no little to the
geographical knowledge of their day. To quit their
bleak regions in seai'ch of others still m<M'e Ijleak
would have been wholly foreign to their views ; yet
as the sea was covered with their sails, chance and
tempest sometimes drove them in a direction other
than southerly.

In the year 801, Naddodr, a Norwegian pirate, was
drifted by contrary winds far to the north. For sev-
eral days no land was visible; then suddenly the
snow-clad mountains of Iceland Avere seen to rise above
the mists of the ocean. The viking landed on the
island, and gave it the name of Snowland, but dis-
covered no traces of man. Three years afterward,
Gardar and Flocke, two Swedes, visited it ; and hav-
ing found a great quantity of drift-ice collected on the

ir !

ICELAND.

nortli side of it, they gave it the name of Icelaud,
whi'.;h it still hears. In 874, Ingolf and Leif, two
famous Norwegian adventurers, carried a colony to
tliis inhos])ital)le region — the latter liaving eniicbed
it \vith the booty which he ravaged from England.

Al)()ut this time Harold, the Fair-haired, had l)e-
come the despotic master of all Norway. ]Many of
his former equals submitted to his yolce ; Imt others,
animated hy a love of lil)erty, emigrated to Iceland.
Such were the attractions ^vhich the island at that
time presented, that not half a century ela})sed l)efore
all its iuhal)ital)le portions wei'e occupied l)y settlers
from Norway, Sweden, Denmark Scotland, and Ire-
land.

Iceland might as well have T)een called Fireland,
for all of its forty thousand scpiare miles have origin-
ally heen upheaved from the depths of the ^\^aters
by volcanic action ; and its numerous volcanoes have
many times brought ruin upon whole districts. The
most frightful visitation occurred in 1788, and its
direful eflt'ects were lonsr felt througi-hout the island,
ovei' which, for a whole year, hung a dull canoj)y of
cinder-laden clouds.

Pestilence, famine, and severe winters have also
from time to time added many a moiu'nful page^'to
IcelaiKl's long aimals of sorrow. Once she had over
a hundred thousand inha))itants, — now she has scai'cely
half that nund)er; then she had many rich and powei--
ful families, — now mediocrity or poverty is the universal
lot ; then she was renowned as the seat of learning and
the cradle of literature, — noAV, were it not for her
remarkable j)hysical features, no traveler would ever
think of landini; on her ruirged shores.

In winter, when an almost pei-petual night covers

also

'r' ■

I -'

GREENLAND.

tlie wastes of tliis fire-boi-n laiul, and the waves of a
stormy ocean tliunder against its sliores, imagination
can liardly picture a more desolate scene; l)iit in sum-
mer the ru'Tired nature of Icehuid invests itself with
many a charm. Then the eye reposes with delight
on green valleys and crjstal lakes, on the purple hills
or snow-capped mountains rising in vVlpine grandeur
a1)ove the distant horizon, and the stranger might
almost 1)6 tempted to exclaim with her patri(^tic chil-
dren, " Iceland is the fairest land under the sun."

The colonization of Iceland proved the stepping-
stone to further discoveries, although over a century
elapsed hefore any progress was made in a westerly
direction ; then, 070, an Icelander named Gunnbjorn,
first saw the hifrh mountain coast of Greenland.

Soon aftcr\vards, a Norwegian named Thorwald,
^vitli his son, the famous Eric the Ked, flying their
country on account of homicide, took refuuie in Iceland.
Here Tlior\A'ald died, and Eric, his hands again imhued
Avith blood, was obliged, in 0^2, to once more take
refuge on the high seas. lie sailed Avestward in quest
of the land discovered by Gunnbjorn, and ere long
reached its sliores. Having entered a spacious. creek,
lie spent the winter on a pleasant adjacent island. In
the following season, pursuing his discoveries, he ex-
plored the continent, and Avas delighted with the
freshness and verdure of its coast.

Eric afterwards ivturned to Ic'dand., and l)y his in-
viting description of the new country, Avhich he named
Greenland, induced fn'eat numbers to sail with him
and settle there. They started in 085, Avitli twenty-
five vessels, but on account of foul Aveather only four-
teen of them reached the destined harbor. Other
emigrants soon followed, and in a fcAv }ears all of

THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA.

•ii ^■■

SoutLern Greenland was occupied by flouiisliiiig
colonies.

An adventurous young Icelander named Biarni,
who was in Norway when Eric's colonists sailed for
Greenland, on returning home and finding that his
father had gone Avith them, vowed that he would
spend the winter with his father, as he had ahvays
done, and set foi-th to find the little settlement on the
unknown shores of Greenland.

A northerly gale sprung up and for many days he
was driven to the soutliAvard of liis course. At last
he fell in with a coast in tlie west, wooded and some-
what hilly. No landing was made, and the anxious
mariners, sailing for two days to the northward, found
another land, low and level, and overgroAvn with
woods. Not recosxnizinc: the mountains nor meetinjj
with icebergs, Biarni sailed northerly, and in three
days came upon a great island Avitli high mountains,
much ice, and desolate shores. lie was then driven
before a violent south-west wind for four days, "when
by singular good fortune he reached the Greenland
settlement which he was seeking.

From the internal evidence afforded by the dates
and the causes, as well as from the corroboration of
subsequent expeditions, it would appear that these
mariners })rought up on the coast of New England.
The first land seen, judging from the descriptions,
was probably Nantucket or Cape Cod. Two days'
sailing would easily luring them to the level and forest-
covered shores of Nova Scotia, and three more to the
bleak and precipitous coast of Ne\Arfoundland. From
that island to the southern extremity of Greenland,
the distance is but six hundred miles, which a vessel,
running before a favorable gale, might readily accom-
plish Avithin the given time.

THE NOKTIIMEN IN AMERICA.

In the year 990, Leif, a son of Eric, having visited
the coast of Norway, waH induced, by the zeahius and
earnest solicitation of King Ohif Tryggvason, to em-
brace the Christian faith ; and, carrying with him some
monks, he fonnd, through their ministry, no great
difficulty in persuading liis father and the rest of the
settlers to forsake the rites of Paganism. Having
heard Biarni nuich blamed at Norway for neglecting
to prosecute his disct)veries, Leif was stimulated to
undertake a voyage in quest of new lands, lie Thought
the vessel of Biarni, and with thiiiy-five men, some
of whom had been on the former voyage, set sail in
the year 1000.

Probably the first lands sighted by him were the
same as those which Biarni had already discovered,
but they were now taken in an inverse order. Hav-
ing steered to the west^vard of an island (probably
Nantucket) the voyagers "passed up a river and
thence into a lake." This channel, it would seem, was
the Seaconnet Eiver, the eastern outlet of Narragan-
sett Bay, which leads to the l)eautif ul lake-like expanse
now known as Mount Hope Bay. From the great
number of wild grapes foimd here the whole country
received the name of Vinland.

Numerous other voyages, according to Icelandic
manuscripts, were made from Greenland and Iceland
to the shores of Vinland. To-day inscriptions are
found which were perhaps the handiwork of these
adventurers ; but the discoveries they made appear to
have been forgotten like the Greenland colonists, and
it has not been imcommon for modem students to
doul)t the whole story of the discovery of America by
the Northmen. Many, however believe in it, and
some propose to celebrate our centennial anniversary

TIIK LOST COLONISTS.

l>y erecting in Mmlison, Wis., a monument to tlie
Vikinjjr who first discovered America.

In 1477 Columlms visited Iceliind, and voyapjed a
liiindred leagues beyond it, ])rol)al>ly to the westward,
and, it may be, came near reviving tlie ancient discov-
eries of the Northmen, and tracking tlie stejts of Bi
arni, Leif, and Thoi-finn to the long lost Vinland.

The original settlement of Greenland becran about
the southern i)romontor3', near Cape Fare^vell, and
stretched along the coast in a north-westerly direction.
Farther north, and proliably extending as high as the
latitude of sixty-six degrees, was a second settlement.
The former is said to have included, at its most iiour-
isliing period, twelve parishes and two convents ; the
latter contained four pai'ishes. Between the two dis-.
tricts lay an uninhabitable region of seventy miles
The whole population was about six tlumsand. For
some centuries a commercial intci'course Ava.s main-
tained with Norway ; Init the trade Avas sul)ser|uentl3'
seized as an exclusive privilege of the Danish court.

The colonists of (Ireenland led a life of hardship
and severe privations. They dwelt in hovels sur-
rounded by moimtains of j^erpetual ice ; they never
tasted 1)read, but subsisted on the fish which tliev
caught, joined to a little milk obtained from their
starving cows ; and, Avitli seal-skins and the tusks of
the walrus, they purchased from the traders who occa-
sionally visited them, tlie wood required for fuel and
the construction of their huts.

About the year 173G, the natives of the country, or
Esquimaux, whom the Nor-vvegian settlers had in con-
tempt called Dwarfs, attacked the colonies. The
scanty population Avas enfeel)led by repeated alarms ;
and that dreadful pestilence, termed the Black Deatliy

Til KIR 8Urrt«ED FATJJ.

Avliicli ragod over Kuroi)^ from the yenr 1402 to 1404,
nt lust extended its ravnges to Greenland, and nearly
conijileted the (h'stniction.

In 141S a hostile fleet, susi)eeted to ])e English, laid
Avaste the eounti'v. Politieal troubles and wars in
Scandinavia at a later date, caused Greenland to he
neglected, and finally foi'gotten ; and it is believed
that its last colonists either retreated to Iceland or
■were destroyed hy the Ks(|uiniaiix about the com-
mencement of the sixteenth century.

In ir)Sl and KIO"), expeditions were sent out from
Denmark to see if any inhabitants of Norse origin
still dwelt in Greenland; but none could be found,
although traces of the ancient settlement were seen
on the western coast.

An idea formerly prevailed that a colony had also
been planted on the ejust side of Greenland, which
liad been cut off from the rest of the -woi'ld by vast
bai'riers of ice accumulating on the shore. The
problem w\as, whether the ill-fated ])eople had survived
the catasti-oj)he, or been entombed in snow and ice,
as the unhapi)y citizens of Pompeii were involved in
a shower of volcanic ashes. Shi])s were sent out at
different times by Denmark for their relief, but it is
now evident that no such settlement ever existed.
The coast of Eastern Greenland is everywhere bold
and rocky, and the interior of the coimtry consists of
clusters of mountains covered with eternal snows.

In 1721, Hans Egede, a Norwegian pastor, who had
long felt the deepest concern for the descendants of
the old Christian communities of Greenland, in Avhose
total destruction he could not believe, sailed from
Bergen Avitli his wife, foiu' children, and forty colonists,
having resolved to become the apostle of regenera-

TIIK Al'OSTLI': OF (iUKKNLAM).

ted (Jreenlniid. They Ijindcd .July 'Ad, and hoou erect-
ed 11 wooden {Impel jit the location of the i)re.sent set-
tlement of (lodthad.

Although Kgede met with severe trials, and was
deserteil l)y nearly all the settlers, lie jjersevered in
sustaining; his foothold in the country; and in 1 T.'KJ
the kingof Dennnirk l)est(»wedon the nnssionan annual
grant of two thousand dollars, and sent three Moravian
brothel's to assist him.

E<j;('de I'cturned to Norway in IT.')."*; duringhisl

on<r

stay in (rreenland he could find nothing in the j)hysi.
ognomy or language of the Ks(]^uimaux M'hich ])ointed
to an Eiiropcan oi-igin.

T)i'. Kane visited this locality in 185.% an<l s])eaks
of it as follows:—

"While we were heating out of the fiord of Fiskcr-
iiaes, I had an oi>poi'tuiiity of visiting Lichtenfels, the
ancient seat of the (ireeidand congregations, and onv.
of the three ^[oravian settlements. J had read much
of the history of its founders ; and it ^\ as with feelings
almost of devotion, that I drew^ near the scene their
lahoi's had consecrated.

"As Ave rowed into the shadow of its rock-emhayed
cove, every thing was so desolate and still, that Ave might
have fancied ourselves outside t^' \\ ■ ^ of life; even

the dogs — those querulous
the rest of the coast

itl

I'esentlv, a suddei

ddt

,'ing sentinels of
gn. t* our ai)proach.

ii'ii

lid

projectini

•litf

brought into view^ a tjnaint old Silesiaii mansion, bris-
tling with irregularly-disj)os' 1 I'himneys, its black over-
lian<2:in«j: roof studded Avith dormer wind« and

crowned with an anti(pie belfry.

"We were met, as we landed, by a coup' 'I' grave
ancient men in sable jackets and close vel skull-

KIHKEKNAKS— llOMK OK IIAN8 CliniSTIAN.

le
me
ucli

1<''S

leii'

yed
gilt
veil
sof
u-li.

•liti:

|)i'if^-
ver-
mid

live
all-

MORAVIAN SETTLKMKNT AT HCHTKNrKLS.

r ",

THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

caps, such as Vandyke or Reinbrandt himself might
have painted, who gave us a (luiet but kindly A\elcome.
All inside of the mansion-house — the- furniture, the
matron even the children — had the same time-sobered
look. The sanded floor was dried by one of those huge
white-tiled stoves, which have been known for gene-
rations in the north of Euro])e ; and the stiff-backed
chairs were evidently coeval with the first days of the
settlement. The heavy-built table in the middle of
the room was soon covered with its simple offei'iiigs of
liospitality; and we sat around to talk of the lands we
had come from and the changing wonders of tlic times.

" We learned that the house dated back as far as
the days of Matthew Stach ; built, no doubt, with the
beams that floated so ])rovi(lentially to the shore some
t\venty-five years after the first landing of Egede ; and
that it had been the home of the lu'ethren anIio no^v
greeted us, one for t^venty-nine and the other tAventy-
seven years. The " Congregation Hall " was Avithiu
the building, cheerless now with its empty benches; a
couple of French horns, all that I could associate with
the gladsome jnety of the Moravians, hung on each side
the altar. Two dwelling-rooms, tliree cliambcrs, and
a kitchen, all under the same roof, made u]) the one
structure of Lichtenfels.

"Its kind-hearted innnites were not without intelli-
gence and education. In s[)ite of the formal cut of
their dress, and somethino; of tlie stiffness that belomrs
to a ])rotracted solitary life, it was imp()ssil)le not to
recoo;nise, in their demeanor and course of tliou"'ht,
the liberal spii-it that has always characterized their
church. Two of their " children," they said, had " g(me
to God "last year with the scurvy; yet they hesitated
at receiving a scanty sui)i)ly of i)otatoes as a present
from our store."

ESQUIJIAUX OF XORTII GREENLAND.

The Danish colonies now in Greenland are scattered
along some eight hundred miles of the Avestern coast,
and are more flourishing tlian the ancient settlements.
The European population is only about one hundred
and fifty — all in the service of the Danish company
excei^ting the missionaries — while the native Esqui-
maux of the district, among whom they live on good
terms, are estimated at aljout nine thousand.

Farther north, and cut off from civilization and their
more favored Ijrothers of the Danish neis-hhorlioods
by imjiassaLle glaciers, are other Escpiimaux — nomads,
Avho range over a narroAV l)elt extending along the
coast for six hundred miles. Tliey were the neighl)ors
of Dr. Kane during liis two winter^' imprisonment in
Rensselaer Harbor. In his " Arctic Exjdorations," Dr.
Kane pays an affecting tril)ute to their virtues and
draAvs gh)omy auguries of their future : —

"It is Avith a feeling of melancholy that I recall these
familiar names. They illustrate the trials and modes
of life of a sim])le-min(led people, for Avhom it seems to
be decreed that the year must very soon cease to renew
its changes. It ])ains me when I think of their ap-
proaching destin}', — in the region of night and Avinter,
Avhere the earth yields no fruit and the waters are
locked, — without the resorts of skill or even the rude
materials of art, and walled in from the world by
barriers of ice Avithout an outlet.

" If you point to the east, inland, Avhere the herds of
reindeer run OA'er the barren hills unmolested, — for
tliey have no means of captui'ing tliem, — they Avill cry
" Sermik," "glacier;" and, question them as you may
about tlie range of their nation to the north and south,
the answer is still the same, A\ith a shake of the head,
"Sermik, sermik-soak," "the great ice-Avall;" there is
no more beyond.

..^"■-

THE OABOTS AND TIIEIR VOYAGES.

" They have no " kresuk," no wood. The drift-tim-
ber which blesses their more southern brethren never
reaches them. The bow and arrow are therefore un-
known ; and the kayak, the national implement of the
Oreenlander, which, like the palm-tree to the natives
of the tropics, ministers to almost eveiy want, exists
among them only as a legendary word."

Though a long intercourse with Europeans has
somewhat modified the character of the Southern
Greenlanders, and acquainted them with some of the
luxuries of civilization, they still retain to a great de-
gree their former customs and modes of life. This is
probably owing to the sparse population, and their
vagrant life. Depending wholly upon the products
of the chase for their food, they are most accom-
plished hunters ; and the sea is the principal source of
their sustenance.

England narrowly missed sharing in the honor

awarded to Columbus for his great achievement.

After vainly soliciting Sf>ain and Poiiugal for aid,

that navigator sent his brother to Henry VII., with

proi^ositions which were at once accepted ; but before

the return of his messenger, Columbus, under the

auspices of Isabella, had started on his voyage. The

news of his success excited much interest in England ;

and the king granted to John Cabot and his three

sons, a patent "to sail to all parts, countries, and seas,"

at their own expense, as explorers. Cabot was an

Italian, once a " Merchant of Venice," then livino-

m Bristol, England, where his son Sebastian was born

about 1477. A subsequent residence in Venice had

given the son a taste for maritime enterprises, which

was increased by his learning the trade of making

maps.

t'li

! ; i f

t :

! i

THE LABR^UJOR COLOIfY.

The explorers, in a sliip named the " Matthew,"
fitted out probably at the expense of the Cabots, sailed
from Bristol in May, 1497. Sebastian, though only
nineteen years of age, was entrusted with the com-
mand, but was accompanied by his father.

On the 24tli of June, they beheld portions of the
coast of Labrador and Newfoundland stretched out
before them. This discovery of a continent (fourteen
months l)efore Columbus discovered the main land)
caused the explorers little exultation, although the
British claim to the thirteen colonies was primarily
based thei'eon. The object of the voyage was to dis-
cover a passage to India ; and to be obstiTicted by land
displeased the mariners. Entering one of the chan-
nels leading into Hudson's Bay, they continued on
for several days, when the crew became despondent
and insisted on returning. Cabot yielded to their
clamors and sailed for England.

In the SjDring of 1498, Sebastian, with three hun-
dred men, again set sail for the region he had discov-
ti*ed. These unfortunate people he landed on the
bleak and inhospitable coast of Labrador, that they
might form a settlement there, and then with the
squadron renewed his search for the North-west pas-
sage. On his return to the station, he found that the
settlers had suffered intensely from cold and exposure.
A number had already perished, and the balance were
carried back to England.

Cabot made a third voyage to the North-west in
1517, and it is believed that he discovered the two
straits which now bear the names of Davis and Hud-
son.

In the year 1500, Gasper Cortereal, of Portugal,
sailed in search of a North-west passage. He reached

POETUGUESB EXPEDITIOKS.

. n

Labrador, and sailed a long distance along its coast,
and tlien with a number of natives on board returned
home. The next year he guided two ships to the
noiihei'n point of his fonner voyage, wliere he entered
a strait ; here the vessels were separated by a tem-
pest. One of thvm succeeded in extricating itself, and
searched for some time in vain for its lost consort;
but that Avhicli had on board the gallant leader of the
expedition returned no more, and no trace could ever
be obtained of its fate.

The next year, Miguel Cortereal sailed with three
ships in search of his brother. Two of the vessels re-
turned in safety, but Miguel and his crew were never
heard from. A tliird brother ^vished to search for his
lost kindred, but the king would not allow him to do
so.

French expeditions, under Yerazzani (1523) and
Cartier (1524) were equally unsuccessful in their
search for the north-west passage.

.i1.

i •

ill

III

■ >

i
I)

i I,

CIIAPTEE, III.

ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH-
EAST.

(wiLLOUGnBY CHANCELOR BUEROUGHS ETC.)

In 1553, after a long slumber, tlie spirit of discov-
er}' ill England was again aroused, and a voyage Avas
jjlaiiiied Avith a view to reach by way of the north
and north-east, the celebrated regions of India and
Cathay.

Sebastian Cabot was prominent in forwarding this
enterprise, and though too old to lead the expedition
lie drew up the instructions under which it sailed.
In it the mariners were warned not to be too much
alarmed when they saw the natives dressed in lions'
and bears' skins, with long bows and arrows, as this
formidable appearance was often assumed merely to
inspire terror. He told them, that there were persons
armed with bows, who swam naked, in various seas,
havens, and rivers, "desirous of the bodies of men,
which they covet for meat," and against whom diligent
watch must be kept night and day. He exhorted
them to use the utmost circumspection in their deal-
ings A^dth these strangers, and if invited to dine with
any lord or ruler, to go well armed, and in a postm'e
of defence.

The command of the expedition was given to Sir

ri-

EXPEDITION UNDER SIB HUGH WILLOUGHBY. 41

Hugh Willoughby, and three vessels having been
fitted out ^vith great care, sailed from England in the
month of May. The court and a great multitude of
people witnessed their departure, and the occasion was
one of great interest and excitement. Willoughby
wa.s furnished by King Edward, with a letter of intro-
duction, addressed to all "kings, princes, rulers, Judges,
and governoi*s of the earth," in which free passage and
other favors were asked for the explorers; and if
granted, he concluded, — " We promise, by the God of
all things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the
sea, and by the life and tranquillity of our kingdoms,
that we will with like humanity accept your servants,
if at any time they shall come to our kingdoms."

On the 14th of July the explorers were near the
coast of Norway, and on approaching the North Caj^e
saw before them the Arctic Ocean stretching onward
to the Pole. Here Sir Hugh exhorted his commanders,
Chancelor and Durfooth to keep close togetlier. Soon
after this there arose such " terrible wdiii'lwinds," that
they were obliged to stand out to the open sea, and
allow the vessels to drift at the mercy of tlie waves.

Amid the thick mists of the next stormy night the
vessels of Willoughby and Chancelor separated, and
never again met. Willoughby's pinnace was dashed
to pieces amid the tempest ; and next moraing, when
light dammed, he could see neither of his com[)anions ;
but, discovering at length the smaller vessel called the
Confidence, he continued his voyage.

He now sailed nearly two hundred miles north-east
and by north, but was astonished and bewildered at
not discovering any symptom of land ; whence it ap-
peared that *' the land lay not as the globe made men-
tion." Instead of sailing along or towards Norway, he

* .'i

(

* -4

FATE OF TIIE EXPLORERS.

was plunging deeper and deeper into the unknown
abyss of tlie Northern Ocean.

At length land aj)peared, but high, desolate, and
covered with snow, while no sound was wafted
over the waves, except the crash of its falling ice and
the hungry roar of its monsters. This coast ^vn.^ evi-
dently that of Nova Zembla ; Ijut there Avas no point
at which a landing could be made. After another at-
tempt to push to the northwaril, they turned to the
south-west, and in a few days saAV the coast of Rus-
sian Lapland. Here they must have been veiy near
the o]^)ening into the White Sea, into ^vhich, had for-
tune guided their sails, they would have rejiched
Archangel, have had a joyful meeting with their com-
rades, and spent the winter in comfort and security.
An evil destiny led tliem westward.

The coast was naked, uninhabited, and destitute
of shelter, except at one point, where they found a
shore bold and rocky, but with one or two good har-
boi-s. Here, though it was only the middle of Sep-
tember, they felt already all the prematm'e rigors of a
northern season ; intense frost, snow, and ice diiving
through the air, as though it had been the depth of
winter. The officei*s conceived it therefore most ex-
pedient to search no longer along these desolate
shores, but to take up their cpiartei's in this haven till
the ensuing spring.

The narrative here closes, and the darkest gloom
involves the fate of this first English expedition.
Neither the commander nor any of his brave compan-
ions ever returned to their native shoi-es. After long-
suspense and anxiety, tidings reached England that
some Russian sailors, as they Avandered along these
dreary boundaries, had been astonished by the view

■:.w-

CIIANCELOR 8 VISIT TO RUSSIA.

of two large ships, wliich they entered, and found the
gallant crews all lifeless. There was only the journal
of the voyage, Avith a note written in January, show-
ing that at that date the crews were still alive. "\\'^hat
•vvas the immediate cause of a catastrophe so dismal
and so complete, whether the extremity of cold, fam-
ine, or disease, or whether all these ills united at once
assailed them, can now only be matter of sad conjec-
tui-e. Thomson thus pathetically laments their fate : —

" Miserable they,
Who, here entangled in the gathering ice,
Talic their last look of the descending sun,
While, full of death, and fierce with tenfold frost,
The long, long night, incumbent, o'er tlieir heads,
Falls horrible. Such was the Briton's fate,
As with^/f)*s< prow (what have not Britons dared !)
Be for the passage sought, attempted aiuce
So much in vain. "

After parting M-ith the other two ships Chancelor
reached the port of Wardhuys and after Avaiting seven
days for his companions, pushed fearlessly on toward
the noi-th-east, and sailed so far that he came at last
" to a place Avliere they found no night at all." Tlien
they reached the entrance of an immense bay (the
AVhite Sea) and espied a fishing boat, the crew of
which, having never seen a vessel of similar magnitude,
were as much astonished as the native Americans had
been at the Spaniards, and, taking the alarm, fled at
full speed. Chancelor, with his party, iiui*sued and
overtook them ; ^^•]lereupon they fell flat on the ground
half-dead, crying for mercy. He immediately raised
them most courteously, and by looks, gestures, and
gifts, expressed the most kind intentions. Being then
allowed to depart, they spread everywhere the report
of the arrival " of a strange nation, of singular gentle-
ness and courtesy." The natives came in crowds, and

i;,

f •,

DEATH OF CIIANCELOU.

the sailors were copiously sii2ii)lie(l with provisions
and eveiything they wanted.

C'hancelor now learned that he was at the extremity
of a vast country obscurely known as Russia or Mus-
covy, ruled by a sovereign named Ivan Vasilovitch,
and obtained peraiission to visit him at his court at
IMoscow. The journey was made on sledges, and
Chancelor returned Avith a letter from the Czar, grant-
ing privileges to tradei-s, which led to the formation
of the Muscovy Company.

Chancelor went to Russia a second time, iu the
employ of this company ; and on the homcAvard voyage
with four ships and an am])assador from the Czar,
tAVo of the vessels were wrecked on the coast of Nor-
way ; a third reached the Tliames ; but the fourth, in
which were the chiefs of the expedition, was driven
ashore on the coast of Scotland, Avhere it went entirely
to pieces. Chancelor endeavored, in a very dark
night, to convey himself and the ambassador ashore
in a boat. The skiff was overwhelmed by the tempest,
and Chancelor was droAvned, though the ambassador
succeeded in reaching the land. He thence proceeded
to London, whei'e Philip and Mary gave him a splen-
did and pompous reception.

In 1556, a vessel called the Searchthrift, was fitted
out and placed under the command of Stephen Bur-
roughs, who had gone mth Chancelor on his first
voyage. Enthusiasm and ho})e seem to liave lisen as
high as at the departure of the first expedition. Se-
bastian Cabot came doAvn to Gravesend with a laro-e
party of ladies and gentlemen, and, having first gone
on board, and rtaken of such cheer as the vessel
afforded, invitea Burroughs and his company to a
splendid banquet at the sign of the Christopher.

;i)l

fitted
Bur-

iirst

laro'e
gone
vessel
to a
•plier.

1 I
ill

ill!

! ?

ENGLISH TRA\T:LER8 IN ASIA.

Among the islands of Waygatz, the voyagers fell in
with a UiisHian craft, and on giving the master there-
of a i)n'sent of pewter spoons, he stated that the ad-
joining country was that of the wild Samoldes, who
were said to eat Russians when oi)portunity offered.
At a deserted encampment of these people, Hun-oughs
saw three hundred of their idols — human figures of
hoirible as})ect.

After tliis. Burroughs aj)proached Nova Zembln, hut
as winter was near he concluded that it would be
useless to attempt further explorations that season,
and so turned homeward.

The Muscovy Company now attempted to open
communication with Persia and India across the Cas-
pian, and by ascending the Oxus to Bochara. This
scheme they ])rosecuted at great cost, and by a series
of l)old adventures, in which Jenkinson, Johnson, Al-
cocke, and other of their agents, penetrated deep into
the interior regions of Asia. An unusual deij^ree of
courage was indeed necessary to undertake this expe-
dition, which was to be begun by passing round the
North Cape to the "Wliite Sea, then by a land journey
and \'oyage down the Volga, across the Avhole breadth
of the Russian empire to Astrakhan, before they could
even embark on the Caspian. It was soon ascertained,
that no goods could bear the cost of such an immense
and dangerous conveyance by sea and land.

This channel of intercourse with the Indies haWncr
failed, attention was again attracted to the nnite by
the north and east of Asia. John Balak, anIio had
been living at Duisburg, sent on much infomiation of
the country, and of the attempts of a traveler named
Assenius to penetrate to the eastAvard. He described
a river, probably the Yenisei, doAvn which came

m: ^

\ :

ENGLISH TRAVELERS IN" ASIA.

' "<

" great vessels laden "with rich and preeions merchan-
dise, brought l)y l)lack or swart people." In ascend-
ing this ri%'er, men came t<^ the great lake of Baikal,
on Avhose banks were the Kara Kalmucs, who, he as-
serted, were the very jieople of C.^athay. It was added,
that on the shores of this lake had been heard sweet
harmony of bells, and that stately and large buildings
had been seen therein.

Eeasonint; from this new infonnation Gerard Mer-
cator, the famous geographer and map-maker of those
days, claimed that a short passage bej'ond the limit
already reached by navigators "would carry them to
Japan and Cliiiia. This "was undei-rating the Itreadth
of Asia l>y a hundred degrees of longitude, or more
than a foui'th of the circumference of the globe.

To realize these views, t\vo vessels under Arthur
Pet and Charles Jackson left England in 158<). On
reaching high latitudes they were surrounded witli
fields of ice. Tliey were also enveloped in fogs, and
obliged to fasten to icebergs, wliere, "abiding the
Lord's leisure, they continued with patience." Finally
they found their Avay home without making an}' prog-
ress at solving the problem.

■:]

•e
it

It
>n
th
id

?!::fe .

I I

■\

|!t

1 '

I ^
cq

CHAPTER IV.
DUTCH EXPEDITIONS TO THE NORTH-EAST.

(WM. BARENTZ CORNELIZ RYP.)

The English attempt to find a Nortli-east passage
to the Indies having all signally failed, tli^ Dutch took
up the enterprise, and a r, /ciety of merchants fitted out
three vessels, which sailed from the Texel on the 5th of
June, 159-4, under the general guidance of William
Biu-entz, a noted pilot, and an exj)ert sailor.

On approaching Nova Zembla two of the ships at-
tempted to pass by the old route of the Strait of Way-
gatz ; but Barentz himself, taking a bolder course,
endeavored to pass round to the northward of Nova
Zembla, Avhich oppose'1 his eastward ^"•I'ogress. Pass-
ing the Black Cape and William's Isle, they saw
various features characteristic of the Arctic Avoi'ld. At
the Orange Isles, they came upon three hundred wal-
rus, lying in heaps upon the sand and basking in the
sun. Supposing that these animals were hel})less on
sliore, the sailors nuuvhed against them with i)ikes
and hatchets, but, to theii" surprise, were obliged to
retire in dishonor.

The crews had a fierce encounter with a Polar bear.
Having seen one on the shore, they entered their
shallop, and discharged se\eral balls at him, but \vith-

4.7

I I

J H I

l!i '-

I '.!

DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

out Inflicting any deadly wound. Tliey were then
happy when they succeeded in throwing a noose about
his neck, hoping to lead him like a laj)dog, and carry
him as a trophy into Holland. They were not a little
alarmed by his mighty and tremendous struggles ; but
what AVcis their consternation, when he fastened his
paws on the stern and entered the boat ! The whole
crew e: pected instant death, either from the sea or
from his jaws. Providentially at this moment the
noose got entangled Avith the iron work of the rudder^
and the creature struggled in vain to extricate him-
seK. Seeing him thus fixed, they mustered courage to
advance and despatch him with their spears.

Barentz, -""iched the northern extremity of Nova
Zembla by ^. igust 1st ; but the wind blew so strong,
that he and his crew gave up hope of passing that
point, and resolved to return.

The two other vessels meantime pushed on along
the coast. On turning a point the Dutch observed
one of those great collections of rudely carved images
which had been formerly remarked by Burroughs.
These consisted of men, women, and children, some-
times having from four to eight heads, all with their
faces turned eastward, and many horns of reindeer ly-
ing at their feet ; it was called, therefore, the Caj)e of
Idols.

After passing through the strait of AVaygatz, and
sailing for some space along the coast of Nova Zembla,
they were repelled T)y the icy barriers ; but having hy
perseverance rf>unded these, they arrived at a wide,
blue, open sea, Avith the coast l>ending rapidly soutli-
ward ; and though this was only the shore of the Gulf
of Obi, they doubted not that it was tlie eastern
boundary of Asia, and would afford <in easy passage

SECOND DUTCH VOYAGE.

down upon Cliina. Instead, however, of prosecuting
this voyage, tliey determined to hasten back and com-
municate to their countrymen this joyful intelligence.
The two divisions met on the coast of Russian Lapland,
and arrived in the Texel on the 16th of Sej^tember.

The intelligence conveyed in regard to the latter
part of this expedition kindled the most sanguine
hopes in the government and people of Holland. Six
vessels were fitted out, not as for adventure and dis-
covery, but as for assured success, and for cariying
on an extensive traffic in the golden regions of the
East. They were laden with merchandise, and well
supplied Avith money ; while a seventh, a light yacht,
was instructed to follow them till they had passed
Tabis, the supposed bounding promontoiy of Asia;
when, hanng finally extricated themselves from the
Polar ices and directed their course to China, it was
to return to Holland with the jo}^ul tidings.

The squadron sailed from the Texel, the 2d of June
1595. Nothing great occurred till the 4th of August
when they reached the strait between Waygatz and
the continent, to which they had given the appellation
of the Strait of Nassau. They came to the Cape of
Idols ; but though these were still drawn up in full
array, no trace was found of the habitations which
the}^ miglit have seemed to indicate. A Russian ves-
sel, however, constructed of pieces of bark scAved to-
gether, was met on its way from the Pechora to the
Obi in search of the teeth of the sea-horse, whale-oil,
and geese. The sailors accosted the Dutch In a ven''
friendly manner, presented eight fat birds, and on
going on board one of the vessels, were stnick with
astonishment at its magnitude, its equipments, and the
hiuli order with which everything was arranged. This

> '!

I ■'

DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIOXS.

It- ■ I
1

being a f cast- Jay, tliey refused meat, butter, and cheese ;
but, on being offered a raw herring, eagerly swallowed
it entire, liead and tail inclusive.

Tlie navigators, after considerable search, fell in
Avith a party of Samoiedes, who manifested much
jealousy of the strangers, and on the approach of
the interpreter, drew their arrows to shoot him ; but
he called out, " We are friends "; upon which they
laid down their weapons, and saluted him in the Rus-
sian st}le, by bending their heads to the groiuid.

On hearing a gun fired, they ran away and leaped
like madmen, till assured that no harm was intended.
A sailor l)t)ldly went up to the chief, dignified in the
narrative with the title of king, and presented him
with some biscuit, Avhich the monarch graciously ac-
cepted and ate, though looking round someAvhat sus-
piciously. At length the parties took a friendly
leave; but a native ran after the foreigners with
sicrns of erreat ancrer, on account of one of their rude
statues which a sailor had carried off.

Being informed that a few days' sail would bring
them t(» a point beyond which there was a large open
sea, they made repeated attempts to reach it, but were
driven back by floating ice, and at the end of Sep-
tember A\cre forced to return to Holland without
having acc<>m])lished any one of the brilliant exploits
for wliich they had set out.

Another exj)edition of two vessels, entrasted
to Barentz and Corneliz R}'p, sailed from Amster-
dam on the 10th of May, 1590. As homesickness
was suspected to have some relation to the failure of
formei" ex]>editions, none but unmarried persons were
admitted as mend^ers.

Avoiding the coast of Russia they pushed north-

DISCOVERY OP BPITZBERGEN,

erly, and on the 22d saw the Shetland Islands. On
the 9th of June they discovered a long island rising
abruptly into steep and lofty cliffs, and named it Bear
Island. Tlie horror of this isle to their view must
have been unspeakable: the prospect dreary; black
where not hid with snoAV, and broken into a thousand
precipices. No sounds but of the dashing of the
waves, the crashing collision of floating ice, the dis-
cordant notes of myriads of sea-fo^vl, the yelping of
Arctic foxes, the snorting of the walruses, or the
roarinir of the Polar l)ears.

Proceeding onward, they reached the latitude of 80°,
and discovered the coast of the Spitzbergen Archipel-
ago, a cluster of islands lying nearer the Noi-th Pole
thau any other known land, excei)ting the regions dis-
covered by Kane, Ilaj'es, and Hall. Notwithstand-
ing its high latitude, Spitzbergen has been much
fre(|uented by whaling-ships, ^valrus hunters and ame-
teur sportsmen.

The mariners, finding their progress eastward stop-
ped by this line of coast, now retraced their nmte
along its deep bays, still steering southward till they
found themselves again at Bear Island. Here Corneliz
and Barentz separated ; the former proposing to push
again northward.

Barentz proceeded south-easterly intending to round
the northern point of Nova Zeml)la. On the 0th of
August, he fastened his vessel to a large iceberg amid
drifting ice, off Cape Nassau.

On the 10th, the ice began to separate, and the sea-
men remarked that the l)ero: to which thev were
moored Avas fixed to the bottom, and that all the
others struck asfainst it. Afraid that these loose
pieces would collect and enclose them, they sailed on,

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DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

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mooring themselves to successive fragments, one of
wliicli rose like a steeple, l»eing twenty fatlioms
a])ove and twelve beneath tlie water. They saw
around them more than four Inuidred lai'ije iceberrjs,
the fear of which made them keep close to the shore,
not being aware that in that quarter they were
formed.

Steering on they came to Orange Island, which forms
the noi*thern extremity of Kova Zembla. Here ten
men swam on shore, and, having mounted several piles
of ice Avhich rose, as it were, into a little mountain,
they had the satisfaction of seeing the coast tending
soutlnvard, and a wide open sea to the south-east.
They hastened back to Barentz Avith these Joj'ful
tidings, and the success of the voyage was considered
almost secure.

But these hopes Avere delusive. After doubling
Cape Desire they Avere drawn into what they called
Icy Port, and the vessel was thrown into a position
almost perpendicular. From this critical attitude they
were relieved next day ; but fresh masses of ice con-
tinually increased the terrible ramparts around them.

The explorers now felt that they must bid adieu
for this year to all hopes of escape from their icy j)rison.
As the vessel Avas cracking continually, and opening in
diiferent quai-ters, they made no doubt of its going to
pieces, and could hope to survive the AA-inter only by
constructing a hut, which might shelter them from
the approaching rigor of the season. Parties sent
into the country reported having seen footstejis of rein-
deei', also a river of fresh Avater, and, Avhat Avas more
important still, a great quantity of fine trees, A\'ith the
rooty still attached to them, strcAved upon the shore,
all brought doAvn the riA'ers of Russia and Tartary.

iirnnsoxED for the wintor.

Theso clrouinstances cheered the mariners; they
tnisted that Providence, which had in this suq^rising
manner furnished materials to Iniihl a house, and fuel
to wariii it, Avould sni)i)ly also whatever was necessary
for their passing through the approaching winter, and
for returning at length to their native country. A
sledge A\as instantly constructed ; three men cut the
wood, whik^ ten drew it to the spot niarked out for
the hut. They sought to raise a rampart of eai-th fin-
shelter and security, and employed a long line of fire
in the hoi)e of softening the ground, Imt in vain. The
carpenter lu'mng died, it was found impossilde to dig
a t!:rave for him, and they lodged his hody in a cleft
of the rock.

The huildiu!]: of the hut was carried on with ardor,
yet the c<dd endured in this ojieration was intense,
and almost insnpportal)le. The snow sometimes fell
so thick, for days successively, that the seamen could
not stir from nnder cover. They had at the same
time hard and perpetual cond)ats Avith the Polar bear.
One day three of these furious animals chased the
working party into the vessel and advanced furiously
to attack them, but finally retreated.

Scmietime after this a westerly wind cleared away
the ice and they saw a wide open sea v. ithont, ^vhile
the vessel was enclosed within, as it "were, by a solid
wall. By October they cc^mpleted their hut, and pre-
pared to convey thither their provisions and stores.
Some painful discoveries were now made. Several
tuns of fine Dantzic beer, of medicinal qnality, from
which they had anticipated nnich comfort, had frozen
so hard as to burst the casks ; the contents remained in
the form of ice, but when thawed it tasted like bad
water.

DUTCU ARCTIC EXl'EDITIOXS.

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Tlie sun began now tf) pay only short, visits, and to
give signs of approacliing departure. He rose in tlie
soutli-soutli-east and set in tlie soutli-soiith-west, wLile
tlie moon was scarcely dimmed by his presence. On
tlie 4th of November the sky was calm and cleai', but
no sun rose or set.

The dreary winter niglit of three months, ^vhich
had now set in, was not, however, without some alle-
viations. . The moon, now at the full, wheeled liei* pale
but perpetual circle round the lun'izon. With the sun
disaj[)peared also the bear, and in his room came the
Arctic fox, a beautiful little creature, "whose flesh re-
sembled kid, and furnished a variety to their meals.
They found great difficulty in the measurement of
time, and on the Oth rose late in the day, when
a controversy ensued whether it was day or night.
The cold had stopped the movements of all the clocks,
but they aftenvard formed a sand-glass of twelve
hours, by ^vhich they contrived tolerably to estimate
their time.

On the od of December, as the sailors lay in bed,
they heard from without a noise as tremendous as if
all the mountains of ice by which they were suri'ound-
ed had fallen in pieces over each other, and the first
light which they afterwai'd obtained showed a consider-
able extent of open sea.

As the season advanced, the cold became always
more and more intense. Early in December a dense
fall of snow stopped up the smoke flues so that nothing
but a low fire could be kept up. The room was thus
kopt at a low temperature, which was partially remedied
by Avarming the beds mth heated stones. Ice two
inches thick formed on the walls ; and their suffering
came to such an extremity, that, casting at each other

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ENCOUNTER \VIT]I A DEAR.

ljiii;2;ulsliing and ])iteous looks, tliey aiiticipjitotl lie
extinction of the life of the whole crew.

They now resolved that, cost what it might, they
sh< )nld for once be thoroughly warmed. They repaired,
tliei'efoi-e, to the sliij), whence they brought an ample
supply of coal ; and having kin<l]ed an immense fire,
and carefully sto[)ped up the Avindows and eveiy
apertui'e by which the cold could penetrate, they did
brin*^' themselves into a most comfortable temperature.
In tj..s delicious state, to which they had been so long
sti-angers, they Avent to rest, and talked gayly for some
time before falling asleep. Suddenly, in the middle
of the night, several awakened in a state of tlie most
painful vertigo; their cries roused the rest and all
found themselves, more or less, in the same alarmino-
jii'edicament. On attenpting to i-ise, they ])ecame
dizzy, and could neither stand nor walk. At length
two or three contrived to stagger towards the door;
hnt the first who opened it fell doAvn insensible among
the snow, but the wintry air, which had been their
gi-eatest dread, now restored life to the Avhole party.
In the midst of these suifei'ings, remembering that
the 5th of Janiiaiy w^as the feast of the Kings, they
besought the master that they might be allowed to
celebrate that great Dutch festival. Tliey had saved
a little wine and tAvo pounds of flour, with which they
fried pancakes in oil ; the tickets were drawn, the gun-
ner was crowned king of Nova Zembla, and the eve-
ning passed as merrily as if they had been at home
round their native fireside.

Al)out the middle of Januarj^ the crews began to
experience some abatement of that deep darkness in
which they had so long been involved, and affairs
assumed a more cheerful aspect. Instead of constant-

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DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

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ly moping in the hut, the men went out daily, em-
ployed themselves in walking, running, and athletic
games, which wanned their bodies and presen-ed
their health. "With the sun, however, appeared their
old enemy, the bear. One attacked them amid so
thick a mist that they could not see to point their
pieces, and sought shelter in the hut. The bear came
to the door, and made the most desperate attempts to
burst it open ; but the master kept his back firaily
set against it, and the animal at last retreated. Soon
after he mounted the roof, where, having in vain at-
tempted to enter Ijy the chimney, he made furious
attempts to pull it down, ha^^ng torn the sail in
which it was Avrapped ; all the while his frightful and
hungry roarings sj^read dismay through the mansion
beneath ; at length he retreated. Another came so
close to the man on guard, who was looking another
way, that, on receiving the alarm from those Avithin
and looking about, he saw liimseK almost in the jaAvs
of the bear; however, he had the presence of mind
instantly to fire, -svlien the animal was struck in the
head, retreated, and was afterward pursued and de-
sj)atched.

In February, a heavy north-east gale brought a cold
more intense than ever, and buried the hut again
under snow. Tlils was the more deeply felt, as the
men's strength and supply of generous food to recruit
it were alike on the decline. They no longer at-
tempted daily to clear a road, but those who were
able went out and in by the chimney. A dreadful
calamity then overtook them in the failure of their
stock of wood for fuel. They began to gather all the
fi'agments which had been thrown away, or lay scat-
tered about the hut ; but these being soon exhausted.

THE SHIP DESERTED.

it belioovecl them to carry out their sleilge in search
of more. To dig the trees, however, cmt of the deep
snow, and drag them to the hut, was a task which, in
their present exhausted state, wouhl have appeared
impossible, had they not felt that they must do it or
perish.

In the course of March and April, the weather be-
came milder, yet the baiTiera which enclosed the ship
continued, and, to their inexpressible grief, rapidly in-
creased. In the middle of March these ramparts Nvere
only 75 paces broad, in the beginning of May they
were 500. These piles of ice resembled the houses of
a great city, interepersed with apparent towei-s, steeples,
and chimneys. The sailors, viewing with despair this
position of the vessel, earnestly entreated pennission
to fit out the two boats, and in them to undertake the
voyage homeward. The mere digging of the boats
from under the snow was a most laborious task, and
the equipment of them would have been next to im-
possible, but for the enthusiasm with Avhich it was un-
dertaken.

By the 11th of June they had the boats fitted out
their clothes packed, and the provisions embarked.
Then, however, they had to cut a way through the
steeps and walls of ice which intervened between them
and the open sea Amid the extreme fatigue of dig-
ging, breaking, and cutting, they were kept in jjlay
by a huge bear w'hich had come over the frozen sea
from Tartary.

At length the crew, having embarked all their
clothes and jirovisions, set sail on the 14th with a
westerly breeze. In the three following days they
passed the Cape of Isles, Cape Desii-e, and came to
Orange Isle, always working their wtiy through much

DUTCH ARCTIC EXPEDniOXS.

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encum'bering ice. Ah they were off Icy Cupe^ Bar-
entz, Avlio luul Leen long struggling with severe ill-
uess, desired to be lifted up that he might take a last
view of that fatal and terrible boundary, and he gazed
upon it for a considerable time.

On the following day the boats were again involved
amid masses of drift-ice ; but one of the men boldly
took a rope to a solid floe, and by this means all the
crew, then the st(M'es, and finally the boat itself, reach-
ed a secure position. During this detention Barentz
died, to the great grief of all his crew.

On tlu; 22(1 there appeared open sea at a little dis-
tance, and having dragged the boats over successive
pieces of ice, they were again afloat. In the three fol-
lo\ving days they reached Cape Nassau, the ice fre-
quently stopping them, but opening again like the
gates of a sluice, and allowing a })assage. On the 2Cth
they Avere obliged once more to disembark and f)itch
their tents on the frozen surface.

On the 7th of July they again dragged the boats to
an open sea, an<l from this date their progress though
often obstructed was never stopped. Ou the 28th
they approached the southeni part of Nova Zembla
where they found two Russian vessels at auchor, and
were received by their crews with much courtesy.

After mutual presents, the parties set out to sail
together to Waygatz, but were separated by a gale.
On the 4th of August the Dutch came in view of the
coast of Russia, and after a tedious voyage along the
shore reached Kola, where they found Corneliz, who
conveyed them to Amsterdam. Corneliz had not been
successful in making any discoveiy of importance.

VUTIVK ClU}bS AMD MIUKIUHT SUN-NUBTUUIUi liUSfilA.

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CHAPTER V.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF MARTIN FROBISIIER
AND JOHN DAVIS.

In the early reign of Queen Elizabeth, the great
enterprise of finding a North-western passage was
ajiain revived in Enffland. Since the discoveries of
Cahot no progress had been made at solving the
problem, although two English expeditions had sailed
to Northern America,

The first one consisted of two ships, having on
board " divers cunning men," one of whom was a canon
of St. Paul's, a great mathematician, and -wealthy.
The ships reached Newfoundland, where one of them
was wrecked ; the other vessel sailed southward, and
then returned to England.

Nine years aftenvards, another voyage was made in
the same direction by a company of adventurera of
highest respectability. This gay band mustered in
military array at Gravesend, and having taken the
sacrament, went on board ship. They had a long and
tedious voyage, during which their buoyant spirits
considerably flagged. Ha\nng reached NeAvf oundland,
they saw a boat \nth the " natural people of the
country." A barge was fitted out to treat with them ;
but the savages, alarmed, fled precipitately, relinipiish-
ing the side of a bear which they had been roasting.

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EXGLISn ADVENTTRERS.

The coast "was barren and desolate, and a fi, ,n*ne
soon rose to siu-li a pitcli as to drive them to tlie
extremity of cannibalism. They had arranged the
casting of lots to decide whose life nhould be sacrificed
to save the rest, >vhen a I'^rench ship ai»]K!are<l in view.
Finding it to be both in good order and well stored
witli provisions, the English scrupled not to attack
and seize it ; and in it they made their way to Eng-
land in a most miserable condition, leaving their own
bark to the ejected crew.

Soon aftenvards the Frenchmen reached France,
and raised such a clamor about the outrage of the
Englishmen, that King Henry liberally paid for their
losses from his own i)Ui*se.

The next English expedition to the Nortli-west was
planned and conducted ])y Martin Frobisher, a native
of Yorkshire, who subsequently distinguished him-
self by naval exploits in every quarter of the globe.
Frobisher regarded the discoveiy of a North-west
passage " as the only thing of the world, yet left un-
done, whereby a notable man might become famous ;"
and for fifteen years in city and court he solicited the
means for undertaking the enteiiwise.

With three small vessels (35, 30, and 10 tons,)
Frobisher, on the 8th of June 157G, passed Greenwich
where the court then resided, and when oiii)osite the
palace fired a salute in honor of the queen, who gazed
at the fleet from the window and waved her hand to
the departing explorei-s.

Early in July, Frobisher saw a range of awful and
precipitous summits, which, even in the height of sum-
mer, were white with snow ; this was the southern
point of Greenland. He then steered westward, and
experienced a severe gale, during which his smallest

DISCOVEKY OF " META INCOGNITA.

vessel sunk bpiientli the waves with nil on honnl.
Ai)i>alle«l ut this disaster one of the remaining vessels
turned hack, but Frubisher in the third one pushed
forward, and on the22d of July reached the ice-bound
coasts of Lal>rador. Sailing nortlnvard he came in
Auirust to more accessible land, and named it " Meta
Incognita."

Seeing seven boats plying along the beach, Frobisher
sent out c»ne of his own, the crew of which, l>y holding
up a white cloth, induced a native canoe to api)roach ;
but on seeing the ship the people immediately turned
back. Frobisher then went on shoi'e, and, by the dis-
tnbutiou of presents, enticed one of the natives on
board. This person, being well treated with food and
drink, made on his return so favorable a report, that
nineteen followed his example.

The natives were next day more shy. and Avith
some difficulty one of them, by the allurements of a
bell, was draAvn on board. Frol)isher, ha\ing no in-
tention to detain him, sent a boat with fiAe men to
put him on shore ; but, urged by curiosity, they went
on to join the main body of the natives, and were
never allowed to return. Afte: spending two days
firing guns, and looking for the missing men, Fro-
bisher sailed for home, where he arrived in October.
Although Frobisher had made but little progress
towards a western passage, his voyage was considered
highly creditable, and interest in the new countiy
was greatly excited from the fact that a large shining
stone, which Frobisher had brought home and divid-
ed among his friends, was pronounced by the gold-
smiths to be gold ore. A new exj)edition of three
ships was immediately organized ; England Avas thro^^^l
into a ferment of joy ; and Frobisher being invited

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FU0BIS1IEU8 8EC0ND VOYAGE.

to visit the queen, received lier hand to kiss, with
many gracious expressions.

The new expedition sailed on the Sfith of IMay,
1577 ; on the 8th of June it touched at the Orkneys
for fresli water. The poor inhabitants, having, it is
pi'()l)al)le, suffered from the inroads of pirates, ried
from tlieir houses with cries and shrieks, but were
soon, by courteous treatment, induced to retuin.

Tlie Englisli now entered on their perilous voyage
through the northern ocean, during which they were
much cheered with the perpetual light. At length
they touched at the sound or deep indentation
of ^\'uter8 known as Frobisher Strait — afterwards
said to be a sound, and recently proved such
by the researches of the late Captain Hall. Tlie
coast, hoAvcver, was found guarded by a mighty wall
of ice, which the ships could not penetrate ; but the
captain, with two of his boats, worked his way into
the sound, and began to surv^ey the country.

So oi'ude were then the ideas respecting the
geography of these regions, that they imagined the
coast on their left to be America, and that on their
right Asia. Landing on the American side they
8cramT)led to the top of a hill, and erected a column,
which, after the great patron of the expedition, was
called Mount AVarwick. On their return, cries were
heard like the lowing of bulls, and a large body of
natives ran up to them in a very gay and cordial
manner. Tliey began an eager traffic for the tiifling
ornaments displayed by their ^^sitors, yet declined
eveiy invitation to go on board, while the English on
their part did not choose to accede to their overtures
of going into the countr}'. Frobisher and a compan-
,ion, meeting two of the natives apart, i-ashly seized

FIGIIT Wrni ESQUmACX.

and began dragging tlieni to the "boats, hoping
to gain their friendwhip by presents and couilesy.

On the HHi)peiy giound, however, their feet gave way,
the Es<iuiniaux broke loose, and fonnd behind a rock
their bows and arrows, which they began to discluirge
with great fury. Frobisher and his comrade, seized
\nth a panic, fled full speed, and the former reached
the boat with an aiTow sticking in his leg. The crew,
imagining that something tiiily serious must have
driven back their commander in such discomfiture,
gave the alarm, and ran to the rescue. The Uvo bar-
barians instantly fled ; but one of them was caught
and taken to the boat.

Meantime the ships outside were involved in a
dreadful tempest, being tossed amid those tremendous
ice-islands, the least of which would have been sufli-
cient to have crushed them into a thousand pieces.
To avoid dangers ^\'hich so closely beset them, they
were obliged to tack fourteen times in four hours ;
but with the benefit of the perpetual light, the skill
of their steersman, and the aid of Providence, they
weathered the tempest, without the necessity oi diiv-
ing out to sea and abandoning the boats. On the
19th, Frobisher came out to the sliip with a large
store of glittering stone ; upon which, says one of the
adventurers, "we were all rapt with joy, forgetting
both where we were and what we hatl suffered. Be-
hold," he continues, "the glory of man, — to-night
looking for death, to-moiTOw devising how to satisfy
his greedy appetite with gold."

A north west gale now sprang up ; before Avhich,
like magic, the mighty barriers of ice by which the
ships had been shut out melted away. They had now
a broad and open passage by which they entered the

RELICS OF TILB LOST 8AIL0BS.

sound, which was a Btrnit leading into the Pacific
Ocean. In a run of upwards of thirty leagues they
landed at different points, and, mounting to tlie tops
of liillrt, took possession of the country with solemn
and sacred ceremonies, in name of her majesty.

On (piestioning their prisoner, he admitted knowl-
edge respecting the five men captured in the ])receding
year, Lut repelled most strenuously the signs Ly which
the English intimated their belief that they had been
killed and eaten. However, a dark source of suspicion
was soon opened ; for some boats of the natives were
foimd, which, along with bones of dogs, flesh of un-
known animals, and other strange things, contained
an English canvas doublet, a shirt, a girdle, three
shoes for contrary feet, — apparel which, beyond all
doubt, belonged to their countrymen lost in the pre-
ceding year.

Hoping to recover them, they left a letter in the
boat, with pen, ink, and paper, and a party of forty,
under Charles Jackman, marched inland to take the
natives in the rear, and drive them upon the coast^
where Frobisher with his boats Avaited to intercept
them. The wretches had removed their tents into
the interior ; but the invaders, after marching over
several mountains, descried a cluster of huts, ^hose
inmates hastened to their canoes, and pushed out full
speed to sea. They rowed M'ith a rapidity which
would have baffled all pursuit, had not Frobisher
■with his boats held the entrance of the sound and
there awaited them.

As soon as the Esquimaux saw themselves thus
beset, they landed among the rocks, abandoning their
skiffs. The English nished on to the assault; but
the natives, stationed on the rocks, resisted the land-

FK>fALF. rnisoxEiw.

ing, and stood their ground with the most savage and
desperate valor. Overwliehned with clouds of ar-
rows, th(;y picked them up, plucking them even out
of their bodies, and returned them with fur}'. On
feeling themselves mortally wounded, they plunged
from the rocks into the sea, lest they should fall into
the hantls of the conquerors.

At length, completely worsted, and having lost five
or six of their number, they sprang up among the
cliffs and eluded jmrsuit. There fell into the hands
of the assailants only two females, who caused some
speculation. One was stricken in years, and present-
ed a v-isage so singularly hideous, that her moccasins
were j)ulled oif to ascertain if she was not the gi-eat
enemy of mankind in disguise. The other female
was young, with a child in her arms ; and bf Ing, from
her peculiar costume, mistaken for a man, had been
fired at and the child wounded. It was in vain to
apply remedies ; she licked off with her tongue the
dressings and salves, and cured it in her own way.
She and the male captive fonuerly taken appeared to
be strangen?, but on becoming intimate found nuicli
comfort in each other's society, and showed a strong
mutual attachment.

Frol)isher still cherished hopes of recovering his
men. A large party appearing on the top of a hill,
signs were made of a desire ft)r a fi-iendly interview.
A few of them advanced, and were introduce<l to the
captives. The i)arties M-ei-e deeply affected, and spent
some time witlnrnt uttering a Avord ; tears then flowed ;
and when they at last found speech, it was in tones
of tenderness and regret, Avhich prepossessed the
English much in their favor. Frt)l)isher noAv came
fonvard, and propounded that ou condition of restor-

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TKEACIIEilY OF THE NATTVES.

ing his five men, they should receive back their own
captives, \nth the addition of sundry of those little
gifts and presents on which they set the highest value.
This they promised, and also to convey a letter to the
prist)ners, who doubtless at this time were not alive.

Afterward three men appeared holding up flags of
bladder, inviting the invaders to approach ; but the
latter, who saw the heads of others peeping from be-
hind the rocks, resolved to proceed with th,e utmost
caution. The natives began by placing in vieAV large
pieces of excellent meat ; and when their enemy could
not be caught by that bait, a man advanced very close,
feigning lameness, and seeming to offer himself an
easy prey. Frobisher allowed a shot to be fired, by
which the person was cured at once, and took to his
heels. Seeing all their artifices fail, the barbarians
determined upon main force, and pouring down to
the number of a hundred, discharged their arrows
with great rapidity. They even followed a consider-
able way along the coast, regardless of the English
shot ; but the boats were too distant from the shore
to suffer the slightest annoyance. Several of the sea-
men importuned Frobisher to allow them to land and
attack; but this he refused, as only calculated to
divert them from the main object, and to cause useless
bloodshed.

The 21st of August had now arrived, the ice was
beginning to form around the ships, and, though little
progress had been made towards China, the seamen
had put on board two hundred tons of the precious
ore. They therefore mounted the highest hill, fired a
volley in honor of the Countess of Warwick, and
made their way home.

!N'ot^vithstanding the vicissitudes which had marked

FROniSIIER's TIIIKD EXPEDITION.

this voyage, its arrival was hailed with the utmost
exultation. Enthusiasm and hope, both with the
queen and the nation, rose higher than ever. The
delusion of the golden ore continued in full force, and
caused those desolate shores to be regarded as another
Peru. Special commissioners, men of judgment, art,
and skill, were named by her majesty to ascertain
both the quality of the ore and the prospects of the
voyage to India. After due inquiiy, a most favoralde
report was made on both subjects, and it was recom-
mended not only that a new expedition on a great
scale should be fitted out, but a colony established on
that remote coasi;, who might at once be placed in full
possession of its treasures, and be on the watch for
evciy opportunity of farther discovery.

To brave the ^\-inter of the Polar world was a novel
and daring enterprise ; yet such was then the national
spirit, that the appointed number of a hundred was
quickly filled up. There were forty mai'iners, thirty
miners, and thirty soldiers, in which last number were
oddly included, not only gentlemen, but gold-finers,
bakers, and carpenters. Materials were sent on board
the vessels, which, on being put together, might be
converted into a fort or house. The squadron fitted
out was the largest that had yet adventured to plough
the northern deep. It consisted of fifteen vessels,
furnished by various ports, especially by those of the
west, and the rendezvous tt)ok place at IIal•^vich on
the 27th May, 1578, whence they sailed on the 31st.
The captains waited on the queen at Greenwich, and
were personally addressed by her in the most gracious
manner ; Frobisher receiviug a chain of gold, and the
honor of kissing her majesty's hand.

It is notorious that expeditious got up on the great-

l:i: I

THE FLEET m A STORM.

est scale, and ■\vitli tbe most ample means, usually
prove the most unfortunate. On reacliing tlie open,
ing of Frobisher's Strait, the navigators found it
frozen over from side to side, and barred, as it were,
with successive walls, mountains, and bulwarks. A
strong easterly wind had driven numerous icebergs
upon the coast, and hence the navigation amid these
huge moving bodies soon became most perilous. The
Dennis, a large vessel, on board of which was part of
the projected house, received such a tremendous blow
from a mountain of ice, that it went down instantly,
though the other ships, hastening to its aid, succeeded
in saving the men. This spectacle struck panic into
the other crews, who felt that the same fate might
next moment be their own.

The danger was much augmented when the gale
increased to a tempest, and the icy masses, tossing in
every direction, stmck the vessels fuiiously. In-
vention was now variously at work to find means
of safety. Some moored themselves to these floating
islands, and being carried about along with them,
escaped the outrageous blows which they must other-
wise have encountered. Others held suspended by
the sides of the ship oars, planks, pikes, poles, every-
thing by which the violence of the shocks miglit be
broken ; yet the ice, " aided by the surging of the sea
and billow," was seen to break in pieces planks three
inches thick. Frobisher considers it as redounding
highly to the glory of his poor miners and landsmen,
wholly unused to such a scene, that they faced with
heroism the assembled dangers that besieged them
round. " JLt length, it pleased God with his eyes of
mercy to look down from heaven," — a brisk south-
west wind dispersed the ice, and gave them an open
sea through which to navigate.

THE EXPEDITION ASTRAY.

After a few days spent in repairing the vessels, and
stopping u}) tlie leaks, Frobisher bent afresh all his
efforts to penetrate inward to the spot where he \vas
to found his colony. After considerable effort, he
made his way into a strait, when he discovered that
he was sailing between two coasts; but amid the
gloomy mists, and the thick snow which fell in this
northern midsummer, nothing could be distinctly
seen. As, however, clear intervals occasionally oc-
curred, affording i)artial glimpses of the laud, the
surmise arose that this was not the shore along ^vhich
they had formerly sailed. Frobisher would not listen
to a suirirestion Avhich would have convicted him of
ha\ing thrown away much of his time and labor.
He still i)ressed onward. Once ihe nuirinere imagined
they saw Mount AVarwick, but were soon undeceived.
At length, the chief pilot stood up and declared, in
hearing of all the crew, that he never saw this coast
before.

Frobisher still persevered, sailing along a country
more p()i)ulous, more verdant, and better stocked with
birds, than the one formerly visited. In fact, this
was i)robably the main entrance into Hudson's Bay,
by continuing in which he would have made the most
impoi-tant discoveries. But all his ideas of mineral
wealth and successful i)assage were associated Avith
the old strait ; and, on being obliged to own that this
Avas a different one, he turned back to the open sea.
In this retreat the fleet was so involved in fogs and
violent currents, and so l)eset with rocks and isl.-uuls,
that the sailors considered it only by a special inter-
position of Providence that they were brought out in
safety.

When they had reached the open sea, and arrived
5

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THE COLONY PKOJECT ABANDONED.

at the mouth of the desired strait, it was almost as
difficult to find an entrance. However, FroLisher
was constantly on the watch, and wherever there
ai)i^eured any opening, it is said "he g<^t in at one gap
and out at another," till at length he reached his pur-
posed haven. Before, however, the crews Avere com*
jiletely landed and established, the 9th of August
had come, thick snows were falling, and it behooved
them to hold a solemn constdtation as to the 2)ros-
pects of the 2)rojected colony. There remained of
the house only the materials of the south and east
sides, a great part of the bread had been sj^oiled, and
there was no adequate provision for a hundred men
during a whole yrar.

Renouncing the idea of settlement, FroT)isher still
ashed his captains whether they might not, dui-ing
the short remaining intei"val, attempt some discovery
to throw a redeeming lustre on this luckless voyage ;
but, in reply, they urged the advanced season, the
symptoms of ^vinter already approaching, and the
danger of being enclosed in these narrow inlets,
where they would be in the most innninent danger of
perishing ; — in short, that nothing was now to be
thought of but a speedy return homeward. This
was effected, not without the dispersion of the fleet,
and considerable damage to some of the vessels.

The failure of successive attempts, and es])ecially
of one got up with so much cost, produced its natu-
ral effect in England. Tlie glittering stone, which
was to have converted this noi-them Meta into anoth-
er Peru, was never more heard of ; a few careful
assays having established its utter insignificance.
Frobisher strongly advocated another voyage to the
North-west, but without success, and was obliged to

Sl'BSEQUENT LIFE OF FEOBISIIER.

seek in other climates employment for his daring and
active spirit. lie accompanied Sir Francis Drake to
tlie West Indies, and commanded one of the largest
ships in the armament which opposed the Spanish
armada, lighting with such bravery, that lie was
decorated with the honors of knighthood. Being
afterward sent to assist Henry IV. against the League,
and employed in the attack of a small fort on the
coast of France, he received a wound which proved
fatal in Novend)er, 1504.

The " IMeta Incognita " or " unknown land " discov-
ered by Frobisher, lies between Hudson's Strait and
Frobisher's Strait. Capt. Hall passed the period of
his first visit to the north in this vicinity, and found
many relics, as he supposes, of the Frobisher expedi.
tion.

Sh" Humphrey Gilbert, a man of high character
both as a soldier and civilian, had been mucli inter-
ested in the voyages of his countrymen, and in 1573
he obtained from Elizabeth a patent confeiring sole
jurisdiction over a large tenitorj'^ in America, (^n con-
dition that he should plant a colony there within six
years. His haK-brother, Sir Walter lialeigh was also
engaged in the enterprise.

In 1583, Sir Humphrey set out vnth a fleet of five
vessels, but one of them put back on account of sick-
ness. On reaching St. John's harbor, Ne^v Found-
land, Sir Humphrey summoned some Spanish and
Portuguese fishermen there, to -svitness the ceremony
of taking possession in the name of the English sov-
ereign, an operation which he performed by digging
a turf, and setting up a pillar to which the arms of
England were affixed. Silver ore, as they supposed,
was discovered and taken on board the vessels, one

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LOSS OF TIIE "squirrel."

of -wliicli was jibamlc^ned, wliile with the remainder
Sir Iliiiuplirey pursued liis voyaire along tlie eoiust
towards tlie south. On liis war, the largest remain-
ing sliip with its ore was wrecked, and a hundred
souls perished.

Iveturn Avas now considered necessary, and in the
midst of teirible stt)rms and temi)ests, the prows
were turned homeward. 8ir Humphrey had chosen
to sail in a little tender, called tlie 8(piirrel, and when
the storm came on he was urwd to shift his flau: to
a larger vessel. But he refused to do so, savinu::

" 1 will not desert my little company, Avith whom
I have passed so many storms and perils."

The <i:ale increased ; liixhts Mere burned at niirht,
and the little S({uirrel, for a long time, was seen gal-
Lmtly contending with the waves. Once she came
so near another ship that its ofHcei's could see Sir
Humphrey sitting by the mainmast, with a book in
his hand, reading, lie looked uj), and cried cheerily,
"AVe are as near to Heaven by sea as by land."
About midniglit, all at once, the lights were extin-
guished ; and in the morning nothing was seen of the
good Sir Humphrey or his little ship.

In 1585 the spirit of discovery was again roused.
Merchants of London fitted out two vessels, the Sun-
shine and Moonshine, wliich Avere placed under the
connnand of John Davis, a determined seaman, en-
dowed with much courtesy and good humor, by Avhich
he was likely to render himself acceptable to the rude
natives of those inhospitable shores : to promote
which laudable purpose, he was provided not only
with a supply of the trifling gifts suited to their taste,
but with a band of music to cheer and recreate tlieir
spirits.

tan LAM) 01' UtSOl^TlUN.

muiUIITKI) lUUOKRO.

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THE "land of desolation."

Davia sailed on the 7th of June, 1585. On the 10th
of July, as the seamen approached (lie Arctic houndary,
they heard, amid a calm sea Ije.set with thick mist, a
mighty roann;.;, as of the waves dashing on a rocky
shore. The captain and master pushed oil in the
boat to examine this supposed Leach, hut were mucli
8ur])rised to find themselves involved amid numei'(>us
icebergs, while all this noise had been caused by the
rolling and beating of these masses against each other.
Next day they came in view of Greenland, ^vh^ch
appeared the most dreary and desolate ev(!r seen ;
"deformed, rocky, and mountainous, like a sugar-loaf,
standing to our sight above the clouds. It towered
above the fog like a white list in the sky, the tops
altogether covered with snow, the shore beset A\ith
ice, making such irksome noise that it was called the
IadkI of lAsohtti'on."

After sailing for several days along this dreary
shore, Davis pushed out north-westward into the open
sea, hoping in " God's mercy to find our desired j)as-
sage." On the 29th he came in view of a land in G4°
north latitude, which was still only Greenland ; ])ut
as the wind was unfavorable for proceeding westward,
the air temperate, and the coast free from ice, he re-
solved to go on shore and take a view of ths countiy
and people. In the company of two others, he landed
on an island, leaving directions for the rest to follow
as soon as they should hear any loud signal. The
party mounted the top of a rock, whence they -svere
espied In" the natives, who raised a lamentable noise,
with loud outcries like the howling of wolves. Davis
and his comrades hereupon struck up a high note, so
modulated, that it might at once be alluring to the
natives, and might summon his own crew to deeds

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A OllEENLANI) DANCF-

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either of courtesy or valor. Burton, tlie iimst(;r, n\u\
othern, luistened, "vvt'll armed, yet with tlie hand of
inuHic ])hiying, and dancing to it with tlie most invit-
ing nigns of friendship.

In accordance witli this gay summons, ton canoes
luistened from the otlu'r ishinds, and tlie people
crowded round the strangers, uttering in a hollow
voice unintelligible simnds. The English continued
their friendly salutations, while the other ]>ai'ty still
showed jealousy, till at length one of them began
pointing towards the sun and beating his breast.
These signs being returned by John Ellis, master of
the IMoonshine, the natives were induced to a])i)roach;
anil being presented with caps, stockings, gloves, etc.,
and continuing to be hailed with music and dancing,
their fears gave place to the most cordial amity.

Next day there appeared thirty+;even canoes, the
people from which kindly invited the English on
shore, showing eager impatience at their dela}'. Dji-
vis manned his boats and went to them ; one of them
shook hands with him, and kissed his hand, and the
two parties became extremely familiar. The natives
paiied with every thing, the clothes from off their
backs, their buskins of well-dressed leather, their
darts, oars, and five canoes, accepting cheerfully In
return whatever their new visitors chose to present.

Davis next steered directly across the strait, or
rather sea, which still bears his oAvn name. On the 6th
of August he discovered high land, which he named
Mount Raleigh, being part of Cumberland Island.
Here, anchoring in a fine road, the seamen saw three
white animals, which seemed to be goats. Desirous
of fresh -victuals and sport, they pursued them, but
discovered instead three monstrous white bears.

VOYAGE WITH THE MKUMAID.

Davis, nfter oonflting al)oiit for some days, again
found liiins«']f at tlie t-ajK' \vliicli lie had at first reach-
ed on his tTOHHing from tlie ()|)i»oHite shore of Green-
land. Tills promontory, wliii'li lie called (lod's Mercy,
he now turned, when he f(»und himself in a sound
stivtcliing north-westward, twenty or thirty leagues
})road. After ascending it sixty leagues, he found an
island in the mid-channel. About the end of August,
however, heing involved in fogs and contraiy winds,
he determined to suspend operations for the season
and return to England.

On one of the islands in this sound the seamen
heard dogs howling, and saw twenty a])i)roach, of
wolf-like ai)pearance, but in most peaceful guise. Im-
pressed, however, with the idea that only animals of
])rey could be found on these shores, they fired and
killed two, round (mc of whose necks they found a
collar, and soon after discovered the sledge to which
he had been yoked.

Davis sailed on a second expedition on t\te 7th of
May 158(3 with his two former vessels, and another
one called the Mermaid. On the 21)th of June he
reached the scene of his former visit in Greenland.
The natives came out in tlieir canoes at first with
shouts and cries; but, recognizing their companions
of the former year, they hastened forward, and hung
round the vessel with every expression of Joy and
welcome.

Davis, seeing them in such favorable disposi-
tions, went ashore and distiibuted y)resents. The
most intimate acquaintance was now^ begun ; yet
they never met the strangers anew -without crying,
"Iliaout!" beating their breasts and lifting their
hands to the sun, by which a fresh treaty was ratified.

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ESQUIMAUX IN0ANTATI0N8,

The two parties aimiHed tljenmelves by contests in
bodily exercises. The Ksiiuiniaux coukl not match
their opponents in heaping ; but in wrestling they
showed themselves strong and skillful, and threw
some of the best English wrestlers. By degrees tliey
began to manifest less laudable (jualities. 'Jlicy exer-
cised many and solemn incantations, though, Davis
thanks God, without any etl'ect. They kindled a iii'e
by rubbing two sticks against each other, and invited
hhii to pass through it; but he, in contempt of their
sorcery, caused the fire to be trodden out and the
embers thrown into the sea.

Tlie natives, however, soon began to show less
amiable traits, and finally reached the highest pitch of
audacity. Tliey stole a spear, a gun, a sword, cut the
cables and even the INIoonshine's boat from her steru.
The leading pers»)nages of the crew remonstrated with
Davis, that for their security he must " dissolve this
new fi'iendship, and leave the compaiiy of the thiev-
ish miscreants." Davis fired two pieces over their
hemls, which " did sore amaze them," and they fled
precipitately ; but in ten liours they again appeared
\vith many promises and presents of skins ; when, on
seeing iron, "they could in nowise forbear stealing."
The commander was amiin besiejjed with the com-
plaints of his crcAV ; however, " it only ministered to
him an occasi(m of laughter," and lie told his men to
look out for their goods, and not to dejil hardly with
the natives, who could scarcely be expected in so
short a time " to know their evils."

Davis now undertook an e pedition into the inte-
rior, lie sailed up Avhat appeared a broad river, but
which proved only a strait or creek. A violent gust
of wind having obliged him to seek the shelter of

AX KXPKIMTION TO TIIK INTKUIOU.

llli^.

iite-
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TfllSt

knd, lie attempted to ascend a very lofty peuk; but
"the inountaiurt were so many and Hi) mii^lity, that
his nnriMKse pn^vailed not." AVhile the men were
L'atliei'ing muscles for su[)])er, lie was anuised )»y vi«;w-
inf^ for the first time in his life, a water-spout, which
he describes tus a mighty whirlwind taking up the
water and whirling it round for three houi-s without
intermission.

During the captain's absence matters had become
worse with the Es(piimaux ; they had stolen an an-
chor, cut the cable, and even thrown stones of half a
pound weight against the Moonshine. Davis invited
a part}' of them on board, made them various little
presents, taught them to run to the tojmiast, and dis-
missed them apparently (piite pleased. Yet no sooner
had the sun set than they began to " practise their
devilish nature," and threw stones into the IMoonshine,
one of which knocked down the boatswain. The
captain's meek spirit was at length kindled to Avratli,
and he gave full warrant for two boats to cluise the
culprits ; Init they rowed so swiftly that the pursuers
returned with small content.

Two days after, five natives presented themselves
with uvertui'es f(jr a fresli truce ; but the master came
to Davis, remonstrating that one of them Avas " (he
chief ringleader, a nuister of mischief," and w ;h xvhe-
ment not to let him go. lie was made c;ipti\e, and,
a fair wind suddenly springing up, the English set
sail, and carried him aAvay, many doh^ful signs being
then exc.'lianged. between him and one of his comitry-
men ; hoAvever, on being well treated, and presented,
with a new suit of frieze, his spirits rcvi\-ed, he be-
came a pleasant companion, and used occasionally to
assist the sailors.

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DAVIS WARNED BY HIS SAILORS.

Oil the 17tli of July tlie mariners descried a land
diversilied with hills, bays, and capes, and extending
farther than the eye could reach ; but "what was their
horror on approaching, to And that it Avas only " a
most mighty and strange (piantity of ice !" It was,
in fact, that great barrier known as the Middle Pack.

As they coasted along this mighty field, a fog came
on, by \vhich the rojies, shrouds, and sails A\ere all
fast frozen, — a phenomena which, on the 24th of July,
api)eared more than strange. Dismayed by these ob-
servations, the seamen considered the passage hope-
less, and, in a respectful yet firm tone, warned Davis,
that by "his over-boldness he might cause their
wi(Unv-s and fatherless children to give him bitter
curses."

Davis was willing to consider their case; yet,
anxious not to abandon so great an enterprise, he de-
tei'inined to leave behind him the Mermaid, and to
push on in iLe Moonshine with the boldest part of his
crew. Having found a favorable breeze, he at last,
on the 1st of August, turned the ice, and in Lit. ()C)°
3;V reached land ; along Avhich he now coasted south-
Avard for about ten degrees, entangled among a num-
ber of islands, and missing, in his progress, tiie inlets
to Hudson's Bay. On the coast of Labrador, five
men Avho landed were beset by the natives, and two
of them killed and two wounded. Davis then re-
turned to England.

Throusjjh the influence of his friend Mr. Sanderson,
Davis sailed on a third exj>edition with the Sunshine,
the Elizabeth, and a pinnace, and on the lOth of June,
1587, arrived among his old friends on the coast of
Greenland. The natives received him as before Avith
the cry of illaout and the exhibition of skins, but lost

to
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DESEKTIOX OF TWO SIITPS.

no time in tlie renewal of their former system of
tliieving.

It was now arranged that the two large vessels
should remain to tish, while Davis in the pin-
nace should stretch out into a higher latitude witli a
view to discoveiy. In pursuance of this plan he
took his departure, and, continuing to range the
coast to the northward, on the 28th he reached a point
which he named Sanderson's Hope, in upwards of
^S'', still finding a wide open sea to the west and
north. Here, the wind having shifted, Davis resolv-
ed to hold on a western tack across this sea, and
proceeded for f rty leagues without sight of land or
any other obstruction, when he was arrested by tlie
usual barrier of an immense bank of ice. Tempted
by an apparent opening, Davis involved himself in a
bay of ice, and was obliged to wait the moment
when the sea beating and the sun shining on this
mighty mass should effect its dissolution.

At length, on the lOtli of July, he came in view
of Mount Ilaleigh, and at midnight found himself
at the mouth of the inlet discovered in the first voy-
age, and Avhich has since been called Cumberland
Strait. Next day he sailed across its entrance, and
in the two following days ascended its northern shore,
till he was again involved among numerous islands.
lie now concluded this strait to be an enclosed gulf,
and retreated alone: the southern shore. He now
crossed the mouth of an extensive gulf, in one part of
which his vessel was carried along by a violent cur-
rent, while in another the water was whirling and
roarinc: as is usual at the meetinj? of tides. This was
evidently tlie grand entrance to Hudson's Bay.

Davis now hastened to the point of rendezvous

i:i

SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF DAVIS.

': S' I .

fixed with the two other vessels ; but, to ]jis deep dis-
appointment and just indignation, he found tliat they
had departed. It was not without hesitation that,
with his small stock of provisions he ventured to sail
for England ; but he arrived safely.

Davis had succeeded in reaching a much higher lati-
tude than any former navigator, and, \vith the excep-
tion of the barrier of ice on one side, had found the
sea open, blue, of vast extent, and unfathomable
depth, lie considered, therefore, that the success of
a spirited attempt was almost infallible. But three
failures had exhausted all interest in the subject, and
the invasion by the Spanish Armada which soon
followed, engaged for a season all the energies of the
nation.

Davis tried in vain to procure means for another
Arctic Ex})edition. He subsecpiently made several
vo}'ages to the East Indies, in the service of the
Dutch, and was killed during a fight with Japanese
pirates on the coast of Malacca in 1605.

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CHAPTER VI.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF WEYMOUTH, KNIGHT,
AND HUDSON.

In 1602, the Muscovy Company and the Levant
Company united in new efforts for a North-west route,
and sent out George Weymouth with two vessels, the
Discovery and Goodspeed, which sailed on the 2d
of May.

On the 28th of June, Weymouth came in view of a
snow-clad promontory on the American coast. The
vessels were tossed to and fro by violent currents and
involved in thick fogs, and they came quite near to
an iceberg on which some of the crew landed. Hear-
ing a great sound like the dashing of waves on the
shore, they approached it, and were dismayed to find
it " the noise of a great quantity of ice, which was
very loathsome to be heard." The mist became so
thick, that they could not see two ships' length, and
on attempting to take down the sails, they were aston-
ished to find them so fast frozen to the riijorins: that
in "this chief est time of summer they could not be
moved." Next day they renewed the attempt ; but it
was only by cutting away the ice from the ropes that
they could be made to move through the blocks.
The following day the fog lay so thick and froze so

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A COWARDLY CHEW.

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fast, that ropes, sails, and rigging remained irainoval)le.
These plienoraena produced a disastrous effect on
the minds of the sailors, who began to hold secret
conferences, ending in a consj)iracy " to bear up the
helm for England." It was proposed to seize Wey-
mouth, and confine him in his cabin till he gave his
consent ; but the captain, receiving notice of this ne-
farious design, called the seamen before him, and in
presence of Mr. Cartwright the preacher, and Mr.
Cobreth the master, called upon them to answer for
thus attempting to overthrow a voyage fitted out at
such ample cost by the honorable merchants.

The men stood firm, and produced a paper signed
by themselves, in which they justified the proposed
step as founded on solid reason, without any tincture
of fear or cowardice. They represented, that if they
should suffer themselves to be enclosed in an un-
known sea, by this dreadful and premature winter,
they would not only be in imminent danger of perish-
ing, but could not hope to commence their career of
discovery next year sooner than May ; while by setting
sail in due time from England they might easily
reach this coast in that month. Weymouth retired
to his cabin to deliberate, when he heard it announced
that the helm "was actually borne up. Hastening on
deck, and asking M'^ho had done this, he was answered,
" One and all ; " and he found the combination such
as it was impossible to resist, though he took occasion
. x*^vard to chastise the ringleaders. The men, how-
e,R. d'^clared themselves ready to hazard their lives
iP ;-.iv: discovery which might be attempted to the
Bouiihv ard.

Descending the coast, Weymouth found himself at
the entrance of an inlet, into which he sailed in a

;, .,!.- ,|. ,

FATE OF CAPTAIN KNIGHT.

soiitli-west direction, a liundred leagues ; but encount-
eiiiif fogs and lieavy gales, and finding the season far
si)ent, lie deemed it necessary to regain tlie open sea.
Tliis inlet Avas in fact the grand entrance of Hudson's
Ba3'.

In 55" Weymouth found a fair land, consisting of
islands and "goodly sounds," apparently the place
Avhere the Moravian settlement of Nain was aftenvard
foiiued. Soon after, a dreadful hurricaue from the
west seemed to take up the sea into the air, and drove
the ships before it with the utmost impetuosity. Had
it been from any other quarter they must have been
dashed to pieces on rocks; however they ranged
through the open sea, and in the greatest extremity
"the liord delivered us liis unworthy servants."
They had now an easy navigation to England.

Ko farther attempts Avere made till IGOG, when
East India merchants fitted out a vessel of forty tons
under John Ivnight, who had been employed in the
Danish voyages to Greenland. On the 19th of June
he had reached the coast of Labrador, but the vessel
had been so much damaged by collisions with ice that
it became necessary to repair it thorougldy, and for
this jnirpose it was hauled ashore in a little cove.

On the 2Gth, Knight, Avith some of his men well
armed, Avent across to the opposite coast in a boat, to
take a survey (^f the country. Here the captain -w-ith
two of his ofiicers, Avent over a hill, leaving three
men in charge of the boat, who waited the whole day
in anxious expectation of the return of the party;
they then sounded trumj)ets, fired muskets, and made
other signals but without effect. After waiting till
eleven at niglit, they gave up hopes, and returned to
the ship with the doleful tidings. The crew were

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By I

A.V ESQn.MAt'X ATTACK.

struck with the deejiest dismay at having thus hist
their captain and best officers, and heing themselves
left in such deplorable circumstances. The boat was
fitted out next morning for search, but could not cross
the channel on account of the ice.

On the night of the 2Sth, as the boatswain was keep-
ing watch in advance of the tents, he suddenly saw
rushing thrcnigh the darkness a great body of men,
who, on desciying him, let fly their arrows. lie in-
stantly fired, and gaNe the alarm ; but before the ci'ew
could stai't from bed and 1)6 mustered, the shallo]) Avas
filled Avith fifty savages, mIio, with loud cries and men-
acing gestures, showed themselves prepared for im-
mediate attack. The English mustered onl}' eight
men and a larije doo:, and thoucfh the rain fell in tor-
rents, they determined rather to perish bra\ely, assail-
ing this savage enemy, than to wait their onset. They
advanced, thei'efore, placing the dog foremost. This
bold front appalled the savages, who leaped into
their boats, and made off Avith all speed ; but they
were entangled in the ice, and detained a considerable
time, during Avhich the pursuers continued firing, and
the savages were heard " crying to each other, very

sore.

The mariners, placed in this alarming situation,
made all the haste they could to fit their shattered
bark for again taking the sea. They had first to cut
a way for her through the ice ; but they had nothing
which could be called a rudder, and the leaks were so
large, that the sailors could scarcely enjoy half an
hour's relief from the pump. At length they suc-
ceeded in reaching the coast of Newfoundland, and
found, among the fishing vessels on that station,
friends who supplied all their wants. After twenty

ft?

Hudson's voyage toavard the pole.

(lays siient in repairing their ship they sailed for

home.

Captain Ileniy Hudson, a Londoner, of whose
early life very little is known, was employed, as he
Bays, "l)y certaine worshipfull merchants of London,
for to discover a passage hy the North Pole, to Japan
and Cliiiia." With only ten men and his little son,
he snik'd in a small vessel on the first of May, 1607,
with instructions to sail, if possible, directly over the
Nortli Pole. This was the first attempt to make this
hazai'dous trip, and the first recorded voyage of this
eminent navigator.

On the 18th of June, the ship was involved in
thick fog, the shrouds and sails being frozen ; but
when it cleared next morning, the sailors desciied a
high and l)old headland, on Greenland coast, mostly
covered with snow, behind Avliich rose a castellated
mountain, named the Mount of God's Mercy. Rain
noAv fell, and tlie air felt temperate and agreeable.
Tliey steered eastward to clear this coast ; but, after
being for some time enveloped in fogs, again saw land,
very high and bold, and without snow even on the
top of the loftiest mountains. To this cape, in 73°,
they gave the name of Hold-with-IIope.

Hudson now took a north-eastward direction, and
on the 27th, faintly perceived, amid fogs and mist,
the coast of Spitzbergen. He still pushed no]i:liward,
till he passed the 79th degree of latitude, where he
found tlie sun continually ten degrees above the hori-
zon, yet the Aveather piercingly cold, and the slirouds
and sails often frozen. The ice obliged him to steer
in various directions ; but em})racing eveiy oj^portu-
nity, lie pushed on, as appeared to him, to SI'*,
and saw land still continuously stretching as far as
6

A MEKMAID DISCOVERED.

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82®. He returned, coasting along Spitzbergeii, some
parts of which appeared very agreea})le ; and on the
15th of September arrived in the Thames.

On Hudson's return from Spitzbergen, the London
merchants still hoping to find a route to the North-
east, sent him out on a voyage in that direction. On
the 3d of June, 1608, he passed the North Cape, and
pushed on to the north and east till he reached the
latitude of 75®, when he found himself entangled
among ice. He at first endeavored to push through,
but failing in this attempt, turned and extricated
himself with only "a few rubs." On the 12th of
June he experienced a thick fog, and had his shrouds
frozen ; but the sky then cleared, and afforded bright
sunshine for the whole day and night. On the 15th,
Thomas Hilies and Robert Rayner solemnly aveiTed,
that, standing on deck, they had seen a mermaid.
This marine maiden is described as having a female
back and breast, a very white skin, and long black
hair flowing behind ; but on her turning round they
descried a tail as of a porpoise, and speckled like a
mackerel.

Hudson continued to push on eastward, between
the latitudes of 74® and 75®. On the 25th, heavy
north and north-easterly gales, accompanied with fog
and snow, obliged him to steer south-easterly ; and
this course brought him to the coast of Nova Zembla.
Here, he concluded that it was fruitless to attempt
to hold a more northerly course and resolved to try
the old and so often vainly-attempted route of the
"Waygatz.

From this he was diverted by the view of a large
sound, which appeared to afford an equally promising
opening. On its shores also were numerous herds

VOYAOB IN TIIK HALF-MOON.

of walrus, from which he hoped to defray the
expense of the voyage. Nova Zembla, on the whole,
seen under this Arctic midsummer, presented to him
somewhat of a gay aspect. He says, it is " to man's
eye a pleasant land ; nmch mayne land, with no snow
on it, looking in some places green, and deer feeding
thereon." The sound, however, terminated in a large
river, and the boats soon came to anchorage in shallow
water. The ice now came in great masses from the
south, " very fearful to look on ;" and though " by the
mercy of God and His mighty help," Hudson escaped
the danger, yet by the 6th of July he was " void of
hope of a north-east passage," and, determining to put
his employers to no farther expense, hastened home
to England. The " worshipfull merchants," discour-
aged by these failures, refused to fit out any more ex-
peditions for him.

The bold Englishman now sought employment
from the Dutch East India Company, and sailed from
the Texel under their auspices in a little vessel called
the Half-Moon, with a crew of twenty men, on the
25th of March 1609.

On the 5th of May he passed the North Cape, and
on the 19th came in view of Wardhuys. Here he
turned his prow and steered across the Atlantic to
America. His reasons for so doing are not known ;
but it is conjectured that his seamen accustomed to
seek India by the tropical route, were alarmed by the
fogs, tempests, and floating ice of the north, and that
Hudson prefen'ed to seek for a north- western route.

On the 2d of July Hudson reached the coast of
Newfoundland, and then proceeding southward visit-
ing several places along the coast, he arrived in Au-
gust off Chesapeake Bay, where John Smith at that

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DI8C0\'TiKY OF THE lIUDrtOX KIVKll.

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time was ongtiged in founding the first English settle-
ment in Ameriou. Hudson then Hiiile<l nortliward, and
came to anch(>r in what is now kn«j\vn as the Lower Bay
of New Yoi'k City.

After ascending the Hudson TJiv^T for ahout a hun-
dred and fifty miles, Hudson hegan to pereeive fliat
the track to India was yet undiscovered ; so lie turned
his prow southward and heatslowly down the strctam,
havinir several ii'dits witli the natives on the way.

On the 4th of Octoher lie hsft New York Ihiv, and
proceeded to England, where he A\'as detained for a
while hy an order of the English court, Avho were
Jealous of th(^ enterprise of the Dutch.

Hudson sailed on his last and lainentahle \'oyage
on the Itth of April, lOlO. His one ship Avas pro-
visioned for six monllis, and had Leeii titted out 1)y
eminent Englishmen. On the 11th of ^hiy he de-
scried the eastern part of Iceland, and Avas enveloped
in a thick south fog — hearing the sea dasliiiitc aufainst
the coast without seeing it. He Avas thus ol)llged to
come to anchor; but, as soon as the Aveather cleared,
he ])roceeded AA'cstAA'^ai'd along the coast till he reached
SnoAV Hill (Snaefell,) which rears its aA\'ful head
above the sea that leads to the frozen shores of Green-
land. On their Avay the navigators saAV Ilecla, the
volcano of Avhich Avas then in activity, A'omiting tor-
rents of fire doAvn its suoav}"^ sides, Avith smoke ascend-
ing to the sky — an olg'ect not only feai-f ul in itself,
but Avhich struck them Avith alarm as an indicaticm of
unfaA^orable Aveather.

LeaA-ing the Icelandic coast they noAV sailed west-
Avard, and, after being deceived by illv.sory apj^ear-
ances of land, at length saAV the Avhite cliffs of Green-
land toAvering behind a mighty Avail of ice. Without

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KSQUIMAUX SNOW IlOUSICh.

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HUDSON S LAST VOYAGE.

attempting to approach the coast, Hudson sailed to-
wards the south-west, and passed what he imagined to
be Frobisher's Strait, which in fact long continued to
be laid down on the coast of Greenland. Hudson now
rounded Cape Farewell, and " raised the Desolations,"
making careful observations of those coasts, which he
found not well laid down on the charts. The marin-
ers soon began to descry, floating along, the mighty
islands of ice, — a sight which appalled all but the
stoutest hearts. OnAv^ard they sailed, however, some-
times enjoying a clear and open sea, but often encom-
passed by these mighty masses, or by the small and
drifting heaps ; and at length they had to steer as it
were between two lands of ice. They sometimes
moored themselves, on occasions of peril, to tliese ice-
bergs ; but seeing one of them fall with a tremendous
crash into the sea, they no longer trusted to such a
protection.

On the 25th of June land appeared to the north,
was again lost sight of, and aftervvai'd discovered to
the south ; so that they found themselves at the bi-oad
entrance of the channel which has since obtained tlie
name of Hudson's Strait. They were now still more
troidded with ice in various forms, particularly that
of large islands standing deep in the water, which
were more difficult to avoid from the violent ripples
and currents. Thus they were often obliged, especially
amid thick fogs, to fasten themselves to the largest
and firmest of tliese masses, upon which they used to
go out from time to time to ])rocure the water melted
in the hollows, which proved to be sweet and good.

Amid tliese vicissitudes many of the sailors became
feai-ful and some of them sick, and Hudson to enc(Mir-
ao:e them called them together and sho^\'ed tliem his

TROUBLE "Wim THE SAILOBS.

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81 . ■<'■■■■

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chart, from wMch it appeared that they had penetrated
farther into the straits by a hundred leagues than
any former expedition ; he then put it to vote whether
they should proceed on or not.

This was a bold experiment, but did not succeed.
Some, it is true, expressed themselves "honestly
respecting the good of the action;" others declared
they would give nine-tenths of all they were worth,
so that they were safe at home; others said they
did not care where they went, so they were out of
the ice.

Hudson, vexed and disappointed, broke up the
conference, and determining to follow his own course
made his way onward, having sometimes a wide and
clear sea, and being occasionally involved amid moun-
tains of ice. Certain rocky islands, in which he found
a tolerable harbor, were called " Isles of God's Mercy ; ' '
but even this refuge was rendered dangerous by hid-
den reefs ; and the island adjoining to it contained
only " plashes of water and riven rocks,'' and had the
appearance of being subject to earthquake.

At length they arrived at a broad opening, having
on each side capes to which Hudson gave the names
of the two chief patrons of the voyage, Wolstenholme
and Digges. Landing at the latter and mounting a hill,
the men descried some level spots abounding in sorrel
and scurvy grass — ^plants most salutary in this climate ;
while herds of deer were feeding, and the rocks were
covered with unexampled profusion of fowls. Seeing
such ample materials both for sport and food, the crew,
who had ever shown the most anxious concern for
their own comfort, earnestly besought Hudson to allow
them to remain and enjoy themselves for a few days
on this agreeable spot ; but he would not consent as

DISCOVERT OF HUDSON'S BAY.

tlie season for discovery was rapidly passing away.

After proceeding a short distance through the open-
ing, the coasts on each side were seen to separate, and
lie beheld before him an ocean-expanse, to which the
eye could discover no termination. It seemed to him,
doubtless, a portion of the mighty Pacific, though
really Hudson's Bay. Here, however, Hudson's nar-
rative closes, without expressing those feelings of
pride and exultation which must have filled his mind
at this promised fulfillment of his highest hopes. The
narrative of Pricket, one of Hudson's men, must be the
foundation for the remaining history of the voyage.

The 3d of August had now anived, a season at
"which the boldest of northern navigators had been ac-
customed to think of returning. Little inclined to
Buch a course, Hudson continued to sail along the coast
on the left, hoping probably before the close of
Autumn to reach some cultivated and temperate shore
where he might take up his winter-quarters. The
shores along this bay, though not in a veiy high lati-
tude, are subject to a climate the most rigorous and
inclement. Entangled in the gulfs and capes of an
unknown coast, struggling with mist and storm, and
ill-seconded by a discontented crew, he spent three
months without reaching any comfortable haven.

It was now the 1st of November, the ice was clos-
ing in on all sides, and nothing remained but to meet
the cheerless winter which had actually begun. The
Bailors were too late at attempting to erect a wooden
house; yet the cold, though severe, does not seem
to have reached any perilous height. Their chief
alarm was respecting provisions, of which they had
now only a small remnant left. Hudson took active
measures to relieve this want, and offered a reward

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IN WINTEB QUABTERS.

to wlioever should kill beast, fish, oi' bird; and
"Providence dealt mercifully," in sending such a
supply of Avhite partridges, that in three months they
killed a hundred dozen. In the spring these birds
disappeared, but were succeeded by flocks of geese,
swans, and ducks, not denizens of the spot, but on
their flight from south to north. When these were
gone the air no longer yielded a supply, but the sea
began to open, and having on the first day taken five
hundred fishes, they Avere much encouraged ; but
their success at fishing did not continue ; and being
reduced to great extremity they searched the woods
for moss.

Hudson now undertook an excursion with a view
to open an intercourse with the natives, but they fled,
setting fire to the woods behind them. Parley was
obtained with one, Avho was loaded with gifts, yet he
never returned. Discontents arose as to the distribu-
tion of the small remaining portion of bread and
cheese, to allay which the captain made a general and
equal partition of the whole. This ^vas a bad meas-
ure among such a crew, many of whom knew not how
" to govern their share," but greedily devoured it as
long as it lasted.

Hudson had from the first to straggle with an un-
principled, ill-tempered crew, void of any concern for
the ultimate success of the voyar e. He had probably
hoped, as the season should advance, to push on south-
ward and reach next summer the wealthy regions
which he was commissioned to search. The sailors,
on the contrary, had fixed their desire on " the cape
where fowls do breed," the only place where they ex-
pected to obtain both present supply and the means
of returning to England. Ringleaders were not want-

PE0GKES8 OF THE MUTINY.

ing to head this growing party of malcontents. At
the entrance of the bay the captain had disi)laced Tvet,
the mate, who had shown strong propensities for re-
turning, and appointed in his room Byh>t, a man of
merit, who had always shown zeal in the general
cause. He had also changed the boatswain.

Among the crew was a AVTetch named Green, whom
Hudson had taken on board and endeavored to
reclaim. He was possessed of talents Avliich had
made him useful, and even a favorite with his sujie-
rior ; and among other discontents of the crew, it was
reckoned one that a veil was thrown over several fla-
grant disorders of which he had been guilty. Yet
some hot expressions of Hudson so acted on the fierce
spirit of this ruffian, that, renouncing eveiy tie of
gratitude and all that is sacred among mankind, he
became the chief in a conspiracy to seize the vessel
and expose the commander to perish.

After some days' consultation, the time was fixed
for the perpetration of a horrible atrocity. On the
21st of June, 1611, Green and Wilson the boatswain,
came into Pricket the narrator's cabin, and announced
their fatal resolution ; adding, that they l)ore him so
much good-will as to wish that he should remain on
board. Pricket avers most solemnly, that he exhaust-
ed eveiy argument which might induce them to desist
from their horrid purpose, beseeching them not to do
so foul a thing in the sight of God and man, which
would for ever banish them from their njitive country,
their waves, and children. Green ^wildly answered,
that they had made up their minds to go through
with it or die, and that they would ratlier be hanged
at home than starve here. An attempt was then made
to negotiate a delay of three, two, or even one day,

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100

THE APPROACHING TBAGEDY.

but all without effect. Ivet declaring that he would
Justify in England the deed on which they had re-
solved. Pricket according to his own story, then per-
suaded them to delay till daylight the accomplishment
of their crime. '

Daybreak approaching, Hudson came out of his
cabin, when he was instantly set upon by Thomas,
Bennet, an'^ Wilson, who seized him and bound his
hands behind hit, hack; and on his eagerly asking
what they me.:^: t, i' :d. him he should know when he
was in the snallop. Ivet then attacked King, the car-
penter, known ^ ^he conmander's most devoted ad-
herent. That brave fello.v, i.;!'/ing a sword, made a
formidable resistance, and would have killed his as-
sailant had not the latter been speedily reinforced.
The mutineers then offered to him the choice of con-
tinuing in the ship ; but he absolutely refused to be
detained otherwise than by force, and immediately
followed his master whom the conspirators were al-
ready letting down the sides of the vessel. Hudson's
son, a boy, was also sent into the boat.

The mutineers then called from their beds and,
drove into the boat, six sick and infirm sailors whose
support would have been burdensome. They threw
after them the carpenter's box, with some powder and
shot, and cutting loose from the boat sailed away.
Hudson and his companions thus abandoned, were
never heard of more ; and undoubtedly perished on
those remote and desolate shores.

As soon as the mutineers had time to reflect, rueful
misgivings began to arise. Even Green, who now as-
sumed command, admitted that England at this time
was no place for them, nor could he contrive any
better scheme than to keep the high sea till, by some

iji

ADVENTURES OF THE MUTINEEB8.

101

means or other, tliey might procure a pardon. The
vessel was now embayed and detained for a fortnight
amid fields of ice which extended for miles around it ;
and, but for some cockle-grass found on an island the
crew must have perished by famine. Disputes with
respect to t^'e steerage arose between I vet and Bylot,
who alone had any pretensions to skill ; but the latter,
at length guided them to Cape Digges, the longed-for
spot, the breeding place for fowls, clouds of which
still continued to darken the air. The party imme-
diately landed, spread themselves among the rocks,
and began to shoot.

While the boat was on shore they saw seven canoes
rowing towards them. The savages came forward
beating their breasts, dancing and leaping, ^vith every
friendly sign. The utmost intimacy commenced, the
parties went backward and forward, showed each
other theii' mode of catching fowls, and made mutual
presents and exchanges. In short, these appeared the
most kind and simple people in the world, and " God
so blinded Henry Green," that he viewed them with
implicit confidence.

One day, amid the height of this intimacy. Pricket,
sitting in the boat, suddenly saw a native close to
him with a knife uplifted and ready to strike. In
attempting to arrest the blow his hand was cut, and
he could not escape three wounds; after which he
got hold of the handle of the knife and wrenched
it from the assassin, whom he then pierced with his
dagger. At the same time a general attack was
made on the English crew dispersed in different
quarters. Green and Perse came tumbling down
wounded into the boat, which pushed off, while
Moter, " seeing this medley," leaped into the sea,

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102

THE RINGLEADEES KILLED BY NATIVES.

swam out, and, getting hold of the stern was pulled
in by Perse.

The sav^iiges then fired arrows at the boat, one of
which struck Green with such force that he died on
the spot, and his body was thrown into the sea.
At length the party reached the vessel ; but Moter
and Wilson died that day, and Perse two days after.
Thus penslied the chief perpetrators of the late
dreadful tragedy, visited by Providence with a fate
not less terrible than that which they had inflicted on
their victims.

The crew thus deprived of their best hands were
in extreme pei-plexity, obliged to ply the shij) to and
fro across the straits, and unable without the utmost
fear and peril to venture on shore ; although it was
absolutely necessary for obtaining provisions to carry
them to England. They contrived during some
anxious and unhappy excursions to collect three
hundred birds, which they salted and preserved as
the only stock whereupon to attempt the voyage.
They suffered during the passage the most dreadful
extremities of famine, having only half a fowl a day
to each man, and considering it a luxury to have them
fried with candles.

Ivet, now the sole survivor of the ringleaders in
the late dreadful transaction, sunk under these ]:)riva-
tions. The last fowl was in the steep-tub and the
men were become careless or desperate, when suddenly
it pleased God to give them sight of land, which
proved to be the north of Ireland. On going ashore
at Berehaven they did not meet with much sympathy
or kindness; but by mortgaging their vessel they
obtained the means of proceeding to PlymoutL

CHAPTER YII.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF BUTTON, BYLOT,
BAFFIN, MUNK, JAMES, AND OTHERS.

NoTWiTiisTANDmG the (lejilorable issue of Hudson's
last voyage, tlie discovery tliereT)y made of a great
open sea in the west seemed to justify the most flat-
tenng hopes of accomplishing a passage, and the next
year, 1612, Captain Button was sent out, with Bylot
and Pricket as guides. He soon made liis Avay through
Hudson's Straits, and pushing directly across the
great sea which opened to the westward, came in
view of an insular caj^e, which afterward jirove*! to be
the most southern point of Southampton Island.
Nothing else broke the apparent continuity of the
ocean, and he cherished sanguine hopes that the first
coast he should see would be that of Japan. Sudden-
ly the alarm of land was given, when there appeared
before him an immense range of Arctic coast, stretch-
ing north and south, and barring all farther progress.
Button, deeply disappointed, gave it the name of
Hope Checked.

Before he had time to look for an oj)ening, the
gloom of the northern winter began to gather, and he
had to seek quarters for the season, and found them
in the same creek and river which afterward became

103

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104

CAPTAIN gibbon's ADVENTURE.

the principal settlement of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. In spite of his best precautions he lost several
men through the severity of the cold, and was unable
to extricate himself from the ice till the middle of
June. He then steered northward, and sought an
opening through the broad bay between the continent
and Southampton Island, since called Roe's Welcome.
Seeing this channel, however, become narrower and
narrower till it apparently closed, he gave up the at-
tempt, and after touching at several points of the
island just named returned to England.

Although Button had been thus baffled by the un-
welcome encounter of the western shore of Hudson's
Bay, the merchants still considered it by no means
ascertained that this coasifc was so extensive and con*
tinuous aa to preclude all passage into the ocean be-
yond America; accordingly they fitted out (in 1614)
two vessels under Captain Gibbons, an officer of repu-
tation, pronounced by Button " not short of any man
that ever yet he carried to sea." But either his repu»
tation went beyond his merits or fortune was singu-
larly adverse, for never was there a more abortive
voyage. He was early entangled in a bay on the
coast of Labrador, in which he was detained the
whole summer, and which was afterward dignified
with the appellation of ''Gibbons his Hole." Hav-
ing here sustained some damage from the ice, he had
no sooner extricated himself than he returned home.

The merchant adventurers, still undismayed, sent
out next summer (1615) the Discovery, under By-
lot, who was accompanied by William Baffin, a skill-
ful pilot and the most learned navigator of the age.

Baffin had already made two voyages to the Green-
land seas, the first in 1613, with six well-armed ships,

BAFFIN'S EARLY VOYAGES.

105

whose object seems to have been to chase away the
whaling vessels of other nations. The next year,
1614, he accompanied, as pilot, Robert Fotherby,
who was sent out with the ship Thomasine, to accom-
pany the great Greenland fleet of ten ships and two
pinnaces. While they were fishing, Fotherby and
Baffin were to devote themselves mainly to dis-
co veiy; but their craise resulted in nothing of interest.

Bylot and Baffin entered Hudson's Straits, and
having on the 2d of June heard from the north-
ern shore a great barking of dogs, landed and
found five tents covered with seal-skin, among which
were ininning about thirty-five or forty of these ani-
mals, of a blinded black color, resembling wolves.
They had collars and harness suitable for sledges
lined with fish-bone which were standing by. In
one of the houses was a bag with little images of
men.

The navigators soon descried a canoe with twenty
individuals, whom they hailed with Greenland words
of courteous import, holding up knives and other
toys. Friendly salutations were given in return ;
but neither party chose to trust themselves within
reach of the other. At a little distance, the conflict of
opposite currents amid large icebergs caused so fear-
ful a grinding that they gave to the adjoining land
the name of Mill Island. There they would have
been in extreme danger " had not God, who is strong-
er than ice or stream," delivered them.

The policy of Bylot in this voyage seems to have
been to keep close to the northern shore of the strait ;
and thus, entering Hudson's Bay at a higher latitude,
he hoped to keep clear of those lands which had
barred the westerly career of his predecessors. On

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VOYAGE OF IJYLOT AND BAFl'lN.

reacliing, tlierefore, Hudson's Isles of God's Mercy
instead of steering southward to Cape Dudley Digges,
lie i)roeeeded directly west, and ari'ived in the broad
expanse afterward called the Fox Channel.

At length he saw land, hut it was bounded by a
cape Avliieh had every a])i)earance of being the most
northerly point of America. He called it Cape Com-
fort ; though this name it soon appeared Mas pi'cma-
ture, for a single day had not elapsed when " his
sudden comfort was as soon quailed."

Tliey -were now on the eastern coast of Southamp-
ton Island, which spread on every side its almost
measureless extent, seeming to preclude every jirospect
of an opening on either hand. Disa2)pointment, the
lateness of the season, and the pressure of the ice,
concurred in persuading Bylot that there was nothing
to be hoped for here, and determined him to set sail
immediately for England ; whither he carried a most
iinfavoral)le report as to any prospect of peneti'ating
westward in that direction.

But the adventurers were not discouraged by this
adverse result. Turning their hopes to a different
quarter, next year (1616) they again fitted out Bylot
and Baffin with instnictions no longer to attempt the
passage by Hudson's Bay, 1)ut to enter Davis's Straits,
and push due north till they reached lat. SO'', if an
oj)en sea should allow them to proceed so far ; then,
turning to tli'^ westward, to round, if practicable, the
extreme point of America, and to bear down upon
Japan.

Following the course pointed out, Baffin readied,
on the 30th of May, Hope Sanderson, the farthest
point of Davis's progress, and soon afterwai'd came to
a number of small islands on which they found only

MEMORABLE DISCOVERIES.

107

females, some of very great age. These at fii'st ran
and liicl tlicinselvos umong tlio rocks ; but the sallom
liaving rcfic'luMl two dames, one of Avhom Avas estima-
ted at fourscore, aud liavlng prescutcd to tluau bits
of ii'oii aud the usual toys, the latter carried a fa«
voral)le report to their youthful countiy women.
The Avhole l)arty soon came down to the shore, and
four even "weut on board tlu^ boat. The charms of
these ladies were heightened or disiigured by long
black streaks made in their youth Avith a sharp Instni-
meut, and lodged so deep that they could not now be
effaced.

The navigators sailed onwards in hit. 74°, wlicn
they Avere arrested by a large body of ice, ,'uul obliged
to turn into a neighboring sound to wait its melting.
Here they recei\'ed rejieated visits from about forty
natives, the only acconnt of w'hoin is, that they
brought an extraordinary <piantity of the bones of
sea-nnicorns or narwals, great numbers of which were
seen sAvimmini; in the water. Hence this was called
Horn Sound. The mass of ice now dissolved before
the powei-ful influence of the sun, and the discoverers
sailed northwards amonij its frasxment!-; ; but still, snow
fell every day, and the shrouds and sails were often
so hard frozen as to make it Impossible to handle
them.

After having experienced a severe storm, the expe-
dition discovered a sound, which Avould have sup[)li(Hl
them with a multitude of whales had they been ])to-
vided with the means of capture : this they called
Whale Sound. Xext, in 78*^, appeared another inlet,
the -widest and greatest in all this sea, and Avhich was
named after Sir Thomas Smith, one of the* main pro-
moters of discover}'. This opening, Avhlch Baffin

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108

MEMORABLE DISCOVERIES.

seems to have examined very superfcially, abounded
almost equally in shales, and caused particular aston-
ishment by the extraordinary variation of the needle,
to which nothing similar had ever been witnessed.
Between these two sounds was an island wliich was
named Ilakluyt, after the venerable recorder of early
English discoveries.

Proceeding now along the south-western boun<laiy
of this great sea, the next " fair sound " received the
name of Alderman Jones, a patron of the enterprise.
In lat. 74^^, there appeared another broad opening
which Avas called Sir James Lancaster's Sound ; but
while Baffin calls it great, he seems scarcelv to have
noticed this future entrance into the Polar Sea ; on
the contrary, he observes, at the very same moment,
that the hope of a passage became every day less and
less. He sailed on ; but a bnrrier of ice prevented
him from approaching the shore till he came within
the "indraft" of Cumberland's Isles, "where hope oi
passage could be none."

Finding the health of his creAV rather declining, he
sailed across to Greenland, where an abundance of
scurvy-grass boiled in beer quickly restored them ; and
"the Loi'd then sent a speedy and good passage
homeward."

On returning, Baffin expressed the most decided
conviction that the gi'eat sea wliich he had traversed
was a bay enclosed on all sides, and affording no
opening into any ocean to the Avestward ; and his
judgment was received by the public, who named it
from him Baffin's Bay. lie forcibly, lioweA'-er, repre-
sented the great opportunities which it afforded for
the Avhale-fislier}', as those huge aninuils were seen
sleeping in vast numbei-s on the surface of the water,

ARCTIC AURORA.

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without fear of the ship " or of anything else."
Baffin was killed near Ormuz in 1C21, while engaged
in an expedition against the Portuguese.

In 1()15, Fotherby who had just returned from a
voyage with Baffin, was sent out in the Richard, a
pinnace of only twenty tons. After many conflicts
with ice and foe:, he reached Ilakluvt's Headland
about the beginning of July. He soon began his career
of discovery ; but a strong southerly gale driving him
upon the ice, shattered his bai'k consideral)ly, and
obliged him to return. As soon as his vessel was re-
fitted, he endeavored by a westerly course to find an
opening among the ice, which projected in varioup
points and capes, but Avas drifted by it far to the
southward, where he descried a snowy hill very high
amid the clouds; and the fog lying on each side made
it appear like a great continent.

It proved, however, to be only an island — probably
Jan Mayen ; and as the shores presented nothing but
drift-wood, and appeared as if fortified with castles
and bulwai'ks of rock, no sheltei' Avas affoi'ded from a
heavy gale Avhich began to blow. This induced him
to stand out as^ain to sea. He reoained the northern
point of Spitzbergeu, and began to beat for a Polar
passage. The wind, however, blew so strong from
thenorth-noi'th-east that he gave up the attempt, only
resolving, on his way home, to take a survey of Hud-
son's IIold-^vith-IIope. He came to the place Avhere
it ought to have been, but finding no land he iui^isted
that Hudson must have l)een mistaken in the position
assigned to it. Availing himself then of a biisk
northerly breeze, he sailed for England

Fotherby, on being asked as to the prospects of a
passage through these seas, replied that though he had

112

DAlflSH EXPEDITIOX.

:E!j'
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not attained in this respect Lis desire, nothing yet ap-
peared to exclude hope. There was a spacious sea
between Greenland and Spitzbergen, though much
incumbered with ice ; and he would not dissuade
the " worshipful company " from a yearly adventure of
£200. The little j^innace, with ten men, in which he
had sailed two thousand leagues, appeared to him
more convenient for that purpose than any of larger
dimensions.

Denmark, which had always felt a natural interest
in northern navigation, subsequently made an attempt
to follow up the success of Hudson and Baffin. In 1(31 9,
Christian IV. sent out two well-appointed vessels
under Jens Munk, who had the reputation of a good
seaman. He succeeded in penetrating through Hud-
son's Straits into Hudson's Bay, where he took uj^on
himself to chanj^e the whole nomenclature of that re-
gion, imposing the names of Christian's Straits and
Christian's Sea, and calling the western coast New
Denmark. But this innovation, which was contrary
to every princi[)le recognized in such cases, has not
been confirmed by posterity.

When September arrived, and the ice began to
form, Munk established himself in winter (quarters
at the entrance of Chestei-field Inlet. The season
seemed to open with the best promise, commodious
huts Avere constructed, and there were both abundance
and variety of game. The Danes saw some brilliant
aerial phenomena — at one time three suns in the sky,
and the moon environed by a transparent circle, with-
in which was a cross cutting through its centre ; but,
instead of amusing their minds with these beautiful
appearances, they were depressed by viewing them as
a mysterious presage of future evils.

MUNK S DISASTROUS VOYAGE.

113

Frost now set in with all its intensity ; their beer,
wine and other liquors were converted into ice ; the
scur\'y began its ravages, and, ignorant of the mode
of treating it, they employed no remedy except a
large quantity of spirits, which has always been found
to aggravate that fi'ightful disorder. Unfit for the
exertion necessary to secure the game with which the
country abounded, they soon had famine added to
their other distresses. Their miseries seem to have
been almost mthout a parallel, even in the dark an-
nals of northern navioration. Munk himself was left
four days in his hut without food, and on crawling
out, found that of the original crew of fifty-two, only
two survived.

The three men now determined to make an effort
to preserve life. Gathering strength from despair,
they dug into the snow, under which they found herbs
and grass, whicli being of an anti-scorbutic quality
soon produced a degree of amendment. Being then
able to fish and shoot, they gradually regained their
natural \'igor. They equipped anew tlie smaller of
the two vessels, in Avliich they reached home on the
25th of September, 1620, after a stormy and perilous
voyage.

Munk declared his readiness to sail again ; and
there are various reports as to the cause why he did
not. Some say, that having in a conference with the
king, been stung by some expressions which seemed
to impute the disasters of the voyage to his misman-
agement, he died of a broken heart. But Forster re-
lates, that during several successive years he was
em[)loyed by the king on the North Sea and in the
Elbe, and that he died in 1628, when engaged in a
naval expedition.

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114

TlIE FOX AND JAaAIES EXPEDITION.

In 1631 an Eiiglisli Expedition of two ships com-
manded l)y Ca])tains Fox and James, was sent to ex-
amine Hudson's Bay. Fox ex])lored tlie cliannels on
each si(l(! of Southampton Ishmd ; that on the Avest-
ern side lie named Hoe's AVelcome ; tlie other one lie
called from his own name, Fox Channel.

Capt. James sailed to the southerly shores of Hud-
son's Bay, and as winter came on found a harLor in
what is nf)W known as James's Bay. SnoAv soon fell to a
great depth, the sails were frozen stiff, and tlie caldes
from accumulated ice became as thick as a man's body.

Preparations were now made for a long resi(h:mce
at this place; wood was cut for fuel, and search was
made in every direction for traces of human beings,
but none were found. A house was erected on shore
in Avhich a portion of the crew slept at night, armed
with muskets to defend themselves in case of attack.
The main-sail was used as a covering for the house.
A well was dug, and the men spent much of their
time in trapping and hunting foxes and other animals.

In October, six of the men set out with dogs to hunt
deer whose tracks liad been seen, and returned next
day with only one small animal, having passed a mis-
erable night in the woods. Another jiarty which
went out was entirely unsuccessful in their hunt, and
lost one of their number who was drowned Avlien
crossing a fi'ozen pond.

As the cold increased the ship was entirely covered
with snow and ice ; and it was so beaten about against
the ice by the winds and currents that there was great
danger of its being destroyed. The captain noAv pro-
posed to bore holes in the ship and sink it in shallow
water, where it might safely remain till spring, wlien,
perhaps, it could be again floated. This was a fear-

PAKHKLIA.

THK ICK- BOUND UAKBOK.

>mm<',

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A WINTEB OF SUFFEKIXO

117

ful expedient ; but after ull the provisions and articles
needed liad been taken on shore, it was adopted; al-
though the crew, generally never supposed that the ship
could be laised amin.

They had much confidence in their captain and
obeyed all his commands iraplicitl}'. ''^" If," said he,
" we end our days here, Ave are as near heaven as in
England; and we are much bound to God Almighty,
for having gi\'en us so large a time for r(?pcntance,
and having thus, as it were, daily called upon us to
prepare our souls for a better life in heaven. He
does not, in tlie meantime deii}' that we may use all
j^roper means to save and prolong our lives ; and in
my Judgment, Ave are not so far past hope of return-
ing to our native country, but that I see a fair Avay
by Avhich we may eiiect it.'

Under direction of the carpenter timber was cut, and
the building of a large boat was begun, in which they
might escape if the ship was destroyed. All worked
hai'd upon it, and the carpenter ]:)ecame so ill and weak
that he could scarcely Avalk and subsequently died.
Tlie shoes of the men Avei-e all Avorn out, and they
suffered much from cohl for many successive months.

During all this season of (li^;ti'ess Captain James
and his creAV ncA^er omitted rcLfular devotional ser-
vices. They particularly solemnized Easter day, the
2{)th of April 10;>2 ; and on that day Avhile they Avere
sitting round their fire, the captain })r()posed to attempt,
on the first opening of the Avarm Aveather, to clear the
ship of ice. This was considered by some of the crew
impossible ; because they believed her to be filled A^'ith
one solid mass of ice. The attempt, hoAvever, Avas re-
solved upon ; but their only implements for the work
were two iron bars and four broken shovels.

118

ITNAL ESCAPE.

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The time passed miserably on, till the middle of
May, when efforts were made to clear the decks of
snow. From this period the vessel began to occupy
much of the attention of the captain and his crew.
The great cabin was found to be free from ice
and water, and a fire was lighted to clear and
dry it. One of the anchors, which Avas supposed
to have been lost, was found under the ice and recov-
ered. Soon afterwards they came to a cask, and found
it full of good beer ; which was a cause of great i-e-
joiclng.

They then dug through the ice on the outside oi
the vessel, and plugged the holes made in scuttling it.
The weather grew warmer which thawed the ice in
the hold, the water was punuied out, and many barrels
of beer and salt beef were found in good condition.

Open water first appeared on the 19th of June ;
four days after the ship was reloaded, and the sails
reset. A cross was then erected on land, and to the
top of it were tied pictures of the king and queen.
On the 2d day of July, after the captain and his crew
had all devoutly paid thanksgiving to the Almighty
for their providential deliverance, they weighed
anchor, and proceeded on their voyage, and reached
England in October.

The Hudson's Bay Company^ an association of mer-
chants was organized in 1670 under the patronage of
Prince Rupert, second cousin of Charles II. Its very
favorable charter conferred on them the right to the
exclusive trade of the region, and territorial posses-
sion of the vast domain. It imposed on the Com-
pany the duty of making strenuous exertions for the
discovery of a western passage ; but its officers paid
little attention to the subject till 1719 when they fit-

A LOST EXPEDITION

119

ted out an expedition under Kniglit and Barlow.
These officers never returned, and a vessel sent next
j'ear under Captain Scroggs could learn no tidings
of tlieui. Nor was it till nearly fifty years afterward
that the wrecks of their armament were found on
Marl)le Island, where they had been cast ashore.

In 1741, Captain Middleton obtained the command
of two vessels, with which he examined Wager Inlet,
and then sailed up Hoe's Welcome — a channel lying
west of Southampton Island — to its northern extremity.
Here he found a spacious opening, which gave him at
first great hopes of success ; but finding it shut in by
land, he named it llepulse Bay. lie then followed
the coast in an easterly direction till he came to a
channel, which, from the accumulation of ice at its
entrance, he called the Frozen Strait. He returned
lionie, expressing a decided conviction that no practi-
cable passage existed in that direction.

Mr. Dobbs, the mover of the expedition, was deeply
disappointed l)y this result ; and from liis o^vn reflec-
tions, and the statement of several of the Inferior offi-
cers, became satisfied that Middleton had given a verj''
false and imperfect statement of the facts ; though such
was not the case. £1 0,000 was subscribed for a new
expedition, and a standing off er of a reward of £'20,000
to the discoverers of a Nor'tli-"vvest passage was made
by the English government.

Captains Moor and Smith commanded this new
expedition, which sailed in 174(5; like many others
equipped with peculiar ' -^p^p and circumstance, it
entirely failed. They n. . A ascertained, what was
pretty well known before, that the Wager Inlet
afforded no passage ; and after spending a severe
winter there, returned to England.

111

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120

IIKUNE AND PlIIPPS.

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In 1770, Samuel IIoriK^, uii offiecu* of tl»<^ Iludaon'a
Bay Company, descended to tlie moiitli of the Cop-
j)(!nnine Iliver, and thus openinl the way for 8ul)He-
([uent ex])loreiu His journal of the trip lay for many
years in a " pigeon-hole " at the head-quarters of the
company. When the fortunes of war found the French
Admii'al La Perouse the cajjtor of Fort York, he
there found Heme's journal, read it, and was so [)l(^'ised
with it that he told the officer that if he would ])le(lge
his honor that it should be pul)lished, he might have
back his fort and all that pertained to it. The offer
was accepted, the French retired, and thus it came
about that Heme's record was put in print.

In June, 1773, an expedition under Captain John
Phip])s (afterward known as Loixl Mulgrave) consist-
ing of two b()m])-vessels — the " Kacehorse " and the
" Carcass " — sailed fi'om England to seai'ch for the
North Pole. The Carcass was commanded by Lieut.
Lutwidge, under whom Horatio Nelson, afterward
the naval hero of England, served as cockswain. The
route was up the Greenland Sea, and the highest lat-
itude reached was 80* 48^, and the most easterly
point was near the Seven Islands to the north of Spitz-
bergen in longitude 20*^. To the north and north-
east was a solid pack of ice covered with snow.
Here the ships were becalmed and frozen in amid a
beautiful and picturesque scene ; but as the crew were
starting over the ice to attempt to reach the Dutch
whaling-ships, the ice opened and the ships escaped
to the south and reached England in September.

In 1776, Captain Cook sailed from England on his
last voyage, and in 1778 passed up Bering's Strait,
expecting to proceed along the coast of America to
Baffin's Bay, where a vessel was sent to meet him.

CAPTAIN COOK S VOYAGE.

121

rait,
to

But Lc was unaldt' to ponotnite fuitlior l.han Try Cape
on account of tlio ice, and after examining tlio coasts
on both sides of the strait, he went to the Snndwich
Islands, where he was IdUed in an aftray with the
natives.

In 1789, Akxander Mackenzie reached the mouth
of the great river whidi hears his name, and looked
out on the Arctic Sea. In a second journey he crossed
the Rocky Mountains, and followed Frazer Kiver to
its mouth at the Georgian Gulf, opposite Vancouver's
Island, where he arrived in July, 1792.

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE ARCTIC AVHALE-FISHERY.

p The Arctic seas are the native regions of the true
whale, and he never leaves them. Man, ever search-
ing for objects of use and profit, early discovered in
these huge creatures a variety of substances fitted
for the supply of important wants. No sooner,
therefore, had the course of discovery opened a way
into the seas of the north, than daring fishermen
ventured thither and commenced a branch of com-
merce which has proved of great importance to the
world, but which is more full of adventure and peril,
than any other occupation in which man engages for
a livelihood.

As early as the ninth century, whales were cap-
tured on the Norway coast; but they were then
valued chiefly for their flesh, which satisfied the
hunger and even gratified the tastes of primitive man
— wli ale's tongues being counted among the luxuries
of the middle ages. In later years, when civilization
rejected the flesh of the whale as an article of food,
the oil was needed to supply the winter lamp, and
for other purposes; while the firm, flexible, elastic
bone was found to be peculiai'ly adapted for various
articles of dress, ornament, and common use.

The English were the first who pushed whaling

122

ler.

EARLY FISni^TG EXPEDITIONS.

123

operations into the liigli latitudes of the Arctic seas.
The discovery of Spitzbergen, by Barentz, was followed
hy the voyage of Stephen Bennet, who re-discovered
Bear Island and named it Cherie Island. A series of
voyages for the capture of walrus ensued, in which
Bennet, Jonas Poole, and others took a part ; but the
attention of these hardy walrus-hunters was soon
attracted to a game more worthy of their steel.

The voyages of Hudson led the way to a great and
flourishing whaling trade, in which many nations
competed for pre-eminence, and which opened one of
the most interesting chapters in the history of En-
glish and Dutch commercial enterprise. Henceforth,
for more than two centuries, that part of the frontier
of the unexplored region which extends from Spitz-
bergen to Greenland, was annually frequented by
fleets of whalers.

Hudson, on returning from his Polar voyage, re-
ported having seen large numbers of whales along
the coast of Spitzbergen; and in 1611, the Muscovy
Company sent out the " Mary Margaret " with every-
thing then considered requisite for catching whales.
Captain Edge, her commander, succeeded in taking
one small whale, which yielded twelve tons of oil —
the first, he believed, that was ever extracted in the
Greenland seas. Soon afterward the Mary Margaret
was wrecked, and her crew in three boats were found at
Spitzbergen by Captain Poole, of the Elizabeth, a
craft of fifty tons. Poole caught so many wali'us on
this trip, that their hides caused the destruction of
his vessel, for they shifted in the hold and capsized
her. Poole and his crew escaped, and were taken'
home by Captain Marmaduke.

Notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of

124

THE SPITZBERGEN WHALING-GROUNDS.

i' ■:«;

their first whaling venture, the Muscovy 'Company
sent out two shij)s under Poole the next season to
follow ujj the unclei-taking. Meantime the Dutch,
intent on every form of commercial adventure, had
sent vessels to the Greenland seas for the same pur-
pose. These the Englishmen considered as inter-
lopers; and being the strongest party they com-
pelled their rivals to leave. Next year the same
company obtained a royal charter, prohibiting all
besides themselves to intermeddle in any shape with
this valuable branch of industry. To make good
this privilege, the company fitted out an expedition
of seven well-armed ships, luuler command of William
BaflRn, Avho, on reaching the seas round Spitzbergen,
found them filled with ships of different nations,
Dutch, French, and Spanish. All were compelled to
depart, or to fish under the condition of delivering
half of the proceeds to the English as the lords of the
northern seas.

This interference with the whaling vessels of other
uatious, was denounced as a flagrant example of the
tyranny of the new mistress of tlie ocean; and the
Dutch determined not to submit, but to repel force
by force. For this j)urpose, they sent out fleets so
numerous and so well-armed, that for some years thei-e
was but slight interference with their rights. At
length, in 1G18, a general encounter took place, whicli
resulted disastrously to the English, for one of their
ships was taken and carried to Amsterdam. Tht;
Dutch government, anxious for peace, rewarded the
caj)tors but restored the vessel. This led to a com-
promise, and at last to a division of the Spitzbergen
whaling-grounds among the nations whose ships had
been accustomed to resort there. There waa plenty

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN EDGE.

125

of room for all ; but business did not prove profitable
to the English owners ; the gains of their fishery
were absorbed by losses ; and, eventually, for many
years, scarcely an English ship sailed nortliward.

But during the time that English mariners were in
the ascendant in the Spitzbergen waters, from the
voyage of stout Henry Hudson in 1607 to about 1G22,
they did excellent geographical work. Greenland
was the name applied in those days to the Spitzber-
gen Archipelago. In 1013 and 1G14 they dis-
covered Hope Island, and other islands to the south-
eastward of Spitzberg(ui. In IGIG Captain Edge, one of
the leading spirits in the early whaling enterprises,
sent a pinnace to the eastward, to explore Edge Island,
and other land on the east side, as far as 78*^ north.
This pinnace was a boat of twenty tons, with a crew
of twelve men. She is portrayed on the curious old
chart of Spitzbergen in " Purchas's Pilgrimes," pulling
up Stor Fiord. The pinnace's crew killed a thou-
sand sea-horses on Edge Island, and got 1,300 tons
(barrels?) of oil. In 1(513, the Dutch followed the
example, and the Dutch and English seamen often
came to blows over the exclusive nsdit of the fisherv.
One of the English expeditions of this period discov-
ered a large island to the eastward of Spitzbergcin,
which was never visited ao-ain until three Norwegian
sealing vessels reached it in 1872. This discovery is
thus recorded in Purehas : —

"In the yeare 1617 the Com])any set out for Green-
land fourteene sayle of ships, and their two pinnasses,
furnished with a sufficient number of men and all
other provisions fitting for the voyage, under the com-
mand of Thomas Edge. . . . They employed a ship of
sixtietunnes, with twenty men in her, who discovered

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ANCIEST MAP OF SPITZBEKGEN-FKOM " PUBCHAS HIS PILUIilMS."

DUTCH ENTEllPUISE — A DESERTED MLLAOE.

127

to the eastward of Greenland, as far to the nortli-
wards as seveutie-nine degrees, an iland which he
named Wiches Iland, and divers other ilauds as bv
the map appeareth, and killed stoie of sea-iiorses
there, and then came into Bel Sound, where he found
his lading of oyle left by the captayne, which he
tooke in. This yeare the Hull men set a small ship
or two to the eastwards of Greenland, for the Hull
men still followed the steps of the Londoners, and in
a yeare or two called it their discoverie, which is false,
and untrue, as by oath in the Admiraltie doth ap-
peare. The Dutch likewise practice the same course."

The Dutch whale-fisheries, unlike those of the
English, became the source of great national wealth.
An immense capital was invested in the business, and
it was carried on with characteristic ])rudence, dili-
gence, and consequent success. A settlement was
founded at the Smeerenberg Bay at the north-west
coi'ner of Spitzbergen, where the re<|uisite apparatus
for extracting oil and bone was erected on an immense
scale. During the summer, Smeerenberg was a
crowded and populous village, and in this dreary
corner of the \vorld were to he found many of the
luxuries of civilized life.

But a chano-e came over Smeerenbery;. Gradually
and at last almost entirel}^ the whales,deserted its bay
and sought refuge in distant waters. Thither their pur-
suers followed them, and at last, finding the expense;
and delay of conveying their prizes to Smeerenberg
too onerous, they contrived an arrangement ])y
which the whale, being fastened to the sides of the
ship, was cleared of its blubber and bone. Smeeren-
])erg then lost every foundation on which its pros-
i)erity had rested. The furnaces, tanks and other
8

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128

A WINTER IN SPITZBERGEN.

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articles were carried away, and it is now difficult to
trace the spot on which stood that once flourishing
village, in whose bay there had sometimes been as
many as two hundred vessels.

In 1638, the Dutch planned another settlement fur-
ther to the north, and seven sailors volunteered for
this arduous undertakinii:. On the 30th of Aug;ust
the fleet left them in North Bay, where they not only
undertook to live during the winter, but even to pro-
vide themselves with fresh provisions. They visited
all the surroundinij shores, took three reindeer and a
number of sea-swallows, collecting also a great quan-
tity of a species of watercress. Their great ambition
was to catch a whale ; but, though tantalized by the
sight of many, all their attempts failed.

Severe cold began to be felt in October, and on the
15th, only a small portion of the sun's disk could be
seen above the horizon, and in a few days it entirely
disappeared ; there was still a foint twilight of eight
hours, which was soon reduced to five, and became
every day shorter and shoiter. In November, the
cold increased to the utmost pitch ; they could not
sleep in their beds, but were obliged either to crouch
over the fire, or run full speed through the hut, to
keep up the vital energy. At length they ranged all
their couches round tlie fire-place and a stove, yet still
found i'j necessary to lay themselves down between
the stove and the fire, holding their feet to the very
embei's.

Nic-ht and winter continued in their utmost in ten-
sity till the 22d of January, when they again enjoyed
a twilight of six hours ; at midday of the 2Cth, tlieie
was no longer a star to be seen ; but it was on the
22d of February ere, from a mountain-top, they could

<' I.^

FIGHTING THE TIGER.

129

descry any portion of tlie sun's disk. Throughout
the whole period they had dreadful contests with the
Polar bear.

Thus these seven persons passed through this liard
winter without any severe attack of scurvy ; and on
the 27th of May they wore overjoyed by the view of
a boat, Avhich conveyed them to a neighboring bay,
where seven Dutch ships had assembled for the fishery.

The success of this experiment induced the Dutch
Company to repeat the attempt in the following year,
when seven other sailors, well furnished with victuals,
and apparently with every means of withstanding the
rigor of the climate, undertook to winter in Spitz-
bergen. They appear, however, to have been of a
less active disposition than their predecessoi's, and
failed in every attempt to procure fresh victuals.
The sun having quitted them on the 20th of October,
they shut themselves up in their hut, out of which
they scarcely ever stirred. In a few Aveeks they were
attacked by scui'vy under its most malignant form,
which, amid this recluse life, and in the absence of
fresh meat and vegetables, assumed continually a
more alarming type, till three died, whose bodies the
others with difficulty enclosed in coffins. The sur-
vivors killed a dog and a fox, which afforded some
relief, but not enough to arrest the pi'ogress of the
malady. The bears began to ap])roacli the hut, and
would have been a blessing, had the men retained
strene-th either to shoot the animals or to drair home
the carcass. The sun appeared on the 24tli of Feb-
ruary; but they could no longer derive aid from this
benignant luminary. The last entry in their journal
is in the following terms : —

"We are all four stretched on our beds, and are

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130

AN ARCTIC Tit AG ED Y.

