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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. by errata ned to lent une pelure, fapon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 I "■A ffl //'' .( ' 'i.^- ,4m I 5^ < 'vii t| fpt :. .«. ; THE OPEN POLAR SEA. A Mill! ATI VE OF A VOYAGE OF DlSCOVEl!!' TOWARDS THE JfOUTH POLE, IX XHI-; SCHOONER " UNITED STATES." By Dr. I. I. HAYES. NEW EDITION, ILLUSTRATED. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, MILTON HOUSE, LULGATE HILL. / '. ' 1867. "'■-''-' LBRARY NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA Af P. . LONDON: PRINTED BY WILUAM CLOWES AKD SOSS, STAMFORD STUEET AND CHARI^•G CROSS. f' I 1 HAD intexdi:d to dedicate this book to (,' WILLIAM PAEKER FOULKE, OF nilLADELrHIA, b^-' To ivhom I am indebted for all that a ponverful intellect and a generous friendship could doy to gi-ve practical shape to my plans y and to insure success to an enterprise in ivhich I had embarked^ nuith the simple advantage of an ainiy and with no better guide than the impulse of youth : but since it is denied me to pay that tribute of my admiration to one of the noblest of men y I now inscribe it to his t PREFACE. I i HE (losigii of this book may be briefly cxplaincil. I have attempted little more than a personal narrative, endeavouring to select from my abundant notes such scenes and incidents of adventure as seemed to me best calculated to bring before the mind of the reader, not merely the history of our voyage, but a general view of the Arctic regions, — its scenery and its life, with a cursory glance at those physical forces which, in their results, give characteristic expression to that remote quarter of the world. A day of months, followed by a night of months, where the mean annual temperature rises but little above zero, must neces- sarily clothe the air and the landscape with a sentiment difficult to appreciate, or, I might perhaps say, feel, with- out actual observation. I shall be abundantly rewarded if I have succeeded in impressing upon the reader's mind, with any degree of vividness, the wonders and the grandeur of Nature as unfolded to us under the Arctic sky. The reader will observe that I have not attempted, in any sense, to write a work of Science. True, the purpose i i VI PREFACE, of the voyage was purely a scientific one, — its cliief object and aim being to explore the boundaries of the Open Polar Sea ; at least to determine if such a sea did exist, as had been so often asserted ; but while I have given a general discussion of the conditions of the Polar waters and the Polar ice, and have recorded many new facts in various departments of physical and natural science, yet I have desired to treat the subject in a manner which, as it seemed to me, would be most acceptable to the general reader, rather than to the scientific student, — preferring to direct the latter to those more strictly scientific chan- nels where my materials have been or are about being published. u \ \ u t LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Bear-Hunting Fiontispicce Map of the Polaii Hi:«;ions To face pige 1 1. An Auctic Team 94 2. Seal Hunting 100 3. A Bear-Hunt 152 4. An Esquimau Family — The Hut at Etau 240 5. Crossing The Hummocks 290 G. The Shores of the Polar Sea 312 7. A Walrus-Hunt . . 368 8. Tyndall Glacier, \Vhale Solnd 392 EXPLANATION OF TAIL-PIECES. 7 iwr.E 1. Anchor 15 2. Upernavik '^^ 3. Sonntag's Grave 51 4. Seal on Cake op Ice '31 5. Greenlander in his Kayak 82 6. Snowflake (magnified three diameters) 113 7. A Sketch 122 8. Group of Reindkeu . . . . . '. * 1-16 9. A Sketch 171 10. Head op the Esquimau Dou Oosisoak 179 11. Schooner in Winter Quarters 190 12. "My Brother John's Glacier/' rnoM First Camp . . 204 13. The Esquimau Hut at Etaii 212 14. Portrait op Birdie, the Artic Fox 225 15. Cape Union 229 16. Doa Sledge 238 17. Head of Arctic Hare . . . . « 267 18. Camping in a Snow-Ban k 276 19. Polar Bear . 283 20. Snowflake (same as Xo. 0) 289 21. Head op a Reindeer 299 22. Kalutunah and his Family 309 23. Port Foulke 318 24. Arched Iceberg 327 25. Observatory at Port Foulkj: 343 26. Head of Walrus S56 27. "End" 407 i .,i ♦' Wi i I CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. l^lan of the Expedition — First Announcement — Appeal to Scientific. .Societies— Aid solicited — Public Lectures — Liberality of various Societies and Individuals — Vessel purchased in Boston — Interest manifested in that City — Difficulty in obtaining a proper Crew — Organization of the Party — Scientific Outfit — Abundant Supplies • CHAPTER I. Leaving Boston— At Anchor in Nantasket Roads — At Sea • . . TAGE 13 CHAPTER II. Passage to the Greenland Coast — Discipline — The Decks at Sea — Our Quarters — The First Iceberg — Crossing the Arctic Circle — The Midnight Sun— The Endless Day — Making the Land — A Re- marlcable Scene among the Bergs — At Anchor in Proven Harbour ••■••..16 CHAPTER III. The Colony of Proven — ^The Kayak of the Greenlander — Scarcity of Dogs — Liberality of the Chief Trader— Arctic Flora , . , 26 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAGE Upernavik — Hospitality of tlie Inhabitants — Death and Burial of Gibson Caruthers — A Lunch on Board — Adieu 32 CHAPTER V. Among the Icebergs — Dangere of Arctic Navigation— A Narrow I'^cape from a Crumbling Berg — Measurement of an Iceberg « 40 CHAPTER VI. Entering Melville Bay— The Middle Ice— The Great Polar Current— A Snow Storm — Encounter with an Iceberg — flaking Cape York — Rescue of Hans 52 CHAPTER VII. Hans and his Family — Petowak Glacier — A Snow Stonn — The Ice- Pack — Entering Smith Sound — A Severe Gale — Collision with Iceberg's — Encounter with the Ice-Fields — Retreat from the Pack — At Anchor hi Hartstene Bay — Entering Winter Quarters . . 62 CHAPTER VIII. Our Winter Harbour — Preparing for Winter — Organization of Duties — Scientific Work — The Observatory — Schooner Driven Ashore — The Hunters — Sawing a Dock — Frozen up — Sunset . . , 83 CHAPTER IX. Sunset — Winter Work — My Dog-Teams — " My Brother John's Glacier'* — Hunting — Peat Beds — Esquimau Graves — Putrefac- tion at Low Temperatures — Sonntag climbs the Glacier — Hans and Peter — My Esquimau People — The Esquimau Dog — Survey- ing the Glacier — The Sailing-Master — His Birthday Dinner , . 91 CHAPTER X. Journey on the Glacier — The First Camp — Scaling the Glacier — Character of its Surface — The Ascent — Driven back by a Gale — Low Temperature — Dangerous Situation of the Party — A Moon- light Scene 114 \k ,1 PAGE 91 .14 ^ .; 'I CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI, XL TAGE Important Results of the recent Journey — The Glacier System of Greenland — General Discussion of the Subject — Illustrations drawn from the Alpine Glaciers — Glacier Movement — Outline of the Greenland Mcr de Glace ,■...•■-.. 12o CHAPTER XII. My Cabin — Surveying — Castor and Pollux — Concerning Scurvy — Dangers of eating Cold Snow — Knorr and Starr — Frost-Bites — Hans, Peter, and Jacob again — Coal Account — The Fires — Comfort of our Quarters — ^The House on Deck — Mild Weather — Jensen— Mrs. Hans— John Williams, the Cook — A Cheerful Evening 133 CHAPTER Xin. Increasing Darkness — Daily Routine — The Journal — Our Home — Sunday — Return of Sonntag — A Bear-Hunt — ^The Open Water — Accident to Mr. Knorr — A Thaw — " The Port Foulke Weekly News"— The Tide-Register— The Fire-Hole— Hunting Foxes— Peter 147 CHAPTER XIV. Midwinter — The Night of Months — Brilliancy of the Moonlight — Mild Temperatures — Remarkable Weather — A Shower — Depth of Snow — Snow Crystals — An Epidemic among the Dogs — Symp- toms of the Disorder — Great Mortiility — Only one Team left — New Plans — Schemes for reaching the Esquimaux in Whale Sound •••••■.. 172 CHAPTER XV. The Arctic Midnight — Sonntag starts for Whale Sound — Effects of Darkness on the Spirits — Routine of Duties — Christmas Eve — Christmas Day — The Christmas Dinner ....,•. 180 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTEn XVI. TAoi: Tlie New Year — Looking for^Sonntaii: — The Amora Borealis — A lie- markable Display — Depth of .Snow — Strange Mildness of the Weather — The Open Sea — Evaporation at Low Temperatures — Looking for the Twilight— My Pet Fox 191 '•••"' CHAPI'^^R'XVII. The Arctic Night '200 CHAPTER XVI 1 1. Prolonged Absence of Mr. Sonntag — Preparing to look for him — Arrival of Esquimaux — They report Sonntag dead — Arrival of Hans — Condition of the Dogs — Hans's Story of the Journey , 205 CHAPTER XIX. ►Sonntag — Twilight increasing— A Deer-Hunt — The Arctic Foxes — The Polar Bear — Adventures with Bears — Our New Esquimaux — Esquimau Dress — A Snow House — Esquimau Implements— A Walrus Hunt 213 CHAPTER XX. Looking for tlie Sun — The Open Sea — Birds , 223 ' • ' ' ' 'CHAPTER XXI. • . • - Sunrise 22«1 cJhapter xxh. Spring Twilight — Arrival of Esquimaux — Obtiiining Dogs — Kalu- tunah, Tattarat, Myouk, Amalatok and his Son — An Arctic Hospital — Esquimau Gratitude 230 CHAPTER XXIIL Kalutunah returns— An Esquimau Tamily— Tfie family Property — The Family Wardrobe — Myouk and his Wife — Peter's Dead Body found — My New Teams — The Situation — Hunting — Sub- sistence of Arctic Animals — Pursuit of Science under Difficulties — Kalutunah at Home — An Esquimau Feast — Kalutunah in Service— Recovering the Body of JNIr. Sonntag — The Funeral — The'Torab - . . . . . 230 T^ \ \W ^ f COXTEXTS. XIH rAoK 4 CHArTEU XXIV. PAor .Starting on my First Jouraey — Object of the Journey — A Mishap — A Fresh Start — The First Gamp — Hartstene's Cairn — Exploring a Track — A New Style of Snow Hut — An Uncomfortable Night — Low Temperature — Effect of Temperature on the Snow — Among the Hummocks — Sighting Humboldt Glacier — The Track impracticable to the ^lain Party — Van Rensselaer Harbour — Fate of the A?rrtnc(? — A Drive in a Gale ,24'.' ■ CHAPTER XXV. Sending forward Supplies — Kalutunah as a Driver — Kalutunnli civilized — Mr. Knorr — Plan of my Proposed Journey — Preparing to set out — Industrious Esquimau Women — Death and Burial of Kablunet— The Start 2GI 223 220 230 \m 4 CHAPTER XXVI. The First Day's Journey — A Fall of Temperature — Its luffect upon the Men — Camped in a Snow Hut — Tiie Second Day's Journey — At Cairn Point — Character of the Ice — 'I'iie Prospect — Storm- stayed — The Cooks in Difficulty — Snow-drift — Violence of the Gale— Our Snow Hut 2G.^ CHAPTER XXVII. The Storm continues — At Work — Among the Hummocks — Diffi- culties of the Track — The Snow-drifts — Slow Progress — Tho Smith Sound Ice — Formation of the Hummocks — The Old Ice- fields — Growth of Ice-fields — Thickness of Ice — The Prospect . 277 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Difficulties multiplying — Sledge broken — Reflections on the Pros- pect — The Men breaking down — Worse and Worse — The Situa- tion — Defeat of Main Party — Resolve to send the Party back and continue the Journev with Dogs 2^\ >:]a CHAPTER XXIX. The j\Iain Party sent back — Plunging into the Hummocks again — Advantages of Dogs — Camp in an Ice-Cave — Nursing the Do'j;s — Snow Blindness — A Chapter of Accidents — Cape Hawks — Cape, Napoleon — Storm stayed — Grinnell Land looming up — PAGE xiv CONTENTS. Discovering a Sound — n.ivcnous Disposition of Dogs — A Cheer- less Supper — Camping in the Open Air — Prostration of 'Men and Dogs — Making the Land at last 290 CHAPTER XXX. The Prospect Ahead — To Cape Najwleon — To Cape Frazor — Traces of Esquimaux — Rotten Ice — Kennedy Channel — Mildness of Tem- perature — Appearance of Birds — Geological Features of Coast — Vegetation — Accident to Jensen 500 CHAPTER XXXI. A New Start — Sjvculations — In a Fog — Polar Scenery — Stopped by Rotten Ice — Looking Ahead — Conclusions — The Open Sea — Climax of the Journey — Returning South 310 CHAPTER XXXII. The Open Polar Sea — Width of the Polar Basin — Boundaries of the Polar Basin — Polar Currents — Polar Ice — The Ice-Belt — Arctic Navigation and Discovery — The Russian Sledge Explorations — Wrangel's Open Sea — Parry's Boat Expedition — Dr. Kane's Dis- coveries — Expansion of Smith Sound — General Conclusions drawn from my own Discoveries and those of my Predecessors , , 319 .1 ) CHAPTER XXXIH. On Board the Schooner — Review of the Journey — The Return down Kennedy Channel — A Severe March in a Snow Storm — Rotten Ice — Hlffects of a Gale — Returning through the Hummocks — The Dogs breaking down — Adrift on a Floe at Cairn Point — The Open Water compels us to take to the Land — Reaching the Schooner — Projecting a Chart — The New Sound — IMy Northern Discoveries 328 CHAPTER XXXIV. Inspection of the Schooner— Method of Repairing — The Serious Nature of the Injury — The Schooner unfit for any further Ice Encounters — Examination of my Resources — Plans for the Future . . . 339 PAGE 29.) ) I ! ii COXTEM^S. CHAPTER XXXV. \v PAGE 300 Tlie Arctic Spring — Snow disappearing — Plants show Signs of Life — Return of the Birds — Change in the Sea — Refitting the Schooner — ^The Esquimaux — Visit to Kalutunah — Kalutunah's Account of the Esquimau Traditions — Hunting Grounds contracted by the Accumulation of Ice — Hardships of their Life — Their Subsistence — The Race dwindling away — Visit to the Glacier — Re-survey of the Glacier — Kalutunah catching Birds — A Snow Storm and a Gale — The Mid-day of the Arctic Summer ,,..., o44 510 >«• f CHAPTER XXXVL The Arctic Summer — ^The Flora — The Ice dissolving — A Summer Storm of Rain, Hail, and Snow — The Terraces — Ice Action — Upheaval of the Coast — Geological Interest of Icebergs and the Land Ice— A Walrus Hunt— The " Fourth "—Visit to Littleton Island — Great numbers of Eider Ducks and Gulls — The Ice breaking up — Critical Situation of the Schooner — Taking Leave of the Esquimaux — Adieu to Port Foulke 357 19 ; CHAPTER XXXVII. Leaving Port Foulke — Effort to reach Cape Isabella — Meet the Pack and take Shelter at Littleton Island — Hunting — Abundance of Birds and Walrus — Visit to Cairn Point — Reaching the West Coast — View from Cape Isabella — Plans for the Future — Our Results — Chances of reaching the Polar Sea discussed — The Glaciers of Ellesmere Land 375 »^A CHAPTER XXXVIII. Leaving Smith Sound — Crossing the North Water — Meeting the Pack — The Sea and Air teeming with Life — Remarkable Refraction — Reaching Whale Sound — Surveying in a Boat — The Sound traced to its Termination — jMeeting Esquimaux at Iteplik — Habits of the Esquimaux — Marriage Ceremony — The Decay of the Tribe — View of Barden Bay — Tyndall Glacier .... 383 XVI coxTiLxrs, CHAPTER XXXIX. txc Homeward Bound— Entering Melville Bay— Encounter with a Bear —Meeting the Pack— Making the " South Water "—Reaching Upernavik— The News—To Goodhaven— Liberality of the Danish Government and the Greenland Officials— Driven out of Baffin Bay by a Gale— Crippled by the Storm and forced to take Shelter in Halifax— Hospitable Reception— Arrival in Boston— llealize the State of the Country— The Determination— Con- clusion oOi 1 s "ir- ith a Bear —Reaching the Danish t of Baffin d to take Boston — ion — Con- ' i 1) 4 / '/ Sanipsoii J,ow, Son ii Marstoii ^tarifhx/,-. 6rt>./'' i'sbib' /' ca F ml INTRODUCTION. I no --^ I' > V PURPOSE to record iu this Book tlio events of the expedition wliicli I conducted to the Arctic Seas. The plan of the enterprise fii-st suggested itself to me while acting as Surgeon of the Expedition com- manded by the late Dr. E. K. Kane, of the United States Navy. Although its execution did not appear feasible at the period of my return from that voyage in October, 1855, yet I did not at any time abandon the design. It comprehended an extensive scheme of discovery. The proposed route was that by Smith's Sound. My object was to complete the survey of the north coasts of Green- land and Grinnell Land, and to make such explorations as I might find practicable iu the direction of the North Pole. My proposed base of operations was Grinnell Land, which I had discovered on my former voyage, and had personally traced beyond lat. 80^, far enough to satisfy mo that it was available for my design. Accepting the deductions of many learned physicists that the sea about the North Pole cannot be frozen, that ",,• /::n,h' PLAN OF THE KXPEDITIOX. an open area of varying extent must be found within the Ice-bolt wbieh is known to invest it, I dcKircd to add to the i)roofa which liiid already been accnmnlatcd by tho early Dutch and English V()yaj];crK, and, more recently, by the researches of Scornsby, Wrangel, and Parry, and f^till later by Dr. Kane's expedition. It is well known that the great difficulty which has been encountered, in the various attem2)ts that have been made to solve this important physical problem, has been tlie inability of the explorer to penetrate the Ice -belt with liis ship, or to travel over it with sledges sufficiently far to obtain indisputable proof. My former experience led mo to the conclusion that the chances of success were greater by Smith's Sound than by any other route, and my hopes of success were based upon the expectation which I entertained of being able to push a vessel into the lee-belt, to about the 80th parallel of latitude, and tlienco to transport a boat over tho ice to the open sea which I hoped to find beyond. Eeaching this open sea, if such fortune awaited me, I proposed to launch my boat and to push oif northward. For tho ice-transpor- tation I expected to rely, mainly, upon the dog of the Esquimaux. How far I was able to execute my design these pages will show. It will be remembered that tho highest point reached by Dr. Kane with his vessels was Van Eensselaer Harbour, latitude 78^ 37', where ho wintered. This was on the eastern side of Smith's Sound. It seemed to me that a more iiivourable position could be attained on the western . side ; and from personal observations made in 1854, while on a sledge journey from Van Rensselaer Harbour, it appeared to me probable that the degree of latitude '• \ AXTICIPA TED RESl 7. TS, '• 14 \ \ already iiulicatcd might Ijo Rccurctl for a winter station nnd a ccntro of observation. It would bo needless for luo to attempt to illnstrato tlio value of such a ccntro for tlic purpose of scientific inquiry. It was not alone the prospect of the satisfaction to bo achieved by completing our gcograiihical knowlc(l;^'o of tliat portion of the globe, nor that of solving definitely the problem of an Open Polar Sea, that encouraged me in the task which I had undertaken. There were many questions of i)hysical science to bo settled, and I hoped to take with me a corps of well-instructed observers. The movements of the currents of the air and water, the temperature of these elements, the pressure of the former and the tides of the latter, the variations of gravity, the direction and intensity of tlio "magnetic force," the Aurora Borealis, the formation and movement of the glaciers, and many important features of Natural History remained to be solved by observations about the centre indicated. Years of profitable labour might indeed bo expended in that locality by an enterprising force of skilled workers. With these objects in view, I applied with great con- fidence to the scientific men of the world and to the enlightened public sentiment of my countrymen. The response, although in the end highly gratifying, w^as more tardy in its coming than had been at first anticipated. There were indeed many circumstances of discouragement, not the least of which was an impression which then had possession of the public judgment, that any further efforts toward the North Pole must be fruit- less, and must involve an unjustifiable loss of life. It was only after many endeavours that here and there the influences favourable to the design began to affect the B 2 4 FIRST AAWOUXCEME.VT. ► 'Community. Tho most important of these was, of course, the sanction given to the lu'oject by those associations whose opinions govern tho mass of men in relation to scientiiic matters. The first public announcement of it was made to the American Geographical and Statistical Society, before which body I read a paper in December, 1857, setting forth the plan, and tho means proposed for its accom- plishment. It was on this occasion that I first expe- rienced the discouragement to which I have already referred, and it became evident to all who had thus far interested themselves in the subject, that it would be necessary to instruct the public mind in relation to the practicability of the proposed exploration, and its com- parative freedom from danger, before any earnest support could bo anticipated. To this task I at once addressed myself, although, indeed, I might with some show of reason have abandoned the undertaking altogether; but at twenty-five one is not easily discouraged. In concert with the friends of the enterprise, I caused it to be understood that I was open to invitations from any of the numerous literary societies -and clubs who were organizing popular courses of lectures for the winter. Such lectures were at that time quite the fashion, and almost every little town in the country could boast of its " course." The invitations which reached me were very numerous, and I availed myself of them to the full limit of my time. The scientific and literary jour- nals and the press, ever ready to aid in the advancement of liberal and enlightened purposes, gave very cordial support ; and, when the spring of 1858 opened, we had the satisfaction to perceive that we had dispelled some of the popular illusions respecting the dangers of Arctic *» i i t l1 iTf ? i SCIENTIFIC INTEREST. 5 exploration. Among the most important of the lectures given at this period was a course which I delivered at the instance of Professor Joseph Henry, in the fine lecture- room of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. These lectures were the more important, in that they secured to the undertaking the friendship and support of Professor A. D. Lache, the learned and efficient chief of the United States Coast Survey. In April, 1858, I brought the subject before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its annual meeting held in Baltimore ; and that body of representative men, at the suggestion of Professor Bache, appointed sixteen of its leading members a com- mittee on " Arctic Exploration." It remained now only to secure the necessary material aid. With this object in view, committees were promptly appointed by the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Geographical Society, the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Boston Society of Natural History. Subscription lists were at once opened by these several committees, and Professor Bache, at all times foremost to promote scientific discovery, headed the list with his powerful name. The learned Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Professor Joseph Henry, further strengthened the cause by the proffer of scientific instruments, and this was followed by the earnest support of Mr. Henry Grinnell, whose zealous efforts and sacrifices in behalf of Arctic exploration are too well known to gain anything from my commendation. At a subsequent period I addressed the Chamber of ■. a « » I iM »- "■"■■'*"^***-'-1r^ "^■^*^ i Vi i in- 1 » nfif ^ I r i i « rrr i*a i ■ fvnt^- -_- — ^,.i PUBLIC LECTURES. Commerce in New York, ancl the Board of Trade in Philiidelphia. Tlie latter promptly appointed a committee with the same objects as those previously appointed by the scientific societies. Still later I spoke to a largo audience in the lecture-room of the Lowell Institute, Boston, assembled under the auspices of the committee of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, on which occasion, after eloquent addresses by the chairman, the late Hon. Edward Everett, and Professors Agassiz and W. B. Bogers, a committee of citizens was ap2)ointcd to co-operate with the committees already named. The system of public lecturing which had been im- proved with such satisfactory advantage in the beginning, was continued, and, in addition to the increased i)ublic interest which the lectures created, they i^roved a source of more substantial benefit. Two of them were delivered under the auspices of the American Geogra];)hical Society. The value of these last was derived from the circumstance that public support was given to the project by Dr. Francis Lieber, the late Eev. Dr. Bethune, Bev. J. P. Thompson, the late Professor (afterward Major-General) O. M. Mitchcl, and Mr. (now Brigadier-General) Egbert L. Viele, who spoke on the occasion. The jirincipal ad- dress was made by Dr. Lieber, and it was characteristic of that able and learned writer. The interest manifested among geographers abroad was scarcely less than that shown by scientific men at homo. The eminent President of the Geographical Society of London, Sir Eoderick Impey Murchison, in announcing the proposed renewal of Arctic discovery to that distinguished body, expressed the earnest desire of the society for the success of the undertaking ; and the enlightened Vice-President of the Geographical Society of c \ \ h\ (1 t FOREIGN- SUPPOR T. 7 Paris, M. de la Eoquette, promptly offered, as an earnest of his goodwill, a liberal contribution to tlie fund. The Masonic Fraternity in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia also gave their assistance, and it was not the less appreciated that it was spontaneous and unexpected. Notwithstanding the unceasing efforts which were thus made in every quarter, and the almost universal interest which the undertaking at length excited, it was not until the beginning of June, 1860, that I was able to commence my preparations. My plans of exploration had been based upon the expectation of being able to start with two vessels, — one a small steamer, to be taken out under sails, and the steam power only to be used when actually among the ice ; the other a sailing vessel, to bo employed as a tender or store-ship. It now became evident to us that if my departure was deferred to another year, the chances of my sailing at all would bo diminished rather than increased ; and we there- fore determined to do the best we could with the means at hand. These means would enable us to fit out and man only one small sailing vessel. To Mr. Eichard Baker, jun., the energetic chairman of the Boston Committee (aided by a sub-committee consist- ing of Mr. Warren Sawyer, Mr. John Stetson, Mr. O. W. Peabody, and Mr. J. D. W. Joy), was intrusted the selec- tion and purchase of such a craft as would best compro- mise between the services to be performed and the state of our finances ; and the duty was accomplished with charac- teristic sagacity. When I reached Boston, a few days after the purchase had been made, I found the vessel lying at a wharf, heavily laden with a cargo brought from tho West Indies. She was a strong, snug, jaunty-looking craft, and appeared to be well adapted for the peculiar „^ .™*-«,-S,tl ••r~%-*t ■-»> v**"*"^^^*" 8 VESSEL PURCHASED, f*' !; destined. Her "register scrvico to which she was quaintly set forth that she was " A 1," that sho measui-ed one hundred and thirty-three tons burden, that sho was a fore-and-aft schooner, drew eight feet of water, and was named Spring Hill. For this namo wo at once substituted United States^ which change was, upon my memorial, sub- sequently confirmed by act of Congress. The season was now growing very late. Before tho vessel had been purchased it was fully time that I should have been upon my voyage, and every day's delay added to my anxiety lest I should bo iinable to penetrate the Baffin's Bay ice, and secure a harbour before tho winter had shut out all access to the land. It was therefore with no small degree of satisfaction that I saw the schooner on tho ways in the shipyard of Mr. Kelly in East Boston, and the work of refitting her going rapidly forward. As a protection against the wear and pressure of tho ice, a strong sheathing of two and a half inch oak planking was spiked to her sides, and the bows were cased with thick iron plates as far aft as the forechains. Internally she was strengthened with heavy beams, crossing at inter- vals of twelve feet a little below tho water-line, which, as well as the deck-timbers, were supported by additional knees and diagonal braces. For convenience of working among the ice, her rig was changed from a fore-and-aft to a foretop-sail schooner. Owing to many unavoidable delays, the month of June had almost passed before the schooner was brought to th© wharf in Boston to receive her cargo. Much of this cargo was made up of voluntary gift offerings, " in tne cause of science," and came from various places, and, as these " offerings " arrived irregularly, there was naturally much confusicn in the storage. It will not therefore appear ?;>< „iitt~-JtV.' PREPARA TION, p© ill® go of surprising that our departure was several days delayed. One month was indeed a short time, even under the most favourable circumstances, to fit a vessel, purchase and store a complicated cargo, construct and get together sledges, boats, and other equipments for travelling, obtain instruments and all the requisite materials for scientific exploration, — in short, to accumulate the various odds and ends necessary for so unusual and protracted a voyage. It was a busy month, and into no equal period of my life did I ever crowd so much labour and anxiety. The selection of my ship's company gave me not a little concern. Of material from which to choose there was quite an ample supply. In numbers there were indeed enough to have fitted out a respectable squadron ; but it was not easy to find those whoso constitutions and habits of life fitted them for the service. The greater number of the volunteers had never been to sea, and most of them were eager " to serve in any capacity," — a declaration which, too often on this, as on other occa- sions, I have foimd to signify the absence of any capacity at all. I esteemed myself fortunate in securing the services of my former companion and friend in the Grinnell Expedi- tion, Mr. August Sonntag, who early volunteered to join me from Mexico, in which country he was engaged in conducting some important scientific explorations. He even proposed to me that he should abandon the work upon which he was then employed, in order to aid me in the preliminary preparations. Returning to the United States in 1859, he was appointed to the Dudley Observatory, Albany, and, to accompany me, ho sacrificed the fine position of Associate Director of that institution. -«t0V«MINMMM 10 OFFICERS A XD CREW. %-\ My party, when at length completed, numbered fourteen persons all told, as follows : — August Sonntag, Astronomer, and second in command. S. J. McCoRMiCK, Sailing Master. Henry W. Dodge, Mute. Henry G. Eadcltffe, Assistant Astronomer. George F. Knork, Collin C. Starr, Gibson Carutherp, Francis L. Harris, Harvey Heywood, John McDonald, Thojias Barnum, Charles McCoioiick, William IMiller, John Williajis, Commander's Secretary. IMastcr's Mate. Boatswain and Carpenter. Volunteer. Volunteer. Seaman. Seaman. Seaman. Seaman. Seaman. Our equipment for scientific observations v/as reasonably licrfcct. The Smithsonian Institution furnished a good supply of barometers and thermometers, besides other apparatus not less imj)ortant, and also spirits, cans, and other materials for the collection and j)reservation of specimens of Natural History. In this latter department 1 owe especial obligations to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and also to the Cambridge Museum. From the skilful maker, Mr. John Tagliabeau, of New York, I had a handsome present of spirit thermo- meters. From the Topographical Bureau at Washington, through the courtesy of its chief, I was supplied with two pocket-sextants, instruments which could not have been obtained either by purchase or loan ciae where. I had hoped to secure from the National Observatory the use of a deep-sea sounding apjiaratus, until it was made known to me that the concession was not provided for by act of Con- gress. Outside of the limits of nautical routine I fared « ~-.;w.-X:.i- ■:.-;:- •:«■ ^^-ygMMiii ■iiii , ■< » *# * ■«' SCIENTIFIC our I' IT. II [mo- ton, two leen liad of to )n- :ed better. The Chief of the Coast Survey fiirnishctl mo with a vertical circle, which contained the double advantage of a transit and theodolite, a well-tested imifilar magneto- meter, a reflecting circle, a "VVurdoman compass, and several other valuable instruments. We had live chronometers, — three box and two pocket, which last were intended for use in sledge travelling, "VVe had an excellent telescope, with a four and a half inch object-glass ; and, under the joint superintendence of the late Professor Bond, of Cam- bridge, and Mr. Sonntag, I caused to be constructed a pendulum apparatus after the plan of Foster's instrument. I lacked not instruments, but men. My only well- instructed associate was Mr. Scmntag. Our outfit was altogether of the very best description, and our larder contained everything that could reasonably be desired. An abundant supply of canned meats, vegeta- bles, and fruits insured us against scurvy, and a largo stock of desiccated beef, beef soup (a mixture of meat, carrots, onions, &c.), and potatoes, prepared expressly for me by the American Desiccating Company of New York, gave us a light and portable food for the sledge journeys. 1 preferred the food in this form to the ordinary pemican. We were amply provided with good warm woollen cloth- ing, and four large bales of bufialo-skins promised each of us the materials for a coat and protection against the Arctic winds. A good stock of rifles and guns, and a plentiful supply of ammunition, finished our guarantees against want. We had forty tons of coal and wood in the hold, and a quantity of pine boards, intended for housing over the upper deck when in winter quarters. Our sledges were constructed after a j)attern furnished by myself, and the tents, cooking-lamps, and other camp fixtures, were manufactui'cd under my personal supervision. '. V'^i*"^*'-**'*'*^*^**-"'- •mtmmm t, I 12 READY TO SAIL, From numerous friends, whose names I cannot here men- tion without violating the obligations of confidence, wo received books and a great quantity of '* small stores " which were afterwards greatly appreciated during our winter imprisonment in the ice. Wo had expected to sail on the 4th of July, and the friends of the Expedition were invited by the Boston Com- mittee, through its secretary, Mr. 0. W. Peabody, to see us off. Although the day was dark and drizzly, many hundreds of persons were present. Through some unavoid- able accident we did not get away. The guests, however, made us the recipients of their best wishes, and when the members of my little command (assembled' together on that day for the first time) found themselves addressed in turn by the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the City, and the President of Harvard, and by renowned states- men, orators, divines and merchants of Boston, and by savans of Cambridge, the measure of their happiness was full. Inspired by the interest thus so conspicuously manifested in their fortunes, they, felt ready for any emergency. ' -^■^.' ■■*:>-..'. .tr- ,—^ ^I^Hi ^P^ fl^S^^M _^^=^'^ j^wJaiBH THE OPEN POLAR SEA. ' CHAPTER I. ATE in tho evening of July Gth, 18G0, tlio schooner United States was hauled into tho stream, prepared to leave port the following morning. The morning dawned clear and auspicious. Upon going on board, I found that a number of friends whom I had invited to accompany us down the bay had preceded me by half an hour. Among them were His Excellency the Governor of the State, and representatives of the Boston, New York, and Philadelphia committees. The fine large steam-tug JR. B. Forbes soon came along- side, alive with a gay party of well-wishers, and, taking the end of our hawser, started us from our anchorage. As we passed Long Wharf we were honoured with a salute from a battery which the Mayor of the city had sent down for that purpose, and numerous parting cheers greeted us as we steamed down the bay. The wind being unfavourable, we dropped anchor for the night in Nantasket Eoads. The tug took most of our '4 I J^£:a vixg boston. f? official rop JnTat ,0 Z\^' '" "^ -"- -«■ l-nso, engaged in tl,o last of o,f ,/*"'' °^ *''« ""to- ■ A handful of papers wl m,t n o T°"' ^^^^'-I^^'ions. became the solo owner of t "^ Possession, and I f proi^rfy on bo"d of ^7" ''f"' ^""'- -«I our eonforenco ended, a„d t h'n , '"" ^'"'' *^^'' I^^foro fi'om the eashvarddurin" I •,'"'' Promising to hold -g Mr. I3aw, in t S; "'^"'*' ^ -'--1 to Best'!!' tjat the executi,; offiS 12^11.7?' "?■"""- ^ ^-■"'l o break out the ship's h d "] ,1- 1"'"'^ '^^ "'« •J'^^'^y of .tbo deck cargo. I„dee T "* " ''^""- ^^wage go«g to sea. Ma„^ /^2' ^ ^■"^''^ "' "« condition for i?"?'^ ""'^ "^•''^<=«' ^vWe{ a L f ^^'^''f'y covered could not bo stowed awav Tf ,^"^''' of doparturo ;vion the hatches were h' 1 '""f ^""S ""or niglafall but as the pilot did no come :^ ,»'"I everything sef^^d to wait until daylight. " "" '^°'''-''' ^^^ ^vero compelled •I passed the night on Tv id , "car by, with «omo\ind fis S'' ' ^'^'^'' ^^^-h lay s:i?ixr;Sii^^-^^^^^^^^ foot tripped theif 7„ Cf ;?VtTr« '^''^' '^^ l^tle st ^°°^'-^^-' ^^^^^0 w:;;r.tri^^r« ''"^- Eef til ^"* *^ f gH ::, I ;«: t «: mot i *'° *"'-* ^-^ «-t out of 1 FIRST XIGIIT A T SEA. 15 )in with D ontcr- tations. I, and I ^ies and before o hold Boston I slept the first long, unbroken sleep I had had for weeks. The expedition which had absorbed so much of my attention during the past five years was now fairly on its way. Trusting in Providence and my own energy, 1 had faith in the future. ' found ) delay towage on for board 3vered irturc, fhtfall ured ; pelled lay it us and 1 for ittle our ; to of the Ihe ch 1st crfArTER II. It was „,.;„i^ dcvoicf o/Lts?""""'' --'• affairs of my fuT :2;Z'!V: T''i'° "'° '^-o.tic schooner as tidy and comnjl'i^ ''''°"'^' *° make tlio the officers and crow to^ & J^.V^" i''"^'- ^""ing nasmueh as we would for a o ' ft^ '"''' *° *''«■» ^at I'tt world, wo must all roco^T,rf''''° o^' own mutual dependence and tie tS "'° °W'g«tions of a ^ndj^mUtiou. KeepinVthi T °t'»"'"''l ^''fety, interest? liardship in makin All°srlfi«T ?'^' ^° ^""W fed no *o the neccssities'of rS„:iT'"'''"r ''''"^'^'^o response was highly mJif„- T "<=oomniodation. Tho •abundant reason t^ CSSte r' T' ' ^'"^ ''"---^ «'e outset established ttf iw-^'°'^ "J'°"^ laying at 7-lf upon such a sl'sfito^^tTn/ T ° ^^^ '' '^ ot Its adyantages to on,. „ noting. To say nothing, much trouble.°Frim«oh°r' •"'''' *^''« «o««e S cruise I had no occron . '''^'""'"g to the cud ofT -> to jSa fccr ith tlio iig c, 10 le 19 we were rushing squarely upon the capo. Satisfied, how- ever, by the assurances which I had received, I went below to breakfast, and had scarcely been seated when that most disagreeable of all cries, — once heard, never to be forgotten, — " Breakers ahead !" startled us. Upon reaching the deck, I found the sails shivering in the wind, and almost within pistol-shot rose a great black wall, against which the sea was breaking in a most threatening manner. Fortunately the schooner came quickly to the wind and held in stays, otherwise wo must have struck in a very few minutes. As it was, we settled close upon the rocks before the sails filled and we began to crawl slowly off. The spray, thrown back from the sullen cliff, actually fell upon the deck, and it seemed as if I could almost touch the rocks with my hand. We w^ere soon relieved by seeing the dark fog-veil di*awn between us and danger. But the danger was, apparently, not yet passed. In half an hour the wind died away almost to a calm, leaving us a heavy sea to fight with, while out of the blackness came the wail of the angry surf bemoaning the loss of its prey. The wind increased towards noon, and freed us from suspense. Eesolved this time to give Cape Eaco a wide berth, we ran off E. S. E., and not until I was sure, by the colour of the water, that Newfoundland was at a safe distance, did I let the schooner fill away on her coui'se toward Cape Farewell. By this time a stiff breeze was blowing from the south, and as the night closed in we were running before the wind under a close-reefed toj)- sail. A succession of southerly gales now chased us north- wards, and we hauled in our latitude with gratifying rapidity. In a few days we were ploughing the waters which bathe the rock-bound coasts of Greenland. On the 30th of July I had the satisfaction of being once more within the Ai'ctic Cii'cle. That imaginary lino c 2 20 THE FIRST ICEBERG. was crossed at ciglit o'clock in the evening, and the event was celebrated by a salute from our signal-gun and a display of bunting. We now felt that we bad fairly entered upon our career. We were twenty days out from Boston, and bad made throughout an average run of a hundred miles a day. The schooner had proved herself an excellent sea-boat. The coast of Greenland was about ten leagues away, obscured by a cloud ; we had Cape Walsingham on the port beam, and the lofty Suckertoppcn would have been visible over the starboard quarter had the air been clear. We had not yet, however, sighted the land, but we had made our first iceberg, we had seen the " midnight sun," and wo had come into the endless day. When the hour- hand of the Yankee clock which ticked above my head pointed to XII., the sunlight still flooded the cabin. Accustomed to this strange life in former years, the change had to me little of novelty ; but the officers complained of sleeplessness, and were lounging about as if waiting for the old-fashioned darkness which suggests bed-time. The first iceberg was made the day before we passed the Arctic Circle. The dead white mass broke upon us out of a dense fog, and was mistaken by the lookout for land when he first caught the sound of breakers beating upon it. It was floating directly in our course, but we had time enough to clear it. Its form was that of an irregular pyramid, about three himdred feet at its base, and perhaps half as high. Its summit was at first obscured, but at length the mist broke away, disclosing the peak of a glittering spire, around which the white clouds were curling and dancing in the sunlight. There was some- thing very impressive in the stern indifference with which it received the lashing of the sea. The waves threw their liquid arms about it caressingly, but it deigned not even a J» f leir i GOOD TEMPER OF THE CREW, 21 nod of reco^itioii, find sent tlicm reeling backward, moaning and lamenting. "VVe had some rough handling in Davis* Strait. Once I thought we had surely come ingloriously to grief. Wo were running before the wind and fighting a wretched cross-sea under reefed fore and mainsail and jib, when the fore fife-rail was carried away ; — down came everything to the deck, and there was left not a stitch of canvas on the schooner but the lumbering mainsail. It was a miracle that we did not broach to and go to the bottom. Nothing saved us but a steady hand at the helm. The following entry in my journal, made at this period, will exhibit our condition and the temper of the crew : — " Notwithstanding all this knocking about, everybody seems to take it for granted that this sort of thing is very natural and proper, and a j^art of the engagement for the cruise. It is at least gratifying to see that they take kindly to discomfort, and receive every freak of fortune with manly good nature. I really believe that were affairs otherwise ordered they would bo sadly disappointed. They are * the small band of brave and spirited men ' they read about in the newspapers, and they mean to show it. The sailors are sometimes literally drowned out of the forecastle. The cabin is flooded at least a dozen times a day. The skylight has been knocked to pieces by the head of a sea, and the table, standing directly under it, has been more than once cleared of crockery and eatables without the aid of the steward. My own cabin gets washed out at irregular intervals, and my books are half of them spoiled by tumbling from their shelves in spite of all I can do to the contrary. Once I caught the whole library tacking about the deck after an unusually ambitious dive of the schooner, and the advent of a more than ordinarily heavy rush of water through the * com- 3^anion-way.