IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 tM *23 150 ■^ Ih 12.2 1.8 I— MUl. 1.4 1.6 V] ^ ^V'^ o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^^ A^ V \ .\ 9> <«> M 6^ ^ '% \ ^1 i CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the Sest original copy available for filming. Featurt^o of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D D n D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covei'^ restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured init (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ ReM avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^et! lore d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texto, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'oni: pas 6t6 fiimdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires; L'Institut a microfiimd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la methods normale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur n D n n Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul^es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es r~l Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Quality indgale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de faqon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X tails du odifier une mage The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library Indian and Northern Affairs The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'exemplaire i\\m6 fut reproduit grfice d la gdn6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque Affaires indiennes et du Nord Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites av-tc le plus grand soin, comp a tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. irrata to pelure, n d n 32X Or.ginal copies in printed paper covers are filmed Lrtfginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -^(meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim6e sont filmds en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'imprassion ou d'illustration, soil par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la pramidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernidre image dd chaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »- signifie "A SUIVRE". le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur guuche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^i^ l)K. KRIDTJOK NA.NSl.N ^ I 'i I'l THE "FRAM" EXPEDITION. NANSEN IN THE FROZEN GUOf^LD PRECEDED BY A BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT EXPLORER AND COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM NANSEN'S "FIRST CROSSING OF GREENLAND - ALSO AN ACCOUNT BY EIVIND ASTRUP, OF LIFE AMONG PEOPLE NEAR THE POLE, AND HIS JjurneJ E.zn$$ ^orthEiTi Speenland WITH Lieut. R. E. F»EARY, U.S.N. ARRANGED AND EDITED By S. L. KERENS, Cand. F»hLiL FOLLOWED BY A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL earlier Hrctic explorations FROM THE NINTH CENTURY TO THE PEARY EXPEDITION, INCLUDING THOSE OP CABOT, FROBISHER, BERING, SIR JOHN FRANKLIN KANE, HAYES, HALL, NORDENSKJOLD, NARES, SCHWATKA, DeLONG, GREELY, and OTHERS. By JOHN E. READ. Assistant Editor 0/ thf "Columbian Cyclopedia." PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. WkYERlY PUBLISHING CO., LAKESIDE BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILLS. 91(09/) Copyright, 1897, hv A. J. Hooian & Co. l\ PREFACE Among the subjects that are "old yet ever new," that of Arctic Exploration holds a prominent place. It interested the hardy Northmen a thousand years ago, and it has a still stronger fasci- nation for the people of the present day. It is natural that this should be the case. The human mind is so constituted that it is always seeking to learn about things that lie beyond the immedi- ate range of its knowledge. Among intelligent and progressive people there is always a desire to investigate and explore the unknown. This is followed by efforts to secure the knowledge for which a wish has been formed. In the case of Arctic Explo- ration, the desire to know whether there were islands or conti- nents beyond the narrow range of their vision led the pioneers in this great work t-^ sail upon unknown seas. Probably a love of adventure also urged them on, but this could hardly have been the leading motive in their dangerous voyages. At a' early period in the history of such enterprises the commercial spirit became a factor, and in later days the love of scientific investiga- tion was added to the other elemr •«-s in the combination of forces which led men to brave the dai.^ -^ and endure the hardships inseparable from the work of Arctic . xploration. The latest of the great Arctic explorers to reach his home is Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, a young Norwegian scientist, who went much farther north than man had ever been, farther even than the companion who accompanied him to latitude 86° 14'. In Europe and America he is the hero of the day. His accurate knowledge, wonderful foresight, marvellous skill, splendid execu- tive ability, magnificent courage, and unconquerable determina- tion carried him to a success far greater than any of his prede- cessors were able to secure. It is fitting that the record of his brilliant achievements should be given to the public in a handsome and a permanent form. With this end in view the present book has been prepared. It also seemed desirable that it should con- tain a biography of Dr. Nansen and an account of his work, much of which was vahiable, previous to the great exploit which brought ii PREFACE him world-wide fame. Thus the people could be brought to know the man as well as to learn of his deeds. In order to add still further to its interest and make it not only an entertaining but also a permanently valuable book, it was decided to add other features. The <;ieat journey across the inland ice of Greenlaml by Lieutenant Peary, of the United States Navy, and l-jvind Astrup, is fully described, and a sketch is given of the Second I'eary E.xpedition. The concluding portion of the book is a connected sketch of the principal expeditions to the North from tiieir earliest date down to the time of the ones just described. Thus the iMitire historical period of Arctic Ivxploration to the return of Nansen and the Lvaui in 1896 has been covered. The materials for this work have been obtained from the best sources, and their arranger.ient has received careful attention. The biography of Dr. Nansen and a description of the planning and executing of the great journey across Greenland were mainly written by two eminent Norwegian scholars, Professor W. C. lirogger and Professor Nordahl Rolfsen, both intimate friends of the great explorer. The story of the Crossing of the Iiihuul Ice is related by Nansen himself, while several of the following chap- ters were prepared by his Norwegian friends. Tlie description of the Voyage of the Frnin, of the Great Sledge ICxpcdition and its wonderful success, and of the return of the explorers, is given in Nansen's own words. Across Northern Greenland, an account of the e.xpedition of Lieutenant Peary, is by Eivind Astrup, an entertaining writer and famous exi)lorer who accompanied Peary in the perilous journey to the extreme northern portion of that desolate land. In the preparation of the history of the P!arlier Arctic Ivxplorations the works of the best writers upon the sub- ject were consulted. Where discrepancies were found, as they were in several instances, the evidence was carefully weighed and the statements which seemed to have the strongest claim for accuracy were accepted. Of the more than one hundred illustra- tions, many of them full-page, which not only add to the beauty of the book but greatly increase its utility, a large number are from photographs taken upon the spot and are absolutely perfect representations of the scenes which they place before the eye For several of these illustrations we are under obligations to Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth, patron of the Jackson-Harmsworth Ex- pedition, and some were obtained from Nansen's •' Pram Over PREFACE iii i\cn )unt an ;arv :hat licr sub- hcy and foi- st ra- autv are •feet eye. Mr. Ex- >ver I'olhavet," published in Norway. Mes.srs. H()iiL,hton, Mifflin & Company and 'i'iie Lothrop I'uhlisliiiij; Company kindly fmnished several portraits ; the publishers of MeClure's Ma_i;a/.ine allowed the use of a number of fine plates, and thr»)U^h the courte.sy of Dr. Robert N. Keely, sur^^eon to I'eary's First Kxpedition, and Dr. Gwilym G. Davis, member of the Archx()l()j;ieal Assoeiation of the University of Pennsylvania, many extremely beautiful sketches antl ph()toi;raphs are |.;iven. The inveslij^alion of the cheerless rej^ion of the North has been attended by constant danj^er and has iuNoKed heavy losses of life and property. Hut tlie work has not been done in v.iin. It opened the way for the formation of colonies, for the develop- ment of commerce, for extensive and profitable whale and seal fislieries, and has 69 71 76 «5 86 97 98 lOI 105 107 1 10 117 119 Facing pa^j^c Facing pa i^c Facing page Facing page Facing page Facing page Facing page Kva Nansen Dr. Nansen Nansen's Home .... Nansen's Study at (Jodthaab The Launch of the " Fram " Nansen and Mrs. N'in.sen on Snow-shoes The " Fram " in I3erc:en Lieutenant Joliansen .... Kitchen of the •' Fram "... .Saloon on the •• Fram '' , Nansen's Study on the " Fram " Colin Archer, the Builder of the •' Fram " (From •' Fram Over I'olhavct.") The "Fram" L-aving 15ergcn, Nor-.vay, for the Arctic Regions (From " F'ram Over Polhavet.') Members of the Norwegian Tolar K-ocdition, 1893-96 (From "Fruin Over I'olhavct.") (Outline Draught of the "Fram" .... (From " Fram Over J--ilIiavet.") The ''Fram'' in the Ice-pack (By courtesy of McCliire s Ma'^azine.) Playing Cards on Board the " Fram" (From "F'ram Over Polhavet." ) Crew of the '• Fram " when Nansen and Johansen left the ^''■P Facim^pa^e (F-rom " Fram Over Polhavet.") Dr. Nansen and Lieutenant Johansen L-aving the "F'ram" Hunting Walrus on the East Coast of Taimyr Peninsula Facing page (From " Fram Over I'olliavet.") Toward the South : Nansen and Johansen Homeward bound, May I, 1S96 Facing pa^^e (F-rom " Fram Over Polhavet.") Meeting of Dr. Nansen and Mr. Jackson in Franz Josef Land, June, 1896 (By permission of Mr. Alfred C. Ilarmsvvorth.) Dr. Nansen in Franz Josef Land, June 189^) (By permission of Mr. Alfred C. Harmsworth.) Captain Otto Neumann Sverdrup .... Facinc paire The " Fram " in the Harbor of Christiania after her Return , Nansen's Reception at Christiania, September 9, 1S96 Facinf; pa<^e Lieutenant Robert E. Peary, U. S. N. . "^ Eivind Astrup Our First Bear Ice-pack in Melville Bay The " Kite " at Melville Bay . . . Peary's House and Tent Iceberg off Cape Cleveland, McCormick Bay Separation of Ice Floes .... Peary and his Companions The Midnight Sun .... A Specimen of Greenland Flora Facing page Facing page 188 190 '97 198 202 21 1 219 224 230 233 237 244 246 249 264 Facing page 274 2.S2 28S 293 297 302 3 4 316 321 324 324 326 326 335 33''> 33« 340 340 346 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Musk Ox 349 The Relief Party meeting l^eary and Astrup . . . Facing pa^e 350 Peary and Astrup hoisting Flags on Navy Cliff 356 Young Eskimo Girls and Native Hut at Godhavn 358 The " Falcon " among Icebergs I'acing page 358 Walrus taking a Sun Bath I'acing page 360 Sea-birds 364 Watching for Seal 371 Sledge from Smith Sound 373 I'.skimo Fox-trap 374 IJear attacking Seal 375 Different Weapons and Implements Facing page 3S0 Attacking a Walrus Facing page 384 A Group of Seals Facing page 386 Shooting Seals 389 Reindeer 391 Gate' ing Auks with a Net 393 A F; orite Dog 395 Dog harness 397 Dogs of Northern Greenland Facing page 400 A Group of Pups 405 Eskimo Boy 406 An Eskimo House in Winter 407 Stone Huts or Igloos — taken at Midnight 409 Cape York, Smith Sound — Eskimo Sleds on the Ice . . . . 411 Interior of Hut 413 Sir John Franklin Facing page 441 Martin Frobisher 447 Henrv (irinnell 479 Dr. E. K. Kane 483 Dr. Isaac I. Hayes 489 C. F. Hall 493 A. E. Nordenskjold 505 Lieutenant G. W. De Long, U. S. N 517 Com. George W. Melville, U. S. N 520 Tailpiece: Polar Bear 531 MAPS Map of Greenland Facing page 146 Map of Projected and Actual Routes of the " Fram " and Course of Sledge Expedition Facing page 266 (By courtesy of McClure's Magazine.) NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD CHAPTER I ANCESTRY CHILDHOOD Hans Nansen, Fridtjof Nansen's ancestor, born No- vember 28, 1598, in Flensburg, had as a sixteen years old lad gone to the White Sea in his uncle's ship — in those days quite an adventurous enterprise. They had practically no charts, they were scantily supplied with instruments, and they had to keep cannon and cutlasses in readiness. In the course of the voyage, indeed, they had been twice overhauled and plundered by the Eng- lish. Now they were fast in the ice at Kola. But the intelligent boy, eager for knowledge, did not permit him- self to be depressed. He employed the time in learning Russian, and in the summer, when the uncle bent his course southward again, his nephew did not accompany him. He preferred to stay behind and learn more. He travelled alone " through several districts of Russia to the town of Kuwantz." From Kuwantz he took ship in September for Copenhagen. His character came early to maturity, and his powers could not brook inaction. He had not completed his twenty-first year when King Christian IV. placed him at the head of an expedition to the rich fur regions about lO NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD the Petschora. But the ice was too much for him. He had to m.ake up his mind to winter at Kola. Here he received a commission from the Czar of Russia, and undertook, by imperial order, an exploration of the coast HANS NANSEN of the White Sea. Not until he reached Archangel did he rejoin his ship. After that he held a command for eighteen seasons in the service of the Iceland Company. He was by nature a keen observer and a born leader of men, full of alert prac- ticality, and yet with a strong literary bent. And he was eminently disposed to share with others the fruits of his NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 1 1 reading. " When I had nothing else to do," he writes, " I copied out extracts from the Bible, and from various Cosmographical and geographical works, to serve as an index and commonplace-book for future reference. . . . And when, a little while ago, I read it through again, 1 thought that perhaps there might be others who would be glad to know these things, but who, on account of other occupations and so forth, had neither time nor opportunity to study the great works on cosmography. For the benefit of such persons I have given to the press this brief digest." The title ran : " Compendiuni Cosmographicum ; being a short description of the en- tire earth, etc. Treating, furthermore, of the sea and of navigation, with certain serviceable directions thereto appertaining." The " Compendium Cosmographicum " became a pop- ular handbook, so much read by seafaring men and others, that four editions were exhausted in the author's lifetime. Indeed, we gather that up to a few years ago it had not quite gone out of use. The copy now in the possession of the Nansen family came, according to a well-authenticated tradition, direct from a skipper who sailed by it. Inside the old cover, the late owner of the book has inscribed the following testimonial : — " This book is of great use to seafaring folk. Ote Borgersen A as, 1841." Thus the handbook of the gallant old Arctic skipper may be said to have done service down to the very thresh- old of the time when his descendant was preparing to add new " courses " to those he had so diligently laid down — " courses " across Greenland and to the North Pole. T 12 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD At the age of forty, Hans Nansen begins to rise in the world ; and soon he exchanges the command of a ship's crew for that of the burghers of Copenhagen. He first became town councillor, then one of the four burgo- masters, and in 1654 he held the chief place among the four. Shrewd, ready-witted, eloquent, accustomed to command, and endowed with a firm will and invincible energy, he seemed specially created to take part, and a leading part, in the critical times which followed. In 1658 the Swedish king, Karl Gustav, declared war and invaded Zealand. The Estates met at the Palace, the royal message was read, and the king addressed them in person. It fell to the lot of Hans Nansen to answer that the burghers " would stand by the king through thick and thin," and the populace behind him shouted their assent. Not only was the integrity of their native land at stake, but civic freedom and independence as well. On the following day, the loth of August 1658, the Privy Council was obliged to issue a proclamation " which was as good as a patent of nobility to all the mer- chants and handicraftsmen of Copenhagen." Karl Gustav understood its significance. " Since the burghers have obtained such privileges," he exclaimed, " no doubt they '11 stand a tussle." And during this " tussle " the leading burgomaster of Copenhagen had no peace either by day or night. Earthworks had to be constructed, ditches filled, provisions laid in, soldiers quartered, the burghers drilled and commanded, and public order preserved in the midst of a concourse of people crowding into the city from every side. " We find him now at home, opening his plate chest and his money-box, placing great sums at the king's dii "^al, lending him his carriage and horses, NANSEN'S ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD >3 and all the time doing his best to keep up the spirits of his own family; now in the Town Hall sitting in council or on the bench; now in the Chamber, now with the king ; then again at a regimental inspection, or on the fire-watch tower, or at the outworks, with the bullets picking men off on every side; now listening to the ser- mons which were preached on the ramparts, now going the rounds with the night patrol." And when it comes to meeting the enemy outside the fortifications, the inde- fatigable burgomaster is still in the van. It is certain that there are remarkable points of simi- larity between the old burgomaster and his grandson's grandson's grandson. It would seem as though Fridtjof Nansen himself were conscious of this hereditary strain in his character. In one of his letters to his father, he speaks of the Nansen pride, which in his case, when occasion demands, takes the form of an adamantine stubbornness. But this pride does not descend to him on the male side alone ; through his mother he inherits the blood of the Wedels. Count Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg, the famous political leader of 1814, afterwards Viceroy (Statholder) of Nor- way, had a younger brother, Baron Christian Frederik Vilhelm of Fornebo, whose daughter was the mother of Fridtjof Nansen. Thus, if pride and spirit of adventure may be said to lie at the root of the father's family-tree, every branch of the mother's bears evidence of the same qualities. A few words more about the Nansen family. Hans Nansen, Municipal President, Privy Councillor, and Judge of the Supreme Court, died at Copenhagen, November 12, •4 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD 1667. A daughter of liis eldest son, Michael Nansen, was married to the celebrated P(;ter Griffenfeld. A younger son, Hans Nansen, was Municipal President of Copen- hagen at the time of his death in 17 18. His grandson was Ancher Anthony Nansen, w^ith whom the male line 1 .. '.■^'"'y'^- ,l^tet'-- ,, J^Ok H|.'fWt>4 .. .^ ^^yiiA|d||l|^^^H 'iL.ti^^^HP^'^^'iH JB' " ''^'''^^^^^^^^ ^^■k'i^'^Ptt ^H **1H^^^^^^^^^^^I ^iM''%» ■ ' ' "' "n^^Hto ■ '^SL^^ •»' '^*&^y-;'^i.-::{L\ V Y u . .