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still alive, and would eat willingly, if any one of us
were able to rise and light a fire. We im})lore the
Almighty, with folded hands, to deliver us from this
life, which it is impossible to prolong Avithout food or
any thing to warm our frozen limbs. None of us can
help the other, each must supjjort his own misery."

Early in spring the fishing vessels arrived, and a
party hastened to the hut. They found it so fast
closed, that an entrance could only be effected by
opening the roof They found it a tomb. Three of
the men were enclosed in the coffins which had been
framed for them ; the other four Iny dead, two in their
beds, and two on a piece of sail spread on the floor.
These last had j^erished in consequence of mere ina-
bility to make the effort necessary for lifting and

dressing the food.

About the same time the Dutch made an attempt
to establish a colony on Jan Mayen Island, but witli
a result equally fatal. The journal of the unfortunate
seamen contains little except a register of the weather.

The next instance of wintering in Spitzbergen arose
from necessity and disaster. A Russian vessel which,
had sailed from Archangel for the whale-fishery in
1743, being driven by the wind to the eastern coast
of Spitzbergen, found itself beset amid floating ice
without hope of deliverance. One of the party recol-
lected that a hut had been erected on this coast by
some of his countrymen, under the apprehension of
being obliged to spend the winter there. He and
three others set out to discover the place. With
much difficulty they reached the shore, leaping from
fragment to fragment of moving ice; then, spread-
ing themselves in different directions, they found the
cottage, which, though ruinous, afforded shelter for
the night.

ADVENTURES OF RUSSIAN WHALEMEN.

131

Early in the morning they liastened to the shore,
to convey to their comrades this happy intelligence.
But what must have been their hoi-ror, when they saw
only a vast open sea, without a vestige of the ship, or
even of the numerous icebergs which had been toss-
ing through the waves ! A violent gale had dispersed
them all, and apparently also sunk the vessel, which
was never heard of more.

These four unfortunate seamen, abandoned on this
dreadful shore, having the long winter to pass with-
out food, or arms and implements to procure any, did
not, however, give way to despair. They had a gun
with which they shot twelve deer ; then their ammu-
nition failed ; but some pieces of iron were found on
the shore, which they contrived to fashion into pikes.
At the moment when their stock of venison was
nearly exhausted, they found occasion to employ
these weapons against a Polar bear by which they
were assailed. The animal, being vanquished and
killed after a formidable struggle, supplied for the
present all their wants. His flesh was food, his skin
clothing, his entrails, duly prepared, furnished the
string which alone had been wanting to complete a
bow. With that instrument they were more than a
match for the reindeer and the Arctic fox, with the
spoils of which they filled both their pantry and theii*
wardrobe; and thenceforth they avoided, unless in
cases of necessity, the encounter of the bear. Being
destitute of cooking utensils, they were oldiged to
devour the food nearly raw — dried either by suspen-
sion in the smoke during the long winter, or by ex-
posure to the heat of the sun during the short
summer. Yet this regular supply of fresh meat,
and, above all, the constant exercise to which neces-

>' •

132

SIX YEARS OF PERIL.

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sity prompted, enabled them to preserve their health
entire during six years, in which they looked in vain
for deliverance. In this time they killed ten bears,
two hundred and fifty reindeer, and a multitude of
foxes.

At the end of the six years one of the men died, when
the three survivors sunk into de8i)ondence, giving up
all hopes of relief, and looking forward to the mo-
ment when the last of them would become the prey
of the bears. Suddenly, on the 15th of August, 1749,
they descried a vessel at sea. They lighted fires on
the heiijhts, hoisted a flacr formed of reindeer skins,
and were at length discovered by the shij), which
proved to belong to their native country.

The exami^le thus involuntarily set by these Rus-
sian sailors has been followed, to a considerable
extent, by their countrymen, some of whom have
since regularly wintei-ed in huts on the Spitzbergen
coast, and employed themselves in chasing the walrus
and seal along the shore, the deer and Arctic fox in
the interior. They are constantly engaged in hunt-
ing, unless when interrupted by tempest ; and, even
when the hut is blocked uj^ with snow, they find
their way out by the chimney.

Commodore Jansen, of the Dutch Navy, makes the
following interesting remarks on the Spitzbergen
fishery of his countrymen : — " When our Avhalers first
came to Spitzbergen, they met with the whales in
great quantities, enjoying all the luxury of this most
exquisite feeding-ground, the best perhaps in the
whole Arctic region. The whales were found spoi*"-
ing in open water oif shore, with their huge back'*
above water, or taking their siesta in a calm bay,
surrounded by abundance of food. This was a most

THE whale's pa K a disk

1 33

glorious time for whales — the paradise of their history.
In s{)ite of the yearly increase of whalers, and the
irreat number of whales that were killed on the same
i-ipot, they always resorted to this favoi'ite ground.

" During this first period, called the ' Shore I'^ish-
ery,' we had an oil-boiling establishment at Smeeren-
burg, on Amsterdam Island. Every year our whalers
went straight to this island ; each vessel had six or
seven boats, and a huge complement of men, who
were enijdoyed in killing Avhales, bringing them
ashore, and making oil as fast as possilde. Thousands
and thousands of whales were killed, and at last,
from about 1G40-50, they ceased for a time to come
at all to the west coast of Spitzbergen. As soon as
the scarcity of whales was felt, the directors of the
Dutch Whaling Company made great efforts to follow
them to their place of retreat. Several ships were
sent out on exploring expeditions, but they did not
find any islands besides those round Spitzbergen, nor
any whaling-ground as easy and profitable as Smeer-
enburg and its vicinity had been."

The year 1777 was one Avliich exhibited, on a large
scale, all the vicissitudes of this occupation. Captain
Broerties, in the Guillamine, arrived that year on the
22d of June at the great bank of northern ice, where
he found fifty vessels moored and busied in the fishery.
The day after, a tempest drove in the ice Avith such
violence that twenty-seven of the ships were beset,
of which ten w^ere lost. The Guillamine with four
other ships, succeeded in reaching a narrow basin,
enclosed by icy barriers on every side.

On the 1st of August the ice began to gather thick,
and a violent storm driving it against the vessels,
placed them in great peril for a number of days. On

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SniPWRECKS.

the 20th, a dreadful i^ale arose from tlie north-east, in
which the Guilhmiine suffered coHsiderabli! daiiuij^e.
In this awful tempest, out of the five ships two went
down, a third sprung a leak, and their erews were
taken on hoard of the two remaininri: harks.

On the 25th these wei'e eom])letely frozen In, and it
was resolved to send a party of twelve men to seek
aid from four vessels which a few days hi'fore had
been driven into a station at a little distance ; l)ut by
the time of their airival, two of these had been dashed
to pieces, and the others were in the most deplorable
condition.

Meantime the Guillamine and her companions
drifted in sight of Gale Ilamkes' Land, in Greenland,
and the tempest still pushing them gradually to the
southward, Iceland at length appeared on their left.
The crews were beginning to hoj)e that they might
reach a harbor, when, on the l.^th of September, a
whole mountain of ice fell upon the Guillamine.
The men, half naked, leaped out ni)on the frozen sur-
face, saving with difficulty a small portion of their
provisions. The broken remnants of the vessel were
soon buried under enormous piles of ice. By leaping
from one fragment of ice to another, the men contrived
to reach the other vessel, which, though in extremti
distress, received them on board. Shattered and
overcrowded, she was obliged immediately after to
accommodate fifty other seamen, the crew of another
vessel which had just gone down, the chief har-
pooner and twelve of the mariners having perished.
These numerous companies, squeezed into one crazy
bai'k, suffered every kind of distress, and famine, in
its most direful forms, began to stare them in the
face.

MEMORIALS OF THE HOLLANDERS.

135

All rt'iiioter fearis, howovor, gav(i way, when in
October, the vessel went to pieces in the same sud-
den manner as the others, leaving to the unfortunate
sailors scarcely time enough to leap iijion the ice
with their remaining stores. With great difficulty
they I'eached a field of sonu! extent, and contrived
Avitli their torn sails to rear a sort of covering; but,
sensible that, by remaining on this desolate spot, they
must certainly perish, they saw no safety except in
scrambling over the frozen surface to the coast of
Greenland, which W'as in view. With infinite toil
they effected their object, and ha})pily met some
inhabitants who i-eceived them liospitably, and
regaled them with dried fish and seals' flesh. Thence
they puslied across that dreary I'egion, treated some-
times well, sometimes churlishly ; but by one means
or other they succeeded at length, on the 13th of
March, in reaching the Danish settlement of Frede-
rikshaab, where they were received with the utmost
kindness.

The whaling trade of the Hollanders gradually came
to an end in the last half of the last century. Many
names round the Spitsbergen i^hores, and large num-
bers of graves, remain as memorials of their former
hardihood.

» •

CHAPTER IX.
THE ARCTIC WHALE-FISHERY.

(CONTINUI'T).)

Ii^ 1719 the Dutch opened a whale-fishery in
Davis' Strait, wliich proved very remunerative and
comparatively safe ; for, in a pei'iod of sixty ye^irs,
out of over three thousand ships fishing there, only
sixty-two were Avrecked. English whalers soon
began to frequent the same fishery ; but in spite of
old William Baifin's judicial advice, no vessel ever
followed in liis track until 1817, and the whales were
permitted to remain for two centuries in tranquil
enjoyment of the North Water of Bafiin's Bay.
Baffin had gallantly led the way thither and no man
had dared to follow him. At last two English whalers
successfully passed the middle pack, and found
whales so plenty that from that day to this, veiy i'ew
years have passed during which whalers have not
forced that bari'ior.

Melville Bay used to be a place of dread and anxi-
ety for the whaling fleet ; for whei' a southerly wind
brouglit the drifting pack in violent and irresistible
contact with the land-lloe, the ships, slowly creeping
along its edge, were frequently crushed like so many
walnuts. In 1819, as many as fourteen ships were

13G

t> i^' *<

WIlALmG DISASTEKS IN MELVILLE BAY.

137

smaslied to pieces in this way; in 1821, eleven; and
in 1822, seven.

The year 1830 was the great season of disaster for
the whalers, for nineteen ships were entirely destroyed,
occasioning immense loss. On the 19th of June, a
fresh gale from the south-west drove masses of ice
into Melville Bay, and nipped the whole fleet against
the land-floe, about forty miles to the southward of
Cape York. In the evening tlie gale increased, and
the floes began to overlap each other. A huge floe
then came down upon the devoted ships, and a scene
of indescribable hori-or ensued. In a (piarter of an
liour sev^eral fine ships were converted into shattered
fragments ; the ice, with a loud grinding noise, tore
open their sides, masts were seen falling in all direc-
tions, great snips were squeezed flat and thrown
broadside on to the ice, and one whaler, the " Rattler,"
was literally turned inside out. The shipwrecked
sailors only just had time to jump on the ice, and
take refuge on board their more fortunate consorts —
for even in 1830 several ships escaped l)y digging
deep docks in the land ice. It must be under-
>iood that there is little dansjer of loss of life in
Melville Bay, for even if a solitary whaler is de-
stroyed, when no other is i.; sight, the retreat in
boats to the Danish settlements is generally prac-
tical^le and easy. When the fearful catastrophe
occurred in 1830, there were a thousand men en-
<;am})ed on the ice, the clusters of tents were a scene
of joyous dancing and frolic, for Jack had got a
holiday, and the season was long remembered as
"Bnffiii'sFair."

The whale-fishery has been carried on from the
United States with greater vigor and success than

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138

YANKEE WHALEMEN.

from any other country, and from an early period.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the business
was a very lucrative one ; and several flourishing
towns were built up thereby. At the commencement
of the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts alone had
nearly two hundred vessels engaged in the northern
seas, besides many in the southern. The great Eng-
lish Statesman, Burke, in 1774 paid the following
tribute to Yankee enterprise : —

" Look at the manner in which the New England
people carry on the whale-fishery. While we follow
them among the tumbling mountains of ice and
behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen
recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis Strait ; while we
are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, we
hear that they have pierced into the opposite region
of polar cold ; that they are r.t the antipodes, and
engaged under the frozen serpent of the Soutli. Falk-
land Island, which seemed too remote and t(w i-oman-
tic an object for the gra«D of national ambition, is
but a stage and resting-place for tlieir \ictorious
industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discour-
aejina: to them than the accumulated winter of both
the Poles. We learn that while some of them draw
the line or strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa,
others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic
game along the coast of Brazil."

The war put a temporary stop to the whaling bus-
iness of the United States, but it was renewed with
energy as soon as peace was declared, and again
broken up by the war of 1812. Its recovery was,
however, rapid. In 1844, the American whaling
fleet comprised six hundred and fifty vessels, manned
by over seventeen thousand men, while the English

THE DUNDEE WHALING STEAMERS.

139

fleet at the same date numbered only eighty-five ves-
sels. In 1849, the American whaling fleet was nearly
as large as in 1844. The Northern Pacific, extend-
ino- from the coast of America to Kamchatka, was at
tliat time the great harvest field of American whalers,
iind Bering Strait, and the Ai'ctic Ocean to whicli it
leads have since been visited by intrepid American
whalemen.

Owing to the scarcity of whales, the use of gas,
and the discovery of petroleum, the whaling business
of the United kStates has dwindled down to very
small proi)()rtions compared with what it once was.
Dangers (bsasters, and suff'erings are, however, still
inciden fo Jie profession. In 1871, the North-west
whaling fleet was shut in by the ice, and many of
the ships had to bo abandoned. Quite recently three
New Bedford whalers have been lost in Hudson's
Bay, and another which has just returned was impris-
oned for three months amid the desolations of Repulse
I>,ay. ^ .

Although never wholly abandoned, the whaling
trade of Great Biltain fluctuated for many years ;
until it was found that an Indian fibre, when manip-
ulated with whale oil, could be manufactured into a
great variety of useful falu'ics. The extension of the
manufacture of jute in Dundee, Scotland, caused the
revival of the whale-fisheiy in Baflfin's Bay. A mil-
lion bales of jute are now annually imported into
Dundee, e(|ual to one hundred and forty-three thou-
sand tons ; and the bulk of the whale oil is required
by the jute manufacturers of Dundee and the neigh-
borhood. Thus the port of Dundee has now become
the centre of the English whale-fishing trade ; and car-
goes of oil from the Arctic regions may be seen dis-

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140

RI'=;CUE OF THE POLARIS CREW.

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charging alongside of cargoes of jute from Calcutta,
both being essential to the prosperity of the port. Of
late years steam has made a great change in naviga-
tion, and the steam whalers are not ex])osed to the
same risks and detentions as fall to the lot of sailing
ships. The first steam whaler sailed from Dundee in
1858, and now a whaling fleet of ten steamt s leaves
every spring for Baffin's Bay and returns in the fall.
Each carries eight whale boats, manned by nearly
the Avhole crew of sixty men ; for few remain on the
ship when the cry of " There she spouts ! " is heard.
It was a steamer of this line, the Ilavenscraig,
which rescued the crew of the wrecked Polaris, and
the party were carried to Dundee in two others, tht
Intrepid and the Arctic. The latter steamer had, dur-
ing her trip, penetrated into the Gulf of Boothia.

^i.-^^

CHAPTER X.

CRUISE OF THE ISABELLA AND ALEX-

ANDER.

(JOIIN KOSS — PARRY.)

The Northern seas, .as a theatre of adventure, had
been unoccupied for lialf a century, and the grand
question in whicli Engkind had taken so deep an in-
terest was still open. For several years preceding
1818, vast masses of ice had floated down from the
I'egions of Baffin's Bay, and an unusual opportunity
of discovering a North-west passage to the Pacific
Ocean, seemed to present itself.

In that year the English government fitted out two
expeditions; one to search foi'the North-west passage,
the other to attempt a voyage across the Pole. The
first consisted of th.e Isabella of 885 tons, commanded
l\y Captain John Ross, an officer of reputation and
experience, who had twice wintered in the Baltic, had
T)een employed in surveying the White Sea, and been
as far north as Bear Island; and the Alexander of
252 tons, conmianded by Lieutenant Wm. E. Parry,
afterwards famous as an Arctic exjilorer.

On the 18th of April the vessels left the Thames,
and on the 27tli of May came in view of Cape Fare-
well, round which as visual Avere floa ling numerous

and h)fty icebercrs of the most varied forms and tints.

141

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142

A DANISH I5J:A(TY.

On the 14tli of June they readied the Whale Islands,
wliere they were informetl by the governor of the
Danish settlement, that the i)ast winter had been iin-
coninionly severe — the neighboring bays and straits
having been all frozen two months earlier than usual —
and that some of the channels ncn-thAvard of his station
were still l)ound in with ice.

On the I7th of June, an impenetrable barrier of ice
stopping their c(mrse, they fastened to an iceberg hav-
ing forty-five M'hale-ships in com])any. At length the
ice attached to the eastern shore broke up, though
still forming a continuous rampart at some distance
to the ^vestward, but in the intermediate space they
wei-e enabled to move forward slowly along the coast,
laboring through narrow and intricate channels amid
mountains and loose fragments of ice near the Danish
settlement. Their detention had not lacked amuse-
ment ; the half-caste sons and dau<diters of Danes and
Esquimaux <lanced Scotch reels with the sailors on
the deck of the Isabella ; Jack Saccheous, a native of
Greenland, who accompanied tlie expedition as inter-
preter, was ni.-ister of ceiemonies.

A daughter of the Danish resident, about eis^hteen
years of age, a"'d by far the best looking of the
group, was the o],ject of Jack's particular attentions;
which being ol)served by one of the officers, he gave
him a lady's shawl, ornamented with spangles, as
an offei'ing for her acceptance. lie presented it to
the damsel, who l)aslifully took a pewter ring from
lier finger and presented it to him in return.

Proceedini; alonij: a hisrli mountainous coast, the
expedition came to a tribe of Es(piiraaux who seem-
ed to exist in a state of the deepest seclusion. They
had never before seen men belonging to the civilized

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A SECLUDED RACE.

145

The

worlJ, or of a race dift'ereiit from tlieir own.
first small party whom the navigators approached
sliowed every sign of the dee2:)est alarm ; dreading,
as was afterward understood, a fatal influence from
the mere touch of these beings of an unknown spe-
cies. Yet they seem to have felt a secret attraction
towards the strangers, and advanced, holding fast the
long knives lodged in their boots, and looking signifi-
cantly at each other.

Having come to a chasm whj/'h separated them
from the English, they made e;irriest signs that only
the interpreter, who bore a resemldance to themselves,
should come across. He went forward and offered
his hand. They shrunk back for some time in alarm ;
at length the boldest touched it, and finding it flesh
and l)lood set up a loud shout, which three others
Joined. The rest of the party then came up, to the
number of eight, with fifty dogs which helped their
masters in raising a tremendous clamor.

Ross and Parry now thought it tim6 to come for-
ward. This movement excited alarm and a tendency
to retreat ; but Saccheous having taught these officers
to pull their noses, this sign of ami^y was graciously
acceiDted. A mirror was now held up to them, and on
seeing tlieir faces in it they showed the greatest aston-
ishment ; they looked around on each other a few
moments in silence, then set up a general shout, suc-
ceeded by a loud laugh of delight and surprise.

The ship was the next object of their speculation.
They began by endeavoring to ascertain its nature
by interrogating it, for they conceived it to be a huge
bird, spreading its vast wings and endoAved with
reason. One of them, pulling his nose with the ut-
most solemnity, began an address :

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146

ESQUIMAUX IDEAS 01-' A SHIT.

" Who are you ? Whence come you ? Is it from
th(^ suu or the moon ?"

The Hhii) renmining siU^nt, tliey at lenc^th applied
to SaeeheouH, wlio ai-^sured them that it was a frame of
timber, the work of liuman art. To them, liowever,
wlio liad never seen any wood hut slight twigs and
stunted lieath, its immense planks and masts were ob-
jects of amazement. Wliat animal, they also asked,
could furnish those enormous akins A\dueh Avere spread
for the sails.

Their admiration was soon followed by a desire to
possess some of the objects which met their eyes, but
with little discrimination as to the means of effecting
their end. They attempted first a spare topmast, then
an anchor; and these proving too ponderous, one of
them tried the smith's anvil; but finding it fixed, made
off with the large hannner. Anotlier wonder for
them was to see the sailors mounting to the topmast •
nor was it without much hesitation that they ventured
their own feet in the shrouds. A little terrier dog
appeared to them a contemptible object, wholly unfit
for drawing burdens or being yoked in a sledge, while
the grunt of a hog filled them with alarm.

These Esquimaux had a king who rnled seemingly
with gentle sway ; for they described him as strongs
very good and very much beloved. The discoverers
did not visit the court of this Arctic potentate ; but they
understood that he drew a trilmte, consisting of ti'ain-
oil, seal-skins, and the bone of the unicoi'u. Like
other Greenlanders, they liad sledc::es drawn by large
and powerful teams of dogs. They rejected with hor-
ror biscuit, sweetmeats and spii-its ; train-oil, as it
streamed from the seal and the unicorn, alone grati-
fied their palate. Captain Koss, swayed by national

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THE ABCnC UIOH' ANDEXtS.

149

impressions, gave to this tribe the name of Arctic
Jlighlandera. In the northern part of this coast the
navigators observed a remarkable phenomenon, — a
range of cliffs, the snowy covering of which had ex-
changed its native white for a tint of dark crimson.
The latest observations have established its vegetable
origin.

Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, Captain
Ross found himself among those spacious sounds
which Baffin had named but so imperfectly described.
He seems, however, to have followed the same hasty
method. He sailed past AVolstenholme and Whale
Sounds without even approaching their entrance,
concluding them to be blocked up with ice, and to af-
ford no hope of a passage. Ross next came to Smith's
Sound, which Baffin had described as the most spar
cious and promising of the whole circuit of these coasts.
It was viewed with greater attention ; but believed to
be completely enclosed by land. The two capes at
its entrance were named after the ships Isabella and
Alexander. He then came to a spacious bay, which
had hitherto been unknown and unobserved, and
afterward to that which Baffin had called Jones's
Sound ; but in respect to both was led to a prompt
and unfavorable conclusion.

On the 30th of August, the expedition came to a
most magnificent inlet, bordered by lofty nioiintuiiia
of peculiar grandeur, while the water being clear and
free from ice, presented so tempting an appearance
that it was impossible to refrain from entering. This
channel, which soon proved to be the Lancaster
Sound of Baffin, was ascended for thirty miles ; during
which run, officers and men crowded the topmast
filled with enthusiastic hope, and judging that it af-

150

SIGNAL OF RETURN.

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foinled much fairer hopes of success than any of those
so hastily passed. Captain Ross however, and those
whom he consulted, never showed any sanguine ex-
pectations. He soon thought that he discovered a
high ridge stretching directly across the inlet ; and
though a great pai-t of it was deeply involved in mist,
yet a passage in this direction was judged to be hope-
less. The sea being open, the ship proceeded ; but an
officer came down from the crow's nest, stating that
he liad seen the land stretching very nearly across the
entire bay. Hereupon it is said, all hopes were re-
nounced even by the most sanguine, and Captain Ross
sailed onward merely for the i)urpose of making some
magnetical observations.

At three o'clock, the sky having cleared, the com-
mander himself went on deck, when he states that he
distinctly saw across the bottom of the bay a chain of
mountains continuous and connected with those which
foniied its opposite shores. The weather then becom-
ing unsettled, he made the signal to steer the vessels
out of Lancaster Sound. Lieutenant Parry, however,
declares that to him, in the Isabella, this signal ap-
peared altogether mysterious, being himself full of the
most sanguine expectations, and seeing no ground
for this abiiipt retreat ; but his duty obliged him to
follow.

On regaining the entrance of this great channel,
Captain Ross continued to steer southward along the
western shore of Baffin's Bay and Davis's Strait, with-
out seeing any entrance which afforded equal promise,
and returned home early in October.

Ross arrived in England under decided conviction
that Baffin's observations had been perfectly correct,
and that Lancaster Sound was a bay.

CHAPTER XI.
CRUISE OF THE HECLA AND GRIPER.

(PAKRY AND LIDDON.)

It being detemiined that a new exjiedition should
he fitted out and intrusted to Lieutenant Parry, that
lie might fulfill, if possible, his own sanguine hopes
and those of his employers, he was furnished Avitli
the Ilecla of 375 tons, and a crew of fifty-eight men ;
and with the Griper gun-brig of 180 tons and thirty-
six men, eonnnanded by Lieutenant Liddon. Thesu
ships were made as strong and as well-fitted as possi-
ble for the navijxation of the Arctic seas ; and were
stored with ample provisions for two years, a copious
supply of antiscorbutics, and eveiy thing which could
enable the crews to endure the extreme rigoi-s of a
Polar winter.

Lieutenant Parry, destined to outstrip all his prede-
cessors in the career of Arctic discover}', left the Xore
on the nth of May, 1819, and on the loth of June
came in view of the lofty cliifs of Cape Farewell. On
the 18tli the ships first fell in with icebergs, and made
an effort to j)ush through the icy masses in the direc-
tion of Lancaster Sound ; but these suddenly closed
upon him, and on the 25th the two ships were immove-
ably beset ; but on the second day the ice was loosened
and driven against them with much violence.

151

152

ENTERING LANCASTER SOUND.

I VI I

..I

Resigning the idea of reaching Lancaster Sound by
the most direct route, the explores coasted northward
along the border of this great icy field in search of
open water, and proceeded, till they reached lati-
tude 75''. As every step was now likely to carry
them farther from their destination, Parry determined
upon a desperate push to the westward ; and by
sjiwing and Avaqiing, finally penetrated the icy barrier
and saw the western shore clear of ice extending be-
fore them.

Tlie navigators now bore directly do\\'Ti upon Lan-
caster Soiuid, and on the iJOth of July found them-
selves at its entrance. They felt an extraordinary
emotion as they recognized this magnificent channel,
with the lofty cliffs by which it was guarded, aware
that a very short time would decide the fate of their
grand undertaking. They Avere tantalized, however,
by a fresh breeze coming directly down the sound,
which suffered them to make only very slow progress.
There was no appearance, of any obstructions either
from ice or land, and even the heavy swell Avhieh
came down the inlet, driving the water repeatedly in
at the stern-win«lows, was hailed as an indication of
open sea to the westwanl.

On the 3d of August an easterly breeze sprung up,
cariying both vessels rapidly forward. A crowd of
sail was set, and they pushed triumphantly to the
■westward. Their minds were filled with anxious hope
and suspense. The mast-heads were crowded with
officers and men, and the successive reports l)rought
doAvn from the topmast pinnacle were eagerly listened
to. They passed various headlands with several wide
openings towards the north and south, but these it
was not their present object to explore. The wind,

HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS.

158

freshening more and more carried tliem liappily for-
ward, till at midnight they found themselves a liun-
dred and fifty miles from the mouth of the grand in-
let, which still retained a breadth of lift}' miles. The
success of the expedition they hoj^Mjd was now to a
great extent decided.

The ships proceeded on and found two other inlets,
then a bold cape named Fellfoot, forming apparently
the tennination of this long line of coast. The length-
ened swell which still rolled in from the north and
west, with the oceanic color of the -vvaters, inspired
the hope that they had already i)assed the region of
ritraits and inlets, and were now Avufted along the
Avide expanse of the Polar basin. Nothing, it was
supposed, would now obstruct their progress to
Icy Cape, the western boundary of America. An
alarm t)f land was given, but it proved to be t)nly
from an island of no great extent ; more land was
soon discovered beyond Cai>e Feilfoot, which was
ascertained to be the headland to a noble bay extend-
ing on their right, which they named Maxwell Bay.

An nninternipted range of sea still stretched out
before them, though they saw on the south a line of
continuous ice. Some distance ouAVurd they discover-
ed, with deep dismay, that this ice Avas joined to inq^ene-
trable floes, which completely crossed the channel
and joined the western j)oint of MaxAvell Bay. A vio-
lent surf was beating along the edges, and they drew
back to avoid entanglement in the ice

The officers began to amuse themselves with fruit-
less attempts to catch Avhite Avhales, Avhen the Aveather
cleared, and they saAV to the south an open sea Avith a
dark Avater-sk}-. Parr}', hoping that it might lead
to a free passage in a loAver latitude, steered toward

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154

DBEART SHORES.

it, and found himself at the mouth of a great
inlet, ten leagues broad, with no visible teiinination ;
to the two eajws at its entran(!e he gave the names
of Clarence and Seppings.

Finding the western shore of this inlet deeply en-
cumbered with ice, they moved across to the easteni
where was a broad and open channel. The coast
was the most dreary and desolate they had ever be-
held even in the Arctic world, presenting scarcely a
semblance either of animal or vegetable life. Navi-
gation Avas rendered more arduous from the irregular-
it^'' of the compass.

After sailing a hundred and twenty miles up this
inlet, the increasing width of which inspired them
with cori'esponding hoj^es, with extreme consternation
they suddenly perceived the ice to diverge from its
parallel coui-se, close in and nin to a point of land which
appeared to fonn the southern extremity of the
eastern shore. The western horizoji also appeared
covered with heavy and extensive floes, a bright and
dazzling ice-blink extending from shore to shore.
Parry now determined to return to the old station,
and watch the opportunity when the relenting ice
would allow the ships to proceed westward.

On the 1 8th, after getting once more close to the
noi-thern shore the navigators began to make a little
progress, when some showers of ruin, accompanied Avith
heavy wind, produced such an effect that on the 21st
the Avhole ice had disappeared ; they could scarcely
believe it to be the same sea Avliich had just before
been covered with floes as far as the eye could reach.

Pariy now croAvded all sail to the Avestward and
passed Beechy Island ; after which he reached a fine
and broad inlet leading to the north, which he named

TIIK lUiWAKl> EAUNED.

155

Wellington. The sea up this inlet being perfectly
open lie would have ascended it, had there not been
before him an open channel leading due west.

A favorable breeze now spning up, and the adven-
turere passed gayly and triumphantly along the shores
of Cornwallis Island and two smaller ones. The nav-
igation then became extremely difficult in consequence
of thick fogs, which not only froze on the shrouds
but, as the compass was useless, took awa)' all means
of knowing the direction in ■which they sailed. They
were obliged to trust to the land and ice preserving
the same line, and sometimes employed the most odd
expedients for ascertaining the precise point.

Pushing westward through many obstacles they at
length reached the coast of an island larger than any
hefoi-e discovered, to -svliich they gave the name of
Melville. The Avind noAV failed, and they slowly
moved forward by towing and Avarping, till, on the
4th of September, Pui'ry announced to his joyful crew,
that, having reached the longitude of llC AV., they
liad become entitled to the reward of £5000 prom-
ised by Parliament to the first crew Avho should attain
that meridian.

The mariners pushed forward Avith redoubled ardor,
but soon found their course arrested by an impene-
trable icy l>aiTier. They Avaited nearly a fortniglit in
hopes of OA'^ercoming it, Avhen the }'oung ice began
rapidly to form on the surface of the Avaters, and
Parry Avas convinced that in the cA'ent of a single
hour's calm he Avould be frozen up in the midst of
the sea. No option was therefore left l)ut to return
to a harbor Avhich had been passed on Melville Island.
It Avas reached on the 24th, but they Avere obliged to
cut tAvo miles through a large floe Avith Avliich it Avas

15C

THE NORTH OEOTIOIAN THEATRE.

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filled. On the 20cli, the Hhips were unchored at about
a culjle's length from the l>eaeli, and hooii Uo/.vu in.

The commander, finding himself and his ships shut
in for a long and dreary av inter, <levoted his attention,
with judieions activity and a mixtun^ of firmness and
kindness, to mitigate those evils which even in lower
latitudes had often rendered an Arctic wintering so
fatal. It was necessary to l>e very economical of fuel,
the small (piantity of moss and turf which could be
collecte<l being too wet to be of an}' use.

Parry's 1 dans for kei^jting tlu^ men's minds in a live-
ly and ch(;erful state were original, and proved elTect-
ive. Arrang(!ments wc^re made; for the. occasional per-
formance of a l»l!iy, in a region wry remote certainly
from any to Avliich the drama a[>peared congenial.
BeeehyMas nominated stage-manager, and the ofHceis
came forward as amatcMir performers. The very ex-
pectation thus raised among the seamen, and the bus-
tle of pi'cparing a room for the pui'[K»se, Avere extreme-
ly salutary ; and A\hen the Xortli (Jcorgian theatre
opene<l Avith " Miss in her Teens," the hardy tars Avere
conxulsed Avith laughter.

The oHicers had another source of amusement in
tlu! North (leorgia (razette, of Avhich Captain Sabine
became editor, and all were invited to contribute to
this chronicle of the frozen regions. Even those Avlio
hesitated to appear as Avriters, enlivened the circle 1)}"
SeA'ere but good-humored criticisms.

" Tlius passcil tlio time
Till, tliroiigh lliu Itu-iJ chainbcrs of the South,
Looked out the joyous Sun."

It was on the 4th of November that this great orl»
ought to have taken his leave ; but a deep haze pre-

TRACK V TIIK IIKCLA AMI (illll'KR.

('''

PARBV'a 8HIFS IN WINTEU glARTERS,

AVINTKII AMUSEJIENT8.

150

vcntod them from bidding a formal farewell. Aini<l
viiriouM occiuputioiiH and aniiiHementH the shortest day
came on almost unexpected, and the seamen then
Avatched with pleasure the mi<lday twilight gradually
strengthening. On the Hd of February the sun was
atrain seen from the nuiintoi) of the llecla. Throu*;h
the greatest dejjth of the Polar night, the <>ffieei*s, dur-
ing the brief twilight, had taken a regidar walic of
two or three hotu's, although never longer than
a mile lest they should l)e overtaken by snow-drift.
There wjis a want of objects to divei^sify this walk.
A dreary monotonous surtatie <)f dazzling white cover-
(m1 land and sea: the view of the shij)s, th<^ smoke a?-^-
ceiidliig from thenj, and the somul of human voices,
>vliich through the calm and cold air was carried to
nu extraordinary distance, alone gave any animati(m to
this wintry scene.

The officers, however, persevered in their daily
walk, and exercise was also enforced upon the men,
who, even Avhen prevented by tlu! weather from leav-
ing the vessel, were made to I'un r()und the deck,
keeping time to the tune of an organ. This move-
ment they did not at first entirely relish ; but no jdea
ayainst it beinjj admitted, they converted it at last
into matter of frolic. By these means health Avas
maintained on board the ships to a surj>rising degree,
altljongh several of the crew had symptoms of
scurvy as early as January.

Further on in the season oilier cases of scurvy oc-
curred, which were aggravated by an accident. As
the men were taking their musical perambulation
round the deck, a house erected on shore and contain-
ing a number of the most valuable instruments was
seen to be on fire. The crew instantly ran, pulled off

160

fibe! fibe!

I,.' '*i!!'"i

I'd

the roof with ropes, knocked down a part of the sides,
and being thus enabled to throw in large quantities
of snow succeeded in subduing the flames. But their
faces now presented a curious spectacle ; every nose
and cheek was white with frost-bites, and had to be
rubbed with snow to restore circulation. No less
than sixteen were added to the sick-list in conse-
quence of this fire.

The animal tribes disappeared early in the winter
from this frozen region, and there remained only a
pack of wolves, which serenaded the ship nightly, not
venturing to attack, but contriving to avoid being
captured. A beautiful white fox was caught and
made a pet of.

On the 16th of March the North Georgian theatre
was closed with an appropriate address, and the gene-
ral attention was now turned to the means of extrica-
tion from the ice. By the iTth of May the seamen
had so far cut the ice from around the ships as to
allow them to float ; but in the sea it was still immova-
ble. This interval of inaction was employed by Cap-
tain Parry in an excursion across Melville Island. The
ground was still mostly covered with softened snow,
and even the cleared tracts were extremely desolate,
though checkered by intervals of fine verdure. Deer
were seen traversing the p^ains in considerable num-
bers. To the north appeared another island to which
was given the name of Sabine.

By the middle of June pools were every where
formed ; the dissolved water flowed in streams and
even in torrents, which rendered hunting and travel-
ing unsafe. There were also channels of water in
which boats could pass ; yet throughout June and
July the great covering of ice in the surrounding sea

A BREAK-UP.

161

remained entire, and kept the ships in harbor. On
the 2d of August, however, the whole mass broke up
and floated out ; and the explorers had now open
water in which to prosecute their discovery.

On the 4th of August they reached the same spot
where their progress had been formerly ari'ested. On
the loth they were enabled to make a certain pro-
gress ; after wliicli the frozen surface of the ocean
assumed a more compact and impenetrable aspect
than had ever before been witnessed. The officers
ascended some of the lofty heights which bordered
the coast ; but in a long reach of sea to the westward
no boundary was seen to these icy barriers. There
appeared only the western extremity of Melville
Island, named Cape Dundas ; and in the distance a
bold high coast, which they named Banks Land.

As even a brisk easterly gale did not produce the
slightest movement in this frozen surface, they were
led to believe that on the other side there must be a
large barrier of land, by which it was held in a fixed
state. On considering all circumstances, there ap-
peared no alternative but to make their way home-
ward while yet the season permitted.

Lancaster Sound was left behind on the 1st of
September. Passing do\\Ti the west shore of Baffin's
Bay, they stopped at Clyde's River, where they re-
ceived viiiits from a tribe of Esquimaux, whose appear-
ance and conduct j)leased them all very much — lively,
goo<l-natured, and cheerful, with a great inclination
to jump about when much pleased, "rendering it,"
says Parry, " a penalty of no trifling nature for them
to sit still for half an hour together." They were
decently clothed, male and female, and their children
equally so, in well dressed and neatly-sewn seal skins.

162

A SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION.

Parry's arrival in Britian was hailed with the high-
est exultation. To have sailed upwards of thii-ty
degrees of longitude beyond the point reached by any
former navigator, — to have discovered so many new
lands, islands, and bays, — to have established the
much-contested existence of a Polar sea north of
America, — ^finally, after a wintering of eleven months,
to have brought back all his crew except one man in
a sound condition, — were enough to raise his name
above that of any former Arctic voyager.

,..:i

CHAPTER XII.
CRUISE OF THE FURY AND HECLA.

(parky LYON.)

No hesitation was felt in Enjjland as to sendinjj
out another expedition nnder Parry ; and tlie two
ships Fury and Ilecla, of nearly the same size, sailed
on the 8th of May, 1821. Captain George F. Lyon,
already distinguished for his services in Africa, com-
manded the Hecla.

The ships arrived at the month of Hudson's Straits
on the 2d of July, where the mariners were struck
with the dreary and gloomy aspect of the shores.
They were soon surrounded with bergs and floes, and.
had nmch trouble in reaching Hudson's Bay. Amid
these delays the sailors were amused by the sight of
thiee conijianion ships — two belonging to the Hudson's
Bay Company, and one bringing out settlers for Lord
Selkirk's colony. These last, who were chiefly Dutch
and Germans, were seen waltzing on deck often for
Lours together and ^vere only driven in by a severe
fall of snow. Although almost in despair, they recre-
ated themselves from time to time by matrimonial
arrangements, in which they were so diligent, that it
is said there was scarcely a ball which did not end in

a marriage. '

163

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164

THE SAVAGE-ISLANDERS.

saw, or a razor.

character seemed fierce and savage

One day, when near the Savage Islands a loud
shouting was heard, and soon after a number of natives
were seen paddling tlieir canoes through the lanes of
open water, or drawing them over the pieces of ice.
Among a great number of kayaks were five oomiaks,
or women's boats. Presently a wild and noisy scene
of frolic and traffic beiiran. The natives traded with
eagerness, even stripping themselves of the furs which
formed their clothing, and raised shouts of triumph
when they obtained in exchange for them a nail, a

Their aspect was wild and their

Some of the

ancient dames were pronounced to be most hideous
objects. The children were rather pretty; though,
from being thrown carelessly into the bottom of the
boats, they had much the ajipearance of young wild
animals. Besides traffic, the natives indulged in a
great deal of nide frolic ; one of them got behind a
sailor, shouted loudly in one ear and gave him a
hearty box on the other, which was hailed with a
general laugh. They also carried on a dance, consist-
ing chiefly of violent leaping and stamping, though
in tolerable time.

After reaching Southampton Island, Parry sailed
up Fox's Channel and passing around the north of
the island came to Repulse Bay, where he ascertained
that it was as Middleton had described it, without a
western outlet. Its shores were far from uninvitincj:
the surrounding land arose a thousand feet, and veg-
etation was very luxuriant. The remains of sixty
Esquimaux habitations were found, consisting of stones
laid one over the other, in circles, eight or nine feet
in diameter ; besides about a hundred artificial struct-
ures, fire-places, store-houses, and other walled endos-

TITIEV1N(^ NATlVi;;.

105

urea four or five feet higli, used for keeping their
skill canoes from being gnawed l)y tiie dogs.

LeaA'ing Repulse Bay and siiliiig eastward, the
explorers soon found themselves among numei'ous
islands which formed a complete labyrinth of various
sliaj)es and sizes, while strong currents setting bet\v('('ii
them in various directions, amid fogs and drifting ice,
rendered the navigation truly perilous. The L^iiy
was assailed by successive masses rushing out from
an inlet ; her anchor was dragged along the rocks Avith
a grinding noise, and on being drawn up, the two
flukes were found to be broken off. A channel Avas
at last found, by which the mariners made their way
through this perilous maze, and found themselves in
Fox's Channel, which they had left a month before.

Starting northward again they discovered several
inlets, one of which they named after Captain Lyon.
A party of Esquimaux were encountered, whose timid-
ity was overcome by the hope of obtaining some iron
tools. In the course of this transaction, the curiosity
of the crew was roused by the conduct of a woman,
who had sold one boot, but obstinately retained the
other in disregard of the strongest remonstrances as
to tlie ridiculous figure she made. At length suspi-
cion rose to such a pitch, that, setting aside all court-
esy, they seized her and pulled off the boot, in which
was found two spoons and a pewter plate which she
had stolen.

The end of September now approached, and Parry
found himself suddenly in the depth of winter; soft
or pancake ice began to form and rapidly increased
till the vessel became, like Gulliver bound by the
feeble hands of Lilliputians. At the same time the
drift-ice became cemented into one crreat and threat-

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'•THE IJIVALS."

ening field. The navigators could no longer even at-
tempt to reach the land, but determined to saw into
an adjoining iloe, and there take up their winter <piar-
ters. This work was not laborious, but far from
pleasant, as the ice bent like leather beneath tliem.

The ships were now fi'ozen in, and measures were
taken to preserve health and comfci*t during the
(h'eaiy Avinter before them. The Polar Theatre was
o])ened in November witli " Tlie Rivals." Parry and
Lyon volunteered to appear as Sir Anthony and Cap-
tain Absolute; while the ladies generously removed
an ample growth of beard, disregarding the comforta-
ble warmth which it afforded in an Arctic climate.
The company were well received, and carried through
their performances with unabated spuit. Evening
scliools were also establislied in both sliips — the
clerk of the Fury and a seaman of the Ilecla act-
ing as schoolmasters. Twenty men of each ship
passed two hours every evening in these exercises,
and made considerable progress in their studies.

Amid these varied and pleasing occupations the
shortest day j)assed over their heads almost unol^served,
especially as the sun never entirely left them. On
Christmas-day divine service was performed on board
the Fury and attended by the men of both sliips.
The sailors were regaled "with fresh beef, cranbeiTy
pies, and grog, and became so extremely elevated, that
they insisted on successively drinking, with three
hearty cheers, the health of each officer.

The winter months were enlivened by various beau-
tiful appearances which the sky at times presented.
Those singular and beautiful streams of light, called
the Aurora BoreaUs^ or Northern Lights, keep up an
almost incessant illumination. The light had a ten-

i'^

"the MEKRY D^XJfOERS."

1(19

dency to form an iiregular arch, which, in calm
weather, was often very distinct, though its upper
boundary was sel(h)ni well-defined ; but, whenever
the air became ac'tnted, showers of rays sjjread in
every direction with the brilliancy and rapidity of
lightning. No rule, however, could be traced in the
movement of those lighter parcels called " the merry
dancers," which flew about perpetually in every
direction and towards every quarter. In stoi'iny
weather the Northern Lights always became more rai)i(l
in their motions, sharing all the wildness of the blast.
They gave an indescribable air of magic to the whole
scene, and made it not wonderful, that by the untaught
Indian they should be viewed as "the sj^irits of hia
fathers roaming through the land of souls."

On the morning of the Ist of February a number
of distant figures were seen moving over the ice, and
when they were viewed through glasses, the cry was
raised, " Es(piimaux ! Esquimaux !" As it was of
great importance to deal courteously and disci'eetly
with these strangers, the two commanders formed a
party of six, who walked in files behind each other
that they might cause no alarm. The Esquimaux
then formed themselves into a line of twenty-one,
advanced slowly, and at length made a full stoj). In
this order they saluted the strangers by the usual
movement of beating their breasts. They were sub-
stantially clothed in rich and dark deer-skins, and
appeared a much more quiet and orderly race than
their rude countrymen of the Savage Islands. They
had pieces of whalebone in their hands which they
had brought hither as a peace offering or for barter ;
in exchange for them they were given some nails and
beads. Some of the women who had handsome furs

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170

ESQUIMAUX NEIGHBORS D18C0VEKED.

on Avliich attracted attention, ))egan to strip them off,
to tlie great consternation of the English — as the tern-
pei'ature was far below zero — who were consoled on
finding that they had on complete doulde suits.

The Esquimaux then by signs invited the English
to accomjiany them to their habitations, which >vere
only two miles from the ships, but had not, strange
to say, been before discovered, although there was a
settlement of five houses and sixty j)eople with their
canoes, sledges and dogs. The huts were made en-
tirely of snow and ice, with ice Avindows at the top to
admit light ; entrance was effected by creeping through
low passages with arched doors ; the roofs were per-
fect arched domes, and from a circular a2)artment in
the centre, arched doorways connected with three
other rooms.

The interior of these mansions presented a scene
novel and interesting. The Avomen were seated on
the beds at the sides, each one having a little fire-
place, or lamp, with domestic utensils around her.
The children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs,
excepting those on the beds, slunk out doors in dis-
may. Outside, the village aj)peared like a cluster of
hillocks, but successive falls of snow filled up the
spaces between the huts and made the surface nearly
level, so that the children played on the roofs, and as
summer advanced occasionally thrust through them a
leg or a foot.

After a cheerful and friendly visit, an invitation
was given to the Esquimaux to repair to the ships,
when fifty accepted it. Partly walking and partly
dancing they quickly reached the vessels, Avhere a strik-
ing congeniality of spirit was soon found to exist be-
tween them and the sailors — boisterous fun forming

AST0NI81UNO TILK NATIVES.

171

to each the chief source of enjoyment. A fiddle and
drum being [)roduced, the natives struck up a dance,
or rather a succession of vehement leaj)s, accomj)anied
witli loud shouts and yells. Seeing the Kabloonas or
Whites, as they called the strangers, engaged in the
game of leai)-frog, tliey attempted to join ; but not
duly understanding liow to measure their movements,
they made such over-leaps as sometimes to come d(>\vn
on the crown of their heads. Their attention was
specially attracted to the effects of a winch, by whicdi
one sailor forcibly drew towards him a party of ten
or twelve of their number, though grinning and sti-ain-
ing every nerve in resistance ; but finding all in vain,
they joined in the burst of good-humored laughter till
tears streamed from tlieir eyes.

One intelligent old man follo\ved Lyon to the cabin,
and viewed with rational surprise various objects
which were presented. The pei-formance of a hand-
ortran and a musical snuff-box struck him with breath-
less admiration; and on seeing drawings of the Esipii
. maux in Hudson's Strait, he soon understood tliem
and showed the difference between their dress and a[)-
pearance and that of his own tribe. On seeing the
sketch of a bear, he raised a loud cr}-, drew up his
sleeves, and showed the scars of three deep wounds
received in encounters with that terrible animal. The
seamen sought to treat their visitors to such delicacies
as the ship afforded, but were for some time at a loss
to discover how their palate might be gratified. Gn)g,
the seaman's choicest luxury, only one old woman
could be induced to taste. Sugar, sweetmeats, gin-
gerbread, were eaten from politeness but with evident
disgust ; but oil and anything consisting of fat or
grease, Avas swallowed in immense quantities, and

'^!'".'l

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172

ASTOMHIIINO THK NATIVES.

•>' Id

*^l

with symptoms of exciuisite delight. An ohl woman,
wlu) Hokl her oil-pot, took cui'e to swnllow its contents
and lick it cleim with her tongue l)efore parting with
it. Captain Lyon, being (iisposed to ingratiate him-
Ntfir with a rather handsome young damsel, presented
her with a candle; she ate the tallow with eveiy
symptom of enjoyment, and then thrust the wick into
her mouth.

A large pack of wolves remained in the vicinity
through the whole winter, in eager watch for any vic-
tim which might come within their reach. They took
a station between the huts and the ships, ready to act
against either as circumstances might dictate. They
di<l not attack the saih)rseven Avhen unarmed, though
they were often seen hovering through the gl(K»m in
search of prey. Every stray dog was seized, and when
extremely hungry they devoured the culjles and can-
vas as opportunity ofF(;rc(l. A deadly war was there-
fore waged against them by the sailoi-s, and many
were killed and given to the Escpiimaux.

As spiing advanced, the attention of the oiRcere »
was almost Avholly engrossed by the prospect of navi-
gation and discovery during the approaching summer.
Their Esquimaux neighbors accustomed to move from
place to place, were found to have an extensive knowl-
edge of the seas and coasts. One woman, named
Iligliuk, called by her people " the wise woman," was,
after a little instruction, enabled to convey to the
strangers the outlines of her g jographical knowledge
in the fomi of a rude map.

Captain Lyon, in the middle of March, undertook a
Journey across a piece of land lying south of the ships,
which had been named Winter Island. The party
were scarcely gone when they encountered a heavy

AN KXOnUHION.

173

gale, brinjjing with it clouds of tlrifted flnow and in-
tense cold. They <lug a cave in tlie snow, and by
huddling together round a fire to which no vent was
al!<»wcd, contrived to keep up a degree of warmth.
In the morning their Hledge was too deeply l)nri<d
beneath the drift to leave any hoj)e Of digging it out,
and they started for the shijm, now nix miles dintant,
with siM>w falling so thick that they could not see a
yard before them.

They Avere soon bewildered, and wandered they
Icnew not where among heavy hummocks of ice; some
began to sink into that insensibility which is the pre-
lude to death by cold, and to reel about like drunken
men. After resigning almost every hoj)e of deliver-
nnct; they providentially reached the ships, where
their arrival caused indescri})able joy, as they had
been given ni> for lost, while no party could be sent
in search of them without imminent risk of shai'ing
theii' fate.

In May, Captain Lyon undertook another ;|ourney.
He crossed AVinter Island, and also the frozen strait
separating it from the continent. lie then proceeded
some distance along the coast, crossing several bays
upon the ice, and at last came in view of a bold cape,
which he vainly hoped was the extreme western point
of America. Here the 2>arty were overtaken by a
storm of snow, which kept them imprisoned in their
tents for sixty-eight hours, which dreary interval they
eidivened by reading in turn from three books they
chanced to have with them ; as soon as the sun began
to shine they hastened back to the ships.

The end of May presented a gloomy aspect, the sea-
son being more backward than it had been in the
higher latitude of Melville Island. The snow was

174

A FIOIIT WITH WALRUS.

* IH

dissolved only in spots, and hardly any symptoms of
vegetation were visible ; but as there was an expanse
of open water in the sea without, Captain Parry de-
termined upon sawing his way through to it. This
was a most laborious jjrocess, and after the seamen
had continued at it more than a fortnight, and w'ere
within forty-eight hours of completing a canal, the
body of the ice made a movement which closed it en-
tirely up. Another passage opened, and then closed,
but at last open water was reached, and the ships sail-
ed on the 2d of July.

The shores now began to put on their summer as-
pect ; the snow had nearly disappeared, and the
ground was covered with the richest bloom of Aictic
vegetation. The explorers came to a fine river named
Barrow, which formed a most picturesque fall do^vn
rocks richly fringed with very brilliant j)lants. Here
the reindeer sporting, the eider-duck, the golden 2)lover,
and the snow-l)unting, spreading their wings, pro-
duced a gay and delightful scene. On the 1-ltli they
reached the island of Amitioke, where they saAV about
two hundred walruses lying piled over each other on
the loose drift-ice. A boat's crew from each ship ])ro-
ceeded to the attack; br.t these gallant amphibia,
some with their cubs mounted on their backs, made
the most desperate resistance ; three only Avere killed.

They now proceeded northward, and saw before
them a bold and high range of coast, sei)arate(l ap-
parently from that along which they were sailing.
This feature agreeing with the map drawn by the
fair Iligliuk, flattered them that they were appi-oach-
ing the strait exhibited by her as forming the entrance
"ito the Polar basin. They pushed on full of hope
and animation, and were farther cheered by reaching

STOPl'ED JiY ICE.

175

the small island of Igloolik, wliicli slie liad described
as situated at the commencement of the passage.
They soon saw the strait stretching westward before
them in long perspecthe ; but, alas ! they discovered
at the same moment an unbroken sheet of ice from
shore to sliore, crossing and blocking np the passage ;
and this not a loose accidental floe, but the ice of the
preceding winter, on which the midsummer sun had
not produced the slightest change.

Unable to advance a single step, they amused them-
selves with land excursions in different directions; and
Captain Parry undertook, on the 14th of August, Avith
a i)arty of six, an expedition along the frozen sui'face
of the strait. The journey was very laborious, the
ice being sometimes thrown up in rugged hummocks,
and occasionally leaving large spaces of open Avater,
which it was necessary to cross on a plank, or on
pieces of ice instead of boats. In four days they came
in view of a peninsula terminated by a bold cape, the
ajiproach to which was guarded by successive ranges
of strata, resembling the tiers or galleries of a high
and commanding fortification. The party scrandiled
to the summit, Avhence they enjoyed a most gratifying
spectacle. They were at the narrowest part of the
strait, here about two miles across, and a tide or cur-
rent A\ as runninc; throuiih it at tlie rate of two miles
an hour. Westward the shores on each side receded,
till, for three points of the compass and amid a clear
horizon no land was visible. The captain doubted
not that from this position he beheld the Polar sea;
and hoped notwithstanding the formidable barriers of
ice Avhicli intervened to force his way into it. He
named this the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, and gave
the sailors an extra can of grog, to drink a safe and
speedy passage through its channel.

1 ;

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176

AGAIN FROZEN IN.

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I I.

M'H

PaiTy now lost no time in retiiiiiing to the sliips,
where his arrival was seasonable, fortlie opposini^ l)ar-
rier which had been gradually softening and ci'acldiig,
at ouce almost entirely disappeared. On the 21: t the
ships got under way ; and, though retarded by fogs
and other obstructions, arrived on the 26th at that
narrowest channel which the commander had formerly
reached. A brisk breeze now sprang up, tlie fsky
cleared, they dashed across a current of three or four
knots an hour, and sanguinely expected entire success.
Suddenly, from the crow's nest above, it Avas an-
nounced that ice filled the channel. In an hour they
reached this barrier, and finding it soft, spread all
their canvas and forced their way into it a distance
when they were stopped. From this point, during
the whole season, the ships were unable to advance.

Captain Lyon undertook an expedition southward,
to ascertain if any inlet or passage from sea to sea in
this direction had escaped notice. The country was
so filled with high rocky hills, and \vith chains of
lakes in which much ice was floating, that he could
not proceed above sev^en miles. Though it was the
begimiing of September, the season was only that of
early spring. Another excursion was made by a
party who penetrated sixty miles westward along the
southern coast of Cockbum Island, till they reached
a pinnacle, whence they saw the Polar ocean spread-
ing before them ; but tremendous barriers of ice filled
the strait, and i)recluded all approach.

It was now the middle of September, and the usual
symptoms of deer trooping in herds southward, float-
ing pieces of ice consolidating into masses, and the
thin crust forming on the surface of the waters, re-
minded the mariners not only that thev could hope

A CJIELUIXG SPECTACLE.

irr

for no farther removal of the obstacles Avhich arrested
their progress, but that they must h«e no thne in pro-
viding Avinter-qiiarters. The middle of the strait, at
the spot where they had been first stopped, was a fav-
orable station for future discovery ; but prudence sug-
gested a doubt whether the ships enclosed in tliis icy
prison could ever 1)e released.

On the 30th of October, l>y the usual operation of
sawing, the ships were cstablif.hed in a harbor at
Igloolik. The ensuing season Avas passed witli the
most careful attention to the health and comfort of
the crews; but thou -h their spirits did not sink, there
appears to have been on the wliole, less gayety and
lightness of heart than in the tAvo former winterinijs,
and the drama and school were not revived. On the
5th of Januaiy 1823, the horizon was so brightly suf-
fused with red, that they hoped to see the sun ; but a
fortnight of thick fog occasioned a disappointment.
On the 19th, the sky having cleared, they saw it rise
attended by two j^arhelia, and both crews turned out
to enjoy the novelty and splendor of this cheering
spectacle.

The sailors found at Igloolik a colony of Esqui-
maux, who received them at first with surprise and
some degree of alarm ; but on learning they Avere from
Winter Island and intimate with its tenants of last
season, they hailed them at once as familiar acquaint-
ances. These natives belonged to the same trilie, and
were connected by alliance and close relationship with
many individuals of the Winter Island party, of
whom, therefore, they were delighted to receive tid-
ings. The crews spent the winter Avith them on quite
a friendly footing, and rendered important services to
them during a period of severe sickness.

'/'S

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178

THE I'Alll ESQUIMAUX.

■if- 1,

"^ ■■.in.ni

The navigators were received with the most cordial
hospitality into the little huts, where the best meat
was set before them, and the women vied with each
other in the attentions of cooking, drying and mend-
ing their clothes. "The women working and singing,
their husbands quietly mending their lines, the chil-
dren playing before the door, and the pot boiling over
the blaze of a cheerful lamp," gave a pleasing picture
of savage life. Yet a continued intercourse showed
that the Esquimaux inherited their full share of human
frailty. The fair Esquimaux are charged with a strong
propensity to slander, which was natural to them as
they sat in circles round the door mending their lines.
Their own conduct, meantime, is said to have afforded
ample scope for censure, especially in regard to con-
nubial fidelity.

The principal deity of these people was Aywillai-
yoo, a female, immensely tall, vnth only the left eye,
and wearing a pigtail reaching to her knee. Lyon
witnessed a mighty incantation, in which Toolemak,
the chief magician, summoned Aywillaiyoo to the
upper world to utter her oracles. The party ^^'ere
assembled in a hut, whei'e light after light was put
out till they Avere left in total darkness. Toolemak
then, after loud invocations, professed to descend to
the world below to bring up the goddess. Soon there
arose a low chant of peculiar sound, imagined to be
the voice of Aywillaiyoo. During half an hour, in
reply to the loud screams and questions of her votaries,
she uttered dubious and mystical responses ; after
which the sound died away, and she was supposed to
descend beneath the earth; then Toolemak with a
shout announced his own return to the upper world.

The natives believe also in a future world, the em-

AN ESQUIMAUX 31AGICIAN.

179

ployments and pleasures of ^vllich, according to the
usual creed of savage races, are all sensual. The soul
descends beneath the earth through successive abodes,
the first of which has somewhat of the nature of jnir-
gatory ; but the good spirits passing through it lind
the other mansions successively improve, till they
reach that of perfect bliss, far beneath, where the sun
never sets, and where, by the side of large lakes that
never freeze, the deer roam in vast herds and the
seal and Avalrus always abound in the waters.

One of the Esquimaux having lost his wife, as it
was very difficult to dig a grave, the sailors piled (n-er
her a heap of stones to protect her from wild animals.
The man gave thanks, but not cordially ; he even ex-
pressed a dread lest the weight would be painfully
felt by his deceased spouse ; and soon after, when an
infant died, he declared her wholly incapable of bear-
ing such a burden and would allow nothing but snow
to be laid over her.

The spring proved singularly backward, and it was
the 7th of August before they Avere able, by hard saw-
ing, to reach the open sea; by which time hope of
effecting any thing important during that season was
reliiKpiished. The voyage homeward was soon after-
ward commenced, and the explorers reached England
in October. As nothing had been heard of them
during their two years' absence, they were viewed
almost as men risen from the dead. The bells of Ler-
Avick Avere rung, and other extraordinary demonstra-
tions of joy made on their arrival.

A third expedition under Parry sailed from Eng-
land on the 19th of May, 1824. It consisted of the
two ships Avith Avhich he had made his last voyage —
the Hecla and Fury, the latter being commanded

wmmtmm

180

PAREY 8 THIRD EXPEDITION.

i<ii

.!■■

by Capt. H. P. Hoppner, who had already made several
voyages with Parry. It was not till the 10th of Sept.
that they Avere able to enter Lancaster Sound, and
on the 1st of October they anchored for the winter at
Port Bo wen in Prince Regent's Inlet.

As the amusements of former winters had been
worn threadbare, masquerades were started and kept
up monthly thi-oughout the winter. Schools also
were opened and continued with much benefit to the
scholars.

On the 19th of July, by sawing through the ice the
navigators reached open water and proceeded down
the inlet, which was filled with fragments of ice, mak-
ing navigation dangerous. Subsequently they drifted
with the ice till the ships lay close to the shore, over
which towered high perpendicular cliffs, fragments
from which were constantly falling.

About the first of August a gale came on, which
drove the ice against the ships so that they became
unmanageable, and were carried along witli great
speed and grounded on the icy beach. Both vessels
were severely nipped, but got off with high water.

On the 21st the Fury was again forced on shore,
and as it w^as impossible to repair her she was aban-
doned, and her crew went on board the Hecla.
Years afterward the stores of the deserted ship
served to comfort and sustain British sailors when in
s.^'% V jistftnces of great peril.

TJ«' moessant labor and anxiety and the frequent
kii^^^' 'f; '. danger into which the Hecla was thrown
in thfc ; i' tempts to save her comrade, continued for
nearly a month, destroyed every chance of accomplish-
ing the objects of the voyage ; Pany therefore
started for England where he arrived in October.

CHAPTER XIII. .
VOYAGE OF THE DOROTHEA AND TRENT.

(bUCHAN FRANKLTN.)

The English Expedition toward the Pole in 1818,
referred to in Chapter IX, was commanded by Cap-
tain David Buchan, who sailed in the Dorothea ; the
other ship of the expedition, the Trent, was command-
ed by Lt. John Franklin. Frederic Beechy, who pub-
lished an account of the voyage, and George Back
were officers on the latter vessel.

The ships left England in April, their appointed
place of rendezvous in case of separation being Mag-
dalena Bay, Spitzbergen. They reached Bear Island
toward the close of May ; here the walrus were very
numerous and were carefully studied. Their affec-
tion for their young, their unflinching courage in de-
fending them, and their conduct towards a wounded
companion were remarkable. It was noticed in a
fight with them, that when one was wounded others
desisted from the attack and assisted their companion
from the field of battle, swimming around him and
holding him up with their tusks.

Early in June the two ships anchored in Magdalena
Bay, in the vicinity of numerous glaciers, the smallest
of which, called the Hanging Iceberg, was two hundred

181

182

AN AVALANCHE.

■■!" K

III

feet above the water on the slope of a mountain. So
easily were large fragments of ice detached fi'om these
glaciers that silence became necessary. The firing
of a gun rarely failed to be followed by an avalanclie,
and two of these witnessed by Beechy were on the
most magnificent scale. An immense piece slid from
a mountain into the bay, where it disappeared, and
nothing was seen but a violent commotion of the wa-
ter and clouds of spray. On re-appearing it raised its
head a hundred feet above the surface with water
pouring down from all parts of it. When it became
stationary it was measured and estimated to weigh
421,660 tons.

The avalanche in falling into the water, made such
a commotion that the Dorothea, which was anchored
four miles distant, was careened over and had to be
set right by releasing the tackles.

The explorers left this locality on the 7th of June,
and sailing northward passed the north-western bound-
ary of Spitzbergen. Beyond Red Bay they were stop-
ped by the ice and remained imbedded in a floe for
thirteen days, and afterward took shelter in Fair
Haven.

On the 6th of July the explorers again sailed north,
but soon after encountered ice through which were
channels of water. As the mnd was favorable one of
them was entered, but at evening it closed up and all
attempts to get farther were in vain, as they were con-
tinually drifted south with the ice. The highest lati-
tude reached was 80° 34'.

Having given this route a fair trial Buchan started
toward the Greenland coast. While sailing along the
edge of the ice a sudden gale arose, and to escape
wreck the ships steered straight toward the pack, sur-

A DANGEROUS POSITIOX.

183

rouniled by immense pieces of ice. It was doiihtful
wliiit the I'esult would be when tLe ships reached the
solid ice, but the crew preserved the greatest calmness
and resolution. Beechy says : — " I will not conceal
the pride I felt in witnessing the bold and decisive
tone in which the orders were issued by the conmuuider
of our little vessel (Franklin), and the pronii)titude
and steadiness with which they were e>!ecuted by the
crew. Each person instinctively secured his own hold
and, ^vith his eyes fixed iij)on the masts, awaited in
breathless anxiety the moment of concussion. It soon
arrived ; the brig, cutting her way through the light
ice, came in violent contact with the main Ixxly. In
an instant w^e all lost our footing, the masts bent with
the impetus, and the cracking timljers from below be-
S})i>ke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our
serious apprehensions. The ship's motion was so
great that the bell, which in the heaviest gale of w ind
liad never struck of itself, now tolled so continually
that it was ordered to be muffled for the jiurpose of
escaping the unpleasant associations it was calculated
to produce."

For a few hours the explorers remained fast in this
ti'ying position ; then the gale ceased, and the pack
broke up sufficiently to release the shi])s which ^vere
greatly damaged — the Dorothea being in a foundering
condition. They made their way to Fair Haven,
and after partially repairing the ships sailed for homo
vliere they arrived in October. This was Franklin's
first Arctic voyage.

L'll

I I

:::i' i

CHAPTER XIV.

FRANKLIN'S LAND EXPEDITIONS TO THE
SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA.

The English Government having determined upon
sending an Expedition from the shores of Hudson's
Bay l)y land, to explore the northern coast of America
from the mouth of the Coppermine River to the east-
ward, Ijieut. John Franklin was appointed its com-
mander, and, with Surgeon John Richardson and
Midshipmen George Back and Rohert Hood, all of the
Ro}'al Navy, embarked on Sunday the 28d of May
1811), at Gravsend, England, on board the ship Prince
of Wales, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company.
The ship arrived at its destination, York Factory, on
the western shores of Hudson's Bay, Aug. 30th, hav-
ing narrowly escaped total wreck — being carried on
to the rocky coast of Labrador in a dense fog, from
which position she was extricated in a leaky condition.

At this time a violent competition for the fur trade
existed between the Noilh-west and the Hudson's
Bay Companies, Avhich finally led to the extinction
of the first named. The officers and employes of both
companies were directed by the Government to len-
der the explorers every aid needed. Governor Wil-
liams of the II. B. Co. received them at York Factory,
and they "were soon fitted out with a suital)le boat, and
a cre^v made up mostly from the ship's company. Ou

184

FKANKLIN's riKST LAND EXPEDITION',

185

upon
Lson's
verica
! east-
com-
1 and
of tlie

ipany.
iry, on
I, luiv-
ied on
from
llition.
trade
Llsou's
iit'tlon

l)Otll

ren-

Lctoi-y,

[t, and

tlie Otli of September, they Iwgaii tlieir journey hy way
of the rivers ami hikes, to the mouth of the C()])per-
iiiine lliver, distant over fifteen hundred nules, on the
shores of the Polar J^e:i. Tliey Avere soon afterAvards
overtaken hy hoats of tlie Company. A poiiion of
the following history of their travels is given in the
Avords of Franklin and liis eompanions.

"We embarked at noon, and were honored with a
.salute of eight guns and three cheers from the Gov-
ernor and all the innuites of the fort, assembled to
■witness our dei)arture. AVe gratefully returned their
cheers, and then made sail, much delighted at having
now c(mimenced our voyage into the interior of
America. The wind and tide failing us at the dis-
tance of six miles above the Factory, and the current
heing too rai)id for using oars to advantage, the crew
had to commence tracking, or (h'agging the boat by a
line, to which they were harnessed. This oj)cration is
cxti'emely lal)orious in these rivers. At sunset Ave
landed, and jjitched the tent for the night, having
iiiiule a progress of tAvelve miles. A large fire Avas
quickly kindled, supper speedily jjrepared, and as
readily despatched, Avlien A\"e retired Avith t)ur buil'alo
rohes on, and enjoyed a night of sound repose.

"On the morning of the l(Sth, the country Avas clothed
hi the livery of Avinter, a heavy fall of snoAV having
taken jdace during the night. It is not easy for any
hut an eye-Avitness to form an adecpnite idea of the ex-
ertions of the Orkney boatnun in the navigation of
tills river. The necessity they Avere under of fre-
quently junii)ing into the Avater, to lift the ]/oats over
tlie rocks, compels then) to remain the Avliole day in
Met clothes, at a season Avhen the temperatiu'e is far
helow the freezing point. The immense loads too,

7T^

18G

PEUILH OF UIVKU NAVKJATIOX.

I, yi, ic'>. 1

:*f- H^

which thoy cjiiTy overtho jxH'tagOH, is not moron mat-
t('r of Nurj)ris(^ timn the nhicrity with whicli they ix-i*-
form these lu})orioiiH duties.

" On the 22(1, our route led us amongst miuiy woo(h'd
ishmds, which lying in hmg vistas, produced scenes of
much heauty. In tlie course of the day we crossed the
Uj)j)er Portag<', surmounted the Devil's Landing Place,
and urged the boats with ])oles througli (Jroundwater
Creek. At the u])|)er end of this creek, our l)ownmii
haviiii^ ijiven the l)oat too l)road a sheer, to avoid the
rock, it Aras caught on the broadside by the cm'-
rent, and, in defiance of our utmost exertions, hurried
down the ra])id. Fortunately, however, it groiuided
against a rock high enough to ])revent the current
from oversetting it, and the crews of the other bouts
liaving come to our assistance, we succeeded, after
several trials, in throwing a rope to them, with which
they dragged our almost sinking vessel stern foremost
up the stream, and I'escued us from our perilous situ-
ation.

" The Painted Stone is a Ioav rock, ten or twelve
yards across, remarkable f(^r the marshy streams
Avhich arise on each side of it, takim; different courses.
On the one side, the water-course Avhich we have nav-
igated from York Factory conmiences. On the otlier
side of the st(^ne the Echemamis arises. IIa\ing
launched the boats over the rock, we commenced the
descent of that river, and reached the mouth of the
Saskatchawan at midnight, October 0th.

" On the morning of the 20th Ave came to a party of
Indians, encamped behind the bank of the river, on
the borders of a small marshy lake. Here Ave Avere
gratified Avith the ahcav of a A^ery large tent ; its cover-
ing Avas moose deer leather, Avitli apertures for the ess-

FUANKLIN S I'lKST LAM) KXITDITION.

187

mat-
per-

ihIciI
eH of
\ {\w
.'lace,

SVtltt'l'
^VUKlll

n\ the
c'ur-

i\in(letl
•urveiit

Y l)()ilts

I, after

Avliic'h

eiiiost
us Hitu-

twelve
streams
•oiirses.
,ve 11 av-
e otlier
Having
iCed tlie
of tlie

)arty of
Kver, on
|ye were

t8 cover-
tlie es-

cap(5 of tlie Hinoke from tlu^ fires wliieli wen; j)lace(l at
eaeli end ; n ledge of wood was ])laeed on tlu; ground
on l)otli sides of the wh()le length of tin; tent, witliin
wliieh were the sh'eping pLiees, arranged ])ro])al)ly ac-
cording to families ; and the drnms and other instru-
laents of enchantment were ])iled nj) in tin; centn;.
(Jovernor Williams gave a dram an<l a piece of tobacco
to each of the males of tlu^ pai'ty."

The travelers reached Cumherland House, a tradinsr
j)()st (originally hnilt hy Ilearne) October 2i*d, and an
winter was setting in, making travel by -water imprac-
ticable, made a long halt there.

"After the 2()th Decend)er the weather became cold,
the thermometer constantly beloAv zero, (^liristmas-
(lay was particularly storm}' ; l)ut the gnle did not
prevent the full enjoyment of the festivities -which are
aiunially given at the Cund)erlaud Iloust; on this day.
All the men -who had been despatched to different
})arts in search of provision or furs returned to the fort
(tu the occasion, and -were regaled with a substantial
dinner and a dance in the evening.

"The new}ear iSi'O Avas ushered in by repeated dis-
charges of musketry; a ceremony which has been ob-
seived by the men of both the trading Companies for
many years. Our party dined -with jMr. Connolly, and
-were regaled Avith a beaver, Avhich we found extreme-
ly delicate. In the evening his men Avere entertained
with a dance, in which the Canadians (>xhlbite<l some
grace and nuich agility; and they contrived to infuse
some portion of their activity and s])irits into the steps
of their female companions. The half-breed Avomen
are passionately fond of this amusement."

On the ISth of January, FrankUn, Back, and John
Hepburn, a seaman, set out on snow shoes for a jt)urney

f!"

'i '* J'

l( >

! fi ^

1
'* Mil.

t f

.t i I

1: '

!l ! if

1 i

I If

I (*

,«'.. , I M'

188

A WINTEIl's JOUKNEY.

to Fort Cliipewyan, eight Jinndred and fifty-seven
miles to the north. Tliey were pi'ovided witli two
carioles and two sh'dijes, with tlieir dri\'ers and doo-s.
Being accompanied Ly Mr. Mackenzie, of the Hud-
son's Bay Comjxmy, avIio Avas going to Isle a la Crosse,
Avith four sledges under his cliarge, they formed (pnte
a procession, keeping in an Indian file, in the track of
the man who preceded the foremost dogs.

The travelers rested occasionally at the trading posts
which lay (Mi their route. At Carlton House the}'
were visited hy the Stone Indians, who lived in that
section and were famous for stealinij: everythino
they could find, particularly horses, Avliich they
maintained were common property sent hy the Al-
mighty for the general use of man. They kept in
amity with their neighbors the Crees, from motives oi
interest ; and the two trihes united in determined hos
tility aijainst the nations dwelliiuj to the westward,
which were genei-ully called Slave Indians — a tei'm of
reproach ai)plied hy the Crees to those tril>es against
"whom they have waged successful wars.

While at Carlton House;, Franklin Avent six miles
to visit a Cree encampment. The chief's tent had heen
arranged for the occasion, fresh grass Avas spread on
the ground, and Initfalo rol)es Avere placed opjiosite
the door to sit on ; and a kettle Av^as on the fire to cook
meat. The chief, nn old man, Avelcomed him A\"ith a
hearty shake of the hand and the customary salutation
of "What cheer?"

" After a feAv minutes' couA^ersation, an inA'itation
Avas given to the chief and his hunters to smoke the
calumet Avith us, as a token of our friendship: this
Avas loudly announced through the cam]->, and ten men
from the other tents immediately Joined our party.

itloii
the
this
men
n-ty.

•! i

f*^"

Ij^i

'I'lh^'

Him

[f!\l

mimf,

' II

-!' ii f

1- l\

,:li;;^!■

rec

ter

0ff(

on]

Wll(

2)er!
1

hrrr

hors

— an

^\]ie]

elers

aiiotl

the 2

there

on wi

Dr.

winte;

accoui

m]io a\

"T]i

Those

relief ;

to (list;

nenced

FKAIS'KLI]M S IlKST LA^U EXPEDITION.

189

On tlieir entrance the women and cliildren, whose pres-
ence on sucli occasions is contrary to etiquette, withdrew.
The calumet haA'ing been prepared and liglited l)y Mr.
Pruden's clerk, was presented to the chief, who, on
receiving it, performed the following ceremony before
he commenced smoking : — lie first j)ointed the stem
to the south, then to the west, north, and east, and af-
terwards to the heaveni=i, the earth, and the fire, as an
offering to the presiding spirits; — he took three Avhiifs
only, and then passed the pipe to his next comi)anion,
who took the same number of whiffs, and so did each
person as it went round."

The Crees catch buffalo by driving them into a
large enclosure or pound ; they also hunt them on
liorseback ; ajid when the creatui'es are very shy they
cra^l towards them diso-uised in the skins of the wolf
— an animal with which the buffalo are familiar, and,
when in herds, not afraid of.

At their dej^arture from one trading post the trav-
elers were much amused by a salute of musketry fired
l)y half-l)reed women — the men being all absent. At
another place a dance was given in their honor. On
the 2Gth of March they reached Foi-t Chipewyan, and
there halted for their companions who were to come
on Avith the boats after navigation opened.

Dr. Richardson, who with I\Ir. Hood passed the
winter at Cumberland House, gives an interesting
account of his residence there, and of the Ci-ee Indians,
mIio were frequent visitors at the fort : —

" Tlie winter proved extremely severe to the Indians.
Those who Avere aide came to the fort and received
relief ; but many who liad retired with their families
to distant corners, to pursue their winter hunts, expe-
rienced all the horrors of famine. One evening a poor

! .1

■ I

''iiillifj*^

I H

I IV

190

TESTING A CONJUIIEU'S SKILL,

Indian entered the North-west Company's House, car-
rying Lis only child in his arms, and followed by his
starving wife. They had been hunting ai)art from
the other bands, had T)een unsuccessful, and whilst in
want were seized with the epidemical disease. They
had -walked several days ■without eating, yet exerting
themselves far beyond their strength that they might
save the life of the infaiit. It died almost Avitliin
sight of the house. ]Mr. Connolly, who Avas then in
charge of the post, received them with the utmost
humanity, and instantl}' placed food before them ; but
no lana:uau:e can describe the manner in Avliich the
miserable father dashed the morsel from his lijjs and
deplored the loss of his child. IMisery may harden
a disposition naturally ])ad, but it never fails to soften
the heart of a good man.

" Every Cree fears the medical or conjuring powers
of his n(n<j:hbor; but at the same time exalts his own
attainments to the skies. 'I am God-like' is a com-
mon expression amongst them, and they prove their
divinityshi}) by eating live coals, and by various tricks
of a similar nature. A medicine bag is an indispensa-
ble part of a hunter's equipment, and is, when in the
hands of a noted conjurer, such an object of terror to
the rest of the tril)e, that its possessor is enabled to
fatten at liis ease u2')on the labors of his deluded
countrymen.

" A fellow of this description came to Cumberland
House in the winter of 1811). The mighty conjnror,
immediately on his arrival at the house, began to
trumpet oft' his powei's, boasting, among other things,'
that although his hands and feet were tied as securely
as })ossible, yet, when placed in a conjuring-house, lie
would speedily disengage himself by the aid of two

nisa-

. the

OY to

d to

l\K

led

i-land
iui'or,

lun<^?

luve

lie

two

l)Jtl(iriSl;i) IMNTKl'S.

,:*»

^i I

Wl ,

t»\

*,«"'• I

,/'

'r:\

^Ml

th(

hy:

* ■■(.

11 111

resj
titi,
roil]
rem
colli
take
and
had
oft
I'oiin
und(
" Go
tere(
eter
conti:
half,
had f
when
preser
lianiH,
"Tfl

FUAJTKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

191

or three familiar spirits, wlio were attendant on his
call. He was instantly taken at his word, and that
his exertions might not be without an aim, a cajyot or
great coat was promised as the reward of his success.

"A conjuring-house having been erected in the
usual form, that is, by sticking four willows in the
ground, and tying their tops to a hoop at the height
of six or eight fe t, he was fettered comj^letely,
and placed in its narrow compartment. A moose skin
then being thrown over the frame, secluded him from
our view. lie forthwith began to chant a kind of
hymn in a very monotonous tone.

"The rest of the Indians, who seemed in some doubt
respecting the powers of a devil when put in compe-
tition with those of a white man, ranged themselves
round, and watched the result with anxiety. Nothing
remarkable occurred for a long time. The conjurer
continued his song at intervals, and it was occasionally
taken up by those without. In this manner an hour
and a half elapsed ; l)ut at length our attention, which
had begun to flag, was roused by the violent shaking
of the conjuring-house. It was instantly whispered
round the circle, that at least one devil had crept
under the moose-skin. But it proved to be only the
" Goddike man" trembling with cold. He had en-
tered the lists, stripped to the skin, and the thermom-
eter stood very low that evening. His attempts Avere
continued, however, with consideral)le resolution for
half an hour longer, when he reluctantly gave in. He
liad foimd no difficulty in slipping through the noose
when it was formed by his countrymen ; but, in the
present instance the knot Avas tied by Governor Wil-
liams, who is an expert sailor.

" These Indians, however capable they are of behav-

. i^ f<'l

1 "

If "I,

V *■ IP,

i'.„ ,

192

INDIAN CUSTOMS.

ing kindly, aifect in their discourse to despise the
softer sex, and on solemn occasions will not suffer
them to eat before them, or even come into their
presence. In this they are countenanced by the white
residents, most of whom have Indian or half-breed
wives, but seem afraid of treating them Avith the ten-
derness or attention due to every female, lest they
should themselves be despised by the Indians.

" Both sexes are fond of, and very indulgent to their
children. The fother never j)unishes them, and if the
mother, more hasty in her temper, sometimes bestows
a blow or two on a troubles<mie child, her heart is
instantly softened by the roar which follows, and she
mingles her tears with those that streak the smoky
face of her darlins:. Tattooincj is almost imiversal.

" A Cree places great reliance on his drum, and I
cannot adduce a stronger instance than that of the
poor man who is mentioned in a preceding page, as
having lost his only child by famine, almost within
sight of the fort. Notwithstanding his exhausted
state, he had an enormous drum tied to his back.

" It was not \erj uncommon amongst the Canadian
voyagers for one woman to be common to, and main-
tained at the joint expense of two men ; nor for a
voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or alto-
gether, for a sum of money, proportioned to her
beauty and good qualities, but always inferior to the
price of a team of dogs.

" The chiefs among the Chipewyans are now totally
without power. The traders, however, endeavor to
support their authority by continuing towards them
the accustomed marks of respect, hoisting the flag,
and firing a salute of musketry on their entering the
fort.

FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

193

" The Northern Indians evince no little vanity, by
assuming to themselves the comprehensive title of
"The Pe()[)le," Avhile they designate all other nations
by the name of their particular country. They sup-
pose that they originally sprang from a dog ; and,
about five years ago, a superstitious fanatic so strongly
pressed upon their minds the impropriety of employ-
ing these animals, to which they were related, for
purposes of labor, that they universally resolved against
using them any more, and, strange as it may seem, de-
stroyed them. They now have to drag everything
themselves on sledges.

" This tril)e, since its present intimate connection
with the traders, has discontinued its war excursions
against the Esquimaux, but they still speak of that
nation in terms of the most inveterate hatred."

On the 13th of July, Eichardson and Hood arrived
at Fort Chipewyan with two canoes, and were
Avarinly greeted by Franklin and Back, who were
Avaiting for them. Final arrangements were now
made for the voyage northward; on the 18th of July
the party set out, and arrived at Fort Providence,
north of the Great Slave Lake, on the 20th of July.

Here the travelers were visited by an Indian chief
named Akaitcho, who, with some of his men as hunt-
ers and guides, was to accompany the expedition.

" As we were informed that external appearances
made lasting impressions upon the Indians, we pre-
pared for the interview by decorating ourselves in uni-
form, and suspending a medal round each of our necks.
Our tents had been previously pitched, and ov^er
one of them a silken union flag was hoisted. Soon
after noon, on July 30th, several Indian canoes were
seen advancing in a regular line, and on their approach,

194

INl'ERVIEW M'lTn AKAITCIIO,

■,|->

ii^i i i

the chief was discovered in the headmost, which was
paddled by two men. On landing at the fort, the
chief assumed a very grave aspect, and walked up to
Mr. Wentzel with a measured and dignified step,
looking neither to the right nor to the left, at tlie
persons who had assembled on the beach to witness
his del)arkation, but preserving the same immovability
of countenance until he reached the hall, and was in-
troduced U) the officers. When he had smoked his
pipe, drank a small portion of spirits and water him-
self, and issued a glass to each of his companions, who
had seated themselves on the floor, he commenced his
harangue, by mentioning the circumstances that led
to his agreeing to accompany the expedition, an en-
gagement which he was quite pre])ared to fulfill.

" Akaitcho and the guides having communicated all
the infomiation they possessed on the different points
to which our questions had been directed, I placed
my medal round the neck of the chief, and the officers
presented theirs to an elder brother of his and the
two guides. Being confen-ed in the presence of all
the hunters, their acquisition was highly gratifying to
them, liut they studiously avoided any great expres-
sion of joy, because such an exposure would liave
been unbecoming the dignity which the senior Indians
assume during a conference.

"We presented to the chief, the two guides, and.
the seven hunters, who had engaged to accompany us,
some cloth, blankets, tobacco, knives, daggei-s, besides
other useful iron matenals, and a gun to each ; also a
keg of veiy weak spirits and water, which they kept
until the evening, as they had to try their guns before
dark, and make the necessary prepai-ations for com-
mencing the journey on the following day. The In-

FUANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

195

tlians, however, did not leave U8 on the next day, as
the cliief was desirous of >)eing present, with his party,
at the dance, which was given in the evening to our
Ciinudian voyagers. They were liighly entertained hy
the vivacity and agility displayed by our companions
in tlieir singing and dancing : and especially ])y their
imitating the gestures of a Canadian, who j)laced him-
self in the most ludicrous postures ; and, whenever
this was done, the gravity oj the chief gave way to
violent bursts of laughter. In return for the gratifi-
cation Akaitcho had enjoyed, he desired his young
men to exhil)it the Dog-Ilil> Indian dance."

Franklin and his three companions, with Frederic
"VVentzel of the North-west Co., John IIe])l)urn, >ev-
enteen Canadian voyagers, and three Indian intei'pre-
ters, left Fort Providence on the 2d of August, in
three canoes. Thei'e was also a smaller canoe to con-
voy the wives of three of the voyagei's, and their three
children, in company with a fleet of Indian canoes
they paddled up the Yellow Knife River, toward a
country ^vhicli had never been visited by Enr()])eans.

"Akaitcho caused himself to be paddled by his
slave, a young man, of the Dog-Ril) nation, whom he
had taken by force from his friends ; when he thought
himself, however, out of reach of our observation, he
laid aside a good deal of his state, and assisted in the
lal)or ; and after a few day's further acquaintance
with us, he did not hesitate to paddle in our presence,
or even carry his canoe on the portages."

The party met with some hardships, were at
times short of provisions, and some of the voyagers
showed a spirit of insubordination ^vhich Fi'anklin
promptly cpielled by threats of severest punishment.
Ou the 20th of August they halted on the bank of

»;'■■■?■

196

TlfE WINTETl AT FORT ENTERPRISE.

( -■

'4i i

Winter Lake, and built Fort Enterprise, where tliey
passed the winter; its distance from Fort Chipewyan
was 5;J.'J miles.

Franklin was anxious to push on to the sea that fall,
but was forced t(^ reliiujuish the idea from the rof usal
of Akaitcho to go with him owing to scarcity oL''game
on the route.

Oil the 18th of October, Mr. Back and Mr. "Went-
zel, set out for Fort Providence, accompanicul by two
voyagers, Beaubarlant and Belangcr, and two Indians,
with their wives.

" On the 2.'klof November, Belanger returned alone;
he had walked constantly for the last six-and-thirty
hours, leaving his Indian comj)anions encamped at the
last woods, they l)eing unwilling to accompany liiin
across the barren i^rcnnids duriu<ji; the storm tliat had
prevailed for several days, and blew with unusual vio-
lence on the morning of his arrival. Ilis locks Avere
matted with snow, and he was incrusted Avith ice from
head to foot, so that we scarcely recognized him Avlien
he burst in upon us. We welcomed him with the
usual sliake of the hand, but Avere unable to give liim
the glass of rum Avhicli every voyager receives on his
arrival at a trading po t."

On the 2Gth of October, Akaitcho, Avitli his party
came into camp, owing to the deer having gone south ;
and on the 5th of NoA^ember, fishing luid to be relin-
quished. As so large a number of people; could not be
provided for at the place, the Indiiuis left again on
the lOth of December.

" Keskarrah the guide, Avith his Avife and daugliter
remainetl behind. The daui^hter Avhoni Ave desi'Tnjv
ted Green-Stockings from her dress, is considered by
her tribe to be a great beauty. Mr. Hood drew an ac-

FUANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

197

curate portrait of her, altlioiigli hor inothor "wum avei*se
to her Hitting for it. She was afrai<l, sh(! said, that
'"M- (hiiigliter'n likeness would induce the gre;it eliief

iio resided in En_rland to send for the oriixinul. The
young lady, however, was undeterred hy any such
fear. She has already heen an ol)jeet of contest he-
tween her countrymen, and although under sixteen
years of age, has Ixdonged successively to tw(» hus-
bands, and would prohaldy have been the; wife of
man}' more, if her mother had. not required her ser-
vices as a nurse."

Of their winter residence at this place Franklin
says :—

"The Sal^hath was always a day of rest Avith us;

1 Avoodmen were required to provide for the I'xigeii-
of that day on Saturday, and the part}' Avere
dressed in their best attire. DiA'ine service A\as reg-
ularly performed, and the Canadiaus attended, and
behaved with great decorum, although tlu!y ^vv\v, all
Roman Catholics, and but little acquainted with the
language in which the ])rayers were read.

" Our diet consisted almost entirely of the reindeer
meat, varied twice a week l)y flsli, and occasional!}- by
a little flour, but we had no vegetables of any descrip-
tion. On the Sunday mornings we drank a cup of
chocolate, but our greatest luxury was tea (Avithout
sugar), of which ^ve regularly partook twice a day.
With reindeer's fat, and strips of cotton shirts, A\-e
formed candles; and Hepburn acquired cone-ideralde
skill in the manufacture of soap, from wood-ashes, fat,
and salt."

On the 27tli of December, Mr. Wentzel arriA-ed
with two Esquimaux interpreters Avho had been en-
gaged. Their English names were Augustus and

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198

RECEPTION OF A CHIEF.

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Junius. The former spoke English. Parties also ar-
rived from time to time bringing on the stores which
had been left at Fort Pyovidence.

" On the 17th of March, Mr. Back returned from
Fort Cliipewyan, having traveled since he started out
more than one thousand miles on foot, with no shel-
ter at night excepting a blanket and deer skin, and
often without food. The Indians had sometimes given
him a fish or bird which they caught, with the remark,
"we are accustomed to starvation, and you are not."

" On the 21st of April, all our men returned from
the Indians, and Akaitcho was on liis way to the fort.
In the afternoon two of his young men arrived to an-
nounce his visit, and to recjuest that he might be re-
ceived with a salute and otlier marks of respect that
he had l)een accustomed to on visiting Fort Providence
in the Spring. I complied with his desire altliough I
regretted the expenditure of ammunition, and sent
the young men away with tlie customary present of
powder to enable him to return the salute, some to-
bacco, vei'milion to paint their faces, a comb, and a
lookinLC-iijlass.

" At eleven Akaitcho arrived ; upon the first notice
of his appearance the flag was hoisted at the fort, and
ui:)on his nearer approach, a number of muskets were
fired by a 2^arty of our peo])le, and returned by his
young men. Akaitcho preceded by liis standard-
bearer, led the l)arty, and advanced with a slow and
solemn step to the door ^vliere JVIr. Wentzel and I re-
ceived him. The faces of the party were daul^ed with
vermilion, the old men having a sj)ot on the riglit
cheek, the young ones on the; left. Akaitcho himself
was not painted. On entering he sat down on a cliest,
the rest placing themselves in a circle on the floor.

franklin's first land expedition.

199

Tlie pipe was passed once or twice round, and in the
meantime a LoavI of spirits and water, and a present
considerable for our circumstances, of cloth, blankets,
capots, shirts, <fec., was placed on the floor for the
chiefs acceptance, and distribution amongst his peo-
ple. Akaitcho then commenced his speech, but I re-
gret to say, that it was very discouraging, and indi-
cated that he had parted with lis good humor, at
least since his March visit."

On the 4th of June, a part of the company under
Kichardson, started northward; some dragged stores
on sledges, and others can-ied them on their backs.
Another party started June 14th, with canoes dragged
by men and dogs. On the 21st, the whole expedition,
\vith Akaitcho and some of his hunters, was encamp-
ed at Point Lake. The Indian families and the rest
of the tribe had gone off to a large lake to spend the
summer, and Akaitcho who had expended the am-
munition given to him, finally admitted that nearly
all of it had been given to those who had gone with
the Indian families; Franklin was greatly distressed at
this occurrence.

Five hunters were now sent ahead to hunt ; and on
the 25th of June the journey was resumed, Akaitcho
and five other Indians accompanying the travelers.
On the 29th " our attention was directed to some jiine
branches scattered on the ice, which proved to be
marks placed by our hunters, to guide us to the spot
M'here they had deposited the carcasses of two small
deer. This supply was very seasonable, and the men
cheerfully dragged the additional weight."

On the 1st of July they embarked on the Copper-
mine Elver, which was there two hundred yards wide
and ten feet deep, and run very rapidly over a rocky

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EKCOTJNTRP. wmi ESQUIMAUX.

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bottom. Tliey now descended the river to a place
named by Ilearne, the Bk)ody Falls, in consec^uence
of a dreadful massacre there of Escjuimaiix by the
Chipe^vyan Indians. As it ^vas a customary resort of
Esquimaux, Junius and. Augustus were sent forward,
armed with concealed pistols, and with beads, looking
glasses, etc., to conciliate their countrymen by pres-
ents. They fell in with a small party of them, who
appeared to be mild, peaceable creatures ; but they
disappeared in the night.

"On the morning of the 16th, just as the crew were
putting the canoe in the water, Adam arrived in the
utmost consternation, and informed us that a party of
Esquimaux were j^ursuing the men whom he had sent
to collect floats. The orders for embarkino; were in-
stantly countermanded, and we went with a party of
men to their rescue. We soon met our people return-
ing at a slow pace, and learned that they had come
unawares upon the Esquimaux party, which consisted
of six men, witli their women and children, who Avere
traveling to^var(ls the raj^id Avith a considerable niun-
ber of d(\gs carrying their l)a^gage. The women
hid themsel\x\s on the first alarm, but the men ad-
vanced, and stopping at some distance from our men,
began to dance in a circle, tossing up their hands in
the air and accompanying their motions with mucli
shf)uting, to signify, I conceive, their desire of peace.
Our men saluted them by pulling off their hats, and
making l)o^vs, but neither party was willing to ajv
])roacli the other; and, at length, the Esquimaux re-
tired to the hill, from whence they had descended
when first seen.

*' We proceeded in the hope of gaining an interview
with them, but lest our aj>pearaiice in a body should

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FKANKLINS FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

201

alarm them, we advanced in a long line, at the head
of ^vhieh was Augustus. We were led to their bag-
gage, which they had deserted, by the howling of the
dogs ; and on the summit of the hill we found, lying
behind a stone, an old man, who was too iniirm to ef-
fect his escape \\'itli the rest. He was much terrified
^\ hen Augustus advanced, and probably expected im-
mediate death ; but tliat the fatal blow might not be
uiirevenged, he saizel his spear, and made a thrust
with it at his sup]>osed enemy. Augustus, however,
easily repressed his feeble eifort, and soon calmed his
fears by presenting him with some pieces of iron, and
assuring him of his friendly intentions."

On the I7th, nine Esquimaux appeared on the bank
of the river opposite the encampment, canying their
canoes on their backs, but they tied on seeing the
tents. Not only were these people alarmed, but the
Indians also were so terrified that they insisted on re-
turning the next day ; nor could Franklin induce even
one hunter to remain with him. The interpreters too
were much f riglitened and re(iuested their discharge ;
but it was refused, and they were closely watched to
prevent their desertion.

The reduced party proceeded, and on the 18th of
July reached the Polar Sea. The Canadians Avere
nuK'h interested at the first view, although despondent,
and Hepburn, the English sailor, was (juite elated at
beholding again his favorite element.

On the 19th, Mr. Wentzel and four dischai'ged Ca-
nadians started on their return southward. The party
nc)\v numbered about twenty, who, in two canoes witli
fifteen day's provisions, embarked 21st July, to navi-
gate the sea to the eastward.

They proceeded on, along a dreary coast, making new

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THE KETUKN JOURXEY C03DIENCED

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discoveries, but meeting no Esquimaux from whom
they had hoped to get pro\nsions, which were rapidly
diminishing. A few deer and a bear were caught, and
a veiy few fish.

On the 30th of July they passed the mouth of a
river which they named Hood. On the 5th of Au-
gust they reached the mouth of a river which is now
known as Back, or Great Fish Kiver.

On the loth of August the canoes were found to be
in an unseaworthy condition, and there was only
three day's supply of provisions remaining, with poor
prospects of obtaining more. " It was evident that the
time spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds
and Bathurst's Inlet, had precluded the hope of reach-
ing Repulse Bay, which at the outset of the voyage
we had fondly cherished ; and it was equally obvious
that as our distance from any of the trading establish-
ments would increase as we proceeded, the hazardous
traveree across the barren grounds, which we should
have to make, if compelled to abandon the canoes up-
on any jiart of the coast, would become greater."

The most eastern land seen was Point Turn-again,
distant from Coppermine River by the way they came
nearly six hundred miles. The return journey was
begun on the 22d of August, and on the 25th the
party encamped on the banks of Hood's River, at the
foot of tlie fii*st rapids. " Here terminated our voyage
on the Arctic sea, during which we had gone over six
hundred and fifty geographical miles. Our Canadian
voyagers could not restrain their expressions of joy at
having turned their backs on the sea, and they passed
the e\'ening talking over their past adventures with
much humor and no little exaggeration. The consid-
eration that the most painful, and certainly the most

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fkanklin's first land expedition.

203^

hazardous, part of tlie journey was yet to come, did
not depress their spirits at all."

At a few miles up Hood's River, it runs for about
a mile through a nan'ow chasm, the walls of which
are upward of two hundred feet in height, and quite
perpendicular. Through this chasm the idver precip-
itates itself in two magniiicient falls, close to each
other. The large canoes not being suited to this river,
two smaller ones were constructed out of their mate-
rials, to be used -when crossing rivers.

The construction of the new canoes detained them
till the first of September, when it was decided to make
a direct line to the pai*t of Point Lake opposite the
Spring encampment, distant only 140 miles in a stmight
line from where they were. Having proceeded twelve
miles, a snow-storm obliged them to encamp, and on
the 3d, the last piece of pemmican and a little arrow-
root were distributed for supper.

The violence of the storm continued till the 7th ; and
for several days, having nothing to eat, and no means
of making a fire, they remained whole da3's in bed,
and, with a temperature of 20*^, without fire, tlie
party weak from fasting, their garments and tents
frozen stiff and the ground covered A\ith three feet of
snow, their condition was very unfit for traveling in
such a country. On trying to proceed, Fi'anklin was
seized with a fainting-iit, in conse(iiience of exhaust-
ion and sudden exposure to the wind, but on eating a
moreel of portal^le soup he recovered. One of the
canoes was broken to pieces, and a fire was made with
it to cook the remnant of portable soup and arro\v-
root ; a scanty meal after three days' fasting.

The next t^vo days the surface of the barren
grounds was covered with large stones, bearing a

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CllOSSIXG A KIVER.

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lichen which the Canadians call trijw de roclie or, rock-
tripe, a substance to Avhich tlie travelers may be said
to owe their snfet}" and existence ; without it they
must all have died of starvation.

An unknown river was crossed on the 0th. The
canoe being put into the Avater was found very leaky,
but it was managed with much dexterity by St. Ger-
main, Adam, and Peltier, who ferried over one pas-
senger at a time, causing him to He flat in its bottom.
The next day a musk-ox was shot. To skin and cut
up the animal Avas the work of a few minutes. The
contents of its stomach were devoured upon the spot,
and the raw intestines, which Avere next attacked,
Avere pronounced by the most delicate to be excellent.

On the 13th seA^eral of the party Avere sick from
eating rock-tripe, and it Avas then discovered that the
fishing nets had been throAvn aAvay l)y some one, and
that the floats had been burned, thus depriving the
party of their chief resource for food.

On the morning of the 14th, AAdiile the officers AA'^ere
assembled round a small fire, Perrault, one oi the A'oy-
agers, presented each of them Avitli a small piece of
meat, Avhich he had saved from his alloAvance. " It
was received," s«iys Frankliix, " Avith great thankful-
ness, and such an act of self-denial and kindness, be-
ing totally unexpected in a Canadian voyager, filled
our eyes Avith tears."

On the same day, Franklin, St. GeiTnain, and Be-
langer, embai'ked in the canoe to cross the river, and
Avhen in the midst of it, tlie current and a strong
breeze drove the canoe to the A^ery brink of a tremen-
dous rapid. Belanger, unluckily, applied his paddle to
avert the danger of being forced doAvn the rapid; he
lost his balance, and the canoe OA-erset in the midst of
the rapid.

FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

205

" We fortunately kept hold of it, until we touched
a rock where the water did not reach higher than our
waists; here we kept our footing, notwithstanding the
strength of the current, until the water was emptied
out of the canoe. Belanger then held tlie canoe steady
whilst St. Gennain placed nie in it, and afterwards
embarked himself in a very dexterous manner. It
was impossible, however, to embark Belangei", as the
canoe would have been hurried down tlie rapid, the
moment he should have raised his foot from the rock
on which he stood. We were, therefore, compelled
to leave him in liis perilous situation. We had not
gone twenty yards before the canoe, sti'iking on a sud-
den rock, went down. Tlie place being shallo^v, we
were again enabled to empty it, and the third attempt
brought us to the shoi'e.

"In the mean time Belanger was suffering extreme-
ly, immersed to his middle in the centre of a rapid,
the upper part of his body covered with wet clothes,
exposed in a temperature not much above zero, to a
strong breeze. He called piteously for relief, and St.
Germain on liis retui'ii endeavored to embark him, but
in vain. The canoe Avas hurried down the rapid, and
when he landed he was rendered by the cold incapa.
ble of fui'ther exertion, and Adam attempted to em-
bark Belanger, but found it im})ossible. An attempt
was next made to carry out to him a line, made (»f the
slings of the men's loads. This als<j failed, tlie cur-
rent acting so strongly upon it, as to prevent the canoe
from steering, and it was finally broken and cari-ied
down the stream. At length, when Belanger's strength
seemed almost exhausted, the canoe reached him Avith
a small cord belona-ina: to one of the nets, and be was,
dragged perfectly senseless thiuugh the rapid. By

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KXCIXma ADVENTURES.

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the direction of Dr. Ricliardaon, lie was instantly
stripped, and being rolled up in blanket?!, two men
undressed themselves and went to bed with him ; but
it was some hours before he recovered his Avaruith and
sensations.

" It is impossible to descril>e my sensations as I wit-
nessed the various unsuccessful attempts to relieve
Belanger. The distance i)i'evented my seeing distinct-
ly what was going on, and I continued pacing ui> and
down upon tlie rock on which I landed, reganlless of
the coldness of ray drenched and stiifening garments.
The canoe, in every attempt to i*each him, was huriied
down the rapid, and was lost to the view amongst the
rocky islets, with a rapidity that seemed to threaten
certain destruction ; once, indeed, I fancied that I saw
it overwhelmed in the waves. Such an event would
have been fatal to the whole party. Separated as I
was from my companions, without gun, ammunition,
hatchet, or the means of making a iire, and in wet
clothes, my doom would have been si)eedily sealed.
My companions too, driven to the necessity of coast-
ing the lake, must have sunk under the fatigue of
rounding its innumerable arms and bays, which, as
we have learned from the Indians, are very extensive.
By the gotnlness of Providence, however, Ave were
spared at that time, and some of us have been permit-
ted to oifer up our thanksgivings, in a civilized land,
for the signal deliverances we then and afterward ex-
perienced.

" On the 20th we got into a hilly country, and the
marching became much more laborious. Mr. Hood
was particularly Aveak, and was obliged to relinquish
his station of second in the line, Avhich Dr. Richard-
son now took, to direct the leading man in keeping

franklin's first land expedition.

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the appointed course. I was also unable to keep pace
with tlie men, wlio put forth their utmost speed, en-
couraged by the hope, which our reckoning had led us
to form, of seeing Point Lake in the evening, l)ut we
were obliged to encamp without gaining a view of it."

On the 22d they came to a lai'ge lake and ft)llowe<l
its coast southerly. As the wind was strong it was
difficult to carry the canoe over the hills, and it got
several falls, and Peltier and Vaillant, Avho were cany-
ing it, finally left it behind. "The anguish this
intelligence occasioned may be conceived, but it is be-
yoiul my power to desci'ibe it. Impressed, however,
with the necessity of taking it forward, even in the
state these men represented it to be, we urgently de-
sired them to fetch it ; but they declined going, and
the strength of the officei-s was inadequate to the task.
To their infatuated obstinacy on this occasion, a
great portion of the melancholy circumstances Avhich
attended our subsequent progress may, perhaps, be at-
tributed. The men now seemed lost to all hoj^e of
being preserved ; and all the arguments we could use
failed in stimulating them to the least exertion.

"After consuming the remains of the ])onesand horns
of the deer we resumed our march, and in the eve-
ning reached a contracted part of the lake, which per-
ceiving to be shallow, we forded and encani[)ed on
the o[)posite side. Heavy rain began soon afterwards,
and continued all the night. On the following morn-
ing the rain had so waste*!, the snow, that the tracks
of Mr. Back and his con: i is, who had gone before
with the hunters, were traced with difficulty ; and the
frequent showers during the day almost obliterated
them. The men became furious at the appreliension
of being deserted by the hunters, and some of the

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208

ATTEMPra TO OROSa THE COPPERMINE.

strongest throwing down their bundles, jn-epared to
set out after them, intending to leave the more weak
to follow as they could. The entreaties and threats
of the officers, however, prevented their executing
this mad scheme ; hut not before Solomon Belanger
was deH})atched with orders for ]Mr. Back to halt until
we should join him. The bounty of Pi'ovidence Avas
most fc;eas()nably manifested to us next morning, in
our killing five small deer out of a herd, which came
in sight as we were on the point of starting. This
unexpected supply reanimated the drooping si)irits of
our men and filled -every heart with gratitude."

On the 2Gth of September they reached the Copper-
mine Eiver ; and now for the first time the men saw
their folly in refusing to bring the canoe. In hopes
of finding some material for building a raft, they pro-
ceeded along the river to the east end of Point Lake
where they encamped. Here Mr. Back and the inter-
preters were sent f onvard to hunt, and to communicate
with the IndiaiiB supposed to be at Fort Enterprise.
The balance of the party started the same day in a
straggling and des];)ondent mood. The putrid carcass
of a deer which they found, furnished a supper and
gfeatly revived the spirits of all, and they concluded
to try and get across on a raft of green willows, and
made one capable of holding up one man at a time.

" At this time Dr. Richardson, prompted by a desire
of relieving his suffering companions, proposed to
swim across the stream wdth a line, and to haul the
raft over. He launched into the stream with the line
round his middle, but when he had got a short dis-
tance from the bank, his amis became benumbed with
cold, and he lost the power of moving them ; still he
persevered, and turning on his back, had nearly gained

FRANKLINS FMWT LAND KXIMODITION.

209

the opposite bank, when his h»gs also becjimo power-
h'SH, and to our infinite ahirni we behehl liim sink.
AVu instantly lianled upon the line and he came a^ain
on the sui"face, and was gi'adually drawn ashoiv in an
almost lifeless state. Being rolled up in hliinkets, he
was placed l)efore a good iire of willows, nnd fortu-
nately was just able to speak sufficiently to give some
slight directions inspecting the manner of treating
liim. He recovered strength gradually, and by the
blcssinj? of God was enabled in the course of a few
hours to converse, and by the evening was suihciently
recovered to remove into the tent. We then regretted
to learn, that the skin of his whole left side was
depriv 'd of feeling in consecjuence of exposure to too
great heat. He did not pei-fectly recover tl:e sensa-
tion of that side until the following summer."

On the 1st of October, Back and the interpreters
returned, having been unable to cross the water. As
the willow canoe was impracticable, St. Germain pro-
posed to build one of some painted canvas, and men
were sent oflt' to collect pitch from some small j)ines
"which had been passed on the journey.

"On the followino; mornino; the o-i-oxnul was-, covered
Avith snow to the depth of a foot and a half, and the

"ti*' was very stormy. These circumstances ren-
'le men again extremely despondent ; a settled
'looi .lung over their countenances, and they refused
u) pick tripe de roclie, choosing rather to go entirely
without eating, than to make any exertion. Tlie
party which w» ^ for gum returned early in the morn-
ing without h.'i ig found any ; but St. Germain said
he could stiP ke the canoe with the willows cover-
ed with the t vas, and removed with Adam to a
clump of willo 3 for that pfirpose. Mr. Back accom-

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210

BUILDING A CANOE.

panied them to stimulate his exertion, as we feared
the lowness of his spirits would cause him to be slow
in his operations. Augustus went to fish at the rapid,
but a large trout having carried away his bait, we had
nothing to replace it.

" The snow-storm continued all the night, and dur-
ing the forenoon of the 3d. Having persuaded the
people to gather some tripe de roclie^ I partook of a
meal with them ; and afterwards set out with the in-
tention of going to St. Germain to hasten his opera-
tions, but though he was only three-quarters of a mile
distant, I spent vhree hours in a vain attempt to reach
him, my strength being unequal to the labor of wad-
ing through the deep snow ; and I returned quite ex-
hausted, and much shaken by the numerous falls I
had got. My associates were all in the same debilita-
ted state, and poor Hood was reduced to a perfect
shadow, from the severe bowel complaints which the
trii^e de roche never failed to give him. Back was so
feeble as to require the support of a stick in walking ;
and Dr. Richardson had lameness superadded to weak-
ness. The voyagers were somewhat stronger than
ourselves, but more indisposed to exertion, on account
of their despondency. The sensation of hunger was
no longer felt by any of us, yet we were scarcely able
to converse upon any other subject than the pleasures
of eating. Hepburn, on the contrary, animated by a
firm reliance on the beneficence of the Supreme Being,
tempered Avith resignation to his will, was indefatiga-
ble in his exerti'/us to serve us, and daily collected all
the tripe de roche that was used in the officers' mess.

" Oct. 4. — The canoe being finished, it Avas brought
to the encampmen r, and the whole i>arty being assem-
bled in anxious expectation on the beach, St. Germain

FRANKLIN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

211

embarked, and amidst our prayers for his success, suc-
ceeded in reaching the opposite shore. The canoe
was then drawn back again, and another person trans-
ported, and in this manner, by drawing it backwards
and forwards, they were all conveyed over without
any serious accident.

" That no time might be lost in procuring I'elief, I
immediately despatched Mr. Back with St. Germain,
Solomon Belanger, and Beauparlant, to search for the
Indians, directing him to go to Foi-t Enterprise, where
we expected they would be, or where, fit least, a note
from Mr. Wentzel would be found to direct us in our
search for them. If St. Germain should kill any ani-
mals on his way, a portion of the meat was to be put
up securely for us, and conspicuous marks placed over
it.

"It is impossible to imagine a more gratifying
change than was produced in our voyagers after we
were all safely landed on the southern banks of the
river. Their spirits immediately revived, each of them
shook the officers cordially by the hand, and declared
they now considered the worst of their difficulties
over, as they did not doubt of reaching Fort Enter-
prise in a few days, even in their feeble condition.

"Our advance from the depth of the snow was
slow. Mr. Hood, who was now very feeble, and Dr.
Richardson, who attached himself to him, walked
together at a gentle pace in the real' of the party. I
kept with the foremost men, to cause them to halt
occasionally, until the stragglers came up. We had a
small quantity of this tripe de roclie in the evening,
and the rest of our supper was made up of scraps of
roasted leather."

About this time two of the men, Credit and Vail-

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SEPARATI02f OF THE COMPAJTY.

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I*-"

lant, gave out, and were reported to be a mile behind,
in the snow. Dr. Kichardson went back and found
Vaillant much exhausted \Nitli coTd and hunger, but
was obliged to leave him. J. B. Belanger then went
to his aid and brcmght on his burden, but could not
arouse him, and neither he nor Vaillant Avere seen
afterwards. Junius, too, had left some days before to
hunt, and never returned. Tlie men we^'e unable to
carry tlieir loads further, and, to relieve tliem and be
in condition to assist any who might give out, Mr.
Hood and Dr. Richardson proposed to remain behind.

" The weather was mild next morning. AV^e left the
encampment at nine, and a little befi)re noon came to
a pretty extensive thicket of small willows, near which
there appeared a supply of trtpe de rocJte on the face
of the rocks. At this place Dr. Richardson and ]\[r.
Hood determined to remain, ^vith John Hei)burn, wlio
volunteered to stop with tliem. The tent Avas securely
pitched, a few willows collected, and the ammunition
and all other articles were deposited, except each
man's clothing, one tent, a sufficiency of anununition
for the journey, and the officer's Journals. I had only
one blanket, which was carried for me, and two pair
of shoes. The offer was now made for any of the
men, who felt themselves too weak to proceed, to re-
main with the officers, but none of them accepted it.
Michel alone felt some inclination to do so. After
we had united in tlianksgiving and prayers to Almighty
God, I separated from my comi)anions." Tliis part-
ing took i)lace on the 7th of October, at a distance of
about twenty-f(nir miles from Fort Enterprise.

"Descendinn; afterwards into a more level countrv,
we found the snow very deep, and the labor of Vs"m\-
ing through it so fatigued the whole party, that we

FRANKLIN 8 FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

213

were comjDelled to encamp, after a march of four
miles and a lialf. Belanger and Michel were left far
behind, and when they arrived at the encampment
appeared quite exhausted. The former, bursting into
tears, declared his inability to proceed with the pa^'ty,
and begged me to let. him go back next morning to
the tent, and ehoi-tly afterwards Michel made the
same recpiest. Kot Tjeing able to find any trijye de
roche, we drank an infusion of the Labrador tea plant,
and ate a few morsels of burnt leather for supper.
We were unal)le to raise the tent, and found its weight
too great to cany it on ; we, therefore, cut it ^^p, and
took a paii; of the canvas for a cover. The night
was bitterly cold, and though we lay as close to each
other as possible, having no shelter, we could not keep
ourselves sufficiently warm to sleep. A strong gale
came on after midnight, which increased the severity
of the weather."

In the morning Belanger and Michel were pennit-
ted to go back, and Avere left sitting in the encamp-
ment. Soon afterward tAvo of the other men Perrault
and Fontano, were seized with dizziness and betrayed
sym[)toms of extreme debility ; one of them, bursting
into tears, declared his inalnlity to go on, and the other,
tlie next day, was completely exhausted ; each, at his
own request, was permitted to return to Dr. Richard-
sou's encampment, where fire and rock-tripe Avere to
be obtained. Only one of them, however, (]\Iichel,
the Iro(|U(us,) arrived; the other three were nev-
er heard of ; and fortunate indeed would it liave been if
the survivor had perished Avith the rest. Fontano
Avas an Italian, a faithful man, for Avhom Franklin
had a tender ref^ard.

The party, now reduced to five, Augiistiis having

■\r

214

A DESERTED FORT.

;•» ■

gone ahead, continued the journey with no alleviation
of their sufferings, excepting the comfort one day of
a large fire — the first deserving the name since leaving
the coast. Ha\nng no rock-tripe they drank some tea
and ate some of their shoes for supper.

"At length we reached Fort Enterpiise, and to our in-
finite disappointment found it a perfectly desolate hab-
itation. There was no deposit of provision, no trace
of the Indians, no letter from Mr. Wentzel to point
out where the Indians might be found. It would be
impossible for me to describe our sensations after en-
tering this miserable abode, and discovering how we
had been neglected ; the whole party shed tears, not
so much for our own fate, as for that of our friends in
the rear, whose lives depended entirely on our send-
ing immediate relief from this place.

" I found a note, however, from Mr. Back, stating
that he had reached the house two days ago, and was
going in search of the Indians, at a place where St.
Germain deemed it probable they might be found. If
he was unsuccessful, he purposed walking to Fort
Providence, and sending succor from thence.

"We now looked round for the means of subsistence,
and were gratified to find sevei'al deer skins, which
had been thrown away during our former residence.
The bones were gathered from the h*^ap of ashes ; these
with the skins, and the addition ot 'ripe de rocli^, Ave
considered would support us tolerably well for a time.
We procured fuel by pulling up the flooring of tlie
other rooms, and water for the purpose of cooking by
melting the snow. Whilst we were seated round tlie
fire singeing the deer skin for supper, we were rejoiced
by the unexpected entrance of Augustus. He had
followed quite a different course from ours.

PEANKLIN 8 FIEST LAKD EXPEDITION.

215

"In the afternoon of the 14tli, Belanger arrived
with a note from Mr. Back, stating that he had seen no
traces of the Indians, and desiring fiirtlier instructions
as to the course he should pursue. Belanger's situa-
tion, however, required our first care, as he came in al-
most speechless, and covered with ice, having fallen
into a rapid, and for the third time since we left the
coast, narrowly escaped drowning." Franklin decided
to start for Fort Providence, and sent hy Belanger
directions to Back to meet him at l-iainl)ow Lake ; hut
one of the men, Adam, became unahle to travel, and
leaving Peltier and Samandre behind with him, the
oilier three started ofi. alone.

" No language that I can use could adetpiately de-
scribe the parting scene. I shall only say there was
far more calmness and resignation to the Divine Avill
evinced by every one than could have been expected.
We were all cheered by the hope that the Indians
would be found by the one X^^'^^'^y? ^^^'■^ relief sent to
the other. Those ^vho remained entreated us to make
all the haste we could."

Franklin w\is unable to keep up Avith his compan-
ions, and leaving them to go on alone, returned to the
house, where he fonnd the men much dis])irited and
failino;, two of them beinc: unable to leave their beds.

" AVe perceived our strength decline every day, and
every exertion began to be irksome ; when we were
once seated tlie greatest effort was necessary in order
to rise, and Ave hud f recpiently to lift each other from
our seats ; Imt even in this pitial)le condition we C(m-
versed clieerfully, being sanguine as to the speedy ar-
rival of tlie Indians. Having expended all the wood
wliich Ave couhl jn'ocure from our present dwelling,

witliout endanu-erimj: its fallinu:, Peltier bec^an this

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216

STARVATION LIFE AT FOKT ENTERPKISE.

H 3

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day to pull down the partitions of the adjoining
houses.

" On the 20th, Peltier felt his pains more severe and
could only cut a few pieces of wood. Saniaudre, who
was still almost as weak, relieved him a little time,
and I assisted them in carrying in the ^vood. AVe
saw a herd of reindeer sporting on the river, about
half a mile from the house ; they remained there a
considerable time, but none of the party felt them-
selves sufficiently strong to go after them, nor was
there one of us who could have fired a gun "without
restinoj it.

" Whilst Ave were seated round the fire this evenincr,
discoursing about the anticii:)ated relief, the conversa-
tion was suddenly interrupted by Peltier's exclaiming
with joy, ^^Ahf le momle ! " imagining that he heard
the Indians in the other room ; immediately after-
wards, to his bitter disai)i")ointment, Dr. llichardson
and Hepburn entered, each carrying his bundle. Pel-
tie]', however, soon recovered himself enougli to express
his joy at their safe arrival, and his regret that their
companions were not with them. When I saw tlieni
alone my own mind was instantly filled Avith appre-
hensions respecting my friend Hood, and our otlier
companions, which were immediately confirmed by the
Doctor's melancholy communication, that Mr. Hood,
and Michel were dead. Perrault and Fontano liacl
neither reached the tent nor been heard of by tliem.

"Hepburn having shot a partridge, which was
brought to the house, the Doctor tore out the feathers,
and havinsr held it to the fire a few minutes, divided it
into seven portions. Each piece was ravenously de-
voured by my companions, as it was the first morsel
of flesh any of us had tasted for thirty-one days, un-

FRANKLIN S FHIST LAND EXl'EDITION.

217

less indeed the small gristly particles whicli we found
occasionally adhering to the pounded bones may he
termed flesh. Our spiiits were revived hy this small
sui)ply, and the Doctor endeavored to raise them still
higher by the j^i'ospect of Hepburn's being able to
kill a deer next day, as they had seen, and even fired
at, several near the lumse. Having brought his pray-
er-l)0(^lv and Testament, some j^i'^yers and j)salms, and
portions oi scrii)ture, appropriate to our situation,
were i-ead, and we retired to bed.

" Next morning the Doctor and Hepburn went out
early in search of deer ; but, though they saw seve-
ral herds and flred some shots, they were not so for-
tunate as to kill any, lieing too weak to hold their
guns steadily. The cold compelled the former to
return soon, but Hepburn 2)ersisted until late in the

eveinng.

" After our usual sujiper of singed skin ami bone
soup, Dr. Richardson acquainted me with tlie afflict-
ing circumstances attending the death of Mr. Hood
and Michel and detailed occurrences subsequent which
I shall give from his Journal in his oAvn -words."

»•■■■;.

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.•11

Ml:

CHAPTER XV.

FEAKK:Lm'S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

(continued.)

DE. Richardson's narrative.

" After Captain Franklin had bidden us farewell,
we remained seated by the fireside as long as the
willows, the men had cut for us before they departed,
lasted. We had no tripe de roche that day, but drank
an infusion of the country tea-plant, which was grate-
ful fi-om its warmth, although it afforded no suste-
nance. We then retired to bed, where we remained
all the next day, as the weather was stormy, and the
snow-drift so heavy, as to destroy every prosj^ect of
success in our endeavors to light a fire Avith the green
and frozen willows, which were our only fuel. Throiigli
the extreme kindness and forethought of a lady, the
party, previous to leaving London, had been furnished
with a small collection of religious books, of which we
still retained two or three of the most portable, and
they proved of incalculable benefit to us. We read
portions of them to each other as we lay in bed, in
addition to the morning and evening service, and found
that they inspired us on each perusal with so strong a
sense of the omnipresence of a beneficent God, that
our situation, even in these wilds, appeared no longer
destitute ; and we conversed, not only with calmness,

218

-li ••■.,.

FRANKLIN 8 FIRST LAJTD EXPEDITION.

219

bnt with cheei*fulne8s, detailing, with unrestrained
confidence the past events of our lives, and dwelling
witli hoi)e on our fnture prospects. Had my 2)oor
friend Leen spared to revisit his native land, I should
look back to this period Avith unalloyed delight.

"On the morning of October 9th, the weather,
although still cold, Avas clear, and I went out in quest
of ti'ijye He roclw, leaving Hepburn to cut willows foi*
a fire, and Mr. Hood in bed. I had no success, as
yesterday's snow drift was so frozen on the surface of
the rocks that I could not collect any of the weed ;
but, on my return to the tent, I found that Michel,
the Iroquois, had come Avith a note from Mr. Franklin,
Michel informed us that he quitted Mr. Franklin's
party yesterday morning, but, that having missed his
way, he had passed the night on the snow a mile or
two to the nortliAvard of us. Belanger, he said, being
impatient, had left the fire about two hours' earlier,
and as he had not arrived, he supposed he had gone
astray. It Avill be seen in the sequel, that Ave had
more than sufficient reason to doubt the truth of this
story,

" Michel now produced a hare and a partridge AAdiich
lie had killed in the morning. This unexpected sup-
ply of proA'ision Avas received by us Avith a deep sense
of gratitude to the Almighty for his goodness, and Ave
looked upon Michel as the instrument he had chosen
to preserve all our Ha^cs. He complained of cold, and
Mr. Hood offered to share his buffalo robe Avith him
at night : I gave him one of tAVO shirts Avhich I Avoi-e,
wliikt Hepburn, in the Avarmth of his heart, exclaimed,
'IIoAv I shall love this man if I find that he does not
tell lies like the others.' Our meals being finished,
We arranged that the greatest part of the things should

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220

DR. RICITARDSON's NARRATIVE.

he canied to the pines tlie next day ; and after reading
the evening service, retired to bed full of hope.

" Early in tlie morning Ilephurn, Michel, and my-
self, carried the ammunition, and nuxst of the other
heavy articles to the pines. Michel was our guide,
and it did not occur to us at the time that his con-
ducting us pei'fectly straight was inc()m2)atil)le with
his story of having gone astray on his way to us. lie
now infoi'med us that he had, on his way to the tent,
left on the hill above the pines a gun and forty-eight
balls, which Perrault had given him when with the
rest of Mr. Franklin's party, he took leave of him.
It will be seen, on a reference to Mr. Franklin's jour-
nal, that Perrault carried his gun and anununition
with him Avhen they parted from Michel and Belan-
ger. After we had made a fire, and drank a little of
the country tea, Hepburn and I returned to the tent,
where we arrived in the evening, much exhausted with
our journey. Michel preferred sleeping where he was,
and requested us to leave him the hatchet, which we
did, after he had promised to come early in the morn-
ing to assist us in carrying the tent and bedding.
Mr. Hood remained in bed all day. Seeing nothing
of Belanger to-day, we gave him up for lost.

"On the 11th, after waiting until late in the morn-
ing for Michel, who did not come, Hepburn and I
loaded ourselves with the bedding, and accompanied
by Mr. Hood, set out for the pines. Mr. Hood was
much aifected with dimness of sight, giddiness, and
other symptoms of extreme debility, which caused 'is
to move very slow, and to make fi'equent halts. L a
arriving at the pines, we were much alarmed to find
that Michel was absent. We feared that he had lost
his way in coming to us in the morning, although it

fkanklin's rnisT land expeditiojt.

221

■\viis iK^t easy to conjecture lunv tluit could have liap-
pened, as our footsteps of yesterday were A'ery distinct.
llcp])urn went ])ack iov tlie tent, and returned wltli it
after dusk, conq)letely worn out wit!) tlie fatigue of
t]ie day. Midiel, too, arrived at tlie same time, and
relieved our anxiety on liis account. lie reported tliat
lie had been in chase of some deer which 2>Hssed near
his sleeping-place in the morning, and although he did
not come up with them, yet that he found a Avcdf
which had heen killed hy the stroke of a deer's horn,
and had l)rought a part of It. We implicitly helieved
tliis story then, hut afterwards hecame convinced from
circumstances, the detail of Avlilch may he spared, that
it nuist have been a portion of the body of Belanger
or Perrault.

"A question of moment liere presents Itself; name-
ly, whether he actually murdered these men, or either
of them, or whether he found the bodies on the snow.
Captain Franklin conjectures, that ]Michel having
already destroj'ed Belanger, completed his crime by
Perrault's death, In order to screen himself from detec-
tion.

"On the following morning the tent was 2^i^^l'^t^>
and Michel went out early, refused my offer to accom-
pany him, and remained out the whole day. He
would not sleep In the tent that night, but chose to
lie at the fireside.

"On the l.'Uli there was a heavy gale of wind, and
we passed the day by the fire. Next day, about two
P. M., the gale abating, Michel set out as he said to
hunt, but returned unexpectedly in a veiy short time.
This conduct surprised us, and his contradictory and
evasory answers to our (piestlons excited some suspic-
ions, but they did not turn towards the truth.

■s'r
Ik., '"

222

Dll. llICnARDSON 8 NARRATIVE.

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" Ocfoher lath. — In the course of thiH day Michel
expressed iniich regret that he hud staid luHiind Mr.
Franklin's party, and declared that he would set out
for the house at once if he knew tlie way. We en-
deavored to soothe him, and to raise his hopes of the
Indians speedily coming to our relief, but without
success.

" Next day he refused either to hunt or cut wood,
spoke in a very surly manner, and threatened to leave
us. Under these circumstances, INIr. Ilood and I deem-
ed it better to promise if he Avould hunt diligently for
four days, that then we wouhl give IIepl)urn a letter
for Mr. Franklin, a comjiass, inform him what course
to pursue, and let tliem proceed together to the fort.

"On the I7th I went to conduct Michel to where
Vaillant's blanket was left, and after walking about
three miles, pointed out the hills to him at a distance.
lie proposed to remain out all night, and to hunt
next day on his way back. lie returned in the after-
noon of the ISth, having found the blanket, together
with a bag containing two pistols, and some other
things Avhich had l)een left beside it. We had some
tn'jje de roche, in the evening, Init j\lr. Hood, from the
constant gri])ing it produced, was unable to eat more
than one or two spoonfuls. lie was now so weak as
to be scarcely able to sit uj) at the fireside, and com-
plained that the least breeze of M^nd seemed to blow
through his frame. He also suifered much from cold
during the night.

" On the lOtli Michel refused to hunt, or even to as-
sist in carrying a log of wood to the fire, which Avas
too heavy for Hepburn's strength and mine. Mr.
Hood endeavored to point out to him the necessity
and duty of e:rertion, and the cioielty of his quitting

E3^ n po

FUANKLIN S FIUST LAND EXPEDITION.

228

118 without leaving something for our support ; but the
diwcoui'se, fur from producing any beneficial effect,
seemed only to excite his anger, and amongst other ex-
pressions he made use of the following renuirkable one :
" It is no use hunting, there are uo animals, you had
better kill and eat me."

" (h'toher 20. — In the mornincr we airain urjjed

morning

agam

Michel (o go a hunting, that he might if iH)ssil»le leave
us some ])rovision, to-morrow being the day appointed
for his quitting us ; but he showed great unwilling-
ness to go out, and lingered about the fire, under the
preteuse of cleaning his gun. After we had read the
morning service, I went about noon to gather some
tri2)e de voclie^ leaving Mr. Hood sitting before the tent
at the fireside, arguing with ]\Iichel ; Hepburn was
employed cutting down a tree at a short distance
from the tent, being desirous of accumulating a (pian-
tity of fire- wood before he left us. A short time after
I went out, I heard the report of a gun, and about ten
minutes afterwards Hepburn called to me in a voice
of great alarm, to come directly. When I arrivetl, I
found poor IIt)od lying lifeless at the fireside, a ball
having apparently entered his forehead. I was at first
horror-struck with the idea, that in a fit of despond-
ency he had hurried himself into the presence of his
almighty Judge, by an act of his own hand ; but the
conduct of Michel soon gave rise to other thoughts,
and excited suspicions which were confirmed when
upon examining the body, I discovered that the shot
had entered the back part of the head, and passed
out at the forehead, and that the muzzle of the gun
had been applied so close as to set fire to the night-
cap behind. The gun, which was of the longest kind,
supplied to the Indians, could not have been placed

I , ;

224

DR. RICHARDSON S NARRATIVE.

Ifi! i 2

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T 1! .

H'ir '^

i s

in a position to inflict sneli a wound, except hy a sec-
ond person.

" Upon inquiring of IMicliel liow it liappened, lie
replied, that Mr. Hood had sent him into the tent for
a short a:un, and that diiriiii; his absence the lone: ijun
had gone off, he did not know A\hether by accident
or not. He held the short gun in his hand at the
time he was speaking to me. IIepl)urn afterwards
informed me, that pre\ious to the report of the gun,
Mr Hood and Michel were speaking to each other in
an elevated, ang)'y tone ; that ]\[r. ^lood being seated
at the fireside, was hid from him by intervening wil-
lows, but that on hearing the report he looked up, and
saw INIichel rising up from before the tent door, or
just behind where Mr. IJood was seated, and then go-
ing into the tent. Thinking that the gun had been
discharged for the purpose of cleaning it, he did not
go to the fire at first ; and when Michel called to liira
that Mr. Hood was dead, a considerable time had
elapsed. Although I dared not ojjenly to evince any
susi)icion that I thought Michel guilty of the deed,
yet he repeatedly protested that he was incapable of
committing such an act, kept constantly on his guard,
and carefully avoided leaving Hepburn and me to-
gether.. He was evidently afraid of permitting us to
converse in private, and whenever' Henburn spoke, he
incjuired if he accused him of the murder.

" We removed the body into a clump of willows
behind the tent, and, returning to the fire, read the
funeral service in addition to the evening prayers.
The loss of a young ofiicer, of such distinguished and
varied talents and application, may be felt and duly
appreciated by the eminent characters under whose
command he had served ; but the calmness with which

^^^

FIIANKLIN S FIRST LAND lOXPKDlTIOX.

225

lie c'onteni[)lated tlie proLuLle termination of a life of
iinconinion proniine ; and tlie patience and fcniitude
Avitli wliicli he sustained, I may venture to say, unpar-
alleled bodily sufi'erings, can only be known to tlie
comj)anions of Lis distresses, Jiickerstetlti^ S(:i'!pture
Help Avas lying ojjen beside tlie body, as if it had fall-
en frt)m his hand, and it is probable that he was read-
ing it at the instant of his death.

'' A\ e })assed the night in the tent together without
rest, every one being on his guard.

" Next day, having determined on going to the Fort,
we began to patch and pi-epare our clothes for the
journey. We singed the hair off a part of the buffalo
robe that belonged to ^Iv. Jlood, and boiled and ate
it. JNIichel tried to persuade nie to go to the woods
on the Coppermine lli\er, and hunt for deer, instead
of going to the Fort. In tlu^ afternoon a flock of par-
tridu'es comiiuc near the tent, he killed several, which
lie shared with us.

"Thick snowy weather and a head wind ]irevented
us from starting the following day, but on the morn-
ing of tlie 23d we set out, carrying with us the re-
mainder of the singed rol)e. Hepburn and Michel
had each a gun, and I carried a small pistol, which
Hepburn had loaded for me. In the c(nirse of tlie
inai'ch, Mii'hel alarmed us much })y his gestures and
conduct, was constantly muttering to himself, express-
ed an unwillingness to go to the Fort, and tried to
persuade me to go to tlu^ southward to the woods,
where he said he could maintain himself all the winter
by killing deer. In consequence of this behavior, and
the expression of his countenance, I requested him to
leave us and to go to the southward by himself. This*
propctsal increased his ill-nature, he threw out some

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i^^ HA

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226

DR. rJCHAEDSON S NARRATIVE.

obscure hints of freeing liiniself from all restraint on
tlie morro^v ; and I ovei'heard liini muttering threats
against IlepLurn, whom he oj^enly accused of having
told stoi'ies against him. lie also for the first time,
assumed such a tone of superiority in addressing me, as
evinced that he considered us to be completely in liia
power, and he gave vent to several expressions of
hatred toAvards the white people, or as he termed us
in the idiom of the voyagers, the French, some of
■whom, he said, had killed and eaten his uncle and two
of his relatiims.

" In short, taking every circumstance of his conduct
into consideration, I came to the conclusion, that he
would attempt to destroy us on the first oj)i)ortunity
that offered, and that he had hitherto abstained from
doing so from his ignorance of the way to the Fort,
but that he would never suffer us to go thither in
company with him. Hepburn and I were not in a
condition to resist even an open attack, nor could we
by any device escape from him. Our united strength
was far inferior to his, and, beside his gun, he was
armed Avith two pistols, an Indian bayonet, and a knife.
In the afternoon, coming to a rock on which there
was some frijje de roche^ he halted, and said he Avould
gather it -whilst we went on, and that he w^ould soon
oveiinke us.

"llepbni'n and I were now left together for the
first time since Mr. Hood's death, and he acquainted
me "sWtli several material circumstances which he liad
observed of Michel's behavior, and which confirmed
me in the opinion that there was no safety for us ex-
cept in his death, and he offered to be the instrument
of it. I determined, however, as I was thoroughly
convinced of the necessity of such a dread ad act, to

FEANKUN S FIRST LAND EXPEDITION.

227

take tlie whole responsibility upon myself ; find imme-
diately upon Micliel's coming up, I put an end to lils
life by slic^oting liim tlirougli the Lead -with a pistol.
Had my own life alone been threatened, I would not
have purchased it by such a measure ; but I considered
myself as intrusted also with the protection of IlejD-
burn's, a man, who, l)y his humane attentions and de-
votedness, had so endeared himself to me, that I felt
nn)re anxiety for his safety than for my o^vn. Michel
had gathered no tripe de roche, and it was eN'ident to
us tliat he had halted for the purp(jse of putting his
gnu in order, with the intention of attacking us, per-
haps, ^.iulst we were in the act of encamping.