* *' 22 A LAND-FALL. It had been my intention to stop at Egedesmindic, or some other of the lower Danish stations, on the Greenland coast, to obtain a stock of furs, and at the upper settle- ments to procure the needful supply of dogs for sledgo travelling ; but, the wind being fair, I resolved to hold on and trust to obtaining everything required at Proven and Upernavik. We made our first land-fall on the 31st. It proved to bo the southern extremity of Disco Island. The lofty mountains broke suddenly through the thick mist, and exposed their hoary heads, not a little to our astonishment ; but they vanished again as quickly as they had appeared. But we had got a clutch upon the land, and found that, befogged though wo were, we had calculated our position to a nicety. From this moment the interest of our cruise was doubled. The next day we were abreast the Nord Fiord of Disco, in latitude 70°, and, gliding on with a light wind, the Waigat and Oominak Fiord were soon behind us ; and on the evening of August 2nd we were approaching the bold promontory of Svarte Iluk, which is only forty miles from Proven, whither we were bound. " A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." Just as we were congratulating ourselves upon the prospect of getting an appetite for breakfast among the Greenland hills, the wind began to shov/ decided symptoms of weakness ; and, after a succession of spasmodic efforts to recover itself, prolonged through the next four-and-twenty hours, it at length died away com- j)letely, and left us lying on the still waters, impatient and ill at ease. We were sadly disappointed; but the sun scattered the vapours which had hung so long about us, and, in the scene which broke out of the dissolving mist, we buried our vexation. Greenland had been for some time regarded by my companions as a sort of myth; for, although frequently ■ ^ i liov/ of ItllG )m- lent tho mt ing Py P AJ/O.VG THE ICEBERGS. only a few miles from its coast, so tliick and constant had been the clouds and fogs, that, except for a few brief minutes, it had been wholly hidden from our view. Here, however, it was at last, shaking off its cloud mantle, and standing squarely out before us in austere magnifi- cence, — its broad valleys, its deep ravines, its noble moun- tains, its black, beetling cliffs, its frowning desolation. As the fog lifted and rolled itself up like a scroll over the sea to tho westward, iceberg after iceberg burst into view, like castles in a fairy tale. It seemed, indeed, as if we had been drawn by some unseen hand into a land of enchantment, rather tlian that we had come of our o\vti free will into a region of stern realities, in pursuit of stern purposes; — as if tho elves of the North had, in sj)ortivo playfulness, thrown a veil about our eyes, and enticed us to the very " seat eternal of tho gods." Here was the Valhalla of tho sturdy Vikings ; here the city of the sun-god Freyer, — Alfheim, with its elfin caves, — and Glitner, with its walls of gold and roofs of silver, and Gimle, more brilliant than the sun,-^the home of the happy; and there, piercing the clouds, was Himinborg, the Celestial Mount, where the bridge of the gods touches Heaven. It would be difficult to imagine a scene more solemnly impressive than that which was disclosed to us by tho sudden change in the clouded atmosphere. From my diary I copy the following brief description of it : — " Midnight. — I have just come below, lost in tho wondrous beauty of the night. The sea is smooth as glass ; not a ripple breaks its dead surface, not a breath of air stirring. The sun hangs close upon the northern horizon ; the fog has broken up into light clouds ; the icebergs lie thick about us ; the dark headlands stand boldly out against the sky ; and the clouds and sea and bergs and mountains are bathed in an atmosphere of crimson and gold and purple most singularly beautiful." 24 BEAUTY OF THE ICEBERGS, In all my former experience in tins region of startling novelties I had never seen anything to equal what I witnessed that night. The air was warm almost as a summer's night ilt home, and j^et there were the icebergs and the bleak mountains, with which the fancy, in this land of green hills and waving forests, can associate nothing but cold repulsiveness. The sky was bright and soft and strangely inspiring as the skies of Italy. The bergs had wholly lost their chilly aspect, and, glittering in the blaze of the brilliant heavens, seemed, in the distance, like masses of burnished metal or solid flame. Nearer at hand they were huge blocks of Parian marble, inlaid with mammoth gems of pearl and opal. One in particular exhibited the perfection of the grand. Its form was not unlike that of the Coliseum, and it lay so far away that half its height was buried beneath the line of blood-red waters. The sun, slowly rolling along the horizon, passed behind it, and it seemed as if the old Roman ruin had suddenly taken fire. Nothing indeed but the pencil of the artist could depict the wonderful richness of this sparkling fragment of Nature. Church, in his great picture of "The Ice- bergs," has grandly exhibited a scene not unlike that which I would in vain describe. In the shadows of the bergs the water was a rich green, and nothing could be more soft and tender than the grada- tions of colour made by the sea shoaling on the sloping tongue of a berg close beside us. The tint increased in intensity where the ice overhung the water, and a deep cavern near by exhibited the solid colour of the malachite mingled with the transparency of the emerald ; while, in strange contrast, a broad streak of cobalt blue ran diagonally through its body. The bewitching character of the scene was heightened by a thousand little cascades which leaped into the sea from these floating masses, — the water being discharged / i* t! AT PROVEN, 25 from lakes of molted snow and ico which reposed in quietude far up in the valleys separating the high icy liills of their upper surface. From other bergs largo pieces were now and then detached, — plunging down into the water with deafening noise, while the slow moving swell of tho ocean resounded through their broken archways. I had been watching this scone for hours, lost in reverie and forgetfulness, when I was brought suddenly to my senses by the master's mate, who camo to report, "Ico close aboard, sir." We were drifting slowly upon a berg about tho height of our topmasts. The boats were quickly lowered to pull us off, and, tho schooner once more in safety, I went to bed. I awoke after a few hours, shivering with tho cold. The " buH's-eye" above my head was open, and a chilly fog was pouring in upon me. Hurrying on deck, I found the whole scene changed. A dense gray mist had settled over the waters and icebergs and mountains, blending them all in chaotic gloom. Twenty-four days at sea had brought tho water very low in our casks, and I took advantage of the delay to send off to a neighbouring iceberg for a fresh supply. The water of these bergs is pure and clear as crystal. Getting at last a slant of the wind, we ran in among the low islands which line the coast above Svarte Huk ; and Sonntag, who had gone ahead in a boat to Proven, having sent off to us a swarthy-looking pilot, we wound our way slowly through the tortuous passage, and at a little after midnight of August 6th we dropped anchor in the snuggest of little harbours. The loud baying of dogs, and an odour, baffling description, — " a very ancient and fish-like smell," — first warned us of our approach to a Greenland settlement. CHArTEPt III. E wcro escorted into the harbour of Proven by the strangest fleet of boats and the strangest-looking boatmen that ever convoyed a ship. They were the far-famed kayakers of Grccnhind, and they deserve a passing notice. The Icayah of the Greenlander is the frailest specimen of marine architecture that ever carried human freight. It is eighteen feet long and as many inches wide at its middle, and tapers, with an upward curving line, to a point at either end. The skeleton of the boat is made of light wood; the covering is of tanned seal-skin, sewed together by the native women with sinew thread, and with a strength and dexterity quite astonishing. Not a drop of water finds its way through their seams, and the skin itself is perfectly waterproof. The boat is about nine inches deep, and the top is covered like the bottom. There is no opening into it except a round hole in the centre, which admits the hunter as far as his hips. This hole is surrounded with a wooden rim, over which the kayaker laces the lower edge of his water-tight jacket, and thus fastens himself in and keeps the water out. He propels himself with a single oar about six feet long, which terminates in a blade or paddle at either end. This instrument of locomotion is grasped in the centre, and is dipped in the water alternately to right and left. The SCARCITY OF DOGS. 27 boat is graceful as a cluck and light as a feather. It has no ballast and no keel, and it rides almost on tlio sui-faco of the water. It is therefore necessarily top-heavy. Long practice is required to manage it and no tight-ropo dancer ever needed more steady nerve and skill of balance than this same savage kayaker. Yet, in this frail craft, ho does not hesitate to ride seas which would swamp an ordinary boat, or to break through surf which may sweep completely over him. But ho is used to hard battles, and, in spite of every fortune, he keeps himself upright. I watched their movements with much interest as they collected about the schooner. Among the benefits which they had derived from civilization was an appreciation of the value of rum, coffee, and tobacco ; and they were not over modest in their demands for these articles. Most of them had, however, something to trade, and went homo with their reward. One old fellow who had managed to pick up a few words of English, without being particularly clear as to their meaning, was loud in his demands for a "pound rum, bottle sugar," offering in exchange a fine salmon. I had intended to remain at Proven only a single day, and then to hasten on with all possible speed; but our stay was prolonged by circumstances to which I was forced to submit with as good a grace as possible. It was idle for me to leave without a supply of dogs, for my plans and preparations were entirely based upon them ; and the prospect of accomplishing my design in this respect ap- peared, from the first, very feeble. In order to save time, Sonntag had gone to the village when we lay becalmed off Svarte Huk, and he returned on board with the most dis- couraging accounts of the poverty of the settlements in that which was such an essential addition to our equip- ment. A disease which had prevailed among the teams during the past year, had diminished the stock to less than half of what was required for the prosperity of the 28 LIBERALITY OF THE CHIEF TRADER. people ; and all our offers to pnreliasc, cither with money or provisions, were at first flatly refused, and were in the end only partially successful. Mr. Sonntag had called upon the Assistant Trader im- mediately after his arrival, and was at once informed by that official of the unfortunate state of affairs. He would, however, personally interest himself in the matter, and advised that wo should await the arrival of the Chief Trader, Mr. Hansen, who resided at Upernavik, which is forty miles to the north, and would bo in Proven in a day or so. It was evident that nothing could be done with- out the aid of this all-powerful public functionary, for whoso arrival we had no alternative but to wait. If we went on to Upernavik we ran the hazard of missing him ; and, by not seeing him until his return to that settlement from his southern tour, of losing the advantage of his prompt co-operation. Mr. Hansen arrived the following day, and assured me that ho would do what was in his power ; but he feared that ho should have little success. As an earnest of his good- will, he informed me, with a delicate courtesy which made me for the moment wonder if a lordly son of Castile had not wandered to this land of ice, and disguised himself in a seal-skin coat, that his own teams were at my disposal. Beyond this, however, he could neither advise nor com- mand. There was no public stock from which to supply my wants; and so great and universal had been the ravages of disease among the animals, that many hunters were wholly destitute, and none were in possession of their usual number. He however at once despatched a courier to Upernavik, and others to various small settle- ments, and thus heralded the news that any hunter who had an extra dog would find a market for it by bringing it forthwith to Proven or Upernavik. This action of the Chief Trader was the more appre- ciated that it was disinterested, and was uncalled for PKOVEX. either by any official dcmantls which were laid upon him, or by any special show of dignity or importance with which the insignificant schooner lying in the harbour could back up my claims. The State Department at Washington had, at my solicitation, requested from the Danish Government such recognition for me as had been hitherto accorded to the American and English naval ex- peditions ; but the courteous response wliicli came in the form of a command to the Greenland officials to furnish me with everything in their power did not reach the settlements until the following year. The commands of his Majesty the King could not, however, have stood mo in better stead than the gentlemanly instincts of Mr. Hansen, There is little in the history of Proven, either past or present, that will interest the readers of this narrative. What there is of it stands on the southern slope of a gneissoid spur which forms the terminus of one of the numerous islands of the vast archipelago lying between the peninsula of Svarte Huk and Melville Bay. A govern- ment-house, one story high and plastered over with pitch and tar, is the most conspicuous building in the place. A shop and a lodging-house for a few Danish employees stands next in importance. Two or three less imposing structures of the pitch and tar description, inhabited by Danes who have married native women; a few huts of stone and turf, roofed with boards and overgrown with grass ; about an equal number of like description, but without the board roof, and a dozen seal-skin tents, all pitched about promiscuously among the rocks, make up the town. There is a blubber-houso down by the beach, and a stunted flag-staff on the hill, from which the Danish flag gracefully waving in the wind, gave the place a show of dignity. The dignity of civilization was further pre- served by an old cannon which lay on the grass under the flag, and w^hose rusty throat made the welkin ring as our anchor touched the Greenland rocks. J. 30 ARCTIC FLORA, H Tlio settlement, or Colontcn, as ilio Danes distingiusli it, dates back almost to tlie clays of good old llans Egcdc, imd its name, as nearly as can be interpreted, signifies '* Experiment ;" and, after the Greenland fashion, a suc- cessful experiment it has been. Its people live, chiefly, by hunting the seal ; and, of all the northern colonies, few have been as prosperous. The collections of oil and skins during some years aro sufficient to freight a brig of three hundi'ed tons. The place bears ample evidence of the nature of its business. Carcasses of seals and seals' offal lay strewn along the beach, and over tlie rocks, and among the huts, in every stage of decomposition ; and this, added to every other conceivable accumulation that could exhibit a bar- barous contempt for the human nose, made the fii'st few hours of our stay there anything but comfortable. A better prospect, however, greeted us behind the town. A beautiful valley lay there, nestling between the cliffs, and rich in Arctic vegetation. It was covered with a thick turf of moss and grasses, among which the Poa Ardica, Ghjceria Arcticay and Alopccurus Alpinus were most abundant. In places it was, indeed, a perfect marsh. Little streams of melted snow meandered through it, gur- gling among the stones, or dashing wildly over the rocks. Myriads of little golden-pctalcd poppies (Pajmver nudi- caide) fluttered over the green. The dandelion (Leontodon jjalustre), close kindred of the wild flower so well known at home, kept it company ; the buttercup (Banuncuhis nkcdis), with its smiling, well-remembered face, was sometimes seen ; and the less familiar Potentilla and the purple Pedicularis were dotted about here and there. The saxi- frages, purple, white, and yellow, were also very numerous. I captured not less than seven varieties. The birch and crowberry, and the beautiful Andromeda, the heather of Greenland, grew matted together in a sheltered nook among the rocks; and, in strange mimicry of southern I i VALUE OF DOGS. 31 richness, tho willows feebly fetnigglecl for existence on tlio spongy turf. With my cap I covered ft whole forest of them. I had been in Proven in 1853, and the place had not changed in the interval. Tho old ex-trader Christiansen was there, a little older, but not less frugal than before. He complained bitterly of Dr. Kane not having kept his l^romises to him, and I endeavoured to mollify his wrath by assuring him that Dr. Kane had lost his vessel and could not return ; but his life had been made unhappy during seven long years by visions of a barrel of American flour, and he would not bo comforted. He was scarcely able to crawl about ; but, when I sent ashore to him the coveted treasure, he found strength to break the head out of the cask, to feast his eyes on the long-expected gratuity. His sons, each with a brood of Esquimaux- visaged, though flaxen-liaired children, crowded around tho present. My diary records that they were tho best hunters in* tho settle- ment, and that they had the best teams of dogs ; and it also mentions, with a little chagrin, that they would not sell one of them. I attributed this obstinacy, at the time, to their cross old paternal relative ; but there were better reasons than this. They knew by bitter experience the risks of going into the long winter without an ample sup- ply of dogs to carry them over tho ice upon the seal hunt, and to part with their animals was to risk starvation. I offered to give them pork and beef and canned meats, and flour and beans ; but they preferred the seal and the ex- citement of the hunt, and refused to trade. At last the couriers had all come in, bringing unwelcome news. A half-dozen old dogs and a less number of good ones were all that I had to console myself for the delay ; but the Chief Trader had returned to Upernavik, from which place I had received more cncoui'aging accounts 'than from the lower stations. !:' tn %(jd' "0"-^^ 1 <^^;i)>r ' '■ ^l^frj^^Jm,^ iK^'W' ^.' ^^^mmm^mB\ BSSS^^^M^'^5 J^K^^^v^^^^i^^^^^^^ » ^#r^ '*^- ^ CHAPTER IV. E put to sea early in the morning of the 12th, and in tlio evening of the same day were at Upernavik. The entrance to the harbour is somewhat unsafe, owing to a reef which lies out- side the anchorage ; but we were fortunate in obtaining a native pilot at Proven, and ran in without accident. This I)ilot was a character in his way. It seems that he had been converted from his heathen ways, and rejoiced in the benefits of baptism and the name of Adam. Dressed in a well-worn suit of seal-skins, Adam had about him little of the sailor trigness ; yet, though not a Palinurus, no pilot in all the world had ever a higher appreciation of his personal importance. His appearance, however, was not calculated to inspire any great degree of confidence in his skill ; and the sailing-master plied him so incessantly with questions that he at length grew impatient ; and, concen- trating his vanity and knowledge into one short sentence,, which signified plainly, " I am master of the situation," he informed that officer that there was " plenty water all de times, no rocks altogeder," and retired with every mark of offended dignity. He was correct in his information, if not in his English. We found the Danish brig Tli'ialfe lying snugly moored in the harbour, and we anchored close beside her. This was the first vessel we had seen since leaving the fishing- I UPERNA VIK. 35 \ smaclvS off Ciipo Cod. Slio was taking in oil and skins for Copenhagen, and her commander, Mr. Bordolf, in- formed me that he expected to sail in a few days, — a chance, at last, for letters to the anxious ones at home. The people of the Colony were abeady much excited over the arrival of the " Danske skip," and two vessels in the port at once was a sight which they had not for a long time witnessed. The moss-covered hill which slopes from the town to the beach was covered with a motley group of men, women, and children, presenting quite a picturesque appearance as we approached the anchorage. Mr. Hansen received me with true Scandinavian hearti- ness ; and, escorting me to the government-house, intro- duced me to the retiring Chief Trader, Dr. Eudolph, a very gentlemanly representative of the Danish army, v. ho was about returning home in the Tldalfe. Over a jug of home-brewed beer and a Dutch pipe, wo were soon dis- cussing the prospect of obtaining dogs and the state of the ice to the northward. Upernavik differs but little in its general appearance from Proven. There are a few more huts and a few more inhabitants ; and, from being the residence of the Chief Trader for the "Upernavik district," which includes Proven and its dependencies, it has attached to it some- thing more of importance. Perhaps this is, in a mcasui'e, due to a quaint little chm'ch and a parsonage. To the parsonage I quickly found my way, for I fancied that from behind the neat muslin curtains of its odd little windows I detected a female face. I tapped at the door, and was ushered into a cosy little apartment (the fastidious neat- ness of which left no doubt as to the sex of its occupants), by the oddest specimen of womankind that ever answered bell. She was a full-blown Esquimau, with coppery complexion and black hair, which was twisted into a knot on the top of her head. She wore a jacket which extended to her waist, seal-skin pantaloons, and boots reaching 34 THE PARSONAGE. above the knees, dyed scarlet and embroidered in a manner that would astonish the girls of Dresden. The room was redolent of the fragrant rose and mignionette and heliotrope, which nestled in the sunlight under the snow-white curtains. A canary chirped on its perch above the door, a cat was purring on the hearth-rug, and an unmistakable gentleman put out a soft white hand to give me welcome. It was the Eev. Mr. Anton, missionary of the place. Mrs. Anton soon emerged from a snug little chamber adjoining. Her sister came in immediately afterward, and we were soon grouped about a home-like table ; a genuine bottle of Lafitte, choice coffee, Danish fare, and Danish heartiness, quickly made us forget the hardships of our cramped life in the little tempest-tossed schooner. My visit to Mr. Anton had, however, an association of much sadness. A valued member of my party, Mr. Gib- son Caruthers, had died during the previous night, and I called to ask the missionary to officiate at the funeral service. His consent was promptly given, and the hour of burial was fixed for the following day. The burial of a companion, at any time painful, was doubly so to us, isolated as we were from the world. The deceased had endeared himself to all on board by his excellent qualities of head and heart ; and the suddenness of his death made the impression upon his late associates all the more keenly felt. He had retired the night before in perfect health, and was found dead in his berth next morning. To the expedition he was a serious loss. Be- sides Mr. Sonntag, he was the only member of my party who had been in the Arctic seas, and I had counted much upon his knowledge and intelligence. He had served under De Haven in the First Grinnell Expedition of 1850 — 51, and had brought home an excellent record for fortitude and daring. The burial-ground at Upernavik is a sad place for THE WOMEN OF GREENLAND, 1 >• J3 ►' liuman sepulture. It lies on tlio hill-side above tlio town, and is dreary and desolate past description. It is made up of a series of rocky steps, on which lie, covered over with piles of stones (for there is no earth), a few rudo coffins, — mournful resting-place for those who sleep hero their last sleep in the everlasting winter. The body of poor Caruthers lies upon a ledge overlooking the sea, which he loved 'so well, and the beating surf will sing for him an eternal requiem. We were detained four days at ITpernavik, collecting dogs and accumulating the elements of an Arctic ward- robe. This last consisted of reindeer, seal, and dog skins, a quantity of which had been obtained at Proven, and placed in the hands of the native women, to be con- verted into suitable garments. The boots required tho longest time to manufacture. They are made of tanned seal-skin, sewed with sinew, and are " crimped " and fitted to the foot in a very ingenious manner. When properly made they are perfectly waterproof. The boot worn by the half-civilized native women is really a pretty as well as serviceable piece of cunning needlework. The tanned seal-skin, by alternate freezing and thawing, and exposure to the sun, becomes perfectly bleached, and in that condition is readily stained with any colour which woman's caprice may suggest, or the Chief Trader may happen to have in his store-room. The women of Green- land are not exempt from the graceful vanities of other lands. They are fond of gay colours, and do not disdain admiration. Red boots, or white, trimmed with red, seemed to be most in vogue, though, indeed, there is no more an end to the variety than there is to the strangeness of the fancy which suggests it. It would be difficult to imagine a more ludicrous sight than was presented by the crowd of red and yellow and white and purple and blue legged women who crowded along the beach as we entered the harbour. LIBRARY NATIONAL MUSEUM^ OF CANADA NEW RECRUITS. . The population of Upernavik numbers about two hun- dred souls, comprising about twenty Danes, and a larger number of half-breeds, the remainder being native Green- landers, that is, Esquimaux. I shall have more to say of them hereafter, my purpose now being to carry the reader as rapidly as poKsible to tlii) scene of our explorations- He may indeed have as much anxiety to get away from Upernavik as I had. Through the kindness of Mr. Hansen, I obtained here three native hunters, and also an interpreter. This latter had taken passage by the Hiialfe for Copenhagen, 'but he could not withstand the tempting offer which I made him, and he quickly transferred himself from the Danish brig to our crowded cabin. He was a hearty, strong man, had lived in Greenland for ten years ; and, being more than usually intelligent, had picked up on board the English whale-ships a sufficient knowledge of the English language to insure his being a very useful member of my party in the event of our falling in with Esquimaux, with whose language he was perfectly familiar. Besides, he was an excellent hunter and dog-driver ; and, by joining me, I secured his team of dogs, the finest in all North Green- land. But unfortunately this involved another halt, for they were sixty miles up the coast, at Tessuissak, a small hunting station of which he was Trader at the time of obtaining his leave of absence to go home for the year. I also shipped two Danish sailors, thus increasing my party to twenty souls. As the new recruits will figure fre- quently in these pages, I give their names :— ^ Peter Jensen, Interpreter and dog-manager. Carl Emil Olswig, Sailor. Carl Christian Petersen, Sailor and Carpenter. Peter (converted Esquimau), Hunter and dog-driver. Marcus, „ Jacob, „ I owe much to the kindly disposition of the inhabitants A LUNCH ON BOARD. n of Upcrnavik. Their simple tliougli cordial hospitality was a refreshing incident of onr cruise ; and the constant desire to supply my wants, and the pains which they took to furnish what I ho much needed, is gratefully re- membered. If those in authority had allowed me to shift for myself I should have been badly off indeed. I men- tion it to their credit that they refused compensation of every kind ; and it was not without great effort that I could prevail upon any of them to accept so much as a barrel of flour or a box of canned food. " You will want them more than we," was the uniform answer, llie Chief Trader actually sent aboard a present I had made him in return for the fine team of dogs which I owed to his generosity. It was in some measure to show my appreciation of tho spirit which prompted these warm-hearted people that I resolved to signalize our departure with a hmch to tho representatives of King Frederick the Seventh, at this most northern outpost of Christian settlement. Accord- ingly I sent my secretary, Mr, Knorr, out with some formal-looking invitations, gotten up in all the dignity of Parisian paper and rose-scented wax. Ho came back in a few hours with three couples. Two of the ladies were from the parsonage ; the other was the wife of the Chief Trader. Dr. Kudolph, Mr. Hansen, and the missionary, were their escorts. The master of the Thialfe was already 4)n board. Meanwhile our old Swedish cook had gone half crazy, and the steward kept him company. To prepare a lunch for ladies in these high latitudes was not within their conception of the hard-fisted requirements of exploration dignity. They " could not understand it.'' The steward contrived, however, to stow away in the bunks the seal- skins which encumbered the cabin, and thus got rid of all our Greenland rubbish but the odour. But it was not imtil the clean white tablecloth, which he produced from " ' 38 PROGRESS OF THE LUNCH. \ some out-of-tlic-wiiy locker, was covered with the smoking dishes which his ingenuity had contrived, that his face was lit up with anything approaching the kindly. Being, however, in a general way a mild-mannered man, his ferocious looks did not materially affect the progress of the preparations; and the solemn face with which he predicted, in great confidence, to the cook that " such folly would bring us all to ruin, indeed it would," at length wore a ghastly smile, and finally exhibited decided manifestations of a forgiving disposition. Indeed, he was in the end very proud of his " spread." In truth, the spread was a very creditable affair. The contents of our hermetically sealed cans furnished a welcome variety to these dwellers in the land of seals ; the lakes of Greenland supplied some noble salmon, and my lockers contributed something from sunny France and golden Italy, and the materials for an excellent punch from Santa Cruz. At first we got on badly with the con- versation, but by-and-by English, Danish, German, and bad Latin became mixed hannoniously together like the ingredients of the punch; healths were drunk, — to the King, to the President, to all good fortune, to ourselves, and speeches were made, in which were duly set forth the glorious memories of the children of Odin. The merri- ment was waxing warm. Some one, stimulated perhaps by a recent tribute of praise to the valiant Harold and the Eussian Maiden, and the fights and loves of the vikings generally, had just proposed that best toast of the sailor, " sweethearts and wives," and obtained a fitting response, when the heavy thump of a pair of mammoth sea-boots was heard on the companion-ladder, and the master's mate broke in upon us like the ghost of Banquo. *' The officer of the deck directs me to report, sir, that the dogs are all aboard, sir, and that he is hove short on the anchor, as ordered, sir." « How's the wind ?" FAREWELL TO UPERNAVIK. 39 " Light, aud southerly, sii\" There was no help for it. The guests must be got away. The ladies* " things '* were hunted up ; the ladies themselves were hurried over the gangway into the boat ; Dr. Rudolph took charge of our letters, promising to deliver them to the American consul at Copenhagen; " click, click," went the windlass ; up went our white wings, and the last link which bound us to the world — the world of love and warm skies and green meadows — was fairly broken, when we caught from the hill-top the last glimpse of a gay ribbon and the last flutter of a white handkerchief. ,^^&^^ iw*, !■ F'^-W^in*-"'^^''— '—" '-I il CHAPTER Y. TERNAYIK is not less tlio limit of safe navi- gation than the remotest boundary of civilized existence. The real hardships of our career commenced before its little white gabled church was fairly lost against the dark hills behind it. A heavy line of icebergs was discovered to lie across our course ; and, having no alternative, we shot in among them. Some of them proved to be of enormous size, upwards of two hundred feet in height and a mile long ; others were not larger than the schooner. Their forms were as various as their dimensions, from solid wall-sided masses of dead whiteness, with waterfalls tumbling from them, to an old weather-worn accumulation of gothic spires, whose crystal peaks and sharj) angles melted into the blue sky. They seemed to be endless and numberless, and so close together that at a little distance they appeared to form upon the sea an unbroken canopy of ice ; and when fairly in among them the horizon was completely obliterated. Had we been in the centre of the Black Forest, we could not have been more absolutely cut off from " seeing daylight." As the last streak of the horizon faded from view between the lofty bergs behind us, the steward (who was of a poetical turn of mind) came from the galley, and halting for an instant, cast one lingering look at the opening, and then AMONG THE ICEBERGS. 41 H dropped tlirougli tho companion scuttle, repeating from tlio *' Inferno :" — •* They who enter lierc lefive hope behind." The of&cers were calling from below for their coffee, and it was never discovered whether tho steward was thinking of the cabin or tho icebergs. During four days we continued tlu*eading our way- through this apparently interminable labyrinth. Tho days passed wearily away, for the wind, at best but a ** cat's paw," often died away to a dead calm, leaving us to lounge through the hours in a chilly fog or in tho broad blaze of the constant daylight. If this state of things had its novelty, it had too its dangers and anxieties. The bergs, influenced only by the under currents, were, to us, practically stationary ; and the surface flow of tho water which drifted us to and fro, when we lost our steerage-way, rendered our situation anything but safe. They soon came to be looked upon as our natural enemies, and were eyed with suspicion. We were often drifted upon them, and escaped not without difficulty and alarm ; and many times more we saved ourselves from collision by the timely lowering of the boats and taking the schooner in tow, or by planting an ice-anchor in another berg and warping ourselves into greater security. Some- times we tied up to a berg and waited for the wind. We had hard work, and made little progress. I found con- solation, however, in my sketch-book, which was in con- stant use ; and one fine day I got out my photographic apparatus. Landing on a neighbouring island, with the aid of my two young assistants, Radcliffe and Knorr, I made my first trial at this new business. It was altogether unsatisfactory, except to convince me that, with perseve- rance, we might succeed in obtaining at least fair pictures. Practically I knew nothing whatever of the art. It was a'great disappointment to me that I could not secure Mm , 43 BIRDS AND SEALS, for tho expedition tlic services of a professional photo- grapher ; but this deficiency did not, I am happy to say, prevent me, in tho end, from obtaining some views cha- racteristic of the rugged beauties of the Arctic landscape. Wo had, however, only books to guide us. With our >vant of knowledge and an uncomfortable temperature to C(jntcnd with, we laboured under serious disadvantages. Sonntag went ashore with me, and obtained good sex- tant sights for our position, and some useful results with tlio magnetometer. Kndrr added to my collections some fine specimens of birds. The gulls, mollimuks and burgomeisters, the chattering kittiwake and the graceful tern were very numerous. Tliey fairly swarmed upon the bergs. The hunters were often out after eider-ducks, large flocks of which congregate upon the islands, and sweep over us in long undulating lines. Seals, too, were sporting about the vessel, bobbing their intelligent, almost human-looking faces up and down in the still water, marks for the fatal rifles of our sportsmen. They looked so curiously innocent while making their inspections of us that I would not have had the heart to kill them, were it not that they were badly needed for the dogs. We led a strange weird sort of life, — a si)ice of danger, with much of beauty and a world of magnificence. I should have found pleasure in the lazy hours, but that each hour thus spent was one taken from my more serious purposes, and this reflection made the days irksome to me. Four days of almost constant calm would tax the patience of even Job-like resignation. We had a breath of wind now and then to tantalize us, treacherous currents to keep us ever anxious, icebergs always threatening us ; now at anchor, then moored to a berg, and again keeping free from danger through a hard struggle with the oars. We had many narrow escapes, one of which, as illustrating a peculiar feature of Arctic navigation, is perhaps worthy of more particular record. Wl |l>tl III M l I I.V DANGER 43 Wo had matlo a little progress during tlio niglit, but soon after breakfast the wind died away, and the schooner lay like a log ui)on the water. Giving too little heed to the currents, we were eagerly watching the indications of wind which appeared at the south, and hoping for a breeze, when it was discovered that the tide had changed, and was stealthily setting us upon a nest of bergs which lay to leeward. One of them was of that description known among the crew by the significant title of " Touch mo not," and presented that jagged, honeycombed appearance indicative of great age. They are unpleasant neighbours. The least disturbance of their equilibrium may cause the whole mass to crumble to pieces, and woe be unto the unlucky vessel that is caught in the dissolution. In such a trap it seemed, however, that we stood a fair chance of being ensnared. The current was carrying us along at an uncomfortably rapid rate. A boat was lowered as quickly as possible, to run out a line to a berg which lay grounded about a hundred yards from us. While this was being done, we grazed the side of a berg which rose a hundred feet above our topmasts, then slipped past another of smaller dimensions. By pushing against them with our ice-poles we changed somewhat the course of the schooner; but when we thought that we were steering clear of the mass which we so much dreaded, an eddy changed the direction of our drift, and carried us almost broadside upon it. The schooner struck on the starboard quarter, and the shock, light though it was, disengaged some fragments of ice that were large enough to have crushed the vessel had they struck her, and also many little lumps which rattled about us ; but fortunately no person was hit. The quarter- deck was quickly cleared, and all hands, crowding forward, anxiously watched the boat. The berg now began to revolve, and was settling slowly over us ; the little lumps fell thicker and faster upon the after-deck, and the fore- I '*" f II i»in>w>fcM<»t0ww 44 FIGlfTlXa AN ICEIU'IRC. castlo was tlio only place where there was the least chance of safety. At length the herg itself saved ns from destrnetlon. An iinmcnso mass hroke off from that i)art which was beneath the surface of the sea, and this, a dozen times larger than the schooner, came rushing up within a few yards of us, sending a vast volume of foam and water flying from its sides. This rupture arrested the revolution, and the berg began to settle in the opposite direction. And now came another danger. A hmg tongue was pro- truding immediately underneath the schooner ; already the keel was slipping and grinding upon it, and it seemed probable that wo should bo knocked up into the air like a foot-ball, or at least capsized. The side of our enemy soon leaned from us, and wo were in no danger from the worse than hailstone-showers which had driven us forward ; so we sprang to the ice-poles, and exerted our strength in endeavouring to push the vessel off. There were no idle hands. Danger respects not the dignity of the quarter- deck. After wo had fatigued ourselves at this hard labour without any useful results, the berg came again to our relief. A loud report first startled us; another and another followed in quick succession, until the noise grew ileafening, and the whole air seemed a reservoir of frightful sound. The opposite side of the berg had split off, piece after piece, tumbling a vast volume of the ice into the sea, and sending the berg revolving back upon us. This timo the movement was quicker ; fragments began again to fall ; and, already sufiiciently startled by the alarming dissolu- tion which had taken place, we were in momentary expecta- tion of seeing the whole side nearest to us break loose and crash bodily upon the schooner, in which event she would inevitably be carried down beneath it ; as hopelessly doomed as a shepherd's hut beneath an Alpine avalanche. By this time Dodge, who had charge of the boat, had CKCLM/i/JXa /CKJiKKaS, 4$ 10 J 1 . succeeded in planting un Ice-iinelior and attacliinj* \\m ro2)e, and greeted us witli the welcome nigniil, " Ibud /m." Wo pulled for our lives, long and steadily. Seconds seemed minutes, and minutes hours. At length wo Ix^gau to move oft'. Slowly and steadily sank the berg behind us, carrying away the main-boom, and gruzing hard against tlio quarter. Ihit wo were safe. Twenty yards away, and the disruption occurred which wo had all so much dreaded. The side nearest to us now split off, and came plunging wildly down into the sea, sending over us a shower of spray, raising a swell which set us rocking to and fro as if in a galo of wind, and left us grinding iu tho dchrls of the crumbling ruin. At last wo succeeded in extricating ourselves, and were far enough away to look back calmly upon the object of our terror. It was still rocking and rolling like a thing of life. At each revolution fresh masses wore disengaged ; and, as its sides came up in long sweeps, great cascades tumbled and leaped from them hissing into tho foaming sea. After several hours it settled down into quietude, a mere fragment of its former greatness, while tho pieces that were broken from it floated quietly away with the tide. Whether it was the waves created by the dissolution which I have just described, or the sun's warm rays, or both combined, I cannot pretend to say, but the day was filled with one prolonged series of reports of crumbling icebergs. Scarcely had we been moored in safety when a very large one, about two miles distant from us, resembling in its general appearance the British House of Parliament, began to go to pieces. First a lofty tower came plunging into the water, starting from their inhospitable perch an immense flock of gulls, that went screaming up into the air ; over went another ; then a whole side settled squarely down ; then the wreck capsized, and at length, after five hours of rolling and crashing, there remained of this I i 46 EFFECTS OF DISSOLUTIOX. splendid mass of congelation not a fragment tliat rose fifty feet above the water. Another, which appeared to be a mile in length and upwards of a hundred feet in height, split in two with a quiclj, sharp, and at length long rumbling report, which could hardly have been exceeded by a thousand pieces of artillery simultaneously discharged, and the two fragments kept wallowing in the sea for hours before they came to rest. Even the berg to which we were moored chimed in with the infernal concert, and discharged a corner larger than St. Paul's Cathedral. No words of mine can adequately describe the din and noise which filled our ears during the few hours succeed- ing the encounter which I have narrated, and therefore I borrow from the " Ancient Mariner " : — •' The ice was liere, The ice was tliere, The ice was all around ; It creaked and growled. And roared and howled Lilce demons in a swountl." It seemed, indeed, as if old Thor himself had taken a holiday, and had come away from his kiigdom of Thrud- wanger and his Winding Palace of five hundred and forty halls, and had crossed the mountains with his chariot and he-goats, armed with his mace of strength, and girt about with his belt of prowess, and wearing his gauntlets of iron, for the purpose of knocking these Giants of the frost to right and left for his own special amusement. It is, however, only at this season of the year that the bergs are so unneighbourly. They are rarely known to break up except in the months of July and August. It must be then owing to an unevenly heated condition of the interior and exterior, caused by the sun's warm rays play- ing upon them. From the sunny side of a berg I have not unfrequently seen pieces discharged in a line almost horizontal, with great force, and with an explosive report 50 if) h n y ;o BE A UTIES OF THE ICEBERGS. 