-. J' ' V,.. i: BARON CHRISTIAN F. V. WEDEL-JARLSBERG (nANSEN'S GRANDFATHER) removed to Norway. In 1761 he became district magis- trate of Outer Sogn, and there married a lady of the name of Leierdahl, a member of the Geelmuyden family. His only son was called Hans Leierdahl Nansen, who in NA.XSEN'S ANCE^iT/iV AXD CHILD JI 00 D >5 ScptcMii1)cr, ivSoQ, Ijccamc juclcijc in Guldalen.and later rep- resentative for Stavanger district in Storthinget. lie was divorced from his first wife and married again, 1810, a daughter of court-printer Mbller of Copenhagen. They were Fridtjof Nansen's grandfather and grandmother. HARONESS C. F. V. WEDEL-JARLSBERG (NANSEN'S GRANDMOTHER) Fridtjof's father, Baldur Fridtjof Nansen, was born in Kgersund in 181 7. After the death of his father in the twenties, Baldur Nansen's mother removed from Egersund to Stavanger, for the sake of her son's education. Here i6 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD she lived till 1^35, when he matriculated at the University of Christiania. " He was industrious," says an intimate friend of the Nansen family in a letter, " well - behaved and exemplary in every respect. His abilities were not bril- liant, but, being strict- ly and plainly brought up, and stimulated by the influence of his clever mother, he passed all his exami- nations with a certain distinction, and be- came an accomplished jurist. He had none of his parents' wit and fancy; but he was noted for his thor- oughly refined, amiable, and courteou'' manners and dis- position." He became Reporter to the Supreme Court; but he was principally employed in finance and conveyancing. He enjoyed unbounded confidence. Baldur Nansen's first wife was the daughter of Major- General Sorensen, and sister to the wife of the poet Jorgen Moe. His second wife (Fridtjof's mother) was Adelaide Johanna Isidora, nee Wedel-Jarlsberg, who also had been married before. Mrs. Adelaide Nansen is described as a tall and stately lady, capable and resolute, even-tempered KRIDTJOF NANSKN AND HIS FATHKR i NAXSEN'S ANCESTRY" AXD Cin/.D/fOOD •7 . I and straightforward, without any pretension on the score of birth and ancestry. She had a masculine will. It was greatly against the wishes of her strict and aristocratic father that she married a baker's son for her first hus- band. However, she carried her point, and her mother appears to have sided with her in this affair of the heart. The parents were not at the marriage, although they had sfiven their consent. As a young girl she had defied opinion and cultivated that sport which her son was afterwards to render world- famous. She was devoted to snow-shoeing, which was at that time thought unwomanly and even improper. As a housewife she was one of those who know every nook and corner of the house from attic to cellar — ac- tive, managing, ready with her hands and not afraid of the coarsest work. If the servant had blistered her fingers, the lady of the house would herself take hold and wring out the wet linen. She worked in the gar- den, and she made her boys' clothes. They had no other tailor until they were eighteen years old. Nevertheless, she found time to acquire the knowledge she had not stored up in early youth. Her will power and love of activity, her intrepidity, her practical and reso- lute nature, have descended to her son. nansen's MOTHKR i8 NAAS/iX /X THE IRQ /.EN WORLD Mr. and Mrs. Nanscn, after tlicir marriage, settled down upon a small property belonging to her at Great I'Voen in West Aker. Here I'ridtjof was born on October 10, iiS6i. In the choice of his birthplace, his lucky star, as we have said before, had ordered things for the best. Here was country life, here were cows and horses, geese and hens, hills for snow-shoeing on every side, great forests close at hand, and, only some two miles and a half away, an excellent school, one of the best in Christiania. These two miles and a half were reckoned a mere nothinir in the Nanscn household. I'irst to school in the morning, and back again, then, on summer afternoons, down to the fortress to learn to swim — that makes a good ten miles of a hot summer's day, to say nothing of minor wanderings. And there were invariably fights by the way — systematic training, be it observed, from the very first. Froen farmyard was the scene of the boy's earliest expeditions, and it was not Arctic cold, but torrid heat that first imperilled his life. One day when he was three years old, and still in frocks, he stood hammering away at a wheelbarrow, no doubt trying to mend it, when, to the consternation of those in the kitchen, a column of smoke was seen to be rising from his person. " He 's on fire ! " was the cry. Out rushed the housekeeper, and tore his clothes off his back. In the course of his wanderings, he had visited the brew-house, where some sparks from the fire had lodged in his petticoats ; and behold ! he was within an ace of being burnt to death in blissful uncon- sciousness that anything was amiss. The Frogner River flowed right past the front door at NANSF.V'S /INCESTA')' ,IXD Clfff DlfOOP '9 settled Great ictober as we Here se and forests \ away, stiania. I mere 1 in the rnoons, lakes a liinti of L^lUs by om the earl id heat IS three away at to the smoke 1 fire ! " ore his ngs, he om the |he was uncon- Idoor at ^^S CKKAr IKOlCN — IHK I )\VKI.I.1N( ; llOUSK r^roeti, and here Fridtjof and his younger l3rotlier woukl batlie in the fresh of the evening, in tlie coklest j)ool they could find. Indeed, tlie younger of the two woukl some- times nearly perish with the cold, so that after coming out of the water he had to be dragged about at a brisk trot, in the costume which preceded all fashions and modes of dress, in order to keep life and warmth in his body. Into this same river they fell through the ice in the winter, and when their mother appeared on the scene she ound Fridtjof in the act of fishing his brother out. And it was in the Frogner River that Fridtjof himself came near losing his life. But it also presented a peaceful means of livelihood. 30 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD t They selected from among the pea-sticks those made of juniper, rolled their trousers well up, and went digging among the decayed leaves in the garden for bait, which they stored in the turned-up portion of their breeches. Then they went and fished for trout or minnows. Now and then the hook would go astray and stick fast in Fridt- jof's under lip ; whereupon Mrs. Nansen would have re- course to father's razor, make a resolute incision and extract the foreign body. No fuss or pother on either side. Not so much as a sound. Here at Froen he first ran his head against the ice — the rough ice in the yard. When the little five-year-old rushed into tho kitchen, there was scarcely a white spot left on his face, for the blood that trickled down it. He would not shed a tear, and was only afraid of being scolded. But from that day to this he wears his first ice-medal in the shape of a scar. They hunted squirrels with dog and bow. " Storm," the dog, would chase the squirrels up trees, where the little creatures found a tolerably secure asylum ; for the arrows never hit them. Finally, Fridtjof, inspired by Indian tales, hit upon a devilish device which he thought must prove fatal. He anointed the arrow-head with the juice of a poisonous mushroom, so that a wound from it meant NANSEN AS A CHILD NANSEA'S ANCESTRY AM) CHILDHOOD 21 certain death. But the arrows someliow did no more ex- ecution, although he also tipped them with melted lead to make them cany better. After that he took to a new variety of weapon — cannons. He stuffed them to the muzzle with powder, but could not get it to ignite. Then he made a maroon, and poked it about so much that it exploded in his face. The cannon ultimately burst ; and it was again his mother's task to take him aside and pick out the powder grain by grain. He himself tells the story of his first snow-shoes, and his first great leap : — " I am not speaking of the very first pair of all — they were precious poor ones, cut down from cast-off snow- shoes which had belonged to my brothers and sisters. They were not even of the same length. But Mr. Fabri- tius, the printer, took pity upon me ; ' I '11 give you a pair of snow-shoes,' he said. Then spring came and then summer, and with the best will in the world one could n't go snow-shoeing. But Fa- britius's promise sang in my ears, and no sooner had the autumn come and the fields begun to whiten with hoar-frost of a morning, than I placed myself right in his way, where I knew he would come driving by. NANSEN AS A BOY 22 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD III iii " ' I say ! What about those snow-shoes ? ' " ' You shall have them right enough,' he said, and laughed. But I returned to the charge day after day: ' What about those snow-shoes ? ' " Then came winter. I can still see my sister standing in the middle of the room with a long, long parcel which she said was for me. I thought she said, too, it was from Paris. But that was a mistake, for it was the snow-shoes from Fabritius — a pair of red-lacquered ash snow-shoes with black stripes. And there was a long staff too, with shining blue-lacquered shaft and knob. I used these snow-shoes for ten years. It was on them I made my first big jump on Huseby Hill, where at that time the great snow-shoe races were held. We boys were not allowed to go there. We might range all the other hills round about, but the Huseby Hill was forbidden. But we could see it from Froen, and it lured us day after day till we could n't resist it any longer. At first I started from the middle of the hill, like most of the other boys, and all went well. But presently I saw there were one or two who started from the top ; so of course I had to try it. Off I set, came at frantic speed to the jump, sailed for what seemed a long time in space, and ran my snow-shoes deep into a snow-drift. We did n't have our shoes fastened on in those days, so they remained sticking in the drift, whi^e I, head first, described a fine arc in the air. I had such way on, too, that when I came down again T bored into the snow up to my waist. There was a moment's hush on the hill. The boys thought I had broken my neck. But as soon as they saw there was life in me, and that I was beginning to scramble out, a shout of mocking laughter went up ; an NANSEN'S AXCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 23 endless roar of derision over tlie entire hill from top to bottom. "After that, I took part in the Huseby Hill races and won a prize. But I did n't take it home ; for I was put to shame on that occasion as well. It was the first time I had seen the Telemark peasants snow-shoeing, and I recognized at a glance that I was n't to be mentioned in the same breath with them. They used no staff; they simply went ahead and made the leap without trusting to anything but the strength of their muscles and the firm, lithe carriage of their bodies. I saw that this was the only proper way. Until I had mastered it, I w^ould n't have any prize." He was a terrible one for falling into brown studies. Between putting on the first and the second stocking of a morning, there was always a prolonged interval. Then his brothers and sisters would call out, " There 's the duft'er at it again ! You '11 never come to any good, you 're such a dawdler." He was ahvays bent on getting to the bottom of every- thing. He asked so many questions, says one of his older friends, that it made one absolutely ill. " Many a time have I given him a thundering scolding for this everlast- ing ' Why ? — Why } — Why ? ' " The arrival of a sewing- machine at Froen naturally aroused the demon of curios- ity in all his virulence. He must find out what kind of animal this was. So he took it all to pieces, and when his mother came back from town, the machine was the most disjointed puzzle imaginable. If tradition is to be trusted, however, he did not give in until he had put it all together again. CHAPTER II YOUTH If, weary of the soft grace of the Ch -istiania Valley, one turns and gazes northward from the tower on Try- vand Height, one is confronted, as far as eye can see, with blue-black forests — forests and nothing but forests, ridge behind ridge, on and on to the farthest verge of the horizon. This is Nordmarken, an unbroken stretch of Nor- wegian woodland, many square miles in extent, a lonely world of narrow valleys, abrupt heights, secluded glassy lakes, and foaming rivers. Into this solitude no murmur from the busy capital ever penetrates, not even the sound of a panting engine or the warning whistle of a steamboat cautiously thread- ing the intricacies of the fjord in the dense sea-fog. At the frontier of Nordmarken the comforts of civiliza- tion instantaneously stop short. When you have said good-bye to the great hotels on the slopes of the Frogner Saeter, and plunged into these interminable forests, yctu may wander for days without coming across anything remotely resem'^ling an hotel. Yes, here all is peaceful and still — breathlessly still — when summer spreads her light veil over the glassy lakes and dark green leas, when the black-grouse drowses in the heather, and even the thrush in the pine-tops hushes his song. NANSEN'S } O 67 // 25 There is breathless stiUness, too, of a clear autumn evening when the birch sees its yellow silk, and the aspen its gorgeous scarlet, reflected in the black mirror of the lake, framed in the delicate pale red of the heather. Again there is breathless stillness — perhaps even more complete — during the long night of winter, when the stars glitter over the snow-laden forest and the white- frozen surface of the lake, and no sound is heard save the soft trickle of the ice-bound river. In the shooting and fishing season it is no longer the Great Pan who reigns. Fishing-rods by the score hang over the river like a bending wood, and the guns of the city sportsmen keep up a continual popping and banging in a spirit of noisy competition. Even the boundless abundance of fish and game is thus on the decline. Waterworks have interfered with the spawning, dam after dam bars the fishes' way up stream, and the river bed lies dry for weeks together. It was not so twenty years ago, in Fridtjof Hansen's boyhood. He was among the few, the pioneers, the elect. That Robinson Crusoe existence which less favored boys must be content to live in imagination was vouchsafed to him in its glorious reality. Of his first expedition to the borders of that Promised Land he has himself ritten as follows : — " I showed no great intrepidity on my ^rst voyage of discovery, although it went no farther than to Sorkedal. " I was somewhere about ten or eleven at the time, and up in Sorkedal lived several boys w^ho were friends of mine, and who had asked my brothers and myseli to come and see them. One afternoon in June, as we were sitting out on the steps, it came over us all of a sudden that we 26 NANSEN IN 'I HE FROZEN WORLD really ought to act upon this invitation. We had a notion that we ought to ask our parents' leave, and an equally clear notion that we should n't Ljet it if we did. Father and mother were taking a siesta; we dared not disturb them, and if we waited till they awakened it would be too late to go. So we took French leave and slipj^ed off. The first part of the way was familiar to us. We knew where Engeland lay, and made our way to Bogstad with- out much hesitation. After that we were rather at sea ; but we asked our way from point to point, first to the Sorkedal church, and after that to the farm where the boys lived. By the time we got there it was seven o'clock in the evening. Then we had to play with our friends and go and see the barn, and afterwards to do a little fish- ing. But it was n't any real fun. Our consciences were so bad that we had no peace for so much as half an hour. Then the time came for us to go home, and our hearts sank so dreadfully that the way back seemed ever so much wearier than the way out. The youngest soon became footsore, and it was a melancholy procession that slowly dragged itself towards Froen farm at eleven o'clock that night. We saw from a long way off that people were afoot ; no doubt they had been searching for us. We felt anything but fearless. As we turned the corner, mother came towards us. ' Is that you, boys.'*' 'Now we're in for it! ' we thought. ' Where have you been .? ' mother asked. " Well, we had been to Sorkedal. Now for it ! But mother only said in an odd way : ' You are strange boys ! ' And she had tears in her eyes. " Fancy, not the least bit of a scolding ! Fancy getting to bed with our blistered feet, and without the least bit of a scolding ! iVANSF.N'S YOUTH a; " And the most extraordinary part of it was that a few- days later we were allowed to go again to Sorkedal. Could it be that father and mother had come to think that they had been a little too strict with us ? " While I was in my teens, I used to pass weeks at a time alone in the forest. I disliked having any equipment for my expeditions. I managed witli a crust of bread and broiled my fish on the embers. I loved to live like Rob- inson Crusoe up there in the wilderness." But frequently Nansen was accompanied by his brother and an t)lder member of the family, who hapj^ened to be an enthusiastic huntsman and fisherman. And in this way, from the age of twelve upwards, the boys trained themselves to bear those fatl' We Jd all crack. He said he was going to Stockholm. ' What are you going to do there ? ' ' To look up Nordenskjold, and ask him to give me his opinion of my scheme. I shall just wait to take my doctor's degree in the si r and then off to Greenland. It will be a hard sprin man, but pooh ! I shall manage it.' " Another friend had meanwhile dropped in three walked to Skarpsno, we two every-day people mak- ing feeble objections, he meeting them with increasing warmth and with youthful emphasis of conviction. He would stake his life on the plan, and we should see it would all go smoothly. It was like a revelation, in these decadent days, to find a man of action ready to lay down his life for his idea. I was impressed and moved that evening when we parted." He went to Stockholm. It may be noted at this point that it was in 1886 that Peary and Maigaard, with their scanty equipment, had made a highly successful inroad upon the Greenland ice field, intended, as Peary had expressly stated in his brief narrative, merely as a prelim- inary reconnaissance. Nansen had no time to lose if he did not want to be anticipated. Moreover, his zoological and anatomical labors were in the mean time at a stand- still. His great essay on the histological elements of the central nervous system was finished, and could at any time be handed in as a thesis for his doctor's degree. "When, on Thursday, November 3, 1887, I entered my work-room, in the Mineralogical Institute of the Stock- holm High School," says Professor Brogger, " my janitor told me that there had been a Norwegian asking for me. He had not left a card, and did not say who he was. Compatriots without a name and without a visiting-card .• ; NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXPEDITION 37 were no rarity. It was no doubt some one wanting me to relieve him from a momentary embarrassment.' ' What did he look like.'