" I luiv u ^.avelt in the preceding part of the narrative
upon many circumstances of Michel's conduct, not for
the purjiose of aggravating his crime, but to put the
rea<ler in ])ossession of the reasons tliat influenced me
in de})riving a fellow creature of life. Up to the
period of his I'eturn to the tent, his conduct had been
good and respectful to the officers, and in a conversa-
tion between Captain Franklin, Mr. Hood, and myself,
at 01)struction Rapid, it had been proposed to give
him a reward upon our arri^•al at a post. His ])rinci-
ples, ho^vevei", unsupported l)y a belief in tlie divine
truths of Christianity, were unable to withstand the
pressure of severe distress. His countrymen, the Iro-
rpiois, are generally Christians, but he was totally un-
instructed and ignorant of the duties inculcated by
Cliristianity ; and from his long residence in the Indian
countiy, seems to have imbibed, or retained, the rules
of conduct which the southerii Indians prescribe to
themselves

" On the two followins; days we had mild but thick
snowy Av eather, and as the view was too limited to

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DPw eiciiardson's naerative.

enal)le us to preserve a straight course, we remained
encamped amongst a few Avillows and dwai"f pines,
about liA^e miles from the tent. On tlie 2(3tli, tlie
weather l^eing clear and exti-emely cold, v>e resumed
our march, Avhich was very painful from the depth of
the snoAV, particidarly on the margins of the small
lakes that lay in our route. AVe frequently sunk
under the load of our blankets, and were obliged to
assist each other in getang up.

"AVe came in siirht of the fort at dusk on the 20th,
and it is impossible to describe our sensations, when
on attaining the eminence that overloc ks it, we be-
held the smoke issuing from one of the chimneys.
From not having met Avith any footsteps in the snow,
as Ave drcAV nigh our once cheerful residence, Ave had
been agitated by many melancholy forebodings.
Upon enteihig the noAV desolate building, Ave had the
satisfaction of embracing Captain Franklin, but no
Avords can couA'ey an idea of the filth and Avretched-
ness that met our eyes on looking around. Our oAvn
misery had stolen upon us by degrees, and A\'e Avere
accustomed to the contemplation of each other's ema-
ciated figures, but the ghastly countenances, dilated
eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of IMr. Franklin and
those Avith him, Avere more than Ave could at first
bear."

The morning of October »*] 1st aa^is A^eiy cold, and
matters did not improA'e at Fort Enterprise. At-
tempts to kill <leer and ji^^rf^'idges Avere unsuccessful,
and Peltier and Samandre grcAV Aveaker; Aviihin two
days both Avere dead.

On the 7th of X()A"end)er, the report of a muske^
AA'^as heard, and three Indians Avere seen close to the

franklin's first land expjodition.

229

house. Relief lind arrived at last ; Adams was in so
weak a state that he could hardly coiuprehend it, but
on taking food he rapidly improved.

" The Indians had left Akaitcho's encampment on the
5th of November, having been sent by Mr. Back with all
possible expedition, after he had arrived at their tents.
They brought but a small supply of pi'ovisions, that
tliey might travel (pdckly. BoucU'l-kell, the youngest
of the Indians, after i-esang about an hour, returned
to Akaitcho with the intelligence of our situation.
The two others, " Crooked Foot and the Rat," remain-
ed to take care of us. They set about everything
Avith an activity that amazed us."

On the 18th, the Indians became despondent at the
non-arrival of supplies, and in the evening A\ent off
after giving each of the white men a handful of poimd-
ed meat. On the 15th, Crooked Foot and two other
Indians appeared, ^vith two Indian "women dragging
provisions.

On the IGth of November the travelers started to-
wards Fort Providence, escorted b}' the Indians, who
treated their charge AN'ith the greatest tenderness, pre-
paring their encampment and cooking for them. On
the 2()ththey arrived safely at theabotle of Akaitcho,
and Avere received by the Indians in his tent Avith
looks of compassion and profound silence of fifteen,
minutes duration, Avhereby they meant to express their
condolence. Nothinn: was said until after the Avhite
men had tasted food.

On the Sth of December, Franklin and Richardson
took leave of Akaitch(» an<l started south, conducted
by Belanger and a Canadian wh«) had been sent for
them with sledge> drawn by dogs. They ar.'ved at
Fort Providence on the 11th, and were there visited

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by Akaitcho and his band, with Adam, who had united
with them. In the course of conversation Akaitcho
said to Franklin, " I know you write down every oc-
currence in your books ; but probably you have only
noticed the bad things we have said and done, and
omitted to mention the good."

Starting southward again, the party reached Moose-
Deer Island on the l7tli, where they found Mr. Back,
who gave an affecting detail of the proceedings of his
party since the separation. His narrative is but a
continuation of the same kind of suffering by famine
and cold. For days they had nothing to eat, and one
of his men, Beauparlant, died on the way.

On the 2Gth of May, after a five months' residence at
Moose-Deer Island, the party started for Fort Chipew-
yan, Avhere they met Mr. Wentzel ; his excuse for fail-
ing to keep a supply of provisions at Foi-t Enterprise
was that he could not control the Indians.

I'ranklin, Richardson, and Augustus arrived at Fori;
York on the 14th of July 1822. Aii«l thus termina-
ted their long, fat" --Ming, and disastrous travels in
North America, having Journe}'ed l)y Avater and by
l.md (including their navigation of the Polai* Sea,)
five thousand five hundred and fifty miles.

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CHAPTER XVT.
FRANKLIN'S SECOND LAND EXPEDITION.

In July 1825, Captain Franklin and his party, Avliich
inclnded his old companions Messrs. liieliardson and
Back, arrived at Fort Cliipewyan on Lis second expe-
dition to the northern shores of America. In due
time the whole party assembled on the banks of the
Great Bear Lake River, which flows ont of that lake
on the western side into the Mackenzie River, down
which they were to descend to the sea in the follow-
ing summer.

On the 8th of August, Franklin embarked in the
"Lion" for a preliminar}^ ti'ip down the Mackenzie.
Back with three canoes accompanied him. Near a
place called the " Ramparts " they fell in ^^■ith a party
of Hare Indians all neatly clothed in new leathern
dresses, highly ornamented with beads and porcupine
(jiiills, both sexes alike, who brought fish, berries and
meat. At Fort Good Hope, the lowest of the fur es-
tablishments, Charles Dease, chief trader of the com-
pany, received the travelers and prepar.'d a meal for
them at midnight. This fort was situated among the
Indiana whom Mackenzie called Quarrelers, but
Avliom the traders named Loucheux or S(piinters.

Continuing on, the party came to Avhat they sup-
posed to be the Arctic Sea, and on Garry Island a tent
14 231

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232

FOIIT FItANKLIN.

was pitclied, and the flag wliich Franklin's deeply
lamented wife had given him on pai'ting, to be unfurled
only in view of this sea, was hoisted.

During Franklin's absence on this trip suitable
buildings were erected and named Fort Franklin, and
here the adventnrei's remained through the winter,
which though severe was passed in comparative com-
fort. The last swan flew to the south on the 5th of
October, and the first one re-ap[)eared on the fith of
May. Moscpdtoes arrived on the 24th of May, and
the first flower was gathered on tlie 27th.

The boats were launched on the 15tli of June, and
the men appointed to their respective stations and
furnished with blue water-proof unifoi-ms and feathers.
The day was closed by drinking a small (piantity of
rum reserved for the occasion, followed by a merry
dance in which all joined.

The adventurers left Fort Franklin on the 21st of
June, leaving behind in charge of the fort only an old
fisherman, who would not let them depart without
giving his hearty though solitary cheer, which
was returned in full chorus. Early in July they
reached a broad part of the river where different
channels branch off, and here the party divided.
Franklin and Back in the Lion and lleliance took the
western channel, and Richardson with two other
boats took the easterly one.

On the 7tli of July Franklin's party reached the
mouth of the river, and discovered on an island a mul-
titude of tents and many Es(piimaux. Articles
for presents and trade having been selected, the boats
sailed toward the tents with the ensigns flying, but
touched ground ^\hen about a mile from the beach.
Three kayaks instantly put off from the shore and
others quickly followed, so that the whole space

AT TTIK JIOUTII OF TIIK MACKENZIE.

233

between the ihIuiuI and the Loats was covered with
tlieni. The leading kayaks wliere pacUlled l)y ehlerly
men, whom Angnstns invited to approach and receive
a present, telling them that if a channel for h\u])h
were found they Mould come and open a trade. On
hearing whicli they sliouted f(n' joy.

A ti'a<le was now connu'.Miccd and three hundred
natives crowded around the l)oats, anxious :> sell
their hows, arrows, and s])ears, and although their
iin[)ortunities were trouldesome, tliey showed no
unfriendly disposition until an accident occurred
which was productive of annoying conse(piences.

"A kayak being overset by one of the Lion's oars,
its o\vner was plunged into the Avater with his head
in the mud, and ai)])arently in danger of being drowned.
We instnntly extricated him from his unpleasant situ-
ation, and took him into the boat imtil the water
could be thrown out of his kayak ; and Augustus,
seeing him shivering with cold, wrai)ped him up in
his own great-coat. At first he was exceedingly angry,
but soon became reconciled to his situation ; and, look-
ing about, discovered that Ave had many bales and
other articles in the boat, which had been concealed
from the pe()[)le in the kayaks, l)y the coverings being
carefully spread over all. lie soon began to ask for
everything he saw, and expressed nuich displeasure
on our refusing to comply with his demands ; he also,
as we afterwards learned, excited the cupidity oi
others by his account of the inexhaustible riches in
the Lion, and several of the younger men endeavored
to get into both our boats, but we resisted all their
attempts."

IMeantime the water havinof ebbed so that it was
only knee deep where the boats lay, the natives seized

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THE EXPEDITIOX IX TROUBLE.

the Reliance and drau^ged it to the beach. Franklin,
who was in the Lion, says : —

"Two of the most powerful men, jumping on board
at the same time, 8eize<l me by the wrists and forced
me to sit between them ; and as I shook them loose
two or three times, a third Es(|uimaux took his station
in front to catch my arm Avhenever I attemjited to lift
my gun, or the broad dagger which hung by my side.
The whole way to the slioi-e they kej)t repeating the
word ^teymdj beating gently on my left breast with
their hands, and pressing mine against their breasts.
As weneared the beach, two oomiaks full of women
arrived, and i\\e^teymaH^ and vociferation were re-
doubled. The Reliance was tirst brought to the shore,
and the Lion close to her a few seconds afterward.
The three men Avho held me now leaped ashore, and
those who had remained in their canoes, takinjj them
out of the water, carried them to a little distance. A
numerous party then drawing their knives, and strip-
ping themselves to the waist, ran to the Reliance, and,
having first hauled her as far up as they could, began
a regular pillage, handing the articles to the women,
who, ranged in a row behind, (piickly conveyed them
out of sight."

In short, after a furious contest for possession of the
goods, during which knives were brandished in a most
threatening manner, several of the men's clothes cut
through, an<l the ])utt<Mis of others torn from their
coats, Lieutenant J^ack ordered his men to seize and
level their muskets, but not to fire till the wor<l was
given. This had the desired eflFect, the whole crowd
taking to their heels and hiding themselves behind the
dnft-timber on the beach. Franklin still thought it
best to temporize bo long as the boats were lying

A BUAVE I^'T£I{PUE1'£R.

235

agi'ound, and states his conviction, "considering the
state of excitement to which they had worked tlieiu-
selves, that the iii-st blood which his party might un
fortunately have shed would instantly have been re
venged by the sacrifice of all their lives."

The boats floated soon afterwards, and as they were
leaving, some of the natives walked along the beach
and invited Augustus to a conference on shore. " I
was unwilling to let him go," says Franklin, " but
the brave little fellow entreated so earnestly that I
would suffer him to land and reprove the Esquimaux
for their conduct, that I at length consented." On
his return, being desired to tell what he said to them,
" he had told them," he said,

" Your conduct Ins been very bad, and unlike that
of all other Esjjuimaux. Some of you even stolt^ fiom
me, y<mr countryman ; but that I do not mind ; I only
regret that you should have treated in this violent
manner the white people, who came solely to do you
a kindness. My tribe were in the same unhaj)j)y
state in which you now are before the white i)eople
came to Churchill, but at jjresent they are supi)lied
with everything they need, and yoii see tliat I am
well elothe<l; I get all that 1 want, and juii very com-
foitable. You cannot exj)ect, after the transactions
of this day, that these people will ever bring g()o<ls to
vour country airain, unless vt>u show your contrition
by restoring the stolen goods. The whitt^ ]>eo]»le
love the Ksipiimaux, and wish to show them the same
kiiulness that they bestow uixm the Indians. ])o not
deceive yourselves, and su])]»ose they are afi'aid of you ;
I tell you they are not; and that it is entirely owing to
their humanity that many of you were not killed
to-day ; for they have all guns, w ith which th^y can

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236

SECOND WINTEB AT FORT FUANKLIN.

1 1

tlestroy you eitlier when near or at a distance. I
also have a gun, an<l can assure you that if a white
man had fallen I would have been the fii*8t to have
revenged his death."

In reply, the natives said that having never seen
white men before they could not resist the temptation
of stealing their pretty things ; they promised never
to do the like again, and gave a proof of their sin-
cerity l)y restoring the articles that had been stolen;
and thus, in an amicable manner, was the affray con-
cluded.

On the 13th of July, Franklin started to examine
the sea coast westerly of the Mackenzie Kiver, and
discovered on the Stth, the mouth of another large
river which he named the Clarence. The extreme
westerly point reached by the party was called Keturn
lieef, near longtitude 140''. From this place they
started to return on the 18th of August. At this
same time, as was subsequently ascertained, a boat
party from Beechy's Behring's Strait expedition, wiis
oidy one hundred and sixty miles west of them on
the same coast.

Franklin and his i>arty reached Fort Franklin in
safety on the 21st of September, after traveling in
three months two thousand and foi'ty-eight miles.
Here they found Dr. Richardson and his party, who
had sailed eastward from the mouth of the Mackenzie
Iliver to the mouth of the Coppermine, and thence
overland to the rendezvous, making altogether a
journey of one thousand nine hundred and eighty
miles.

A second winter, and an intensely cold one, was
passed pleasantly at Fort Franklin. At this same
time Captain Parry was wintering amid the ice at a

THE MAGNETIC POLE.

287

point further north, as related in former chapters.
It chanced that the magnetic pole lay at this time
between them. " For the same months," says Fi'ank-
lin, "at the interval of only one year, Captain Parry
and myself were making houi'ly observatii^ns on two
needles, the north ends of which pointed almost direct-
ly towards each other, though our actual distance
apart did not exceed eight hundred and fifty-five geo-
graphical miles ; and while the needle of Port Bowen
was increasing its westerly dii'ection, ours was increas-
ing its easterly, and the contrary — the variation being
west at Port Bowen, and east at Fort Franklin — a
beautiful and satisfactory proof of the solar influence
on the daily variation."

When spring opened Franklin and his companions
staiiied southward, and arrived in London in Septem-
ber.

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CHAPTER XYIT.

ARCTIC VOYAGES OF SCORESBY, CLAVER-
ING AND SABINE, LYONS, AND BEECIIEY.

It must not be forgotten that while we are greatly
indebted to scientific and amateur discoverei-H for our
knowledge <)f the Arctic I'egionn, we are also luider
obligations to practical seamen ; and among them no
one has shown more zeal and intelligence than Cajit.,
afterwards Dr., Score8l>y. This gentleman, bred and
reared, as it were, amid the tempests and snows of
the North, and inheriting the love of adventure from
his father who was also a captain in the whale ser-
vice and gave his son a mai'ine education, observed
the phenomena of the Northern seas, with an eiKiuir-
ing and scientific eye unusual among those who pur-
sue the rough life of a whaler.

In 1800, Capt. Scoresby, then acting as mate under
his father who commanded a Greenland ship, made a
nearer api)roaoh to the North Pole than had hitherto
been fully authenticated ; for the statements of the
Dutch and other navigators who boast of having gone
much nearer, are subject to great doubt as to the cor-
rectness of their observations.

Proceeding by Jan Mayen into the whale-bight,

they found the Avaters encumbered by much broken

238

8COKE8BY A DISCOVEUIKS.

239

ice, through which they made their way into an ojien
sea so extensive that its tonnination couhl not be dis-
covered, but was estimated to extend four or five
hundred sijuare leagues. Advancing northward, they
arrived at a very ch>se continuous fiehl of bay-ice,
compacted by drifting fragments. Pushing their way
through this by the most laborious exertions, they
succeeded in reaching another oj)cn sea, un})ounded,
except by ice on the south and land in the distant
east.

As their ol)ject was to catch whales, and not to
visit the Pole, they sailed in a north-west direction,
swiftly crossing the short meri<lians of this parallel,
and soon passed from the tenth degree of east to the
eighth of west longitude. Their latitude was 7U^-35 ',
and the sea was still open on every side. As they
found no whales, they changed their taek, and I'an
east-north-east about three hundred miles, till they
came to the nineteenth de<;ree of east lony-itude and
to latitude 81'^-30' — only about five hundred geo.
graphical miles from the Pole. The sea lay open
before them, and it was a great teni[)tation to the
young and daring sailor to run up and hang his cap
on the North Pole; Imt the father, ])rudently consid-
ering that he had been fitted out by a mercantile con-
cern to bring home a cargo of whale oil, decidtd not
to gratify the aml)ition of his son, and turned l>a('k-
Avards to ITakluyt's Headland, where he was rewarded
for his fidelity to his empl(>yers l>y catching twenty-
four whales, from which were extracted two hundred
and sixteen tons of oil.

(^apt. Scoresby, the younger, afterwards had abun-
dant opportunity to gratify his love of adventure.
In 1817 he made an excursion on Jan May en's Island.

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240

KXCUK810N ON JAN MAYEN.

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The most striking feature was the inoun^''in Beer-
enberg, which reui-s its head 6870 feet above the sea ;
and, being seen to the distance of thirty or forty
leagues, proves a conspicuous landmark to the mar-
iner. The first objects which attracted the eye were
three magnificent icebergs, which rose to a veiy great
height, stretching from the base of Beerenberg to the
water's edge. Their usual greenish-gray color, diver-
sified by snow-white patches resembling foam, and
with black points of rock jutting out from the sui'face,
gave them exactly the ai>pearance of immense cas-
cades, which in falling had been fixed by the powor
of frost.

A i)arty ascended a mountain which composed only
the l)aae of Beerenberg, yet was itself 1500 feet high.
They were not long in discovering that the materials
composing this eminence were entirely volcanic. They
trod only upon ashes, slag, baked clay, and scorijc;
and whenever these substances rolled inider their
feet, the ground beneath made a sound like that of
empty metallic vessels or vaulted caverns. On the
sununit they discovered a spacious crater, about GOO
feet deep, and 700 yanls in diameter, the bottom of
which was filled with alluvial matter, and which, being
surrounded by rugged walls of red clay hall'-bakecl,
had the appearance of a spacious castle. A s[)ring of
water penetrated its side by a subterranean cavern,
and disappeared in the sand. Xo attempt was made
to ascend Beerenberg, which towered in awful gran-
deur, white with snow, above the region of the clouds ;
but at its feet was seen another crater surrounded by
an immense accumulation of castellated lava. A large
^lass of iron was found, that had been smelted by the
interior fires. The volcano was at this time entii'ely

AMONG THE .MOIXTAINS.

241

silent, but the next year Scoresby saw smoke arising
from it to a great licidit.

In 1818 lie landed near IMitn^ Cape, and undertook
to reach the sununit of the siui^ularly insulated cliff
of which it consists. Much of the ascent was over
fragments of rock so loose that the foot in walking
slid back every step. At one jdace th«^ ]>arty found
a ridge so steep that Scorcsby could scat himself
across it as on the back of a hoi'sc. They reached the
sunnnit, estimated as .'?()()() feet high, about midnight
Mhen the sun still shone on its snow-caj)i)C(l pinnacle,
causing such a rapid melting that streams of water
were flowing around them.

The view from this sunnnit is<lcscril)ed by Scoresby
as e<pially grand, extensive, and beautiful. On the
cast side were two finely-sheltered bays, while the sea,
unruffled by a single breeze, formed an iniinense ex-
panse to the west. The icebergs reared their fantastic
forms alnu>st on a level with the summits of the
mountains, wluwe cavities they filled, while the sun
illumined, but could not dissolve them. The valleys
were enamelled with beds of snow and ice, one of
which extended beyond reach of the eye. In the
interior, mountains rose beyond mountains till they
nu'lted into distance. The cloudless can()j)y al)ove,
and the positi<m of the party theniselvi's, on the pin-
nacle of a rock surrounded by tremendous pi-ccipices,
conspired to render their situation ecpially singular
and sublime. If a fragment was detached, either
spontaneously or by design, it Ixmnded from rock to
rock, raising smoke at every blow and setting numerous
other fragments in motion, till, amid showers of srones,
it reached the bottom of the mountain.

The descent of the party was more difficult and

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A PEltlLOUS DJ-isCENT. — KEFKACTION.

perilous than the ascent. The stones sunk heneath
their steps and rolled down the mountain, and they
were obliged to walk abreast ; otherwise the foremost
might have been ovei'whelmed under the masses which
those behind him dislodged. Finally, to the astonish-
ment and alarm of tln^ sailoi*s' beneath, Scoresbv and
his companions, in a i)art of their descent, slid down
an almost perpendicular wall of ice, and arrived in
safety at the ships. The boacli was found nearly
covered with the nests of terns, ducks, and other ten-
ants of the Arctic air, in some of which there Avere
young, over whom the parents kei>t watch, and, by
loud ci'ies and vehement gestures, sought to defend
them against the gulls and other ])redatory tribes hov-
ering around. Sevei'al sailors who had robbed these
nests were f<»llowe«l to a considerable distance with
loud and violent screams.

In a subseipient whaling voyage along the coast of
Greenhuul in the good shi[> BatHn, Scoresby made
some important geographical discoveries, and his
attention was j)articularly attracted to the refractive
power of the l*olar atmosphere when acting on ice
and other objects discerned through its medium. The
rugged surface assume«l the forms of castles, obelisks,
and spires, which here and there were sometimes so
linke<l together as to present the semi dance of an ex-
tensive and crowded city. At other times it resembled
a forest of naked trees; and fancy scarcely recpiired
an effort to identify its varieties with the productions
of human art ; — sculptured colossal forms, porticoes of
I I'icli and regular architecture, — even with the shapes
of lions, bears, horses, and other animals. Ships Avere
seen inverted, and suspended high in the air, and
their hulls often so magnified as to resemble huge

DESKIITED nAllITATIONS.

243

edifices. 01)ject8 really V)eneath the liorizon were
raised into view in a most extraordinaiy manner. It
swniH jKwitively ascertained, that points in the coast
of (ireenlan<l not above 4000 feet high, were seen at
the distance of 100 miles. The extensive evaporation
of the nieltin<; ices, with the une(pial condensation
produced by streams of cohl air, are considered by
jMr. Scoresby as the chief sources of this extraordinaiy
refract i<jn.

The coasts of Greenland were found richer in jdants
and verdure than any others seen by our navigator
within the Arctic circle, and almost deserving the
name given to the country by its first discoverers.
Tile grass nin in one place to one fo(»t in height, and
there were meadows of several acres that appeaivd
nearly ecpnil to any in England. Nowhere Avas a
human being seen, l)ut there were traces of recent and
freijuent habitations, not constructed of snow slabs
like those of the Esquimaux, but dug deep in the
ground, entered by a long winding passage, and roof-
ed with a wooden frame overlaid with moss an<l earth.
Near the handets were excavations in the earth, serv-
ing as graves, Avhere implem«>nts of hunting, found
along with the bones of the deceased, proved the prev-
alence here of the general belief of savage; nature,
that the employments of man in the future life will
exactly resendile those of the jn-esent.

Our navigator would have Ix'en ha]>py to examine
more of the Greenland coast, but the ship was not his
own, and the object of his voj-age being tt) catch
whales, he was compelled to turn in another direction.

Scoresby's discoveries and observations are appro-
priately followed by those of Captains Edward Sabine
and D. C. Clavering, which were made more in

244

CUUI8K OF THE Gltll'KU.

belmlf of Hcicnoo than ^t'ogrnpliicul (liwoveiy. Sal)'m(>
had long been iiitt-n'stcd in ])hil()H<)|)liical expcrinients
on thii nhapc of ilu^ earth l>y nieann of tlui ])r>n(1ulun),
and under tlie ])atronage of tlie Knglirth (rovernnient
Imd visited Sierra Ii<'one, St. Thonuis, TrinithMl and
titlier AVest India iMlan«lH, and also New York, in the
ship Pheasant eonunanded by C'lavering. So eon-
genial wan the soeiety of these two gentlemen, that
when it was proposed to Sa})ine to <»xtend liis obm^r-
rations into the Polar regions, lie requested that (^lav-
ering might command the gun-brig, (Jriper, whieh had
been designated to convey him northward ; an<l he did
8o. The Griper sailed from the Nore, May ^ 'i\
1823, being duly furnished with the magneric pendu-
bim and various astronomical and scientific instru-
ments.

The first destination of the Griper was TTammerfest,
near the North Cape of Norway, where she arrived
on the 23d of June. This place, built on a small
island named Qualoen, is in latitude 70^40', and the
dip of the needle here Capt. Sabine found to be 77^
40'. Ilammerfest was only a hamlet containing some
dozen houses, and our travelers were much i)lease(l
with the simple manners and kind hospilality of the
j)eople, who were delighted Avith the idea of a visit
from a man-of-war, even if it was no larger than the
little Griper. The women were fair and pretty and
dressed nuich like English women. Remote from the
fashionable Avorld, they were untainted with either
its vices or follies. Ileligious influences controlled
the hamlet and deviations from the niles of morality
were exceedingly rare. The trade of the place was
entirely in fish and oil, and reindeer the sole animal.

Having finished his observation at Hammerfest,

A CKl'ISK IN IIKJII LATITUDE.

245

Sabine cnibttrkecl on the 2.'Ul of June for Spitzl)ergen
and vicinity, and on the .'JOth anchored abreast of a
small inland, one of the inner Norways, antl diHeni-
barked the tents and inntruinentH. While Sabine wan
making his obnervationH ln're, Clavering determined
to sail northward — to the North Pole if posnible, — to
see what he could see in the high latitudes.

Accordingly, leaving six men to assist Sabine, and
six months' jn'ovisions and fuel so that if anything
should happen to the Griper the jdiilosojdier miglit
not starve or freeze, and a launch in which he might
make his way l)ack to Ilanunei-fest, the brave sailor
steered <lue noi*th on the oth of July, with the North
Pole for his destination. After sailing twenty-five
miles he found himself embayed among ice. Pro-
ceeding cautiously, lie stnick on tlie Cth a field of
packed ice extending east and west as far as the eye
could reach. Skirting the margin of this fieM in a
line nearly west for sixty miles and perceiving no ap-
pearance of an ojiening, he concluded it would be use-
less to make further attempt to reach the Pole in this
region, and accordingly returned to Capt. Sabine on
the nth of July. The highest latitude reached by
Clavering was 80^20'.

The magnetic pendulum having swung to the satis-
faction of the phih)sopher and all due observations
having been taken of the stars, the Griper was stoieil
M'ith fifty reindeer for fresh j^rovisions, and heade<l
for Gael Ilamkes' Bay, the highest p<nnt known on
the eastern coast of Greenland, which they reached,
after many impediments from ice on the 8th of
August. A boat was sent on shore at a point Avhich
they called Cape Warren, "than which," Clavenng
says, " never was there a more desolate spot seen.
Spitzbergen was a paradise to this place."

l.»!

246

ON THE EAST GREENLAND COAST.

■H

";1

: ^ r i|

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Pi'oceeding along the coast to the northward, among
floes of ice, they discovered two islands which they
named Pendulum Islands. Having passed them,
Clavering advanced northward till blocked ))y ice in
latitude 75^12'. He had now reached what he c<m-
ceived to he the north-east corner of Greenland,
formed by an island which he named " Shannon."

Returning to the Pendulum Islands as the best
place for Sabine to make his observations, Clavering
left the Griper and the philosopher there, and with
his yawl, wherry, and a party of twenty, started off
southward to see what he could see. At Cape War-
ren they landed, and found traces of natives and several
graves. Proceeding up an arm of the bay, a tent of
seal skins was found on the beach, and two natives
appeared on the heights, who seemed not to differ
from the common race of the Esquimaux. They were
shy at first, but their confidence was gradually won.
The whole tribe numbered only twelve. Great was
their surprise at the firing of guns and pistols. One
of them was induced to fire a pistol, and he was so
frightened that he slunk away into his tent, and the
following morning it was found they had all departed
leaving their tents and everything behind them,
doubtless frightened away by the magical effects of
gunpowder.

On the 29th of August, Clavering and party return-
ed to the Griper, and the philosopher having finished
his experiments, all set sail on the Slst, coasting along
the shore of Greenland till the 13th of September.
The coast everywhere appeared mountainous, rising
up in peaks from two to three thousand feet high.
The ice floes and fields making it dangerous sailing
near the shores, the Gr'per headed for Norway, where

SCIENTIFIC PllOBLEMS SOLVED.

247

they arrived on the 23(i of September. At Dron-
tlieim Fiord, Capt. Sabine landed and made further
experiments ; the expedition then returned safely to
England in December, after an absence of seven
months, and after successfully accomplishing the re-
sults for which it was planned.

The scientific results of this and fonner expeditions
of Captain Sabine and others, are thus summed up by
him. " The attempt to determine the figure of the
earth, by the variation of gravity at its surface, has
been carried into full execution on an arc of the me-
ridian of the greatest accessible extent, and the results
which it has produced are seen to be consistent with
eacli other, in combinations too varied to admit of the
correspondence being accidental. They are in fact
the cond)inations of twenty-eight stations — thirteen of
Captain Sabine's, eight of the French Savan's and seven
of the British Survey. The result is that the length
of a pendulum vibrating seconds at the ecjuator is
30.0152 inches. The increase of gravitation between
tlie Equator and the Pole is 0.202'45, and the ellip-
ticity is 4"

The second voyage of Capt. Lyon to the Arctic
regions was undertaken with a view to complete the
land survey of the eastern portion of the north coast
of North America, from the western shore of Melville
Peninsula to Cape Turn-again, the eastern limit of
Franklin's first jotirney. Although it did not result
in any great discoveries, it illustrates the perils and
brings out in bright relief the heroic character of
Arctic navigators. The vessel designated for the
service was the Griper. She sailed from England June
19th, 1824.
At the Orkney Islands two ponies w^ere takea

248

THE SNOW-BUNTING.

'!* 'if

(► '^

n\ 1

aboard ; also a cow and some sheep. The cow was
BO sea-sick that she refused to eat, and was therefore
eaten ; but the ponies proved good sailors.

Etirly in June, the Griper approached Kesolution
Island at the entrance of Hudson's Strait. Here
Esquimaux were met who brought articles for barter.
Lyon says, " I blush when I relate it, two of the fair
sex actually disposed of their neither garments."
On the 2 2d of August Southampton Island was in
sight. When off Cape Pembroke the compasses were
found to be nearly useless.

As Lyon was taking a walk on shore one day he
crossed an Esquimaux burial-place, and found the
grave of a child slightly covered with stones, through
which a snow-bunting had found its way to the neck
of the child and there built its nest. This bird is
considered by Arctic navigators as the robin of these
dreary regions, having all the domestic virtues of the
English redbreast ; its lively chirp and fearless con-
fidence have rendered it respected by the most hun-
gry sportsman. An English lady on reading this
incident, was inspired with the following beautiful
verses : —

" Sweet bird ! the breast of innocence
Hath fadeless charms for thee ;
Althonsrh the spirit long has fled,
And lifeless clay it be ;

Thou dreadest not to dwell with death,

Secure from harm or ill,
For on an infant's heart, ihy nest

Is wrought with fearless skill

And, like our own familiar bird

That seeks the human friend,
Thou clieer'st the wanderinjr seaman's thoagbts

With home, his aim and end."

In Howe's Welcome Hay, the fog, heavy sea, and
shallow water combined, made navigation most peril-

BAT OF QOD8 MEIiCT.

249

ous. Of tlieir situation here Lyon says: "I most
reluctantly brought the Griper up with three bow-
ers and a stream anchor, but not before we had
slioaled to five and a half fathoms, the ship pitching
bows under, and a tremendous sea running." The
]>eril l)eing imminent, the long boat was prepared to
l>e hoisted out with the four small ones, and the
officers and men drew lots with great conij)osui'e for
their respective boats, although two of the boats
Avould have been swamped the instant they were
lowered.

" Alth<mgh few or none of us had any idea that
we should survive the gale, we did not think that
our comforts should be entirely neglected, and ^n
order was therefore given to the men to put on their
best and wai'niest clothing, to enable them to suj)])ort
lite as long as possible. Every man, thereibre,
brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in
the fine athletic forms which stood exposed beibre me, I
did not see one muscle (piiver, nor the slightest sign of
alarm. And now that every thing in our ])ower had
been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful
God ofl'ered })rayers for our i)reservation. I thankcul
everv one for their excellent conduct, and cautioned
them, as we should in all ])robability soon ajjix'ar
before our ]\taker, to enter his j)resence as men
resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in
gr()U])s, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by
whatever we could find, many of us endeavored to
ol»taiii a little sleep. Never, perhajjs, was witnessed
a liner scene than on the deck of my little shij>, when
all hoj)e of life had lell us. God was merciful to us ;
the tide almost miraculously fell no lower, the wind
ceased and we were saved." This locality was very
properly named Bay of God's Mercy.

ill .1

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P iil \\\r:

Im''

^W-

250

APPIIOACII TO KA5ICIIATKA.

A similar storm occurred in September, opposite
the mouth of Wager's River, dui'ing which one
anchor after another parted, and the vessel drifted
away in the darkness, but escai)ed wreck. The sit-
uation, however, was still a precarious one, and with-
out anchors and in a crippled condition, the ship was
headed for England where it arrived in November.

The object of Captain Beeehey's expedition to
Bering's Straits in 1825, was not so much for the
purposes of discovery as to render assistance to Parry
and Franklin, and especially to the latter — who was
then on his second land expedition — should he be
successful in Avorking westward from the Mackenzie
River to Kotzebue Sound, the place of rendezvous for
both explorers.

Beechey sailed from England in the sloop Blossom,
May 19th, 1825, with instructions to proceed around
Ca])e Horn, visit the English possessions in the
Pacific Ocean, and arrive at the rendezvous by July,
1820, there to remain till the approach of winter, in
case neither Franklin nor Parry were heard from.
Late in June 1826, the Blossom api)roached Petro-
])aulski, after having sailed seven hundred miles in a
dense fog, which now cleared up and revealed the
lofty mountains and volcanoes of Kamchatka. " Noth-
ing could surpass the serenity of the evening, or the
magnificence of the mountains capped with perennial
snows, rising in majestic array above each other. The
volcano emitted smoke occasionally, and from a
sprinkling of black dots on the snow to the leeward
of the crater, we concluded there had been a recent
eruption."

At Petropaulski, Beechey found dispatches announ-
cing the return of the expedition under Parry. Cor-

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TIIE LAWRENCE-ISLANDERS.

251

dial was the hospitality extended to the explorers
by the citizens of the little town, and the i)aHtor, in
compliance with the injunctions of his grandfather,
that he sliould send a calf to the captain of every
English man-of-war that miglit arrive in tlie port, pre-
sented Beeehey with one of his own rearing.

On the voyage north the Blossom st<)]i])ed off
Lawrence Island, and the natives innncdiatcly came
out in boats, evidently anxious for a trade. One old
lady amused the crew by her attempts to impose
upon their credulity. She was seated upon a bag of
l>eltry, from which she now and then drew out a skin,
cautiously exhil)ited the best part of it with a look
implying that it was of great value, repeatedly hugged
it, and endeavored to coax her new accpiaintances into
a good bargain ; but it was easy to see that her furs
would not bear close examination. The tricks of
trade are not confined to civilization. Tobacco was
the great want of the men, and needles and scissors
of the women, and with both l)lue beads were aiii-
cles highly esteemed. They, however, seemed a little
suspicious of the Latter, and bit them, possibly to see
if they were made of wax. The mode of salutation
of these natives was by rubbing their noses against
those of their friends and drawing tli(i palms of their
hfmds over the face.

Beeehey passed Bering's Strait, which sei)aratos
the two great continents, on one of those beautiful
still nights well known to all who hav^e visite<l the
Arctic regions, when the sky is without a cloud, and
when the midnight sun, scarcely his own diameter
below the horizon, tinges Avith a bright hue all the
northern circle. The extremities of the two great
continents were distinctly seen, and the islands in the

9 <;

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■if' .-J.

ir '-'

252

CUSTOMS OF THE AL^VSKANS.

'ri

Sf.. .

strait clearly ascertained to be only three, as liad
been stated by Capt. Cook.

A little noi'th of Cape Prince of "Wales, they were
again visited by the natives who were eager for irada
and willingly sold everything they had, except their
bows and arrows. They were noisy and ever ready
for a joke. They had a curious appendage to their
dress, worn as an ornament in the shape of a bird's
winsT or the tail of a fox, tied to the end of a striiii;
fastened to their girdles, which dangled behind as
they walked, giving them a ridiculous appearance,
and probably occasioning the rejiort, recorded by
some traveler, that the people of this country have
tails like dogs. To this dog-tail slander, they might
perhaps retort that civilized women had camel's
humps on their backs.

At Schismareff Inlet were seen the lip ornaments
common to this coast. They consist of j)ieces of ivory,
stone or glass, formed with double heads, like sleeve
buttons, which are inserted in holes bored in tlie
under lip about half <an inch below the corners of tlio
mouth. The diameter of the orifice in those worn
by adults is usually about half an inch, but Boeoliey
saw one lip button made of polished jade stone, that
was three inches in length and an inch and a half in
width.

On the 22d of July, Beechey reached his rendezvous,
Chamisso Island in Kotzebue Sound, but could find no
traces of Franklin.

Leaving the barge to keep in shore on the look-out
for Franklm, Beechey sailed northward as far as Icy
Cape. Finding indications of the ice closing in, he
then returned to the sound and dispatched the barge
under the command of Messrs. Elson and Smyth with

•\Vi:i:CK OF THE BAROE.

253

instructions to trace the coast to the North-east na fur
as they couhl j)enetrate. Tliey succeeded in survey-
ing one hundred and twenty-six miles of new co.ist, and
were stopped hy a h)ng, h)w, projecting tongue of
land which tney named Point Barrow. Here they
were witliin one hundred and forty-six miles of the
extreme point reached by Franklin.

By the middle of Octoher the Escjuimaux liad all
de])arted to their winter-cpiarters, the hirds had
migrated, the sea was rai)idly heing frozen, and
Beechey sailed for San Francisco where he wintered.

In the following season, Beechey returned to
Chamisso Island, where he anchored August 5th.
Here the Large was again called into r('<piisition, and
under command of Lieutenant Belcher, it started
north and reached a ])oint some forty miles easterly
of Icy Cape, hut could go no further in consecpience
of the ice. On the way back Belcher stopped at
Choris Peninsula to erect an observatory. While
all the party but two were on shore, a gale sprung
up. The crew were immediately ordered aboard and
one ti'ip of the small boat landed three persons on
the barge, but an attempt to reach it a second time
Mas unsuccessful. The vessel soon sunk in shallow
water, and two of her crew were drowned in attempt-
ing to reach shore. The others retreated to the
rigging, but one fell and perished; the other two
were rescued after the sea subsided.

Meantime, Beechey had been on an excursion in the
Blossom, and when returning to the rendezvous, dis-
covered with telescopes a flag flying on the coast and
two men waving white cloths. The possil)ility of its
being Franklin's party was the first wish of his mind ;
but this was soon dispelled as a nearer view of the

I! r

■';■ I'

ti«

254

SKIRMISHES WITH THE NATIVES.

flacj proved it to be the ensign of liis own boat
hoisted Avith the union downward indicative of dis-
tress, and Bek'lier and his surviving men were soon rec-
ognized and cared for. They had experienced some
trouble with the natives after the h>ss of their barge,
and subsecjuently the civw of the Blossom liad wkir-
mishe?«, Asith them in which several of the seamen
were wounded by arrows, and one or more of thc!
Esquimaux killed. Beechey did not punish them as
they deserved, as he was unwilling to awaken senti-
ments which might prove injurious to other Euro-
peans.

The balance of the season was passed in futile
attempts to find Franklin, and grieved and disap-
pointed, Capt. Beechey left KotzeV)ue's Sound, Oct. Cth,
1827; but did not arrive in England till the autumn
of 1828, having been absent three and a half years.

CHAPTER XVIII.
PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE.

The scheme of reaching the Pole by traveling over
the frozen surface of the ocean was first suggesti'il hy
Mr. ScoresLy. He believed that the Polar Sea in
some meridians presented one continuous sheet of tol-
erahly smooth ice, which could be traversed without
^roat difficulty. The idea was taken uji by Capt.
Parry, whose brilliant voyages to the North-west had
led him to suspect that further ])rogress in that di-
rection was hopeless, and an expedition was fitted out
which left England, April 4th, 1827, in the sloop
lied a.

The plan was to proceed in this vessel as ftir north
as possible, when a portion of the crew weie to leave
the shiji, Avith two boats on runners, which were to
be dragged or navigated as circumstances might
admit, over the unknown and desolate expanse be-
tween Spitzbergen and the Pole. These boats were
twenty feet long and seven broad, with runners at-
tached to each side of the keel so that they could be
drawn on the ice like sleds. Wheels were also taken
along for use, if practicable.

At Hammerfest eight noble reindeer were taken
on board ship, with which the adventurers hoped to
make a stage journey to the Pole. As each boat with

255

.1 '•'

^«^l

unmn

250

I'AUUV AND HIS DEER.

I fi

J ■■' ■

I ifi

I* M ,

t-Jh.!

bi .!;:

its cargo wcij^luvl nearly two tons, a four-in-liand team
would certainly l»c an aitl on the icy road. At all events
tlie deer served to beguile the tediousness of the pas-
sage to Spitzbergen, and all hands became much attach-
ed to them. Tlie reguhir allowance of clean moss i'or
each deer was lour |>ounds daily, but in case of neces-
sity they would go iive or six days without jnov-
cnder and not sulVer nuiterlally. Theadaj)tion of these
aninuds to the Friijrid Zone is wonderful. Snow is
their favorite drink, — if the bull may be j)ardone(l, —
and cold, hard ice is as comfortable andel.istic a bed
as they desire; at least they never comjdain when fur-
nished with such slee])ing accommodations, canopied
over by the vaulted arch of heaven.

Parry was enamored with his deer — the only draw-
back to his happiness being the thought that dire ne-
cessity might compel him and his crew to eat them.

The Ilecla rounded Ilakluyt's Headland May 14th,
and met with a tremendous gale which almost lay the
ship on her beam ends, and tossed her like a feather;
and she was soon completely Ijcset by a lai'ge floe
which carried her eastward. After release from this
tedious imprisonment of twenty-four days, came along
and anxious search for a secure harbor.

At length the Ilecla was anchored in a fine harbor
^vhich the Dutch had named Treurenberg Bay, Init
now rechristened as Hecla Cove. Numerous graves
were found on the shore. The bodies had been depos-
ited in oblong boxes and covered with stones : a board
near the head recording the name of the deceased and
the time of his death. C ne was dated as far back as
1090, and Parry was right in conjecturing that the
Dutch name of the bay was derived from treuren, to
lament, on account of the mortality which Lad oc-

THE START FOU THE POLE.

257

curred here. Tliis was not cncournging to tlu; pni'ty
who were to remain with the nhij), but there
was no time to be lost, and brave sailors must not be
frightened by graves or ghostly shadows.

On the 22d of June the excursion i)arty left the
ship amid the cheers of their associates. The boats
were severally commanded by Parry and James C.
Ross. Lt. Crozier, after »,ards second in connnand of
the lost Franklin expedition, was one of the officers
who remained with thellecla. Provision forstnenty
days were taken along, but the "eight tiny reindeer"
were left behind, with the wheels, Parry having seen
enou};!i of the miffed surface of the ice to convince
him that they would be of more use to Santa Clans
than to himself. What became of these animals which
had so much interested Parry, he omits to mention.
The stern realities of the Northern Sea probably
drove all sentimentalism from his mind.

For eighty miles they proceeded due north, sailing
slowly through a calm and smooth oj)en sea. In lati-
tude 81® 12^ 51 ''they were stoj)ped by slush ice, which
could neither be walked nor sailed ovei-, but was to be
passed by the two methods alternately. Here com-
menced the real labor of their fatiguing and monot-
onous journey.

The first step was to convert night into day ; to
begin their journey in the evening and end it in the
morning. Thus their notions of night and day became
inverted. They rose in what they called the morning,
but which was really late in the evening, and having
performed their devotions, breakfasted on warm co-
coa and biscuit. They then drew on their boots,
usually either wet or hard frozen ; and which, though
perfectly diied, would have been equally soaked in

lilr

{f-^

||i

i'. *,^

• 1.1

258

A JOURNEY ON ICE.

r- I i

id I a

1 1! 11

fifteen minutes. The party then traveled five or six
hours, and a little after midnight stopped to dine.

They now performed an equal journey in what was
called the afternoon ; and in the evening, that is, at
an advanced morninr; hour, halted as for the niirht.
They then appi'ed themselves to obtain rest and
comfort, put on dry stockings and fur-boots, cooked
something warm for supper, smoked their pipes, told
over their exploits, and, forgetting the toils of the
day, enjoyed an interval of ease and gayety. Then,
wrapping them-elves in their fur-cloaks, they lay down
in the boat, rather too close together jierhaps, Init
with very tolerable comfort. The sound of a bugle
roused them at night to their breakfast of cocoa, and
to a repetition of the same round.

Instead of a smooth, level surface, which they ex-
pected to find, over which a coach might be driven,
the ice f^onsisted of small, loose and ruir2;ed masses,
compelling the men to make two or three trips in
order to bring up the boats and baggage. One day
during heavy rain they advanced but lialf a mile in
four hours. In short, it was found, by an observation
taken at midnight on the 30th of June, that since they
started on the ice, on the 25th, they liad jirogressed
nortliward only about twelv^e miles. All expectation of
reaching the Pole was now relinquished, but hopes of
reacliinii; the 83d de<2;ree were entertained.

The party came at length to smoother ice and larger
floes, and making better progress, persevered till the
20tli of July, when they were mortified to find that
their latitude was less than five miles to the north-
ward of where it was on the 17th, although they had
certainly traveled twelve miles in that direction. Parry
began now to suspect that the ice was floating south-

DRIFTING SOUTH.

259

■ward, and that they were in the condition of the frog
jumping out of a well, which jumped tliree feet and
fell back two. Such a suspicion was disheartening to
the officers, but was not communicated to the men
who often laughingly remarked, " We are a long time
getting to this eighty-third degree."

On the 2Gtli they were only one mile further north
than they were on the 2 1st, though they had in that
time traveled ixorthward twenty-three miles ; thus it
was ascertained that the southern drift of the ice ^^'as
at the rate of over four miles per day. Parry con-
cluded it was useless to persevere in the attempt even
to reach the 88d parallel, and communicated the facts
and his intentions to the men. Great had lieen their
exertions, and great was their disappointment. They
consoled themselves however with the belief^hat they
had gone fui-ther noi'th than any previous explorers.
The highest latitude reached was 82°-i0', which is a
trifle farther north than the Polaris penetrated on her
late trip. Their greatest distance from the Ilecla was
only one hundred and seventy-two miles, but to ac-
complish it they had probably traveled far enough to
reach the Pole, as they had so many times ti'ebled
their track. ,

Nothing? remarkable occurred on the return.
It was no small satisfaction to the explorers to know
that there would be no backsliding and that every
mile of advance southward would count two or three
miles. They arrived at Hecla Cove on the 21st of
August, where they were received, says Parry, " with
that warm and cordial welcome which can be felt
but not described. Considering our constant expos-
ure to wet, cold and fiitigue, our stockings having
been generally drenched in snow water for twelve

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RETURN TO HECLA COVE.

hours out of every twenty-four, I had great reason
to be thankful for the excellent health in which upon
the whole we reached the ship."

The Hecla soon afterward sailed for England, and
thus ended the first and only attempt that has been
made to penetrate to the Pole over the frozen surface
of the deep. All the jirowess, energy, and hardihood
of British seamen were exerted to the utmost without
making even an approach towards the fulfillment of
their object. The late Captain Hall hoped to reach
the Pole by a sled journey over the ice and land,
starting from the highest point that the Polaris could
obtain ; but there is little doubt that if he had lived
to make the attempt, it would have proved an unsuc-
cessful if not disastrous one. The Pole is a reality,
and some benefit to science w^ould accrue from obser-
vations taken thereon ; but we may as well conclude
that when God gave man dominion over the whole
earth, that locality Mas not included or was considered
unworthy of his presence.

CHAPTER XIX.

ARCTIC EXPEDITION OF JOHN AND JAMES

C. ROSS.

John Ross, whose Expedition made under the au-
spices of th'^ British Admiralty in 1818 was sorely
criticised by the press and pronounced a failure, was
not content to remain in inglorious ease, but felt an
ambition so common to adventurers, to try his fortune
once more. Ross's faith in the North-west passaj2;e never
was very great ; and the second expedition seems to
have been undertaken more from a love of adventure
and a desire to retrieve his good name, than from any
well-grounded hope of success in its professed object.
The perseverance and energy displayed in carrying it
out were worthy of better results than it actually ac-
complished.

From his experience in his first Arctic adventure,
and from careful study of the voyages of others, Ross
became convinced that a small steamship would make
better headway among the floes and fields of ice than
a sailing vessel ; and accordingly presented his views
to t!ie Admiralty as early as 1827, asking government
aid for his new project. This proposal was not favor-
ably received, and he then applied to his friend. Sir
Felix Booth, a wealthy gentleman, who listened kindly
to his statements, but finally decided not to embark

261

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SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN IIOS.S.

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in the enterprise, lest it might he construed by the
public as a mere mercanlile speculation, in hopes of
securing the reward of £20,000 ollered by Parliament
for the discovery of the North-west passage.

Not baffled by this second rebuff, Ross again applied
to the Admiralty, submitting a modified, and as he
thought, an improved plan of navigating the Arctic
Seas by means of steam. Tlie decided answer of the
Admiralty was : — " Government docs not intend to
send out any more expeditions on this enquiry."

Soon after this Parliament revoked its oiler of £20,-
000, which had tempted so many adventurers into the
Polar Seas. This removed Booth's objection to aiding
Ross, and he advanced the money necessary to buy
and fit out the Victory, a steamer of one hundred and
fifty tons. The whole cost was £17,000.

With his nephew, James Clark Ross, as commander, a
purser, surgeon, and a crew of seventeen, Ross steamed
down the Thames on the 23d of May, 1 829. The steam
fixtures did not prove to be as efiicient as he expected,
and his main reliance for the trans-atlantic voyage and
indeed for the whole expedition, was upon sails.

On the 23d of July the Victory came to anchor in
the harbor of Holsteinberg, a Danish settlement on the
coast of Greenland, and was soon surrounded by ca-
noes filled Avith Esquimaux, among whom were two
whites clothed like the natives, who proved to be Mr.
Kail, the governor, and Mr. Kijer, a clergyman, both
well educated gentlemen who had resided in the country
for six years. At the house of the latter the oflicers of
the Victory were treated with great kindness, Mrs. Kijer
doing the honors at the table, and Esquimaux girls, neat-
ly dressed in native costume, doing the service. The
settlement consisted of the governor's and clergyman's

LIFE AT IIOLSTEIXBERG.

263

houses, a cliurch, two store-houses, and about forty Es-
quimaux huts. The church was a neat simple struc-
ture, surmounted with a small steeple, and havini,^ an
audience-room furnished with an organ and seats
for two hundred persons. Ilolsteinberg is a roman-
tic and interesting place, but the governor and
clergyman must have led self-denying lives in this
solitude, away from all the social privileges of civili-
zation. Peace and happiness are however of no coun-
try or situation, and here in this narrow and appa-
rently contented circle they seemed to exist in per-
fection. No disorderly or immoral conduct was
noticed among the natives ; and Mr. Kijer represented
the Greenlanders as so pacific in their dispositions
that quarrels among them were very rare.

As an instance of their honesty, Capt. Ross relates
that on the morning of his departure from Ilolstein-
berg, a poor Esquimaux came alongside of the Victory,
bringing an oar which had been lost from one of the
boats, and adds : " I know not how fir the exertions
of the worthy clergyman deserve to share in the merit
of this and the other good conduct which we witnessed,
but be this as it may, I do but justice to the natural
character of this race, almost everywhere in our experi-
ence, to say that they are among the most worthy
of all the rude triljes yet known to our voyagers in
any part of the world."

The singing of the Esquimaux girls in church as-
tonished and delighted the captain, and he was assured
that they learned to sing the most refined sacred mu-
sic of the German school with great facility, and the
Moravian missionaries have made music a powerful
auxiliary in religious instruction and civilization.
Some of the Esquimaux have not only been taught

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264

SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS.

to sing, but to play, and construct their o^vn instru-
ments.

On the 7th of August the Victory stcamorl into
Lancaster Sound. The sea was covered witli minute
marine animals and ducks, and gulls Avere in sight;
no ice of any kind was to be seen. Ross proceeded
westerly, till he reached Prince ^Regent Inlet, into
which he turned his ship and sailed southerly in search
of the place Avhere the Fury was wrecked, lioping to
replenish his stock of provisions from her stores.

On the 13th of August the Victory entered a bay,
which was christened Adelaide in honor of the Duchess
of Clarence, it being her birtli-day. On the afternoon
of the next day. Commander Ross, who had been the
lieutenant of the Fury, recognized a high-projectiui;'
precipice as being some three miles from the wreck,
for which all eyes were looking ; and, an hour after-
ward, the tents were seen on the mound Avhere the
shipwrecked stores had been deposited. The same
evening the Victory was safely moored in an ice har-
bor, within a quarter of a mile of the coveted goods.

The coast was found almost lined with coal; and one
tent — the mess-tent of the Fury's oflicers — remained
whole, though it was evident the bears had paid it
frequent visits. A pocket near the door of this tent,
in which Commander Ross had left his memorandum-
book, was missing. The preserved meats and vegeta-
bles were found in good condition. The canisters
had been piled up in two heaps, and though exposed
to all the vicissitudes of the climate for four years,
they had not suffered in the slightest degree. There
had been no water to rust them, and the security of
the joinhigs had prevented the bears from smelling
the contents. Had they known the feast of fat things
contained within those shining tins, not much would

THE WRECK OF THE YVllY.

2G5

have remained for the crew of the Victory. The wine,
sugar, bread, flour, and cocoa, were found in equally
good condition. The lime-juice and the pickles had
not suffered much, and even the salis were not only
dry, but looked ns if they had never been wet. Not
a trace of the hull of the Fury was to be found.

The stores, not the wreck, Mere what Capt. Ross
wanted. With great delight the crew set about em-
barking a sufficiency of stores to complete the equip-
ment of the Victory for over two years. This fitting
out a vessel in an abandoned region of ice and ro; ks,
was a novel scene. Without money and without price
the crew carried on board the Victory canister after
canister of provisions, and yet all they could store away
on board seemed scarcely to diminish the pile. Ten
tons of coal, some anchors, and some carpenter's stores
were also appropriated. The powder nuigazine had
become unroofed, but the patent cases had kept the
powder perfectly dry, and with a portion of this the
new outfit was ended.

Captain Ross' plan was to make a thorough survey
of Prince Regent's Inlet, and ascertr.in whether thero
was any outlet from it to the Polar Sea ; he therefore
proceeded from Fury Beach southward. The voyage
now began to acquire its pecidiar interest as the Victory
was traversing a comparatively unknown region. The
land seemed to extend in a south-west direction con-
tinuously, and the captain gave it the name of Boothia,
in honor of his patron. Many whales came clo. e to
the ship, thus proving that they had never had a taste
of the harpoon.

The geological structure was limestone, containing
shells. Some sandstone and gneiss were also observed,
and in many of the small bays, there were accumular

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266

SE«;()NU LXrEDlTlON OF JOHN ROSS.

•I

tiona of snnd. The soundings were in clay, so tounli
as to re(|iiire great force to extract the lead from it.
There was no wood ; a heath with stems about an inch
thick, being the largest plant growing.

A harbor was found sufficiently deep and large to
accommodate the whole British navy, and to this was
given the name of Elizabeth, in compliment to a sis-
ter of Mr. Booth. In many parts of it there were
five fathoms of water close to rocks or shore, wIrmc
vessels might lie as at a pier ; and from marks on the
rocks it was judged that the spring-tide rose eight
feet. Near the sea the land was generally bare, but
inland there were plains and valleys of considerable
extent covered with vegetation. In the valleys were
numerous lakes, some of them two miles long, and
all well stocked with fish. As the season advanced
navigation became more and more difficult and haz-
ardous. The Victory drawing but a few feet of water,
had great advantage in navigating the Arctic Seas, but
still her perils were many. Captain Ross thus graph'
ically describes the appearance of those seas.

" To those who have not seen a northern ocean in
winter, the term ice, exciting but the recollection of
what they know of it at rest in an inland lake, con-
veys no idea of what it is the fate of the Arc
tic navigator to witness. But let them remem])er that
ice is stone, a floating rock in a stream, a promontory
or an island when aground, not less solid than if it
were granite. Then let them imagine, if they can,
these mountains of crystal, hurled through a narrow
strait by a rapid tide ; meeting as mountains would
meet, with the noise of thunder, breaking from each
other precipices, huge fragments, or rending each
other asunder, till, losing their former equilibrium,

FROZEN IN.

207

they fall over headlong, lifting the sea around in break-
ers, and whirling it in eddies, while the llutter fields
of ice, forced against these masses, or against the
rocks by the wind and stream, rise out of the seji (ill
they fall back on themselves, adding tg the indescrib-
able commotion and noise which attend these occur-
rences."

On the last day of September Captain lloss deter-
mined that further progress was impossible for the
season, and that his next duty was to look out for
winter quarters. An inevitable detention among im-
movable ico made his men feel like captives upon
whom the prison doors were being closed for long and
weary months. Making an inland excursion, he as-
cended a high liill to take a general survey of the sit-
uation. At the south-west appeared a succession of
uniform low hill, beyond which no water was to bo
seen. In the interior he could see even throuu-h the
snow, that the plains were covered with vegetation.
Many tracks of hares were seen, and some of these an-
imals were shot, Avhich were at this early date (juite
white, showing that their change in color is not the
eflbct of temperature, but a prospective arrangement
for meeting the cold of winter. There were also
many Esquimaux traps with a gi'eat number of cairns
or stones, which at a distance reseml)le men, and are
erected by the Esquimaux for the purpose of fright-
ening the deer and turning them within reach.

In the meantime the crew were set to work unlad-
ing the ship of the steam engine and fixtures which
had pioved an incumbrance. Thenceforth the Victory
was simply a sailing vessel.

By October 8th there was not an atom of water
to be seen anywhere, and excepting the protrud-

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268

SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS.

ing point of some dark rock, nothing but one dazzling
and monotonous, dull and woarisomo extent of snow
"was visible. Captain Ross describes the eflect of this
uniformity, silence and death as paralyzing to both
body and mind. Nothing moves, nothing changes;
all is forever the same — cheerless, cold, and silent.

The Victory had not made the progress expected
of her, but she went into winter quarters one hundred
and sixty-six miles be}ond the wrecking-groiuid of
the Fury. An examination of the provisions and
fuel gave the comforting assurance that there was
enough of both to suppy all wants for more than two
years; and oflicers and crew settled down for a long
winter's repose.

The record of the winter is monotonous. Captain
Ross studied carefully the effects of the cold upon him-
self and men, and came to the conclusion that there
is great difference in individuals as to their power of
generating heat. A ruddy, elastic, • florid, or clear
complexioned man, is secured by nature against cold ;
while the pale, sallow, and melanclioly-looking, are not
the men for an Arctic voyage.

The deck of the Victory being covered Avith
snow to the depth of two-and-a-half feet, it was trod
down till it became a solid mass, and was then cov-
ered with sand, so as to have the appearance of a solid
gravel walk. Above this a roof was built, and the
sides of the vessel were banked with snow up to the
roof so as to form a perfect shelter from the wind and
Avard off much of the extreme cold. On this deck the
men walked for exercise when the cold was too cxccs^
sive for them to venture abroad. From six o'clock
in the evening till nine, the men were required to
attend school, and on Sunday prayers were offered

LIFE AT FELIX IIAUUOR.

2G9

and a sermon read ; the good efibcts of their educa-
tional and rehgious duties were manifest in the conduct
of the men, who seemed to feel that they belonged to
one family, and evinced much mutual kindness and
a remarkable propriety of deportment. The use of
spirituous liquors was abandoned, and even the habit
of swearini^ Avas broken up.

Christmas was celebrated with a liberal dinner, of
which roast beef formed the essential and orthodox
portion. The stores from the Fury came into play
on this day, as they included mince pies and iced
cherry brandy. Flags were displayed from the ship
and shore, the church service allotted for the day read,
and one and all enjoyed the festival more probably
than those whose lives of uniform ease, peace, and
luxury, render them insensible to hard-won enjoyment.
The thermometer ranged from 18 to 22 below zero.

January 9th, some Esquimaux appearing on the
shore, the officers went out to meet them and found
them armed with spears and knives. Captain Ross
hailed them with the Esquimaux salutation, tim,a,
tima, and was answered by a general shout of the
same kind, the natives throwing their weapons into
the air, and extending their arms. An embrace on
the part of Captain Ross, and a stroking of the dress
of the Esquimaux, the sign of friendship, established
unhesitating confidence, which they manifested in the
great deliglit apparent on their countenances, and in
laughing, clamor, and strange gestures. They w^ere
all well drassed in excellent deer-skins, the upper gar-
ments double and encircling the body, and extending
from the chin to the middle of the thigh. Of the two
skins which formed this double dress, the inner one
had the hair next to the body, and the outer one in

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270

SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOILV IIOS.--'.

a reverse direction. The trousers were also of deer
skin, rea(;liin<r low on the leg, and eac^h had on two
pairs of hoots, with the hairy side of hoth turned in-
ward. Willi this inunense superstructure of clothing,
they looked much larger than they really were, and
more like woodchucks walking on their hind legs
than men. Their cheeks were plump, and of as rosy
a color as possible under so dark a skin. Their faces
were good-natured, their eyes dark, nose small, and the
hair l)lack and cut short, and carefully arranged.

Three of these Esquimaux being introduced into
the cabin, were greatly delighted with some engrav-
ings of their countrymen, which they instantly re-
cognized as portraits of their race. The siglit of them-
selves in a looking-glass excited their greatest aston-
ishment. They did not relish the preserved meat, but
being offered some oil, drank it with great gusto.
Thus admirably are the tastes of all men adapted to
the food within their leach, and their views of happi-
ness to the means provided for their enjoyment. A
Hand thus spreads for His creatures a table in the wil-
derness.

The next day Captain Ross visited the village of
these Esquimaux, about two-and-a-half miles distant,
which he found to consist of twelve snow-huts, having
the appearence of inverted basins. Each had a long
crooked appendage, which formed the entrance, and
at its mouth sat the women and children. This pas-
sage, always long and generally crooked, led to the
principal apartment. Opposite the doorway there was
a bank of snow about two-and-a-half feet high, level
at the top, and covered with skins, forming the gen-
eral bed, or sleeping-place for the wholtj. At the end
of this snow-couch sat the mistress of the home, op-

up
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KINO William's land.

271

posite to the lamp, ■wliich bcin^ of moss and oil. as is
the miiversal custom, gave oiioiigh light miil heat to
render the apartment comfortable. Over the lamp
was the cooking-dish of stone, containing the flesh of
deer and seals, cooking in oil. Dresses, implements,
and provisions lay about in unspeakable confusion, as
order is not one of the Escjuimaux virtues.

A large oval piece of clear ice, fixed about halfway
u}) on the eastern side of the rool", served to admit ex-
ternal light to their snow-houses. In the entrance
passage, there was a little ante-chamber,arranged (or the
eomlort of the dogs, and the mouth of the entrance
was changed with each change of wind, so as always
to open to the leeward.

The females were certainly not beautifid, l»ut. what
is better, were well behaved. All above thirteen
years of age seemed to be married, and there were
three or four such in every house— apparently three
yomig wives in a house where there was one old one,
a modification of Mormonism, which BriLiham Young
will do well to consider. All were tattooed to a
greater or less extent, chiefly on the brow and on each
side of the mouth and chin.

In the following spring, Ross, " the nephew of his
uncle," and really the enterprising genius of the ex-
pedition, started off on a sledge journey of nearly a
inontli, during which he penetrated westward two
hundred miles, and discovered King William's Sound
and King William's Land.

The Victory was held fast in the ice for eleven
months, and only released on the 17th of September,
1830. This long imprisonment through the summer
months was enough to discourage any but Arctic adven-
turers. Their sledge journeys had satisfied them that

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272

SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS.

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there was no western passage from Regent's Inlet, to
the south of their position, and it was Avith delight that
they once more found themselves free to retrace their
course northward. After advancing about three miles
they encountered a field of ice, tlu'ough which they
vainly endeavored to saw their way. On the 30th of
September there was no water to be seen. On all
sides lay snow and ice. They did not, hoAvever, relin-
quish their endeavors, bv.t spent the month of Octo-
ber in sawing through ice which was constantly in-
creasing in thickness. They struggled like drowning
men, but were opposed by King Frost, who is a mighty
power in tliose rogicms.

Obliged at last to su])mit to his sovereignty, the
utter monotony of their situation pressed upon them
with iucieasiug severity, and they were led to envy
the Esquimaux, to whom eating and sleeping was the
wliole of life.

In the following spring James Ross started oil' on a
sledge excursion, to ascertain the precise location of the
Magnetic Pole. \n this he was successi'ul. In lati-
tude 70° 5' 17", and longitude U0° 4G'45"west,he (bund
the dip of his needle to be 89° 59', being thus witliin
one minute of vertical. On this spot he erected a
cairn of some magnitude, and placing under it a canis-
ter containing a record of the event, and over it the
British flag, lie ibrmally took possessicm of the North
Magnetic Pole and its adjoining territor}' of Roothia,
in the name of Great Britain and King William IV.

This was doubtless an a})proximiiti()n to the position
of the Pole, as it then was, as scientific men had \)VG-
viously fixed it in this neighborhood, from observations
of their compasses in various circumjacent latitudes;
but the trouble with this pole is that it does not stay

DISCOVERY OF THE MAGxXETIC POLE.

273

fixed, but moves 11' 4" each year, and revolves around
the North Pole of the eartlionce in 1890 years. Accord-
ing to this calculation it will come around to Ross's
cairn in Boothia again in A. D. 3721.
I After a second imprisonment of eleven months, the
Victory was warped into open sea, August 27th, 1831,
but after advancing four miles in one month, she was
again ice-bound, September 27th, and another deso-
late winter was spent in Regent's Inlet — how desolate
none can tell who has not suffered similar solitude and
monotony.

As the experience of two summers left them little
hope of saving the ship, Captain Ross and his ollicers
resolved to abandon the Victory, and travel over the
ice to Fury Beach, and tiuis avail themselves of the
boats, which might enable them to reach Davis's
Straits. Accordingly, on the 20th of May, 1832, tiie
colors of the Victory were hoisted and nailed to the
mast, and the captain and crew took a sad leave of her.
" It was the first vessel," saj's Ross, " that I iiad ever
been obliged to abamlon, after having served in thirty-
six, during a period of forty-two years. It was like
the last parting with au old friend, and I did not pass
the point where she ceased to l)e visil)le without stop-
ping to take a sketch of this nudancholy desert, ren-
dered more melancholy by the solitary, abandoned lielp-
less home of our pnst years, fixed in inunoval^le ice till
time should perform on her his usual work."

After incredible fatigue and hardship, the crew
reached Fury Beach in the latter part of July, where,
thanks to Parry and Providence, they found boats and
])r()visions in good condition. August 1st, they em-
biu'ked in their boats on an open sea, and after much
buffeting, many i)erils, and a month of toil, they

II'

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274

SECOND EXPEDITION OF JOHN ROSS.

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reached the mouth of the inlet. Here they were
doomed again to a sad disappointment, for after several
fruitless attempts to run along Barrow's Strait.s, the ice
obliged them to haul their bojits on shore and pitch
their tents. Day after diiy they lingered till the third
week in September ; but the strait continuing one im-
penetrable mass of ice, it was unanimously agreed that
their only resource was to fall back on the stores at
Fury Beach, and there spend a fourth long winter
in the Arctic Circle. They Avere only able to proceed
half the distance in boats, and on the 24tli of Sep-
tember left them behind on the shores of Batty Bay.

The rest of the journey was performed on foot, the
provisions beiniif drawn in sledges. On the 7th of
October the}^ reached the canvas hut, dignified with
the Uiime of Somerset House, which they had erected
in July, on the scene of the Fury's wreck, to which
they thought they had Ijid a last farewell.

Building a snow Wiill four feet thick around their
canvas house, strengthening the roof with spars so that
it might be covered with snow, and putting up another
stove, they continued to make themselves comfortable,
until the scurvy broke out among them and several
of the men fell victims thereto. It was indeed an anx-
ious and doleful winter, for, should they be disap-
pointed in their hopes of escaping the next summer,
their failing strength and diminishing stores left them
little hope of surviving another year. As the sum-
mer opened, they moved forward stores to Batty Bay,
a distance of thirty-two miles ; but as their numbers
were now reduced, this land carriage taxed their
strength sorely, and it occupied a month. Another
month was passed at Batty Bay, in constant expecta-
tion of the moving of the ice.

1- '

RESCUED BY THE ISABELLA.

275

At length on the evening of August 14th, the sight
of moving ice gladdened their hearts ; on the morning
of the 15th, they slowly made their way through the
masses of ice with which the bay was encumbered,
and to their great joy they found, on the 17th, the wide
expanse of Barrow's Strait, open to navigation. Pushing
on with renewed hope, Cape York soon lay behind
them, and by alternately rowing and sailing, they
rested on the night of the 25th in a good harbor on
the eastern shore of Navy Board Inlet.

At four o'clock the following morning, they were
roused from their slumber by the joyful announcement
of a ship in sight, and never did men more hurriedly
and energetically start in pursuit ; but the elements
were against them, and the ship disappeared in the
distant haze. Another vessel, however, was seen a
few hours afterward, lying in a calm, and by hard row-
ing they soon came up with her ; strange to say, she
proved to be the Isabella, the same vessel in which
Captain Ross had made his first trip to the Arctic seas,
now employed as a whaler.

The officers of the Isabella could scarcely credit tho
story of Captain Ross, as he had long been supposed
to be dead ; when all doubts were removed, the rig-
ging was instantly manned to do the adventurers
honor, and thundering cheers welcomed Ross and his
gallant band on board. The scene that followed can
not better be described than in Captain Ross's own
words : —

" Though we had not been supported by our names
and characters, we should not the less have claimed
from charity the attentions that we received, for never
was seen a more miserable set of wretches. Unshaven
since I know not when, dirty, dressed in rags of wild

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SECOND EXPEDITION OP JOHN ROSS.

beasts, and starved to the very bones, our gaunt and
grim looks, when contrasted with those of the well-
dressed and well-fed men around us, made us all feel
(I believe for the first time) what we really were, as
well as what we seemed to others. But the ludicrous
soon took the place of all other feelings ; in such a
crowd and such confusion, all serious thought was im-
possible, while the new buoyancy of our spirits made
us abundantly willing to be amused by the scene
which now opened.

" Every man was hungry, and was to be fed ; all were
ragged, and were to be clothed ; there was not one to
whom washing was not indispensable, nor one whom
his beard did not deprive of all human semblance.
In the midst of all, there were interminable questions
to be asked and answered on both sides ; the adven-
tures of the Victory, our own escapes, the politics of
England, and the news which was four years old. But
all subsided into peace at last. The sick were accom-
modated, the seamen disposed of, and all was done for
us which care and kindness could perform.

" Night at length brought quiet and serious thoughts,
and I trust there was not a man among us who did
not then express, where it was due, his gratitude for
that interposition which had raised us all from des-
pair which none could now forget, and had brought
us from the borders of a most distant grave, to life,
and friends, and civilizatio i. Long accustomed, how-
ever, to a cold bed on the hard snow or the bare rocks,
few could sleep amidst the comforts of our new ac-
commodations. I was myself compelled to leave the
bed which had been kindly assigned me, and take my
abode in a chair for the night ; nor did it fare much
better with the rest It was for time to reconcile us

RETURN OF TIIE LOST EXPLORERS.

277

to the sudden and violent change, to break through
what had become habit, and to inure us once more
to the usages of former days."

The party reached England, October 15th, 1833,
after an absence of four-and-a-half years. Having
long been considered as lost, they were looked upon
as men risen from the dead, and met and escorted
by a crowd of sympathizers. Orders, medals, and hon-
ors were showered upon John Ross by his own country-
men and continental sovereigns, and Parliament
granted him £5,000 as some remuneration for his out-
lays and hardships. A baronetcy was conferred on
Felix Booth, the patron of the expedition.

John Ross and James C. Ross subsequently ap-
peared again in the Arctic Seas as searchers for Frank-
lin.

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CHAPTER XX.
GEORGE BACK'S EXPEDITIONS.

Captai-^ Z'^nnre Back will be remembered as a
companion of ' ' ^;lia on his first land expedition.
He was in Italy at tlie time when the prolonged
absence of tL ' Rosses be^an to awaken fears for their
safety. Hastening home he volunteered to lead a
land expedition in searcli of the lost explorers, and,
accompanied by Dr. King, left England for New York
in February 1833, for that purpose.

Back and King left Montreal April 25th, in two
canoes amid enthusiastic cheering, and as the boats
turned their bows up the noble St. Lawrence, one
loud huzza bade the travelers farewell. The route
lay up the Ottawa. Paul, an old Iroquois guide
who knew every rock in the whole line of rapids
between Montreal and Hudson's Bay, was the pilot.

On the 17th of June, the travelers arrived at Nor-
way House, where they halted to enlist volunteers
to guide and accompany them. The experts in
wilderness life were reluctant at first to engage in the
enterprise, but James McKay, a powerful High-
lander and one of the best steersmen in the countiy,
having consented to enlist, there was no further
trouble in securing men. Among other applicants
two Canadians, old acquaintances of Back's, came

nearly breathless with haste, and were enlisted.

278

WOMAN S KIGIITS AT XOIIWAY HOUSE.

279

But, "there is many a slip between tlie cup and tlie
lip." These Canadians liad wives, and these wives
thought they had rights, as surely they had. The
different conduct of tliese Avonien ilhistrates the two
ijreat methods by which tlie gentle sex enforce
their rights. One, a good strapping dame, cuffed her
liusband's ears with such dexterity and good will,
that he ^vas fain to cry pereav I and seek shelter in a
friendly tent; the other, an interesting girl of seven-
teen, burst into tears, and with piteous sobs clung to
the husband of her love, as if she would hold him
prisoner in her arms. The result proved that each
method was equally effectual, for Back lost the ser-
vices of the men. '

Leaving Norway House on the 28th of June, and
proceeding by the usual route. Back aj^proached
Cumberland House on the 5th of July. The crew
di'essed themselves out in all their finery — silver bands
tassels, plumes and feathers, intending to approach the
station with some military effect ; but unfortunately
for the Y)00v fellows, the rain fell in torrents, their
feathers drooped, and to complete their discomfiture
they were obliged to walk in their crestfallen condi-
tion for a mile in the mud before reaching the station.

The boats, stores, etc., were all in readiness for a
start, and Capt. Back had the satisfaction of getting
his two batteaux under way on the Gth of July.
Each was laden with a cargo weighing over two
tons, exclusive of men, bedding, and clothes. Yet
with such steersmen as McKay and Sinclair, no
apprehension was felt for their safety.

Back lingered behind a day or two, and then

advanced in his canoe with eight attendants under

the pilotage of his skillful guide, De Charloit, a half-

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THE WA'ITEAUX AND CANOES.

breed, and soon overtook Dr. Ivlni? witli the larw boats.
Tlie contrast between tlie rapidity of motion of the
t^vo jjarties was striking. The water was very lo^v^,
and the cumbrous batteaux were dra2:ured in some
places laboriously a few paces at a time l)y the united
exertions of those on board and those on shore.
Sometimes unable to resist the force of the impetuons
current they wei'e swept back ; at others, suspended
on the arched back of a wave, they struggled and
labored until they were again in the shelter of some
friendly eAAy. But the canoe, frail as she Avas, Avas
threaded through the boiling rapids and sunken locks
with feai-ful elegance.

On the 21st of July, the party reached Portage la
Loche, the high ridge of land Avhicli divides the
Avaters running into Hudson's Bay from those Avhicli
direct their course to the Arctic Sea. Here a beauti-
ful and picturesque vieAV opened to their sight. A
thousand feet beloAV, the sylvan landscape lay spread
out in all the Avild luxuriance of its sunmier clothing.
Even the most jaded of the party seemed to foiget
his Aveariness, and halted involuntarily to gaze Avith
admiration on a spectacle so magnificent.

On the 8th of August they reached Great SlaA'e
Lake and Avere Avelcomed at Fort Resolution. The
remainder of the month Avas spent by Back in explor-
ing this lake and searching for Great Fish River,
called by the Indians ThlcAV-ee-choh, and noAV named
in honor of our explorer, Avho Avas the first to descend
it, Back's River.

Many encampments of Indians Avere passed, AAdio.^e
occupants Avere employed in drying the flesh of
moose recently killed. The hunters were lying at
full length on the grass, Avhifling the cherished pipe,

IM)1A> fcLM.MKU KN<AM1'MKNT.

MOOSK UUM'INO- YIKON RIVKR.

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INDIAN 8LMMER ENCAMPMENTS.

281

or lounging on tlieir elbows^ to watcli the frizzling of
a rich marrow bone, the customary perquisite of their
labors. Women were lighting or tending the fires, ovtr
which were suspended lows of thinly sliced meat, some
screaming to thievish dogs, and otiiers with still
louder screams, endeavoring to drown the shrill cries
of their children, who, swaddled and unable to stir,
were half suffocated with the smoke ; while to com-
plete the scene, eight or ten boys at play, were turn-
inrj themselves over and under some white bai'k
canoes like so many land d()l[)hins. Their hapi)iness
was at the full; at that moment they were witliout
care, enjoying themselves according to their nature
and cai)acity. Is human happiness ever much more
than this ?

Oil the 29th of August, Back reachtjd one of the
tributaries of the Great Fish River, and yielding to
that pleasing emotion which discoverers, in the first
bound of their transport, may be pardoned for indul-
ging, he threw himself down on the bank and drank a
hearty draught of the limpid water. He then
returned to winter-quarters at Fort Reliance on Slave
Lake where a house was erected.

As winter came on the sufferings of the Indians in
the vicinity were extreme. " Famine," says Back,
"with her gaunt and bony arm pursued them at eveiy
turn, and strewed them lifeless on the cold bosom of
the snow. Often did I share my own plate with the
children, whose helpless state and piteous cries Avere
peculiarly distressing. Compassion for the full-gr(n\ n
may or may not be felt, but that heart must be case<l
in steel which is insensible to the cry of a child for
food."

Back's party shared in the general distress and

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" UAISIXO THE DEVIL.'*

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could hestow but little on the -wretchotl sufferors,
■who began to imagine that the instrinnents in the
o>>servatory lcej)t the deer at a distance and caused
their Rufl'erings. Even tin; voyageui'S were suj>erstit;ins-
ly impressed, and on one occasion two of them listened
by the fence l>uilt around the observatory, and hear-
ing at intervals the Avords "now" and "siop," always
succeeded by silence, the}' turned hastily away and
reported to their companions that they verily believed
the captain Avaa " raising the devil."

In November, the chief Akaitcho, the old acquaint-
ance of Franklin, arrived very opportunely Avith some
meat which was of great benefit to all. When he
went aAvay he took some of the starving Indians with
him, and promised Back that he should not want as
long as he had anything to send to the fort. And he
kept his word, and during a most ajialling period of
suffering and calamity proved himself the firm friend
of the expedition ; the dawn of each morning saw
him prepared for the hunt, and he boldly encountered
every difficulty and* made others act by the force of
his example.

In describing the scenes of this winter Back says: —
— "No sooner had one party closed the d(K)r than
another feebly opened it, and confirmed by their half-
famished looks and sunken eyes their heart-rending
tale of sufferings. They spoke little, but crowded in
silence around the fire, as if eager to enjoy the onl\'
comfort renif ining to them. A handful of mouldy
pounded meat which had been intended for the dogs
■was all we could give them ; and this, with the cus-
tomary presentation of the friendly pipe, was suffi-
cient to efface for a moment the recollection of their
sorrows, and even light up their faces with a smile
of hope."

SAD FATE OF AU0USTU8.

283

Tn IMarch, information cnnio tliat Aii,!::fU8tua, the
Es([uiniaux interpreter nn<l Hack's t)ld friend, hear-
inf that he was in the country had set out to join
iiini, and walked from Hudson's Hay to Fort Kesohi-
tion for tliat i)urpos('. From this i)hice he started
with a Canadian and lro(|Uois, wht) were takiui^
dispatches to Hack ; hut they all lost their way, and
the couriers returned to the fort without Augustus,
who had persisted in going on alone. In June the
remains of the hrave Es(pumau.\ were found near the
Riviere a Jean. " Such," says Hack, " was the misera-
hle end of poor Augustus ! — a faithful, disinterested,
kind-hearted creature, who had won the regard not
of myself only, hut I may add of Sir John Frank-
lin and Dr. Eichardson also, l>y ([ualities, which,
^•herever found, in the lowest as in the liighest forms
of social life, are tlie ornament and charm of human-
ity."

On the 2r)th of April 1834, a messenger arrived
with the c:lad tidings of the safe return of Ross and
]n^ party to England. Back, however, thought it his
duty to explore Fish Rivei', and on the Tth of June
left Fort Reliance for this purpose. Though no
lonm-er stimulated with the desire to render aid and
comfort to Ross, he ^vas heartily glad to get away
from scenes of suffering and death, and launch out
again into stii'rino; adventure.

In descending the Fish River, eighty or ninety
miles of the distance was a succession of falls and
rapids, kee}»ing the men in a constant state of exertiini
and anxiety. Cataracts, too, obstructed their passage.
In passing down one of these, where the river ^vas
full of rocks and boulders, the boat was obliged to
be lightened.

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KUNNING THE EAPIDS.

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"I stood," says Back, "on a high rock, with an
anxious heart, to see her run it. Away they went
with tlie speed of an arrow, and in a moment the
foam and rocks hid them from my view. I heard
wliat sounded in my ear like a wild shriek ; I followed
with an agitation which may be conceived, and, to
my inexpressible joy, found that the shriek was the
ti'iumpliant whoop of the crew, who had landed
safely in a small bay ]>elow."

Near the close of July, Back approached the mouth
of the Fish Iliver and discovered a majestic headland
which he named Victoria. He thus sums up a gen-
eral view of the tempestuous stream which he had
successfully descended : —

"This, then, may be considered as the mouth of
the Thlew-ee-choh, which, after a violent and tortuous
course of five hundred and thirty geographical miles,
running through an iron-ri])bed country, without a sin-
gle tree on the whole line of its banks, expanding into
fine large lakes with clear hf)rizons, most eml)arrass-
ing to the navigator, and broken into falls, cascades,
and rapids to the number of no less than eighty-
three in the whole, pours its waters into the Polar
Sea in latitude 07*11' K, and longitude 1)4'^ 80^ W."

Brift-ice was here encountered, and further prog-
ress was slow, but on the 7th of August the party
I'eached Point Ogle, the northern extremity of the
land on the western side at the mouth of the estuary.
From this point portions of the coast of Boothia were
seen to the northward. Further explorations by
water -were ini])Ossi})le, but a i)arty proceeded westerly
along the coast of the Arctic Ocean for about fifteen
miles, in the direction of Cape Turn-again.

The country was low, level and desolate and pro-

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A DESOLATE REOIOIT.

285

duced nothing but moss and fern, whicli was so wet
that it would not Lurn. The weather w^as cliilly,
damp and foggy, and the situation of the exph)rers
grew clieerless and miserahle. Surrounded on every
side by comi^lete desolation, without fire or any kind
of warm food, with heavy rains followed by thick
snows, " it cannot " says Back, " be a matter of aston-
ishment, and much less of blame, that even the best
men, benunil)ed in their limbs, and dispirited by the
dreary and un[>romising prospect before them, broke
out for a moment into low murmurino-s that theirs'
was a hard and painful duty."

Back had now no choice but to start on the return
journey, which was conmienced the middle of August.
Before setting out, the Bi'itish flag was unfurled, and
saluted with three cheers " in honor of his most gra-
cious majesty," and the name of William the Fourth's
Land was given to this part of America.

The many difficulties which had been experienced
in going down the river were at least doubled in
leturning, but the ex[)lorers reached Fort Beliance in
safety on the 27th of September. Preparations were
iiujiiediately made for si)ending another winter in
tLis (h'eary place. Hunting and fishing were the
Older of the day, and wood was collected to keep off
the cold, which ])roved to l)e less severe than usual.

About the last of May they gladly bade adieu to
the inliosj)itable region, and reached Noi'way House
on the 24th of June. Back returned home by way
of Montreal and New York, and received many kind
attentions during his Journey through the United
States. He reached England in Septeml)er, after an
absence of over two and a half years, and was there
honored by an audience with the king.

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VOYAGE IN THE "TERROR."

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Soon afterwards, tlie English admiralty decided to
send out an expedition to comi)lete the survey of
the coast between Regent's Inlet and Point Turn-
again, and for this j)urpose Captain Back sailed from
England in the "Terror," with a crew of seventy-
three men. Near tlie Savage Islands they encountered
a fleet of kayaks and oomiaks, and were hailed by
their occupants Avitli vociferous ci-ies of ieijma. Back
says that the conduct of the women was particularly
outrageous ; besides disjiosing of their garments they
offered to barter their chikh-en, and one of them
noticing that an officer had but little hair on his
head, offered to supply him with her own.

Early in September, Avlien near the entrance of
Frozen Strait, the Terror was seized l)y tlie ice as
with the grasp of a giant, and during the Avhole of
tliat month was whirled backward and forwai'd Just
as the wind or tide directed. " It was," says Back,
" a month of vexation, disappointment, and anxiety,
to me more distressing and intolera])le than the
worst pressure of the worst evils which had befallen
me in any other expedition."

It was soon evident that there could lie no escape
for several months, and that nothing could be done
but to make the situation as comfortable as possible.
Snow walls and galleries were built on the floes ; and
towards si)ring, for annisement, some of the men cut
figures of houses, forts, vessels, and men and women,
from 1 )locks of snow. Most of the crew could read,
some could recite long passages of j)rose and poetry,
others could sing ; and by bringing out the talents
of each for the common benefit, the whole were made
at times comparatively happy.

Thus drifting about and. at times undergoing terrif

fc
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VOYAGE m THE "tERKOR."

287

ic nips, tlie Terror remained fast in the ice till the
11th of July, when, after several clays spent by
tlie crew in attempting to cut her free, a loud rum-
bling noise was heard, and the ship broke her ice-
bonds and slid gently into her own element; but so
much of the base of her ice cradle still clung to her,
that she remained on her beam ends for three days
after.

Kothins: now remained but to cjet home as soon
as possible with the crazy, broken and leaky Terror,
and the voyage thither was as j)erilous as her encoun-
ters Avith the ice had been. On I'eaching the coast
of Ireland, the ship was run asliore in a sinking con-
dition, and could hardly have floated a day longer.
She -was afterwards refitted, and with her and the
Erebus, James C. Ross made his explorations in the
Southern Seas. Subse(piently, Franklin and his lost
expedition sailed in the same famous ships.

The ice-drift experiences of the Terror much resem-
]Ae those of the Advance and Rescue while searching
for Franklin — a full history whereof is given in Dr.
Kane's narrative of the First American Expedition.

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CHAPTER XXL

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LAND EXPEDITIONS OF DEASE AND SIMP-
SON, AND IIAE.

As a consiclerahle extent of the northern coast of
America still remained nnexploretl, the Hudson's Bay-
Company determined, in 188(5, to equip an exjiedi-
tion of twelve men under the lead of two of its own
officers — Peter W. Dease and Thomas Simpson. The
latter was a young and well-educated Scotchman
who had resided in the territory since 1829 ; he was
full of zeal for scientific discovery, and the astronomer
and historian of the expedition.

Before setting out, Mr. Simpson spent several
months at the Red River Settlement, situated near
the 50th parallel at an elevation of eight or nine hun-
dred feet ahove the sea, which then stretched for
upwards of fifty miles along the wooded hoi'tlers of
the Red and Assinohoine Rivers which flow through
a level country of vast extent. There was no specu-
lative motive to induce him to color his picture of
this region, and he may the more readily be relied
on when he states, that the climate is saluhrious, the
soil good, horses, cattle, hogs and poultry numerous ;
and that wheat, harley, oats, and potatoes thrive well iu
the vast Red River Valley. This testimony should

288

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A WINTEU S JOURNEY.

289

remove the suspicions wLicli some have, that more
recent travelers in this section have been induced to
give glowing descriptions thei'eof from mercenary-
considerations.

Mr. Simpson left this colony on the 1st of Decem-
ber for liis winter journey of one thousand tw*.) hun-
dred and seventy-seven miles to Fort Chipewyan, the
starting point of the expedition. A gay cariole and
three sledges drawn by dogs, with three picked men
as drivers, made up the retinue. Much of the route
lay ovei' the frozen channels of the streams, and fre-
quently the tinklings of the dog-bells rous(^d the
moose-deer from their lairs. At times the snow w^as
so deep that snow-shoes had to be worn by the
travelers. Fort Chipewyan, where Mr. Dease awaited
his comi)anion, was reached on the first of February.

The travelers took their departure from this place
on the 1st of June 1887, and on reaching Great
Slave Lake, ten days afterwards, were disappointed
at findinij: it covered with ice which detained them
till the 21st of June — a delny which they beguiled
with hunting, ajid with observing the wonderful
mirage of this region and the games and sjwrts of the
Indians. A dance was also given to the men in
which the Indian women joined. It furnished nuich
sport, and was concluded with a generous su])per, tea
being the only beverage. The games of the people
witliout the fort were generally at their height at
midnight, when the coolness of the atmosphere incited
to exertion.

Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River' was reached
on the 1st of July, and on the 9th, the Arctic Ocean
at the mouth of the river was seen, and saluted with
joyous cheers. As the season was favorable, the

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ON THE COASTS OF ALASKA.

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explorers proceeded westerly along the coast, and on
the 2'^^\ of July arrived at Return Reef, where Frank-
lin had been stopped. Beyond this was unexi)lored
territory. Pushing on, they discovered the mouth of
a river and named it the Colville. They supi)osed it
to be a large one, for it freshened the wutci's of
the ocean to a distance of three leagues. Their
conclusions were right, for the Colville River, now in
the United States territory of Alaska, has since been
ascertained to be a thousand miles long.

They also discovered another noble river, the Garry,
whose mouth was a mile in width. Thouiih the
ground was frozen four inches deep, a few flowers
cheered the eye of the travelers. On t\\o, 1st of
August the party had arrived within tAvo degrees of
Point Barrow, the most eastern i)oint reached by the
barge of the Blossom. As further progress was
here prevented by the ice, Simpson with five com-
panions pushed on afoot, and on the 4tli had the
great satisfaction of seeing the long, low spit of land
called Point Barrow stretching to the nortlnvard.
On reaching it, they unfurled the British flag with
three cheers and took possession of this gravelly cape
in the name of their king. The last portion of the
journey to Point Barrow had been made in an
oomiak which was borrowed of a party of Esquimaux
met on the way. The landing at Point Barrow was
made at a place half way between a winter village
and summer camp of the natives, and in the vicinity
was an immense cemetery, where the remnants of
humanity lay on the ground in the usual seal-skin
clothing. The natives were generally friendly, but
thievish.

Having reached the limit of their explorations in

DOWN JvSCAi'E J:AI'1D.

291

this direction, the whole party returned to winter-
qiijirtei's at Great Bear Lake. In the siinimer of 18.38
they again conimen(!ed tlieir travels, and on the 25tli
of .Tune were nearing the mouth of the Co])i)ennine.
Fr.'inklin had descended the lower part of this river
when it had fallen to its sunnner level, l)ut Dease and
Simpson were swept dow^n it l)y the spring flood, in
wliich floated cakes of ice, while the hanks were i>iled
up with pondrous fragments. Mr. Sim])S()n thus
describes some of the perils of the ])assage : —

" The day was bright and lovely as we shot down
rapid after rapid, in many of which we had to pull
for our lives, to keep out of the suction of tlie i)reci-
pices, along whose base the breakers raged and foamed
with overwhelming fury. Shortly before noon we
came in sight of Escape Raj)id of Fi-anklin, and a
glance at the overhanging cliffs told us that there
was no alternative but to run down Avitli a full carijo.
In an instant we were in the vortex, and, before we
were awai'e, my boat was borne toAvards an isolated
rock, which the boiling surge almost concealed. To
clear it on the outside was no longer possible. Our
only chance of safety w^as to run between it and the
lofty eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every
breath was hushed. A stream, which dashed down
upon us over the brow of the precipice, more than a
hundred feet in height, mingled with the spray that
whirled upw^ard from the rapid, forming a terrific
shower-ljath. The pass was about eight feet wide,
and the error of a sinsfle foot on either side would
have been instant destruction. As, guided by Sin-
clair's consummate skill, the boat shot safely through
those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose."

On the 1st of July the party reached the sea, and

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WINTER-QUARTERS ON GREAT BEAR LAKE.

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on the ITtli tlicy started to coast along its hIiotcm to
the eastward. On arriving, a])out the 10th of August,
in the vicinity of Point Turn-again the l)oats were
arrested by ice. On the 20th, Simpson witli seven
men started on a walk along the coast. On the 2.']d
they came to an elevated rocky ridge Avhich Avas
named Ca[)e Alexander. On ascending it, a vast and
splendid prospect Lurst suddenly upon the travelers.
The sea, as if transformed l)y enchantment, rolled its
free waves at their feet, and extended to the eastward
as ftir as could be seen. Islands of various shapes and
sizes overspread its sui-face ; and the northei-n land
terminated to the eye in a bold and lofty cape thirty
or forty miles distant. On the extensi\e land to the
northward, Simpson bestoAved the name of Victoria,
and he called its eastern extremity Cape Pelly.

After surveying nearly one hundred and forty miles
of new coast easterly of Point Turn-again, the foot
party returned to the l)oats. Early in Septem])er the
return journey up the Coppermine was commenced,
and on the 14th of that month Fort Confidence, the
old Avinter-quarters on Great Bear Lake, was safely
reached.

Here the winter of 1838-9 was passed by the
explorers, and in June 1839, undaunted 1)y the dan-
gers and privations of the previous season, they again
started on their third successive visit to the Arctic
Sea.

On the 3d of July their boats emerged from the
Coppermine, and sailing eastward the party encamped
on the 2Gth at Cape Alexandei*. Continuing their
voyage, they discovered, on the 10th of August, a
strait three miles AA^ide through which tliey passed.
Three days afterward, they were delighted at reaching
Cape Ogle at the mouth of the Great Fish Kiver.

IIETUKN TO UKD IJIVEU SlirrLK.MENT.

293

All the ()l)j(!cts for Mliicli tlie expedition was fitted
out hud now been aceonii)lished. The nortlieiii limits
of America to the westward of the (treat Fish or
Buck's Uiver had been surveyed, l>ut it still remained
a (lucstion whether Jjoothia might not he nnited to
the continent on the other side of the estuary. So
the ])ui'ty pushed on to a j)oint distant altout two
dcu'recs from Point Ogle, where thev canu^ to the
month of a river, which they numed the Custor und
Pollux after their two boats. This river was tho
limit of their eastern explorations.

In returning to the Coppermine River they crossed
over to the northern side of the strait, and traced the
southern coast of King William's Island for about
sixty miles till it turned to the noi-th at Cape Ilerschel,
distant ninety miles from the magnetic pole. Along
these same dreary coasts the party of Sir John Frank-
lin attemjited to make good their retreat about ten
years later; and one of his boats, with skeletons, guns,
etc., was subsecpiently found some distance above
Cape Herschel.

The explorers also surveyed the coasts of Victoria
Land for a long distance, and reached the Coppermine
on the inth of September, having made a voyage of
over sixteen hundred miles on the Polar Sea — the
longest one ever made thereon in open boats.

Mr. Simpson left Fort Confidence on the 2Gth of
September, 1839, and after a Journey of 1910 miles
m.'ide on foot within sixty-one days, he arrived at lied
River Settlement early in February, 1840. Here he
reaiained waiting ^ ' 'thority from England to pro-
ceed on a new exi>v;uit. )n which he had proposed to
lead. Deeply mortified at not' receiving answers to
his dispatches as soon as he ex^^ected them, he left

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MU. RIMPKON MT'UDKUKD.

tlio scttlonient on tlio 0th of ,huw -vvitli n party of
lialf-l)ivtMls an<l scttlcrH, iiitt'iiding to cross the ])raii"ies
to St. Peter's on tlie Mis8issi])pi Iliver, and theuee
j)ro('ee(l to ICnghuul.

Mr. Simpson sul)se(|ncntly went on ahead Avltli
four men, and l)eyond tliis all that is known witli
certainty is, that on the l.'Uh of June Simpson sliot
two of his eomi)anions; that the other two rejoined
the larger party, and. that a portion thereof went to
Ilia encampment on the next morning an<l killed him.
Whether he shot the two men in self-defence or when
siiffei'ing nnder a temporary hallucination of mind
was never known hy his friends.

Messrs. Dease and Simpson supposed that they had
sailed to the eastward of Boothia, and that the isth-
mus which lloss said connected Boothia with the
continent, did not exist. To exjdore the coast line
wdiich was, in consequence of their discoveries, heliev-
ed to extend from the Castor and Pollux easterly to
the Fury and Ilecla Strait — whose waters connect
with Hudson's Bay — the Hudson's Bay Company
sent out an expedition in 184(5 under Dr. John Bae.

Dr. Ilae, with twelve men and two l)oats, left Fort
York on the 12tli of June, and coasted northerly along
the westerly shores of Hudson's Bay. On the 24th
of July they anchored at the head of Eepulse Bay.
They then j^roceeded northerly, taking one boat with
them, over an isthmus interspersed with lakes, forty-
three miles to Committee Bay, the southerly extrem-
ity of Prince Kegent's Inlet. Finding that the sea-
son was too far advanced to complete the survey
that year, Rae determined, wnth a boldness and con-
fidence in his own resources that has never been sur-
passed, to winter in Repulse Bay, and to finish his

1)11. IJAKS K.M'LOUATIONS.

20?)

explonitlons on the ice the lU'xt spring. ITo therefore
recroHsecl the istliinus witli liis botit, and set about
o(>ll<'ctliig provisions and fuel for a ten luoutlis' winter.

To one less e.\])erieneed and hardy, tluf (lesolate
shores of Repulse Jiay would have forbidden such an
attempt. They yielded neitlier di'ift-wood nor shnd)-
by plants of any kind; but Dr. l*ae employed jmrt
of his men to gather the withered stems of a small
hci'bjiceous ])lant whic-h gi'cw in abundance on the
rocks, and <o i»ile it in cocks like hay: olliers he set
to build a house of stone and earth called l''ort Hope ;
M Iiilc lie and his Es(piiinaux interpreter wei-e occu-
])i('d ill killing deer for winter food.

Early in April, 1847, llae and part of liis men
started with sledges drawn by dogs, and after again
reacliinu: Committee Bay, traveled northerly alonjjf its
western shore, and on the 18th I'eached the Lord
Mayor's Bay of Sir John Ross, on whose shores the
crew of the lost Victory so long resided. This jour-
ney j)roved that Ross was right in sup])osing that
Boothia was connected with the continent, ^o
attem[)t was made to proceed w^esterly to the Castor
and Pollux, and the party immediately set out on
their return to Fort Hope.

On the 12th of May Rae started to examine the
"•>^' 1 coast of Committee Bay, and on the 27th had
1 d his farthest point .at a headland, which he

ca; Cape Crozier, situated about twenty miles
souih of the west end of the Fuiy and Ilecla Strait.
He then returned to Repulse Bay, and the whole
party arrived afely at Fort Churchill on the last day
of August. *■ 'le entire expedition had been an emi-
nently succ il one, and proved that Dr. Rae was

Avell calculu 1 for an Arctic explorer.

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CHAPTER XXn.

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S LAST VOYAGE, WITH
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.

One of the most enthusiastic and indefatigable ex-
plorers of the Arctic regions of this, or any other age,
was Sir John Franklin. His history as an eminent
navigator, — his persistent, cheerful zeal for the accom-
plishment of a favorite object through obstacles, dan-
gers, and oftentimes intense suffering, ^von for him the
admiration and respect of the civilized world ; and
especially has the uncertainty of his fate excited an
almost universal interest.

John Franklin was born at Spilsby, Lincolnshire,
England, April 16th, 1786. He was the youngest son
of a respectable farmer in moderate circumstances,
with a family of twelve children to provide for and
educate. John was intended by his parents for the
Church, and at an early age was placed in a grammar
school to prepare ultimately for the ministry. But
his tastes led him in a different direction. He had a
passion for the sea. While a school-boy at Louth, he
took advantage of a holiday to walk twelve miles,
with a companion, to look at the ocean, which he then
beheld for the first time. The effect upon his mind
was wonderful. He gazed upon it for hours with
emotion? of intense delight, and from that day his

296

LIFE OF SIR JOUN FRANKLIN.

297

heart burned as it never did before, to trace its bound-
aries and explore its mysteries.

His father, thinking his son carried away by a boy-
ish romance, and that he had no idea of the unpoet-
ical shade of a sailor's life, hoped that a little expe-
rience of its hardships and discomforts would break
the charm, and cure him of his folly. Accordingly he
gave John permission to make a voyage in a merchant
vessel to Lisbon. But the experiment proved an un-
fortunate one, so far as the father's wishes were con-
oornccl, for it only served to intensify the boy's passion
for a sea-faring life. Mr. Franklin, becoming convinced
that it was useless to attempt any longer to change
the propensity of his son, yielded to his wih^hcs, and
procured for him a position in the navy as a midship-
man, at the age of fourteen. He was jdaced on board
the Polyphemus, a ship of the line, and served in her
at the battle of Copenhagen, April 2d, 1801. During
the engagement, a young midshipman and comrade
was shot dead standing by his side.

In the ensuing summer he was more pleasantly em-
ployed on board tlie Investigator, a government
ship commanded by his cousin, Captain Flinders, who
was commissioned to explore the coasts of Australia.
After nearly two years spent in this service, which
was an excellent preparatory school to qualify him
f( r future pursuits, he with the officers and crew sailed
for home in the Porpoise, a store-ship — the Investi-
gator having been condemned as unseaworthy.
Hut the Porpoise, shortly after leaving port, was
wrecked upon a reef about two hundred miles from
Australia. Here he and his companions remained fifty
(lays, upon a small sand-bank, until relief came to
them from Port Jackson. The crew was now dia-

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LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

persed, and Franklin was taken to Canton, where he
obtained a passage to England on board an armed In-
diaman. On their way home they were attacked by
a French man-of-war, which, after a severe conflict,
was compelled to retire in a crippled condition. Dur-
ing the battle, young Franklin distinguished himself
for bravery and efficiency.

On reaching England he was ordered to Join the ship-
ofthe-line, Bolleroplion, and in 1805 took part in the
memorable battle of Trafiilgar, in Adiich ho discharged
the responsible duties of signal midshipman, with re-
markable coolness and courage, in the midst of a hot
and most destructive fire from the enemy's sharp-shoot-
ers. Of forty persons who stood around him on the
poop of the ship, many fell, and only seven escaped
unhurt.

Subsequent to this, he served six years on board the
Bedford, on various stations, the last of which was ou
the coast of the United States, during the war of 1812
-15. He commanded the boats of the Bedford in a
battle with the American gun-boats at New Orleans,
one of which he boarded and captured, though at the
expense of a severe wound. For his gallantry in this
action, he was promoted to a lieutenancy.

In 1818 Franklin made his first Arctic voyage as
connnander of the Trent, and witli Captain Buchan
attempted to sail over the North Pole. In 1819 ho
started on his first great overland journey to the
sliores of the Arctic Ocean, which occupied about
three years.

In 1823 he was married to Eleanor Porden, daugh-
ter of an eminent architect, a lady of superior abil-
ities, who distinguished herself at a very early fige
by her remarkable attainments in Greek and Latin,

LIFE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

299

and also in several modern lanfjuages. She was also
a proficient in botany, chemistry, and geology. She
was, in addition, a poetess of no ordinary promise.
In 1818, she published the "Arctic Expedition" — a
poem. This led to her acquaintance with Franklin,
to whom she was united in marriage in 1823.

About a vear and a li(df after his marriage, Frank-
lin was appointed to the command of another over-
land expedition to the Arctic Ocean. The appoint-
ment, though in accordance with his chivalric enthusi-
astic nature, was, in one respect, very inopportune.
His devoted wife was in a rapid decline, and evidently
drawing near her end. When the day assigned for
his departure arrived, she was lying at the point of
death. To leave her, in such circumstances, was like
tearing out his heart-strings; but she insisted that he
should not delay his departure an hour on her account,
and as he took his leave of her, she, with a kiss, gave
him as a parting gift, a silk flag, with a request that
he would hoist it on reaching the Polar Sea, which he
did. She died, much lamented, the day after her
husband left England.

On his return from his two overland journeys,
Franklin published narratives thereof; no one can
read them without deep respect and admiration for
the l)rave Christian spirit which sustained him and his
companions during the most appalling hardships.
The most interesting portions of these narratives have
been given in preceding chapters.

In 1828, Franklin was married to Miss Jano Grifltin,
daughter of John Griffin Esq., and born about 1800.
She still survives, and has distinguished herself the
world over, by her public spirit, and her indomitable
perseverance in search of her lost husband. In the

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300

LIFE OF SIR JOUN FRANKLIN.

same year he published .a narrative of liis second ex-
pedition, which did him much credit. In the follow-
ing year he was knighted, and received an honorary
degree from the University of Oxford, and a gold
medal from a learned society in Paris.

In 1830, Sir John, as he was from that time called,
was put in command of the Kainbow, and ordered to
cruise in the Mediterranean. While absent, he had
opportunity of rendering important service to the
Groek'j, who were then struggling to throw off the
Turkish yoke, under which they had long been sorely
oppressed. In recognition of his kindness. King Otho
decorated him with the cross of the " Redeemer of
Greece." Probaldy no commander of a ship ever paid
more attention to the comfort of those ])laced under
him than Franklin, and the sailors expressed their
sense of his kindness by calling his vessel the " Celes-
tial Rainbow," and " Franklin's Paradise."

In 183o, he was appointed governor of A^'an Die-
men's Land, which position he held till 18-13. Ilis ad-
ministration in this colony was remarkably popular
and useful. He originated, and executed many impor-
tant measures for the benefit ot the colonists, for
which they made both public and private demonstra-
tions of their gratitude. He founded a colk'ge and
endowed it largely from his own funds, to I)e con-
ducted on the most liberal principles, without distinc-
tion of sect.

When he resio-ned his office and returned to P]ngland,
universal regret was expressed by the people of the
colony. On the day of his departure, a more numer-
ous gathering than had ever been seen on the island,
attended him to the ship, and lie was much gratified
by receiving compUnieulary and affectionate addresses

FRANKLINS LAST VOYAGE.

301

from every district in the colony. As evidence of the
aifection these remote colonists cherished for him,
they, years afterward, spontaneously raised nearly
$10,000, and forwarded it to Lady Franklin to aid her
in fitting out an expedition to search for her missing
husband.

Notwithstanding the numerous unsuccessful at-
tempts to discover a North-west passage to the Pacific
Ocean, it was still the firm belief of scientific men that
such a passage did exist, and the desire to solve the
problem of centuries was undiminished ; although
reasonable men had long been convinced that if such
a passage was found, the dangers and difiiculties of
navigating the Northern seas were so great as to pre-
clude the use of it ibr purposes of commerce.

England especially was ambitious of the honor of
proclaiming to the world that the great question was
settled, and was also actuated by a more laudable desire
to promote the interests of science. Although she had
already expended much treasure, and sacrificed many
valuable lives in the luidertaking which liad long been
the dream of her philosophers, she determined to make
another attempt to accomplish it.

Accordingly, in 1845, the two ship.s, the "Erebus"
and " Terror," in which Sir John Clarke Ross had just
returned from liis career of discovery in the Southern
seas, were fitted out. Both were of moderate size,
and renowned for their fitness to encounter ice. They
were now provided with snudl steam engines and
sorew propellers, and a three years' su))ply of every
thing that could contribute to the health and comfort
of voyagers in the Arctic regions. The vessels were also
furnished with ship-stores, tools, nautical instrument's,
fire-arms, and a large supply ot ainunition; in shorty

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302

FRANKLIN 8 LAST VOYAGE.

with every thing imagination and experience could
suggest, that would be needful for officers and crew.

It was hardly a question with the Admiralty, who
should be appointed to the command of this enter-
prise, — it was Sir John Franklin, of course. No other
man in England was better qualified for this impor-
tant and perilous undertaking. He had talent, sound
judgment, kindness of heart, large experience, and
had lost none of his youthful enthusiasm for adventure,
although nearly sixty years of age. The achievement
of a " North-west passage " had been the day-dream of
his life, and he was glad of an opportunity to make
another attempt for the realization of his long-cher-
ished hopes. lie unhesitatingly accepted the ap-
pointment.

The second in command w{is Captain Francis R. M.
Crozier, a bold and experienced navigator, who had
been with Parry in all his northern voyages, and was
second officer in command of the Antarctic expedition
under Ross. Crozier was appointed captain of the
Terror, and Franklin sailed in tlie Erebus. The crews
of these two vessels, amounting in all, including offi-
cers, to one hundred and thirty-eight souls, were
picked men, hardy, experienced, bold, reliable, and
enthusiastic.

Frankliu was instructed to proceed through Lancas-
ter Sound, and westward in the latitude of 74 i° until
he reached the longitude of 98° west. From that
point he was to penetrate to the southwest towards
Behring's Straits.

The ships sailed on the 19th of May, 1845, accom-
panied by a tender with additional supplies. This
tender was dismissed in Davis's Strait, and letters from
the officers and crew carried back — the last ever re-

F U A N K L I iN S LA til VOYAGE.

303

ccived from them. One of the men wrote as follows :
— "I need hardly tell you how much we are all delighted
with our captain. He has, I am sure, won not only the
respect but the love of every person on board, by his
amiable manner and kindness to all ; and his influence
is always employed for some good purpose, both
among the ollicors and men. lie takes an active part
in everything that goes on."

A letter which Sir John wrote to his friend Colonel
Sabine, contained the following: —

"I hope my dear wife and daughter will not be over-
anxious if we should not return l>y the tiuie they have
fixed upon ; and I must beg of you to give them the
benefit of your advice and experience when that time
arrives, for you knov/ well that without success in our
object, even after the second winter, we should wish
to try i-ome other cliannel if the state of our provis-
ions and the health of the crews justify it."

The ships started nortlnvard again on the loth of
July; on the 2Ctli of July they were spoken near lat-
itude 75° by the whaler Prince of Wales, which was
boarded by seven officers of the expedition, who in-
vited the captain to dine with Sir John on the follow-
ing day. But as a breeze fivoraljle for tlie wiialer
sprang up in the night, its captain set sail without
receiving on board any of the letters which the ex-
plorers doubtless intended to give him 1)efore he left
them. When the Prince of Wales left the two ships,
they were moored to an ice-berg.

This was the last ever seen of the " Erebus " and
" Terror," iind the last direct intelligence that has been
received from Sir John Franklin and his men to this day.
Years elapsed before any indication of their fate or the
fumtest trace of the lost explorers were discovered.

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CHAPTER XXIII.
SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

(expeditions of 1848.)

As the year 1847 drew to a close without bringing
any intelligence from Franklin, great solicitude for
his safety was felt in England, and the government
resolved to send out three distinct expeditions to
search for him. Each of these was to have its own
independent route, but all were to conv(M*ge toward
the Arctic Archij)elago, through whose intricate and
unexplored channels and sounds Fi'anklin was supposed
to be striN'ing to force his way. One of these expe-
ditions was to sail direct to Lancaster Sound, and
follow in the track of the missing ships; another was
to proceed overland down the Mackenzie River, and
examine the coasts of the continent ; and the third
was to go by way of Bering's Sti'aits.

The command of the first named expedition was
given to Captain James C. Ross, who sailed from
England, June l:]tli, 1848, with two ships, the Enter-
prise and Investigator — the latter being commanded
by Captain E. J. Bird. Each ship was provided with
a steam launch. The passage through Baffin's Bay
was difficult and tedious, and Lancaster Sound was
not reached till nearly the last of August. At its

304

JAMES C. KOSS S EXPEDITION.

305

entrance and while sailing along its coasts, the shores
were carefully scrutinized for traces of Fi'anklin.
Guns were fired when foggy; rockets and lights were
fre(]uently l)urned ; and rasks containing information
for the benefit of the missing men were daily thrown
overboard.

On the 1st of September, Ross reached Cape York
at the east side of tlie entrance to Prince Regent's
Inlet. He then crossed the inlet, and coasted the
northern shores of Barrow's Strait, far enough to see
that Wellington Channel was firmly frozen. On the
11th of SeptemlxT he with great difficulty reaehed
Port Le<)})()ld, which is situated at the Junction of
the four great channels, Lancaster Sound, Banvnv's
Strait, Wellington Channel, and Pi'ince Regent's In-
let. The next day the ice-pack closed the mouth of
the harbor and the ex]iedition was fast for the winter,
which the cr(;ws ])nssed in a comfortable manner.

Over fifty white foxes were taken alive during the
season in traps constructed of casks, and after being
fitted to copper collars upon which were engraved the
position of the shi{)s and ])i'ovision depots, they Avere
set at liberty, in the hope that some of them might l)e
caught by Franklin's nuMi.

On the 15th of May, Ross and Lieut. McClintock
with twelve men, made a journey to the south, and
examined the northern and western shores of North
Somerset, but found no traces of Franklin, and the
party returned to the shi})s, June 23d, in an ex-
hausted condition. In their absence other unsuccess-
ful searches had been made, and one party visited
the house on Fury Point in which Sir John Ross
passed the winters of lS.'V2-3.

It was now midsummer, but the Enterprise and

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Investigator were still l^loclvaded l>y the ice. rj('j)a-
rations for leaving were however made, and, as a
refuge for lost explorers, a house covered Avitli can-
vas was erected on the shore of 8])ars and other ma-
terial. A large supply of provisions was stored
therein ; and one of the launches was put in good
order, to l)e left hehiiid.

After an imprisonment in the ice of one year less
fourteen days, the ships were lil)erated on the 2St]i
of August, and steered toward the northern shore of
Barrow's Strait ; l)ut they Avere soon surrounded Ly
ice, and it seemed prohahle that they would remain
therein for another winter. Soon afterwai'd, however,
the M'hole body of ice hegan to drive to the eastwai'd,
and the shi])S were carried with it through Lancaster
Sound and down the westerly shores of Baffin's Bay.
Here a great nnmher of icebergs sti'etched across
the ])ath, and presented the crews a fearful jn-ospect of
the destruction of their vessels. But when least ex-
pected by them, the great ice-floe was rent into innu-
merable fragments, as if by some unseen powei", and
the vessels were i-eleased from its grasji. But it
was evident that the hunt of the Enterpi'ise and
Investigator was over for that season ; so the}^ "were
turned homeward, and reached Eniiland in November
1840. The searchers had found no clue as to where
the lost exploi'ers were, but had learned of some
j)laces where they were not.

The overland search for Franklin M'as entrusted to
Sir John Richardson assisted by Dr. John Rae.
These gentlemen left Liverj)ool March Sath, bS48,
and reached the Hudson's Bay Company territ mt,
via New York and Montreal. Proceeding thencc lO
Great Slave Lake by the usual route, they crossed it,

lUCHAUDSON AND llAES EXrEUlTION.

807

and entered the Maclvon/Zie Tvlvcr, July 21st. The
ssea was reached early in August, and here E8(|uimaux
■were met in gieat nund)ers — all anxious to trade, or
steal, as opportunity offered ; but of Franklin or his
shii)s they knew nothing.

After entering the Arctic Ocean, T?i chard son coasted
eastward for some eight hundred miles, lio])ing to
reach and ascend the Co]>2iennine Kiver; l)ut when
near its mouth, ice pi-evented further ])rogi'('ss of the
boats, and they were hauled into a safe position, as
far as the elements were C(mcerned, and abandoned
■with nearly all their contents. It was subsetpiently
ascertained that the goods were a])i)ropriated by the
Esquimaux, who also destroyed the boats to secure
the iron and copper used in their construction.

The party noAV i)i'oceeded on foot to the Copper-
mine Kiver and up its valley, and reached Fort Con-
fidence on Great Bear Lake, Sept. ] r)th. Ilej-e they
passed the Avinter. The next summer, Di*. Kae with
six men descended the Coppermine for the purpose
of searching the coasts of Wollaston and Victoria
Land ; but the strait was so full of ice that lie could
not cross it, and the party returned to Fort Confidence
at the close of August. Dr. Kichardson left the fort
on the 7th of May, and i-eached Liverj)ool in Novem-
ber after an absence of nineteen months. Not the
slightest information of Franklin had been obtained;
but provisions and letters were buried in several
places, and signal posts indicating the precise spots
set up to attract the attention of the castaways if
they chanced to come that -way.

The expedition by way of Bering's Strait was put
under command of Captain Henry Kellett, of the
ship Herald, which was then in the Pacific. On

308

SEAKCIIES FOR FKANKLIN.

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receiving instructions from home to that effect, Kel-
lett proceeded to Kotzehuo Sound, hut returned to
winter at the Sandwich Ishmds. Another vessel, the
Pkiver, commanded l>y Thomas E. L. Moore, started
from Enghind January Ist, 1848, to join the Herald,
and passed the winter of 1848-9 at Noovel, Kam-
chatka.

On the 14th of July, 1840, the Plover anchored off
Chamisso Island, Kotzebue Sound, the appointed
rendezvous, where she was joined the ntixt day by
the Herald, and hy the j^acht Nancy Dawson, in
which its owner, Robert Shedden, had started on a
pleasure trip around the world. AVhile in China, Mr.
Shedden heard of the intended expedition, and resolved
to join it in the search for Franklin.

On the 18th, the three vessels sailed north, and on
the 25th had reached ley Cape. At this point an
expedition of four l)oats under Lieut. Pullen, accom-
panied by the yacht, proceeded up the coast as far as
Dease's Inlet. The yacht and two of the boats then
returned to the ships, which meantime had cruised to
the north until ice was encountered. Lieut. Pullen,
with the other two boats, continued the search easterly
to the mouth of the Mackenzie, which he ascended,
reaching Fort Simpson on the 18th of October. Here
he wintered ; and in the following season he descend-
ed the river, and remained on the sea coast till the
first of September. Eeturning to Fort Simpson he
proceeded to England, and again joined in the search
as commander of the North Star.

In September, the three vessels rendezvoused in
Kotzebue Sound, and on the 29th of that month,
leaving the Plover to winter there, the Herald and
the Nancy Dawson started south. The gallant Shed-

TIIK HEKALD AND PLOVEK.

809

den, who Imd taken an active and daring part in the
Hunnner's search, died at Mazatlan soon afterward.

In July, 1850, tlie Ilerahl again joined the Plover
at the rendezvous, and the two vessels started noi'tli
together, but on encountering ice separated. The
coast V)etween Icy Cape atid Point Harrow was care-
fully examined by the Plover. The two vessels met
again in August, and fell in with the Enterprise —
Ca[)tain Collinson — which had just arrived to join in
the search. When winter came on the Herald sailed
for England, and the Plover anchored in Grantley
Harbor. At a subsequent date the Plover also re-
turned home.

i--'-''^l

ill w

CHAPTER XXIV.
SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

(EXPEDITIO:jfS OF 1850.)

Frvi'j years had now ipsed since Franklin left
England, and not a word had been heard from him
since the Prince of Wales parted from the Erebus and
Terror in Baffin's Bay. Hojies were however enter-
tained that the missing explorers were stili alive, and
the desire to rescue them became intense. The search,
in which the United States now joined, Avas accord-
ingly renewed with increased vigor. Several fresh
expeditions were dispatched from England to the
scene of action. One of them consisting of two ships,
the Enterprise and Investigator, under Collinson and
McClure, sailed for Bering's Strait, via Caj)e Horn ;
and others, whose history is given in this: chapter,
took the old route up Baffin's Bay.

The most important of these expeditions via B." ffin's
Bay, was entrusted to the conmand of Captain il. T.
Austin, and comprised tv/o ships--the Resolute and
Assistance — and two screw steamers — the Pioneer
and Intrepid. These vessels were commanded respect-
ively by Captain Austin, Captain E. Ommaney, Lieut.
S. Osborne, and Lieut. B. Cator. Captain Austin's
squadron sailed from England in May, 1850, its par-

310

AUSTIN a SQUADRON.

nil

ticuLar mission heing to search the shores of Welling-
ton Cliannel, and Melville Island.

The season proved an imfavoralde one for Arctic
navigation, and the ships, being beset by ice in Mel-
ville Bay, did not reach Lancaster Sound till August.
The Assistance and Intrepid undertook the exaiiiiiia-
tion of the north shores of tliis sound, and on tlie 28d
readied Cape Riley, at the entrance to Wellington
Channel, where were found the first traces of the
lost expedition. The Rescue, one of the U. S. explor-
ing vessels, was also at Cape Riley at the time and
shared in this discovery.

Soon afterward sevei'al ships of other ex^ieditions
wore in the neighborhood of Cape Riley ; and on
Beechey Island, three miles distant from the cape,
were fomid very interesting relics of Franklin's party,
and the craves of tliree of his men. All Avent to show
that the crews of the Erebus and Terror had here
made their first winter-rpiarters. Dr. Kane, of the
Advance, carefully examined all these traces of Frank-
lin, and liis descriptions thereof will be found in a
f;uhse(pient chapter of this book.

Leaving; Beechev Island and sailinnj Avesterlv, Aus-
tin's squadron reached a position between Cornwallis
Island and (xriffith's Island where the vessels were
frozen in the ice for the winter. In the spring, sledge
excursions were made along Farry's Strait. Ca]>tain
Ommaney with one hundred and four men and four-
teen sledges, traveled four hundred and eighty miles
— two hundred and five of Avhidi had ne\ er been
exjilored. In this journey, occupying sixt}' days,
sails were occasionally hoisted on the sledges, and
large kites were also attached. When the wind was

high, these aids propelled the .dedge very rapidly,

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SEARCHES FOR FUANKLIX.

and tlie wliole of the pui'ty then rode ; hut when the
wind fell, the sledges, with their pi'ovisions and stores,
had to he dragged ])y main force over the ice hy tlie
men harnessed to them.

A s<.'cond sledge excursion, under Lieut. McClin-
tock, traveled seven hundred and sixty miles, discov-
ered forty miles of coast, and achieved the furthest
Avesting that had ever been attained in this part of
the Polar Sea— a point in latitude 74"^ 88^ and longi-
tude lU^ 20'. To the north of Bank's Land and at
a distance of about seventy miles, he discovered a
rang(! of land appareutly running nearly due west.
Followiiiii: the coast of Melville Lsland to the north-
east, he entered Liddon Gulf, and here saw fi'iigmcnts
of coal of good fpiality. Li June he found ]\irry's
encampment of 1820, and the "strong hut light cart"
in wiiich Pai'iy carried his tent and stores, and the
kettle containing the cylinder in which was enclosed
Pai'i'v's record. Placing the kettle over the tire, the
cylinder was thawt'^. out and the record carefully
unfolded; Init nothing hut the date could be distin-
guished. INicClintock then struck across the land to
Winter Harbor, another of Parry's encampments,
which evidently had not been visited since 1820.
The inscri])tion there cut on a large sandstone boul-
der was still le<2:il)le. On the Oth of June he started
to return to the ship, and reached it July 4th.

These searches having resulted in finding no traces
of tlie Erebus and Terror west and north of the mouth
of Wellington Channel, Austin concluded that they
had probably steered for the Polar Sea thi'ough Jones'
Sound, and he therefore visited that locality with his
two steamers. After going up the sound some forty-
five miles he was arrested by a fixed banier of ice.

SIR JOHN Ross's EXPEDITION.

313

lie found no traces of Frunkliu's party, and, conclud-
ing tliat any furtlier effort would be useless, he set
sail for England wliere he arrived in the autumn of
1851.

Amono; the searchers for Fi'anklln "was the veteran
Sir John Ross, who sailed from England, April, IH;")*),
in a small vessel called the Feli.v, accompanied by his
(twn yacht, tlie Mary, as a tender.

Sir Jt)hn overtook Austin's scpiadron off the const
of (Ireenland on the 11th of August, and on the l.'Jth
fell in with some Esquimaux near Cape York, who
told him, that in the Avinter of 1846 two shi]>s were
oia>l-ed in the ice a little further up the coast, and
Lu(.lr crew^s, some of whom wore epaulets, kilh^l by
the natives. A subsequent investigation led Austin
to ])elieve that the whole story was unti'ue ; but Ross,
long after his return to England, adhered to his theory
that the lost explorers ])erishe(l in Baffin's Bay in the
manner indicated by the Esquimaux.

Ross, however, continued the search as jtreviously
arranged with Austin, and on the lUth of August
when off Admirality Inlet, was overtaken by tin; Ad-
vance, Lieut. l)e Haven, at just about the s])ot wlusn;
Ross had been j ticked U]) by the Isabella seventeen
years l)efore. Ross bore a ]^art in the discoveries
made at Cape Rilt-y and vicinity, and subsequently
wintered in the ice near Austin's ships.

When Ross left England a lady gave him four car-
rier ])igeons, two of which he was to liberate at a
stated time, and the othei- two when he found Frank-
liii. Ross sent off' the first pair on the 0th of October
in a basket suspended to a balloon, during a noi'th-
west gale. By a slow-match arrangement the birds
would be hberated at the end of twenty-four hours.

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SEAHCUES FOR F11A>'KLIX.

On the 13tli of October a pigeon arrived at the dove-
cot of the lady, which she believed to be one of tliose
given to Boss. It brought no message, but that was
believed to have been lost during the long transit.

Another of the expeditions of 1850 was fitted out
wholly through the efforts of Lady Franklin, and
mostly at her exj^ense. It consisted of a ship and a
brig, the Lady Fi-anklin an'^ the Sophia, and was
placed in charge of Captain Peuiiy, who had had much
Arctic experience as master of a whaling ship.

Although the expedition was an independent one,
Penny co-operated with the ^^thers, and after partici-
pating in tlic search at Cape Riley his vessels were
frozen up for the winter a few miles easterly of x\us-
tin's squadron.

In the spring, Captain Penny undertook the search
of Wellington Channel, and on the 1 7th of April six
sledge ]iarties started imder his general supei'inteud-
ence. The principal discovery Avas a wide strait to
the north of Cornwallis Island, which was named
Victoria Channel.

Full of faith that Franklin had gone up this chan-
nel Penny hastened l)ack to the ships for a boat, which
he mounted on sledges, and after incredible fatigues
and tantalizing delays, he launched on the channel
and examined three hundred and ten miles of the
coast, when, his provisions failing, he was compelled
reluctantly to retrace his course. His ])ei'severance
on this expedition entitles him to an honorable name
among Arctic explorers.

On the 12th of August, 1851, the Lady Franklin
and Sophia, again free from the ice-grip, were started
homeward, and arrived stifely in England about the
middle of September.

\:-im

TUE I'liUX'E ALJ3EUT.

315

Supplementary to Captain Penny's expedition was
that of the schooner Prince Albert under Captain
Forsyth. Lady Franklin had still some funds left,
and thought they could not )>e better invested than
in equipping another vessel to go in searjh of her
lost husband. Making use of all her avaihible means
she defrayed about two-thirds of the cost of this
expedition, and her friends paid the balance. Captain
Forsyth A\as aldy assisted by Commander AV. P.
Snow, and both were volunteers, who desired no fur-
ther compensation than the satisfaction of I'endering
aid to a noble man and an equally noble lady. They
were instructed to examine the shores of Prince lie-
gent's Inlet, which at the time Franklin sailed was
sui)posed i ) communicate with the Polar Sea through
Dease's Strait. ■

Captain Forsyth sailed from Aberdeen on the 5th
of June, and on the 21st of August arrived off Port
Leopold. Here he landed, and found that tlie honse
constructed by Sir John Poss was in c'ood condition
to furnish a retreat for Aj'ctic adventures, and the
stores were abundant and in good order.

Losing no time here, the Prince Albert Itoldly en-
tered Prince Regent's Lilet When they were sailing
jiast Batty Bay the crew were greatly excited by hear-
ing what they supposed was the tiring of a gun on
shore. The officers directed their glasses to the land,
but nothing human was to be seen. The howitzer
was tired, but there was no response, and reluctantly
they concluded that the noise they had heard was
occasioned by ilie falling of a rock or masses oi' ice.
When oft' Fui} Beach, the scliooner's progi'ess was
stopped by a dense fog, .'U id when .his cleared the
vessel was found in a bighi of ice within a few yards

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316

SEAKCIIES FOK FUANKLIN.

of a liummocky field, in which not one crack of open
water could be seen from the crow's-nest. Forsyth
and Snow concludetl that their mission to Boothia
was effectually thwarted for that season, and turnint^
the bow of the Prince Albert northward, proceeded
to the vicinity of Cape Iviley, Avhere they fell in with
several vessels of the English and American expe-
ditions. Learning of the discoveries which had ])een
made there but a day or two previously, they joined
in the search, and then, with some of the relics of
Franklin's i)aj-t\', started homeward where they arrived
on the 1st of October.

One other vessel which was in Barrow's Straits in
1850 should here be mentioned. The North Star
left England in 1849, with stores for the ex})editi()n
of .>anies C. Ross, but she was beset by ice in Mel-
ville Bay and drifted up the coast of Greenland, where
Khe wintered in lat. 76*^ ;?.'>'. Four of her crew died
before she escaped fi'om the ice. She arrived at Port
Leopold, Aul;'. 18th, but iiiiding the harbor full of
ice, procei ^d to Navy Board Inlet ih-ar Wollaston
Laud, where she put on the mainland her sur]»his
stores and f. el. Then scud dins' befoi'e a mile, slie
sailed through Lancaster Sound, and arrived iu Scot-
laud on the 28th of September, 1850.

^?^

CIIAPTEK XXV.

• I ('

SEAKCIIES FOR SIR JOHN FR \NKLIN.

(discovery of a north- west passage.)

The Bering^s Strait EAppditlon referred to in the
last c'lia})ter, consisted of two sliips, th*^ Enterj)rise, Cap-
tain Ricliard Collinson, and tlie Investi^'ator, Command-
er Robert McClure. These l)rave men sailed on tlieir
benevolent and hazardons mission, January 2<)th, 1850,
and made a safe and speedy passage to Bering's Strait.
On the 28th of August Collinson had reached a posi-
tion north of Point Barrow, but being unable to pene-
trate further <m account of the ice, he sailed for (Irantley
Harbor, where the Plover was pi-eparing her Avinter-
quarters. Here, an unsuccessful attempt was made to
get the Enterprise over the bar at the mouth of the
harbor; and after consulting with (\'i])tains Kellett
and Moore, of tiie Ilei-ald and Plover, Ca])tain Collin-
son sailed for ITong Kong, proj)osing to renew the
attempt to get north in the spring.

Meantime the Investigator, having outsaili'd the
Enterprise, fell in with the Herald, July .'51 st, off
Point IIo])e, and was seen by the Plover, August 5th,
1850, in hit. 70° 44', bearing gallantly to the north
under a press of sail. Nothing furtluM* was heard
of McClure in England until the Autumn of 1853,

317

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SEAliCIIES rOU FUANKLIN'.

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wlien Lieut. Cresswel], of tlie Investigator, anivecl
there with iiifonnatiou tliut McClure and his crew
liad reached Beecliey Island, liaving discovered the
long sought for North-west i)assage.

After passing Point Bari'ow, some men Avere sent
ashore to erect a cairn and l)ury a notice that the
Investigator luid passed. Tlit^y were uiet hy three
natives who gave the usual distant sign of friendship
by raising their arms three times over their heads,
and when in close proximity the less agreeable one of
rub1)ing noses. They had seen the masts of the
Investigator the jirevious evening and Av^oiidered at
the sight, thinking them to be trees in motion. They
were very friendly but could give no information of
Franklin, and McClure concluded that none of his
crew had ever been in that vicinity. " The natives,"
says McClure, " are a kind and nieriy I'ace, and when
we gave them presents, we told them that we were
looking foi our lost brothers, and if they saAV any
white men in distress, they Avere to be veiy kind; to
which they assented by saying that tliey would, and
would give them plenty of deer's flesh."

On the 10th of August, Colville Iliver was passed,
and the color of its Avaters Avas discernible at a dis-
tance of ten miles from the shore. The Es<|uiniaux
were numerous about the mouth of this river and
apparently had never seen Avhite men befoi-e, as they
manifested great curiosity and had no articles of
European manufacture. They Avere eager for traffic,
sharp at a l)ai'gain, and not sIoav in thieving. Seeing
some of the sailors cutting tobacco in pieces to give
in exchange for salmon trout, they began to cut the
fish also into pieces, and Avhile McClure Avas placing
a j^resent in the right hand of the chiet^ he felt the

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CllUISE OF THE INVESTIGATOU.

ai9

fellow's left liaiul picking his pocket. Tlie chief
laughed heartily Avheii iletected, and seemed to think
it no ci'hne.

On the 21st of Aug., the Investigator passed the
mouth of the Mackenzie lliver, and soon afterwai'd
reached Warren Point. As some natives were here
seen on shore, a boat put off with dispatches which
McClure wished to have forwarded to the Hudson's
Bay Company's posts on thi-* river. Instead of making
tlie usual friendly sign the natives wa,ved oil* the
boats with the most menacing gestures, and were
only pacified when the interpi'eter, in full native
costume, exjdained the object of the Investigator. It
was found that these Escpiiniaux li;ul no intercourse
with those on the Mackenzie, being at war with them.
A bi'ass button suspended from the ear of one of the
chiefs, excited much curiosity, and he told this story
of its histoi'v : It had belouiji-ed to a white man who
had been killed by a native. The stranger ^was one
of a party which had landed at Point Wai'ren and
there built a house, and then <j;one inland. The man
killed had strayed from his companions, and the chief
and his son had buried him upon a hill at a little
distance. McClure investiij-ated this matter thoroughly,
but could not ascertain when the mur<ler was com-
mitted, nor find the grave. He found, however, the
renuiants of two huts, which appeared to have been
built long before Franklin's expedition set out.

All along this coast the natives were at first hostile,
but invarial)ly became friendl;y after a little maneu-
vering on the part of the interpreter, avIio generally
succeeded in so ingratiating himself that the white
men Avere treated kindly and often invited to jiartake
of native hospitality. Arctic delicacies, such as salmon,

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SEAIICIIES roil FKANKLIN.

venison and Lliil)l)(»i', were lil)emlly hestowod upon
tlie olHcers and crew. The iiiteri)i"eter so "won over
one old cliief, tliat he was invited to remain with the
tri])e forever; as an inducement for liim to do so, the
cldef's daugliter, a pretty damsel of fifteen years,
Avas i)r()pouii(led as a wife, with a dowry of a tent
and a complete fitting out in the highest Esquimaux
style.

On the (Uli of Septemher, high land was discovered
to the north-east. Hitherto ihv Investigator had been
sailing along a shore which had been traversed by
Franklin, J5ack, Simpson, and others, on foot and in
boats ; but the land which now aj)peai'ed on the left
was terra incognita. INlcClure therc^fore hove anchor,
and on landing took formal ])ossession in the name of
Queen Victoria, calling it "Baring's Island." It was
afterwards discovei'cd that they did not land on an
island, but on the southern shore of Bank's Land.
The name of the coast was accordingly changed to
Baring's Land.

INlcClure now sailed along the easterly coast of
Bank's Land, up Prince of Wales Strait, and on the
17th of September was within thii-ty miles of Melville
Sound, whose waters connect with Barrow's Sti'ait
and Lancaster Sound. Here in latitude 73^ 10' and
longitude 117''' 10' the ice in which the ship was be-
set ceased to drift to the north, new ice began to
form, and everything indicated that the Investigator
"was fixed for the winter. Soon afterward, however,
the shi}) was carried by a tunuJtuous drift of the ice
thirty miles to the south, and on the 28th, was again
swept noi'thward in close proximity to the cliffs of
Princess Koyal Island. These cliffs rise perpendicu-
larly from the sea to a height of four hundred feet,

yV^i.i

DISCOVKUY OF TIIK NOUTII-VVEST I'ASSAdE

r.-ji

and as the ship di-iftwl towards tlieni one old sailor
rt'iiuirked to a comrade : — "Tlie ohl craft will doiiblo
U[) like an old basket when she gets alongside of them
rocks."

But a kind Providence saved the vessel, and she
was swej)t j)ast the island witliout striking the clitt's,
and on the .'50th of September Lrou^dlt up n(!ar the
advanced jjosition which she had reache-^ on the 17th;
and here the crew of the Investigatoi' i)assed tlie
winter of 1850-51.