47 t like a quarryman's blast. These explosions and the crumbling of the ice are always attended with a cloud of vapour, no doubt caused by the colder ice of the interior being brought suddenly in contact with the warmer air. The effect is often very remarkable as well as beautiful, especially when the cloud reflects the rays of the sun. If, however, my pen cannot convey a picture of these icebergs in their more terrible aspects, it will, I fear, bo equally impotent to portray their wondrous beauties. I have tried it once before, and was much dissatisfied with the result. I had then, however, a soft sky, when the whole heavens were a mass of rich, warm colour, the sea a dissolved rainbow, and the bergs great floating monoliths of malachite and marble bathed in flame. Now the sky was gray, the air clear, and the ice everywhere a dead white or a cold transparent blue. I clambered up the sloping side of the berg to which we were tied, and, from an elevation of nearly two hundred feet, obtained a view which well repaid me for the trouble of the venture. I am glad to say, however, that I came down again before St. Paul's Cathedral tumbled from its corner ; an event which sent us drifting away to a less un- comfortable neighbourhood, at the expense of an ice-anchor and eighty fathoms of manilla line. As I approached the berg, I was struck with the re- markable transparency of the water. Looking over the gunwale of the boat, I could trace the ice stretching down- ward apparently to an interminable distance. Looking back at the schooner, its reflection was a perfect image of itself, and it required only the separation of it from the surrounding objects to give to the mind the impression that two vessels, keel to keel, were floating in mid- air. This singular transparency of the water was further shown when I had reached the top of the berg. Off to the south- east a high rocky bluff threw its dark shadow upon the water, and the dividing line between sunlight and shade 1^ ^1 I ' 48 VIE W FROM AN ICEBERG. i was so marked that it required en effort to dispel the illu- sion that the margin of sunlight was not the edge of a fathomless abyss. It is difficult for the mind to comprehend the immense quantity of ice which floated upon the sea around me. To enumerate the separate bergs was impossible. I counted five hundred, and gave up in despair. Near by they stood out in all the rugged harshness of their sharp outlines ; and from this, softening with the distance, they melted away into the clear gray sky ; and there, far off upon the sea of liquid silver, the imagination conjured up effigies both strange and wonderful. Birds and beasts and human forms and architectural designs took shape in the distant masses of blue and white. The dome of St. Peter's loomed above the spire of Old Trinity ; and under the shadow of the Pyramids nestled a Byzantine tower and a Grecian temple. To the eastward the sea was dotted with little islets, — dark specks upon a brilliant s^irface. Icebergs, great and small, crowded through the channels which divided them, until in the far distance they aj)peared massed together, terminating against a snow-covered plain that sloped up- ward until it was lost in a dim line of bluish whiteness. This line could be traced behind the serrated coast as far to the north and south as the eye would carry. It was the great mer de glace which covers the length and breadth of the Greenland Continent. The snow-covered slope was a glacier descending therefrom, — the parent stem from which had been discharged, at irregular intervals, many of the icebergs which troubled us so much, and which have supplied material for this too long description. At length a strong breeze came moaning among the bergs, and sent us on our way rejoicing. In the evening of August 21st we were moored in a little harbour scarcely large enough for the schooner to tm'n round. We lay abreast of a rocky slope on which were pitched a few seal- {• TESSUISSAA'. 49 M^ i «ldn tents, inliabitecl by a set of wcU-to-do-looking Esqui- maux. I noticed two or three native huts, ovcrgrow^l with moss and grass, and one, better looking than the rest, in which Jensen, my interpreter, informed me that he had resided. The place is called Tessuissak, which means " the place where there is a bay." Sonntag went ashore with his sextant and "horizon," to find out its exact position in the world, an event which had not before come to pass in its history, and which I fear was not duly appreciated by its inhabitants. We should have been away in a couple of hours ; but Jensen discovered that his team was scattered, and many of the animals could not be found until after much search- ing. Meanwhile some ice drifted across the mouth of the harbour, and hermetically sealed us up. At last the dogs were all aboard, something over thirty in number. The poor ones I had either given away or exchanged, and we had four superb teams. Thirty wild beasts on the deck of a little schooner ! Think of it, ye who love a quiet life and a tidy ship I Some of them -were in ca^es arranged along the bulwarks ; others run- ning about the deck ; all of them badly frightened, and most of them fighting. They made day and night hideous with their incessant howling. "We were all ready for sea, and impatient to be off. Our Arctic wardrobe was complete with a few purchases made of the natives in exchange for pork and beans. We were thoroughly prepared for the ice encounters. The lines were all neatly and carefully coiled ; the ice-anchors and ice-hooks and ice-saws and ice-chisels and ice-poles •were all so placed that they were within easy reach when wanted. The capstan and windlass were free, and Dodge, who had not forgotten his naval experience, reported " the decks cleared for action." Would the tide float away tho ice and let us out ? I was growing very restless. The season was moving E -I i ) so MEASUREMENT OE AN ICEBERG. on already ice began to form ; tlio temperature was below freezing. The niglits made a decided scum on the fresh-water pools. I could count upon only fifteen days of open season. The Fox was frozen up in the " pack " on the 26th of August, 1857, only four days later, not- withstanding her advantage of steam-power. I did everything I could to while away the tedium of this detention. I tried the photographic apparatus, and with less satisfactory results than before. I tried dredging, without much to show for it ; botanizing, and found nothing which I had not already in my Proven and Upernavik collections. The flowers warned me of the approach of winter. The petals had begun to fall, and their drooping heads wore a melancholy loolr. They seemed to be pleading with the chilly air for a little longer lease of life. One thing only was satisfactorily done. An immense iceberg lay off the harbour, and I had the measurement of it in my note-book, and a sketch of it in my portfolio. The square wall which faced toward my base of measure- ment was three hundred and fifteen feet high, and a fraction over three quarters of a mile long. The natives told me that it had been grounded for two years. Being almost square-sided above the sea, tie same shape must have extended beneath it; and since, by measurements made two days before, I had discovered that fresh-water ice floating in salt water has above the surface to below it the proportion of one to seven, this crystallized piece of Eric's Greenland had ptranded in a depth of nearly half a mile. A rude estimate of this monster, made on the spot, gave me in cubical contents about twenty-seven thousand millions of feet, and in weight something like two thousand millions of tons. I leave the reader to calculate for himself its equivalent in dollars and cents, were it trans- ported to the region of ice-creams and sherry-cobblers, and how much of it would be required to pay off the \ HEADING FOR MELVILLE BAY. 51 r national debt, and how mucli more than half a ccntnry it would withstand the attacks of the whole civilized world upon it, for all those uses to which luxury-loving man puts the skimmings of the Boston ponds. The tide at length carried off the ice which imprisoned us, and in the evening of the 22nd we were again thread- ing our way among the bergs and islands. Cape Shackle - ton and the Horse's Head lay off the starboard bow, and we were shaping our course for Melville Bay. i ts ij E 2 'CHAPTER VI. jHE sun was now no longer above tlie liorizon at midnight, and the nights were growing gloomy, a circumstance whicli warned us to additional carefulness. Notwithstanding our precautions, we narrowly escajied running upon a sunken reef which lies off the Horse's Head, and is not laid down on the chart. We came also among some ice-fields, the first that we had yet en- countered. The waves were rolling in threateningly from the south-west, and the ice, tossing madly upon them, gave us an uncomfortable sense of insecurity ; but we escaped into clear water after receiving a few thmnps which did no material damage to our solid bows. By eight o'clock in the morning we had Wilcox Point clearly in view, and the Devil's Thumb loomed above a light cloud which floated along its base. Before us lay Melville Bay. Climbing to the fore-yard, I swept the horizon with my glass ; — there was no ice in sight except here and there a vagrant berg. To the westward an " ice- blink" showed us that the "pack" lay there; but before us all was clear, — nothing in sight but the " swelling and limitless billows." No discovery of my life ever gave me greater gratifica- tion. The fortunes of the expedition were, at least for the present year, dependent upon an open season, and my / MELVILLE BAY, S3 most sanguine anticipations did not equal the apparent reality. In order tliat the reader may appreciate, in sonic measure, the satisfaction which I took in the prospect that opened before me, it is necessary that I should hero pause to give a general description of the region wo were about to traverse, and an explanation of the phj'^- sical conditions which made this portion of the Greenhmd waters of such conspicuous importance in the destinies of our voyage. The shores of Melville Bay, as laid down on the maps, appear as a simple curved line of the Greenland coast ; but the Melville Bay of the geographer comprehends much less than that of the mariner. The whalers have long called by that name the expansion of Baffin Bay which begins at the south with the " middle ice," and terminates at the north with the *' North Water." The North Water is sometimes reached near Cape York, in latitude 76"^, but more frequently higher up ; and the " middle ice," which is more generally known as " the pack," sometimes stretches down to the Arctic Circle. This pack is made up of drifting ice-floes, varying in extent from feet to miles, and in thickness from inches to fathoms. These masses are sometimes pressed close together, having but little or no open space between them ; and sometimes they are widely separated, depend- ing upon the conditions of the wind and tide. They are always more or less in motion, drifting to the north, south, east, or west, with the winds and currents. The penetration of this barrier is usually an undertaking of weeks or months, and is ordinarily attended with much risk. Since the days when Baffin first penetrated these waters, in the Discovery, a vessel of fifty-eight tons burden (it was in the year 1616), a fleet of whale-ships has annually run this gauntlet. The fleet was once large, numbering I 54 77/E MIDDLE ICE, m\ upwards of a hundred sail ; but of latter years it has been reduced to less than one tenth of its former magni- tude. Great though the danger, it has always been a favourite route of the whale fishers. Many a stout ship has gone down with her sides mercilessly crushed in by the " thick-ribbed ice ;" but those vessels which escape disaster almost uniformly retui'n home with holds well tilled with the blubber and oil of unlucky whales whoso evil destiny led them to frequent the waters about Lan- caster Sound, Pond's Bay, and the coasts below. The "middle-ice" is always more or less in motion, and is never tightly closed up, even in midwinter. Of this we have abundant proof in the face of the steamer Fox, which was caught towards the close of the autumn, and released in the spring, after a perilous winter drift, down near the Arctic Circle. As the summer advances, it becomes more and more broken up : and, little by little, the solid land-belt, which is known as the ** fast " or " land-ice," is encroached upon. Of this, however, there usually remains a narrow strip up to the close of the season. To it the whalers cling most tenaciously, and the exploring vessels have usually followed their example, taking always the last crack that has opened, or, as they call it, the " in-shore lead." They have naturally a great horror of being caught in the "pack." The "fast" gives them security if the wind brings the ice down upon them from the westward, for they can always saw a dock for their ships in the solid ice, or find a bight in which to moor the vessel. They have always, too, the advantage of being able, when the ice is loose, and there is no wind, to tow their vessel along its margin with the crew, steam being rarely used by the whalers. The currents have much to do with the formation of this barrier. The great Polar Current coming down through the Spitzbergen Sea along the eastern coast of t , > I -s^ 1 THE GREAT POLAR CURREXT. 55 Greenland, laden with its licavy freight of ice, and bring- ing from the rivers of Siberia a meagre snpply of drift- wood to the Grecnlanders, sweeps around Capo Farewell jind flows northward as far as Capo York, where it is deflected to the westward. Joining here the ice-encum- bered current which comes from the Arctic Ocean through Smith, Jones, and Lancaster Sounds, it flows thence south- ward, past Labrador and Newfoundland, receives on its way an accession of strength from Hudson Strait, wedges itself in between the Gulf Stream and the shore, gives cool, refreshing waters to the bathers of Newport and Long Branch, and is finally lost oiT the Capes of Florida. Now it will readily be seen, by tlic most casual glance at any map of Baffin Bay, that this movement of tlio current forms, where the middle ice is found, a sort of slow-moving whirlpool, and this it is which locks up the ice and prevents its more rapid movement southward. It will also be readily understood that, by the end of August, the pack has been very materially shorn of its dimensions. The sun above and the waters beneath have both eaten it away, until much of it has disappeared altogether, and all of it has become more or less rotten. The month of August is necessarily the most favourable period of tho year for tho navigation of this sea, so far as concerns the ice ; but the winter is then near at hand, and presents a serious source of danger ; for if the ice once closes around you, the first fall of temperature may glue you fast for the next ten months to come. The whalers usually take the pack in May or June, and even sometimes earlier, when the ice is hard and is just beginning to break up. When we entered Melville Bay there were but eight days remaining to us of the month of August. I had to regret the loss of time at the settlements ; but this was unavoidable. Before leaving Upernavik I liad resolved upon the course which I would pursue, — to take the pack I!"!i ! 56 A SNOJF-STOAW. whenever we should find it, enter it at the most favourable opening, and, without looking for the land ice, to make tlie most direct line for Capo York. It was much in our favour that the wind had prevailed for many days from the eastward, and had apparently pushed the whole 2)ack over toward the American side, opening for us a clear, hroad ex2)anse of water. Would it so remain, and give ua a free passage to Capo York ? I have already said that. I saw its reflection over tlio clouds, — the " ice-blink " to the westward. It was not far away. Would it remain so ? While reflecting upon the chances ahead, the wind rose and blew half a gale. A heavy sea was getting up behind us. A dark cloud, which had hung upon the southern horizon for some time, came climbing uj) the sky, and at length spreading itself out in flying fragments, it shook over us a shower of frozen vaj)our, and then settled into ft regular snow-storm. Unable to sec fifty yards on either side, I came down from my uncomfortable perch on the fore-yard. It became now a subject for serious consideration whether we should continue on in our course, or heave to and wait for better weather. In either case we were exposed to much risk. By heaving to, the vessel would not be under command ; and, drifting through the gloom, we stood a fair chance of settling upon a stray berg or upon the ice-fields which we had every reason to suppose would, sooner or later, obstruct our progress; besides, and it was not an unimportant consideration, we lost a fine wind. On the other hand, by holding on, althougli we had the vessel under control, there was an even chance^ that, in the event of ice lying in our course, we would not be able to see it through the thick atmosphere in time to avoid it. The question was, however, quickly decided. Preferring that danger which had some energy in it, I reefed everything down, pointed the schooner's, head for Cape York, and v/ent at it. ! m'} ENCOUNTER WITH AN ICEBERG. 57 'I I paced the deck in much anxiety of mind. Wo were traversing a sea wliicli no keel had ever ploughed before without meeting ice, and why should better fortune be in store for our little craft ? The air was so thick that I could sometimes barely see the lookout on the forecastle ; then again it would lighten up, and, underneath the broad canopy of dark vapours, which seemed to be supported by the icebergs that here and there appeared, I could see a distance of several miles. Then again the air became thick with the falling snow and rattling hail ; the wind Avhistled through the rigging, and all the while the heavy waves were rolling up behind us, deluging the decks, and threatening to swallow us up. I shall not soon forget our fii'st ten hours in Melville Bay. At length, after a few hours of this wild running, my car, which was keenly alive to every impression, caught the sound of breakers. The lookout gave the alarm a moment afterward. *' Where away T " I can't make out, sir." The sound came from an object which was evidently near at hand, but no one could tell where. A few momenta more, and the loom of an iceberg appeared in our course. There was no time for reflection, and it was too late for action. To haul the schooner by the wind was to insure our plunging broadside upon it ; and so indistinct was the object that we knew not which way to steer. We could not see either end of it or its top, — nothing but a white shimmer and a line of angry surf. I have always found inaction to be a safe course when one does not know what to do ; and in the present case that course saved us. Had I obeyed my first impulse, and put the helm up, we should have gone straight to ruin ; as it was, we slipped past the ugly monster, barely escaping, a collision which, had it occurred, would have been in- stantly fatal to the vessel, and of course to every one on 5S NARROW ESCAPE. board. The forc-yurd [ictuiilly grazod its sldo, and tlio surf wns thrown Lack upon us from the wliito wall. In a few moments the herg was swallowed uj) in the gloom from which it had so suddenly enujrged. " A close shave, that !" said cool-lieaded Dodge. *' Vcr — very close," answered Starr, mueli as if he had just received the first shock of a sliowcr-bath. The old cook was called out of his galley to lend a hand, and in the midst of the excitement ho was heard to growl out, " I d(;n't see how I's to get do gentlemen's dinner ready if I's to be called out of my galley in dis way to pull and haul on de ropes." He did not seem to have a thouglit that there was, a moment before, very little ex_[)Cctation on the part of "de gcntlcmens" tlitifc any of them would have furtlier occasion for his services. This adventure inspired the crew with greater conli- dence. I sui)poso they thouglit that, as two cannon-balls never strike in the sumo spot, another iceberg would not very likely lay in our course ; and so it fell out. The cry of "breakers" was often heard from the forecastle- deck, but in the end the sound proved to come from off the bow, and we passed on indiarmed. At length the wind blow itself out, the snow ceased falling, the clouds broke, the sun shone out brightly, and we lay becalmed not far from the centre of Melville Bay. The snow and ice were shovelled from the deck and beaten from the rigging. I went aloft again with my glass. There were no ice-fields in sight, but the reflection of them was still visil)lc in the sky to the westward. The sea was dotted over with icebergs, and it seemed wonderful that we should have passed safely between them. One near by particularly excited my admiration. It was a perfect " triumphal arch," through which the schooner might have passed with perfect ease. The schooner lay motionless during the night, but early in the morning a fair wind sent us again upon our 1 1 I 'J HE XOKTII WATER. 59 course, and tliisMind hold steadily tliron<^li the day. lot;- hoi'f^sroso l)of()ro us and set behind us in solonni procession. My journal designates theni as " milestones of the ocean.'* The lofty, snow-erowniMl hij^ddauds behind Ca])o York rose at length above the horizon, and the bold, ay without a single brush with the enemy, a lino of whiteness revealed itself in the distance. We were not long in reaching it, and, selecting tho most conspicuous opening, forced our way through. It proved to bo only a loose "pack " about fifteen miles wide, and, under a full pressure of canvas, wo experienced little difficulty in " boring " it. And now wo were in tho *' North Water." We had passed Melville Bay in fifty-five hours. Standing close in under Capo York, I kept a careful lookout for natives. The readers of tho narrative of Dr. Kane may remember that that navigator took with him from one of the southern settlements of Greenland a native hunter, who, after adhering to the fortunes of the expedi- tion through nearly two years, abandoned it (as reported) for a native bride, to live with tho wild Esquimaux who inhabit tho shores of the headwaters of Baffin Bay. This boy was named Hans. Anticipating that, growing tired of his self-imposed banishment, he would take up his resi- dence at Cape York, with the hope of being picked up by some friendly ship, I ran in to seek him. Passing along the coast at rifle-shot, I soon discovered a group of human beings making signs to attract attention. Heaving the vessel to, I went ashore in a boat, and there, sure enough, was the object of my search. He quickly recognized Sonntag and myself, and called us by name. 6o JJV ESQUIMA UX FAMIL V. h\ Six years' experience among the wild men of this barren coast had brought him to their level of filthy ugliness. His companions were his wife, who carried her first-born in a hood upon her back ; her brother, a bright-eyed boy of twelve years, and " an ancient dame with voluble and flippant tongue," her mother. They were all dressed in skins, and, being the first Esquimaux we had seen whose habits remained wholly uninfluenced by contact with civi- lization, they were, naturally, objects of much interest to us all. Hans led us up the hill-side, over rough rocks and through deep snow-drifts, to his tent. It was pitched about two hundred feet above the level of the sea, in a, most inconvenient position for a hunter ; but it was his " lookout." Wearily he had watched, year after year, for the hoped-for vessel ; but summer after summer passed and the vessel came not, and he still sighed for his southern home and the friends of his youth. His tent was a sorry habitation. It was made after the Esquimaux fashion, of seal-skins, and was barely large enough to hold the little family who were grouped about us. I asked Hans if he would go with us. "Yes!" Would he take his wife and baby. "Yes!" Would he go without them. "Yes!" Having no leisure to examine critically into the state of his mind, and having an impression that the permanent separation of husband and wife is regarded as a painful event, I gave the Esquimau mother the benefit of this con- ventional suspicion, and brought them both aboard, with their baby and their tent and all their household goods. The old woi^an and bright-eyed boy cried to be taken along ; but I had no further room, and we had to leave 3 \ e RESCUE OF IIAKS, Ci tliem to the care of the remainder of tlie tribe, who, about twenty in number, had discovered the vessel, and came shouting gleefully over the hill. After distributing to them some useful presents, we pushed oif for the schooner. Hans was the only unconcerned person in the party. I subsequently thought that ho would have been quite as well pleased had I left his wife and child to the protec- tion of their savage kin ; and had I known him as well then as, with good reason, I knew him afterwards, I would not have gone out of my way to distr.b his barbarous existence. CHAPTER VII. T was five o'clock in tlie evening when I reached tlie scliooner. The wind had freshened during our absence ; and, unwilling to lose so favour- able an opportunity for pushing on, I had hast- ened on board. Otherwise I should gladly have given some time to an examination of the native village which lies a few miles to the eastward of the cape, on the northern side of a conspicuous bay, near a place called Kikertait, — " The Place of Islands." In anticijiation of a heavy blow and a dirty night, McCormick had, during my absence, taken a reef in the sails, and the little schooner, with her canvas shivering in the wind, seemed as impatient as a hound in the leash. When the helm went up, she wheeled round to the north with a graceful toss of her head, and, after steadying her- self for an instant, as if for a good start, she shot off before the wind at ten knots an hour. Capes, bays, islands, gla- ciers, and icebergs sank rapidly behind us ; and, rejoicing over their extraordinary fortune, the ship's company were in the best of spirits. As we dashed on through nest after nest of icebergs, it was curious to observe the evidences of reckless daring which inspired their thoughts. Dodge had the deck, and Charley, as dare-devil an old sailor as ever followed the fortunes of the sea, had the helm ; and it t^ A HAZARDOUS PASSAGE. 63 %^ seemed to me, as I sat upon tlie fore-yard, that tlicre was some quiet understanding between the two to see how near they could come to the icebergs without hitting them. We passed through many narrow places ; but, instead of finding the schooner in the middle of the channel, she generally managed to fall oif to one side or the other at the critical moment (of course, by mere accident); and when I shouted a remonstrance at the lubberly steering, I was answered with the assurance that the schooner would not obey her helm with so much after-sail on, when run- ning before the wind ; so I accordingly hove the schooner to, and close-reefed the mainsail ; and now, either from the want of a reasonable excuse for doing otherwise, or from a real difficulty being overcome, the vessel was made to keep somewhat nearer to a straight course; and wo dashed on through the waveless waters with a celerity which, in view of our surroundings, fairly made one's head swim. I was once not a little alarmed. Before us lay what appeared to be two icebergs separated by a distance of about twenty fathoms. To go around them was to deviate from our course, and I called to Dodge to know if ho could steady the schooner through the narrow passage. Ever ready when there wr.s a spice of danger, he willingly assumed the responsibility of the schooner's behaviour, and we approached the entrance ; but, when it was too late to turn either to the right or left, I discovered, much to my amazement, that the objects which I had supposed to be two bergs were in fact but portions of the same mass, connected together by a link which was only a few feet below the surface of the water. The depth of water proved, however, to be greater than at first appeared, but the keel actually touched twice as we shot through the opening ; and while the schooner was, with some hesitancy and evi- dent reluctance, doing this sledge duty, I must own that I wished myself anywhere else than on her fore-yard. ). ( I! I 64 ITAA'S AND HIS FAMIL i; The officers and men amused themselves with our new allies. Hans was delighted, and he expressed himself with as much enthusiasm as was consistent with his stolid tem- perament. His wife exhibited a mixture of bewilderment and pride ; and, apparently overwhelmed with the novelty of the situation in which she so suddenly found herself, seemed to have contracted a chronic grin ; while her baby laughed and crowed and cried as all otlier babies do. The sailors set to work at once with tubs of warm water and with soap, scissors, and comb, to prepare them for red shirts and other similar luxuries of civilization. At this latter they were overjoyed, and strutted about the deck with much the same air of exalted consequence as that of a boy Avho has been freshly promoted from frock and shoes to pantaloons and boots ; but it must be owned that the Roap-and-water arrangement was not so highly appre- ciated ; and well they might object, for they were not used to it. At first the whole procedure seemed to be great sport, but at length the wife began to cry, and demanded of her husband to know whether this was a white man's religious rite, with an expression of countenance which appeared to indicate that it was regarded by her as a refined method of Christian torture. The family were finally stowed away for the night down among the ropes and sails in the " ship's eyes ;" and one of the sailors who played chamberlain oh the occasion, and who appeared to be not over partial to this increase of our family, re- marked that, " If good for nothing else, they are at least good lumber for strengthening the schooner's bows against the ice." The coast which we were passing greatly interested me. The trap formation of Disco Island reappears at Cape York, and the land presents a lofty, ragged front, broken by deep gorges which have a very picturesque appearance, and the effect was much heightened by numerous streams of ice which burst through the openings. One of these ( t r» i MEETING THE ICE PACK. ^ figures on the chart as Pctowak Glacier. Measuring it as we passed with log-line and chronometer, it proved to be four miles across. The igneous rocks arc interrupted at Capo Athol, on the southern side of Wolstenholme Sound, and the lines of calcareous sandstone and greenstone which meet the eye there and at Saunders Island and the coast above, toward Cape Parry, brought to my recollection many a hard struggle of former years. They were familiar land- marks. At eight o'clock in the evening we were abreast of Booth Bay, the winter quarters in my boat journey of 1854. I could distinguish through my glass the rocks among which we had built our hut. They were suggestive of many un- pleasant memories. Soon afterward the sky became overcast, and a heavy snow began to fall. The wind dying away to a light breeze, we jogged on through the day, and passing Whale Sound, outside of Hakluyt Island, were, at five o'clock in the evening, within thirty miles of Smith's Sound. Here we came upon an ice-pack which appeared to be very heavy and to stretch off to the south-west ; but the air being too thick to warrant us in approaching near enough to inspect its character, we began to beat to windward with the hope of reaching the lee side of Northumberland Island, there to await better weather. In this purpose we were, how- eve/, defeated, for, the wind falling almost to calm, wo were forced to grope about in the gloom, seeking an ice- berg for a mooring ; but the waves proved to be running too high to admit of our landing from a boat, and we passed the night in much uneasiness, drifting northward. Fortunately the pack was moving in the same direction, otherwise we should have been carried upon it. The breakers could be distinctly heard all the time, and on several jccasions we caught sight of them ; but, by avail- ing ourselves of every puff of wind to crawl off, wo escaped without collision. Once I was satisfied that we had no \ 66 ENTERING SMITH'S SOUND. alternative but to wear round and plunge headforemost into the danger, rather than wait the apparent certainty of drifting broadside upon it ; but at the critical moment the wind freshened, and continuing for a few hours, we held our own while the pack glided slowly away from us. Our dogs had made a heavy drain upon our water-casks, and the watch was engaged during the night in melting the snow which had fallen upon the deck. We also fished up from the sea some small fragments of fresh ico with a net. By these means we obtained a supply of water suffi- cient to last us for several days. The wind hauled to the north-east as the morning dawned, and the clouds broke away, disclosing the land. Cape Alexander, whose lofty walls guard the entrance to Smith's Sound, appeared to be about twenty miles away, and Capo Isabella, thirty-five miles distant from it, was visible on the opposite side. Holding to the eastward toward Cape Saumarez, we found a passage through the pack near the shore, but afterward the greater part of the day was passed in a provoking calm, during which, being embarrassed by a strong tidal-current that set us alter- nately T'p and down the coast, we were obliged almost constantly to use the boats to keep ourselves clear of the bergs, which were very numerous, and many of them of immense size. We were, however, at length gratified to find ourselves passing with a fair wind into Smith's Sound, the field of our explorations. Standing over towards Cape Isabella, we had for a time every prospect of good fortune before us, but a heavy pack was, after a while, discovered from the mast-head, and this we were not long in reaching. This pack was composed of the heaviest ice-fields that I had hitherto seen, and its margin, trending to the north- east and south-west, arrested our further progress towards the western shore. Many of the floes were from two to ten feet above the water, thus indicating a thickness of P STOPPED BY THE PACK. 67 R« from twenty to a liundrccl feet. Had tlicy been widely separated, I should have attempted to force a passage ; but they were too closely impacted to allow of this being dono with any chance of safety to the schooner. The ice appeared to bo interminable. No open water could be discovered in the direction of Cape Isabella. The wind, being from the north-east, did not permit of an ex- ploration in that direction ; so we ran down to tlio south- west, anxiously looking for a lead, but without discovering anything to give us encouragement. We were not, however, permitted to come to any con- clusions of our own as to what course we should pursue, for the most furious gale that it has ever been my fortune to encounter broke suddenly upon us, and left us no alternative but to seek shelter under the coast. Our posi- tion was now one of great danger. The heavy pack which we had passed the night previous lay to leeward of us, and was even visible from the mast-head, thus shutting off re- treat in that direction, even should our necessities give us no choice but to run before the wind. The entries of my diary will perhaps best exhibit the ineffectual struggle which followed : — August 28 tb, 3 o'clock, p.m. Blowing frightfully. Wo have run in under the cci^st, and are partly sheltered by it, and trying hard to find lh anchorage. But for the protection of the land we could not show a stitch of canvas. We are about three miles from Sutherland Island, which lies close to Cape Alexan- der, on its south side, but we have ceased to gain any- thing upon it. We can carry so little sail that the schooner will not work to windward ; besides, here under the coast, the wind comes only in squalls. If we can only get in between the island and the mainland we shall be all right. I liave not been in bod since the day before leaving Tes- suissak, and dming these six days I have snatched only now F 2 i<: i 6S A SEVERE GALE. and then a little sloop. If our anchor onco gets a clutch on the bottom I shall make up for lost time. I ought to have been more cautious, and sought shelter sooner. A heavy white cloud hanging over Capo Alexan- der (Jensen calls it a "table-cloth ") warned me of the approaching gale, but then I did not think it would come upon us with such fury. It is a perfect hurricane. My chief fear is that wo will be driven out to sea, which is everywhere filled with heavy ice. August 29tli, 12 o'clock, m. There has been a dead calm under the coast for an hour. The " table-cloth " has lifted from the cape, and there is a decided change in the northern sky. The light windy clouds are disappearing, and stratus clouds are taking their place. The neck of the gale appears to be broken. 2 o'clock, P.M. My calculations of the morning were quite wrong. The gale howls more furiously than over. We are lying oft' Cape Saumarez, about two miles from shore. Failing to reach Sutherland Island, we were forced to run down the coast with the [hope of finding shelter in the deep bay below ; but the wind, sweeping round the cape, drove us back, and we are now trying to crawl in shore and get an anchor down in a little cove near by, and there repair our torn sails. We are a ^very uncomfortable party. The spray flies over the vessel, sheathing her in ice. Long icicles hang from the rigging and the bulwarks. The bob- stays and other head-gear are the thickness of a man's body ; and, most unseamanlike procedure, we have to throw ashes on the deck to get about. '■ I can now readily understand how Inglefield was forced to fly from Smith's Sound. If the gale which he encoun- tered resembled this one, he could not, with double the steam-power of the Isabella, have made headway against it. <► SEEKING SHELTER. 6f ^ Were I to Icavo the shelter of these friendly cllflfs I Khould have to run with even greater celerity ; — and, very likely, to destruction. The squalls which strike us are perfectly terrific, and the calms which follow them are suggestive of gathering strength for another stroke. Fortunately the blows are of short duration, else our alrearly damaged canvas, which is reduced to the smallest poEsible dimensions, would fly into ribbons. The coast which gives us this spasmodic protection is bleak enough. The cliffs are about twelve hundred feet high, and their tops and the hills behind them are covered with the recent snows. The wind blows a cloud of drift over the lofty wall, and, after whirling it about in the air, in a manner which, under other circumstances, would no doubt be pretty enough, drops it upon us in great showers. The winter is setting in early. At this time of the season in 1853-54 these same hills were free from snow, and so remained until two weeks later. 