*' I said, with a touch of annoyance. " ' Tall and fair,' answered Andersson. " ' Was he well dressed 1 ' " ' He had n't any overcoat,' said Andersson, smiling confidentially ; ' he looked like a sailor, or something of that sort.' " Ah, yes — a sailor without an overcoat ! No doubt the idea was that I should supply him with one. I saw it all. " An hour or two later in came Wille. ' Have you seen Nansen .? ' " ' Nansen ? Was that the name of the sailor .? The man without an overcoat ? ' " ' Has he no overcoat ? At any rate he 's going to cross the Greenland ice sheet.' And Wille rushed off — he was in a hurry. " After that comes another of my colleagues. Professor Lecke, the zoologist. ' Have you seen Nansen } Is n't he a splendid fellow .? He has been telling me of many interesting discoveries about the sex of the myxine — and about his investigations of the nervous system too. Charming things ! Splendid ! ' " After all these preliminaries, Nansen at last appeared in person — tall and erect, broad-shouldered and powerful, yet with the grace and suppleness of youth. His rather rough hair was brushed back from his massive forehead. He came straight up to me and gave me his hand with a peculiarly winning smile, while he introduced himself. " ' You are going to cross Greenland ? ' " ' Well, I 'm thinking of it' 38 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD " I looked him in the eyes. There he stood with the kindly smile on his strongly-cut, massive face, his com- plete self-confidence awakening confidence in others. Although his manner was just the same all the time, — calm, straightforward, perhaps even a little awkward, — yet it seemed as if he grew with every word. This plan, — this snow-shoe expedition from the east coast, — which a moment ago I had regarded as an utterly crazy idea, became, in the course of that one conversation, the most natuial thing in the world. The conviction possessed me all of a sudden : he will do this thing, as surely as we are sitting here and talking about it. " This man whose name I had never so much as heard until a couple of hours before, had in these few minutes — quite naturally and inevitably as it seemed — made me feel as though I had known him all my days ; and with- out reflecting at all as to how it happened, I knew that I should be proud and happy to be his friend through life. " ' We '11 go straight to Nordenskjold,' I said ; and we went. With his singular dress — a tight-fitting, dark blue, jersey-like blouse or jacket, closely buttoned up — he did not fail to attract a certain amount of attention in Drott- ninggatan (Queen Street). Gustaf Retzius, as I heard afterwards, took him at first for an acrobat or rope- dancer. " Well, we hunted up Nordenskjold, crossing the quiet, cloistral quadrangle of the Academy of Science, which has always something awe-inspiring about it. " Nordenskjold was in his laboratory, as usual at that time in the morning. We went through the anterooms filled with mineralogical specimens and cases. ' These used to be Berzelius's quarters,' I remarked to Nansen in /.•/ NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXPEDITION 39 passing. Lindstrom, the Professor's assistant, presently appeared, with both hands full of retorts and chemicals. *' ' The old man is inside ; he 's up to his eyes in work,' he whispered quietly to me. " There, in the work-room, ' old man Nor ' was wander- ing around among his minerals. I can never see his strong, broad back, without thinking of a story in connec- tion with his boat expedition up the Yenisei in 1875. At one point, where the seas repeatedly threatened to swamp the boat, Nordenskjold took his seat on the after gunwale, and let the ice-cold waves break on his broad back. There he sat for hours, doing duty, in a literal sense, as a breakwater. Of such stuff are Arctic explorers made. " I greeted Nordenskjold and performed the introduc- tion. ' Curator Nansen, of Bergen. He intends to cross the Greenland ice sheet ' " ' Good heavens ! ' " ' And he would like to consult you upon the matter.' " ' I 'm delighted to see him. So ! Mr. Nansen intends to cross Greenland } ' " The bombshell had fallen. The friendly, amiable, but somewhat absent expression he had worn an instant be- fore had vanished, and his liveliest interest was aroused. He seer" -.id to be scanning the young man from head to foot, in order to see what sort of stuff he had in him. Then he burst out with a twinkle in his eye : ' I shall make Mr. Nansen a present of a pair of excellent boots ! Indeed, I 'm not joking ; it 's a very important and serious matter to have your foot-gear of the best quality.' " The ice is broken. Nansen expounds, Nordenskjold nods a little skeptically now and then, and throws in a question or two. He no doubt regarded the plan — at I i i >' ! I h) 40 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD least so it seemed to me — as foolhardy, but not absolutely impracticable. It was obvious that Nansen's personality had instantly made a strong impression on him. He was at once prepared, in the most cordial manner, to place the results of his own experience at the young man's service. " There were of course numbers of details to be gone into : the Laplanders, snow-shoes, sledges, and boats — and then the question whether the drift ice could be cros£";d as Nansen had planned. But ' the old man was up to his eyes in work,' and it was agreed that Nansen should come again. Meanwhile, we were to meet the same evening, at the Geological Society. As we were leaving I said aside to Nordenskjold, ' Well, what do you think ? I back him to do it.' " ' I dare say you 're right,' answered Nordenskjold. But the skeptical expression was again to the fore. " After the meeting at the Geological Society, Nansen accompanied me home. It was pretty well on in the evening. While we were sitting talking, he genial and at his ease, I quite absorbed in all these new ideas, there came a ring at the door, and in walked Nordenskjold. I at once saw that he was seriously interested. " We sat there till the small hours, discussing Arctic and Antarctic explorations in general, and the Greenland expedition in particular. It was only four years since Nordenskjold himself had made his last expedition on the Greenland ice sheet; and he was at this time, if I remem- ber rightly, much interested in arranging a combined Australian-Swedish Antarctic expedition, in which his promising son, G. Nordenskjold,^ who unfortunately died so early, was to have taken part. ^ Three years later this young man undertook an expedition to Spitzbergen. •' I NAXSKN'S GREENLAND EX/'ED/T/ON 41 " I was going the next day to tlie usual Fourtli of November banquet at the house of the Norwegian Secre- tary of State, and I asked Nansen if he would care to have an invitation. No, he could n't well appear on such an occasion — he had only the clothes he was wearing. "' But Mr. Nansen can come and dine with me, just as he is,' suggested Nordenskjold with frank cordiality; and so it was arranged. " I cannot say whether Nansen, when he returned to Christiania, a couple of days later, took with him the ' ex- cellent boots,' though I know that Nordenskjold after- wards sent him a pair of snow-spectacles. But, boots or no boots, he certainly took back with him many a valuable hint, and the assurance of complete sympathy on the part of the great explorer. When, nearly two years later, they again met in Stockholm, the foolhardy plan had been carried out, and the journey over the inland ice from coast to coast was an accomplished fact." Nansen's application to the " Collegium Academicum " for the means to carry out the expedition is dated Novem- ber II, 1887. The very first sentence goes straight to the heart of the matter: " It is my intention next sum- mer to undertake a journey across the inland ice of Greenland from the east to the west coast." The amount he asked for was 5,000 crowns (less than 300/.). It is so infinitesimally small in comparison with the magnitude and importance of the undertaking, that one cannot speak of it now without a smile. But as yet the project, was only a project, and the projector an untried man. The faculty and the council warmly recommended the scheme to the Government. But the Government could not see * i 4* NANSEN IN THE EROZEN WORLD its way to sanctioning it. One of the official organs was unable to discover any reason why the Norwegian people should pay so large a sum as 300/. in order that a private individual might treat himself to a pleasure-trip to Green- land. And undoubtedly the Government here repre- sented a very large section of the people. Two widely different sides of the Norwegian character were in this case at odds. The love of adventure is represented in Nansen, the cautiousness, the " canniness," of the Norwe- gian peasant is represented in the Government. It is no mere chance that this 300/. should have come from abroad. For except in scientific circles, and among the young and ardent, the general opinion certainly was that Nansen's undertaki.. .5 was only worthy of a madman — though no one actually went so far as to have him locked up, like the man in the London madhouse whom Nansen is so fond of citing. A comic paper in Bergen inserted the following advertisement : — Notice. — In the month of June next, Curator Nansen will give a snow-shoe display, with long jumps, on the inland ice of Greenland. Reserved seats in the crevasses. Return ticket unnecessary. And in private conversation the affair was taken much in the same way, when it was not regarded from a more serious point of view, by people who thought it sinful to give open support to a suicide. Nor was it only the outside public that held these opinions. Previous explorers of Greenland, who might be supposed to know the local conditions, characterized the plan as absolutely visionary. Nansen has himself reprinted in his book a short extract from a lecture delivered in Copenhagen by one of the younger Danish explorers of Greenland. He says : " Among the few of us who know ^ \ NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXJ'En/I'/ON 43 something of the nature of Danish East Oeenland, there is no doubt that unless the ship readies the coast and waits for him till he is forced to confess himself beaten, it is ten to one that either Nansen will throw away his own life, and perhaps the lives of others, to no purpose ; or else he will be picked up by the Eskimos, and convoyed by them round Cape Farewell to the Danish stations on the west coast. But no one has any right needlessly to involve the East Greenlanders in a long journey, which must be in many respects injurious to them." It was, however, from Denmark that the requisite finan- cial assistance came. Professor Amund Helland, who had himself been in Greenland, had strongly advocated the plan in the " Dagblad " of November 24, 18S7. "After the experiences of others on the inland ice," he says, " and after what I myself have seen of it, I cannot see why young and courageous sncw-shoers, under an intelligent and cautious leader, should not have every prospect of reaching the other side, if only the equipment be care- fully adapted to the peculiar conditions. . . . All things carefully considered, I believe there is every likelihood that competent snow-shoers should be able to manage this journey without running any such extreme risks as should make the expedition inadvisable. Those who have travelled some distance on the inland ice of Green- land number, at present, about twenty men, and not a single life has been lost in these attempts." As a result of this article, Professor Helland was able to announce to the " Collegium Academicum," on Jan- uary 12, 1888, that Mr. Augustin Gamel, of Copenhagen, had offered to provide the 5,000 crowns. Nansen accepted the generous offer. Afterwards, when !i Hi i> '. 44 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD all was happily over, people criticised this action. He ought to have waited patiently till the money turned up somewhere in Norway. This wisdom after the event is foolish enough. It ignores the actual facts of the situ- ation. Nansen had made up his mind to pay for the whole enterprise out of his own pocket; no one in Norway showed the slightest eagerness to prevent his doing so. And, with all his self-reliance, he could not, at that time, regard the realization of his idea as a privilege that must be reserved solely and exclusively for Norway. The situ- ation was quite different when, five years later, with the eyes of all the world upon him, he set out for the North Pole. Then, indeed, it was of the utmost importance that the money as well as the flag should be Norwegian. The criticism seems all the emptier when we remember that the Greenland Expedition did not cost 5,000 crowns, but more than three times that amount, and that Nansen him- self would have met this deficit out of his small private means, had not the Students' Society, after the successful return of the expedition, set on foot a subscription which brought in 10,000 crowns. It was, as Nansen had said to Dr. Grieg, a hard spring. The first six months of 1888 passed in one incessant rush. At the beginning of December, 1887, he is back in Bergen. At the end of January, he goes on snow-shoes from Eidfjord in Hardanger, by way of Numedal, to Kongsberg, and thence to Christiania. In March he is in Bergen again, lecturing on nature and life in Greenland. One day — or rather night — we find him camping on the top of Blaamanden, near Bergen, to test his sleeping- bag, and a week later he is on the rostrum in Chris- tiania giving his first trial lecture for his doctor's degree, M NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXrEDlTJON 45 on the structure of the sexual organs in the myxine. On April 28 he defends his doctoral thesis : " The Nerve Elements : their structure and connection in the central nervous system " — and on May 2 he sets off for Copen- hagen, on his way to Greenland. " I would rather take a bad degree than have a bad outfit," he used to say to Dr. (irieg in those days. He succeeded in getting both good, but only by straining every nerve. On the one hand, he had his scientific reputation to look to; on the other, his own life and the lives of five brave men ; for he was fully convinced that, of all the dangers which were pointed out to him, the most serious by far was the danger of a defective outfit. On the outfit, more than on any- thing else, depended victory or defeat, life or death. It was in the January number of the periodical " Natu- ren " (i.SSS) that he for the first time made a j^ublic state- ment of his plan. He explains that, by striking inland from the east coast, he will need to cross Greenland only once. It is true that by this course retreat is cut off. " The inhospitable coast, inhabited only by scattered tribes of heathen Eskimos, is by no means an enviable winter residence to fall back upon in the event of our encountering unforeseen obstacles in the interior; but the less tempting the line of retreat, the stronger will be the incentive to push on with all our might." This is one of the essential points of the plan — all bridges are to be broken. Here we see the irresistible self-confidence of genius — its triumphant faith in its power to reach the goal. The thing that presents itself to ordinary prudence as the first necessity, namely, a safe and easy line of re- treat, genius regards rather as a hindrance and a thing to be avoided. 46 NANSEN IN rilE FROZEN WORLD \\ i'l •' Set/.ct Ilir iiicht (l;i.s Lt'l)cn cin, Nie wircl cucli das Lchcn gewonncn scin." We will not here dwell upon the other features of the plan, because in all essentials it was carried out as pro- jected ; and the modifications which proved necessary are sufficiently well known throui^h Nansen's own account of the expedition. It wi j remembered how they were caui^ht in the drift ice, carried down almost to the southern point of Cireenland, and then had to fight their way laboriously north again. It will be remembered, too, that they did not strike inland, as they intended, north of Cajje Dan, but a good way farther .south, and that they reached the west coast, not, as contemplated, on Disco Bay near Christianshaab, but at the Ameralikfjord near Godthaab. These alterations are important enough in them.selves, but inessential in relation to the main object. The plan itself having ' i set forth, the article proceeds to enumerate the scienl roblems which may be solved or brought nearer to a solution by a journey across the inland ice. Nansen concludes by quoting Nordenskjold's words in the preface to his book, " The Second Dickson Expedition to Greenland : " " The investigation of the un- known interior of Greenland is fraught with such mo- mentous issues for science that at present one can hardly suggest a worthier task for the enterprise of the Arctic explorer." Nansen was himself fully conscious of the great scien- tific import of the journey he was about to take. For the rest, this expedition required in its leader a quite unusual combination of qualities : an adventurous imagination to conceive it, a Viking-like hardihood to carry it through, strenuous physical training throughout NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXPEDITION 47 a us to lit childhood and youth to enable him to face its fatigues, and self-sa( rificing devotion to science in order to make the most of the opportunities it afforded. And even more was required. This young man, whose fame as yet rested entirely upon an unfulfilled idea, had to take command of a little group of brave men who all risked their lives ex- actly as he did, and among whom were some who them- selves had held command. This was not a company of soldiers to be ofificered as a matter of course ; it recjuired a special tact, a peculiar instinct, to bear one's self :is prumis inter pares. With all his proud self-confidence, Nansen had just this instinct. It springs in part, no doubt, from a strain of gentleness in his character, but may on the whole be regarded as simply another manifestation of his singular knack of doing the right thing at precisely the right moment. I le had bcMi too early intent on ends of his own to develop what one w< uld call a specially social disposition. " He is something of a soloist," one of ' iS friends writes to us, " steadfast towards those to whom he really attaches himself ; but they are not many." He is too absorbed in his work. He is not expansive, in the sense of fcelimj any inborn cravinij to make friends. But now, in the moment of need, the unaffected geniality of his temperament comes out quite naturally in his relation to those who have had the courage and the insight to place their trust in him. Given another personality than his, the whole undertaking would not improbably have gone to wreck, with the most disastrous consequences. If it had been simply a question of mechanical discipline, the spirit of revolt might easily have arisen in the course of these indescribable hardships, and ruined everything. As it was, all were agreed that, though discussion should 48 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD u * I of course be free, one must have the decisive voice. But that ore was of no higher rank than the others when there was work to be done or hunger to be endured ; and it was this complete equaHty that formed the strongest bond of union. Stories have been invented as to the rela- tions between the six Greenland explorer's, some of them of a dark and almost traijic tenor. We are able to state on the best authority that all these legends, from first to last, are the product of popular imagination, which, after the tremendous enthusiasm over Nansen's return, neces- sarily underwent a reaction. The men who accompanied Nansen were Captain Otto Neumann Sverdrup, born October 31, 1855, in Bindalen ; Lieutenant Oluf Christian Dietrichson, born May 31, 1856, in Skogn, near Levanger ; Christian Christiansen Trana, born February 16, 1865, at the farm of Trana, near Stenkjoer ; besides the two Lapps, Samuel Johannesen Balto, aged 27, and Ola Nilsen Ravna, aged 45. All these names have become historical. To the two first- mentioned in particular a great share in the credit of the expedition is due. The whoU civilized world is indebted to them, and Nansen most of all. " People are very ready," he says in the preface to " The First Crossing of Greenland," " to heap the whole blame of an unsuccessful expedition, but also the whole honor of a successful one, upon the shoulders of the leader. This is particularly unfair in the case of such an expedition as the present, where the result depends on absolutely no one falling short, on every one filling his place entirely and at every point." For the lives of all these men Nansen had now assumed the responsibility, so far as the planning and management (.■' NANS£N':S GREENLAND EXJEDJT/ON 49 of tlie journey was concerned ; and his responsibility began with the outfit. With regard to this essential mat- ter, all the qualifies we have been dwelling upon would have been of no avail had he not possessed one other of the first importance. He was accustomed to see things for himself. He was an observer not only in the domain of science, but also in that of practical life. As a boy, he pulled the sewing-machine to pieces to see how it was made, and as a young man he had gone deeply into the question of the nutritive value of the various food-stuffs. He had an eminently practical and mechanical talent ; and he had been born with the instinct of the Younht come in useful." No doubt he had learned much in his brief consultations with Nordenskjold, whose numerous expeditions had always been conspicuous for their careful and excellent equipment. But the expediticin now in hand must be set about on an entirely original plan, since they were to have neither reindeer nor dogs, but were themselves to be their own beasts of burden and drag every crumb of food and every instrument. Now was the time to act up to the Nansen motto, " To require little." The thing was to ascertain what food-stuffs com- bine a maximum of nourishment with a minimum Of weight , and equally important was the consideration of the means of transport to be employed. The lightness of everything was the cardinal point which distinguished the Nansen expedition from all others. Lightness became a study, an art. Nansen brooded on the problem by day, and dreamed of it at night. Like Macbeth, he was haunted with visions of insubstantial tollekuivs (sheath knives). 