On the 21st of October, 1850, IMcClure witli six
men and a sledge started in the direction of IMelville
Sound. On the 24tli a cape was seen in the distance
towards which their course was directed, and on the
night of the 25th they encam])ed only two miles from
it.

The next day opened with, a cloudless sky, and
McClure started early, ho])ing to obtain siglit of a sea
which would connect his discoveries with those of
Parry. At an altitude of six hundi-ed feet above the
water-level, he impatiently waited for light enough to
discover whether the lono; souijht North-west i)assage
from the Atlantic to the Pacific had l)een found.

As the sun's light increased the outline of the shores
became distinctly visible. Bank's Land terminated
about twelve miles away. At the north lay the
frozen watei's of Melville Sound, and the eyes of the
eager beholders embraced a distance Avhich i)recluded
the possibility of any Luid lying in that direction
between them and Melville Island. McClure was
satisiicd that he had discovered the Noith-west pas-
sage ; he named the hill from which he gazed Mount
Obsei'vation, and ascertained that it was in latitude
73^ 30', and longitude 114'^ 39 ^ From a point in

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322

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLIN.

Melville Sound to be seen from Mount Observation,
Parry had sailed eastward into Baffin's Bay and thence
home ; and McClure had sailed easterly from Bei'ing's
Sti'ait almost to Parry's starting point and into watei's
connecting therewith. The great problem for the
solution of which so many Arctic explorers had risked
their lives was now solved.

A large cairn was erected, a record of the discovery
placed therein, and then came the fatiguing return
joui'ney to the Investigator, during which McClure
came near perishing. When within a few miles of
the Investigator he pushed on ahead of his party who
were slowly drawing the sledge, that he might tell
his comrades the glorious news; but night overtook
him ere he reached the vessel, and with it came a
dense mist which obscured everytliing. He pushed
on, guiding his couise by the direction of the wind,
until repeated falls over the rough ice admonished
him of the danger of broken bones.

" I now climbed," says McClure, " on a mass of
squeezed-up ice in the hope of seeing my l)arty, siiould
they pass near, or of attracting the attention of some
one on board the vessel by firing my fowling-piece.
Unfortunately I had no other amnumition than what
it was loaded with. After waiting for an liour
patiently, I was rejoiced to see through the mist tlie
glare of a blue light, evidently burnt in the direction
in which I had left the sleduje. I immediatelv fiivd
to denote my position, but my fire was unobserved,
and both barrels being discharged I was unable to
repeat the signal. My only hope now rested on tlie
ship's answering, but nothing was to be seen, and
there seemed no probability of my having any other
shelter for the night that what the floe afforded.

J-

mcclure's Nioirr adventure.

323

" It was now half-past eight. There were eleven
Lours of night before me, a temperature 15* below
zero, bears prowling about, and I with an unloaded
gun in my hands. The sledge party might, liowever,
reach the ship, and, finding I had not arrived, search
would be made and help be sent ; so I walked to and
fro upon my hummock until, I suppose, it must have
been eleven o'clock, when that hope fled likewise.
Descending from the top of the slab of ice upon wliich
I had clambered, I found under its lee a famous bed
of soft, dry snow, and thoroughly tired out, I threw
myself upon it and slept for perhaps three hours,
when upon opening my eyes, I fancied I saw the flash
of a rocket. Jumping upon my feet I found that the
mist had cleared off, find that the stars and aurora
borealis were shining in all the splendor of an Arctic
night. Although unable to see the islands or the
ship, I wandered about the ice in different directions
until daylight, when, to my great mortification, I
found I had passed the ship fully the distance of four
miles."

MeClure finally reached the Investigator before the
arrival of the sledge-party, and great was the rejoicing
on board at the news of the discoveiy of the North-
west passage.

During the winter and sjiring, sledge-parties were
sent out in various directions, but no ti'aces of Frank-
lin were found and no important geographical discov-
eries made. Reindeer, musk-ox and other animals
were occasionally met with all through the long Arc-
tic night, and McClure concluded that it was a mistake
to suppose that these inhabitants of the Arctic Archf-
pelago migrated south to avoid the extreme cold of
the winters.

824

6EAKC1IE8 FOR FUANKHN.

In July, 1851, the ice-floe in which the ship had
rested began to break up, and on the I7th the shij)
was once more free. But she enjoyed her liberty for
only a short time, being soon captured by the pack-
ice and again carried back and forth through Prince
of Wales Strait as on the previous year. The situa-
tion was aggravating in the extreme. At times only
twenty-five or thirty miles separated McClure and his
crew from an open sea, through which, if they could
only reach it, they might sail to Baffin's liay and
England the same summer. The alternative was to
pass another gloomy and hazardous winter amid the
ice.

But all attempts to get the ship further to the
north-east than it was drifted by the ice proved
unsuccessful ; and it turned out that the North-west
passage was not much of a passage after all, so far as
the Investigator was concerned. The great trouble
was, that an ice-bridge several miles in length
obstructed the way.

McClure now decided to retrace his steps if possible
to the southerly point of Banks' Land and to sail up
its western coast. In this attempt he was so success-
ful, that on the 10th of August he had passed Point
Kellett, and was rapidly progressing northward
through a lane of open water nearly five miles wide.
Soon after this the lead became very narrow and
much obstructed by floating ice, while the pack, be-
tween which and a precipitous coast they were sail-
ing, was of fearful thickness — extending fifty feet
below the water, which was very deep, and rising in
places into hills a hundred feet high. The situation
was full of peril, for had the ice set towards the
abrupt cliffs along which they were sailing, nothing
could have saved the ship.

LIFE AT MERCY BAY.

325

On the 20th of August, the Investigator was fast
lietween the ice and the beacli at the north-west cor-
ner of Banks' Land, and remained so till the 29th,
wlien the immense floe to which she had been fastened
AMIS raised edgeways out of the water by the cro\\ding
of the surrounding ice, and lifted perpendicularly
some thirty feet close to the ship's bows. It seemed
as if the ship must capsize, and had the ice tojipled
over, as appeared likely, it would have sunk her.
But the floe, after frightful oscillations, righted itself
and drifted onward. At another time the wreck of
the Investigator seemed certain, and all that McClure
could hope for was " that the ship might be thrown
up sufficiently to serve as an asylum for the wintei'."

At length on the 24th of SeptemV)er, the explorers
drifted into a large bay on the northern shores of
Banks' Land, where they found a secure harbor, and
here they passed the winter. In gratitude for past
deliverances McClure called the place Mercy Bay.
Game was abundant, and hunting parties rambled
over the hills almost daily throughout the winter,
excei)ting when prevented })y occasional snow-storms,
or when it was too dark for shooting. Some of the
hills were three hundred feet high with wild and
picturesque gorges between them. On their sides
abundance of wood was found, and in many j)laces
layers of trees were visilde, some protruding a dozen
feet. One of the largest of these tnmks measured
nineteen inches in diameter.

The hunters met with various adventures, and one
poor negro followed a wounded deer so far that he
became bewildered and could not retrace his steps.
He was so frightened out of his senses, that when
found he stood crying, fancying himself frozen to

III

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826

8EAUCIIE8 FOU FRANKLIN.

death, and could not be induced to make any exer-
tion to return. In spite of his prayer to be let alone
to die, his comrade carried and rolled him down the
hills to the ship, where he soon recovered his strength
and senses.

In April, 1852, a sledge jouraey was made across
Banks' Strait to Winter Harbor on Melville Island,
where Parry had wintered. Here a cairn was found
containing information that Lieut. McClintock of the
Intrepid had been there on a previous summer. In
this same cairn McClure deposited a notice of his own
visit, and of the situation of the Investigator at
Mercy Bay. This information subsequently led to
the rescue of himself and crew.

During the summer of 1852 the scurvy made its
appearance among the crew. On the 1st of July six
of the men were confined by it to their beds, and
numbers more began to feel its symptoms. To add
to their troubles the summer proved a very cold one,
and before the close of July it became pretty manifest
that the Investigator must spend another long winter's
night in her present moorings. The grip of the ice
was worse than the grip of the Tartar. During July
and August the crew were daily employed in gather-
ing sorrel which grew in the vicinity ; eaten as a salad
or boiled, it was found to be a most valuable anti-scor-
butic, and proved an efficient medicine for the scurN-y
patients. Sledging parties w^ere also sent out in hopes
to accomplish the great mission of the Investigator —
the finding of Franklin ; but not a trace of his party
was discovered.

" Although," says McClure, " we had already been
twelve months upon tAvo-thirds allowance, it was
necessary to make preparations for meeting eighteen

, 4

RELIEF AT HAND.

327

months more ; a very severe depnvation and constitu-
tional test, l)ut one which the sen'ice we were eini)loy-
ed upon called for, the vessel l>eing as sound as the
day she entered the ice; it would, therefore, he dis-
creditahle to desert her in 185.*^, when a favorable
season would run her through the straits and admit of
reaching England in safety, where the successful
achievement of th(? long-sought-for and almost hope-
less discovery of the Noith-west passage Moidd be
received with a satisfaction that wouhl amj)ly com-
])ensate for the sacrifices made and hardships endured
in its most trying and tedious accomplishment."

In November the ship was housed over, and banked
up Avith ice and snow, and preparations completed
for spending a second winter at Mercy liay. The
crew kept up their spirits; hunting was again the
order of the day ; and deer, hares, and ptarmigan were
})lenty. Christmas was celebrated with great eclat^
and all vied to make it a cheerful and happy one.
Each mess was gayly illuminated, and decorated with
original paintings by the lower-deck artist, exhibiting
the ship in her perilous positions during the transit
of the Polar Sea, and divers other subjects. Dainties
in great ])rofusion graced the lower deck, and a stran-
ger witnessing the scene would hardly su])pose that
he saw a crew which had passed over two years in
those dreaiy regions, depending entirely on their own
resources.

So passed away the winter of 1852-3; and when

spring came the men were all making preparations

for carrying out a i)lan which McClure had previously

decided on. One-half of the crew and some of the

officers were to remain with the ship and endeavor to

liberate it during the summer. The rest of the men

m ;

llll>

328

SKAKCIIES FOR FRANKLIN.

were to start for England — a part by way o^ Macken-
zie River and Canada, and a part Wy way of Baffin's
Bay. All were sad at the prospect of separation, for
the sojourn and the journeys were alike full of gloom,
and the death, April 5th, of a comrade who had pois-
oned himself, add.^d to the general depression of spirits.
But une.\'j)efted relief was at hand, and its arrival can
be best described in ]\IcClure'8 own words: —

" While walking near the ship, in conversation witli
the first lieutenant upon the subject of digging a grave
for the man who died yesterday, and disci.: ing how
we could cut a ijrave in the ground whilst it was ^•,)
hardly frozen, we pei'ceived a figure walking ra[)i(lly
towards us from the rough ice at the entrance of the
bay. From his pace and gestures we botli naturally
supposed, at first, that he was some one of our jiarty
pursued by a bear ; l)ut, as we aj^proached him, doubts
arose as to who it could be. lie was certainly unlike
any of our men ; but, recollecting that it was possil)lo
some one might be trying a new traveling-dress pre-
])aratory to the departure of our sledges, and certaiij
that no one else was near, we continued to advance.

"When within about two hundred j'ards of us, the
strange figure threw up his arms, and made gesticula-
tions resembling those used by Esquimaux, besides
shouting at the top of his voice words which, from
the wind and intense excitement of the moment,
sounded like a wild screecli : and this broujjht us ])()tli
fairly to a stand-still. The stranger came quietly on.
and we saw that his face wasasblack(from lamp-smoke)
as ebony ; and really, at the moment, we might he
pardoned for wondering whether he was a denizen
of this or t)]e other world ; as it was, we gallantly
stood our ground, and, had the skies fallen upon us,

THE INVESTIGATOR DESERTED.

329

we could hardly have been more astonif^hod than
when the dark-faced stranger called out, ' I'm Tiicn-
tenant Pirn, lute of the Herald, and now in the Ucso-
lute. Captain Kellett is in her, at Dealy Island.'

"To rush at and seize him by the hand was the
fii-st inijmlse, for the heart was too full for the tongue
to speak. The announcement of relief being close at
hand, when none was supposed to be even within the
Arctic Circle, was too sudden, unexpected, and joyous,
for our minds to conij)rehend it at once. The news
flew with ligiitning rni)idity ; the shi[) was all in com-
motion ; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, h'aped
from their hammt)cks; the artificers dropped their
tools, and the lower deck Avas cleared of nu-n ; for
they all rushed for the hatchway, to be assured that
a stranger w as actually among them, and th.it his tale
was true. Despondency fled the shij>, and Lieut. Pirn
received a wehHMne — pure, hearty, and giateful — that
he will surely remember and cherish to the end of his

Lieut. Pim's companions on this journey soon
arrived at the ship, with the Fit/.james, a small
sledge drawn \)y dogs. On the 8th of April they set
out to return to the Kesolute, accompanied hy McClure
and some of his men, and reached their shi]> on the
ll»th. On the 2d of May, an ollicer arrived from tlie
Investigator with news of the death of two more of
her crew. McClui'e, with the surgeon of the Resolute,
then returned to his ship, intending to send home all
the crew^ who were unfitted f(»r service, and to allov.'
such others as wished to accomi)any them to do so.
AVith the balance he hoped to sav(i his vessel; but
on consultins: the crew only four were willing to
remain, although all the officers volunteered to stand

)lll

i' 'I'

III! 1 1

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830

SEARCHES FOR FKAXKLiy.

by tlieir ship. After landing boats and stores for tlio
use of CoDinson, Franklin, or any other exph)rer, t\w
colors were hoisted to the main-mast on the 3d of
June, 1853, and the officers and crew, in all sixty
men, bade farewell to the gallant Investigator and
started for Dealy Island.

After sharing the fortunes of Captain Kellett's
ships, the Kosolute and Intrepid, until April, 1854,
Cai)t;:in McClure and his men started with sledges,
for Beechey Island, where they took up quarters on
the North Star. When that ship, later in the season,
sailed for England with the crews of five deserted
vessels, the brave discoverers of a North-west pas-
sage were among the number.

It will be remembered by the reader, that Captain
Collinson of the Enterprise, not succeeding in enteiing
the Polar Sea in the fall of 1850, went to Hong Kong
to winter. In 1851 he sailed north, doubled Point
Barrow, and following the track of the Investigator
through the Continental Channel and up Prince of
AVales Strait, penetrated a few miles further north than
McCIure had gone. But as no passage through the
ice could be found, he sailed southerly and passed the
winter of 1851-2 at Walker's Bay, on the eastern
side of the entrance of Prince of Wales Strait. Search
expeditions were sent out, and portions of Banks'
Land, Albert Land, and Victoria Land examined.

During the next summer, Collinson took his ship
southerly and easterly through Dolphin and Union
Strait and Dease Strait, and passed the winter of 1852
-3 at Cambridge Bay, on the southern coast of Vic-
toria Land. From this point sledge parties were sent
out to explore the western shores of Victoria Strait.
Had they crossed this Strait to King William's Land^

KECKNT DKAin OF MtCLUUE.

331

tbeir search for traces of! the lost exj)lorers would have
Ikh'II more successful.

lieing unable to force a passaj^o throuj^h the ice to
till' eastward the next season, Oollinsou wtiiited for
Urriiig's Strait, but the Enterprise was cauglit in the
ice beibre reaching Pt)int Harrow, and a thiril winter
was passed on the noithern coast of Anierica.

The exploits of McClure were duly a]>preiiated by
his countrymen. lie received the honors of kiiiuht-
hood, and his commission as Ca])tain was dated back
to the day when, from a hill on Banks' L.uid, lie
gazed on a continuous ocean. Gold oi."';ils were
uwardiid to him by the English and French (reograjjhi-
cal Societies, and a select committee of tlu^ House of
Commons resolved that the officers an<l ci'ew of the
Investigator "performed deeds of heroism which,
though not accompanied by the excitement and tln^
glory of the battle-field, yet rival in bravery an«l
devotion to duty, the highest and most successful
achievement of war." A reward of ,£* 10,000 was
granted to them as a token of national approbation.

The recent death of Sir llobert McClure, which
occurred October 17th, 1873, has occasioned an ill-
timed controversy as to wlio is entitled to the honor
of Jirst discovering a North-west passage. Lady
Franklin, in a letter to the I'imes i)ubHshed "before
McClure's old comrades had had time to turn from
the grave of the great ex})lorer," claims the honor
for the last survivors of her husband's ex})edition.
The questicm is not a new one, but its discussion has
been generally avoided by most of the Arctic writers,
as they have felt that Fnmklin and McClure, if living,
would have no dispute about so small a matter.

!:l-, "!r.

CHAPTER XXVT.
SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

(hecond cruise ok the puince albeut.)

Tin: return of the Prince Albert in the fall of 1850
with I'clies of Frunklin's i)arty gave encouragenK-nt
for a continuation of the s«!arch ; and on uif :U] of
June, 18r)1, the same vessel again sailed for Prince
Regent's Inlet. Captain Win. Kennedy, formerly of
the Hudson's Bay C<)nij)any, conunanded the schooner,
and was assisted by Lieut. J. Bellct, an energetic a!i<l
lively young officer of the French navy, whose love
of adventure led hini to offer his services to Lady
Fi'unklin.

The crew were all picked men, and includiul Jolin
Ilejdjurn, Franklin's faithful attendant on his Ih'st
overland journey, and other Arctic travelers. Never
was a vessel manned with a more gallant or more
resolute comi)any. Lady Franklin herself was pr(;sent
to cheer and encourage the adventurers, as with the
English flag at the j)eak, and the French flag, as a
compliment to Bellot, at the fore, the Prince Albert
went forth amid the prayers and best wishes of all
England.

On arriving at the entrance to Prince Regent's
Inlet that channel was found to be much obstructed

332

A NlOirr AT CAPR HKI'l'lNOH.

d:)3

"by W; but Kennedy punhed boldly in, and pene-
tmtt'd Houtlu'i'ly alons^ the wentcrn cojwt as fur as
Fury Point. lie was obliged, however, to beat a
hasty retreat, to eneapti being eruNhed by the ice which
began to drift toward the nhore, and took refuge ut
port How«Mi on the eantern coast.

To winter at this jdace while all their searches
wen- t«» l)e made on the west(M'n shore, was an id«^tt
not tobeeonsi(h'red by Kennedy and Hellot. Accord-
iiiirly on the \H\\ of Sei)tenibt'r the attempt to find a
harbor on the west side was renewed ; and wlu-n near
Port Leopohl, Kennedy with four men sueceeib'd in
reacliing the shore, and on ascending the elills of
('nj)e Seppings, discovered that Port Leopold \\nn
free from ice and would afford a good winter harbor
for th«! Prince Albert if it could \}v reached.

Descending to the shore, what was their consterna-
tion on finding that the narrow lane through which
they had rowed their gutta-jteicha boat was com-

l>l('tely closed, and that the whole pack was drifting
down the inlet, carrying the shij) with it. Little
could be seen or heard but the tovsing, roaring au<l
grinding of huge masses of ice. Night was coming
on, and to reach the ship was ini]>ossil>le. Nothing
could be (buie but to make thejusclves as comfortable
for the niijht as frozen clothes and cold winds would
allow. The boat was hauled up on shore, and under
its shelter, but Avitlioiit blankets or coverings of any
kind, Kenned v and his men made the best of their
situati(»n. No <)ne was permitted to slec]) but an
hour at a time for fear of being frozen.

AVith the dawn of day the shivering party ascended
the highest cliff of Cape Seppings and strained their
eyes in search of the Prince Albert. Not a sign of

334

S£AUCU£S FOB FKANKLIN.

B^S'

H '

the vessel was to be seen ; and here they were, alone
on a ]>leak coast at the cominencement of an Arctic
wintei', without shelter, provisions or fuel, and scan-
tily clad. Fortunately, Kennedy was aware that two
years before Sir James lloss had made a depot of pro-
visions at Whaler Point on the other side of the har-
bor. To this depot the little company directed their
way, and were overjoyed to find plenty of provisions
and the canvas hut which Ross had erected.

"It was now," says Kennedy, "the lOtli of Septem-
ber. Winter was evidently fast setting in, and, from
the distance the shi[) had been carried during that dis-
astrous night (whether out to sea or down the inlet we
could not conjecture) there was no hope of our being
able to rejoin her, at least during the present season.
There remained, therefore, no altei'native but to make
up our minds to pass the winter, if necessary, where
we were. The first object to be attended to ^vas the
erecting of some sort of slielter against the daily in-
creasing inclemency of the weather; and for this pur-
pose the launch, left by Sir James llo^s, was selected.
Her mainmast Avas laid on supports at the bow and
stern, about nine feet in height, and by spreading two
of her sails over this a very tolerable roof \vas ob-
tained. A stove was set np in the body of the boat,
with the pipes running through the roof; and we
were soon sitting by a comfortable. fire, which, after
our long exposure to the wet and cold, we stood very
much in need of."

Ca})tain Kennedy was not the man to sit down idle
and wait for something to turn np. He immediately
began devising plans for future operations. The fii-st
thing was to search ft)r the Prince Albert, and the
second was to hunt for Franklin. Before either pro-

BELLOT8 RESCUE PARTY.

335

ject could be earned out it was necessary to provide
some additional clothing and especially shoes. Ma-
terial for both was at hand in the slmi)e of canvas,
and the party passed their days — Sundays excepted
— in making it up. To their credit, be it said, that
their Sabbaths were observed strictly as holy time,
and He who had so wonderfully preserved them in
theii" extremity was duly honored.

AVliile thus busily employed in preparations for
their exploi-ing expeditions they were smldenly star-
tled, on the 17th of October, by the firing of a gun in
the direction of Cape Seppings. Rushing eagerly
from their house thev discovered seven of the Prince
All)ert's men, headed by Lieut. Bellot, who had come
in search of their lost comrades. The mutual coni^rat-
ulations and thanksij^ivinors can be better imai^ined
than described. Bel lot reported that the Prince Al-
bert was securely moored in Batty Bay, and that he
and his men had come up on the ice, dragging a boat
with them for use if needed, Bellot had made two
previous attempts to reach Port Leopold, but had been
baffled once by deep snows, and again by weakness of
the ice, through which the sledge broke and was lost.

Five weeks had elaj)sed since Bellot ha<l taken
French leave of his Captain, and unwillingly drifted
oft" in the Prince Albert. They weie weeks of anx-
ietv, and the reaction of exuberant feelin«T was o;reat.
The night was spent under the covering of the (dd
launch and her boards reverberated with sea songs
and hearty laughs, while the lost and found drank hot
chocolate and feasted on Arctic dainties.

On the 2 2d of Octo])er the whole party set out for
Batty Bay, drawing provisions and Bellot's boat on
a sledge made for the occasion. A mast was erected

^'^M

■r'S^M

ilrf

"■"11:

;ml||

[iHiiM

li'i

ii I

fi'i':i

336

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLm.

and sails set, and at times, when the ice was smooth
and the wind strong, the sledge, hearing all the trav-
elers, sailed off with great rapidity. Unfortunately,
however, it broke down when near the middle of the
bay, and it was not safe to spend the night on the
treacherous ice. Darkness overtook them before
they reached laud, and driving snow made progress
both ditticult and dangerous. Cold and tired they at
length reached a flat lime-rock, where they spread a
tent, kindled a fire, boiled some tea and made merry.

The tent proved too small to lodge thirteen men
with any comfort to themselves, and Bellot, whose
tact and good humor were unbounded, resolved "to
make a nis:ht of it." Six men were arranged in a
sitting posture on each side of the tent, and had be-
tween them a space about three feet wide in which to
accommodate the legs of the twelve, and Bellot, who
chose "a middle passage." All efforts to sleep were
unsuccessful and songs and merriment prevailed. For
the want of a candle-stick, each man was to hold the
candle, for fifteen minutes, and then pass it to his
neighbor. The candle at length giving out, the men
tried to get a little rest, but Bellot's jokes were too
good to allow it. lie afterward referred to the niglit
on the lime-stone rock, as one of enjoyment on a solid
foundation. Sleeping in a tent was not repeated, but
they passed several comfortable nights in snow houses,
and on arriving at the ship were heartily welcomed by
their comrades.

The ensuing winter was passed in the ice at Batty
Bay ; ;.nd though the night was long and dai'k, the
cold winds howled around, and the drifting snow at
times obstructed all out-door exercise, light, warmth
and cheerfulness prevailed in the cabin of the Prince

A VISIT TO WHY BEACH.

337

Albert, and occasionally a mock-sun, or "sun-dog," dis-
pelled the gloom.

On the 5th of Januarj' 1852, Kennedy, Bellot, and
three of the crew, with a sledge drawn by dogs, start-
ed on an excursion to the south. As they approached
Fury Beach the leaders impatiently jjushed on ahead
of the sledge, and on the evening of the 8th, stood
upon the spot where they had hoped to find some of
Franklin's party. "Every object distingnished by
the moonlight in the distance," says Kennedy, "be-
came animated, to our imaginations, into the forms of
our long-al)sent countrymen ; for, had they been im-
prisoned anywhere in the Aictic seas, within a rea-
sonable distance of Fury Beach, here, we felt assured,
some of them, at least, would have been now. But,
alas for these fond hopes ! All was solitary and des-
olate."

" Somerset House " was still in existence ; with sad-
dened feelings Kennedy and Bellot entered its cheer-
less apartments, and kindled a fire in the same stove
which warmed the crew of Sir John Ro-is in the di'eary
winter of 1832-3. After eating their snpper, they
took a few hours repose ; then started liack towards
the sledge party, and all returned to Batty Bay.

On the 25th of February, Kennedy again started
south, with five men e(piipi)ed with snow-shoes, sledges
and dogs, and was overtaken a few days afterward
at Fury Beach, by Bellot with seven men. After
drawing largely on the old stores of the Fury, Avhich
were abundant and good, although thirty years had
elapsed since they were left there, the whole party
started southerly, on the " grand Journey," as Bellot
called it. On arriving at Brentford Bay, eight of the

•:-i'

mm,

338

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLLN.

men were sent back, and six men, witli sledges drawn
by dogs, continued the explorations.

Near this bay a strait running westward was found,
which was named Bellot Strait. It separated North
Somerset from Boothia Felix, and communicated with
Victoria Strait. Kennedy passed through it, and then
crossed Victoria Strait to Prince of Wales Land. Af-
ter continuing westward for thirteen days and reach-
ing longitude 100® west without coming to any se.a,
the party turned their course northward, and at last,
on the 4th of May, ari'ived at Cape AVulker at the
northern extremity of Prince of Wales Land. But
here, as at Fuiy Beach, they were much disappointed
at finding no traces of Franklin's Expedition.

From Cape Walker the party started eastward, the
stock of provisions running very low and some of the
men being sick with the scur^'y. On arriving at Ca})e
McClintock, they were rejoiced to find a depot of jm-o-
visions left there by Ca])taln Ross in 1841). Contin-
uing on, they arrived at Whaler Point on the 12th and
remained there till the 27th, recruiting upon the stores
and anti-scorbutics which Avere ihove found. On the
30th of May they reached their ship, aftei- an absence
of ninety-seven days, during which time they had trav-
eled about eleven hundred miles.

The Prince Albert remained Imprisoned In the Ice
until the Gth of August, and on being liberated sailed
for home, arriving In England on the 7th of October,
1852.

CHAPTER XXVII.
SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

(EXPEDmoNs OF 1852.)

Notwithstanding the ill-success and disappointments
wliicli had thus far attended the searches for Frank-
lin, the whole English nation was stimulated to make
one more great effort for his rescue ; and the spring of
1852 witnessed the departure from England of the
largest expedition which had ever sailed for the Po-
lar seas. It was commanded by Sir Edward Belcher,
and comprised a squadron of three ships — the Assist-
ance — the Resolute, Captain Kellett — the Noi-th Star,
Captain Pullen ; and two steamers — the Pioneer,
Lieutenant Osborne — and the Intrei)id, Captain Mc-
Clintock. These five vessels left England on the 28th
of April, and arrived at Beechey Island on the 10th of
August.

At Beechey Island the ships separated. Belcher
and Osborne, with the Assistance and Pioneer, pro-
ceeded up Wellington Channel; Kellett a;id McClin-
tock, with the Resolute and Intrepid, sailed westerly
toward Melville Island ; and the North Star remained
at Beechey Island as a depot-ship and retreat for any
of the explorei's who might need assistance.
Belcher's two ships came to anchor in Northum-

339

'Mm

340

SEAIICIIES FOR FRANKLIN.

bei'land Sound on the western shores of Grinnell
Land, in latitude 7G^^ 52', and here they remained
throu<^h the winter. Exploring i)arties were sent <tut
in every direction during the autumn and ensuing
summer, who discovered and surveyed much iww
territory. Hopes of being on Franklin's track were
occasionally raised from finding structures evidently
erected by human hands but differing from any-
thing which the Esquimaux were supi^osed to be
familiar with. Belcher in describing one of his joui-
neys says : —

" Our progress was tantalizing, and attended with
deep interest and excitement. In the first place, I
discovered, on the brow of a mountain about eight
huniU'ed feet above the sea, what ai)peared to be a
recent and very workmanlike structure. This Avas a
dome, — or rather a double cone, or ice-house, — built
of very heavy and tabular slal)S, which no single per-
son could cany. It consisted of al)out forty courses,
eight feet in diameter, and eight feet in depth, when
cleared, but only five in height from the base of the
upi)er cone as we opened it.

" Most carefully was every stone removed, every
atom of moss or earth scrutinized ; the stones at the
bottom also taken up ; but without finding a trace of
any record, or of the structure having been used by
any human being. It was filled by drift snow, but
did not in any respect bear the appearance of havino-
been built more than a season. This was named
* Mount Discovery.' "

Soon afterward two structures were found whitli
appeared to be graves. " Each," says Belchei', " was
like the dome, of large selected slabs, having at each
end three separate stones, laid as we should place

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,:;l

CAPTAIN KELLETT S ADVENTURES.

341

head and foot stones. So thoroughly satisfied was I
that there was no dehision, I desisted from disturbing
a stone until it should be forraally done by the i)arty
assembled.

" The evening following — for where the sun is so
oppressive to the eyes l)y day we travel by night —
we ascended the hill, and removed the stones. Not a
trace of human beings !"

Wluni the Assistance and Pioneer were freed fi'om
the ice, about the middle of July, Belcher staited for
Beechey Island ; but before he could get there ice ob-
structed his passage, and his ships were frozen in for
the winter of 1853-4 at Baring's Bay.

When spring came on. Belcher determined to get
his whole command back to England that season ;
and when his two vessels were liberated from the ice
on the 6th of August, he again started for Beechey
Island. But when nearly there an ice-floe, extending
a distance of twenty miles l)etween him and the ojien
water of Barrow's Strait, arrested his progress ; and
believing that it would be impossible to get the
Assistance and Pioneer through this ice. Belcher and
his crews deserted them on the 2fith of. August 18r)4,
and made their Avay to Beechey Island.

When C.'iptain Kellet parted from Belcher at
Beechey Island, in August 1852, he took the Resolute
and Pioneer to their winter quarters at Dealy Island,
oif the south coast of ^[elville Island, and immedi-
ately sent out parties to deposit provisions along the
coast for the searching expeditions of the ensuing
spi'ing. McClintock Avent northerly to Ilecla and
Griper Gulf, and Lieut. Meacham went westerly to
Liddon Gulf. At AVinter Harbor, Meacham visited
"Parry's Sandstone," and found on it a small cairn

1
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fp'

842

SEARCHES I'OU I'UANKLIN.

i '

t ■ \

which McClintock had erected the year })efore. On
examining this cairn he found a copper cylinder, in
which was a roll folded in a Idadder. On oj)ening
this roll, Meacham, to his great astonishment, found
that it had been left there April 28th, 1852, by
McClure of the Investigator, and that it contained an
account of the cruise of that ship since she left Ber-
ing's Strait in 1850.

This was a discovery indeed. The Investigator
had not been heard from for two years, and here was
information, in the hand-writing of her commander,
that she was safely moored in Mercy Bay, on the
.opposite side of Banks' Strait, only six months pre-
viously. More than this — a North-west passage had
been discovered. Meacham hastened back to his ship
with the joyful news.

It was then too late in the season to undertake a
journey to Mercy Bay, distant one hundred and sev-
enty miles; but early the next spring, March 10th,
1853, a " forlorn hope " party of ten men, led by Lieut.
Pirn of the Resolute, started off across the strait to
search for the Investigator. Little hope of finding
McClure was entertained, as it was presumed he was
no longer at Mercy Bay. The labor of dragging their
large sledge over the broken ice and hummocks was
most tedious and fatiguing; and when it finally broke
down, Pim turned it back, and with two men and the
the little Fitzjames pushed briskly on.

Banks' Land was reached at last, and then, after
many more days of weary travel, the Bay of Mercy
came in view. No ship was seen ; but as the party
proceeded across the bay in search of records,
something black was noticed in the distance. On look-
ing at it through his glass, Pim decided that it was

ABANDONMENT OF THE SHIPS.

343

a ship, aiul liurrying on ahead of liis companions,
met liis old friend MeClure a.s already related.

In April, three other sledge expeditions were sent
out by Kellett, Avhieli thoroughly searched Mrlville
Island and all the land to the north and west thereof.
McClintock was absent one lunnlred and six davs, and
explored twelve luindred miles of coast ; Meaehani
traveled over a thousand miles in ninety-three days;
Lieut. Hamilton made a shorter journey to the north-
east; hut none of them found any traees of Fraidclin.

The ice around the ships did not break uj> till the
18th of August, and an attem})t was then nnuh' to get
them to Beeehey Island ; but it proved unsuccessful, and
early in September they were again fast in the new
ice. For two months the ships drifted back and forth
with the floe, and then came to a stand-still in longitude
101°, at a place due east of AVintei- Har])or. Ilei-e they
passed the winter of 1853-4. In the sj)ring, searches
for Franklin were renewed, and in A})ril, Lieut. Mea-
ehani found at Princess Royal Island, documents left
by Collinson in August, 1852.

On returning to the ships, IVIeacham found all hands
busy preparing to abandon them, as })erein})tory orders
to that eifect had been received from Belcher. Every-
thing al)Out the vessels was put in perfect order;
and then the hatches were calked down, and Kellett
and his men started with sledges for Beeehey Island
where McClure and his crew had already gone.

On Belcher's arrival at Beeehey Island, the officers
and men of the five deserted shij»s took passage for
home on the North Star. Just as they were starting,
two vessels — the Phoenix and Talbot, bringing dis-
patches and supplies for Belcher — hove in sight.

Thereupon, a portion of the men went aboard Captain
21

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, !

844

KETUUN TO KNOLAND.

Inglcfu'Ul'H HliipH, and the tliroc sailed for England,
where they arrived Septenilx'r 28th, 1854.

Of the five ves.sels thus abandoned in 185.3-4, only
one has since l)een heard from. In September, 1m55,
as Captain James Bud<lin<^ton, oominander of a New
London whaler, was drifting in the iee of liaftin's Bay,
he esjiied through his glass a ship some twenty miles
oft'. For seven days the two ships gradually approach-
ed each other; then Buddington sent four of his men
over the iee to find out what the craft was. As the
party neared the strangi'r, after a day's journey, they
found that she Avas fast in the ice, an«l ap})arently
deserted, as they saw no one and received no answer
to their shouts. A dread came over the men as they
climbed ujxm her decks. Everything was in order;
and over the helm was tlu; motto, in letters of brass,
" England expects every num to do his duty."

On descending to the cabin and striking a light,
the mystery was solved, for there they found the log-
book of the Resolute, which had l)roken from her
icy fetters and drifted eastward into Baffin's Bay,

The interior of the Resolute was in a bad condition,
but Buddington with ten of his crew carried her
safely to New London after a most uncomfortaT)le
voyage. The sequel is an honor to both England and
the United States. The former having released all
her claims in favor of the salvors, Congress bought
and refitted the Resolute, and sent her in charge of
oflficers and sailors of the U. S. Navy, to England,
where she was formally presented to Queen Victoria
in December, 1856. T' e whole affair was well cal-
culated to hasten an " era of good feeling " between
these two nations.

CIIAI»TER XXVIII.

SEARCHES FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

(expeditions of cai»tain inolefield and du. uae.)

Caitain Inolefield sailed from Englaiul July fitli,
1852, in the stemner Isabel, to ascertain it' the belief
of Sir John Ross that Franklin ha«l lost his life on the
western shores of Greenland was well founded.

On reaching Baffin's Bay, Inglefield })uslied boldly
north to Smith's Soun«l and examined that noble chan-
nel — which had hitherto baffled explorers — as far north
as 78" tJO'. He was at first, deluded with tin? 'dea tiiat
he had found a climate mikUu" than that of Baffin's Buy,
but this delusion a violent storm soon dispelhid.
Very likely the storm proved his salvation, for other-
wise he might have pushed on and been ice-anchored
where esca])e would have been impossible, and the
Isabel did not go prepared to pass an Arctic night.

The gale drove him back none too soon, for the cold
soon became intense, and the spray froze as it l)rokeon
the land. Icebergs and loose cakes of ice were all
around the Isabel and it was only by getting up
steam by the aid of blubber that she forced a way
out of her difficulties.

Inglefield arrived in England Nov. 4th, 1852. His

345

111

846

SEAECHES FOR FRANKLrBT.

■•til.

trip was a short one, but it was remarkably success-
ful, so far as its immediate object was concerned.

Early in 1853, Captain Inglefield was again sent
out in command of the Phoenix and Lady Franldin,
to reinforce B^^lcher's squadron. Lieut, Bellot, the
gallant young Frenchman who liad figured so con-
spicuously in the voyage of the Pj'ince Albert, ac-
companied Capt. Inglefield, and the saddest incident
connected with the expedition was the death of this
hero. In August, 1853, Bellot volunteered to carry
dispatches from Captain Pullen of the North Star,
over the ice to Sir Edward Belcher, who was at that
time near Cai)e Beecher iu Wellington Channel, and
started from Beechcy Island August 12th, with four
men named Harvey, Johnson, Madden, and Hook.
The ice at this season of the year is always treacher-
ous, and Bellot was cautioned to keep as close as
possible to the eastern shore of Wellington Channel.
He encouraged his men with his usual hilanty, and
put his own shoulder to the tracking lines as they
plodded along on the ice.

Approaching Cape Grinnell, Bellot found that there
was a broad belt of water between the ice and the
shore. Nothing daunted he pushed out with his In-
dia-rubber boat, to convey a line to the cape by
which the remainder of the party and the provisions
could be dragged over ; but the Annd blew furiously
and he could not, alone, make headway. According-
ly he remained on the ice, and ordered Harvey and
Madden to cross over with the line, which they suc-
cessfully accomplished. Madden remained on the
shore to hold the line, and three boat loads of pro-
visions had been conveyed across the water when the
ice was discovered to be on the move. Harvey and

DEATH OF BELLOT.

347

Madden were both at tliis time on the land, "but of
course could not hold on to the line, though Madden
did not let go till hauled into the water u]) to
his waist, when Bellot called to him to let her
slide. Bellot, Johnson and Hook were now drifting
to sea on a floe of ice, with a bitter wind driving
them further and further from hope of escape.
Madden and Harvey for two hours watched their
companions drifting away, powerless to render them
any assistance, and then began to retrace their steps
to the ship. Taking what provisions they could carry,
they walked around Griffin Bay and were rounding
Cape Bowden, when to their surprise they met their
lost comjianions Johnson and Hook, whose sad
countenances too plainly told the story of the third,
the brave and gleeful Lieutenant.

The account they gave of Bellot's sad fate was
briefly this. After finding themselves fairly afloat,
they made an ice house which might protect them
from the wind, Bellot cheerfully remarking, " When
tlie Lord protects us not a hair of our heads shall be
touched." They talked over the danger of their situ-
ation calmly for half an hour, when Bellot said lie
would go out and see how the ice was drifting. Li
a few minutes Johnson followed but could see noth-
ing of the Lieutenant, but there was a crack in the
ice near by, some five fathoms wide, and on the op-
posite side the crack lay Bellot's stick. The wind
was blowing a gale, and the gallant Frenchman was
probably blown into the water, and drifted under the
ice. His companions shouted " Bellot ! Bellot !" but
there was no response. The floe drifted to Point
Hogarth, when Johnson and Hook made their escai)e
to terra firma.

I? 4

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i-fci?i

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348

SEARCHES FOR FRANKLm.

" Poor Bellot !" " Poor Bellot !" was the exclamation
of all, Esquimaux included, as they learned his un-
timely end. His was a generous, noble nature. With
sincere sympathy for Lady Franklin, he entered the
English service for the sole purpose of aiding in the
discovery of her noble husband ; and of the many who
are buried in the waters and frost-bound lands of the
Arctic regions, the memory of none is cherished more
ardently by his companions than Lieutenant Bellot.
England showed her appreciation of his services by
a liberal subscription to his family and by a monu-
ment to his memory in Greenwich Hospital.

Ino-lefield returned to Ens-land in the autumn of
1853. He was accompanied by Lieut. Creswell of
the Investigator, who carried home dispatches announ-
cing the discovery of a North-Avest l^assage.

In 1853, Dr. Rae, who had made a land expedition
in 1851 in which he had thoroughly explored the
coast of North America as far east as longitude 110'',
was induced to undertake a similar expedition un-
der the auspices of the Hudson's BayCcmipany. His
former survey had made him thoroughly acquainted
with the coast, and had proved that he was the right
man to head another expedition. In this year he
however advanced only as far as Bepulse Bay, which
he reached on the 15t]i of August, and then went into
winter-quarters. His researches the succeeding sum-
mer, and his important discoveries, which proved
to be the key that unlocked the mysterious fate of
Sir John Franklin, are related in a succeeding chapter.

CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FmST AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

When the year 1848 had arrived without any
tidings of Sir Jolin Franklin or his party, Great Britain,
as heretofore stated, dispatched three expeditions
to look fori Pern. But peculiar drawbacks seemed
to attend their efforts, and hefore the beginning of
1850 they had all abandoned the search, almost with-
out attaining the first threshold of inquiry.

Their failure aroused every where the. generous
sympathies of men. Science felt for its votaries, hu-
manity mourned its fellows, and an impulse, holier
and more energetic than either, invoked a crusade
of rescue. That admirable woman, the wife of Sir
John Franklin, not content with stimulating the re-
newed efforts of her own countrymen, claimed the
co-operation of the world. In letters to the President
of the United States, full of the eloquence of feeling,
she called on us, as a ** kindred people, to join heart
and hand in the enterprise of snatching the lost navi-
gators from a dreary grave."

The delays incident to much of our national legis-
lation menaced the defeat of her appeal. The bill
making appropriations for the outfit of an expedition
lingered on its passage, and the season for commenc-
ing operations had nearly gone by.

(lit";

350

OEIGIN OF EXPEDITION.

:' ;

At this juncture, a noble-spirited mercliant of Ne\v
York fitted out two of his own vessels and proffered
them gratuitously to the government. Thus prompted
by the munificent liberality of Mr. Grinnell, Congress
hastened to take the expedition under its charge, and
authoi'ized the president to detail from the na^'y such
necessary oflScers and seamen as might be willing to
engage in it. The command was given to Lieutenant
Edwin De Haven, and the two vessels, named " Ad-
vance " and " Rescue," sailed from New York on tlie
22d day of May, 1850.

Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, a native of Philadelphia,
already distinguished for his world-wide travels, scien-
tific enthusiasm and gallant bearing, having repeatedly
volunteered for the service, accompanied tlie expedi-
tion as its senior medical oflicer and naturalist, and
on his return published its history in the form of a
" Personal Narrative." From this work we give, by
permission, in Dr. Kane's own words, a condensed
account of the

UNITED STATES GEIITITELL EXPEDITION.

On the 12th of May, while bathing in the tepid
waters of the Gulf of Mexico, I received one of those
courteous little epistles from Washington which the
electric telegraph has made so fanuliar to naval offi-
cers. It detached me from the coast survey, and or-
dered me to *' proceed forthwith to New York, for duty
upon the Arctic Expedition."

Seven and a half days later, I had accomplished my
overland journey of thirteen hundred miles, and in
forty hours more our squadron was beyond the limits
of the United States : the Department had calcidated
my traveling time to a nicety.

THE ADVANCE AND RESCUE,

351

A very few books and a stock of coarse woolen
clothing, re-enforced by a magnificent robe of wolf-
skins, that had wandered down to me from the snow-
drifts of Utah, constituted my entire outfit ; and with
these I made my report to Commodore Salter at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Almost within the shadow of the line-of-battle ship
North Carolina, their hulls completely hidden beneath
a projecting wharf, were two little hermaphrodite brigs.
Their spars had no man-of-war trigness ; their decks
were choked with half-stowed cargo ; and for size, I
felt as if I could straddle from the main hatch to the
bulwarks.

At this first sight of the Grinnell Expedition, I con-
fess that the fastidious experience of naval life on
board frigates and corvettes made me look down on
these humble vessels. They seemed to me more like
a couple of coasting schooners than a national squad-
ron bound for a perilous and distant sea. Many a
time afterward I recalled the short-sighted ignorance
of these first impressions, when some rude encounter
with the ice made comfort and dignity very secondary
thoughts.

The "Advance," my immediate home, had been orig-
inally intended for the transport of machinery. Her
timbers were heavily moulded, and her fastenings of
the most careful sort. She was fifty-three tons larger
than her consort, the *' Rescue ;" yet both together
barely equaled two hundred and thirty-five tons.

Of my brother officers I can not say a word. I am
so intimately bound to them by the kindly and un-
broken associations of friend and mess-mate, that I
shrink from any other mention of them than such as
my narrative requires. All told, our little corps of

AiM^

I aM n

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ti^a

352

LEAVE NEW YORK nAllBOR.

officers numbered four for each ship, including that
non-effective limb, the doctor. Our two crews, with
the aid of a cook and steward, counted twelve and
thirteen; giving a total of but thirty-three.

ADVANCE.

Officers.

Lieutenant Commanding — Edwin J. De Haven, commanding the expedition.
Passed Midshipman — William H. Murdaugh, acting master and first oflicer.
Midshipman — William I. Lovell, second officer.

E. K. Kane, M.D., passed assistant surgeon.

it'*.

h W

RESCUE.

Officers.

Acting Master — Samuel P. Griffin, commanding the Rescue.

Passed Midshipman — Rohort 11. Carter, acting master and first officer.

Boatswain — Henry Brooks, second officer.

Benjamin Vreeland, M.D., assistant surgeon.

About one o'clock on the 2 2d of May, the asthmatic
old .stocun-tng that was to be our escort to the sea
moved slowly off. Our adieux i'rom the Navy Yard
were silent enough. We cost our country no compli-
mentary gunpowder; and it was not until we got
abreast of the city that the crowded wharves and
shipping showed how much that bigger community
sympathized with our undertaking. Cheers and hur-
ras followed us till we had passed the Battery, and
the ferry-boats and steamers came out of their track
to salute us in the bay.

The sky was overcast before we lost sight of the
spire of old Trinity ; and by evening it had clouded
over so rapidly, that it was evident M'^e had to look for
a dirty night outside. Off Sandy Hook the wind fresh-
ened, and the sea grew so rough, that we were forced
to part abruptly from the frioiuls who had kept us

ADVANCE ASP KKSUUl'; AT l<AVV-i\aia>.

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THE GOOD-BY.

355

company. We were eating and drinking in our little
cabin, when the summons came for them to hurry up
instantly and leap aboard the boat. The same heavy
squall which made us cast loose so suddenly the cable
of the steamer gathered upon us the night and the
storm together; and in a lew minutes our transition
was complete, from harbor life and home associations
to the discomforts and hardships of our career.

The difference struck me, and not quite pleasantly,
as I climbed over straw and rubbish into the little pe-
culium which was to be my resting-place for so long
a time. The cabin, which made the homestead of lour
human beings, was somewhat less in dimensions than
a penitentiary cell. There was just room enough for
two berths of six feet each on a side ; and the area
between, which is known to naval men as " the coun-
try," seemed completely filled up with the hinged ta-
ble, the four camp-stools, and the lockers. A hanging
lamp, that creaked uneasily on its " gimbals," illus-
trated through the mist some long rows ol' crockery
shelves and the dripping step-ladder that led directly
from the wet deck above. Every thing spoke of cheer-
less discomfort and narrow restraint.

By the next day the storm had abated. AVe were
out of sight of land, but had not yet parted with the
last of our well-wishers. A beautiful pilot-boat, the
Washington, with Mr. Grinnell and his sons on board,
continued to bear us company. But on the 2.5th we
saw the white flag hoisted as the signal of farewell.
We closed up our letters and took them aboard, drank
healths, shook hands — and the wind being fair, were
out of sight of the schooner before evening.

I now began, with an instinct of future exigencies,
to fortify my retreat. The only spot I could call my

IM i

i i

356

CREATURE COMFORTS.

; f

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\ ' '

ilii

own was the berth I have spoken of before. It was
a sort of hunk — a right-angled excavation, of six feet
by two feet eight in horizontal dimensions, let into
the side of the vessel, with a height of something less
than a yard. My first care was to keep water out, my
second to make it warm. A bundle of tacks, and a
few yards of India-rubber cloth, soon made me an im-
penetrable casing over the entire wood-work. Upon
this were laid my Mormon wolf-skin and a somewhat
ostentatious Astracan fur cloak, a relic of former travel.
Two little wooden shelves held my scanty library ; a
third supported a reading lamp, or, upon occasion, a
Berzelius' argand, to be lighted when the dampness
made an increase of heat necessary. My watch ticked
from its particular nail, and a more noiseless monitor,
my thermometer, occupied another. My ink-bottle
was suspended, pendulum fashion, from a hook, and to
one long string was fastened, like the ladle of a street-
pump, my entire toilet, a tooth-brush, a comb, and a
hair-brush.

Now, when all these distributions had been happily
accomplished, and I crawled in from the wet, and cold,
and disorder of without, through a slit in the India-
rubber cloth, to the very centre of my complicated re-
sources, it would be hard for any one to realize the
quantity of comfort which I felt I had manufactured.
My lamp burned brightly ; little or no water distilled
from the roof; my furs warmed me into satisfaction;
and I realized that I was sweating myself out of my
preliminary cold, and could temper down at pleasure
the abruptness of my acclimation.

From this time I began my journal. At first its
entries were little else than a selfish record of personal
discomforts. It was less than a fortnight since I was

OFF NEWFOUNDLAND.

357

under the sky of Florida, looking out on the live oak
with its bearded moss, and breathing the magnolia.
Comlbrtable as my bunk was, compared with the deck,
I was conscious that, on the whole, I had not bettered
my quarters.

But with the 7th of June came fine, bright, bracing
weatlier. We were off Newfoundland, getting along
well over a smooth sea. We had been looking at the
low hills near Cape Race, when, about noon, a great
mass of whiteness was seen floating in the sunshine.
It was our first iceberg. It was in shape an oblong
cube, and about twice as large as Girard College. Its
color was an unmixed, but not dazzling white : indeed,
it seemed entirely coated with snow of such unsullied,
unreflecting purity, that, as we passed within a hund-
red yards of it, not a glitter reached us. It reminded
me of a great marble monolith, only awaiting the chisel
to stand out in peristyle and pediment a floating Par-
thenon. There was something very imposing in the
impassive tranquillity with which it received the lash-
ings of the sea.

The next day we were off St. John's, surrounded by
bergs, which nearly blockaded the harbor. A boat's
crew of six brawny Saxon men rowed out nine miles
to meet us, and offer their services as pilots. They
were disappointed when we told them we were " bound
for Greenland ;" but their hearty countenances bright-
ened into a glow when we added, " in search of Sir
John Franklin."

We ran into an iceberg the night after, and carried
away our jib-boom and martingale: it was our first
adventure with these mountains of the sea. We
thumped against it for a few seconds, but slid off
smoothly enough into open water afterward.

,if*:i^r

hi'.

fL.,J

:\ f 1

358

THE AKCTIC DAY.

i- t

yl i

We wore now drawinfj noar to Davis's Straits, and
the names which recorded our prog^ress upon the charts
were full of Arctic associations. The Meta Inroffnita
of Frobisher and the Cape of God's Mercy |;,'reetcd lis
from the American coast : Cape Farewell was on our
starboard quarter, and the " Land of Desolation" nearly
abeam.

Our enemies, the iceberpfs — for we had not yet
learned to regard them as friends — made their appear-
ance again on the 16th. One of them was an irreg.
ular quadrangle, at least a quarter of a mile long in
its presenting face.

The night had now left us : we were in the contin-
uous sunlight of the Arctic summer. I copy the en-
tries from my journal of the 17th.

" We are just ' turning in,' that is, seeking our den
for sleep. It has been a long day, but to me a God-
send, so clear and fogless. My time-piece points to
half past nine, and yet the sunshine is streaming down
the little hatchway.

"Our Arctic day has commenced. Last night we
read the thermometer without a lantern, and the
binnacle was not lighted up. To-day the sun sets
after ten, to rise again before two; and during the
bright twilight interval he will dip but a few degrees
below the horizon. We have followed him for some
time past in one scarcely varying track of brightness.
The words night and day begin to puzzle me, as I rec-
ognize the arbitrary character of the hour cycies that
have borne these names. Indeed, I miss that soothing
tranquillizer, the dear old darkness, and can hardly, as
I give way to sleep, bid the mental good-night which
travelers like to send from their darkened pillows to
friends at home.

and
larta
rnita
id us
1 our
early

t yet
)pear-
irreg-
ng in

'ontin-
he en-

ur den

a God-

ints to

down

ht we

d the
11 n sets
n<T the
[legrees
»r some
:litness.
1 rec-
les that
oothing
rdly, as
which
hows to

■ \

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- lip i 111

^.1 ■!

-i H-l'

THE SUKKERTOPPEN.

ii^-

iti''\

ii|

i i

ENTERING DISCO.

I ^4

THE SUKKERTOPPEN.

361

On the 20th an unknown schooner came within the
same dome of mist with ourselves. We had not seen
a sail since leaving Newfoundland, and the sight
pleased us. We showed our colors, but the little craft
declined a reciprocation.

On the same day, j utting up above the misty hori-
zon, we sighted the mountainous coast of Greenland.
It was a bold antiphrasis that gave such a vernal title
to this birth-place of icebergs. Old Crantz, the quaint-
est, and, in many things, the most exact of the mis-
sionary authorities, says that it got the name from the
Norsemen, because it was greener than Iceland — a poor
compliment, certainly, to the land of the Geysers I

We first made the coast near Sukkertoppen, a re-
markable peak, called so, perhaps, because its form is
not unlike that of a sugar-loaf, perhaps because its
top is whitened with the snow. Mountains that mark
their unbroken profile on the distant sky are very apt
to suggest these fanciful remembrances to the naviga-
tor ; and it is probably this which makes their names
so frequently characteristic.

This peak is a noted landmark, and gives its name
to the entire district it overlooks. Our own observa-
tions confirm those of Graah and Ross, which place it
in latitude 65° 22' north, longitude 53° 05' west. It
may be seen under ordinary circumstances many miles
out to sea.

We were fiivored in our view of the Sukkertoppen.
We had approached it through an atmosphere of fog ;
and when the morning of the 23d gave us a clear sky,
we found ourselves close upon the beach, so close that
we could see the white surf mingling with the snow
streaks. A more rugged and inhospitable region never
met my eye. Its unyielding expression differed from

V rjt

IIl'-h

■ f* a-.' ■

.<''^^\

362

THE SUKKERTOPPEN.

I !

any that belongs to the recognized desert, the Sahara,
or the South American Arridas ; for in these tropical
wastes there is rarely wanting some group of Euphor-
bia or stunted Gum Arabic trees, to qualify by their
contrast the general barrenness. It was startling to
see, beneath a smiling sun and upon the level of the
all-fertilizing sea, an entire country without an ap-
parent trace of vegetable life.

On the 24th, the sun did not pass below the horizon.
We had already begun to realize that power of adap-
tation to a new state of things, which seems to be a
distinguishing characteristic of man. We marked our
day by its routine. Though the temptation to avoid
a regular bed-hour was sometimes irresistible, yet sev-
en bells always found us washing by turns at our one
tin wash-basin : at eight bells we breakfasted ; at
eight again we called to grog ; two hours afterward
we met at dinner ; and at six o'clock in the afternoon
we came with laudable regularity to our salt junk and
coffee.

Our daily reckoning kept us advised of the recur-
ring noonday, the meridian starting-point of sea-life ;
and our indefatigable master had his unvarying hour
for winding up and comparing the chronometers. It
is hard not to mark the regulated steps of time, where
such a man-of-war routine prevails ; and I can scarce-
ly understand the necessity for the twenty-four hours'
registering dial-plate, which Parry and others carried
with them, to avert the disastrous consequences of a
twelve hours' skip in their polar reckonings.

We had now been a month and a day out from New
York. Our immediate destination was the Crown
Prince Islands, more generally known by the misno-
mer of the Whale Fish. This little group is situated

4i'.

C II O AV N r K I N C E I S L A Jf D S .

363

in the Bay of Disco, thirty miles south of the island
of that name.

The entrance to the anchorage from the southwest
is hetween two islands, and the harbor, which is com-
pletely sheltered from ice, is formed, as will be seen
from the sketch, by the conjunction of a third. On
turning the corner, we suddenly came upon a wood-
en store-house for oil and skins ; and opposite to it,
a clumsy-looking collier, moored stem and stern by
hawsers leading to rocks on either side of the channel.
Soon after, we were boarded by Lieutenant Power, of
the British navy, and from him we learned that the
clumsy craft was the Emma Eugenia, a provision
transport chartered by the Admiralty, and that in less
than a week she would take our letters to England.

We learned, too, that the British relief squadron
under Commodore Austin had sailed the day before
for the regions of search. They had left England on
the 6th of May, or seventeen days before our own de-
parture from New York.

While we were standing upoii deck, waiting for
the boat to be manned which was to take us to the
shore, something like a large Newfoundland dog was
seen moving rapidly through the water. As it ap-
proached, we could see a horn-like prolongation bulg-
ing from its chest, and every now and then a queer
movement, as of two flapping wings, which, acting
alternately on tiither side, seemed to urge it through
the water. Almost immediately it was alongside of
us, and then we realized what was the much talked-
of kayack of the Greenlanders.

It was a canoe-shaped frame-work, caiefully and en.
tirehj covered with tensely-stretched seal-skins, beau-
tiful in model, and graceful as the nautilus, to which

ih --w

\0k

3G4

KAYACKS.

it has been compared. With the exception of an ellip.
tical hole, nearly in its centre, to receive its occupant,
it was both air and water tight. Into this hole was
wedged its human freight, a black-locked Esquimaux,
enveloped in an undressed seal-skin, drawn tightly
around the head and wrists, and fastened, where it
met the kayack, about an elevated rim made for the
purpose, over which it slipped like a bladder over the
lip of a jar.

The length of the kayack was about eighteen feet,
tapering fore and aft to an absolute point. The beam
was but twenty-one inches. When laden, as we saw
•it, the top or deck was at its centre but two inches
by measurement above the water-line. The waves
often broke completely over it. A double-bladed oar,
grasped in the middle, was the sole propeller. It was
wonderful to see how rapidly the will of the kayacker
communicated itself to his little bark. One impulse
seemed to control both. Indeed, even for a careful
observer, it was hard to say where the boat ended or
the man commenced ; the rider seemed one with his
frail craft, an amphibious realization of the centaur,
or a practical improvement upon the merman.

These boats, not only as specimens of beautiful na-
val architecture, but from their controlling influence
upon the fortunes of their owners, became to me sub-
jects of careful study. I will revert to them at an-
other time. As we rowed to the shore, crowds of them
followed us, hanging like Mother Carey's chickens in
our wake, and just outside the sweep of our oars.

We landed at a small cove formed by two protrud-
ing masses of coarsely granular feldspar. Some forty
odd souls, the men, women, and children of the entire
settlement, received us. The men were in the front

THE LANDEN^G.

305 \

rank ; the women, with their infants on their backs,
came next : and behind them, in yelling phalanx, the
children. Still further back were crowds of dogs,
seated on their haunches, and howling in unison with
their masters. ;

The one feeling which, I venture to say, pervaded
us all, to the momentary exclusion of every thing else,
was disgust. Offal was strewn around without regard
to position ; scabs of drying seal-meat were spread over
the rocks ; oil and blubber smeared every thing, from
the dogs' coats to their masters' ; animal refuse tainted
all we saw ; and we afterward found, while botaniz-
ing among the snow valleys, bones of the seal, walrus,
and whale, buried in the mosses.

But if filth characterized the open air, what was it
in the habitations ! One poor family had escaped to
their summer tent, pitched upon an adjacent rock that
overlooked the sea. Within a little area of six feet
by eight, I counted a father, mother, grandfather, and
four children, a tea-kettle, a rude box, two rifles, and
a litter of puppies.

This island is used by the Danes as a sort of fishing
station, where one European, generally a carpenter or
cooper, presides over a few families of Esquimaux, who
live by the chase of the seal. This functionary had
a hut built of timber, which we visited. Except the
oil-house, which we had observed before, it was the
only wooden edifice.

The natives, if the amalgamation of Dane and Es-
quimaux can be called such, spend their summer in
the reindeer tent, their winters in the semi-subterra.
nean hut. These last have not been materially im-
proved since the days of Egede and Fabricius. A
square inclosure of stone or turf is raftered over with

:i:

ii, ::■-:''!;

■■ ■ '' : li' ' . ,

366

THE DWELLNGS.

drift-wood or whalebones, and then roofed in with
earth, skins, mosses, and broken-up kayack frames.
One small aperture of eighteen inches square, cover-
ed with the scraped intestines of the seal, forms the
window • and a long, tunnel-like entry, opening to the
south, and not exceeding three feet in height, leads
to a skin-covered door. Inside, perched upon an ele-
vated dais or stall, with an earthen lamp to establish
the "f r'-^s,'" ;^everal families reside together.

i..k

CHART OK THE WHALE-FISH ISLANDS.

LIEVELY.

3g;

Our commander intended to remain at the Crown
Prince Islands no longer than was absolutely neces-
sary for our consort, the Rescue, to rejoin us ; but,
upon reviewing our hurried preparation for the hard-
ships of the winter, he determined, with characteristic
forethought, to send a boat party to the settlement of
Lievely, or Godhavn, on the neighboring island of
Disco, for the double purpose of collecting information
and purchasing a stock of furs. The execution of
this duty he devolved upon me.

We started on the 27th, Mr. Lovell, myself, an Es-
quimaux pilot, and a crew of five men. As we rowed
along the narrow channels before we emerged from
this rocky group, 1 observed for the first time that
extreme transparency of the water which has so often
been alluded to by autliors as characteristic of the Po-
lar Seas. At the depth of ten fathoms every feature
of the bottom was distinctly visible.

Even for one who has seen the crimson dulses and
coral groves of the equatorial zones, this arctic growth
had its rival beauties. Enormous bottle-green fronds
were waving their ungainly lengths above a labyrinth-
ine jungle of snake-like stems ; and far down, where
the claws of the fucus had grappled the round gneis-
ses, great glaring lime patches shone like upset white-
wash upon a home grassplot.

It was a rough sail outside. The bergs were nu-
merous ; and the heavy sea way and eddying current,
sweeping like a mill-race along the soutliein face of
the island, made us barely able to double the entrance
to the little harbor. We did dou))le it, however, and
by a sudden transition found ourselves in a quiet land-
locked basin, shadowed by wall-like hills.

Snow, as usual, covered the lower slopes ; but, cheer-

308

DISCO.

y V

nr-

fill in spite of its cold envelope, rose a group of rude
houses, mottling the sky with the comfortable smoke
of their huge chinmeys. Among the most conspicu-
ous of these was one antique and galjle fronted, with
timbers so heavy and besmeared with tar, that it
seemed as if built from the stranded wreck of a vessel.
Little nian-oC-war port-holes, recessed into its wooden
sides, and a flag-staff, as tall as the mast of a jolly-
boat, gave it dignity. This was the house of the
" lloyal Inspector of the Northern portions of Davis's
Straits;" whose occupant — well and kindly remem-
bered l)y all of us — no less than the royal inspector
himself, stood aw^aiting our landing.

The incumbent, Mr. Olrik, was an accomplished and
hospitable gentleman, well read in the natural sci-
ences, and an acute observer. In a few minutes we
Avere seated by a ponderous stove, and in a few more
discussing a hot Eider duck and a bottle of Latour.

Upon connnencing my negotiations as to furs, the
object of my journey, I learned that the reindeer do
not abound on the island of Disco as in the days of
Crantz and Egedd; though to the south, about Bunke
Land, and the fiords aroimd Ilolsteinberg, and to the
north of the Waigat, they are still very numerous.
Nevertheless, by drumming up the resources of the
settlement, we obtained a supply of second-hand late
swnmer skins ; and with these, aided by the seal, soon
fitted out a wardrobe.

Of Disco, save its Esquimaux huts, its oil-house, its
smith-shop, its little school, and its gubernatorial man-
sion, I can say but little. It is the largest circum-
navigable island on the coast of Greenland. Its long
diameter is from the northwest to southeast, and its
eastern edge is in a continuous line with the coast to

ise, its
1 man-
"ircum-
long
incl its
last to

INSrKCTOKs' liorSK, I.IKVKI.Y.

AMONIi THE I1ERG3.

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Am-H

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OKUUP OF SKALS.

jj}.i.>

D 1 8 C .

371

the north and south. It is rentlercd insular by a large
strait, called the Waigat, which inosculates with the
hay.

So much for Disco. Paul Zachareus, long-haired,
swarthy. Christian Paul, said that the wind was fair:
Lovell, like a good sailor, exercised his authority over
the doctor: the furs were packed, my sketches and
wet hortus siccus properly combined, and we started
again for our little brig.

We left the Whale-fish Islands on the 29th, in com-
pany with the Rescue. On the 30th we doubled the
southwest cape of Disco, and stood to the northward,
through a crowd of noble icebergs. On the first of
July, early in the morning, we encountered our first
field-ice. From this date really commenced the char-
acteristic voyaging of a Polar cruise.

V-fv.; &.,

m ■

F"l

/« ''1 f

f tr:^

CHAPTER XXX.

THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

(continued.) '

"Jul// 1. This morning was called on deck at 4 A.M.
by our commander.

" About two hundred yards to the windward, form-
ing a lee-shore, was a vast plane of undulating ice, in
nowise diflering from that which we see in the Dela-
ware when mid-winter is contending witli the ice-
boats. There was the same crackling, and grinding,
and splashing, but the indefinite extent — an ocean in-
stead of a river — multiplied it to a din unspeakable;
and w'ith it came a strange imdertone accompaniment,
a not discordant drone. This was the iloe ice ; per-
haps a tongue from the ' Great Pack,' through which
we are now every day expecting to force our way. A
great number of bergs, of shapes the most simple and
most complicated, of colors blue, white, and eartli-
stained, were tangled in this floating field. Such,
however, was the inertia of the huge masses, that the
sheet ice piled itself up about them as on fixed rocks.

" The sea immediately around, saving the ground-
swell, was smooth as a mill-pond ; but it was studded
over with dark, protruding little globules, about the
size of hens' eggs, producing an effect like the dimples
of so many overgrown rain-drops fallen on the water.
These, as I afterward found, were rounded fragments
of transparent and fresh-water ice, the debris and de-

(372)

luont,
per-
wliicli
. A
ami
tirtli-
SiK'h,
at the
ocks.
ound-
udded
it the
mples
water,
raents
1(1 de-

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i9i

r ?

OMENAK S FIORD.

375

tritus of the bergs. We sailed along this field about
ten miles.

" At 9 P. M. the fogs settled around us, and we en-
tered again upon an area full of floating masses of
berg. As it was impossible to avoid them, they gave
us some heavy thumps.

"At 11 we cleared the floes, and, favored with a free
wind, found ourselves nearly opposite Omenak's Fiord,
a noted seat of iceberg growth and distribution."

How far we were from land I could not tell ; but
we saw distinctly the configuration of the hills and
the deep recesses of the fiord. The sun, although
nearing midnight, was five degrees above the horizon,
and threw its rich colorino; over the snow. Manv
large bergs were moving in procession from the fiord,
those in the foreground in full sunshine, those in the
distance obscured by the shadow of their parent hills.

Omenak's Fiord, known as Jacob's Bight, is one of
the largest of those strange clefts, which, penetrating
the mountain range at right angles to its long axis,
form so majestic a feature of Greenland scenery. Its
inland termination has never been reached ; and it is
supposed by Scoresby to be continuous witii the large
sounds, which on a corresponding parallel (70° 40')
enter from the eastern coast.

It is up this fiord, probably in the chasms of the
trap, that those enormous glaciers accumulate which
have made Jacob's Bight, perhaps, the most remarka-
ble locality in the genesis of icebergs on the face of
the globe. It is not uncommon to have the shore here
completely blocked in by these gigantic monsters : I
myself counted in one evening, the 3d of July, no less
than two hundred and forty of primary magnitude,
from the decks of our vessel.

vi . '■

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■ !l ■ ■■ IM . If

376

FORMATION OP ICEBERGS.

The glaciers which abut upon this sound are prob-
ably offsets from an interior mer de glace. The val-
leys or canals which conduct these offsets were de-
scribed to me as singularly rectilinear and uniform in
diameter, a fact which derives ready confirmation from
the known confiji^uration of a dioritic country. Now
the protrusion of these abutting faces into the waters
of the sound has been a subject of observation among
both Danes and Esquimaux. Places about Jacob's
Harbor, remembered as the former seats of habitation,
are now overrun by glaciers ; and Mr. Olrik told me
of a naked escarpment of ice, twelve hundred feet
high, which he had seen protruding nearly half a mile
into the sea.

The materials thus afforded in redundant profusion
are rapidly converted into icebergs. The water at the
bases of these cliffs is very deep — I have in my note-
book well-established instances of three hundred fath-
oms ; and the pyramidal structure of the trap is such
as to favor a precipitous coast line. The glacier, thus
exposed to a saline water base of a temperature above
the freezing point, and to an undermining wave ac-
tion, aided by tides and winds, is of course speedily
detached by its own gravitation.

Jull/ 2. The next day we passed this fiord and stood
on our course beyond an imposing headland, known
on the charts as Cape Cranstown, tlirough a sea un-
obstructed by floe ice, but abounding in bergs.

In the afternoon the wind subsided into a mere
cat's-paw, and we were enabled to visit several of the
icebergs. Certain it is that no objects ever impressed
me more. There was something about them so slum-
berous and so pure, so massive yet so evanescent, so
majestic in their cheerless beauty, without, after all,

"i»«'i''!

ICEBERG SCENERY.

377

any of the salient points which give character to de-
scription, that they ahnost seemed to me the mate-
rial for a dream, rather than things to be definitely
painted in words.

The first that we approached was entirely inaccess-
ible. Our commander, in whose estimates of distance
and magnitude I have great confidence, made it nearly
a mile in circumference.

The next was a monster ice mountain, at least two
hundred feet high, irregularly polyliedral in shape,
and its surface diversified with hill and dale. Upon
this one we landed. I had never appreciated before
the glorious variety of iceberg scenery. The sea at
the base of this berg was dashing into hollow caves
of })ure and intense ultramarine ; and to leeward the
quiet water lit the eye down to a long, spindle-shaped
root of milky whiteness, which seemed to dye the sea
as it descended, until the blue and white wei e mixed
in a pale turkois. Above, and high enough to give
an expression akin to sublimity, were bristling crags.

The general color of a berg I have before compared
to frosted silver. But when its fractures are very ex-
tensive, the exposed ftices have a very brilliant lustre.
Nothing can be more exquisite than a fresh, cleanly-
fractured berg surface.

Voyagers speak of the effects of Arctic refraction in
language as exact and mathematical as their own cor-
rection tables. It almost seems as if their minute ob-
servations of dip-sectors and repeating-circles had left
them no scope for picturesque sublimity. This may
excuse a literal transcript from my diary, which runs
perhaps into the other extreme.

" Friday, 11 P. M. A strip of horizon, commencing
about 8° to the east of the sun, and between it and

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f iff * '

378

WONDERS OF REFRACTION.

i» -^

' '4 'I

the land, resembled an extended plain, covered with
the debris of ruined cities. No ellort of imagination
was necessary for me to travel from the true watery
horizon to the false one of refraction above it, and
there to see huge structures lining an aerial ocean-
margin. Some of rusty, Egyptian, rubbish-clogixed
propyla, and hypa^thral courts — some tapering and
columnar, like Palmyra and Baalbec — some with
architrave and portico, like Telmessus or Athens, or
else vague and grotto-like, such as dreamy memories
recalled of Ellora and Carli.

" I can hardly realize it as I write ; but it was no
trick of fancy. The things were there half an hour
ago. I saw them, capricious, versatile, full oi' forms,
but bright and definite as the phases of sober life.
And as my eyes ran round upon the marvelous and
varying scene, every one of these well-remembered
cities rose before me, built up by some suggestive feat-
ure of the ice.

" An iceberg is one of God's own buildings, preach-
ing its lessons of humility to the miniature structures
of man. Its material, one colossal Pentelicus; its mass,
the representative of power in repose ; its distribution,
simulating every architectural type. It makes one
smile at those classical remnants which our own pe-
riod reproduces in its Madeleines, Walhallas, and Gi-
rard colleges, like university poems in the dead lan-
guages. Still, we can compare them with the iceberg;
for the same standard measures both, as it does Cliim-
borazo and the Hill of Howth. But this thing of re-
fraction is supernatural throughout. The wildest Irolic
of an opium-eater s revery is nothing to the phantas-
magoria of the sky to-night. Karnaks of ice, turned
upside down, were resting upon rainbow-colored ped-

• i

OFF UPERNAVIK.

379

estals: great needles, obelisks of pure whiteness, shot
up above tlieir false horizons, and, after an hour-glass-
like contraction at their point of union with their du-
plicated images, lost themselves in the blue of the
upper sky. **

" While I was looking — the sextant useless in my
hand, for I could not think of angles — a blurred and
wavy change came over the fantastic picture. Pris-
matic tin tings, too vague to admit of dioptric analysis,
began to margin my architectural marbles, and the
scene faded like one of Fresnefs dissolving views.
Suddenly, by a flash, they reappeared in full beauty ;
and, just as I was beginning to note in my memo-
randum-book the changes which this brief interval
had produced,they went out entirely, and left a nearly
clear hori/.on."

The Gth of July found us in latitude 72° 54', beatr
ing to windward, as usual, between " the pack " and
the land. This land was of some interest to us, for
we were now in the neighborhood of the Danish set-
tlement of Upernavik.

With the exception of one subordinate station, eight-
een miles further to the north, this is the last of the
Danish settlements. It is the jumping-ofi" place of Arc-
tic navigators — our last point of communication with
the outside world. Here the British explorers put the
date to their official reports, and send home their last
letters of good-by. We sent ours without the delay
of seeking the little port; for a couple of kayacks
boarded us twenty miles out to sea, and for a few bis-
cuits gladly took charge of our dispatches. The hon-
esty of these poor Esquimaux is proverbial. Letters
committed to their care are delivered with unerring
safety to the superintendent of the port or station. ,

■^ '

■-••)

m ~

I •■■*.

■i

380

FAST IN THE ICE.

We were boarded, too, by an oomiak, or woman's
boat, returning from a successful seal hunt. From
the crew, consisting of three women and four men,
we purchased a goodly stock of eider eggs and three
young seals.

July 7. We had now passed the seventy-third de-
gree of latitude without being materially retarded by
ice. The weather was one unbroken sunshine, and
worthier of the Bay of Naples than Baffin's. The
coast on our right hand consisted of low islands, so
grouped as to resemble continuous land. To our lelt
was a coast of a different character — the ice.

On the morning of the 7th, a large vacant sheet of
water showed itself to the westward,, penetrating the
ice as far as the eye could reach ; and from the top-
mast-head we could see the southern margin of tliis
ice losing itself in a clear, watery h()ri;:on. It was a
strong temptation. Our conunandor determined to
try for a passage through.

" We now entered fairly the so-tliought open water,
keeping the shore on our starboard beam, and steering
for the northeast and north, at a rate of six knots,
through an apparently unobstructed sea. But the
sanguine anticipations of our commander were soon
to be moderated. By four in the afternoon, after phir-
ing at least fifty miles between us and the coast, thi>
leads began to close around us. Fearing a separation
from the Rescue, we took her in tow and contiiuicd
our efforts ; but from 5 P. M. until the termination of
the d.'iy, our progress was absolutely nothing. The
morning of the 8th opened upon us fast in summer
ice.

" July 9. Although we commenced bright and early
to warp our way through the impacted ice, we found,

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kumnicr

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found,

"TKAtKINO.

^.li!~>.--="

^■•^^■

KAYACKS.

OOMIAK, OR WOMAN'S UOAT.

m* ■

-m

rll

;4I

.iiyif

L^aSi

sc
a
sv
in

t«
an
ab
111

ice
th
tal
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wo
Th
are
Pre
ma
the
brii
ban

ARCTIC NAVIGATION.

383

after much labor, tliat the entire day's reward wa'«
about three miles. We are now again fast, completely
<l)osct,' and only waiting to rest the crew before we
renew our efforts."

What these efforts were it may be as well to ex-
plain, for the benefit of fireside navigators, and perhaps
some others. Those who go down to the sea in ships
know that it is easy enough to drive along in a clear
sea on a free wind, or to haul into dock, or to warp up
a quiet river, butting aside the lazy vessels as they
swing at anchor. How do we sail, and haul, and warp
in these Arctic Seas !

Let us begin by imagining a vessel, or, for variety,
two of them, speeding along at eight knots an hour,
and heading directly for a long, low margin of ice
about two miles off "D'ye see any opening?" cries
Ihc captain, hailing an officer on the fore topsail-yard.
*' Something like ' a lead ' a little to leeward of that
iceberg on our port-bow." In a little while Ave near
the ice ; our liglit sails are got in, our commander
taking the place of the ofhcer, who has resumed his
station on the dock.

Before you, in a plain of solid ice, is a huge iceberg,
and near it a black, zigzag canal, checkered with re-
cent fragments.

Now commences the process of "conning." Such
work with the helm is not often seen in ordinary seas.
The brig's head is pointed for the open gap ; the watch
are stationed at the braces ; a sort of silence prevails.
Presently comes down the stentorian voice of our com-
mander, " Ilard-a-starboard," and at the same moment
the yards yield to the ready haul at the braces. The
brig turns her nose into a sudden indentation, and
bangs her quarter against a big lump of " swashing "

It':' Vi

,. !..ri'.

lili

384

ARCTIC NAVIGATION.

ice. " Steady there ! " For half a minute not a sound,
until a second yell — "Down, down! hard down!" and
then we rub, and scrape, and jam, and thrust aside,
and are thrust aside ; but .somehow or other find our-
selves in an open canal, losing itself in the distance.
This is "a lead."

As we move on, congratulating ourselves — if we
think about the thing at all — that we are " good " for
a few hundred yards more, a sudden exclamation, ad-
dressed to nobody, but sufficiently distinctive, comes
from the yard-arm (we'll call it "pshaw! "), and, look-
ing ahead, we see that our " lead " is getting narrower,
its sides edging toward each other — it is losing its
straightness. At the same moment comes a compli-
cated succession of orders : " Ilelm-a-starboard ! "
"Port!" "Easy!" "So!" "Steadie-ee-ee !" "Ilard-
o-port!" " Hard, hard, hard ! " (scrape, scratch, thump!)
"Eugh!" an anomalous grunt, and we are jammed
fast between two great ice-fields of unknown extent.
The captain comes down, and we all go quietly to
supper.

Next come some processes unconnected with the
sails, our wings. These will explain, after Arctic
fashion, the terms " heave," and " warp," and " track,"
and " haul," for we are now beset in ice, and what lit-
tle wind we have is dead ahead. A couple of hands,
under orders, of course, seize an iron hook or " ice-an-
chor," of which we have two sizes, one of forty, and
another of about a hundred pounds. With this they
jump from the bows, and '' plant it " in the ice ahead,
close to the edge of the crack, along which we wish
to force our way. Once fast, you slip a hawser around
its smaller end, and secure it from slips by a " mous-
ing" of rope-yarn. The slack of the hawser is passed

HEAVING AND WARPING.

385

around the shaft of our patent winch — an apparatus
of cogs and levers standing in our bows — and every
tiling, in far less time than it has taken me to describe
it, is ready for " lieaving."

Then comes the hard work. The hawser is hauled
taut; the strain is increased ; every body, captain, cook,
steward, and doctor, is taking a spell at the " |)uinp
handles" or overhauling the warping gear ; for dignity
does not take care of its hands in the middle pack ;
until at last, if the floes be not too obdurate, they
separate by the wedge action of our bows, and we
force our way into a little cleft, which is kept open on
either side by the vessel's beam. But the quiescence,
the equilibrium of the ice, which allows it to bo thus
severed at its line of junction, is rare enough. Often-
times we heave, and haul, and sweat, and, after parting
a ten-inch hawser, go to bed wet, and tired, and dis-
contented, with nothing but experience to pay for our
toil. This is "warping."

But let us suppose that, after many hours of this
sort of unprofitable labor, the floes release their press-
ure, or the ice becomes frail and light. " Get ready
the lines ! " Out jumps an unfortunate with a forty-
pound " hook " upon his shoulder, and, after one or two
duckings, tumbles over the ice and plants his anchor
on a distant cape, in line with our wished-for direction.
The poor fellow has done more than carry his anchor ;
for a long white cord has been securely fastened to it,
which they "payout" from aboard ship as occasion
requires. It passes inboard through a block, and then,
with a few artist''^ turns, around the capstan. Its
'slack" or loose x j carried to a little windlass at
our main-mast. Now comes the warping again. The

first or heavy warping we called " heaving : " this last

'"'[

'ir^n

886

PROSPECT OP ESCAPE.

is a civilized performance; "all hands" walking round
with the capstan-bars to the click of its iron paiils, or
else, if the watch be fresh, to a jolly chorus of sailors'
songs.

We have made a few hundred yards of this light
warping, when the floes, never at rest, open into a tort-
uous canal again. We can dispense with the slow
traction of the capstan. The same whale-line is
passed out ahead, and a party of human horses take
us in tow. Each man — or horse, if you please — has
a canvas strap passing over his shoulder and fastened
to the tow-line ; or, nautically, ns this is a chapter ex-
planatory of terms, " toggled to the warp." This har-
nessing is no slight comfort to hands wet with water
at the freezing point ; and with its aid they tug along,
sometimes at a weary walk, and sometimes at a dog-
trot. This is " tracking."

When we could neither "heave," nor "warp," nor
" track," nor sail, we resorted to all sorts of useless ex-
pedients, such as sawing, cutting, and vainly striving
to force our way into a more hopeful neighborhood.
It was long before experience taught us to spare our-
selves this useless labor.

We had been three weeks completely imprisoned,
and the season for useful search was rapidly flitting
by, when, on the 27th of July, came the dawning
promise of escape.

A steady breeze had been blowing for several
from the northward and westward, and under it
fluence the ice had so relaxed, that, had not the wnid
been dead ahead, we should have attemped sails.
Our floe surface, distui^bed bj these new influences
gave us a constantly-shifting topography. It was cu-
rious to see the rapidity of the transformations. At

BORINO.

387

one moment we were closed in by ice three feet thick,
with a worn-down berg fifty feei< deep on our beam ;
our bows buried in hummocky masses, and our stern-
post clogged with frozen sludge : in ten minutes open
lanes were radiating from us in every direction, cracks
becoming rivers, and puddles lakes : warping ahead
for five minutes, every thing around us was ice again.

But changes were going on. The sky had become
lowering, the gulls had left us, and the barometer had
fallen eight tenths since the day before.

Late on the afternoon of the 28th, after another long
day of unprofitable warping, the wind shifted to the
eastward. The floes opened still wider, something
like water was visible to the north and east, and at 9h.
30m. P.M. we " cast off," set our main-sail, and, with
feelings of joyous relief, began to bore the ice. This
wind soon freshened to a southeaster, and we dashed
along to the northeast in a sea studded with icebergs.
Broken floes running out into " streams" were on all
sides of us ; but, only too glad to be once more free, we
bored through them for the inshore circuit of Mehille
Bay.

After a little while the horizon thickened ; and al-
though our wind, surrounded as we were by ice, could
hardly be called a gale, heavy undulations began to
set in, making an uncomfortable sea, rendered danger-
0" .iideed by the swashing ice and a growing fog.

I'he ice, too, after a little while, was no longer the
en, half-thawed material of the middle pack, but
iicavy floes eight or ten feet of solid thickness, which
seemed to stand out from the shore.

Presently we found ourselves, urged by wind and
sea, on a ]< ridge of undulating fragments. There
was no hp^ jr it : with grinding crash we entered its

;>>■

1.,^^ JjJ,

■Mil

W^'

388

MELVILLE BAY.

i ' " t

tumultuous margin. Before we had bored into it more
than ten yards, we were on the edge of a nearly sub-
merged iceberg, which, not being large enough to re-
sist the swell, rolled fearfully. The sea dashed in an
angry surf over its inclined sides, rattling the icy frag,
ments or " brash" against its irregular surface. Our
position reminded me of the scenes so well described
by Beechy in the voyage of the Dorothea and Trent.
For a time we were awkwardly placed, but we bored
through ; and the Rescue, after skirting the same ob-
struction, managed also to get through without damage.

We continued to run along with our top-sail yard
on the cap, but the growing fog made it impossible to
keep on our course very long. After several encoun-
ters with the floating hummocks, we succeeded in ty-
ing fast to a heavy floe, which se "med to be connected
with the land, and were thus moored within that mys-
terious circuit known as Melville Bay.

It is during the transit of this bay that most of
the catastrophes occur which have made the statistics
of the whalers so fearful. It was here, about twenty
miles to the south of us, that in one year more than
one thousand human beings were cast shelterless upon
the ice, their ships ground up before their eyes. It is
rarely that a season goes by in which the passage is
attempted without disaster.

The inshore side of the indentation is lined by a
sweep of glacier, through which here and there the
dark headlands of the coast force themselves with se-
vere contrast. Outside of this, the shore, if we can
c'j,ll it such, is again lined with a heavy ledge of
ground ice, thicker and more permanent than that in
motion. This extends out for miles, forming an icy
margin or beach, known technically as the " land ice,"

BERGS.

389

or " the fast." Against this margin, the great " drift"
through which we had been passing exerts a remitting
action, receding sometimes under the influence of wind
and currents so as to open a tortuous and uncertain
canal along its edge, at others closing against it in a
barrier of contending floes and bergs.

Our initiation into the mysteries of this region was
ominous enough. It blew a gale. The offing was a
scene of noisy contention, obscured by a dense fog,
through which rose the tops of the icebergs as they
drifted by us. Twice in the night we were called up
to escape these bergs by warping out of their path.
Imagine a mass as large as the Parthenon bearing
down upon you before a storm- wind !

The immediate site of our anchorage was about
eighteen miles from the Black Hills, which rose above
the glacier. It was truly an iron-bound coast, bergs,
floes, and hummock ridges, in all the disarray of win-
tery conflict, cemented in a basis of ice ten feet thick,
and lashed by an angry sea. It was the first time I
had witnessed the stupendous results of ice action. I
went out with Captain De Haven to observe them
more closely. The hummocks had piled themselves
at the edges of the floes in a set of rugged walls, some-
times twenty feet high ; and here and there were ice-
bergs firmly incorporated in the vast plain. Ovir at-
tention was of course directed more anxiously to those
which were drifting at large upon the open water ; but
we could not help being impressed by the solid majes-
ty of these stationary mountains. The height of one
of them, measured by the sextant, was two hundred
and forty feet.

It was the motion of the floating bergs that sur-
rounded us at this time, which first gave me the idea

.0^1

« t.'

f 1 "' i ?

: «

390

A RACE.

of a great under-current to the northward. Their drift
followed some system of advance entirely independent
of the wind, and not apparently at variance with the
received views of a great southern current. On the
night of the 30th, while the surface ice or floe was
drifting to the southward with the wind, the bergs
were making a northern progress, crushing through
the floes in the very eye of tha breeze at a measured
rate of a mile and a half an hour. The disproportion
that uniformly subsists bet\/een the submerged and
upper masses of a floating berg makes it a good index
of the deep sea current, especially when its movement
is against the wind. I noticed very many ice-mount-
ains traveling to the north in opposition to both wind
and surface ice. One of them we recognized five days
afterward, nearly a hundred miles on its northern
journey.

In the so-called night, "all hands" were turned to,
and the old system of warping was renewed. The
unyielding ice made it a slow process, but enough
was gained to give us an entrance to some clear wa-
ter about a mile in apparent length. While we were
warping, one of these current-driven bergs kept us
constant company, and at one time it was a regular
race between us, for the narrow passage we were
striving to reach would have been completely barri-
caded if our icy opponent had got ahead.

This exciting race, against wind and drift, and with
the Rescue in tow, was at its height when we reached
a point where, by warping around our opponent, we
might be able to make sail. Three active men were
instantly dispatched to prepare the warps. One took
charge of the hawser, and another of the iron crow or
chisel which is used to cut the hole; the third, a

OUIl PROSPECTS.

391

brawny seaman, named Costa, was in the act of lift-
ing the anchor and driving it by main force into the
soUd ice, when, with a roar like near thunder, a crack
ran across the berg, and almost instantly a segment
about twice the size of our ship was severed from the
rest. One man remained oscillating on the principal
mass, a second escaped by jumping to the back ropes
and chain shrouds of the bowsprit ; but poor Costa !
anchor and all, disappeared in the chasm ! By a mer-
ciful Godsend, the sunken fragment had broken oiF
so cleanly that, when it rose, it scraped against the
fractured surface, and brought lip its living freight
along with it. Scared half to death, he was caught
by the captain as he passed the jib-boom, and brought
safe on board. This incident, coming thus early in
our cruise, was a useful warning.

^'^ Ay gust 2. * Warping !' Tired of the very word !
About 2 P.M. a lead, less obstructed than its fellows,
enabled us to crowd on the canvas, and sail with gen-
tle airs for about two miles to the eastward, and then,
losing what little wind we had, we tied up again to
our friend the land ice ; the little Rescue, as usual, a
few yards astern.

"We have learned to love the sunshine, though we
have lost the night that gives it value to others. It
coines back to us this evening, after the gale, with a
circuit of sparkling and imaginative beauty, like the
spangled petticoat of a ballet-dancer in full twirl to a
boy on his first visit to the opera. I borrow the com-
parison from one of my mess-mates; but, in truth, all
this about sunshine and warmth is only compara-
tive at the best, for, though writing on deck, * out of
doors,' as they say at home, the thermometers give us
but 43^"

U F

u«'-"

ilMt''^*

1*'

! T

392

MELVILLE'S MONUMENT.

The bergs were an interesting subject of study. I
counted one morning no less than two hundred and
ten of them from our decks, forming a beaded line from
theN.N.W.totheS.S.E.

^^ August 10. Another day of sunshine. Were we
in the Mediterranean, there could not be a warmer
sky. It ends with the sky though ; for our thermom-
eters fell at four A.M. to 24°. A careful set of observa-
tions with Green's standard thermometers gave 18°
as the difference between the sunshine and shade at
noonday. The young ice was nearly an inch -thick.
Myriads of Auks were seen, and the usual supply duly
slaughtered.

" Melville's Monument appeared to-day under a new
phase, rising out from the surrounding floe ice, either
a salient peninsula or an isolated rock.

" The land ice measured but five feet seven inches,
the reduced growth, probably, of a single season. The
open leads multiply, for we made under sail about
fifteen miles N.N.W."

As the next day glided in, the skies became over-
cast, and the wind rose. Mist gathered about the
horizon, shutting out the icebergs. The floes, which
had opened before with a slender wind from the north-
ward, now shed off dusty wreaths of snow, and began
to close rapidly.

Moving along in our little river passage, we ob-
served it growing almost loo narrow for navigation,
and every now and then, where a projecting cape
stretched out toward this advancing ice, we had to
run the gauntlet between the opposing margins.

It is under these circumstances, with a gale prob-
ably outside, and a fog gathering around, that the
whalers, less strengthened than ourselves, and taught

HUMMOCKING.

393

over-
it the
I which
north-
began

re oh-
ration,
cape
liad to

proh'

[at the

taught

by a fearful experience, seek protecting bights among
the floes or cut harbors in the ice. For us, the word
delay did not enter into our commander's thoughts.
We had not purchased caution by disaster ; and it
was essential to success that we should make the
most of this Godsend, a "slant" from the southeast.

We pushed on ; but the Rescue, less fortunate than
ourselves, could not follow. She was jammed in be-
tween two closing surfaces. We were looking out
for a temporary niche in which to secure ourselves,
when we were challenged to the bear hunt I have
spoken of a few pages back.

Upon regaining the deck with Mr. Lovell's prize, we
were struck with the indications of a brooding wind
outside. The ice was closing in every direction ; and
our master, Mr. Murdaugh, had no alternative but to
tie up and await events. The Rescue did the same,
some three hundred yards to the southward.

By five A.M., a projecting edge of the outside floe
came into contact with our own, at a point midway
between the two vessels. This assailing floe w as three
feet eight inches thick, perhaps a mile in diameter,
and moving at a rate of a knot an hour. Its weight
was some two or three millions of tons. So irresistible
was its momentum, that, as it impinged against the
solid margin of the land ice, there was no recoil, no in-
terruption to its progress. The elastic material cor-
rugated before the enormous pressure ; then cracked,
then crumbled, and at last rose, the lesser over the
greater, sliding up in great inclined planes : and these,
again, breaking by their weight and their continued
impulse, toppled over in long lines of fragmentary ice.
This imposing process of dynamics is called
"Hummocking." Its most striking feature was its

P-

fit II

' Mi

Kni

394

A PINCH.

f i

h»J

unswerving, unchecked continuousness. The mere
commotion was hardly proportioned either to the in-
tensity of the force or the tremendous effects which it
produced. Tables of white marble were thrust into
the air, as if by invisible machinery.

First, an inclined face would rise, say ten feet ; then
you would hear a grinding, tooth-pulling crunch : it
has cracked at its base, and a second is sliding up
upon it. Over this, again, comes a third ; and here-
upon the first breaks down, carrying with it the sec-
ond ; and just as you are expecting to see the whole
pile disappear, up comes a fourth, larger than any of
the rest, and converts all its predecessors into a cha-
otic mass of crushed marble. Now the fragments thus
comminuted are about the size of an old-fashioned
Conestoga wagon, and the line thus eating its way is
several hundred yards long.

The action soon began to near our brig, which now,
fast by a heavy cable, stood bows on awaiting the
onset. It was an uncomfortable time for us, as we
momentarily expected it to " nip" her sides, or bear
her down with the pressure. But, thanks to the in-
verted wedge action of her bows, she shot out like a
squeezed water-melon seed, snapping her hawser like
pack-thread, and backing into wider quarters. The
Rescue was borne almost to her beam ends, but event-
ually rose upon the ice.

We cast off again about 7 A.M. ; and after a weari-
some day of warping, tracking, towing, and sailing,
advanced some six or eight miles, along a coast-line
of hills to the northeast, edged with glaciers.

The currents were such as to entirely destroy our
steerage way. Our rudder was for a time useless;
and the surface water was covered by ripple marks

i it

nere
5 in-
ch it
into

then
h: it
ig up
here-
e sec-
whole
Lny of
a cha-
ts thus
hioned
way is

fh now,
ng the
as we
or hear
the in-
like a
[ser like
The
It event-

weari-

sailing.
)ast-line

troy our

(useless ;

marks

THE devil's Tlir.MB.

:>'}\'e :

MbLVlLLIi; UAY.

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(•'

III

SI Vwi

ill

*■•«

* <t

i »■■■

■I

ANIMAL LIFE,

395

which flowed in strangely looping curves. On the
I3th the sea abounded with life. Cetochili, as well
as other entomostracan forms which I had not seen be-
fore, lined, and, in fact, tinted the margins of the floe
ice ; and for the first time I noticed among them some
of those higher orders of crustacean life, which had
heretofore been only found adhering to our warping
lines. Among these were asellus and idotea, and that
jerking little amphipod, the gammarus. Acalephse
and limacinae abounded in the quiet leads. The birds,
too, were back with us, the mollemoke, the Ivory gull,
the Burgomaster, and the tern .

The shore, which we had been so long skirting,
again rose into mountains ; on whose southern flanks,
as they receded, we could still see the great glacier.
We had traced it all the way from the Devil's Thumb
in a nearly continuous circuit; now we were about
to lose it. The icebergs had sensibly diminished al-
ready.

"6 P.M Refraction again! There is a black g-lobe
floating in the air, about 3° north of the sun. What
it is you can not tell. Is it a bird or a balloon ? Pres-
ently conies a sort of shimmering about its circumfer-
ence, and on a sudden it changes its shape. Now
you see plainly what it is. It is a grand piano, and
nothing else. Too quick this time ! You had hardly
named it, before it was an anvil — an anvil large enough
for Mulciber and his Cyclops to beat out the loadstone
of tlie poles. You have not got it quite adjusted to
your satisfaction, before your anvil itself is changing ;
it contracts itself centrewise, and rounds itself end-
wise, and, presto, it has made itself duplicate — a pair
of colossal dumb-bells. A moment! and it is the
black globe again."

"■^^n

306

REFRACTION.

* I

;

About an hour after this necromantic juggle, the
whole horizon became distorted: great bergs lifted
themselves above it, and a pearly sky and pearly
water blended with each other in such a way, that
you could not determine where the one began or the
other ended. Your ship was in the concave of a vast
sphere ; ice shapes of indescribable variety around you,
floating, like yourself, on nothingness ; the flight of a
bird as apparent in the deeps of the sea as in the
continuous element above. Nothing could be more
curiously beautiful than our consort the Rescue, as
she lay in mid-space, duplicated by her secondary im-
age.

This unequally refractive condition continued on
into the next day ; diminishing as the sun approached
his meridian altitude, but again coming back in the
afternoon with augmented intensity. The appearance
at night was more wonderful than it had been on the
12th. I am desirous to give the impressions it made
on me at the moment, and I therefore copy again
from my journal, without erasing or modifying a sin-
gle line.

^* August 13. To-night, at ten o'clock, we were op-
posite a striking cliff, supposed to be Cape Melville,
when, attracted by the ij*regular radiation from the
sun, then about two hours from the lowest point of
his curve, I saw suddenly flaring up all around him
the signs of active combustion. Great volumes of
black smoke rose above the horizon, narrowing and
expanding as it rolled away. Black specks, to which
the eye, by its compensation for distance, gave the size
of masses, mingled with it, rising and falling, appear-
ing and disappearing; and above all this w;"s the pe-
culiar waving movement of air, rarefied by an ..Jjacent

REFRACTION.

307

heat. The whole intervening atmosphere was dis-
turbed and flickering.

^^ August 15. The Rescue, which has proved herself
a dull sailer, had lagged astern of us, when our master,
Mr. Murdaugh, observed the signal of 'men ashore'
flying from her peak. We were now as far north as
latitude 75° 58', and the idea of human life somehow
or other involuntarily connected itself with disaster.
A boat was hastily stocked with provisions and dis-
patched for the shore. Two men were there upon
the land ice, gesticulating in grotesque and not very
decent pantomime — genuine, unmitigated Esquimaux.
Verging on 76° is a far northern limit for human life;
yet these poor animals were as fat as the bears which
we killed a few days ago. Their hair, mane-like,
flowed over their oily cheeks, and their countenances
had the true prognathous character seen so rarely
among the adulterated breeds of the Danish settle-
ments. They were jolly, laughing fellows, full of so-
cial feeling. Their dress consisted of a bear-skin pair
of breeches, considerably the worse for wear ; a seal-
skin jacket, hooded, but not pointed at its skirt ; and
a pair of coarsely-stitched seal-hide boots. They were
armed with a lance, harpoon, and air-bladder, for spear-
ing seals upon the land floe. The kaiack, with its
host of resources, they seemed unacquainted with.

"When questioned by Mr. Murdaugh, to whom I
owe these details, they indicated five huts, or fam-
ilies, or individuals, toward a sort of valley between
two hills. They were ignorant of the use of bread,
and rejected salt beef; but they appeared familiar
with ships, and would have gladly invited themselves
to visit us, if the officer had not inhospitably declined
the honor."

"■' (i^

IJM^

398

FROZEN FAMILIES.

. ■ n ■

It was not very far from Cape York that we met
these men. They belonged, probably, to the same de-
tached parties of seal and fish catching coast nomads,
that were met by Sir John Ross in his voyage of 1H19,
and whom he designated, fancifully enough, as the
•* Arctic Highlanders."

Eleven years after his visit, some boat-crews, from
a whaler which had escaped the ice disasters of 1830,
landed at nearly the same spot, and made for a group
of huts. They were struck as they approached them
to find no beaten snow-tracks about the entrance, nor
any of the more unsavory indications of an Esquimaux
homestead. The riddle was read when they lifted up
the skin curtain, that served to cover at once doorway
and window. Grouped around an oilless lamp, in the
attitudes of life, were four or five human corpses, with
darkened lip and sunken eyeball ; but all else preserved
in perennial ice. The frozen dog lay beside his frozen
master, and the child, stark and stiff*, in the reindeer
hood which enveloped the frozen mother. The cause
was a mystery, for the hunting apparatus was near
them, and the bay abounds with seals, the habitual food,
and light, and fire of the Esquimaux. Perhaps the ex-
cessive cold had shut off" their supplies for a time by
closing the ice-holes — perhaps an epidemic had strick-
en them. Some three or four huts that were near had
the same melancholy furniture of extinct life.

BIQUIMAUX ON SNOW-SHOKS.

,M'

CHAPTER XXXI.
THE FmST AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

(CONTINXTED.)

We sailed along the coast quietly, but with the com-
fortable excitement of expectation. We had not yet
seen su(^h open water, and were momentarily expect-
ing the change, of course, which wtis to lead us through
the North Water to Lancaster Sound. The glaciers
were no longer near the water-line ; but an escarped
shore, of the usual primary structure, gave us a pleas-
ing substitute.

In a short time we reached the " Crimson Cliffs of
Beverley," the seat of the often-described "red snow."
The coast was high and rugged, the sea-line broken
by precipitous sections and choked by detritus. Sail-
ing slowly along, at a distance of about ten miles, we
could distinctly see outcropping faces of red feldspathic
rock, while in depending positions, between the cones
of detritus, the scanty patches of snow were tinged
with a brick-dust or bro''"-n stain. As yet indeed we
could not see the "Crimson" of Sir John Ross, who
gave to this spot its somewhat euphonious title ; but
the locality was not without indications which should
excuse this gallant navigator from imputations against
his veracity of narrative.

But it fell calm, and I had an opportunity of visit-
ing the shore. The place where we landed was in

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400

THE CEIMSON CLIFFS,

latitude 76° 04' N., nearly. It was a little cove, bor-
dered on one side by a glacier ; on the other, watered
by distillations from it, and green with luxuriant
mosses. It was, indeed, a fairy little spot, brightened,
perhaps, by its contrast with the icy element, on which
I had been floating for a month and a half before ; yet
even now, as it comes back to me in beautiful com-
panionship with many sweet places of the earth, I am
sure that its charms were real.

The glacier came down by a twisted circuit from a
deep valley, which it nearly filled. As it approached
the sea, it seemed unnble to spread itself over the horse-
shoe-like expansion i.. which we stood; but, retaining
still the impress marks of its own little valley birth-
place, it rose up in a huge dome-like escarpment, one
side frozen to the cliffs, the other a wall beside us, and
the end a rounded mass protruding into the sea.

Close by the foot of its precipitous face, in a fur-
rowed water-course, was a mountain torrent, which,
emerging from the point at which the glacier met the
hill, came dashing wildly over the rocks, green with
the mosses and carices of Arctic vegetation ; while
from the dome-like summit a stream, that had tun-
neled its way through the ice from the valley still
higher above, burst out like a fountain, and fell in a
cascade of foam- whitened water into the sea.

To return to the "Crimson Cliffs." We found tlio
red snow in greatest abundance ui)on a talus fronting
to the soiitliwest, which stretched obliquely across the
glacier nt the seat of its emergence from the vallfv.
It was here in great abundance, staining the surface
in patches six or eight yards in diameter. Similar
patches Avere to l)e seen at short intervals extending
up the valley.

Bessie's cove,

401

Its color was a deep but not bright red. It resem-
bled, with its accompanying impurities, crushed pre-
served cranberries, with the seed and capsule strewn
over the snow. It imparted to paper drawn over it a
nearly cherry-red, or perhaps crimson stain, wiiich l;r-
canie brown with exposure ; and a handful thav.cJ.
in a glass tumbler resembled nuuldy claret.

Its coloring matter was evidently soluble ; for, on
scrajjing away the surface^ we foiuul that it had dyed
the snow beneath witli a, pure and beautiful rose color,
which }>enetrated, with a gradually softening tint,
some eight inches below the surface.

At 4 P.M. we left this interesting spot, for which
some pleasant associations had suggested to n>e the
name of " Bessie's Cove," and commenced beating to
the no'-thward. The sea was crowded with entomos-
traca and clios, on which myriads of Auks were feed-
ing. The prospects of open water were most cheering.
One mile from the shore, we got soundings in rocky
bottom, at twenty-three fathoms, and then, wishing to
"till up" Avith water before attempting our ])assage to
the Ave.-it, Ave stood close in, seeking a favorabh^ s])ot.

About eleven o'clock ^ve, were attracted by a bight
midway l)etween Capes York and Dudley Digg.s. Its
foreground was of rugged syenitic rock!*, and over these
we could distinctlv -ee the Avatcr rushini; down in u
foaming torrent. Here Avas ;i ^vatering-jdace.

By means of our old friends the wai-j)s, we liauled in
so elo;-!e that the sides of our vessels touched the rocks.
A few inches (mly intervened Ijetween our keel ami
the shining i)ebbles. We could jump on shore as fiom
a wharf. The sun was .s(» low at this midnight liour
as to bathe every thing in an atuK^sphere of Italian
})ink, dellciously unlike the Arctic rei^Ions. The rece.-;.-;

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402

A.N A EC TIC GARDEN

was in blacke>jt slmdow, Lut tlie cliffs wliioli forined
the Avails of the cove rose up into fnll snnshine. The
Auks crowded these rocks in myriads. So, Avith gun
and sextant, I started on a tramp.

The cove itself measured but six hundred yards from
bluff to bluff. It was recessed in a regular ellipse, or
rather horseshoe, around which the strongly-featured
gneisses, relieved, as usual, with the outcroppings of
feldspar, formed lofty mural precipices, I estimated
their mean elevation at twelve hundred feet. At their
bases a mass of schistose rubbish had accumulated.

I have described this recess as a perfect horseshoe :
it was not exactly such, for at its northeast end a rug-
ged little water-feeder, formed by the melting snows,
sent down a stream of foam which buried itself under
the frozen surface of a lake. Yet to the eye it was a
nearly absolute theatre, this little cove, and its arena
a moss-covered succession of terraces, each of indescrib-
able richness.

Strange as it seemed, on the immediate level of snow
and ice, the constant infiltrations, aided by solar rever-
beration, had mauj an Arctic garden -spot. The sur-
fiice of the moss, owing, probably, to the extreme altern-
ations of lieat and cold, was divided into regular hex-
agons and other polyhedral figures, and scattered over
these, nestling between the tufts, and forming little
groups on their southern faces, was a quiet, unobtru-
sive community of Alpine flowering plants. The weak-
3iess of individual growth allowed no ambitious species
to overpower its neighbor, so that many families were
crowded together in a rich flower-bed. In a little space
that I could cover with my pea-jacket, the veined leaves
of the Pyrola were peeping out among chickweeds and
saxifrages, the sorrel and Ranunculus. I even found a

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FLORULA.

405

poor gentian, stunted and reduced, but still, like every
thing around it, in all the perl'ection of miniature pro-
portions.

As this mossy parterre approached the rocky walls
that hemmed it in, tussocks of sedges and coarse grass
began to show themselves, mixed with heaths and
birches ; and still further on, at the margin of the horse-
shoe, and fringing its union with the stupendous piles
of debris, came an annulus of Arctic shrubs and trees.

Shrubs and trees ! the words recall a smile, for they
only typed those natives of another zone. The poor
things had lost their uprightness, and learned to escape
the elements by traiUng along the rocks. Few rose
above my shoes, and none above my ankles ; yet shady
alleys and heaven-pointing avenues could not be more
impressive examples of creative adaptation. Here I
saw ^lie bleaberry {Vaccinium uUginusuni) in llower
and in fruit — I could cover it with a wine-glass ; the
wild honeysuckle (Azalea prociimhens) of our Penn-
sylvania woods — I could stick the entire plant in my
button-hole ; the Andromeda tetragona, like a green
marabou feather.

Stranjjest among these transformations came the
willows. One, the ^alix he?-bacea, liardly larger than
!i trefoil clover ; another, the S. glaiica, like a young
althea, just bursting from its seed. A third, the S.
lanata, a triton among these boreal minnows, looked
like an unfortunate garter-snake, bound here and there
by claw-like radicles, which, unable to j)enetrate the
inhospitable soil, had spread themselves out upon the
surface — traps for the broke.i lichens and fostering
moss \vhich formed its scanty mould.

I had several opportunities, while taking sextant el-
evations of tht» headlands, to measure the moss-beds

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400

MOSS-BEDS.

of this cove, both by sections where streams from the
hike had Jeft denuded faces, and by piercing through
them Avitli a pointed stafi', Tliese mosses formed an
investing mould, built up layer upon layer, until it had
attained a mean depth of five feet. At one place, near
the sea line, it was seven feet ; and even here the slow
processes of Arctic decomposition had not entirely de-
stroyed the delicate radicles and stems. The fronds
of the pioneering lichens were still recognizable, en-
tangled among the rest.

Yet these little layers represented, in their diminu-
tive stratification, the deposits of vegetable periods. I
counted sixty-eight in the greatest section.^ Those
chemical processes by which nature converts our au-
tumnal leaves into pabulum for future growths work
slowly here.

My companions were already firing away at the
Auks, which covered in great numbers the debris of
fallen rock. This was deposited at an excessive in-
clination, sometimes as great as 47^ ; its talus, some
three hundred feet in height, cutting in cone-like proc-
esses against the mural faces of the cliff,

Ther ' was something about this grp.it inclined plane,
with its enormous fragments, their wild distribution,
and steep ingle of deposit, almost fearfully charncter-
istic of the destructive agencies of Arctic congelation.
I had never seen, not even at the bases of the miu'al
traps of India and South America — or better, perhaps,
than either, our own Connectu'ut — such evidences of
active degradation. It is not to the geologist alone

♦ I popy the number of those layers as I find it marked in my joiinial ; yet
I do so, not witiiout some fear that I may be misled by the chirography of a
very hurried note. My recollections an; of a very largo number, yet not so
large as that which my n spect lor the littera scripta induces me to retain io
the text.

ATTKS NESTS.

407

that these talus and debris are impressive. They tell
of changes which have begun and been going on since
the existence of the earth in its present state by the
t'riction of time against its surface ; and they carry us
on with solemn force to the period when the dehiscent
ed«res and mountain ravines of tliis same earth shall
have been worn down into rounded hill and gentle val-
ley. Well may they be called " geological ciironome-
ters."* They point with impressive finger to the ro-
tation of years. The dial-phite and tiie index are both
there, and human wisdom almost deciphers the nota-
tion !

On the steeper fianlrs of these rocky cones the little
Auks had built their nests. The season of incubation,
though far advanced, had not gone by, for the young
fledglings were looking down upon me in thousands;
and the mothers, with crops full of provender, were
constantly arriving from the sea. Urged by a wish to
study the domestic habits of these little Arctic emi-
grants at their homestead. I foolishly chimbered up to
one of their most popular colonies, without thinking
of my descent.

The angle of deposit was already very great, not
much less than 50°; and as I moved on, with a walk-
ing-pole substituted for my gun, I was not surprised to
find the fragments receding under my feet, ''ind rolling,
with a resounding crash, to the plain below. Stop-
ping, however, to regain my breath, I found that above,
ben<'ath, around me, every thing was in motion. The
entire surface seemed to be sliding down. Ridiculous
as it may seem to dwell upon a matter apparently so
trivial, my position became one of danger. The accel-
erated velocity of the masses caused them to leap off

• MantpH's " Wonders of Geology."

408

TRAPPING THE AUKS.

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in (leflocted lines. Several uncomfortable fragments
had already passed by me, some even over my head,
and my walking-pole was jerked from my hands and
buried in the ruins. Thus helpless, I commenced my
own half-involuntary descent, expecting momentarily
to follow my pole, when my eye caught a projecting
outcrop of feldspar, against which the strong current
split into two minor streams. This, with some hard
jumps, I succeeded in reaching.

As I sat upon the temporary security of tliis little
rock, surrounded by falling fragments, and awaiting
their slow adjustment to a new equilibrium before 1
ventured to descend, I was struck with the Arctic orig-
inality of every thing around. It was midnight, and
the sun, now to the north, was hidden by the rocks ;
but the whole atmosphere was pink with light. Ovei
head and around me whirled innumerable crowds of
Auks and Ivory gulls, screeching with execrable clam-
or, almost in contact with my person.

The calm which had given us these two days of
shore rambles left us suddenly on the 18th. We stood
towards Wolstenholme Sound, and bore across to the
west in more open water than we had seen for several
weeks. It was now beyond doubt that we were to
winter somewhere among the scones of Arctic trial.
We were past the barrier, heading direct for Lancas-
ter Sound, with the motion of waves once more under
us, and a breeze aloft. As I refer to my journal, I see
how the tone of feeling rose among our little party.
We began again with something of confidence to con-
nect the probable results with the objects of the ex-
pedition. We had lost three weeks off the Devil's
Tongue, the British steamers were far ahead of us in
point of time, and their superior ability and practice

GOOD-BY TO BAFFIN.

400

would still keep thein in the advance ; and we were
ignorant of their course and intended scheme of search.
We had dreamed before this, and pleasantly enough,
of fellowship with them in our efforts, dividing be-
tween us the hazards of the way, and perhaps in the
long winter holding with them the clieery intercourse
of kindred sympathies. We waked now to the prob-
abilities of passing the dark days alone. Yet fairly on
the way, an energetic commander, a united ship's com-
pany, the wind freshening, our well-tried little ice-
boat now groping her u ay like a blind man through
fog and bergs, and now dashing on as if reckless of ail
but success — it was impossible to repress a sentiment
almost akin to the so-called joyous excitement of con-
flict.

AVe were bidding good-by to '*ye goode baye ol'old
William Baffin ;" and as we looked round with a I'are-
well remembrance upon the still water, the diminished
icebergs, and the constant sun which had served us so
long and faithfully, we felt that the bay had used us
kindly.

Though I had read a good deal in the voyagers'
books about Baffin's Bay, I had strangely and entirely
misconceived the prominent features of its summer
scenery. There is a combination of warmth and cold
in the tone of its landscapes, a daring, eccentric Viiri-
ety of forms, an intense clearness, almost energy of ex-
pression, which might tax Turner and Stanfield to-
gether to reproduce them with an approach to truth.
How could they trace the features of the iceberg, melt-
ing into shapes so boldly marked, yet so undefined ; or
body forth its cold varieties of unshaded white, or the
azure clave-obscure of the ice-chasm! There are the
black hills, blots upon rolling snow; the ice-plain, mar-

f iV

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CONTINUOUS DAYLIOflT.

I .! ■^' •■ ;

gined with glaciers, and jiittiii«]f out in (rnpcis from th«
clilied shore: there is the still blue water. Or, il' ym
want action instead of repose, In^re is the crasliin;,' floe,
the grinding hunnnocrkjUtid the uioiuinientMl IxM'g ris-
ing above both! itself, though perishable, a seeming
porinanency compared with the ephemeral ruins that
baat {(gainst its sides.

All this is attempered by the Wiirm glazing of a tint-
ed atmosphere. The sky of Jialhn's Jiay, though hut
eight hundred mih^s from the Pohir limit of all nortli-
ernness, is as warm as the Bay of Na])h;s after a .Tune
rain. What artist, then, could give this mysterious
union of warm atmosphere and cold lands(;ape t

The per|)etual <layHght liad continued u]) tt* lliis
moment with unahatcd olarc. Tlu! sun had I'cat'hcd
his north meridian altitude st)m(! days before, hut the
eye was hardly awai'c of chaiuj^e. JMidniuht hud a
softened character, like the h)w sununer's sun at home,
but then^ was no twilight.

At first the novelty of this great unvarying day
made it pleasing. It was curious to see the " mid-
night Arctic sun set into suni'lse," and jdeusant to tind
that, Avhether you ate or slei)t, or idled or toiled, the
same daylight was ah\'ays there. No irksome night
forced u])on you its system of compulsory alternations.
I could dine at nudnigbt, sup at breakfast-time, and
go to bed at noonday ; and but for an appai'atus of
coils and cogs, called a watch, would ha\e been no
wiser and no worse.

My feeling was at first an extravagant sense of un-
defined relief, of some vag.ie restraint removed. I
seemed to have thrown oft' the slavery of hours. In
fact, I could hardly realize its entirety. The astrnl
lamjis, standing, dust-covered, on our lockers — I am

CON TIN UOUtJ DAVMii IIT.

411

qiiolinf^ tli«^ words ol' my joiiriuil — pii/zlcd ino, aa
tliiii{J[S obsolete and laiicirul.

]\ly lot had boeti cast in tlio zono oriiriodondroiis and
suii!ir-mapl(!s, in tlio nearly midway liititudr; of 10'.
1 iiiid bc!(!n inibitnalcd to day jmu! iiij^ht; and <!V(M'y
portion ol' those two j^reat divisions ha.d lor nie its })«;-
riods of peculiar association. Even in the tropics, I
liad mourned the lost twin«j^ht. llovv mudi more did
1 miss the sootliin<,Mliirkness, of wliich tvvili<(ht sliouhl
liave been the precursor! J be^rjin leei, witli more
of emotion than a imm writinjr for otliers likes lo con-
fess to, how admiriible, as a systcunatic law, is tiie al-
ternation of day and ni^^ht — words that type the two
{^reat conditions of livih<^ nature, action and repose.
To those who with daily labor earn the daily bread,
how kindly the season of sU^ep! To tlie drone who,
urginl by the waning daylight, Imstens the dei'erred
task, how fortunate that his pro(rrastiiuition has not a
six months' morrow ! To the brain-workers aiuouir
men, the enthusiasts, who bear irksomely the dark
screen which falls upon tlieir day-dreains, how benig-
nant the dear night blessing, which enforces reluctant
re^t!

^^Aiffrttst 10. Tlie wind continued Iresliening, the
Aneroid falling two tenths in the night. About eight
1 was called by our master, with the news that a
cou})l(' of vessels wen; following in our wake. A\''o
were shortening sail for our consort; and by half past
twelve, the larger stranger, the Lady Franklin, cajue
up a!')ng side of us. A cordial greeting, such as those
only know who have been pelted for weeks in the sol-
itudes of Arctic ice — and we learned that this was
Captain Penny's squadron, bound on Ihe same pursuit
as ourselves. A hurried interchange of news followed.

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23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 873-4503

!■

412 CAPTAIN penny's SQUADKON.

Tho ico in Melville Bay had bothered both parties
alike ; Commodore Austin, with his steamer tenders,
was three days ago at Carey's Islands, a group near-
ly as liiyrli as 77° north latitude; the North Star, the
missing provision transport of last summer, was safe
somewhere in Lancaster Sound, probably at Leopold
Island. For the rest, God speed !

" As she slowly forged ahead, there came over the
rough sea that good old English hurra, which we in-
herit on our side the water. ' Three cheers, hearty,
with a will !' indicating as nmch of brotherhood as
sympathy. * Stand alol't, boys !' and we gave back the
greeting. One cheer more of acknowledgment on each
side, and the sister flags separated, each on its errand
of mercy.

** The sea is short and excessive. Every thing on
deck, even anchors and quarter-boats, have ' fetched
away,' and the little cabin is half afloat. The Rescue
is staggering under heavy sail astern of us. We are
making six or seven knots an hour. Murdaugh is
ahead, looking out tor ice and rocks ; De Haven con-
ning the ship.

" All at once a high mountain shore rises before us,
and a couple of isolated rocks show themselves, not
more than a quarter of a milo ahead, white with break-
ers. Both vessels are laid to."

The storm reminded me of a Mexican " nortlibf."
It was not till the afternoon of the next day that we
were able to resume our track, under a doubie-reefod
top-sail, stay-sail, and spencer. We were, of course,
without observation still, and could only reckon that
we had passed the Cunningham Mountains and Capo
Warrender.

About three o'clock in the morning of the 21st, an-

SIR JOHN llOSS.

413

other saii was reported ahead, a top-sail schooner, tow-
ing after her what appeared to be a launch, decked
over.

** When I reached the deck, we were nearly up to
her, lor we had shaken out our reels, and were driving
before the wind, shipping seas at every roll. The lit-
tle schooner was under a single close-reefed top-sail, and
seemed fluttering over the waves like a crippled bird.
Presently an old fellow, with a cloak tossed over his
niglit gear, appeared in the lee gangway, and saluted
with a voice that rose above the winds.

"It was the Felix, commanded by that practical
Arctic veteran. Sir John Uoss. I shall never forget the
heartiness with which the hailing officer sang out, in
the midst of our dialogue, * You and I are ahead of them
all.' It W'tS so indeed. Austin, with two vessels, was
at Pond's Bay; Penny was somewhere in the gale;
and others of Austin's squadron were exploring the
north side of the Sound. The Felix and the Advaiice
were on the lead.

"Before we separated. Sir John Ross came on deck,
and stood at the side of his officer, lie was a square-
built man, apparently very little stricken in years, and
well able to bear his part in the toils and hazards of
life. He has been wounded i!i four several engage-
ments — twice desperately — and is scarred from head
to foot. He has conducted two Polar expeditions al-
ready, and performed in one of them the unparalleled
feat of wintering four years in Arctic snows. And
here he is again, in a flimsy cockle-shell, after contrib-
uting his purse and his influence, embarked himself in
the crusade of search for a lost comrade. We met him
off Admiralty Inlet, just about the spot at which he
was picked up seventeen years before."

414

THE PRINCE ALBERT.

■>

Soon after midnight, the hind became visible on the
north side of the Sound. We had passed Cape Charles
Yorke and Cape Crawfurd, and were fanning along
sluggishly with all the sail we could crowd for Port
Leopold.

It was the next day, however, before we came in
sight of the island, and it was nearly spent when we
found ourselves slowly approaching Whaler Point, the
seat of the harbor. Our way had been remarkably
clear of ice for some days, and we were vexed to find,
therefore, that a firm and rugged barrier extended along
the western shore of the inlet, and apparently across
the entrance we were seeking.

It was a great relief to us to see, at half past six in
the evening, a top-sail schooner working toward us
through the ice. She boarded us at ten, and proved
to be Lady Franklin's own search-vessel, the Prince
Albert.

This was a very pleasant meeting. Captain For-
syth, who commanded the Albert, and Mr. Snow, who
acted as a sort of adjutant under him, were very agree-
able gentlemen. They spent some hours with us,
which Mr. Snow has remembered kindly in the journal
he has published since his return to England. Their
little vessel was much less perfectly fitted than ours to
encounter the perils of the ice ; but in one respect at
least their expedition resembled our own. They had
to rough it : to use a Western phrase, they had no fan-
cy fixings — nothing but what a hasty outfit and a lim-
ited purse could supply. They were now bound for
Cape Rennell, after which they proposed making a
sledge excursion over the lower Boothian and Cock-
burne lands.

The North Star, they told us, had been caught by

CAPE RILEY.

415

the ice last season in the neighborhood of our own first
hnprisonment, off the Devil's Thumb. After a peril-
ous drift, she had succeeded in entering Wolstenholnie
Sound, whence, after a tedious winter, she had only re-
cently arrived at Port Bowen.

They followed in our wake the next day as we push-
ed through many streams of ice across the strait. We
sighted the shore about five miles to the west of Cape
Ilurd very closely ; a miserable wilderness, rising in
terraces of broken-down limestone, arranged between
the hills like a vast theatre.

On the 25th, still beating through the ice off Rad-
stock Bay, we discovered on Cape Riley two cairns,
one of them, the most conspicuous, with a flag-staff and
ball. A couple of hours after, we were near enough
to land. The cape itself is a low projecting tongue of
limestone, but at a short distance behind it the (jliff
rises to the height of some eight hundred feet. AVe
found a tin canister within the larger cairn, contain-
ing the information that Captain Ommanney had been
there two days before us, with the Assistance and In-
trepid, belonging to Captain Austin's squadron, and
had discovered traces of an encampment, and other
indications "that some party belonging to her Britan-
nic majesty's service had been detained at this spot."
Similar traces, it was added, had been found also on
Beec'hy Island, a projection on the channel side some
ten miles from Cape Riley.

Our consort, the Rescue, as we afterward learned,
had shared in this discovery, though the British com-
mander's inscription in the cairn, as well as his offi-
cial reports, might lead perhaps to a different conclu-
sion. Captain Griffin, in fact, landed with Captain
Ommanney, and the traces were registered while the
two officers were in company.

4ii;

FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT.

I inspected tliese different tmces very carefully, and
noted vvliat I observed at the moment. The appear-
ances which connect them with the story of Sir John
Franklin have been described' by others ; but there
may still be interest in a description of them made
while they were under my eye. I transcribe it word
for word from my journal.

" On a tongue of fossiliferous limestone, fronting to-
ward the west on a little indentation of the water, and
shielded from the north by the precipitous cliffs, are
five distinct remnants of habitation.

" Nearest the cliffs, four circular mounds or henp-
ings-up of the crumbled limestone, aided by lar<,'er
stones placed at the outer edge, as if to protect the
leash of a tent. Two larger stones, with an interval
of two feet, I'ronting the west, mark the places of en-
trance.

" {Several large square stones, so arranged as to serve
probably for a fire-place. These have been tumbled
over by parties before us.

" More distant from the cliffs, yet in line with the
four already described, is a larger inclosure ; the door
facing south, and looking toward the strait : this so-
called door is simply an entrance made of large stones
placed one above the other. The inclosure itself tri-
angular; its northern side about eighteen inches high,
built up of flat stones. Some bird bones and one rib
of a seal were found exactly in the centre of this tri-
angle, as if a party had sat round it eating ; and the
top of a preserved meat case, much rusted, was found
in the same place. I picked up a piece of canvas or
duck on the cliff side, well worn by the weather : the
sailors recognized it at once as the gore of a pair of
trowsers.

FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT.

A fifth circle is discernible nearer the cliffs, which
may have belonged to the same party. It was less
perfect than the others, and seemed of an older date.

" On the beach, some twenty or thirty yards from
the triangular inclosure, were several pieces of pine
wood about four inches long, painted green, and white,
ami black, and, in one instance, puttied ; evidently
parts of a boat, and apparently collected as kindling
wood."

The indications were meagre, but the conclusion
they led to was irresistible. They could not be the
work of Esquimaux : the whole character of them con-
tradicted it: and the only European who could have
visited Cape Riley was Parry, twenty-eight years be-
Ibre ; and we knew from his journal that he had not
encamped here. Then, again, Ommanney's discovery
ollike vestiges on Beechy Island, just on the track of
a party moving in either direction between it and the
channel : all these speak ol' a land party from Frank-
lin's squadron.

Our commander resolved to press onward along the
eastern shore of Wellington Channel. We were un-
der weigh in the early morning of the 2Gth, and work-
ing along with our consort toward Beechy — I drop
the " Island," for it is more strictly a peninsula or a
promontory of limestone, as high and abrupt as that
at Cape Riley, connected with what we call the main
by a low isthmus. Still further on we passed Cape
Spencer ; then a fine blufl* point, called by Parry Point
Innes ; and further on again, the trend being to the
east of north, we saw the low tongue, Cape Bowden.
Parry merely sighted these points from a distance, so
that the shore line has never been traced. I sketch-
ed it myself with some care ; but the running survey

'.•5*^
1 /i^^

^+>-

-- ■>■;

•I

41S

FRANKLIN S ENCAMPMENT.

of this celebrated explorer had left nothing to alter.
To the north of Cape Innes, tho; jh the coast retains
the same geognostical character, the bluff' promonto-
ries subside into low hills, between which the beach,
composed of coarse silicious limestone, sweeps in long
curvilinear terraces. Measuring some of these rudely
afterward, I found that the elevation of the highest
plateau did not exceed forty feet.

Our way northward was along an ice channel close
under the eastern shore, and bounded on the other side
by the ice-pack, at a distance varying from a quarter
of a mile to a mile and three quarters. Off" Cape Spen-
cer the way seemed more open, widening perhaps to
two miles, and showing something like continued free
water to the north and west. Here we met Captain
Penny, with the Lady Franklin and Sophia. He told
us that the channel was completely shut in ahead by
a compact ice barrier, which connected itself with that
to the west, describing a horseshoe bend. He thought
a southwester was coming on, and counseled us to pre-
pare for the chances of an impactment. The go-ahead
determination which characterized our commander
made us test the correctness of his advice. We push-
ed on, tracked the horseshoe circuit of the ice without
finding an outlet, and were glad to labor back again
almost in the teeth of a gale.

Captain Penny had occupied the time more profita-
bly. In company with Dr. Goodsir, an enthusiastic
explorer and highly educated gentleman, whose broth-
er was an assistant surgeon on board the missing ves-
sels, he had been examining the shore. On the ridge
of limestone, between Cape Spencer and Point Innes,
they had come across additional proofs that Sir John's
party had been here — very important these proofs as

P tt A N K L I N S t. N C A M !• M E N T.

419

extending the line along the shore over which the pai-
ty jnust have moved from Cape lliley.

Among the articles they had found were tin canis*
ters, with the London maker's label ; scraps of news-
paper, bearing the date 1844 ; a paper fragment, with
the words " until called" on it, seemingly part of a
watch order ; and two other fragments, each with the
name of one of Franklin's officers written on it in pen-
cil.

On the 27th, the chances of this narrow and capri-
cious navigation had gathered five of the searching
vessels, under throo different commands, within the
same quarter of a mile — Sir John Ross', Penny's, and
our own. Both Ross and Penny had made the effort
to push through the sound to the west, but found a
great belt of ice, reaching in an almost regular cres-
cent from Leopold's Island across to the northern shore,
about half a mile from the entrance of the channel.
Captain Ommanney, with the Intrepid and Assistance,
had been less fortunate. lie had attempted to break
his way through the barrier, but it had closed on him,
and he was now fast, within fifteen miles of us, to the
west*

After breakfast, our commander and myself took a
boat to visit the traces discovered yesterday by Cap-
tain Penny. Taking the Lady Franklin in our way,
we met Sir John Ross and Commander Phillips, and
a (conference naturally took place upon the best jjlans
for concerted operations. I was very much struck
with the gallant disinterestedness of spirit which was
shown by all the officers in this discussion. Penny,
an energetic, practical fellow, sketched out at once a
plan of action for each vessel of the party. He him-
self would take the western search ; Ross should run

^ .,■■1*'

420

THE GRAVES.

■III

L5»'"

over to Prince Regent's Sound, communicate the news
to the Prince Albert, and so relieve that little vessel
from the now unnecessary perils of her intended expe*
dition ; and we were to press through the first open-
ings in the ice by Wellington Channel, to the north
and east.

It was wisely determined by brave old Sir John
that he would leave the Mary, his tender of twelve
tons, at a little inlet near the point, to serve as a fall*
back in case we should lose our vessels or become
sealed up in permanent ice, and De Haven and Penny
engaged their respective shares of her outfit, in the
shape of some barrels of beef and flour. Sir John
Ross, I think, had just left us to go on board his little
craft, and I was still talking over our projects with
Captain Penny, when a messenger was reported, mak-
ing all speed to us over the ice.

The news he brought was thrilling. " Graves, Cap.
tain Penny! graves! Franklin's winter quarters!"
We were instantly in motion. Captain De Haven,
Captain Penny, Commander Phillips, and myself, join-
ed by a party from the Rescue, hurried on over the ice,
and, scrambling along the loose and rugged slope that
extends from Beechy to the shore, came, after a weary
walk, to the crest of the isthmus. Here, amid the ster-
lie uniformity of snow and slate, were the head-boards
of three graves, made after the old orthodox fashion of
gravestones at home. The mounds which adjoined
them were arranged with some pretensions to symme-
try, coped and defended with limestone slabs. They
occupied a line facing toward Cape Riley, which was
distinctly visible across a little cove at the distance of
flome four hundred yards.

The first, or that most to the southward, is nearest to

THE GRAVES.

421

the front in the accompanying sketch. Its insorip
tion, cut in by a chisel, ran thus :

" Sacred
to thn
memory
, of

W. Draink, R. M.,

H. M. S. i:rcbu8

Died April 3<l, 1846,

aged 33 yeura.

' Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.'

Joshua, ch. xxitr., 15.**

The second was :

" Sacred to the memory of

John Hartnkli., A. 11. of H. M. S.

Erebus,

aged 23 years.

'Thus saith the I<urd, consider your ways.'

Haggal, i . 7."

The third and last of these memorials was not quite
80 well finished as the others. The mound was not
of stone- work, but its general appearance was more
grave-like, more like the sleeping-place of Christians
in happier lands. It was inscribed :

" Sacred

the memory

John Torrinoton,

who departed this life

January 1st, A.D. 1846,

on board of

H. M. ship Terror,

aged 80 years."

"Departed this life on board the Terror, 1st January,
1846 !" Franklin's ships, then, had not been wrecked
when he occupied the encampment at Beechy !

Two large stones were imbedded in the friable lime-
stone a little to the left of these sad records, and near
them was a piece of wood, more than a foot in diam-

tn-.'i

f'4^

422

MOUNDS.

eter, and two feet eight inches high, which had evi.
dently served for an anvil-block : the marks were un<
niistakable. Near it again, but still more to the east,
and therefore nearer the beach, was a large blackened
space, covered with coal cinders, iron nails, spikes,
hinges, rings, clearly the remains of the armorer's forge.
Still nearer the beach, but more to the south, was the
carpenter's shop, its marks equally distinctive.

Leaving "the graves," and walking toward Wel-
lington Straits, about four hundred yards, or perhaps
less, we came to a mound, or rather a series of mounds,
which, considering the Arctic character of the surface
at this spot, must have boon a work of labor. It in-
closed one nearly elliptical area, and one other, which,
though separated from the first jy a lesser mound,
appeared to be connected with it. The spaces thus
inclosed abounded in fragmentary renniins. Among
them I saw a stocking without a foot, sewed up at its
edge, and a mitten not so much the worse for use as
to have been without value to its owner. Shavings
of wood were strewed freely on the southern side of
the mound, as if they had been collected there by the
continued labor of artificers, and not far from these, a
few hundred yards lower down, was the remnant of a
garden. AVeighing all the signs carefully, I had no
doubt that this was some central shore establishment,
connected with the squadron, and that the lesser area
was used as an observatory, for it had large stones
fixed as if to support instruments, and the scantling
props still stuck in the frozen soil.

Travelling on about a quarter of a mile further, and
in the same direction, we came upon a deposit of more
than six hundred preserved-meat cans, arranged in
regular order. They had been emptied, and were now

TRACES.

42n

filled with limestone pebbles, perhaps tu serve as con-
venient ballast on boating expeditions.

These were among the more obvious vestiges of Sir
John Franklin's party. The minor indications about
the ground wore innumerable : iragments oi' canvius,
rope, cordage, sail-eloth, tarpaulins; of casks, iron*work,
wood, rough and carved ; ol' clothing, such as a blank-
et lined by long stitches with common cotton stutl',
and made into a sort of rude coat; paper in scraps,
wliite, waste, and journal ; a small key ; a lew odds
and ends of brass- work, such an might be part of the
furniture of a locker; in a word, the numberless re-
liquijc of a winter resting-place. One of the papers,
wlii(di I have preserved, has on it the notation of an
astronomical sight, worked out to Greenwich time.

With all this, not a written memorandum, or point-
ing cross, or even the vaguest inumation of the condi-
tion or intentions of the party. The traces found at
Cape lliley and Beechy were still more baffling. The
cairn was mounted on a high and conspicuous portion
of tlie shore, and evidently intended to attract observa-
tion ; but, though several parties examined it, digging
round it in every direction, not a single particle of in-
formation could be gleaned. This is remarkable ; and
for so able and practiced an Arctic commander as Sir
John Franklin, an incomprehensible omission.

In a narrow interval between the hills which come
down toward Beechy Island, the searching parties of
the Rescue and Mr. 3Iurdaugh of our own vessel found
the tracks of a sledge clearly defined, and unmistakti-
ble both as to character and direction. They pointed
to the eastern shores of Wellington Sound, in the same
general course with the traces discovered by Penny
between Cape Spencer and Point Innes.

i>''i

II W

424

CONCLUSIONS.