10 o'clock, P.M. We have gained nothing upon the land, and are almost where we were at noon. The gale continues as before, and hits us now and then as hard as ever. The view from the deck is magnificent beyond description. The imagination cannot conceive of a scene more wild. A dark cloud hangs to the northward, bringing the white slopes of Capo Alexan- der into bold relief. Over the cliffs roll great sheets of drifting snow, and streams of it pour down every ravine and gorgCo Whirlwinds shoot it up from the hill-tops, and spin it through the air. The streams which pour through the ravines resemble the spray of mammoth waterfalls, and here and there through the fickle cloud the dark rocks protrude and disappear and protrude again. A glacier which descends through a valley to the bay below is covered with a broad cloak of revolving whiteness. The sun is setting in a black and ominous horizon. But the il ^ ? :| ■ 70 A WILD SCENE. wildest ficcno is upon tlio sea. Off the capo it is one mass of foam. The water, carried along by tho wind, files through tho air and breaches over the lofty icebergs. It is a most wonderful exhibition. I havo tried in vain to illustrate it with my pencil. My pen is equally power- less. It is impossible for mo to convey to this page a picture of that vast volume of foam which flutters over tho sea, and, rising and falling with each pulsation of tho in- constant wind, stands out against tho dark sky, or of tho clouds which fly overhead, rushing, wild and fearful, across the heavens, on tho howling storm. Earth and sea aro charged with bellowing sounds. Upon the air are borne shrieks and wailings, loud and dismal as those of the in- fernal blast which, down in the second circle of tho damned, appalled tho Italian bard ; and tlio clouds of snow and vapour aro tossed upon the angry gusts — now up, now down — as spirits, condemned of Minos, wheel their un- happy flight in endless sc^uadrons, " Swept by tho dreadful hm-ricanc along.'* In striking contrast to the cold and confusion above is the warmth and quiet here below. I write in the officers' cabin. The stove is red-hot, tho tea-kettle sings a home- like song. Jensen is reading. McCormick, thoroughly worn out with work and anxiety, sleeps soundly, and Knorr and Eadcliffe keep him company. Dodge has tho deck ; and here comes the cook staggering along with his pot of coffee. I will fortify myself with a cup of it, and send Dodge below for a little comfort. The cook had no easy task in reaching the cabin over the slippery decks. " I falls down once, but de Commander see I keeps do coffee. It's good an' hot, and very strong, and go right down into de boots." " Bad night on deck, cook." \ 4f3 A CABIN SCENE. 71 " Oh, it's awful, sar ! I never sco it Llow so hard in all my life, an' I 's followed de sea nioro 'n forty year. And den it's so cold. My galley is full of ice, and do water it freeze on my stove." " Jlcre, cook, is a guernsey for you ; that will keep you "warm." " Tank you, sar ;" — and ho starts off with his prize ; but, encouraged by Ip's reception, he stops to ask, " Would do Commander be so good as to tell mo where we is ? Do gentlemens fool me." " Certainly, cook. The land over there is Greenland. That big capo is Capo Alexander ; beyond tliat is Smith's Sound, and wo are only about eight hundred miles from the North Pole." "Do Nort' Pole, vere's dat?" I explained the best T could. " Tank you, sar ! Vat for wo come — to fish ?" " No, not to fish, cook ; for science." " Oh, dat it ? Dey tell mo we come to fish. Tank you, sar." And he pulls his greasy cap over his bald head, and does not appear to bo much wiser as ho tumbles up tlio companion-ladder into the storm. Somebody has hoaxed the old man into the belief that wo have come out to catch seals. August 80th, 1 o'clock, a.m. The wind is hauling to the eastward, and the squalls come thicker and faster. We are drifting both up and from the coast, and I fear that if wo recede much further we shall bo sent howling to sea under bare poles. It is not a pleasing reflection — a " pack " and a thousand ice- bergs to leeward, and an unmanageable vessel under foot. McCormick is struggling manfully for the shore. 10 o'clock, A.M. We reached the shore this morning at 3 o'clock, and anchored in four fathoms water. The stern of the schooner n : \ ^, ^^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 If KS I I.I 2.5 12.2 m 2.0 I m |l-25 1.4 1 1.6 ^ 6" ► V 71 '>:? '> ^^V ^.^* ■^^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 l/j 72 A T ANCHOR, was sprung round and moored with our stoutest hawser to a rock ; but a squall fell upon us soon afterward with such violence that, although the sails were all snugly stowed, the hawser was parted like a whip-cord ; and we now lie to our "bower" and "hedge," with thirty fathoms chain. And now, in apparent security, the ship's company abandon themselves to repose. AV" eary and worn with the hard struggle and exposure, we were all badly in need of rest. An abundant supply of hot coflfee was our first refreshment. But, notwithstanding their fatigue, some of the more enthusiastic members of the party went ashore, so anxious were they to touch this far-north land. 8 o'clock, r.M. I have just returned from a tedious climb to the top of the cliffs. At an elevation of twelve hundred feet I had a good view. The sea is free from ice along the shore apparently up to Littleton Island, from which the pack stretches out over the North Water as far as the eye will carry. There appears to be much open water about Capo Isabella, but I could not of course see the shore line. Above the cape the ice appeared to be solid. Although the prospect is discouraging, I have determined to attempt a passage with the first favourable wind. The journey was a very difficult one, and when I had reached the summit of the cliff I was almost blown over it. The force of the wind was so great that I was obliged to steady myself against a rock while making my obser- vations. Knorr, who accompanied me, lost his cap, and it went sailing out over the sea as if a mere feather. The scene was but a broader panorama of that which I de- scribed in this journal yesterday. It was a grand, wild confusion of the elements. The little schooner, far down beneath me, was writhing and reeling with the fitful gusts, and straining at her cables like a chained wild beast. «^> %, * t I VIE iV FROM THE CLIFFS. 73 «>> % sS t The clouds of drifting snow which whirled through the gorges beneath me, now and then hid her and the icebergs beyond from view ; and when the air fell calm again the cloud dropped upon the sea, and the schooner, after a short interval of unrest, lay quietly on the still water, nestling in sunshine under the protecting cliffs. There are yet some lingering traces of the summer. Some patches of green moss and grass were seen in the valleys, where the snow had drifted away ; and I plucked a little nosegay of my old friends the poppies and the curling spider-legged Saxifraga flagelaris. The frost and snow and wind had not robbed them of their loveliness and beauty. The cliffs are of the same sandstone, inter- stratified with greenstone, which I have before remarked of the coast below. McCormick has replaced the old foresail which was split down the centre, with the new one, and has patched up the mainsail and jib, both of which were much torn. An immense amount of ice has drifted past us, but we are too far in-shoro for any masses of considerable size to reach the vessel. Three small bergs have, however, grounded in a cluster right astern of us, and if we drag our anchors we shall bring up against them. A perfect avalanche of wind tumbles upon us from the cliffs ; and instead of coming in squalls, as heretofore, it is now almost constant. The temperature is 27°. I made a trial to-day with the dredge, but nothing was brought up from the bottom except a couple of echino- derms (Asterias Grcenlandica and A. Albula). The sea is alive with little shrimps, among which the Crangon Boreas is most abundant. The full-grown ones are an inch long, and their tinted backs give a purplish hue to the water. August 31st, 8 o'clock, p.m. Night closes upon a day of disaster, — a day, I fear, of evil omen. My poor little schooner is terribly cut up. 74 BACK" IN SMI TIPS SOUND. Ill Soon after making my last entry yesterday I lay down for a little rest, but was soon aroused with the unwelcome announcement that wo were dragging our anchors. McCormick managed to save the bower, but the kedgo was lost. It caught a rock at a critical moment, and, the hawser parting, we were driven upon the bergs, which, as before stated, had grounded astern of us. The collision was a perfect crash. The stern boat flew into splinters, the bulwarks over the starboard-quarter were stove in, and, the schooner's head swinging round with great violence, the jib-boom was carried away, and the bowsprit and fore- topmast were both sprung. In this crippled condition wo at length escaped most miraculously, and under bare poles scudded before the wind. A vast number of icebergs and the " pack " coming in view, we were forced to make sail. The mainsail went to pieces as soon as it was set, and we were once more in great jeopardy; but fortunately the storm abated, and we have since been threshing to wind- ward, and are once more within Smith's Sound. Again the gale appears to have broken ; the northern sky is clear. Our spars will not allow us to carry jib and topsail ; — bad for entering the pack. The temperature is 22^, and the decks are again slippery with ice. Forward, the ropes, blocks, stays, halyards, and everything else, are covered with a solid coating, and icicles a foot long hang from the monkey-rail and rigging. If they look pretty enough in the sunlight, they have a very wintry aspect, and are not at all becoming to a ship. I tried this morning to reach Cape Isabella, but met the pack where it had obstructed us before. Some patches of open water were observed in the midst of it ; but we found it impossible to penetrate the intervening ice. My only chance now is to work up the Greenland coast, get hold of the fast ice, and, through such leads as must have been opened by the wind higher up the Sound, endeavour to effect a passage to the opposite shore. Of reaching that 1 •#> \ ENTERING iIIE PACK'. 75 kho of Ind )ld len to iat 1 «#> ( shore I do not'' yet despair, although the wind has appa- rently packed the ice upon it to such a degree that it looks like a hopeless undertaking. 1 have already an eye upon Fog Inlet, twenty miles above Cape Alexander on the Greenland coast, and I shall now try to reach that point for a new start. While I write the wind is freshening, and under close- reefed sails we are making a little progress. My poor sailors have a sorry time of it, with the stiffened ropes. The schooner, everywhere above the water, is coated with ice. The dogs are perishing with cold and wet. Three of them have already died. September 1st, 8 o'clock, p.m. Wo have once more been driven out of the Sound. The gale set in again with great violence, and in the act of wearing the schooner, to avoid an iceberg, the fore-gaff parted in the middle ; and, unable to carry anything but a close-reefed staysail, we were forced again to seek shelter behind our old protector, Cape Alexander. McCormick is patching up the wreck and preparing for another struggle. The next two days were filled with dangerous adven- ture. The broken spar being repaired, we had another fight for the Sound, and got again inside. The pack still lay where it was before, and again headed us off. There was a good deal of open water between Littleton Island and Cape Hatherton, and apparently to the north-west of that Cape ; but there was much heavy ice off the island, with tortuous leads separating the floes. I determined, however, to enter the pack and try to reach the open water above. Taking the first fair opening, we made a north-west course for about ten miles, when, finding that we were unable to penetrate any further in that direction, we tacked ship, hoping to reach the clear water that lay above the island. 76 m THE PACK. i We were now fairly in the fight. The current was found to bo setting strongly against us, and it was soon discovered that the ice was coming rapidly down the Sound, and that the leads were already slowly closing up. Wo worked vigorously, crowding on all the sail we could ; but we did not make our point, and soon had to go about again; or rather, we tried to; for the schooner, never reliable without her topsail, which we could not carry owing to the accident to the topmast, missed in stays ; and, fearful of being nipped between the fields which were rapidly reducing the open water about us, we wore round ; and there not being sufficient room, we were on the eve of striking with the starboard-bow a solid ice-field a mile in width. There was little hope for the schooner if this collision should happen with our full headway ; and being unable to avoid it, I thought it clearly safest to take the shock squarely on the fore-foot ; so I ordered the helm up, and went at it in true battering-ram style. To me the prospect was doubly disagreeable. For the greater facility of observation I had taken my station on the foretop-yard ; and the mast being already sprung and swinging with my weight, I had little other expectation than that, when the shock came, it would snap off and land mo with the wreck on the ice ahead. Luckily for me the spar held firm, but the cut- water flew in splinters with the collision, and the iron sheathing was torn from the bows as if it had been brown paper. And now came a series of desperate struggles. No topsail-schooner was ever put through such a set of gymnastic feats. I had been so much annoyed by the detentions and embarrassments of the last few days that I was determined to risk everythiug rather than go back. As long as the schooner would float I should hope still to get a clutch on Cape Hatherton. Getting clear of the floe, the schooner came again to the wind, and, gliding into a narrow lead, we soon emerged r ' k BESET. 77 into a broad spaco of open water. Had this continued wo should soon have been rewarded with success, but in half an hour the navigation became so tortuous that we were compelled again to go about and stand in-shore. And thus we continued for many hours, tacking to and fro, — sometimes gaining a little, then losing 'ground by being forced to go to leeward of a floe, which we could not weather. The space in which we could manoeuvre the schooner became gradually more and more contracted ; the collisions with the ice became more frequent. We were losing ground. The ice was closing in with the land, and wo were finally brought to bay. There was no longer a lead. And it was now too late to retreat, had we been even so inclined. The ice was as closely impacked behind us as before us. With marvellous celerity the scene had shifted. An hour later, and there was scarcely a patch of open water in sight from the deck, and the floes were closing upon the schooner like a vice. Utterly powerless within its jaws, we had no alternative but to await the issue with what calmness we could. The scene around us was as imposing as it was alarming. Except the earthquake and volcano, there is not in nature an exhibition of force comparable with that of the ice- fields of the Arctic Seas. They close together, when driven by the wind or by currents against the land or other resisting object, with the pressure of millions of moving touB, and the crash and noise and confusion are truly terrific. We were now in the midst of one of the most thrilling of these exhibitions of Polar dynamics, and we became imcomfortably conscious that the schooner was to become a sort of dynamometer. Vast ridges were thrown up w^herever the floes came together, to be submerged again when the pressure was exerted in another quarter ; and over the sea around us these pulsating lines of uplift, 78 FORCE OF THE ICE-FIELDS, which in some cases reached an altitude of not less than sixty feet, — higher than oiu' mast-head, — told of the strength and power of the enemy which was threatening \is. We had worked ourselves into a triangular space formed by tho contact of three fields. At first there was plenty of room to turn round, though no chance to escape. Wo were nicely docked, and vainly hoped that wo were safe ; but the corners of the protecting floes were slowly crushed off, tho space narrowed little by little, and wo listened to tho crackling and crunching of tho ice, and watched its progress with consternation. At length the ice touched the schooner, and it appeared as if her destiny was sealed. She gi'oaned like a con- scious thing in pain, and writhed and twisted as if to escape her adversary, trembling in every timber from truck to kelson. Iler sides seemed to be giving way. Her deck timbers were bowed up, and the seams of tho deck planks were opened. I gave up for lost tho little craft which had gallantly carried us through so many scenes of peril ; but her sides were solid and her ribs strong ; and the ice on the port side, working gradually under the bilge, at length, with a jerk that sent us all reeling, lifted her out of the water ; and the floes, still pressing on and breaking, as they were crowded together, a vast ridge was piling up beneath and around us ; and, as if with the elevating power of a thousand jack-screws, we found ourselves going slowly up into the air. My fear now was that the schooner would fall over on her side, or that the masses which rose above the bulwarks would topple over upon the deck, and bury us beneath them. We lay in this position during eight anxious hours. At length the crash ceased with a change of wind and tide. The ice exhibited signs of relaxing. The course of the monster floes which were crowding down the Sound was changed more to the westward. Wo beheld the pros- pect of release with joy. I ( i i 4 THE SCHOONER IN DANGER. 79 Small patches of open water were hero and there ex- hibited among the hitherto closely impacted ice. Tho change of scene, though less fearful, was not less magical than before. By-and-by the movement extended to tho floes which bound us so uncomfortably, and with tho first cessation of tho pressure the blocks of ice which supported tho forward part of tho schooner gavo way, and, tho bows following them, left tho stern high in the air. Hero wo rested for a few moments quietly, and then tho old scene was renewed. The further edgo of the outer floe which held us was caught by another moving field of greater size, when the jam returned, and wo appeared to bo in as great danger as before ; but this attack was of short dura- tion. Tho floe revolved, and, the pressui'e being almost instantly removed, wc fell into tho water, reeling forward and backward and from side to side, as the ice, seeking its own equilibrium, settled headlong and in wild confu- sion beneath us from its forced elevation. Freed from this novel and alarming situation, wo used every [available means to disengage ourselves from the ruins of the frightful battle which wo had encountered ; and, as speedily as possible, got into a position of greater safety. Meanwhile an inspection. was made to ascertain what damage had been done to the schooner. The hold was rapidly filling with water, the rudder was split, two of its pintles were broken off", the stern-post was started, fragments of the cut-water and keel were floating along- side of us in the sea, and to all appearances, wo were in a sinking condition. Our first duty was to man the pumps. We were many hours among tho ice, tortured with doubt and uncertainty. We had to move with great caution. The crippled condition of the schooner warned us to use her gently. She would bear no more thumps. Forward we could not go, because of the ice ; retreat wo must, for it was absolutely necessary that we should get to 8o THE SCHOONER CRIPPLED. %\ tho land and find shelter somewhere. The rudder was no longer available, and we were obliged to steer with a long ** sweep.'* Tho wind hauled more and more to tho eastward, and spread the ice. Although at times closely beset and onco severely " nipped," yet, by watching our opportunity, we crept slowly out of tho pack, and, after twenty anxious hours, got at last into comparatively clear water, and headed for Hartstene Bay, where wo found an anchorage. The damage to the schooner was less than we had feared. A more careful examination showed that no timbers were broken, and tho seams in a measure closed of themselves. Once at anchor, and finding that we were in no danger of sinking, I allowed all hands to take a rest, except such as were needed at the pumps. They were all thoroughly worn out. On the following day a still further inspection of the vessel was made ; and, although apparently unfit for any more ice-encounters, she could still float with a little assistance from the pumps. One hour out of every four kept the hold clear. Such repairs as it was in our power to make were at once begun. We could do very little without beaching the vessel, and this, in the uncertain state of the ice and weather, was not practicable. The rudder hung by one pintle, and after being mended was still unreliable. While McCormick was making these repairs I pulled up to Littleton Island in a whale-boat, to see what the ice had been doing in our absence. The wind was dead ahead, and we had a hard struggle to reach our destina- tion ; but, once there, I found some encouragement. There was much open water along the coast up to Cape Hather- ton, but the pack was even more heavy at the west and south-west than it had been before. To enter it would be folly, even with a fair wind and a sound ship. There was clearly no chance of getting to the west coast, except by I 10 ti RETREAT I ROM THE PACK. tlic course wliicli I had attempted with siicli unluippj^ results two days previous;. Wc were not a little surprised to discover on Littleton Island a reindeer. He was sound asleep, coiled up on a bed of snow. Dodge's rifle secured him for our larder, and dci)rived the descdatc island of its only inhabitant. During our absence, Jensen had been out with JIans, and had also discovered deer. They had found a herd numbering something like a dozen. Two of them were captured, but the rest, taking alarm, escaped to the mountains. The wind falling away to calm, we got to sea next day under oars, and again entered the pack. More ice had come down upon the island, and all our efforts to push ui» the coast were unavailing. The air had become alarming- ingly quiet, considering that the temperature was within twelve degrees of zero, and there was much fear that we should be frozen up at sea. A snow-storm came to add to this danger ; but still we kept on at the cold and risky work of " warping " with capstan and windlass, whale- line and hawser, sometimes making and sometimes losing, and often pretty severely nipped. At length we were once more completely " beset." The young ice was making rapidly, and I was forced reluc- tantly to admit that the navigable season was over. To stay longer in the pack was now to insure of being frozen up there for the winter, and accordingly, after having exhausted two more days of fruitless labour, we made what haste we could to get back again into clear water. This was not, however, an affair to be quickly accomplished. He who navigates these polar seas must learn patience. Our purpose was, however, in the end safely accomplished, and, a breeze springing up, we put back into Hartstene Bay ; and, steering for a cluster of ragged-looking islands which lay near the coast at its head, we came upon a snug little harbour behind them, and dropped our anchors. G ■■». 83 EXTERIXa WIXTER ITARnOVR. Next morning I Imd the sdiooncr hauled further in-shoro, ftiid moored her to tlie roeks. Meanwhile the erew were working with anxious uncer- tainty ; and wlien I finally announeed my intention to winter in that place, they received the; intelligoneo with evident satisfaction. Their exposure had been great, and they needed rest ; hut, notwithstanding this, had there hecn the least prospect of serviceable result following any further attempt to cross the Sound, they would, with their customary energy and cheerfulness, have rejoiced in con- tinuing the struggle. But they saw, as their faces clearly told, even before I was willing to own it, that the season was over. I record it to their credit, that tliroughout a voyage of unusual peril and exposure they luid never quailed in the i)resence of danger, and they had to a man exhibited the most satisfactory evidence of manly endu- rance. The reader will readily understand that to mo the failure to cross the Sound was a serious disappointment. Hoping, as heretofore stated, to reach the west coast, and there , secm'e a harbour in some convenient place between latitude 79^ and 80^, it was evident to me that in failing to do this my chances of success with sledges during tho following spring were greatly jeopardized. Besides — and this to me was the most painful reflection — my vessel was, apparently, so badly injured as to bo unfit for any renewal of the attemj^t the next year. r CIIAPTEPt VIII. jl NAMED our liarhonr Port Foulko, in honour of iny friend, tlic late William Paikor Fonlko, of PIiiladel2)liia, who was one of the earliest, and contimicd to bo througlioiit, ono of the most constant advocates of tlio expedition. It was well sheltered excei)t from tlio soutli-wcst, toward which quarter it was quite exposed ; but, judging from our recent experience, wc had little reason to fear wind from that direction ; and wc were protected from the drift-ice by a cluster of bergs which lay grounded off the mouth of the harbour. Our position was, even for the Greenland coast, not so satisfactory as I could have wished. Had I reached Fog Inlet wc should have gained some advantages over our present location, and would have been indeed better situated than was Dr. Kane at Van Itcnsselacr Harbour ; and wc would then be as sure of an early liberation as wo were likely to be at Port Foulke. In truth, the principal advantage which it possessed was that wc would not bo held very late the next summer, and there was no possible risk of my vessel being caught in a trap like that of the Advance. Besides this prospect of a speedy liberation to recommend it, there seemed to bo a fair chance of an abun- dant supply of game. G 2 S4 OCT IVmTER IIAKBOUA'. and about eighty by tto co, t w^ ^ '""''^ '» ^''"'"'ie. ""d I«y deep within the ,~," ' ^^ ^^"^'"'der, b-ght of chu-k, reddish-browTstnitl" "'^^^^^ «"«'-l'««'' gloomy enongh. This bi2t ;! f , ''"'''' ^''""^ I^o^d islands which fig„,o „ „ v 1 ^?^""S^'' ^^-^ t'^'co «mall Knorr, and Starr. AMho hot/ ^ ?""*' "^ l^^dcliii;, scries of terraeed beache coi„1 Iff ^"Sh* "'"''^ « a The iee soon elo.ed IS,?' '^"^^ «W"gIo. -/atirrt: iir t:crr "-^ -•-'- ^--^ con.fort to my party, wlle tfw ^ */'" '•'^''"*»*^^- ''nd "ot, however, lose sight of « S T^' ^'"S done I did tlio time, these had I hTj^^ZTv'^l''^'''^' ^^'' ^r coneerns. There was mS to 1 JT *° '""'''' «""«"« »enee greatly simplified my cares "^ ^"^'^^ '^^P^' found ourselves able to^LaLr „ Tf ^"^ '^"^ ''^ ^« and Peter, were detailedTsT '/""^ . J^^^^"' ^"h Hans Mr. Dodge, with the body of the^'°"'^?'«»«»g ^-c- cargo, and, carrying it to ihe «1 . ' '^'^'^^^^g'^d the »ck up on the lowi e race S^' '''"\® '* ^'"^ » '^^r- the tide, and there deSued t ^'''' ^'''^^ ^''^ ^^ovo stones and roofed with our old sail? T,>^^ "'"''° ^^ laborious operation. The bennl. ^lus was a very sloping, and the ice not bewt "" '''''"«^' «"« bank slodge, a channel had to be Vetr^' '""^Sh to bear a between the ship and the shore TL?d°/^ *'"= ''°«*« the schooner for our winter i ^ ^'^ ''"'^ »f Preparing Mccormick, with the carter Zf 7"'^' "P''- ^x! as he required. After the stik Tt °*^'^'" '''''''^^"^ -^« -t down, and the topm^ iZ^Xl^^: ,^.l it IS I PREPARING FOR WINTER. 85 -was roofed in,— making a house eight feet high at the ridge and six and a htilf at the side. A coating of tarred paper closed the cracks, and four windows let in the light while it lasted, and ventilated our quarters. Between decks there was much to do. The hold, after being floored, scrubbed, and whitewashed, was converted into a room for the crew ; the cook-stove was brought down from the galley and placed in the centre of it under the main hatch, in which hung our simple apparatus for melting water from the snow or ice. This was a funnel-shaped double cylinder of galvanized iron connecting with the stove-pipe, and was called the *' snow melter." A con- stant stream poured from it into a large cask, and we had always a supply of the purest water, fully ample for every purpose. Into these quarters the crew moved on the first of October, and the out-door work of preparation being mainly completed, we entered then, with the ceremony of a holiday dinner, upon our winter life. And the dinner was by no means to be despised. Our soup was followed by an Upernavik salmon, and the table groaned under a mammoth haunch of venison, which was flanked by a lagout of rabbit and a venison pasty. Indeed, we went into the winter with a most encouraging prospect for an abundant commissariat. The carcasses of more than a dozen reindeer were hanging in the shrouds, 2'abbits and foxes were suspended in clusters from the rigging, and the hearty appetites and vigorous digestions which a bracing air and hard work had given us, were not only amply provided for in the present, but seemed likely to be supplied in the future. The hunters rarely came home empty-handed. Eeindeer in herds of tens and fifties were reported upon every return of the sportsmen. Jensen, who had camjied out several days on the hunting-grounds, had already cached the flesh of about twenty animals, besides those which liad been brought on board. In a ' ) ti ,, 86 THE OBSERVATORY. f > single lioiu* I liad killed three with my own hands. Both men and dogs were well provided. The dogs, which, according to Esquimau custom, were only fed every second day, often received an entire reindeer at a single meal. They were very ravenous, and, having been much reduced by their hard life at sea, they caused an immense drain upon our resources. My journal mentions, with daily increasing impatience, the almost constant prevalence of strong north-east winds, which embarrassed us during this period ; but at length the wind set in from the opposite direction, and, breaking up the young ice about us, jammed us upon the rocks. If there was little consolation in the circumstance of our situation being thus altered for the worse, there was at least novelty in the caprice of the weather. For once, at least,'the uniform " N.E." had been changed in the proper column of the log-book. It was not without difficulty that we succeeded in relieving the schooner from the unpleasant predicament. While these preparations for the winter were being made, I must not forget the astronomer and his little corps. Between him and the executive officer there sprung up quite a rivalry of interest. While the one desired a clean ship moored in safety and a well-fed crew, he was naturally jealous of any detail of men for the other; and it must bo owned that the men worked with much greater alacrity for the follower of Epicurus than the disciple of Copernicus. An appeal to head- quarters, however, speedily settled the question as to where the work was most needed; and, by a judicious dis- crimination as to what was due to science and what to personal convenience, we managed, while the daylight lasted, to lay the foundation of a very clever series of observations, while at the same time cur comfort was secured. A neat little observatory was erected on the lower ter- H., SCIENTIFIC WORK. 87 race, not for from tlie storc-lionse, and it was promptly put to use ; and an accurate survey of tlie harbour and bay, with soundings, was made as soon as the ice was strong enough to bear our weight. The observatory was a frame structure eight feet scjuarc and seven high, covered first with canvas and then with snow, and was lined throughout with bear and reindeer skins. In it om* fine pendulum apparatus was first mounted, and Sonntag and Eadclifie were engaged for nearly a month in counting its vibrations. It was found to work admirably. Upon removing this instrmncnt, the magnetometer was substi- tuted in its place, upon a pedestal which 'was not less simple than original. It was made of two headless kegs, placed end to end upon the solid rock beneath the floor, and the cylinder thus formed was filled with the only materials upon which the frost had not laid hold, namely, beans. Water being poured over these, we had soon, at ten degrees below zero, a neat and perfectly solid column ; and it remained serviceable throughout the winter, as no fii'e of any kind was allowed in this abode of science.* In order to obtain an accurate record of temperature, we erected near the observatory a suitable shelter for the thermometers. In this were placed a number of instru- ments, mostly spirit, which were read hourly every seventh day, and three times daily in the interval.^ In addition * It is proper to mention here that the pendulum and magnetic observations, as well indeed as all others in physical science, were, upon my return, sent to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, and were placed in the very competent hands of Mr. Charles A. Schott, Assistant in the United States Coast Survey, to whom I am indebted for most able and efficient co-operation, in the elaboration and discussion of my materials, preparatory to their publication in the " Smithsonian Contributions," to which source I beg to refer the reader for details. t These instruments were carefully compared at every ten degrees of temperature down to — 40^, and the records were subsequently referred to our " standard," a fine instrument which I had from G. Tagliabue. 4 A 83 DRIVEN ASHORE BY THE ICE. to this, wo noted the temperature every second hour with a thermometer suspended to a post on the ice. Mr. Dodge imdertook for mo a set of ice measurements, and the telescope was mounted alongside the vessel, in a dome made with blocks of ice and snow. But the wind would still give us no rest, and, setting in again from a southerly direction, the ice was once more broken up, and we were again driven upon the rocks, and a second time compelled to saw a dock for the schooner and haul her oif-shorc. This operation was both laborious and disagreeable, even more so than it had been on the former occasion. The ice was rotten, and so tangled up with the pressure that it was not easy to find secure footing ; and the result was that few of the party escaped with less than one good ducking. These accidents were, however, uncomfortable rather than dangerous, as there was always help at hand. The schooner was, for a time, in rather an alarming situation, and there were many doubts as to whether we should get her off ; but not even the consciousness of this circumstance, nor the repeated plunges into the water by the giving way and tilting of the ice, could destroy the inexhaustible fund of good-humour of the ship's company. From this happy disposition I must, however, except two individuals, who were always apt to be possessed of a sort of ludicrous gravity when there was least occasion for it, and, as is usual with such persons, they were not very serviceably employed. One of them, with great serious- ness and an immense amount of misdirected energy, com- menced chopping into my best nine-inch hawser, that was in nobody's way; and the other, with equal solemnity, began vigorously to break up my oais in pushing off pieces of ice which were doing nobody any harm. He even tried to push the schooner off the rocks, alone and unaided, with the tide-pole, an instrument which had cost McCormick two days to manufacture. Of course, the instrument was i FROZEN UP. 89 broken; but the poor man was saved from tlio sailing- master's just indignation by following the fragments into the sea, where he was consoled, in the place of promi)t assistance, with assurances that if he did not make liasto the shrimps would be after him, and leave nothing of him but a skeleton for the Commander's collection. The tem- perature was not below zero, and no worse results fol- lowed our exposure than a slight pleurisy to the mate and a few twitches of rheumatism to the destroyer of my oars. Our efforts were, however, finally rewarded with suc- cess, and the schooner was once more in safety. The air falling calm, and the temperature going down to 10^ below zero, we were now soon firmly frozen up, and were protected against any further accidents of this nature, and were rejoiced to find ourselves able to run over the bay in security. In anticipation of this event I had set Jensen and Peter to work making harness for the dogs, and on that day I took the first drive with one of my teams. The animals had picked up finely, and were in excellent con- dition, and I had satisfied myself both as to their qualities and those of their driver, Jensen. The day was indeed a lively one to all hands. The ice ^having closed up firmly with the land, the necessity no longer existed for Iceeping a channel open for the boats; and the hunters, being able now to get ashore with ease, set off early in the morning, in great glee, after reindeer. On the day following, the hawsers by which we had thus far been moored to the rocks were cut out of the ico and elevated on blocks of the same material. We also made a stairway of slabs of this same cheap Arctic ala- baster, from the upper deck down to the frozen sea ; and a deep snow falling soon afterward, we banked this up against the schooner's sides as a further protection against the cold. During the next few days the teams were employed in collecting the reindeer which had been cached in various 90 THE DA y ENDED. i ! 1 I I ! i places, and when tins labour was completed our inven- tory of fresh supplies was calculated to inspire very agree- able sensations. The schooner being now snugly cradled in the ice, wo had no longer occasion for the nautical routine, so I adopted a landsman's watch, with one officer and one sailor; the sea day, which commences at noon, was changed to the homo day, which begins at midnight ; and, conscious that we had reached the dividing lino between the summer sunlight and the winter darkness, we settled ourselves for the struggle which was to come, resolved to get through it with the cheerfulness becoming resolute men, and to make ourselves as comfortable as possible. And tho personal characteristics of my asso- ciates argued well for the future. While there was sufficient variety of disposition to insure a continuance of some novelty in our social intercourse, there was enough esi)Yit to satisfy me as to the continuance of har- mony in the performance of individual duty. The sun sank out of sight behind the southern hills on the 15th of October, not to be seen again for four long months. The circumstance furnished the subject of our conversation in the evening, and I could easily read on the faces of my companions that their thoughts followed him as he wandered south; and a shade of sadness fell for a moment over tho table about which we were grouped. We had all been so intent upon our cares and duties, during the past five weeks, that we had scarcely noticed the decline of day. It had vanished slowly and as if by stealth ; and the gloom of night following its lengthening shadow made us feel now, for the first time, how truly alone we were in the Arctic desert. CHAPTEE IX. Y diary tlius records the advent of winter : — October IGtli. The fair-haired god of light reposes beneath the Southern Cross. His pathway is no longer above the silent hills ; but his golden locks stream over the mountains, and day lingers as a lover departing from the abode of his mistress. The cold-faced regent of the darkness treads her majestic circle through the solemn night ; and the soft-eyed stars pale at her approach. Her silver tresses sweep the sea, and the wild waves are stilled like a laughing face touched by the hand of death. Although winter and darkness are slowly settling over us, yet we have still nine hours of twilight daily, wherein to perform our out-door duties. I have completed my arrangements for the health and comfort of my little household, and have perfected my system of domestic dis- cipline and economy, and I feel sure that the wheels of the little world which revolves around this ice-locked schooner will now move on smoothly. This done, I am at liberty to seek greater freedom of action than I have hitherto enjoyed. I have desired to make some short journeys of exploration while the scrap of twilight yet re- mains to me, and as soon as the men were free I set them to work preparing some conveniences for camping out. •92 MY DOG'TEAMS. I have been ready for BGVcral days, but tlio weatbcr lias been unfavourable for anything more than a few hours' absence ; and so our life runs on smoothly into the night. I had to-day a most exhilarating ride, and a very satis- factory day's work. I drove up the Fiord in the morning, and have returned only a short time since. This Fiord lies directly north of the harbour, and it forms the termi- nation of Hartstene Bay. It is about six miles deep by from two to four wide. Jensen was my driver, and I have a superb turn-out — twelve dogs and a fine sledge. The animals are in most excellent condition — every one of them strong and healthy ; and they arc very fleet. They whirl my Greenland sledge over the ice with a celerity not calculated for weak nerves. I have actually ridden behind them over six measured miles in twenty-eight minutes ; and, without stopping to blow the team, have returned over the track in thirty-three. Sonntag and I had a race, and I beat him by four minutes. I should like to have some of my friends of Saratoga and Point Breeze up here, to show them a new style of speeding ani- mals. Our racers do not require any blanketing after the heats, nor sponging either. We harness them each with a single trace, and these traces are of a length to suit the fancy of the driver — the longer the better, for they are then not so easily tangled, the draft of the outside dogs is more direct, and, if the team comes upon thin ice, and breaks through, your chances of escape from immersion are in proportion to their distance from you. The traces are all of the same length, and hence the dogs run side by side, and, when properly harnessed, their heads are in a line. My traces are so measured that the shoulders of the dogs are just twenty feet from the forv/ard part of the runners. The team is guided solely by the whip and voice. The strongest dogs are placed on the outside, and the whole team is sv/ayed to right and left according as the whip MY DOG'TEAMS. 