4 50 NANS EN IN THE FROZEN WORLD Everytliing was minutely criticised, from the raw mate- rial up to the finished product. Many of the most impor- tant articles Nansen designed for himself. From his detailed description of the outfit we reproduce in a few words the essential points ■ Five specially constructed band - sledges of ash, with broad steel - plated runners. These sledges were about 9 ft. 6 in. long by i ft. 8 in. broad, yet weighed, with the steel runners, only a little over 28 lbs. They were so excellently made that in spite of the tremendous wear and tear they were subjected to not one of them broke. Next came Norwegian snow- shoes {ski) of the most careful make, as well as Canadian snow-shoes and Norwegian wickerwork truger. The last were used particularly in ascending the outer slope of the ir land ice, and on wet snow where ski were useless. The tent was furnished by Lieutenant Ryder, of Copen- hagen. It was just large enough to accommodate the two sleeping-bags side by side upon the floor. The dress of the party consisted of a thin woollen vest and woollen drawers ; over the vest a thick Iceland jersey ; and for outer garments, jacket, knickerbockers and thick snow- socks on the legs, all made of Norwegian homespun. For windy and snowy weather they had an outer dress of thin sail-cloth. Their foot-gear consisted of boots with pitched seams and Lapland iauparsko, a sort of moccasin. On their heads they wore woollen caps and hoods of home- spun, woollen gloves on their hands, and in extreme cold an extra pair of dogskin gloves. For their eyes they had snow-spectacles, some of smoke-colored glass with baskets of steel-wire network, some of black wood with horizontal slits. The provisions consisted mainly of pemmican, meat- NANSEA^'S GREENLAND EXPEDITION powder chocolate, calf-liver pate, a Swedish biscuit known as kndkkcbrdd, meat biscuits, butter, dried halibut, a little cheese, pea-soup powder, chocolate, and condensed milk. They took two double-barrelled guns for replenishing their larder. The cooking apimratus was a spirit-burning contrivance devised by Nansen and a chemist named Schmelck, upon which they expended much labor. No spirits for consumption; some tea, a little coffee, a little tobacco. On the other hand, an abundance of scientific instruments. And, to complete the list, tarpaulins, which on the inland ice were sometimes used as sails ; bamboo poles ; and a quantity of tools and small necessaries of various kinds from matches and a few candles down to darning-needles — everything of course as light as pos- sible. In only one single respect did this equipment prove inadequate. The pemmican, which should have been the staple of their diet, had in the course of manufacture been deprived of all fat, and Nansen did not discover the fact until the last moment. The result was that they suf- fered after a while from " fat-hunger, of which no one who has not experienced it can form any idea." Even during the last days, when they had as much dried meat as they wanted, they did not feel satisfied. How easy it would have been in this terra incognita for the outfit to have fallen short in ether respects ! For one thing, no one in the least foresaw that the expedition would, at this time of the year, be exposed to such severe cold as was found to prevail on the inland ice. It was a new and unknown meteorological phenomenon which the expedition encountered. If Nansen had chosen woollen sleeping-bags instead of those of reindeer-skin, which he * I' '^i I l/ll 1 ll 5» A'AA'SJSJV IN THE FROZEN WORLD at last determined on, he and his comrades, as he himself admits, would scarcely have reached the west coast alive. Yes, a great deal might have happened ; but luck was on Hansen's side. His good genius was very active in all that concerned this, his first great undertaking. But in the last analysis, no doubt, the man who has " the luck on his side " is he who shows capacity, foresight, genius, and does not pit himself against forces which are in the nature of things unconquerable. We cannot conclude these lines on the preparations for the Greenland expedition without mentioning that Nan- sen was in constant communication with one of the most notable of the explorers of Greenland, Dr. H. Rink. One service that Rink certainly rendered him was to throw into strong relief the perils of the expedition, although there were moments when the enfeebled and ner' )usly conscientious old man reproached himself with not having dwelt on them suf^ciently. " Rink at first regarded the plan," his wife writes to us, " as a mere romantic fancy. The more he pondered over it, and the more he became attached to the man who was to carry it out, the more perilous did it become in his eyes, until at last he blamed himself severely for not having, in the course of all their discussions, painted in strong enough colors the dangers to which he believed the expedition would be exposed. So, expressly on this account, we invited Nansen to pay us another visit. That evening we spent for the most part in looking at pictures of Greenland, in a quieter and more serious frame of mind, on the whole, than on pre- vious occasions, when there had been a vast amount of jesting over the chances (cannibalism not excepted) that might befall the expedition on the ice fields. On these 4 NANSEN'S GREENLAND EXrEDITION hi occasions everybody used to laugh very heartily, except Rink. And I remember I had to bear all the blame of this imseemly conduct after the party broke up." In Rink's house, too, they used to take lessons in Eskimo, when time permitted. Sverdrup tried it first ; but he could not i>:et his tongue round the Greenland idiom. Dietrichson was good at it. " Curiously enough," writes Mrs. Rink, " I had pitched upon these two as the predestined spokesmen of the expedition, and did not offer to give Nanseu any lessons. Whereupon he said, as though a little hurt: 'Mayn't I try too.?' — and he went at it with the earnestness and perseverance that are such charming traits in his character. How remarkably he succeeded in picking up the language, the Eskimos themselves bear witness." The last evening Nansen was at Rink's house, Mrs. Rink accompanied him to the door. " I said," she writes, " what had often occurred to me, ' You must go to the North Pole, too, some day.' He answered emphatically, as though he had long ago made up his mind on the ])oint, ' I mean to.' " RAVNA CHRtSTIANSRN NitNSEN bIBTRICHSON SVERDRUP THE MEMBERS OF THE CJREENLAND EXPEDITION CHAPTER IV ACROSS GREENLAND On May 2, 1888, Nansen started from Christiania, by way of Copenhagen and London, for Leith, where he was to meet the rest of the party, who had gone, with the whole outfit, from Christiansand direct to Scotland. From Scotland they proceeded to Iceland by the Danish steamer Thyra. Not until June 4 did they join the sealer yason (Captain M. Jacobsen), which was to carry them over to the east coast of Greenland — under the express stipulation, however, that the vessel should not be hindered in its sealing operations for the sake of landing the party. i A en OSS GREENLAND 55 On Monday, June ii,thcy had their first ghnipsc of the cast coast of Grcenhmd, sighting the high ruggjd peaks north of Cape Dan at about the latitude where, in 1883, Nordenskjold had succeeded in getting through the drift ice with tlie Sophia. The ice belt between the vessel and the coast proved, however, to be still so wide (from nine to ten miles of rough ice) as to render any attempt to reach the land unadvisable for the present. They had to wait about a month for a favorable opportu- nity of leaving the Jason, which was bound to remain in the region where the seal-hunting was likely to be good. Meanwhile, Nansen acted as "doctor" to the whole fleet of sealers, and had to possess his soul in patience until the sealing season was practically over. Finally, on the morning of July 17, the Jason was so near land (about 2\ miles from the coast near Sermi- likfjord, at 65 1° N. lat.) that Nansen determined to force a passage i-hrough the comparatively narrow belt of drift ice. The boat belonging to the expedition, and a smaller one which the captain of the Jason had placed at their disposal, were therefore lowered, the baggage packed and stowed in the boats, and every preparation promptly made. At 7 r. m. all was ready for a start. Nansen went up into the crow's-nest for a last survey of the course, and saw plainly, with the aid of the glass, a belt of open water between the drift ice and the shore. " We are taking to our boats with the firmest hope of a successful issue to our enterprise," Nansen wrote in a letter to the " Morgenblad " hastily scribbled at the last moment. It was soon apparent that their hopefulness was, at the 56 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD I !i: I very outset, to be put to a severe test. After they had tried the whole night loni;, in storm and rain, to get through the drift ice opposite the mouth of the SermiHk- fjord, the ice became so packed by tlie current that, in the early morning, they had to drag their boats up on the floes. One of the boats was injured by the jjressure of the ice, so that it had to be repaired in hot haste; and during the short time lost in doing this they were caught in a strong southerly current, and swept seaward again at a great speed. At six o'clock on the 19th they found that they were already twice as far from land as when they had left the shij). There was nothincr for it but to drift southward with the ice until an opportunity should offer of getting in under the land a^ain. For ten days the expedition drifted along the cast coast of Greenland as far down as the island of Kudtlek, 61° 40' N. lat., at an average rate of nearly six knots in the twenty-four hou'"s. Quite apart from the very serious dangers to which Nansen and his comrades were exposed during this drift voyage, the expedition was carried a long way from its projected starting-point, and had lost a great deal of very precious time. It was not till July 29 that they succf ded in setting foot on dry land, and thus the best part of the summer was already gone. Nansen has given a vivid description of this interesting drift voyage, and of life on the ice floe, which, tossed about by the waves and breakers, and repeatedly cracked and broken, was yet the abiding-place of the expedition during all these days.^ With the mountains of the coast so near that in bright weather they could clearly distinguish their 1 For description, see next chapter. ll! P ->u\ )urney, that when at last they had got through the belt of tlrift ice they instantly set to work to row northward again, in order to reach the proper point for attacking the ice sheet. They had, in a way, made an unfortunate and discouraging start. It was already well on in the sunnner, the suj)i)ly of provisions was not over- abundant, and — civilization was, moreover, within tempt- ingly easy reach. 'J'hey were now only i8o miles from the nearest colony, P'rederiksdal, while the Sermilikfjord, the starting-i)oint originally fixed upon, was nearly twice as distant. The mere fact of their resisting the tempta- tion to put off till the following year may be called truly heroic ; not many would have shown such resolution. But for them the temptation was no temptation at all. It did not enter their thoughts that there was anything to be done except to head the boats northward as quickly as possible. And it was not with anxious fear, but with radiant joy, that they now saw a clear water-way before them. The first problem, that of getting through the drift ice with whole skins, was thus solved — with great labo-, it is true, and loss of precious time, but nevertheless solved. It had been prophesied that even this would prove im- l^racticable ; for a long series of vain attempts had shown that it was next thing to impossible to penetrate the ice belt south of the sixty-sixth degree of latitude. Not until Co NANS/'IX /.V TlfE /'RO/.EX WORLD i i iiii \ r 1883 had Nordcnskjold, uitli tlic stcaniur Sophia, suc- ceeded in rcachini; the cua.st near Cape Dan (KIiil; Oscar's I lawn). So nuich the more darini; was it on Nansen's part to make the attemi)t. But now the thing was to make all speed northward. The best of the summer was i^one. If they were to have any chance of reachint; the west coast that year, they must go at it in earnest. And they did go at it in earnest. On the day of their landing at Kekertarsuak they had a lordly repast of hot chocolate and extra rations of oat cake, Swiss cheese, mysost (goat's milk cheese), and cran- berry jam, to celebrate their landing; but after that their meals consisted of cold water, biscuits, and dried beef — they could not waste time in cooking until they had in some measure made uj) what they had lost in the ice drift. It was a toilsome journey by boat northward along the coast. For long distances they had to exert all their strength to force the ice floes apart in order to get the boats through the narrow channels between them; and sometimes they had to drag the boats over the ice, skirt- ing the low barren coast, with glaciers and snow-fields coming right down to the margin of the sea. They got safely past ♦:he dreaded glacier Puisortok (near it, at Cape Bille, they came upon an encampment of heathen Eski- mos, of which Nansen has given a highly interesting description),^ and they forced their way with the greatest difficulty through a closely packed belt of drift ice south of Ingerkajarfik. At Mogens Heinesens Fjord the appear- ance of tlie coast altered. From this point northward there is a long stretch of bare coast land, with a view of * See chapter vi. ACJiOSS GREENLAND 6i hij^h mountain ranges, " summit on summit, and rank be- hind rank." Hy dint of constant battling with tlie drift ice and tiie current, the expedition reached Nunarsuak (62" 43' N. lat.) on August 3. I^om this point they tried to sail, but the wind soon rose to a tem])est which was near proving fatal, for the boats were on the point of being crushed between the ice floes, got their oars and th()Ie-|)ins smashed, and were sejjarated into the bargain. It was a hard pinch, but by putting forth all their strength they got through it at last, and liie tent was pitched on a patch of .soft greensward on (irit'fenfeldt's Island, for the highly needful repose after an exhausting day. A feast of splendid hot caraway .soup, "never to be forgotten," was the reward for their toils. On August 5 the boats narrowly escaped being crushed by the falling of a fragment of an iceberg, and "after ahnost incredible labor" they reached in the even- ing an islet at the moutli of the Inugsuarmiutfjord, where they intended to rest for the night. But from here they perceived that the water was open ahead, the fjord lying smooth as a mirror; so their rest had to be adjourned. Forward again ! They certainly did " go at it in earnest." At Singiartuarfik, on August 6, they again fell in with Eskimos. Then northward again, now in ojDcn water, now fighting with drift ice, ahvays on cold dry diet which was served out, moreover, in very scanty rations. They were never really satisfied, not even directly after eating ; but Nansen said " they had had enough, so enough it had to be," as Christiansen put it. To the Lapps, who natu- rally had no very clear notion beforehand of what they had embarked upon, this perpetual fighting with drift 62 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD I I li IK' ice, and fasting on top of it, began to seem rather de- pressing. The coast now became less precipitous again, and the mountain contours rounder, and the explorers began to tliink of landing and beginning their journey proper. On August 8 they reached Bernstorff's Fjord (Kangerd- lugsuak) at about 631° N. lat. The fjord was brimful of glacier ice, many of the huge icebergs rising out of the water to a height of over two hundred feet (six or seven times as much being under water), and running to a mile or so in breadth, sometimes flat-topped, sometimes jutting forth into the moi^t fantastic p^^aks, pinnacles, and crests. These colossal masses were so innumerable that they threatened to bar aU advance. From the top of one of them the eye ranged over an " Alpine world of floating ice." At last chinks were discovered even in this barrier — open channels " with a narrow strip of sky visible between high walls of ice." And " although huge icebergs more than once collapsed, or capsized with a mighty crash, and set up a violent sea-way," here, too, they at last got out of their difficulties for the moment. That night they slept in the sleeping-bags only, upon a rock so small that there was not room to pitch the tent. In a more and more open water-way they pressed on northward, with masses of ice breaking off from the glaciers and icebergs on every side. On August 9, while they were in the act of forcing asunder two floes, among a number of icebergs, a huge piece of an iceberg fell down with a mighty crash upon the floe they were stand- ing on, smashing it and violently churning up the sea. " Had we gone to that side a few moments earlier, as we ACROSS GREENLAND 63 •e originally intended, we should almost certainly have been crushed to death. It was the third time such a thing had happened to us," Nansen says in his account of the expe- dition, characteristically describing it as "an odd occur- rence." Well may it be called " odd " ! How does it hap- pen that some men come safe and sound through all such adventures ; go voyages on ice floes and sleep undisturbed while the surf is on the point of breaking up the fragile barrier between them and eternity ; row in boats under toppling icebergs, and get clear of them two minutes be- fore they fall ; plump into fissures in the inland ice at the very points where their arms and their alpenstocks can save them ; row for days in dangerous waters in nutshell boats improvised out of sail-cloth, and get in just in time to escape storms and certain destruction ; sleep on the ice in a temperature of — 45° C. ( — 49° Fahr.) without freezing to death ; fall into the ice-cold water half a score of times not only without drowning, but without so much as taking cold ; lead a dog's life of toil and hunger for months at a stretch, and come out none the worse for it ; while others — alas ! one has no heart to insist on the contrast. But truly it may well be called " odd" ! Let us admit that ninety-nine hundredths of this "devil's own luck " is due to having an eye on every finger, so to speak — is due to the sound mind in the sound body — to the alert capacity of genius — to the indomitable energy of the man with a vocation. Granted all this, how are we to account for the remaining hundredth ? These Greenland explorers are in league with destiny ! When Njaal and his sons were hard bestead, Njaal would have had them give in ; and one of the sons agreed with him that that was " the best they could do." Whereupon 64 NANSEJV IN THE FROZEN WORLD Skarphcdin answered : " I am not so sure of that, for now he is fey." The Saga-man would have us understand that he who is " fey," who is marked for death, lias no longer complete control of his will and his intelligence. These young men were not "fey" in any sense of the word/ They now pressed forward in tolerably open water past the glacier-bound coast near Gyldenlove's Fjord and Col- berger Heide, and at last, at eight o'clock in the evening of August lo, in a thick fog, they made their final land- ing on the north side of Umiviksfjord. They were now done with the boats, and were overjoyed to haul them up on land, Nansen meanwhile making the roffee " for the second hot meal in twelve days." f; W After Nansen ind Sverdrup