» s

I -^ilf-

Similar traces were seen toward Caswell's Tower
and Cape Riley, which gave additional proofs of sys-
tematic journeyings. They could be traced through
the comminuted limestone shingle in the direction of
Cape Spencer; and at intervals further on were scraps
of paper, lucifer matches, and even the cinders of the
temporary fire. The sledge parties must have been
regularly organized, for their course had evidently been
the subject of a previous reconnoissance. I observed
their runner tracks not only in the limestoiie crust,
but upon some snow slopes further to the north. It
was startling to see the evidences of a travel nearly
six years old, preserved in intaglio on a material so
perishable.

The snows of the Arctic regions, by alternations of
congelation and thaw, acquire sometimes an ice-like
durability ; but these traces had been covered by the
after-snows of five winters. They pointed, like the
Sastrugi, or snow- waves of the Siberians, to the march-
es of the lost company.

Mr. Griffin, who performed a journey of research
along this coast toward the north, found at intervals,
almost to Cape Bowden, traces of a passing party. A
corked bottle, quite empty, was among these. Reach-
ing a point beyond Cape Bowden, he discovered the
indentation or bay which now bears his name, and on
whose opposite shores the coast was again seen.

It is clear to my own mind that a systematic recon-
noissance was undertaken by Franklin of the upper
waters of the Wellington, and that it had for its object
an exploration in that direction as soon as the ice
would permit.

There were some features about this deserted home-
stead inexpressibly touching. The frozen trough of an

CONCLUSIONS.

425

old water channel had served as the wash-house stream
lor the crews olthe lost squadron. The tubs, such as
Jack makes by sawing in half the beef barrels, al-
though no longer fed by the melted snows, remained
as the washers had left them five years ago. The lit-
tie garden, too : I did not see it ; but Lieutenant Osborn
describes it as still showing the mosses and anemones
that were transplanted by its framers. A garden im-
plies a purpose either to remain or to return : he who
makes it is looking to the future. The same officer
found a pair of Cashmere gloves, carefully "laid out to
dry, with two small stones upon the palms to keep
them from blowing away." It would be wrong to
measure the value of these gloves by the price they
could be bought for in Bond Street or Broadway. The
Arctic traveler they belonged to intended to come back
for them, and did not piobably forget them in his
hurry.

The facts I have mentioned, almost all of them, have
been so ably analyzed already, that I might be ex-
cused from venturing any deductions of my own. But
it was impossible to review the circumstances as we
stood upon the ground without forming an opinion ;
and such as mine was, it is perhaps best that I should
express it here.

In the first place, it is plain that Sir John Franklin's
consort, the Terror, wintered in 1845-6 at or near the
promontory of Beechy ; that at least part of her crew
remained on board of her ; and that some of the crew
of the flag-ship, the Erebus, if not the ship herself, were
also there. It is also plain that a part of one or both
these crews was occupied during a portion of the win-
ter in the various pursuits of an organized squadron,
at an encampment on the isthmus I have described,

■1^! .■"'I'l

426

CONJECTURE.

I '^

'If!' •■■■''

aiitt

a position which commanded a full view of Lancaster
Sound to the east of south, and of Wellington Chan-
nel extending north. It may be fairly inferred, also,
that the general health of the crews had not suflered
severely, three only having died out of a hundred and
thirty odd ; and that in addition to the ordinary details
of duty, they were occupied in conducting and comput-
ing astronomical observations, making sledges, prepar-
ing their little anti-scorbutic garden patches, and ex-
ploring the eastern shore of the channel. Many facts
that we ourselves observed made it seem probable that
Franklin had not, in the first instance, been able to
prosecute his instructions for the Western search ; and
the examinations made so fully since by Captain Aus-
tin's officers have proved that he never reached Cape
Walker, Banks' Land, Melville Island, Prince Regent's
Inlet, or any point of the sound considerably to the
west or southwest. The whole story of our combined
operations in and about the channel shows that it is
along its eastern margin that the water-leads occur
most frequently: natural causes of general application
may be assigned for this, some of which will readily
suggest themselves to the physicist ; but I have only
to do here with the recognized fact.

So far I think we proceed safely. The rest is con-
jectural. Let us suppose the season for renewed prog-
ress to be approaching ; Franklin and his crews, with
their vessels, one or both, looking out anxiously from
their narrow isthmus for the first openings of the ice.
They come : a gale of wind has severed the pack, and
the drift begins. The first clear water that would meet
his eye would be close to the shore on which he had
his encampment. Would he wait till the continued
drift had made the navigation practicable in Lancas-

b! I M

CONJECTURE.

427

ter Sound, and then retrace his steps to try the upper
regions of Baffin's Bay, which he could not reach with-
out a long circuit; or wouUl he press to the north
through the opon lead that lay before him i Those
who know Franklin's character, his declared opinions,
his determined purpose, so well portrayed in the late-
ly published letters of one of his officers, will hardly
think the question difficult to answer : his sledges had
already pioneered the way. We, the searchers, were
ourselves tempted, by the insidious openings to the
north in Wellington Channel, to push on in the hope
that .some lucky chance might point us to an outlet
beyond. Might not the same temptation have had its
influence for Sir John Franklin ? A careful and dar-
ing navigator, such as he was, would not wait for the
lead to close. I can imagine the dispatch v^ith which
the observatory would be ilismantled, the armorer's es-
tablishment broken up, and the camp vacated. I can
understand how the preserved meat cans, not very val-
uable, yet not worthless, might be left piled upon the
shore ; how one man might leave his mittens, aiu)tlier
his blanket coat, and a third hurry over the search for
his lost key. And if 1 were required to conjecture
some explanation of the empty signal cairn, I do not
know what I could refer it to but the excitement at-
tendant on just such a sudden and unexpected release
Ihini a weary imprisonment, and the instant prospect
of energetic and perilous adventure.

^-. f

*|:' ■',4.!].

:rt t: \

■f-i'i

u?:"'*

^;'

CHAPTER XXXII.
TIIE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

(continued.)

*^ August 28. Strange enough, during the night,
Captain Austin, of her majesty's search squadron, with
liis flag-ship the Resolute, entered the same little in-
dentation in which five of us were moored before. His
steam-tender, the Pioneer, grounded off the point of
Beechy Island, and is now in sight, canted over by the
ice nearly to her beam ends.

" I called this morning on Sir John Ross, and had a
long talk with him. He said that, as far back as 1847,
anticipating the ' detention' of Sir John Franklin — I
use his own word — he had volunteered his services for
an expedition of retrieve, asking for the purpose four
small vessels, something like our own ; but no one list-
ened to him. Volunteering again in 1848, he was
told that his nephew's claim to the service had re-
ceived a recognition ; whereupon his own was with-
drawn. ' I told Sir John,' said Ross, * that my own ex-
perience in these seas proved that all these sounds and
inlets may, by the caprice or even the routine of sea-
sons, be closed so as to prevent any egress, and that ti
missing or shut-off party must have some means of
falling back. It was thus I saved myself from the
abandoned Victory by a previously constructed house
for wintering, and a boat for temporary refuge.' All
this, he says, he pressed on Sir John Franklin before

VISIT TO THE RES07-.UTE.

429

he set out, and he thinks that Melville Island is now
the seat of such a house-asylum. ' For, depend upon
it,' he added, ' Franklin will he expecting some of us
to be following on his traces. Now, may it he that
the party, whose winter quarters we have discovered,
sent out only exploring detachments along Wellington
Sound in the spring, and then, when themselves re-
leased, continued on to the west, by Cape Hotharn and
Barrow's Straits V I have given this extract from my
journal, though the theory it suggests has since been
disproved by Lieutenant M'Clintock, because the tone
and language of Sir John Ross may be regarded as
characteristic of this manly old seaman.

" I next visited the Resolute. I shall not here say
how their perfect organization and provision ibr win-
ter contrasted with those of our own little expedition.
I had to shake off a feeling almost of despondency
when I saw how much better fitted they were to grap.
pie with the grim enemy, Cold. Winter, if we may
judge of it by the clothing and warming appliances of
the British squadron, must be something beyond our
power to cope with ; for, in comparison with them, we
have nothing, absolutely nothing.

" The officers received me, for I was alone, with the
cordiality of recognized brotherhood. They are a gen-
tlemanly, well-educated set of men, thoroughly up to
the history of what has been done by others, and full
of personal resource. Among them I was rejoiced to
meet an old acquaintance, Lieutenant Brown, whose
admirably artistic sketches I had seen in Haghe's lith-
otints, at Mr. Grinnell's, before leanng New York.
When we were together last, it was among the trop-
ical jungles of Luzon, surrounded by the palm, the
cycas, and bamboo, in the glowing extreme of vegeta-

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430

VISIT TO PENNY.

ble exuberance : here we are met once more, in the
stinted region of lichen and mosses. He was then a
j unior, under Sir Edward Belcher : I — what I am yet.
The lights and shadows of a naval life are nowhere
better, and, alas ! nowhere worse displayed, than in
these remote accidental greetings.

" Returning, I paid a visit to Penny's vessels, and
formed a very agreeable acquaintance with the med-
ical officer, Dr. R. Anstruther Goodsir, a brother of as-
sistant surgeon Goodsir of Franklin's flag-ship,

"In commemoration of the gathering of the search-
ing squadrons within the little cove of Beechy Point,
Commodore Austin has named it, very appropriately,
Union Bay. • It is here the Mary is deposited as an
asylum to fall back upon in case of disaster.

" The sun is traveling rapidly to the south, so that
our recently glaring midnight is now a twilight gloom.
The coloring over the hills at Point Innes this even-
ing was sombre, but in deep reds; and the sky had an
inhospitable coldness. It made me thoughtful to see
the long shadows stretching out upon the snow toward
the isthmus of the Graves.

" The wind is from the north and westward, and the
ice is so driven in around us as to grate and groan
against the sides of our little vessel. The masses,
though small, are very thick, and by the surging of
the sea have been rubbed as round as pebbles. They
make an abominable noise."

The remaining days of August were not character-
ized by any incident of note. We had the same al-
ternations of progress and retreat through the ice as
before, and without sensibly advancing toward the
western shore, which it was now our object to reach.
The next extracts from my journal are of the diite of
September 3d.

ICE DRIFTING.

431

" After floating down, warping, to avoid the loose
ice, we finally cast ofT in comparatively open water,
and began beating toward Cape Spencer to get round
the field. Once there, we got along finely, sinking the
eastern shore by degrees, and nearing the undelineated
coasts of Cornwallis Island. White whales, narwhals,
seals — among them the Phoca leonina with his puffed
cheeks — and two bears, were seen.

" The ice is tremendous, far ahead of any thing we
have met with. The thickness of the upraised tables
is sometimes fourteen feet ; and the hummocks are so
ground and distorted by the rude attrition of the floes,
that they rise up in cones like crushed sugar, some of
them forty feet high. But that the queer life we are
leading — a life of constant exposure and excitement,
and one that seems more like the ' roughing it' of a
land party than the life of shipboard — has inured us
lo the eccentric fancies of the ice, our position w^ould
be a sleepless one.

^^ September 4, 2 A.M. Was awakened by Captain
De Haven to look at the ice : an impressive sight. We
were fast with three anchors to the main floe ; and
now, though the wind was still from the northward,
and therefore in opposition to the dril't, the floating
masses under the action of the tide came with a west-
ward trend directly past us. Fortunately, they were
not borne down upon the vessels ; but, as they went
by in slow procession to the west, our sensations w^ere,
to say the least, sensations. It was very grand to see
up-piled blocks twenty feet and more above our heads,
and to wonder whether this fellow would strike our
main-yard or clear our stern. Some of the moving
hummocks were thirty feet high. They grazed us;
but a little projection of the main field to windward
shied them off.

§11

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432

ICE FORMING.

"We were seated cosily around our little table in
the cabin, imagining our harbor of land ice perfectly
secure, whon we were startled by a crash. We rush-
ed on deck just in time to see the solid floe to wind-
ward part in the middle, liberate itself from its attach-
ment to the shore, and bear down upon us with the
full energy of the storm. Our lee bristled ominously
half a ship's length from us, and to the east was the
main drift. The Rescue was first caught, nipped
astern, and lifted bodily out of water; fortunately, she
withstood the pressure, and rising till she snapped her
cable, launched into open water, crushing the young
ice before her. The Advance, by hard warping, drew
a little closer to the cove ; and, a moment after, the ice
drove by, j ust clearing our stern. Commodore Austin's
vessels were imprisoned in the moving fragments, and
carried helplessly past us. In a very little while they
were some four miles off."

The summer was now leaving us rapidly. The
thermometer had been at 21° and 23° for several nights,
and scarcely rose above 32° in the daytime. Our lit-
tle harbor at Barlow's Inlet was completely blocked
in by heavy masses ; the new ice gave plenty of sport
to the skaters ; but on shipboard it was uncomfortably
cold. As yet we had no fires below; and, after draw-
ing around me the India-rubber curtains of my berth,
with my lamp burning inside, I frequently wrote iny
journal in a freezing temperature. "This is not very
cold, no doubt" — I quote from an entry of the 8th—
" not very cold to your forty-five minus men of Arctic
winters ; but to us poor devils from the zone of the
liriodendrons and peaches, it is rather cool for the
September month of water-melons. My bear with his
arsenic swabs is a solid lump, and some birds that

RENDEZVOUS.

4X\

are waiting to be skinned are absolutely rigid with
frost."

In the afternoon of this day, the 8th, we went to
work, all hands, officers included, to cut up the young
ice and tow it out into the current : once there, the drift
cftiried it rapidly to the south. We cleared away in
this manner a space of some forty yards square, and at
five the next morning were rewarded by being again
under weigh. We were past Cape Hotham by break-
fast-time on the 9th, and in the afternoon were beat-
ing to the west in Lancaster Sound.

" The sound presented a novel spectacle to us ; the
young ice glazing it over, so as to form a viscid sea of
sludge and tickli/-benders, from the northern shore to
the pack, a distance of at least ten miles. This was
mingled with the drift floes from Wellington Chan-
nel ; and in them, steaming away manfully, were the
Resolute and Pioneer. The wind was dead ahead ;
yet, but for the new ice, there was a clear sea to the
west. AVhat, then, was our mortification, first, to see
our pack-bound neighbors force themselves from their
prison and steam ahead dead in the wind's eye, and,
next, to be overhauled by Penny, and passed by both
his brigs. We are now the last of all the searchers,
except perhaps old Sir John, who is probably yet in
Union Bay, or at least east of the straits.

" The shores along which we are passing are of the
same configuration with the coast to the east of Beechy
Island ; the cliffs, however, are not so high, and their
bluff appearance is relieved occasionally by terraces
and shingle beach. The lithological characters of the
limestone appear to be the same.

" We are all together here, on a single track but lit-
tle wider than the Delaware or Hudson. There is no

I-

m'.:

434

RENDEZVOUS

i l!k.

getting out of it, for the shore is on one side and the
fixed ice close on the other. All have the lead of us,
and we are working only to save a distance. Omman-
ney must be near Melville by this time : pleasant,
very !

"Closing memoranda for the day: 1. I have the
rheumatism in my knees ; 2. I left a bag containing
my dress suit of uniforms, and, what is worse, my win-
ter suit of furs, and with them my double-barrel gun,
on joard Austin's vessel. The gale of the 7th has
carried him and them out of sight.

"September 10. Unaccountable, most unaccounta-
ble, the caprices of this ice-locked region ! Here we
are again all together, even Ommanney with the rest.
The Resolute, Intrepid, Assistance, Pioneer, Lady
Franklin, Sophia, Advance, and Rescue ; Austin, Om-
manney, Penny, and De Haven, all anchored to the
* fast' off Griffith's Island. The way to the west com-
pletely shut out."

"September 11, Wednesday. Snow, light and fleecy,
covering the decks, and carried by our clothes into our
little cabin. The moisture of the atmosphere con-
denses over the beams, and trickles down over the
lockers and bedding. We are still along side of the
fixed ice off Griffith's Island, and the British squad-
ron under Commodore Austin are clustered toypther
within three hundred yards of us. Penny, like an in-
defatigable old trump, as he is, is out, pushing, work-
ing, groping in the fog. The sludge ice, that had
driven in around us and almost congealed under our
stern, is now by the ebb of the tide, or at least its
change, carried out again, although the wind still sets
toward the floe.

W^^

A GALE.

4.'55

id the

of us,

nman-

)asant,

ve the
taining
ly win-
el gun,
fth has

icounta-
lere we
the rest,
r, Lady
tin, Om-
d to the
est com-

"At three the Rescue parted, her cable's hold, and
was carried out to sea, leaving two men, her boat, and
her anchors behind. We snapped our stern-ciihh^, lost
our anchor, swung out, but fortunately held hy the
I'orwnrd line. All the English vessels were in similar
peril, the Pioneer being at one time actually I'ree ; and
Commodore Austin, who in the Jle.solute occuj)icd the
head of the line, was in momentary I'ear of coming
ilou II upon us. Altogether I have seldom seen a night
ol' greater trial. The wind roared over the snow Hoes,
and every thing about the vessel froze into heavy ice
situlactites. Had the main tloe parted, we Inul been
carried down with the liberated ice. Fortumitcly, ev-
ery thing held ; and here we are, safe and sound, 'i'be
Kescue was last seen beating to windward against the
•rale, probably seeking a lee under Griffith's Island.
Tliis morning the snow continues in the form of a fine
cutting drift, the water freezes wherever it touches,
and the thermometer has been at no time above 17°.

^^ September 12, 10 P.M. Just from deck. How very
dismal every thing seems ! The snow is driven like
sand upon a level reach, lifted up in long curve lines,
and then obscuring the atmosphere with a white dtirk-
iiess. The wind, too, is howling in a shrill minor,
singing across the hummock ridges. The eight ves-
sels are no longer here. The Rescue is driven out to
!sea, and poor Penny is probably to the southward.
Five black masses, however, their cordage defined by
rime and snow, are seen with their snouts shoved into
the shore of ice : cables, chains, and anchors are cov-
ered feet below the drift, and the ships adhere mys-
teriously, their tackle completely invisible. Should
any of us break away, the gale would carry us into
streams of heavy floating ice ; and our running rig.

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ging is so coated with icicles as to make it impossible
to work it. The thermometer stands at 14''.

"At this temperature the young ice I'orms in spite
of the increasing movement of tin; wavers, stretcliinj,'
out from the floe in long, /igz-ag lines of smocjtiint'.vs
resembling wat<!red silk. Tlici loose ice seems to liavo
a southerly and easterly dril't ; and, from the iniToas-
iug distance of (IrilUth's Island, seen during occasional
intervals, we are evidently moving en masse to the
south.

"Now when you remember that we are in open
sea, attached to precarious ice, and surrounded by
floating streams ; that the coast is unknown, and the
ice forming inshore, so as to umke harbors, if we knew
of them, inac(!essible, you may suppose that our posj.
tion is far from pleasant. One harbor was discovtMcd
by a lieutenant ol'tlie Assistance some days ago, ami
named Assistancte Harbor, but that is out of the qnes.
tion ; the wind is not only a gale, but ahead. Had
we the quarters of Capua before us, we should bo un-
able to reach them. It is a windward shore.

"11 P.M. Captain Be Haven reports ice forming
fast: extra anchors are out; thermometer +8°. The
British .squadron, under Austin, have fires in full blast
we are without them still.

" 12 M. In bed, reading or trying to read. The gale
has increased ; the floes are in upon us from the east-
ward ; and it is evident that we are all of us driftinj»
bodily, God knows where, for we have no means of
taking observations.

" September 13, 10 A.M. Found, on awaking, that
at about three this morning the squadron commenced
getting 'mder weigh. The rime-coated rigging was
cleared ; the hawsers thashed ; the ice-clogged boats

FOR OllIKFITIl S ISLAND.

437

sible

o»«

n spite

ot III less
to linve
iiicretis-
[jiisioiml
? to the

in open
iitled i>y
, and the
we kii»'\v
our posi-
iscovcved

Mjro, unJ
tho qnes-
id. ll<nl

Id l)(; II n-

forniiu?
•8^ The
full blast

The gale
tlie east-
hs drifting
Imeans of

:ing, that
bminenced
rging was
kged boats

hiiuloJ in; tho stoann*rs st(5iini('d, and off wont the
rest of us as wo might. This st(?p was not taken a
wliit too soon, if it Ix; ordained that wo are y«'t in
time ; for the strfiiun-iee eovers the entire hori/on, and
tho hirge lloe or main wiiieh we have desc^rted is bare-
ly s(!parated from the drifting masses. Tiie lle.s«'ue is
now tlie object of o»ir search. Could she be found,
tiie captain has determined to turn his steps home-
ward.

"II 20 A.M. We are working, i. c, beating our way
in the narrow leads intervening irreguhu'ly betwet-n
the main ice and the drift. We have gained at hnist
two mih's to windward of Austin's squadron, wiio are
unabUs in spite of steamers, to move ah)ng these (hiii-
geroiis passages like ourselves. Our object is to reach
Griflith's Ishind, from which wo have drifted some fit-
teen miles with the main ice, and then look out l'»r
our lost consort.

" The lowest temperature last night was +5^, but
the wind makes it colder to sensation. We are grind-
ing through newly-formed ice three inches thick ; the
perfect consolidation being prevented by its motion and
the wind. Even in the little tireless cabin in which
1 now write, water and coffee are freezing, and the
mercury stands at 29°.

"The navigation is certainly exciting. I have nev-
er seen a description in my Arctic readings of any
thing like this. We are literally running for our lives,
surrounded by the imminent hazards of sudden con-
solidation in an open sea. All minor perils, nips,
bumps, and sunken bergs are discarded; we are stag-
gering along under all sail, forcing our way while we
can. One thump, received since I commenced writ-
ing, jerked the time-keeper from our binnacle down

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438

ORDER FOR RETURN.

the cabin hatch, and, but for our .strong bows, seven
and a half solid feet, would have stove us in. Anoth-
er time, we cleared a tongue of the main pack by rid-
ing it down at eight knots. Commodore Austin seems
caught by the closing Hoes. This is really sharp work.

"■4 P.M. We continued beating toward Griffith's Is-
land, till, by doubling a tongue of ice, we were able to
force our way. The English seemed to watch our
movements, and almost to follow in our wake, till we
came to a comparatively open space, about the area of
Washington Square, where we stood off and on, the
ice being too close upon the eastern end of Grifiith's
Island to permit us to pass. Our companions in this
little vacancy were Captain Ommanney's Assistance ;
Osborne's steam tender the Pioneer, and Kater's steam-
er the Intrepid. Commodore Austin's vessel was to
the southward, entangled in the moving ice, but mo-
mentarily Hearing the open leads.

While thus boxing about on one of our tacks, we
nearod the north edge of our little opening, and were
hailed by the Assistance with the glad intelligence of the
Eescue close under the island. Our captain, who was
at his usual post, conning the ship from the foretop-
sail yard, made her out at the same time, and immedi-
ately determined upon boring the intervening ice.
This was done successfully, the brig bearing the hard
knocks nobly. Strange to say, the English vessels,
now joined by Austin, followed in our wake — a com-
pliment, certainly, to De Haven's ice-mastership.

We were no sooner throudi, than siy-nal was made
to the Rescue to ' cast off,' and our ensign was run up
from the peak : the captain had determined upon at-
tempting a return to the United States.

In a little while w'e had the Rescue in tow, and were

THE RESCUE N I 1' P E D ,

439

heading to the east. She had had a fearful night of
it after leaving us. She beat about, short-handed,
clogged with ice, and with the thermometer at 8°.
The snow fell heavily, and the rigging was a solid, al-
most unmanageable lump. Steering, or rather beating,
she made, on the evening of the 1 2th, the southern
edge of Griffith's Island, and by good luck and excel-
lent management succeeded in holding to the land
hummocks. She had split her rudder-post so as to
make her luiworlxihlc, and now we have her in tow.
An anchor wath its fluke snapped — her best bower ;
and her little boat, stove in by tlie ice, w\as cut adrift.

We were now homeward bound, but a saddened
homeward bound for all of us. The vessels of our
gallant brethren soon lost themselves in the mist, and
we steered our course with a fresh breeze for Cape
Hotham.

The night gave us now three hours of complete
darkness. It was danger to run on, j'et equally dan-
ger to pause. Grim winter was following close upon
our heels ; and even the captain, sanguine and fear-
less in emergency as he always proved himself, as he
saw the tenacious fields of sludge and pancake thick-
ening around us, began to feel anxious. Mine was a
jmnble of sensations. I had been desirous to the last
degree that we might remain on the field of search,
and could hardly be dissatisfied at what promised to
realize my wish. Yet I had hoped that our wintering
would be near our English friends, that in case of
ti'oulde or disease we might mutually sustain each
other. But the interval of fiftv miles between us, in
these inhospitable deserts, was as complete a sc^para-
tion as an entire continent ; and I confess that I look-
ed at the dark shadows closing around Barlow's Inlet,

I "i1

440

FROZEN IX,

the prison from which we cut ourselves on the seventh,
just six days before, with feelings as sombre as the
landscape itself

The sound of our vessel crunching her way throucrh
the new ice is not easy to be described. It avus not
like the grinding of the old formed ice, nor was it
the slushy scraping of sludge. We may all of us re-
member, in the skating frolics of early days, the pecu-
liar reverberating outcry of a pebble, as we tossed it
froui us along the edges of an old mill-dam, and heard
it dying away in echoes almost musical. Imagine
such a tone as this, combined with the whir of rapid
motion, and the rasping noise of close-grained sugar.
I was listeninii: to the sound in mv little den, after a
sorrowful day, close upon zero, tr\'ing to warm up mv
stifil'iied limbs. Presently it grew less, then increased,
then stopped, then went on again, but jerking and ir-
regular ; and then it Avaned, and waned, and waned
away to silence.

Down came the captain : " Doctor, the ice has caught
us : we are frozen up." On went my furs at once. As
I reached the deck, the wind was there blowing stiff.
and the sails were filled and pufling with it. It was
not \'et dark enough to hide the smooth surface of ice
that iilled up the horizon, holding the American expe-
dition in search of Sir John Franklin imbedded in its
centre. There we were, literally frozen tight in the
mid-channel of Wellinti-ton's Straits.

The region, wdiich ten days before was teeming with
animal lile, was now almost deserted. "We saw but
one narwhal and a few seal. The Ivorv <iridl too, a
solitary traveler, occasionally flitted by us ; but the
season had evidently wrought its change.

Several flocks of the snow bunting had passed over

1) II I F T I N G ,

441

us while we were attached to the main ice olT Griffith's
Isliind, and a single raven was seen from the Rescue
at her holding grounds. The Brent geese, liowever,
the dovekies, the divers, indeed all the anatidio, the
white w^iales, the walrus, the bearded and the hirsute
seal, the white bear, whatever gave us life and inci-
dent, had vanished.

For some days after this, an obscurity of fog and
snow made it impossible to see more than a few hun-
dred yards from the ship. The little area remained
fast bound, the ice bearing us readily, though a very
slight motion against the sides of the vessel seemed
to show that it was not perfectly attached to the shores.
Bi'/ as I stood on deck in the afternoon of the IGth,
watching the coast to the cast of us, as the clouds
cleared away for the first time, it struck me that its
configuration was unknown to me. By-and by. Cape
Beochy, the isthmus of the Graves, loomed up ; and
wo then found that w^c were a little to the north of
Cape Bowden.

The next two days this nortliward drift continued
without remission. The wind blew strong from the
southward and eastward, sometimes approaching to a
gale ; but the ice-pack around us retained its tenacity,
and increased rapidly in thickness.

Yet every now and then W'C could see that at some
short distance it was broken by small pools of water,
whicli would be effiiced again, soon after they were
foriut'd, by an external pressure. At these times our
vessels underwent a nip])ing on a small scale. Tlie
smoother ice-field that lu'ld us would be driven in. pil-
iig itself in miniature hummocks about us, sometimes
higher than our decks, and much too near them to
leave us a sense of security asrainst their furth.M' ad-

j»'^#P

i,«;!ti

442

N I P P I N G S .

:'|i

^O ■'

vance. The noises, too, of whining puppies and swarm-
ing bees made part of these demonstrations, much as
when the heavier masses were at work, but shriller
perhaps, and more clamorous.

I was aroused at midnight of the 16th by one of
these onsets of the enemy, crunching and creaking
against the ship's sides till the masses ground them-
selves to powder. Our vessel was trembling like an
ague-fit mider the pressure ; and when so pinched that
she could not vibrate any longer between the driving
and the stationary fields, making a quick, liberating
jmnp above them that rattled the movables fore and
aft As it wore on toward morning, the ice, now ten
inches thick, kept crowding upon us with increased
energy ; and the whole of the ITtli was passed in a
succession of conflicts with it.

The IStli began with a nipping that promised more
of danger. The banks of ice rose one al)ove another
till they reached the line of our bulwarks. This, too,
continued through the day, sometimes lulling for a
while into comparative repose, but recurring after a
few minutes of partial intermission. While I was
watching this angry contest of the ice-tal>les, as they
clashed together in the darkness of early dawn, I saw
for the first time the luminous appearance, which has
been described by voyagers as attending the collision
of bergs. It was very marked ; as decided a plios-
pliorescence as that of the lire-fly, or the fo x-fue of the
Virginia meadows.

Still, amid all the tumult, our drift was toward the
north. From the bearings of the coast, badly obtained
through the fogs, it was quite evident that we had
passed beyond any thing recorded on the charts. Cape
Bowden, Parry's fiu^thest headland, was at least twen-

DRIFT TO T II li N U T U W A R D .

443

ty-five miles south of us ; and our old landmarks, Cape
Hotliam and Beccliy, had entirely disappeared. Even
the high bluffs of Barlow's Inlet had gone. I hardly
know why it was so, but this inlet had some how or
other been for me an object of special aversion : the
naked desolation of its frost-bitten limestone, the cav-
ernous recess of its cliffs, the cheerlessness of its dark
shadows, had connected it, from the first day 1 saw it,
with some dimly-remembered feeling of pain. But
how glad we should all of us have been, as we floated
along in hopeless isolation, to find a way open to its
grim but protecting barriers.

" Septemher 20. I have been keeping the first watch,
and anxiously observing the ice ; for I am no sailor,
and in emergency can only wake my comrades. The
darkness is complete.

'• We are now, poor devils ! drifting northward again.
Creatures of habit, those who were anxious have for-
gotten anxiety : glued fast here in a moving mass, we
eat, and drink, and sleep, unmindful of the morrow.
It is almost beyond a doubt that, if we find our way
through the contingencies of this Arctic autumn, we
must spend our winter in open sea. Many miles to
the south. Captain Back passed a memorable term of
vigil and exposure. Here, however, I do not antici-
pate such encounters with drifting floes as are spoken
of in Hudson's Bay. The centre of greatest cold is
too near us and the communication with open sea too
distant.

"I was in the act of writing the above, when a start-
ling sensation, resembling the spring of a wxdl-drawn
bow, announced a fresh movement. Running on deck,
I found it blowinur a furious gale, and the ice ao-ain in
motion. I use the word motion inaccurately. The

jLil

'/ ■:<

Hl^

;*•»(! ^

I '']

444

IN WELLINGTON CHANNEL.

field, of which we arc a part, is always in motion;
that is, drifting with wind or current. It is only when
other ice bears down upon our own, or our own ice is
borne in against other floes, that pressure and resist-
ance make us conscious of motion.

'' The ice was again in motion. The great expanse
of recently-formed solidity, already bristling with hum-
mocks, had up to this moment resisted the enormous
incidence of a heavy gale. Suddenly, however, the
pressure increasing beyond its strength, it yielded.
The twang of a bow-string is the only thing I can
compare it to. In a single instant the broad field was
rent asunder, cracked in every conceivable direction,
tables ground against tables, and masses piled over
masses. The sea seemed to be churning ice.

" By the time I had yoked my neck in its serape,
and got up upon deck, the ice had piled up a couple
of feet above our bulwarks. In less than another min-
ute it had toppled over again, and we were floating
helplessly in a confused mass of broken fragments.
Fortunately the Rescue remained fixed ; our hawser
was fast to her stern, and by it we were brought side
by side again. Night passed anxiously; i. e., slept in
my clothes, and dreamed of being presented to Queen
Victoria.

I am reluctant to burden my pages with the wild,
but scarcely varied incidents of our continued drift
through Wellington Channel. We were yet to be fa-
miliarized with the strife of the ice-tables, now broken
up into tumbling masses, and piling themselves in
angry confusion against our sides — now fixed in cha-
otic disarray by the fields of new ice that imbedded
them in a single night — again, perhaps, opening in
treacherous pools, only to close round us with a force

FIGHTING THE ENEMY.

445

that threatened to grind our brigs to powder. I shall
have occasion enough to speak of these things here-
after. I give now a few extracts from my journal;
some of which may perhaps have interest of a differ-
ent cliaracter, though they cannot escape the sadden-
ing monotony of the scenes that were about us.

I begin with a partial break-up that occurred on the
23d.

" September 23. How shall I describe to you this
pressure, its fearfulness and sul)limity ! Nothing that
I liave seen or read of approaches it. The voices of
the ice and the heavy swash of the overturned hum-
mock-tables are at this moment dinning in my ears.
' All hands' are on deck fighting our grim enemy.

" Fourteen inches of solid ice thickness, with some
lialf dozen of snow, are, with the slow uniform advance
of a mighty propelling power, driving in upon our ves-
sel. As they strike her, the semi-plastic mass is im-
pressed with a mould of her side, and then, urged on
by the force behind, slides upward, and rises in great
vertical tables. When these attain their utmost height,
still pressed on by others, they topple over, and form
a great embankment of fallen tables. At the same
tiiuO others take a downward direction, and when
pushed on, as in the other case, form a similar pile un-
derneath. The side on which one or the other of these
actions takes place for the time, varies with the direc-
tion of the force, the strength of the opposite or resist-
ing side, the inclination of the vessel, and the weight
of the superincumbent mounds ; and as these condi-
tions follow each other in varving succession, the ves-
sel l)ecomes perfectly iml)edded after a little while in
crumbling and fractured ice.

" Perhaps no ^•es el has ever been in this position

■'•^Vl\

j'<*

h/a

i^'

446

TRAPPING FOXES.

'Sr ■ (

■.ii

but our own. With matured ice, nothing of iron or
wood could resist such pressure. As for the British
vessels, their size would make it next to impossible
for them to stand. Back's ' Winter' is the only thing
I have read of that reminds me of our present predica-
ment. No vessel has ever been caught by winter in
these waters.

" We are lifted bodily eighteen inches out of water.
The hummocks are reared up around the ship, so as
to rise in some cases a couple of feet above our bul-
warks — five feet above our deck. They are very often
ten and twelve feet high. All hands are out, laboring
with picks and crowbars to overtuin the fragments
that threaten to overwhelm us. Add to this darkness,
snow, cold, and the absolute destitution of surrounding
shores.

" September 2(j. The hummocks around us still re-
main without apparent motion, heaped up like snow-
covered barriers of street rioters. AVe are wedged in
a huge muss of tables, completely out of water, cra-
dled by ice. I wish it woidd give us an even keel.
We are eighteen inches higher on one quarter than
the other.

" Afar off, skipping from hummock to hummock, I
saw a black fox. Poor desolate devil ! what did he,
so far from his recorded home, seven miles from even
the naked snow-hills of this dreary wilderness? In
the night-time I heard him bark. They set a trap for
him ; but I secretly placed a bigger bait outside, with-
out a snare-loop or trigger. In the morning it was
gone, and the dead-fall had follen upon no fox. How
the poor, hungry thing must have enjoyed his supper!

Our position, at the end of September, thanks to
the rapidly increasing cold, gave promise of a certain

FIXED FOR THE WINTEU.

447

deorec of security and rest. The Advance had been
driven, by the superior momentum of tlie floes that
pressed us on one side, some two liundred and fifty
I'eet into the mass of less resisting floes on the other ;
the Rescue meanwhile remaining stationary ; and the
two vessels were fixed for a time on two adjacent sides
of a rectangle, and close to each other.

We felt that we were fixed for the winter. We ar-
rano;ed our rude embankments of ice and snow around
us, l)egan to deposit our stores within them, and got
out our felt covering that was to serve as our winter
roof The temperature was severe, ranging from 1° 5,
and 4° to -f- 10° : but the men worked with the energy
and hope too, of pioneer settlers, when building up
their first home in our Western forests.

" October 1, Tuesday. To-day the work of breaking
hold commenced. The coal immediately under the
main hatch was passed up in buckets, and some five
tons piled upon the ice. The quarter-boats were hauled
about twenty puces from our port-bow, and the sails
covered and stacked ; in short, all hands were at work
preparing for the winter. Little had we calculated
the caprices of Arctic ice.

'About ten o'clock A. M. a large crack opened nearly
cast and west, running as far as the eye could see,
sometimes crossing the ice-pools, and sometimes l)reak-
ing along the hummock ridges. The sun and moon
will be in conjunction on the 3d ; we had notice, there-
fore, that the spring tides are in action.

" Captain Grilfm had l)een dispatched with Mr. Lov-
ell before this, to establish on the shore the site for a
depot of provisions : at one o'clock a signal was made
to recall them. At two P.M., seeing a seal, I ran out
upon the ice ; but losing him, was tempted to continue

448

ICK oim::;i.\<;

m ^^

on about a mile to tlie eastward. The wiiul, which
had been from the westward all the morning, now
(shifted to the southward, and the ice-tables began to
be again in motion. The humming of bees and up-
heaving hunnnocks, together with exploding cracks,
warned me back to the vessel.

"At 3.20, while we were at dinner, commentino-
with some anxiety upon the condition of things witli-
out, that unmistakable monitor, the ' younj pu/iplrs,'
began. Runing on deck, we found a large fissure,
nearly due north and south, in line with the Advance.
A few minutes after, the entire floe on our starboard side
was moving, and the ice breaking up in every direction.

" The emergency was startling enough. All hands
turned to, ofhcers included. The poor Land party, re-
turning at this moment, tired and dinnerless, went to
work with the rest. Vreeland and myself worked like
horses. Before dark, every thing was on board except
the coal ; and of this, such were the unwearied eflbrts
of our crew, that we lost but a ton or two.

" October 3. I write at midnight. Leaving the deck,
where I have been tramping the cold out of my joints,
I come below to our little cabin. As I open the hatch,
every thing seems bathed in dirty milk. A cloud of
vapor gushes out at every chink, and, as the cold air
travels down, it is seen condensing deeper and deeper.
The thermometer above is at 7° below zero.

" The brig and the ice around her are covered by a
strange black obscurity — not a mist, nor a haze, but a
peculiar, waving, palpable, unnatural darkness: it is
the frostrsmoke of Arctic winters. Its range is very
low. Climbing to the yard-arm, some thirty feet above
the deck, I looked over a great horizon of black smoke,
and above me saw the blue heavens without a blemish.

B 11 U T I N G SEAL.

449

" October 4. Tlie open pools can no longer bo called
pools; they are great rivers, whose hiiiniiioek-lined
shoretf look dimly through the haze. Contrasted with
the pure white snow, their waters are blaek even to
inkiiiess, and the silent tides, undisturbed by ripple or
wash, pass beneath a pasty lihu of constantly lorniing
ice. The thermometer is at 10°. Away from the
slii[), a long way, I walked over the older ice to a spot
where the open river was as wide as the Delaware.
Here, after some crevico-jumping and tiddy-hcnder
crossing, I set myself behind a little rampart of hum-
mocks, watching for seals.

" As I watched, the smoke, the frost-smoke, came
down in wreaths, like the lambent tongues of burning
turpentine seen without a blaze. I was soon enveloped
in crapy mist.

" To shoot seal, one must practice the Esquimaux
tactics of much patience and complete innnobility. It
in no fun, 1 assure you after full experience, to sit mo-
tionless and noiseless as a statue, with a cold iron
musket in your hands, and the thermometer 10° below
zero. But by-and-by I was rewarded l)y seeing some
overgrown Greenland calves come within shot. I
missed. After another hour of cold expectation, they
came again. Very strange are these seal. A counte-
nance between the dog and the mild African ape — an
expression so like that of humanity, that it makes
[iun-murderors hesitate. At last, at long shot, I hit
one. God forgive me !

" October 6, Sunday. A dismal day ; the wind howl-
ing, and the snow, fine as flour, drifting into every
chink and cranny. The cold quite a nuisance, although
the mercury is up again to -\-G°. It is blowing a gale,
What if the floe^ in which we are providentially glued.

^\^

("ifl^':

* '.'

;a\> ij

450

AGAIN I) U I F T I N O .

shouM Liiko it into its hoad to break off, and carry us
on a cniiso bc'lbre the wind !

" 12 Midnij^lit. Tlioy report us adrift. Wind a '^ah
from tlie nortliward and westward. An odd cniiso
this! The Anieriean expedition fast in a liiini) of ice
about as ])ig as WashinL,^ton Scjuare, and driving, like
the shanty on a raft, before a howling gale.

" October 8. To day seemed like a wave of the hand-
kerchief from our receding summer. Winter is in every
thing. Yet the skies came back to us with warm ochres
and pinks, and the sun, albeit from a lowly altitude,
shone out in fall brightness. It was a mockery of
warmth, howcvci', scarcely worthy the unpretending
sincerity of the great planet ; for the mercury, exposed
to the full radiance of his deceitful glare, rose l)ut two
degrees from -|-7° to 9°. In spite of thi.s, the day wa.s
bcautifid to remember, as a type of the sort of thhig
which we once shared with the woild from which we
arc shut out; a parting picture, to think about during
the long night. These dark days, or rather the dark
day, will soon be on us. The noon shadows of our
long masts almost lose themselves in the distance.

"A little white fox was caught alive in a trap this
morning. He was an astute-visaged little scamp ; and
although the chains of captivity, made of spnn-yarn
and leather, set hardly upon him, he could spare
abundant leisure for bear bones and snow. He Avoukl
drink no water. His cry resembled the inter-parox-
ysmal yell of a very small boy undergoing spanking.
The note came with an impulsive vehemence, that
expressed not only fear and pain, but a very tolerable
spice of anger and ill-temper. .

" He was soon reconciled, however. The very next
day ho was tame enough to feed from the hand, and

tiling
ich we
;luring
(lark
of oivc
nee.
ip this
) ; and
n-vavn
spare
would
parox-
nking.
e, that
llcrable

fy next
lid, and

TAMING A FOX

451

had lost all that startled wildness of look which Im sup-
posc'il to characturizo hi.s tribe. lie was o\ ideally un-
used to man, and without the educated instinct of
ili'dit. Twice, when sulVered to escai)e from tiie ves-
sel, he was caught in our traps the wime night. In-
deed, the white foxes of this region — we caught moro
than thirty of them—seemed to look at us with more
curiosity than fear. They would come directly to the
shii)'s side; and, though startled at first when we fired
at them, so(m came back. 'J'hey even sull'crcd us to
ap])roach them almost within reacli of the hand, ran
around us, as we gave the halloo, in a narrow circle,
but stopped as soon as wo Avore still, and stared us in-
quisitively in the face. One little follow, when we let
him loose on the ice after keeping him prisoner for a
day or two, scampered back again iucontinently to his
cubby-hole on the deck. There may be nuitter of re-
flection for the naturalist in this. Has this animal no
natural enemy but famine and cold ? The foxes i^eased
to visit us soon after this, owing probal)ly to the un-
certain ice between us and the shore : they are shrewd
ice-mastors.

We remained during the rest of this month icc-cra-
dlcd. and driftiuf^ about near the outlet of AVelllni'ton
Channel. Our thoughts turned irresistibly to the
broad expanse of Lancaster Sound, wdiich lay wild iind
rugged before us, and to the increasing probal)ility
that it was to bo our field of trial during the long dark
winter — perhaps our final liome.

AVith this feeling came an increasing desire to com-
municate with our late associates of Union Bay. I
had volunteered some weeks before to make this trav-
erse, and had busied myself witU arrangements to car-
ry it out. The Rescue's India-rubber boat was to car-

452

A PROPOSED EXCURSION.

ry the party through the leads, and, once at tlie shore,
three men were to j)ress on with a light tent and a
few days' provisions. The project, impracticable per-
haps from the first, was foiled for a time by a vexa-
tious incident. I had made my tent of thin cotton
cloth, so that it weighed, when completed, but four-
teen pounds, soaking it thoroughly in a composition
of caoutchouc, ether, and linseed oil, the last in quan-
tity. After it was finished and nearly dried, I wrap-
ped it up in a dry covering of coarse muslin, and placed
it for the night in a locked closet, at some distance
from the cook's galley, where the temperature was be-
tween 80° and 90°. In the morning it was destroyed.
The wrapper was there, retaining its fonn, and not
discolored ; but the outer folds of the tent were smok-
ing; and, as I unrolled it, fold after fold showed more
and more marks of combustion, till at the centre it
was absolutely charred. There was neither flame nor
sjiark.

The moon made its appearance on the loth of Oc-
tober. At first it was like a bonfire, warming up the
ice with a red glare ; but afterward, on the 15th, when
it rose to the height of 4°, it silvered the hummocks
and frozen leads, and gave a softened lustre to the
snow, through which our two little brigs stood out in
black and solitary contrast. The stars seemed to have
lost their twinkle, and to shine with concentrated
brightness as if through gimlet-holes in the cobalt can-
opy. The frost-smoke scarcely left the field of view.
1 1 generally hung in wreaths around the horizon ; but
it sometimes took eccentric forms ; and one night, I
remember, it piled itself into a column at the west, and
Aquila flamed above it like a tall beacon-light.

DRIFTING.

453

nor

The moiitli of November found us oscillating still
with the winds and currents in the neighborhood of
Beechy Island. Helpless as we were among the float-
ing masses, we began to look upon the floe that car-
ried us as a protecting barrier against the approaches
of others less friendly ; and as the month advanced,
and the chances increased of our passing into the
sound, our apprehensions of being frozen up in the
heart of the ice-pack gave place to the opposite fear
of a continuous drift.

^'■November 29. The doubt is gone. Our floe, ice-
cradle, safeguard, has been thrown round. Its eastern
margin is grinding its way to the northward, and the
west is already pointing to the south. Our bow is to
Baffin's Bay, and we are traveling toward it. So far,
ours has been a mysterious journeying. For two
months and more, not a sail has fluttered from our
frozen spars ; yet we have passed from Lancaster
Sound into the highest latitude of Wellington Chan-
nel, one never attained before, and have been borne
back again past our point of starting, along a capri.
ciously varied line of drift.

" On deck ; looming up in the very midst of the
haze, land ! so high and close on our port beam, that
we felt like men under a precipice. We could see
the vertical crevices in the limestone, the recesses con-
trastinji in black shadow. What land is this ? Is it
the eastern line of Cape Riley, or have we reached
Cape Ricketts ?

"There is one thing tolerably certain : the Grinnell
expedition is quite as likely to be searched for here-
after as to search. Poor Sir John Franklin ! this night-
drift is an ugly omen.

!fil ! ''

■ii;

V'\

454

THE AURORA.

"Do you remember, in the Spanish coasting craft,
down about Barcelona and the Balearics, the queer
little pictures of Saint Nicholas we used to see pasted
up over the locker — a sort of mythic effigy, which the
owner looked upon pretty much as some of our old
commodores do the barometer, a mysterious some-
thing, which he sneers at in fair weather, but is sure,
in the strong faith of ignorance, to appeal to in foul !
Well, very much such a Saint Anthony have we down
in the cabin here, staring us always in the face. Not
a vermilion-daubed puerility, with a glory in Dutch
leaf stretching from ear to ear ; but a good, genuine,
hearty representative of English flesh and blood, a
mouth that speaks of strong energies as well as a
kindly heart, and an eye — the other one is spoiled in
the lithography — that looks stern will. Many a time
in the night have I discoursed with him, as he looked
out on me from his gutta percha frame — ' Sir John
Franklin ; presented by his wife ;' and sometimes I
have imagined how and where I was yet to shake the
glorious old voyager by the hand. I see him now
while I am writing ; his face is darkened by the lamp-
smoke that serves us for daylight and air, and he seems
almost disheartened. So far as help and hope of it
are afloat in this little vessel, Sir John, well you may
be!

" It is Sunday : we have had religious service as
usual, and after it that relic of effete absurdity, the
reading of the ' Rules and Regulations.'

"We had the aurora about 7 P.M. The thermom-
eter at —33° and falling ; barometer, Aneroid, 30*^. "^ •

^^ December 2. Drifting down the sound. Every
thing getting ready for the chance of a hurried good-
by to our vessels. Pork, and sugar, and bread puf up

A BREAK-UP.

4:00

in small bags to fling on the ice. Every man his
knapsack and cliange of clothing. Arms, bear-knives,
ammunition out on deck, and sledges loaded. Yet
this thermometer, at —30°, tells us to stick to the ship
while we can.

" This packing up of one's carpet-bag in a hurry re-
quires a mighty discreet memory. I have often won-
dered that seamen in pushing off from a wreck left so
many little wants unprovided for ; but I think I un-
derstand it now. After bestowing away my boots,
with the rest of a walking wardrobe, in a snugly-
lashed bundle, I discovered by accident that I had left
my stockings behind.

"4 P.M. Brooks comes down while we are dining
to say we are driving east like a race-horse, and a
crack ahead: 'All hands on deck!' We had heard
the grindings last night, and our floe in the morning
was cut down to a diameter of three hundred vards:
we had little to spare of it. But the new chasm is
there, already fifteen feet wide, and about twenty-five
paces from our bows, stretching across at right angles
with the old cleft of October the 2d.

" Our floe, released from its more bulky portion, seems
to be making rapidly toward the shore. This, how-
ever, may be owing to the separated mass having
an opposite motion, for the darkness is intense. Our
largest snow-house is carried away; the disconsolate
little cupola, with its flag of red bunting, should it sur-
vive the winter, may puzzle conjectures for our En-
glish brethren.

"Mr. Griffin and myself walked through the gloom
to the seat of hummock action abeam of the Rescue.

The next fonr days were IVill of excitement and
anxiety. One crack after another passed across our

i^^

'^4

^'iN

i '.l

456

CRISIS.

floe, still reducing its dimensions, and at one time
bringing down our vessel again to an even keel. An
hour afterward, the chasms would close around us with
a sound like escaping steam. Again they v/ould open
under some mysterious influence ; a field of ice from
two to lour inches thick would cover them ; and tiien,
without an apparent change of causes, the separated
sides would come together with an explosion like a
mortar, craunching the newly-formed field, and driving
it headlong in fragments for fifty feet upon the floe till
it piled against our bulwarks. Every thing betokened
a crisis. Sledges, boats, packages of all sorts, were dis-
posed in order; contingencies were met as they ap-
proached by new delegations of duty ; every man was
at work, officer and seaman alike ; for necessity, when
it spares no one, is essentially democratic, oven on ship-
board. The Rescue, crippled and thrown away from
us to the further side of a chasm, was deserted, and
her company consolidated with ours. Our own brig
groaned and quivered under the pressure against her
sides. I give my diary for December 7.

^^ December 7, Saturday. The danger which sur-
rounds us is so immediate, that in the bustle of prep-
aration for emergency I could not spend a moment
upon my journal. Now the little knapsack is made
up again, and the blanket sewed and strapped. The
little home Bible at hand, and the ice-clothes ready
for a j ump.

Dec. 1.

Uvc. 4.

CRISIS.

457

" The above is a rough idea of our hiist three days'
positions and changes.

" Tlie ice, as I have sketched it, December 7, began
to close at 11 A.M., and, at the same time, the brig
was driven toward the open crack of December 4 (r).
At 1 P.M. this closed on us with fearful nipping.

" 1 P.M. Ran on deck. The ice was comparatively
quiescent when I attempted to write; but it recoui-
menced with a steady pressure, which must soon prove
irresistible.

My journal does not tell the story ; but it is worth
noting, as it illustrates the sedative effect of a protract-
ed succession of hazards. Our brig had just mounted
the tloe, and as we stood on the ice watching her vi-
bration, it seemed so certain that she must come over
on her beam-ends, that our old boatswain. Brooks,
called out to "stand from under." At this moment
it occurred to one of the officers that the fires had not
been put out, and that the stores remaining on board
would be burned by the falling of the stoves. 8wiiig-
ing himself back to the deck, and rushing below, he
found two persons in the cabin ; the officer who had
been relieved from watch-duty a few minutes before,
quietly seated at the mess-table, and the steward as
quietly waiting on him. "You are a meal ahead of
me,'' he said ; " you didn't think I. was going out upon
the it-e without my dinner."

458

A It A C E OF PALE FACES.

i I.

3 f

'^ Dccembe?' 21, Saturday. To-day at noon we saw,
dimly looming up from the redness of the soiitliorii
horizon, a low range of hills; among them some coiios
of great height, mountains of a cJiaracter diihu'ing irom
the naked table-lands of the northern coast. The land
on the other side of Croker's Bay, with one high head-
hind, supposed to he Cnpe Warrender, is in view.
From all of which it is clear that we are drifting reg-
ularly on toward BafHii's Bay.

"An opening oc(;urred last night in the ice to the
north ward. It is not more than a hundred yards from
uS, a 'I I it is already seventy wide.

'' U i i men are hard at work preparing for the Christ-
mas theatrt, the arrangements exclusively their own.
E ! to niono'v is a day more welcome than Christmas
— the suistiti.'il il y of greatest darkness, from which
we may begin to date our returning light. It makes
a man feel badly to see the faces around him bleach-
ing into waxen paleness. Until to-day, as a looking-
glass does not enter into an Arctic toilet, I thought I
was the exception, and out of delicacy said nothing
about it to my comrades. One of them, introducing
the topic just now, told me, with an utter unconscious-
ness of his own ghostliness, that I was the palest of
the party. So it is, 'All men think all men,' &c.
Why, the good fellow is as white as a cut potato !"

In truth, we were all of us at this time undergoing
chauges unconsciously. The hazy obscurity of the
nights we had gone through made them darker than
the corresponding nights of Parry. The complexions
of my comrades, and my own too, as I found soon after-
ward, were toned down to a peculiar waxy paleness.
Our eyes were more recessed, and strangely clear.
Complaints of shortness of breath became general.

T HE MIDNIGHT O F T II E Y E A It ,

43'J

^^Decemher 22, Sunday. The solstice ! — the ini(hiight
of the year ! It commences with a new niovemeut in
the ice, the open lead ol' yesterday piling up into hum-
mocks on our port-beam. No harm done.

"The wind is from the west, increasing in fresh-
ness since early in the morning. The weather over-
cast ; even the moon unseen, and no indications of our
drift. We could not read print, not even large news-
piiper type, at noonday. We have been unable to leave
the ship unarmed for some time on account of the
bears. We remember the story of poor Barentz, one
of our early predecessors. One of our crew, Blinn, a
phlegmatic Dutchman, walked out to-day toward the
lead, a few hundred yards oil', in search of a seal-hole.
Suddenly a seal rose close by him in the sludge-ice:
lie raised his gun to fire ; and, at the same instant, a
large bear jumped over the floe, and by a dive followed
the seal. Blinn's musket snapped. He was glad to
get on board again.

'^December 25. 'Y" Christmas of y' Arctic cruisers I'
Our Christmas passed without a lack of the good things
of this life. ' Goodies' we had galore ; but that best
of earthly blessings, the comuiunion of loved sympa-
thies, these Arctic cruisers had not. It was curious to
observe the depressing influences of each man's home
thoughts, and absolutely saddening the effort of each
man to impose upon his neighbor and be very boon and
jolly. We joked incessantly, but badly, and laughed
incessantly, but badly too ; ate of good things, and
drank up a moiety of our Ileidsiek ; and then we sang
negro songs, wanting only tune, measure, and harmony,
but abounding in noise ; and after a closing bumper
to Mr. Grinnell, adjourned with creditable jollity from
table to the theatre.

ii< 1

Mf;-j;

St:'

11:

■hH

B^ni

■Ihnh

400

CHRISTMAS FROLICS.

"It was on deck, of course, but veiled from the sky
by our felt covering. A large ship's ensign, stretched
from the caboose to the bulwarks, was understood to
hide the stage, and certain meat-casks and candle-
boxes represented the parquet. The thermomoter
gave us — G° at first; but the favoring elements soon
changed this to the more comfortable temperature of
-4°.

"Never had I enjoyed the tawdry quackery of the
stage half so much. The theatre has always been to
me a wretched simulation of realities ; and I have too
little sympathy with the unreal to find pleasure in it
long. Not so our Arctic theatre : it was one continual
frolic from beginning to end.

" The ' Blue Devils :' God bless us ! but it was very,
very funny. None knew their parts, and the prompter
could not read glibly enough to do his office. Every
thing, whether jocose, or indignant, or commonplace,
or pathetic, was delivered in a high-tragedy monotone
of despair ; five words at a time, or more or less, ac-
cording to the facilities of the prompting. Megrim,
with a pair of seal-skin boots, bestowed his gold upon
the gentle Annette ; and Annette, nearly six feet high,
received it with mastodonic grace. Annette was an
Irishman named Daly ; and I might defy human be-
ing to hear her, while balanced on the heel of her boot,
exclaim, in rich masculine brogue, ' Och, feather !' with-
out roaring. Bruce took the Landlord, Benson was
James, and the gentle Annette and the wealthy Me-
grim were taken by Messrs. Daly and Johnson.

"After this followed the Star Spangled Banner ; then
a complicated Marseillaise by our French cook, Hen-
ri ; then a sailor's hornpipe by the diversely-talented
Bruce ; the orchestrii — Stewart, playing out the inter-

THE DRIFT.

461

vals on the Jews-harp from the top of a lard-cask. In
fact, we were very happy fellows. We had had a
foot-race in the morning over the midni<jht ice for three
purses of a flannel shirt each, and a splicing of the
main-brace. The day was night, the stars shining
feebly through the mist.

" But even here that kindly custom of Christmas-
gifting was not forgotten. 1 found in my morning
stocking a jack-knife, symbolical of my altered looks,
a piece of Castile soap — this last article in great re-
quest — a Jews-harp, and a string of beads! On the
other hand, ] prescribed from the medical stores two
bottles of Cognac, to protect the mess from indiges-
tion. So passed Christmas. Thermometer, mini-
mum, -16°; maximum, -7°. Wind west.

^^December 28, Saturday. From my very soul do 1
rejoice at the coming sun. Evidences not to be mis-
taken convince me that the health of our crew, never
resting upon a very sound basis, must sink under the
continued influences of darkness and cold. The tem-
perature and foulness of air in the between-deck Tar-
tarus can not be amended, otherwise it would be my
duty to urge a change. Between the smoke of lamps,
the dry heat of stoves, and the fumes of the galley, all
of them unintermitting, what wonder that we grow
feeble. The short race of Christmas-day knocked up
all our officers except Griffin. It pained me to see my
friend Lovell, our strongest man, fainting with the ex-
ertion. The symptoms of scurvy among the crew are
still increasing, and becoming more general. Faces
are growing pale ; strong men pant for breath upon
ascending a ladder ; and an indolence akin to apathy
seems to be creeping over us. I long for the light.
Dear, dear sun, no wonder you are worshiped !

ill

f'Pjr

'♦4

s- 1

n|M li

t Wit

1 ^N

4G2

IIKTUKNING LKiHT.

" 11. Can roiul ordinary ovor-si/od print. Started
on a Avallv, tlio iirst limo lor twenty-odd days. Saw
the g'reat lead, and traveled it lor a couple of miles
expanding into a plain of recent ico.

*'M. Passed noon on the ico. CUm read diamond
type. Stars of the Iirst magnitude only visible. Sat-
urn nuignilicont !

"1 r.M. AVith dillicnlty read largo type. The
clouds gathering in black stratus over the red light
to the south.

" 2. The heavens studded with stars in their group-
ings. Night is again over every thing, althougli the
minor stars are not yet seen.

"Since the first of this month, %ve have drifted ia
solitude one hundred and seventy miles, skirting the
norlhern shores of Lancaster Sound. Baffin's Bay is
ahead <;f us, its current setting strong toward the south.
AMiat will he the result when the mighty masses of
these two Arctic seas come together !"

1851, January 1, Wednesday. The first day of ISol
set in cold, the thermometer at —28°, and closing at
—31°. AVe celebrated it by an extra dinner, a plum-
cake unfrosted for the occasion, and a couple of our re-
siduary bottles of wine. But there was no joy in our
merriment : we were weary of the night, as those who
watch for the morning.

It was not till the od that the red southern zone
continued long enough to give us assurance of advanc-
ing day. Then, for at least three hours, the twilight
enabled us to walk without stumbling. I had a feel-
ing of racy enjoyment as I found myself once more
away from the ship, ranging among the fioes, and
watching the rivalry of day with night in the zenith.
There w^as the sunward horizon, with its evenly-dis-

EIGHTH OF JANUARY.

463

tribiitetl Lands of primitivo colors, bloiuling softly into
tlio clear blue overbead ; and tben, by an almost niagio
transition, nigbt occupying tbo \V(';4orn sky. Stars
of tbo first magnitude, and a wandering planet bere
and tbere, sbone dimly near tlie debatable line ; but
a little furtber on were all tlie stars in tbeir glory.
Tlie nortbern firmament bad tbe familiar beauty of a
pure winter nigbt at borne. Tbe Pleiades glittered
"like a swarm of fire-Hies tangled in a silver-braid,"
ami tbe great stars tbat bang about tbe lieads of Orion
and Taurus were as intensely brigbt as if day was not
looking out upon tbein from tbe otber quarter of tbe
sky. 1 bad never seen nigbt and day dividing tbe
hemispbere so beautifully between tbeiri.

On tbe ytli we luid, of course, our national festivi-
ties, and remembered fresbly tbe hero who consecrated
tlie day in our annals. Tbe evening brought tbe the-
atricals again, with extempore interludes, and a hearty
splicing of tbe main-brace. It was something new,
and not thoroughly gladsome, this commemoration of
the victory at New Orleans under a Polar sky. There
were men not two hundred miles from us, now our
partners in a nobler contest, who had bled in this very
battle. But we made the best of the occasion ; and
if others some degrees further to the south celebrated
it more warmly, we had the thermometer on our side,
with its -20°, a normal temperature for the " hmda-
tur et alget."

But the sun was now gradually coming up toward
the horizon : every day at meridian, and for an hour
before and after, we were able to trace our progress
eastward by some known headland. We had passed
Cape Castlereagh and Cape Warrender in succession,
and were close on the meridian of Cape Osborn. Tbe

r-\

mti

»t\i>.t

401

OUR FLOE.

*■ !

ilisiuptious of the ico which \vp had oncountt'rod tto
far, had always heeii at tho periods of spriiif^'-tidu. Tlio
sun and moon wore in conjunction on tlio 21st of Do-
cemhor ; and, adopting Captain Parry's observation,
that tho greatest etllux was always within live fivs
after the new moon, we liad looked with some an
to the closing weeks of that month. But they had
gone by without any unusual movement; and there
needed only an equally kind visitation of the January
moon to give us our tinai struggle with the Eaihn's
Bay ice by daylight.

Yet I had remarked that the southern shore of Laii-
caster ti^^ound extended much further out to the east-
ward than the northern did ; and 1 had argued that
we might begin to feel the current of Ballin's Bay in
a very few days, though we were still considerably
to the west of a line drawn from one cape to the ot'"^r.
The question received its solution without waitii
the moon.

I give from my journal our position in the ice on the
11th of January :

"''January 11, Saturday. The floe in w^hicli we are
now imbedded has been steadily increasing in solid-
ity for more than a month. Since the 8th of Decem-
ber, not a fracture or collision has occurred to mar its
growth. The eye can not embrace its extent. Even
from the mast-head you look over an unbounded ex-
panse of naked ice, bristling with contorted spires, and
ridged by elevated axes of hummocks. The land on
either side rises above our icy horizon ; but to the east
and west, there is no such interception to pur wintery-
ness.

"The brig remains as she was tossed at our provi-
dential escape of last month, her nose burrowing in the

]V'.

TIIK ADVANL'K IN FKIIUUAUY.

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WIXIEU IX Tilt; I'ACK.

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COMMOTION OF THE ICE.

4G7

snow, and her stern perched high above the rubbish.
Walking deck is an up and down hill work. She re-
tains, too, her list to starboard. Her bare sides have
been banked over again with snow to increase the
warmth, and a formidable flight of nine ice-block steps
admits us to the door- way of her M^inter cover. The
stores, hastily thrown out from the vessel when we
expected her to go to pieces, are still upon the little
remnant of old tioe on our port or northern side. The
Kescne is some hundred yards off to the south of east."

The next day thin'rs underwent a change. The
morning was a misty one, giving us just light enough
to make out objects that were near the ship ; the wind
westerly, as it had been for some time, freshening per-
haps to a breeze. The day went on quietly till noon,
when a sudden shock brought us all up to the deck.
Running out upon the ice, we found that a crack had
opened between us and the Rescue, and was extending
in a zigzag course from the northward and eastward
to the southward and westward. At one o'clock it had
become a chasm eight feet in width ; and as it contin-
ued to widen, we observed a distinct undulation of the
water about its edges. At three, it had expanded
into a broad sheet of water, filmed over by young ice,
through which the portions of the floe that bore our
two vessels began to move obliquely toward each other.
Night closed round us, with the chasm reduced to forty
yards and still narrowing; the Rescue on her port-
bow, two hundred yards from her late position ; the
wind increasing, and the thermometer at —19°.

My journal for the next day was written at broken
intervals; but I give it without change of form:

^^ January 13, 4 A.M. All hands have been on deck
since one o'clock, strapped and harnessed for a fare-

1 ",

lil« ,i«

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MM\

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4G8

COMMOTION OF THE ICE.

well marcli. The water-lane of yesterday is covered
by ibur-inch ice ; the floes at its margin more than
three I'eet thick. These have been closing for some
time by a sliding, grinding movement, one upon the
other; but every now and then coming together more
directly, the thinner ice clattering between them, and
marking their new outline with hummock ridges.
They have been fairly in contact for the last hour : we
feel their pressure extending to us through the elastic
floe in which we are cradled. There is a quivering,
vibratory hum about the timbers of the brig, and ev-
ery now and then a harsh rubbing creak along her
sides, like waxed cork on a mahogany table. The
hununocks are driven to within four feet of our coun-
ter, and stand there looming fourteen feet high through
the darkness. It has been a horrible commotion so
far, with one wild, booming, agonized note, made up
of a thousand discords ; and now comes the deep still-
ness after it, tlie mysterious ice-pulse, as if the ener-
gies were gathering for another strife.

" 6i A.M. Another pulse ! the vibration greater than
we have ever yet had it. If our little brig had an an-
imated centre of sensation, and some rude force had
torn a nerve-trunk, she could not feel it more — slift
fairly shudders. Looking out to the north, this ice
seems to heave up slowly against the sky in black
hills ; and as we watch thein rolling toward us, the
hills sink again, and a distorted plain of rubbish melts
before us into the night. Ours is the contrast of ut-
ter helplessness with illimitable power.

'* 9.50 A.M. Brooks and myself took advantage of
the twilight at nine o'clock to cross the hummocky
fields to the Rescue. I can not convey an impression
of the altered aspects of the floe. Our frozen lane has

ICE COMMOTION..

4G9

disappeared, and along the line of its recent course the
ice is heaped up in blocks, tables, lumps, powder, and
rubbish, often fifteen feet high. Snow covered the
decks of the little vessel, and the disorder about it
spoke sadly of desertion. Foot-prints of foxes were
seen in every imaginable corner ; and near the little
hatchway, where we had often sat in comfortable
good-fellowship, the tracks of a large bear had broken
the snow crust in his efforts to get below.

"The Rescue has met the pressure upon her port-
bow and fore-foot. Her bowsprit, already maimed by
her adventure off Griffith's Island, is now completely
forced up, broken short off at the gammoning. The
ice, after nipping her severely, has piled up round her
three feet above the bulwarks. We had looked to her
as our first asylum of retreat ; but that is out of the
question now ; she can not rise as we have done, and
any action that would peril us again must bear her
down or crush her laterally.

" The ice immediately about the Advance is broken
into small angular pieces, as if it had been dashed
against a crag of granite. Our camp out on the floe,
with its reserve of provisions and a hundred things be-
sides, memorials of scenes we have gone through, or ap-
pliances and means for hazards ahead of us, has been
carried away bodily. My noble specimen of the Arc-
tic bear is floating, with an escort of bread barrels,
nearly half a mile off.

"The thermometer records only — 17° ; but it blows
at times so very fiercely that I have never felt it so
cold : five men were frost-bitten in the attempt to save
our stores.

" 9 P.M. We have had no renewal of the pressure

since half past six this morning. We are turning in;

: II)

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iiPIV

470

ICE COMMOTION.

the wind blowing a fresh breeze, weather misty, ther-
mometer at —23°."

The night brought no further change ; but toward
morning the cracks, that formed before this a sort of
net- work all about the vessel, began to open. The
cause was not apparent : the wind had lulled, and we
saw no movement of the floes. We had again the
same voices of complaint from the ship, but they were
much feebler than yesterday ; and in about an hour
the ice broke up all round her, leaving an open space
of about a foot to port, indented with the mould of her
form. The brig was loose once more at the sides ; but
she remained suspended by the bows and stern from
hummocks built up like trestles, and canted forward
still five feet and a quarter out of level. Every thing
else was fairly afloat: even the India-rubber boat,
which during our troubles had found a resting-place
on a sound projection of the floe close by us, had to
be taken in.

This, I may say, was a fearful position ; but the
thermometer, at a mean of — 23° and — 24°, soon
brought back the solid character of our floating raft.
In less than two days every thing about us was as
firmly fixed as ever. But the whole topography of the
ice was changed, and its new configuration attested
the violence of the elements it had been exposed to.
Nothing can be conceived more completely embodying
inhospitable desolation. From mast-head the eye trav-
eled wearily over a broad champaigne of undulating
ice, crowned at its ridges with broken masses, like
breakers frozen as they rolled toward the beach. Be-
yond these, you lost by degrees the distinctions of sur-
face. It was a great plain, blotched by dark, jagged
shadows, and relieved only here and there by a hill

ig raft.

1 C K COMMOTIO N.

471

of upheaved rubbish. Still further in the distunc'e
came an unvarying uniformity of shade, cutting with
saw-toothed edge against a desohite sky.

Yet there needed no after-survey of the ice-fieUl to
prove to us what majestic forces had been at work
upon it. At one time on the 13th, the hummock-
ridge astern advanced with a steady march upon the
vessel. Twice it rested, and advanced again — a dense
wall of ice, thirty feet broad at the base and twelve
feet high, tumbling huge fragments from its crest, yet
increasing in mass at each new effort. We had ceased
to hope ; when a merciful interposition arrested it, so
close against our counter that there was scarcely room
for a man to pass between. Half a minute of progress
more, and it would have buried us all. As we drifted
along five months afterward, this stupendous memento
of controlling power was still hanging over our stern.

We had lost all indications of a shore, and had ob-
viously passed within the influences of Baffin's Bay.
We were on the meridian of 75°; yet, though the re-
cejit commotions could be referred to nothing else but
the conflict of the two currents, we had made very
little southing, if any, and had seen no bergs. But on
the 14tli the wind edged round a little more to the
northward, and at six o'clock in the morning of the
15tli we could hear a squeezing noise among the ice-
fields in that direction. By this time we had become
learned interpreters of tlie ice- voices. Of course, wo
renewed our preparations for whatever might be com-
ing. Every man arranged his knapsack and bhmket-
bag over again with the practiced discretion of an ex-
pert. Our extra clothing sledge, carefully repacked,
was made free on deck. The India-rubber boat, only
useful in this solid waste for crossing occasional chasms,
was launched out upon the ice for the third time.

mmM

11^

■:»i.;;iA^i'

Jt*"!?!*

r'^t:

472

THE DOG-STAB.

Ji:

The appearances which heralded the sun's return
had a degree of interest for us which it is not easy to
express in words. I have referred more than once al-
ready to the effects of the long-continued night on the
health of our crowded ship's company. It was even
more painful to notice its influence on their temper and
spirits. Among the officers this was less observable.
Our mess seemed determined, come what niiglit, to
maintain toward each other that honest courtesy of
manner, which those who have sailed on long voyages
together know to be the rarest and most difficult proof
of mutual respect. There were of course seasons
when each had his home thoughts, and revolved per-
haps the growing probabilities that some other Arctic
search party might seek in vain hereafter for a memo-
rial of our own ; yet these were never topics of con-
versation. I do not remember to have been saddened
by a boding word during all the trials of our cruise.

With the men, however, it was different. More de-
ficient in the resources of education, and less restrained
by conventional usages or the principle of honor from
communicating to each other what they felt, all sym-
pathized in the imaginary terrors which each one con-
jured up.

We were called up one evening by the deck-watch
to see for ourselves a " ball of fire floating up and down
above the ice-field." It was there sure enough, a disk
of reddish flame, varying a little in its outline, and
flickering in the horizon like a revolving light at a dis-
tance. I was at first as much puzzled as the men;
but glancing at Orion, I soon saw that it was nothing
else than our old dog-star friend, bright Sirius, come
back to us. Refraction had raised him above the hills,
so as to bring him to view a little sooner than we ex-
pected. His color was rather more lurid than when

APPROACH OF DAY.

473

he left us, and the refraction, besides distorting his out-
line, seemed to have given him the same oblateness or
horizontal expansion which we observe in the dislcs
of the larger planets when nearing the horizon.

For some days the sun-clouds at the south had been
changing their character. Their edges became better
defined, their extremities dentated, their color deeper
as well as warmer; and from the spaces between the
lines of stratus burst out a blaze of glory, typical of the
longed-for sun. He came at last : it was on the 29th.
My journal must tell the story of his welcoming, at
the hazard of its seeming extravagance : I am content
that they shall criticise it who have drifted for more
than twelve weeks under the night of a Polar sky.

^^ January 29. Going on deck after breakfast at eight
this morning, I found the dawning far advanced. The
whole vault was bedewed with the coming day ; and,
except Capella, the stars were gone. The southern
horizon was clear. We were certain to see the sun,
after an absence of eighty-six days. It had been ar-
ranged on board that all hands should give him three
cheers for a greeting; but I was in no mood to join
the sallow- visaged party. I took my gun, and walked
over the ice about a mile away from the ship to a sol-
itary spot, where a great big hummock almost hem-
med me in, opening only to the south. There, Par-
see fashion, I drank in the rosy light, and watched the
horns of the crescent extending themselves round to-
ward the north. There was hardly a breath of wind,
with the thermometer at only —19°, and it was easy,
therefore, to keep warm by walking gently up and
down. I thought over and named aloud every one of
our little circle, F. and M., T. and P., B. and J., and
our dear, bright little W. ; wondered a while whether

• \<\\ ;•l^ f\

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rmh

m^s

474

SUNRISE, NOON, AND SUNSET.

there were not some more to be remembered, and called
up one friend or relative after another, but always came
back to the circle I began with.

" Very soon the deep crimson blush, lightening into
a focus of incandescent white, showed me that the
hour was close at hand. Mounting upon a crag, I saw
the crews of our one ship formed in line upon the ioe.
My mind was still tracing the familiar chain of home
affections, and the chances that this one or the other
of its links might be broken already. I bethought me
of the Sortes VirgiliansE of my school-boy days : I took
a piece of candle paper pasteboard, cut it with my
bowie-knife into a little carbine target, and on one
side of this marked all our names in pencil, and on the
other a little star. Presently the sun came : never,
till the grave-sod or the ice covers me, may I forego
this blessing of blessings again ! I looked at him
thankfully with a great globus in my throat. Then
came the shout from the ship — three shouts — cheering
the sun. I fixed my little star-target to the floe, walk-
ed backward till it became nearly invisible ; and then,
just as the completed orb fluttered upon the horizon,
fired my * salutJ I cut M in half, and knocked the T
out of Tom. They shall draw lots for it if ever I get
home ; for many, many years may come and go again
before the shot of an American rifle signalizes in the
winter of Baffin's Bay the conjunction of sunrise, noon-
day, and sunset.

^'January '60. The crew determined to celebrate 'El
regresado del sol,' which, according to old Costa, our
Mahonese seaman, was a more holy day than Christ-
mas or All-Saints. Mr. Bruce, the diversely talented,
favored us with a new line of theatrical exhibition, a
divertissement oMome&tic composition, 'The Country-

never,

THE PLAY. 475

man's first Visit to Town ;' followed by a pantomime.
I copy the play-bill from the original as it was tacked
against the main-mast :

ARCTIC THEATRE.

To be performed, on the night of Thursday, the 30th day of
January, the Comic Play of the Countryman. After which, a
Pantomime.

To begin with
A Song By R. Bruce.

THE OOUNTRYISAN.

Countryman R. Baggs.

Landlady C. Berry.

Servant T. Dunning.

FANTOraiME.

Harlequin James Johnson.

Old Man R. Bruce.

Rejected Lover A. Canot.

Columbine James Smith.

Dcors to be opened at 8 o'clock. Curtain to rise a quarter past 8 punctually
No admittance to Children ; and no Ladies admitted without an escort.

Stage Manager,

S. BENJAMIN.

The strictest order will be observed both inside and outside.

We sat down as usual on the preserved-meat boxes,
which were placed on deck, ready strapped and beck-
eted [nautice for trunk-handled) for flinging out upon
the ice. The affair was altogether creditable, how-
ever, and every body enjoyed it. Here is an outline
of the pantomime, after the manner of the newspapers.
An old man (Mr. Bruce) possessed mysterious, semi-
magical, and wholly comical influence over a rejected

' %

47^

THE PLAY.

lover (M. Auguste Canot, ship's cook), and Columbine
(Mr. Smith) exercised the same over the old man.
Harlequin (Mr. Johnson), however, by the aid of a
split-shingle wand and the charms of his " motley
wear," secures the affections of Columbine, cajoles the
old man, persecutes the forlorn lover, and carries off
the prize of love ; the fair Columbine, who had been
industriously chewing tobacco, and twirling on the
heel of her boot to keep herself warm, giving him a
sentimental kiss as she left the stage. A still more
sentimental song, sung in seal-skin breeks and a " nor-
wester,^^ and a potation all round of hot-spiced rum
toddy, concluded the entertainments.

" It is Washington's birth-day, when ' hearts should
be glad;' but we have no wine for the dinner-table,
and are too sick for artificial merriment without it.
Our crew, however, good patriotic wretches, got up a
theatrical performance, ' The Irish Attorney ;' Pierce
O'Hara taken by the admirable Bruce, our Crichton.
The ship's thermometer outside was at —46°. Inside,
among audience and actors, by aid of lungs, lamps,
and housings, we got as high as 30° below zero, only
gixty-two below the freezing point! ! probably the low-
est atmospheric record of a theatrical representation.

" It was a strange thing altogether. The conden-
sation was so excessive that we could barely see the
performers : they walked in a cloud of vapor. Any
extra vehemence of delivery was accompanied by vol-
umes of smoke. The hands steamed. When an excit-
ed Thespian took off his hat, it smoked like a dish of
potatoes. When he stood expectant, musing a reply,
the vapor wreathed in little curls from his neck. This
was thirty degrees lower than the lowest of Parry's
North Georgian performances.

THE SCURVY.

477

The lowest temperature we recorded during the
cruise was on the 22d of this month, when the ship's
thermometer gave us —46°; my oflkhip spirit, —52° .

Cold as it was, our mid-day exercise was never in-
terrupted, unless by wind and drift storms. We felt
the necessity of active exercise ; and although the ef-
fort was accompanied with pains in the joints, some-
times hardly bearable, we managed, both officers and
crew, to obtain at least three hours a day. The ex-
ercise consisted of foot-ball and sliding, followed by
regular games of romps, leap-frog, and tumbling in
the snow. By shoveling away near the vessel, we
obtained a fine bare surface of fresh ice, extremely
glib and durable. On this we constructed a skating-
ground and admirable slides. I walked regularly over
the floes, although the snows were nearly impassable.

With all this, aided by hosts of hygienic resources,
feeble certainly, but still the best at my command,
scurvy advanced steadily. This fearful disease, so
often warded off* when in a direct attack, now exhib-
ited itself in a cachexy, a depraved condition of sys-
tem sad to encounter. Pains, diffuse, and non-loca-
table, were combined with an apathy and lassitude
which resisted all attempts at healthy excitement.

These, of course, were not confined to the crew
alone : out of twenty-four men, but five were without
ulcerated gums and blotched limbs ; and of these five,
strange to say, four were cooks and stewards. All the
officers were assailed. Old pains were renewed, old
wounds opened ; even old bruises and sprains, received
at barely-remembered periods back, came to us like
dreams.

The close of the month found this state of things on
the in' . and the strength of the party still waning.

*'\

It ■>*,. ;■ i- ;

' lift ■ I. H-' t '

^m i

' '

CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION.

(continued.)

Our brig was still resting on her cradle, and her
consort on the floe a short distance off, when the first
month of spring came to greet us. AVe had passed
the latitude of 72°.

To prepare for our closing struggle with the ice-
fields, or at least divide its hazards, it was determined
to refit the Rescue. To get at her hull, a pit was
sunk in the ice around her, large enough for four men
to work in at a time, and eight feet deep, so as to ex-
pose her stern, and leave only eighteen inches of the
keel imbedded. This novel dry-dock answered per-
fectly. The hull was inspected, and the work of re-
pair was pressed so assiduously, that in three days the
stern-post was in its place, and the new bowsprit ready
for shipping. We had now the chances of two ships
again in case of disaster.

The 19th gave us a change of scene. I was aroused
from my morning sleep by the familiar voicp
Murdaugh, as he hurried along the halfde'
opening" — " Open leads off our starb —

"Frost-smoke all around us!" Fivr inute.- /ter-
ward, Henri had been summoned from tlu; galley ; and,
carbine in hand, I was tumbling over the hui mocks.

I.-.

A OALE.

479

'^ March 20. Thursday, tho 20tli of Mnrch, opens
\viih a gJilo, a roj^iilar gale. On roachin«( dcM'k after
; .. ukfast, I found tho wind from tho southeast, tho
,;,('rnioinoter at zero, and rising. Thoso southeast
i.tornis are looked upon as luiving an iniportiint iiillu-
cnee on the ice. Tliey are always warm, and by the
soa which they excite at tlio .southern mar«,nn of the
pack, have a great elfect in breaking the floos. Mr.
Olrik tohl me that tliey were anxiously h)oked for on
the Greenhind coast as precursors of open water. The
(lute of the southeast gale hist year, at Uppernavik,
was April 25th. Our thermometer gave +o-' at noon-
day, + 7° at one, and +8° at three o'clock!!

" This is tlie heaviest storm we have had sinco en-
tering Lancaster Sound, exactly seven months ah«l a
(lay ago. The snow is whirled in such quantities,
that our thick felt housing seems as if of gauze: it
not only covers our decks, but drives into our clothes
like fine dust or flour. A plated thermometer was in-
visible fourteen feet from the eye: from the distance
of ten paces off on our quarter, a white opacity cov-
ers every thing, the compass-stand, fox-traps, and all
beyond: the Rescue, of course, is completely hidden.
This heavy snow-drift exceeds any thing that I had
conceived, although many of my Arctic English friends
had discoursed to me eloquently about their perils and
discomforts. As to facing it in a stationary position,
nothing human could; for a man would be buried in
ten minutes. Even in reaching our little Tuscnlum,
we tuinble up to our middle, in places where a few
minutes before the very ice was laid bare. The en-
tire topography of our ice is changing constantly.
" 7 P.M. ' The wind is howling.'

■Ar

NliH'

480

AK ESCAPE.

r-Sw (■<•«■'

"March 23, Sunday. After divine service, started
for the ice-openings. We are now in the centre of
an area, which we estimated roughly as four miles
from north to south, and a little more east and west.
On reaching what was yesterday's sea-beach, I was
forced to recant in a measure my convictions as to
the force of the opposing floes.

" A new crack was reported at one o'clock, about
the third of a mile from our ship ; and the bearings of
the sun showed that our brig had, for the first time
since entering Baffin's Bay, rotated considerably to
the northward. Here were two subjects for examin-
ation. So, as soon as dinner was over, I started with
Davis and Willie, two of my scurvy henchmen, on
a walk to the openings. Reaching the recent crack,
we found the ice five feet four inches thick, and the
black water, in a clear streak a foot wide, running to
the east and west. I hod often read of Esquimaux
being carried off by the separation of these great floes;
but, knowing that our guns could call assistance from
the brig, we jumped over and hurried on. We were
well paid.

" I was tempted to stay too long. The wind sprang
up suddenly. The floe began to move. I thought of
the crack between me and the ship, and started off.
The walking, however, was very heavy, and my scur-
vy patients stiff" in the extensors. By the time I
reached the crack, it had opened into a chasm, and
a river as broad as the Wissahiccon ran between me
and our ship. After some little anxiety — not much
— 1 saw our captain ordering a party to our relief.
The sledges soon appeared, dragged by a willing par-
ty ; the India rubber boat was lowered into the lead,
and the party ferried over.

FLOATING BEARS.

481

^^ April 21, xilonday. I have more than common
cause for thankfulness. A mere accident kept me
from starting last night to secure our bear. Had 1
done so, I would probably have spared you reading
more of my journal. The ice over which we traveled
so carelessly on Saturday has become, by a sudden
movement, a mass of floating rubbish.

" In the walk of this morning, which startled me
with the change, I saw for the first time a seal upon
the ice. This looks very summer-like. He was not
accessible to our guns. To-day, for the first time too,
the gulls were flying over the renovated water. Com-
ing back we saw fresh bear tracks. How wonderful
is the adaptation which enables a quadruped, to us
associated inseparably with a land existence, thus to
inhabit an ice-covered ocean. We are at least eighty
miles from the nearest land, Cape Kater ; and chan-
nels innumerable must intervene between us and terra
firma. Yet this majestic animal, dependent upon his
own predatory resources alone, and, defying cold as
well as hunger, guided by a superb instinct, confides
himself to these solitary, unstable ice-fields.

" There is something very grand about this tawny
savage; never leaving this utter destitution, this frigid
inhospitableness — coupling in May, and bringing forth
in Christmas time — a gestation carried on all of it
below zero, more than half of it in Arctic darkness —
living in perpetual snow, and dependent for life upon
a never-ending activity — using the frozen water as
a raft to traverse the open seas, that the water un-
frozen may yield him the means of life. No time
for hibernation has this Polar tiger: his life is one
great winter."

; I

482

THE BREAK-UP.

"June 5, Thursday. We notice again this morn
ing the movement in the trench alongside. The float
ing scum of rubbish advances and recedes with a reg
ularity that can only be due to some equable undula
tion from without to the north. We continue perch
ed up, just as we were after our great lift of last De
cember. A more careful measurement than we had
made before, gave us yesterday, between our height
aft and depression forward, a difference of level of G
feet 4 inches. This inclination tells in a length of
83 feet — about one in thirteen.

"P.M. The BRF.\K-up AT last! a little after five
this afternoon, Mr. Griffin left us for the Rescue, alter

topoobaphy op the floe, may 31.

A. Advance. B II. Shorter riinmeter, 3\ miles.

K. Hcscuc. C C. Loiigur dmiiiotcr, SJ miles.

Distance between the vessels, £00 j urdj.

THE RESCUE FREE.

483

making a short visit. He had hardly gone before I
heard a hail and its answer, both of them in a tone of
more excitement than we had been used to for some
time past ; and the next moment, the cry, ' Ice crack-
ing ahead !'

" Murdaugh and myself reached the deck just in
time to see De Haven crossing our gangway. We fol-
lowed. Imagine our feelings when, midway between
the two vessels, we saw Griffin with the ice separat-
ing before him, and at the same instant found a crack
tracing its way between us, and the water spinning
up to the surface. ' Stick by the floe. Good-by !
What news for home?' said he. One jump across
the chasm, a hearty God - bless - you shake of the
hand, a long jump back, and a little river divided our
party.

" Griffin made his way along one fissure and over
another. We followed a lead that was open to our
starboard beam, each man for himself In half a
minute or less came the outcry, ' She's breaking out :
all hands aboard !' and within ten minutes from Grif-
fin's first hail, while we were yet scrambling into our
little Ark of Refuge, the whole area about us was di-
vided by irregular chasms in every direction.

"All this was at half past five. At six I took a
bird's-eye sketch from aloft. Many of the fissures were
already some twenty paces across. Conflicting forces
were at work every where ; one round-house moving
here, another in an opposite direction, the two vessels
parting company. Since the night of our Lancaster
Sound commotion, months ago, the Rescue had not
changed her bearing : she was already on our port-
beam. Every thing was change.

"Our brig, however, had not yet found an even keel.

■

■i

SJ^^Klj

< I

< '•*:

484

THE ADVANCE.

is=r

bird's-eye view of floe, JUNE 5.

A. Adrance. D. Floe adhering to the Advance.

R. Rescue. (;. Path between brigs before break-up.

II II. Hummocks.

The enormous masses of ice, thrust under her stern by
the action of repeated pressures, had gUied themselves
together so completely, that we remained cradled in a
mass of ice exceeding twenty-five feet in solid depth.
Many of these tables were liberated by the swell, and
rose majestically from their recesses, striking the ship,
and then escapi u" above the surface for a moment,
with a sudden vault.

"To add to the novelty of our situation, two cracks
coming together obliquely, met a few yards astern of
us, cleaving through the heavy ice.

AN EVEN KEEL.

485

stern by

emselves

Idled in a

|id depth.

roll, and

1 the ship,

I moment,

ro cracks
lastern of

"June 8, Sunday. Even keel again!!- Once more
floating ship-fashion, in a ship's element. It was be-
tween twelve and one o'clock this morning. Mur-
daugh went down upon the fragment, which was still
adhering to our starboard side. He had hardly rested
his weight upon it, when, with certain hurried, scarce-
ly premonitory grindings, it cleared itself. lie had
barely time to scramble up the brig's side, tearing his
nails in the effort, before, with crash and turmoil, it
tumbled up to the surface, letting us down once more
into clear water. When I reached the deck, I could
hardly realize the level, horizontal condition of things,
we have been accustomed to this up and down hill
work so long.

•' 9 P.M. At 1 o'clock P.M. the wind freshened from
the northward, enough to make sail. We cast off, and
renewed the old times process of boring, standing ir-
regularly among the fragments to the southward and
eastward. We received some heavy bumps, but kept
under weigh until 6 P.M., when an impenetrable ice-
fog caused us to hanl up to a heavy floe, to which we
are now fast by three anchors. We estimate our prog-
ress at six miles. The Rescue is not visible.

" From the heavy floe to which we are secured we
obtained fresh thawed water. This is the first time
since the 15th of September that I have drunk water
liquefied without fire. Eight months and twenty-four
days : think of that, dear strawberry and cream eating
family !

It had been determined bv our commander that we
should refresh at Whale Fish Islands, and then hast-
en back to Melville Bay, the North Water, Lancaster
Sound, and AVellington Channel ; and certainly there
was no one on board who did not enter heart and soul

a.' i

^ .i- ^

'\t

ia !*

(II •

486

KRONPRINSEN.

into the scheme. It was in pursuance of it that we
were now bending our course to the east.

The circumstances that surrounded us, the daily in-
cidents, our destination and purpose, were the same as
when approaching the Sukkertoppen a year bel'ore.
Tiiere were the same majestic fleets of bergs, the same
Iftorions of birds of the same varieties, the same anx-
ious look-out, and rapid conning, and fearless eiicomi-
ter of ice-fields. Every thing was unchanged, except
the glowing confidence of young health at the outset
of adventure. We had taken our seasoning : the ex-
perience of a winter's drift had quieted some of our en-
thusiasm. But we felt, as veterans at the close of a
campaign, that with recruited strength we should be
better fitted for the service than ever. All, therefore,
looked at the well-remembered clitfs, that liung over
Kronprinsen, with the sentiment of men approaching
liome for the time, and its needed welcomes.

We reached them on the 16th. Mr. Murdaugh, and
myself, and four men, and three bottles of rum, were
dispatched to communicate with the shore. As we
rowed in to the landing-place, the great dikes of in-
jected syenite stood out red and warm against the
cold gray gneiss, and the moss gullies met us like lli-
miliar grass-plots. Esquimaux crowded the rocks, and
dogs barked, and children yelled. A few lusty pulls,
and after nine months of drift, and toil, and scurvy,
we w^ere once more on terra firma.

God forgive me the revulsion of unthankfulness !
I ought to have dilated with gratitude for my lot.

Winter had been severe. The season lagged. The
birds had not yet begun to breed. Faces were w^orn,
and forms bent. Every body was coughing. In one
hut, a summer lodge of reindeer and seal skins, was

,1 i.sl;:* • .^>

AT GODHAVEN.

487

a dead child. It was many months since I had look-
ed at a corpse. The poor little thing had been foi
once washed clean, tlnd looked cheerfully. The fa-
ther leaned over it weeping, for it was a boy; and
two little sisters were making lamentation in a most
natural and savage way.

I gave the corpse a string of blue beads, and bought
a pair of seal-skin boots for twenty-five cents; and
we rowed back to the brig. In a very little while
we were under sail for God haven.

AVe were but five days recruiting at God haven.
It was a shorter stay than we had expected; but wo
were all of us too anxious to regain the searching
ground to complain. We made the most of it, of
course. We ate inordinately of eider, and codlisli,
and seal, to say nothing of a hideous-looking toad
fish, a Lepodogaster, that insisted on patronizing our
pork-baited lines; chewed bitter herbs, too, of every
sort we could get; drank largely of the smallest of
small-beer; and danced with the natives, teaching
tlieni the polka, and learning the pee-oo-too-ka in re-
turn. But on the. 22d, by six o'clock in the morning,
we were working our w^ay again to the north.

We passed the hills of Disco in review, with their
terraced summits, simulating the Ghauts of Ilindos-
tan ; the green-stone cliffs round Omenak's Fiord, the
great dockyard of bergs; and Cape Cranstoun, around
which they w^ere clustered like a fleet waiting for con-
voy. They "were of majestic proportions; and as we
wound our way tortuously among them, one after an-
other would come into the field of view, like a tem-
ple set to be the terminus of a vista. At one time
'>ve had the whole Acropolis looking down upon us in
silver; at another, our Philadelpia-copy of the Par-

¥ii

I'i-i h

^>- '''V

il W>

i\r

l|V

1 5!v|sil|!jitf^,r

i i

488

B !•: U G s.

thonon, tlie monumental Bank of the United States,
stood out nlone. Then, ajrain, some venerable Cathe-
dral, with its deep vaults and hoary belfries, would
spread itself across the sky ; or perhaps some wild
combination of architectural impossibilities.

We moved so slowly that I had time to sketch sev-
eral of these dreamy fabrics. The one which is en-
graved on the opposite page was an irregular quad-
rangle, projected at the extremity of a series of ice-
structures, like the promontory that ends an isthmus:
it was crowned with ramparts turreted by fractures;
and at the water-line a great barreled arch went back
into a cavern, that might have fabled as the haunt of
sea-kings or smugglers.

Oif Storoe, a white fox (C. lagopus) came to us on
the loose ice : his legs and the tip of his tail were
black. He was the first we had seen on the Green-
land coast.

He was followed the next day by a party of Esqui-
maux, who visited us from Proven, dragging their ka-
yacks and themselves over seven miles of the pack,
and then paddling merrily on board. For two glasses
of rum and a sorry ration of salt-pork, they kept turn-
ing somersets by the dozen, making their egg-shell
skiffs revolve sideways by a touch of the paddle, and
hardly disappearing under the water before they were
heads up again, and at the gangway to swallow their
reward.

The inshore ice opened on the thirtieth, and toward
evening we left tie hospitable moorage of our iceberg,
and made for the low, rounded rocks, which the Hosky
pointed out to us as the seat of the settlement. The
boats were out to tow us clear of the floating rubbish,
as the light and variable winds made their help nee-

ESQUIMAUX GUESTS.

489

essary, and we wore slowly approaching' our anchor-
ago, when a rough yawl boarded us. She brought a
pleasant company, Unas the schoolmaster and parish
priest, Louisa his sister, the g'ontle Amalia, Louisa's
cousin, and some others of humbler note.

The baptismal waters had but superficially roj^on-
erated these savages: their deportment, at least, did
not conform to our nicest canons. For tli(^ first live
minutes, to be sure, the ladies kept their laces close
covered with their hands, only withdrawing iliem to
blow their noses, which they did in the iiiost ])rinii-
tive and picturesque manner. But their modesty thus
assured, they felt that it needed no further illustration.
They volunteered a dance, avowed to us confidential-
ly that they had educated tastes — Amalia that she
smoked, Louisa that she tolerated the luore enliven-
ing liquids, and both that their exercise in the open
air had made a slight refection altogether acceptable.
Hospitality is the virtue of these M'ild regions: our
hard tack, and cranberries, and rum were in recj^uisi-
tion at once.

It is not for the host to tell tales of his after-dinner
company. But tlie truth of history may be satisfied
without an intimation that our guests paid niggard

;ui

490

PROVEN.

Vi'.

honors to tlio jolly god of a irillder cliino. The veri-
est prince, of bottle nuiinories, M'oiild not have t|iiiir-
reled with their heel-taps. * '* '^

AVe were inside the rocrky islands of Pniven harbor
ns onr watc^hes told lis that another djiy had begun.
'I'he time was (!ome for parting. The ladies shed a
few kindly tears as we handed them to the stern-
.«<eats: their learned kinsman took a recumbent posi-
tion below the thwarts, which favored a continuance
of his nap; and the rest of the party were bestowed
with seaman-like address — all but one unfortunate
genilenum, who, having protracted his festive devo-
tions longer than usual, had resolved not to "go home)
till morning."

The case was a difficult one; but there was no help
for it. As the sailors passed him to the bottom of the
boat, and again out upon the beach, he made the air
vocal with his indignant outcries. The dogs — I have
told you of the dogs of these settlements, how they
welcomed our first arrival — joined their music with
his. The Provenese came chattering out into the
cold, like chickens startled from their roost. The gov-
ernor was roused by the uproar. And in the midst
of it all, our little weather-beaten flotilla ran up the
first American flag that had been seen in the port of
Proven.

The port of Proven is securely sheltered by itr>!: mon-
ster hills. But they can not be said to smile a wel-
come upon the navigator.

Summer comes slowly upon Proven. "When we
arrived, the slopes of the hills were heavily patched
with snow, and the surface, where it showed itself,
was frozen dry. The Avater-line was toothed with
fano-s of broken ice, which scraped against the beach

:^)'m

x)r

:;!; irion-
a wel-

THE HOUSE OF PROVEN.

401

as the tides rose and fell; and an iceberg solnello^v
or other had found its way into the little port. It
was a harmless lump, too deep sunk to float into dan-
gerous nearness; and its spire rose pleasantly, like a
village church.

'*JuIi/ 'S. I am writing in the *IIosky' House of
Cristiansen. Cristiansen is the Danish governor of
Proven, and this house of Cristiansen is the House of
Proven. Its owner is a simple and shrewd old Dane,
hale and vigorous, thirty-one of whose sixty-four win-
ters have been spent within the Arctic circle, north of
70'^ N. Lord in his lonely region — his four sons and
five subordinates, oilmen, the only white i'aces about
him, except when he visits Uppernavik — the good old
man has the satisfaction of knowing no superior. His
habits are three fourths Esquinniux, one eighth Dan-
ish, and the remainder Provenish, or peculiarly his
own. His wife is a half-breed, and his family, in lan-
guage and aspect, completely Esquimaux.

" When the long, dark winter comes, he exchanges
books with his friend the priest of Uppernavik. ' The
Dantz Penning Magazin,' and * The History of the Uni-
tas Fratrum,' take the place of certain well-thumbed,
ancient, sentimental novels ; and sometimes the priest
comes in person to tenant the ' spare room,' which
makes it very pleasant, * for we talk Danish.'

" Except this spare room, which elsewhere would
be called the loft of the house, its only apartment is
the one in which I am. And here eat, and drink, and
cook, and sleep, and live, not only Cristiansen and all
his descendants, but his wife's mother, and her chil-
dren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who are
growing up about her. It is fil'teen feet broad by six-
teen long, with just height enough for a grenadier,

.<i2!l

I i

'':' f

492

THE FAMILY.

I '3

. f

.. u

without his cap, to stand erect, and not toiurli 1Ir>
beams. The Inuno ol' the liouso is of Norway pine,
coated with tar, with its interspaces caulked witli ino^s,
and small window-panes inserted in a deep casiny^ ol'
wood.

"The most striking decorative feature is a le(i<ro or
shelforpine plank, ol" \ aryin«^ width, which runs round
three ol' its sides. Its ca})acity is wonderful. It is
the sofa and bed, on which the entire united family
find room to loll and sleep ; and upon it now are luid-
died, besides a navy doctor and his writinji,'' boiird, (hk^
ink-bottle, sundry articles of food aiul rel'reslinient, one
sleeping child, one lot of babies not in the least asleep,
one canary-bird cage with its exotic and most sorrow-
ful little prisoner, and an inlinite variety of otiu'r ar-
ticles too tedious to mention, comprising seal-skins,
boots, bottles, jumpers, glasses, crockery both of kitch-
en and nursery, coti'ee-pots, dog-skin socks, canvas piU
lows, an eider-down comforter, and a sick bitch with
a youthful family of whining puppies.

" Una, the second daughter, has been sick and un-
der treatment ; and she is now hard at work with her
sisters, Anna, Sara, and Cristina, on a tribute of grati-
tude to her doctor. They have been busy all the
morning whipping and stitching the seal-skins with
reindeer tendon thread. My present is to be a c(jni-
plete suit of ladies' apparel, made of the richest seal-
skin, according to the standard mode of Proven, which
may always be presumed to be the ' latest winter lash-
ion.' It is a really elegant dress. To some the unmen-
tionables might savor ofmascularity ; but having seen
something of a more polite society, my feminine asso-
ciations are not restricted to petticoats. Extremes meet
in the Esquimaux of Greenland and Amazons oi' Paris.

ESQUIMAUX Ml'K.

" Tlio largo fjunily is ;i hni)])}'
one: so ssinall a lioiin' could not
tolerate a qiiarrolsoiiu^ mess. Tlio
sons, llio men Cristianseiis, brave

4l)a

-!!SSw?r

and stalwart fellows, practiced in the kayack, and the
sledge, and the whale-net, adroit with the harpoon and
expert with the rifle, are constant at the chase, and
bring home their spoil, with the honest pride becoming
good providers of their household. And the women,
iu their nursing, cooking, tailoring, and housekeeping,
are, I suppose, faithful enough. But what f ivora])le
hiipression that the mind gets through other channels
can contend against the information of the nose ! Or-
gan of the aristocracy, critic and tfiagiafrr inorif/ii of
all civilization, censor that heeds neither argument nor
ronionstrance — the nose, alas ! it bids me record, that
to all their possible godliness cleanliness is not super-
added.

"During the short summer of daylight — it is one
of the many apparent vestiges, among this people, of
ancient nonuidic habits — the whole family gather joy-

'' L

494

ESQUIMAUX LIFE.

'■■t

V I

.1 ■:!

i^-V

ously in the summer's lodge, a tent of seal or reindeer
skin, pitched out of doois. Then the room has its an-
nual ventilation, and its cooking and chamber furni-
ture are less liable to be confounded. For the winter
the arrangement is this : on three sides of the room,
close by the ledge I have spoken of, stand as many
large pans of porous steatite or serpentine, elevated on
sliglit wooden tripods. These, filled with seal-bkib-
ber, and garnished with moss round the edge to serve
as a wick, unite the functions of chandelier and stove.
They who quarrel with an iJl-trimmed lamp at home
shoukl be disciplined by one of them. Each boils its
half-gallon kettle of coffee in twenty minutes, and
smokes — like a small chimney on fire; and the three
burn togethei There is no flue, or fire-place, or open-
ing of escape.

"On the remaining side of the room stand a valued
table and three chairs; and with these, like a buhl
cabinet or fancy etagere, conspicuous in its modest
corner, a tub. It is the steeping-tub for curing skins.
Its contents require active fermentation to fit them for
their office; and, to judge from the odor, the process
had been going on successfully."

We warped out to sea again on the afternoon of the
third, with our friend the cooper for pilot ; the entire
settlement turning out upon tlie rocks to wish us good-
by, and remaining there till they looked in the dis-
tance like a herd of seal. But we found no opening
in the pack, and came back again to Proven on the
fourth, not sorry, as the weather was thickening, to
pass our festival inside the little port.

Our celebration was of the primitive order. We
saluted the town with one of the largest balanced
stones, which we rolled down from the cliff above;

A NIGHT SCENE.

495

and iTuiile an egf^-iiogj^ of eider etrrra ; and tlie men
hiul a lIo^^ky ball ; and, in a word, we all did our best
to nuike the day dilTer Ironi other days — which at-
tempt failed. Still, God ever bless the loinilil

The sixth was Sunday, and we attended eluucli in
the morning- at the schoohnaster's. The service coii-
sisted of a long-winded hymn, aiul a longer winded
sermon, in the Esquimaux — surely the longest of long-
winded languages. The congregation \\ere some two
dozen men and women, not counting our par^y.

We put to sea in the afternoon. The weatluM- was
soft and warm on shore ; but outside it was perfectly
d(Uightful : no wind — Ihe streams of ice b(>yond en-
forcing a most p)erfect calm upon the water; the ther-
mometer in the sunshine frequently as high as 7()^,
and never sinking below 30^ in the shade. 1 basked
on deck all i;ight, sle<'ping in the sun.

And such a night! I saw the moon at mnhiight,
while the sun was slantinjj along the tinted iiori/on,
and duplicatf'd by reflection from the wtiter below it:
the dark bergs to seaward had outlines of silver; and
two wild catara(!ts on the shore-side were falling froja
ice-backed cliffs twelve hundred feet into the sea.

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49r<

BRITiSII WHALERS.

Juhj 7. I was awakened from my dreamy sleep to
receive the visits of a couple of boats that were work-
ing slowly to us through the floes. An English i'ace —
two l*]nglish faces — twelve English faces : what a hap-
py sight ! We had had no one but ourselves to speak
our own tongue to for three hundred days, and were
as glad to listen to it as if we had been serving out
the time in the penitentiary of silence at Auburn or
Sing-Sing. Their broad North Briton was music. It
was not the offensive dialect of the provincial English-
man, with the affectation of speaking his language
correctly ; but a strong and manly home-brew of the
best language in the world for words of sincere and
hearty good- will. They had to turn up their noses
at our seal's-liver breakfast ; but, when they heard of
our winter trials, they stuffed down the seal without
tasting it. I felt sorry after they were off, that 1 had
not taken their names down every one.

The whaling vessels to which they returned were
in the freer water outside the shore stream, the Jane
O'Boness, Captain John Walker; and the Pacific, Cap-
tain Patterson.

The next day, beating hard to windward, we made
TJppernavik igain. The scene. y around it was very
striking, exhibiting some magnificent mural sections
of giieiss and slates. The entering hoadland was some
fifteen hundred feet high. We found all the liills
patched with snow to the water's ed^e, where their
bases are abraded by the moving fioes from one year's
end to another.

Mr. IMurdaugh and myself visited the town ; that is
to say, the priest's house, the governor's house, the oil
house, the school-church house, and sundry native
huts. The wood-cut at the bottom of page 499 gives

UPPER NAVIK.

the interior of one of them, in which we superintend-
ed the manufacture of a dish of coffee.

We were received by the governor, accompanied by
an okl friend of ours from Proven, a sort of secretary
there, " plenty-scribe-'em" as he styled himself. The
old gentleman had arrived at two that morning, in a
whale-boat, with his stalwart sons, after thirty-two
miles of pulling through the ice against the wind.
" Keesey ver bod," he said ; " the ice was very bad."

The governor, superior in tone to Cristiansen, who
is a self-made man, welcomed us with fine Danish
good-breeding, and there is no good-breeding better.
We found hiin out to be a desperate conservative, fear-
ful of nothing but change. His house was after the
fashion of Mr. Moldrop's, of Godhaven, and scrupu-
lously clean. Coffee was served ; and we had the
honor of being introduced to three young ladies of the
half-breed, absolutely with frocks on. I thought I
could see that one of them had pantalettes of seal-skin
peeping out from under her skirt, and a wiser critic
than myself might have said that all their dresses were
somewhat antique of fashion. But they met us, on
the other hand, with a lady-like disregard of our own
outlandish costume ; and though our language ■■ is
somewhat composite in its idiom, for I understand nei-
ther the Danish nor the Hosky, and they understood
very little English, we managed to keep up quite an
animated conversation. It was very pleasant to re-
hipse in their company for a while, into the manners
of society at home.

We saw also the family of Petersen, Penny's dog
and Esquimaux manager, all neat and pleasing per-
sons ; the sons, frank, manly fellows, and the eldest
daughter really quite refined and pretty. But we did

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498

Baffin's islands.

not remain long. Our Aberdeen friends had transfer-
red to us s. full supply of newspapers which tliey had
brought for Penny ; so, after prescribing for the gov-
ernor's child, and receiving a dog-skin juniper for my
fee, we returned on board to review the annals of the
outer world for the past year.

We now pursued our way very smoothly. We had
delightful weather; not the best, indeed, for men whose
errand lay ahead, but still very welcome to those who
had roughed it of late so severely. Summer was con-
centrating all its strength and beauty in the long, sun-
encircled day,

Both our vessels were carrying home Esquimaux
dogs. By continued kindness and over-feeding, i suc-
ceeded in quite changing the nature of ours : both
Disco and Hosky v. ere on the high road to civilization.
But tliose on board the Rescue and the Albert were
still as wild as jackals : let loose upon the ice, it was
almost impossible to -"itch them again. One after-
noon, a little below tht. ' 'evirs Thumb, when the dogs
of the Albert were out on the floe for exercise, a sud-
den breeze allowed her to work to windward through
an open lead. One poor dog was left behind. Boats
were sent out to recover him, and we all tried by voice
and gesture to coax him toward us. But the half
savage, though, he stood gazing at us wildly v,hen we
were at a distance, ran skulking and wolf-like as soon
as we were near. We were forced at last to abandon
him to his fate. We could see him for hours, a dark
speck upon the white floe ; and afterward, as far oft'
as the spy-glass served, still with his head raised and
his body thrown back on his haunches. Worse than
tliis ; such was the quiet expanse of ice and water,
that we heard the poor creature's howling, waxing

c;i)OD-BY 10 TllL riil.NCE ALBERT, Mi:i.\n,LE BAY.

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ESQUIMAUX DOGS.

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fainter and fainter, for eight hours after we left the
ice.

Tlie training of these animals by the natives is of
the most ungracious sort. I never heard a kind ac
cent from an Esquimaux to his dog The driver's
whip of walrus hide, some twenty feet long, a stone
or a lump of ice skillfully directed, an imprecation
loud and sharp, made emphatic by the fist or foot, and
a grudged ration of seal's meat, make up the winter's
entertainment of an Esquimaux team. In the sum-
mer the dogs run at lar<re and cater for themselves.

1 remarked that there were comparatively few of
them at Holsteinberg, and was told a melancholy sto-
ry to account for it. It seems that the governor,
and priest, and h,jherman keep goats, veritable goats,
housed in a tire- warmed c.]?-M-tment in winter, and al-
lowed the rest of the year to crop the grasses of the
snow valleys. Now the half-tutored, nnfed Esqui-
maux dog would eat a goat, bones, skin, and, for auglit
1 know, horns. The diet was too expensive. It be-
came a grave question, therefore, how to reconcile the
incompatibilities of dog and goat. The matter was
settled very summarily. When the green season of
sunshine and plenty came, the dogs were sent to a
rocky islet, a sort of St. Helena establishment, about
a mile from the main, with permission to live by their
wits ; and the goats remained to browse and grow fat
at large. The results were tragical. Tlie doirs were
afllicted with sore famine. Great life battles began ;
the strong keeping themselves alive by eating the
weak. By this terrible process of gradual reduction,
the colony was resolved into some four or five scarred
veterans, whose nightly combats disturbed even the
milk drinkers at the settlement.

\«k]

m'rm

502

IN AN I C E - T Fv A r .

r '

' npm

fjT'. /i

A few days after the scene I have described, we
neared our hated hmdiriark of hist season, tlie Devil's
Thumb. But here the leads closed ; and our labyrinth
of bergs ottended us still, clogging our way, and wea-
rying us with their monotony. Our commander had
but one thought, and we all sympathized in it — how
could our little squadron regain its position at the
searching grounds? We had otherwise no lack of
incidents. There were parhelia, intricate ones, with
six solar images and eccentric circles of light, one of
which had its circumference passing through the sun.
And we had bear hunts now and then of mothers and
cubs together ; and sometimes we shot at a flock of
birds.

But the spirit of the hunt had left us. We were
close upon the middle of August. Less than four
weeks remained for us to get rid of this vexatious en-
tanglement, press on through Lancaster Sound, com-
plete our explorations in Wellington Channel, and re-
turn to the open water of the bay. It was before the
middle of September that we had been frozen in last
year. And here we were in a perfect ice-trap, unable
to win an inch of progress.

We were without the Albert too. As long ago as
the filth, her good folks had determined to make south,
despairing of success in a northward oilbrt; and on the
eleventh, while we were yet attached to the old land-
floe, she found her way to an open lead, and disap-
peared on the thirteenth. We could hardly talk of
the regrets we all felt at losing them. It seemed to
me that for days after I could hear their broken-
hearted little hand-organ grinding " The Garb of Old
Gael .

BERG FRACTURE.

503

"VYe perhaps tliouglit of their (leparture the more,
because it iin[)lieil something of uncertainty as to our
own fate. They had avt)we(l]y left us, fearless and
enter[)j'ising as they were, to escape from hazards that
Ave were continuing to hrave. Mr. Leask, their vet-
eran ice-master, thought, when he left us, that if we
iullowed the northern leads there was almost a cer-
tahity of our being caught, like the Swan, and the
York, and a host of others before us. A pleasant neigh-
borhood, truly ! Here perished the ships of '47. Here
the North Star was beset in '48 ; hereabout, the year
before last, the l.ady Jane, and the Superior, and the
Prince of Wah'* ; and, coming to our own experience
of last year, here it was, in this very devil's hole,
that we wore out our three weeks' imprisonment.

Moreover, the season was more advanced than hist
year's had been. The thermometer, which stood at
noon in the shade at 54°, sunk in the evening hours
to 30°.

^^ August 17, Sunday. The same revolving wall of
bergs meets us to the west, but the glacier on the other
side is partially hidden by a new procession inshore.
While profaning the day by an attempt to sketch these
sublime monuments of creative power in my drawing-
book, I was interrupted by a heavy undulation, roll-
ing under the brig, and passing on to the solid inshore
floo. It was followed by a number of others, coming
in quick succession, and breaking up the floe drift in
every direction. The action continued for some min-
utes. It must have been caused by some very hirge
and probably irregular berg overturning at a distance;
but it was without noise, and indeed without premo-
nition of any sort. The direcaon of the wave where

it struck us was from the northwest. Up to this nio-

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504

THE OPENING.

inent, all the liotivy lioaviiig and warping of to-day
had been without any elhjct. Now tlie llcjes separated
as ii'by magic: there was relaxation ev^ery wliere; and
we made at least two hundred yards hel'ore the ice
closed again.

"This aiternoon, the captain, with Murdaugh and
myself, walked and clinihed over this same ice, to
make a recoimoissance of the region beyond the bergs.
By the aid of boat-hooks and some slippery jumping
we achieved it, and were at last ahle to climb one of
the imprisoning bergs, and look from its crest to the
other side.

*' It was a sermon such as uninspired man has never
preached. There, there, far down below us, there was
the open water, stretching wide away to the south;
placid and hright, bearing on its glazed surface fleets
of bergs and raits of floes, hut open water still ; and
yet further on, the unbroken water-sky. Our little
brig was under us, the tiny fretwork of her spars traced
clean and sharp against the arena of ice ; but, thank
God ! she is nearing the gates of her prison-house. De
Haven was right. One quarter of a mile ! Now, lads,
for the warps again !

" Midniglit. AV^e are out : at ten minutes past eleven
we shipped our rudder, the first time in three weeks;
, and made sail, the first time since the 26tli of July.

" We owe it all to a relaxation of the floes. The
wind was from the northward : the bergs that hemmed
in the loose drift around us yielded a little toward the
west, and the skreed began to separate. The main-
brace was spliced ; springs took the place of warps ;
and the men went gallantly to their work. They
were as anxious vO get out as any of us.

"At last we reached an opening: two immense

iV.

Tllli ESCAPE.

no 5

b('rti:s, o\('rliiiii<,nii<^ and raj:^<Ml ; iiiul down toward tlie
wat(;r-lin<', ail opciiinjf l)otwe(!ii lliem like a ^niteway.
8liall wo pass if A\'o liavo se(Mi so many {lisrii])tions,
and capsi/iiif^s, and accideuls of all sorts in this work
of anclior-planting: soinctinit's a ni«ro l)roath jjrinjfs
down iimsses that would hury hall' a dozen such vos-
f^els as ours ; and these b('r<,'s are so water- washed and
pendnlons. INInrdan^^h waited lor the order. De Ila-
v(Mi gave it; and, in deep silence, we passed the Gades
of the Devil's Traj).

^^Aifgu.st 19, Tuesday. The Rescue is close astern
of us: she j^^ot throu<,Wi about noon yesterday, (^ur
commodore has resolved on an immediate return to
the United States. "

The game had been played out fairly. Lancaster
Sound was out of the question ; and for our scurvy-
riddled crew, a nine months' winter in the ice of
North Baffin would have been disastrous.

After our escape from the congregated bergs, we
sailed to one at a little distance, and filled our water-
casks. The herg crumbled and fell while we were do-
ing so, but nobody was hurt ; and in two days more,
after a closing skirmish with the ice-})ack, W(^ headed
huiueward. On the twentieth we made our last sal-
utation to the Devil's Thumb; and on the twenty-
third, in the evening, we were near enough to Upper-
uavik for a little boating party of us to make it a visit.

AV'ith the exception of Kangiartsoak, this is the
most northern of the Danish settlements. Its latitude
is 72° 47^, three hundred and seventy miles within 1li<^
Arctic circle. But reacliing it, we felt as if wi' liad
renewed our communication with the world ; for hero,
once in every year, comes the solitary trader from Co-
pouliagen. We had become so familiar with the drear-
iness of Greenland, that the glaring red gables of the

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506

THE OOVERXOR S MANSION.

throe houses!, and the white curiosity, which stood for
a steeple above the church, were absolutely cheeriii<r-
and we landed, poor souls ! after our twelve miles'
row, with hearts as elate as ever frolicked among tlie
orange-groves of Brazil or the cocoa-palms of the Eajst-
ern Pacific.

Disappointment once more ! The governor had gone
to Proven ; the Danish ship had gone to Proven ; the
priest had gone to Proven. But the gentler sex re-
mained. The governor's lady gave us a kindly wel-
come, and extended to us all the hospitalities of his
mansion.

The mansion was far
from picturesque. It was
a square block of heavy
timber, running into a
high-peak gable. The
roof was of tarred can-
vas, laid over boards ;
the wooden walls coated
with tar, and painted a glowing red. A little paling,
white and garden-like, inclosed about ten feet of pre-
pared soil, covered with heavy glass frames ; under
which, in spite of the hoar-frost that gathered on them,
•Ave could detect a few bunches of cru(rifers, green rad-
ishes, and turnip-tops. It was the garden, the dis-
tinctive appendage of the governor's residence.

Inside the house — it is the type of those at Disco
and Proven — you pass by a narrow-boarded vestibule
lo a parlor. This parlor, a room of dignified consider-
ation, is twelve feet long by eleven : beyond it, a door
opens to display the suites a second room, the state
chamber, of the same size.

The most striking article of furniture is the stove, a

THE FEAST.

50<

tall, black cylinder, such as I have seen in the Baltic
cities, standihj" like a column in the corner: the next,
a platoon of tobacco-pipes paraded against the wall :
the next — let me be honest, it was the first — a table,
with a clean white cloth, and plates, knives, and I'orks,
all equally clean. Overhead hang beams as heavy
as the carlines ol'a ship's cabin: below is an uncov-
ered floor of scrupulous polish : the windows are re-
cessed, glazed in small squares, and opening, door-like,
behind muslin curtains : the walls canvas, painted,
and decorated with a few prints altogether r'jmarkahlo
for intensity of color. The looking-glass; 1 reserve it
for more special mention. It was not very large, but
it was the first we had encountered since we came
into the regions of ice. " To see ourselves as others
see us" is not always the prayer of an intelligent self-
love. Sharp-vis:. ged, staring, weather-beaten old men,
wrinkle-marked, tawny-bearded, luiggard-looking: the
boys of Uppernavik are better bred than the Xew York-
ers, or they would have mobbed us.

The ladies — they were ladies, they knew no superi-
ors ; they were self-possessed, hospitable ; they wore
frocks, and they did not laugh at us — the ladies spread
the meal, cottee, loons' a^^g^, brown bread, and a wel-
come. We ate like jail-birds. At last came the crown-
ing act of hospitality ; on the bottom of a blue saucer,
radiating like the spokes of a wheel or the sticks of a
Delaware's camp-fire, crisp, pale, yet blushing at their
tips, and crowned each with its little verdant tuft —
ten radishes ! Talk of the mango of Luzon and the
mangostine of Borneo, the cherimoya of Peru, tlie pine
of Sumatra, the seckel-pear of Schuylkill meadows;
but the palate must cease to have a memory before I
yield a place to any of them alongside the ten radishes
of Uppernavik.

J 1

508

THE K A Y A C K

On the twenty-fifth we reached the AVhale-fish
Islands, and at six in the evening were near enoui^h
to be towed in hy our boats and anclior off Kronprin-
sen. Flocks of kayacks hung about our v<'sst'l, like
l)irds about a floating spar. We thought tlicm laoro
sprightly and active than the Esquimaux wc hud been
among ; but perhaps it is as unfair to judge of the Es-
quimaux without his kayack as of a sloth off his tree.
There Avas a bright boy among them, under ten years
of age, who could manage a little craft they had built
for him admirably.

The common length of the kayack is about eight-
teen feet, its breadth on deck some twenty-one inches
and its de]>th ten inches in the middle, just such as to
alloAV its occupant to sit with his feet extended on the
bottom and his hips below the deck.

Its frame is light enough to startle all our notions
of naval construction, and it is covered with nothing
but tanned seal-hide. Yet in this egg-shell fabric the
Esquimaux luivigator habitually, and fearlessly, and
successfully too, encounters risks which his more civ-
ilized rivals in the seal-hunt, the men of New Bedford

Mild StoninfrtoH, would rightfully shrink from. I am
not sure that I can uudve such ii desciiption of its pro-
portions and structure as u idiip-hnilder would under-
stand ; but the drawin{»"s I annex have been made
carefully from one of the best models, and maybe re-
lied on for all the InfonuatiDu that can be jrathered
from them.

ITS CONSTRUCTION.

509

" —

The skoleton fonsists oltliiiH' l<)u«,Mtu(linal strips of
wood on each side — it would be wrong to cuil tlieni
timbers, for they are rarely thicker tlian a common
plastering hith — stretching from end to end, and
shielded at the stem and stern by cutwaters of bone.
The upper of these, the gunwale, if 1 may call it so, is
~~ v > .-^ somewhat stouter than the others.

-lie

ijt

—: . -s gtzi: '£\iQ bottom is framed by three siin-
' ' ' ^ ilar longitudinal strips. These are
■ ' ■ ' ■■ ' * ■ crossed by other strips or hoops,
which perform the office of knees and ribs : they are
placed at a distance of not more than eight to ten
inches from one another. Wherever the parts of this
frame-work meet or cross, they are bound together
with reindeer tendon very artistically. The general
outline is, I think, given accurately in the sketch on
the opposite page.

Over this little basket-work of wood is stretched the
coating of seal hides, which also covers the deck, very
neatly sewed with tendon, and firmly glued at the
edges by a composition of reindeer horn scraped and
liquefied in oil. A varnish made of the same mate,
rials is used to protect the whole exterior.

The pah, or man-hole, as we would term it, is very

, 'i:

510

THE IMTLEMEXTS.

nearly in iha centru of tho little vessel, sonietiinos a
few inches toward the stern. It is circular or nearly
so, wide enough to let the kayacker squeeze his hips
through it, and no more. It has a rim or lip, secured
upon the ijunwale, and rising a couple of inches above
the deck, so as to permit the navigator to hind it wa-
ter-tight around his person. luimediately in front of
him is his as-sdy-lruty or line stand, surmounted hy a
reel, with the scaling-line snugly coiled about it, iiiid
revolving on its centre with the slightest touch. He
has his harpoon and his lances strapped at his side;
his rifle, if he owns one, stowed away securely be-
tween decks.

Just behind the kayacker rests his bladder-float or

air-bag, an air-tight sack of
seal-skin, always kept iiillat-
ed,and fastened to the seal in ^r-
line. It performs the doiililo
oflice of a buoy, and a break
or drag to retard the motion of the prey after it is
struck.

The harpoon, or principal lance [unahk), is also at-

t, In.

-<m

Vice.

tached to the sealing-line. It is a most ingenious de-
The rod or staff' is divided at right angles in

two pieces, which
are neatly jointed
or hinged with ten-
don strips, but so braced by the manner in which the
tendon is made to cross and bind in the lashing, that,
except when the two parts are severed by lateral press-
ure, they form but a single shaft. The point, geuer-

OF THE KAYACKER.

511

ally ail arrow-head vi'
bone, lias a socket to
reeeivo tlie end of the
A .sliiil't: it disenfjfsif^es it-
self readily iVoni its
phice, but still remains fast to the end of tho line.
Thus, Avhen the kayacker has struck his i>rey, the
sliaft escapes the risk of breaking from a pull a<rainst
'lie j^raiu by bending at the joint, and the \mut is
( ;.rried free by the animal ns he dives.

At the right centre of gravity oi' the linrpoon, that
point, I mean, at which a cudgel-player would grasp
his staff, a neatly-arranged rrstits or ludder [nnon-wk)

e In.

OITMHK 1)11 i'.*< K oh IIIK NOON-SOK.

INSIUt: on SECTION OK THE NOON-SOK.

fits itself on the shaft. It serves to give the kayacker
a good grip when casting his weapon, but slides off
from it, and is left in the hand, at the moment of
drawing back his arm. The bird javelin {tK'i(->'c-ak),

Bill.

Uie seal lance(^///-^'-///^-rr-/^>), ii iid the rude hum hiir-knife

afi

''■"•-'*"■ -WlTlT^ III' 1 i"Mgni

« In.

{ka-poot), will be easily understood from my sketches.

a I«

512

THE kayacker;

The paddle (pa-uh-teet), about which a knowing
Esquimaux will waste as many words as a sporting
gentleman upon a double-barreled Mantc^ or a bridle-
bit ol" peculiar fancy, is in every respect a beautifully
considered instrument. It never exceeds seven feet
in length. It is double-bladed, and its central por-
tion, which receives the hands, presents an ellipsoid
face, M'ell adapted to a secure grasp. The blades are
four inches in width, and some two feet in length,
forming very nearly sections of a cone. Their edges
and tips are carefully guarded from the cutting action
of the ice by the ivory of the walrus or narwhal.

Thus constructed and furnished, its seal-skin cover-
ing renewed every year, the kayack is the life, and
pastime, and pride of its owner. He carries it on his
shoulder into the surf, clad in his water-proof seal-skin
dress, belted close round the neck, his hood firmly set
above ; wedges himself into the man-hole, unites him-
self by a lashing to its rim, and paddles off for a frolic
outside the breakers, or it may be a seal-hunt, or to
throw his javelin at the eider, or perhaps to carry (lis-
patches to some distant settlement, or to take part in
a crusade against the reindeer.

In their long excursions in search of deer, the ka-
yackers paddle their way to the nearest portage along
the coast, and shoulder their little skiff till they resich
the interior lakes. Their dexterity is admirable in the
use of their weapons. I have seen them spear the eider
on the wing and the loon as he was diving. Scud-
ding along at a rate equal to that of a five-oared whale-
boat, they fling their tiny javelin far ahead, and, with-
out interrupting their progress, seize it as they pass.

The authorities of Greenland communicate con-
stantly with their different posts by means of the ka-

HIS DEXTERITY.

513

along
reach
in the
} eider
Scud-
whale-
, with-
pass.
e coii-
;he ka-

yack. On these occasions the express consists of two,
traveling together for assistance and fellowship. They
ore expeditious, and proverbially reliable. They travel
only during the day. At night they land upon some
well-remembered solitude ; the kayack is carried up,
and laid beside the leeward lace of some protecting
rock, and, after a scanty meal, the Husky seats him-
self once more in its closely-fitting hole; then, draw-
ing over him his water-tight hood, he leans for sup-
port against the naked stone, and sleeps. One of these
messengers arrived at llolsteinberg while we were
there from Fredericshaab, three hundred and sixty
miles in ten days ; traveling along a tempestuous coast,
with varying winds and currents, at a mean rate of
thirty-six miles a day.

It is said the expertness of the kayacker increases
as you proceed south. If the natives of Julianshaab
and Lichtenfels surpass those of Egedesminde and
llolsteinberg, their feats are unnecessarily wonderful.
Here are some of thein, not performed as such, but
illustrating the accomplishments of a well-trained
man.

Extending out from an offsetting mountain-ridge to
the north of Holsteinberg, is a rocky reef or ledge, over
which the sea breaks heavily, and the currents run
with perplexing caprice and force. In almost all sorts
of weather, if there be only light enough to see, the
kayacks may be met playing about these surf-beaten
passages, regardless of wind, swell, or tides. When
our vessel was entering port, we were boarded by a
kayack pilot. In spite of the heavy seaway, he ap-
proached fearlessly to the side of the brig, then, pois-
ing himself on the slope of the waves, he avoided the
trough, and, passing a running bowline fore and aft

514

FEATS Ol- TUli KAYACKIiR.

ovor his littlo craft, man and boat were lifted bodily
on board.

Going out to seaward, with a heavy inshore surf
rolling, is no trille, even to well-nmnned whale-bouts
The kayacker paddles quietly out toward the break-
ers. The roaring lip of green water bends roof-liko
over him. Down cowers the pliant nuin, his right
shoulder buried in the water, and his hooded hciul
bowed upon his breast. An instant and he emerges
on the outer side with a jutting impulse, shaking iIih
water from liis mane, and preparing I'or a fresh en-
counter.

The somerset, the "cantrum," as the whalers teini
it, may be seen ajiy hour of the day for a plug of to-
bacco or a glass of rum. I have seen it with dilierent
degrees of address ; but one, that Mr. Miiller, the g(»v-
ernor of llolsteinberg, told me of, is the perfecticui of
dextrous overturning. The kayacker takes a stone,
as large as he can grasp in his hand, holding the })aii.
die by the imperfect grip of the thumbs. He whirls
his hands over his head, upsets his little bark, burifo
it bottom up, and rights himself on the other side,
still holding the stone.

But after all, the crowning feat is the every-day
one of catching the seal. For this the kayack is con-
structed, and it is here that its wonderful adaptation
of purpose is best displayed. Without describing the
admirable astuteness with which he finds and ap-
proaches his prey, let us suppose the kayacker close
upon a seal. The line-stand is carefully examined, tlie
coil adjusted, the attachments to the body of the boat
so fixed that the slightest strain will separate them.
The bladder-float is disengaged, and the harpoon tipped
with its barb, which forms the extremity of the coil.

ins SI^AL IIUiNT.

515

Til an instant the kayiickor 1ms thrown his body
back and sent his weapon lionie. Whirr! goes the
little coil, nnd tiie float is bohbiiijr over the water —
not far, however, for the barh has entered the lungs,
iiiul the seal nuist rise Ibr breath. Now the hariioon
is [>icke«l up, its head remaining in the victim; and
the kayack conies along. Here is rec^uired discretion
as well as address. The hunter has probably but two
weapons, a lance and a knife. The latter he can not
part with, and even the lance brings liini to closer
quarters than the safety ol" his cral't would invite; lor
the contortions of a large seal thus wounded may tear
it at some of the seams, and the merest crevice is cer-
tain destruction. Jf he has with him the light javelin
which he uses lor spearing birds, he may be tempted
to employ it now ; but this, 1 believe, is not altogether
sportsmanlike.

This occasional tendency of the ice-raft to float
across the bay has given rise to some fearful accidents.
It would be diiticult for fiction to exceed some of
tlie stories that are well authenticated of these poor
nomads.

Jvsqnimaux who have gone out with kayack or
sledge have been mourned as dead. Years afterward
messages have come by the whalers of their safety in
the unknown regions of the West, and of their adop-
tion there; but after trials too fearful to be recounted.
Some years ago — the year was mentioned, but I have
forgot it — a couple of Esquimaux, relatives, set out on
a sledge in quest of seal. The great ice-plain I'ormed
one continuous sheet from the Greenland shore as far
as the eye could reach. During the night, one of
them, awaking from a heavy sleep, found that the wind
had shifted to the eastward. It was blowing gently,

51(5

CONCLUSION.

and (MHild hardly have been blowing hmg. They Imr.
nessed in their dotrs, urged them to their utmost sjM'ed,
and nmdo for the land they had left. Too hite ! u
yawning ehasni of open water hiy already betw(feii.
A day was lo8t in frantie despair. It hUiw a gal<>, an
olfshoro southeaster. The fog rose, the wind still from
the east: the shore was gone.

The story is a wild one. They reharnesscd the dogs,
and turned to the west, one hundred and thirty track-
loss miles of ice before them. On the third day the
dogs gave out: one of the lost men killed his fellow,
and revived the animals with his lU*sh. The wretch-
ed survivor at hist reached the North Ameri(*nn shore
about Merchant's Bay. Years afterward, this account
came over by a circuitous channel to the CVcenland
settlement. He had married a new wife, had a new
family, a new home, a new country, from wI'.vjIi, had
he desired it never so much, there could be for him
no return.

The traditions of all the settlements have tales of
similar disaster. Yet the Esquimaux are a happy race
of people, happy so far as conicnt and an elastic tem-
perament go to uiake up happiness.

AVo left tlio settlements of Baffin's Bay on the Otii
of September, 1851, grateful exceedingly to the kind-
hearted officers of tlio Danish posts; and aller a run of
pome twenty-four d:iys, unnuirked by incident, tou<'li-
ed our native soil again at New York. Our noblo
fiiend, Henry Grinnoll, was the firtjt to welcome us on
tlic pier-head.

•y liar.

>it(^ ! a
twt'on.
iil<', ail
ill iVuin

10 (l<»;?s,
,' truck*
lay the
Icllow,
wretch-
n shore
account
[HMilaiid
I a new
Lv;ii, had
libr hi III

;alos of
)y race
ic tem-

the Gth

) kind-
run (>•'
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nolle!
o us oil

1 II J

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.Kg

HAUPOOMNO SEALS.

•

CIIAPTEll XXXTV.
DR KANE'S SECOND EXPEDITION.

fn the month of Docoiubcr, 1852, Dr. Kane received
special orders from the Secretary of the Navy, "to
coiKhict an expedition to the Arctic .seas, in search of
Sii- John Franklin."

This Second Expedition, in the brig " Advance," left
New York on the oOth day of May, 1853, escoi'ted by
several steamers ; and, passing slowly on to the Nar-
rows amifl salutes and cheers oi" farewell, cast off froin
the steam-tug and put to sea.

The party, all told, consisted of eighteen persons :

ElisliJi Kent Kane, Commander. Hrnry Brooks, Fii-st Oiiicer.

Isaac I. Ilayrs, Sur;fron. Aujiiist Sonta'^', Astroiioiiier.

William Morton, Jamos ^SlefJary, John W. Wilson, Amos Ronsall,
Geor-je I'ilcy, Gi'or^t! Stt'i)licnson. Clirislian Olilsoii. G('or;;i' Wliijiplo,
William Goillrcy, Henry (joodti'llow, John Blake, Jeil'erson Baker, Peter
Sehiiliert, Thomas Iliekey.

The history of this P]xpcdition was ]niblislied after
the return of its surviving mondiers, and at once took
rank as the most interesting: and most fascinatino*
Avork in the catalogue of Arctic literature — an em-
inence which it to-day enjoys. Although Dr. Kane
stands in the front rank of Arctic adventurers, his
e(pial1y eminent snccoss as an author is unquestioned.
The following extracts from "Arctic Explorations"
can only serve to give the outlines of the expedition,
and a few of the experiences of the partv :

510

r^ m.

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H'.

,,1 fr. V

n. ■

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H:,|| ^:

(i"

520

DR. KANE S SECOND EXPEDITION.

'•"Wo entcretl tlio li{irl)oi' of Fi.skernaes on the Istof
July, iuuid the chiinor of its entire population, assem-
bled on the rocks to greet us. This place has an en-
viable reputation for climate and health. Except per-
haps Ilolsteinberg, it is the dryest station upon the
coast ; and the springs which well through the mosses,
fre(|uently remain untrcjzen throughout the year.

" We found Mr. Lassen, the superintending official of
the Danish Company, a hearty, single-minded man,
fond 01 his wife, his children, and his pipe. The visit
of our ])rig was, oi" course, an incident to be marked in
the simple annals of his colony; and, even belbre I
had shown him my oHicial letters, from the Court of
Denmark, he had most hospitably proffered everything
for our acconmiodation.