93 i falls on tlio snow to tho one side or the other, or as it touches tho leading dogs, as it is sure to do if they do not obey tho gentle hint with sufficient alacrity. The voico aids the whip, but in all emergencies tho whip is the only real reliance. Your control over the team is exactly in proportion to your skill in the use of it. Tho lash is about four feet longer than the traces, and is tipped with a " cracker" of hard sinew, witli which a skilful driver can draw blood if so inclined ; and he can touch cither ono of his animals on any particular spot that may suit his pur- pose. Jensen had to-day a young refractory dog in the team, and, having had his patience quite exhausted, he resolved upon extreme measures. " You see dat beast ?" said he. " I takes a piece out of his ear ;" — and sure enough, crack went the whip, tho hard sinew wound round the tip of the ear and snipped it off as nicely as with a knife. This long lash, which is but a thin tapering strip of raw seal-hide, is swung with a whip-stock only two and a half feet long. It is very light, and is consequently hard to handle. The peculiar turn of tho wrist necessary to get it rolled out to its destination is a most difficult un- dertaking. It requires long and patient practice. I have persevered, and my perseverance has been rewarded ; and if I am obliged to turn driver on emergency, I feel equal to the task ; but I fervently hope that the emergency may not arise which requires me to exhibit my skill. It is the very hardest kind of hard work. That merci- less lash must be going continually ; and it must be mer- ciless or it is of no avail. The dogs are quick to detect the least weakness of the di'iver, and measure him on the instant. If not thoroughly convinced that the soundness of their skins is quite at his mercy, they go where they please. If they see a fox crossing the ice, or come upon a bear-track, or " wind " a seal, or sight a bird, away they dash over snow-drifts and hummocks, pricking up their ' M , I I \ m 1 ■ 1 1 - 1 1 m 94 I- ^^^yy^O(;.yy,,jj^^, Kliort cars uiid cnvVmrr in. +i • i conquer tl.cir oUstinacv 'V;;'''^ 'H "> tI,o team .lia"],,. and were taking ,,s tout,! ,; f "'"''" ^•""""'S ""or u f„x- ;^''ve„ baek i„to ti.e dnve.Cf 1 "i '"•''' "'"« «»">'^'"'"« full view of the aame .„,J^!^ " *° '''■^•^"». •'""1 4 tronche,.ou.s ico, thty cam; 1 ^° '" ^'^^^ J"'"''!-^ of tj.o thorn very ciuss, n„a ,, '^ff, 0^.<"mrso tin's „,a,io now followed, which was toT^n f% ' ^'''■'■'' ""'^ '"'fe'^v ;vith ]„s hard hickory whi,S c tT" '° ''^^^ '''"'' !«" tnro with the «ame team ZT\t V'"^" ^'^'' »" "^«tory obedient enough, b„t als Ife th f f r^^"'*' ^^^^ -'^ ■oqnu.o „ow and then to have ;*X "'•'!'' """""J' ^ey to whom the obedience is owh." ^ ^'°'''"^° ''^"""''w' -^-s Wishing to try my h^,,.^ r '"l , ao harbour, /he w^'^^'lr'- " '^'" '^ *'"'" ^-"-l whcu I had gone far enoth and 7,"^ '"^ '^''^•^^-' "-^ and return, the dogs weS 2 "^"'' '" "'^^^''I ^'ound no hmg they dislike^ so mch , to' /"'"'f'- ^^^^''^ i« foohng very fresh, tliey were evi^ T "'° ^"'^^' ' ""'l, «Port. Moreover, they may L?r^ '^"''^ ^"' «ome ^vhat manner of mj^l^ll^f'' '^^''^ ^vanted to see vory familiar with JAn c^son nvT"', T ^^'^^ ^^"o^'o oil r-s''; but tho/had":;?^. % ;^^r"-' «- of Lis arm. ^ot before felt tlie str ■yl'lM. ■cngth !\ IKf" m ?■ 'i''iii llllln ^ ! ' i coni of blol lonj M: par| 8n( waj quil the] tl tlic] tun colli strt dozl anc 10 nil; resi cler ret ma hu til- stt ne ti ol tl n t 1 1 J\/y nOG-TEAMS. 95 After iiiiicli (Unicnlty T brou^'lit tlicm at last np to tho course, but I could kcei) tlicni tlicro only by coustjint usu of the lash ; anil sinco this was three times out of four blown back into my face, it was evident that I could not long hold out ; besides, my face was freezing in the wind. My arm, not used to such violent exercise, soon fell almost paralyzed, and the whip-lash trailed behind me on the snow. The dogs were not slow to discover that something was wrong. They looked back over their slioulders in- quiringly, and, liscovering that the lash was not coming, they ventured to diverge gently to the riglit. Finding the eftbrt not resisted, they gained courage and increased their speed ; and at length tlicy wheeled short round, turned theii* tails to the wind, and dashed off on their own course, as happy as a parcel of boys freed from the re- straints of the school-room, and with the wild rush of a dozen wolves. And how they danced along and barked and rejoiced in their short-lived liberty ! If the reader has ever chanced to drive a pair of un- ruly horses for a few hours, and has had occasion to find rest for his aching arms on a long, steep hill, he will un- derstand the satisfaction which I took in finding the power returning to mine. I could again use the whip, and managed to turn the intractable team among a cluster of hummocks and snow-drifts, which somewhat impeded their progi'css. Springing suddenly off, I caught the up- stander and capsized the sledge. The points of the run- ners were driven deeply into the snow, and my runaways were anchored. A vigorous application of my sinew- tipped lash soon convinced them of the advantages of obedience, and when I turned up the sledge and gave them tho signal to start they trotted off in the meekest ' manner possible, facing the wind without rebelling, and giving me no further trouble. I think they will remember the lesson — and so shall I. But I set out to record my journey up tho Fiord. 96 MY BROTHER JOILV'S GLACIER. I'' I Reaching tlic liead of it after a most exliilaratlng ride, wc managed, with some (Ufficulty, to cross the tide-cracks, and scrambled over the ice-foot to tlio land. Here we came upon a broad and picturesque valley, bounded on either side by lofty cliffs ; at its further end lay a glacier, with a pool of water a mile long occupying the middle distance. This pool is fed from the glacier and the hill- sides, down which pour the waters of the melting snows of summer. The discharge from it into the sea is made through a rugged gorge which bears evidence of being filled with a gushing stream in the thaw season. Its banks are lined in places with beds of turf (dried and hardened layers of moss), a sort of peat, with which we can readily eke out our supply of fuel. A specimen of it brought on board burns quite freely with the addition of a little grease. This pool of water, in accordance with Sonntag's wish, bears the name of Alida Lake. The valley, which I have named " Chester," in remem- brance of a spot which I hope to see again, is two miles long by one broad, and is covered in many places, espe- cially along the borders of the lake, with a fine sod of grass, from which the wind has driven the snow, and made the locality tempting to the deer. Several herds, amount- ing in the aggregate to something like a hundred animals, were browsing upon the dead grass of the late summer ; and, forgetting for the time the object of my journey, I could not resist the temptation to try my rifle upon them. I was rewarded with two large fat bucks, while Jensen secured an equal number. The glacier was discovered by Dr. Kane in 1855, and, being subsequently visited by his brother, who was an assistant surgeon in the United States Expedition of Search under Captain Hartstene in 1855, was named by the former, " My Brother John's Glacier." It has been christened a shorter name by the crew, and is known as ' " Brother John." It has frequently been seen from ' the r A SCRVEYOK'S CIIA/X. 97 liiii-tops and bay by all of us, but not visited until to-day. Wc readied home in time for dinner, ^veary enough and very cold, for the temperature was several degrees below zero, and the wind was blowing sharply. During my absence McCormick has employed tho crew in securing the boats, one of which was blown ashore and its side stove in by the violence of tho gale, and in sawing out and unshipping tho rudder. Hans and Peter have been setting fox-traps and shooting rabbits. Tho foxes, both tho white and blue varieties, appear to bo quite nu- merous, and there are also many rabbits, or rather I should say hares. These latter are covered with a long heavy pelt which is a pure white, and are very large. Ono caught to-day weighed eight pounds. October 17th. McCormick, who is general tinker and tho very embo- diment of ingenuity, has been making for me a surveyor's chain out of some iron rods ; and a party, consisting of Sonntag, McCormick, Dodge, Radcliffe, and Starr, havo been surveying the bay and harbour with this chain and the theodolite. They seem to have made quite a frolic of it, which, considering the depressed state of the thermo- meter, is, I think, a very commendable circumstance. Barnum and McDonald have been given a holiday, and they went out with shot-guns after reindeer. They report having seen forty-six, all of which they succeeded in badly frightening, and they also started many foxes. Charley also had a holiday, but, disdaining the huntsman's wea- pons, he started on a " voyage of discovery," as he styled it. Strolling down into the bay above Crystal Palace Cliffs,* he came upon an old Esquimau settlement, and, tinding a grave, robbed it of its bony contents, and brought them to me WTapped up in his coat. It makes a very valuable addition to my ethnological collection, and ♦ Discovered and so named by Captain Inglefield, R.N., in August, 1852. » M 1 1 .'- rjS ESQUIMA U CRA VES. w gLass of grog and tlic promise of otlier liolidays Lave sccnrccl the co-operation of Cliarlcy in this branch of science. Charley, by the way, is one of my most reliable men, and gives promise of great usefulness. Indeed, every- body in the vessel seems desirous of adding to my collec- tions ; but this zeal has to-day led me into a rather unpleasant embarrassment. Jensen, whose long residence among the Esquimaux of Southern Greenland has brought him to look upon that people as little better tlian the dogs which drag their sledges, discovered a couple of graves, and brought away the two skin-robed mummies which they enclosed, thinking they would make fine museum specimens ; and in this surmise he was quite right ; but, unfortunately for the museum, Mrs. Hans was prowling about when Jensen arrived on board, and, recognizing one of them by some article of its fur clothing as a relative, she made a terrible ado, and could not be quieted even by Jensen's assurance that I was a magician, and would restore them to life when in my own country ; so, when I learned the circumstances, I thought it right, in respect to humanity if not to science, to restore them to their stony graves, and had it done accordingly. The Esquimau graves appear to be numerous about the harbour, giving evidence of quite au extensive settlement at no very remote period. These graves are merely piles of stones arranged without respect to direction, and in the size of the j)ile and its location nothing has been consulted but the convenience of the living. The bodies are some- times barely hidden. Tombs of the dead, they are, too, the mournful evidences of a fast dwindling race. October ISth. I have been well repaid for my course in reinterring the mummies ; for I have won the gratitude of my Esqui- mau people, and Hans has brought me in their places two typical skulls which he found tossed among the rocks. I the 31lt les the led le- le li- ro IS. rUTREFA C TION AT LOW TEMPERA TURES. 99 The little shrimps arc also doing mo good service. Tlicy liave prepared for me several skeletons of all varieties of the animals which we have captured. I first have the bulk of the flesh removed from the bones, then, placing them in a net, they are lowered into the fire-hole, and these lively little scavengers of the sea immediately light within the net, in immense swarms, and in a day or so I have a skeleton more nicely cleaned than could bo done by the most skilful of human workmen. A party brought in to-day the carcass of a reindeer which I mortally wounded yesterday, but was too much fatigued to follow. They found its tracks, and, after pursu- ing them for about a mile, they came upon the animal lying in the snow, dead. It is now discovered that putrefaction has rendered it unfit for use, a circumstance which seems very singular with the temperature at ten degrees below zero. A similar case is mentioned by Dr. Kane as having occurred within his own observation, and Jensen tells me that it is well known that such an event is not uncommon at Upernavik. Indeed, when the Greenlanders capture a deer they immediately eviscerate it. Puzzling as the phe- nomenon appears at first sight, it seems to me, however, that it admits of ready explanation. The dead animal is immediately frozen on the outside ; and there being thus formed a layer of non-conducting ice, as well as the pores beinj]j closed, the w^armth of the stomach is retained lone enough for decomposition to take place, and to generate gas which permeates the tissues, and renders the flesh unfit for food ; and this view of the case would seem to be con- firmed by the fact that decomposition occurs more readily in the cold weather of midwinter than in the warmer weather of midsummer. October lOtli. A lively party visited Chester Valley to-day. They started early with two sledges — Sonntag, with Jensen, on one, Knorr and Hans on the other. Sonntag carried out the H 2 ^ "1: M'i 100 SEAL IIUNriNG. theodolite antl clialu to make a survey of the glacier. The otliers, of course, took tlieir rifles. They saw numerous reindeer, but shot only three. One of these was a trophy of Mr. Knorr's, and had like to have cost him dearly. The poor animal had been Ladly wounded in the valley, and on three legs tried to climb the steep hill. Knorr, following it, reached at length within twenty yards, and brought it down with a well-directed shot ; but the hunter and the victim being, unfortunately for the former, in a line, the hunter was carried off his legs, and the two together went tumbling over the rocks in a manner which, to those below, looked rather alarming. Report does not say how the boy extricated himself. It is lucky, however, that, instead of broken bones, he has only a few bruises to show for his adventure. Sonntag, too, had his story to tell. Reaching the gla- cier, he ascended to its surface, after travelling two miles along the gorge made by the glacier on the one side and the sloping mountain on the other. The ascent was made by means of steps cut with a hatchet in the solid ice. The glacier was found to bo crossed in places by deep narrow fissures, bridged with a crust of snow, and so completely covered as to defy detection. Into one of these, fortu- nately a very narrow one, the astronomer was precipitated by the giving way of the bridge, and it is probable that he would have lost his life but for a barometer which he carried in his hand, and which, crossing the crack, broke the fall. The barometer was my best one, and is of course a hopeless wreck. Carl and Christian, my two Danish recruits from Uper- navik, have been setting nets for seal. These nets aru made in the Greenland fashion, of seal-skin thongs, with large meshes. They are kept in a vertical position under the ice by stones attached to their lower margin ; and the unsuspecting seal, swimming along in pursuit of a school of shrimps for a meal, or seeking a crack or hole in the^ f' ' •*, AN ESQUIMA U VILLA CR. lOI ice to catcli a breath of air, strikes it and becomes en- tangled in it, and is soon drowned. Most of tlio winter seal-fishing of Greenland is done in this manner ; and it is in this that the dogs aro most serviceable, in carrying the hunter rapidly from place to place in his inspection of the nets, and in taking homo the captured animals upon the sledge. This species of hunting is attended with niucli risk, as the hunter is obliged to run out on the newly- formed ice. Jensen has enlivened many of my evenings with descriptions of his adventures upon the ice-fields while looking after his nets. On one occasion tho ico broke up, and he was set adrift, and would have been lost had not his crystal raft caught on a small island, to w^hich he escaped, and where he was forced to remain without shelter until the frost built for him a bridge to the main land. The hardihood and courage of these Greenland hunters is astonishing. Although the wind has been blowing hard, I have strolled over to the north side of the Fiord on a visit to the Esquimau village of Etah, which is about four miles away in a north-easterly direction. The hut there, as I had already surmised, was uninhabited, but bori^ evidence of having been abandoned only a short time previous. This is the first time that I have seen the place since the night I passed there in December, 1854, — a night long to bo remembered. Near by the hut I discovered a splendid buck leisurely pawing away the snow and turning up the dried grass and moss, of which he was making a w^ell-earned if not invit- ing meal. Approaching him on the leeward side, I had no difficulty in coming within easy range ; but I felt re- luctant to fire upon him. He w'as so intent upon his work, and seemed so little to suspect that thcso solitudes, through which he had so long roamed unmolested, contained an enemy, that I almost relented ; and I did not pull trigger until I had aimed a third time. But, notwithstanding this \ f m- 1 102 J/K F.SQVIMA U PEOPLE. . 1 irresolution, his splendid lianncli now hangs in the rig- ging, and is set apart for some future feast ; and I have no doubt that I sliall then eat my share of him without once thinking tliat I liad done a deed of cruelty. October 20lh. I have observed for some days past dceided symptoms of a rivalry existing between my two Esquimau hunters, Hans and Peter, both of whom are very serviceable to me. Peter is a very clever little fellow, and withal honest ; and he has quite taken my fancy. He is a thoroughbred Esquimau, with very dark complexion, jet-black hair, which he cuts in native fashion, square across his forehead ; but he keeps himself clean and neat, and is on all occasions very well behaved. Not only is he a fine hunter, but he possesses great ingenuity, and has wonderful skill with his fingers. I have before me several specimens of his handiwork in the shape of salt-spoons, paper-cutters, and other little trinkets which, with an old file, a knife, and a piece of sand-paper, he has carved for me out of a walrus tusk. They are cut with great accu- racy and taste. Ho is always eager to servo my wishes in everything; and since I never allow zeal to go unre- warded, he is the richer by several red-flannel shirts, and a suit of pilot-cloth clothes. Of course, Hans is jealous. Indeed, it is impossible for mo to exhibit any kindness of this sort to any of my Esquimau people without making Hans unhappy. He avoids showing his temper openly in my presence, but he gets sulky, and does not hunt, or, if ordered out, he conies home without game. lie is a type of the worst phase of the Esquimau character. The Esquimaux are indeed a very strange kind of people, and are an interesting study, even more so than my dogs, although they are not so useful ; and then the dog can bo controlled with a long whip and resolution, while the human animal cannot be controlled with anything. They 1 " _j f ESQUIMAU TRAITS. 10" I ' might very properly "be called a negative people, in every- thing except their unreliability, which is entirely posi- tive ; and yet among themselves they exliibit the seni- hlanco of virtuons conduct, at least in this : that while in sickness or want or distress they never render voluntary assistance to each other, yet they do not deny it; indeed, the active exhibition of service is perhaps wliolly unknown or unthouglit of amongst them ; but they do tlie next best thing — they never withhold it. From the rude hut of the hardy inhabitant of these frozen deserts the unfortunate liunter who has lost his team and has been unsuccessful in the hunt, the unprotected family who have lost their head, even tlie idle and thriftless, are never turned away ; but they are never invited. They may come, they may use what they find as if they were members of the family, taking it as a matter of course ; but if it were known that they were starving, at a distance, there is no one who would ever think of going to them with supplies. They are the most self-reliant people in the world. It does not ai)pear ever to occur to them to expect assist- ance, and they never think of offering it. The food and shelter which the needy arc allowed to take is not a charity bestowed ; the aid which the hunter gives to the dogless man who jumps upon his sledge for a lift on a journey is not a kindness. He would drop him or give him the slip if occasion offered, even if in a place from whence he could not reach his home. He would drive off and leave him with the greatest unconcern, never so much as giving him a thought. If he should change his abode, the family that had sought his protection would not be invited to accompany him. They might come if able, he could not and would not drive them away ; in- deed, his language contains no word that would suit the act ; but, if not able to travel, they would be left to starve with as much unconcern as if they were decrepit dogs which the hunt had rendered useless. :! U « \f 104 //A AS AND PETER. They neither hog, horrow, nor steal. They do not make presents, and they never roh caeh other ; though this does not hohl good of tlieir dis2)osition toward the white man, for from him they make it a hahit to fileh all they can. I cannot imagine any living thing so utterly callous as they. Why, even my Esquimau dogs exhibit more sym- pathetic interest in each other's welfare. They at least hang together for a common object ; sometimes fighting, it is true, bat they make friends again after the contest is over. But these Esquimaux never fight, by any chance. They stealthily harpoon a troublesome rival in the hunt, or an old decrepit man or woman who is a burden ; or a l)erson who is suj^posed to be bewitched, or a lazy fellow who has no dogs, and lives off his more industrious 1. jigh- bours. They even destroy their own offspring when there happen to bo too many of them brought into the world, or one should chance to be born with some deformity which will make it incapable of self-support, but they never meet in open combat ; at least, such are the habits of the tribes who have not yet been reached in some dev^^'ee by the in- fluences of Christian civilization, or who have not had in- grafted upon them some of the aggressive customs of the old Norsemen, who, from the ninth to the fourteenth cen- turies, lived and fought in Southern Greenland. With such traits of character they are naturally disin- clined to be amiable towards any one who is particularly fortunate, and it is not surprising, therefore, that Hans should be envious of Peter. Even had I given the latter no more clothing than was sufficient to cover his naked- ness, it w^ould have been all the same. Had I crowded upon Hans the best of everything in the vessel, without respect to quantity or usefulness, it would not be more than he covets. But the fellow is especially jealous of my personal kind attentions to Peter, for he sees in that the guaranty of still further gifts. Hans, by the way, keeps up an establishment of his ! t ' //AXS AXD IlfS FAM/r.y \0i'('f5l{iiiiiM him to bo a savage " of an unbounded stomach." The saih>rs tcaze him about his likeness to the animals which ho so rutldessly devours. A i)air of antlers are growing from his forehead, rabbit's hair is sprouting cm his distended abdomen, and birds' feathers are appearing on his back ; his arms and legs arc shortening into flii^pers, his teeth arc lengthening into tusks, and they mean to get a cask of walrus blubber out of him before tho spring; all of which ho takes good- naturedly ; but there is a roguish leer in his eye, and if I mistake not ho will yet be even with his tormentors. So much for my Esquimau subjects. Octobor 21>t. I have had anotlicr lively race to the glacier, and have had a day of useful woi'k. Hans drove Sonntag, and Jen- sen was, as usual, my " whip." Wo took Carl and Peter along to helj) us with, our surveying ; and, although there were three persons and some instruments on each sledge, yet this did not much interfere with our progress. We wore at the foot of tho glacier in forty minutes. The dogs arc getting a little toned down with use, and I have directed that their rations shall not be quite as heavy as they were. They are lively enough still, but not so hard to keep in hand. if 1 I \ HAniTS OF DOCS, 107 My teams f»rcatly interest mo, and no proprietor of a Ftiul of liorscs ever took greater Butistuetiou in tlio oc- cupants of his btables than I do in tlioso of my kennels. Mine, however, arc not housed very gnuidly, said kennels licinj^ uotliing more tlian certain walls of hard snow built nj) alongside the vessel, into which the ti.'anis, however, ]'arely ehooBO to go, preferring the 02)011 ice-plain, where they sleep, wound up in a knot like worms in a lisli l)askef» and aro often almost buried out of sight by tiie drifting snow. It is only when tho temperature is very low and tho wind unusually lierco that they seek tho protection of tho snow-walls. These dotrs aro singular animals, and arc a curious study. They have their leader and their sub-leaders— tho rulers and the ruled — like any other comnuuiity desiring good government. Tho governed get what rights they can, and the governors bully them continually in order that they may enjoy security a;4ainst rebellion, and live in l)eacc. And a community of dogs is really organized on tho basis of correct principles. As an illustration, — my teams aro under the control of a big aggressive brute, who sports a dirty red uniform with suuil-coloured facings, and has sharp teeth. He possess'.s immense strength, and his every movement shows that ho is perfectly conscious of it. In the twinkling of an eye ho can trounce any dog in tho "whole herd ; and ho seems to possess the faculty of de- stroying c< ispiracies, cabals, and all evil designings against his stern rule. None of tho other dogs like him, but they cannot help themselves ; they aro afraid to turn against him, for when they do so there is no end to tho chastisements which they receive. Xow Oosisoak (for that is his name) has a rival, a huge, burly fellow with black imiform and white collar. This dog is called Karsuk, which expresses the complexion of his coat. Ho is larger than Oosisoak, but not so active nor so intel- ligent. Occasionally he has a set-to with his master ; but '4i R 108 THE LEADER OF THE PACK'. liG always comes off second best, and his unfortunate fol- lowers are afterwards flogged in detail by tlio merciless redcoat. The place of Oosisoak, wheii harnessed to the sledge, is on the left of the line, and that of Karsiik on the right. There is another powerful animal which we call Erebus who governs Sonntag's team as Oosisoak governs mine, and he can whij) Karsuk, but he never has a bout with my leader except at his peril and that of his followers. And thus they go along, fighting to preserve the peace, and chawing each other up to maintain the balance of powder ; and this is all to my advantage ; for if the present rela- tions of things were disturbed, my community of dogs would be in a state of anarchy. Oosisoak would go into exile, and would die of laziness and a broken heart, and great and bloody would be the feuds between the rival in- terests, led by Karsuk and Erebus, before it was decided which is the better team. Oosisoak has other traits befitting greatness. He has sentiment. He has chosen one to share the glory of his reign, to console his sorrows, and to lick his wounds when fresh from the bloody .field. Oosisoak has a queen; and this object of his affection, this idol of his heart, is never absent from his side. She runs beside him in the team, and she fights for him harder than any one of his male subjects. In return for this devotion he allows her to do pretty much as she pleases. She may steal the bone out of his mouth, and he gives it up to her with a sentimental grimace that is quite instructive. But it happens some- times that he is himself hungry, and he trots after her, and when he thinks that she has got her share he growls significantly ; whereupon she drops the bone without even a, murmur. If the old fellow happens to be particularly <5ross when a reindeer is thrown to the pack, he gets upon it with his forefeet, begins to gnaw away at the flank, "growling a wolfish growl all the while, and no dog daro s u ii a i1 c \ CLIMBIXG THE GLACIER. 109. I \ come near until ho lias had his fill except Queen Arkadik (for by that name is she known), nor can she approach except in one direction. She must come alongside of him, and crawl between his fore-legs and eat lovingly from the spot where he is eating. So much for my dogs. I shall doubtless have more to say about them hereafter, but there is only a small scrap of the evening left, and I must go back to " My Brother John's Glacier." Halting our teams near the glacier front, wo proceeded to prepare ourselves for ascending to its surface. Its face, looking down the valley, exhibits a somewhat convex lateral line, and is about a mile in extent, and a hundred feet high. It presents the same fractured surfaces of the iceberg, the same lines of vertical decay caused by the waters trickling from it in the summer, — the same occa- sional horizontal lines, which, though not well marked, seemed to conform to the curve of the valley in which the glacier rests. The slope backward from this mural face is quite abrupt for several hundred feet, after which the ascent becomes gradual, decreasing to six degrees, where it finally blends with the mer de glace which appears to cover the land to the eastward. At the foot of the glacier front there is a pile of broken fragments which have been detached from time to time. Some of them are very large — solid lumps of clear crystal ice many feet in diameter. One such mass, with an im- mense shower of smaller pieces, cracked off while we were looking at it, and came crashing down into the plain below. The surface of the glacier curves gently upward from side to side. It does not blend with the slope of the mountain, but, breaking off abruptly, forms, as I have before observed, a deep gorge between the land and the ice. This gorge is interrupted in places by immense boulders which have fallen from the cliffs, or by equally it ■ ill no ( i •«-A7-^;.7.V^ TUE GLACIER. J'lrgo masses of ico wliiVL i Sometimes, ].o„^,v r, «tti r'"" '■'•°'" «'« ^"'»«i- cliaractcr, ,vhon tho 1 '"^ "i'"""^ •'"•o of a different l>ueLed tto .ocks « tL , •Ji'!- ^8 '^«'''^/ forward, S TLe travcli;„g a Lrt f w '^, • ° " "°''^"«'''' ^^^^ -Pf eialty a, thf ..o vl™, ^"1 S-go -as laborious, «ne's logs down bot^.cen L "^'*"^''' ^avo way and Ic «W ice; b,.t a couple of ii.T^ ''''"°«' «' ca«ally where wo eo„ld mountbytinf 0,,^°"°"^' "« *<> » Placo "'we^wS^""' dono befL ^ °"'" "''' ^" """ing stop,, cautio„dP°toCu;f^eoIo''lSrr? back, and Moved &snre might open under onr fSf ,",* '''"'^ «'«P *«' a >t« hard ribs. But no such tnif .^f "' ^"''"^ ^otween i-oacbed our destination, wLoro^*^'"' !'''PP«'>«'3, »"vo smooth-an inclined plano^lf/ /"'*'" ^"^ P«'^««% Our object in thi, i^ ' *'"'"isparent ice. whether the g W 1^2 ^ ^'"^^^ *" ''«te™fco we followed tho ^.ry^L^Z^T'''. »f f- «- Pm-po"e Agassiz in hi, ^^^^ Sm^, ''«'='<:»' Pl"" of ProfeLor stakes m the axis of the gllcW . l ^^ P^'«'°d two the distance between thorn then T^'% "measured « akes nearly midway between b ' ^^™*'='^ *«•<> other glacer; and then ZlTiT,^ T^ ''"'' *^"= «Mes of tho stakes in suceessior and 5 '!"^?^"° °^^'- «^»«h of these -h other and witl^Tod :E Jt" '''^^^^^^^ These angles will be repeated not ? "^o^tain-side. thjs means know whothi- the "tf .^'"2' ""^ I shall by ^aUey, and at what rate ^'""''^ '« """^^S down the ^n tins, as on evprv ^fi attempted to do anythiL reoui,r"''°" ^^'"^ ^^ iavo I'oration, the wind cam^ to I,^ ««ef„lness and deli! Peraturo alone gives us Khi "'"'^•'''^ss „s. The tem be a.y number of I^^tloTir ^'^°"«^ " -" for we have become accustomed foT' f '^'' "°' '»''«I it! -nous inconvenience, espSly ,.1 * ' '"' '"^^ ^-^ - a 1 "y ^vien our occupations, as % ] 1 c f -A tl Si A SOCIAL RULE. Ill y t^i t in the present instance, lo not arlmit of active exercise. It is rather cohl work handling the instrument ; but the tangent screws have been covered with buckskin, and wo thus save our fingers from being " burnt," as cm* little freezings are quite significantly called. I purpose making a still farther exploration of tins glacier to-morrow, and will defer until then any further description of it. During my absence the hunters have not been idle. Barnum has killed six deer ; Jensen shot two and Hans nine ; but the great event has been the sailing-master's birthday dinner; and I returned on board finding all hands eagerly awaiting my arrival to sit down to a sumptuous banquet. I have inaugurated the rule that all birthdays shall bo celebrated in this manner ; and, when his birthday comes round, each individual is at liberty to call for the very best that my lockers and the steward's storeroom can furnish ; and in this I take credit for some wisdom. I know by experience what the dark cloud is under which wo are slowly drifting, and I know that my ingenuity will be fully taxed to pass through it with a cheerful household ; nnd I know still further, that, whether men live under the Pole Star or under the Equator, they can be made happy if they can be made full ; and furthermore, at some hour of the day, be it twelve or bo it six, all men must " dine ;" for are they not " a carnivorous production, Requirin;^ meals, — at least one meal a day ? Tliey cannot live, like woodcock, upon suction ; But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey." And hence they take kindly to venison and such-liko things, and they remember with satisfaction the advice of St. Paul to the gentle Timothy, to " use a little wine fur the stomach's sake." ^ McCormick was not only the subject to be hououi'cd on \ \ ! -I 112 ^J^E SAIUA-CAfASTEK. tWs occasion ],„f t. , , «>»«tox- is : :X<^'"»-. and ias done til tf "'''r"^ ^° no cad lo {r """^'""'y I«'«oa, and tl,n^ '"'^'"e" ««-vou?'c,^er' "J"^""''"' -dt-,J?r»g» bright »ickn,l ; ^' ^"^ ^as. while Jrn Jj • * Magazine of Pctoduj,asiuatterfa-/of„r^ locking about the worJd the skiU „r^ "" '^•'« "^erwhelmed v,^^ ''^ 6°* ''act of wh ch 1 ""^ '""'Vmaster in tit . "f ""''^hnient at pleased^ S"';^,^** '» ««e both oSceLltf"''^ ^'""""^^ ll i Cf St \v: as ar( » i A l^tRTffDAY DmNEJi. *W"Bnoss; and then there wif '" """""'^ ^*^ ^'"t""^! lus- "■^d nut« and ra.Vsins and oLT""T^/'"''^ "•'""'-'»«"go Boston crackers and coffee °„ ,"'. ""'^ ^ ''"'^•'=« «hoese and "I'at else besides. Thefe were """''i """^ ^ '^""'t know ^"'•ed bottles of moselle i^rnr^V"^'^' °f c»rofulIy.treaT »"der n>y bunk, anci sofne ^1 • ""^ *''" ""^^^ '•'^^iaclo same place. '™"° '"'^'J''"-'' n«d sherry from the « -» f:J ttneS^ ^''V" "« '^'^^''et- was *e««ed in the open Z. ITZ ^"^ ^^'^'^ ^''ced aTd :-o .-* duly appreciated XS"^^' '"'V'^ "-*« JMnsic on the fiddle W ir " ^ound up thus • hometiUmoming? W the m?r'n •®°"^' '^"^ ^-'t go !» o^der, but ' Jo!'Mfl£ • I!b; i?"®'""^' '^^^^ ' alvvay" «g out the n i-Lto the ViraS t"'' r"' ' "■"« -»»I-""^ '"g by « TigorouH walk ""'" '"""^^If fr«« i.orisL- ptotu- its r S;- ^-. -. «-o ... fw'ocl to ,i„it t],„ t^,„ ';^ /""^^r. vo wore „]1 „t j, ,, not possible, aud sJioltcT na« „n f " '^"'° "'° "'inJ "as ""I'.'okon plai„. i;,*^"""'^'- •« to 1-0 fouu.l upon tZ - could :„ovo, and C Ts ,v?,/"" I"'"?""" ■» -^^ Much as I «J,o„Id Lavo lil^d 2 " "'"' *"";''« '" «'o gale. '^'y «oro, it ,vas clear to uo tt *"%*'"' •'"•"•"^A«c alouo cndangei. tLo Uyon of n, "^'"'' ''"^"^ *^«"W uot I'-ty, but would whol ; defclt h^ '"° '"'''"''^■'•^ "f ^y 'I't'on by the destruction of al ^J" l'"^i>"««« "f ^o cpo"^ It was not witliout much liffl u , t«ion Jown and bundle ^01,'^ '^"^ "'« ^^t was BO fierce,^, that v.e co Ka Jdf 'l°- .TLo wind blew stiffened hands. The men wertff " "^ '""' <>"»• could only for » few momenflT ,f ""fe' *«'"%. an,J va«. Their fingers, freezt? ott "V"'^ ^'^''•^"''^ <=»« or-:srsS.c& dangerous. Wo had at taSnTuv r^^j^^'' »« '' ««« feot above the level of tho sea Z,tl "^ ^'' '^°"«»«l from tho eoast, in the mid ''f ° T^ ^^^'^"^^ »««« 'measurable to the human e' T, ^'"'''" ''^'''^' ""' mountain, nor gorce anv.vi • "''^ "'»« neither hill P;etclysunUheLifofZ?:hieM "^'^^ '^^'^ -"' !/;««« and the sea; and no obi It met h' ^'*"'''" *^« "'^'"rf- cut whzeh bent to the 2Tlu}\T^^'^^^-i^Ue tie foee of the full-orbed moon wJif , ''''""^. ^^'^P' "^er ' "^''^'> ''eseending towards a Our ,.n,y ,,f,, „.;^ i. I . 1, :r'n'"S '•'"•'■^• f'-.t .tJ«.oo thoL„,f:i'2,-o "'''"''''"' ''-«-<'o-l /:''o wm,, ,v„s ,„„eh loss fovot "? T '^'"""■"' *" J^""- from boing blown away. '""^ '" ^■^'^i''"g "'o teat Vvo reacbotl Poit Poult *t ^omo „,aroh. without Lali'lT' ?'"'"»' ""«' « to-'I- d'^nt. ^"^"'g ^ufforod auy serious „coi- J^iio latter 7)art nf fi •"oonligbt. Tho air ,1° Cr^ ?' "'"''« wholly b, -0 roacbed tbo ba«o of bo g, e" or ''i T"^ ^^^ -'-" Its lowor faeo, ami through the "o, ""' «"^ Jouruoy clown and aoross Alida Lake and tbo T' T^ ''''" '^^ '<^^oy, prosonoe of a soono whil J ""'■ '''"'" »»''" i" «»; of drifting «now ^^o^t^^lJ^^^./^^P^'^^^i^o. Shoots "^substantial spiHts flitting Sdlv r^'l'^' ^'"« "'» Tlioso told that tbo galo vof I , , ''""S'^ ^^° "igl^t. lowly sholtcr tbo air wi sS ^'"'"^'''^ ""^o^o; but in our w«ds. No oloud Ob n. ;"«" I -y° -tl'o n^idstof «bcs. Tbo gontlo stars,robo5 in ^^'"■''^'"'''y °f t^^o ■ejoxcod to behold tboir f^z^s „ 1 '° *''I^'^''y «f '^^SK If- Tbo glacier throrbL," boTn' """"'• «^ «« Tho shadows of tbo dark cliirrstol! . A"^ '"oonbean.s. which iillcd tbo valley Im' l-/"'^ '^"^ ^"""^ of light -lands, wound between tbo rt'd'" ^''''■''' ''""^l ^1 '"°g«l capes, and its ico-clad : f 11 122 AN IMPRESSIVE SCEAE. waters spread out into the bay and then merged with the broad sea. In the dim distance loomed up the lofty snow- clad mountains of the west coast. Upon the sea floated a heavy bank of mist, which, slowly changing when moved by the wind, disclosed within its dark bosom the ghostly form of an iceberg ; and a feeble auroral light fringed this sombre cloak of the waves. Angry flashes darted from behind this mass of impenetrable blackness, and, rushing fiercely among the constellations, seemed like fiery arrows shot up by evil sj)irits of another world. '-■'-■"\„. i : 10 IV- Dd Dd lis >m \vs CHAPTER XI. HE results of tlic journey recorded in tlie last chapter gave mc great satisfaction. They fur- nished an important addition to the observations which I had made in former years ; and I was glad to have an opportunity to form a more clear con- ception of the glacier system of Greenland. The journey possesses the greater value, that it was the first successful attempt which had been made to penetrate into the in- terior over the mer de glace. Although I had, in my overland journey from Van Eensselaer Harbour with Mr. Wilson, in 1853, reached the face of the mer de glace, where it rested behind the lofty chain of hills which runs parallel with the axis of the continent, yet this was the first time that I had actually been upon it ; and its vastness did not on the former occa- sion impress me as now. Even the description of the great Humboldt Glacier which I had from Mr. Bonsall, and the knowledge that I had acquired of the immense glacier discharges of the region further south, failed to inspire mc with a full comprehension of the immensity of ice which lies in the valleys and upon the sides of the Greenland mountains. Greenland may indeed be regarded as a vast reservoir of ice. Upon the slopes of its lofty hills the downy snow- flake has become the ^hardened crystal ; and, increasing i1 1 124 THE GLACIER SYSTEM, little by little from year to year and from century to cen- tury, a broad cloak of frozen vapour has at length coni- l)letely overspread the land, and along its wide border there pour a thousand crystal streams into the sea. The manner of this glacier growth, beginning in some remote ej)och, when Greenland, nursed in warmth and sunshine, was clothed with vegetation, is a subject of much interest to the student of physical geography. The explanation of the phenomena is, however, greatly sim- plified by the knowledge which various explorers have contributed from the Alps, — a quarter having all the value of the Greenland mountains, as illustrating the laws which govern the formation and movements of mountain ice, and which possesses the important advantage of greater accessibility. It would be foreign to the scope and design of this book to enter into any general discussion of the various theories which have been put forth in explanation of the sublime phenomena, which, as witnessed in the Alpine regions, have furnished a fruitful source of widely dif- ferent conclusions. It was, however, easy to perceive in the grand old bed of ice over which I had travelled those same physical markings which had arrested the attention of Agassiz and Forbes and Tyndall, and other less illus- trious explorers of Alpine glaciers ; and it was a satis- faction to have confirmed by actual experiment in the field the reflections of the study. The subject had long been to me one of great interest ; and I was much gratified. to bo able to make a comparison between the Alpine and Greenland ice. It was not difficult to read in the immense deposit over which I had walked whence came the suggestion of dilatation to Scheuchzer, or of sliding to Do. Saussuro; or, in the steady progress of knowledge and discovery, the principles of action that are illustrated by the terms vitrious and viscous and differential motion, as applied to the Alpine ice by eminent explorers of later date m 1 GLACIERS. \2 The subject of Greenland ice is one about ^vlncb there exists much popular misapprehension. As before stated, I do not here propose to enter into a minute discussion of the manner of its formation and movement, but Avill content mysolf with simply recognizing the fiict, and with drawing such comparison as may be needful between the mountain ice of Greenland and similar deposits in other quarters of the world. Under this head I trust that the reader may find sufficient interest in the line of argu- ment to follow me through a few pages, in a general review of the whole field. At a later period I will recur to some more specific details of information and discussion, as the narrative carries us to other objects of inquiry. In order to make the subject clear, I cannot do better than to cite my illustrations from the region of the Alj^s, where, through a long period, earnest explorers have laboriously pursued their inquiries. One of the most important and gifted of these was M. Le Chanonie Rendu, Bishop of Annecy. This excellent and worthy man, and sincere devotee as well of science as of religion, died some seven years ago. A lifetime spent among the rugged crags and ice-cliffs of the Alpine mountains had familiar- ized him with every phase of Nature in that region of sub- limity and home of the wonderful. Professor Tyndall says truly of him, that " his knowledge was extensive, his reasoning close and accurate, and his faculty of observa- tion extraordinary;" and he early brought his splendid faculties of mind and his energy of body and profound love of truth to bear upon the elucidation of those natural phenomena whicb were constantly exhibited in his presence. After many years of conscientious toil he gave to the world the results of his systematic investi- gations in an essay which was published in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Savoy, entitled, " Tlieorie des Glaciers dc la Savoie.'