had assured themselves, by a laborious reconnaissance on August 1 1, that it was pos- sible to make the ascent of the inland ice from Umivik, the following days were devoted to all kinds of repairs of foot-gear, sledge-runners, etc., the final packing of the baggage, and, in short, the most careful preparation for the journey that lay before them. During all tliese days the weather was mild and calm, with a great deal of rain — weather in which it would not in any case have been advisable to make a start. At last, at nine in the evening on August i6, every- thinare rock was seen on August 31. After that nothing but ice and snow met their view until they reached the west coast. ACROSS GREENLAND 67 The tly clif- point, [l; the After 11 they Still their course lay steadily upward. The snow-field rose in long, gentle waves, higher and higher toward the interior. lH)r weeks they fought their way inland in this fashion, one day exactly resembling another, and full of endless toil from niorninsj: till niijht. The surface of the snow was now smooth and even as a mirror, broken only by the tracks they themselves made with their feet or their sledges. The snow, frec[uently fresh-fallen, was, as a rule, fine and dry, and tlierefore exceptionally heavy to drag the sledges through. The day's march under these con- ditions was not long — not more than from five to ten miles, although they were now able to use snow-shoes. As they advanced the cold became more and more severe. When the weather was fine, indeed, the midday sun was often quite ojDj^ressive, and their feet would get wet in the slush ; but as soon as the sun went down, they felt the cold of the nights so much the more keenly — and they w^ere often in danger of having their wet feet frost-bitten. " It often happened, when we came to take off our lau]3ar-shoes of an evening, that we foiuid them frozen fast in one solid piece with snow-sock and stock- mg. On September 11, the temperature at night within the tent was under —40' C. ( — 40° Fahr.), and outside the tent probably under —45° C. ( — 49° Fahr.). The difference be- tween the day and the night temperature was often more than 20° C. (36° Fahr.). Even inside the closed sleeping- bag, the cold was so severe that when they awakened they would often find their heads completely surrounded with ice and hoar frost. " To be obliged to be out constantly in such cold is not always agreeable," says Nansen in his 68 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD book. " It often hai^pcncd that so much ice formed about the face tliat the beard was absokitely frozen fast to the wrajjpings round the liead, and it was difficult enout^li to open the mouth to speak." When in addition to the frost there came a snow-storm, we can readily understand that it was no joke for them to drag themselves, each with a heavy sledge, day after day across the interminable ice desert, at an altitude of 8,000 or 9,000 feet above the sea. From September 4 to 8 they encountered a furious snow- storm, with a temperature of — 40° Fahr. On the 7th, in- deed, they dared not stir from their tent, which was care- fully hauled taut, lest the w'nd should blow it to shreds — in which case, no doubt, their saga would have been over. But when it was at all possible their daily life followed its regular course; and in spite of cold and snow-storm, thirst, " fat hunger," and other hardships, they toiled steadily on toward the west coast. On September 5 they passed the highest point on their route, 8,860 feet. On September 1 1 and 1 2 they were at a height of about 8,300 feet; and from here began a perceptible, if not a very marked, down gradient toward the west. On the 1 6th they came upon several pretty sharp declivities, and when the temperature at night " just failed to reach zero " they all felt that it was quite mild. On the 17th they saw a snow-bunting, and knew they must now be nearinsf " land." On the 19th they had a favorable wind, and hoisted sails on the sledges, which they lashed together, two and two. They were soon going at a spanking pace, and now at last they were distinctly upon the downward slope toward the coast. Late in the afternoon they saw " land " for the first time. They went on sailing in the moonlight, ACROSS GREENLAND Oc; and very nearly sailed their last voyage, for the)- had now- reached the fissured marginal zone of the inland ice, with its yawning crevasses many hundred feet deep. Nansen himself had the fingers of both hands frost- bitten that evening, and suffered "almost intolerable pain" (it must have been bad indeed !). They had little enough UNDI'.i; SAII, IN 'I'lIK MOOM.ICHT — CKKNASSKS AIIIAl) to eat, too ; but for all this they cared not a whit, for they knew now that they were nearing the west coast. The next morning (September 20) when they looked out of the tent, and saw the whole country south of Godt- haabsfjord spread out before them, one can guess what were their feelings. " We were like children — a lump rose in our throats, while our eyes followed the valleys and sought in vain for a gHmpse of the sea." 70 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD The next clay they advanced }3retty briskly, althougli with the iireatest caution, on account of the numerous fissures, among which they had many narrow escapes. On the eveninti of the 21st, for the first time since leavinLi' the east coast, they found water, and after several weeks of thirst were able to drink freely. " We could positively feel our stomachs distending," says Nansen. These were memorable days for them all. They pushed on now toward Ameralikfjord ; but it was an advance under difificulties. The ice soon became terri- bly uneven, and full of cracks and crevasses on all sides — sometimes so impassable that they had to make long de- tours. Several times, one or another of them would fall into a crevasse, but would generally manage to get his alpenstock fixed like a horizontal bar across the fissure. " It was odd enough that none of us fell in any deeper." In spite of untold difficulties and dangers they made their way during the succeeding days across this treacher- ous marginal zone, and at last, on September 24, reached naked soil, and had the inland ice forever behind them. " No words can possibly describe what it was to us merely to have earth and stones under our feet — the sense of well-being that thrilled through every nerve when we felt the heather springing under our step, and smelled the marvellous fragrance of grass and moss." Their difficulties, however, were not yet over — they had still a good way to go down the long Austmannadal, and now everything had to be carried on their backs. This final stage they accomplished in the following days, and at last the fjord was reached. Here Sverdrup and Balto set to work to stitch together the hull of a canvas boat, using for the purpose the sail- /,' ACh'OSS GRKENI.AM^ NANSEN AND SVr.RDRri' IN TIIK CANVAS IIOAT cloth floor of tlie tent ; wliilc Nanscn cut willow-wands to make the frame. Oars were improvised out of bamboo staves and split willow-branches covered with sail-cloth. For thwarts they had nothing but a theodolite-stand and two thin bamboo rods. It was an uncouth nutshell of a boat, about 8 feet long, not quite 4 feet 6 inches wide, and scarcely 2 feet deep. It was just big enough to hold Nansen and vSverdrup, and the most necessary baggage; and they had to keep their tongues pretty straight in their mouths, or it would liave capsized. After a terrible business in getting boat and baggacre through the river delta and across a clayey spit of land to the open water, on September 29, Nansen and Sverdrup at last rowed off down the Ameralikfjord. Although the boat could scarcely be classed as Ai, and leaked so that it 7» NAN^JiN JN TJIK FKOAEN WORLD m I*!, i had to be baled every ten niinute.s, it nevertheless earned them to their journey's end. They had favorable weather on the whole, and, by dint of j;reat exertions, they brought their coracle safe and sound to New llerrnhut at midday on October 3. Scarcely had they got ashore when a terrific southerly jj;ale came on. From New llerrnhut they went overland to Ciodthaab. I)ietrichs».,p. Christiansen, and the two Lapi)s, who had remained behind at the head of the Ameralikfjord with the bulk of the baggage and no great store of provisions, were brought off in safety as soon as the weather ))er- mitted; and thus, on October 16, did this remarkable expedition come to a fortunate close. "We had toiled hard, and undeniably suffered a good deal in order to reach this ijoal ; and what were now our sensations,'* Were they those of tlie hap])y victor.-* No; we had looked forward so long to the goal that we had discounted its attainment." So Nansen writes of his feel- ings the evening before they arrived at Ciodthaab. And this is, no doubt, comj^rehensible enough. They were too tired, too worn out, for the abstract exultation at having actually reached their goal to be able to assert itself effec- tually against the more material delights, for example, of eating till they were satisfied and sleeping in a proper bed. Besides, the satisfaction had been broken up into many happy moments during the actual journey — they had had a taste of it when, with confident hope, they landed on the east coast, after forcing their passage through the drift ice ; they had revelled in it when they first saw land from the heights of the inland ice, when they first found water ICA'OSS GRI'J'.XLAND 73 to drink, when they (ir^^l frit the soHd earth, with heather and mohs, under their feet, when they hiunchcd their boat on the waves of tlie AnieraHUfjord. 'I'lie satisfaction really lay in the exploit as a whole, in the stinuilatinij; onen-air lifi-, toilsome ihouiih it was — not so nuieh in the g< )al attained, as in the struiiule to attain it. As soon as that was done, why, it was done; there was no longer anything to toil and strive for, and lassitude rushed in ui)( )n theni until other more distant 'joals heuan to loom ahead in their thoughts. 'Ihis, indeed, is what inevitably ha|)i)ens to every man who is really born with the sj)irit of research. So long as he has strength and faculty for new ])roblems, his joy over those achieved must be short- lived. It must give place, in the ferment of the mind, to new asjJU'ations ; and m INansens case these new aspn"a- tions were already lying in wait. We may safely assume that e\'en during his sta\- in Cireenland the ])lan of his next great enterprise must liave been taking sha])e in his thoutihts. When the exj^edition reached the colony, the shijj from Godthaab had already started. Nansen, however, got kaiak-men to take letters to Ivi'>"tut, seventv miles south ot Godthaab. They were duly delivered, at the last moment, on board the steamer Fox. which had carried McClintock on his voyage in search of I*"rank]in ; and thus the news of the successful issue of the Greenland expedition reached Europe that autumn. It chanced that the Fox was obliged, by scarcity of coal, to touch at Skudesnces, so that Nansen's native country got the first intelliijence. The two letters brought by the steamer, one from 74 JV.IAS/CN' IN THE INOZEX U'ONI.D NanscM to (iaincl, the other fiom S\(.T(lrii|) to his father, were soon telei^raphed over the uiiole uorld, and, as will be renienihered, were evei) when* received witli i;reat rejoiriiiL;. Mcanwiiile Nansen and his comrades had to winter in (iodthaah. where I lerr P)i>.tni|)s, the (Hrec tor ol the colony, Doctor Hin/ers. I'astor JKilles, and the other Danish residents, showed them the L|;reatest hos|)ita]ity. and did everythinL; to make their stay as pleasant as possible. Nansen himself liniud his time to account in studying the I'^skimos. lie shared their life with them ii. their huts, went thoroiii;hly into their methods of hunting, their customs and oicupations, and even got to know their language pretty well, lie learned to manage the kaiak and wield their wea|)ons; in short, he s|)ared no possible |)ains in his study of this remarkable j)e()ple, for whom he soon came to entertain a real affection. He also made several excursions with the (Ireenlanders, a hunting exjiedition to Ameralikfjord, and longer tri|)s to Sardlok and Kangek, during which he lived for some weeks entirely with the l^skimos. On April 15, 18S9, while Nansen and his comrades sat chatting over their cofTee with the colonial director and the doctor, the whole colony resounded with one universal cry, " Umiarsuit ! Umiarsuit ! " (The ship, the shij) !) It was the longed-for vessel, HviddJ'onum, under the command of Lieutenant Ciarde. The hour of departure had come, and everything was soon in order. " It was not without sorrow," Nansen says, " that some of us turned our backs on the people who had been so good to us. and the place where we had lived so happily." So far as Nansen himself is concerned, //( Vi'OAA GNEEM.AMJ • 75 one may be sure that these words arc the e\i)ressioii of sincere feelinj;. A nature h'ki- lii>, with it^ hi-allhy passion for o|)en-air activity, nuist have been in its ele- ment aniont;- these kindly priniitivi' pi'o])U'. I U- rehites a cliarmingly characteristic Httle incident of their leave- takiii''. One of his l^skimo friends, whom he had often visited, said to him tiie (hiy before his de|)artnre : "Now you are i^oiiiL;' back to the unreal world whence you came to us, and you will meet many peojjle there, and hea'' many new things, and you will soon forijet us; bu( u^e 7i'i// never foroct you!' Those who know Nansen know that he has not fori;-ot- len his I'!skimo friends ; and those who have read his book describini;- their life will understand how dear they had become to him. On May 21, after a favorable passage, //rvV////';i;'?/^;/ an- chored in the harbor of Copenhagen, It was a little more than a year since Nansen, on his way to Greenland, had passed through Coi)enhagen, and put the hasty finishing touclies to the prei)arations for the e.\j)edition. A great deal liad hai)i:)ened in the interval. In himself, indeed, he was just the same when he came back as when he went away ; but in the eyes of the world he was a very differ- ent person. Then he had been a }'oung dare-devil setting forth on a forlorn hope; now he was the world-renowned explorer who liad successfully carried through a great un- dertakinir. And then came the triumphs. First a week's festivi- ties in Copenhagen, and then the home-coming — such a home-coming as has fallen to the lot of no other Norwe- gian. It was a lovely day as the triumphal procession passed up Christiania Fjord — all the ships were in festal 76 NAXSEN JN THE FKOZKX IVOKT.D array, tlic woods wore their first i;reen leaves, there were flowers and flags and music on e\ery liand, uj) the whole long fjord, to the city. It was as though a flood of color and warmth had streamed forth to greet these vis- itants from the white wastes of the inland ice. r^irst came the men-of-war and the torpedo boats, skim ming along beside the i\[. G. Mclchior, and forming a (juard of honor, right uj) to the capital ; then the great sc|uadron of steamshijjs, then the sailing-boats and cutters with their wliite sails, dartins: around Nansen's ship like a flock of sea-gulls, now astern, now abeam, now ahead There he stood in his gray clothes which had turned to dirty brown in ihe (jreenland turf huts. The honor done him was too overi)owering for him to feel proud at that mo- ment. A softer and more subdued emotion must douJDt- less have been in the ascendant. He must have felt how he passed over into his people, and became one with it. He had gone forth as an emissary, an interpreter of this pei.)ple ; the courage wliicli goes unknown and unrecorded to its fate in the dark nights on sea and fjord, it had been his happy lot to lead forward into sunsliine and victory NANSKN AT TIIIKTY-ONE AC/POSS GREENLAND ^^ before the eyes of the u hole world. Among all the th(,u- sands who waved to him from the ramparts of Akerhrs who burst tlie cordon of the police and swarmed round his carnage m the streets, how nKxny at tiiat moment had any thought of science ? It was the ex,)loit that apj)ealed to them— they saw in him the victorious chieftain, the con- nectmg link between the heroes of the Sagas and the heroes of every-day life, the fisherman clinging to his over- turned boat, the snow-shoer on the wintry uplands, the lumberman shooting the rapids on his raft. They saw in hull the national type ; an:l the)- were right in a way In that hour he must certainly have felt himself close-knit to the soil from which his deed had sprung, and memories Oi childhood must have rushed in upon him when his car- nage stopped at the house of the sisters Larsen, and he ran upstan-s to greet the old housekeeper at Great Froen ^yho had bandaged his blood-stained forehead the first time that he kissed the ice. 4 CIIAPTICK V ij I)Klllorious, as red as it was )esterday, and as no doubt it will be to- morrow and ever after, setting the western sky on fire, and pressing its last long passionate kiss on land and ice and sea before it disajDpears behind the barrier of the 'inland ice.' There is not a breath of wind stirrinuf, and the sea is rolling in upon us rudd\ and polished as a shield under the light of the evening sky. " Beautiful it is, indeed, v/ith these huge loncj billows coming rolling in, sweeping on as if nothing could with- stand them. They fall upon the white floes, and then, raising their green, dripping breasts, they break and throw fragments of ice and spray far before them on to the glittering snow, or high above them into the blue air. But it seems almost strange that such surroundings can be the scene of death. Yet death must come one day, and the hour of our departure could scarcely be more glorious. " But we have no time to waste ; we are getting very near now. The swell is so heavy that when we are down in the hollows we can see nothinci: of the ice around us, nothing but the sky above. Floes crash together, break, and are ground to fragments all about us, and our own has also split. If we are going to sea we shall need all our strength in case wc have to row for days together in order to keep clear of the ice. So all hands are ordered to bed in the tent, which is the only thing we have not iit DRIFTING IN THE ICE 83 very down Id us, [ircak, own Id all IX in lered not yet packed into the boats, Sverdrup, as the most experi- enced and cool-headed amonu" us, is to take the first watch and turn us out at the critical moment. In two hours Christiansen is to take his place. " I look in \ain for any sign which can betray fear on the part of my comrades, but they seem as cool as ever, and their conversation is as usual. The Lapps alone show some anxiety, though it is that of a calm resignation, for they are fully convinced that they have seen the sun set for the last time. In spite of the roar of the breakers we are soon fast asleep, and even the Lapps seem to be slum- bering quietly and soundly. They are too good children of nature to let anxiety spoil their sleep. Balto, who, not finding the tent safe enough, is lvini>; in one of the boats, did not even wake when some time later it was almost swept by the waves, and Sverdrup had to hold it to kec}i it on the floe. " After sleeping for a while, I do not know how long, I am woke by the sound of the water rushing close by my head and just outside thu wall of the tent. I feel the floe rocking up and down like a ship in a heavy sea, and the roar of the surf is r ore deafening than ever. I lay expect- ing every moment to hear Sverdrup call me or to see the tent filled with water, but nothing of the kind happened. I could distinctly hear his familiar steady tread up and down the floe between the tent and the boats. I seemed to my- self to see his sturdy form as he paced calmly backward and forward, with his hands in his pockets and a slight stoop in his shoulders, or stood with his calm and thought- ful face gazing out to sea, his quid now and again turning in his cheek — I remember no more, as I dozed off to sleep again. 