''Feeling that our dogs would require fresh provis-
ions, which could hardly be spared from our supplies on
shipboard, I availed myself of Mr. Lassen's influence
to obtain an Esquimaux hunter for our party. He
reconnnended to me one Hans Christian, a ])oy of nine-
teen, as an expert with the k.ayak and javelin ; and
after Hans had Lnven me a touch of his qualitv bv
spearing a bird on the wing, I engaged him. He Avns
fat, good-natured, and, except under the excitements
of the hunt, as stolid and unimpressible as one of our
own Indians.

"Bidding good-bye to the governor, whose hospital-
ity we had shared liberally, we put to sea on Saturday.
the 10th, beating to the northward and westward in
the teeth of a heavy gale.

" On the IGth we passed the promontory of Swarte-
hnk, and were welcomed the next day at Pro\en l)y
my old friend Christiansen, the superintendent, and
fouiid his^ family much as I left them three years

FASTEN Kl) TO AN R'KUKKO.

tW&W

L<liii£»i

l'"1!

PARTINO IIAWSKRS OFF OOOllSF.Mi I.KI"!K.

DR. KANE S SECOND EXPEDITION.

523

before. Frederick, his son, had married a native wo-
man, and added a summer tent, a hali-breed boy, and
a Danish rifle to his stock of vahiables. My former
patient, Anna, had united fortunes with a fjitrfaced Es-
quimau >:, and was the mother of a chubby Httle girl.
Madame Christiansen, who counted all these and so
many others as her happy progeny, was hearty and
warm-hearted as ever.

"August 1. Beset thoroughly with drifting ice,
small rotten floe-pieces. But for our berg, we would
now be carried to the south ; as it is, we drift with it,
to the north and east.

" 2 A. M. The continued pressure against our berg
has begun to affect it ; and, like the great floe all
around us, it has taken up its line of march toward the
south. At the risk of being entangled, I ordered a light
line to bo carried out to a much larger berg, and, after
four hours' labor, made fast to it securely. This berg
is a moving breakwater, and of gigantic proportions :
it keeps its course steadily toward the north, while the
loose ice drifts by on each side, leaving a wake of black
water for a mile behind us.

"About 10 r. M. the immediate danger was past;
and, espying a lead to the northeast, we got under
weigh, and pushed over in spite of the drifting trash.
The men worked with a will, and Ave bored through
the floes in excellent style.

"On our road we were favored with a o-orfreous
spectacle, which hardly any excitement of peril could
have made us overlook. The midnight sun came out
over the northern crest of the great berg, our late
" fast friend," kindling variously-colored fires on every
part of its surface, and making the ice around us one
great resplendency of gcmwork, blazing carbuncles,
and rubies and molten gold.

^'7^

524

ARCTIC PILLARS OF HERCULES.

Vh:

" August 6. Cape Alexander and Cape Isabella, the
headlands of Smith's Sound, are now in sight ; on
the right we have an array of cliffs, whose frowning
grandeur might dignify the entrance to the proudest
of southern seas. I should say they would average
from four to five hundred yards in height, with some
of their precipices eight hundred feet at a single step.
They have been until now the Arctic pillars of Hercu-
les ; and they look down on us as if they challenged
our right to pass. Even the sailors are impressed, as
we move under their dark shadow.

"August 20. By Saturday morning it blew a
perfect hurricane. We had seen it coming, and were
ready with three good hawsers out ahead, and all
things snug on board.

" Still it came on heavier and heavier, and the ice
began to drive more wildly than I thought I had ever
seen it. I had just turned in to warm and dry myself
during a momentary lull, and was stretching myself
out in my bunk, when I heard the sharp twanging
snap of a cord. Our six-inch hawser had parted, antl
we were swinging by the two others ; the gale roaring
like a lion to the southward.

" Half a minute more, and ' twang, twang ! ' came a
second report. I knew it was the whale-line l)y the
shrillness of the ring. Our noble ten-inch manilla still
held on. I was hurrying my last sock into its seal-
skin boot, when McGary came waddling down the
companion-ladder : — ' Captain Kane, she won't hold
much longer: it's blowing the devil himself, and I am
afraid to surge.'

" The manilla cable Avas proving its excellence when
I reached the deck ; and the crew, as they gathered
round me were loud in its praises. We could hear its

DR. KANE S SECOND EXPEDITION.

525

deep Eolian chant, swelling tlirougli all the rattle of
the running-gear and moaning of the shrouds. It was
the death-song! The strands gave way, witli the
noise of a shotted gun ; and in the smoke that fol-
lowed their recoil, we were dragged out by the wild
ice, at its mercy.

" But a new enemy came in sight ahead. Directly
in our way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against
which we were alternately sliding and thumping,
was a group of bergs. We had no power to avoid
tlicui ; and the only question was whether we were to
be dashed in pieces against them, or whether they
might not ofler us some providential nook of refuge from
the storm. But, as we neared them, we perceived tliat
they were at some distance from the floe-edge, and sep-
arated from it by an interval of open water. Our
liopes rose, as the gale drove us toward this passage,
and into it; and we were ready to exult, when, from
some unexplained cause, — probably an eddy of the
wind against the lofty ice-walls, — we lost our headway.
Almost at the same moment, we saw that the bergs
were not at rest ; that with a momentum of their own
they were bearing down upon the other ice, and that
it must be our fate to be crushed between the two.

" Just then, a broad sconce-piece or low water-washed
berg came driving up from the southward. The
thought flashed upon me of one of our escapes in Mel-
ville Bay ; and as the sconce moved rapidly close along-
side us, McGary managed to plant an anchor on its
slope, and hold on to it by a whale-line. It was an
anxious moment. Our noble tow-horse, whiter than
the pale horse that seemed to be pursuing us, hauled
us bravely on ; the spray dashing over his windward
flanks, and his forehead ploughing up the lesser ice, as

,' Hit '

&if

52o

RENSSELAER IIARUOR.

f#'!

if in scorn. Tlio bergs encroached upon us as we ad.
vanced : our channel narrowed to width of perluips
forty ieet: we braced tlie yards to clear the Impend-
ing ice-walls.

•' We passed clear ; but it was a close shave, — so
close that our port quarter-boat would have been
crushed if we had not t{d<en it in from the davits, — and
found ourselves under the lee of a berg, in a compara-
tively open lead. Never did heart-tired uien acknowl-
edge with more gratitude their merciful deliverance
from a wretched death."

After forcing a passage for a week longer, with a
constant repetition of the scenes just described, Dr.
Kane held a grand council with his officers, and with
one exception, Henry Bi'ooks, they were in favor of
returning southward to winter. Not being able to
take the same view, Dr. Kane aimoiuicod his intention
of working to\vards the northren headland of the bay:
once there, he would put the brig into winter harbor
at the first suitable place. In his decision they all
cheerfully acquiesced. Finally, on the 7th of 8ep-
temljer, the " Advance " was anchored in Rensselaer
Harbor, and by the 10th, was linnly frozen in. '"The
same ice is around her still."

Preparations for the winter's residence at this place
were at once commenced ; journeys were made
towards the interior, and a party of seven men set
off September 20th, dragging a sledge load of pcm-
mican, to establish the first of a chain of provision de-
pots along the coast, for the benefit of exploring par-
ties to be sent out the next sprino-. On the 10th of
October, Kane w^ith a dog team, and Blake on skates,
started off to look for the absent party, who had not
returned when expected.

KVI.VIA IIKAKI.ANK.- -INSl'K(TlN(i A IIAKIIOB.

,?^-.-

; i '1

|:v*«tt»

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■■'.'**■ t

iiL

ii '

ill

r >

■

CAMr ON THE FLOES.

529

"On tho morning- of tlio 15tli, about two hours be-
fore the late Hunrise, as I was preparin^^ to oUnib a
berg IVoui which I might have a sight of the road
ahead, I perceived far off upon tiie white snow a dark
object, which not only moved, l)ut altered its shape
strangely, — now expanding into a long black line,
now waving, now gathering itself up into a compact
mass. It was the returning sledge party. Tlu'y had
seen our black tent of Kedar, and ferried Jicross to
seek it '

'• They were most welcome ; for their absence, in the
fearfully open state of the ice, had fdled me with
apprehensions. We could not distinguish each
other, as we drew near in the twilight; and my
iirst good news of them was when I heard that they
were singing. On they came, and at last 1 was able
to count their voices, one by one. Thank Cod, seven I
Poor John Blake was so breathless with gratulation,
that 1 could not get him to blow his signal-horn. We
gave them, instead, the good old Anglo-Saxon greet-
inj--, " three cheers I " and in a few minutes were amonrc
them.

" They had camped one night under the lee of some
large icebergs, and within hearing of the grand artil-
lery of the glacier. The floe on which their tent was
pitched was of recent and transparent ice ; and the
party, too tired to seek a safer asylum, had turned in
to rest ; when, with a crack like the snap of a gigantic
whip, the ice opened directly beneath them. This was,
as nearly as they could estimate the time, at about
one o'clock in the morning. The darkness was in-
tense; and the cold, about 10° below zero, was in-
creased by a wind which ble:v from the northeast over
the glacier. They gathered together their tent and

y«ii.S

lljSB'j

nvsmi

ipff

H k''^mn|

f ' 1

|{Hf|'3^

ri. 1'

fir

Ivl

530

ClIRIHTMAH FESTIVITIES,

r';

slooping furs, nnd lanlicd tlioin according to tlio best
of tlu'ir ability, upon the sledgo.

"Kopt'uted intonationH warned them that the ice was
breaking up; a swell, evidently produced from the av-
alanclu^M from the glacier, caused the platform on
•which they stood to rock to and fro.

'• November IG. Poor ITauH has been sorely home-
sick. Three days ago he bundled up his clothes and
took his rifle to bid us all good-bye. It turns out that be-
sides his mother, there is another one of the softer sex
at Fiskernaes that the boy's heart is dreaming of. Ho
looked as wretched as any lover of a milder clime. 1
hope I have treated his nostalgia successfully, by giv-
ing him first a dose of salts, and secondly, promotion.
lie lias now all the dignity of henchman. lie har-
nesses my dogs, builds my tra[)s, and walks Avith me
on my ice-tramps; and, except hunting, is excused
from all other duty. Tie is really attached to me, and
as happy as a fat man ought to be.

"December 15. AVe have lost the last vestiiro
of our mid-day twilight. We cannot sec print, and
hardly paper: the fingers cannot be counted a foot
from the eyes. Noonday and midnight an.' alike, and,
except a vague glinmier on the sky that seems to de-
fine the hill outline to the south, we have nothing
to tell us that this Arctic world of ours has a sun. In
one week more we shall reach the midnight of the
year.

" December 26. Our anxieties for old Grim might
have interfered with almost any thing else ; but they
could not arrest our celebration of yesterday. Dr.
Hayes made us a well-studied oration, and Morton a
capital punch; add to these a dinner of marled beef,
— we have two pieces left, for the sun's return and the

TH K RKTIT IININO HUN.

531

Fourth of July, — nnd a bumper of rlinnipngiio nil
roiuul ; nnd the elements of our frolic are nil regis-
tered.

*' Janunry 20. This morning nt five o'clock — for T nm
go alllicted with the insonmium of tluH eternal night
that I rise nt nny time between midnight nnd noon —
I went upon deck. It was absolutely dark; the cnld
not permitting a swinging lamp. There was not a
glimmer came to me through the ice-crusted window-
panes of the cabin. While I was feeling my way, half
puzzled as to the best method of steering clear of
whatever might be before me, two of my Newfound-
land dogs put their cold noses against my hand, and
instantly commenced the most exuberant antics of
witisfaction. It then occurred to me how very dreary
nnd forlorn must these poor annuals be, at atiuosj)here
of + 10° in-doors and — 50° without, — living in dark-
ness, howling at an accidental light, as if it reminded
them of the moon, — and with nothing, either of in-
stinct or sensation, to tell them of the passing hours,
or to explain the long-lost daylight. They shall see
the lanterns more frequently.

" February 1. We have seen the sim, for some days,
silvering the ice between the headlands of the hny ;
and to-day, toward nooi, I started out to be the first
of my party to welcome him back. It was the long-
est walk and toughest climb that I have had since our
imprisonment; and scurvy a!id general debility have
made me * short o' wind.' But I managed to attain
my object. I saw him once more ; and upon a ]iro-
jecting crag nestled in the sunshine. It was like
bathing in perfumed water.

"March LS. Since January, we have been working
at the sledges and other preparations for travel. The

:%iQ

I j- ■ f I'

wis -'s •

532

SUDDEN ALARM.

death of my clogs, the rugged obstacles of the ice,
and the intense cold have o])liged me to reorganize our
whole equipment. We have had to discard all our
India-rubber fancy-work : canvas shoe-making, fur-
socking sewing, carpentering, are all going on ; and
the cabin, our only fire-warmed apartment, is the
work-shop, kitchen, parlor, and hall.

"Not a man now, except Pierre and Morton, is ex-
empt from scurvy ; and, as I look around upon tlie pale
faces and haggard looks of my comrades, I feel that we
are fighting the battle of life at disadvantage, and that
an Arctic night and an Arctic day age a man more
rapidly and harshly than a year anywhere else in all
this weary world.

" March 20. I saw the depot -party off yesterday.
They gave the usual three cheers, with three for my-
self. I gave them the whole of my l)rother's wed-
ding cake, and my last two bottles of Port, and tlicy
pulled the sledge they were harnessed to famously.
The party were seen by MoGaryfrom aloft, at noon to-
day, moving easil}^, and about twelve miles from the
brig.

" We were at work cheerfully, sewing away at the
skins of some moccasins by the blaze of our lamps,
when, toward midnight of the 31st, we heard the noise
of steps above, and the next minute Sontag, Ohlson,
and Petersen came down into the cabin. Their man-
ner startled me even more than their unexpected ap-
pearance on board. They were swollen and haggaid,
and hardly able to speak.

Their story was a fearful one. They had left their
com])anions in the ice, risking their own lives to k)ring
us the news : Brooks, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre Avcve
all lying frozen and disabled. W^here '? They coukl

the ice,
mizeour
all our
Ing, fur-
on; ill id
;, is the

IN THE TENT.

on, IS cx-
i the pale
1 that we
and that
lan more
[ilse in all

rcstcrday.
;e for uiy-
ler's wcd-

and they
famously.
t noon to-

from the

^ay at the

ur lamps,

the noise

., Ohiseii,

lieir nuni-

)OCtcd ap-

haggard,

lleft thoir
to orhig
rrc Avc've

Ley could

I'l.NNACLV UEUU.

THE KK8CUE I'AKTY.

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mhm

tmi

I 1

LOST ON THE FLOES.

535

not tell : somewhere in among the hummocks to the
north and east; it was drifting heavily round them
when they parted. Irish Tom had stayed by to feed
and care for the others ; but the chances were sorely
against them. It was in vain to question them further.
They had evidently traveled a great distance, for they
were sinking with fatigue and hunger, and could
hardly be rallied enough to tell us the direction in
which they had come.

" My first impulse was to move on the instant with
an unencumbered party : a rescue, to be eifective or
even hopeful, could not be too prompt. What pressed
on my mind most was, where the sufferers were to be
looked for among the drifts. Ohlsen seemed to have
his iaculties rather more at command than his associ-
ates, ana I thought that he might assist us as a guide ;
but he was sinking with exhaustion, and if he went
with us we must carry him.

"There was not a moment to be lost. While some
were still busy with the new-comers, and getting ready
a hasty meal, others were rigging out the " Little Wil-
lie " with a bufflilo-cover, a small tent, and a package of
pemmican ; and, as soon as we could hurry through
our arrangements, Ohlson was strapped on in a fur
bag, his legs wrapped in dog-skins and eider-down, and
we Avent off upon the ice. Our party consisted of
nine men and myself We carried only the clothes
on our backs.

"A well-known peculiar tower of ice, called by the
men the " Pinnacly Berg," served as our first landmark:
other icebergs of collossal size, which stretched in long
beaded lines across the bay, helped to guide us after-
ward ; and it was not until we had traveled for sixteen
hours that we began to lose our way.

W^ B i

■•■ %\i

f'i

Y'r.

W'^

636

THE RESCUE PARTY.

"Pushing ahead of the pnrty, and clambering over
some rugged ice-piles, I came to a long level floe, which
I thought might probably have attracted the eyes of
weary men in circumstances like our own. It was a
light conjecture, but it was enough to turn the scale,
for there was no other to balance it. I gave orders to
abandon the sledge, and disperse in search of foot-
marks. We raised our tent, placed our pemmican in
cache, except a small allowance for each man to carry
on his person; and poor Ohlsen, now just able to keep
his leg:-*, was liberated from his bag. The thermome-
ter had fallen by this time to — 49°.3, and the wind
was setting in sharply from the northwest. It was
out of the question to halt : it required brisk exer-
cise to keep us from freezing. I could not even melt
ice for water ; and, at these temperatures, any resort
to snow for the purpose of alla3'ing thirst was fol-
lowed by bloody lips and tongue : it burnt like
caustic.

" It was indispensable then that we should move on,
looking out for traces as we went. Yet when the men
were ordered to spread themselves, so as to multiply
the chances, though they all obeyed heartily, some
painful impress of solitary danger, or perhaps it may
hxive been the varying configuration of the ice-field,
kept them closing up continually into a single group.
The strange manner in which some of us were affected
I now attribute as much to shattered nerves as to the
direct influence of the cold. Men like McGary and
Bonsall, who had stood out our severest marches, were
seized with trembling fits and short breath ; and, in
spite of all my cffbrts to keep up an example of sound
bearing, I fainted twice on the snow.

"We had been nearly eighteen hours out without

THE WANDERERS FOUND.

537

water or food, when a new hope cheered us. I thinlc
it was Hans, our Esquimaux hunter, who thought he
saw a broad sledge-track. The drift had nearly
eflliced it, and we were some of us doubtful at first
whether it was not one of tho^e accidental rifts
which the gales make in the surface snoAv. But, as
we traced it on to the deep snow among the hum-
mocks, we were led to footsteps ; and, following these
with religious care, we at last came in sight of a small
American flag fluttering from a hummock, and lower
down a little Masonic banner hano-infr from a tent-
pole hardly above the drift. It was the camp of our
disabled comrades : we reached it after an unbroken
march of twenty-one hours.

" The little tent was nearlv covered. I Avas not amonrr
tlic first to come up j but, when I reached the tent cur-
tain, the men were standing in silent file on each side
of it. With more kindness and dellcacv of fcclincr
than is often supposed to belong to sailors, but which
is almost characteristic, they intimated their wish that
I should go in alone. As I crawled in, and, coming
upon the darkness, heard before mo the burst of welcome
gladness that came from the four poor fellows stretched
on their backs, and then for the first time the cheer
outside, my weakness and my gratitude together al-
most overcame me. " They had expected mo : they
were sure I would come ! "

'"' We were now fifteen souls ; the thermometer sev-
enty-five degrees below the freezing point ; and our
sole accommodation a tent barclv able to contain eis'-ht
persons : more than half our party were oljliged to
keep from freezing by walking outside while the oth-
ers slept. We could not halt long. Each of us took
a turn of two hours' sleep ; and w^e prepared for our
homeward march.

538

PERILS OF THE RETURN.

" Wo took with US nothing but the tent, furs to pro-
tect the rescued party, and food for a journey of fifty
hours. Everything else was abandoned. Two large
buffalo-bags, each made of four skins, were doubled
up, so as to form a sort of sack, lined on each side by
fur, closed at the bottom but opened at the top. This
was laid on the sledge ; the tent, smoothly folded,
serving as a floor. The sick with their limbs sewed
up carefully in reindeer-skins were placed upon the
bed of buffalo-robes, in a half-reclining posture ; otlier
skins and blanketrbags were tlirown above them ; and
the whole litter was lashed together so as to allow but
a single opening opposite the mouth for breathing.

" This necessary work cost us a great deal of time and
effort ; but it was essential to the lives of the suffer-
ers. It took us no less than four hours to strip and
refresh them, and then to enable them in the manner
I have described. It was completed at last, however;
all hands stood round ; and after repeating a short
prayer, we set out on our retreat.

" And yet our march lor the first six hours was very
cheering. We made by vigorous pulls and lifts nearly
a mile an hour, and reached the new floes before we
were absolutely weary. Our sledge sustained the
trial admirably. Ohlsen, restored by hope, walked
steadily at the leading belt of the sledge-lines ; and I
began to feel certain of reaching our half-way station
of the day before, where we had left our tent. But
we were still nine miles from it, when, almost without
premonition, we all became aware of an alarming fail-
ure of our energies.

" B'jnsall and Morton, two of our stoutest men, came
to me, begging permission to sleep : " they were not
cold : tlie wind did not enter them now : a little sleep

MEN GIVING OUT.

539

was all they wanted." Presently Hans was found
nearly stiff under a drift ; and Thomas, bolt upright,
had his eyes closcid, and could hardly articulate. At
last, John Blake threw himself on the snow, and re-
fused to rise. They did not complain of feeling cold ;
but it was in vain that I wrestled, boxed, ran, argued,
jeered, or reprimanded : an immediate halt could not
be avoided.

" We pitched our tent with much difficulty. Our
hands were t( )0 powerless to strike a fire : we were
obliged to do without water or food. Even the spirits
(whisky) had frozen at the men's feet, under all
the coverings. We put Bonsall, Ohlsen, Thomas, and
Hans, with the other sick men, well inside the lent, and
crowded in as many others as we could. Then, leav-
ing the party in charge of Mr. McGary, with orders to
come on after four hours' rest, I pushed ahead with
William Godfrey, who volunteered to be my compan-
ion. My aim was to reach the halfway tent, and thaw
some ice and pemmican before the others arrived.

" The floe was of level ice, and the walking excellent.
I cannot tell how long it took us to make the nine
miles ; for we were in a strange sort of stupor, and
had little apprehension of time. It was probably
about four hours. We kept ourselves awake by im-
posing on each other a continued articulation of words;
they must have been incoherent enough. I recall
these hours as among the most wretched I have ever
gone through : we were neither of us in our right
senses, and retained a very confused recollection of
what preceded our arrival at the tent. We both of
us, however, remember a bear, who walked leisurely
before us and tore up as he went a jumper that Mr.
McGary had improvidentiy thrown off the day before.

.1 '. , .''■».«

ill

'tm

540

A BIVOUAC.

He tore it into shreds and rolled it into a ball, but
never offered to interfere with our })rogress. I remem-
ber this, and with it a confused sentiment that our tent
and buffalo-robes might probably share the same fate.
Godfrey, with whom the memory of this day's work
may atone for many faults of later time, had a better
eye than myself; and, looking some miles ahead, he
could see that our tent was undergoing the same un-
ceremonious treatment. I thought I saw it too, but
we were so drunken with cold that we strode on
steadily, and^ for aught I know, without quickening
our pace.

" Probably our approach saved the contents of the
tent; for when we reached it the tent was uninjured,
though the bear had overturned it, tossing the buffalo-
robes and peramican into the snow ; we missed only a
couple of blanket-bags. What we recollect, however,
and perhaps all we recollect, is, that we had great
difficulty in raising it. We crawled into our reindeer
sleeping-bags, without speaking, and for the next
three hours slept on in a dreamy but intense slum-
ber.

" We were able to melt water and get some soup
cooked before the rest of our party arrived ; it took
them but five hours to walk the nine miles. They
were doing well, and considering the circumstances, in
wonderful spirits. The day was most providentially
windless, with a clear sun. All enjoyed the refresh-
ment we had got ready : the crippled were repacked
in their robes ; and we sped briskly toward the hum-
mock ridges which lay between us and the Pinnacly
Berg.

" Our halts multiplied and we fell half-sleeping on
the snow. I could not prevent it. Strange to say, it re-

RELIEF FllOM THE B III O .

541

frcslicd us. I venturod upon the experiment myself^
making Riley wake me at the end of three minutes ;
and 1 felt so much benefited by it that I timed the
men in the same way. They sat on the runners of
the sledge, fell asleep instantly, and were forced to
wakefulness when their three minutes were out.

'• By eight in the evening we emerged from the floes.
The sight of the Pinnacly Berg revived us. Brandy,
an invaluable resource in emergency, had already been
served out in tablespoonful doses. We now took a
longer rest, and a last but stouter dram, and reached
the brig at 1 r. m., we believe without a halt.

" I say we believe ; and here perhaps is the most de-
cided proof of our suflferings : we were quite delirious,
and had ceased to entertain a sane apprehension of
tlie circumstances about us. We moved on like men
in a dream. Our footmarks seen aOierward showed
that we had steered a bee-line for tlie brig. It must
have been by a sort of instinct, for it left no impress
on the memory. Bonsall was sent staggering ahead,
and reached the brig, God knows how, for ho had
fallen repeatedly at the track-lines ; but he delivered
with punctilious accuracy the messages I had sent by
him to Dr. Hayes.

Petersen and Whipple came out to meet us about
two miles from the brig. They brought my dog-team,
with the restoratives I had sent for by Bonsall. I do
not remember their coming. Dr. Hayes entered with
judicious energy upon the treatment our condition
called for, administering morphine freely, after the
usual frictions next. Mr. Ohlsen suffered some time
from strabismus and blindness : two others underwent
amputation of part of the foot, without unpleasant con-
sequences J and tw^o died in spite of all our efforts.

k'U'

. n^

I ■• /

! (

^Sitfil|

-fi
llffP

TtTT"

i: i

642

ESQUIMAUX VISITORS.

" We were wateliing in the morninj^^ at Baker's deatli-
bed, when one of our deck-watch, avIio had been cut-
ting ice for the nielter, came hurrying down into tlio
cabin with tlie report, " People halloing ashore ! " 1
went up, followed by as many as could mount the
gaugwny ; and there they were, on all sides of our
rocky harl)or, dotting the snow-shores and emerging
from the blackness of the cliffs, — wild and uncouth but
evidently human beings.

" As we gathered on the deck, they rose upon the
more elevated fragments of the land-ice, standing
singly and conspicuously like the figures in a tableau
of the opera, and distributing themselves around al-
most in a half-circle. They were vocilerating as if to
attract our attention, or perhaps only to give vent to
their surprise ; but I could make nothing out of their
cries, except " Hoali, ha ha ! " and " Ka, katlh ! ha,
kaah ! " repeated over and over again.

" There Avas light enough for me to see that they
brandished no weapons, and were only tossing their
heads and arms about in violent gesticulations, A
more unexcitcd inspection showed us, too, that their
numbers were not as great nor their size as Patago-
nian as some of us had been disposed to fancy at fii-st.
In a word, 1 was satisfied that they were natives of the
country ; and calling Petersen from his bunk to be my
interpreter, I proceeded, unarmed and waving my
open hands, toward a stout figure who made him-
self conspicuous and seemed to have a greater number
near him than the rest. He evidently understood the
movement, for he at once, like a brave fellow, leaped
down upon the floe and advanced to meet me fully
half-way.

" He was nearly a head taller than myself, extremely

r's (leatli-
it'on c\it-
into tlio
[)ve!" 1
)unt the
< of our
micrging
outh l)iit

upon the
standing
a tableau
.round al-
cr as if to
e vent to
t of their
:ririh ! ha,

:hat they
ing their
Itions. A
lat their
is Patago-
■y at first,
fes of the
to be my
vinii; mv
lade hini-
number
stood the
kv, leaped
Ime fully

[^.1

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•ft

:trcmely

Ill

jk!

)«

(Olt

l/^!"

«■

LOADINtt TIIK fAllll.

VIKST MKKTIMU WITU KbVIUlMAUX.

INTERVIEW WITH METER.

545

powt'iful and ucU-huilt, witli swnrtliy complexion and
piercing black ojos. His dross was a hooded capote
or juinpi'ror niixod white and blue Ibx-jH'lts, arranged
with something of fancy, nnd l)()otod tiousersof white
bear-skin, which at the end of the foot were made to
teriiiiniito with the claws of the animal.

*' Althoiigi» tiiiswas the first time he had ever seen a
wliito man, he went with me fearlessly ; his compan-
ions staying Ixdiind on the ice. Ilickcy took them
out wiiat he esteemed our greatest delicacnes, — slices
of good wheat bread, and corned ])ork, with exorbitant
lumps of white sugar ; but they refused to touch them.
They had evidently no apprehension of o\)v\\ violence
from us. I found afterward that several among them
were singly a match for the white iK'ar and the walru.s,
and that they thought us a very pale-faced crew.

'' Being satisfied with my interview in the cabin, I
sent out word that the rest might be admitted to the
ship ; and, although they, of course, could not know
how their chief had been dealt with, some nine or ten
of them followed with boisterous readiness upon the
bidding. Others in the mean time, as if disposed to
give us their company for the full time of a visit,
brought up from behind the land-ice as many as fifty-
six line dogs, with their sledges, and secured them
within two hundred feet of the brig, driving their
lances into the ice, and picketing the dogs to them by
the seal-skin traces. The sledges were made up of
small fragments of porous bone, admirably knit to-
gether by thongs of hide ; the runners, which glistened
like burnished steel, were of highly-polished ivory,
obtained from the tusks of the wjdrus. The only arms
they carried were knives, conce;iled in their boots ;
but their lances, which were lashed to the sledges,
wore quite a formidable weapon.

mmf'^^

,i •'

f i.

546

D E A T II OF B A K E R .

"In llie morning they wore anxious to go ; but I luul
given orders to detain them for a parting interview
with myself. It resulted in a treaty, brief in its terms
that it might certainly be remembered, and mutually
beneficial, that it might possibly be kept. I tried to
m.ako them understand what a powerful Prospero they
had had for a host, and how beneficent ho would prove
himself so long as they did his bidding. And as an
earnest of my favor, I bought all the walrus-meat they
had to spare, and four of their dogs, enriching them
in return with ne<' lies and beads and a treasure of old
cask -staves.

" In the fullness of their gratitude, they pledged
themselves emphatically to return in a few days with
more meat, and to allow me to use their dogs and sledges
for my excursions to the north. I then gave them
leave to go. Thoy yoked in their dogs in less than
two minutes, got on their sledges, cracked their two-
fathom-and-a-half-long seal-skin whij), and were off
down the ice to the southwest at a rate of seven knots
an hour.

"May 28, Sunday. Our day of rest and devotion.
It was a fortnight ago last Friday since our poor friend
Pierre died. For nearly two months he had been strug-
gling against the enemy with a resolute will and
mirthful spirit, that seemed sure of victory. But ho
sunk in spite of them.

"The last offices were rendered to him w^ith the
same careful ceremonial that wo ol)served at Baker's
funeral. There were fewer to walk in the procession ;
but the body was encased in a decent pine coflin and
carried to Observatory Island, where it was placed
side-by-side with that of his messmate. Neither could
yet be buried ; but it is hardly necessary to say that

RETURN OF DR. HAYES.

547

the frost has cnibahncd their remains. Dr. Hayes read
the chapter from Job which has consigned so many to
tlieir hist resting-phieo, and a little snow was sprinkled
upon the face of the coffin. Pierre was a volunteer not
only of our general expedition, but of the party with
which he met his death-blow. He was a gallant niiui,
a univers.al favorite on board, always singing some
Beranger balhid or other, and so elastic in his merri-
ment that even in his last sickness he cheered all that
were about him."

"May 30. It is a year ago to-day since we left
New York. I am not as sanguine as I was then : time
and exj)erience have chastened me. There is everv
thing about me to check enthusiasm and moderate
hope. 1 am here in forced inaction, a broken-down
man, oppressed l)y cares, with many dangers beibi'e
me, and still under the shadow of a hard wearing win-
ter, which has crushed two of my best associates.

'"My mind never realizes the complete catastrophe,
the destruction of all Franklin's crews. I picture them
to myself broken into detachments, and my mind fixes
itself on one little group of some thirty, wlio have
found the open spot of some tidal eddy, and luider the
teachings of some Esquimaux or perhaps one of tlu'ir
own Greenland whalers, have set bravely to work, and
trapped the fox, speared the bear, and killed the seal
and walrus and whale. I think of them ever with
hope. I sicken not to bo able to reach them.

"June 1, Thursday. At ten o'clock this morning
the wail of tlie dogs outside announced tlie I'eturu of
Dr. Hayes and A^'illiam C!o(lfre3\ Both of them were
completely snow-blind, and the doctor had to l)e led to
my bedside to make his report.

"June 27. McGary and Bonsall arc back with

I .(. >-. /'

:4**.vl;i^!:|jpj;|!

■ f^^Pr-

Ir-'ilf

548

ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR.

h mi

111

Hickej and Riley. They arrived last evening: all
well, except that the snow lias effected their eye-sight
hadly, owing to the scorbutic condition of their sys-
tems, Mr. McGary is entirely blind, and I fear will
be found slow to cure. They have done admirably
They bring back a continued series of observations,
perfectly well kept up, for the further authentication
of our survey.

'- This is evidently the season when the bears are
in most abundance. Their tracks were everywhere,
both on shore and upon the Hoes. One of them had
the auflacity to a1 tempt intruding itself upon the
party daring one of their halts upon the ice; and Bon-
sall tells a good story of the manner in which they re-
ceived and returned his salutation, but without in any
degree (disturbing the unwelcome visitor ; specially
unwelcome at that time and place, for all the guns
had 1 een left on the sledge, a little distance off, and
there Avas not so much as a walking-pole inside. There
was of course something of natural confusion in the
little council of war. The first impulse was to make
a rush for the arms; but this was soon decided to be
very dcnibtfully practicable, if at all, for the bear,
having satisfied himself with his observations of the
exterior, now presented himsoif at the tent-opening.
Sundry volleys of lucifer matches and some im-
promptu torches of newspapers were fired without
alarming him, and, after a little while, he planted him-
self iit the doorway and began making his supper
upon the carcass of a seal which had been shot the
day before.

" Tom Ilickey was the first to bethink him of the
military device of a sortie from the postern, and, cut-
ting a hole with his knife, crawled out at the rear of

TKNT O.N TlIK KLOK.S.

TIIK BEAR IN CAMl'.

aATBERIMO MOaS.

I. I ■■' {■ *M ■

■ •! ')

-•n

\i- ■ . Ik ■'

ADVENTURES OF MORTON AND HANS

551

the tent. Here he extricated a boat-hook, that formed
one of the supporters of the ridge-pole, and made it
the instrument of a right valorous attack. A blow
well administered on the nose caused the animal to
retreat for the moment a few paces, beyond the sledge,
and Tom, calculating his distance nicely, sprang for-
ward, seized a rifle, and fell back in safety upon his
comrades. In a few seconds more, Mr. Bonsall had
sent a ball through and through the body of his en-
emy.

" It was with no slight joy that on the evening of the
10th of July, while walking with Mr. Bonsall, a dis-
tant sound of dogs caught my ear. These faithful
servants generally bayed their full-mouthed welcome
from afar off, but they always dashed in with a wild
speed which made their outcry a direct precursor of
their arrival. Not so these well-worn travelers. Hans
and Morton staggered beside the limping dogs, and
poor Jenny was riding as a passenger upon the sledge.

" They left the brig on the 3d of June, and reached
the Great Glacier on the 15th, after only twelve days
of travel. They showed great judgment in passing
the bays ; and, although impeded by the heavy snows,
would have been able to remain much longer in the
field, but for the destruction of our provision-depots
by the bears.

" As Morton, leaving Hans and his dogs, passed be-
tween Sir John Franklin Island and the narrow ])each-
line, the coast became more wall-like, and dark masses
of porphyritic rock abutted in.o the sea. With grow-
ing difficulty, he managed to climb from rock to rock,
in hopes of doubling the promontory and sighting the
coast beyond, but the water kept encroaching more
f.nd more on his track.

ix >'■'

I' I.

552

THE OPEN SEA,

'• It must have been an imposing sight, as he stood at
this termination of his journey, looking out upon the
great waste of waters befcjre him. Not a " speck of
ice," to use his own words, could be seen. There, from a
height of five hundred and eiglity feet, which com-
manded a horizon of almost forty miles, his ears were
gladdened with the novel music of dashing waves;
and a surf, breaking in among the rocks at his feet,
stayed his further progress.

" Beyond this cape all is surmise. The high ridges
to the northwest dwindled off into low blue knobs,
ri ai.Ii 'jlended finally with the air. Morton called
the .... >vhich baflled his labors, after his command-
er; out I hove given it the more enduring name of
Caju-' Constitution.

"All One si eu;.; ^-parties were now once more aboard
ship, and the soason of Arctic travel has ended. For
more than ten months we had been imprisoned in ice,
and throughout all that perioil, except during the en-
forced holiday of the midwinter darkness or Avliile
repairing from actual disaster, had been constantly in
the field. The summer was wearing on, but still the
ice did not break up as it should. As far as we could
see, it remained inflexibly solid between us and the
North Water of Baffin's Bay.

" The alternative of abandoning the vessel at this
early stage of our absence, even wei-e it possible,
would, I feel, be dishonoring ; but, revolving the ques-
tion as one of practicability alone, I would not under-
take it. In the first place how are we to ^et along
with our sick and newly-amputated men ? It is a
dreary distance at the best to Upernavik of Beechy
Island, our only seats of refuge, and a ^jrecarious trav-
erse if we were all of us fit for moving ; but we are

la^

MORTON A.NU HANS KNTERINU THE CllANNKI,.

f)^ !

II i'

.it!; .it«^ r

. .#!

MORTOK AND HANS LKAVINO KENNEDY CHANXKL.

ATTEMPT TO REACH BEECHY ISLAND. 555

hardly one-half in efficiency of what we count in
number. Besides, how can I desert the brig while
there is still a chance of saving her ? There is no use
of noting j9ros and cons; my mind is made up; I will
not do it."

About the middle of July, Dr. Kane, with five vol-
unteers, started southward hoping to be able to reach
Beechy Island, and to communicate with some one of
the English ships searching for Franklin. The trip was
made in a boat which was dragged to the water, and
was exciting and dangerous. On the Slst of July,
when within ten miles of Cape Parry, they were stop-
ped by a solid mass of ice which lay directly across
their path. On climbing an iceberg they found that
all within a radius of thirty miles was an impenetrable
sea of ice. Further attempts to proceed being useless,
they returned to the brig, halting at Northumberland
and Littleton Islands, where they feasted on auks and
scurvy grass.

Littleton Island will ever be a locality of great in-
terest, as the last harbor of the Polaris was on the
the main land opposite, and the place where her crew,
after a long residence, started southward in June, 1873.

"August 18. Reduced our allowance of wood to
six pounds a meal. This, among eighteeii mouths, is
one-third of a pound of fuel for each. It allows us
coffee twice a day, and soup once. Our fare besides
this is cold pork boiled in quantity and eaten as re-
quired. This sort of thing works badly; but I must
save coal for other emergencies. I see 'darkness
ahead.'

"August 20, Sunday. Rest for all hands. The
daily prayer is no longer ' Lord accept our grutitude
and bless our undertaking/ but 'Lord accept our

'■* 'SI :

Hf II

<|i.

556

SIG-NAL CAIUN.

gratitude and restore us to our homes.' The ice
shows no change: after a boat and foot journey
around the entire southeastern curve of the bay, no
signs !

" I determined to place upon Observatory Ishmd a
large signal-beacon or cairn, and to bury under it doc-
uments which, in case of disaster to our party, would
convey to any who might seek us intelligence
of our proceedings and our fate. The memory of the
first winter quarters of Sir John Franklin, and the
painful feelings with which, while standing by the
graves of his dead, I had four years before sought for
written signs pointing to the fate of the living, made
me careful to avoid a similar neglect.

"A conspicuous spot was selected upon a cliff looking
out upon the icy desert, and on a broad face of rock
the words

ADYAI!TCE,

A. D. 1853-54,

were painted in letters which could be read at a dis-
tance. A pyramid of heavy stones, perched above it,
was marked with the Christian symbol of the cross.
It was not without a holier sentiment than that of
mere utility that I placed under this the coffins of our
two poor comrades. It was our beacon and their
gravestone.

" Near this a hole was worked into the rock, and a
paper, enclosed in glass, sealed in with melted lead.

" It read as follows : —

" Brig Advance, August 14, 1854.

"E. K. Kane, with his comrades, Kenry Brooks,
John Wall Wilson, James McGary, I. I. Hayes^ Chris-

THE RECORD.

557

tian Ohlacn, Amos Bonsall, Henry Goodfollow, August
Sontag, William Morton, J. Carl Peterson, George
Stephenson, Jefferson Temple Baker, George Riley,
Peter Schubert, George Whipple, John Blake, Thomas
Hickey, William Godfrey, and Hans Christian, mem-
bers of the Second Grinnell Expedition in search of
Sir John Franklin and the missing crews of the Erebus
and Terror, were forced into this harbor while endeav-
oring to bore the ice to the north and east.

" They were frozen in on the 8th of September,
1853, and liberated

" During this period the labors of the expedition
have delineated nine hundred and sixty miles of coast-
line, without developing any traces of the missing ships
or the slightest information bearing upon their fate.
The amount of travel to effect this exploration ex-
ceeded two thousand miles, all of which was upon foot
or by the aid of dogs.

"Greenland has been traced to its northern ftice,
whence it is connected with the farther north of the
opposite coast by a great glacier. This coast has been
charted as high as lat. 82° 27'. Smith's Sound ex-
pands into a capacious bay: it has been surveyed
throughout its entire extent. From its northern and
eastern corner, in lat. 80° 10', long. 60°, a channel has
been discovered and followed until flirther progress
was checked by water free from ice. This chaimel
trended nearly due north, and expanded into an ajjpa-
rently open sea, which abounded with birds and bears
and marine life.

" The death of the dogs during the winter threw
the travel essential to the above discoveries upon the
personal efforts of the officers and men. The sum-
mer finds them much broken in health and strength.

111

558

THE COUNCIL.

" JcfTorson Temple Baker, and Peter Schubert dlofl
from injuries received from cold while in manly per-
formance of their duty. Their remains are depositc^d
under a cairn at the north point of Obwervatory
Island.

" The site of the observatory is seventy-six English
feet from the northernmost salient point of this island,
in a direction S. 14° E. Its position is in lat. 78° 3? 10",
long. 70° 40'. The mean tidal level is twenty-nine
feet below the highest point ii[)on this island. Both
of these sites are further designated by copper bolts
sealed with melted lead into holes upon the rocks.

"On the 12th of August, 1854, the brig warped from
her position, and, after passing inside the group of
islands, fastened to the outer floe about a mile to the
northwest, where she is now awaiting further changes
in the ice.

"Signed,

« E. K. Kane,

" Commanding Expedition.
"Fox-Trap Toint, August 14, 1854."

" August 24. At noon to-day I had all hands called,
and explained to them frankly the considerations
which have determined me to remain where we are.
I endeavored to show them that an escape to open
water could not succeed, and that the effort must be
exceedingly hazardous : I alluded to our duties to the
shij) : in a word, I advised them strenuously to forego the
project. I then told them that I should freely give my
permission to such as were desirous of making the at-
tempt, but that I should require them to place them-
selves under the command of officers selected by them
before setting out, and to renounce in writing all

PORTION OF CUKW 8TAUT SOUTH. 559

rt (Hod
ily por-
[)osit(>(l
rvatory

Knglish
1 islaiul,
37' 10",
ity-nine
, Both
er bolts
>cks.
eel from
•oup of
e to the
changes

Jition.

s called,
erations
■we are.
to open
must be
js to the
rego the
give my
the at-
20 them-
by them
iting all

chiims upon my.solf and the rest who were resolved
to stay by the vessel. Having done this, I directed
tiic roll to be called, and each man to answer for him-
self.

" In the result, eight out of the seventeen survivors
of my party resolved to stand by the brig. It is just
that I should record their names. They were Henry
Brook.s, James McGary, J. W. Wilson, Henry Goodfcl-
low, William Morton, Christian Ohlsen, Thomas Hick-
ey, Hans Christian.

" I divided to the others their portion of our re-
sources justly and even liberally; and they left us on
Monday, the 28th, with every appliance our narrow
circumstances could furnish to si)ee(l and guard them.
One of them, George Riley, returned a few days af-
terward ; but weary months went by befori^ wo saw
the rest again. They carried with them a a\ ritten as-
surance of a brother's welcome should they be driven
back ; and this assurance was redeemed when hard
trials had prepared them to share again our fortunes.

" The party moved off with the elastic step of men
confident in their purpose, and were out of sight in a
few hours. As we lost them among the hummocks, the
stern realities of our condition pressed themselves upon
us {inew. The reduced numbers of our party, the help-
lessness of many, the waning elTiciency of all, the im-
pending winter with its cold, dark night, our penury
of resources, the dreary sense of increased isolation, —
these made the staple of our thoughts. For a time,
Sir John Franklin and his party, our daily topic
through so many months, gave place to the question
of our own fortunes, — how we were to escape, how to
live. The summer had gone, the harvest was ended,
and We did not care to finish the sentence.

B>"! Al

5Q0

THE ARREST.

" When the three visitors came to us near the end of
August, I established them in a tent below deck, with
a copper lamp, a cooking-basin, and a liberal supply of
slush for fuel. I left them under guard when I went
to bed at two in the morning, contentedly eating and
cooking and eating again without the promise of an in-
termission. An American or an European would have
slept after such a debauch till the recognized hour for
hock and seltzer-water. But our guests managed to elude
the officer of the deck and escape unsearched. They
repaid my liberality by stealing not only the lamp,
boiler, and cooking-pot they had used for the feast, but
Nannook also, my best dog. If the rest of my team
had not been worn down by over-travel, no doubt they
would have taken them all. Besides this, we discov-
ered tlie next morning that they had found the buffa-
lo-robes and Indian-rubber cloth which McGary had
left a few days before on the ice-foot near Six-mile
Ravine, and had added the whole to the spoils of their
visit.

" I was puzzled how to inflict punishment, but saw
that I must act viy-orouslv, even at a venture. I des-
patched my two best walkers, Morton and Riley, as
soon as I heard of the theft of the stores, with orders
to make all speed to Anoatok, and overtake the thieves,
who, I thought, would probably halt there to rest.
They found young Myouk making himself quite com-
fortable in the hut, in company with Sievu, the wife of
Metek, and Aningna, the wife of Marsinga^ and my
buffalo-robes already tailored into kapetahs on their
backs.

" A continued search of the premises recovered the
cooking-utensils, and a number of otlier things of
greater or less value that we had not missed from the

end of
k, with
pply of
1 went
ng and
)f an in-
,ld have
lOur for
toehide
They
le \am\),
iast, but
ny team
ibt they
J discov-
be huffa-
iary had
Six-mile

of their

)ut saw
I des-

cviley, as

ti orders
thieves,
to rest.

lite corn-
wife of
ind my

Ion their

M-ed the
imgs of
trom the

KKNNEDT CHANNFJ..

VIEW FROM CAPE CONSTITUTION.

' ff

;!*•!

l:i'"-'f:

i;';!;^

iftilf"«iH

+ It.

i¥

♦^ t V

r'!"

THE PUNISHMENT.

563

brig. With the prompt ceremonial which outraged
law delights in among the officials of the police every-
where, the women were stripped and tied j and then,
laden with their stolen goods and as much walrus-beef
besides from their own stores as would pay for their
board, they were marched on the instant back to the
brig.

" The thirty miles was a hard walk for them ; but
they did not complain, nor did their constabulary
guardians, who had marched thirty miles already to
apprehend them. It was hardly twenty-four hours
since they left the brig with their booty before they
were prisoners in the hold, with a dreadful white man
for keeper, who never addressed to them a word that
had not all the terrors of an unintelligible reproof,
and whose scowl, I flatter myself, exhibited a well-ar-
ranged variety of menacing and demoniacal expres-
sions.

" They had not even the companionship of Myouk.
Him I had despatched to Metek, ' head-man of Etah,
and others," with the message of a melo-dramatic ty-
rant, to negotiate fov their ransom. For five long
days the women had to sigh and sing and cry in soli-
tary converse, — their appetite continuing excellent, it
should be remarked, though mourning the while a
rightfully-impending doom. At List the great Metek
arrived. He brought with him Ootuniah, another man
of elevated social position, and quite a sledge-load of
knives, tin cups, and other stolen goods, refuse of
wood and scraps of iron, the sinful prizes of many
cove tings.

" I may pass over our peace conferences and the in-
direct advantages which 1 of course derived from hav-
ing the opposing powers represented in my own cap-

lii* M-l V ,

1 1

564

THE TREATY.

ital. But the splendors of our Arctic centre of civil-
ization, with its wonders of art and science, — our " fire-
death " ordnance included, — could not all of them im-
press Metek so much as the intimations he had re-
ceived of our superior physical endowments.

"The protocol was arranged without difficulty,
though not without the accustomed number of ad-
journments for festivity and repose. It abounded in
protestations of power, fearlessness, and good-will by
each of the contracting parties, which meant as much
as such protestations usually do on both sides the
Arctic circle.

" On the part of the Inuit, the Esquimaux, they
were after this fashion : —

"'We promise that we will not steal. We promise
we will bring you fresh meat. We promise we will
sell or lend you dogs. We will keep you company
whenever you want us, and show you where to find
the game."

"On the part of the Kablunah, the white men, the
stipulation was this ample equivalent : —

" ' We promise that we will not visit you with death
or sorcery, nor do you any hurt or mischief whatsoev-
er. We will shoot for you on our hunts. You shall
be made welcome aboard ship. We will give you
presents of needles, pins, two kinds of knife, a hoop,
three bits of hard wood, some fat, an awl, and some
sewing-thread ; and we will trade with you of these
and every thing else you want for walrus and seal-
meat of the first quality."

" And the closing formula might have read, if the
Esquimaux political system had included reading
among its qualifications for diplomacy, in this time-
consecrated and, in civilized regions, veracious assur-
ance : —

OUR WILD ALLIES.

665

" ' We, the high contracting parties pledge ourselves
now and forever brothers and friends.'

" This treaty — which, though I have spoken of it
jocosely, was really an affair of much interest to us —
was ratified with Hans and Morton as my accredited
representatives, by a full assembly of the people at
Euih. All our future intercourse was conducted by it.
It was not solemnized by any oath ; but it was never
broken. We went to and fro between the villages
and the brig, paid our visits of courtesy and necessity
on both sides, met each other in hunting parties on
the floe and the ice-foot, organized a general community
of interests, and really, I believe, established some
personal attachments deserving of the name. As long
as we remained prisoners of the ice, we were indebted
to them for invaluable counsel in relation to our hunt-
ing expeditions ; and in the joint hunt we shared alike,
according to their own laws. Our dogs were in one
sense common property ; and often have they robbed
themselves to offer supplies of food to our starving teams.
They gave us supplies of meat at critical periods : we
were able to do as much for them. They learned to
look on us only as benefactors ; and, I know, mourned
our departure bitterly.

" September 22. I am off for the walrus-grounds
with our wild allies. It will be my sixth trip. I know
the country and its landmarks now as well as any of
them, and can name every rock and chasm and wa-
tercourse, in night or fog, just as I could the familiar
spots about the dear Old Mills where I passed my
childhood. .

" September 29. I returned last night from Anoa-
tok, after a journey of much risk an exposure, that I
should have avoided but for the insuperable obstinacy
of our savajre friends.

>i . 'i

i-*l

tV^F'.k H

¥H

566 HUNTING EXCURSION WITU MYOUK.

" I set out for the walrus grounds at noon, by the
track of the ' Wind Point ' of Anoatok, known to us as
Esquimaux Point. I took the light sledge, and, in ad-
dition to the five of my available team, harnessed in
two animals belonging to the Esquimaux. Ootuniah,
Myouk, and the dark stranger accompanied me, with
Morton and Hans.

"At about 10 r. M., we had lost the land, and, while
driving the dogs rapidly, all of us running alongside of
them, we took a wrong direction, and traveled out
toward the floating ice of the Sound. We had to
keep moving, for we could not camp in the gale, that
blew around us so fiercely that we could scarcely hold
down the sledge. But we moved with caution, feeling
our way with the tent-poles, which I distributed
among the party for the purpose. A murmur had
reached my ear for some time in the cadences of the
storm, steadier and deeper, I thought, than the tone
of the wind : on a sudden it struck me that 1 heard
the noise of waves, and that we must be coming close
on the open water. I had hardly time for the hurried
order, ' Turn the dogs,' before a wreath of wet frost-
smoke swept over us, and the sea showed itself, with a
great fringe of foam, hardly a quarter of a mile ahead.
We could now guess our position and its dangers. The
ice was breaking up before the storm, and it was not
certain that even a direct retreat in the face of the
gale would extricate us.

" It was pitchy dark. I persuaded Ootuniah. the
eldest of the Esquimaux, to have a tent-pole lashed
horizontally across his shoulders. I gave him the end
of a line, which I had fastened at the other end round
my waist. The rest of the party followed him. At
last one after another succeeded in clambering after
me upon the ice-fo:)t, driving the dogs before tliem.

, by the
to us as
d, in ad-
essed in
otuniali,
ne, with

id, while
igside of
ilcd out
J had to
jalc, that
iely hold
n, feeling
stributed
mur had
cs of the
the tone
t 1 hoard
injji; close
hurried
'ct frost-
jir, with a
lie ahead,
jrs. The
was not
le of the

kiah. the

lashed

the end

id round

lim. At

in; after

c them.

ESQUIMAUX KUT.

WILU UOU TKAM.

i- 1 [ k

i* I

li/i

I
II

AN ESQUIMAUX HOMESTEAD.

569

" Providence had been our guide. The shore on
which we landed was Anoatok, not four hundred yards
fit)in the familiar Esquimaux homestead. With a
shout of joy, each man in his own dialect, we hastened
to the ' wind-loved spot;' and in less than an hour, our
lamps burning cheerfully, we were discussing a famous
stew of walrus-steaks, none the less relished for an
unbroken ice-walk of forty-eight miles and twenty
haltless hours. >

" Time had done its work on the igloe of Arioatok,
as among the palatial structures of more southern
deserts. The entire front of the dome had fallen in,
closhig up the tossut, and forcing us to enter at the
solitary window above it The breach was large
enough to admit a sledge team; but our Arctic
conu'ades showed no anxiety to close it up. Their
clothes saturated with the freezing water of the floos,
these iron men gathered themselves round the blub-
ber-fire and steamed away in apparent comfort. The
only departure from their practised routine, which the
bleak night and open roof seemed to suggest to them,
was that they did not strip themselves naked before
coming into the hut, and hang up their vestments in
the air to dry, like a votive offering to the god of the
sea.

" The chant and the feed and the ceremony all com-
pleted, Hans, Morton, and myself crawled fect-forcinost
into our buffalo-bag, and Ootuniah, Awahtolc, and My-
ouk flung themselves outside the skin between us.
The last I heard of them or anything else was the re-
newed chi iriis of * Nalegak ! nalegak ! nalegak-soak ! '
mingling itself sleepily in my dreams with school-boy
memories of Aristophanes and The Frogs. I slept
eleven hours.

6Y0

A BEAR-nonT.

" October 7. Lively sensation, as tliej say in the
land of olives, and champagne. * Nannook, nannooic!'
— 'A bear, a bear! ' — Hans and Morton in a breath !

"To the scandal of our domestic regulations, the
guns were all impracticable. While the men avimo load-
ing and cjipping anew, I seized my pillow-companion
six-shooter, and ran on deck. A medium-sized bear,
with a four months' cub, was in active warfare with
our dogs. They were hanging on her skirts, and she
with wonderful alertness was picking out one victim
after another, snatching him by the nape of the neck,
and flinging him many feet or rather yards, by a
barely perceptible movement of her head.

" Tudla, our master dog, was already hors de combat :
he had been tossed twice. Jenny, just as I emerged
from the hatch, was making an extraordinary somer-
set of some eight fathoms, and alighted senseless.
Old Whitey, stanch, but not bear-wise, had been the
first in the battle : he was yelping in helplessness on
the snow.

" It seemed as if the controversy was adjourned and
Nannook evidently thought so; for she turned ofl' to
our beef-barrels, and began in the most unconcerned
manner to turn them over and nose out their fatness.

"October 11. There is no need of looking at the
thermometer and comparing registers, to show how
far this season has advanced beyond its fellow of last
year. The ice-foot is more easily read, and quite as
certain.

" The under part of it is covered now with long sta-
lactitic columns of ice, unlike the ordinary icicle in
shape, for they have the characteristic bulge of the
carbonate-of-lime stalactite. They look like the fan-
tastic columns hanging from the roof of a frozen tem-

-> ,

AWAIITOK A HUT.

671

pie, the dark recess behind them giving nil the effect
of a grotto. There in one that brings back to me
saddened memories of Elephaiita and the merry
friends that bore me company under its rock-ohiselled
portico. The fig-trees and the palms, and the gallant
major's curries and his old India ale, are wanting in
the picture. Sometimes again it is a canopy fringed
with gems in the moonlight. Nothing can be purer or
more beautiful.

"Morton reached the huts beyond Anoatok upon
the fourth day after leaving tlie brig. There were
four huts ; but two of them arc in ruins. They were
all of them the homes of families only four winters
ago. Of the two which are still habitable, Myouk,
his father, mother, brother, and sister occupied one •
and Awahtok and Ootuniah, with their wives and three
young ones the other.

''It was evident from the moagreness of the larder
that the hunters of the family had work to do ; and from
some signs which did not escape the sagacity of Morton
it was plain that Myouk and his father had determined
to seek their next dinner upon the floes. They Avere
going upon a walrus-hunt; and Morton, true to the
mission with which I had charged him, invited himself
and Hans to be of the party.

"I have not yet described one of these exciting inci-
dents of Esquimaux life. Morton was full of the one
he witnessed; and his account of it when he came
back was so graphic that I should be glad to escape
from the egotism of personal narrative by giving it in
bis own language."

CHAPTER XXXV.

DR. KANE'S SECOND EXPEDITION.

(continued.)

My narrative has reached a period at which every
thing like progress was suspended. The increasing
cold and brightening stars, the labors and anxieties
and sickness that pressed upon us, — these almost en-
gross the pages of my journal. Now and then I find
some marvel of Petersen's about the fox's dexterity as
a hunter ; and Hans tells me of domestic life in South
Greenland, or of a seal-hunt and a wrecked kayuck ;
or perhaps McGary repeats his thrice-told tale o!' hu-
mor ; but the night has closed down upon us, and we
are hibernating through it.

" Yet some of these were topics of interest. The
intense beauty of the Arctic firmament can hardly be
imagined. It looked close above our heads, with its
stars magnified in glory and the very planets twink-
ling so much as to bailie the observations of our astron-
omer. I am afraid to speak of some of these night-
scenes. I have trodden the deck and the floes, when
the life of earth seemed suspended, its movements, its
sounds, its coloring, its companionships j and as I
looked on the radiant hemisphere, circling abovo iv
as if rendering worship to the unseen Center
I have ejaculated in humility of spirit, 'Lord lat ib
man that thou art mindful of him ?' And thcii 1 have

572

AIlCTIt; MOON LI (MIT.

•JUK lOK-FOOT CANOPV.

|1 M

THE CABIN BY NIGHT.

575

thought of the kindly world we had left, with its re-
volving sunshine and shadow, and the other stars that
gladden it in their changes, and the hearts that warmed
to us there ; till I lost myself in memories of those
who arc not ; — and they bone me back to the stars
again.

"■ December 1. I am writing at midnight. I have
the watch from eight to two. It is day in the moon-
light on deck, the thermometer getting up again to
36° below zero. As I came down to the cabin — for
so we still call this little moss-lined igloe of ours —
every one is asleep, snoring, gritting his teeth, or talk-
ing in his dreams. This is pathognomonic ; it tells of
Arctic winter and its companion, scurvy.

" I was asleep in the forenoon of the 7th, after the
fatigue of an extra nightr watch, when I was called to
the deck by the report of ' Esquimaux sledges.' They
camfi on rapidly, five sledges, with teams of six dogs
each, most of the drivers strangers to us ; and in a
few minutes were at the brig. Their errand was of
charity : they were bringing back to us Bonsall and
Petersen, two of the party that left us on the 28th of
August.

" The party had many adventures and much suffer-
ing to tell of They had verified by painful and per-
ilous experience all I had anticipated for them. But
the most stirring of their announcements was the con-
dition they had left iheir associates in, two hundred
miles off", divided in their counsels, their energies bro-
ken, and their provisions nearly gone. I reserve for
another page the history of their wanderings. My
first thought was of the means of rescuing and reliev-
ing them.

" I resolved to despatch the Esquimaux escort at once

576 RETURN OF WITHDRAWING PARTY.

;i 111!

with such supplies as our miserably-imperfect stores
allowed, they giving their pledge to carry them with
all speed, and, what I felt to be much less certain, with
all honesty. We cleaned and boiled and packed a
hundred pounds of po^k, and sewed up smaller pack-
ages of meat-biscuit, bread-dust, and tea; and des-
patched the whole, some three hundred and fifty
pounds, by the returning convoy. Of our own party
— those who had remained with the brig — McGary,
Hans, and myself were the only ones able to move,
and of these McGary \,-as now fairly on the sick list.
We could not be absent a single day without jeopard-
ing the lives of the rest.

" December 12th, Tuesday. Brooks awoke me at
three this morning with the cry of ' Esquimaux again !'
I dressed hastily, and, groping my way over the pile
of boxes that leads up from the hold into the darlvness
above, made out a group of human figures, masked
by the hooded jumpers of the natives. They stopped
at the gangway, and, as I was about to challenge, one
of them sprang forward and grasped my hand. It
was Doctor Hayes. A few words, dictated by sufier-
ing, certainly not by any anxiety as to his reception,
and at his bidding the whole party came upon deck.
Poor fellows ! I could only grasp their hands and give
them a brother's welcome.

" The thermometer was at minus 50° ; they were
covered with rime and snow, and were fainting with
hunger. It was necessary to use caution in taking
them below ; for, after an exposure of such fearful in-
tensity and duration as they had gone through, the
warmth of the cabin would have prostrated them com-
pletely. They had journeyed three hundred and fifty
miles J and their last run from the bay near Etah,

C II 11 1 S T M A S F E S T i V 1 T I E S .

577

some seventy miles in a right line, was through the
hummoclcs at this appalhng temperature.

" One by one they all came in and were housed.
Poor fellows ! as they threw open their Esquimaux gar-
ments by the stove, how they relished the scanty
luxuries which we had to offer them ! The coffee and
the meat-biscuit soup, and the molasses and the wheat
bread, even the salt pork which our scurvy forbade
the rest of us to touch, — how they relished it all ! For
more than two months they had lived on frozen seal
and walrus-meat.

'• I cannot crowd the details of their journey into my
diary. I have noted some of them from Dr. Hayes's
words ; but he has promised me a written report, and
1 wait for it. It was providential that they did not
stop for Petersen's return or lely on the engagements
which his Esquimaux attendants had made to them as
well as to us. The sledges that carried our relief
of provisions passed through the Etah settlement
on some furtive project, we know not what.

'" December 25, Christmas. All together again, the
returned and the steadAist, we sat down to our Christ-
mas dinner. There was more love than with the
stalled ox of former times ; but of herbs none. We
forgot our discomforts in the blessings that adhered
to us still ; and when we thought of the long road
ahead of us, we thought of it hopefully. I pledged
myself to give them their next Christmas with their
homes ; and each of us drank his ' absent friends ' with
ferocious zeal over one-eighteenth part of a bottle of
sillery — the last of its hamper, and, alas ! no longer
mousseux.

" December 26. The moon is nearly above the
cliffs; the thermometer — 57° to — 45°, the mean of

m\ 1 1

m 'S'

^*^i

t ' i " i' I

m h

I i fi

; . isifH'ti ft ')

,^fl

0/8 ATTEMPT TO REACH TUE ESQUIMAUX.

the past four days. In the midst of this cheering con-
junction, I have ahead of me a journey of a hundred
miles, to say nothing of the return. Worse than this,
I have no landmarks to guide me, and must be my
own pioneer. It is a merciful change of conditions
that I am the strongest now of the whole party, as
last winter I was the weakest. The duty of collect-
ing food is on me.

" December 28. The moon to-morrow will be for
twelve hours above the horizon, and so nearly circum-
polar afterward as to justify me in the attempt to
reach the Esquimaux hunting-ground about Cape Al
exander. Every thing is ready ; and, God willing, I
start to-morrow, and pass the four-hours' dog-halt in
the untenanted hut of Anoatok. Then we have, as
it may be, a fifteen, eighteen, or twenty hours' march,
run and drive, before we reach a shelter among the
heathen of the Bay.

" January 22. Busy preparing for a trip to the
lower Esquimaux settlement. The barometer remains
at the extraordinary height of 30*85, — a bad prelude
to a journey!

"January 29. The dogs carried us to the lower
curve of the reach before breaking down. I was just
beginning to hope for an easy voyage, when Toodla
and the Big Yellow gave way nearly together; the
latter frightfully contorted by convulsions. There was
no remedy for it: the moon went down, and the
wretched night was upon us. We groped along the
ice-foot, and, after fourteen hours' painful walking,
reached the old hui.

" A dark water-sky extended in a wedge from Lit-
tleton to a point north of the cape. Everywhere else
tlic firmament was obscured by mist. The height of

ux.

ing con-
hundred
tian this,
5t be my
editions
party, as
f collect-
ill be for
Y circum-
:tempt to
Cape Al-
willing, I
og-halt in
! havo, as
rs' march,
raong the

•ip to the
;r remains
i prelude

:lie lower
was just

jn Toodla

kher; the

?here was

and the

[along the
walking,

from Lit-
rhere else
I height of

TUK BRIU IN IFER WISTKU CllAIJLE.

S^t-^

APPROACHING TOE DESERTED XIVT.

THE OPEN WATER.

y^ihrh'

hi V

iPlI !

rif i 'IP'

SI if 1 , ^ J. f f J

^ \

ti 1

''?•*'!*

••i

i. v\

■I; f

Jill

f'H:'!

)i1;l

THE nUT IN A STORM.

581

the barometer continued as we left it at the brig, and
our own sensations of warmth convinced us that we
were about to have a snow-storm.

" We hardly expected to meet the Esquimaux here,
and were not disappointed. Hans set to work at once
to out out blocks of snow to close up the entrance to
the hut I carried in our blubber-lamp, food, and bed-
ding, unharnessed the dogs, and took them into the
same shelter. We were barely housed before the
Sturm broke upon us.

" Here, completely excluded from the knowledge of
things without, we spent many miserable hours. We
could keep no note of time, and, except by the whir-
ring of the drift against the roof of our kennel, had
no information of the state of the weather. We slept,
and cooked coffee, and drank coffee, and slept, and
cooked coffee, and drank again ; and when by our tired
instincts we thought twelve hours must have passed,
we treated ourselves to a meal, — that is to say, we di-
vided impartial bites out of the raw hind-leg of a fox to
give zest to our biscuits spread with frozen tallow.
We then turned in to sleep again, no longer heedtul
of the storm, for it had now buried us deep in with
the snow.

" In the morning — that is to say, when the com-
bined light of the noonday dawn and the circum-
polar moon permitted oiu* escape — ^I found, by com-
paring the time as indicated by the Great Bear with
the present increased altitude of the moon, that we
had been pent up nearly two days. Under these cir-
cumstances we made directly for the hummocks, en
route for the bay. But here was a disastrous change.
The snow had accumulated under the windward sides
of the inclined tables to a hight so excessive that we

I i

tl !

» ; . ^

582

HANS DISCOURAGED.

buried sledge, dogs, and drivers, in the effort to work
through. It was all in vain ^hat Hans and I har-
nessed ourselves to, or lifted, levered, twisted, and
pulled. Utterly exhausted and sick, I was obliged to
give it up. The darkness closed in again, and with
difficulty we regained the igloe.

" The ensuing night brought a return to hard freez-
ing temperatures. Our luxurious and downy coverlet
was a stiff, clotted lump of ice. In spite of our double
lamp, it was a miserable halt. Our provisions grew
short ; the snow kept on falling, and we had still forty-
six miles between us and the Esquimaux.

"I determined to try the land-ice by Fog Inlet;
and we worked four hours upon this without a breath-
ing-spell, — utterly in vain. My poor Esquimaux,
Hans, adventurous and buoyant as he was, began to
cry like a child. Sick, worn out, strength gone, dogs
fast and floundering, I am not ashamed to admit that
as I thought of the sick men on board, my own equa-
nimity also was at fault.

" We had not been able to get the dogs out, when
the big moon appeared above the water-smoke. A
familiar hill, ' Old Beacon Knob,' was near. I scram-
bled to its top and reconnoitered the coast around it
The ridge about Cape Hatherton seemed to jut out of
a perfect chaos of broken ice. The water — that inex-
plicable North Water — was there, a long black wedge,
overhimg by crapy wreaths of smoke, running to the
northward and eastward. Better than all yet, — could
I be deceived? — a trough through the hummock-
ridges, and level plains of ice stretching to the south.

" Hans heard my halloo, and came up to confirm me.
But for our disabled dogs and the waning moon-fight,
we could easily have made our journey. It was with

DAY DREAMS.

583

a rejoiced heart that I made my way back to our mis-
erable little cavern, and restufied its gaping entrance
with the snow. We had no blubber, and of course no
fire; but I knew we could gain the brig, and that, after
refreshing the dogs and ourselves, we could now as-
suredly reach the settlements.

"February 12. Hans is off for his hunting-lodge,
* over the hills and far away,* beyond Charlotte Wood
Fiord. He thinks he can bring back a deer, and the
chances are worth the trial. We can manage the small
hunt, Petersen and I, till he comes back unless we
break down too. But I do not like these symptoms
of mine, and Petersen is very far from the man he
was. We had a tramp to-day, both of us, after an im-
aginary deer, — a hennisoak that has been supposed for
the last three days to bo hunting the neighborhood
of the waterpools of the brig fiord, and have come
back jaded and sad. If Hans gives way, God help
us!"

" We worked on board — those of us who could work
at all — at arranging a new gangway with a more gen-
tle slope, to let some of the party crawl up from their
hospital into the air. We were six, all told, out of
eighteen, who could affect to hunt, cook, or nurse.

" Meanwhile we tried to dream of commerce with
the Esquimaux, and open water and home. For myself,
my thoughts have occupation enough in the question
of our closing labors. I never lost my hope. I looked
to the coming spring as full of responsibilities ; but 1
had bodily strength and moral tone enough to look
through them to the end. A trust, based on experi-
ence as well as on promises, buoyed me up at the
worst of times. Call it fatalism, as you ignorantly
may, there is that in the story of every eventful life

\<i-

■ f \\

['M

584

THE COMING DAWN.

in ; ,,■ ■'-' V:

which teaches the inefTiciency of human means and
the present control of a Supreme Agency. See how
often relief has come at the moment of extremity, in
forms strangely unsought, almost at the time unwel-
come ; see, still more, how the back has been strength-
ened to its increasing burden, and the heart cheered
by some unconscious influence of an unseen Power,

** February 21. To-day the crests of the northeast
headland were gilded by true sunshine, and all who
were able assembled on deck to greet it. The sun
rose above the horizon, though still screened from our
eyes by intervening hills. Although the powerful re-
fraction of Polar latitudes heralds his direct appear-
ance by brilliant light, this is as far removed from
the glorious tints of day as it is from the mere twi-
light. Nevertheless, for the past ten days we have
been watching the growing warmth of our landscape,
as it emerged from buried shadow, through all the
stages of distinctness of an India-ink washing, step by
step, into the sharp, bold definition of our desolate
harbor scene. We have marked every dash of color
which the great Painter in his benevolence vouchsafed
to us ; and now the empurpled blues, clear, unmistak-
able, the spreading lake, the flickering yellow : peer-
ing at all these, poor wretches ! everything seemed
superlative luster and unsurpassable glory. We had
go grovelled in darkness that we oversaw the light.

" February 22. Washington's birthday : all our col-
ors flying in the new sunlight. A day of good omen,
even to the sojourners among the ice. Hans comes
in with great news. He has had a shot at our ben-
nesoak, a long shot ; but it reached him. The ani-
m.al m.ade off at a slow run, but we are sure of him

now.

This same deer has been hanging round the

ans and
See how
iinity, ill
e uiuvel-
iitrcngth-
cheered
Power,
northeast
1 all who
The sun
from our
werful re-
ct appcar-
ived from
mere twi-
3 we have
landscape,
:h all the
g, step by
desolate
|h of color
ouchsafed
unmistak-
ow: pcer-
jT seemed
We had
le light,
dl our col-
lod omen,
Ims comes
our ben-
The ani-
ve of him
round the

AUCTIC SKA-(iri.l.S.

EIDER ISLAND DUCKS.

lil^l

\f^m

i'if

i ',^'r

! Ill ill

H i

,: i

Mil',

t:
si
tl
t\
II
si.

JOYFUL NEW«.

587

hkv at the fiord through nil the dim returning twi-
light ; and so many stories were told of his tippeur-
ance and movements that he had almost grown into a
myth.

" 23. Hans was out early this morning on the trail
of the wounded deer. Rhina, the least barbarous of
our sledge-dogs, assisted him. He was back by noon
with the joyful news, * The tukkuk dead only two
miles up big fiord ! ' The cry found its way through
the hatch, and came back in a broken huzza from the
sick men.

" February 25, Sunday. The day of rest for those
to whom rest can be ; the day of grateful recognition
for nil ! John, our volunteer cook of yesterday, is
down : Morton, who could crawl out of bed to play
baker for the party, and stood to it manfully yesterdny,
is clown too. I have just one man left to help me in
caring for the sick. Hans and Petersen, thank God !
have vitality enough loft to bear the toils of the hunt.
One is out with his rifle, the other searching tho
traps.

" To-day, blessed be the Great Author of Light ! I
have once more looked upon the sun. I wvh stand-
ing on deck, thinking over our prospects, wa 3n a fa-
miliar berg, which had long been hid in shadow,
flashed out in sun-birth. I knew this berg right well :
it stood between Charlotte Wood Fiord and Little
Willie's Monument. One year and one day ago I
traveled toward it from Fern Rock to catch the sun-
shine. Then I had to climb the hills beyond, to get
the luxury of basking in its brightness ; but now,
though the sun was but a single degree above the true
hori/.on, it was so much elevated by refraction that the
sheen stretched across ihe trough of the fiord like a

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588

A 3UN-W0RSUIPER.

flaming tongue. I could not or would not resist the in-
fluence. It was a Sunday act of worship : I started olT at
an even run, and caught him as he rolled slowly along
the horizon, and before he sank. I Avas again the first
of my |)arty to rejoice and meditate in sunshine. It
is the third sun I have seen rise for a moment above
the lony; nijj-ht of an Arctic winter.

" I spare myself as well as the readers of this hast-
ily-compiled volume, when I pass summarily over the
details of our condition at this time.

" I look back at it with recollections like those of a
nightmare. Yet I was borne up wonderfully. I never
doubted for an instant that the same Providence whicli
had guarded us through the long darkness of winter
was still watchhig over us for good, and that it was
yet in reserve for us — for some ; I dared not hope for
all — to bear back the tidings of our rescue to a Chris-
tian land. Bat how I did not see.

" Two attempts have been made by my orders, in
February, to ccinmunicate with the Esquimaux at
their huts. Both were failures. Peterson, Hans, and
Godfrey came back to denounce the journey as im-
practicable. I know hotter : the experience of my
two attempts in the midst of the darkness satisfies me
that at this period of the year, the thing can be done ;
and, if I mio:ht venture to leave our sick-bav for a
week, I would prove it. But there are dispositions
and influences here around me, scarcely latent, yet re-
pressed by my presence, v/lucli make it my duty at all
hazards to stay where I am.

"On the 6th of March, I made the desperate ven-
ture of sending off my only trusted .'ind eftective
huntsman on a sledge-journey to find the Esquimaux
of Etah. He took with him our two surviving dogs

FAMINE AT ETAH.

589

in our lightest sledge. In three or at furthest four
days more, I counted on his return. No language can
express the anxiety with which our poor suffering
crew awaited it.

'' March 10. Hans has not j^et returned ; so that
he must have reached the settlement. His orders
were, if no meat be obtained of the Esquimaux,
to borrow their dogs and try for bears along the open
water. In this resource I have confidence. The days
are magnificent.

" . . . .1 had hardl}'^ Avritten the above, when
^ Bim, him, himT sounded from the deck, mixed with
the chorus of our returning dogs. Tlie next minute
Hans and myself were shaking hands.

" He had much to tell us ; to men in our condition,
Hans was as a man from cities. We of the wildornoss
flocked around him to hear the news. Sugar-teats of
raw meat are passed around. SSpcak loud, Hans,
i'lat they may hear in the bunks.'

" The ' wind-loved ' Anoatok he had reached on the
first night after leaving the brig: no Esquimaux tli 're
of course ; and he slept not warmly at a temperature
of 53° below zero. On the evening of the next day
ho reached Etah Bay, and was hailed with jojous wel-
come. But a new phase of P]squimaux life had come
upon its indolent, happy, blubber-fed deui/.ous. In-
stead of plump, greasy children, and round-rhci ked
matrons Hans saw around liim lean figures of misery:
the men looked hard and bony, and the children shriv-
elled in the hoods which cradled them at their moth-
ers' backs. Famine had been among them ; and the
skin of a young sea-unicorn, lately caught, was all
that remained to them of food. Even their do>rs, their
main reliance for the Inuit and for an escape to some

imi^^m^^

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'■l!

'-»»!

.'r»

i'^l

*^^4l'

590

A WALRUS HUNT.

more favored camping-ground, had fallen a sacrifice
to hunger. Only four remained out of thirty : the
rest had been eaten.

" Hans behaved well, and carried out my orders in
their full spirit. He proposed to aid them in the wal-
rus-hunt. They smiled at first with true Indian con-
tempt : but when they saw my Marston rifle, which
he had with him, they changed their tone.

" I have not time to detail ITans's adventurous hunt,
equally important to the scurvied sick of Rensselaer
and the starving residents of Etah Bay. Metok
speared a medium-sized walrus, and Hans gave him no
less than five Marston balls before he gave up his
struggles. The beast was carried back in triumph,
and all hands fed as \? they oould never know famine

agam.

" I had directed Hans to endeavor to engage Myouk,
if he could, to assist him in hunting. A most timely
thought: for the morning's work made them re-
ceive the invitation as a great favor. Hans got his
share of the meat, and returned to the brig acccinpa-
nied by the boy, who is now under my care on board.
This imp — for he is full of the devil— has always had
a relishing fancy for tlie kicks and cuffs with which I
recall the forks and teaspoons when they get astray;
and, to tell the truth, he always takes care to earn
them. He is very happy, but so wasted by hunger
that the work of fattening him will be a costlv one.
Poor little fellow ! born to toil and necessity and peril ;
stern hunter as he already is, the lines of his flice arc
still soft and child-lil-cc.

"March 25. Refraction' with all its magic is back
upon u.'-; the ' Delectable Mountains' appear again;
and, as the sun has now worked his way to the margin

sacrifice

by : the

>rclers in
the wal-
lian con-
,e, which

)us hmit,
ensselaer
Metok
^e him no
ve up his
triumph,
m famine

^e Myouk,
3st timely
them re-
1 P-ot his
acc( inpa-
on board.

Iwayi

had

hich I

let astray ;

le to cam

hunger

lostly one.

and peril ;

Is f\\CL' are

he IS

hack

|ar agam ;
le margin

'iiiM \v Ai.ms iiiNiKi:.

m ■

jti'Ut;

(>:k

,H 1

1 •
1 1

111'"

<- 1

■ H f-

TUfi DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS.

593

of the northwestern horizon, we can see the Ijlaze
stealing out from the bhick portals of these uplifted
hills, as if there were truly beyond it a celestial gate.

"I do not know what preposterous working of brain
led me to eomi^are this northwestern ridge to Bun-
yan's Delectable Mountains ; but there was a time only
one year ago, when I used to gaze upon them with an
eye of real longing. Very often, when they rose phan-
tom-like into the sky, I would plan schemes by which
to reach them, work over mentally my hard pilgrim-
age across the ice, and my escape I'rom Doubting
Castle to this scene of triumph and reward. Once
upon your coasts, inaccessible mountains, 1 would
reach the Northern Ocean and gather together the rem-
nants of poor Franklin's company. These would be to
me the orchards and vinej^ards and riuining fountains.
The ' Lord of the Hill would see in me a pilgrim.'
' Leaning upon our staves, as is common with weary pil-
grims when they stand to talk with any by the way,' we
would look doAvn upon an open polar sea, refulgent
with northern sunshine.

" April 2. At eleven o'clock this morning Mr. Bon-
sall reported a man about a mile from the brig, appa-
rently lurking on the ice-foot. I thought it was Hans,
and we both went forward to meet him. As we drew
closer we discovered our sledge and dog-team near
whore he stood ; but the man turned and ran to the
south.

"I pursued him, leaving Mr. Bonsall, who carried a
Sharps' rifle, behind ; and the man. whom I now recog-
nized to be Godfrey, seeing me advance alone, stopped
and met me. He told me that he had been to the
south as far as Northumberland Island; that Hans was
lying sick at Etali, in conseque ice of exposure ; that

■-'111 L'

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.1 1 " ■

si'llfi P'^

■ ' ... '■

[- : i

594

THE DESERTER ESCAPES.

he himself had made up his mind to go back and
spend the rest of his life with Kalutunah and the Es-
quimaux ; and that neither persuasion nor force should
divert him from this purpose.

"Upon my presenting a pistol, I succeeded in forc-
ing him back to the gangway of the brig ; but he re-
fused to go further ; and, being loth to injure him, I
left him under the guardianship of Mr. Boiisall's
weapon while T went on board for irons ; for both Bon-
eell and myself were barely able to walk, and utterly
incapable of controlling him by manual force and Peter-
sen was out hunting : the rest, thirteen in all, are
down with scurvy. I had just reached the deck Avlion
he turned to run. Mr. Bonsall's pistol failed at the
cap. I jumped at once to the gun-stand ; but my
first rifle, affected by the cold, went off in the act of
cocking, and a second, aimed in haste at long ])ut
practicable distance, missed the fugitive. He made
good his escape before we could lay hold of another
weapon.

"I am now more r.nxious than ever about Hans.
The past conduct of Godfrey on board, and his mutin-
ous desertion, make me aware that ho is capable of
daring wrong as well as deception. One thing is plain.
This man at large and his comrade still on board, the
safety of the whole company exacts the sternest ob-
Scirvance of discipline. I have eallod all hands, and an-
nounced it as a standing order of the ship, and one to be
observed inflexibly, that desertion, or the attempt to
desert, shall be met at once by the sternest penalty.
I have no alternative.

April r, To-day I detained Petersen from his hnnt
and took a holiday rest myself, — that is to say, went

to bed and sweated : to-morrow I promise as much

for Bonsail.

;k and
tho Es-
sliould

in forc-
t be re-
Q liim, I
3onsall's
)th Bon-
. utterly
11(1 Petcr-
n all, are
3ck when
d at tlie
; but my
tbc act of
long but
He made
,f another

,ut Hans.
Ibis mutin-
;apable of
is plain,
[board, tlie
■rnest ob-
[is, and an-
onetobe

Ittempt to
It penalty.

his hunt
say, went
Ise as

much

A MORNING IN THE CABIN.

595

" While here in bed I Avill give the routine of a day
in this spring-tinio of year :

"At 7:30 call 'all hands;' which means that one of
the well trio wakes the other two. This order is
obeyed slowly. The commander confesses for himself
that the breakfast is well-nigh upon the table before he
gets his sLilT ankles to the floor. Lookiufj: around, he
sees the usual mosaic of sleepers as ingeniously dove-
tailed and crowded together as the campers-out in a
buffalo-bag. He winds his way through them, and, as
he does so, some stereotyped remarks are interchanged.
'Thomas!' — our ex-cook, now side by side with the
first officer of the expedition, — 'Thomas, turn out!'
'Eugh-ng, sir. 'Turnout; get up.' Ys-sir;' (sits bolt
upright, and rubs his eyes.) 'How d'you feel, Mr.
Ohlscn?' ' Better, sir.' 'How vu you passed the night,
Mr. Brooks?' 'Middlin', sir.' And after a diversified
series of spavined efforts, the mystical number forms
its triangle at the table.

" It still stands in its simple dignity, an unclothed
platform of boards, with a pile of plates in the center.
Near these is a virtuoso collection of cups grouped in a
tumulus or cairn, commencing philosophically at the
base with heavy stoneware, and ending with battered
tin: the absolute pinnacle a debased dredging box,
which makes a bad goblet, being unpleasantly sharp
at its rim. At one end of this table, partly hid
by the beer-barrel, stands Petersen ; at the side, Bon-
^all; and a lime-juice cask opposite makes my seat.
We are all standing: a momentary hush is made
among the sick; and the daily prayer comes with one
heart : — ' Accept our gratitude, and restore us to our
homes.'

'• The act of devotion over, we sit down, and look-
not at the breakfast, but at each other.

i 1

MH 1

V :'

I 1

Pit Wif ■

i^ym^'^o'l i

I i 4 • • i

, ■■'• '■' \ :

, , .... .,

59G

8UUNG1IU S DAUGHTER.

'•April 10, Tuesday. I left tlic

brig

at 10

i A.M.,

with but five dogs and a load so light as to be hardly
felt. My dogs, in spite of low feeding, carried me
sixty-four miles in eleven hours.

" Faithful Hans ! Dear good follower and friend !
I was out on the floes just beyond the headlands of
our old ' Refuge Harbor,' when I made out a black
far in to shoreward. Refraction will deceive a novice
on the ice; but we have learned to baffle refraction.
By sighting the suspected object with your rifle at rest,
you soon detect motion. It was a living animal — a
man. Shoreward went the sledge ; ofT sprang the
dogs ten miles an hour, their driver yelling the famil-
iar provocative to speed, ' Nannook ! nannook!' 'A
bear.! a bear!' at the top of his lungs.

" There was no room for mistaking the methodical
steal-stalking gait of Hans. He hardly ^■aried from it
as we came near ; but in about fifteen minutes we
were shaking hands and jabbering, in a patois of Es-
quimaux and English, our mutual news. The poor
fellow had been really ill : five days down with severe
pains of limbs have left him still a ' little veek ;'
which means with Hans well used up. I stuck him
on the sledge and carried him to Anoatok.

'' In this sickness, he told me, he was waited on
most carefully at the settlement. A young daughter
of Shunghu elected herself his nurse, and her sympa-
thies and smiles have, I fear, made an impression on
his heart which a certain damsel near Upernavik
might be sorry to hear of

" April 18. I am just off a two hundred miles' jour-
ney, bringing back my deserter, and, what is perhaps
quite as important, a sledge-load of choice .valrus-
cuts.

^^-■:^

CAPTUKE OF OUIl DESERTER.

597

" I found from Hans that his negotiation for tho doga
had failed, and that unless I could do something by
individual persuasion I must give up my scheme of a
closing exploration to the north. I learned too that
Godfrey was playing the great man at Etali, defying
recapture ; and I was not willing to trust the influence
he might exert on my relations with the tribe. 1 de-
termined that he should return to the brig.

'• I began by stratagem. I placed a pair of foot-
cuffs on Metek's sledge, and, after looking carefully to
my body-companion six-shooter, invited myself to ride
back with him to Ef.di. His nephew remained on
board in charge of Hans, and I disguised myself so
well in my nessak that, as we moved off, I could
easily have passed for the boy Paulik, whose place I
had taken.

" As our eighty miles drew to an end, and that
which we call the settlement came close in view, its
population streamed out to welcome their chief's re-
turn. Among the first and most prominent was the
individual whom I desired to meet, waving his hand
and shouting ^Tima!' as loudly as the choicest sav-
age of them all. An instant later, and I was at hh
ear, wdth a short phrase of salutation and its appro-
priate gesture. He yielded unconditionally at once,
and, after walking and running by turns for some
eighty miles before the sledge, with a short respite at
Anoatok, is now a prisoner on board.

" My remaining errand at Etah was almost as suc-
cessful. The inmates of the burrows swarmed around
mc as I arrived. '^Nalegak! nalegak! tima!' was
yelled in chorus : never seemed people more anxious
to propitiate, or more pleased with an unexpected
visit But they were airily clad, and it blew a north-

^^■'

> K ■

; ■ ■ '■ .

'.I '\

698

A VIHIT TO ETA II.

ill

wester ; and they noon crowded back into their ant-
hill. Meantime prepa rations were making for my in-
door reception, and alter a little while Metek and my-
self crawled in (m handn and knees, througii an extra-
ordinary tossnt thirty paces long. Ah 1 emerged on
the inside, the salute of' nalegak' was re])eated Avitli
an increase of energy that was anything but i)leas-
ant.

"There were guests before me, — six sturdy deni-
zens of the neighboring settlement. They had been
overtaken by the storm while hunting, and were al-
ready crowded upon the central dais of honor. They
united in the yell of welcome, and I soon found my-
self gasping the annnoniacal steam of some fourteen
vigorous, amply-fed, luuvashed, uncilothed fellow-ludg-
ers. No hyperbole could exjiggerate that which in
serious earnest I give as the truth. The platform meas-
ured but seven feet in breadth by six in depth, the
shape being semi elliptical. Upon this, including
children and excluding myself, were bestowed thir-
teen persons.

" The kotluk of each matron was glowing with a
flame sixteen inches long. A flipper-quarter of wal-
rus, which lay frozen on the fluor of the netek, Avas cut
into steaks; and the kolopsuts began to smoke with a
burden of ten or fifteen pounds apiece. Metek, with a
little amateur aid from some of the sleepers, emptied
these without my assistance. I had the most cordial
invitation to precede them ; but I had seen enough of
the culinary regime to render it impossible. I broke
my fast on a handful of frozen liver-nuts that Bill
brought me, and, bursting out into a profuse perspira-
tion, I stripped like the rest, threw my well-tired car-
cass across Mrs. Eider-duck's extremities, put her lefb*

TlIK ATI.IIK OK HKAI.-IIOLK.

WALKUS Sl'OltTlNU.

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A NOBLE SAVAGE.

601

hand baby under my armpit, pillowed my head on My-
ouk's somewhat warm stomach, and thus, an honored
guest and in the place of honor, fell asleep.

" We continued toiling on with our complicated pre-
parations till the evening of the 24th, when Hans
came back well laden with walrus-meat Three of the
Esquimaux accompanied him, each with his sledge and
dog-team fully equipped for a hunt The leader of
the party, Kalutunah, was a noble savage, greatly supe-
rior in every thing to the others of his race. He
greeted me with respectful courtesy, yei as one who
might rightfully expect an equal measure of it in re-
turn, and, after a short interchange of salutations, seat-
ed himself in the post of honor at my side.

" I waited of course till the company had fed and
slept, for anion 2 savages especially haste is indecorous,
and then, after distributing a few presents, opened to
them my project of a northern exploration. Kalutu-
nah received his knife and needles with a ' Kuyanaka,'
'I thank you:' the first thanks I have heard from a
native of this upper region. He called me his friend,
— ' Asakaoteet,' ' I love you well,' — and would be happy,
he said, to join the ' nalegak-soak ' in a hunt

" We started with a wild yell of dogs and men
in chorus, Kalutunah and myself leading. We halted
about thirty miles north of the brig, after edging
along the coast about thirty miles to the eastward.
Here Shanghu burrowed into a snow-bank and slept,
the thermometer standing at — 30°. The rest of us
turned in to lunch.

" The journey began again as the feast closed, and
we should have accomplished my wishes had it not
been for the untoward influence of sundry bears. The
tracks of these animals \yere becoming more and more

L/tM

602

A BEAU HUN T.

numerous as we rounded one iceberg after another ;
and we could see the beds they had worn in the snow
while watching for seal. These swayed the dogs from
their course : yet we kept edging onward ; and when
in sight of the northern coast, about thirty miles from
the central peak of the * Three Brothers,' I saw a deep
band of stratus lying over the horizon in the direction
of Kennedy Channel. This water-sky indicated the
continued opening of the channel, and made me more
deeply anxious to proceed. But at this moment our
dogs encountered a large male bear in the act of de-
vouring a seal. The impulse was irresistible : I lost
all control over both dogs and drivers. They
seemed dead to every thing but the passion of pur-
suit. Off they sped with incredible swiftness ; the
Esquimaux clinging to their sledges and cheering
their dogs with loud cries of ' Nannook !' A mad, wild
chase, wilder than German legend, — the dog^, wolves ;
the drivers, devils. After a furious run the animal
was brought to bay ; the lance and the rifle did their
work, and we halted for a general feed. The dogs
gorged themselves, the drivers did as much, and we
buried the remainder of the carcass in the snow.

" We took a four hours' sleep on the open ice, the
most uncomfortable that I remember. Our fatigue
had made us dispense with the snow-hoiise; and
though 1 was heavily clad in a full suit of furs, and
squeezed myself in between Kalutunah and Shanghu,
I could not bear the intense temperature. I rose in
the morning stiff and sore. I mention it as a trait of
nobleness on the part of Kalutunah, which I appreci-
ated very sensibly at the time, that, seeing me suffer,
he took his kapetah from his back and placed it
around my feet.

ENTERPRISING HUNTERS.

603

" The next day I tried again to make my friends
steer to the northward. But the bears were most nu-
merous upon the Greenland side ; and they detennined
to push on toward the glacier. All my remonstran-
ces and urgent entreaties were unavailing to make
them resume their promised route.

" I found now that my projected survey of the
northern coast must be abandoned, at least for the
time. My next wish was to get back to the brig, and
to negotiate with Metek for a purchase or loan of
his dogs as my last chance. But even this was not
readily gratified. All of Saturday was spent in bear-
hunting. The natives, as indomitable as their dogs,
made the entire circuit of Dallas Bay, and finally
halted again under one of the islands which tj^roup
themselves between the headlands of Advance Bay
and at the base of the glacier."

"Ill ■■'

CHAPTER XXXVI

DR KANES SECOND EXPEDITION.

(continued.)

*' The detailed preparations for our escape would
have little interest for the general reader ; but they
were so arduous and so important that I cannot pass
them by without a special notice. They had been
begun from an early day of the fall, and had not been
entirely intermitted during our severest winter-trials.

" Recognizing the importance of acting directly upon
the men's minds, my first stop now was to issue a gen-
eral order appointing a certain day, the 17th of May,
for setting out. Every man had twenty-four hours
given him to select and got ready his eight pounds
of personal effects. After that, his time was to cease
to be his own for any purpose.

" I tried my best also to fix and diffuse impressions
that we were going home. But in this I was not al-
ways successful : I was displeased, indeed, with the
moody indifference with which many went about the
tasks to which I put them. The completeness of my
preparations I know had its influence ; but there were
miny doubters. Some were convinced that my only
object was to move farther south, retaining the brig,
however, as a home to retreat to. Others whispered
that I wanted to transport the sick to the hunting-
grounds and other resources of the lower settlements^

604

)e would
but they
mot pass
lad been
not been
iter-trials.
ctly upon
vie a gen-
i of May,
lur hours
it pounds
to cease

^pressions
ms not al-
Iwith the
[ibout the
pss of my
lerc were
my only
I the brig,
Ivhispered
hunting-
ttlements,

lift; III

#|i

,ii

riSif

PREPARATIONS FOR STARTING SOUTH. 607

which I had such difficulty in preventing the muti-
nous from securing for themselves alone. A few of a
more cheerful spirit thought I hod resolved to make
for some point of look-out, in the hope of a rescue by
whalers or English expedition parties which were sup-
posed still to be within the Arctic circle. The number
is unfortunately small of those human beings whom
calamity elevates.

" There was no sign of affectation of spirited enthusi-
asm upon the memorable day when we first adjusted the
boats to their cradles on the sledges and moved them
oir to the ice-foot But the ice immediately around
the vessel was smooth ; and, as the boats had not re-
ceived their lading, the first labor was an easy one.
As the runners moved, the gloom of several counte-
nances was perceptibly lightened. The croakers had
protested that we could not stir an inch. These cheer-
ing remarks always reach a commander's ears, and I
took good care of course to make the outset contra-
dict them. By the time we reached the end of our
little level, the tone had improved wonderfully, and
we were prepared for the effort of crossing the suc-
cessive lines of the belt-ice and forcing a way through
the smashed material which interposed between us and
the ice-foot

" This was a work of great difficulty, and sorrowfully
exhausting to the poor fellows not yet accustomed to
heave together. But in the end I had the satisfaction,
before twenty-four hours were over, of seeing our lit-
tle arks of safety hauled upon tlie higher plane of the
icefoot, in full trim for ornamental exhibition from
the brig ; their neat canvas housing rigged tentrfash-
ion over the entire length of each ; a jaunty little flag
made out of one cf the commander's obsolete linen

608

FAREWELL TO THE URIO.

Bhirts, decorated in stripes from a disused article of
stationery, the rod ink-bottle, and with a very little of
the blue bag in the star-spangled corner. All hands
after this returned on board : I had ready for thorn
the besst supper our supplies alTorded, and liioy
turaed in with minds prepared for their departure next
day.

" Our last farewell to the brig was made with more
solemnity. The entire ship's company was colleotod
in our dismantled winter-chamber, to take part in the
ceremonial. It was Sunday. Our moss w;i]ls jjad
been torn down, and the wood that supported thoin
burned. Our beds wore nlT at the boats. The galloy
was unfurnished and cold. Every things about the lit-
tle den of refuge was desolate.

" We read prayers and a chapter of the Bible ; and
then, all standing silently round, I took Sir .Tolni
Franklin's portrait from its frame and cased it in an
India-rubber scroll. I next read the reports of ins[)oc-
tion and scurvy which had been made by the several
commissioners organized for the pur[)0se, all of tliom
testifying to the necessities under which I was about
to act. I then addressed the party : I did not aflcct
to disguise the difficulties that were before us; but I
assured them that they could all be overcome by en-
ergy and subordination to command : and that the
thirteen hundred miles of ice and water that lay be-
tween us and North Greenland could be traversed
with safety for most of us and hope for all.

"I was met with a right spirit. After a short con-
ference, an engagement was drawn up by one of the
officers, and brouglit to me, with the signatures of all
the company, without an exception.

." We then went upon deck : the flags were hoisted

tide of
little of
1 hands
or tlioin
(1 tlioy
irc next

th more
loUct'ted
rt in the
nils Imd
ed thorn
ic galley
t the lit-

blo; and
ir John
it in an
f inspoc-
sevoral
lof them
s about
t aftcct
; but I
by en-
ihat the
lay be-
averscd

)rt con-

of the

ks of all

hoisted

#1*

i^ I

f ' *

THE SICK AT A NO AT OK.

Oil

ami hauled down a^ain, and our party walked onre or
twico nround the brl^, looking at iier timbers and ex-
changing comments upon the scars which reminded
tiiem of every stage of Iier dismantling. Our figurc-
liead — the fair Augusta, the little blue girl with pink
cheeks, who had lost her breast by an iceberg and her
nose by a nip oft' Bedevilled Reach — was taken from
our bows and placed aboard the * Hope.' * She is at
any rate wood,' said the men, when I hesitated about
giving them the additional burden ; ' and if wo can-
not carry her far we can burn her.'

" As I review my notes of i\w first few days of our
ice-journey, I find them full of incidents interesting
and o\en momentous when they occurred, but which
cannot claim a place in this narrative. The sledges
wore advancing slowly, the men ':"*:en discouraged,
and now and then one giving way under the unaccus-
tomed lal)or ; the sick at Anoatok always dreary in
their solitude, and suffering, periiaps, under an exacer-
bation of disease, or, like the rest of us, from a pen-
ury of appiopriate food. Things looked gloomy
enough at times.

" Taking with me Morton, my faithful adjutant al-
ways, 1 hurried on to the ])rig. It was in the full
glare of noon that we entered the familiar curve of
Rensselaer Bay, The black spars of our deserted
ves.sel cut sharply against the shores ; there was the
deeply-marked snow-track that led to Observatory
Island and the graves of poor Baker and Schubert,
with their cairn and its white-cross beacon: everything
looked as when we defiled in funeral procession round
the cliffs a year before. But, as we came close upon
the brig and drove our dogs up the gangway, along
which Bonsall and myself had staggered so often with

612

APPROACH TO ETAH.

our daily loads of ice, we beared the rustling of wings,
and a large raven sailed away in the air past Sylvia
Headland. It was old Magog, one of a pair that had
cautiously haunted near our brig during the last two
years. He bad already appropriated our homestead.

" We lighted fires in the galley, melted pork, baked
a large batch of bread, gathered together a quantity
of beans and dried apples, somewhat damaged but still
eatable, and by the time our dogs had fed and rested,
we were ready for the return. I gave a last look at
the desolate galley-stove, the representative of our
long winter's fire-side, at the still bright coppers now
full of frozen water, the theodolite, the chart-box, and
poor Wilson's guitar, — one more at the remnant of
the old moss walls, the useless daguerreotypes, and the
skeletons of dog and deer and bear and musk-ox, —
stoppered in the rigging ; — and, that done, whipped
up my dogs so much after the manner of a sentimen-
talizing Christian, that our pagan Metek raised a
prayer in their behalf.

"It was quite late in the evening when I drew near
Etah. I mean that it was verging on to our midnight,
the sun being low in the heavens, and the air breath-
ing that solemn stillness which belongs to the sleeping-
time of birds and plants. I had not quite reached
the little settlement when loud sounds of laughter
came to my ear ; and, turning the cape, I burst sud-
denly upon an encampment of the inhabitants.

" Some thirty men, women, and children, were gath-
ered together upon a little face of offal-stained rock.
Except a bank of moss, which broke the wind-draught,
from the fiord, they were entirely without protection
from the weather, though the temperature was 6° be-
low zero. The huts were completly deserted, the

*«;■''!

A MIDNIGHT FESTIVAL.

613

snow tossut had fallen in, and the window was as free
and open as summer to the purifying air. Every liv-
ing thing about the settlement was out upon the bare
rocks.

" Rudest of gypsies, how they squalled, and laughed,
and snored, and rolled about! Some were sucking
bird-skins, others were boiling incredible numbers of
auks in huge soapstone pots, and two youngsters, cry-
ing, at the top of their voices, ' Oopegsoak ! Oopeg-
soak!' were fighting for an owl. It was the only
specimen that I had seen except on the wing ; but, be-
fore I could secure it, they had torn it limb from limb,
and were eating its warm flesh and blood, their faces
buried among its dishevelled feathers.

" The scene was redolent of plenty and ignorance,
the dolcefrtr niente of the short-lived Esquimaux sum-
mer. Provision for the dark winter was furthest from
their thoughts ; for, although the rocks were patched
with sun-dried birds, a single hunting party from Pe-
teravik could have eaten up their entire supplies in a
single night.

" Before I left Etah on my return, I took an early
stroll with Sip-su, ' the handsome boy,' to the lake back
of my old traveling-route, and directly under the face
of the glacier.

" He led me first to the play-groimd, where all his
young friends of the settlement were busy in one of
their sports. Each of them had a walrus-rib for a
golph or shinny-stick, and thoy were contending to
drive a hurley, made out of the round knob of a flip-
per joint, up a bank of frozen snow. Roars of laugh-
ter greeted the impatient striker as he missed his blow
at the shining ball, and eager cries told how close the
match was drawing to an end. They were counting

614

THE SICK IMPROVING.

on the fingers of both hands, eight, eight, eight : the
game is ten.

"Strange, — the thought intrucled itself, but there
was no wisdom in it, — strange that these famine-
pinched wanderers of the ice should rejoice in sports
and playthings like the children of our own smiling
sky, and that parents should fashion for them
toy sledges, and harpoons, and nets, miniature em-
blems of a life of suffering and peril ! how strange this
joyous merriment under the monitory shadow of these
jagged ice-cliffs ! My spirit was oppressed as I imag-
ined the possibility of our tarrying longer in these fro-
zen regions ; but it was ordinary life with these other
children of the same Creator, and they were playing
as unconcerned as the birds that circled above our
heads. ' Fear not, therefore : ye arc of more value
than many sparrows.'

" I was glad when I reached the sick-station to find
things so much better. Everybody was stronger, and,
as a consequence, more cheerful. They had learned
housekeeping with its courtesies as well as comforts.
Their kotluk would have done credit to Aningnah her-
self: they had a dish of tea for us, and a lump of Aval-
rus; and they bestirred themselves real housewife-
fashion, to give us the warm place and make us com-
fortable. I was right sorry to leave them, for the
snow outside was drifting with the gale ; but after a
little while the dogs struck the track of the sledges,
and, following it with unerring instinct, did not slacken
their pace till they had brought us to our compan-
ions on the floe.

" They had wisely halted on account of the storm,
and, with their three little boats drawn up side by side
for mutual protection, had been lying to for the past

OUT IN A GALE.

015

two clays, tightly lioused, and moorcd fast Ity wliale-
lines to tlie ieo. But the drifts liad ahnost huriol the
' Hope,' which was the windward boat ; and when I
saw the burly form of Brookt^ emerging from the
snow-covered roof, I could have fancied it a walrus
rising through the ice.

" Six Es(|uimaux, three of them women, — the uuly
beauty, Nessark's wife, at the head of thom, — had
come off to the boats for shelter from the gale. Tiiey
seemed so entirely deferential, and to recognize with
such simple trust our mutual relations of alliance, that
I resolved to drive down to Etah with Petersen as in-
terpreter, and formally claim assistance, according to
their own laws, on the ground of our estal)lished
brotherhood.

'Our dogs moved slowly, and the discolor'^d ice ad-
monished me to make long circuits. As we ncared
Littleton Island, the wind blew so fiercely from the
southwest, that I determined to take the in-shorc chan-
nel and attempt to make the settlement over land.
But I was hardly under the lee of the islan«l. when
tliero broke upon us one of the most fearful gales I
have ever experienced. It had the character and the
force of a cyclone. The dogs were literally blown
fiom their harness, and it was only by throwing our-
selves on our faces that we saved ourselves from being
swept away: it seemed as if the ice must give way.
We availed ourselves of a momentary lull to shoulder
the sledge, and, calling the affrighted dogs around
us, made for the rocks of Eider Island, and, after the
most exhausting exertions, succeded in gaining terra
lirina.

" We struck a headland on the main shore, where a
dark ho.rnblende rock, perhaps thirty feet high, had

,'11;

ri'

:\M

i'r*\

or.

61G

c u M 1 ii 1 H i: 11 Y .

formed a barricade, boliind which tlie drifts piled them-
selves ; and into this mound of snow we hud just
strength enough left to dig a burrow. "VVe knew it
soon after as Cape Misery.

"The dogs and sledge were dragged in, anrl Peter-
sen and myself, reclining ' spoon-ltishion,' cowered
among them. The snow piled over us all, and we Avere
very soon so roofed in and quilted round that the
storm seemed to rage far outside of us. We could
only hear the wind droning like a great fly-wheel, ex-
cept when a surge of greater malignity would sweep
up over our burial-place and sift the snow upon the
surface like hail. Our greatest enemy here was
warmth. Our fur jumpers had been literally torn off
our backs by the wind ; but the united respiration (>f
dogs and men melted the snow around us, and we
were soon wet to the skin.

"Is it possible to imagine a juncture of moi-e coiuic
annoyance than that which now introduced itself
among the terrors of our position ? Toodla, our mas-
ter-dog, was seized with a violent fit ; and, as their
custom is, his companions indulged in a family con-
flict upon the occasion, which was only mediated, after
much eflbrt, at the sacrifice of all that remained of
Petersen's pantaloons and drawers.

" We had all the longing for repose that accompa-
nies extreme prostration, and had been fearing every
moment that the combatants would bring the snow
down upon us. At last down came our whole canopy,
and we were exposed in an instant to the fury of the
elements. I do not think, often as I have gone up on
deck from a close cabin in a gale at sea, that 1 was
ever more struck with the extreme noise and tunuilt
of a storm.

BOAT CAM!' IN A STOKM.

OOOD-BVK TO TllK KSyl IMAf X.

l-^ 1

A CRYSTAL PALACE.

619

" Once more snowed up, — for the drift built its crys-
tal palace rapidly about us, — we remained cram[)ed
and seething till our appetites reminded us of the ne-
cessities of the inner man. To breast the gale was
simply impossible ; the alternative was to drive before
it to the north and east. Forty miles of floundering
travel brought us in twenty hours to the party on the
floes. v •

" Still passing slowly on day after day, — I am reluc-
tant to borrow from my journal tlie details of anxiety
and embarrassment with which it abounds throughout
this period, — we came at last to the unmistakjible
neighborhood of the open water. We were off Peki-
utlik, the largest of the Littleton Island group, oi)po-
site ' Kosoak,' the Great River. Here Mr. Wilson and
George Whijiple rejoined us, under the faithful charge
of old Nessark. It was with truly thankful hearts
we united in our prayers that evening.

" One only was absent of all the party that re-
mained on our rolls. Ilans, the kind son and ardent
young lover of Fiskernaes, my well-trusted friend, had
been missing for nearly two months. I am loth to
tell the story as I believe it, for it may not be the
true one, after all, and I would not intimate an unwar-
ranted doubt of the constancy of boyish love. But
I must explain, as far as I can at least, why he was not
with us when we first looked at the open water. Just
before my departure for my April hunt, Hans came to
me with a long face, asking permission to visit Peteravik :
' he had no boots, and wanted to lay in a stock of
walrus-hide for soles : he did not need the dogs ; he
would rather walk.' It was a long march, but he
was well practised in it, and I consented, of course.

" Hans the faithful — yet, I fear, the faithless — was

P' .?l

^J?'/!''

AT THE OPEN WATER.

last seen upon a native sledge, driving south from Poter-
avik with a maiden at his side, and professedly bound
to a new principality at Uwarrow Suk-suk, high up
Murchison's Sound. Alas for Hans, the married man !
• "June 16. Our boats are at the open water. We
see its deep indigo horizon, and hear its roar against
the icy beach. Its scent is in our nostrils and
our hearts. Our camp is but three-quarters of a
mile from the sea : it is at the northern curve of the
North Baffin polynia. "We must reach it at the south-
ern sweep of Etah Bay, about three miles from Cape
Alexander. A dark headland defines the spot. It is
more marked than the southern entrance of Smith's
Straits. How magnificently the surf beats against its
sides.

"The Esquimaux are camped by our side, — the
whole settlement of Etah congregated around the 'biff

m O CD O

caldron ' of Cape Alexander, to bid us good-bye. There
are Metek, and Nualik his wife, our old acquaintance
Mrs. Eider-duck, and their five children, commencing
with Myouk, my body-guard, and ending with the
ventricose little Accomodah. There is Nessark and
Anak his wife ; and Tellerk the ' Right Arm,' and Am-
aunalik his wife ; find Sip su, and Marsumah and An-
ingnah — and who not? I can name them every one,
and they know us as well. We have found brothers
in a strange land.

" Each one has a knife, or a file, or a saw, or some such
treasured keepsake ; and tlie children have a lump of
soap, the greatest of all great medicines. The merry little
urchins break in upon me even now as I am writing:
— '■ Kuyanake, kuyanake, Nalegak-soak !' ' Thank you,
thank you, big chief!' while Myouk is crowding fresh
presents of raw birds on me as if I could eat forever,

GOOD-liYE TO THE ESQUIMAUX. C21

jind poor Aningiiiah is crying beside the tent-curtain,
wiping her eyes on a bird-skin.

*'• But see ! more of them are coming up — boys ten
years old pushing forward babies on their sledges.
The whole nation is gypsying with us upon tlie icy
meadows.

'' VV e cook for them in our big camp-kettle ; they
sleep in the Red Erie ; a berg close at hand supplies
them with water: and thus, rich in all that they value,
— sleep and food and diink and companionship, — with
their treasured short-lived summer sun above them,
the heau ideal and sum of Esquimaux blessings, they
seem supremely happy.

" Poor creatures ! it is only six months ago that
starvation was among them : many of the faces
around me have not yet lost the lines of wasting sus-
pense. The walrus-season is again of doubtful produc-
tiveness, and they are cut off from their brethren to
the south, at Netellk and Appah, until whiter rebuilds
the avenue of ice. With ail this, no thoughts of the
future cross them. Babies squall, and women chatter,
and the men weave their long yarns with peals of rat-
tling hearty laughter between.

" They listened with breathless interest, closing their
circle round me ; and, as Petersen described the big
ussuk, the white whale, the bear, and the long o})un
water hunts with the kayak and the rifle, they looked
at each other with a significance not to be misunder-
stood.

" It was in the soft subdued light of a Sunday evening,
June 17, that, after hauling our boats with much hard
labor through hummocks, we stood beside the open sea-
way. Before midnight we had launched the Red Eric,
and given three cheers \'ov Henry Grinnell and ' home-
ward bound,' unfurling all our Ihigs.

622

EMBARKATION.

" But wc were not yet to embark ; for the gale
which hud been loii<^ brooding now began to dash a
heavy wind-Upper against the floe, and obliged us to
retreat before it, hauling our boats back Avith each
fresh breakage of the ice. It rose more fiercely, and
we were obliged to give way before it still more. Our
goods, which had been stacked upon the ice, had to be
carried farther inward. We worl<ed our way back thus,
step by step, before the breaking ice, for about two
hundred yards. At last it became apparent that the
men must sleep and rest, or sink ; and, giving up for
the present all thoughts of embarking, 1 hauled the
boats at once nearly a mile from the water's edge,
where a large iceberg was frozen tight in the floes.

"The gale died aw;iy to a cahn, and the water l)c-
came as tranquil as if the gale had never been. All
hands wore called to prepare for embarking. The
boats were stowed, and the cargo divided between
them equally ; the sledges unlashed and slung outside
the gunwales; and on Thursday the 19th, at 4 p.m.,
with the bay as smooth as a garden-lake, I put off in
the Faith. She was followed by the Red Eric on our
quarter, and the Hope astern.

" We crossed Murchison Channel on the 23d, and
encamped for the night on the land-floe at the base of
Cape Perry; a hard day's travel, partly by tracking over
ice, partly through tortuous and zigzag leads. The
next day brought us to the neighborhood of Fitz Clar-
ence Rock, one of the most interesting monuments
that rear themselves along this dreary coast : in a re-
gion more familiar to men, it would be a landmark to
the navigator. It rises from a field of ice like an Egyp-
tian pyramid surmounted by an obelisk.

" While the men slept after their weary labor. Me-

A HA U DEN IN O VIEW.

623

Gary and myself climbed the berg for a view ahead.
It was a saddening one. Eveiy thing showed how in-
tense the last winter had been. We were close npon
the 1st of July, and had a right to look for the North
Water of the whalers where we now had solid iee or
close pack, both of them almost equally unfavorable
to our progress. Far off in the distance — how far I
could not measure — rose the Dtdrymple Rock, pro-
jecting from the lofty precipice of the island ahead ;
but between us and it the land ice spread itself from
the base of Saunder's Island unbroken to the Far
South.

" The imperfect diet of the party was showing itself
more and more in the decline of their muscular
power. They seemed scarcely aware of it thoinsolves,
and referred the difficulty they found in dragging and
pushing, to something imcommon about the ice or
slodge rather than to their own weakness. But, as
we endeavored to renew our labors through the morn-
ing fog, belted in on all sides by ice-fields so distorted
and rugged as to defy our efforts to cross them, the
truth seemed to burst upon every one. We had lost
the feeling of hunger, and were almost satisfied with
our pasty broth and the large draughts of tea which
accompanied it. I was anxious to send our small
boat, the Eric, across to the lumme-hill of Appah,
where I knew from the Esquimaux we should find
plenty of birds ; but the strength of the party was
insufBcient to drag her.

" We were sorely disheartened, and could only wait
for the fog to rise, in the hope of some smoother plat-
form than that which was about us, or some lead
that might save us the painful labor of tracking. I had
climbed the iceberg ; and there was nothing in view ex-
cept Dalrymplo Rock, with its rod brassy face tower-

ilipf

iiiii

.1:1

624

URliAK-UP OF THE FLOE.

ing in tho unknown distance. But I liardly got back
to my boat, before a gale struck um IVoui the noitii-
west, and a lloe, taking upon a tongue of ice about a
mile to tho north of us, began lo swiug upon it like
a pivot and close slowly in upon our narrow resiiiHr-
phice.

"At first our own floe also was driven belbri; the
wind ; but in a little while it encountered the staliouiuy
ice at the foot of the very rock itself On the instant
the wildest hnaginablc ruin rose around us. The men
sprang mechanically each one to his station, bearing
back the boats and stores ; but I gave up for tlie mo-
ment all hope of our escape. It was not a nip, such as is
familiar to Arctic navigators; but the whole platform,
where we stood and for hundreds of yards on every
side oi" us, crumbled and crushed and piled and tossed
itself madly under the pressure. I do not believo
that of our little body of men, all of them disci[)lined
in trials, able to measure danger while condxitting it,
— I do not believe there is one who this day can ex-
plain how or why — hardly when, in fact — we I'uund
ourselves afloat. We only know that in the midst of
a clamor utterly indescribable, through which the bray-
ing of a thousand trumjjets could no more have been
heard than the voice of a man, we were shaken and
raised and whirled and let down again in a swelling
waste of broken hunmiocks, and, as the men grasped
their boat-hooks in the stillness that followed, the
bouts eddied away in a tumultuous skreed of ice and
snow and water.

" We were borne along in this manner as long as
the ludjroken remnant of the in-shore floe continued
revolving, — utterly powerless, and catching a ghnipt^e
every now and then of the brazen headland that

WEAHV man's UK8T.

G25

looked down on ns tIirou<,di the snowy sky. At lust
the lioe brought up u<^iiiiist the rocks, the looser IVag-
meuts that hung round it hegjin to separate, and we
were able by oars and boat-hooks to force our liuttered
little Hot ilia clear of them. To our joyful surpri.se,
we soon found ourselves in a stretch of the land-water
wide enough to give us ri»wing room, and with the as-
sured promise of land close ahead.

'•At three o'clock the tide was high enough for us to
scale the ice-clill! One l)y one we pulled up the boats
U})on a narrow shelf, the whole sixteen of us imiting at
each pull. We were too much worn down to un-
load ; but a deep and narrow gorge opened in tlie
clids almost at the spot where we cUunbered up ; and,
as we pushed the boats into it on an even keel, the
rocks seemed to close iibovo our heads, luitil an abrupt
turn in the course of the ravine placed a jjrotecting
clilV between us and the gale. We were completely
encaved.

''Just as we had brought in the last boat, the Eed
Eric, and were .^boring her up with blocks of ice, a
lonu:-uuheard but familiar and unml.stakal)le .sound
startled and gladdened our ears, and a flock of ciders!
flecking the sky for a nu)ment passed swiftly in front
of U.S. We knew that we must be at their breeding-
grounds ; and as we turned in wet and hunyrrv to our
long coveted sleep, it was onl}' to dream of eggs and
abundance.

"On the 3d of July, the wind l)egan to moderate,
though the snow still fell heavily; and the next uu)rn-
ing, after a patriotic egg-nog, the lic^uor bormwed
grudgingly from our alcoliol-llask, and dilufed till it
was worthy of temperance pi';iise, — we lowered our
boats, and bade a grateful farewell to ' Weary Man's

' i

ii\

W*'

i M

■,V*'

i!i

"* 1*

lit

«i'!l
&"'

626

THE K S g U 1 M A U X E I) E N ,

Rest.' We rowed 1o the southeast end of Wostcn-
holnie Island ; but the tide h»ft us there, and we moved
to the ice-foot.

" Our descent to the coast followed the margin of the
fast ice. After passing the Crimson CUfF of Sir John
Ross, it wore almost the dress of a holiday excursion,
— a rude one perhaps, but truly one in feeling. Our
courf. ^, except where a protruding glacier interfered
with it, was nearly paralhl to the shore. The birds
along it were rejoicing in the young summer, and
when we halted it was upon some green-clothed cape
near a stream of water from the ice-field above. Our
sportsmen would clamber up the cliffs and come l)ack
laden with little auks; great generous fires of turf,
that cost nothing but the toil of gathering, bla/ed
merrily ; and our happy oarsmen, after a long day's
work, made easy by the promise ahead, woidd stretch
themselves in the sunshine and dream happily iiway
till called to the morning wash and prayers. We en-
joyed it the more, for we all of us knew that it could
not last.

"ff* * •IF "n" "F V

" I was awakened one evening from a weary sleep
in my fox-skins, to discover that we had fairly lost our
way. The officer at the helm of the leading boat,
misled by the irregular shape of a large iceberg that
crossed his trade, had lost the nuiin lead some time
before, and was steering shoreward Air out of the true
course. The little canal in which he had locked us
was hardly two boats'-lengths across, and lost itself not
far oif in a feeble zigzag both behind and before us:
it was evidently closing, and we could not retreat.

" Without apprising the men of our misadventure,!
ordered the boats hauled up, and, under pretciuu of

Wostcn-
re moved

!;in of the
Sir John

jxciirsion,
ng. Our
interfered
riie birds
iimer, and
thed cape
ove. Our
M)nie l)ack
!S of turf,
ing, hla/.ed
[onjji; day's
dd stretch
ipily away
We en-
at it could

[eary sleep
\\\ lost our
iding' l)oat,
cberg that
I some time
.f the true
locked us
itself not
before us:
|e treat.
Iventure,!
rctciice of

m >

l:^«'' f'i \

i
I i *

li'.

II'

;j-;r'^ '■■ : t:f

LOST AMONG BERGS.

629

drying the clothing and stores, made a camp on the
ice. A few hours after, the weather cleared enough
for the first time to allow a view of the distance, and
McGary and myself climbed a berg some three hundred
feet high for the purpose. It was truly fearful : we
were deep in the recesses of the bay, surrounded on all
sides by stupendous icebergs and tangled floe-pieces.
My sturdy second officer, not naturally impres.sible, and
lonn; accustomed to the vicissitudes of whalinj? life,
shed tears at the prospect. There was but one thing
to be done : cost what it might, wo must harness our
sledges again and retrace our way to the westward.

" Thinars frrew worse and worse with us : the old
difLcjulty of breathing came back again, and our feet
swelled to such an extent that we were obliged to cut
open our canvas boots.

" It must be remembered that we were now in the
open bay, in the full line of the great ice-drift to the
Atlantic, and in boats so frail and unseaworthy as to
require constant bailing to keep them afloat.

" It was at this crisis of our fortunes that we saw a
laru:e seal floating — as is the custom of these animals
— on a small patch of ico, and seemingly asleep. It
was an ussuk, and so large that I at first mistook it
for a walrus. Signal was made for the Hope to follow
astern, and, trembling with anxiety, we prepared to
crawl down upon him.

" Petersen, with the large English rifle, was stationed
in the bow, and stoekinijrs were drawn over the oars
as mufflers. As we noared the animal, our excitemont
became so intense that the men could hardly keep
stroke. I had a sot of signals for such occasions
which spared us the noise of the voice ; and when

5 .5

'i:A.

"': i-

<vm

: ', i''

1 *•

r ,,* i

\M..

630

THE SEAL. THE SEAL

about three hundred yards off, the oars were takc;p in,
and we moved on in deep silence with a single scull
astern.

" He was not asleep, for he reared his head when we
were almost within rifle-shot ; and to this day I can
remember the hard, careworn, almost despairing ex-
pression of the men's thin faces as they saw him
move : their lives depended on his capture.

" I depressed my hand nervously, as a signal for
Petersen to fire. McGaiy hung upon his oar, and the
boat slowly but noiselessly sagging ahead, seemed to
me within certain range. Looking at Petersen I saw
that the poor fellow was paralyzed by his anxiety,
trying vainly to obtain a rest for his gun against the
cut-water of the boat. The seal rose on his fore-flip-
pers, gazed at us for a moment with frightened curi-
osity, and coiled himself for a plunge. At that in.
stant, simultaneously with the crack of our rifle, he
relaxed his long length on the ice, and, at the very
brink of the water, his head fell helpless to one side.

" I would have ordered another shot, but no disci
pline could have controlled the men. With a wild
yell, each vociferating according to his own impulse,
they urged both boats upon the floes. A crowd of
hands seized the seal and bore him up to safer ice.
The men seemed half crazv : I had not realized how
much we were reduced by absolute famine. They ran
over the floe, crying and laughing and brandishing
their knives. It was not five minutes before every
man was sucking his bloody fingers or mouthing long
strips of raw blubber.

" This was our last experience of the disagreeable
effects of hunger. In the words of George Stephen-

son,

' The charm was broken, and the dogs were safe.'

TERRA FIR MA!

631

The dogs I have said little about, for none of us
liked to think of them. The poor creatures Toodla
and Whitey had been taken with us as last resources
against starvation. They were, as McGary worded it,
' meat on the hoof,' and •' able to cany their own fat
over the floes.' Once, near Weary Man's Rest, I had
been on the point of killing them ; but they had been
the leaders of the winter's team, and we could not
bear the sacrifice.

"'Terra firma ! Terra firma !' How very pleasant it
was to look upon, aud with what a tingle of excited
thankfulness we drew near it ! A little time to seek a
cove among the wrinkled hills, a little time to ex-
change congratulations, and then our battered boats
were hauled high and dry upon the rocks, and our
party, with hearts full of our deliverance, lay down
to rest.

" Thus it was that at one of our sleeping-halts upon
the rocks — for we still adhered to the old routine —
Petersen awoke me with a story. He had just seen
and recognized a native, who, in his frail 1:nyak, was
evidently seeking eider-down among the islands. The
man had once been an inmate of his family. ' Paul
Zacharias, don't you know me? Pm Carl Petersen!'
• No,' said the man ; ' his wife says he's dead ;' and,
with a stolid expression of wonder, he stared for a
moment at the long beard that loomed at him through
the fog, and paddled away with all the energy of
fright.

" Two days after this, a mist had settled down upon
the islands which embayed us, and ^^ hen it lifted we
found ourselves rowing, in lazy time, under the shadow
of Karkamoot. Just then a familiar sound came to
us over the water. We had often listened to the

'If f •

;i;t

ff* ) m

1 ill ^

, I',

;^'\

.-'Hl^

^'i '

632

D A -\ N E M A R K E R 8

>'\

screeching of the gulls or the bark of the fox, and
mistaken it for the 'Iluk'of the Esquimaux; but
this had about it an inflection not to be mistaken, for
it died away in the familiar cadence of a 'halloo.'

"'Listen, Petersen I oars, men!' 'What is it?' —
and he listened quietly at first, aud then, trembling,
said, in a half whisper, 'DannemarkersI'

" I remember this, the first tone of Christian voice
which had greeted our return to the world. How we
all stood up and peered into the distant nooks ; and
how the cry came to us again, just as, having seen
nothing, we were doubting whether the whole was
not a dream ; and then how, with long sweeps, the
white ash cracking under the spring of the rowers,
we stood for the cape that the sound proceeded from,
and how nervously we scanned the green spots which
our experience, grown now into instinct, told us would
be the likely caniping-grouud of wayfarers.

" B^'-and-by — for we must have been pulling a good
half hour — the single mast of a small shallop showed
itself; and Petersen, who had been very quiet and
grave, burst out into an incoherent fit of crying, only
relieved by broken exclamations of mingled Danish
and English. * 'Tis the Upernavik oil-boat ! The
Frauleiii Flaischer I Carlie Mossyn, the assistant cooperj
must be on his road to Kingatok for blubber. The
Mariano (the one annual ship) has come, and Garlic
Mossyn ' and here he did it all over again, gulp-
ing down his words and w^ringing his hands.

" It was Carlie Mossyn, sure enough. The quiet
routine of a Danish settlement is the same year after
year, and Petersen had hit upon the exact state of
* things. The Marine was at Proven, and Carlie Mos-
syn had come up in the Fraulein Flaischer to get the
year's supply of blubber from Kingatok.

^i I isl

fox, and
,ux ; but
taken, for
illoo.'

; is itr—

trembling,

stian voice
How we
lOoks; and
iving seen
whole was
sweeps, the
the rowers,
3eded from,
>pots which
d us would

iling a good
jlop showed
quiet and
Irving, only
led Danish
loat! The
;ant coopei-'
.ber. The
and Garlic
gain, gulp-

ItIic quiet

,'ear after

ict state of

ICarlie Mos-

to get the

■ i <*

.v-m

fwn

. V

ir h

iM*' jlil

CAPE WF.I.COME.

OUH FIR8T KAYAK.

AT THE SET T L K M E N T.

G33

■..'.Ik

" Ilero we first got our cloudy vague idea of wliat
had passed in the big worhl during our absence. The
friction of its fierce rotation had not much disturbed
this little outpost of civilization, and we thought it a
sort of blunder as he told us tliat France and England
were leagued with the Mussulman against tlio Crrook
Church. He was a good Lutheran, this assistant
cooper, and all news with him had a theological com-
plexion.

'" ' What of America ? eh, Petersen ? ' — and we all
looked, waiting for him to inteqirct the answer.

" ' America ? ' said Carlie ; ' we don't know much of
that country here, for they have no whalers on the
coast ; but a steamer and a barque passed up a fort-
night ago, and have gone out into the ice to seek your
party.

" How gently all the lore of this man oozed out of
him ! he seemed an oracle, as, with hot-tingling fin-
gers pressed against the gunwale of the boat, we
listened to his words. ' Sebastopol ain't taken.'
Wiiere and what was Sebastopol ?

" But ' Sir John Franklin ? ' There we were at home
again, — our own delusive little specialty rose upper-
most. Franklin's party, or traces of the dead which
represented it, had been found nearly a thousand miles
to the south of where we had been searching for them,
lie knew it ; for the priest (Pastor Kraag) had a Ger-
man newspaper which toVl all about it. And so we 'out
oars' again and rowed into the fogs.

" Another sleeping-halt has passed, and we have all
washed clean at the fresh-water basins and furbished
up our ragged furs and woolens. Kasarsoak, the snow
top of Sanderson's Hope, shows itself above the mists
and we hear the yelling of the dogs. Petersen had

:Mi

'I'lj A

..'LfilsSi

lilp

634

THE WELCOME.

been foreman of the settlement, and he calls my at-
tention, with a sort of pride, to the tolling of the
workmen's bell. It is six o'clock. We are nearing
the end of our trials. Cjin it be a dream ?

" We hugged the land by the big harbor, turnoil the
corner by the old brew-house, and, in the midst of a
crowd of children, hauled our boats for the last time
upon the rocks.

" For eighty-four days we had lived in the open air.
Our habits Avere hard and weather-worn. We could
not remain within the four walls of a house without
a distressing sense of sufibcnticn. But we drank
coffee that night before many a hospitable threshold
and listened again and again to the hymn of wel-
come, which, sung by many voices, greeted our deliv-
erance."

" On the 16th we left Upernavik in the Mariana,
a stanch but antiquated little barque, under the com-
mand of Captain Ammondson, who promised to drop
us at the Shetland Islands. Our little boat, the Faith,
which was regarded by all of us as a precious relic,
took passage along with us. Except the furs on our
backs and the documents that recorded our labors and
our trials, it was all we brought back of the Advance
and her fortunes."

THE FAITH.

is my at-
g of the
! uearlng

urnotl the
nidst of a
; hist tune

) open air.

We could

se without

we dvank

threshold^

mn of wel-

d our deliv-

f r«

CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE IIARTSTENE RELIEF EXPEDITION.

An expedition for the relief of Dr. Kane and his
party, commanded by Lieut. Henry J. Ilartsteue, sailed
from Ne>v York, May 31st, 1805, i)recisely two years
after the departure of the Advance from the same
port. It "vvas sent out Ly authority of Congress, and
consisted of two vessels, the l)ark Release and ])ro])eller
Arctic, which penetrated nortliAvard as far as l*]tah,
where the searchers met some of Dr. Kane's Es(piiuiaux
friends, including the "elfin youth " and " stern walrus
hunter " Myoidc.

Dr. John K. Kane, a younger brother of the exjdorer,
accompanied the expedition, and prepared a grajdiic
and si)irited sketch thereof, ^^•llicll was pid>lished in
Pufnani's 3Iagazine for May, 185G, from Avhich the
following extracts are taken : —

"Myouk was very quick in understanding us, and
equally ready in inventing modes of conveying intelli-
gence. Lead-pencil and ])aper were called into re<(uisi-
tion. I took out my note-l)Ook, dre-w a rough sketch
of a brig, and showed it to him. He at once said
'Dokto Kayen,' and pointed to the north, I then drew
a reversed sketch, and pointed south. But INIyouk,
shaking his head, began to sway his body backward
and for^vard, to imitate rowing ; then said Dokto
36 635

;tl

illit

jV.,. I i

ll'i' J''' t'l

'{ii

rfliil

v:T'M

636

NAKUATIVK OF JOHN K. KANJi

Kayen ncjain, and pointed Hoiitli. On tliis, I drew
ji whole <l(H^t of ])oats, and invited lilni to point out
liow many of tliese he I'efeiicd to. lie to()k the pencil
from my hand, and altered thesternsof two into sluirp-
pointed ones, and then hehl n]) two fini^erH, to indicate
that tliere were two of such. I now di'(»w eai-efnlly two
whale-boats ; lie made signs of approval, as nuicli as to
say that was the thing; and, incontinently scjuattiiiL;
down, imitated the voice and gestnres of a dog-driver,
cracking an imaginary wliip, and crying lin|)-linitliuj).
at the top of liis voice. After which jiei-formance lie
laughed immoderately, and, again pointing south, said
Dokto Kaven.

" I was not certain as to his meaninu: ; hut, on mv
drawing a picture of a dog-team, he went through the
whole ])ei'f()rmance afresh, and sliowed the most extrav-
aidant sio;ns of delio-ht at beincj mulerstood. We found
out how many dog-sledges and how many men there
were of the doctor's party, in the same manner. We
examined several other natives separately, and they all
told the same story; nor could we confuse them as to
the number of men and boats ; they were all clear on
that head. Nineteen, they made it, neither more nor
less. We tried our best to make them say that the
boats had gone north, and the vessel south ; but with-
out success. Myouk, on one occasion, being hai'd
pressed, stopped his ears, so as, at least, to secure him-
self from being supposed to assent to wliat he had not
learning or language enough to conti'overt.

" At length, a l)right thought struck him. Ib^ ran
down to the beach, and got two ^vhite stones ; laid
them on the ground, and, pointing to the floating
masses of ice in the bay, signified to us that these rep-
resented the ice. Next, he took a common clay pipe

rki

Ml l' ! iC 1

h 11

NAUUATlVi: or .KUIN K. KAXK.

(;;;7

)\it, on my
uost t'xivav-

I' men tliere
ivunev. ^> ^'
uul tliey all
tlioiu as to
uU clear oi\
ler more nor
ay tliat the

'i; l)Ut\vitll-

p si'ciive liim-
^tlieliiuliiot

tt.

lin. 11^ i"';"

;tones; laW
tlie floating

luat these rep-
,11 clay PP«

of Mr. LovelVs, and, point liii,' to tlic nortli, said, voniiuk
soo.'ik, or l)ii,' sliij), 'voniiak nooak, Dokto Kay*Mi/ IIo
next j)nslu'(l \\w pip*' up l)et\vet'n the ju'hhlcs, .-ind llu'ii
prt'SMcd them together till tlie pipe wasci'uslu'd. I^astiy,
lie pointed to th('sont]i,aMd bej^an imitatlnii; tlie row iiii^
of a boat, th(( erackiiiii; of wliips, and tlic hiip-linppiiig
ora(l()<^-driver,vo('ireratiiiu:, at intervals, 'I)okto KaNcn,
lie ! he ! he !' We tried our best to find out how long
it had been since the Dokto Kayens had left thcin,
for it was evident that this was their name for the
Avliolo party ; but we could not make them undci'stand.
They would only tell us that their guests had been
Avitli them for some time. This they <lid by j)()inting
to the south, and then following the track of the sun
till it reached the north; then after stretching them-
selves out on the ground and closing their eyes as if
ill sleej), they would again j.'oint to the south, rise uj),
go down to the lake and ])retend to wash tlieii* faces.
"We had drifted so far to the south that Fiievely was
nearer than llpernavik, and Captain Hartstene deter-
mined to put in there. It cleared away beautifully
towards morning, and Ave Avere all on the decks, ad-
miring the clear water and the fantastic shajjcs of the
water-washed icebergs. All hands were in high spii-its,
the fjale liad blown in the ri<rht direction, and in a
few hours we should be in Lievely. The I'ocks of
its land-locked harbor were already in sight. AVe Avere
discussing our neAvs by anticijnition Avhen the man in
the croAv''s nest cried out, " A bi-ig in the harboi' !" and
the next minute, before Ave had time to congratulate
each other on the chance of sending letters home, that
she had hoisted American colors — a delicate com])li-
meiit, we thought, on the part of our friends, the
Danes.

I !'...! >

638

NARRATIVE OF JOHN K. KANE.

" I believe our captain was about to return it; when
to our suq^rise, she hoisted another flag, the verital)le
one which liad gone out with the Advance, beaiiiui"
the name of Mr. Henry Grinnell. At tlie same moment
two boats were seen rounding the point, and j)ulliiio-
to\vard8 us. Did they contain our lost friends 'i Yes ;
the sailors had settled that, ' Those are Yankees, sir ;
no Danes ever featherdll their oars that way,' said au
old A\ haler to me.

" For tho^'j who had friends among the missiiio;
party, the fe^v minutes that folloANed were of bitter
anxietv : for the men in the boats ^vere loiiij-bearded
and weather-beaten ; they had strange, wild costumes ;
there was no possibility of recognition. Dr. Kane,
standing upright in the stern of the first boat, with his
si)y -glass slung round his neck, Avas the first identified ;
then the big form of Mr. Bi-ooks ; in another moment
all hands of them Avere on board of us.