^ I will use the information acquired from this source as 126 THE LA W OF CIRCULATION. tlio basis of my present argiiraent, — to (Icmonstrate, by tlio law as interpreted to us from the Alps by this learned priest of Annecy, how the Arctic continent receives its cloak of crystals, and how it discharges the super- abandant accumulation. Rendu first observes the piling up of the mountain snows. The snow falling upon the mountains is partly converted into water, which runs away to the river, and through the river to the sea; and is partly converted into ice. The ice th"-s formed Eendu estimates to equal, in the Alps, fifty-eight inches annually, — " which would make Mont Blanc four hundred feet higher in a century, and four thousand feet higher in a thousand years." " JN^ow it is evident," observes he, " that nothing like this can occur in Nature." This ico must be removed by the operation of some natui'al cause; and observation having shown that this actually takes place, Rendu occupies himself with methods to discover how Nature has performed the task; and he comes to this very rational conclusion : That the glacier and the river are in effect the same ; that between them there is a resemblance so complete that it is impossible to find in the latter a circumstance which does not exist in the former ; and as the river drains the wata's which fall upon the hill-sides to the ocean, so the glacier drains the ice which forms from the snows on the mountain sides down to the same level. And he closes his argument with declaring the Law : — " The conserving will of the Creator has employed for the permanence of His work the great Law of Circula- tion, which, strictly examined, is found to rei)roduce itself in all parts of Nature." And, in illustration of this law, we see that the waters circulate from the ocean to the air by evaporation, from the air again to the earth in the form of dews and rains and snows, and from the earth back again to the ocean : i rrjr MOVEMENT OF THE GLACIERS. 127 ^r J through the great rivers which have gathered up the littlo streams from every hill-side and valley. Now this law of Circulation is, in the icy regions of the Alps, of the lofty Himalayas, of the Andes, of the mountains of Norway and of Greenland, the same as in the lower and warmer regions of the earth, where the rivers drain the surface-water to the sea. A glacier is in effect but a flowing stream of frozen water ; and the vher systems of the Temperate and Equa- torial Zones become the glacier systems of the Arctic and Antarctic. We have now seen that a part of the snow which falls upon the mountains is converted into ice, and this ice, strange though it seems, is movable. By what exact principle of movement has not yet been decided to the mutual satisfaction of the learned, but it is nevertheless true. Rendu truly remarlvS : — "There is a multitude of facts which would seem to necessitate the belief that the substance of glaciers enjoys a kind of ductility, which permits it to mould itself to the locality which it occupies, to grow thin, to swell and to narrow itself like a soft paste." And this, true of the Alpine passes, is true also of the Greenland valleys. A great frozen flood is pouring down the east and west sloj)es of the Greenland continent ; and, as in the Alps, what is gained in height by one year's freezing is lost by the downward flow of the mobile mass. And this movement is not embarrassed by any ob- stacle. The lower chains of hills do not arrest it, for it moulds itself to their form, sweeps through every opening between them, or overtops them. Valleys do not interfere with its onward march, for the frozen stream enters them, and levels them with the highest hills. It heeds not the precipice, for it leaps over it into the plain below, a giant, frozen waterfall. Winter and summer are to it alike the same. It moves ever forward in its irresistible career, — a :Jil'« I 1 ■ j i : , . m i ^' i « n t M \ I ■ • i S i 4 1 vast, frozen tide swollino. tn ti every outlet of tClft r2 T"' ^' P""™ «'ro„.h r»l%, overriding ev^^H'Sonr" '-'^ """° ""' '^gover the rocks; an^^-l „t ^rth i f"''"'° """^ <"•«*- «ut hero it does not stop pf, ,,•'* TT "i'°" *''" ««"• wakes its own coast line ^'anfl -^ ^aek tho water, it commodating itself to ev"e;v ",1?,T^ f^^ °»^«''J. "«" «ea,as it had before done tlfi^t'^ "^ *^° ^cd of tho »P the wide bay or fiord '/"r'^"" "' '""^ land, filing narrowing where^-t narrlt sS"? "'^•=^« '' --m4 Its slow and steady conrse It Z ,7 "® "^ ^''^ ^^I^-^'l-" m beyond tho original shore.'li^e ' """''''' "^^y •-iles land itfinally^efeLfret;rcf^^T *''' «'°P»« which it was nltimately to ffll 1 i r^'"^ ^'''^^" *'>« % dreds of feet high. Gmdnaltyl' ank h' ^ T""^ '"">" waters as it moved outward ^^Lfi n^*"" '^"^ ^»« "^ almost wholly disappeared *"''"y "« ^ont has Jreswriar^y- re?-^ *^- « l^loc. of face to the extent of^one 2hTh ^f iT '^T *^« «"- while seven eighths of it St? '^f.^^glit and bulk, fause of this is too well ^o^ to tl^ ^-rface. The' pg explanation. Every seh^lh^. • ^ """'^ *''*" » P''^^- m the aet of freezing ex'^Zu^.'^"^'''^ *hat wlter condition fresh water teS a W '""I '" ''^^ '"^^W tban when in a fluid stat? Ld tnce t * -"""^^ i«° the fresh water from which it wlf"'' J " '"' ^"^^ ^^ >8 exposed above, while the remainfnl • ' ""^ *""*'^ °f it neath the surface. When this sme f ^ T' *''"*^ ^''^^ ^<^- it will be remembered is the com! ♦*'^'"'^'" ''"'^ H»cl> IS thrown into the sea th^J^T*'°'' "^ ^^^ g aeiei) that below being chang;d Lmtf "'!, "'''''' *'- "o ^even is due to the greater den^iw!^ "'"^ *<> one and by the salt which it holds in so£^ *^' ^'^"-^''ter. caused • FORMA TION OF ICEBERGS. 129 Now it will be obvious that, as tlie glacier continues to press further and further into the sea, the natural equili- brium of the ice must ultimately become disturbed, — that is, the end of the glacier is forced further down into tho water than it would be were it free from restraint, and at liberty to float according to tho properties acquired by congelation. The moment that more than seven eighths of its front arc below tho water-line, the glacier will, like an apple pressed down by tho hand in a pail of water, have a tendency to rise, until it assumes its natural equi- librium. Now it will be remembered that tho glacier is a long stream of ice, many miles in extent, and, althoiigh the end may have this tendency to rise, yet it is, for a time, held down firmly by the continuity of the whole mass. At length, however, as the end of the glacier buries itself more and more in the water, the tendency to rise becomes stronger and stronger, and finally the force thus generated is sufficient to break off a fragment, which, once free, is buoyed up to the level that is natural to it. This fragment may be a solid cube half a mile through, or even of much greater dimensions. The disruption is attended with a groat disturbance of the waters, and with violent sounds which may be heard for many miles ; but, floating now free in the water, the oscil- lations which the sudden change imparted to it gradually subside ; and, after acquiring its natural equilibrium, the crystal mass drifts slowly out to sea with the current, and is called an Iceberg.* And thus the glacier has fulfilled its part in the great law of Circulation and change. * It was formerly supposed that the icebergs were discharged by the force of gravity, but this error, as well as the true theory of berg discharge, was pointed out by Dr. H. Kink, now Royal In- spector of South Greenland. Some fragments are, however, detached from the face of the glacier and fall into the water, but these are always necessarily of comparatively small dimensions, and can scarcely be called bergs. E f ^ 11 130 THE LA W OF CIRCULA T/OJV. i ! I ) i Tho (lew-drop, cli stilled upon the troi^ic palm-leaf, fall- ing to tho earth, has reappeared in the gurgling spring of tho primeval forest, has flown with the rivulet to the river, and with the river to tho ocean ; has then vanished into the air, and, wafted northward by the unseen wind, has fallen as a downy snow-flake upon tho lofty mountain, where, penetrated by a solar ray, it has become again a little globule of water, and the chilly wind, following the sun, has converted this globule into a crystal; and tho crystal takes up its wandering course again, seeking the ocean. But where its movement was onco rapid, it is now slow ; where it then flowed with the river miles in an hour, it will now flow with the glacier not more in centuries ; and where it once entered calmly into the sea, it will now join the world of waters in the midst of a violent convulsion. We have thus seen that the iceberg is the discharge of the Arctic river, that the Arctic river is the glacier, and that the glacier is the accumulation of the frozen vapours of the air. We have watched this river, moving on its slow and steady course from the distant hills, until at length it has reached the sea ; and we have seen the sea tear from the slothful stream a monstrous fragment, and take back to itself its own again. Freed from the shackles which it has borne in silence through unnumbered cen- turies, this new-born child of the ocean rushes with a wild bound into the arms of the parent water, where it is caressed by the surf and nursed into life again ; and the crystal drops receive their long-lost freedom, and fly away on the laughing waves to catch once more the sunbeam, and to run again their course through the long cycle of the ages. And this iceberg has more significance than the great flood which the glacier's southern sister, the broad Amazon, pours into the ocean from the slopes of the Andes and the mountains of Brazil. Solemn, BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR OF ICEBERGS. 131 )f it Id )f stately, and erect, in tempest and in calm, it rides tlio deep. The restless waves resound through its broken ni-chways and thunder against its adamantean walls. Clouds, impenetrable as those which shielded the grace- ful form of Arethusa, clothe it in the morning ; under the bright blaze of the noonday sun it is armoured in glittering silver ; it robes itself in the gorgeous colours of evening ; and in the silent night the heavenly orbs are mirrored in its glassy surface. Drifting snows whirl over it in the winter, and the sea-gulls swarm round it in the summer. The last rays of departing day linger upon its lofty spires ; and when the long darkness is past it catches the first gleam of the returning light, and its gilded dome heralds the coming morn. The Elements combine to render tribute to its matchless beauty. Its loud voice is wafted to the shore, and the earth rolls it from crag to crag among the echoing hills. The sun steals through the veil of radiant fountains which flutter over it in the summer winds, and the rainbow on its pallid cheek betrays the warm kiss. The air crowns it with wreaths of soft vapour, and the waters around it take the hues of the emerald and the sapphire. In fulfilment of its destiny it moves steadily onward in its blue pathway, through the varying seasons and under the changeful skies. Slowly, as in ages long gone by it arose from the broad waters, so does it sink back into them. It is in- deed a noble symbol of the Law, — a monument of Time's slow changes, more ancient than the Egyptian Pyramids or the obelisk of Heliopolis. Its crystals were dew-drops and snow-flakes long before the human race was born in Eden. The glacier by which I had ascended to the mer de (jlace furnishes a fine illustration of growth and movement as I have described it. Coming down from the mer de glace in a steadily flowing stream, it has at length filled up the entire valley in which it rests for a distance of ten K 2 u i ; 132 THE MER DE GLACE. miles; and its terminal face, which, as heretofore stated, is one mile across, is now two miles from the sea. The angles and measurements of October, 18G0, were reiieated in July, 1861, as I shall have occasion hereafter to illus- trate, and the result showed the rate of progress of the glacier to be upwards of one hundred feet annually. It will thus bo seen that moro than a century will elajiso before tlic front of the glacier arrives at the sea ; and since six miles must be travelled over before it reaches deep water, at least five hundred years will transpire be- fore it discharges an iceberg of any considerable magni- tude. The movement of this glacier is much more rapid than others which I have explored. From " My Brother John's Glacier " the margin of the mcr dc glace sweeps around behind the lofty liills back of Port Foulke and comes down to the sea in a discharging glacier above Cape Alexander. This has a face of two miles, and some small icebergs are disengaged from it. Thence, after surround- ing Cape Alexander, embracing it as. with the arm of a mighty giant, it comes again into the water on its south side ; and, continuing thence southward, in a succession of broad and irregular curves, a frozen river is poured out from this great inland sea of ice through every valley of the Greenland coast from Smith's Sound to Cape Farewell, and from Cape Farewell on the Spitzbergen side north- ward to the remotest boundary of the explored. North- ward from '* My Brother John's Glacier " it makes a broad curve in the rear of the hills hitherto mentioned, and opposite Van Kensselaer Harbour it is between fifty and sixty miles from the sea, where it was reached by Mr. \V'ilson and myself, as before stated. Its first appearance upon the coast in that direction is at the head of Smith's Sound, in the great Humboldt Glacier, which is reputed to be sixty miles across. Beyond this it presses upon Washington Land, and thence stretches away into the region of the unknown. Lr. id In [e CHAPTER XII. FTER a sound sleep had in some measure worn off the fatigues of the journey on the glacier, I returned to my diary : — October 28th. I am not sorry to get back again into my cosy little cabin. I never knew before what a snug home I have in the midst of this Arctic wilderness. A few days on the ice and a few nights in a tent were required to give mo u proper appreciation of its comforts. Once I had begun tc regard it as a dingy, musty cell, fit only for a convict. Now it is a real " weary man's rest," an oasis in a desert, a port in a storm. The bright rays of the " fine-eyed UU- Erin " were not a more cheering guide to the love-bound Ossian than was the glimmer of this cabin-lamp as I came in last night from the cold, — trudging across the waste of snows. The curtains which inclose what is my lounge by day and my bed by night have taken on a brighter crimson. The wolf and bear skins which cover the lounge and the floor, protecting my feet against the frost which strikes up from below, are positively luxurious ; the lamp, which I thought burned with a sickly sort of flame, is a very Drummond light compared with what it was ; the clock, which used to annoy me with its ceaseless ticking, now makes grateful music ; the books, which are stuck about jj 134 AfV CAlUh\ in all availnblo places, soora to bo lost friends found again ; and the little pictures, which hang around wherever tlioro is room, seem to Bmile upon nie witli a sort of sympathetic cheerfulness, llolls of ma2)s, unHnishod sketches, scraps of paper, all sorts of books, including stray vcdumes of the " Penny Cycloincdia " and Soycr's " Principles of Cooking," drawing implements, barometer cases, copies of Admiralty Blue Books, containing reports of the Arctic Search, trac^k charts of all those British worthies, from lioss to Bae, wlio have gone in search of Sir Jolm Franklin, litter the floor ; and, instead oi annoying me with their presence, as they used to do, they seem to possess an air of quiet and re- freshing comfort. My little pocket-sextant and compass, banging on their particular peg, my rifle and gun and flask and pouch cm theirs, with my travelling kit between them, break the blank space on the bulk head bef(U*o me, and seem to speak a language of their own. My good and faithful friend Sonntag sits opposite to me at the table, reading. I write nestling among my furs, with my journal in my lap ; and when I contrast this night with the night on the glacier summit, and listen now to the fierce wind which howls over the deck and through the rigging, and think how dark and gloomy everything is outside and how light and cheerful everything is here below, I believe that I have as much occasion to write myself down a thankful man, as I am very sure I do, for once at least, a contented one. Sonntag has given me a report of work done during my absence, and so has McCormick. With Jensen I have had a talk about the hunt. I have dined with the officers, and all goes *' merry as a marriage bell." My companions on the journey have recovered from their fatigue, and they seem none the worse for the tramp, except such of them as have been touched by the frost ; and these look sorry enough. They get little consolation from their ship- mates. '» I t coxc/:a\\'/.\'c sc( 7: r\: i3S n ?) ?» I am miKjli gnitifuMl to find that cvcrytlilng has gono 011 so Hiuoothly whihi 1 was away. Soniitag has bucni twico to tlio ghicicr, ami has linished th(} Hurvcy and niado Konio spirited sk(;tclios. Ho lias also dono sonic valuable worlc on a base lino, aecurately nieasuied upon ilio ice of the outer bay. This base line is DiUO feet long, and his triangulations give the following distances from the vvestcrn point of Starr Island : — • To Capo Alexander, 8 nautical miles. Isalxdla, >'>l Sabine, liJ My commands respecting the Innit have been carefully observed, and numerous additions have been made to our rai)idly accumulating stock of fresh food. This gives nie much gratification. My experience with Dr. Kane has led mo to believe that the scurvy, hitherto so often fatal to Arctic travellers, may be readily avoided by the liberal use of a fresh animal diet ; and, although I havo a fair supply of canned meats and a good allowance of fresh vegetables, yet I do not wish to (le2)end wholly upon them ; and, in order to make assurance d(jubly sure, I havo endeavoured to spare no pains in securing whatever game is within our reach. Accordingly I have always had a well-organized party of hunters, who arc exempt from other duty, and this system I propose continuing. The result thus far has shown the correctness of my plan. A more healthy ship's company could not be desired. Not a single case of ill- ness has yet occurred. I do not expect to have any scurvy in my party, and I am firmly impressed with the belief that at Port Foulko men might live indefinitely without being troubled with that "dread scourge of the Arctic Zone." 1 do not, however, wh(dly rely upon the hunters. The moral sentiments havo much to do with health every- where ; and, with the best food in the world, nnhappmess will make more than the heart sick. For my own i)art, I I 11 * i:\6 CASTOR AND POLLUX. I would rather take my chances against the scurv}^ with the herbs and the love, than with hatred and the stalled ox.. Luckily my shii^s comi)any are as harmonious and happjr as they are healthy, and the fault will bo mine if they do not continue so. Our game-list, according to Knorr, who keeps the tally, sums up as follows : Ecindeer 74, foxes 21, hares 12, seals 1, eider ducks 14, dovekies 8, auks 6, ptarmigan 1. This includes all that has been brought on board from the beginning. Besides these substantial contributions to our winter supplies, there are some twenty or thirty reindeer cached in various places, which are available whenever we choose to bring them in. The dogs are the largest con- sumers. I find McCormick suffering with a sore throat and swelled tongue, resulting from eating snow. Leaving mo at the glacier, he set out to return on board, and, growing thirsty by the way, without being aware of the evil conse- quences likely to result therefrom, commenced eating snow to quench it. The effect of this indulgence was so to inflame the mucous membrane as, in the end, to render the thirst greater and greater the more the desire was indulged. Finally respiration became difficult and painful^ and he arrived on board much exhausted. It is a /^ood lesson for the ship's company, — a fact doubtless more consoling to me than to the sufferer. October 29th. I went out to-day with Mr. Sonntag to his base line, and made some further measurements. In that direction there are a couple of mammoth icebergs, which I have named " The Twins." They loom up grandly against the dark western sky. Castor carries his head 230 feet above the sea, and Pollux, though of smaller dimensions, is seventeen feet higher. After our usual evening game of chess, we have talked i > I TRAVELLING EQUIPMENT. n7 \ ' i over some furtlicr projects for tlie field. I propose a drive into the region of Humboldt Glacier, Sonntag one to Van Rensselaer Harbour. It is important that the meridian of this latter place should be connected with that of Port Foulke. I yield to Sonntag for the present, and he starts the day after to-morrow, weather permitting, — a proviso peculiarly necessary in this blustering place. There is- very little light left to us, but the moon is full, and will probably serve to guide the party. There was not even the faintest streak of light to-day at three o'clock. October 30th. Sonntag is all ready to start. He will take two sledges, with Jensen and Hans for di'ivers. They are prepared for seven days' absence. I have allowed Sonntag to provide his own equipment, without interference. He has, I think,^ made it a little more cumbrous than he should, — a little too much for personal comfort, that will be dead weight. Travelling in tbis region is governed by very rigorous laws, and very little latitude is allowed in the choice of one's outfit. There is probably no j)lace in the world where the traveller is compelled to deny himself so com- pletely those little articles of convenience which contribute so much to the personal satisfaction. On shipboard he may indulge his taste for luxury to the extent of his means ; but when he takes to the ice-fields and the dog-sledge he must come down to hard fare and carry nothing but what, is absolutely necessary to sustain life, — and this is simply meat, bread, and cofifee, or tea if he prefers it. The snov/ must serve for his bed, and his only covering must be what is just sufficient to keep him from freezing. Fire h& cannot have, except the needful lamp to cook his food, and if he should get cold he must warm himself by exercise. During my late journey to the glacier, I carried for fuel only three quarts of alcohol and the same quantity of oil, and this was not all used. H ■I' ^3S J^NORR AND STARR, «^vered from their liSlfwtr- ^^''^ '«'^« »" "- ^e is as big as his Z a^d ^ ".T^' ?"«*«"' ^^oso good-naturedly the jeers oflis t " ^^- ^^ *»t«« however, almost as bad y off inT'"''''- ^"°"- «' Cinstian, but he has suffered ' f f. '"*'"' ''^S^"" ''^ Tie nose is, indeed, a serfoJslrn ^''" '"'^'"'yenture. trave ler, for it ins stsTon e ' n °°'°'""' '° ^'^^ Arctic occasion; and if yo„ J,."? ? /''^''^'"g ^'^elf upon eyerv ^^oo-ing the Sr '1 t^rr'^'r'^'^--'-^ that in an hour's time tho Jnfl i , "1' '"'n'^'''*^ it, so worse enemy than the vind "sS ?/*"'",'"• '^«°"^'' ^ wWe, but a lump of ice ^^'° '"'"'^'^ i«> « a littlo *f e f CllhirSr^^^^^^ «P bravely on Stan and eai^nest appeals Th,"" ^"' ^"^ !"■« oon- a«ch of life in hirbut h J '*, ''"'' ""* Wear to be oellent substitute ;Tnd thus Z f/""''' '""^ "'»' ^^ -^ e'! Jm through. My fis told ml b T^"^ ^»« -"ied that I was needlessly takiLh^^!' ^^°'^ ^'=''""8 home, ho does not appear incited tolfi,V^'°" ^rave; b-> «een>s lifoly to hold his own vi h l\"''r *''="'°"«' ^-^^^ of the crew. He is but " 1 1' ^ai'dest-iisted sailor Starr, who is about the " L" te is r^' °''' "'''' ''^"^P* of my party. Starr, too iTa^^l *%y°™g««t member got into the party against my Ef ""1"' t' ''°^- ^e from sorry. I„, jt'ed S enHf ' .' ^ *"" ^"''^ f""" venture, he vol„„Lred to L S;"""' °' ^'■'"'' '^''- and, having no convenient f^om ^ «,! ' V"^t"^1'»<"*^ = that he could go in the forec "sUe^; ^*''^'°' ^ '''^'' him ' would accept mv offer- but .? ' "® -^^'eaming that he f o-t day in"^ saiior'srig h .""'^ ^Tf ' ''^ *"™«d up the hroadcloth and polished pfml ?^' '?^"^<^'' »»'J shining a"d red shirt and sea boot^S T T'*^" P'*'=« *" 4 the metamorphosed boyof recent "'^ °" ^"^^"^ *" ^^^ ■^ °* '•"'^"' elegance manfully at HANS, PETER, AND JACOB. 139 work. Admiring his spirit, I promoted him on the spot, and sent him aft to the sailing-master, — the best I could do for him. The rivalry between Hans and Peter waxes warmer. My sympathies go with the latter, of which I have to-day given substantial proof. Up to this time Hans has had charge of Sonntag's team, and has used it pretty much as he pleased ; but he being absent this morning, and Jensen being off after some venison, I used Peter to drive me to the lower glacier, where I wished to make some sketches. It appears that this excited Hans' ire against poor Peter ; which fact being duly reported by Jensen, I have taken the dogs from Hans and given them into Peter's exclusive charge. So one savage is pleased and the other is displeased; but we shall probably have no public ex- hibitions of his spleen, as I have read him a lecture upon the evil consequences arising from the display of ill- temper, which he will probably remember, — as likely, however, for evil as for good ; for he is not of a forgiving disposition. Jensen tells me that " they have made friends," which probably means mischief. Hans seems to retain the intelligence for which he was distinguishecl when in the Ad\:ance. His character has undergone but little change, and his fu,ce expresses the same traits as formerly, — the same smooth, oily voice, the same cunning little eye, the same ugly disposition. I have very little faith in him ; but Sonntag has taken him into his favour, and greatly prefers him to Jensen for a dog-driver. Peter, on the other hand, is a quiet, unobtrusive fellow, and is always ready and willing to do anything that is re- quired of him, even by the sailors, with whom he is very popular ; and, of course, as with good-nature everywhere, he is sometimes imposed upon. Jacob is Peter's brotlier, and he continues to be the butt of the forecastle. Tlio men have made a bargain with him, and, according to all .< i1 \ '' i I I i; .„ I H' •' f 140 COAL ACCOUNT. accounts, it works satisfactorily. He is to wash their dishes, and they in return are to give him all the crumbs that fall from their table. On these he is growing more and more fat, and he has now greater difficulty than ever in getting about. There is a beam in the fore-hold, onl}^ two feet and a half from the floor, which he can no longer climb over. His efforts to crawl under it have been not unaptly compared to those of a seal waddling over the ic& about its breathing-hole. Mr. Wardle's fat boy was not more shapeless, and, like that plethoric individual, he chiefly divides his time between eating and sleeping. His cheeks are puffed out in a very ridiculous manner, and al- together he answers very well the description of Mira- beau's corpulent acquaintance, who seemed to have been created for no other purpose than to show to what extent the human skin is capable of being stretched without bursting. The executive officer tells me that he sent him the other day to the upper deck to dress a couple of rein- deer ; but, having proceeded far enough to expose a tempt- ing morsel, he halted in his work, carved off a slice of the half-frozen flesh, and was found some time afterwards fast asleep between the two dead animals, with the last frag- ment of his honne houclie dangling from his lips. November 1st. The new month comes in stormy. The travellers were- to have set out to-day, but a fierce gale detains them on board. The moon is now three days past full, and if they are delayed much longer they will scarcely have light enough for the journey. McCormick and Dodge have set a bear-trap between th& icebergs Castor and Pollux. It is a mammoth steel-trap,, and is baited with venison and fastened with my best ice- anchor. I pity the poor beast that gets his foot in it. I have been overhauling our coal account, and have re- gulated the daily consumption for the winter. We have THE HOUSE ON- DECK'. 141 on 10 tliirty-four tons on board, and have but two fires. Two and a half buckets full a day go to the galley stove in the hold, and one and a half to the cabin ; and with this con- sumption of fuel the people live in comfort and cook their food and melt from the ice an abundant supply of water. The ice, which is of the clearest and purest kind, comes from a little berg which is frozen up in the mouth of the harbour, about half a mile away. I have no stove in my own cabin, all the heat which I require coming to me across the companion-way through the slats of my door, from the officers' stove. The temperature in which I live ranges from 40"^ to 60^, and, among my furs, I lounge through the hours that I do not spend out of doors as snug and comfortable as I could wish to be. Some- thing of my comfort is, however, due to the excess of heat of the ofiiccrs' quarters. The temperature of their cabin runs sometimes to 75^, and is seldom lower than GO', and they are at times actually sweltering. Our quarters are throughout free from dampness and are well ventilated. A portion of the main-hatch above the men's quarters is always open, and the companion-scuttle is seldom closed. This ventilation being through the house on deck, that apartment is kept at quite a comfortable degree of warmth ; and it is a very convenient medium between the lower deck and the outer air. In this house such work is per- formed as cannot be done below ; and there, in the dim light of the signal-lamp, which hangs suspended from the main-boom, one may see almost at any time a motley group of men working or playing, as the case may be. Forward in one corner stands Hans's tent, through the slits in which come the cheerful glimmer of a lamp and the lullaby of an Esquimau mother, soothing to sleep her " pretty one." On the opposite side is our butcher-shop, where are piled up a lot of frozen reindeer, awaiting Mar- cus and Jacob, — the butchers. Near by stands our por- table forge and anvil, where McCormick is for ever blow- ,< 142 Comfort of our quarters. ( iW ing tho hot embers and pounding at nobody knows what. Dodge says "ho is killing time." Under the window amidships stands tho carpentcr^s bench and the vice, where Christian, Jensen, Peter, and Hans are always tinkering at some hunting or sledge implements, — while, mingling pro- miscuously on the deck, the officers and men may be seen smoking their pipes, and apparently intent only upon as little exertion and as much amusement as the Arctic night will give them. A cheerful light bursts up from below through the hatchways, bringing with it many a cheerful laugh. Around the mainmast stands our gun-rack, and near by is a neat arrangement of McCormick's where every man has a peg for his fur coat, as we do not bring these things below, on account of the great change of tem- perature producing dampness in them. November 2nd. The barometer, which yesterday sunk to 29*58, has been steadily rising since, and stands now at 29*98, giving- us thus a reasonable assurance that the gale will come to an end by-and-by, and let the travellers off. The gale has made wild work with the ice, breaking it up and driving it out to the south-west until the open water is within two miles of the schooner. The " twins " are right upon the margin of it, and, were they not aground, would float away. One of Sonntag's base-line stations has drifted off, and the bear-trap has followed after it, carrying away my fine ice- anchor. Strange, the loose ice has all drifted out of sight, and not a speck is to be seen upon the unhappy waters which roll and tumble through the darkness aroundCape Alexander. The temperature during this gale has been, throughout, very mild. Although the wind was north-east, it has not been below zero at any time. November 3rd. The travellers are off at last, and at ten o'clock this evening they disappoint me by not returning. Since it is MR. JENSEN, H3 I Ihe G- k Irs "? ^t cvicleut that they have gone around Cape Ohlscn, which I had some reason to doubt, I see no cause why they should not reach their destination. They will have, however, cracks which have been opened by the recent gales, and doubtless heavily hummocked ice, to contend with ; and I hardly know how Jensen will get on with this sort of tra- velling. Bad enough for those who are accustomed to it, it will be a sore trial to him. Ho is a splendid whip, and drives his dogs superbly when the ice is reasonably smooth, and the sledge glides glibly over it with the dogs at a gallop ; but this floundering through hummocks and deep snow-drifts, where the sledge has to bo lifted and is often capsized, where the dogs are continually getting into a snarl, — their traces tangled, their tempers ruffled, and a general fight resulting, — is a very different sort of busi- ness, and is what he is not used to. To get through with it one requires an almost superhuman stock of enduring patience ; and if Jensen returns from this journey with a good record, I shall have no fears for him in the future. He is a very strong and able-bodied man, standing six feet in his shoes, and is of powerful muscular build. The knowledge acquired by some eight years' residence in Greenland, of hunting, and of the Esquimau language, which he speaks like a native, and of the English which he has picked up from the British whale-ships, makes him one of the most useful members of my party. The men have been busy sewing up seal-skins into coats, pantaloons, and boots, to complete their winter wardrobe. They have tried very hard to get Mrs. Hans to do this work for them, but the indolent creature per- sistently refuses to sew a stitch. She is the most obstinate of her sex ; feels perfectly independent of everything and of everybody ; pouts fiercely when she is not pleased, and gets the sulks about once a fortnight, when she declares most positively that she will abandon Hans and the white men for ever, and go back to her own people. She once 144 A CHEERFUL DA K Jad evWontly boon „ aor^ fCpT h"'""''''- There his tent as if nothing Lad hi? ■, ^""^ ""■»« out of ;mdovv leisurely smoIdngL^'X"!';"' ^*°'''^ ''' *h« he anost uneoncornod Lnner^n t """'f^'S hor in • r^^*"" ''«''« going, Hans?" ::S:x„trHatlr--- which told how won t lil7",":? '-^ 1«"' <^'"'eMe beloved. Two hours afterwIrdTh /""^ "^'"^ "^ ^^'^ Stiee-:^^'^ - -^y -^"-""^:dt;^hC at ^pht^to'tf f ^^^^^^^^^ r W h, turns wh.ch day, even in this remote corner^, "" ^""''''^' "" body puts on his best, and at SunT '° ''°''^'^' ^^e^y People present a ver^ ne.t „ "i ^? ''™'"g«"sternfv The gray uniform ^ZlCltj^LZ^T'"'' ''Pl'-«'"- always worn on that oecasfon w^^"' ^ '^ •^'««««'>it « Each offieer Las a sailorfrr w.,t ^ "'''"'' ""^^ »««• »mo; and Knorr has jus brou"S ?'"'"'"'' """^ ^ ^aro courag,ng accountsof L s skilTSl '" i^' """^^ o"" on my table, wLen I ea«,e Tn o„rn/^r^""'^''^"I^o«nvicn It. jj or my own ,1 I I I JOHN WILLIAMS, THE COOK, 145 ro I part, I must acknowledge the power of his artistic skill as affecting the moral sentiments. My walk to the open water was both cold and fatiguing. Desiring to get out as far as I could, I sprang over the loose ice-tables, and reached an iceberg near " The Twins," which I moimted; and, after digging a hole into it, found that it had a tem- perature only 8*^ lower tJ 11 the temperature of the water that floated it, which was 29^. I scrambled back to the fast ice as quickly as I could, for the tide and wind, which was strong from the land, looked very much as if they intended to carry the raft out to sea. To como back to the cook, — I was in a condition upon my return to do ample justice to a fillet of venison, gar- nished with currant-jelly, which was awaiting me, and upon the preparation of which the cook had evidently ex- hausted all his skill ; and afterward Knorr made for mc, with my alcohol furnace, a cup of aromatic Mocha. And so one may find pleasure even where Bacchus and Cupid deign not to come. True, this is the region into which Apollo voluntarily wandered after the decree of Olympus made him an exile, and where the Hellenic poets dreamed of men living to an incredible age, in the enjoy- ment of all possible felicity ; but, to say the truth, I ques- tion the wisdom of the banished god, as tradition makes no mention of a schooner, and I find that in this *' Resi- dence of Boreas " one must look out for himself pretty sharply, — poets to the contrary, notwithstanding. The cook brought me the dinner himself. " I tinks de Commander likes dis," said he, " coming from de cold." '' Yes, cook, it is really superb. Now, what can I do for you ?" " Tank you, sar ! I tinks if de Commander would only be so kind as to give me a clean shirt, I sLfiU be very tankful. He see dis one bo very dirty, and I gets no time to vash him." " Certainly, cook, you shall have two." ,< SI m ' i ii 146 ^ CirEF.KFUL P.VEA'Wc 11! «to^o and Lis copp^.s ^""^ '''"''' '^^'U Phased to Lis' -ni roiKt «:':r:L„f ^^'"""'' «'« <>"-' raoral qualities tLat I Co tv^"^ ^ '""*'"'° "^ "''vcnso makes it Lis boast that Z T? ""'=°'' *'' "««'• Ho •leek since leaving Bo ^ ^f "7- boon „ff tLo sLi:': for -said ho, one^day?! Imo^f ., '''"^' ^ «» "^^^''^ ;eeUmg to Lim tLo wonders oTtLf *V "'""^'^ ^^^o ,vcro Do land be very good Xl 1 "i^" " ^^° 8° "«ho''o •' ''o Placo to be iJ^TJl ^7 ^^« ^ogetables, but it 1 iiavo passed an horn- r.f f7 . ' ^tL the „«^^,.^ tLoL abi^r^r/"'^ P^''"^""^ ?f ches« witL Knon, and no" b" ^""^f^ "««''l ga™o journal for tLo day T Zm -I' '"'^""^ ^^^^ witL this f- and road in 4' Jp j^ ^ ^^^ «P - «y nost '0? ^here people live withont an JT. ^''"''' °^ *^o ^ozM bear-skins, and die of fe^t " Vff'*' ^°^ «ot the nse of fe 1 .n less pleasant placis ihan !n tb'"' -.""'^ ^'"^^^ """gl" winter. ^ "'^''^ "^a^ m the midst of an Arctic i CIIArTEPt XIIT. I^IIE steadily increasing darkness was driving ns more and nioro within doors. A\'c liad no^v scarcely any light but that of the moon and stars. The hunt was not wholly abandoned, but so few were the hours wherein vro could seo that it had become unin'otitablo. The gloom of night had settled in the valleys and had crept up the craggy hills. The darkness being fairly upon us, we had now little other concern tlian to live through it and await the spring, and a return to active life and the performance of those duties for which our voyage had been undertaken. As a part of the history of the expedition, I will continue to give from my diary our course of life. ■ November 5th. Our life has worked itself into a very systematic routine. Our habits during the sunlight were naturally somewhat irregular, but we have now subsided into absolute method. What a comfort it is to be relieved of responsibility ! How kind it is of the clock to tell us what to do ! The ship's bell follows it through the hours, and we count its shrill soimds and thereby know precisely how to act. The bell tells us when it is half-past seven in the morning, and then we " turn out." An hour later we breakfast, and at one o'clock we lunch. We dine at six, and at eleven we put out the lights a. id "turn in," — that is, everybody but L 'Z t '1 \ I < 'J II 148 ^-'^/Z y ^OUTIXM, tJio writer nf fi • • •"vn cabin l.uvo a Rumo ,f " ^'""'^ "' "'"■«'- <'«• in mv ,•;''"- ."0 the vJiT:u2xr''T ""^- «« on tLcso pages; but novclt;?' ^'■'""•J^'lgo, fiml a ,,l„ce «owo I sot opposite TT "''" '''"■<'• ">«' ^v•hcIl f],. ? Pi^fc them o^f i*" *''«" ^"'"•g'""! "otc bat t " -nj fro, «., J--;- to time as one d^Tl '^^ ^:^^^^^^^^:^^ brea... tbo mea ^ecks and polish and fill fi^ ^'''^^^' ^^^^J clear ud ivL rulo t^ f '"'' *'''^<' a "'alk ioTZ '° ''"^ ••"•<= 'lone ™e that every one who I ^'^orciso, and I mato U comST " '^^"•' ''"Si ; Lo°''"^ *° ^I-otaTer ■inii, iittlo beast ]ias 5' V <1 f( 01 .St OUR HOME. 149 shared with mo my cabin sinco leaving Boston, and has 4ilways insisted upon tlio choicest phico. Wo havo got to ho tho host of friends. Ho knows perfectly well when the liour conies to go out after breakfast, and whines impa- tiently ut tho door ; and when ho sees mo take my ca^) and mittens from their peg his happiness is complete. And tlic little fellow makes a most excellent companion. Ho does not bore mo with senseless talk, but trios his best to mako liimsclf agreeable. If in tho sober mood, ho walks bosido mo with stately gravity ; but when not so inclined ho .rushes round in tho wildest manner, — rolling himself in tho snow, tossing tho white flakes to tho wind, and now and then tugging at my huge fur mittens or at tho tail of my fur coat. Some time ago ho fell down tho hatch and broke his leg, and while this was healing I missed him j^roatly. There is excellent companionship in a sensible I ivy as much as a reasonable regard for discipline will ixllow to cultivate the social relations and usages of homo. True, wo cannot get uj) a ball, and wo lack tho essential elements of a successful tea-party ; but we are not wholly deficient in those customs which, in the land where tho loved ones are, take away so much of life's roughnesses. And those little formal observances promote happiness -and peace. There is no place in the world whore habits of unrestrained familiarity work so much mischief as in the crowded cabin of a little vessel, nor is there any place where true politeness is so great a blessing. In short, I try to make our winter abode as cheerful as possible ; and WG shall need all tho brightness we can got within these wooden walls, if we would not be overwhelmed with tho -darkness which is outside. I want my people always to feel that, from whatever hardship and exposure they may encounter, they can hero find cheerful shelter from the .storms, and repose from their fatigues. As far as possible, Sunday is observed as we wonld Sv '50 /V^-7-OT.y or SO.V.VTAC. observe it at Jiomo An . , , C'^ocutive offlcc., I lioW an iLpo S T'"^""''^! l-^ the '«««o], and o..:a,„i„e wh„,tc S fl 1."T'^ I"'''* "^ «'o comforts of the wl.olo «1 2 c" 1, ^"'^*''' ^'''''^^*«' ""d "ftorwards thoyall «ssouAfe i„ S'^ '' f'^ ^'""^odiately I read to then a portion of ti ^n "^'^'^ '^''^^'■^^ whoro f followed by a duapter S.