84 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD li' ;■ i li ! ) ^ i'r n " I did not wake again till it was full morning. Then I started iij) in astonishment, for I could hear nothing of the breakers but a distant thunder. When I got outside the tent I saw that we were a long way off the open sea. Our floe, however, was a sight to remember. Fragments of ice, big and little, had been thrown upon it by the waves till they formed a rampart all around us, and the ridge on which our tent and one of the boats stood was the only part the sea had not washed. " Sverdrup now told us that several times in the course of the night he had stood by the tent-door prepared to turn us out. Once he actually undid one hook, then waited a bit, took another turn to the boats, and then another look at the surf, leaving the hook unfastened in case of accident. We were then right out at the extreme edge of the ice. A huge crag of ice was swaying in tlie sea close beside us, and threatening every moment to fall ipon our floe. The surf was washing us on all sides, Ijut the rampart that had been thrown up round us did us good service, and the tent and one of the boats still stood high and dry. The other boat, in which Balto was asleep, was washed so heavily that again and again Sverdrup had to hold it in its place. " Then matters got still worse. Sverdrup came to the tent-door again, undid another hook, but again hesitated and waited for the next sea. He undid no more hooks, however. Just as things looked worst, and our floe's turn had come to ride out into the middle of the breakers, she suddenly changed her course, and with astonishing speed we were once more sailing in toward land. So marvellous was the change that it looked as if it were the work of an unseen hand. When I got out we were far inside and in DRIFTIXG IN THE ICE a good harbor though the n,ar of the breakers was still aucbble enough to renu.ul us of the night. Thus fo^ t.n,e wc were spared the expeeted trial of the se.wor ness of our boats and our own seamanship " tl — \vlikl.''"'''WMKl//'^/// ' TllK KSKIMO KNiAMI'MlAT AT V ,\VV. lUl.I.E (/?>' A". Nielsen, /rotii h) ilv I ■t ^ i 1: .1 CHAPTER VI AN KSKIMO ENCAMI'MKNT ON TIIK EAST COAST * As wc drew near Cape Bille, the promontory which lies to the north of Puisortok, we lieard strange sounds from shore — as it were, a mixture of human voices and the barkins: of doijs. As we ijazed thither we now caught sight of some dark masses of moving objects, which, as we examined them more closely, we found to be groups of human beings. They were spread over the terrace of rock, were chatteriuL:: in indistinsfuishable Babel, ijesticu- lating, and pointing toward us as we worked our way quietly through the ice. They had evidently been watch- ing us for some time. We now too discovered a number of skin-tents which were perched aiTiong the rocks, and at the same time became aware of a noteworthy smell of train-oil or some similar substance, which followed the off- shore breeze. Though it was still early, and though the water in front of us seemed open for some distance, we could not resist the temptation of visiting these strange and unknown beings. At the moment we turned our * From Nansen's Across Greenland. 1, as oups Lce of ticii- way atch- mber nd at 11 of eoff- the ange ■ our A.V ESKIMO ENCAMrMENT «7 boats toward shore the clamor increased tenfold. They shrieked and yelled, j)ointed, and rushed, some down to the shore, others uj) on to higher rocks in order to see us better. If we were stopped by ice and took out our long boat-hooks and bamboo jjoles to force the floes apart and make ourselves a channel, the confusion on shore rose to an extraordinary pitch, the cries and laughter growing simply hysterical. As we got in toward land some men came dartinir out to us in their " kaiaks," amonu' them a native whom we had seen in the morninir. Their faces one and all simply beamed with smiles, and in the most friendly way they swarmed around us in tluir active little craft, trying to point us out the way, which we could quite well find ourselves, and gazing in wonder at our strong boats as they glided on regardless of ice, which would have cut their fragile boats of skin in pieces. At last we passed the last floe and drew in to shore. It was now growing dusk, and the scene that met us was one of the most fantastic to which I have ever been witness. All about the ledges of rock stood long rows of strangely wild and shaggy-looking creatures — men, women, and children all in much the same scanty dress — staring and pointing at us, and uttering the same bo- vine sound which had so much struck us in the morning. Now it was just as if we had a whole herd of cows about us, lowing in chorus as the cowhouse door is opened in the morning to admit the expected fodder. Down by the water's edge were a number of men eagerly strug- gling and gesticulating to show us a good landing-place, which, together with other small services of the kind, is the acknowledged Eskimo welcome to strangers whom they are pleased to see. Up on the rocks were a number IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // / s*V%* ^<^ /IV «. <. <;< ^jf i^.. 7. 1.0 I.I 1.25 VI Ism ^ 1^ 12.0 1.4 6" 1.6 V] <^ ^€ ^> 'c^l e: cf'i ^^ > > A.^*? *>.-?^ '/ /A Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 iV V ^ ^^ ■^ ^9) .V o^ np <^ w ' i 88 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD of yellowish-lDrown tents, and lower down canoes, skin- boats, and other implements, while more " kaiaks " swarmed round us in the water. Add to all this the neighboring; glacier, the drifting floes, and the glowing evening sk}-, and, lastly, our two boats and six unkempt- looking selves, and the whole formed a picture which we at least are not likely to forget. The life and movement were a welcome contrast indeed to the desolation and silence which we had so lont; endured. It was not long, of course, before our boats were safely moored, and we standing on shore surrounded by crowds of natives, who scanned us and our belonsfinijs with won- dering eyes. Beaming smiles and kindliness met us on all sides. i\ smiling face is the Eskimo's greeting to a stranger, as his language has no formula of welcome. Then we look around us for a bit. Here amid the ice and snow these people seemed to be comfortable enough, and we felt indeed that we would willingly prolong our stay among them. As we stopped in front of the largest tent, at the sight of the comfortable glow that shone out through its outer opening, we were at once invited in by signs. We accepted the invitation, and as soon as we had passed the outer doorway a curtain of thin membra- neous skin was pushed aside for us, and, bending our heads as we entered, we found ourselves in a cosey room. The sight and smell which now met us were, to put it mildly, at least unusual. I had certainly been given to understand that the Eskimos of the east coast of Green- land were in the habit of reducing their indoor dress to the smallest possible dimensions, and that the atmosphere of their dwellings was the reverse of pleasant. But a sight so extraordinary, and a smell so remarkable, had AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 89 ^ fe never come within the grasp of my imagination. Tlic smell, which was a peculiar blending of several charac- teristic ingredients, was quite enough to occupy one's attention at first entrance. The most prominent of the components was due to the numerous train-oil lamps which were burning, and this powerful odor was well tempered with human exhalations of every conceivable kind, as well as the pungent efifluvia of a certain fetid liquid which was stored in vessels here and there about the room, and which, as I subsequently learned, is, from the various uses to which it is applied, one of the most important and valuable commodities of Eskimo domestic economy. Into further details I think it is scarcely ad- visable to go, and I must ask the reader to accept my assurance that the general effect was anythmg but at- tractive to the unaccustomed nose of the new-comer. However, familiarity soon has its wonted effect, and one's first abhorrence may even before long give way to a cer- tain degree of pleasure. But it is not the same with every one, and one or two of our party were even con- strained to retire incontinently. For my own part, I soon found myself sufKiciently at ease to be able to use my eyes. My attention was first arrested by the number of naked forms which thronged the tent in standing, sitting, and reclining positions. All the occupants were, in fact, attired in their so-called *' natit " or indoor dress, the dimensions of which are so extremely small as to make it practically invisible to the stranger's inexperienced eye. The dress consists of a narrow band about the loins, which in the case of the women is reduced to the smallest possible dimensions. Of false modesty, of course, there was no sign, but it is 90 NAiYSE.y AV 77/E FROZEN WORLD \l not to be wondered at that tlie unaffected ingenuousness with wliich all intercourse was carried on made a very strange impression upon us conventional Europeans in the first instance. Nor will the blushes whicii rose to the cheeks of some among us when we saw a party of young men and women who followed us into the tent at once proceed to attire themselves in their indoor dress, or, in other words, divest themselves of every particle of cloth- ing which they wore, be laid to our discredit, when it is remembered that we had been accustomed to male society exclusively during our voyage and adventures among the ice. The Lapps especially were much embarrassed at the unwonted sight. The natives now thronged in in numbers, and the tent was soon closely packed. We had been at once inxited to sit down upon some chests which stood by the thin skin-curtain at the entrance. These are the seats which are always put at the disposal of visitors, while the occu- pants have their places upon the long bench or couch which fills the back part of the tent. This couch is made of planks, is deep enough to give room for a body re- clining at full length, and is as broad as the whole width of the tent. It is covered with several layers of seal-skin, and upon it the occupants spend their whole indoor life, men and women alike, sitting often cross-legged as they work, and taking their meals and rest and sleep. The tent itself is of a very peculiar construction. The framework consists of a sort of high trestle, upon which a number of poles are laid, forming a semicircle below, and converging more or less to a point at the top. Over these poles a double layer of skin is stretched, the inner coat with the hair turned inward, and the outer generally ■'-^^'•^^'-^"-'"-' AJV ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 91 ;r consistinG: of tlic old coverinu^s of boats and " kaiaks." The entrance is under the above-mentioned trestle, which is covered by the thin curtain of which I have already spoken. This particular tent housed four or five different fami- lies. Each of them hiid its own partition marked off upon the common couch, and in each of the stalls so formed man, wife, and children would be closely packed, a four-foot space thus ha\'ing sometimes to accommodate husband, two wives, and six or more children. Before every family stall a train oil lamp was burning With a broad flame. These lamjDs are flat, semicircular vessels of pot-stone, about a foot in length. The wick is made of dried moss, which is placed against one side of the lamp and continually fed with pieces of fresh blubber, which soon melts into oil. The lamps are in charge of the women, wiio have special sticks to manipulate the wicks with, to keep them both from smoking and from burning too low. Great pots of the same stone hang above, and in them the Eskimos cook all their food which they do not eat raw. Strange to say, they use neither peat nor wood for cooking purposes, though such fuel is not diflficult to procure. The lamps are kept burning night and day ; they serve for both heating and lighting purposes, for the Eskimo does not sleep in the dark, like other people ; and they also serve to maintain a perma- nent odor of train-oil, which, as I have said, our Euro- pean senses at first found not altogether attractive, but which they soon learned not only to tolerate, but to take pleasure in. As we sat in a row on the chests, taking stock of our strange surroundings, our hosts began to try to enter- ( !':; ^ >'■! -■♦ 9* A^ANSEN JN THE FROZEN WORLD tain us. The use of every object we looked at was kindly c.\i:)lained to us, partly by means of words, of which we understood nothing, and partly by actions, which were somewhat more within reach of our com})rehension. In this way we learned that certain wooden racks which hung from the roof were for drying clothes on, that the substance cooking in the pots was seal's-flesh, and so on. Then they showed us various things which they were evidently very proud of. Some old women opened a bag, for instance, and brought out a little bit of Dutch screw- tobacco, while a man displayed a knife with a long bone- handle. These two things were, wo doubt, the most notable possessions in the tent, for they were regarded by all the company with especial veneration. Then they began to explain to us the mutual relations of the various occupants of the tent. A man embraced a fat woman, and thereupon the pair with extreme complacency pointed to some younger individuals, the whole pantomime giving us to understand that the party together formed a family of husband, wife, and children. The man then proceeded to stroke his wife down the back and pinch her here and there to show us how charming and delightful she was, and how fond he was of her, the process giving her, at the same time, evident satisfaction. Curiously enough, none of the men in this particular tent seemed to have more than one wife, though it is a common thing among the east coast Eskimos for a man to keep two if he can afford them, though never more than two. As a rule the men are good to their wives, and a couple may even be seen to kiss each other at times, though the process is not carried out on European lines, but by a mutual rubbing of noses. Domestic strife is, AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 93 however, not unknown, and it sometimes leads to violent scenes, the end of which generally is that the woman receives either a viicorous castiiration t)r the blade of a knife in her arm or leg, after which the relation between the two becomes as cordial as ever, especially if tlic woman has children. In our tent the best of understandings seem to ])rcvail among the many occupants. Toward us the}- were especially friendly, and talked incessantly, though it had long been quite clear to them that all their efforts in this direction were absolutely thrown away. One of the elders of the party, who was evidently a prominent per- sonage among them, and probably an "angekok" or magician, an old fellow with a wily, cunning expression, and a more dignified air than the rest, managed to explain to us with a jjreat deal of trouble that some of them had come from the north and were going south, while others had come from the south and were bound north ; that the two parties had met here by accident, that we had joined them, and that altogether they did not know when they had had such a t2:ood time before. Then he wanted to know where we had come from, but this was not so easily managed. We pointed out to sea, and as well as we could tried to make them understand that we had forced our way through the ice, had reached land farther south, and then worked up northward. This information made our audience look very doubtful indeed, and anotlier chorus of lowing followed, the conclusion evidently being that there was something supernatural about us. In this way the conversation went on, and, all things considered, we were thoroughly well entertained, though to an out- side observer our pantomimic efforts would, of course, have seemed extremely comical. 94 NANS EN IN THE FROZEN WORLD . . f i' I will not be rash enough to assert that all the faces that surrounded us were indisputably clean. Most of them were, no doubt, naturally of a yellowish or brownish hue, but how nuich of the color that we saw in these very swarthy countenances was really genuine we had no means of deciding. In some cases, and especially among the chil- dren, the dirt had accumulated to such an extent that it was already passing into the stage of a hard black crust, which here and there had begun to break away and to show the true skin beneath. E\'ery face, too, with few- exceptions, simply glistened with blubber. Among the women, especially the younger section, who here as in some other parts of the world are incontinently vain, wash- ing is said to be not uncommon, and Holm even accuses them of being very clean. But as to the exact nature of the process which leads to this result it will perhaps be better for me to say no more. It might be supposed that the surroundings and habits of these people, to which I have already referred, together with many other practices, which I have thought it better not to specify, would have an extremely repellent effect upon the stranger. But this is by no means the case when one has once overcome the first shock which the eccentricity of their ways is sure to cause, when one has ceased to notice such things as the irrepressible tendency of their hands to plunge into the jungle of their hair in hot pursuit, as their dirt-encrusted faces — a point on which, I may remark, we ourselves in our then condition had little right to speak — and as the strange atmosphere in which they live ; and if one is careful at first not to look too closely into their methods of preparing food, the gen- eral impression received is absolutely attractive. There AN ESKIMO KXCAMPMENT 95 is a frank and homely gcnialit)- in all their actions which is very winning, and can only make the stranger feel thor- oughly comfortable in their society. People's notions on the subject of good looks vary so much that it is difficult to come to a satisfactory determi- nation with regard to these Kskimos. If wc bind ourselves down to any established ideal of beauty, such as, for in- stance, the Venus of Milo, the c|uestion is soon settled. The east coast of Greenland, it must be confessed, is not rich in tyj^es of this kind. Hut if wc can only make an effort and free our critical faculty from a standard which has been forced upon it by the influences of superstition and heredity, and can only agree to allow that the thing which attracts us, and on which we look with delight, for these very reasons possesses the quality of beauty, then the prr>blem becomes very much more difficult of solution. I have no doubt that, were one to live with these people for a while and grow accustomed to them, one would soon find many a pretty face and many an attractive feature among them. As it was, indeed, we saw more than one face which a European taste would allow to be pretty. There was one woman especially who reminded me vividly of an acknow- ledged beauty at home in Norway; and not only I, but one of my companions who happened to know the proto- type, was greatly struck by the likeness. The faces of these Eskimos are as a rule round, with broad, outstanding jaws, and are, in the case of the women especially, very fat, the cheeks being particularly exuberant. The eyes are dark and often set a little obliquely, while the nose is flat, narrow above, and broad below. The whole face often looks as if it had been compressed from the front and 96 NAXSEN IN Tin: FRO ZEN WORLD forced to make its growth from tlic sides. Amont>; the women, and more especially the children, the face is so flat that one could almost lay a ruler across from clieek to cheek without louchini^ the nose; indeed, now and au;ain one will see a child whose nose really forms a depression in the face rather than the reverse. It will he understood from this that many of these people show no si^ns of ap- proaching the lun'opean standard of good looks, hut it is not exactly in this direction that the Eskimo's attractions, generally sjijcaking, really lie. At the sanie time there is something kindly, genial, and complacent in his stubby, dumpy, oily features which is quite irresistible. Their hands and feet alike are unusually small and well- shaped. Their hair is absol.itely black, and quite straight, resembliu'j: horse-hair. The men often tie it back from the forehead with a string of beads and leave it to fall down over the shoulders. Some who have no such band have it cut above the forehead or round