" It Avas curious to Avatcli the effects of the excite-
ment in different people, — the intense quietude of some
the boisterous delight of others ; Iionv one man Avoiild
become intensely loquacious, another would do nothing
but laugh, and a third Avould creep away to some out-
of-the-wav corner, as if he were afraid of shoAving how
he felt. IIoAV hungry they all Avere for ncAVs, and
hoAv eagerly they tore open the home letters : most of
them, poor fellows, had pleasant tidings, and all Avere
pi'epared to make the best of bad ones. We Avere in
the harbor, Avith a fleet of kayaks dancing in Avek-oDic
around and behind us, before the ijreetinfrs Avere half
ended, for they repeated themselves over and over
again.

"Our old friend, Mr. Olrik, AA'as Avith the now
comers, and as happy as the rest. His hospitality,

NARRATIVE OF JOllX K. KAJSK.

639

wlien we readied the shore, Avtis absolutely boundless;
and his liouse and table were always at our service.
Altogether, I never passed three more delightful days
tlian those last days at Lievely. Balls every night ;
feasts and junketings every day ; and, pleasantest of
all, tliose dear home-like tea-tables, with shining tea-
urn and clear, white sugar, round which we sat, Avait-
iiiii for the water to boil, and talking: of Russia and
die C-^zar, and the world outside the Circle ; while
Mrs. Olrik would look up from her worsted-Avork, and
the chiklren pressed round me to see the horses and
(logs I Avas drawing for them. It was enough to make
one forget his red flannel shirt and rough Arctic rig ;
Melville Bay and the pack seemed fables.

" But our stay in Lievely ended. The propeller got
up steam, and, taking our bark and the Danish brig
Marianne in tow, steamed out of the harboi*. All the
inhabitants of the town were on the shore to see the
last of lis. Our visit had been as memoralde an in-
cident to them as to ourselves. Where ten dollars is
a large marriage dower. Jack's liberality of expendi-
ture seemed absolutely royal. There Avei'e moistened
eyes among them, for they are essentially kind-hearted ;
and even the roar of our cannon, in answer to the
Danish salute, though it resounded splendidly among
the Jiills, was scarcely heeded, as they stood, with
folded arms, watching us disappear iu the distance."

fc I'. !*t

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
FRANKLIN'S FATE DISCOVERED.

The fall of 1854 witnessed the return of the last of
all the expeditions which had been sent from England
to search for Franklin. The task had been a long and
disheartening one; for with the exception of the dis-
covery in 1850, of Franklin's winter-quarters in 1845-
40 under Beechey Island, no clue to the whereabouts
of his ships or party had been found. Six years of
search had, however, made known the entire geog-
raphy of the regions of Arctic America, and witli the
exception of a small portion around King AVilliam's
Land, every coast and harbor had been examined.
The unsearched ground would have been more easily
accessible to the various expeditions than many of
the more remote regions visited by them ; but by a
strange fatality, all the explorers turned back short of
the goal, because they found no cairn, no trace, no
record to induce them to push on towards it.

But hardly had men declared the solution of the

fate of the lost exjxHlition a hopeless task, Avhen, in

October 1854, from the shores of Prince Regent's

Inlet, api)eared a traveler. Dr. Rae, bringing (•(tuclu-

sive proofs that the unsearched region was the scene

of the disasters A\hicli overwhelmed Franklin and his

men. Dr. Rae, in his land expedition of 1853-4, met

641

i f

:^!li

lis'f

642

DR. RAE'S DISCOVERIES.

at Pelly Bay, on the ITtli of May 1854, a party of
Esquimaux who had in their possession articles Avhieh
he identified as having belonged to Franklin's party.
The following is Dr. Rae's account of the informa-
tion which he obtained from these Esquimaux : —

"In the spring, four seasons back, 1850, about forty
'white men,' were seen traveling southward over tlie ice
and dragging a boat with them, by some Esquimaux, who
were killing seals near the north shore of King William's
Land, which is a large island. None of the party could
speak the Esquimaux language intelligibly, but by signs the
natives were made to understand that their ship, or ships,
had been crushed by the ice, and that they were now going
to where they expected to find deer to shoot. From the
appearance of the men, all of whom except one officer looked
thin, they were then supposed to be getting short of provis-
ions, and purchased a small seal from the natives. At a later
date the same season, but previous to the breaking up of the
ice, the bodies of some thirty persons Avere discovered on the
continent, and five on an island near it, about a long day's
journey to the N. AV. of a large stream, which can be no
other than Back's Great Fish Iliver, as its description and
that of the low shore in the neighborhood of Point Ogle and
Montreal Island, agree exactly with that of Sir George Back.
Some of the bodies had been buried, (probably those of the
first victims of famine,) some were in a tent or tents, others
under the boat, which had been turned over to form a shelter,
and several lay scattered about in different directions. Of
those found on the island, one was supposed to have been an
officer, as he had a telescope strapped over his shoulders, and
his double-barrelled gun lay underneath him.

" From the mutilated state of many of the corpses, and
the contents of the kettles, it is evident that our wretched
countrymen had been driven to the last resource — cannibal-
ism — as a means of prolonging existence.

" There appeared to have been an abundant stock of ammu-
nition, as the powder was emptied in a heap on tlie ground
by the natives out of the kegs or cases containing it ; and a

ANDERSON S EXPEDITION.

643

..<'!';■: ■ I

quantity of ball and shot was found below high-water mark,
having probably been left on the ice close to the beach.
There must have been a nuniber of watches, compasses, tele-
scopes, guns, (several double-barrelled,) &c., all of which
appear to have been broken up, as I saw pieces of those dif-
ferent articles with the Esquimaux, together with some sil-
ver spoons and forks. I purchased as many as I could get.
A list of the most important of these 1 enclose, witli u rt)Ugh
sketch of the crests and initials on the forks aiul s])oons.

"None of the Esquimaux with whom J conversed had seen
the ' whites,' nor had tliey ever been at the place where the
bodies were found, but had their intbrmation from those who
had been there, and who had seen tlie party when traveling."

The next season, 1855, Mr. Anderson, an ollicor of
the Ilndsoirs Bay Coni[)any, descended the Fish River •
but, althoug'h traces wei-e found to prove tliat some
portions of the crews of the Erebus and Terror had
actually landed on the banks of that river, and traces
of them existed up as far as Franklin's Rapids, no
additional intbrmation was obtained by the party.

In 18oG, Lady Franklin petitioned the Government
to make a final effort to find the lost ships, and sug-
gested that the Resolute, which had recently been pre-
sented Ivy the United States, might be devoted to the
purpose. A memorial to the same effect, signed by
the leading scientific men, explorers and naval officers
of England, accompanied the petition. It was not
until April 1857 tliat the decisive answer was given,
that after so many fiiilures, the Government did not
feel justified in sending out more brave men to encoun-
ter fresh dangers in a cause which was viewed as hope-
less.

Lady Franklin now determined to send out another
private expedition, and for that purpose purchased
and refitted the steam yacht Fox. Capt. F. S. McClin-

J'^;.| I

-■■■I f':T

644

THE FOX EXPEDITION.

took, who had seen much service in the frozen reahn,
willingly accepted, without pay, the command, lie had
experienced officers and a crew of twenty-one gallant
men. Carl Petersen, a Dane who had served with Pen-
ny and Kane, hastened from his home at Co}>enlia-
gen, where he had been oidy six days after an absence of
a year, to join the expedition as interpreter. Various
circumstances combined to retard the departure of
the Fox, and it was not till July 1857 that she left
the slK)res of merry England behind her and started
on j( " long and perilous voyage.

Mi iville Bay was reached about the middle of Aii-
o:ust. Here the Fox was beset by the ice and frozen
lU, i' :d w.'t.'; (lot released until the next April. Mean-
time she had di ii'ted in the midst of a slow-marcliincr
pack which e\'er rolls from the Pole to the Eipuitor,
a distance of twelve hundred miles to the south. Start-
ing northward again on the 7th of May, from llol-
steinberg, Greenland, the Fox reached Beechey Island
by the middle of August. Here McClintock set up a
marble tablet to the memory of the lost explorers.
This monument had 1)een constructed in New York
City at the recpiest of Lady Franklin, under the direc-
tion of Mr. Grinnell, and was taken to Greenland by
the Hartstein Expedition, for the purpose of being
erected at Beechey Island. But as Lieut. Hartstein
did not visit that locality the tablet Avas left at God-
havn, and there found by McClintock, who carried it
to its destination. It was placed upon the raised
flagged square, in the centre of which stands the cen-
otaph recording the names of those who perished in
Belcher's Expedition, and near a small tablet wliicli
had been erected to tlie memory of Bellot. The
inscription was as follows : —

FRANKLINS MONUMENT.
TO THE MEMORY OF

FRANKLIN,
CROZIER, FITZJAMES,

AM) AI.I, TIIKIU

OAr.LANT UUOTllK.ll OFllCERH AND FAITnyUL

COMPANIONS WHO IIAVK Sl'KFKUKI) AND PERISHID

IN THE CAUSE OV SCIENCE AND

THE SERVICE OK TIIEIU COUNTRY.

THIS TABLET

IS EllECTED NEAR THE SPOT WHERE

THEY PASSED THKIU FIRST ARCTIC

WINTER, AN!) WllKNCK TIIKY ISSUED

FORTH TO CONQUER DIFFICULTIES OR

TO DIE.

IT COMMEMORATES THE GRIEF OF THEIR

ADMIRINO COUNTRYMEN AND FRIENDS,

AND THE ANOCISH, SUBDUED RY FAITH,

OF HER WHO HAS LOST, IN THE HEROIC

LEADER OF THE E.YPEDITION, THE MOST.

DEVOTED AND AFFECTIO.NATE OF

IIUSUANDS.

*' AND SO HE URINGETH them tINTO THE
HAVEN WHERE THEY WOULD BE."
1855.

645

This Stone has been entrusted to be iifRxod in its placo by the Ollieers and
Crew of the American Expedition, commanded by Lieut. II. J. Ilartstein, ia
search of Dr. Kane and liis companions.

This Tablet havin>^ been loft at Di.«cobythe
American Expedition, which was unalih- to
reach Becchey Island, in 1855, was put on
board the Discovery Yaclit Fox, and is nnw
set up li(!re by Captain McClintock, H. X.,
comniandiiif; the finiil expedition of search
for ascertainiufr the fate of Sir John Franklin
and his companions, 1858.

After replenisliing his stock of provisions from the
stores Ifeft l)y tlie previous expedition, McClintoek
pushed on, and turning into Peel Sound on the west
side of Somerset, was brought up, August 17th, hy
fixed ice at a point twenty-five miles south of Cape
Walker. Bafiled, Imt not disheartened, he imme-
diately retraced his steps, and passing down Prince

■I I

^W^'

1"' ^. Bml, ~ -J 'B'-- : '21.

I I

646

WINTER IN BELLOT STRAIT.

Regent's Inlet, arrived on the 20th at the eastern
entrance of Ballot Strait.

The scene in tliat t^trait was enough to daunt men
less acciistomed to such dangers. On either side were
precipitous walls of granite, topped by mountains
cov(;red with snow, while to and fro, in the space
between them, the ice was grinding and churning
under the influence of a fierce tide. Like a terrier at
a rat-hole, the staunch Fox waited for an opportunity
to run the gauntlet through this strait into the Avestern
sea wliicli led to King William's Land. On the Gth
of September they succeeded in reaching the western
entrance to the strait, l)ut Avere then stopped by a
belt of ice which stretched across the path and was
held fast by a gi'oup of small islands.

The winter of 1858-9 now set in, and all hope of
reaching the oj^en water had to be abandoned, althougli
it was separated from the Fox only by an ice-field six
miles wide. Here Avas passed an xmusually cold and
stormy Avinter ; and the resources of Boothia yielded
them in fresh food only eight reindeer, two bears, and
eighteen seals. Li February, seA'eral sledge parties
were sent out in different directions; McClintock,
Avho Avent southerly, met forty-fiA^e Esquimaux, and
during a sojourn of four days among them learned
that " seA'eral years ago a ship was crushed by the
ice off the north shore of King William's Land ; that
her people landed and AA'ent away to the Great Fish
River, Avhere they died." These natives had a quan-
tity of wood from a boat left by the " starving white
men " on the Great River.

On the 2d of April, Captain McClintock, Captain
Young, and Lieutenant Hobson, each with two sledges,
started from the Fox to search for the lost ships.

TIDINGS OF THE EXPEDITION.

647

Young went westerly to Prince of Wales Land and
made a long journey. McClintock and Ilobsoii went
together as far as the Magnetic Pole, and on the way
there, learned from some natives that the second ves-
sel had been drifted on shore by the ice in the fall of
the same year when the other ship was crushed.

Leaving Ilobson to search the west coast of King
William's Land, McClintock ^vith Petersen undertook
to go down the east side thereof, direct to the Fish
River. On his way thither, he met a party of Esqui-
maux who had been, in 1857, at the wreck spoken of
by their countrymen, and who had numerous articles
taken therefrom. An intelliixent old woman said it
was in the foil of the year that the ship was forced
on shore ; that the starving white men had fallen on
their way to the Great River, and that their bodies
were fonnd by her countrymen in the following
winter. She said that on board the wrecked ship
there was one dead white man, and there had been
many books as well as other things ; but all had been
taken away, or destroyed, when she was last at the
wreck. The destruction of one ship and the wreck
of the other appeared, so far as McClintock could
ascertain, to have occuri-ed after their abandonment.
No Esquimaux that were met had ever before seen
a living white man.

After meeting this party, ]\rcClintock pushed on to
Montreal Island, in the estuary of the Great Fish
River ; but he found nothing more than Anderson had
reported ; and in a careful search of the shores about
Point Ogle, and Barrow Island, he was (Mjually unsuc-
cessful. Returnino; to Kino; William's Land he now
struck along its south-western shores, in the hope of
discovering the wreck spoken of by the natives ; but

( ;

:\i

111

■.":'fc;i!fl

li'' i

648

McCLINTOCK S DISCOVERIES.

coukl see no sigiiiH thereof. When ten miles south of
Cape Ilerscliel, he oanie iij)()n a liuumn skeleton
around whieh were fragnienis ol* Kurojiean el(^thin(^
It lay exactly as the i'aniislied seamen wen^ said to
have fallen, with its head toward Fish River niul its
face to the ground. At Cape llerseliel, MeClintoek
visited the eaii'u whieh Simpson had erected in 1813!)
and hoped to find therein some leeoi'd ; l)ut the eairii
had evidently Leeu overhauh'd and plundered by
Esquimaux, and the record, if tliere ha<l been any,
carried olF,

In the meantime II(d)son had made more import-
ant discoveries. After sej)arating from IMcClintock
near the Magnetic Pole on the 2Sth of April, he
proceeded to Cape; Felix, the most northern jjoiiit of
King William's Land. Here was found a lai'ge cairu
and three tents, with clothes, l)hinkets and other
ai-ticles, but no records. Two smaller cairns wei-e
found along tlie coast, but they contained nothing of
mucli im])ortance.

On the Gtli of May Ilobson ivached Point Victory
— so named by Sir James lloss who visited it in 1830.
It is on the western coast of King William's Land,
some forty miles south of Cajjc Felix. Here Avas a
large cairn ; and among some loose stones which had
fallen from its top was found a tin case enclosing a
record which gave the first authentic information as
to the fate of the lost expedition. This important
document was one of those blanks furnished to explor-
ing ships by the British Admiralty for the j^iii'pose
of being thrown overboard at sea in order to ascertain
the set of the current, etc., on which is printed in six
languages a request that the finder will note time and
place where it was found, and forward it to the

nitli of
voli'tou
othiiig.
said to
and its
'lintoc'k
n 18;V.),
lie ctiini
sred by
on any,

import-
Clintock
ipi'il, lie
point of
ro-e cairn
id other
ns -were
)tliing of

Victory
in 1830.
fs Land,
ln> ^vas a
liicli liad
llosing a
iation as
liportant
oxplor-
I purpose
ascertain
Id in six
lime and
to tlie

RKMCS OK THK LOST KXI'I.OIIKHS.

H. )

iiilrii i

Itl. drill, .il: A <

Hi! ''^^'

. . .1 1(

'V'_.

DlHCOTEnY OF KRANKMN'R CAIRN.

Till-: CAIUN AT POINT VICTORY.

045)

nearest British consul. WjittiMi on this paper were
two distinct records made at diilerent dates. The
fh'st one, occupying the blank space left lor such a
j)urpose, was as follows : —

28tli of May, j II. M. Ships Erohns and Terror wintered in
1847. ( the ice in Lat. 70^ 5' Tn\ Lonj,'. 98^ 23' W.

Having wintered in 181G-7 at I'cecliey Island, in Lat. 74®
43' 28" N., Long. 9P 39' 15" \V., after having ascended
Wellington Channel to Lat. 77" and returned l)y the west
side of Cornwallis Island.

Sir John Franklin commanding the expedition. All well.

Party consisting of 2 ofKcers and men left the ships on
Monday, 21th of May, 18i7.

This record had heen -written by Lieut. CJoiv, sign-
ed by himself and Vauix, and left by them while on
an excursion, at a point four miles north of ^vhere it
was ibund. There is an error in it when it states
that the winter passed at iJeechey Island was that of
184G-7. It should be 1845-6, as the other dates
plainly show.

Before a year had passed, Graham Gore -was dead,
and around the margin of the ])aper on which were
his words of hope and i)romise, other hands had
Avritten the following : —

April 25, 1848, II. M. ships Terror and Erebus were de-
serted on the 22d April, 5 leagues N. IS'. AV, of this, hav-
ing been beset since 12th of September, 184G. The offi-
cers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, under the com-
mand of Captain F. R. M. Crozier, landed here in Lat.

."ill

650

CKOZIER 8 RECORD.

69° 37/ 42^', Long. 98® 41'. This paper was found by
Lieut. Irving, under the cairn supposed to have been built by
Sir James lioss in 1831, four miles to the northward, wliere
it had been deposited by the late commander Gore, in June,
1847. Sir James Ross' pillar has not, however, been found,
and the paper has been transferred to this position, which is
that in which Sir J. Eoss' pillar was erected. Sir Johiv
Franklin died on the lltli June, 1847, and the total loss
by deaths in the expedition has been to this date, 9 officers
and 15 men.

(i/*io-ft-^

^Aii^JUo

t^^^

Scattered around this cairn were large quantities
of clothing and articles of all kinds, as if these men,
aware tliat tliey were retreating for tlieir lives, had
there al)andoned everything Avhich they- considered
superfluous.

Continuing his search down the western coast,
Lieut. Ilohson, when in lat. 69*^ 9', ahout foi'ty miles
below Point Victory, noticed what appeared to be
two posts rising above the snow. On examining
them closely, he found that they were the aAviiing
stanchions of a buried boat, and on clearing away tlie
snow, found in it that which filled the beholders with
awe — portions of two human skeletons. One lay in
the Ijow of the boat, and had evidentl)'" been disturbed
by wolves or other animals ; the other was enveloped

A BURIED BOAT.

GDI

with clothes and furs, and lay near the stern. Close
beside it were found five watches ; and two double-
barreled guns — one barrel of each loaded and cocked
— standing muzzle upwards against the boat's side,
just as they were placed eleven years previously.

A Bible was also found, and a few religious books,
one of wdiich — " Christian Melodies " — bore on its
title page an inscription from the donor to G. G.,
(Graham Gore.). There was also a large quantity
of clothing, an abundance of ammunition, some tea,
cliocolate and tobacco, and a great variety of articles
which modern sledge-travelers in these regions would
consider a useless dead weight. Silver spoons and
forks were also found, eight of which bore Franklin's
crest, and otliers the initials of nine of his officers.
Fuel was at hand in the ,shai>e of a drift-tree lying
near by on the beacli. Nothing in the shape of
records or journals could be discovered.

The boat was twenty-eight feet long, seven and a
half feet wide, and was mounted on a heavy oak
sledge which was headed north. McClintock, who
came upon this boat a few days after Ilobson found
it, estimated the total weio^ht of the sleck^e and its
load at 1,400 lbs ; and is of opinion that it was drawn
where it was found by a party who Avere returning
to the ship, probably for provisions, and that
they were unable to drag it any further.

From Cape Ilerschel to the western extremity of
King AVilliam's Land, the traces of th(! natives were
so numerous as to have completely effaced those of the
unfortunate castaways; but from this extreme point
to Cape Felix the beach was strewn with signs of
their miserable condition, like a rocky shore after
some disasti'ous wreck.
37

1 i

||i| I

.iMlpI

652

RETUEX OF THE FOX.

By the 1st of July 1859, all the search-parties had
returned to the Fox. Tlie homeward voyage was
begun on the 9th of August, and ended on the 21st
of September. Three men of the expedition had died
from disease and accident during its absence from
England. Numerous memorials of the lost expedition
were brought home, some of which have been de-
scribed as follows : —

" In the first case is the ' ensign ' of one of the ships, re-
duced almost to shreds, but still preserving its colors, and
reminding the spectators of the many cheerless days upon
which it must have fluttered sadly, but still proudly, from
the mast of tlie ice-bound vessel. In a corner of the same
case is also a thin tin cylinder, stained and time-worn. The
casual spectator would hardly notice it, but it stands first in
importance of all that has been recovered, for it contains the
record of the death of Sir John Franklin — that happy death
which saved our brave veteran all the subsequent horrors of
the journey to the I'ish River. Further on are the rude
spear-heads into which the Esquimaux bad fashioned the iron
they obtained from the wreck; and a box-wood two-foot
rule, wliitened with exposure, but with the figures on it all
as bright as the first day. This was, of course, the property
of the carjienter, who, it would appear, had, even when
starting on his dread journey, not forgotten the implement of
his trade. In the same case is a relic which will arrest the
eye of many a passcr-ln'. It is the remains of a silk neck-
tie, including the bow, as carefully and elaborately tied as if
the poor wearer had been making a wedding toilette. This.
which was taken from the neck of a skeleton, is supposed to
have belonged to the ship's steward.

" There are also various articles of plate, the greater por-
tion of which is marked with Sir John Franklin's device, and
two pocket chronometers in excellent preservation. A small
silver watch, maker's name 'A. Myers, London,' probably
belonged to some young mate or midshipman ; and a worm-
eaten roll of paper, upon which the single word 'Majesty'

RELICS OF FRANKLIN.

653

remains, was possibly the much-prized warrant of some stout
boatswain or quartermaster. There is a little amethyst seal,
in perfect preservation, and goggles and snow-veils, to pro-
tect the eyes from the dazzling whiteness of the polar snow.
Two double-barrelled guns, covered with rust, are placed far
in on the table. They still contain the charges which were
placed in them by hands which have long since lost their
cunning. The books recovered are very few ; they would,
of course, succumb early to the rigors of exposure, — but
there is still Avell preserved a small edition of the ' Yicar of
Wakefield,' some religious poetry, and a French Testament,
on the fly-leaf of which is written, in a delicate female hand,
* From your attached (the appellation is obliterated) S. M. P.'
The open inediclne-chest contains all its bottles and prepara-
tions very little injured, and a little cooking machine has the
fuel arranged, the sticks thrust through the bars ready for
ignition, and lucifer matches at the side, as it might have
been prepared over night for the morning cooking. It would
be impossible to exaggerate the interest and importance of
all these simple memorials ; they tell a tale that will find its
way to every heart."

Fi'om the meagre information obtained by the
various searchers for Franklin, have been drawn the
outlines of a connected account of his expedition
and its fate. The Erebus and Terror were last seen
in July 1845, in Baffin's Bay. (See Chapter XXII.)
Passing thence into Lancaster Sound, they reached
Beechey Island and ascended Wellington Cliannel to
lat. 77^. In returning southei'ly they sailed around
Cornwallis Island, and under the friendly shelter of
Beechey Island reposed from their arduous labors.
The Polar winter came in upon them like a giant.
A shroud of snow enveloped the region, save where
sharp and clear against the hard blue sky stood out
the gaunt mountain precipices of North Devon and
the dark and frowning cliffs of Beechey Island — cliffs
too steep for even snow-flakes to hang upon.

i (». ' 1 f"M * "" J, S a

1' i>A-'-

,l6; '..IS

■ r,tf>

654

THE STORY OF THE EXPEDITION.

The tale of energetic battle with cold, privation,
and festering monotony has l)een often told ; why
repeat that the officers and men under Franklin in
their first Avinter within the Frozen Zone, as nobly
bore the one and cheerfully combatted the other?
The ruins and traces left behind them all attest it.
The observatory, with its double embankment of
earth and stones, its neat finish, and the lavish expen-
diture of labor in pavement and pathway ; the shoot-
ing gallery under the cliff, the seats formed of stones,
the remains of pleasant picnics in empty bottles and
meat-tins strewed about : the elaborate cairn upon
the north point of Beechey — a pyramid eight feet
high, and at least six feet long on each side of the
base — constructed of old meat-tins filled with gravel ;
all tell the same tale of manful anxiety for physical
employment to distract the mind from suffering and
solitude.

But at length darkness and winter pass away,
sunlight and spring return, and pale faces recover
their natural hue. The graves of three of the crew
who perished during the long night are paved round
by their messmates, and shells from the bay are
arranged above them ; while Franklin selects, at the
request of his men, epitaphs which appeal to tbe
hearts of all — " Choose ye this day whom ye will

serve," etc.

The sun has ceased to set, night is as the day, the
snow has melted ; the yards are crossed, rigging set
up, sails are bent, and all signs indicate that the
disruption of the frozen surface of the sea is at hand.
The day of release arrives ; the cracks which radiate
over the floes gradually widen, then close again with
heavy nips. Presently the look-out man gives a sig-

■^

y'f

THE STOKY OF THE EXPEDITION.

655

nal that the ice is in motion. A loud hurrah wel-
comes the joyful news — a race to witness the break-up
of the ice. It moves indeed. The floe heaves an'T
cracks, now presses fearfully in one direction and
now in another. A dull moaning is heard as if the
very ice cried for mercy, and then, with a sharp report,
the mass is shivered into fragments. Water shows
in all directions, and the next day the ships are
sawed out, sails are set, and a cruise to the westward
begun.

At Cape Walker the ships come to anchor. An
impenetrable ice-streain, drifting easterly from Parry's
Sound, renders further progress in that direction
impossible. Southward stretches a promising chan-
nel leading direct to the American continent; and
down this channel — Peel Sound — the expedition
bears away. On the eastern hand rise the steep
black cliffs of North Somerset, cut here and there
with deep cleft and snow-filled ravine. On the west-
ern side, the sandstone cliffs and the sheltered coves
of Prince of Wales' Land, have donned tlieir brightest
looks, and siren-like, lure the discoverer, by many an
unexplored bay and fiord, to delay awhile and visit
them. It may not be ; the Erebus and Terror press
on, for is not Cape Herschel of King William's Land
and the American continent ahead — are they not
fast nearing it ? Once there, Avill they not have dis-
covered the long-sought passage ?

Two degrees of latitude are passed over ; the
passage contracts ; for awhile it looks as if they were
in a cul-de-sac ; islands locked in with one another,
excite some anxiety for a channel. The two ships
are close to each other, the eager ofliicers and men
crowd gunwale and tops. Hepburn Island bars the

I i

f" '11 Ik »• -1 a! f

iiii

656

TIIK STORY OK THE KXPEDITION'.

P i

way; thoy round it. lliirrali, Imrnili ! the path
opens before them, the lands on eitlier liand recede,
a sea, an open sea, is before tlieni. Tliey dip tlieii-
ensiu^ns, and eheer eaeli other in friendly eon<i|;ratida-
tion ; joy, joy! another one liiuuh-ed miles, and Kino-
WillianTs Island will rise in view. Tlie j)rize is now
•within their j^rasp, whatever be the eost.

The saiK>r's ])rayer t'oi' open Avater is, however, only
granted in a limited sense, for when the eoast of
Prince of Wales' Island is lost to vieAv, and they are
no lonijer shielded by land to the Avest, the cfi'eat ice-
stream from IVIelville Ishmd ai::ain falls nj)on it. Tlio
ships j)ass Bellot Strait, and advance down the
edii;e of that ice-stream as far as latitU(U^ 71''; then
they must enter thc^ ]>ack and go with it to the south-
west. Had tliey not already ])asseil OA^er two hun-
dred of the thrct' huncbcul miles between Cape
Walker and Ca])e Ilerschel'! Were they the men to
■flinch from a struu'Lch^ for the renuilninjj: hundred
miles?

That strui]^<xle commenced as the Avinter closed in,
and just as Kinti- William's Land Avas in si<;ht the
Erebus and Terror Avere about twelve miles north of
Cape Felix. jNIore dangerous and nn[)romising (piur-
ters could hardly have fallen to their lot. Six-
teen years ])reviously Ross had stood upon Cape Felix
in the month of jNIay, and observed Avith astonishment
the fearful natui'e of the oceanic ice Avhich Avas
pressed upon the shores, and had in some places been
driven inward half a mile.
• The second Avinter })asses aAvay and Avhen May
comes in, Gore and Vceux, Avith six men, leave the
Erebus on an excursion sontliAvard. In the cairn
built by Ross at Point Victory they deposit a record,

tli« path

(Up tlioii'

nnd Kinj;
ize IS now

revev, only
eojiHt of
(1 tlioy ai'o
e fifrcjit ioo-
)u'it. TIU!
down the
71^; Ihcn
) the sonth-
1- two hun-
ween Cape
the men to
hundred

dosed in,

flight the
s north of
ising (juar-

h)t. Six-
Cape Felix
tonishnient

vhieh was

daces

been

tvhen May

leave the

the cairn

It a record,

THE STORY OF THE EXPEDITION.

659

and in a week more stand on Cape Ilerschel ; then,
after gazing on the shores of America, they hasten
back to carry the glad tidings that tlie ships are
really in the direct channel leading to those waters
and shores traversed by Franklin in former years,
and that the long-sought passage is at last discovered.

Alas ! why do their shipmates meet the flushed
travelers with sori'ow imprinted on pale countenances ?
Why, as they cheer at the glad tidings they bring,
does the tear suffuse the eye of these rough and hardy
men ? Their chief lies on his death-bed ; a long
career of honor and of worth is drawing to its close.
The shojit of victory, which cheered the last hours of
Nelson and of Wolfe, rang not less heartily roimd
the bed of the gallant Franklin, and lit up that kind
eye with its last gleam of triumph. Like another
Moses, he fell when his work was accomplished with
the great object of his life in view.

A toll for the brave — the drooping ensigns of Eng-
land trail only half-mast ; officers and men with sad
faces walk lightly as if they feared to disturl) the
mortal remains of him they love so much. The sol-
emn peal of the ship's bell reverberates amongst the
masses of solid ice; a group of affectionate followers
stand around a huge cha^m in the ice, and Fitzjames
reads the service for the dead over the grave of Frank-
lin.

The summer M'cars away, and at last the ice-stream
again moves slowly to tlie south. Ten miles, twenty
miles thirty miles are accomplished, though not a foot
of open water has been seen. Then the new ice
begins to form, the drift diminishes, and when fifteen
miles north of Cape Victory and only ninety miles
from the continent the ships are again stationary, and

.1 1

iPPP

660

THE STOItY OF THE EXPEDITION.

the winter of 1847-48 closes ftroimd these forlorn and
now desperate men.

The sun of 1848 rises again upon the imprisoned
exj)edition, and never did it look down on a sadder
sight. Nine officers and twelve men have jierished
during the past winter ; the survivors one hundred
and five in number, a wan, half-starved ci'ew, must
leave the shi])S and escape for their lives. Sledges
are loaded with such articles as they sui)poso may he
of use. Two lai'ge hoats are rigged on sledges, and
in them the i^ick and disabled are placed. Care is
taken to have plenty of guns, powder, and shot, for
provisions are scarce, and th(>y hope to find deer in
the region of the Great Fish River.

On the 22d of April, 1848, the men fell into tlie
drag-rojies of their sledges and boats ; the colors Avero
hoisted on the ships, three cheers were given, and
without a blush at deserting the Erebus and Terror,
Crozier and Fitzjames lead the Avay to the nearest
land named Cape Victoiy. It took three days to travel
these fifteen miles, and already the sad conviction was
peeping upon them that they had over-estimated
their physical strength. Around the large cairn at
Point Victory the shivering men cast away every-
thing that could be spared. Unrolling the record
left here in the previous year by Lieut. Gore, Fitz-
James wrote around its margin those few but graphic
words which tell all we shall ever know of this last
page in their history.

In spite of frost-bites and fatigue the party presses
on. They Tiiust keep moving southward or their \)yo-
visions will l)e gone before they reach the continent.
Day by day they grow weaker and weaker under the
toil of draerging their sledges and disabled comrades

THE STOIIY OF THE EXPEDITION.

661

tlii'oiigli the deep snoAv and over the nigged ice, and
at last, when half way Lctweeii Point Victory and
Capti Herschel it becomes aj)parent that if any are to
he saved there must he n division of the parties and
that the sick and weak must stay hehind or return
to the ships. One of the large hoats is here turned
with her bow northward, some stay with it, and all
that is known of their fate is, that years afterward
the boat was found buried in the snow with two
skeletons therein ; and that the wandering Esquimaux
found another skeleton in one of the ships.

The stronger portion of the divided creAvs pushed
southward and reached the cairn on Cape Herschel ;
no one had visited it since it was erected by Dease
and Simpson in 1889. Ten miles further on at least
one of them died, " with his face to the ground and his
head toward Fish River;" and little else is known of
this " forlorn hope " than the information collected
from the Esquimaux by Dr. Rae, and given at com-
mencement of this chapter. It is probable that the
survivors, under Fitzjames, pushed on to perish in the
wilds of the Hudson's Bay Terrltoiy. Capt. Hall,
however, after visiting King William's Land, conclu-
ded that none of the party ever reached the conti-
nent. The results of his searches for Franklin are
giv(m in another chapter.

The point at which the fatal imprisonment of the
Erebus and Terror in IS 40 took j)lace, was only
ninety miles fi'om the limit reached by Dease and
Simpson. Ninety m'^es more of open water, and
Franklin and his heroic followers would not only have
won tl ^>r .e for which they had so bravely strug-
gled, but have gained their homes to enjoy their well-
merited honors. Such, however, was not to be the case.

M(''

662

THE 8T0UY OF THE EXPEDITION.

"They were to discover the great high^vay between
the Pat'ifie and the Atlantic. It was given tliem to
win for tlieir countiy a discovery for which she liad
riskt^l her sons and hivishly sjient her wealth thi-ough
many centuries; l)ut they were to die in accomplish-
ing their last great earthly task; and, still more
strange, but for the energy and devotion of the wife
of their chief and leader, it Avould in all i)rol)al)ility
never have l)een known, that they wei'e, indeed the
first discoverei's of the North-west Passage." The
shores along which they tied are sacred to their mem-
ory, and bear the names of Franklin, Croziei', Fltz-
James, Little, Irving, Gore, Hodgson, Fairholm, and
other members of the lost expedition.

hetweon
tlieni to
slui liad

through
•oriiplish-
till more

tlio Avifo
()l))il>llity
ileed the
rv.r The
lieir mem-
zler, Fitz-
lolm, aud

UBM

CHAPTER XXXIX.
ARCTIC SIBERIA AND ITS EXPLORERS.

SiKEHiA, tlie entire northern part of Asia, was for
centuries tlie Lattle-field of the Russians auvl Tartars,
and its ex})loration may he dated from tlie period
when tlie Russians freed themselves from the yoke of
their conquerors. In 1580, a body of wanderino* Cos-
sacks, searching for saLle furs, crossed the Ural Moun-
tains, and found a Tartar kingdom of which Sibir
was the capital. A struggle ensued, the Rtissian
power spread, and in less than one hundred years a
few Cossack hunters had, by their exertions and the
advantage ■which the possession of fire-arms gave
them, a(hled to Russia a territory larger in extent
than all Euro])e.

Siberia is rich in mines, fossil ivory, and sable, but

it is chleily noted as being the great Russian ])eiiiten-

tiary, to Avliich (;riniinals and all who have fallen

under the displeasure of the government are banished.

Many a wretched exile, the victim of state intrigues

and despotism, has Ium'c dragged out a miserable

existence; and hundreds of uiiiiap]\y Poles, whose

greatest crime was a devotion to their oppi'cssed

native land, have been perpetually banished to these

dreary regions. The worst criminals are sent to the

mines; the other exiles are furnished with small farm-

GC3

.1,; t \.i

ill ; ,;'! .

^^ II

II, >■ ' ,

li'l

ii'

II.

ii^:HlllMlB',:<''1

M'f%:

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: I'r

I i'iii'l 1 ; '

Wj ',^"''i '■¥■

j.v',v,.f '■-( r

i<l

664

SIBERIAN EXILES.

ing outfits and left to their own resources. They
have contributed greatly to the improvement and
civilization of the country, and many of them are
contented, happy, and even wealthy in their oompul-
sorv homes.

The discovery of the shores of the Polar oeean, from
Bering's Strait w^esterly toNovaZenihla (145 degrees
of longitude) is due to the Kussians. Those shores
are, perhaps, the most desolate on the whole Arctic
circle. The Siberian rivers — the Obi, the Yenisei, the
Lena, the Indigirka a.id Kolyma — rise in the Altai
mountains, and flow in their u])per courses, through
forests of tall trees. But, before they reach the Polar
ocean, they traverse a dreary i-egion of frozen s^^amp,
■wliich is barely habitable, called the tundra. Here
the land is frozen for many feet below the surface.
The rivers, during times of flood, l)ring down vast
quantities of uprooted ti'eos, which line their banks
in immense masses, and are eventually carried into
the Polar sea, to be drifted away with the current
wliich flows from east to west aloni; the Siberian
coast.

The endeavors of the Russians to double the extreme
northern ])oints of Siberia — Capes Taimyr and Chel-
yuskin, the latter in 77*^ 30' N., — have hitherto
been unsuccessful. The Russians, in very early times,
constantly went from Archangel to the mouth of the
Obi, creeping along between the land and ice in the sea
of Kara, and usually hauling their boats, or lodia.%
across the isthmus between Kara Bay aud the Gulf of
the Obi. In the last century several expeditions
were sent bv the Russian Government in the same
direction, and vessels reached the mouth of the
Pyasina, on the west side of the northern point of

VOYAGE OF DKSIINEF.

665

Sil)eria, and tlie Kliataiiga on the oast sido. But n
navigator has ever doubled that most uortheru cape
of the Asiatic continent.

From the mouth of the Lena eastward, vessels have
fre(|m'ntly reached the river Kolyma, l>ut the douhling
of the capes still farther east has l)een attended with
great difticiilty. Nijni Kolymsk, near the mouth of
the Kolyma, was founded in 1044, hy a Cossack
named Michael Staduchin ; and, in 1648, another Cos-
sack named Simon Deshnef e<piipped an expedition
there, consisting of three small craft which were
})road, flatdiottomed, decked vessels, about seventy feet
long, with both sails and oars. He rounde<l Cape
Chelagskoi, passed through the strait aftci'wards
named after Bering the explorer, and reached the
Gulf of Anadyj". Most of his men died of hunger;
but Deshnef himself succeeded in establishing a Aval-
rus fishery in the Anadyi*.

Peter the Great desired that the whole northern
coast of Siberia should be explored by sea, and he
died a few days after giving his instructions to
Caj)taiu ^'itus Bering with his own hand, in 1725.
Bering was a Dane, in the Russian service. lie Avas
desjxatclied from St. Peters])urg to the furthest point
of Siberia Avith sailors and shipAvrights, and tAA'O
vessels Avere built at Okhotsk and in Kamchatk;), the
" Gabriel" and the " Fortuna." In July, 17'2X, h(; sailed
from the river of Kamchatka, and examined th(; coast
for some distance to the nortliAA'ard, ascei-taining the
existence of a strait betAveen Asia and AnuM'ica. Tn
September, 1740, Bei'ing sailed again from Okhotsk,
in a vessel called the "St. Paul," Avitli another in com-
pany, called the " St. Peter," commanded by Lieut.
Chirikof. George W. Steller end)arkc<l Avith Bering

111, '':f¥'^!i

1:/'

.!'•

666

BERING S DISCOVERIES.

as naturalist of the expedition. The two ships sepa-
rated soon after sailinc; and did not meet asrain.

In June, 1741, they discovered tlie American coast,
and that magnificent j)eak, named by Bering Mount St.
Elias. The Aleutian Islands were explored, but
scurvy l)roke out amongst the crews ; Bering also
was attacked by it, and in November his ship was
wa'ccked on an island which was named after the ill-
fated discoverer himself, who was carried on shore,
and placed in a sort of pit or cavern dug in the side
of a sand-hill. Here he was almost buried alive, for
the sand was continually rolling down, and he
requested that it might not be removed, as it kept
him warm. In this miserable condition poor Bering
died, December 8th, 1741.

Steller was naturally anxious to procure supjilies
of animal food for his scurvy-stricken patients, and
he carefully examined into the natural history of the
island. lie attributed the cure of those Avho i-ecov-
ered, to the flesh of the sea-otter. Thii'tv of the crew
died on the island, and the forty-five survivors escaped
to Kamchatka in a little vessel built fj-om the wreck
of the "St. Paul." The most remarkable and inter-
esting event of this voj'age was the discovery by
Steller of a rare and solitary species of manatee or
sea-cow, called Hf/ii/ta Stelleres. It has since been
hunted and prol)ably exterminated, for no specimen
has been seen for more than seventy years. This
creature had a sor of bark an inch thick, composed
of fibi-es or tubes perpendicular on the skin, and so
hard that steel could penetrate it with difficulty. It
lived on sea-weed.

In 1734, Lieut. Muravief sailed from Archangel
towards the river Obi, but was stopped by the ice

CHELYUSKIN S EXPLORATIONS.

667

in the sea of Kara. In 1738, however, Lieut's. Malgyn
and Shurakoff doubled the promontory with great
difficulty and reached the mouth of the Obi. The
next step was to sail from the Obi to the Yenisei.
This was effected in the same year by Lieut. Koskelef.
In the same memorable year for Siberian exploration,
the pilot Menin sailed from the Yenisei towards the
Lena, but was stopped by the ice at the mouth of the
Pyasina, and returned unsuccessful.

Three years before, in 1735, Lieut. Pronchislichef
made a similar attempt from the eastern side. He
sailed down the Lena from Yakutsk, accompanied by
his wife, but was hampered l)y ice, whicli only left a
passage of two hundred yards along the coast, and
was at last obliged to winter at the mouth of the
Oleuek. Tlie following year he reached the mouth
of the Khatanga, and pushed beyond it, })ut found
liimself at last closely beset near Cape Chelyuskin, his
extreme northern point being 77* 25'. He and his
wife died at the winter-quarters, near the moutli of the
Olenek, and the command devolved upon Lieut.
Chelyuskin who returned. In May, 1740, Lieut.
Laptef found fixed and impenetrable ice in the same
place, and returned convinced of the impossibility of
sailing round Cape Taimyr. But in 1742, Chelyuskin
reached the northernmost point of the continent in
sledges, in latitude 77*^ 34' N., doubled it, and
returned to the mouth of tlie Taimyr. This cape is
now known as Cape Chelyuskin.

After Bering's Strait, the most important discov-
ery of the Russians during the last century was that
of the Islands of New Siberia in the Polar ocean,
opposite the coast between the mouths of the Lena
and Indigirka. In March, 1770, a merchant named

iMlH

itif,

C68

THE NEW SIBERIA ISLANDS.

Liakhof saw a large herd of reindeer coming over the
ice from the north, which induced him to start with
sledges early in April, to trace the tracks they had
left. After a journey of fifty miles over the ice, he
discovered three large islands, and the following year
obtained the exclusive right from the Empress Cathe-
rine to dio; for mammoth bones on them.

Immense alluvial deposits, filled with wood and
the fossil bones of animals, are found throughout the
shores of Arctic Siberia ; but in the cliffs or " wood
hills" of the Ncav Siberia Islands these deposits are
still more plentiful. For years after their first dis-
covery the seekers for fossil ivory annually resorted
to these islands; and, in 1821, the fossil ivory thus
procured weighed twenty thousand lbs. Hedenstrom,
a Russian officer, residing at Yakutsk, was employed
by the Government to survey the New Siberia
Islands in 1809, and occupied thi-ee years in their
exi")loration. He reported, in 1810, that, to the north-
ward of these islands during three years, he "was
always stopped at a short distance from the land by
weak ice.

In March, 1821, Lieut.Anjou, afterwards Admiral,
went across the ice with dog sledges, to the Kotelnoi
Island. He then ti'aveled over the ice to the north-
ward in April, and saw vapor rising to the north-west
when at a distance of forty-two miles from Kotelnoi
(lat. 7C* 38'), which led him to suppose that there
was open water in that direction. But Wrangell tolls
us that when the ice cracks, even in places where it
is thick and solid, vaporization immediately ensues,
which is more or less dense according to the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere.

In March, 1823, Anjou again crossed to the New

ANJOU S TRAVELS.

CG9

:;*'ii<' .-V

Siberia Islands. Open sea, with drifting masses of
ice, was seen on the 20th, the ice drifting from east
to west. The frequenters of the islands believe this
current to be the ebb tide. On the 9th of April he
started over the ice to the eastward, and met with
thin ice on the 14th, at a distance of sixty miles ; but
lines of impassable hummocks obliged him to make
for the mainland.

Anjou arrived at the conviction that all efforts to
advance b}^ the ice to any considerable distance fi'om
land would prove unavailing, owing to the thinness
of the ice and to the open Avater within twenty to
thirty miles of the islands. His expedition, however,
effected a complete survey of this interesting group.
The sea between the islands and Siberia is not com-
pletely frozen over until the end of October, and the
coasts are free by the end of July. Throughout the
summer the sea is covered with fields of ice, drifting
to and fro with winds and currents.

While Arijou was conducting these explorations,
Wrangell was prosecuting similar researches from his
head-quarters at Nijni Kolymsk, near the mouth of
the Kolyma, to reach which plac(; he had traveled
overland from St. Peterslnirg, a distance of nearly
five thousand miles. On the "vvay ho ]>assed through
Yakutsk, a flourishing city of four thousand inhabi-
tants, situated on the Lena River, and a commercial
center of the fur and ivory trade. Its dwellings con-
sist chiefly of Yourts, with turf-covered roofs, doors of
skins, and windows of ice. During the month of
January the thermometer stands on an average of
45® below zero. Accordim? to Sir Edward Brewster,
Y akutsk is near the " Asiatic pole of cold," one of
the two coldest points on the globe.
. 38

' i '■' i.i";

fifmt-., HI*

i:j||ffl|(. 1^'

.: :

670

WRANGELL S EXPLORATIONS.

Wrangell made four journeys on the Polar Sea, ac-
complislietl in dog sledges called narti. The runners
are of birehwood, and the upper surface of the
sledge of willow shoots woven together. All the
parts are fastened together with hide thongs. When
in use the sletlges are turned over, and water is poured
on the runners to produce a thin crust of ice, which
glides easily over the snow, and the icy runner is
called wodiat. As spring advances it of course be-
comes useless, and whalebone is sometimes substituted.

Wrano-ell considered March to be the best time of
the year for sledging, Avlien it is easier "svork for the
dogs. A well-loaded sledge required a team of tAvelve
dogs, which were fed on frozen herrings. The men
wore reindeer-skin shirts, great leathern boots lined
with fur, a fur cap, and reindeer-skin gloves. The
party had a conical tv=^nt of reindeer-skin, Avith a light
framework of six poles ; and, when they encamped,
they lighted a fire in the centre of it, and were half
smothered. Each man slept on a bear-skin, and a
reindeer-skin coverlet was provided for every two.

In his first journey, during March, 1820, Wrangell
explored the coast from the mouth of the Kolyma to
Cape Chelagskoi. His second journey was undertaken
in order to see how far he could go over the ice to the
northward away from the Siberian coast, and he
started March '27th, 1821. At a distance of two miles
from the shore, the party had to cross a chain of high
and rugged hummocks five miles wide, beyond which
there was an extensive plain of ice. Wrangell con-
tinued to advance to the northward for a distance of
one hundred and forty miles, when he found the ice
to be very thin and weak, owing to large patches of
brine that were lodged on the snow. There were

SKILL OF SIBERIAN SLEDGE-DRIVERS.

671

cracks in every direction, through wliich the sea-water
came up, and the ice was scarcely a foot thick. It
was therefore deemed prudent to commence a retreat
on the 4tli of April.

In approaching the coast again, they liad to cross
ranges of hummocks of greenish-blue colored ice,
often eighty and ninety feet in height, denoting tre-
mendous pressure during the winter. Wrangell
returned to Nijni Kolymsk April 28th, after an ab-
sence of thirty-six days, during which time he had
traveled over eight hundred miles. He was much
struck during this journey at the wonderful skill dis-
played by the sledge-drivers in finding their way by
watching the wave-like stripes of snow, formed b}"^
the wind, whicb are called in Silieria Sastrugi. The
ridges always indicate the quarter from which the
prevailing winds blow. The inhabitants of the tun-
dras often travel over several hundred miles with no
other guide than these sasti'ugL They know by
experience at what angle they must cross the greater
and lesser waves of snow, in order to arrive at their
destination, and they never fail. It often happens
that the true, permanent sastrugi have been obliter-
ated by others produced by temporary A^•inds ; but the
traveler is not deceived thereby ; his practised eye
detects the change, he carefully removes the recently
drifted snow, and corrects his course by the lower
sastrugi^ and by the angle formed by the two.

On his third journey Wrangell started northward,
from the coast March IGth, 1822, chiefly with the
object of ascertaining the truth of a native report that
there was high land in that direction. After travel-
ing for many days over very difficult hummocks, the
party came to such weak ice, broken up by so many

' i:\

.: (il'i'

liimiij .^■''f

iilllp' [

IK. '>'

"M;:----;

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672

•WRANGELL3 LAST JOUnNKY.

cracks, that Wrangell supposed tlio open soa must he.
at hand, and deemed it prudent to rctuin, ^v•hen one
hundred and seventy miles from the land. On this
journey he traveled over nine liundred miles.

Wrangell's fourth and last journey was conunenced
March 14th, 182;5, and Cape Chelagskoi was reached
on the 18th, A Tuski chief here informed him that,
from an adjacent part of the coast, on a clear sum-
mer's day, snow-covered mountains might he descried
at a great distance to the north, and that herds of
reindeer sometimes came across the ice of the sea,
pi'ol)al)ly from thence. The natives concur in slating
that Capo Jakan is the nearest point to this northern
land. The })arty struck off across the ic(! to the
northward wlien they had gone a little heyond Cape
Cludagskoi ; hut a violent gale of wind cracked and
broke up the ice, whicli was only tliree i'eet thick,
placing them in considerahle danger. As they ad-
vanced it became thinn^'r, and they only snccee<led in
crossing the cracks, just frozen over, in safety, owing
to the incredibly swift running of the dogs. Wran.
gell was obliged to turn back at a distance of seventy
miles from the land, and in reaching it they had to
ferry themselves across many cracks, on ])ieces of ice,
the dogs swimming and towing. To tlie west the sea
appeared completely open, with floating ice, and dark
vapoi's ascending from it obscured the horizon. Lanes
of Avater were opening in all directions, and, Avithout
a boat, the little party was placed in a position of
extreme danger. A gale of wind dashed the pieces
of ice against each other with a loud, crashing noise,
and split many of the floes into fragments. The dogs
saved them. They dashed wildly and swiftly toAvards
the laud, and reached it on the 27th.

WKANOELL LAND.

C73

,.,••! '

Wrangell ooutinutHl the const snrv^ey for some time
longer, and returned to Nijni Kolynisk May lOtli,
niter an absence of seventy-eight days, having traveled
over fifteen hundred and thirty miles. Tims ended
the series of attempts to reach the unknown north-
ern land, Avhich, though not seen by him, Wrangell
still thinks may possibly exist. It was sighted by
(Japtain Kellett, and afterwards, in 18G7, by Caj)tain
Long, an American whaler, wdio approached from
Bering's Strait ; and it is now marked on the mnps as
AVrangell Land. On Wrangeirs ma]> it is stated
that the mountains are visible, from Cape Jakan, in
clear summer weather.

Li 184J5, Middendoif ^vas sent to explore the
regions which terminate in Cape Taimyr, by land.
He descended the river Khatanga, and I'eached the
Taimyr lake in June. Li August he arrived at the
shores of the Polar Sea, and sighted Cape Taimyr,
whence he saw open water, and no ice-blink in any
direction. lie found the rise and fall of the tide to
be as much as thirty-six feet. His visit was, how-
ever, in the verv lieiuht of the short Arctic summer.

The observations of Iledenstrom, Anjou, and Wran-
gell, have led Russian geographers to the conclusion
that there is a part of the Polar ocean always an open
sea, extending from some twenty uiiles north of the
New Siberia Islands to about the same distance off
the coast of the continent between Cape Chelagskol
and Cape North. This o])iniou rests on the instances
in Avhicli these explorers, in March and Ai)ril,
encountered either open w^ater covered with loose
floes or very tliin ice, indicative of its immediate
vicinity, at different points of this line. Wrangell
considered that the fact of the northerly winds being

,Mf'-;

;!i:.|?li.

674

THE "GUIOAT IirsSIAN Tf>LYX[A."

Kuffioiently dmnp to wot tliu clotlicH of lils party, was n
further corroboration of the existence of an open sea in
that direction. In summer, the current ahmijf tlu; Silui.
rian coast is from east to west, and in autumn from west
to east. On the hreakini:^ u]) of tlui ic(! in tlie i^'reat
Siherian rivers their waters lielp to drive the floes
from the coast, and the Avesterly current then carries
them in heavily-packed masses towards tlie Athuitic,
and millions of tons of ice are thus sent to swell the
size of the polar pack, and are annually melted
betvve(!n Greenland and No\a Zcmbla.

Wrangell, using an allowable poetical license, 1ms
called the open water oiV the Siberian coast "the
wi(l(Mmmeasural)le ocean;" and ever since tlie "givat
Polynia of th(f llussiaus" lias been a plirase on which
geogi'a])hical theorists have founded the Avildest spec-
ulations. Now, in all parts of the Arctic regions
the ice is moi'c or less in motion durini; tlu^ summer,
so that the observaticm of open watei' by Middendoi-f,
near Cape Taimyr in August, is nothing remarkable.

There can be no reason to doubt that, owinu' to
strong curi'ents and gales of Avinds, the ice is in
motion of^* the coast of Siberia very early in the
spring, giving rise to polynias, or lanes and pools
of water; but there is nothing in the observations of
the Kussiau explorers to wari'ant the belief in a
"wide immeasurable octtan." The rising vapor, so
often mentioned l)y Anjou, is caused by tidal cracks
in the ice, and is no j)i'oof of an open sea; and the
phenomena of damj^ winds and rotten ice betoken
just Avhat Anjou saw — a limited expanse of sea,
covered Avith drifting floes. There is no evidence
whatever that the Siberian Polynia of the early spring
is of greater extent than the prevalence of gales of
wind and currents Avould easily explain.

AC regions

•niE EXPLOHATION OF THE YKXISEI.

075

Tlio latest Uiisslan cNjdorliij^^ acliicvcnuMit in
SihtM'ia lias been the e.xamiiiatioii, in isOd, of the
iiioiilh of the Yenisei, by Ih'ir Sehniidt, made in eon.
Hecjuenee of tli*' allej^ed diseoveiy of a maninioth
Hkelelon in the vicinity of the lower Yenisei River.
An interestinsj^ fact in conneetion with tliis river, is
the immense ([nantity of dril't-wooci lyiiiiL? on either
side of its l)anks. Abont tlu^ low lands of the est nary
the wood lies s(;attered abont, and, mixed with loam
and sand, forms the chief conij)onent «)f tlie nnmerons
islands slndded abont tlu^ month. In many j)la<'es
j)eat-moss is to be foniid, and stems of trees, wliieli
])rove that vegetation formi-rly sjiread fni'ther north
than now. Here, as well as in most i)arts of Siberia,
the larch {Larix Siblrica) marks the commencement of
forest groAvth.

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CHAPTER XL.
TKAVELS IN ALASKA.

The territory of Alaska, i)urt'liased by tlie United
States ill 18(.)7, is a wide and interesting field for dis-
covery. Visited occasionally for two centuries 1>y
navigato: and traders, little more was known of it
in the civilized world tlian the outline of its coast;
l)Ut its annexation to our country lias turned oui-
attention to it, and caused more accurate details of it:;
characteristics and resources to l>e brought within
our reach.

This vast domain, for which the Russian Govern-
ment received some seven million dollars, contains
500,000 scjiiare miles, a large proportion of \^•llicll is
uninhabited and nninhabitable. The southern parr
is peopled by Esquimaux, Lidians and Russians,
and has natural productions of much value. lis for-
ests and mineral wealth are much like those of the
neighboring British territory. There are important
cod-tisheries along various ])<)rtions of the coast ; and
salmon abound in all the rivers. The fur-trade has
ahvays been great, and if 2>i'otected liy ]iro[)er huvs
may continue to l)e a source of wealth t(3 its o\\-ners.

The Aleutian Islands comprise a valuable ])ortion
of the Alaskan purchase, and besides some commeivial
importance have many points of interest, including

IIIAVKI.INC IN KAMCHATKA.

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TRAVELS IN ALASKA.

677

C^eysers, hot springs, and volcanoes. Tlie natives have
a curious way of cai)turing whales. They surround
one with hoats, and throw into him so many harpoons^
to which hladders filled with air are attached, that he
is ohliged to float on the surface, and is tlien easily
killed with lances.

Much of our information respecting the interior of
Alaska, was gained by A\^Llliam II. Dal! and Frederick
Whymper, who traveled there in isiU*, under the aus-
])ices of the Western Union Telegi-ajth Company.
The object of the exjdoration was to find a 'niital)le
route for a telegraj)!! line from Bering's Strait to
San Francisco, which was to be a ])art of an inter-
continental line, in case the Atlantic cables should
fail.

The Yukon Kiver which the explorers ascended
six hundred miles, is one of the greatest streams in
the world. The Amazon, the ]Mississippi, and per-
haps the La Plata, alone surpass it. F<tr a distance
of seventeen hundred miles fVom its month, its aver-
age width is more than a mile, and while it courses
through the centre of Alaska, it rises far to the south
in British America, near the sources of the Alac-
kenzie. The larger portion of it is frozen over during
eight months of the year, but in summer it is navi-
gable far above Fort Yukon. Its course in Alaska
is mainly toward the west, but at Nulato, the most
northernly t railing-post of the Bussiaiis, it turns and
ilo\vs towai'd the south, and falls into tlie sea just
south of Norton's Sound.

Mr. Whym])er was acconipanie<l by Jive white men
and three Indians. They were e(jui]>ped with four
sledges and twenty dogs. These dogs were not of
the best kind, but had nuuiy characteristics of the

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678

UP TUE YUKON.

wolf. Their food was mostly fish, but they would
eat anything that afforded nutriment.

The party started from Unalachleet on Norton's
Sound, soon after the late sunrise of Oct. 27th. The
temperature was 2" above zero ; but the snow Avas
still loose, and the rivers not yet thickly frozen, so
that their progress at first was slow and tedious.

At noon on Nov. 11th, after an overland journey
of one hundred and seventy miles, they saw l)efore
them a broad and level expanse of snow, wliich
marked their n-rival at the Yukon River. Ileachino:
soon after the Indian village of Coltog, they rested
there two days. The houses of this village -were
underground, with an entrance by a short shaft and
tunnel. In the roof, which Avas arched above ground,
Avas the only other opening — a hole for the escape of
smoke from the fire. The dogs enjoyed the warmth
of the dome, and sometimes fell through to the fire
below. When the fire Avas ■^urnt out, and the
smoke-hole Avas covered Avith a skin, in order to re-
tain the lieat, there Avas no ventilation and the scents
Avere manifold and abominable.

The party set out again on the 14tli. The river
wound about so much that tlu^y crossed it several
times to escape long curves. Their Avay Avas greatly
obstructed by masses of ice rising in irregular heaps;
but even this ti'ack Avas preferable to that on land,
for in the forests the dogs aa-ouUI constantly run the
sledge against stumps, and AA'ait for the men to free it,
and in descending hills the sledge Avould overtake the
dogs, tangle their harness, and run over them.

After a day's journey of twenty-five miles, the tra\--
elers encamped in an cnnpty Indian house. They
arose early the next morning, and after going on some

iey would

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Norton's
7th. The
snow was
frozen, so
lious.
il Journey
iw l)efore
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Reachino:
hey rested
Laore ^vere

shaft and
ve ground,
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and the
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The river
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■as greatly
lar heaps;
t on land,
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TUAVKLS IX ALASKA.

G79

seven miles, met a train of sledgcys Avitli Russians anu
Indians, wlio, turning back, went witli tlieni to Nulato.
Here tlieir quarters "ere clean and coin])aratively
conit'ortaljle. The trading-post is on tlie north bank
of the Yukon, on a flat stretch of land, at the mouth
of a considerable tril)utary. There are large trees l\n'
))uilding purposes, a rich soil, and in the short summer,
luxuriant srrass and innumeral^le berries. Water is

l)rought

sledsre fn

hob

)f th

on a sieusfe irom a liDle m tn<^ lee ot tlie riv-
er a (quarter of a mile from the post ; and b}^ ^^•icker-
baskets let doAvn in the Avai'ir throu'j-h the ice, laru:e
quantities of fish are caught.

The coldest day was December 5th when the
thermometei' stood at HS'^ below zero. Yet the men
did not feel the severity of cold, for the wind did not
l)low ; whereas a slight wiud, when the tem])eratui'e
was only a few degrees below zero, seemed to search
out every little seam or tear in their clothing, and
cause special suffering to "nose, ears, and angles
generally." The sjiortest day, Decem))er 2 1st, enjoyed
only an hour and fifty minutes of sunlight. Christ-
mas was celebrated with such a feast as the circum-
stances allowed. Flue Auroral lights, the sports of
huntinsji; and tlsliini>\ tradinsj:, and amateur theatricals,
<liversified the winter sojonrn at Kulato.

Early in Aj^ril indications of summer were seen.
On the 9th tlies appeared ; on tlie lOth the willows
Avere se'en budding; on t!ie 2sth the first goose
arrived from the south. The i-iver began to thaw
^lay 5th, and l)roke np on the I'.Hh; masses of ice
rushed past for several <la\s, and on tlu; 24:th the
stream Avas mostly clear. The llussiaus were now
ready for a trip to an Indian trading-])lace two hun-
dred and fort) miles up the stream. They had a

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680

A WINTER AT NULATO.

large skin boat, fitted with rmlder and sails, and
capable of carrying two tons of goods and provisions.
The Americans accompanied them with a smaller
boat and a cargo of about seven hundred pomids.
These vessels would recover from a collision with
snags or ice which would sink vessels made of bark.

The summer came on apace. Ice lingered in the
river till May 27th, but on June 5 th, the thermome-
ter at noon stood at 80° in the shade, and the heat
compelled the men to lie by for a time.

At the Indian village referred to, the Russians
stopped, and Mr. Whymper's party presently jour-
neyed on. Moose hunting was common in portions of
the river. The daj's were extremely long, and there
was no light but the twilight. Fort Yukon was
reached on June 23d, the party having traveled six
hundred miles in twenty-nine days. The Fort is a
trading-post of the Hudson's Bay Company, who buy
the privilege of holding it within the bounds of Alaska.
The most striking scene at this place is the fur-room,
in which can be seen thousands of marten-skins hanc:-
ing from the loeams, and huge piles of common furs.

On the 8th of Jvdy, the party began to descend the
river. The current bore them on at the rate of a
hundred miles a day. They landed only two or
three times a day to prepare their tea and fish, and
makino; six liuudred miles in about six days,
ari'ived at Nulato, Here, receiving orders to return
to St. Michael, they Avent on down the river. The
region below Nulato is poorer in vegetation and is
seldom visited by travelers. The northern or Aphoon
mouth is the easiest navigated, and througli it the
travelers reached the sea, having come from Fort
Yukon thirteen hundred miles in fifteen and a half

ails, and
ovisions.
smaller
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TRAVKLS I\ ALASKA.

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(Imyh. Two (1ji\m more of .sjiiliii'^ l)roU''lit, iliciii to
St.. Mich.'U'l.

Tliti (Jo-Yukon liidiaiiM liviiij^ ucnv tlio Yukon
jihovcf Nulato, arc nioi'c sava<x<' than most ti'ilx's, and
liuilitly Valium liuman lil'i'. Tombs at Nulalo still
mark tlu! massacre of foi'ty Indians and part oC the
i^uard in 1S,")1. Th(^ <lead ai'e intei'red in oldoni;
boxes rais(!d on [)osts, and are mouiMUMl by tlie \vom(!n
for a year. ^Fhe |)(!o|»h! supei'stitiously save bones of
animals, thiidvlisii: that it'tliey Averc* iiji\('n t(» l!i<! (b)i^s
or Itnrned, their fisiiinL!; and huntim:; ('Oul<l not 1)0
snceessl'id. 'I'lu'y catch reindeer l)y drlvini; them into
an enclosure, whosc^ sides tnT. made of stakes with
loops between them, whei'ci they ar(i shot. Intemper-
ance^ is almost unknown amoni^ tlu'se Indians. They
barter furs for j)oi'c(^lain beads, combs, lookinLr-,ii;hisse3
and knives. In tlu! spriui^ they all "\\'(>ar A\()odoii
n;oo;gles when huntini^ or tnivelini^, to shield their
eyes from tlui blindiuijj li^lare of the snow; narrow
slits l)efore the (!yes give sufllcient light for sight.

The Co- Yukon dialect has no 7'esend)hinc(! to tho
language spoken at the coast, but resend)h's that of
some of the tribes of north-eastei'n .\sia, where tliose
Indians probably originated. The Yukon tribes are
more nearly allied to the true North American Indian.

Sitka, or New Archangel, the capital of Alaska, is
situated on an island discovered in 1741 by Tschii'i-
koff, the companion of Jeering. Formerly it Avas
exclusively the head-cpiarters (^f the Russian American
Fur Company, and tho residence of the governor, Avho
was the autocrat of all the Russians in America. It
is now a town of considerable importance.

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WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

CHAPTER XLI.
DR. HAYES' EXPEDITION.

The name of Dr. Isaac I. Hayes is already familiar
to the reader and to his countrymen. A native of
Pennsylvania, immediately after his graduation at the
University of Pennsylvania, at the early age of twenty-
one, he joined the Second Expedition of Dr. Kane as
surgeon and naturalist. Of the important services
which he ^-ondered this expedition, Dr. Kane has left
ample testimony. The two men warmly sympathized,
and by shanng each others trials and labors light-
ened their mutual burdens. When by mutual con-
sent, a portion of the crew of the Advance left that
vessel to attempt to reach the Danish settlements of
Lower Greenland, Dr. Hayes led the withdrawing
party, which w^as obliged to return to the brig after
penetrating some distance southward.

Undaunted by the perils and hardships of his
first voyage, or by the untimely death of his late
commander, Dr. Hayes was full of zeal for another
expedition. His faith was strong that he could live
in the Polar regions as well as the Esquimaux, and
could even penetrate to the North Pole. It was diffi-
cult to inspire others with the same zeal and faith.
His friends and the public generally, received his
propositions coolly. The game did not seem worthy

682

eady familiar
A native of
luation at the
ageoftwenty-
f Dr. Kane as
jrtant eervices
Kane lias left
y sympathized,
I lahors light-
ly miitual con-
ince left that
settlements of
3 withdrawing
) the hrig after

(Iships of his
,th of his late
al for another
,t he could live
gquimaux, and
e. It was diffi-
zeal and faith.
iy, received his
,t seem worthy

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nATl«:8' EXPEDITION.

683

of the chase. The many lives already lost, the many
sufferings endured, and the vast property sacrificed in
the Arctic Seas without commensurate results, were
certainly not encouraging for future operations.

Not so thought the doctor. After having experi-
enced the rigors of the Frigid Zone for two long
winters, ho was satisfied that white men could live
there permanently, relying solely on the supplies which
the country furnished for su])port. His faith and
perseverance were finally crowned with such a degree
of success that his friends, after five years of importu-
nity, fitted him out with a small schooner, Avhich he
may be said to have argued into Ixjing; for he went
around the countiy lecturing on his favorite project
and would not be denied.

The schooner, Spring Hill, was at length purchased,
her name changed to " United States " and Dr. Hayes
placed in command. Tlie i>lan of the expedition was
his own, antl may bo best stated in his own words:
*'My ol>ject was to complete the survey of the north
coasts of Greenland, and to make such explorations as
I might find practicable in the direction of the North
Pole."

Full of hope and in the highest spirits. Dr. Hayes
and his little party set sail from Boston, July 7tli,
18 GO, steering directly for the outer capes of New-
foundland, and so prosperous was the voyage that
the "United States" reached the bold promontory of
Swarte Huk within the Arctic Circle, Aug. 2d. Here
she was becalmed ; and Dr. Hayes' graphic pen gives
this beautiful description of the scene here witnessed : —

" The air was warm, almost as a summer's night at
home, and yet there were the icebergs and the bleak
mountains with which the fancy, in this land of green

684

HAYES EXPEDITION.

hills and -waving forests, can associate nothing hut
cold rcjmlslvent'ss. The sky was bright and soft, and
strangely inspii'ing as the skies of Italy. The hergs
had wholly lost their chilly aspect, and glittering in
the blaze of the brilliant heavens, seemed in the dis-
tance like masses of burnished metal or solid flanio.
Nearer at hand, they were huge blocks of Parian
mai'l)le, inlaid with mammoth gems of pearl and opal.
One in particular exhil>ited the perfection of the
ixrand. Its form was not unlike that of the Coli-
seum, and it lay so far away that half its height was
buried beneath the line of blood-red w'atei's. The sun,
slowly rolling along the horizon, passed behind* it,
and it seenuid as it' the old Roman ruin had suddenly
taken fire."

After several narrow escapes from nips and iceberg-;,
the " United States," was compelled to take up her
winter-quai-ters at Port Foulke on the Greenland
coast, about twenty miles south of Rensselaer Harbor.
The neiixhborhood al)Ounded with c-ame, and to this
fact and to the great good cheer Avhich reigned on
the schooner, the crew were indebted for the uniform
good health which they enjoyed during the winter.
The dogs were not so fortunate. These pined away
and died during the long night as they did on Kane's
expedition. Dogs have not the consolations of hope,
and cannot endure the artificial life of ship-board as
well as men.

Fortunately the Esquimaux were al)le to furnish some
fresh dog teams, and early in April, 1801, Dr. Hayes
started out into the icy wilderness. The Greenland
shore proving perfectly impassable, he resolved to
cross over the sound to Grinnell Land and try to
ascend that coast. Of the difficulties encountered no

hates' expedition.

685

one unacquainted with Arctic travel can fonn any
adequate idea. They were enough to api)all and dis-
courage at the start even the strongest and most reso-
lute of travelers.

After toiling on for twenty-five days, Hayes found
that he was not half way over the sound and that
his men were breaking down from fatigue. Selecting
therefore three of tlie most robust and courageous,
Jensen, McDonald and Knorr, he sent the remainder
back to the schooner, and with these and fourteen
dogs, he boldly pressed on to Griunell Laud, which
he reached in fourteen days.

The journey along the coast was little less fatigu-
ing, and he had advanced only five days when Jensen,
the strongest man in the i)arty, gave out utterly
exhausted. Leaving liim in chai'ge of McDonald, Dr.
Hayes pushed on with Knorr for his only companion,
and, May 18th, reached a deep bay where rotten ice
and wide seams put a veto to further progress. He
had the satisfaction of seeing on the opposite side of
the bay Mount Parry, and fai'ther on Cape Union
— then the most northern known land. The return
to Port Foulke was safely accomplished.

The schooner liaving T)een released from the ice, Dr.
Hayes made an eifort, July 12th, to sail across to Griu-
nell Land; but finding his little vessel too crij)pled to
force her way through the ]>ack ice, he was comi)elled
to head her for liome, where he arrived in Octo])er.

Dr. Hayes subsequently i)u)dislied a very interest-
ing history of his expedition iu a book called "The
Open Polar Sea." He has still faith that there is
such a sea, and that it can be navigated. No man
living is better qualified to lead the way thither.
39

Mtf

„Bi|i;'«;*!i

iiMiij

,.- if

CHAPTER XLII.

CAPTAIN HALL'S FIRST TWO EXPEDITIONS.

CiiAKLES Francis Hall whose life of adventures
and self-denial has closed under circumstances wlpcli
command for liim the admiration and sympathy of
his countrymen, was a native of New England, born in
1821. He received but a limited education, learned
the trade of a blacksmith, and followed that business
for several years. Subseciuently he migrated to Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, where he appears to have engaged in
various pursuits. He had a taste for scientific study
and inventions, and was at one time greatly interested
in caloric engines. Engaging in the manufacture of
engraved seals he accpiired skill as an engraver and
draughtsman. Connected with this business he dealt
in stationery, and published an advertising sheet
called " 7he OtcasiovaV From his experience in
this incipient journalism he Avas emboldened to start
" The Penny Press,^'' which under his successors ac-
quired a large circulation.

The fate of Sir John Franklin was about this time

exciting the interest of the world, and the subject of

Arctic discovery next absorbed Hall's attention. He

carefully watched all the various expeditions sent out

for Franklin's relief, and finally felt a desire to join

in the search. With this object in view he began to

686

)usines8

HALLS FIRST EXPEDITION.

687

fit himself for a life in the Frozen Zone, by sleeping
under a tent at Mount Adams during the winter
months.

The tidings hrought by MoClintock led Hall to
believe that Home of Franklin's men were still alive
and could be found ; and it seemed to him as if he
was " called " to try and do the work. So he deci-
ded to do it. After laying his plans before his Cin-
cinnati friends, he went to New York, interested
Mr. Grinnell in his scheme, and at a meeting of the
Geographical Society, introduced liimself as a man
who " wanted to go and find the bones of Sir John
Franklin."

Mr. Hall was not in any sense of the word a schol-
ar, nor was he a navigator; he was a i)lain iinobtra-
sive man, and mea.sui'ed by the current conventional-
isms, would Lave nmde a iKK)r figure in a company of
gentlemen. But he was endowed with a j)hy8ical
constitution of exceptional vigor and endurance; able
to meet all conditions of life, whether among people
civilized or savage ; and possessed of a vast deal of
patience, good natujv, and kindness of heart.

His first ejci)edition north was a singularly modest
one, and its plan was uni(|ue. He did not i)roposeto
break through the ice of unknown frozen seas ; but to
be set down alone on the shores contii^uous to the
waters where whales are found, and thence, with
Es(|uimaux guides, to find his way to King William's
Land, where he believed, among a people so primitive,
the traditions of Franklin's fate would certainly sur-
vive.

Various articles of outfit and about one thousand
dollars were donated by friends of the undertaking ;
Williams and Havens of New London offered to

688

HALLrt FIK8T EXPEDITION.

transport the trftvelei* and hia outfit t'rco of charge in
one o( their Avhalini'-Hhips; and on the 2i>tl» of May.
1800, Hall Hailed in the "(leori^e Henry," eonunandcd
by Capt. S. O. Buddini^ton and hound for tluf Arctic
whaling-grounds. A small Hchooner, the " Aineret,"
formerly the "Ilescue" of Kane's tirst exi)i'dition,
sailed with the George Ilcnry as a ten<ler. An Escjui-
maux named Kudlago, who ha«l come to the ITuited
States with Buddingt<Hi, and on Avhom Hall greatly
relied for assistance, died on his passage- home; his
last words were "Do you see ice?'*

After touching at Holsteinherg, Gieenland, Bnd-
dington crossed Davis' Strait, and on the 17th of
August, anchored his vessel in a small bay just north
of (he entrance t(» Frohisher's Hay. Here and in tliis
nelghl)orhood the whalers commenced operations, and
Hall hegan his acquaintance with the natives who
were scattered along the coast. On the 18th of Sej)-
tember, Caj)!. Tyson arrived in the (feorgiana, and
Hall relates instances of tlu^ kind and unselHsh dis-
posititm which he manifested, while competing with
Buddington's men in catching whales. Soon after-
ward a fearful gale came on, during which the liescue
was wrecked: the Geor^iana was driven ashore and
naiTowly escaped ; and a large whal'-boat belonging
to Hall, in which he exj)ected to make long trips, was
destroyed. The George Henry escajKn], but was wreck-
ed on her next voyage about two years later.

In November, Hall made the actjuaintauco of
Ebierbing, a noted hunter and pilot, and Tookoolito
hia wife. They M'cre of the Escpiimaux or "Innuit"
aristocracy, had visited England, could speak the
English language, and the lady's voice was " low and
sweet." They became attached to Hall, were his

HALLS KIUST RXPEDITION.

G8i)

constant guides and com j>an ions, went with liini to
the United States on his return, accompanied him in
his flubsecjuent journeys, and are now butter known
as "Joe" and " Hannah."

The George Ilenry remained safely in her (|uni*tere
through the winter, and was not released from her icy
fetters till the 1 7th of July, ISCU; but even then,
intervening ice j)revented Bud<lington from reaching
oj)en water where he wished to cruise for whales.

Meantime Hall had been much ashore, nuiking
short journevs aloni^: the eoast and livinir iu the huts
of the natives to ac([uire their language and habits of
life. He now jdanned a longt»r tii]), and on the 0th of
August, left the Geoige Henry in a whale-boat rowed
by six natives to explore Frobisher's Strait. He re-
turned to the ship on the 27th of September, and in
reply to his first (piestion, — " How many whales se-
cured? " was informed, " Not (me." Such is the " fish-
erman's luck " which simietimes attends our whalers.

In this excursion Hall ascertained that Fiobisher's
Strait is in fact a bay; and it is touthing t(> 8e(^ the
value which, in the absence of more important geo-
grajdiical discoveries he jdaced on this achievement.
He was also greatly elated at finding what he suj)-
posed to be relics of Frobisher's Ex})edition — coal,
iron, etc. ; these simple memorials not only brought
back the presence of those stalwart and adventurous
Englishmen who visited the" Jfeta Incognitia^'' three;
hundred years before, but gave to him a sense of conj-
panionship in his lonely ramblings over its desolate
wilds. He also found a tradition of this early expe-
dition alive among the natives. There had been
handed down to them the memory of white men who
had come iu ships and lived for a while among them ;

^y^;

690

HALLS FIKST KXPKDITION.

niid tliis fact conflniUMl Ilall in liin iinproHsion of f]io
valiio of tradition, tlirongh wliicli, in tint al)s('nce of
litcnitnn;, iin))ortnnt historical events like the wreck
of FranklinV Hhi|M, were not lost among them.

The researches of Hall durin;^ this e.\])edition were
confined to a small extent of tirritory laying several
degrees helow the Arctic ('ircle; hut it would ho
unjust to estimate his services l)y the limit of latitude
which ho reached. His exjierlcnces enahled liim to
hecome a competent aiithority in matters jJcrtMining
to tlie iidiahitants of the regi<)n, and he has thrown
much lii'ht urxm tlu-ir customs and mode of living.
In eating they are gluttons of the highest order.
Hall seems to havti kept himself fi'om their excesses,
hut to liave fully en«lorse(l tlu'ir tastes, and he is often
emphatic in eulogl//ing their ahominal)le dishes.

Although the Innuiis are kind an<l hospitahle to
each other when all are living and well, they are sin-
gularly stonydiearted towards the si<'k and <lying.
Especially to their women this coolness is mostmcmrn-
ful. Wlien one of i\ui poor <'reatures seems nigh to
death, they leave her alone in one of the snow-houses,
putting near her a few of the articles which are most
necessary for life, and then ivmain in other houses,
abstaining from lahor, till the i)oor suflerer passes
away. Hall tried to set the example of Christian
kindness to them in caring for the sick ; hut almost in
vain. The Esquimaux are a singularly conservative
people, and whatever their ancestors did, they think
they must do. To any remouvstrance against their
habits they used always to answer, " The old Innuits
did so;" and that settled the matter.

Captain Buddington intended to start for home in
the fall of 1861, and all were greatly disappointed

IIALl'b SKCOND KXPKDITIn.V.

091

wln'n it was found, v(»ry uiU'xpcfttMlly, that lioftvy
j)n«'k i(T wjiHftlivmly (Iriftiii!^ <lo\vii across th« ontmnce
oftliclmy. "Our tateis H»*aU'(l," Haid Huildiiii^ton ;
*'an(»th(M* winter hero; we are already iniprisoned."

Another long winter was j)assed by the (leorge
Henry and her crew at Field Hay. As ])rovisions
were short on tlie Hhij), jiortions of the men were
tjuartered upon the natives, hut generally found the
privations of Innuit life harder to hear than a hhort
allowanee of food on the vessel. One juan froze liis
feet s(» itadly that IJuchlington was oldiged to anijni-
tate his toes, whieh he di«l skillfullv. Others of the
crew arrived at the shij) nearly dead with hunger.
One wli(» got lost was soarehed for l)y Hall and Bud-
din<;ton and found dead on the ice.

On the 8th of the HUfot'eding August, ihe George
Henry again floate<l free, and the next day started for
home. Hall was accom])anied l)y liis Es(|uiniaux
friends, and their infant l»oy Tukeliketa who died
8oon after liis arrival in the United States.

After a stay of nearly two years in his native coun-
try, Captain Hall again stalled north, July 30th, 1.SC4,
to renew his aecpiaintanee with the Innuits. AVith
Joe and Hannal he took passage in the Monticello,
Captain Buddiugton, and the party was landed on
the northern coasts of Hudson's 15ay. Of hi^ five
years' residence in this region, little is known ;
although lie was most of the time in communication
with whaling-ships, and leceived from them such
supplies as he needed. He penetrated north as far
as Hecla and Fury Strait, visited King William's
Land, and returned to the United States in 1860.

In a letter to Henry Grinnell written at Repulse
Bay, June 20th, 1809, Captain Hall gives the follow-

602

hall's second expedition-.

ing account of liis journeys and the results of Lis
searcL for Franklin : —

" This day I liave returned from a slcdi^e jonrney of ninety
days to and from King William's Land. It was my pni-pose,
and every preparation was made, to make this jonrney last
season, but my attention then having been called to ]!klclville
Peninsula, in the vicinity of Fury and Ilecla Straits, where
native report had it that white men had been seen, I directed
my expedition there, by way of Am-I-toke, Oog-Iik Isle, Ig-
loo-lik, with the ardent hope and expectatiorf of rescuing
alive some of Sir John Franklin's lost companions. The
result of the journey was the finding of the tcnting-place of
a few white men, and a stone pillar they had erected close by
it at the bottom of Pariy liay, which is some fifty miles south
of the western outlet of Fury and ilecla Straits, and the vis-
iting of several places Avhere white men and their traces had
been seen by natives of Ig-loo-lik and vicinity in or about
the years 1SG0-G7.

" The result of my sledge Journey to King William's Land
may be summed up thus: None of Sir John Franklin's com-
panions ever reached or died on Montreal Island. It Avas
late in. July, 1848, that Crozier and his party, of about forty
or forty-five, passed down the west coast of King William's
Land, in the vicinity of Cape Ilcrschcl. The party was drag-
ging two sledges on the sea ice, which was nearly in its last
stage of dissolution, one a large sledge laden with an awning-
covered boat, and the other a small one laden with provisions
and camp material. Just before Crozier and party arrived
at Cape Ilerschel they were met by four families of natives,
and both parties went into camp near each other. Two
Esquimaux men, who were of the native party, gave mc
much sad but deeply interesting information. Some of it
stirred my heart with sadness, intermingled with rage, for it
was a confession that they, with their companions, did
secretly and hastily abandon Crozier and his party to sufibr
and die for need of fresh provisions, when in truth it was in
their power to save every man alive.

" The next trace of Crozier and his party is to be found in

^ /

HALL 8 SECOND EXPEDITION.

693

the skeleton wliicli McClintock discovered a little below, to
the southward and eastward of Caj)e Ilerschel. This was
never found by the natives. The next trace is a camping-
place on the sea-shore of King William's Land, about three
miles eastward of Pfeiffer River, where two men died and
received Christian burial. At this place iish-boncs were
found by the natives, which showed that Crozier and his
party had caught, while there, a species of fish excellent for
food, with which the sea there abounds. The next trace of
this party occurs some five or six miles eastward, on a long,
low point of King William's Land, wiierc one man died and
was buried. Then about south-south-cast, two and a half
miles farther, the next trace occurs on Todd's Inlet, west of
Point Richardson, on some low land that is an island or a
part of the main land, as the tide may be. Here the awnlng-
eovered boat and the remains of al)out tliirty or thirty-five of
Crozicr's party were found.

" In the spring of 1S4-9, a large tent was found by some of
the natives whom I saw, the lloor of which was completely
covered with the remains of white men. Close by were two
graves. This tent was a little way inland from the head of
Terror Bay.

" In the spring of 18G1, when the snow was nearly all gone,
an Esquimaux party, conducted by a native well known
throughout northern regions, found two boats, with many
skeletons in and about them. One of these boats had been
previously discovered by McClintock ; the other was lying
from one-quarter to one-half mile distant, and must have hevn
completely entombed in the snow at the time McClintock's
parties were there, or they most assuredly would have seen
it. In and about this boat, besides the many skeletons allud-
ed to, were found many relics.

"The same year that the Erebus and Terror were abandoned,
one of them consummated the great North-west passage, having
five men aboard. The evidence of the exact number is cir-
cumstantial. Everything about this I^orth-west passage ship
of Sir John Franklin's expedition, was in complete order;
four boats were hanging high up at the ship's sides and one
was on the quarter-deck ; the vessel was in its winter housing

'^•'«;i

111:

■■I!

(I'Slilf!"'

1 il?"|:

|:Cll'

694

HALL 8 SECOND EXPEDITION.

of sail or tent cloth. This vessel was found by the Ook-joo-
lik natives, near O'Reilly Island, lat. G8 deg. 30 niin. north,
long. 99 deg. 8 min. west, early in the spring of IS-iO, it being
frozen in the midst of a smooth and unbroken floe of ice of
only one winter's formation.

" To complete the history of Sir John Franklin's last expe-
dition, one must spend a summer on King WiUiam's Land,
with a considerable party, whose only business should be to
make searches for records which beyond doubt lie buried on
that island. I am certain, from what I have heard the
natives say, and from what I saw myself, that little or nothing
more can be gained by making searches there when the
island is clothed in its winter garb, for the Esquimaux have
made search after search, over all the coast of King William's
Land, on cither side, from its southern extreme up to Cape
Felix, the northern point, for anything and everything that
belonged to the companions of Sir John Franklin, and these
searches have been made when the snow had nearly all disap-
peared from the land.

" My sledge company from Repulse Bay to King William's
Land consisted of eleven souls, all Esquimaux. Although
they are as untamable as eagles by nature, yet by their aid
alone I was enabled to reach points otherwise inaccessible,
and when there to gain much important information relative
to the fate of Sir John Franklin's expedition. I tried hard
to accomplish far more than 1 did, but not one of the com-
pany would, on any account whatever, consent to I'emain
with me in that country and make a summer search over that
island, which, from information I had gained of the natives,
I had reason to suppose would be rewarded by the discovery
of the whole of the manuscript records that had accumulated
in that great expedition, and been deposited in a vault a lit-
tle way inlarul or eastward of Cape Victory. Knowing, as I
now do, the character of the Esquimaux in that part of the
country in which King William's Land is situated, I cannot
wonder at nor blame the Repulse Bay natives for their refu-
sal to remain there, as I desired. It is quite probable that
had we remained, as I wished, no one of us would ever have
got out of the country alive. How could we expect, if we

HALL S SECOND EXPEDITION.

695

had got into straightened cir:;ninstancea, that we should have
received better treatment ironi the Esquinianx of that country
than the one hundred and live souls who were under the com-
mand of the heroic Crozier, some time after the landing on
King William's Land ?

" Could 1 and my party, with reasonable safety, have
remained to m.ake a summer search on King "William's Land,
it is not only probable that wo t-hould have recovered the
logs and journals of Sir John Franklin's expedition, but have
gathered up and entombed the remains of nearly one Inmdred
of his companions, for they lie about the places where the
three boats have been found, and at the large camping-place
at the head of Terror Bay and the three other places that I
have already mentioned. In the cove, west side of Point
Richardson, however. Nature herself has opened her bosom
and given sepulture to the remains of the immortal heroes
that have died there.

" Wherever I found that Sir John Franklin's companions
liad died 1 erected monuments, then tired salutes and waved
the Star-Spangled Banner over them, in memory and resjiect
of the great and true discoverers of the Xorth-west passage.

" I could have gathered great quantities — a very great
variety — of relics of Sir John Franklin's expedition, for they
are now possessed by natives all over tlie Arctic regions that
I visited or heard of, from Pond's Bay to Mackenzie River.
As it was, I had to be satisfied with taking upon our sledges
about one hundred and twenty-five pounds total weight of
relics from natives about King William's Land."

'i i:

i^-'i ^f

«:■< 5

lit

! , ' |!|

life.,

;:!...ffr;,

|i iliii^?!

ii j

;||

CHAPTER XLIII.
THE POLAKIS EXPEDITION.

On Capt. Hall's return from his second residence
among the Esquimaux, he wisely concluded that a
seven years' search for relics of Sir John Franklin,
whose fate had previously been pretty definitely ascer-
tained, had exhausted that field of Arctic adventure,
and he turned his attention to the project of a scientific
expedition toward the North Pole under Government
auspices. Ilis persistent efforts to arouse a national
interest in the enterprise were at length successful, and
Congress appropriated $50,000 for, defraying the ex-
penses of an expedition to be sent out in a government
vessel under his command.

Captain Hall's plans of operation, as stated by him
in a lecture given in December, 1870, and reported in
the New York World, were in part as follows: —

" Crossing Baffin's Bay, he Avill go to Smith's Is-
land, and from thence westward through Jones Sound,
following it for about two hundred miles ; then, after
getting that distance, he will turn to the north, and
go as far as practicable before winter sets in, and
hopes to get as far as 80^. There he \\vl\ -winter, and
in the spring of 1872, Avith all his preparations com-
plete, he will stavt on a grand sledge Journey to the
pole.

CAll'AIN HALLS PLAXS.

697

" Tie believes that in sledge traveling he is an adept.
Tlie natives are very expert in those matters ; but he
thinks he has improved somewhat on them. lie has
ij-one throuij:h a I'lill course in the Arctic collesre, and
thinks he has little to learn in the matter of sledsxe
traveling. This journey, he expects, Avill 0('cu])y from
ninety to one hundred days, relying entirely for sup-
j)ort on the provisions obtained on the way. lie ^vill
take with him on this journey about half of his crew,
leaving the rest to subsist on whales, seals, and wal-
ruses, or anything else they can obtain.

"Every man in his party will be a picked man.
Ilis sailing master has had twenty years' experience
in the Arctic Seas, and has full faith in him and the
enterprise. Ilis first and second ofRcers have each
had ten years' Arctic experience.

"All of his crew will be trained to live as the
Esquimaux do, and then they can stand the cold ; but
they must eat raw meat, and stick to train-oil. He
(Cai)tain Hall) has eaten in one day fifteen pounds
of raw meat, Avashed down with two and a half i)ints
of train-oil While men thus live they can defy King
Cold. A whale in those regions is a Godsend ; one
whale is equal to 600 oxen, and affords the best eat-
ing that he has ever enjoyed. In fact, he has always
enjoyed his food better in the Arctic regions than
anywhere else , and even here among civilized people
the old longing for raw meat comes on him so strong
sometimes, that he goes away to his closet where no
one can see him and has a good feed of raw meat.
And there is a virtue in it which it loses when
cooked.''

The steamer Periwinkle iiaving been designated
for the service, was rechristened the Polaris — the

'« 'A

\- '^1*

r.:'<m i

I Id' »ii ■ , J' ^ (ii I*

■'■k

iili|ill't||!;,|''l

"l^lr^

608

TIIE POLARIS AXD IIEli CRLV,'.

Latin word for North Star, — and nndcr the supervialoii
ol Capt. Hall was iitted np at AVashiiigton in the most
thorongh manner. The vessel was rigged as a tojv
sail selioonei' and lier measurement was 400 tons.

Tbe Polaris steamed out of New York liarhor on
the u'tornv)on of June 20th 1870, having on board the
following persons. —

Cliailcs Francis Hiill, Coininaiulor. Dr. Emil 808301?, Zoologist.

U. \V. D. IJryaii, Astrononior lunl Chaplain. V. Meyer, Metcoroloj;ist.

Sidney O. Uuddin'^ton, Saiiinj^-ina.ster. George E. Tyson, Ass't Navigator.

IliibUard C. Cliestcr, First >Iato. William Morton, Second Mate.

Emil Seliuniann, Chief Engineer, A. A. Odell, Assistant Engineer.

W. F. Campbell, John W. Booth, Firemen.

John Ilcron, Stowanl ; William Jackson, Cook; Nathan J. CofTni, Carpenter.

Ilcriiianu Siemons, Frederick Anting, J. W. ('. Krnger, Henry Uohby, .Joseph B.
Mancli, (lustavus Linguist, Peter Johnson, William Nindeman, Frederick Jainka,
Noah Hayes, Seamen.

Joe, E.-i(iuiniaux Interpreter and Hunter; Hannah, Interproterund Seamstress ;
Punna, adopted daughter of Joe and Hannah.

Dr. Bessels was a Gorman savant, who had acquired
Arctic ex[)erience in a voyage to Spitzl)ergen. ]\Ioyer,
a native of Prussia, had been detailed from the U. S.
h^ignal-service Bureau to accompany the expedition.
Morton was well knoAvn as the discoverer of the
"Open Polar sea;" he accompanied Kane on his two
Arctic voyages, and was Avith him in Havana at the
time of his death.

Captain Buddington, was a sailor of great experi-
ence havins: followed the sea from boyhood. At the
age of thirteen he acted as cook on a iishing smack in
the Gulf of Mexico ; afterwards he caui»:ht mackerel,
and cod-fish in nioi'e eastern waters, and while yet a
boy went on a whaling ship to the Southern Pacific.
When the ship was ready to go home, lie joined an
empty whaler which had just come to the fishing,
grounds, ant^ returned as her mate, having been absent
from home for a period of six years.

III' ■■• ■ (f'l..

perviaion
1 the most
as a to^)-
toiis.

iiirhor on
board the

oologist.

)-ist.

ss't Navigator,
'cond JIutc.
lilt Engineer.

n, Carpenter.
il)b_v, Jost'pli B.
cderick Janilia,

ud Seamstress ;

\ acquired
:\Ioyer,
the U. S.
xpeditioii.
er of the
11 his two
iia at the

'at experi-

. At the

smack in

I mackerel,

[hile yet a

•n Pacific.

[joined an

le fishing.

leu absent

jl,iiiMiiH>;,i''l

BKT-rrciT OF oFTinrns.

699

T71i(^n Budtlington sailed p.gaiii it was as master of
a wliiiliiig veasel, and lie had follo\\'ed that business
ever since, making eleven voyages to the Arctic seas,
extending over a period of twonty-threo years. lie
comniJMidcd the " John Henry," the; shi^) which gave
Hall a L'te passage outward and houK^ward on his
first journey to the North, and had overheen on friend-
ly terms with the explorer.

Hail knew Buddington well, having spent much
time at his home in Groton, Conn., where he was al-
ways welcome as an old fri'nd of the family. In his
pnhli'lied book he speaks of him as "my noble
friend," and ndate.i sevend circumstances wliich i^o to
show that ho conijidered Buddiugton to be what he
doubtless was, a brave, capable and humane man, un-
surpassed by any one as a safe Arctic navigator.

It Avas these qualities which led Ca[)tain Hall to
select Buddinsxton as navigator of the Polaris. It is
said that he at first reluctantly consented to go, as he
had not much interest in an expedition made, as he
considered, for no practical purposes; luit the large
pay offered, costly presents, the i)romise of a pension
to his wife in case of his deatli, and the chance for
fame if the voyage proved successful, succeeded in
fascinating him, and he sailed with the expedition.

Ca[)tain Tyson, too, was an old whaleman and had
been on several voyages. He had resided in New
London since 18o.'3, and Hall had there consulted
with him in reference to his first journey north.
Soon afterward he sailed as master of the Georgiana,
and this ship and the John Henry anchored for a
wdiile in the same Greenland harbor, where the
acquaintance was renewed. When Tyson made his
first tri]) to sea, Buddington was mate of the vessel in
which he sailed.

IMI

Ml*S!!ii.i :i:«:

p.:

700

ON THE GREENLAND COAST.

Tyson supplied Captain Hall vvitli provisions and
a boat at Repulse Bay in 1805. lie sailed in the Po-
laris at the urgent request of ILill, without any stated
office, but his appointment as assistant navigator was
sent on by the steamer Congress and reached him at
Disco.

Joe and Hannah were the American names of
Hall's Esquimaux friends El)ierblng and Tookoolito,
who, since tlieir second arrival in the Unit<Ml States,
had been living in Groton near the '-esidence of C'ap-
tain Buddington. Mr. Chester, the first mate of the
Polaris — an enterprising, reliable, and most capable
man — was also a resident of Groton.

The Polai'is sto]i[)ed at New London, left there on
the 8d of July, and arrived at St. John's, Newfound-
land, on the 11th, wliei-e the pai'ty were hos[)itably
entertained. During their stay liere a reception and
banquet were given to tlie officers at the house of tlie
Governor; and the ex[)lorers left on the lOth, accom-
l^anied by the good wishes of the inlmbitants.

On tiie 27th of July the Pohu'is entered tlie harl)or
of Fiskernaes, Gi-eenland, the birth-place of Ilans
Christian, wIjoso services Capt. Hall wished to secure.
Hans, lu)\vever, was not there, but at a settlement
further north. Continuing on, the explorers reached
Holsteinberg on the 31st, and there met Captain Von
Otter's Swedish Arctic Expedition which was then
on its way home.

Leaving Holsteinbei'g on the 3d of August, the
Polaris anchored the next day off the port of God-
haven or Lievely, on the island of Disco, and there
awaited the arrival of the U. S. steamship Congress,
which had been sent to carry coal and provisions for
the use of the expedition. The Congress arrived on

DISSENSIONS AT DISCO.

701

tlie 10th; a part of her cargo wixh taken on board
the l\)laris and tlie balance stored on shore.

AVliile at (Jodliavu some <lisseusioii8 arose, or "were
known to exist, anionic tlie ofHeers of i\u' exix'tlition.
Tyson says that ilall liad some ditfieulty with Hud-
dington at St. John's al)out some sugar or milk, and
tlireatened to send him lionie ; that IhuMiiigton Avas
a disorgani/er from the start, associating too miicli
■with the crew and talking to them sliglitiiigly of the
eomman(h'r as being no seaman, etc ; ahhougli rcsjjcct-
ful and subordinate in tlie presence of Hall. 'J'liero
was also a ditliculty between Hall and Jiesscls and
iSb'ver, which the latter says arose because I bill ])ro-
liibited him from making any meteorological obsci'va-
tions, as he wanted him to attend solely to the navl
gation of the shi}) and to keep Hall's journal. lie
says that IV'ssels also claimed liis services, and expect-
ed him to do the chief i)art of the scientific woik;
that the two i)rinci[)als consulted together, but not in
the most friendly manner, and that Hessels informed
Ilall that he would return to the Ignited States also,
if Ilall sent Meyer back as he had threatened to do.

Ml". jNIeyer says further, that the chief engineer
liearing of the:^ei)r()ci'e(llngs,(h'cljire(l that he too would
leave if Vessels did, and that the vww i^enerallv were
dis2)osed to do the same ; that nnder these circum-
stances, rather than have the expedition broken up,
he told Captain Ilall that he AV(»uld do as he wished
him to rather than be tlu; cause of dissension. Hall
then told himthatif he would keep the journal he might
devote the balance of his time to scientific subjects ;
and thus the matter was settled.

John Heron, the steward, evidently a reliable man,

?aya that INIeyer refused to do some writing for Hall ;

§}\

I '2; I ■■;

i: 1 1' „
I

702

Tin: i:xi'i;i)iTi()N' at iimiuxavik.

tlmt ITjill told hlin tliut lie conniiuiKlcn tlu* cxiMMlltion,
Hiul that ^^«'y^'^ said lu^ had his (Hth-rs fi'om hrad-
(piartcrM; that Hall asked himt<» |>r<)du<'(' thcsf «»rdrrs,
and that H<'ssc1h "took the thiiiiic "p ""<1 ^ii>"l that if
IMcyci' wanted to i^o ashore he eiudd do so; the tneii
Haid if hv did they woidd do the same. Captaia Hall
then went and spoke to th(MiH!ii ; the coiiseiiuciu'i!
was, Meyer went to his duty, and Vessels to his.

AVhat Haddington and liessels say as to these mat-
ters will l)e reh'ited hereafter. It is evident that the
arrival of tlie (\ingress at Disco liad a salntary effect
(m the discontents, and tliat throngh the inteiferenccof
Commander I)avenj)ort of that steamer, who ex-
pounded the law, the authority of (^aptain Hall, an<l
an api)arently good understanding among all parties
were re-established.

The Polaris left Godlmvn on the 17th of August,
amid the cheers of the crew of the C^)ngress, and ar-
rived the next day at Upernavik where she took on
board Hans Christian, the Esquhnaux who had accom-
panied Drs. Kane and Hayes in their voyages to the
North, with his Avife and three children ; also some
dogs, seal-skins and coal. On the 21st the voyage
north was resumed, and at Tessuisak, which was
reached the next day, Captain Hall mfide his last
adieu to the civilized world in the folloAving letter,
which reached its destination hy way of Copenhagen
in just about one year after it Avas written. Nothing
later respecting the expedition was known by civilized
people until a portion of the crew Avere rescued from
the ice nearly tAvo years subsequently, as related in
next chapter.

HALLS LloriKU lUoM TKSSnsAK.

7U3

LATITrDK 7;J^ 21 ' 10", LoXOITIDK r)(W of 5'' W., )
I'mtki) Statks Stkamsiiii' POLAUIS,

ToS8A(J OK TliSSl ISAK, (iUKKN'LAXn,

AiigiiHt 22(1, 1H71.

Sn{ — T Imw the honor to report iiiy j)i'o('('«Miiiiors
siiu-e tlic (hitcs (Aui^iist 2l>th and 21st) of ni}- last
coinniiniinition, -written at IFiternavilv. It was
halt4>»st eiglit 1*. M. of AuL^iist 21st wlieii we left
the harbor of Uj)ernavik, havlnijj on board (Jovern-
or Klberi;, of wlioni \ made previons mention, and
several of his pt'ople, Ijound for this place on a vis-
it. After steainiiii,' twelvt; miles to the northwest and
Avestward we haided np in front of a small island
settlement called Ivini'-i-toke, where (Jovernor KIberir
and myself, with a boat's crew, went ashore to pur-
chase doi^s, furs and other i'e([uisites for the expe-
dition. I was able, aft«M" considerable difficulty, to
get eleven dogs to add to the number already pos-
sessed by the Polaris. Having spent tAVo hours at
King-i-toke Ave returned .aboard.

At one A. M., August 22d, we renewed our voyage
for Tossac, making our way, by the aid of good na-
tive pilots, among the numerous reefs, rocks and
islands with which Upernavik and vicinity abound.
At lialf-past five A. M. of the 22d we arrived at Tos-
sac. At once I called on Jensen, and to my ast(Miish-
ment and disappointment found that a mistake had
been made in any one of us expecting that his consent
could, be obtained to leave his home at the present
time.

By the full consent and co-operation of the govern-
ment authorities of Denmark resident in Greenland,
I have concluded a contract witli Hans Christian, by
which he enters the service of the United States North

hi utjii'u \ II

' .■ Ii •■•

"i !•' ■■

, 4:M.-I„:|j/I

Bit",

!*'l«iM ('!

ro4

HALL S LETTER FROM TESSUISAK.

Polar Expedition as dog driver, liunter and servant.
Tlie wife and three children are to accompany Ilans.
The prospects of the expedition are line — the weather
beautiful, clear and unexceptionally warm. Every
preparation has been made to bid farewell to civiliza-
tion for several years, if need be, to accomplish our
purpose. Our coal bunkers are not only full, but we
have fully ten tons on deck, besides wood, j)lanks, tar
and rosin in considerable quantities, that can be used
for steaming purposes in any emergency. Never was
an Arctic expedition more con^pletely fitted out than
this.

The progress of the Polaris so far has been quite
favorable, making exceedingly good jiassages from
port to port — first from Washington to New York,
thence to New London ; then to St. John's, N. F., and
thence to Greenland. First to Fiskernaes, then to IIol-
steinberg, thence to Godhavn, Upernavik, and this
port (Tossac), the last link binding us to the land of
civilization. The actual steamiii;j[ or sailiiioi: time of
the Polaris fi'om Washington to New York was sixty
liours, and from the hitter place to this — the most
northern civilized settlement of the world, iniless there
be one for us to discover at or near the North Pole —
has been twenty days seven hours and thirty minutes.
There is every I'eason to rejoice that everything per-
taining to the expedition, under the rulings of High
Heaven, is in a far more prosperous and substantially
successful conditi(ni than even I had hoped or prayed
for. AVe are making every effort to leave here to-mor-
row. I will at the latest moment i-esuine my place in
continuing this communication.

Evening, August 2od, 1871. — We did not get under
way to-day, as expected, because a heavy, dark fog-
lias prevailed all day, and the same noAV continues.

HALLS GOOD-BVE TO CIVILIZATION.

705

Tlie venture of steamino' out into a sea of undefined
reefs and sunken rocks, under tlie present circum-
stances, could not be luidei'taken. The full number
of dogs (sixty) required for the ex})editioii, is now
made up. At tlie several ports of Greenland ^^•]u're
Ave have stopped Ave liave been successful in oljla'ming
proper food for the do^s.

Aug. 24: 1 P.M. — Thefogcontinues, and we cannot
Avait for its dispersion, for a longer (U^lay will make
it doubtful of the expedition set-uring the very high
latitude I desire to ol)tain before entering into Avinter
quarters. A good jtilot lias oifered to do his A^ery l)est
in conducting the Polaris outside of the most imminent
danger of the I'eefs and rocks. Now, halfq)ast one
F. M., the anchor of the Polaris has just been Aveighed,
and not again will it go down till, as I trust and pray,
a higher, a far higher latitude has been attained than
ever before by civilized man. Governor Kllx'i'g is
about ace()ni])anying us out of the liai'bor and seaward.
lie leaves us Avheii tlu^ ])ilot does.

Governor Lowertz EibiM'g has rendered to this ex-
pedition much service, and long Avill 1 remembei- him
for his great kindness. 1 am sure you and my enun-
tiy Avill fully ap])reciate the liosj)itality and co-opera-
tion of the Danish ofticials in Greenland as relating to
our North Polar Expedition.

NoAV, at a (quarter jxist tAVo, the Polaris bids adieu

+0 civi

lizat

ion.

(io\ ernor Elberg leaA-^es us, promising to take these
despatches back to U])ernavik and to send them to
our Minister at Copenhagen by the next shi]), \\ hich
opportunity may not be untilnextyear. (rod be A\ith

us.

ours ever,

C. F. HALL

To Geo KG E M. Kojn':sox, Secretary of the NaAy,
Washinu'ton.

[

1™

'il

i'lv-'

,.,

■f

lj/:;i.i,

■ ■'

; ^i

II.: I

CHAPTER XLIV.

ADRIFT ON THE FLOES.

cv ■■ }

On tlie 30tli day of A})!-!!, A. D. 1873, as the steamei
Tigress, of St. John's, Newfouiidhind, was steaming
some forty miles oft' the coast of Labrador on a sealing
expedition, she was hailed, a}>out five o'clock in the
morning, hy an Esquimaux, Avho paddled alongside in
his kyak and called the attention of her crew to a
gronj) of miserable looking men, women, and children,
who ^\•ere adrift on an ice floe, near which, in a dense
fog, the steamer had ]>r(>videntially come.

The Tigress immediately headed for the castaways,
her creAV giving and receiving heai-ty cheers as they
drew near. Two boats Avere immediately sent off,
and the whole party were soon on ])oar(l the steamer,
where Ca[)t. Bartlett and his crew of one hundred
and t\venty Newfoundland fishermen treated them
with nuich hospitality and kindness.

The rescued party nund)ered nineteen jDersons, ten
white men and nine Es(piimaux. Brielly, their story
was a fearful and thrilling one. They were a portion
of the officers and crew of the Arctic steamer Polaris,
and the Esipnmaux connected with the Expedition.
They were sei)arated from their steamer on the night
of Oct. 15th, during a snow storm and a heavy gale
which had suddenly driven the vessel oft' from the ice

k'7.".

1' 1

i I

iiji»'i!i| II

^ -'|||H

^'•f' .,;,

l|.!i(||i, <!-!

■■'■■,»'

I I

i.", i,if'\

PICKED UP LY THE TIGR1<SS.

floe to which she was fastenetl, leaving tlie party
behind on the ice. Not heing able to regain the ship
or to readi the land, they liad remained on tlie floes
for one hundred and ninety-six days, diu'insj: which
time, exposed to hunger, and tlie -winds, waves, and
frozen convulsions of an Arctic winter, they had
drifted southerly some fifteen hundred miles. Capt.
Hall died on board the Polaris on the 8th day of
November, 1871, and was buned in a frozen grave.
Of the fate of the ship and the balance of tlie crew
they knew nothing.

As the Tigress had not secured a full cora])lement
of seals she continued n()rth^val'd for several days,
encounterinsT- heavy drifting: ice, but meetimx M'ith
poor success in catching seals. On the 7th of May she
was headed south, and arrived at Bay Roberts, a fish-
ing i)ort near St, John's, on the 9th of Ma}'.

Here the Tigress remained till the 12th of ^Nlay.
The party went ashore, and were very kindly I'eceived
by the inhabitants. They were also visited l)y many
gentlemen from St. John's, including the ubiquitous
corres})oiident of the JVew York ILnvJxl^ and through
his enterprise the sad news of the death of Capt. Hall
appeared in tliat paper of May lOtli. The news of
the disaster to the Arctic Expedition reached St. John's
on the t>th of INfay, and the U. S. Consul immediately
telegrajilied to AVashingtoii, D. C, an official announce-
ment thereof.

The inhabitants of St. John's have a thorou<j:h
knoAvledo;e of the dans^ers of the Arctic Seas, and were
able to understand the sufferings and piivations Avhich
the abandoned mariners must have endured ere tliev
Avere rescued. Therefore the arrival of the Tigress
with the survivors was impatiently exi)ected at that

.ji:

:.!ir'

HI , -i*!"!'"" nil

: il|ii«(|||.!:,i«

' f

■V .. ■■■ ■-;

111

i .i I ■ i'

iiiM

'\m^

708

EXCITEMENT AT ST. JOHN 8

§m

port, and no sooner Inul the ship dropped anchor In
the har])or on the 12th, than crowds, jmtting oft' in
hoats, hesieged tlie decks, and overwhehne<l tlie stran-
gers with intense curiosity and torrents of (piestions
as to the origin of their strange condition, and the
unparalleled powers of endurance which had Lrought
them triumphantly through so many stupendous i)ei'ils.

But if the excitement on lioard the vessel was con sid-
eral)le, the scene as the ])oats a])])roaclu;d the shore
was one of wildest enthusiasm. It lia])])ened that
there Avas ice in the harhor, Avhich in certain places
obstructed their passage, and as the Loats' heads were
turned one Avay or another to obtain an entrance,
dense columns of people of all classes moved u}) and
down the <piays lining the water of the harbor, accord-
ing as the course seemed to be directed to one point
or another.

At the landing an impetuous rush was made to
obtain a view of the novel strangers. The Esipiimaux
children were carried throu!>'li the streets on the
shoulders of some of the ])rominent citizens, and the
whole party was escoi'ted to homes wliicli had been
pre\iously provided for them by the U, S. Consul,
who had ])een instructed by the lion. Geoi-ge M.
llol)eson, Secretary of the Navy, to advance money
and every recpiisite assistance to the long suffei'ing
mariners.

The rescued ]>arty consisted of the following per-
sons: Georn'e E. Tyson, assistant navin-ator; Frederick
Meyer, meteorologist ; J. W, C, Kruger, G. W. Lin-
qui'^t, Frederick Auntiny, Peter Johnson, Frederick
Jandca, and William Lindei-man, seamen ; John Iler-
ron, steward ; William Jackson, cook ; and the follow-
ing Es(piimaux : Joe, his wife Hannah, and his adopted

k ^' .,

nclior 111

HAXS AND HIS FAJIILT.

709

{Imig'liter Pimna ; Hans Christian, liis wife, and his
cliildreu Aiigustina, Tobias, Liicci, and a baby which
was ])om on board the Pohiris only two months before
tlie company parted from that vessel. Thi'J child was
baptized during the stay of its parents at St.John's.

With the exception of Ilans and his interesting
family, all of these persons ^vere members of the exi)e-
dition from its start. Hans, his wife, and three chil-
dren, joined it at Upernavik. This is the same Hans
who accompanied Dr. Kane on his second expedition,
dnrino- the tryinii; vicissitudes of which he acted well
his part. He subsequently went Avith Dr. ] laves'
expedition, and has figured in Sunday-school literature
as the devout jMoravian. When Dr. Kane's ])arty last
saw Hans he was driving south with Shang-lnrs })retty
daughter l)y his side, and it is presumed that she is
the i)resent ]Mrs. Hans.

The ne^vs of the death of Capt. Hall caused sorrow
throughout the country; while the meagre story of
the drift on the ice excited dee]) and absorbing inter-
est, mimrled with doubts as to its truth. It was
claimed that such experiences were unparalleled and
highly improbable ; and reasoning from the strange
se})ai'ation from the shi]), the reticence of Caj)t. Tyson,
the discord among the officers at Disco, and the suspi-
cious circumstances attending the death of Capt. Hall,
the public l)egan to believe that there had ])evn foul
play somewhere. Not a few accoi)ted the theory that
Hall had been j)oisoned by some one remaining behind
with the ship, and that Ca})t. TJuddington had will-
fully deserted those who, at his own command, had
betaken themselves to the ice. The fi'iends of Bud-
dington claimed, on the other hand, that back of all
was a story of mutiny and desertion A\'liicli would

i|!£|ii'^ilil| III

J h

1 li

ISi

,|1: !

SUSPICIOXS OF FOUL PLAY — THE FROLIC.

only 1)6 l)rouglit to light hy the return of the Polaris.

Under these circumstances, and in view of the fact
that the Polaris had been sent out by the Government,
and that it might be in need of assistance, it was con-
sidered of great imi)ortance that the authorities at
Washington should l^e put, as soon as possible, in
possession of full and reliable knowledge of all the
facts of the case. The Secretary of the Navy there-
fore, in the absence of any regular communicati(jn
with St. John's, sent the U. S. Steamer Frolic, Com-
mander C. M. Schoonmaker, to bring the party direct
to Washington. She sailed from New York, for that
purpose, May 15th.

The Fi'olic arrived at St. John's, May 23d. Taking
the Polaris party on board, she started on her home-
ward trip on the 2Sth, and arrived at the Washington
Navy Yard on the r)th of June. Commander Schoon-
maker reported that he had had no troidde with his
charge, and that they were all "well-behaved, orderly
peo])le. lie had formed a very favorable opinion of
Cai)t. Tyson, and considered him a remarkably intelli-
gent man.

Orders were given that no person should be allowed
to comnumicate with any one on the Frolic, and an
examination of the Polaris party was commenced the
same afternoon at the navy yard l)efore the Secretary
of the Navy, Commodore William lleynolds, Professor
Spencer F. Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, and
Capt. II. W. II()^vgate of the Signal Service. The
investigation lasted six days and Avas very thorough,
each member of the party being separately examined
under oath, excepting Mrs. Ilans Christian, Punn}',
and the little Christians. The results of this investi-
gation Avill be given at length in f olloAving chapters.

y'H

CHAPTER XLV.
THE STORY OF THE ICE-DRIFT PARTY.

Backed by a glacier and fronted by a bay, Tessuisak,
tlie most northern abode of civilized man, has the
characteristic features of an Esquimaux village ; dirt
and grease all the year around, dark for four months,
accessible throuijcli the floatincj ice of an Arctic Sum-
mer for only two. But Tessuisak has an importance
of its own. Here Arctic explorers cut the last link
that l)inds them to home and friends, here the Polaris
cast oft' from civilization, August 24th, 1871, and here
the history of the expedition as told by the rescued
survivors of the ice-drift begins.

For three days the ship steamed up Smith's Sound
through the usual perils of Arctic navigation. Past
Kane's winter-quarters and the abandoned Advance ;
through the bergs with which the great Humboldt
Glacier on the right iilled the sea; now dodufino- a
berg and now sailing past a iloe the stout ship Avent

on,

going

against

ice

one

berg

going

acfainst

another" says one of the sailors enthusiastically.
Already farther than any vessel had ever sailed to
the west of Greenland, she still kept to the North
through Kennedy's Channel, till Kane's " Open Polar
Sea"Avas proved a bay and named after the vessel
that first cut its waters ; till Cape Lieber, for ten

>p ■ '' I

9^M

' II'

I !f:..„l!':

712

THE rOLAUIS IX llUill LATITrDE.

yeai's the limit of iioi'tlicni discovi'iy, Hayes' final
ut'hii'veint'iit, lay astern, — on, through a Innulrcd mlh's
of new (lisscoveries, into Uol)e.son's Channel, now first
named.

On Wednesday, Aui^ust .'loth, the mists of ap.
jM'oaehing icii-fields shut arouial tiie vessel, and her
engines were sto|)])ed; she lay ])eset by ice at a
liiui'her latitude than aiiv shin had ever been — 82^'1()'.
Parry's sledges, after Aveeks of toil, had penetrated
but thirty-tbui' miles farther. Tlie eoveted piize of a
life-time lay almost witliin Cai)lain Hall's grasp. The
Pole, over which ho had fondly dreamed of anchoi'ing
the vessel he conunanded, was l)ut live hundred and
twenty-nine miles away — only four days' sail, and he
had gone nearly twice the distance in tin; week
before. The Aveather "was A\arm ; six Aveeks of the
long day were still his. ^V gale from the south, a
bold (hash thi'ough an opening lead, and the Polaris
mioht furl her sjiils in the starlit calm of a Polar 8ea.

After being tied to a ih^e for a fe\s' hours the
Polaris steamed eastward, Avhere llall In a small ]>oat
examined an inlet, but as the ])lace was not suitable
for a harbor he called it l\ej)ulse Bay. lie then
steamed "westward and fastened to a floe for the night.
After a council of officers, in Avhidi Buddington was
in faxor of gaining a winter harbor Mithout delay, an
iinsnccessful attempt was made to jH'neti'ate north,
and as a result, the Polaris was soon helpless in the
midst of the ])ack, and for four days drifted southerly
with it.

A\'hen released from the ice the Polaris was headed,
eastward, and, at a small inlet of Polaris Bay, found
a tolerably secure anchorage in the lee of a stranded
ice-berg in latitude 81'^38^ Only ten days Lad

THANK GOD IIARHOU.

ri3

elapf<('(l since tlio V(^yaG^o from Tcssuisuk was com-
iii('iift'(l ; but the (laiiujci-s escaped were cMoiii;'!! to give
the little inlet it's name oF Thank (Jod Ilaihor, and
tln! lios[)ital)lo bei'g was digiillied with the title of
Providence Berg. At midniu'ht, in the full light of
an Arctic sunnnei", Ca[)tain Hall made a formal land-
ing (^n the coast ho liad discoveivd, and I'aiscd over it
liis jlag, "in the name of the Lord, and for the Presi-
dent of tlie United States."

In a f(!W days the Polaris Avas firndy frozen iu tlie
ice. Tlie slo})ing side of Providence l>ei'g, sixty feet
high, protected the vessel seaward. High clitVs, bare
and brown, rose hmdward to tlui lieight of nearly
two tliousand feet, and sank away into the hills
Avhich bounded a broad and wide shore plain. The
Polar Star stood so nearly in the zenith that actual
measurement was required to prove it to be eight
degrees north. In the coming spring and summer
Capt. Ilall hoped to place it directly over his head.
The mountains of inner Greenland lifted their white
crests iifteen miles away, and already began to shut
out the siinlio-ht in its circlinu; march around the
horizon.

The sides of the Polaris were l)anked with snow
and lier deck roofed from stem to stern Avith canvas.
The dogs, fifty-four iu numl)er, were taken ashore
and phiced in kennels, whei'O they were fed twice a
week. The observatory, a frame building madii in
New York, was erected on the cliffs at an elevation
>of seventeen hundred feet. Provisions were put on
shore, and the other usual pre])arations for spending
an Arctic night in high latitudes completed.

Three or four weeks of daylight still remained and
they were busily employed. Hans and Joe brought

li,:,.'-?,:;!*

Illi'

•;' Jii

714

HALLS JOUKNEY TO TIIK NOKTII.

in musk-oxen, liarea, Icniniiiiij^M, and spcciiucn^j of n
snuiU burrowing rat. Wliito foxes were found in
lai'ge nunil»ers. Tho valh^ys l)oro hiiglit-colored
ilowers, red and hluo ])v'nv^ tlie prevailing tints, and
trailing willows — the only rej)resentatives of the trees
of ft warmer clime. The sea swarmed with tho minut«;
life of an Arctic ocean, and the air was j)o[)ulou8 with
the ])ir(l8 with which previous chapters have made
tlie reader familiar.

As he surveyed all these tokens of a still warmer
climate further north, it must have been with no
ordinary hoj)es of success that Captain Hall looked
forward to the sledge journeys of the coming spring;
and preliminary thereto he left the Polaris on the
10th of October, accompanied by Mr. Chester, Joe
and Hans, with two sledges and fourteen dogs.

Setting out on this expedition, the first step taken
by Captain Hall fell upon land more noithern than
white man's foot had ever before touched. In the
progress of the journey — unhappily the last that
Captain Hall was to make toward the Pole — he dis-
covered a river, a lake, and a large inlet which he
named Newman's Bay. At Cape Brevoort, he
rested, and there wrote his last dispatch to the
Secretary of the Navy, the original draft of which
was found, in his own handwriting, in his writing-
desk, on its examination in Washington after it was
delivered to the Secretary of the Navy by Joe, who
had kept the desk in his custody from the time it was
picked up on the ice, after the separation of the
rescued party from the ship. This dispatch is as
follows : —

lIALl/s LAST DlSl'ATCir.

715

Sixth Sxow-irnrsK Encampmkn't, Cape TlrjEvooRT.
NoiMirsiDK Mntkanck TO Nkwman'h I>ay,
{latitude Sii^' '6' north, lujujitude (W 20' wef)t\

(Mohe/'^O, 1S71.
"To Tin; iroNouAiii.R Secrktahv of thk United States
Navy, (rKoiJuE M. Uuueson :

"jMyHL'lf Hinl party, coiisiBtiii^ij of "Mr. Chester, fiivt niivte,
my Ks(iuiiiiiui.\ Joe, uiul (rroeiiliiiul lOsfjiiiiiiiiux Iliiii^, left
the whip ill wiiiter-([niirters, Thiiiik (iod lliirhor, latitiitle Hl«*
JJS' north, htiigitiule (U'^ 44' west, at meridian of ()(!toher 10,
on a journey l)y two sk-dgea, dnivvii by fourteen dix^n, to
discover, if ])ossihk», a feasible route iidand for my sledgo
journey next spring to reach the North Pole, purposing to
adopt such a route, if found, bettor than a route over the
old llocs and Innnmocks of the strait, which I have denomi-
nated Tlobeson Strait, after the honorable Secretary of tho
United States Navy.

"We arrived on tho evening of October 17, having dis-
covered a lake and a river on our way ; tho latter, our route,
a most serpentine one, which led us on to this bay, fifteen
miles distant from here, southward and eastward. From
tho top of an iceberg, near the mouth of said river,
wo could see that this bay, which I have named after
Rev. Dr. Newman, extended to the highland eastward
and southwai'd of that position about fifteen miles, making
the extent of Newman's Bay, from its headland or cape,
full thirty miles.

" Tho south cape is a high, bold, and noble headland. I
have named it Sumner Headland, after Hon. Charles Sumner,
the orator and United States Senator ; and tho north cape,
Brevoort Cape, after J. Carson Brevoort, a strong friend to
Arctic discoveries.

" On arriving hero wo found the mouth of Newman's Bay
open water, having numerous seals in it, bobbing up their
heads ; this open water making close both to Sumner Head-
land and Cape Brevoort, and the ice of Robeson Strait on
the move, thus debarring all possible chance of extending
our journey on the ice up the strait.

MB}

,1 '"I '111 HI
lit-*'' ' t^*

f ]'

71G

HALL S LAST DISPATCH.

"The mountainous. land (none other abont here) will not
admit of our journeying further north, and as the time of
our expected absence was understood to be for two week?,
wo connnonce our return to-morrnw morning. To-day we
are storm-bound to this our sixtli encampment.

" From Cape Brevoort we can see land extending on the
west side vi the strait to tlie north 22° west, and distant
about seventy miles, thus making land we discover as far as
latitude 8.'}^ b' north.

"There is appearance of land further north, and extending
more easterly than what I have just noted, but a peculiar
dark nimbus cloud that constantly hangs over M'hat seems
may be land prevents my making a full determination.

" On August 30, the Polaris made her '>:reate^t northincr
latitude ^2° 29' north ; but after several attempts to get her
further north, she became beset, when we were drifted down
to about latitude 81* 30'. "When an opening occurred we
steamed out of the pack and made harbor Se})tember 3,
where the Polaris is. [Corner of the manuscript here
burned off]

" Up to the time I and my party left the ship all have
been well, and continue with high hopes of aocomplishhig
our great mission.

" We find this a much warmer country than wo expected.
From Capo Alexander the mountains on either side of the
Kennedy Channel and Robeson Strait we found entirely
bare of snow and ice, with the exception of a glacier that wo
saw covering about latitude 80*^ 30' cast side the strait, and
• extending in a east-northeast direction as far as can bo seen
from the mountains by Polaris Bay.

"We have found that the country abounds with life, and
seals, game, geese, ducks, musk-cattle, rabbits, wolves, foxes,
bears, partridges, lemmings, etc. Our sealers have shot two
seals in the open water while at this encampment. Our long
Arctic night commenced October 13, having seen only the
upper limb of the sun above the glacier at meridian October
12. This dispatch to Secretary of the Navy I fim'shcd this
moment, 8.23 p. m., having written it in ink in our snow-hut,

■wn

' 'I,

DEATH OF CAPTAIN HALL.

717

tlie tlicrmometer outside minus 7°. Yesterday all day the
thermometer minus 20 to 23^; that is, 20" minus to 23°
minus Fahrenheit."

"Copy of dispatch placed in pillar, Brevoort Cape,
October" 21, 1871."

Captain Hall had lioped, when he left the Polaris
on this jonmey, to advance noilhward at least a hun-
dred miles ; but lifter having gone about fifty lie Avas
compelled, by the condition of the shore and of the ice
and by the state of the climate, to return and aAvait
the approach of spring for another attempt. He
reached the ship on the 24th of October, appar-
ently in his usual health, but was attacked the same
day with sickness of the stomach and vomiting; and,
taking to his bed, the next day was found to be se-
riously ill. Dr. Bessels attended him professionally,
and he recovered sufficiently to leave his bed, to move
about his cabin a little, and to attempt to attend to
business ; but he soon had a relapse, became again de-
lirious, and died on the 8th of November 1871, from
attacks of apoplexy, as Avas generally reported and
believed.

During his illness, Captain Hall was nursed by the
faithful and affectionate Hannah, and she and lier
husband were greatly grieved at the loss of their old
and well-tried friend. The following is her account
of his sickness: —

"About an hour after getting onboard, Captain
Plall sent the little girl to call me up. I found Mr.
Morton undressing him and washing his feet. Cap-
tain Hall was sick. He s])oke about being siok and
vomitincc. I asked him if he had got cold. He said
lie felt well enough in the morning. Next day very

sick. Worse than last night. I observed him close.

ii/K'i

1 .■■■'l|

i \

r" i i' '

■i p

m li:

718

JOE S STORY.

He was very sleepy. He felt bad. Did not say
much.

" After he had been bad about the head he began
to get better. Then he talked about the coffee. Said
it made him sick. Too sweet for liim. AVhen some-
thing was the matter with his head, and he was hal-
looing and talking, he talked of somebody having
poisoned him, but only when he "was crazy. I do nut
believe any body had poisoned him."

Joe, who accompanied Capt. Hall to Newman's
Bay, gives the following account of his sickness and
death : —

"I had driven sledge very hard, and after supper
went to sleep down stairs. Captain Hall did not eat
supper, but only took cup of coffee. I did not see
him that night. I saw him next morning, Sunday
morning. lie did not speak. He remained abed.
After breakfast he asked to speak to me. He says,
* Very sick last night.' I asked him ' What is the mat-
ter.' He says, ' I do not know. I took a cup of coffee.
In a little while very sick and vomiting.' He Avas
sick the first time t^vo or three days. Complained
of stomach, headache, and bone-ache. After he got
better I go see him eveiy day — (!very night. After a
whlh^ something the matter with head. Did not
knoAV anything. Perhaps crazy. I tried to speak
him. He did not know me. I wish to stay with him.
Captain Ilall called me to stay with him. After he
got better, I asked him what made him sick. Tie
says, ' I don't know.' Everybody went to l)reakfast.
1 staid Avith him. I said I was very glad he Avas
better. He said 'I have l)een sick. Don't know
whether I Avill live or not.' I asked him, 'Do you
know Avhat is matter ? ' He says, ' I can't tell Avhat

"iil'l

91 1

r 1

"Vii '

IIS! !

••I'i I

if,n

FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN HALL.

719

is the matter. Bad stomach. Veiy bail stomach.'
After getting breakfast I wanted to find out what
was the matter with him. A man came down into
the cabin, and he said nothing to me more. After
that Hannah talked to him. Every morning I was
absent seal-hunting. I overheard Captain Budding-
ton talk about Captain Hall. I w'anted to hear.
Captain Buddington said he was sick again. Did
not know me. Once in a while he called, ' Halloo,
Joe ! ' Then did not know me. Two niijhts he was
very sick. Died two nights and one day after."

It takes two days to dig a grave with picks and
ice-chisels and axes in the flint-like ground, and on
the tliird day after his death, the crew, dressed in
their Arctic clothing and with lanterns in their lumds,
bear to his loni? rest the remains of their loved and
honored commander. The bier, covered with the
national flags, rests on a sledge which the men, in
procession, two by two, draw gently by the rope. Fol-
lowing the sledge, the Escpiimaux straggle on in
bewilderment and grief at the scene. The flag on
the observatory droops at half-mast, and the ice-bound
■waters of Polaris Bay shimmer in the clear light of
the stars and in the more fitful gleams of the
evanescent Auroras. At the grave, by the light of
" lanterns dimly burning," Mr. Bryan reads the fune-
ral services.

A rude head-board marks the shallo^v resting-
place of the lost explorer. For long months round it
sweeps the un setting sun in the long circles of an
Arctic day, and over it shines the Pt)lar star. It is
fitting tliat the}^, and they alone, should keep watch
and W£ird over the grave of one who so nearly stole
from Nature, secrets which their eyes alone have
rested on.

'^1

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iii .■"wi

mm ii:

iiil, 'i'^i

:.::::l

i ; i:-|

, 1

1 1

i" 1

ijJlJ

720

THE WINTER AT POLARIS BAT.

Ten days after Captain Hall's burial, the Polaris
felt the first real dangers of Arctic navigation. For
forty-eight hours a sevei'e gale accompanied by a
snow-storm swept from the north-east, and the ice
around the ship began to crack and the snow-wall,
labf^riously banked as a protection for the winter, to
settle. The next day the ice broke all around the
vessel, the snow-wall sunk out of sight, and in the ice
that crashed in about the ship from the shore, her
J ' ' anchor ceased to hold. It was a moment of
inter?'^ ■■••nl. In the darkness of a Avhirling snow-
stonii uud an Arctic night, so dense that objects
tweMtv feet di.^tant were invisible, she was drifting —
drifting, 'ith ibv^ sloping Avail of Providence Berg
full in her lee. Her starboard anchor rattled down,
but the Polaris dragged two anchors as easily as she
had one. Forced on by the ice, and driven by the
moving hurricane, the crew Avatched momentarily for
the wall of sloping ice that Avas to Avi'eck or saA^e
their craft. For tAVO hours they kept their Avatcli
through the Avreathing suoaa'". The A^essel Avas less
than half its OAvn length from the berg when the
great Avhite Avail that rose half mast high above them
was discovered by the anxious ci'caa'.

Providence Ber^: Avas ao-ain their salvation. Vol-
iinteers Avere called for to moor the ship to the berg.
AVilliam Linderman, seaman, performed the danger-
ous duty. Cutting steps in the smooth icy slope
Avitli a hatchet, he fastened an ice-hook. Other lines
were made fast aft in the same manner, by fastening
heavy iron hooks, Aveighing seventy-five pounds, in
the berg, and the vessel rode once more in safety.
Some of the stores and three of the sleighs, one a
companion of Dr. Kane, were lost in the breaking ice;
•^^■'^^mately the dogs Avere in safety on board.

- m

THE WINTER AT POLARIS BAT.

121

A week later and another gale broke from a di-
rectly opposite quarter — the south-west. The iceberg
to which they had moored in their peril seemed
likely to prove their destruction. Ice from the strait
without crowded in upon it. The immense mass
moved slowly toward the little steamer ^vhich lay moor-
ed twenty feet from its base. Under the enormous
pressure the great block of ice broke. It must have
sounded like the crack of doom to tlie seamen, who
saw their only protection from southerly gales part-
inc: before them. Half of the bersc drifted on to the
vessel. The ice had been piled high and deep behind
her by the previous gale. There was small chance of
moving shoreward. When the nip came she rose
bodily in the air. Foot by foot, her timbers crack-
ing, her seams opening, her whole frame quivering in
the terrible embrace, the Polaris rose. A projecting
spur struck her, and the ship went over till her deck
was too steep to walk upon. There on her beam
ends she lay the winter through.

The long winter wore away. There was little to
relieve the dreary monotony of enforced idleness.
The steep, sloping deck was roofed M'ith canvas and
dimly lighted by a lantern. Below, there was
warmth, comfort, and comparative luxury. No better
proof of the thorough and careful equipment of the
Polaris, or of the excellence of the stores, and we
may add of the discipline of her commander, in spite
of testimony to the contrary, need be given, than the
fact that the whole winter passed without a case of
scurvy. Some few symptoms were felt, but they all
disappeared under treatment.

Without the vessel, silence, cold, desolation, reign-
ed supreme. By the side of the steamer rose the

.f-

J!'' 'I

... i''':-;:

i! '. h

722

OUTSIDE THE SHIP.

jagged and splintered sides of the herg, gleaminn-
brightly in the moonlight, reddened by auroral flash-
es, or standing white and ghostly under the stars.
Across the heaped and broken shore-ice a well trod-
den jiatli led to the observatory. Hourly oT)serva-
tions were held there, and the path was a familiar one ;
but when a storm came, and the berg faded out of
sight, and the whole atmosphere was full of driv-
ing snow so fine that it sifted through clothing and
could only be kept out by furs, men staggered
along the familiar track, scarcely able to reach the
ship, but a few yards off. Near by Avere the huts
in which the Esquimaux of the exjoedition passed
the winter.

The Polaris lay undisturbed on her icy dock, but
terrific gales kept the strait ice in motion. Bergs
were continually sweeping it clear of ice and at no
time was it closed by ice more than a few weeks old.
The entire mass showed clear signs of a drift south-
ward. This fact and the drift-wood discovered in a
Journey afterwards undertaken, prove that Smith
Sound and the chain of straits above it, all communi-
cate at length with open water. To reach this, if
possible, in boats was now the object of the exj)lorers.

The work was begun promptly. In the darkness
of the last week in January, Dr. Bessels pushed to
the north in a sledge with eight dogs and two mem-
bers of the crew. Nine miles away they were checked
by an ice-bound cape, which they could not climb,
and returned, having noted only that the ice in the
strait was drifting loosely in the current. The next
day another party made an attempt along the mount-
ain chain, but with equal ill-success. The steep ice-
clad cliffs could not be scaled. It was too plainly

>■'

RETURNINO DAY.

723

the niglit when no man can work. They must wait
for dayliglit.

A mouth later, February 28th, as noon drew near,
there came a glad cheer from the little company.
For a hundred and thirty-four days they had timed
the hours by their watches, by the stars, by the moon,
by everything except daylight; and now the stars
faded utterly away, and the sun rose over the glisten-
ing peaks of the mountains that had fringed for a
month past the twilight of the coming day. In a
few moments the sun was gone. But the long dark-
ness was over. The greatest extreme of cold was yet
to come ; there were yet four months of weary wait-
ing in the ice; but henceforth daily the sun rose
above the horizon, and the diaries and conversations
of the men all take a more cheerful turn.