^T^V^'^' ' -«! thi« ove alike, wLerevoAvo a o iTf- ^""'^' ^^^"'''l' "'o all Wau ,s line sonnoas, and w]^„ St""°^ ^ '•°«l one of fi"'ty. "'"^ of the adventures of hjg embarrassments- nn.Vf 7 ' ^^^'"^^'^ ^^"^^^s were f],n- *-j wit,io„t J;!::^ f5;rii:.oTr-f *" ^-~- Tliey had nuich t ^,,7.7 •' »ost-bitos. Ry, the water eon i /: £ "\ »°- -' "^ Hartstene outside, however, the^lnd " '" *' "'° ^'''"'^-'oo. 0.iee Inlet, where one of the I d'e, T^"'" "^ '^'^ ''oast to rt «l'ou open cracks whieh 7° "^ ''*^'^«' ^^^ theyea,^^ tjou; faces homeward When 5, "7° ""«' *hoy turned 1 fatherton, they strnek the trJl.f' "'"^ ''"'ove Capo |--g chase, the a,iinil° " t'e.M^^'" °' "^^^^ ^ «K ;->^s:;t;ir:T.9'"^^^^ The bears were^ Z^a f^l '""'^'*'°" "^ '^^ chase S^ol^ -;: 4ldten"^2l;,- .^-.e Tf — ■ -i«:«rd-t:-sfsS . i ti A BEAR HUNT. 151 Ll f- §?■! %A claslied off upon it into tlio hummocks, without waiting to l)c directed by their drivers, and utterly regardless of the safety of the sledges or of the persons seated upon them. The hummocks were very high, and the passages between them rough and tortuous. Had the bears kept to them they might have baffled pui'suit ; for the progress of the sledges was much interrupted, and the track could not always be followed. But the ridge was not above a quarter of a mile in width, and the bears, striking directly across it, evidently preferred seeking safety beyond a crack, over which they could pass by swim- ming. The first plunge into the liummocks was rather excit- ing. Jensen's team led the way, and Hans, following after, rushed up pell-mell altmgside. Jensen's sledge was nearly capsized, and Sonntag rolled off in the snow ; but he was fortunate enough to catch the upstauder, and with its aid to recover his seat. The tangled ice greatly retarded the impatient dogs, bringing them several times almost to a stand ; but their eagerness and their drivers' energy finally triumphed over all obstacles, and they emerged at length, after much serious embarrassment, upon a broad and almost level plain, where for the first time the game came in view. The delay of the sledges in the hummocks had allowed the bears to get the start of fully a mile, and it appeared probable that they would reach the water before they could be overtaken. The dogs seemed to be conscious of this danger, as well as the hunters, and they laid them- selves down to the chase with all the wild instinct of their nature. Maddened by the detention and the prospect of the prey escaping them, the bloodthirsty pack swept across the plain like a whirlwind. Jensen and Hans en- couraged their respective teams by all the arts known to the native hunter. The sledges fairly flew over the hard snow and bounced over the drifts and the occasional pieces '52 w I A BEAR HUNT. smooth So.^'*"'"^ "''"^^ *'•« "thorwiso Konerally I* was a wild chaio TI,<. i red and cry all tho impattt. f '"''"•^'^«*«'J « their ^'ow of the fox, with ton ?mcTt, ^ "" I'"^'^ "^ ^'o^nds in "oared the game they soenW f'Z'^'^Sonom. As they ^ tr tt? "- ™-^ ""Sr ' "'° ^° "^^"^ pursue,^ and purLd ^L e"c 'cd L*' f ''f "''"''° '^-'"''=''» '«d then they wore not far W I 'f '"'""'^''^'^y'"-''''. one was safety, to the othJZelt T*"' ■"""!"''^' '" *° the old bear was kept baek In .f ""° "" *'^''' '™o was owdently nnwillinr, fo aban, n ^T" °"''' ^^'"^'' «h« ^" ''gony. Her eries w^re Sel^" , "'" ^'""^ ^'^"^^ ^''^ jogged on by her sido £ T ? ^"'^'' ^he little one 'Although it greatly re tl?f»^^' "-1 anxious ; and tlntu^r «h^ wtldllTbSnm^^" ^""/^- leinal affection appeared altcrnot,.! 7 ""^ ""^^ »a- tjon; but still sheheldfir" ; ?^ ?^''''^™''"-^-'^*ol«- Ono moment she would rshf'^"*'''"' "®^P»»g- ^-''ter,as if intent only upon , '"' ^^"'""^ "'« open would wheel round and S" jf .""! ^'■'^f^'-then she ^■«- snout ; and then a^a^n hevv 1^ «truggli„g cub with coaxmgly encom-a^in. ft t n J ! "^ ''"" ^''^^'-J" » as if enemies were rushing ^^ ITTT'"' ^'''^'''^^<^ ^^^ The dogs, forgetting^theh. owntt ^ "''''""« "''= g»«>e. » speedy eueonnter, pres L In /"*'«" V" *''<= P^'^^P^^t of collars. The eriti a rij t' ""^'. T'"' "'*' ^^^-r »nd to add to theemlZr ■ ^'^P'^ly approaching • t'-^Httle bear .JS^^':^^^ ^^ ^^^ bruin famify,' «ei.ed the end of the ^^^^TT^'T^ ''™'^^' '^o- 'n one fastening, and si p ed t, f *''° '^^cs together stopped, and the dogs, f,o,Sn f"°^ ^'''^ ^^^^ges ''-" 'J-gging, bounded tie, r^^^^^^ ^^'-'' they l^d '-'•^ tor their prey. The old ii M ¥ generally in their ounds in As they so many h.csveen ed yards, 3h to the ihis time hich she )oast was ittle one IS ; and 5'ull view and ma- L* resolu- ffspring. lie open lien she lib with it as if die her ) game. poet of their ohiug ; lamily, )f the now tether ^dges had ohi 1 i i H 1^ <-n A \ I 4l 1 -ng worse tb 1 ''" ''°»«' after a 2^ '^° '"^'"""or. my former csn^ "'"'<* S''«'^t«- than tl.n ' °'^^^^''' ''"J^l water, the toit^ ". '"''»'^«'- ^^as fe 1 ^ ^'"'^''^ from Lour to I,.^"''"'"'" «f ^lich wl !,^ ?*? ^° ^oe- out. TJ^.,, ° ^'""^ "n«I the flesh 1« ■ T^^ «ereased We are in ^j . November lOfh ^ove;nber under tLrpl 1 ' "'-"^^^^ «^^^v,^, 1. • .ero. '" ^^- *-««ro W gSo^l'Tf, --' '» The cojfl of -1 7 i ro a above a f( b b^ ci '♦ rilE PORT FOULKE WEEKLY XEWSr 157 ■ . escapes from below. In many places this frost is two inches thick, and now it is melting. The water drops upon the deck, and everything thereon is soaked. Wo have reduced the fires and 02)ened the windows. NovLiiihcr 11th. The temperature continues to rise, and the thaw goes on. A regular shower falls upon the deck. There is a huge puddle amidships, and the drip, drip, drip is any- thing but agreeable. My journal is looking up, — two novelties in one day. First a thaw, and then a ncv/spaper. The free press follows the flag all over the world, and the North Pole rejoices in " The Port Foulke Weekly News." During the past week everybody has been much inte- rested in a newspaper enterprise, bearing the above 'title. Thinking to create a diversion that would confound our enemy, the darkness, I proposed some time ago to tlio officers that we should publish a weekly i)aper, offer- ing at the same time my assistance. The proi^sitiou •was hailed with pleasure, and my fullest anticipations are more than realized. Mr. Dodge and Mr. Knorr undertook to act as editors, at least for the first week, and they have busied themselves gathering from cabin and forecastle whatever was likely to prove attractive, and right good success have they met with. The first number appeared to-day, and it contains some things that are " rich and rare," and very clever, and many of the best came from the forward psi't of the ship. Its appearance makes quite an event, and, as a hygienic agent, its importance cannot be too highly estimated. The project set everybody on tiptoe of expectation, and for several days past very little else has been talked about but " the paper." All the details of its getting-up have been conducted with a most fai"cical adherence to the customs prevailing at home. There is a regular corps ft S'< J 158 " nil'] PORT FOULKE WEKh'r.Y XFAVS. 7C' " i '! of editors and reporters, an office for " pfcneral news," an *' editorial department," and a " telograpli station," wherti information is snpposed to bo received from all (piartcrs of tho world, and tlio relations cxistin*^ between tlie sun, moon, and stars arc duly reported by " reliable corre- spondents," and pictorial representations of extraordinary occurrences arc also received from " our artist on tho spot." Of course, mucli depended upon the vdai with which it burst into being ; and, conscious of this important fact, the editors spared no pains to heighten public curiosity, by tho issuing of " handbills " and " posters," and all otlicr means known among tlie caterers for the popular intel- lectual palate. McCormick lent his assistance, and directed the preparation of a somewhat better dinner than usual ; so that, no matter what might be the merits of this eagerly expected prodigy, it was suro of a hearty reception. Mr. Knorr had charged himself with the mechanical execution, and was known to have the infant periodical in his keeping; and accordingly, after tlie cloth M^as removed, loud calls were made for its production. While ho was hauling it out from under his pillow (where it had been carefully stowed out of sight until the auspicious moment should arrive), demands were made upon him to read it aloud. This he was about to do when some ono claimed that so important an event should not pass otf so informally. " Agreeably to national usage, we should call a meeting, organize it by the appointment of the proper officers, and name an orator for the occasion. Then, and not until then, can it bo said that we have properly inaugurated tlie important event which has transpired. The public of Port Foulkc will not rest con- tent with any less conspicuous mark of glorification over so momentous an occurrence as the establishment of a free press on this remote frontier of civilization." To this proposal no objection was made, — indeed, it was * 1. t r 1 " THE PORT I'OULKE WEEKI.Y XEWSr 159 i^ 4 si received witli muoli favonr ; and tlio moctiii.cj ^va^< accord- ingly orgiiuized by uuunimously calling Mr. Soiiiitiig to the "chair." After iiuining tlio nMiniaito inniilK^r of vice- presidents and secretaries, ]Mr. Knorr was selected <>rat(>r by acclamation. And now there cimnnenced a violent clapping of hands and a rattling of tin cnps, mingled with cries of " order" and *'hear, hear!" in tlie midst of which the orator mounted the locker uud addressed his auditors as follows : — "Fellow-citizens: — Called by the unanimous voice of this unenlightened community to inaugurate tlic new era which has dawned upon a benighted region, it is my happy privilege to announce that we have, at the cost of much time, labour, and means, supplied a want which has too long been felt by the people of Port Foulko. Wo are, fellow-citizens, no longer witliout that inalienable birtli- right of every American citizen, — a Free Press and an Exponent of Public Opinion. " Overcome with the gravity of 'my situation, I find myself unable to make you a speech befitting the solemnity and importance of the occasion. It is proper, however, that I should state, in behalf of myself and my Bohemian brother, that, in observance of a time-honoured custom, we will keep our opinions for ourselves and our argu- ments for the public. The .inhabitants of Port Foulko desire the speedy return of the Sun. We will advocate and urge it. They wish for Liglit. We will address ourselves to the Celestial Orbs, and 2)oint out the oj^por- tunities for reciprocity. They are in search of happiness. We will, in pursuance of that same time-honoured custom (which I may say has made the press a power, sir, in this great and glorious nineteenth century) — wo will, I say, at all times freely counsel them to the observance of both public and j)rivate virtue. "Fellow-citizens: — This is a memorable epoch in the history of Port Foulkc. We are informed that its ' 1 f •'.^1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 128 1^ 1^ ■ 2.2 iti lU |40 I IHni 2.0 U 11.6 6" V] i6o K Off W... J " ^ pronounced, ' T]ip pi ' '*""='' means subhmo • Mission.. This ' pl ^l"'"'''' "specially to Zr z::^l ob.0.0, feC:iti ■ * rtif^"'^^""^ ^^^? 'ho sotting thereof, and from T I ""^ "f tho sun to Southern Cross. But whvl t '^""•*"''' ^orealis to the fcUow-otizens? Have Zj iLT '^ ^"^"'^ Borea is and It no,v devolves upon ,w f i • ■^°'' ^""^v-citizens • "f national boundarierwl eh ] '"T "" ^^'^^ ^-e^ enterprise to a Doinf / ^^^® ^^en onenf^r^ V *^ the very Polf 7"s^ ^ ^ J -' . We CstXl 8fa« and Stripes, and our ZVtT'Z' ^^ '^'« "«« the of the world, and tho Unit V'" ''«''»«« the spindle wtohng round it life a to^ "' ^'"^'^ Nation J,i g^' Fcllow-oitizens and friend. • t *o propose a sentiment befittLT?." '"'"''"^'■°'' a^ow me Press and the Universal v i ° '^'° occasion -A P. -tinue in times Z^IT^?: ^''"^r^ '^ ^"^^ ^^^ ^S^ -o°w've;"pi?perlv'r ''" ''""" ""^^t what ti «f tioTcir ,T '? «- -adC'^^^ 7« «« the wasnnf • * ^ """^ subsided fho ,t j. "'^ *« rattW *' THE PORT FOULKE WEEKLY NEWS. 70 " 161 ^^ stories. The only regret expressed was that it should come so quickly to an end. The expressions of approval were universal, a veto of thanks was bestowed upon the editors, the orator was toasted, and the occasion wound up in a very lively manner. Having but one copy of the paper, this was handed over to the sailors as soon as luiorr had finished reading it in the cabin, and tho marks of approbation were equally reassuring from that (piarter. It contains sixteen pages of closely-written matter, a somewhat ambitious pictui'e of our winter har- bom', a portrait of Sir John Franklin, and a spirited likeness of the General, with his wounded paw in a sling. There is a fair sprinkling of " enigmas," " original jokes," " items of domestic and foreign intelligence," " personals," " advertisements," &c., &c., among a larger allowance of more pretentious effusions. Among theso latter there is an illustrated prospectus by the senior editor, a poem by tho steward, and a song which is addressed to the General, This last the men are now singing, and they seem to take special delight in tho chorus, which runs thus : — \\ " Hang up the Larness and the whip, Put up tlie sledge on tlie ship ; There's no more work for poor Gen-e-ral, For he's going for his wind for to slip/' I am sorry to say that the prophecy therein contained is likely to prove true, for tho General is very sick. Poor fellow ! he hears every word of this unpitying merriment over his misfortunes, and, could ho speak, I have no doubt that ho would sigh with Gray's cat, — " Alas !— A favourito has no friends !" However, there is a verse coming, to which he is listening attentively, and the very tears mount to his eyes with this 1 62 FALL OF SXOIV. iiiicxpcctcd mark of sympathy. For his sake I give it a place here : — '• Sad times there will be wlirn the General slips his wind, And is gathered to his fathers -tn--'i^;ja ^/^^^o^ CHAPTER XIV. HE reader who has followed my diary since w^e entered Port Foulko will have noticed how gradually the daylight vanished, and with whcit slow and measured step the darkness came upon us. As November approached its close, the last glimmer of twilight disappeared. The stars shone at all hours with equal brilliancy. From a summer which had no night we had passed into a winter which had no day, through an autumn twilight. In this strange ordering of Nature there is something awe-inspiring and unreal. Wo all knew from our schoolboy days that, at the poles of the earth there is but one day and one night in the year ; but, when brought face to face with the reality, it is hard to realize. And it is harder still to get used to. If the constant sunshine of the smnmer disturbed our life- long habits, the continual darkness of the winter did more. In the one case the imagination was excited by the ever- present light, inspiring action ; in the other, a night of months threw a cloud over the intellect and dwarfed the energies. To this prolonged darkness the moon gives some relief. From its rising to its setting it shines continually, circling around the horizon, never setting until it has run its ten days' course of brightness. And it shines with a brilliancy which one will hardly observe elsewhere. The uniform )^;dU%^ ■r'.''''^j!'ifgir^'-'''''^/^'^'r'";'t" -£ui MIDWINTER. 173 whitoness of the landscape and the general clearness of the atmosphere add to the illumination of its rays, and one may see to read by its light with ease, and the natives often use it as they do the sun, to guide their nomadic life and to lead them to their hunting- groimds. The days and weeks of midwinter passed slowly away. Our experience up to this period was in many respects remarkable. Although sheltered by high lands, we were nevertheless exposed to severe and almost constant north- east winds ; and although shut up in polar darkness, and hemmed in by polar ice, an open sea had thus far been within sight of us all the time, and the angry waves were often a threatening terror. Many times we had thought ourselves in danger of being cast adrift with the ice, and carried out to sea in a helpless condition. The temperature had been strangely mild, a circum- stance at least in part accounted for by the open water, and to this same cause was no doubt due the great disturb- ance of the air, and the frequency of the gales. I have mentioned in the last chaj)ter a very remarkable rise in the thermometer which occurred early in November ; but a still greater elevation of temperature followed a few weeks later, reaching as high as 32°, and sinking back to 15"^ below zero almost as suddenly as it had risen. In consequence of this extraordinary and unaccountable event, the thaw was renewed, and our former discomfort arising from the dampness on the deck and in our quarters was experienced in an aggravated degree. During two days (November 28th and 29th) we could use no other fire than what was necessary for the preparation of our meals, and for melting our necessary supply of water. To add to our astonishment, a heavy fall of snow was followed by a shower of rain, a circumstance which I had not previously witnessed in this latitude except in the months of July and August, and then scarcely more rain fell than on tho present occasion. The depth of snow precipitated during ir J 74 I '■ I ff SNOIV CRYSTALS. this period was likewise remarkablp ♦!, 82 inches. In one single Taf lo /~f ' ''^^'''g'"^ ''eing greater by 5 inches «m the It ! "T"" 7'" "^'P^^^edt wnter of 1853-54 at Van r!. aee^mulations of the amount of snow which Id f^f"'' ''^'"'°"'-- The toW cember was 48 inches Bet/ "f '^ '".^ ''^«* "^ ^e- , maxxmum snows, I was tho ^? '"""* "^ t^e "ne of ■ -Perionce me.reTtotlZZTT'.' If ^^ ^~ S-.. Sonnd was « W U^" ^^^ £^2^ tals ; and it i« I ,,^ Jj^^^ ''^^"'■ft'I were the snow ciys! perfect crystals are only SS .'"'T'*"""'' ^^'^^ the a temperature coniparaidy tn/ T V' ^"°" ^''"^ '» them when the thermomotfr Tl ivT'' "°' «''«erved snow is then quite drv w i. ^^ "^ ""^^"^ ^ero. The With the aid of a ma;f" • f "^ *e warmer air Jtainveiy accurate siTht'f a" r ' ^"^ -^^ed t^ Thetf form was always he^oLl ^f! °"°"'er of them, various in their deveWenS' . t ""^^ ^^''e very the same radical foundE ' ^iT^^ f'^ "" P^^^essed suggested a diminutive fern leaf P^'^""* '""' f"" As we neared the climax nf fi. • x progress of events became distuILT*'' *''" ««««factory tunes which largely infl^enSS {•"•''"'^ "^ »'«for: t.on, and which! by disar™w 1?"''"'^" "^*e eipedi- ^ne grave embarisLeX «'°^ "" °' ""^ P^^^' caused ^'a{be:n:r L:^^^^^^^^^ that a disease Southern Greenland and thlf ^ "^ """""g ^^'^ ^ogs of useful animals had f 1 S Silt'-. ^T^''°" "^ *^ese disease had not been determ S tl\ ^^^ """* ''^ *« ^- What information I coriJiVitXSj A^^ EPIDEMIC AMONG THE DOGS. 175 \ of local origin, and that, tliercforc, when I had removed my teams from the seat of its influence I would he freed from its dangers. Under this impression I had consumed much time at the Danish-Esquimau settlements, in pick- ing up here and there a dog, until I had obtained thirty- six animals. Up to the first of December they remained in perfect health ; and, being fed upon an abundant allow- ance of fresh meat, I had great confidence that I should bo able to carry them through to the spring, and, when the period of my sledge explorations should arrive, that I would have four strong and serviceable teams. My fears were for a time somewhat excited by the information received from Hans, that the Esquimaux of Whale Sound and vicinity, with whom he had been living, were heavy losers by the death of a great number of their dogs, and the description which he gave of this distemper corre- sponded with that of Southern Greenland ; but November being passed without any symptoms of the malady having made its appearance in my splendid pack, I felt hopeful that they would escape the visitation. The loss which Dr. Kane had suffered by the death of his teams was fresh in my recollection ; but for this there appeared to be a sufficient cause. Being almost wholly without fresh food of any kind, he was compelled to subsist his teams upon salt meats, which, giving scurvy to his men, could hardly be expected to act otherwise than injuriously upon the dogs, which had always l)efore been used to a fresh diet of seal meat. My hopeful anticipations were, however, not realized. One day early in December Jensen reported to me that one of the finest animals had been attacked with the disease, and recommended that it should be shot, to pre- vent the disease spreading; and this was accordingly done. A few hours afterwards another one was seized in the same manner. The symptoms were at first those of great restlessness. The animal ran several times around m 176 GJiEA T MORTALITY OF DOGS. owering of the l.o!tt:itltZ T""'"' '""^^"^ «^ f great nervous excitement A ft ^ """^ement indicative toward the «o„th of tl" hLbotr ^ "J^"^ '' ^*''^'«'l ol and seeming to be in m:.Z^T' ^^'""S all the while object from ;hich at ZJZ^! *'?'' °^ ^^^^^ imagTat -Meitcamebaok.sSo°tS\rr. ^'^ » "'«' symptoms rapidly increaR^rl ; • f *° "^^ore. These Woodshot, froth 4 do mn'.t""'; *^^ «^«« '>eoamo possessed of an appareyioSlw' f''-''°« ''^'^-^ o-^ythmg which came i/it" T™*"^ ''''«"■« ^ ^'^P at ihe disease ran its course in J t , and prostration followed 1 " -f '" ^''"'«- Weakness animal staggered around tie vessel ' -"""^ *^ P""- see Its way, and finally feU ovelt I'^T^T""^ ™able to for a httle while in the snowT ^ *" ^^^"^ strugghW >t got again upon its feet ' TT^^'^^^^ ^eturnedf and afterward; and then the^eame ^ «? '' '"""-^'^ «oon succession, until flnallv L • '^*^'' a^^'^^er in ramd ;vhioh occurred in C th n^^^lT 't^^'' ''^ ''^^ Mcipienee of the attack. 1^*3;^ ^"''^ ^"'^ ^o close y hoping to discover sle "te ! \t^ ^"^''^^'^ ^^ " establish a cm-e. But I JZ Jl^ *° *^« «ause, and to Dissection revealed nothing 1^ "° '^S''* whatever, flammation either of the Lin fl ' "" ''PP'"'^"* m- spmal cord, or the nerved T ' , '"^''^^ centres, the at a loss to understand tl stZ: 'T ' -'' ^ -«« who^ ^vas not hydrophobia was IS f «^°«enon. That il animal rather desired than shul", ^ f ' *"'* ^J^at the symptoms attendinff thoT f. ™«"J ^ater. Many of the f-ted; but it clidt?1iktXlT^'°"^^^'^-ani! communicated by the bieflT ?*''*• ''PP^ar to be to be bitten were not moij 'It Z-^^' ^"«^ ''appened others. """^e speedily attacked than the ■i'iiis case Lad RonvnrA,r i , scaiccly reached its fatal termination OXL V ONE TEAM LEFT. 177 i a vague 'sing and ndicative 'arted off ie while laginary a \iii\Q These became became snap at akness ' poor tble to \ and soon rapid eath, )d it to 5ver. in- the ^% ; it fche ;he ai- bo 3d le n before another was reported, and it was relieved of its misery by a bullet. Seven died during four days, and I saw witli consternation my fine teams melting away and my hopes endangered ; and while this was in progress I could only look on and wonder and experiment, but could never stop the contagion nor arrest the evil. Among the first dogs attacked was a superb beast that I have before named. He was the best draught animal of my best team, the second leader, — Karsuk. I have never seen such expression of ferocity and mad strength exhibited by any living creature, as he manifested two hours after the first symptoms were observed. Thinking that confine- ment might do good, and desiring to see if the disease would not wear itself out, I had him caught and put into a large box on the deck ; but this seemed rather to aggravate than to soothe the violence of the symptoms. He tore tlie boards with indescribable fierceness, and, getting his teeth into a crack, ripped off splinter after splinter until he had made a hole almost large enough for his head, when I ordered him to be shot. At this moment his eyes were like balls of fire ; he had broken off one of his tusks, find his mouth was spouting blood. Soon afterward another fine animal, which seemed to be perfectly well a few moments before, suddenly sprang up, dashed off with a wild yell, wheeled round the harbour, returned to the vessel, and there fell struggling in a fit. I had him tied, but he tore himself loose, and, fearful for the other dogs, he too was killed. Three others died the same day, and the deaths during the first two weeks of December were eighteen. This, with the losses before sustained, left mo with only twelve animals. One week later these were reduced to nine. The serious nature of this disaster will perhaps not at first be apparent to the reader. It will be remembered, however, that my plans of exploration for the coming spring were mainly based upon dogs as a means of trans- N % 178 PLA.YS FOR OBTAINING DOGS. . I portatlon across the ice ; and now that my teams were so much reduced (and it seemed, indeed, likely that they would all (lie) it became very evident that, unless I should ho ahlc to supply tlie loss, all of my plans would be ren~ dercd abortive. ]My anxiety was fully shared by Mr. Sonntag. Having failed in all of our efforts to arrest the fatal tendency of the malady, we could only occupy ourselves with devising: ways and means for remedying, in some degree, the evil, or to arrange now plans in conformity with our changed circumstances. The first expedient which suggested itself was to open communication with the Esquimaux of Whale Sound, and, in the event of this being accomplished, it was fair to suppose that some animals might be obtained from them. If we could succeed in bringing the tribe to the vessel, wo might readily accomplish our wish ; for, during the period that their dogs would be in our service, we could, if necessity required it, furnish them all with food, either from our stores or from the hunt. Hans was consulted concerning the Esquimaux, and from him we learned that there was a family living oil Northumberland Island, several families on the south side of Whale Sound, and possibly one or more on the north side, Northumberland Island was about a hundred milea distant as we would be obliged to travel in order to reach it, and the south side of the Sound about one hundred and fifty. That we should communicate with these people at the earliest practicable moment was a matter of the first importance. If a sufficient number of the dogs ' should remain alive when the moon came in December, it was arranged that Sonntag should make the journey at that period, taking a single sledge, and Hans for a driver. If the dogs should all die, then I intended to go down on foot as soon as possible, and do my best to bring all of the Esquimaux to Port Foulke and Etah, use PLAXS FOR OBTAIXIXG DOGS. 179 tlicir dogs while wo needed tliem, and feed and clotho the people in the interval. Meanwhile, however, we could only wait through tlie mid-December darkness, and hope that the month would end more auspiciously than it had begun. If 2 I i 'i ji i\ ( CHAPTER XV. December 22ncl. HE sun lias readied to-day its greatest southern declination, and we have passed the Arctic Mid- night. The winter solstice is to us the meridian day, as twelve o'clock is the meridian hour to those who dwell in lands where the sun comes three liundred and sixty-five times instead of once in the " revolving year." To me these last four weeks have been eventful ones, and I hail this day with joy, and am glad to feel that wo are now on the downward hill-side of the polar darkness. The death of my dogs fills me with sadness, and this sadness is doubled when I think that the disaster has sent Sonntag into the dangers of the night to remedy in season the evil. Sonntag set out yesterday to reach the Esquimaux. We had talked the matter over from day to day, and saw clearly that it was the only thing to do. Hans told us that the Esquimaux would congregate about Cape York towards the spring, and it was evident that if wo waited for daylight they would be beyond our reach. There seemed from Hans's story to be at least a reasonable probability that some of them might be at Sorfalik, or at other stations on the north side of Whale Sound, and Hans had no doubt that the jom-ney could be easily made PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY. iSi r 22ik1. ioutheni meridian hour to 3 t]iree in the »1 ones, 'hat ^vo t'kness. d this IS sent season . We 1 saw )H us York 'aited [^liere lable or at and iiado even if they liad to travel to Northumberland Island, or beyond, to Nctlik. He was eager to go, and Sonntag, impatient for the trial, was waiting only for the moon and settled weather. Hans was the only available driver, for he alone knew where to find the native villages, and three persons to one sledge was against all the canons of Arctic travelling. Althougli my sus2)icions had been aroused against liim at tlie time of Peter's disai^pearance, yet nothing had been proved, and Sonntag liked him quite as well as Jensen for a driver, and still retained faith in him. To take Jensen was to incumber himself with a useless hindrance. The journey would bo a rapid one, and it was important to spare all needless weight. The disease among the dogs subsided six days ago, when the last deatli occurred, leaving nine good animals, all of which Sonntag took with him. But little time was required to prepare the party for the journey. Hans made for himself a buflalo bag wherein to sleep, and Sonntag carried for his own uso one of bear-skin which he had brought from Upernavik. Their provisions were for twelve days, although it is not expected tliat they will be absent so long, for the distance can be made to Northumberland Island, if they are required to go so far, in two marches. Sonntag and myself made it in three marches in December 1854. It is often made bjr* the Esquimaux in one journey , and Hans seemed to look upon it as an easy and trifling task. They carried no tent, intending to rely upon the snow hut, with the construction of which Hans is, of necessity, very familiar, and Sonntag has had, in years past, much experience. The plan is that they are to pass over the glacier back of Cape Alexander, in case the ice should not be firm around the cape, and thence to make down the coast directly for Sorfalik. In the event of Esquimaux not being found at that place, they will cross over the Sound directly for Northumberland Island, unless they shall discover good li f- I'ctoravir""" "'""S tho coa«t twenty miles f.u,l.c:. :''- it foil caC U7j;:i'° ^'^^y "^ '» ^-'-dav, looks promising for the Z ,? "=""' """^ OTcrvthi,,. absent no. tLirV.L W^a^dT ^'"^ ''-« "een tho capo and are .-ell on the £0^' "° '°"^*' P»«««l -/f i'« *r --i"^^^^^^^^ - aronse.1 confident that he .voJasl T' "1 ^P'"'«' ''"^ ^It Jgs ; and ho rejoieed over ?he ? ^^ ^^^'^'^^^ and of adventnm Hans was LnT ^ T^^"* °^ " ^ow days J"? whip, the dogs bounded •{ ^f '"^0.-. He eraclil «ff at full g,ii^ ^ C sfj"*" ^r ''°"'"-«. and were ^now; and, as they S° S f . ^^f** ^""^ "^or T sent after them the C !l„r 1'"'° ''"^ Moonlight, we *»>- times repeated, fnTthTSi;:?^' '''' '^'^^^ I had a strange dream Inct • , . , ^^emhet 23tcl. mentioning ; aj, weTi * "'^''*' '^^'''^ ^ ^''""ot help M^I.t ineline me to read in r' *'' «»Pe'«Mtion, it with Sonntag far out on the f L'" "'"'" °' '^"^- ^ «*<«'! crash was heard through tit f T ''*' '^^''" ^'^^'^enly a cract opened in the^ ^.f^^^'r "^ ^" ''^ '-'»''' " and widened so rapidly that T ,. * *^™® «" suddenly where I stood, and^he saled t '^ "°* '^^^ °^«- i' *« a troubled sea. J last sit Mm L"T "'S ^'"''^ ^^^^ of c-ystal ruft. Lis ereet Xm e„f r '"^ *™'^ «P°« *he «ti^ak of light whieh lay ,rntb*^°! sharply against a Our life moves on Ji . ^ '^'^t*"* horizon mark the progress of these iWiiir'" Tj-fii ROUTIXE OF DC TIES. i8 estorday, t -, 21^ snow 18 crythii.o- vo been '> passed aroused >n into spite of id Mi ux and tv days racked I were )r the ht, we •rah !" 3rc]. help n, it itood ■nt a 3nly t to 3 of i a )se tedious hours of darkness. If I luivc now some foars for Sonntag, yet I envy liim, and cannot wondor at his eacjcr- ncss to go, indc])endont of his important ohjt'ct. A dash among the Esquimau vilhigos, and a few days of condmt with the; storms woukl lift one imt of th(i prcdongcd duhicss of tliis waiting for tlio day. Anything in the worki is hotter than inaction and perpetual sameners. Eest and endless routine are our portion. The sliip's ilutics and our social duties are i)erformcd from week to week with the same painfully precise regularity. "We live by "bells," and tliis may be true in a double sense. " Bells " make the day, and mark the progress of time. But for these " bells," these endless " bells," I believe we should all lie down and sleej) on through the eternal night, and wake not until the day dawned upon us in the long hereafter. " Bells " tell us the hoi^rs and the lialf- hours, and change the " watcli," and govern the divisions of time, as at sea. " One bell " calls us to breakfast, two to lunch, and " four bells " is the dinner summons. " Six bells " is the signal for putting out the lights, and at "seven bells" we open our eyes again to the same continuous pale glimmer of the kerosene lamp, and we awake again to the same endless routine of occupations, idleness, and ennui The hunters continue to chase the reindeer and foxes in the moonlight, — more, however, from habit and for exercise than from any encouragement they find in suc- cess ; for, even when the moon shines, they can shoot only at random. The work at the observatory goes on, and when the magnetic " term day " comes round we clamber over the ice-foot every hour, and it marks an event. The occultations of Jupiter's satellites are care- fully observed through the telescope, that our chrono- meters may not go astray ; the tide continues to rise and fall, regardless of the vast load of ice that it lifts, and indifferent as to the fact that it is watched. Dcd^e keeps t I $4 EFFECTS OF DARKNESS. Tip his icc-mcasurcmcuts, and finds that tho crystal tablo has got down to our keel (Oj feet), so that wo aro resting in a perfect cradle. That tlio sailors may have something to do, I have given them an hour's task each day sowing Til) canvas hags for tlui spring journeys. From the officers I continue to have the same daily reports ; tlie newspaper comes out rcguhxrly, and continues to afford amusement ; tho librarian hands out tho books every morning, and they are well read ; tho oflicers and the men have no new means of entertainment, and usually fill up tho last of tho waking hours (I cannot say the evening, where there is nothing elso but night) with cards and x>ipcs. I go into the cabin oftener than I used to ; but I do not neglect my clioss with Knorr, and, until Sonntag left us, I filled up a j)ortion of every evening in converse with him, and, for tho lack of anything new, wo talked over and over again of our summer plans, and calculated to a nicety the measure of our labour, and the share which each would take of the work laid out. And thus we jog on toward the spring ; but each hour of the darkness grows a little longer, and soaks a little more colour from the blood, and takes a little more from the elasticity of the step, and adds a little more to the lengthening face, and checks little by little tho cheerful laugh and the merry jest that come from the hold and the cabin ; and, without being willing to confess it openly, yet we arc all forced to acknowledge to ourselves that the enemy does now and then get the better of us, and that we have often to renew tho resolution. The novelty of our life is exhausted, and the outside world has nothing new. The moonlight comes and goes again, and tho night glistens clear and cold over the white landscape ; and the memory returns unbidden to other days that are fled and gone ; and we miss in the sparkling air and tho still hour of the Avinter night the jingling bells, and the sleigh which will* always hold one more, and the wayside \ 11 i C/IKISTMAS EVE. 1S5 Rtal table '0 resting- omcthing y sowing officers Jwspapcr iscment ; ng, and 110 new t of tho iliero is ?o into ect my )cl up a nd, for ' again ^y the would liour little from ) the erful and ' tho that yof ling tho ?e; are tho ;he do inn, and tho smoking supper that *' mine host " scrvoH up, and tho crackling blazo of country logs ; and th(ui, when wo forget the moon, and the snow, and the frost, and recall tho summer and the sunshine, we remember that " tho seat in tho shade of the hawthorn bush " is far away. Dccoin])i'r 24tli. Christmas Eve I What happy memories are recalled by the mention of that name I IIow much of youthful promise it brings back to the weary mind and to tho aching Jieart ! How potent is the charm, how magical tho influence ! A beam of light has fallen witliin this little ice-bound vessel, and from the promised morn wo catcli the same inspiration that has come to all maidcind since " that bright and lovely star " first rose to tho shepherds of Judca ; for wherever we are on this wide, wide world, wo find in the day the symbol which binds us all to one cherished li02)e. Gladness S2)rings into being with the rising sun, and the Christmas bells, sending their merry voices on tho wings of tho returning light, encircle tho earth in one continuous peal. Their chimes ring out glad tidings everywhere. The joyous music rejoices the lonely watcher on the sea, and the hunter who warms himself beside the embers of his smouldering fire ; it penetrates the humble cabin of the slave and the hut of the weary emigrant; it reaches the wanderer On the steppes of Tartary, and the savage in tho forest; it consoles the poor and the sorrowing, and tho rich and tho powerful ; and to tlic sick and to the well alike, wherever they may be under the sun, it brings a blessed brightness ; — and it gleams, too, . ..." on the eternal snows, beneath tlie Polar Star, And with a radiant Cross it liglits the Southern deep afar. And Cliristmas morn is but the dawn, tho herahl of a day That circles in its boundless love, no winter, no decay.'* I have never seen the ship so bright and cheerful. •I 1 86 CHRISTMAS DA V. Sundry boxes have been producccl from out-of-the-way corners, and from the magical manner of their appearance one might think that Santa Claus had charged himself with a special mission to this little world, before he had l)egun to fill the shoes and stockings and to give marriage portions to destitute maidens, in the dear old lands where lie is patron of tlie " Christ Kinkle Eve," and where the silver cord binding the affections is freshened once a year with the Christmas offering. The cabin-table fairly groans under a mass of holiday fare, — kindly mementos from those who are talking about us to-night around the family fireside. Shoals of bon-bons, and " Christmas cakes " of every imaginable kind, bearing all sorts of tender mottoes, come out of their tin cases, setting off prospective indigestion against glad hearts. Everybody has been busy to-day getting ready to cele- brate the morrow and to keep the holidays. To this praiseworthy purpose I give, of course, every encourage- ment. The ship's stores contain nothing that is too good for the Christmas feast, which McCormick promises shall outdo that of his birthday. Unfortunately he will be unable to give it his personal attention, for he is laid up with a frosted foot which he got while hunting, in some manner known only to himself. As no one at home likes to confess that he has been run away witli and thrown from his steed, so no one here cares to own to the power of Jack Frost over him. To be frostbitten is the one standing reproach of this community. December 26th. Christmas has come and gone again, and has left ujion the minds of all of us a pleasant recollection. To me it would have been a day of unalloyed pleasure, had it not been that my thoughts followed Sonntag, and dwelt upon the sad loss that I have suffered in the death of my dogs; for tlio people w^ere gay and lively, and to sec ""'^ CHRISTMAS DA Y. 187 •the- way )earancc himself > he had larriage s where ore the a year fairly mentos nd the istmus Tts of ug off * ) cele- ) this jrage- good shall 1 be id up some likes own pwer one ion it QOt on them thus is now my first concern. Aside from all sentiment Cv^nnected with wishing people happy, to me it has another meaning, for it is the guaranty of health. The ship's bell was hoisted to the mast-head, and while the bells of other lands were pealing through the sunlight, and over a world of gladness, ours sent its cler."