the whole head with the jawbone of a shark, as their superstitions will not allow them on any account to let iron come into contact with it, even when the doubtful course of having it cut at all has been resolved upon. But, curiously enough, a man who has begun to cut his hair in his youth must necessa- rily continue the practice all his life. The women gather their hair up from behind and tie it with a strip of seal- skin into a cone, which must stand as perpendicularly as possible. This convention is, of course, especially strin- gent in the case of the young unmarried women, who, to obtain the desired result, tie their hair back from the fore- head and temples so tightly that by degrees it gradually gives way, and they become bald at a very early age. A head which has felt the effects of this treatment is no AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 97 attractive sight, but the victim in such cases has generally been a long time married and settled in life, and the dis- advantage is therefore not so keenly felt. After we had been sitting in the tent for a while, one of ;al- as in- to re- ESKIMO BEAUTY, KROM THK KAST COAST, IN HKR OLD AOE (By E. Nielsen, from a photograph taken by the Danish " Konebaad" expedition) the elders of the company, the old man with the unat- tractive expression, of whom I have already spoker 'ose and went out. Presently he came in a^^ain with a long line of seal-skin, which, as he sat on the bench, he began to un- roll. I regarded this performance with some w^onder, as I could not imagine what was going to happen. Then he brought out a knife, cut off a long piece, and, rising, gave it to one of us. Then he cut off another piece of equal 7 98 NANSIC.V IN TJIK J'RO/.EN WORLD Icngtli atul gave it to another, and the process was re- jieated till we all six were ahke provided. W'lien he had finished his distribution he smiled and beamed at us, in his abundant satisfaction with himself and the world at large. Then another of them went out, canie back with a similar line, and dis- tributed it in like manner ; whereupon a third followed his e\ami)le, and so the game was kept going till we were each of us provided with four or five ])ieces of seal-skin line. Poor things ! they gave us what they could, and what they thought would be useful to us. It was the kind of line they use, when seal-catching, to connect the point of the harjjoon to the bladder which pre- vents the seal from escaping, and it is astonishingly strong. After this exhibition of liberality we sat for a time looking at one another, and I expected that our hosts would show by signs their desire for something in return. After a while, too, the old man did get up and produce something which he evidently kept as a possession of great price and rarity. It was nothing else than a clumsy, rusty old rifie, with the strangest contrivance in the way of a hammer that it has ever been my good luck to see. It consisted of a huge, unwieldy piece of iron, in which there was a finger-hole to enable the user to cock it. As I afterwards found, this is the ordinary form of rifle on the west coast of Greenland, and it is specially constructed for use in the " kaiak." After the old man had shown us this curiosity, and we had duly displayed our admiration. l.sKiMo COY, ri; iNi niK CAMl' AT FORT llll.l.K AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMKyr 99 )n, he made us unclcrstand by some very unmistakable ges- tures that he had iiotliiiii; to |)ut in it. /\t first I pre- tended not to grasj) liis meaning, but, this insincerity being of no avail, 1 was obligerl to make it plain to him that we had nothing to give him in the way of ammuni- tion. This intimation he received with a very disai)pointed and dejected air, and he went at once and put his rifle away. None of the others showed by the slightest token that they expected anything in return for their presents. They were all friendliness and hospitality, though no doubt there was a notion lurking somewhere in the background that their liberality would not prove unproductive, and, of course, we did not fail to fulfil our share of the transac- tion next day. The hospitality, indeed, of this desolate coast is quite unbounded. A man will receive his worst enemy, treat him well, and entertain him for months, if circumstances throw him in his way. The nature of their surroundings and the wandering life which they lead have forced them to offer and accept universal hospitality, and the habit has gradually become a law among them. Afucr we considered we had been long enough in the tent we went out- into the fresh air again, and chose as our camping-ground for the night a flat ledge of rock close to the landing-place. We then began to bring our things ashore, but at once a crowd of natives rushed for our boats, and were soon busy moving our boxes and bags up on to the rocks. Every object caused an admiring outburst, and our willing helpers laughed and shouted in their glee, and altogether enjoyed themselves amazingly. The delight and admiration that greeted the big tin boxes in which much of our provender was packed were espe- Ill I 100 NAN SEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD m X. \ ' M cially unmanageable, and the tins were each passed round from hand to hand, and every edge and corner carefully and minutely examined. As soon as the boats were empty we proposed to drag them up, but here again all insisted on giving their help. The painter was brought ashore, manned by a long line stretching far up the rocks, and the boats hauled up each by the united efforts of twenty or thirty men. This was splendid sport, and when one of us started the usual sailor's chorus to get them to work together, the enthusi- asm reached its height. They joined in, grown folk and children alike, and laughed till they could scarcely pull. They plainly thought us the most amusing lot of people they had ever seen. When the boats were safe ashore we proceeded to pitch our tent, an operation which engaged all their atten- tion, for nothing can interest an Eskimo so much as any performance which belongs to his own mode of life, such as the management of tents and boats and such things. Here their astonishment does not overcome them, for they can fully understand what is going on. In this case they could thus admire to the full the speedy wav in which we managed to pitch our little tent, which was so much simpler a contrivance than their great compli- cated wigwams, though at the same time it was not so warm. Our clothes, too, and, above all, the Lapps' dress, came in for their share of admiration. The tall, square caps, with their four horns, and the tunics with their long, wide skirts and edging of red and yellow, struck them as most rernarkable, but still more astonished were they, of course, in the evening, when the two Lapps made their appear- AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT lOI ance in their reindeer-skin pelisses. All must needs go and feel them and examine them, and stroke the hair of tliis wonderful skin, nothing like which they had ever seen before. It was not seal-skin, it was not bear-skin, nor was it fox-skin. " Could it be dog-skin } " they asked, pointing to their canine companions. When we explained that it was nothing of that kind they could get no further, for their powers of imagination had reached e, i i KSKIMOS, FROM THE CAMP AT CA I'K HILLE (From a fhotograpK) their limit. Balto now bes:an to s^ibber and make some very significant movem.ents with his hands about his head, with the idea of representing reindeer horns, but this awoke no response. Evidently they had never seen reindeer, which do not occur on that part of the east coast which they frequent. ■i 102 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD I ! Then we distributed the eveninij rations, and ate our supper sitting at the tent-door, and surrounded by specta- tors. Men, women, and children stood there in a ring many ranks deep, closely watching the passage of every morsel of biscuit to om* lips and its subsequent consump- tion. Thoucfh their mouths watered to overflowing at the sight of these luxuries, we were constrained to take no notice. We had no more in the way of bread than we actually needed, and, had we made a distribution through- out all this hungry crowd, our store would have been much reduced. But to sit there and devour one's biscuits under the fire of all their eyes was not pleasant. Our meal over, we went and had a look round the encampment. Down by the water were a number of " kaiaks " and a few specimens of the " umiak " or large skin-boat, which especially interested me. One of the men was particularly anxious to show me everything. Whatever caught my eye, he at once proceeded to ex- plain the use of by signs and gestures. Above all, he insisted on my examining his own " kaiak," w^hich was handsomely ornamented with bone, and all his weapons, which wTre in excellent condition and profusely deco- rated. His great pride was his harpoon, which, as he showed me triumphantly, had a long point of narwhal tusk. He explained to me, too, very clearly the use of the th rowing-stick, and how much additional force could be given to the harpoon by its help. Every Eskimo is especially prouJ of his weapons and "kaiak," and expends a large amount oi work on thei'" adornment. By this time the sun had set and the night fallen, and consequently the elements of weirdness and unreality which had all the time pervaded this scene, with its sur- I . AN ESKIMO ENCAAirMENT 103 , roundings of snow and ice and curious human adjuncts, were now still more predominant and striking. Dark forms flitted backward and forward among the rocks, and the outlines of the women with their babies on their backs were especially picturesque. From every tent-door through the transparent curtain shone a red glow of light, which with its su<'u:estions of warmth and comfort led the fancy to very different scenes. The resemblance to colored lamps and Chinese lanterns brought to one's mind the illuminated ijardens and summer festivities away at home, but behind these curtains there lived a happy and contented race, quite as happy, perhajDs, as any to which our thoughts turned across the sea. Then bed-time drew near, and the rest we sorely needed after the scanty sleep of the last few days. So we spread our sleeping-bags upon the tent-floor and be- gan the usual preparations. But here again our move- ments aroused the keenest interest, and a deep ring ot onlookers soon [gathered round the door. The removal of our garments was watched with attention by men and women alike, and with no sign of embarrassment, except on our part. Our disappearance one by one into the bags caused the most amusement, and when at last the expedition had no more to show than six heads, the door of the tent was drawn to and the final " Good-night " said. That night we could sleep free from care and without keeping watch, and it was a good night's rest we had, in spite of barking dogs and other disturbances. It was late when we woke and heard the Eskimos moving busily about outside. Peeping through the chinks of the door, we could see them impatiently pacing up and down, and 104 NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD \ it ' iM I i^ waiting for the tent to be thrown open again that they might once more feast their eyes on all the marvels hid- den inside. We noticed to-day, and we supposed it was in our honor, that they were all arrayed in their best clothes. Their clean white frocks, made of the same thin membraneous skin as the tent curtains, shone as brilliantly as clean linen in the distance, as their wearers walked uj) and down and admired their own magnificence. Down by our boats, too, we saw a whole congregation, some sitting inside and others standing around. Every imple- ment and every fitting was handled and carefull}- scru- tinized, but nothing disturbed or injured. Then came the opening of the door, and forthwith a closely packed ring of spectators gathered around, head appearing above head, and row behind row, to see us lyir g in our bags, our exit thence, and gradual reinstate- ment in our clothes. Of all our apparel, that which excited most wonder and astonishment was a colored belt of Christiansen's, a belt resplendent with beads and huge brass buckle. This must needs be handled and examined by each and all in turn, and of course produced the usual concerted bellow. Then our breakfast of biscuits and water was consumed in the same silence and amid the same breathless interest as our supper of the night before. After breakfast we walked about the place, for we had determined to enjoy life for this one morning and see what we could of these people before we left them. I had tried, unnoticed, to take a photograph of the ring which thronged our tent-door, but as I brought the camera to bear upon the crowd some of them saw my manoeuvre, and a stampede began, as if they feared a AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 105 discharge of missiles or other sorcery from the apparatus. I now tried to catch a group who were sitting on tiie rocks, but again with the same result. So the only expe- dient was to turn my face away, and by pretending to be "^.s^- "OUTSIDE ONli LITTLE TENT I FOUND AN UNUSUALLY SOClAliLE WOMAN" (By E. Nielsen, frotn a photograph') otherwise engaged to distract the attention of my victims and meanwhile secure some pictures. Then I took a tour round the camping-ground with my camera. Outside one little tent, which stood somewhat isolated, I found an unusually sociable woman, apparently the mistress of the establishment. She was relatively young, of an attractive appearance altogether, with a smil- ing face and a pair of soft, obliquely set eyes, which she made use of in a particularly arch and engaging way. Her dress was certainly not elegant, but this defect was, no doubt, due to her established position as a married io6 NANSEN IN ThE FROZEN WORLD V i? 1. '^i , woman, and must not be judi^cd too harshly. In her " amaut," a garment vvliich forms a kind of liood or bag behind, she had a svvartliy baby, which she seemed very fond of, and which, Hke many of the mothers, she did her best to induce to open its black eyes and contemj)late my insignificance. This was partly, no doubt, the flattery of the coquette ; on the whole we got on very well together, and unperceived I secured several phott)graphs. Then the master came out of the tent, and showed no sign of surprise at finding his wife in so close converse with a stranger. He had evidently been asleep, for he could hardly keep his eyes open in the light, and had to resort to a shade, or rather some big snow-spectacles of wood. He was a strongly-built man, with an honest, straightfor- ward look, was very friendly, and showed me a number of his things. He was especially proud of his " kaiak " hat, which he insisted on my putting on my head, while he meantime unceremoniously arrayed himself in my cap. This performance was little to my taste, as it was quite uncertain what would be the result of the exchange to me. Then he took me to see his biii boat or " umiak," as well as other of his possessions, and we parted. I went on, and loo^-ed into some other tents. In one of them I found two girls who had just taken a big gull out of a cooking-pot, and were beginning to devour it, each at work with her teeth on one end of the body, and both beaming with delight and self-satisfaction. The bird still had most of its feathers on, but that did not seem to trouble them much. Perhaps, after the manner of the owl, they subsequently ejected them. Some of the women had noticed that the Lapps used the peculiar grass known as " sennegraes," which the Eski- n / A.V ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 107 mos also use, in their boots, and they now brouijjht eacli of us a huge supjily of the commodity, smiUng most co- quettishly as they made their offering. We expressed our thanks, of course, by an equally lavish disj)lay of smiles. Then they began to inquire, by means of signs, whether we had no needles to ^ive them in return. I could have gratified them, certainly, since I had brought a number of these articles of barter, which are much prized on the east coast. But my real object was to keep them in case we had to spend the winter in these parts, in which case they would have proved invaluable. So I told them that we could not let them have any needles in exchange for their orj-ass, and ijave them instead a tin which had had j^reserved meat in. This made them simply wild with delight, and with sparkling eyes they went off to show the others their new acquisition. The grass came in very handy for the two Lapps, whose store was run- ning short, and without this grass in his shoes a Lapp is never thor- oughly comfortable. They had a deal to sav, too, about this Eskimo " sennegrDES." The fact that these people had sense enough to use the grass impressed Ravna and Balto to a certain extent, but they declared it had been gathered at the wrong time of year, being winter grass taken with the frost on it, instead of being cut fresh and then dried, IHEN TIIK MASTKR CAME OUT OF THE tent" (From a fihotografih) Iti 108 NAXSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD in accordance with the practice of rational beings. It was of little use to point out to them that it was not the habit of the I£skimo to lay up greater stores of such things than he actually needed to keep him going. But the time of our departure drew near, and we began by degrees to make our preparations. A man now came up to us and asked whether we were going northward. At our answer in the affirmative his face brightened amazingly, and it proved that he was bound in the same direction with his party, to whom he went at once and announced the news. The camp was now a scene of lively confusion, and, while we and the Eskimos vied with one another in our haste to strike our tents, launch our boats, and stow our goods, the dogs, who well knew what was in progress, expended their energy in a howling com- petition. As the tent we had spent the preceding evening in was going southward, it was necessary that we should go and make some return for the presents we had received. So with a number of empty meat-tins I went in and found a party of half-naked men taking a meal. I gave them one each, which delighted them hugely, and some of them at once showed their intention of using them as drinkincf- vessels. Outside I found the possessor of the rifle, who again urged upon me the fact that he had no ammunition for it. But when I presented him with a large tin instead he expressed perfect contentment and gratification. The great skin-tents were soon down and packed away in the boats. It was indeed quite astonishing to see the speed with which these Eskimos made ready for a journey with all their household goods and worldly possessions, though, of course, there were a great number of helping .c A AN ESKIMO ENCAMPMENT 109 hands. We had almost finished our preparations too, when a salt-box was pleased to discharge its contents in the middle of one of the provision-bags. This had to be seen to at once, and the Eskimos consequently started before us. Two of the boats set off on their southward journey, and two more presently disappeared behind the first point of rock to the north. The company of " kai- akers," however, were still left, as they stayed behind to bid each other a more tender farewell, before they j^arted, perhaps, for a separation of some years. '!'his leave-tak- ing gave rise to one of the most comical scenes I have ever witnessed. There were altogether a dozen or more of their little canoes, and they all now ranged uj) side by side, dressed as evenly as a squad of soldiers. This ex- traordinary manoeuvre roused my attention, of course, and I could not imagine what it purported. I was not left long in ignorance, however, for the snuff-horns were pres- ently produced, and the most extravagant excesses fol- lowed. Their horns were opened and thrust up their noses again and again, till every nostril must have been absolutely filled with snuff. Several horns were in circu- lation, and each came at least twice to every man, so that the quantity consumed may well be imagined. I wanted to photograph them, but lost time and could not bring my camera to bear upon them