Early in March Hans patience was rewarded by a
seal, and before April was gone nearly all the game
had returned. Strangely enough the musk-oxen came
from the north-west. These animals were smaller than
those found in Labrador, and without the strong musky
smell which makes their flesh unpalatable. With their
long, shaggy hair and short, sharp horns, they seemed
formidable antagonists, and generally adopted the
same tactics which they use when attacked by wolves.
Standing in j)airs they would rush forward a few
feet towards the hunters, and then spring back again.
When one fell the other defended him, till he too
.was struck down by a bullet. As spring advanced
they were found with their calves, but the young
were rarely perceived till the dams were shot down,
as they took refuge when attacked directly under the
older animals, and were entirely concealed by the
long hair which came to the ground. Several bears

7t. lii
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>|i,illjlili:| II'

It''

H?iii;

I'll

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I;:,

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724

BEAR nUNTIXO.

were killed, all smaller than their hrethren of South-
ern Greenland. The tenacity of life which the do^s
displayed was wonderful. Caught uj) Ly an enraged
bear and flung against clumps of ice, stunned,
and left for dead, they were sure to limp into camp
the next day, hut little the worse for the experience.

Three exploring expeditions were undertaken — two
on sledges and one by boat. The first in April,
comprising Dr. Bessels, Mr. Bryan, Hans and Joe,
pushed forty miles to the south, and linked the dis-
coveries of the " Polaris " with those of the " Advance."

Drawn by eight powei-f ul wolfish dogs, the explorers
pushed on till stopped l)y open water along the shore,
and by the steep coast. Two fiords were passed and
mapped to their termination. These deep and nar-
row indentations of the sea are as prominent a feat-
ure of the Greenland as of the Norwegian coast.
The two explored were surrounded by glaciers and
filled with icebergs. Their sides rose steeply from
the water, often to a height ofiiearly seven hundred feet.
These lake-like inlets are of rare beauty and of pecu-
liar geological interest, but were a serious bar to the
rapid exploration of the coast. A month later a
double expedition was sent northward to survey
Newman's Bay and search for open water.

On shore the snow was rapidly melting, and the
valleys and ravines were rushing torrents of water.
Dangerous crevasses in the glaciers which must be
crossed made further travel by sleighs out of the ques-
tion. Journeys with boats were therefore attempted,
and it is scarcely possil)le to exaggerate the pluck
and persistence exhibited therein. One party had
encamped for the night on an ice-field a mile from
shore, when they were suddenly awakened by

nitli.

1 the

water.

List be
qiies-
pted,

pluck

had

from

EXCUU8I0NS TO THE NORTH.

725

another fiehl drifting down on thenv. In an instant
tlie smooth field, on wliich tliey wore, seamed and
cracked in every direction. Hummocks sj)rang up
under tlieir feet. Great cakes of ice rosi; twc^nty,
thirty feet in the air, and fell with a (U'afcnin^- crasli.
The ice opened and the party wei'e separated, two on
one piece, while the boat and crew were on another.
In anotlier instant the boat itself lay flat beneath
a fragment of an iceberg wliich had moved into the
field. Nothing daunted, the l)arty returned to the
vessel, and in four days were afloat in a canvas boat.
For two weeks, the two crews of four men each,
accompanied by Tyson, Chester, Bessels, and IVIeyers,
continued their dangerous work.

It was the old, old story of Arctic adventure.
Leads opening to close again in a short time. A few
miles of northing gained by hard rowing and an
encampment made, only to find in the morning that
the whole floe had been drifting south. The melting
ice was covered with water, and their sleeping! )ags
were nightly soaked. The fuel was so nearly
exhausted that coffee could be prepared but once a
day, and the pemmican and preserved meat were eaten
cold. Ceaseless care was needed to preserve the
boats from a second accident. Often the lives of the
party would hang on the few minutes of rowing
needed to reach some safe sheet before the pack-
ice, drifting down on them, had crushed boat and
crew.

Two of the party returned to the ship June 27th,
to obtain provisions. They found her sinking. Steam
pumps were running sixteen hours out of the twenty-
four to keep her afloat. In May, when the ice first
began to melt, she had begun to leak, and ever since

'ii>'

.L iilijfi

I'"'

''i - 'ill

' : v' '

'It ,.,.:

■''(II j

726

EXCUR9I0NB TO THE NOUTn.

seemed to fill as she settled. She soon floated freely,
and her condition inipi'oving, an unsuccessful attempt
was made to run to the north to take on the boats.
Hans was then sent, with orders to the excursionists
to return as soon as possible ; but it M'as three weeks
before all had come back.

On the 14th of August, the Polaris turned home-
ward. The voyage up had been accomplished in a
week ; it was to be eight months before even a part
of the 8hi2)'s crew would be rescued from the ice.
August passed, September Avore away day by day,
October was half ov^er, and the good ship still
fought a vain battle with ice-floes and bergs. She
entered leads only to have her timbers strained by
nips. The young ice encased the vessel, and no open-
ing came through the floes beyond. The ship steadily
became more unseaworthy. Preparations were made
for leaving her at an instant's notice.

On the night of the IStli of October 1872, in about
latitude 70*^ 35', during a violent gale of wind and
snow, the Polaris was beset by a tremendous pressure
of ice, which was forced under her and finally threw
her over on her beam ends. Captain Buddington
ordered the provisions, stores and materials, which
had been previously arranged in readiness on the
deck, to be thrown overboard on the ice, and directed
that Tyson and half the crew should go upon the ice
and carry these stores upon a thicker part of the floe,
where they would be comparatively safe. He also
sent all the Esquimaux with their kayaks out of the
ship, and lowered the two remaining boats upon the
floe. While thus engaged, in the darkness of an
Arctic night and in the midst of a fierce gale, the
hawsers of the Polaris failed to hold her, and she

DESERTED BY THE I'OLATlIfl.

7i27

broko adrift from tho floo and in a fow minutes was
out of sight of tlio party on tlie ice.

At the time of tliis involuntary separation there
were nineteen persons on the ice, but some of tlie men

an(

I a L

U'ije snare (

of th(

provisions wei'c on ])ieees ot
men were all secured,

ice separate from the floe. T
but much valuable food was lost. The party on the
floe rolled themselves up in musk-ox skins and
passed tho night as best they could. Captain Tyson
ke2)t guard, and walked the ice, watching anxiously
for the morning and looking eagerly for the Polaris.
The morning came, but with it came uo sign of the
ship.

The uext day the party made several attempts to
reach the land, with the boats, but failed, notwith-
standing their most persistent efforts, owing to the
obstruction of the ice and the violence of the wind.
During this day the Polaris came in sight to the
northward, apparently coming toward the floe under
steam and sails. A blanket was hoisted on an oar,
and displayed from the top of a hummock, and other
signals made to attract the attention of Captain Bud-
dington, and strong hopes were entertained by the
shipless mariners that they wouhl be rescued. They
were doomed to disappointment. The Polaris ap-
proached so near that they couhl distinguish her
escape-pipe, and they j^lainly saw her down to lier
rail ; but she altered her course and disappeared
behind an island. Again in the course of the day
the Polaris was discovered with her sails furled,
apparently at anchor near an island. It was very
natural that Tyson and his party in their desperate
circumstances, should conclude that Buddington was
either over cautious as to his own safety or indiffer-

111

;v'l

■ I

'Ill:

iil'- ■-■■

,-thi

Y28

THE DRIFT SOUTIIWAKD.

ent to theirs, l)nt it must be rememl)ere(I that tlie
Pohiiis was in a leaking condition and Avithout a
Bingh^ boat of any kind, while the ice-bound company
liad two boats, the kayaks, and a scow in their posses-
sion.

Shortly after the Polaris had been sighted a second
time, a violent gale from the north-east sprang up,
and the floe drifted away to the southward, with
these nineteen persons still upon it. The floe was
originally of a circular shape and about five miles in
diameter. Captain Tyson estimated its thickness to
vary from ten to thirty feet. Much of its surface
was covered with snow and there were hillocks and
depressions.

Fortunately a pretty good stock of pro\Isions liad
been saved, and the Esquimaux mad(> some snow
huts in which the party lived and kept their stores.
These huts, four in number, were l)uilt in the; shape
of an old-fashioned straw bee-hive, about six feet
high, with a hole at the bottom large enough ibr the
men to crawl in. Some old canvas served for
a flooring on which musk-ox skins were plac(?d for
beds, and other skins answered for bed<*l<>thes.
Some pemmican cans were used for lamps ; seals fur-
nished the oil ; and moss, or canvas took the place of
Avicking. Mr. Meyer made some Aveights out of shot,
and daily rations were dealt out, eleven ounces being
allowed to each person.

The discipline of the party does not appear to have
been of the best; indeed, Capt. Tyson states that
there was little or nothing that could be called disci-
pline. Every one did as he ])leased, and it is not
strange that Hannah, surrounded as she was by ai-med
and at times hungry men, sufl^jred terribly from fears

I M

THE llESCUE.

720

of what iniglit happen if tlie piovisloiis gavo out
entirely. Still all knew that their salvation depended
npon union and mutual eo-o])ei'ation, and thei-e was a
diseipline of circumstaneeH, if not of morals and law.

On the 1st of April, finding their iey (puirters nuieh
reduced by the breaking up of the iloe, they launched
their boat into open water and ])ulled towards the
west, in order, if possible, to gain the coast. At times
meeting ice too closely packed to get thi'ough, thc^y
were compelled to haul the boat uj)on it, launching
her again as soon as a had opened to tlui westward
or southward. In this way they j)assed a month of
weary and desperate endeavor.

Toward the close of April their provisions were
almost exhausted, and they were one day ubsolutely
reduced to less than a biscuit aj)iece and a mouthful
of pemmican, when a bear, scenting them on the ice,
apj)roached them and was shot, and they Avere thus
rescued from starvation. Il(^vived l)y this good for-
tune, and strengthened by their new sui)ply of fresh
meat, they struggled on till the last day of April,
1873, when they were rescued by the Tigress.

The incidents of this most extraordinary voyage
of six-and-a-half months on floating ice, as related in
the diary of John Ilerron, are given in a sul)se(pient
chaj)ter, and in all the recoi'ds of adventuie there is
nothing of greater interest.

The safe deliverance of the entire ])arty — men,
women and children — seems at fii'st almost a miracle,
but is due in a gi'eat measure to tlie s})ecial means of
escape from danger which the Frozen Zone furnish(!s.
The friendly ice-floe abounded Avitli material for
building shelter from tlu; storm and cold, while it
drifted the castaways into the vicinity of passing

( !

i'lirii 1,

^ .Jill IN'' ;
,i'i|iM';;;::!r

' ,!!''• I

730

JOE AND HANS.

sliips, and tlirougli a region where the presence of
seal and other Arctic animals enabled the skillful
hunters, Joe and Hans — to whom the balance of the
])arty are indebted under Providence for their pres-
ervation — to eke out the supply of provisions which
would otherwise have been exhausted. In any other
section, a boat's crew thus left in mid-ocean at such a
distance from relief, must almost certainly have per-
ished.

i;.,n|?.ij

CHAPTER XL VI.

JOURNAL OF HERMANN SIEMANS, A SAIL-
OR OF THE STEAMER POLARIS.

AjroxG the articles remaining on the ice-floe at the
time when the Polaris was separated from a portion
of its crew, was a diary kept from the commencement
of the voyage by Hermann Siemans. This diary was
picked lip by the ice-drift party, and has special inter-
est from the wonderful manner in which it was pre-
served and as being an intelligent history of the
expedition — as far as it goes — by a common sailor avIio
had the forethought and disposition to keep a record
of passing events. It "was Avritten in German, and
has been translated into English by E. R. Kuobb
Esq. The most interesting portions are given below.

The spirit of dependence upon Providence, and the
habitual recognition of God's mercies are noticeable
throughout, while the petition on starting, breatliing
the spirit of resignation to whatever might occur, is a
touching indication that there was at least one i)erson
iu the expedition of strong faith and fervent prayer.

PRAYEll WTIEX STATITIXO.

" All-k^towing Fathek, on Tliee I call and pray, tliat

Thou mayest look upon us in Thv mercy and may be

731

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*M|;,;:

4 1

' '1 m

732

JOURNAL OF IIEiniANN SIEMANS.

witli US in tliis cruise to the icy North. Thou only
knowest Avhether we ever on earth shall see acrain
our beloved, or whether we shall soon lay down our
pilgrim's staff. I pray Tliee to direct the hearts of
all of us, that all on this ship may always bow before
Thee. Let our eyes always be directed toAvard the
heights of Golgotha, \vhere Thou hast borne the bur-
den of our sins. Lead us to endeavor to gain that
which only is needed, that we may all say together,
we know that our Redeemer liveth. Then, even if
the iceberg covers our mortal part, or the fierce polar
bear tears it, -we shall have Thee, Saviour, the best
guide of our heart's ship. Hear my prayer in Thy
great mercy, and for the Saviour Jesus Christ's sake.
Amen.

June 20tli. — At C p. m. we left New York, and arrived on
the following day at llj a. in., at New London, where Ave
dropped anchor. In the evening we had divine service on
board, in which quite a number of members of the Baptist
congregation participated.

July 3d. — We left New London, with fine weather.

Sunday, 9th. — AVo had divine service from 11 to 12 a. m.,
and Captain Ilall promised to have it, with God's aid, every
Sunday. 1 was heartily glad that the name of our Heavenly
Pather should thus be hallowed.

Monday, 10th. — We saw the coast of Newfoundland.

11th. — Several heavy blocks of ice were passed. At noon,
WG entered the harbor of Saint John's, in which there were
two icebergs.

On the 19th, we left Saint John's, with God's aid all Avell
and contented.

On the 2Tth, Ave saAV the Avcst coast of Greenland and a
great number of icebergs — some near the coast. At 3 p. m. a
pilot boarded us in a kajak. At 5:30 p. m. avc came to in
the harbor of Fiskernaes. Greenland, Avhicli I then saw for
the first time, is truly a sterile, mountainous country. This

JOUllNAL OF IIEUJIANN SIEMANS.

733

all well

id find a
3 p. m. a
no to in
saw for
-. This

Danish settlement consists of twenty houses and huts, with
about seventy people. The houses of the governor had a
decent appearance, being of wood; but the huts of the Es-
quimaux were composed of pieces of sod, with so low an en-
trance that the people could only creep into them ; a few
M'ere covered with seal-skin; the interior looked very ]>oor.
The natives live almost entirely on tish; they are (luite intel-
ligent, and there is more brotherly love between them than
in many Christian communities. Their garments are made
of seal and reindeer skin ; their boots are generally lined
with feathers. The women wear jackets and pants like those
of the male, but they are distinguishod by a l)lack head-
cover, through the top of which the hair hangs out in a plait,
interwoven with red ribbon ; they also •wear short boots,
while those of the men are long.

Saturday, 20th. — AVe left Fiskernacs with beautiful weather.
At four hours we passed Lichtenfcls, where two (lerman
missionaries live.

July olst.— AV'^c entered the harbor of Ilolsteinborg, where
we counted sixteen huts arid fifty people.

August ud. — We left Ilolsteinborg, and in the morning of
the 4th we came in sight of Disco Island. At 2 j). m. a
pilot came on board, and at 3 p. m. we anchored olT (uxlhavn.
This settlement contains twenty-seven houses, with about
seventy people.

Sunday, 0th. — Captain Hall with some of us visited the
church, where also thirty Esquimaux attended.

10th. — The United States ship Congress arrived from New
York, with provisions and coal for us.

17th. — We received some Esquimaux dogs, M'hich are to
draw the sleighs in our excursions. At noon, llev. Xewman
of Wasliinifton and liev. Bryan of the Coiii^ress came
on board; the former preached a sermon and prayed with
us. At 2 p. m. we left CJodhavn with fair weather, and
passed the same day many icebergs, which compelled us to
change frequently the course.

On the 18th, we entered the harbor of Upcrnavik. This
settlement consists of twenty-two houses, inhabited by sixty

I Pii

ii:*' iffll'

1' . 1!^

■^('M i i

734

JOUllNAL OF IIKUMAISX SIEMANS.

peoi)le. The Esquimaux appeared more dirty tlie farther
north wc came; most of theui looked as if they liad been
smoked. Here Ilaus came on board, with liis wife and three
children.

2(ith. — Toward evening, I ascended a hill, where T prayed
some hours to God and my Iledeemer, and thoucht of niv
distant dear. I also visited the burial-places, which lay scat-
tered over the mountains, some almost near the tops, where
it nuist have been difficult to carry the bodies. The coffins
of rough wood were merely placed on the surface*, and
covered with rock. The weight of tlio latter had burst the
lids of some, so that the bodies could be seen. The Esqui-
maux told ns that bodies which had been buried very many
years appeared exactly as when buried. Formerly the law
was, among the Esquimaux, that at the death of the parents,
the eldest son inherited the property. It is said that some
of them have enticed their parents into the mountains, and
then thrown stones upon them, under which they still lie
buried.

21st. — We received on board eight tons of coal, and niorc
dogs and seal-skins. At 7 p. ni. the governor came onboard,
intending to acconq>any us to Tessui^ak. At 8 we left Up-
ornavik with fair AV(>athcr, and arrived at 11 oft" Kingituk,
where the captain and the governor landed to visit thf* gov-
ernor of that jdace, returning at one o'clock with twelve
dogs. AVe then proceeded, and cr.me to on the 2:2din Tessu-
isak Harbor.

24th.— Wc left Tessuisak, the northernmost settlement.
In the evening of the 2r)th, we narrowly escaped running in
the darkness with full steam-power ngainst a largo iceberg.
In tlie night, from the 25th to the 2(ith, we were surrounded
closely by drift-ice and icebergs, but with God's aid were
able to work throuiih them.

On the 27th, we passed the harbor where Kane wintered in
1800 ; and at 9 p. m. the winter harbor of Kane in 1S53 to
1855 bore east, distant 14 miles. No vessel but our Polaris
has ever penetrated farther north on the west coast of Green-
land. Proceeding farther, we encountered great quantities

JOUHNAL OF IIERMAKN SIEMANS.

735

of ice, through -wliicli wo pushed oti north. At 11 p. m. wo
passed Cape Constitution, the northernmost point readied hy
Dr. Kane, in 1854, in sleighs, wliere he believed to have seen
tho open Polar Sea. On the 2:>th, we reached Capo Lieber,
discovered in ISOO by Hayes, on a sleigh excursion. Ko ono
lias ever been farther on the (irinnell Land side; here our
discoveries were to begin. The distance of the coasts from
each other, in the narrow part of the strait, is about 40 in ilc??.
Tho land is mountainous and high. At 1 p. m. fog set in,
and at G we were compelled to stop the engines, as we wcro
surrounded by great ice-fields, to one of which wo fastened
the ship by ice-anchors and hawsers. At 7 ]). m. the fog
lifted, and wc could see both coasts, when we again started,
trying to press through the ico, with which the ship came fre-
quently in collision. It was very cold, the wind blowing strong
from tiio north. AVc worked along throughout tho iiigHt to

6 o'clock in the morning of tho ;50th, when we saw iirm ico
from one coast to the other. Under these circumstances, it
became important to look for a winter station, but theio
seemed to be none in this vicinity. At O.oO fog set in again
with snow, and we had again to fasten the ship to a iioo,
where we lay to 7;]- p. m., when we saw some clear water
near the (Treenland coast, for which wc directed our coui'so.
Believing to sec a small bay, a boat Avas lowered and tho
place examined, but it proved too exposed for tlie ship. "\7o
worked along the coast until midnight, when fog compelled
us to fasten the ship.

31st.— Wc started and continued the search for tho onliro
day, but in vain. At 4 p. m. we directed t!ic course for tho
Grinnell Land coast, but the ice prevented us from reaching
it. At 5 ]). m. we made fast to a great tloe.

September 1st. — Wo saw in the morning a small opening
through which we worked the vessel about the distance of a
mile nearer to the coast, where we had again to make fast, as
we could then not move the sliii) in any direction. Toward

7 p. m. a strong easterly wind arose, setting the stream with
the ice against us, the smaller pieces of the latter drifting
faster than the floe to which tho ship was tied. This pres-

a;!

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1 1

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I I

i^^iiii*

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,m\ it,

' ' if.
i,;:::;; Sill if

lllflll :*| ,

736

JOURNAL OF IIEIIJIANN SIE.-\IA]VS.

sure broke tlio hawsers at tlie bow antl the stern, and hfted
one side of the ship abnost bodily on the floe to •which wo
hiy, imperiling her greatly. As the ice pressing from all
sides around us had a thickness of at least twenty feet, it be-
came imperative to jirovide for emergencies. Provisions and
stores were carried on deck, and guns, cartridges, two suits for
each person, &c,, placed within easy reach, so as to land (hein
on the ice in ease the ship should bo crushed. Townrd !)
p. m. the wind abated, the ice ceased to press, and remained
quiet throughont the night. The following day, in the morn-
ing, we unshipped the propeller, in order to save it from be-
ing bi'oken. At 2 p. m. the pressure of the ice began again,
linge masses approaching the ship. All hands were now cm-
ployed landing provisions and fuel on the ice, in two place.'^^
so that OTie part might be saved in case the ice should break
near the other.

Sunday,' 3d. — Divine service Avas attended to from 11 to 12,
as usual. The snow fell so thickly as to allow us only occa-
sionally to see the coast of (rrecnland, although it was dis-
tant only tw'o miles. AVe now drifted quite briskly south.
Ship and crew appeared to be a ready prey to the ice. But
there is a God Avho aids and saves from death ; to Ilini I
tnisted between these icebergs and ice-fields, although I know
that I do not deserve all the good lie grants me.

September 4th. — At 9 a. m. open water appeared at a few
places, Avheu everything was quickly shipped again. At 9.80
p. m. steam was ready, and we began to Avork toM'ard the
coast of Clrcenland Avhere the wind had broken the ice and
caused an opening. At midnight Captain Hall landed with
five of \is, and planted, in the name of the Lord, and for the
President of the United States, the American ilag on the land
which wc had discovered. We then returned on board and
let go the anchor at 12.30 a. m. on the 5th of September.
The place examined proved to be but a bend of the coast ;
we therefore took advantage of the open water caused by the
easterly wind along the coast, and resumed our search for a
harbor southward, but not finding any better place we re-
turned in the evening to the anchorage.

JOURNAL OF IIEllMANN SIEMANS.

737

7th. — Wo lifted the anchor, and Hteuniod about sixty yards
closer ill-shore, behind an iceber;^ which had grotWHU'd in 13
fathoms water, and promised to protect us against southerly
and, in part, also westerly winds.

Sunday, loth. — We could not use boats any longer, and in
a few hours the ice grew thick enough to carry us with the
food for the dogs, that had been housed on shore. After
divine service, Captain Hall told us that he would call the
place Tliank God Harbor, as the Lord had not only carried
us through the dangers of the ice, but also ])rotected U3
against the ininiinent peril of an explosion of the small boil-
ers, which had not been fed with water, through the neglect
of the tireman.

11th. — The ice had grown so firm that we could employ
the sleighs.

The 12th was cold, and snow fell, the wind blowing strong.
Until then the twilight had remained on the southern hoi'izon
throughout the nights, but these now grew longer, and soon
we would have, in the midst of the Cireenland mountains,
the long winter night. But why should we fear the darknes.s
around us, if light remains only in our hearts? Yes, my
Lord, if 1 have only Thee, 1 do not care for heaven or earth.
. Sunday, 17th. — After divine service. Captain Hall enjoined
ns to work hand in hand, like brethren, in order to reach our
aim for which we had started. He said that he Unidy be-
lieved it to be God's will that all of the wonderful earth not
yet known should be discovered.

ISth. — Dr. I'essels, with the first mate, Joe,. and ILxns,
started on a sleigh, drawn by eight dogs, on a hunting excur-
sion.

On the 23d, the sun showed a large halo. At divine ser-
vice, on Sunday the 24th, the sermon and prayer wci-e read
by Mr. Bryan ; they had been prepared Ijy Rev. Dr. Xew-
man expressly for the expedition. At 2 p. in. the hunting
party of Dr. Bessels returned with a musk-ox.

October 1st. (Sunday.) — The gale ceased, and the weather
remained beautiful throughout the day. After divine service,
Captain Hall informed us we were, from that day, to assemble

!i.:i

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(Ill: '.l,

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738

.lOUnXAL OF IIKK.MANX SIK.M A X.-^.

cac'li inoniinn; .it 8.30 in liis cabin for prayer. ITow ^oo(] it
is to Borvo unilci" a coniinandor in whoso heart the Savionr
has h('min tlio work! AVo sliould always Lear in mind tliat
each day and each lionr carrie-s ns nearer to the end of our
pii^^rima^e, wliere we liavo to lay down onr stall'. 1 ])riiy ,
tlio Lord to open my eye:i that 1 may look to IJini with spir-
ited coididence.

l)th. — After much labor M'c now had carried all onr Ihings
Balely on the hill. About noon of this day, Captain Hall,
accompanied by Mr. Chest(,'r, Joe,, and Hans, started on two
sleighs drawn by sixteen dogs on an expedition for the pnr-
jjose of rccoinioitering in the direction toward the pole.

loth — One boat had already been transported to the chore;
we now carried there a second, also coal, wood, and other
things, t^o that a stock would be on shore in case an accident
sliould happen to the vessel. Up to then all hands were in
good health, for which I daily thanked the Lord. Ciod, I
pray Thee, let nic always be obedient to the teachings of Thy
lioly w(n'd with ever greater cheerfulness. May never doubt
or mockery destroy the consolation alive in mv breast. Let
my whole life be a j)raiso of Thee. The earth is everywhere
the Lord's; there is evidence even in the highest Korth that
an almighty and all-wise Creator has made it.

13th. — AV^e saw the sun rise for the last time in 1871.

ISlli. — Began buildiuir a snow-wall aronnd the ship.

2 1st. — We spread over the ship a snow-tent of stont" sail-
cloth, leaving oidy a small opening for ingress. Daylight
shortened rapidly.

Tuesday, the 24th, at l.oO p.m., Cajitain Hall returned
with Mr. Chester, Joe, and Hans. Ca})tain Hall had not
felt well f(n' the last three days, and laid down to bed imme-
diately. Ho vomited, had cramps, and a violent headache.
They had encountered on the expedition severe cold, and
snffered greatly. They had not been able to go farther than
fifty miles from the ship in a iS".E. direction.

28th. — It grew dangerous with the ca]itain, his illness in-
creasing steadily. Prayers anil divine service were held for-
ward for his recovery. The prayers which I sent incessantly

Joril^AL OF lIKIi.MANN SIEMANrt.

739

IV ffood Jfc
I Saviour
iiiiid tliat
id of our

• I ]>niy
villi s|)ir-

nr tilings
iiii Hall,
1 on two
■ tlio |)iir-
ole.

lie i-liore;
lid other
acfidoiit
s wvrv, in
God, I
^s of Tliy
, er doubt
ast. Lot
crywlicre
orlh tliut

BTl.

P-

font' sail-
Daylight

rctiinic(l
had not
d iiiiino-
leadac'ho.
3oId, and
her tliau

lliip?s in-
held for-
icssantly

to the throne of the iVhni^dity did not satisfy mo; I, ])oor
sinner, >vas anxious to knuul with him before God, and to
pray for mercy.

Nov. 1st. — The captain appeared to grow better, as lie spoko
as sensibly as any of lis.

2d.— The weather was beautiful and calm, although pcvcroly
cold. The snow-wall aroinid the ship Avas seven to eight feet
thick, and of the same height as the snow-tent. The snow
was carried to the ship in sleighs from banks which foi'iiied
Bometimes near the ship, st)metimes at a distance from it.

]S'o\'. 5th. — C'a})tain Hall grew again worse ; in the wander-
ings of his mind he said that somebody intended to shoot or
poison him.

On the 7th, Captain Hall lay in a very miserable state, the
entire body being insensible to the touch. In the evening
lie was entirely unconscitius of what occurred around him or
was done with him. At o.25 on the morning of Nov. Slh. his
soul left the mortal body. After his death a coiKn was im-
mediately made, into M-hich he was placed at -i ]). m. "We
also began to dig a gi'ave, working at it Wednesday and
Tlmrsdav. The earth was mixed with rock, and frozen so
liard that, although using axes and pikes, we could dig only
two feet deep. It was done with the light of a lantern.

Friday, the lOtli, at II. .'50 a. m., we placed the corpse into
the ground. Captain Hall had reached, as I was told, the
age of iil'ty years. His body rests in the far Xorth. where no
civilized human being has ever laid dowji his head I'or eternal
rest, as the place lies 5(i2 miles Irom the North Pole. Thus
his wish to die in the far North, and to rest where he had
lived eight years, has been fnliilled. May his remains lie in
peace till the day of resurrection.

Sunday, the IDtli, after divine service Captain I>ord (llnd-
dington ?) announced that the morning prayers would be dis-
continued, as Mr. iJryan was otherwise engaged ; each should
pray by himself. I, poor benighted sinner, must confess that
I have to contend many an hour with enemies within myself
and outside, but hope does not leave me. AVlien kneeling
far north in a dark corner, or beneath the starry heaven on a

iiilif i

' I:

IHl{

! i'' III

lilt , >"i;

740

JOURNAL OF lIKK.ArANiV SIKMANH.

floe, I look with coiifidenco to the iiiountaiim from which I
expect aid. Altliou^h not bcin<jf iiblo to sliow a f>iiiglo deed
by which I may stand bulbru the just Judge, 1 trust to the
Lord's mercy.

Monday, tlio 20th, at 4 in tlio morninj;, intending to examine
the tide-g.uige, I was carried aw.ay by the storm and tlirowa
upon the ice, whicli was covered witii water; only with great
difticulty could I reach the opening where the observations
were made. The snow-drift did hardly j)ermit ()i)ening the
eyes. It blew so violently that the ship was thrown upon
one side, bursting the snow-wall. At t) a. m., ^fr. ]\[eyer left
the vessel to look for Dr. I'essels, who had been all night in
the observatory on shore; he was driven back aljout twenty
times while endeavoring to creep up the hill, but linally reached
the house. Joe and Hans followed, and ut 1U..jO all four suc-
ceeded in reaching the ship.

2 1st. — At 8 a. m., the ice broke all arouiul us, and we were
in great peril ; the snow-drift, besides, made it so ilark that
we coidd not see anything at a distance of live ])aces. AV^e
let go the second anchor ; iievertheless, the shi[) drifted, but
luckily toward the iceberg near which we lay, and which had
been named by ('aptaiu Hall, Providence Mount. Some of
us jumped over the few iloes between lis and the iceberg,
climbed upon it, and succeeded in fastening threo ice-anchors,
to which the shij^ Avas secured by hawsers.

2.jth. — In order to bring the ship, which thus far lay at the
extreme of the iceberg, more toward the center of its long side,
where it woidd be better protected, an oi)euing was sawed
into the ice, through which she was moved one hundred and
twenty feet.

Sunday, the 2fith, divine service was held, but Captair
Bord announced that attendance was not compulsory, br!
woidd prefer that all should attend.

2Stli. — At 8 p. m. a snow-storm set in froinS. S.A which
soon grew violent, and at 1 o'clock had attained a lurco of
forty-two miles per hour, pressing the ice from the stnii
against our iceberg, which burst and parted in two ; thus
weakened, it was pushed against the ship, shaking her all

JOrUNAL or IlKUMANN MKMANH.

741

"'aptair
'\ '

\ Inch
:,' of

i strait,
; tlms
her all

over and making her erack in all seams. With ehl)-tido the
shij) keeled over on one side, while the foot of the iceberg
pushed beneath her, so as to raise her two and a half feet.
She careened so heavily that it was difHcult to walk on deck.
In this perilous condition it was thought proper to carry
apparel and other stores on shore, as also to place the Ks(pn-
nianx women and children in the observatory.

loth. — There has, i)crhai>s, never been an expoditiia the
niend)ers of which did live so peacefully as we. The Navy
Department had directed that, in ease of Captain Hall's death,
Captain l>uddingtoii should take command of the ship and
Dr. IJessels direct the scientitic matters and the sleigh expedi-
tions. Should the two disagi'ee, Captain J'uddingtoii had ♦^o
carry the vessel home as directly as possible. As long as
Captain I'uddington held the command, he treated evvry-
body properly ; the lirst olUcer is also an honorable man, who
knows how to handle people.

Sunday the 24th. — In the evening (Christmas Kv(>) all
liands were invited into the cabin, but I did not feel at home
there, ('aptain Hall not being any more in our midst.

On Christnuis-day, the 25th, the weather was iine. T was
astonished that there was no divine service, but, 1 believe, in
America it is more of a least-day than a holy-(l;iy.

2Sth. — The ship still careen.ed somewhat with the ri>e and
fall of tide, as part of the ki-el was still resting on the Un>t
of the iceberg. We tried to break the latter by blasting, but
did not succeed, the ice being too strong.

January 1st, 1872. — I thanked the Heavenly Father, who
stood by us last year through so many perils, and granted us
to live into the new year, exce])t the dear captain, C. I'. Hall,
who now rests in the cold earth of (ireeidand.

24th. — Dr. I'essels, Avith two of the crew, left the vessel in
a sleigh drawn by eight dogs, to ascertain how far the open
water extended north ; they could only proceed nine miles
north of the vessel, where the water was still perfectly open ;
their further progress was stopped by a cape, which they
c M not i)as8 nor climb, as it was too steep and too much
c ered by ice. At 5 p. ni. they returned on board.

, ., t

'!ii

I'lll lli^

l.lil 1!:' *

743

JOUllNAL OF IIEII.MA^'X SDL^IAXS.

Feb. 28tli — At noon m'c saw tlic sun for the first time in 1872,
after one luindred and tliirtv-eijjjlit days of darkness. It was
truly a lon;,^ dreary niglit wliidi we liad pnssed, by tlie Lord's
aid, in midst of ieebergs and ici'-lields. Tliat d;iy I visited
Capluin Hall's grave, as I liad iVecpiently done. How would
lie have enjoyed it to sec again God's sun.

April 8tli — Dr. Bessel's party returned ; all well, bringing
as trophies the eareasses of a soiil and a poLu- hear. After
the examination of the iiord and starting back north, Joe su(b
denly siiw the hear; both jumped from the sleigh with their
rifles, taki\ig hold of the dogs, Joe of five, the d(tctor of throe.
Jhit these, when they saw the fierce beast coming towards
them, could not he kept liack, and luid to be set loose, when
they at once made furiously for the bear. After lighting
them fo.r live minutes, the latter made for Joe, who allowed
it to api)roach within sixty ]iaces, when he fired, I'eloaded
quickly, and with a second ball linished the beast, which had
just started for him again after recovering from the shock.
Two of the dogs had kc])t back, but the other six fought
bravely ; one of them was thrown by a blow from the ])aw
of the ])owerful beast so violently against an ice-cluni]) that
it was left for dead on the place, but the next morning it had
returned to the snow-hut. '

June otli — The ship rising steadily above the ice nnder the
iniluence of the warm weather, which now melted the snow
and ice rapidly, we discovered a dangerous leak on the star-
board side of the stem at the six-foot mark, where two planks
had split from the careening of the shi]).

Oth. — V,'e endeavored to stop the leak, but could not do
mnch, ;;s the stem pnjved to have broken too deep below the
Avatei"-line.

lOlh. — Pre]>arations were made for another ex]iedition in
the patent sail-cloth boat, and in the afternoon i)r. Uessels,
Capt. 1'yson and four men left in it.

The Polaris we will hardly keep afloat, as she settles l)y de-
grees deeper the more the ice uj^ou which the ship rests melts.
She now makes considerable water, .'uid there are ])robal)ly
more damaged places under the bow beneath the water-line.

JOUIIXAL OF IIEUMA^^X SIIilJIANS.

^ ±0

12th. — "\Yc left the sliip and reached at noon the phico north
of Capo Liibkeii where our boats stood.

15th. — The strong wind having opened tlie water con f^ider-
ably, wo pnslicd the boat into the water and rowed nntil 7
in tlie evening, wlien we readied the oilier party, Vvliich had
left iMonday, on a great ice-held, at tiie month of Newman's
]jay, wliere tlie ice had liot yet broken np.

2.'>(1. — In the morning we at last saw, nortli of ns, a strip of
open water, and left the held iininediately, but had hardly
roWed two and a half miles when heavy pack-i;'o advanced
npon us rapidly. As we could not hnd in the vicinity an
ice-field for a station, the harder of the iirin ice being covered
by packed ice, wo wei'o coninelled to row back halt" a mile,
where wo met one, and had barely time to draw llio boat
npon it. The other party had done the same half a mile south
of u-.

20tli and 2Ttli. — Stormy, with snow-sipialls and fog, the ice
continually drifting south. As provisions became short and
the fuel was almost entirely consumed, li. Ivriigi^;- and I, at
Mr. Chester's wish, started for an attempt of reaching the
ship by the land, in order to get more provisioiH. We went
by Newman's Bay, and it was truly a severe task to climb
over the high mountains and through the deep iMviii.'s where
the sharp stones, split by the frost, cut through our Ks(pii-
manx boots. We made the distance, however, in twelve
hours. The ice in Polaris r>ay had, for the greater part,
broken up. and the vessel lay in o;»en water, in her old berth
close to J'rovideiice ]\Ioiiiit, which still was aground ; but she
was in a poor condition, making so much water that 1 he ]tum])3
had to be worked for sixteen hours out of twenty-four. As
there were now, liesides the cook and we 'wo, no sailoi's on
board able to steer the vessel. Captain l>ii(ldi;igtoii, would
not ])erinit ns to leave again ; he attempted to tak(> tin* vessel
to theboats, as the water appeared to be pretty open. At
noon of that day, the ice-anchors were taken in and tlie ship
proceeded north with steam and under sail, but \vv, had hardly
made half the distance to Xewman's liay when ^lie was
brought up by great ico-iields and hea\ily-packed ice' drifting

II!! il'*

744

JOUllXAL OF IIEIIMANX SIEMANS.

down upon her, Durijig tlie niglit she waspcrinitted to drift
under Bhorteued sail with the ice in the strait to the boiith-
ward.

20th. — Tn the morning, we again attempted to push on
north, but failed. At 11 a. m. Hans Avas landed at a ravine
north of Cape Liibken, in order to inform Mr. Cliester and
Captain Tyson that they must come witli their boats back on
board as early as possible. The ship then returned to Provi-
dence Mount.

SOtli. — We succeeded by great labor, in lishing the anchor
which h;id now been lying on the bottom for nine months
and had imbedded deeply into thf^ mud.

July 1st. — We set Captain Ilalfs grave in order, covering
it with stones, so that the earth could not be blown oil", and
planting a sign-board with the name cut in. That was the
last we could do for our beloved conunander.

At 8 p. m. Dr. Bessels returned with Ilansfrom Isewmau's
Bay. They had a hard travel for twenty-seven hours, having
searched long in a ravine for a place where they could climb
up, but with great ditliculty. Mr. Chester, ha\ing besides
Mr. Meyer only two men, was anxious that another sliould
be sent him ; but Captain Jhuldington (bought the land-route
to be now too dangerous, as the water had begun to pour
powerfully from the uu)nntains into the great ravine, lie
preferred another attempt to reach the party with the ship,
startin ;• at midnight under steam and sail.

At 1 o'clock the wind chauwd to a i^ale from the X., and
at 2 p. m., not having made half the distance, we came to
the border of ice, which, closely packed, was drifting against
us. Th(( coast was there too steep to climb it. We set sail,
and permitted the vessel to drift. At iu)on of the following
day we were oilf the ravine where Hans had been landed
before. As one man could ]U)t go well alone, I was sent with
liiin. Considerable snow was still lying on the nu)unti;i'is.
We landed at 1 p. m. with a small sleigh for transporting the
bread, fuel, and other snuiU things Avhich the party was in
need of, but we had not gone the third part of tlie distance
when the sleigh broke, and we were compelled to carry each

JOURNAL OF HERMANN SIEMAN3.

745

sixty to seventy pounds on our backs over tlie steep mountains
and tlirougli tlie deep ravines. It was the most trying travel
I ever liad in my lite. In some of the ravines the water
readied ahnost to our arm-pits, and we had then to climb up
their sides on our hands and Icnees; but with God's aid we
reacht'd, at -t o'clock in the morning of Thursday, the 4th of
July, safely, the boat, after thirty-nine hours, during thirty-
eight of which I had no dry foot. Since we had left them
they had no chance to move either north or south. We
carried a letter of Captain Buddington to ]\[r. Chester, in
which the former stated that if, after consultation with C.iptain
Tyson, they chose to contiime their attempt of pushing north
in the boats he was not the man to prevent it, but in his
opinion it was preferable that they should retiirn on board,
as there was better prospect to push on north in the steamer,
should a chance offer, than in the boats ; we would then bo
able to free the ship from the water by the hand-i)umps
instead of the pumps connected Avith the engine, the coals for
which were almost exhausted.

July 5th. — Mr. Chester was anxious to reach in the boats
at least the 83d degree of latitude, from whence he intended
to proceed farther with the sleighs on (rritmell Land, which
extended north ; but Captain Tyson preferred to go on board,
after securing his boat and stores on the southern coast of
Newman's Bsy in a ravine, one and a half miles inside of
Cape Sumner. It took from Friday, 11 a. m., to Saturday,
9 p. m., to move the boat with the stores to the place selected
by Captain Tyson, in which two men narrowly escaped
drowning. Having thus secured the boat, Captain Tyson's
party went overland on board. In the succeeding night rain
fell some hours, for the first time in 1872.

10th. — At 4 p. m. the ice opened a little to the southward,
and Mr. Cheater concluded to take advantage of it for going
on board, as there appeared to bo now no chances whatever
for proceeding north in the boat. At p. m. the boat was
pushed into the water, and we started, but had hardly rowed
two and a half miles when we were compelled, on account
of the drift-ice besetting us again closely, to draw the boat
on a small ice-field.

i,.;'^

Rii

74G

JOUIINAL OF IIKUMANN SIEMANS.

13tU. — There bein;:; no prospect tliut the ieo would soon
open and allow us to proceed, Air. Chester deemed it advisa-
Lle to l;u)d the boat and stores by the sleighs and ttdve us on
T)0!ird ON'crland. At 2.30 p. ni. everything was on the sleighs,
and we started. The wind increased and, together with the
roughne.s of the ice, made progress so difficult that it became
necessary to lighten the sleighs ; we drop])cd the sleeping-bags
and some clothing. When half a mile from the shore, wo left
the sleighs in order to get the things which we had dropped,
and land them first. An hour alter midnight, at last, we
reached the land at Captain Tyson's boat, thoroughly wet
and almost broken down. To save the sleigh and boat now
was inipo?siblo, as it blew so violently, with snow and rain
gquall:;, that at times wo could hardly keep 0!i our feet. We
pitched the tents of Captain Tyson, took a scanty meal, and
lay down. But soon the tents were blown away. AVe then
lay down in the boat, which had a canvas cover. There was,
however, but little rest for us, as in the morning (14:th) the
boat, with everything in it, we included, was, by a terrible
Equal], carried a distance over tlie ground and thrown against
rocks, by whicli two ])latdvs were broken, so that it now had
a great hole in the bottom. AVe quickly jumped out to
secure it, but it was caught by another gust and turned bot-
tom up. I>y drawing a lino s^everal fold around the boataiul
fiistening the ends to heavy rocks we finally succeeded in
securing it. A quantity of clothing and light things, how-
ever, bad been blown into tlic water. We then carried the
tents a di^tance into the ravine, Avhcrc we pitched them
under the lee of the cliffs, and could now, at p. m., SL'ck
the rest we so badly needed.

15tli. — During the night, the ice had parted entirely from
the coast, so that we could not get at our boat and the sleigh.

10th.- — We tried in va;!; to reach the boat. As there was
no chance for it before the wiiul would veer round to the
north and set the ice again to the shore, Mr. Che.-ter directed
Meyer, Jandce, and Kruger to go on board, while ho and I
remained to save the boat, if possible, with the Lord's will.

17th. — Mr. Chester and I went along the coast trying to

JOIIINAL OF HERMANN SIEMANS.

747

find a place where we could get to tlic boat. At Ca]ic Sum-
mer, Avc at last espied a chance and suocecdi'd liappily,
although with great danger, in crossing the broken ice and
reaching the field upon which our boat was still standing; at
6 p. ni. it was "gafely on the shore.

July 22d. — As the strait continued to be beset by ice, and
our provisions began to fail, Mr. Chester concluded to go
with nie on board the ship, leaving the boat, with its contents,
where it now was. AVe reached the ship at 11. 'JO p. m.

In consequence of the great pressure of the packed ice,
which had, by the sonthwcsterly gales, been driven in great
quantities into Folaris J'ay, Providence Mount had, on the
20th during the flood-tide, parted, and the broken pieces
had pressed the vessel upon the strand, where at low water
she had been lying so much on one side that the water almost
reached the deck. But when wo came on board she had,
with (iod's help, been floated again, and appeared not to have
been damaged by it.

25th. — In the afternoon Ciiptain Euddlngton disconnected
the pumps of the engine and divided all hands, the women
and children excepted, intothrcc watches, each of i'our hours,
for pumping by hand. Ihit alter having been a^-hore she
made not so much water by far as pi'eviously, some of the
parted seams having probably closed again.

August 12th. — In the morning, the wife of Hans gave
birth to a "boy.

In the afternoon the ice began to loosen and some strips of
open water appeared. At -J-.40 p. m. the vessel left Polaris
Pay with northerly wind. We worked during the succeed-
ing night, with great difticulty, through the ice until 8 a. m.
of the next day, when we were compelled, by the density of
the ice, to fasten the vessel to a large floe near a small island
on the (Jrinnell Land side. We were now without ground-
tackle. The boats left at Newman's Pay we missed very
badly. We drifted that day with the ice slowly to the south-
ward, there being no wind, and the weather beautiful. In
the night, when wo saw near us a strip of open water which
appeared to extend several miles to the southward, we made

>'t

nil ;;i

1 '■■

lift

nil I

748

JOURNAL OF HERMANN SIEMANS.

repeated attempts, with tlie full power of the engine, to break
through the ice surrounding us, but could not succeed, and
had to tie the vessel up again.

i4th. — At 2 p. m. we passed Cape Constitution, in latitude
80" 30' N., and worked steadily on until 11.30 p. m., when
the ice had closed in again, and nothing remained but to tie
up to an ice-field.

18th. — We still lay tied to the same floe to which we had
fastened on "Wednesday ; beset by heavy ice in which no
opening was visible.

21st. — At noon the fires wcye drawn, as both boilers leaked
and had to be I'epaired. We had now to work the pumps
by hand, the ship making twice as much water as in Polaris
Bay, as slie had received many hard knocks since we left.

2Tth. — We had now for some days been almost stationary,
probably because the ice had packed in the narrow part of
Smith's Sound. In the evening tlie ship was towed between
the fields about a quarter of a mile.

29th.— Beautiful calm weather. In the evening we again
saw a large stretch of open Avater. The fires were instantly
lighted, and we labored throughout the night with the full
power of steam, and besides all hands outside the vet^sel on
the ice, but could only carry the ship within about one hun-
dred and fifty yards of the open Avater, where, at 5.30 a. m.,
we were compelled to tie her up again.

September 5th. — AVe tried to stop the leaks of the vessel
without success.

30th. — There were this morning quite a number of open
places north and eouth of the ship, and also near her the ice
began to work with great noise; but the fields still incasing
her prevented us from reaching the opening to the south-
ward. Since August 15, when we tied up the ship to the
ice in latitude 80*-^ 02' N., we had drifted, in one and a half
months, 00 miles to the southward.

2d. — We were about twenty-three miles N". W. of Kane's
winter-quarters, and could see the harbor plainly in a clear
sky. The ice still very unquiet.

October 3d. — Began to erect a house on the ice -field to

,■< u

JOURNAL OF HERMANN SIEMANS.

749

wliicli the ship was fastened, as the latter was in great danger
of heing crushed, and, moreover, the winter now approached
fast.

7th. — Mild, with light northerly hreeze. "Worked on the
house, and carried ice into the ship, which Mr. Schumann
intended to use for the small boiler working the pumps, as
the salt water had crystalized in it to a great extent. In the
afternoon Joe shot a seal and discovered that ho had been
tracked the day before close to the ship by a polar bear,
which the dogs had not scented, the wind being against
them ; they are generally very keen in this respect.

9th. — We carried a store of bread into the house. In the
afternoon one of the crew saw a polar bear between the ice-
fields, at a distance of a mile from the ship.

12th. — We had a gale from the N. E., with cold temper-
ature. Much open water. Drifted more rapidly to the
south. We were now about three miles from the coast of
Greenland.

: i-m

I i

iif'Ji;,

! ;y::

CHAPTER XLVII.
JOHN HERRON'S DIARY.

John Herron, steward of the Polaris Expedition,
was one of the party separated from the ship and sub-
sequently rescued by the Tigress. Mr. Herron kept
a journal of the incidents and experiences of the ice
drift, which extended from October loth, 1871, to the
ensuing May, and it is in every respect highly cred-
itable to him. All the important and interesting por-
tions of this document are given below :

October lo. Gale from the S. AV. ; t^liip made fast to floe ;
bergs pressed in and nipped tlic .ship until ^vc tlKHij>iit she
was goinu: down ; tlirew provisions overboard, and nineteen
souls got on the floe to receive tlicm and haul ilicni up on tlio
ice. A largo berg came sailing down, struck tlie floe, shiv-
ered it to ])ieces, and freed the ship. She was out of sight
in five minutes. We Avcro afloat on different pieces of ice.
We hail two lioats. Our men Avere picked u|), myself among
them, and landed on the main ilno, which we found to bo
cracked in many places. We remained shivering all night.
Saved very little provisions.

Oct. 1(J. The l)erg that did so much damage half mile to
the N. E. of us. rienty of open water. \Vc h)st uo time in
launching the boats, getting the provisions in, and pulling
around the licrg, Avhen we saw the Polaris. She had steam
up, and succeeded in getting a harbor. 8hc got under the
lee of an island, and came down with sails set — jil), foresail,

TOO

JOll.N' JJ liUKON ;i DIAKY.

751

mainsail, and staysail. 8hc must have seen us, as the islanil
was lour or live niilcs off. We expected her to sav(> us,
as llierc was plenty ol" open waler, beset with ice, which J
think she could have gotten throujih. In the evening; wo
started with the boats for shore. Had we reached it we could
have walked on board in one hour, but the ice set in so last
when near the shore that we could not pull throuuh it. Wo
had a nai'row escape; in Junipinu; from jjioce to pii'ce, -wilh tlio
painter in hand, until wc reached the tloe. We drag-ucd the
boat two or thi'ee hundred yards, to a hijih place, where we
thought she would be secure until morning, and made Cor our
provisions, whicli wci'e on a distant jjart of tlie floe. Wo
were too much worn out wilh hunger and latigue to bring
her along to-night, and it is nearly dark. We cannot see
our other boat or our provisions. The snow-dril't has cov-
ered our late tracks.

Oct. 17. Strong wind from the S. E. Tlie ice broke up
again. Our boat and everything we have left are going.
AVe are afloat on a very small piece, with very little provis-
ions left. It is blowing a gale and threatens to be a very
severe night.

Oct. 21. Building snow houses; finished one; we sleep
in it to-night.

Oct. 22. Weather very thick ; snow falling. Building
f'.uow-houscs for the Esquimaux, and one more for ourselves, as
the first is too snudl.

Oct. 2o. Wilh the aid of our marine-glass, to our great
joy, wo discovered in tlie distance a boat, and at some dis-
tance therefrom, the tent. The ice for a few miles Itctweeu
lis and the floe Avhich they avr on is very thin, but we must
risk it, as we have six bags of bread there, forty-five pound-
cans of pemmican, and two dozen cans of moat. Returned
to headquarters weak, but thankful to God. Bejoicing in our
good fortune, we treated ourselves to a good supper, thank-
ing God for our increase in stores.

Oct. 24. Four men made another trip to the tent to bring
some planks with which to make a sleigh.

' . Ili>

751!

JOHN IIKKKON rt DIAKY.

Oct. 25. Half of <lio niou have poiio to Ihc lent with tlio
sled malo tliis inoiuin«^, (Iriiwu by the d^^s. Tlio rest of U8
are iviniiiniuLi; hcio l»y the boat roiuly to shove; olf in caso
tli(; i(!0 nhouUl o|HMi. Evoiihiji; tho iiu'ii irlunicd wilh a slctl-
lo;nl of |)()h.'s. All well.

Oct. 29. This inoniiiifj; voiy cold nnd stormy, but clciir.
The liiud lu sipjht all the tiinc. We have got our cook-huiiso
at work. All well.

Oct. 81. Sent .foe and Hans wilh a dog-loiini to see how
the ice will stand, as we intend starting lo-niorrow for shore.
We have eaten as nnu-h as we eonld t(>-day to get strenglii
for tho jonrney. We have been living very jworly so as to
make onr j)rovisions last six months.

November 1. Started to-day for the largo floe fonr miles '
distant, and one-third of the distance, I shonid say, to tho
shore. After a hard day's work we sncceeded in gelling two
boats and onr provisions olT, also one sleigh-load of bed-cov-
ering, skins, and canvas, and some poles ; leaving three bags
of coals, the oidy ones we have left.

Nov. 2. This morning we were snrprised to find the ice
open all aronnd ns. We started befoi'o d.iyliglit wilh tho
dogs and sled, not knowing what had hap[)ened nntil we had
nearly driven into the water.

Nov. 3. This morning snow-storm. r>nilding snow-honsos.
All well. No chance now of getting ashore ; nuist now give
that up.

Nov. 0. Joe caught a seal, which has been a godsend.
We arc having a feast to-night, tlu'cc-fourlhs of a jiound of
food being our allowance. ]\Ir. ]Meyer made a pack of cards
from some thick paper, and we are Jiow playing euchre.
Plenty of water aronnd us. We arc a good deal further from
the land, and are drifting south pretty smart.

Nov. 10. Wind strong; snow drifting. We are drifting
fast to tho south. The west laiul is not to be schmi. Tlie l']s-
quimaux are out hunting. .loe has returned late ; Hans has
iiot come yet. Joe and Rol)ert Imve gone in search of
him. He had left the floe for another one, and with great

JOHN IIEIJUON S DIAUY.

V53

difliculty found liis way back very luto. Tlioy saw him coin-
ing, droHsed in skins and covi'i-od witli snow, and took liini
for an icc-bcar ; loadvd llioir |>istols and nuido ready, wla-n,
to Uic'irjoy, llicy found il was Hans.

Nov. 10. (Jalni, ))ut Oiick. Joo saw iliroo seals ycstiM'-
day, and a fox track, l)nt got n(tMiin.i>'. \Vc liavo notiiing to
A!C(l our dogs on; tlicy got at tli(.' |)i'i»vision to-day ; wo shot
five, Univing four; shot some two weeks since. Lining our
new hut with canvas.

Nov. til. 'J'h(! natives caught two seals; tlicy shot three,
l)ut lost one of them in the young ice. W'r iuo\C(| into our
new house to-day. We shot tw<i dogs — they got at oin* pro-
visions ; we hav(! two left.

Nov. 28. Thanksgiving to-day ; we hav(^ had a fcasl —
four pint-eaus of moek-turlle soup, six pint-cans of green coni,
made inio scouch. Aflernoon: three ounces of hrciul nud
the last of our chocolale ; our day's I'cast. All well.

December 1. Oalm, Imt little liuht. This month out and
"we can hope for the; liesf, its daylight will liegin to como
upon us. Fred saw the hear to-day, hut being alone dared
not go for him.

Dee. 2. ]5oiled some se;d-skin to-day and at(! it — blubber,
hair, and tough skin. Tbe men ab' il ; I could not. The
hair is too thick, ami \\v. havi^ no nutans of getting it oli'.

Dec. 5. The fox came too near to-day ; I'ill I/mdeniann
shot him ; skinned and cut him up for eotjking. Fox in this
country is all hair and tail.

Dec. (). 'JMie i)oor fox was dcvoin-ed to-day by seven of the
men Avho liked it ; they had a. mouthful each for their share ;
1 did not think it worth whiUi myself to (.'onnnencc! wiili so
snudl an allowance, so I did not tiy Mr. Fox.

Dec. 7. If we keep (Hi this way we

AVI I

ne oi

]■ (h(! iJ.nnd

of Disco in Jlari'li. All in good health. 'J'he only lliiiig fli:it
troubles us is hunger; that is very severe. V\c feel loiue-
times as tliotigh w(> could eat each other. Very weak, but
please God we will weather it all.

ill" i i

ill: '

I 1!

704

JOHN' IIKIJHON M DIARY.

Dec. 13. ITans catiglit a small while fox in a Irap yeslor-
tlay. The iiigiita are hiilliaiit, cold, and clear. The scene is
chiiriuinji^, if we were oidy in a position to iippreeiate it.

J)ec. -0. Joe I'onnd a craclc yesterday, and three scmIs.
Too darlv to slioot. It is a f>'ood ihiiij;' to liavi; uiinn; niidcr-
nealh ns. It wonld he ninch better to have tiiem on the Hoc,
for starvini^; men. To-niurrow will be onr choicest day — Iheu
the snn retnrns.

Dec. 21. To-day clear; light wind. The shortest day, so
cheer np ! In three weeks we will have daylight. Then we
hope to catch game.

Dec. '22. Calm and clear as a hell ; the host twilight wo
Inive seen for a month. It ninst have been clotuly, or we arc
drifting S. fast. Our spirits are up, hut the boily weak; 15°
below zero.

Dec. 2."). This is a day of jnhileo at home, and certainly
here for ns ; for, beside the approaching daylight, which we
feel thankful to (!od for spai'ing ns to see, we had (piite a
feast to-day.

Dec. 21). Joe shot a seal, which is a godsend, as we are
pretty weak. It is breezing np strong. We have had a good
supper ; thank God.

January 1, 18T;>. Cloudy; no water; 20'' below zero.
Poor dinner for New- Year's Day — mouldy bread and short
allowance.

Jan. 8. Twenty-three degrees helow zero ; very cloudy ;
strong wind ; cannot leave the hut.

Jan. 5. To-day fell in. with two hear-traclcs, hut cannot
find them. If we could kill one of these fellows it would
set us all right.

Jan. 7. Light wind. Mr. Meyer took an observation last
night ; latitude 72° 7'; longitude 60° 40' 45'. The nc,/s was
so good that I treated myself to an extra pipe of tobacco at
12 o'clock last night. The tobacco is getting very short, so
that I have to be very saving this month. We arc obliged
to cook our meals with a lamp — pretty slow work. Good
northern lights last night.

.JOHN 1II:HK().N 8 DIAUV.

10'}

.laii. 8. Lijilil, Aviiul ; lit»'^ hdow /.(mo. No wutcr yet.
TliUis's Utile \my has liccii vi'iy poorly lor soiiu! liiuo Imck. 1
liojii' lio will ji('t, lictd'i' Koon.

Jan. I.'). JJlowiiiji^ u ^•al(\ Snow (lririiii<^ vciy l)a(lly.
Our ilog.s liad iiii I'lu-oiiiilcr with two licais. One ol" (he ilogn
got cut when Home (listance IVoni the lln(>.

Jan. 10. No wiud ; very thick. The ^la.^s rautjes (Voni
2G° to 0!'° below zero. JIaus einidit a seal to-day; (hank
(lod ! lor we were very weak. Our lij-ht woujd havi' heeii
liuished to-morrow, and our eookin<'' also. JJut (lod sent thi.s
Keal to wave us ; thaid<s to His lioly uauie ! It lias been so
all the time. Just as we were |»layed out souielhini; cauie
iilon<i^. I am afraid I have a touch of tho scurvy. A little
raw meat will drive It out, 1 ho[)e. Ila'is's lioy is 110 bettor.
I hope it will do him good also.

Jan. 10. Clear ; li^lit wind ; 89° below zero. The sun
has made his appearance to-day. I gave him three cheers,
lioi)iug we may be able to start a month from now. Thank
(Jod for this tlay ! we have long wished to see it. Tin; sun
has brought us luck in the way of a seal Joe caught. Tho
finest display of northern liglils that I ever saw came off to
night. They had to go about six miles to-day to open water,
where they saw many seals.

Jan. 20. Wc have not seen the E. shore yet. I hope to
sec tho island of Disco; the land is very high there, but I
am afraid we will drift past it. We cannot help ourselves,
however. We are in the hands of God, and I am thankful.
Uans shot a dovekie. 1 hope ho will give it to his boy.

Febniary 4. A gale from the W. ; very thick snow-drift.
I seldom see it snow hero, for when it is blowing luird the
snow cojues like tlour with the wind. Whether the snow
tails or the wind takes it np fi'oni the ice I cannot tell, liut it
is so fine and thick you cannot sec. There is no leaving the
hut in such wea!her, as the snow is always either diifting or
falling with the blow, no matter from what quater. Then
there is no going out, as it fills tho ice and will i)oneiratc al-
most anything. The temperature to-day has been from 16"*

I'ii

if
liii'i '

■ 11

ijljt. !

756

JOHN HEKKON S DIARY.

to 10° below zero. All arc well, iliank God, but mo. I liavo
a, sli,t;lit toiicli of the .scurvy, and I'ccl very ailing, but, please
God, it will soon leave nic.

Feb. 14. Very .strong Avind; thick, and snow drifting.
Wc are having a long spell of bad weather. Hans oanght a
seal to day, which will give us another meal. Saw a fox to-
day near the huts, but not near enough to got a .shot at him.
Joe hit three unicorns to-day, but 1 am afraid our chance to
get one is small.

I'eb. Id. Saw plenty of whales : Avish they would take
their departure ; they frighten the seals away which wc are
now so badly in want of; (;ur j)rovisioiis are gf^tting very low.
When you take a glass anil look round, you see the ice in the
distance piled up as high as a ship's mast, so that it seems
impossible to travel over it — certainly not with a boat — and
no land to be seen yet. Wo Avant water to escape, and, please
God, we will get it \ ,icn the time comes. All well.

Feb. 19. The welcome cry this morning was " Land ho !"
to westward. Cape Walsingham. Now wc will be out of the
narrows. The straits commence to widen here so that we
can travel S. fast if wc cannot reach land.

Feb. 20. Water around ; cannot see land. The seals are
very scarce here. Wc must soon get a good lead of water
running in-shore, and so escape, or kill plenty of seals to live
on, else our time in this world will lie short. ]>ut God's AviU
be done.

Feb. 24. Land is twenty miles off, I should say, and we
appear to be leaving it. ^ly advice is to start for it: — making
a sleigli out of some spare skins, loading it with ]-»rovisions
and clothing, and the kayak to ferry us across the cracks;
also, ammunition for hunting purposes when we get on shore.
By that means we could leave (he boat and travel light, for
it is my opinion that we will never get tiu^ boat over tiic ice
any distance. We seem to have left the sealing-ground. Wc
caanot catch anything to speak of. and we have only three
weeks' provisions left. Ca[)tain Tyson and some of the men
are alVa'.d to venture i'l-shore, and unwilling to leave the

l("' ■ I'

I' ■ 1

JOHN IIElUiO-N rf DIAUY.

757

boat; so "wc have niade up our min(U to slay, como down iu
our provisions, and irust in Go:', hopin.ii; ^vo may drift on a
better i^caling-.u'round, and thus live tlu'oiinli it. I asl;cd the
Esquiniaux's Oj)iiii()iis aliout it — what tlicy woidd do if tliey
liad not us to inllu(Mice them. Tlit-y told me they Avould start
for land directly they saw it. 'I'lieydo not like to speak their
minds openly I'or fear somcthin";- might happen — meaning
they Avonld he hlauKd for it ; so they arc silent, following
only the adviec and opinions of others. Joe is vcr\' mueh to
bo praised, also his wife Hannah. We mny thank them
and God for our lives and tla; good health we arc; in.
"We could never have gotten tlii'oiigli tliis I'ar without tiiem.
If wc ever g(;t out of this dinieulty, tliey ciin never i'e paid
too mueh. Joe caught a very small seal, which makes the
eighth this month. Northern lights very Ijrilliant to-niglit.
All well.

Feb. 2G. A crack of water to the 1']. Land to he seen.
We arc coming down on our jirovisions (jne-half ; that is as
low as wc can come and keep life, and will be a few ounces a
day.

!^bu•ch 1. Wc are drilling S. Hist ; can lust i-ce the m

oun-

tains in the X. W. Sometimes i'cter bivors us with ;i sailor's
yarn when wc lie down at niglit ; that is, wlim we have
had a meal of seal-meat. All other nights we are quiet
enough.

Alarch 2. Splendid display of northern lights these last
two nights. To-day God has sent us food in aliundance.
Joe shot a\ oogjook, one of the largest kind ; plenty of meat
and oil ; and forty-two dovckies. It took all hands to drag

1.;

lun liomc.

I'hat

was a udod ^nn(hiv s worl

Iragging the
' lis mercies.

(inc fellow to the hut. and tlianking God f(

Begins to ijreeze n\). and the snow d-ifts pretty lively. All

well and happy.

March 5. iJlowing a gale lVo,ii the X. W. Snow drifting;
ciinnot get out. Joe went out in ihe last Mow; it seems to

uld

tiiW

we wo

me hv caimot stay in; he is a lirsl-r

liavc licen dead men long since had it not been lor him.

Ni?

i! i

'I I

i> ' H!

% I

758

JOHN lIKItnO.N S DIAKT.

March 7. Tlio gnlo aliatcd iliis morning. Stiff lireozo
yet, and snow di-irtin.i.^ Immense ieoljcrgs all around tlie floe.
There vras a fcari'ul noise all last night, which kept us awake.
The floe was cracking, splitting, and working in the most
fearful manner. Just like a ])ark of artillery and musketiy. I
expected to see it split into a thousand ])ieces every moment.
I feel very bad yet in my head and stomach. The liver of
hear rnd oogjook, they say, is very dangerous to ect. Ijut
what is a hungiy man to do?

March 11. Blowing a sti'ong gale yet. All hands were
lip last night and dressed, ready for a jump, for the ice was
splitting, cracking and making a fearful noise all night. To-
day has been a fearful day — cannot see, for snow-drift. Wc
know the floe is broken into small pieces. Wc arc afloat —
jumping and kicking about. This is not very pleasant. My
hope is in God.

March 12. Last night was a fearful night of suspense —
ice creaking and breaking ; the gale roaring, and the water
swashing. But where? Wc know it is aroiuid us, ]>ut can-
not sec anything. Since one o'clock this moining the wind
has been going down, thank God, and now I can sec around.
A nice i)icturcl Everything broken up into small j)icces ;
the 1)est piece we are on. The houses are nearly covchmI.
Afternoon : It has calmed down to a fine day, with a light
breeze.

March 17. Saw a bear this morning, and gave chase, be-
fore six o'clock. After a very exciting run of over two
hours, he got over a large space of water, and we had
to give him up. Saw a whale and three seals, but got noth-

ing.

March 26. Water three miles off. Joe caught four seals
to-day and Hans one — the first of the kind ; they call them
bladder-nose ; they are buggers to fight. I do not know how
far S. we shall have them ; we have just struck their ground.
They are splendid seal — mud) larger than the others. It
is very dangerous going out so fur ; the ice is so weak, and
it is so near spring-tide.

I M

JOHN IIEIUIO-N S DIAKY.

759

March 27. "Went out to-day to tlic old jilneo, but wns
forced to come back. Esquinjoux' and iill pretty lively. It
is so dangerous Ave Avill have to wait until after spring-tide.
A very agreeable sui'prisc to-nigi;t, wliilc at .sn])per. A l)car
came to the hut. 01" course, he died ; Ave buried him in the
snow until morning.

March 28. Skinned and cut up the bear ; lie is a fine
young one, very tender and fat, Aveighiiig, I should say, 700
or 800 pounds. We arc making some sausnges from him,
"which arc very good, I think. 1 think it is the sAveetcst and
tendercst meat 1 ever ate. The fat cuts like gelatine.

March 29. lias been blowing very hard since last night,
and is doing so yet. Surrounded Avith large bergs ; the ice
broken up ; Avater all around. Never saw so many icebergs ;
■wc are comjiletely hemnied in by them. Do not know Aviiat
distance aa^c arc from land. Nothing to be seen but the old
sight — icebergs, floes, and Avater.

March oO. Blowing a gale from W. N. W. ; it looks fear-
ful. Last night the sight was dreadful. I Avent out, and there,
Avithin ten or twelve ynrds of the door of our hut, Avas a
very large and ugly-looking iceberg grinding against us. Our
little floe gets smaller in open Avater. To-day we had the
pleasure of launching the boat. We saAV on a piece of ice a
large seal ; avc fired and thought we hit him. "When we had
pulled there Avith the boat, avc found a large bladder-nose and
her ])up. She shoAA'cd fight, but Avas soon killed, and, Avith
her pup, toAvcd to our floe. The buck AA'as shot, but got under
the young ice.

March 31. We are nearly off Cape FarcAvcll. Last night,
ran a A-ery licaA-y sea; not a bit of ice to be seen as far as the
eye could reach. To-day closed around a little, but plenty
of Avatcr. Daic not venture in our ojien lioat ; avc must
watch and Avait and trust in Ood.

April 1. A fearful night, last night. Cannot stay on our
floe ; must leave it at once. Got under Avay at 8 a. m. ; the
boat taking in Avatcr. Loaded too deej). Tlirew ovei'l)oard
one hundred pounds of lueat ; must throAv aAvay all our

I i

M . r
li *

'*' ill'

ill

W 1

; " !

I :l

760

JOHN IIERKON S DIARY.

clothes. Cannot carry anything but the lent and a few skins
to cover us with, a little meat, and our bread and pcnunicau.
We himled to lighten our l)oat; pitched our tent, and intend
stopping all night.

April 2. Lovely last night. The lloe lost several pieces.
I could not sl(,'ep I'or two reasons: the ice breaking up, and
too cold. Started at 5 a.m. Worked the oars for two
hours, then a breeze sjirang up iind increased until it blew
almost a gale. We made several narrow escapes with our
boat before wo coidd find a piece of ice safe enough to land
on, and when wo did she was making water fast. When
emptied, we found a hole in her side, which we are repairing
this afternoon. We . '^ in a very bad fix.

April 3. Repaired oiu- boat, and started. Pulled three
hours, when a l)ree/.e sprang up from N. N. W. Wc kept
imder way until 2:-j0 p. m., when wc had to haul up on a piece
of a I'loe. We were be. 't by the ice and could not get through ;
so wo "■.icampcil for the night.

April 5. Blowing a gale and a fearful sea running.
Two pieces broke from the floe. Wc are on one close to the
tent. At 5 a. m. removed our things to th.e center. Another
piece brokcoff carrying Joe's hut with it, '.■■ 'kily it gave some
warning, so that they had time to throw out some things be-
fore it parted. A dreadful day ; cMiuiot do anything to help
ourselves. If the ice l)reak up much more, we must break up
with it ; set a watch all night.

April G. Blowing a very severe gale. Stdl on the same
ice ; cannot get o(F. At the mercy of the elements. Joe lost
another hut to-dny. The ice, Avith a roar, split across the
floe, cuttinsi' Joe's hut right in two. Wc have but a small
piece left. Cannot lie down to-night. Put a few things in
the boat and now standing by for a Jump ; such is the night.

April 7. Htill blowing a gale, with a fearful sea running.
The ice sjdit right across our tent this morning at G a. m.
While getting a few ounces of bread and penuuicau, we lost
our breakfast in scrambling out of our tent, and nearly lost
our boat, which would have bceu worse than losinj^ ourselves.

JOHN IILKKO.N ri DIAUV.

7G1

Wc could not ealcli .luy seal nrter Uio slonu sot in ; so -wo arc
ol)lii:od to starve fur a while, lioi)iii,i^ in God it will not lie lor
a long time. The worst of it is, we liuvc no 1)1u1>1km' for the
lamp, and eannot cook, or melt any water. Every! hi n;;- looks
very g,l(}omy. Set a watch ; half tlio men arc lying down,
the others walking outside the tent.

April

Last night, at 12 o'clock, ihe ice hroko au'ain.

right hehveeu the tent and the boat, which were el )se to-
gethei', so close that a man could not walk iH-iweiii thcni.
There the ice split, sepai'ating tlie lioat and tent, carrvin""
awav lioat, kavak, and Mr. ilever. 'I'herc we stood, h.liilcss,

lool(
col

inii" at each other.

was hlowin"- and

■■.Udwini

(i, and a Icai

ful

sea rnnniim'.

'11

le ice was hicakiim-

was Li'nind

ml.

ping, and crushing. The sight

us in our ixjsition. Mr. ]*,lever cast the kavak

(lrea(t
idrii';.

wvy
. lap-
:'ul to
■ut it

went t;) leeward of us. He can do nothing wi;!i iIh.' lioat

alone, so th(\y are lost tc us unless (!od returns tlicni.
natives went ol'f on a pi(;ce of ice with their jiaddles and ice-
spcars. The work looks dangerous ; avc may ne\ cr s( ■

■ain. l>t;t we are lost without the ])oat, so thai th

tlicni

are as

well off. After an hour's struggle, we can make <,u,, with
what littU' light there is, that tliev have reached the l)oat.

altout half a mile off. There they appear to 1

less-

til

the ice closing In all around — and wc can do noihi
daylight.

Daylight at last — oA.:m. There wc see them wi;h the
boat ; they can do nothing with her. 'I'he kayak is iiie same
distance in another direction. We nuist venture oif: may as
well l,e crushed by the ice aiul drowned as to rem;i;n hero
without ta(> boat. Off we venture, all but two. who i\;w(i not
make the attempt. We jump or step l'r(uu one piece to an-

other, as the sw( il heaves it an.l the ice conies c

touciher

— one j)iec(; being high, the other low, so thai yon watch
your chance to Jmnp. All who ventured reached ilu- Itoat in
safety, thank (lod, and after a loni:' st lam'u'h^ we uot her safe to

camp a gam.

Then wc ventui'cd for the

ava,

anil

ot it

also. Mr. Mever and Fred Jamkius fell inlo tin; water.

; (

,1'

i;
1

11
1'

^•^1 1

, H

1 I

762

JOHN iiei;iion's diaky.

Luckily, \vc had two or lliroc dry sliirls left, so tliat tlioy
could fluiiigo. ^lost every nitiu is more or less wet. IJave
taken our tent down and pitched it on tlie middle of our little
piece of ice, with our boat alongside. Joe has built another
liut alongside the tent.

Apiil I). The sun has shown himself for a few minutes.
Mr. ilcyer shot him ; latitude i)i}° 51' N. The sea runs verv
high threatening to wash ns off every nunute. We are in
the hands of God ; may IJe picf-crve us. 'ihe ice is nuich
slacker, and the water is coming nearer. Things look very
bad. (J(jd knows how the night will end. Evening: Wa.^hed
out of our tent; [Jannah iVom her snow-hut. IJave gotten
cvcrytliing in the l)oat ready for a start ; she can never live
in such a sea. 'I'he sun has set voiy good. Laud in sight.
It has cheered us up. The women and children are in the
boat. We have not a dry place to walk about nor a piece of
frcsh-waler ice to cat. Tiie sea has swept over all. The ice
is closing in fast; the wind and sea going down.

April 12. We are still ])risoners, the ice close. Saw
some seals, but could not get them. Very hungry, antl likely
lo be so.

April 14. Our small ])i('ce of ice is -wearing away very
fast; our littl(! i)rovisions ai'c nearly finished. Things hiok
very dark ; starvation very near. My trust is in God ; lie
will l»ring us through. All W( II.

April Kk The ice still the same; no swell on. My
]|( .id and fat r have 1 » i ii swollen to twice iheir usual size. I
•\n not know ihe I'aui-c of it, uidcss it is the ice head-pillow
and the sun. We keej) an hour's watch at night. Some one
has been at tlu^ pemmican on their watch, and I can put my
hand on the man. lie did the same thing during the winter,
and (Ml the night of the Till 1 caught him in the act. We
have but lew days' jUMvisions left. Tiie only thing that
troubles me is the thought of cannibalism. It is a fearful
thought, but may as wiill be looked boldly in the face as oth-
erwise. If -uih things are to ha])peu we must tubmit. May
God save us I

-%^1^

lOIIX IIEUKON S DIARV.

April 17. Wc shot the dogs last Avintcr Tor stealing the
provisions. It' 1 hail my way, willi the consent of all hands,
I would call out and shoot down that two-loggcd dog, who
has since hocn at them. I sec most of the men liave their
laces swollen, hut not so badly as muie. All well, but grow-
ing very weak.

Ai)ril 18. Joe saw a small hole of water half a mile oIT.
Ho tool\ his gun and ventured over the loose ice. No sooner
had lie gotten there than he shot a seal, and sang out for the
kayak, as the water made rapidly. It is a nice-sized seal.
A iovful siuht met our view Ihis morninu' when wc iurned out
— the land in sight, liearing S. W. We returned thanks to
God for His mercy and goodness to us. AVe di\ idrd the seal
very nicely into sixteen parts. One man th 'ii turned his
hack, and called out the names, each nuui i:;tep})ing u[) and
taking his share.

A[iril -0. JJlowing a gale somewhere. The swell is very
heavy. The first warning wc had — the man on watch
sang out at the moment — a sea struck us, and. wasliing over
us, carried away everything that was loose. This liaj)|ieiied
at 9 o'clock last night. AVe shipped sea after sea, live and
ten miiuites after each oLlier, carrying away everything wo
had, our tent, skins, and most of our hcfl-clothing. leaving
us destitute, with only the lew things v,e couli! get into the
boat. There wc stood from in the ev(>iiing until 7 next
morning, enduring, 1 should say, what men never siooil lie-
lore. The lew things we saved, and the children, were
placed in the boat. The sea broke over us dni'ing that night
and morning. Every lil'teen or twenty minutes a sea wmdd
come, lift the boat and us with it, carry ns along ihe iee. and

ose it streii'.

Ih I

icar

the

cilu'c, and somelnnes on it.

len it

would take us the 'lext lil'leeu minutes to uet iiaek tn a safe

lace, rci'-.dv loi- the iiex!^ rolK'r,

o we stoi)d that lonu' Ii;)ur,

not a word spoke. i but the conunands t) ■• Noll on.mv hear-
tie.i, bear d iwii on her, put on all your weight ;"' ainl so we

ing ( :i like ;.r;ni dea'li. Cold,
|.ect a'.iead. At V u'(d..;ck there

did, bcai'iiig d iwn and hi»I.

nmgry, wc!, a

lie tiro

I'i it

I ,«|i

I' ' ?1i'

!|if

764

JOilX llEliltO.N .S DIARY

rmt\

I: 'rli

camo close lo us a small jjioco of ico, which rode dry, and
"\vc dctcnuiiicd to launch the boat and reach it, or jjerish. Tlie
cook went overboard but was saved. Landed there in salety,
thank (iod. All well. Tired aiul sleepy.

April 21. L iSm ni.iiht and yesterilay all hands wet. Nolh-
ing dry to jint on to-day. There is little to dry, but we have
stripped olf cNerything we can s})arc, and are drying
them. The men are divided into two watches, slee))ing in
the boat and doing the best we can. Hunger disturbs us
most.

April 22. Weather very bad. It appears to me we arc
the sport and jest of the elements. The other night they
played with us and our boat as tliough we were shuttlecocks.
]\Ien would never believe, nor could ])en describe the scenes
Avhich we have passed through, and yet live. Here we are,
liair drowiu'd, cohl and with no means of shelter. Everything
Avet and no sun to dry them. The scene looks bad ; nothing
to eat. Everything fnuslu'd if some I'cliel' does not come
along. 1 do not know what will ])ecomo of us. Fearful
thoughts enter my head as to the future. Mr. Meyer is starv-
ing ; he camiot last long in this state. Joe has been off on
the ice three times to-day, the little way he can get, but has
not seen anything. Chewed on a piece of skin this morning
that was tanned and saved for clothing; rather a tough and
tasteless breakfast. Joe ventured off on the ice the fourth
time, and after looking a good while from a piece of iceberg,
saw a 1 ear coming slowly toward us. ITe ran back as fast as
possible for his gun. All of us laid down and remained per-
fectly still, Joe and Hans going out some distance to meet
the bear, (letting behind a hummock, they waited for him.
Along came Bruin, thinking he was coming to a meal instead
of furnishing one himself. Clack, bang went two rifles, and
down wont Bruin to save a starving lot of men. The Lord
be pi'aiscd ; this is His heavenly work ! We cannot catch
seal for tlie pack-ice, and wo are on a bad sealing-ground.
Ho therefore sends a bear along where bears arc seldom seen,
and where we certainly never expected to find one. The

JOHN IIERRON S DIAKY,

rG5

and
The

ufli-
;ivo

4' in
IS us

poor bear was hungry himself ; there was nothing in liis
Htomacli. Joe, poor lellow, loolicd very much down on oui-
account. Everything looks bright again but the atmos-
j)herc ; it looks tlircatening.

April 25. AV'ind inci-eascd to a gale last night from the
N. E. Raining all night and to-day, with snow-squalls.
Launched the boat at 5 a. m. Tlie case was desjxirato ; lun-
ning with a light-built boat, damaged as she is, j)atchcd and
scratched all over. But what were we to do ? The jiiece of
ice we were on had wasted away so much it wotdd never ride
out the gfilc. Our danger to-day was ver}' gi'cat ; a gale of
wind blowing ; a crippled boat overloaded ; and a feai-ful sea
running, fdlcd with small ice as sbar[) as knives. ]>iit, tliunk
G(jd, we came sal' '\ tlirough it. We are all soaking w<;t, in
everything we hav<', and no chance of drying anything. We
have had neither sun nor moon for over a week. Not a sin-
gle star have I seen. All is dark and dreary, but, jilcase
God, it will soon brighten up. We have struck the sealman's
grounds. I never saw sucih an alamdance of seals Itelbre ;
they are in schools like the porpoise. W^e hauled up on a floo
after eight hours' jmll ; could make no westing. Shot some
seals, but they all sunk ; Joe shot them. Hard times.

April 26. Joe shot a seal last evening and l»roke the
charm. Hans shot one this morning. Ice very thick around.
Started at 6.30 a.m., and were l)eset two hoiu's afterward.
Pulled up on a small piece of ice ; the best we could find.
Snowing all day. Repaired the boat here, which it wanted,
and the veather cleared up in the afternoon. Got ,^omc
things dried a little, and half of us turned in.

April 28. Gale of wind sprang up from the W. ; heavy

sea running ; water washing over the floe. All ready and

standing by our boat all night. Not quite so bad as the other

night. Snow-squalls all night and during the forenoon.

Launched the boat at daylight, but could get nowhere Un'

the ice. Ileavy sea and head-wind ; blowing a gale right in

our teeth. Hauled up on a piece of ice at G a. m., and had

a few hours' slcei), but were threatened to be mashel to

I ^li^ i

TOG

JOHN HKIUtOiN 8 JU.VItY.

pieces by some bergs. Tliey are fiylitiiif:; qiiile a l)attle in
the water, and boai'iiig ri},'bt lor us. We called tli»! watcli,
laimclicd tlio boat, and got away, the wind blowing modo-
rately and the sea going down.

4:>\0 P. M. Steamer right aliead, and a little to the N.ofus.
We hoisted the colors, pulled until dark, trying to cut her
olT, but she docs not see us. She is a sealer, bearing S. W.
Once she appeared to be bearing right d(nvu upon us, l>ut I
suppose she was Avorking through the ice. What joy she
caused I We found a small piece of ice and boarded it for
the night. Night calm and clear. The stars are out the
Ih-st time for a week, and there is a new moon. The sea
(piiet, and splendid nortliern liglits. Divided into two
watches, four hours' sleep each. Intend to start early. Had
a good jmll this afternoon ; made some westing. Cooked
with blubber-fire. Kept a good one all night, so that wc could
be seen.

April 29. Morning fine and calm ; the water quiet. At
daylight sightc^d the steamer five miles off. Called the watch,
launched the boat and made for her. After an hour's pull
gained on lier a good deal; another hour and we got fast in
the ice ; could get no further. Landed on a piece of ice, and
iioistcd our colors from an elevated place. Mustered our
ritles and pistols, and fired together, making a considerable
report. Fired three rounds and was answered by three shots,
the steamer at the same time heading for us. He headed
N., then S. E., and kept on so all day. He tried to work
through the ice, but could not. Very strange ; I should
think any sailing-vessel, much less a steamer, could get
through with ease. We fired several rounds and kept our
colors flying, but he came no nearer. He was not over four
or five miles distant. Late in the afternoon he steamed
away, bearing S. W. We gave him up. In the evening he
hove in sight again, but farther off. While looking at him,
another stranger hove in sight, so that we have two scalers
near, one on each side of us, and I do not expect to be picked
up by either of them.

'(!

JOHN HEUUON S 1)1 A UV.

707

April 30. Five a. m. ; vvcallior iWwk and fogjry. niuri-
oua Kiglit whoa fog broke ; a stoanier elose to us. She sees
us and bears down ou us. We are saved, thunic (lod ! We
arc sale on board the Tigress, of St. John's, (Captain IJart-
le( t. lie says the otlier steamer couUl not have seen us, as
tiie eaptain is noted I'or his humanity. The Tigress musters
one hundred and twenty men, the liindest and most obliging
1 have ever met. I'ieked up in latitude 53° 35' N.

May 1. Weather very line. Going north, sealing. Tlio
steamer wo saw on tlie 29th was tlie Kagle, of St. John's,
Captain Jaekmann, noted for Ids hunuvnity in saving life.
He has reecived two medals for saving life. 'J'he eaptain of
this steamer says that if that nuin had seen us, and (Mjuld not
have gotten to us with the steamer, he would have sent his
men on the lee and carried us o(]'. Joe is in his glory, shoot-
ing seals. We are getting on first-j-atc, eating and sleejiing.

May 2. The crew on board this steamer, one hundred
and twenty in number, arc like a band of brothci's. 'Jhey
are all Newfoundland men, and are very kind to each other.
No wrangling there ; a new thing on board ship.

May 3. Blowing fearfully all night, and continues to do
so. These steamers must be very strong; they endin-c gicat
punishment. She is in the ice getting knocks that one avouKI
think would go right through her, but the men seem to think
nothing of it. We are treated with the greatest kindness by
them ; they never think they are doing enough for us.

May 4. Surrounded in the ice. Cale continued last night
and this morning ; lost its force at noon. Had divine service
to-day — 'he first we have had since Captain Hall's death.
Wc had some of the bear-meat left when the steamer came
along ; so the bear saw us out of danger and the Tigress took
us from it.

May 5. The steamer beset in the ice. A man from aloft
saw a large numl)er of seals, some four or five miles off. All
hands over the side, and made for them. The cajjtain's son
no sooner arrived there and fired the first shot than the cart-
ridge burst, and shattered his hand very badly. Some of the

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JOHN IIEUKON B DIARY.

men came back with him, spoilinc; their work for some time,
fhcy killed seven or eight hundred seals before sunset. The
steamer could not come to their ausiiitanee, so they Icil them
on the ice all night.

May G. The crew started for their seals at the first streak
of day. Nearly all of thcnt were stolen by the other steam-
ers.

May 7. Blowing a heavy gale all night, N. W. Seven
A. M., turned her huud S., and are running out the ice ; looks
like going home.

May 8. Will bo in St. John's early in the morning, I
think 4 P. M. We are going to Bay Rol)crt8 first, to land the
boats and scaling-gear. Thou thoy will start for St. John's.

May 9. Bay IloUcrts. Went on shoi'e where wc wore re-
ceived very kindly by the inhnlntants. The American consul
from IIarl)or Grace, and other genMcnjen, came to sec us,
and were very kind doing all thoy possibly could. Wc are
getting paid for our suficrings on the ice. It is a very splen-
did bay, with very neat and comfortable houses. The peo-
ple arc very intelligent and kind.

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V I'/i,

CHAPTER XLVIII.

rOLAKIS SEARCH A^D RELIEF EXPEDI-
TIONS.

(cinlSK OF TIIK .UMATA AM) TIUUESS.)

Tim story told Ly Capt. Tyson and liis companions
of lli(^ ictHlrlft, oxcltfd dt'ep apj)n'lii'n.sions as to tlio
fate of the halanee of tlie Polaris crew, Avlio, in case
of tlie wreck of their ship, liad prohaltly gone down
with her or were imprisoned on the ice-l)ound shores
of (ireenlan<l ; and it was resolved hy the Secretary
of (he Navy that one or more vessels should Le sent
to search for tlui missing naviijjators.

As the Secret aiy had no vessel suital do for this ser-
vice at his command he purchased, as the most avail-
able one, the Tigress — the same steamer which rescued
the Polaris party from the ice off the Labrador coast.
This vessel was Iniilt expressly for sealintr, and was
particularly adapted for sailing among ice-floes. The
price paid for this shij) was ^(')(),0(K). She arrived at
New York on the 2Sth of June, and tlu^ work of j)repar-
ing her for the proposed trij) was immediately com-
menced at the Brooklyn Navy-ynid.

The Secretary also directed that the V. S. steamer
Juniata, which had been fitted up to assist in laying
a cable from the Rei*nuida's to the Atlantic coast,
should ^ive up that enterprise and be sent to the

cx_. >»

770

THE JI'NIATA.

Lower Groenland settlements to assist in the search.
Prei)arati<)ns for lier voyage were speedily made ;
and with a load of coal and ample i>rovisions, from
which she was to supply the Tigress, and the Polaris
if found, she started from New York on the 24th of
June. She was manned by one hundred and thirty
men and carried two light guns. Besides her own
boats, she canied a large steam launch intende<l for
expeditions further noilh than the Juniata c<mld
safely go. The following is a list of the principal
officers of the expedition : —

Daniel L. ISraiiio, Conimandor.
Edgar C. Mpninian, Execmix-c Olliocr. (ioorgo W. Di'Lon;;, Xavigntor.
George K. Mc, Edward .J. Mi'(llelland, Charles \V. Cliii)p, Liou tenants.
Win. F. Diilkley, Samuel E. Couiley, Sidney II. May, .loliii I). Kcelcr, En.sign.i.
Fredcriek E. I'pton, Master. .1. .1. Ilunker, Midshijiinan.

T. C. Walton, Surgeon. B. F. Rogers, Assistant Surgeon.

T. S. Thompson, Paascil Assistant Payniaster.

Tlie .Tuninta arrived at St. J(>hn's on the 30th of
June, and after several days of additional preparations
for her hazardous trip started for the Greenland
coast, and reached Disco Island on the 22d of July.
Ilei^e a numl)er of sledge <logs were procured, coal for
the Tigress landed, aiul other pivpar.-itions for that
vessel co^upleted. The Juniata then left Disco, July
2{)th, and reached Upernavik on the .'Ust.

As U])eniavik was as far north as the Juniata could
be ex])ecte<l to go, her magnificent steam launch the
" Little Juniata," was here put alloat, and thoroughly
e(piipi)ed for a voyage up the coast in search of the
missing [nirty. She was connnanded on this trip by
Lt. DeTjong, and her t^rew consisted of eight volun-
teei*8 and an i<"- pilot. She steamed northward on
the 2d of August, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the
Juniata crew and spectators, and reached Tessuisak
at midnight of the same day.

'I'

ntl'ISK OF TIIK LirrLK .MNIATA.

"71

The next inoruing tlje Little Juniata was pushed
cautiously on, in full view of iinnuMise iiclds of ice and
between huge Hoating icelu'rgs. On the niglit of the
4th they reached Duck Islands and Wilcox Head,
where they were euveloj)e<l in a dense fog, and en-
tangled in an ice-pack, through which they escaped
to the westward after a twelve h(»urs' Htrugi'le with
the floes.

Entering Melville Bay on the 0th, they sighted
Cape York on the morning of the Mtii, and heade(!
towards the land which was caj)ped witli a <lense fog.
Two hours later a gale arose wliich increased to u
frightful tempest, and the launch was for thirty-six
hours on the edge of the ice-pack in a dangerous posi-
tion ; Jis it was iinpossil>le to land and no j)rogresH
could l)e made to the north, the explorei-s hea<le<i
south, and arrived off Tessuisak o:i the lltli, where
they met the Tigress which had ari'ived on the scene
of action.

The steamer Tigress left the Hrooklyn Navy-yard
for her humane undertaking on the 14th of .Inly,
at 5 P. M., amid repeat<Ml cheers from the seamen of
the "Brooklyn," "Vermont," ami other ships. She
steamedslowly up the East River toward Long Island
Sound, and as she passed the (Jovernment battery it
fired one farewell shot as a parting salute. Her offi-
cers were as follows : —

James A. Greer, ('uminniider. Honry C. Wliito, Executive Officer.

II. M. HiTiy, Urit;! Si'l)r(>o, (Iporj;!' V. Wilkiiis, Lifutenants.
GoorRe E. Rau;;liin!ii), PuymiistiT. .1. W. ENtoii, SiiriiPon.

Gpor};e E. Tyson, \V. N. ('liiimian, Ii'o-inusters.

The E.s<piimaux, Hans and his family were sent
home in the Tigress ; and Joe accompanied the expe-
dition as interpreter. His wife Hannah, with " Pun-
na/' remained at Wiscasset, Maine, where she had

772

ABOUT "lIANNAIl/

been kee|)ing house for the wliole EMfpiimniix party,
wlio had been sent thither by the (iovt»rnnient after
the investigation at AV^asiiington. The following is a
copy of a letter written by her to Mi's. Huddington, at
Groton, as published in the Spriufjjitld JiepuUhtin.
The "old man " refei*H to Capt. Bu<ldington ; his sul>
sequent safe arrival home shows that Ilannali is some-
thing of a jH'ophetess. The " eight children " means
the party under her care.

"WiscAssET, June 22d, 1873.
"Sarah Mother Buddington : — I shall never forget
you. I now try to write you. I am well ; Joe well ;
Punna very sick for 34 days, little better now. I
like to see you once more. So good to me. I never
have time to do anything. Ilans's four children here
too. I got eight children ; no go with them home.
October 15, 1872, we come home down on ice. (J)ld
nian come l)y-and-l)y ; he well. IIanxah Lito."

The sjime paper states that ISIrs. Ihiddington visited
Hannah at AViscasset after the sailing of the Tigress,
and on suggesting to her that she should return to
Groton, Hannah with exceptionable Esquimaux thrift
replied : —

" What, and leave all these victuals for other people
to eat up! No; Punna and I shall stay till it is all
eaten."

The Tigress reached Disco, via St. John's, on the
4th of August, and joined the Juniata at Disco on
the 10th. Starting north the next day, the Tigress
met Lt. De Long returning from his excursion, who
boarded the steamer and rei)orted to her commander
the route and incidents of his trip. The Tigress then
steamed on across Melville Bay, and approached
Northumberland Island near which the Polaris was

I 111

lii

_i^-- ^

THE T1UKE8.S ON Till!: TKAII*

< <

'.i

reported to have been lust seen. This island wha
ch)Hely scrutinized, but no truces of the Polaris could
be found, nor could Tyson and the Escjuiinaux rcct)*;-
nize it as the locality in which they i)arted from that
shi|>.

Commander Greer then proceeded northwai'd, and
when near Cape Ohlsen — so named from one of Dr.
Kane's crew who was buried near by — Cnpt. Tyson
recognized a rock as the one which hid the Polaris
from the view of the ])arty left on the floe. Soon
afterward, at nine o'clock on the evening of the 14th,
a sound of human voices was heard in the distance. A
boat was instantly lowei'ed and started for the shore
amid great excitement, whieh was mingled with exult-
ation when Greer exclaimed : —

" I see their house ; two tents are clearly perceptible,
and movini' ficrures can be seen on the mainland."

The boat returned in an hour, with the disappoint-
ing tidings that Captain Buddiiigton and his party
Avere not on the coast. Commander Greer now went
ashore accompanied by Joe as interpretei', an<l others.

A crowd of Esquimaux consisting of five men, two
women and two children, greeted them on their ai'rival
at the whoi'e, and seemed quite intelligent. They
said that they came from Pond's Bay on a hunting
expedition, and had remainecl with the Buddington
party all winter; the latter had built two l^onts, and
started south at the time when the ducks beijan to
hatch.

A comfoi-talde Avooden house was found, having in
it bunks, mattresses, furniture, galley, etc. Provisions,
instruments, books and other articles were scattered
about in every direction. Articles of value, includ-
ing fii-e-arms and the ship's bell, with manuscript mat

'i\

< i

KIDDINOTON H CAMP OFSCOVKUKn.

ter and a mutilnted lof^-lxtok were tal\en nbounl (Le
TicfreRs. Nothing rcsiM'cting tlio (Icparturo or dcsti-
nut loll of the cnnv coiiM be foiiiid. A cairn evidently
built by them wuh exaniiiuHl, but contained only seal-
blubber.

The Kscjuiniaux stated tliat Binhliiipton had given
them hia Hliip, ]>ut that >vhen the ice ln-oke uj) in the
niidille of July, it floated into a cove and Kiink. Tliey
pointe<l out the jtlace where it lay in nine fatlionis
of water witli a grounded iceberg above it. These
natives had no boats and luit little food, and occu-
pied two tents evidently from the l\)laris. They
intimated that they would like to take a tri]) in the
Tigress.

This deserted camp of the Polaris crew was on the
mainland opposite Littleton Island, at the place desig-
nated by Dr. Kane as " Life Boat Cove." The ])lace
is about sixty miles north of Northumberland Island ;
the ice-floe party had been mistaken as to the locality
of their separation with the ship.

At a quarter i)ast two in the morning, after a halt
of only five liours, the Tigress started on its i-eturn
south, and arrived at Godhavn on the 25th, where
the Juniata awaited her arrival. After takinj? in
coal and supplies. Commander Greer started for Da-
vis's Strait and the Labrador Coast. The Juniata
steamed for St. John's, and reached there on the
morning of Sept. 10th. Here Commander Braiiie
reported by telegraph to the Secretary of the Navy,
who immediately directed a continuance of the search
by both vessels.

In obedience to these orders the Juniata left St.
John's on the morning of the 18th, the intention be-
ing to proceed up the Labrador Coast and then to

MONAMNii Tin: .IINIATA AT NKlIlT.

visit other placeH uh inii^lit seem cxiu'dioiit. As ni<;ht
came <»n tlio [JioHpc'C'ts of tlu* v<>yH<;(' were f^looiny lunl
ili.scoiuajrin^. Ice was fcntiiiiij^', tlu* weather was bad,
the sea lu'avy, and ilie wheieaboutH of the 'J'igic.ss
iiiikiiown.

Tl»e iii^^ht was very dark, uiul at eleven < '-loek a
light was reported on the j)()rt beam. IJofkets too
were observed from a far-otF steamer. ('Oinmauder
IJraine (»rdered the Jnniata to be slowed down, and
answer('(l the sij^nals. There was the p-eatest excite-
ment on board. A steamer in this sea at this time
\vas a rai'e thini^, and it was ft'lt that news from the
Polaris was at hand. Tlie steam(;r, supposed to be
the 'J'ii^i'ess, ap|»ro!U'lied, and at midnii^ht was close
aboard ; st)on a shout came over the water: —

"Ship ahoy!"

" Ay, ay," was answered from the Juniata

"Is that the .Juniata ?"

"Yes."

"AVe have the American Consul aboard."

A boat was immediately lowered from thf Juniata,
which conveyed Consul Molloy of St. John's to that
steamer. lie informed her commander that he had
received a tc^leijram that the Polaris crew had arrived
at Dundee, Scotland, in a whaling vessel ; and that, on
receipt of the disj)atch, he had chartered a steamer t(»
follow the Juniata and attempt to overtake hei-.
The news was received with great delight, and both
vessels returned to St. John's ; at which i)ort the
Tigress also arrived on tlie IGth of October, after an
uneventful cmise in the track of the Northern wha-
lers.

CHAPTER XLIX.

THE WRECK OF THE POLARIS.

Havino given an account of the organization, out-
ward voyage, and discoveries of the Polaris Expedi-
tion, the death of its commander, the wintering at
Thank God Harbor, the disastrous division of its
members, the perilous drift on the floes of a portion
of them, and the search made for the missing steamer,
it remains to follow the fortunes of the Polaris from
the ir)th of October, 1872, when, with fourteen men
on Ijoard of her, she parted her hawsers and was
swept away amid the storm and darkness ; and the
story of the experiences of Capt. Buddington and
his party, may perhaps be best told in his own
words : —

"At five p. M. on the 12th of August, we started
from Polaris Bay for the United States. We drifted
through the ice till the 20th, when we were locked
fast in the ice-pack and drifted with it. We were
still leaking fost, but the donkey engine enabled us
to keep the water under. I rigged out a house on
the floe, calculated to hold all our hands — thirty-three
in number. It was twenty-seven by twenty-four feet
and was covered with canvas. On the 0th of Octo-
ber I had bags of bread placed in it. We were still
drifting south, our position being 78° 45^ North, 72**
15/ West.

776

CAPTAIN BUDDINGTON S NAURATIVE.

rrr

" On the lotli, tlio wind blew with a velocity of
forty miles, accompanied l)y a violent snow-storm. I
had another hawser i)assed out to the old massive
floe which had brought us down from lat. 80*^, and
which was our only safety. At 7..'50 we had a severe
nip, from a heavy old floe which j^assed heavily on
our starboard si<le, raising the vessel a few fi'ct and
keeling her over to ])<)rt. It was then reported to
me that we were makiuij water fast and were stove
aft. Our engines could no longer co])e with the
water.

"The two native Es<[uiniaux had their wives, chil-
dren and effects on the floe, it seeming to th<'ni, as
it did indeed to all of us, the safest place. Our
remaining two whale boats — all we had — were low-
ered on the ice and haultsd back to a s(;cure ])lac('!
alongside of the stores. Sufricient i)rovisions and
fuel to last all winter were ]>ut on the ice, together
with nuisk-ox skins, bedding, and all the clothing
except what we wore. At half-i)ast nine the floe
suddenly broke ; that pai't to Avliich the vi'sscl Avas
made fast breakin«j: awav from the main bod v. The
bow hawser snap})ed lik(! ])ack-threa(l, the anchors
slipped, and the violence of the wind sent the vessel
adrift as rapidly as if she had been under steam. At
a moment's notice we were thus separated from more
than half the ship's company.

" We were now in a ciitical condition, Avithout boats,
anchors, or haws(!rs ; but there was no time for
reflection, as the water was g;iining fast, and Avould
soon reach the furnace fires in spite of the bilge ])ump
which was all this time at work, assisted by the
alley-way pump ; and if we could not start the deck
pumps it was evident that the vessel would go down.

778

TUE POLAiaS W KECKED AND DESERTED.

The ice arouncl us was fine broken " y)rash," wliich
would not bear tlie weight of a man. By tins time
the water in the boiler was hot, and, by ])ouring
several bucketfuls down the pumps, we thawed them
sufficiently so as to enable us to keep the water from
gaining; and never did men use their strength with
more energy than we did on that occasion. It was
evident we could not last long at the work, but fortu-
nately, just then, the engineers reported steam up, by
which additional aid we were enabled to keep the
ship afloat.

"On the morning of the 16th we found our position
a few miles north of Littleton Island, in Smith's
Straits. The gale had then su]>sided, and it was
shortly afterwards quite calm. We looked from the
masthead of our vessel for our companions on the floe,
but could not see anything of them whatever. The
current must have taken them in a difixirent direction
from the course the wind took us. Aljout noon a
breeze sprung up from the north, and, opening a lead
in-shore to the east, the vessel at this time began
drifting out of the straits again. By the aid of steam
and sail I took advantage of the lead when opened
wide enough to admit me, and ran the vessel as near
shore as the ice would allow, and made fast with lines
to heavy grounded hummocks. Here Ave were
£Tound at low water, thei-e being nine feet rise of
tide at this place, which happened to be Kane's Life-
boat Cove, lat. 78^ 23^' N., long. 73« 21' W. We
kept an anxious lookout all the time from the mast-
head of our vessel for signs of the party; but the
sharpest eyes on shipboard failed to see aught of then).
As, however, they had the boats, even to the little
Bcow, we were in hopes they would possibly be able
yet to make for us.

PUEPAllING FOIl WJNTER.

779

"On tlie 17tli I surveyed the ship, and found the
stem entirely broken oit' below the six-foot mark. I
culled the officers attention to it, who only wondered
she had kept afloat so long. I therefore considered
the Polaris a lost vessel, and immediately made prep-
arations for leaving her and living on shore during
the winter, getting our spare sails, coals and provis-
ions on shore. We were assisted in this by the Etah
Esquimaux, who came to us the day after we got
ashore. When these Es(pvimaux hove in sight,
gesticulating and hollooing with great apparent glee,
we took them to be our castaways, and immediately
cheered most heartily in return. We put up a house
on shore, which was superintended by Mr. Chester,
those not engaged in building it being occupied get-
ting provisions and fuel, which they did witl. a great
deal of difficulty, as they had to leap from one detached
piece of ice to another all the way to the shore. Often
some of the party would tumble through fissures and
jxet wet, which was a threat inconvenience, considering
the insufficient supply our wardrobe furnished for
change.

" On the morning of the 21st we had a number of
Esquimaux visitors. They came in five sledges, and
kindly went to work to assist us, pioving of excellent
service. In a short time we had all the portable
articles from the ship on shore. I made them such
presents as our scanty stock would ])ermit, and they
expressed themselves well pleased. It was fortunate
that, among other articles put on the floe, were a
number of those indispensable articles to an Escjui-
maux — a quantity of knives. On the 2'ith they left
us for Etah, we having completed our work for
abandoning the vessel. At six P. M. we stopped the

mmm

780

VISIT FROM THE NATIVES.

steam pumps to let lier fill, and bid farewell to the
little Polaris which had penetrated through dangers
and hard knocks to a high latitude, hut which was
destined not to return with the honors she had gained.
During the remainder of the month we were visited
by natives — men, women, and children.

" I sent a i)arty to McGary's Hock in search of Dr.
Hayes' boat and provisions, but could discover no
sign of her. I was afterwards informed by the
natives, that a party from the West Land found her
five years ago and approj>riated to their own use what
was serviceable to them ; the boat they discovei'ed to
be worthless and full of holes. At high water the
lower decks of the Polaris were coveied, the M'ater
rising to within three feet of the upper deck, the ves-
sel being firm on the rocks. I was in hopes she
would remain in that position, as we had to get fuel
from her, and material for making our boats for our
summer journey south.

" We spent the winter months of November, Decem-
ber and January in household duties — getting ice for
melting purposes, supi)lying galley and house stoves
with coal, and keeping passage ways to and from the
house free from snow. A great many foxes were shot.
We were visited continually by the natives, who
were sufferini; a ffreat deal fi'om cold and hun2:er.
Several of the families made their residence with us
for the most of the winter, building snow-huts for
themselves, where they slept. We supplied them
w ith a share of the provisions we had, but still they
had to kill a great many of their dogs in order to
give their children fresh meat. Two families in par-
ticular reduced their team of dogs to one, and another
family to two.

THE WINTER AT LIFE-BOAT COVE.

781

" Some of our people Lad slight attacks of scurvy,
principally in the gums, but in general the health of
our party remained good. The month of February
brought us daylight. On the 15th, the sun was seen
for the first time since its disappearance on the 10th
of November. 'We had now to consume thebowsprit,
masts and rigging for fuel, these fortunately having
been landed. The only material for buikling boats
was the ceiling of the alley-ways and after-cabin — the
house on deck being used as fuel. The following
months Avere occupied in building boats for our jour-
ney.

" Shooting parties went out occasionally, but, with
the exception of a few hares, generally returned
unsuccessful. There was one deer killed during the
season, but a great many were seen. Although the
natives had left us some time for their respective set-
tlements and liunting grounds, they still, however,
continued to visit us ; and, as if to remind us of our
former kindness to them, which tliey appeared to
have ajipreciated, kept bringing to us quantities of
walrus liver, which made a great improvement in the
health of our party.

" I had suitable bags made out of the foresail, and
filled them with provisions for our journey. I also
built a small boat out of some square lumber for the
Etah natives, which will be a great accpiisition to
them in sealing and getting eggs from the islands.
By the 28tli of May all our preparations were made.
I must compliment Mr. Chester, who superintended
the building of these boats. They are creditable
scows — far better structures than I thought could
have been made out of the material we had. They
are flat-bottomed, and carry considerable weight. The
45

782

THE START HOMEWARD.

open water was by this time close up to our house.
Our provisions and what limited clothing we were to
take with us, were brought down to the water's edge
to be in readiness for embarkation. There still
remained with us two native families, and during the
winter and spring we were visited by nearly all the
natives from Etah to Cape York. There were during
this time three deaths and one birth among the
natives. One of the former was Myouk, (mentioned
by Dr. Kane,) who was one of the first to visit us
after our vessel got on shore.

"I had intended starting on the 1st of June, but
that day being Sunday I postponed our departure
until the following day. It was then blowing a gale
of wind and we could not start with safety. In the
meantime we deposited several boxes containing
books, scientific instruments, three-box chronometers
and the pendulum, on the north side of Lifeboat Cove,
and covered them with rocks. At 1 a. m., on June
3d, I called all hands, got a hasty breakfast, and left
our house for the last time, dividing our party into
two equal parts. We then launched our boats, two
in number, placed our provisions and clothing in.
them, and left Polaris Point and the scenes of our
long winter stay, for Melville Bay and Upernavik.

" Having made a halt at the settlement of Etah,
which we found deserted, we reached Hakluyt
Island late on the evening of the 4th, meeting with
but little obstruction from ice. A gale of wind and
pack ice prevented us leaving until the 8th. "We
then landed on Northumberland Island. The ice
impeded our further progress. At eight p. m. on the
10th, having previously made three unsuccessful
attempts to get forward, we entered a lead that

THE JOURNEY SOUTHWARD.

783

extended across the whole sound toward Cape Pariy,
our intended route. We were met by a heavy body
of pack ice which completely closed us in, and were
compelled hastily to haul our loaded boats on the ici
to keep them from being crushed.

" We drifted with the pack all that night, and the
morning of the 11th found us abreast of our former
encampment. We were then about four miles from
the shore. There was a small lead of water along
the land. We had to go to it or go adrift in the pack.
We commenced at once to transport our provisions
and boats over the pieces of floe. After a great deal
of exertion and labor, we finally succeeded in getting
a landing, at 2.30, on the morning of the 11th, in the
same place we left the evening before. On the 1 2th
there was a good opening in the ice. We started at
10.30, and with a good breeze we reached the main-
land. We pulled round Cape Parry, and halted on
Blackwood Point south of Cape Parry and near Fitz-
clarence Rock. On the evenin}? of the next dav we
landed at Dalrymple Island. From this point we
met with various obstructions from ice and bad
weather. We finally succeeded in getting past Wol-
stenholm Sound and Cape York. We afterwards
entered Melville Bay, meeting with various obstruc-
tions from ice, and in some places we had to haul
our boats and effects over from the one lead to the
other.

" We were thus proceeding on our journey south
until the morning of June 23d, when we saw a steam-
ship beset about ten miles south. We were then
about twenty-five miles south-east of Cape York, and
hauled up on the ice. The passage was completely
blocked with ice. A few hours previous to this my

784

BESGUED BY THE RAVENSCRAIO.

boat got stove, having been caught between the floe
and land ice ; but we had it repaired with canvas and
tacks brought for the purpose. At this time our fuel
was very scarce, not having more than would last a
week. For some time we had but one hot meal in
twenty-four hours, reserving our fuel for melting
snow for drinking water, as we were unable to pro-
cure any off the floe.

" I sent two of our party to the vessel to let them
know of our situation. Before reaching the vessel,
however, they were met by a party of eighteen men
from the ship — these latter having recognized a party
on the floe — who had come to render what assistance
was in their power to what they supposed was the
crew of a shipwrecked whaleship. With the excep-
tion of two of the party, who went back to their
vessel with an account of us, the rest came back to
the boats with the men Avhom I had sent. I made
immediate preparations to get on board the steamer,
the men from this vessel kindly assisting us with our
personal effects. We started at seven p. m., leaving
our boats, provisions, etc., behind, and arrived at
twelve meridian on board the whaling ship Raven-
scraig, Kirkcaldy, Scotland, William Allen, master,
bound for the West Coast on a whaling voyage.

" I cannot express myself in terms sufficiently ade-
quate of the kind reception we got from Captain
Allen, who immediately opened his own wardrobe
for our benefit. The surgeon of the ship, Mr. A. D.
Soutter, was most assiduous in his efforts to promote
our comfort — indeed, all the officers and crew vied
with each other in their efforts to make us comfort-
able.
I " We had at the time we were rescued only just

EfClDEHTS OF THE EE8CUE.

785

commenced the fliflRcult part of our journey, and had
yet to make some three hundred miles of hard travel
before we ould get to a place of comparative safety.
Captain Allen expressed his gratification in falling in
with u«, SL^ he and his officers expressed their
undoubted conviction that it would have been utterly
impossible for nn to reach the settlements in our boats,
especiall}'^ if we had in store for us anything like the
ice which the Raven scraig encountered the previous
three week*. It was very evident that our boats
would not have stood hauling over the ice, and to
have abandon^-ol them and attempted to make the
journey on fwit was simply not to be entertained a sin-
gle moment. It was, therefore, lucky that the Raven-
Bcraig fell in with us. As I may say with safety, it
was the saving of our lives. We were surprised and
greatly rejoice*! to hear of the safety of our fellow-
exploreri* who had got adrift from us."

Captain Allen^ whose ship -was fast in the ice at
the time^ describes the incidents of the rescue as
follows : —

^' At one o'clock a. m., on ilie morning of the 23d
of June, the lookout from the crow's nest reported
that a party, supposed to be Esquimaux, were making
their way over the pack ice towards the vessel. At
this time they were a long \N'ay distant, probably
thirteen or fourteen miles, an<l appeared to move very
slowly. By nine a. m. the strangers had advanced a
mile or two nearer, and came to a halt. We could then
just make out that they were not Esquimaux, and
could dLstingni<^h two boats, each of Avhich displayed
a small f!a«r **n a pole. Owing to the distance and
refraction it wa«* almost impossible to make this out
with certainty. Concluding they had seen us, our

786

HOSPITALITY OF A SCOTCH WHALER.

ensign was at once hoisted as a reply signal, and w«
sent off eighteen picked men to render any assistance
required, while the strangers were observed to detach
two of their number in the direction of the vessel.
When these met our party, the whole preceded on-
ward to the boats, and a messenger Avas sent back to
inform us of the news.

" At six p. M. the entire party started for the ves-
sel, and some idea of the difficulty of traveling over
such ice may be formed from the fact that it was
twelve, midnight, before they got on board, taking
nearly seven hourc to perform t^velve miles distance.
This arose from the soft and slushy state of the deep
snow covering the ice, while myriads of huge hum-
mocks were piled everywhere over the surface, which
Avas also split up and full of treacherous holes, into
which many a flounder took place. The party on
reaching the ship was made heaitily welcome, and
as comfortable as the means at our command could
supply. They appeared tired and weatherbeaten, but
in good spirits and thankful at having fallen in with
a ' Scotch whaler,' for which vessels they were on the
lookout, knowing as the commander did, that the
whalers about this time pas&ad through Melville Bay."

After reaching the North Water, Captain Budding-
ton and ten of his companions were transferred to
the whaling steamer Arctic, and arrived at Dundee
on the 18th of September. Proceeding to Liverpool,
they were tendered a free passage homo by several
steamship lines, and took passage in the City of Ant-
werp, which reached New York on the 4th of October.
The other three men were taken to Dundee in the
Intrepid, and arrived home a little later.

CHAPTER L.

^vr

GERMAN ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS.

Du. ArousTrs Peteumaxn, luivini; unsncoessfully
iiicitetl his Gcniian countnincn to join th(! noble
band of Arctic cxiilorei'M, jit his own risk fitted out a
tiny vessel called the "Gerniania," uliicli sailed from
Beri^on, May 24tli, 1808, under tlie coiiinian<l of Karl
Koldewey, a native of Iloya, in Hanover. The whole
crew nunil)ered only eleven men. Being iinabUi to
approach tlie east coast of Greenland, Ca|)t. Koldewey
made for tlie Spitsbergen seas, and attained a latitude
of 81" 5'. He then sailed down HinlojM'n Strait
in August, sighting the "Swedish Foreland," and
i-eturued to Bergen September J50th, ISOS.

Thi^ first German expedition was not a success —
neither was it a failure; and Dr. Petermann and bis
friends were not discouraged. It awakened an inter-
est in Polar exjdoration which resulted in a second
expedition of two vesscds — a screw steamer re-named
the Germania and manned by a crt^v of seventeen,
and the brig Ilansa, with a crew of fourteen, under
the command of Capt. Hegemanrf. The whole (expe-
dition was put under the command of Koldewey,
who took as his flag-ship the "Germania;" and, in
addition, there were attached to both ships several
eminent men of science, pi'ovided wdth every requisite

787

'■]

788

DESTEUCTION OF THE HAN8A.

necessary for the successful performance of their
duties. King William came down and bade them
good-bye ; a distinguished party gave them a fai-ewell
dinner, and out of the good harbor of Bremen they
sailed more Teutonico to the strains of a brass band,
on the loth of June, 1869.

In latitude 70"=^ 46 ^ longitude 10° 51 ^ the " ITansa,''
which had on board some of the supplies of fuel foi-
herself and consort, got separated from the "Gernia-
nia," and M^as caught in the ice; and on the 2 2d of
October the ice-floes, pressing on every side, crushed
her. Then, homeless in the midst of this dreary ice-
field, with the winter coming on, the crew Iniilt on the
floe, with the patent fuel, a house in which they took
refuge. In this strangest of all abodes they passed
Christmas — not uncheei'fully on the whole. In two
months the current had carried them south four hun-
dred miles, and though they were only thirty miles
from land, it was impossible to reach it. On the 27th
of November, their track-map shows that they were
just about half-way Ijetween Greenland and Iceland.
Shortly after their Christmas festivities, the floe split
and ruined their house. For some time it would
aeem as if their lives hung on a thread. But they
were destined for better things. The floe righted
again, and they left their boats, to Avliich they had
been forced to flee, and again built tlieir fuel house.
On the 3d of January 1870, they were close to the
Greenland coast, but could only survey it in sadness,
as the broken ice precluded the possibility of ever
reaching it.

As spring advanced their situation was more cheer-
ing in one sense, but more depressing in another.
Their ice island had now, by the lashing of the surge

CRUISE OF THE GERIIANIA.

789

and the melting of the ice, got reduced until it was
not more than a hundred yards in breadth. By May
their sextants told them that they had drifted eleven
hundred miles on their cheerless raft. Finally, on
the 14th of June, they arrived in safety in their three
boats at the Greenland Moravian Mission station of
Fried riksthal, in latitude OO*^, just on the other side
of Cape Farewell. Here they met tlieir countrymen
of the Herrnhuttian Unitas Fratrum^ and once more
were safe, after perils very similar to those experi-
enced by the Polai'is ice-floe party. Kot\vitlistanding
all their hardships none of the crew died, though
one of them became temporarily insane.

Fairer fortune attended the steam-aided " Germania."
She succeeded in sailing up the East Greenland coast
to as high as To'* 30', but in August Avas forced to
turn again to the southward, and Avinter among the
Pendulum Islands, in latitude 74'' o9'. From this
central point many excursions were made, and tliough
at times the thermometer sank as low as 40" below
zero (of Fahrenheit), yet musk oxen — strange enough
— being abundant, they passed a not unpleasant
winter — as Avinters in 74** of north latitude go.
Christmas was absolutely warm (only 25° beloAv zero),
and with open doors they danced and feasted as it had
been their custom to do in festive, Christmas-loving
Germany. " By starlight,'' says Captain Koldewey,
" we danced upon the ice ; of the QXQVgYQi^n Andromeda
(^Cassiope tetragonal we made a Christmas tree; the
cabin was decorated with flags, and the presents
which lovinc; hands had preiiared were laid out ui

ipon

the tables; every one received his share, and uni-
versal mirth prevailed."

After this holiday time, the explorers began to

790

IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES.

think of business. The sledge equipments were got
ready, and after one false stait, a party of seven set
out, March 24th, under the command of Captain Kolde-
wey and Lieutenant Payer — one of the scientific corps
of the expedition. Dragging the provision-laden
sledge behind them, they set their faces to the north,
and after reaching a distance of one hundred and fifty
miles from the ship, want of provisions compelled
them to return. On the 27th of April, laden with
zoological, geological, and botanical collections, but
decidedly sceptical regarding the "open Polar sea,"
they regained the deck of the " Germania." A grim
cape — which has been appropriately named after
Prince Bismarck — marks the northern limit of their
discoveries. '

As soon as navigation was again opened they com-
menced their explorations, and were fortunate enough
to discover (in about latitude 73° 15') a branching
fiord, stretching for a long distance. This they
explored between longitudes 22^^ and 28®, without
reaching its termination, the leaking boiler of the
engine compelling them to return. This fiord was
named Franz Josef, in honor of Payer's sovereign.
Along its shores are peaks (Petermann's and Payer's),
respectively fourteen thousand and seven thousand
feet high. On the 11th of September 1870, the
Germania returned to Bremen. Though the expedi-
tion failed in some of its objects it did admirable
work for geography and science, which redounds to
the credit of the German people who supported and.
the eminent men who planned and carried it out.

The Austro-Hungarian Arctic Expedition was
undertaken in 1872, and the idea was received with
enthusiasm by the whole Austrian empire. The

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The

COUNT WILCZEC IN NOVA ZEMRLA.

LIEUT. PAYER S EXPEDITION".

791

command was entrusted to Lieut. Payer, an accom-
])li8hed and resolute officer, who bad already acquired
considerable Arctic experience in the German expedi-
tion under Captain Koldewey. He had also in 1871
explored the seas between Spitzbergen and Nov^a
Zembla in a little schooner called the Isbjorn. Lieut.
Weyprecht, the second in command, waj the comrade
of Lieut. Payer in both his previous Arctic voyages.
The steamer "Tegethoff" was fitted out in the Elbe,
with every modern appliance. Captain Carlsen, the
finder of the Barentz relics, joined the expedition as
pilot. Dr. Kepes, the surgeon, is a Hungarian. Most
of the crew are Italians from the Adriatic coast ; but
there is great confusion of tongues on board the
"Tegethoff" — Italian, German, English, Norwegian,
and Slavonic, are all spoken. Captain Carlsen gives
his orders in Norwegian, with forcible Italian expres-
sions occasionally thrown in. Dr. Kepes talks to the
crew in Latin and Hungarian, and two men speak a
very curious dialect, the German of the Tyrol, which
Lieut. Payer alone understands.

Count Wilczek, in the yacht "Isbjorn," accompanied
by Baron Stern eck, a geologist, a photographer, and
the count's huntsman, went as far as the Nova Zera-
l)la coast. Lieut. Payer's intention was to round the
noi'th-eastern point of Nova Zembla, and press east-
ward to the most northern point of Siberia, where he
would winter. In the following year he hoped to
continue the voyage to Bering's Strait — thus complet-
ing a most important and interesting achievement,
while during the spring his sledge traveling parties,
equipped on McClintock's system, would make
exploring along the unknown coasts of AVrangell
Land.

792

THE "tEGETHOFf" AND " ISBJOEN."

The "Tegethoff" left tlie Elbe in June 1872, and
all preparations having been completed, she steamed
out of Tromso Harbor on the 13th of July. The first
ice was encountered on the 25th, in latitude 74^* 15',
and on the 29th the coast of Nova Zembla was
sighted. Here the vessel was beset, but steam was
got up, and, by repeated charges, she was extricated,
and reached a lane of open water, about twenty
miles wide, to the north of the Matochkin Strait. On
the 12th of August the " Isbjom " arrived with Count
Wilczek and his companions on board, and on the
13th the two vessels anchored about two cables'
lengths from the shore, in latitude 76^^ 30'. The
18th was a gala day, being the Emperor's birthday.
Excursions to the adjoining islands were made daily
by several sledge-parties who returned with quantities
of fire-wood, geological and botanical specimens, and
spoils of the chase.

On the 23d, the north wind set in with great force,
and the young ice began to form. The vessels then
parted company. The "Tegethoff" steamed away
northwards on her gallant voyage of discovery, and
the " Isbjorn " started for home.

The "Tegethoff" was last seen August 23d, 1872,
pushing her way, round the northern coast of Nova
Zembla ; and all who love gallantry and adventure, all
geographers and seamen of every civilized country,
must earnestly hope that the next news of the brave
Austro-Hungarians will be good ncAvs, and that they
will succeed in their useful but difficult undertaking.
Up to November, 1873, nothing additional had been
heard of from the expedition.

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RKLICS OF THE nirTCII KXPKDITION.

BABENTZ'S HOUSE AT ICE-HAVKH.

CHAPTER LI.

SWEDISH AND NORWEGIAN EXPEDITIONS.

TiiE Ktorjr of the Dutch expedition which wintered
at Nova ZemlAa in 1596 has been related in Chapter
IV- Thw voyage of Barentz, though the first,
remained the only one which had rounded that north-
east point of Nova Zembla ; and the house of Barentz
was unvmtcrd for two hundred and seventy-eight
years. But the spell was broken in 1871. Elling
Carlsen, a Norwegian captain, who had been engaged
in the North Sea trade for eighteen years, sailed from
Hammerfeftt on the 16th of May, in a sloop of sixty
tons, called the " Solid." He reached the Ice Haven
of Barentz September 7th, and on the 9th saw a house
stai]ding at the head of the bay. The materials had
evidently belonged to a ship, and among them were
several oak l^earas. Round the house were standing
several lar^e puncheons, and there were also heaps of
reindeer, «eal, bear, and walrus bones. The interior is
described by Captain Carlsen exactly as represented
in the canons old draAving by Gerrit de Veer, the
historian of the Dutch Expedition.

The houiie in which Barentz and his gallant crew
had wintered, can never have been entered by human
foot daring nearly three centuries that have since
elapsed. The row of standing bed-places along one

793

794

ICE HAVEN RE-VISITED.

side of the room, the halberd, and the muskets, were
still in their old places. There stood the cooking-
pans over the fire-place, the old clock against the wall,
the arms and tools, the drinking vessels, the instru-
ments, and the books that had beguiled the weary
hours of that long night, two hundred and seventy-
eight years ago. The " History of China " points to
the goal which Barentz sought, while the " Manual
of Navigation " indicates the knowledge which guided
his efforts. Stranger evidence never told a more
deeply interesting story.

On the 4th of November, 1871, Captain Carlsen
completed his adventurous voyage by anchoring once
more at Hammerfest. The Dutch Government have
secured the numerous relics which he brought away,
for preservation in the native land of the great navi-
gator, whose countrymen feel an affectionate pride in
the glorious deeds of their " Sea fathers," and will
cherish these memorials of a very noble achievement
with careful reverence. Many of them, like the old
clock-dial, are very valuable in an antiquarian point
of view ; but not the least interesting are the flute,
which will still give out a few notes, and the^small
shoes of the poor little ship's boy who died during
the winter.

For several years past, Sweden and Norway have,
with a skill and resolution which do the highest
honor to the gallant Scandinavian nation, prosecuted
scientific investigations within the Arctic Circle.
The most important of their expeditions, equipped
under the superintendence of Professor Nordenskiold,
sailed from Tromso, July 21st, 1872. It was com-
posed of the steamer " Polhelm," the brig " Gladan,"
and the steamer ''Onkel Adam." The "Polhelm"

N0BDEN9KI0LD S SWEDISH EXPEDITION.

795

was coramanded by Lieut. Palander, of the Swedish
Koyal Navy, and manned by officers and men of the
same service. The other two vessels accompanied
her as transports and were to have returned to Swe-
den before the winter set in.

The expedition was supplied with a dwelling-house,
for winter-quarters, of six rooms, including kitchen,
larder, bathing-room, and potato cellar, and three large
sheds attached to the house, adapted for observatories.
For the sledge parties were provided pemraican, concen-
trated rum, cooking apparatus, warm sleeping bags,
sail-cloth tents, and photogene oil for fuel. Three
light ice-boats, and two larger boats, formed the boat
equipment, and all were provided with ash-wood
sledges. Fifty reindeer were also shipped, most of
them from Kola, in Lapland, with experienced Lapland,
ers, to drive and attend them.

The three vessels reached Mussel Bay, Spitzber-
gen, in lat. 79" 50' north, on the 3d of September
1872 ; three days later they were inextricably shut in
by the ice, and the number of men to be fed through
the winter was thus suddenly increased from twenty-
one to sixty-seven. Some of the reindeer, too, managed
to escape through the carelessness of the Laplanders.
In spit'^ of these discouragements, however, prepara-
tions for wintering progressed briskly, and the porta-
ble house was being rapidly erected and furnished.

On the 1st of October, the startling news arrived
that, at a neighboring promontory called Grey Point,
six Norwegian fishing vessels, with an aggregate of
fifty-eight men, were frozen in, and that, as their pro-
visions would not last beyond the end of the year,
they were sorely in need of help from the Swedes.
Nordenskiold and his colleagues sent back word to

796

THE ICEDOUND NOUWEOIANS.

them, that they themselves liad been obliged to pro-
vide for a much larger consumption of victuals than
they had bargained for, l)ut that they were willing,
after the Ist of Decenil)er, to share their food with
them if the Norwegians would undertake to conform
strictly to the arrangements made by the leaders of
the expedition. They were further informed that at
Ice Fiord, on the west coast, a house had been erected
at a time when it was in contemplation to establish
a colony for the purpose of working the phosphate
beds there. This house was warm and comfortable,
and well-supplied with stoves, and with a stock of pro-
visions. Eighteen of tlie Norwegians accordingly de-
termined to repair thither, while the remaining forty
stayed l)y their ships.

On the 22d of Octolier, Palander and five men
started Avith sledges to visit the imprisoned fishermen,
and reached Grey Point on the 24th. The eighteen
men had started for Ice Fiord about two weeks
before. After having done what he could iu the way
of advice to those left behind, Palander set out to
return on the 2Cth ; but though the distance between
the two places is only ten miles as the crow flies, it
took no less than five days to get back to the ships.

On the 4th of November a storm arose, which dis-
persed the ice and released two of the imprisoned fish-
ing vessels, and thirty-eight of the Norwegians man-
aged to reach home after a long and perilous voyage, and
after vainly attempting to rescue their countrymen
in Ice Fiord. Two men, an old ice-master named
Mattilas and his cook, remained at Grey Point by the
ice-bound vessels, being unwilling to abandon them.
They appear to have endeavored subsequently to
reach Mussel Bay, as their corpses were found in an
open boat.

THE WINTER AT MUSSEL IJAY.

797

111-

The fate of tlie eighteen men left in Ice Fiord was
ascert.'iined })y Captain Mack, who discoveivd tlio
dead bodies of these unfortunate liHliernien, to^etlier
witli a diary kept regularly from the 7th of October,
1872, to the 8d of March, 1873, and with less regu-
larity until the IDtli of April. From his descrijjtion,
and from a perusal of the diaiy, it a[)i)ears beyond
doubt that their sad fate Avas due entirely to wjuit of
experience. They jiractised no bodily exercises, and
busied themselves with no employment — at hsast the
diary makes mention of none, and no trace of any has
been left.

Turning from this sad jiicture to the Swedes in
their winter-quarters, we fi.id that they were occupy-
ing thems.dves with severe bodily exercises, the effect
of which was so !)eneficial, that only two men died
of the ^\•hoIe number, and all the others enjoyed good
health.

Toward the close of April, Nordenskiold and Pal-
a::2der Avitli fourteen men started north, the intention
I'eing to get as near the Pole as possible. They made
tluir May to Parry Island;^, crossing from the North
C!aj)e on tlu; ice. Here they found the ice so strong
to the northward that the idea of a long journey in
that direction was out of the question. They re-
turned to Mussel Bay on the 29th of June, after an
absence of sixty days, during which they encountered
very severe weather. Subsequently they again en-
deavored to travel northward by sledges from Pliippa
Island, but were prevented l)y lack of provisions.

Early in June the monotony of Mussel Bay was
enlivened by the arrival of the Steamship Diana, just
from England, having on board Leigh Smith's ex-
ploring party. On the 30th of June, the ice bi-oke
46

708

ATTEMPTS TO RESCUE THE NORWEGIANS.

\ip and the Gladaii imniodiatoly started for home,
whither tlie Polhelni soon foHowed her, arrivinir at
Tromso on the 0th of Angust, 1873. Althougli the
expedition was forced to return witliout having
accoijiplislied one of its main objects — the reacliing of
a very high hititude hy means of sledges, — still, the
harvest of results obtained by dredging, by magnetic,
meteorological, botanical, and geological observations
is extremely rich. These throw gi'eat light on the
amount and nature of organic life within the Polar
Circh^, as well as on the great physical changes which
those regions have undergone in past times.

Much sympathy was excited in Norway l^y the news
of the ice-bound fishermen brought by tlioir com-
panions, and immediate but unavailing measures
were adopted for their relief. In November 1872
the steamer '' Albert," commanded ])y Caphiin Otto,
sailed from Norway for Ice Fiord, but was obliged to
return owing to bad weather and the intense cold.
Captain Kjelsen, in the " Isbjorn," then madt^ another
gallant attempt to effect a rescue. lie sailcMl from
Tromso December 24th. The cold soon rendered
navigation very difficult ; but they stood gallantly on,
and came in sight of Bear Island when, as tlie ve^isel
was now otu; mass of ice, the attenij,)t to reach Spitz-
bergen was relinquished.

Nothing daunted, a third vessel sailed for the
rescue in the end of the same month. This was the
seal hunter " (xroenland," manned by seventy men and
commanded by Captain Jacob Melsom. She arrived
off Bell Sound, in Spitzbergen, March Cth, an<l forced
her way under full steam, through the pack ice, up to
the entrance of Ice Fiord, Avliere slie Avas sto[)])e(l.
It was impossible to approach the land, and Melsom was

DISASTER ON THE KOVA ZEMBLA COAST.

'09

obliged to givo up his plan of sending a rc.'cinng
party over the ice, to the int(M'ior of the fiord. The
ice was a mixture of ])ay and okl ])ack, covered with
hummocks, the vessel was ten miles from land, and
would quite likely have been blown off while the
sledge party was away. Captain Melsom died April
27th. The fate of the twenty fishermen has already
been related.

Another Norwegian, Captain Tobieaen, distinguish-
ed as an Arctic explorer, was obliged to pass the winter
of 1872-3 on the Nova Zembla coast. Most of the
crew escaped overland to Archangel. Tobiesen, his
son, and two men remained on the vessel, but finding
it leaking Avere obliged to go ashore, where the Cap-
tain and his son died of scurvy. The two survivors
put off in a boat in August, 1873, and were picked
up by a Russian vessel.

England has sent out no Arctic Expedition since
the search for Franklin was endeil ; but several En-
glish yachtsmen, James Laniont, B. Leigh Smith and
others, have ciTiised in the Spitzbergen seas. Mr.
Smith's third voyage of discovery was made in the
steamship Diana, owned by Mr. Lamont, which sailed
from Dundee, May 10th, 1873, with Mr. Smith's
yacht Samson as a tender. When in the vicinity of
Mussel Bay, a smack was spoken which communica-
ted the intelligence that the Swedish expedition was
there frozen in. Soon the Swedes were descried, and,
when they observed the Diana bearing down upon
them wuth all her flags flying, they ran along the ice
to meet her. The Swedish vessels were lying close
in shore, and between them and tlu; Diana there were
about three and-a-half miles of fast floe, in many
places seven feet thick. The unfortunate explorers were

800

CRUISE OF THE DIANA.

soon on board the Diana, and received many kind-
nesses. After supplying the Swedes with fresli
provisions, Mr. Smith proceeded on his voyage. On
reaching the Seven Islands, further progi'ess was
barred by ice ; and after visiting Treuren berg Bay,
Hecla Cove, and other places, the Diana bore up foi*
Dundee on the IGth of September, 1873.

The sj)irit of Arctic adventure has been reviving
in England for several years, and it seems probable
that a Government expedition on a grand scale will
soon attempt to reach the Nortli Pole; and the
route up Smith's Strait and Kennedy Channel —
whose waters thus far have been navigated only by
United States ships — is admitted to be the only
practicable one. Lady Franklin Avarmly favors the
enterprise, and hopes " for the credit and honor of
England, that the exploration of the North Pole will
not be left to any other country." " The navy," says
an English admiral, " needs some action to wake it
lip from the sloth of routine, and save it from the
canker of prolonged peace. The navy of England
cries not for mere war to gratify its desire for honor-
able employment or i'ame. There are other achieve-
ments as glorious as a victorious battle ; and a wise
ruler and a wise people will be careful to satisfy a
craving which is the life-blood of a profession." An-
other English writer, speaking of Captain Hall, says : —
" The rude wooden monument to the intrepid Amer-
ican, standing alone in the Polar solitude, is at the
same time a grand memorial, a trophy, and a chal-
lenge."

Page 698.
Page 750.

Errata.

For 1870, read 1871.
For 1871, rmd 1872.

DEATH OF ee. LIlltNESTONE!

end 1»71.
Md 1872.

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