before the line was broken, and some of the canoes already speeding away southward among the floes. This (reneral treatinof with snuff is the mode in which the Eskimos take leave of one another, and is a very similar performance to the ceremonious dram-drinking among our peasants at home. In this particular case only those who had come from the south had anything to t no A.LVSJSN IN TJ/E IROZEN WOKLD stand treat with. They were evidently fresh from the Danish colonies beyond Crpe r'arewell, as their abundant supply t)f snuff proved, while the others were j^robably bound south on a similar errand. These pilijjrimages occur unfortunately too often, though their emporium lies at no trifling distance — a couple of years' journey, in fact, for those who live farthest up the coast. One would almost expect that so long a journey would 'THE LlNli WAS lIRoKKiN, AND SOMK OK TIIK CANOKS ALREADY SPEEDING AWAY SOUTHWARD AMONC. THE FI.OES " (From a fihotogtapli) ' li^ be followed by a long stay at the place of business. But this is not the case, and the Eskimo, in fact, spends little more time over his periodical shopping than a lady of the world over a similar, but daily, visit. In half an hour, or an hout perhaps, he has often finished, and then disap- pears again on his long journey home. A shopping expedition of this kind will therefore often take four years I I or lap- ins: lars AN ESKIMO KXCAMJWIENT III at least, and conscciucntly a n'>an'.s ()j)i)()rtunitics in tliis way in the course of a lifetime are very liniited. These are quite enough, however, to i)r()(luce a miscliievous effect. One is apt to suppose that it is the want of cer- tain useful things, otherwise unattainable, that urges them to these long journeys; but this is scarcely so, for the real incentive is without doubt a craving for tobacco. As a matter of fact they do buy some useful things, like iron, which they get chiefly in the form of old hoops, but they really have a good sup])ly of such things already, they do not use them much, and they are not absolutely necessary. Most of their purchases are things which are either alto- gether valueless or else actually injurious. Among the latter must especially be reckoned tobacco, which is the commodity of all others most desired, and which they take in the form of snuff. Smoking and chewing are unknown on this coast, but their absence is made uj) for by all the greater excess in snuff-taking, the indulgence in which is quite i)henomenal. They buy their tobacco in the form of twist, and prepare it them- selves, by drying it well, breaking it up, and grinding it fine on stone. Powdered calcspar or quartz or other rock is often added to the snuff to make it go further, and to increase, it is said, the irritating effect upon the mucous membrane. In addition to tobacco they buy other things which certainly have an injurious effect upon them, such as, for instance, tea. Coffee, curiously enough, these people have not learned to like, though this drink is bliss celes- tial to the west-coast Eskimos. It is truly fortunate that they have no opportunity of getting spirits, as the sale is absolutely prohibited by the 113 NANSEN IN THE EROAEN WORLD i: Danish (iovernmciit. Of other Kuropcan prochicts, they l)iiy biscuits, tlour, peas, which they arc particularly fond of, and similar things. Articles of clothing, too, are in great demand, such as thick jerseys from the l-'aroe Islands, cotton stuffs for outer tunics, and material out of which they can make hats; old luiropean clothes are highly valued, and they have an idea that when they can dress themselves out in these worn-out rubbishy garments they cut a far finer figure than when they content them- selves with their own warm and becoming dress of seal- skin. In exchange for such things, which are of little value to us and of still less real worth to them, they give fine large bear-skins, fox-skins, and seal-skins, which they ought to keep for their own clothes and the other nu- merous purposes for which they can be used. It is, of course, unnecessary to remark how much better it would b6 if these poor Eskimos, instead of decking themselves out in European rags, would keep their skins for them- selves, and confine themselves to those regions where they have their homes, instead of straying to the outskirts of European luxury and civilization. When the Eskimos have at length consumed their pur- chases and must needs return to the old manner of life, the net result is that they have lost a number of useful possessions and have acquired a feeling of want and long- ing for a number of unnecessary things. This is, in fact, the usual way that the blessings of civilization first make themselves felt upon the uncivilized. •■7 • '■ CHAPTFR VII ' '(JS m- lore :irts ur- ife, ful ng- act, ake 1 \ \ TIIK (KOSSTNt; f)l' IIIK INLAND ICK — lirK FIRST SICIIT ()!• LAND AND FIRST DRINK OF WATFR i\s the middle of Scptcniljcr ajiproaclu'd, wc hoped every chiy to arrive at tlie beginnini; of the western sl()j)e. To judge from our reckoning it coukl not be far off, though I had a suspicion that this reckoning was some way ahead of our ol^servations. These, however, I i)ur- posely omitted to work out, as the announcement that we had not advanced as far as we supjjosed woukl have been a oitter disappointment to most of the party. Their cx- ])ectations of soon getting the first siglit of hand on the western side were at their height, and they pushed on confidently, while I kept my doubts to myself and left the reckoning as it was. On September 1 1 the fall of the ground was just appre- ciable, the theodolite showing it to be about a third of a degree. On September 12 I entered in my diary that " we are all in capital sj^irits, and hope for a speedy change for the better, Balto and Dietrichson being even confident that we shall see land to-day. They will need some patience, however, as we are still 9,000 feet above the sea " (we were really about 8,250 feet that day), " but they will not have to wait very long. This morning our reckoning made us out to be about seventy-five miles from bare land, and the ground is falling well and con- ^ P'rom Nansen"s Across Greenland. i 311'! 11 ill 1' . |! ! ^ I m 5 ' iL 114 NAN SEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD tinuously." The next clay or two the slope grew more and more distinct, bat the incline was not regular, as the ground fell in great undulations, like those we had had to climb in the coarse of our ascent. On Septjmber 14 the reckoning showed that it was only about thirty-five miles to land. But even now we could see nothing, which the Lapps thought was very suspicious. Ravna's face began to get longer and longer, and one evening about this time he said, " I am an old Lapp, and a silly old fool, too ; I don't believe we shall ever get to the coast." I only answered, " That 's quite true, Ravna ; you are a silly old fool." Whereupon he burst out laughing : " So it 's quite true, is it — Ravna is a silly old fool .-* " and he evidently felt quite consoled by this doubtful compliment. These expressions of anxiety on Ravna's part were very common. Another day Balto suddenly broke out : " But how on earth can any one tell how far it is from one side to the other, when no one has been across } " It was, of course, difficult to make him understand the mode of calculation ; but, with his usual intelligence, he seemed to form some Idea of the truth one day when 1 showed him the process on the map. The best consolation we could give Balto and Ravna was to laugh at them well for their cowardice. The very pronounced fall of the ground on September 17 certainly was a comfort to us all, and when the ther- mometer that evening just failed to reach zero we found the temperature quite mild, and felt that we had entered the abodes of summer again. It was now only nine miles or so to land by our reckoning. ^ It was this very day two months that we had left the Jason. This happened to be one of our butter-mornings. V Ithe I { THE CROSSING OF THE INLAND JCE I'S the very gladdest mornings of our existence at the time, and breakfast in bed with a good cup of tea brought the whole party into an excellent humor. It was the first time, too, for a long while that the walls of our tent had not been decorated with fringes of hoar-frost. As we \vcre at breakfast we were no little astonished to hear, as we thought, the twittering of a bird outside ; but the sound soon stopped, and we were not at all certain of its reality. But as we were starting again after our one o'clock dinner that day we suddenly became aware of twitterings in the air, and, as we stopped, sure enough we saw a snow-bunting come flying after us. It wan- dered round us two or three times, and jjlainly showed signs of a wish to sit upon one of our sledges. But the necessary audacity was not forthcoming, and it finally settled on the snow in front for a few moments, before it flew away for good with another encouraging little twitter. Welcome, indeed, this little bird was. It gave us a friendly greeting from the land we were sure must now be near. The believers in good angels and their doings must inevitably have seen such in the forms of these two snow-buntings, the one which bade us farewell on the eastern side, and that which offered us a welcome to the western coast. We blessed it for its cheering song, and with warmer hearts and renewed strength we confidently went on our way, in spite of the uncomfortable knowledge that the ground was not falling by any means so rapidly as it should have done. In this w^ay, however, things were much better next day, September i8; the cold con- sistently decreased, and life grew brighter and brighter. In the evening, too, the wind sprang up from the south- ■t ■ I' '' '1 ii6 NAN SEN IN THE FROZEN WORLD east, and I hoped we should really get a fair sailing breeze at last. We had waited for it long enough, and sighed for it, too, in spite of Balto's assurances that this saiHng on the snow would never come to anything. In the course of the night the wind freshened, and in the morning there was a full breeze blowing. Though, as usual, there was no great keenness to undertake the rigging and lashing together of the sledges in the cold wind, we determined, of course, to set about the business at once. Christiansen joined Sverdrup and me with his sledge, and we rigged the two with the tent-floor, while the other three put their two sledges together. All this work, especially the lashing, was anything but delightful, but the cruellest part of it all was that while we were in the middle of it the wind showed siii^ns of dropping. It did not carry out its threat, however, and at last both vessels were ready to start. I was immensely excited to see how our boat would turn out, and whether the one sail was enough to move both the sledges. It was duly hoisted and made fast, and there followed a violent wrenching of the whole machine, but during the operations it had got somewhat buried in the snow and proved immovable. There was enough wrenching and straining of the mast and tackle to pull the whole to pieces, so we harnessed ourselves in front with all speed. We tugged with a will and got our boat off, but no sooner had she begun to move than the wind brous^ht her rio-ht on to us, and o/er we all went into the snow. We were soon up again for another trial, but with the same result ; no sooner were we on our legs than we were carried off them again by the shock from behind. This process having been gone through a certain num- THE CROSSI.\G OF TJIE INLAND ICE 117 ber of times, we saw plainly that all was not right. So we arranged that one of us should stand in front on his ski and steer by means of a staff fixed between the two sledges, like the pole of a carriage, leaving himself to be pushed along by his vessel, and only keeping it at a FIRSl' ATTEMPTS AT SAILINC; respectful distance from his heels. The other two mem- bers of the crew were to come behind on their ski, either holding on to the sledges or following as best they could. We now finally got under way, and Sverdrup, who was to take the first turn at steering, had no sooner got the pole under his arm than our vessel rushed furiously off before the wind. I attached myself behind at the side, riding on my ski and holding on by the back of one of the sledges as well as I could. Christiansen thought this looked like too risky work, and came dragging along behind on his ski alone. Our ship flew over the waves and drifts of snow with a speed that almost took one's breath away. The sledges ii8 NAXS£N IN THE FROZEN WORLD struggled and groaned, and were strained in every joint as they were whirled over the rough surface, and often indeed they simply jumped from the crest of one wave on to another. I had quite enough to do to hang on behind and keep myself upright on the ski. Then the ground began to fall at a sharj)er angle than any wc had had yet. The pace grew hotter and hotter, and the sledges scarcely seemed to touch the snow. Right in front of me was sticking out the end of a ski, which was lashed fast across the two sledges for the purpose of keeping them together. I could not do anything to get this ski end out of the way, and it caused me a great deal of trouble, as it stuck out across the points of my own ski, and was always coming into collision with them. It w^as worst of all when we ran along the edge of a drift, for my ski would then get completely jammed, and I lost all control over them. For a long time I went on thus in a continual struggle with this hopeless ski end, while Sverdrup stood in front gayly steering and thinking we were both sitting comfort- ably on behind. Our ship rushed on faster and faster; the snow flew around us and behind us in a cloud, which gradually hid the others from our view. Then an ice-axe which lay on the top of our cargo began to get loose and promised to fall off. So I worked myself carefully forward, and was just engaged in making the axe fast when we rode on to a nasty drift. This brought the projecting ski end just across my legs, and there I lay at once gazing after the ship and its sail, which were flying on down the slope, and already show- ing dimly through the drifting snow. It made one quite uncomfortable to see how quickly they diminished in size. I felt very foolish to be left lying there, but at last I recov- I THE CROSSING OF THE INLAND ICE 119 ered myself and set off bravely in the wake of the vessel, which was by this time all but out of sight. To my great delight I found that, thanks to the wind, I could get on at a very decent pace alone. I had not gone far before I found the ice-axe, in trying to secure which I had come to grief. A little way farther on I caught sight of another dark object, this time some- thing square, lying in the snow. This was a box which contained some of our precious meat-chocolate, and which of course was not to be abandoned in this way. After this I strode gayly on for a long time in the sledge-track, with the chocolate-box under one arm and the ice-axe and my rgo "AND TIIKRF. I LAY CAZING AFTl-.R TlIK SHIP AND ITS SAIL " siaff under the other. Then I came upon several more dark objects lying straight in my path. These proved to be a fur jacket belonging to me, and no less than three pemmican boxes. I had now much more than I could carry, so the only thing to be done was to sit down and wait for succor from the others who were following be- hind. All that could now be seen of our proud ship and its sail was a little square patch far away across the snow- iield. She was going ahead in the same direction as ¥ ^//gf-mw^i I20 NANSEIV IN THE FROZEN WORLD I h ii I before, but as I watched I suddenly saw her brought up to the vvitid, the tin boxes of her cargo ghtter in the sun, and her sail fall. Just then Christiansen came up with me, followed not long after by the other vessel. To them we handed over some of our loose boxes, but just as we were stowing them away Balto discovered that they had lost no less than three pemmican tins. These were much too val- uable to be left behind, so the crew had to go back and look for them. Meanwhile Christiansen and I started off again, each with a tin box under his arm, and soon overtook Sverdrup. W'e now sat down to wait for the others, which was not an agreeable job in this bitter wind. Sverdrup told us that he had sailed merrily off from the very start, had found the whole thing go admirably, and thought all the time that we two were sitting comfortably on behind. He could not see behind him for the sail, but after a long while he began to wonder why there was not more noise among the passengers in the stern. So he made an approach to a conversation, but got no answer. A little farther on he tried again and louder, but with the same result. Then he called louder still, and lastly began to shout at the top of his voice, but still there was no response. This state of things needed further investiga- tion ; so he brought his boat up to the wind, went round behind the sail to see what was the matter, and was not a little concerned to find that both his passengers had disappeared. He tried to look back along his course through the drifting snow, and he thought he could see a black spot far away behind. This must have been my insignificant figure sitting upon the lost tin boxes. Then he lowered his sail, which was not an easy matter in I THE CROSSIXG OF THE INLAND ICE 121 the wind that was blowing, and contented himself to wait for us. We had to sit a long time before the others caught us up again. We could just see the vessel through the snow, but her sail was evidently not up, and of her crew there was not a sign. At last we caught sight of three small specks far away up the slope and the glitter of the sun "SAILINi; ON THF. INLAND ICE" on the tins they were carrying. Presently the sail was hoisted, and it was not long before they joined us. We now lashed the sledgres better together and made the cargo thoroughly fast, in order to escape a repetition of this performance. Then we rigged up some ropes be- hind, to which the crew could hold or tie themselves, and thus be tow^ed comfortably along. In this way we got on splendidly, and never in my life have I had a more glo- rious run on ski. 12: NANSEN IN THE FROZEN WORLT^ I A while later Svcrdrup declared that he had had enough of steering, and I therefore took his place. Wc had now one good slope after another and a strong wind behind us. We travelled as we should on the best of ski hills at home, and this for hour after hour. The steering is exciting work. One has to keep one's tongue straight in one's mouth, as we say at home, and, whatever one does, take care not to fall. If one did, the whole conveyance would be upon one, and once under the run- ners and driven along by the impetus, one would fare badly indeed, and be lucky to get off without a complete smash-up. This was not to be thought of, so it was necessary to keep one's wits about one, to hold the ski well together, grip the pole tight, watch the ground in- cessantly, so as to steer clear of the worst drifts, and for the rest take things as they came, while one's ski flew on from the crest of one snow-wave to another. Our meals were not pleasant intervals that day, and we therefore got through them as quickly as we could. We stopped and crept under shelter of the sails, which were only half lowered on purpose. The snow drifted over us as we sat there, but the wind at least was not so piercing as in the open. We scarcely halted for the usual choco- late distributions, and took our refreshment as we went along. In the middle of the afternoon — this notable day by the way was September 19 — just as we were sailing our best and fastest, we heard a cry of joy from the party be- hind, Balto's voice being prominent as he shouted " Land ahead ! " And so there was; through the mist of snow, which was just now a little less dense, we could see away to the I; V THE CROSSING OF THE INLAND ICE •23 west a long, dark mountain ridge, and to the south of it a smaller peak. Rejoicings were loud and general, for the goal toward which we had so long struggled was at last in sight. Halto's own account of the occurrence runs as follows : " While we were sailing that afternoon I caught sight of a black spot a long way off to the west. I stared and stared at it till I saw that it reallv was bare