^ notes ringing through the darkness and the solitude. After this we met together in the cabin, and gave our tlianks in our own modest way for the blessings which kind Heaven had vouchsafed us ; and then each one set himself about his allotted duties. It is needless to say that these duties concerned chiefly the prejiaration and advancement of everything which concerned a " Christmas dinner." The officers dressed the cabin with flags, and the sailors decorated their walls and beams with stripes of red, white, and blue flannel which was loaned to them from the ship's stores. The schooner was illuminated through- out, and every lamp was called into requisition. An extra allowance of oil was granted to the occasion, and the upper-deck was refulgent with light. Two immense chandeliers were constructed for the dinner-tables, and some gold and silver paper, strings of spangles, and strips of braid, kindly presented to us by Mr. Horstmann for the winter theatricals, which have never come off, covered the wood of which they were composed, and gave them quite an air of splendour; while two dozen of spermacetti candles brilliantly illuminated the aj)artments in which they hung. A short time before the dinner-hour I visited the men's quarters, at their request, and was as much gratified with the taste that they had exhibited as with the heartiness with which they entered into the spirit of the day. Every nook and corner of the hold was as clean and tidy as possible. Everybody was busy and delighted. The cook might, however, be regarded as an exception to the V*, % 1 88 MERRY CHRISTMAS. latter rule, for the success of everybody's projects cle- pended upon his skill, and he was closely watched. I halted at his red-hot galley-stove, and wished him a merry Christmas. " Tank you, sar !" said he ; " but I gets no time to tink about de merry Christmas. Do Commander see dcsc big reindeers." And he went on vigorously basting two fine haunches of venison which had been carefully treasured for the occasion, and putting the last touches to a kettle of tempting soup. Intending encouragement, I reminded him that his labours would bo over with the serving of the dinner, when, with that consistency for which human nature is remarkable, es- pecially in a ship's cook, he replied, "Please sar, so long as my Hebenly Fader gives me healt I likes to vork." As I passed out of the hold into the officers' cabin, the crew sent after me three cheers, and three more for the expedition, and I don't know how many followed after- ward for a " merry Christmas '* to themselves. The upper-deck was light and cheerful with the multitude of lamps, and had been " cleared up " with unusual care ; and from amidships everything had been removed. This Knorr told me was his work, and I was informed that there was to be a "ball." The disposition to consume oil was contagious. Even the heathenish little wife of my absent hunter had managed to prociu*e an additional supply, and rejoiced in an extra blaze in honour of the day, the meaning of which was all Greek to her. Her hut was a cheerful nest of furs, and little Pingasuik, with a strip of tough seal blubber, substituted for one of Goodyear's patent arrangements for children's gums, was laughing and crowing as a Christian baby would be expected to do on this most Christian day. Jacob, fat Jacob, was grinning in one corner. Charley told me that he began grinning early in the morning, at the prospect of the many crumbs to come from so bounteous a feast ; AN ARCTIC BALL, 1 89 und, in order to prepare himself for tlio task, ho had swallowed a fox which Jensen brought in from one of his trai)s, and which ho turned over to the boy to skin. Out on the ice I found a boisterous group engaged around two large* tin kettles. They were stirring something with wooden sticks, and I found that, at 34° below zero, they were making " water ice " and " Eoman punch " by whole- sale. They needed no chemical compounds for their " freezer." At six o'clock I joined the officers at dinner. Our glass and crockery has, in some mysterious manner known only to the steward, been disappearing from the time of leaving Boston, but there is plenty of tin ware to supply the deficiency, and each cup contained a bouquet of flowers, cut from tissue-paper, and a mammoth centre- piece of the same materials stood under the glittering chandelier. The dinner was much enjoyed by everybody, and if we lacked the orthodox turkey, the haunch was not a bad substitute. I remained until nine o'clock, and left the party to a merry evening. The hour for extinguishing the lights was put off at discretion ; and, having myself granted this privilege, I cannot, of course, say that any of the pro- prieties of discipline or of ship-board life were interfered with. Rejoiced to see that the people had the spirit to bo merry at all, I was only too glad to encourage them in it. Every part of the " Festival," as they facetiously call it, was conducted in a very orderly manner. The " ball " came off as promised, and when I went up, about mid- night, to have a look at the merrymakers, I found Knorr, wrapped in furs, seated upon a keg, fiddling away in a very energetic manner, while Barnum and McDonald were going through a sailor's hornpipe with immense cclai ; then Carl swung the steward round in the " giddy mazes of the waltz;" and, finally, Charley set the ship shaking with laughter by attempting a p«s de deux with I90 -^ PAS DE DEUX. Madame Hans T] t fro« below, a;Ki;tlti"t-^'"'''^'*^^^-'«P the ladder ''«<='«," applauded thfSs tn T""^^ ""^ ^^^ "rS «oon observed to bo «al^i offZ T^'^^- ^»* 1« w°« «cena A do.en voices X ,otX aft 'T ''"^ ^-«-" Hallo, coot .'— coitiP J,„„T .,^ ""'''■ i'w,— ■ " Vat for «e dar.ce a„d "^ T*' '^^^'^ " ^^^'^'■" vomons ?" "'"' ""'' "'^^^ i^onsonse, vea derc be no ''But W« Mrs. Haas, cook." Ugh! -and he dove below. ladder ^ rein- was stive >^ be no CHAPTEK XVI. January 1st, 18G1. HE Christmas holidays have passed quickly away, and the year of grace eighteen hundred and sixty-one was born amid great rejoicings. We have just " rung out the Old and in the New." As the clock showed the midnight hour, the bell was tolled, oui' swivel gun sent a blaze of fire from its little throat into the darkness, and some fireworks went fizzing and banging into the clear sky. The rockets and blue- lights gleamed over the snow with a weird and strange light; and the loud boom of the gun and the crash of the bell echoing and re-echoing through the neighbouring gorges seemed like the voices of startled spirits of the solitude. I now look anxiously for the return of Sonntag and Hans. Indeed, I have been prepared to see them at any time within these past seven days ; for although I had little expectation that they would find Estjuimaux at Sorfalik or Peteravik, yet their speedy return would not have surprised me. This is the tenth day of their absence, and they have had more than ample time to go even to the south side of Whale Sound and come back again. I am the more anxious now that the moon has set, and the difficulties of travelling are so greatly multiplied. However, Sonntag had an undisguised wish to remain 192 LOOKING FOR SONNTAG, some tiino among tlio natives, to study tlicir language and Labits, and to join them in tlicir hunting excursions ; and when he left I felt quite sure that if a reasonable pre- text could be found for absenting himself so long, wo would not see him until the January moon. There is no doubt that ho will remain if he finds no interest of the expedition likely to suffer in consequence. Januaiy 5tli. I have no longer a dog. The General was the last of them, and ho died two days ago. Poor fellow! I had become more than ever attached to him lately, especially since he had quite recovered from the accident to his leg, and seemed likely to be useful with the sledge after a while. It seems strange to see the place so deserted and so quiet. In the early winter I never went out of the vessel on the ice without having the whole pack crowding around me, playing and crying in gladness at my coming ; now their lifeless carcases are strewn about the harbour, half buried in snow and ice, and, if not so fearful, they are at least hardly more sightly than were those other stiff and stark and twisted figures which the wandering poets found beneath the dark sky and " murky vapom's " and frozen waters of the icy realm of Dis. There was a companionship in the dogs, which, apart from their use- fulness, attached them to everybody, and in this particular we all feel alike the greatness of the loss. But it is hard to get along without a pet of some kind, and since the General has gone I have got Jensen to catch me a fox, and the cunning little creature now sits coiled up in a tub of snow in one corner of my cabin ; and, as she listens to the scratching of my pen, she looks very much as if she would like to know what it is all about. I am trying hard to civilize her, and have had some success. She was very shy when brought in, but being left to herself for a while, she has become somewhat I \ % THE AURORA B ORE A LIS. 193 reconciled to lier new iihocle. She is ubout tlirco fourths [Xrown, weiglis four and a quarter pounds, has a coat of long fine fur, resembling in colour that of a Maltese cat, and is being instructed to answer to the name of Birdie. i January 6th. I have often been struck with the singular circumstance til at uj) to this time we have scarcely seen the Aurora Borealis ; and until to-day there has been no display of any great brilliancy. We have been tv.ice favoured during the past twelve hours. The first was at eleven o'clock in the morning, and the second at nine o'clock in the evening. The arch was perfect in the last case ; in the former it was less continuous, but more intense. In both instances, the direction of the centre from the observatory was west by south (true), and was 30^ above the horizon. Twenty degrees above the arch in the evening there was another impei-fect one, a phenomenon which I have not before witnessed. In the direction west-north-west a single ray shot down to the horizon, and there continued for almost an hour. The infrequency of the Auroral light has been more marked here than at Van Rensselaer Harbour. We seem to have passed almost beyond it. The region of its greatest brilliancy appears to be from ten to twenty degrees further south. As at Van Rensselaer Harbour, its exhibition is almost invariably on the western sky ; and Jensen tells me that this occurs at Upernavik, and he says also that the phenomena are there much more brilliant and of greater frequency than here. The display of the morning was much finer than that of the evening. Indeed, I have rarely witnessed a more sublime or imposing spectacle. By the way, how strange it seems to be speaking of events happening in the morning and in the evening, when, to save your life, you could not tell without the clock by what name to call the *i n 194 AURORA. divisions of time ! We say eleven o'clock in the morning and eleven o'clock in the evening from habit ; but if, by any mischance, wo should lose our reckoning for twelve hours, we would then go on calling the evening morning and the morning evening, without being able to detect tho error by any difference in the amount of light at these two periods of the day. But this is a digression. To come back to the Aurora of this morning. When it first appeared I was walking out among the icebergs at tho mouth of the harbour ; and, although the time was so near noon, yet I was groping through a darkness that was exceedingly embarrassing to my movements among the rough ice. Suddenly a bright ray darted uj) from behind the black cloud which lay low down on the horizon before me. It lasted but an instant, and having filled tho air with a strange illumination, it died away, leaving tho darkness even more profound than before. Presently the arch which I have before mentioned sprang across the sky, and the Aurora became gradually more fixed. The space enclosed by the arch was very dark, and was filled with the cloud. The play of the rays which rose from its steadily brightening border was for some time very capricious, alternating, if I might be allowed the figure, the . burst of flame from a conflagration with the soft glow of the early morn. The light grew by degrees more and more intense, and from irregular bursts it settled into an almost steady sheet of brightness. This sheet was, however, far from uniform, for it was but a flood of mingling and variously - tinted streaks. Tho exhibition, at first tame and quiet, became in the end startling in its brilliancy. The broad dome above me is all ablaze. Ghastly fires, more fierce than those which lit the heavens from burning Troy, flash angrily athwart the sky. The stars pale before the marvellous glare, and seem to recede further and further from the earth — as when the chariot of the Sun, driven by Phseton, L ?.■"• GRAXD EFFECTS. ■ 195 lormiig if, by twelve lorning Itcct tlio Icse two Wlien Lmo was less that 1 among Lip from horizon illed the ,ving the Presently 3ross the )d. The k^as filled ose from imo very le figure, the soft ' degrees bursts it ;s. This IS but a s. The the end bove mo m those L angrily arvellous from the Phaeton, L \ and carried from its l)oatcn track by the ungovernable steeds, rushed madly through the skies parching tho world and withering the constellations. Tho gentlo Andromeda fli(;s trembling from the flame ; Perseus, with his flashing sword and Gorgon shield, retreats in fear ; the Pole Star is chased from tho night, and the Great Bear, faithful sentinel of the North, quits his guardian watcli, following the feeble trail. The colour of the light was chiefly red, but this was not constant, and every huo mingled in tho fierce display. Blue and yellow streamers were playing in the lurid fire; and, sometimes starting side by side from the wide expanse of the illumined arch, they melt into each other, and throw a ghostly glare of green into the face and over the landscape. Again tliis green overrides the red ; blue and orange clasp each other in their rapid flight ; violet darts tear tlu'ough a broad flush of yellow, and countless tongues of white flame, formed of these uniting streams, rush aloft and lick tho skies. The play of this many-coloured light upon tho surrounding objects was truly wonderful. The weird forms of countless icebergs, singly and in clusters, loomed above tho sea, and around their summits the strange gleam shone as the fires of Vesuvius over tho doomed temples of Campania. Upon tho mountain tops, along the white surface of the frozen waters, upon the lofty clifl:s, the light glowed and grew dim and glowed again, as if tho air was filled with charnel meteors, pulsating with wild inconstancy over some vast illimitable city of the dead. The scene was noiseless, yet the senses were deceived, for unearthly sounds seemed to follow the rapid flashes, and to fall upon the ear like •' the tread Of phantoms dread, With banner, and spear, and flame." January 13th. The month of January runs on through stormy skies. o 2 # I 1 96 E VAPOR A TION AT LOW TEMPERA TURES. Tlio wind continues to blow as before, and tlio wild rush of ^ales fills the nigbt with sounds of terror. The air has been, however, for the most part, quite clear. But little snow has fallen since November. The total depth now mounts up to 53f inches. I am more and more struck with the difference in the atmospheric con- ditions of this place and Van Rensselaer Harbour. There wo had rarely moisture, and gales were scarcely known. The temperatures were very low, and the winter was marked by a general calm. Here the temperatures are more mild than Parry's at Melville Island, the atmospheric disturbances have been very great, and the amount of snow has been truly surprising. There is one comfort at least in the winds. They either carry off the snow or pack it very hard, so that we get about with as littl" difficulty as if we were walking upon the bare ice. It is j^ounded as hard as the drives in the Central Park. All these unusual phenomena are, as has been hitherto observed, doubtless due to the close proximity of the open sea. How extensive this water may be is of course unknown, but its limits cannot be very small t'» produce such serious atmospheric disturbance. It seems, indeed, as if we were in the very vortex of the north winds. The poet has told us that the north winds " Are cradled far down in the depths that yawu Beneath the Polar Star ;" and it appears very much as if we had got into those yawning depths, and had come not only to the place where the winds are cradled, but where they are born. I have been making, all the winter through, a series of experiments which give me some interesting results. They show that evaporation takes place at the very lowest temperatures, and that precipitation often occurs when the air is apparently quite clear. To determine this latter, I have exposed a number of smooth and carefully measured ild rush 't, quite The lore and :ic con- There known, ter was res are ospheric lount of mfort at snow or as littl'^ 0. It is hitherto the open course produce , indeed, is. The A/y PET FOX. 197 to those se where series of results, jr lowest hen the } latter, leasured ico-surfucps, and have collected from thoiu the lii^lit deposit. Thcso accumulations, after reducing thom to the standard of fleshly fallen snow, amount tlius far to seven eighths of an inch. To determine the evaporation, I have suspended in the open air a number of thin ice-plates, made in a shallow dish, and some strips of wet flannel. The flannel becomes perfectly dry in a few days, and the ice-plates disappear slowly and steadily. I generally weigh them every second day, and it is curious to watch my little circular disks silently melting away and vanishing " into thin air," while the thermometer is down in the zeros. This evaporation at low temperatures is constantly taking place before (*ur eyes, to our advantage. On wash- days the clothes are hung on lines stretched across the ship's rigging, or upon poles across the ice, as you will see on Monday afternoons in the farm-bouse yards ; and before the week is over the moisture hi^s disappeared, no matter how cold it may be. January IGtli. Our eyes now turn wistfully to the south, eagerly watching for the tip of Aurora's chariot, as the fair g<3ddess of the morning rises from the sea to drop a ray of glad- ness from her rosy fingers into this long-neglected world. It is almost a month since we i)asscd the darkest day of the winter, and it will be a long time yet before we have light ; but it is time for us now t t ^Tllilc Le rode, and when tlioy halted at Sorfalik, ITans discovered tLat his companiou was stiff and si)ecchless. Assisting him into the hut with all possihlo despatch, Hans states that he removed the wet and frozen clothing, and placed Sonntag in the sleeping-bag. Ho next gave him some brandy which he found in a flask on the sledge ; and, having tiglitly closed the hut, he lighted the alcohol lamp, for the double purpose of elevating the temperature and making some coffee; but all of his efforts were unavailing, and, after remaining for nearly a day uncon- scious, Sonntag died. He did not speak after reaching the hut, and left no message of any kind. After closing uj) the mouth of the hut, so that the body might not be disturbed by the bears or foxes, Hans again set out southward, and reached Northumberland Island without inconvenience. Much to his disappointment, he found that the natives had recently abandoned the village at that place ; but he obtained a comfortable sleep in a deserted hut, and under a pile of stones he found enough walrus flesh to give his dogs a hearty meal. The next day's journey brought him to Netlik, which place was also deserted ; and he continued on up the Sound some twenty miles further to Iteplik, where he was fortunate enough to find several families residing, some in the native stone hut and others in huts of snow. Whale Sound being a favourite winter resort of the seal, the people had con- gregated there for the time, and were living in the midst of abundance. Hans told his story, and, delighted to hear of our being near their old village of Etah, Ootinah and he of the wooden leg put their two teams together and resolved to accompany Hans when he set out to return. Meanwhile, however, my hunter had other j)r ejects. He was only three days from the vessel, and had he come back at once the chief purpose of the journey would still have been accomplished; but instead of doing this, p I w i 210 IIAA'S'S STORY. ho gave largo rewards to two Esquimaux boys to go with liis team down to Capo York. The stock of prcscntf4 which Sonntag liad taken for the Es(i[aimaux all now fell to Hans, and he did not spare thoin. And he vows that his disposition of the property and the team was made in my" interest. *' You want tho Esquimaux to know you are here. I tell them. They will come by-and-hy and bring plenty of dogs." Why did ho not go himself to Cape York ? He was too tired, and had, besides, a frosted toe which he got while attending upon Mr. Sonntag. Notwithstanding all these protestations of devotion to my aftairs, I strongly suspect, however, that certain commands were laid upon him by the partner of his tent and joys ; and, if domestic secrets were not better kept than are some other kinds, I should probably discover that tho journey to Capo York was made for tho solo purpose of bringing up from that place the two old peoplo who own Hans for a son-in-law. So even hero under the Polo Star the daughters of Evo govern the destinies of men. It was the old story of the borrowed horse over again. Tho journey was long and difficult ; the dogs were over- driven and starved ; and tho party came back to Iteplik with only five dogs remaining of the nine with which they had set out. Four of them had broken down, and were left to die by the way. February 2nJ. Ootinah and his wooden-legged companion have left us, promising to return as soon as they have provided for their families. They carried away with them many valuable presents, and if these do not tempt their savage kindred to the ship, nothing will. They will tell the Esquimaux that I want dogs, and I have charged them to circulate the knowledge of the ample returns which I will make to the hunter who will loan or sell to me his team. But alas ! dogs are scarce ; most of the hunters have none T HAN'S' S STORY. 211 ire IS, ' to spare, aiul many of tlicm arc wholly (lestitutc. I had not a bribo in the ship largo enough to induce cither of those who have left me to part with even one of their i.recious animals. Having discovered this, I could alFord to bo lavish with my presents, and these poor wanderers on the ice deserts probably left me quite as well off as if they had sold me their entire teams. They plead the hunt and their families, and these are strong arguments. Needles and knives, and iron and bits of wood, will not feed wives and babies, and a hundred and fifty miles is a long way to carry a child at the breast through the cold and storms of the Arctic night, even though it be to this haven of plenty. My charity was, however, intended to cover a double purpose, — to do them a substantial service, and to stimulate as well their cupidity as that of the tribe who are sure to flock around them at Iteplik, to inspect their riches. I must own, however, that my prospects for obtaining dogs do not look encouraging. But few of the Esquimaux are likely to come so far with their impover- ished teams. Hans sticks to the story of yesterday ; and, after questioning and cross-questioning him for an hour, I get nothing new. Although I have no good reason for doubt- ing the truth of his narrative, yet I cannot quite reconcile my mind to the fact that Sonntag, with so much experi- ence to govern 'him, should have undertaken to travel five miles in wet clothing, especially as he was accompanied by a native hunter who was familiar with all of the expedi- ents for safety upon the ice-fields, and to whom falling in the water is no unusual circumstance. The sledge and the canvas apron which inclosed the cargo furnished the means for constructing a temporary shelter from the wind, and the sleeping-bag would have insured against freezing while Hans got ready the dry clothing, of which Sonntag carried a complete change. Nor can I understand how he should have lived so long and have given Hans uo p 2 A i m 212 //ANS's sroA'y, tiicssago for mc, nor liavo sj^okcn n word after coming out of the water, further than to have ordered liis driver to hasten back to the snow-hut. However, it is idle to Bpoculate about the matter ; and since Hans's interests were concerned in proving faithful to the officer who, of all those in tlie ship cared most for him, it would bo un- reasonable as well as unjust to suspect him of desertion. .oee^4^V'--~ to to :Sts of 111- y (% (*A>-^ 0"^^^"" '^H^ CHAPTER XIX. WILL not trouble the reader with the many- gloomy reflections which I find scattered over the pages of my journal dming the period suc- ceeding the events which are recorded in the last chapter. While the loss of my dogs left me in much doubt and uncertainty as to my future prospects, the death of Mr. Sonntag deprived me of assistance which was very essential to the accomplishment of some of my purposes. His familiar acquaintance with the physical sciences, and his earnest enthusiasm in everything which pertained to physical research, both in the field and study, made him an invaluable aid, while his genial disposition and manly qualities gave him a deep hold upon my affections. Similarity of taste and disposition, equal age, a common object, and a mutual dependence for companionship, had cemented more and more closely a bond of friendship which had its origin in the dangers and fortunes of former travel. The light was now growing upon us from day to day, and we found a fresh excitement in the renewal of the hunt. It must not, however, be supposed that, even at noon, we had yet any daylight ; but there was a twilight, which was increasing with each successive day. The reindeer had grown very poor during the winter, and their flesh was toui'h and almost tasteless ; but this did not 41; 214 A DEER-HUNT. \\ i discourage the hunters, and several captures were made. One day a large herd came down near the store-house, which, being reported, caused a general scramble for guns, and a rush over the hills to surround the game. The crew appeared more like boys on a holiday frolic than men catering for their mess. They made noise enough, as one would have thought, to frighten every living thing from the neighboui'hood ; but, nevertheless, three deer were shot. The thermometer stood at 41^ below zero, and, there being a light wind, the air was somewhat biting, and gave rise to numerous incidents quite charac- teristic of our life. The handling of the cold gun was attended with some risk to the fingers, as one can neither pull the trigger nor load with a mittened hand ; and there were quite a number of slight ." burns," as wounds from this cause were jestingly called. McDonald carried an old flint-lock musket, the only weapon that he could lay his hands on, and in the midst of the excitement he was heard to fire. Hurrying in that direction, Knorr eagerly inquired what he was shooting at, and where the game had gone. His answer afterward furnished us not a little amusement : *' There was a monstrous big deer there half an hour ago, and had I pulled trigger when I left the ship I should have kiUed him. But you see the powder is so cold that it won't burn, and it takes half an hour to touch it off;" and, to prove his theory, he poured a lot of it out on the dry snow, and applied a match. His singed whiskers bore ample evidence that his theory was not founded on fact. The hill-side seemed to be alive with foxes; and, scenting the blood of the dead deer, they flocked in from all ^directions. These little animals were at first quite tame, but they had been cured of their familiarity by the lessons learned from the hunters, and had to be approached with adroitness. Of both the blue and white varieties I had living specimens in my cabin. One of them was the THE ARCTIC FOXES. gentle creature, named Birdie, wliicli I have already mentioned. The other one was purely whitr, uud did not differ from Birdie in shape, although \ was somewhat larger. The fur of the latter was much more coarse than the former. Their cry was exactly the same. But, while Birdie was very docile, and had grown quite domesticated, the other was thoroughly wild and untameable. Their respective weights were 4i and 7 pounds. The latter was full grown and unusually large. These two varieties of the fox, notwithstanding their many points of resemblance, are evidently distinct species. I have not known them to mix, the coat of each preserving its distinctive hue, that of the blue fox varying merely in degree of shade, while the white changes only from pure white to a slightly yellowish tinge. The term " blue," as applied to the sj^ecics to which Birdie belonged, is not wholly a misnomer, for, as seen upon the snow, its colour gives something of that effect. The colour is in truth a solid gray, the white and black being harmoniously blended, and not mixed as in the gray fox of Northern America. Their skins are much sought after by the trap- pers of Southern Greenland, where the animals are rare, for the fur commands a fabulous price in the Copenhagen market. These foxes obtain a very precarious subsistence, and they may be seen at almost any time scampering over the ice, seeking the traclis of the bears, which they follow with the instinct of the jackal following the lion ; not that they try their strength against these roving monarchs of the ice-fields, but, whenever the bear catches a seal, tho little fox comes in for a share of tho prey. Their food consists besides of an occasional ptarmigan (tho Arctic grouse), and if quick in his sjn-ing he may bo lucky enough to capture a hare. In tho summer they con- gregate about the haunts of the birds, and luxuriate upon eggs. It is a popular belief in Greenland that they gather 2l6 ADVENTURES WITH BEARS. enormous stores of them for their winter provender, but I have never witnessed in them any such evidence of foresight. The bears, wandering continually through the night, must needs have a hard struggle to live. During the summer, the seal, which furnish their only subsistence, crawl up on the ice, and are there easily caught ; but in the winter they only resort to the cracks to breathe, and, in doing so, barely put their noses above the water, so that they are captured with difficulty. Driven to despera- tion by hunger, the bear will sometimes invade the haunts of men, in search of the food which their quick sense has detected. Our dogs, during the early winter, kept them from our vicinity ; but, when the dogs were gone, several bears made their appearance. One of them came overland from the Fiord, and approached the store-house from behind the observatory, where Starr was engaged in read- ing the scale of the magnetometer. The heavy tread of the wild beast was heard through the stillness of the night, and, without much regard to the delicate organization of the instrument which he was observing, tho young gentle- man rushed for the door, upset the magnetometer, and had nearly lost his life in his precipitate haste to get over the dangerous ice-foot, while hurrying on board to give the alarm. We sallied out with our rifles ; but while Starr was fleeing in one direction, the bear had been making off in the other. I had an adventure, about this time, which,, like that of Starr's, shows that the Polar bear is not so ferocious as is generally supposed; indeed, they have never been known to attack man except when hotly pursued and driven to close quarters. Strolling one day along the shore, I was observing with much interest the eflect of the recent spring tides upon tho ice-foot, when, rounding a point of land, I suddenly found myself con- fronted in the faint moonlight by an enormous bear. He had just sprung down from the land-ice, and was meeting OUR NEW ESQ UIMA UX. 217 me at a fall trot. We caught sight of each other at the same instant. Being without a rifle or other means of defence, I wheeled suddenly toward the ship, with, I fancy, much the same reflections about discretion and valour as those which crossed the mind of old Jack Falstaflf when the Douglas set upon him ; but finding, after a few lengthy strides, that I was not gobbled up, I looked back over my shoulder, when, as much to my sur- prise as gratification, I saw the bear tearing away toward the open water with a celerity which left no doubt as to the state of his mind. I suppose it would be difficult ta determine which was the worst frightened — the bear or I. The additions to the Hans family furnished us as well a welcome source of amusement w-s of service. As I have said before, they were three in number, and bore re- spectively the names of Tcheitchenguak, Kablunet, and Angeit. This latter was the brother of Hans's wife, and his name signifies " The Catcher " — given to him, no doubt, in early infancy, from some peculiarity of disposi- tion which he then manifested. And he was not inaptly named. The sailors took him into their favour, scrubbed and combed him, and dressed him in Christian clothing, and under their encouraging countenance he was soon found to be as full of tricks as a monkey, and as acquisi- tive as a magpie. Ho was the special torment of the steward and the cook. Driven almost to despair, and utterly defeated in every project of reform, the former finally set at the little heathen with a bundle of tracts and a catechism, while the latter declared his fixed resolve to scald him on the first favourable opportunity. " Very well, cook ; but remember they hang for murder.'* " Den I kills him a leetle," was the ready answer. His mother, Kablunet, proved to be a useful addition to our household. She was very industrious with her needle ; and, until she became possessed, in payment for her work, of such articles of domestic use as she needed, sewed fci' 'v i V 2l8 ESQUIMA U DRESS. us continually, making every sort of skin garment, from boots to coats, which belong to an Arctic wardrobe. Her complexion was quite light, as her name implied. Kablu- net is the title which the Esquimaux give to our race, and it signifies " The child with the white skin ;" and if the name of her husband, Tcheitchenguak, did not mean " The child with the dark skin," it ought to, for he was almost black. The personal appearance of this interesting couple was not peculiarly attractive. Their faces were broad, jaws heavy, cheek-bones projecting like other carnivorous animals, foreheads narrow, eyes small and very black, noses flat, lips long and thin, and when opened there were disclosed two narrow, white, well-preserved rows of polished ivory, — well worn, however, with long use and hard service, for the teeth of the Esquimaux serve a great variety of purposes, such as softening skins, pulling and tightening cords, besides masticating food, which I may here mention is wholly animal. Their hair was jet black, though not abundant, and the man had the largest growth of beard which I have seen upon an Esquimau face, but it was confined to the upper lip and the tip of the chin. The face of the Esquimau is indeed quite Mongolian in its type, and is usually beardless. In stature they are short, though well built, and bear, in every movement, evidence of strength and endurance. The dress of the male and female differed but little one from the other. It consisted of nine pieces, — a pair of boots, stockings, mittens, pantaloons, an under-dress, and a coat. The man wore boots of bear-skin, reaching to the top of the calf, where they met the pantaloons, which were composed of the same materials. The boots of the woman reached nearly to the middle of the thigh, and were made of tanned seal-skins. Her pantaloons, like her husband's, were of boar-skin. The stockings were of dog-skin, and the mittens of seal-skin. The under-dress was made of I 1 I A SNOW-HUT. 219 J \ bird-skins, feathers turned inwards ; and the coat, which did not open in front, but was drawn on over the head like a shirt, was of blue fox-skins. This coat terminates in a hood which envelopes the head as completely as an Albanian cajwte or a monk's cowl. This hood gives the chief distinction to the dresses of the sexes. In the cos- tume of the i^man it is round, closely fitting the scalp, while in the woman it is pointed at the top to receive the hair which is gathered up on the crown of the head, and tied into a hard, horn-like tuft with a piece of raw seal-hide, — a style of coiffure which, whatever may be its other advantages, cannot be regarded as peculiarly picturesque. Their ages could not be determined; for, since the Esquimaux cannot enumerate beyond their ten fingers, it is quite impossible for them to refer to a past event by any process of notation. Having no written language whatever, not even the picture-writing and hieroglyphics of the rudest Indian tribes of North America, the race possesses no records, and such traditions as may como down from generation to generation are not fixed by any means which will furnish even an approximate estimate of their periods of growth, prosperity, and decay, or even of their own ages. These old people, soon growing tired of the warmth of Hans's tent, went ashore and built a snow hut, and set up housekeeping on their own account ; and living upon supplies which they got regularly from my abundant stores, and, with no need for exertion, it was perhaps not surprising that they should prove to be a very happy and contented couple. This snow-hut, although an archi- tectural curiosity, would have excited the contempt of a beaver. It was nothing more than an artificial cave in a snow-bank, and was made thus : Kight abreast of the ship there was a narrow gorge, in which the wintry winds had piled the snow to a great depth, leaving, as it whirled u s I I y 220 TCHEITCHENGUAK '' AT IIOME:' through tho opening, a sort of cavern, — the curving snow- hank on tho right and overhead, and the square-sided rock on tho left. Starting at the inner side of this cavern, Tcheitchenguak began to bury himself in the snow, very- much as a prairie-dog would do in the loose soil, — digging down into the drift, and tossing the lumps behind him with great rapidity. After going downward for about five feet, he ran off horizontally for about ten feet more. This operation completed, he now began to excavate his den. His shovel Avas struck into the hard snow abovo his head, the blocks which tumbled down were cleared away, and thrown out into the open air, and in a little while he could stand upright and work; and when at length satisfied with the size of the cave, he smoothed it off all around and overhead, and came out covered with whiteness. The door-way was now fixed up and made just large enough to crawl through on all fours ; the entering tunnel was smoothed off like the inside ; the floor of the cave was covered first with a layer of stones, and then^with several layers of reindeer-skins ; the walls were hung with the same materials ; two native lamps- were lighted ; across the door-v/ay was suspended another deer-skin, and Tcheitchenguak and his family were " at home." I called upon them some hours afterwards, and found them apparently warm and comfortable. The lamps (their only fire) blazed up cheerfully, and the light glistened on the white dome of this novel den ; the temperature had risen to the freezing point, and Kablunet, like a good housewife, was stitching away at some article of clothing ; Tcheitchenguak Avas repairing a harpoon for his son-in-law, and Angeit, the bright-eyed pest of the galley and the pantry, was busily engaged stowing away in a stomach largely disproportionate to the balance of his body, some bits of venison which looked very much as if they had recently been surreptitiously obtained from a forbidden corner of the steward's store-room. ESQUIMA U PRESEXTS. 221 In consideration for the kindness wliicli I had sliown these people, they gave me a set of their hunting and domestic implements, the principal of them being a lance, harpoon, coil of line, a rabbit-trap, a lamp, pot, flint and steel, with some lamp-wick and tinder. The lance was a wooden shaft, probably from Dr. Kane's lost ship, tlie' Advance, with an iron spike lashed firmly to one end of it, and a piece of walrus tusk, shod with sharp iron, at tlio other. The harj)Oon staff was a narwal tooth or horn, six feet long, — a very hard and solid piece of ivory, and per- fectly straight. The harpoon head was a piece of walrus tusk, three inches long, with a hole through the centre for the line, a hole into one end for the sharpened point of the staff, and at the other end it was, like the lance- head, tipi)ed with iron. The line was simply a strip of raw seal-hide about fifty feet long, and was made by a continuous cut around the body of the seal. The rabbit- trap was merely a seal-skin line with a multitude of loops dangling from it. The lamp was a shallow dish of soft soap-stone, in shape not unlike a clam-shell, and was eight inches by six. The pot was a sc^uare-sided vessel of the same material. The flint was a piece of hard granite, the steel a lump of crude iron pyrites, the wick was dried moss, and the tinder the delicate down-like covering of the willow catkins. Tcheitchenguak told me that he was preparing the lances for a walrus hunt, and that he and Hans intended to try their skill on the morrow. The walrus had been very numerous in the open waters outside the harbour all through the winter, and their shrill cry could be heard at almost any time from the margin of the ice. The flesh of these animals is the staple food of the Esquimaux ; and although they prize the flesh of the reindeer, yet it is much as we do " canvas-backs ;" and, for a long and steady pull, there is nothing like the " Awak," as they call the walrus, in imitation of its cry. To them its flesh is what 1 222 •• t i 1/ -^ ^^yUA'c:^ iw^y.^ - go of tho ieo. They w t 2t"^ «f'«»»g "car he y^'" a few feet of the wato, -r. , '"""*0''S rcaehcil 2or,"" ^■'=° »-» "»Sd the X'f ,^' % down wuch they were in p„rsu;. . ' '^'° •''^ «f the animals of J'-^ght by this mean Sin "V^" ^'^'^ ''^'''^ -»« Boon «g like f'wiH t /"htw W "■ ^-'-«g antpl„I'! iJie line and secured i> n^^ I. ® *°°^ ^^i the shoh ^-p waters with loud criof TT "''^'"' «way throu J, rt --ding BtrangiX^; K^eir '4 uX^l the zee proved to be too ILl t'^'"'- The edge of and, having seeux^ed T w h ! r'"'" *^° "^Pt^ed £ne ~u until the follows at ''"1; " ^''^ "Uowfd to th ekened with the low temlmL^^Z 'l" ''' ^»ving out and brought in ti ^ '*'*o ^esh was nbr>r.r.„t KLi^r «*"'=»:' "rfv ^^kp jf/'^^' ":zr^ •) ' ''^tf',^ CHAPTER XX. HILE the days were thus running on, tlic sim was crawling up toward the horizon, and cacli returning noon brought an increase of light. I carried in my pocket at all times a little book, and early in February I began to experiment with it. When I could read the title-page at noon I was much rejoiced. By-and-by the smaller letters could be puzzled out ; then I could decipher with case the finest print, and the youngsters were in great glee at being able to read the thermometers at eleven and twelve and one o'clock without the lantern. On the 10th of February I mado the following memorandum on the margin of my book : " Almost broad daylight at noon, and I read this page at 3 o'clock P.M." My calculations placed the sun at the horizon on the 18th. The appearance of the sun became now the one ab- sorbing event. About it everybody thought and every- body talked continually. No set of men ever looked more eagerly for a coming joy than did we for the promised morn, — we, half-bloodless beings, coming from the night, bleached in the long-continued lamp-light, and almost as colourless as potato-sprouts growing in a dark cellar. We all noted how to-day compared with yesterday, and contrasted it with this day a week ago. Even the old cook caught the contagion, and crawled up from among 11' 224 LOOKING FOR THE SUN. liis saucepans and coppers, and, shading his eyes with his stove-hardened hands, peered out into the growing twi- light. " I tinks dis bo very long night," said he, " and I likes once more to see dc Llesscd sun." The steward was in a state of chronic excitement. He could not let the sun rest in peace for an hour. He must watch for him constantly. He must be for ever running up on deck and out on the ice, book in hand, trying to read by the re- turning daylight. Ho was impatient with the time. " Don't the Commander think the sun will come back sooner than the 1 8th ?" " Don't he think it will como back on the 17th?" " Was he quite sure that it wouldn't appear on tho 16th ?" ** I'm afraid, steward, we must rely upon tho Nautical Almanac.'* "But mightn't tho Nautical Almanac bo wrong ?" — and I could clearly perceive that he thought my ciphering might be wrong too. Meanwhile we were tormented with another set of gales, and we could scarcely stir abroad. The ice was all broken up in the outer bay, and the open sea came nearer to us than during any previous period of the winter. The ice was nearly all driven out of the bay, and the broad, dark, bounding water was not only in sight from the deck, but I could almost drop a minie-ball into it from my rifle, while standing on the poop. Even the ice in the inner liarbour was loosened around the shore, and, thick and solid though it was, I thought at one time that there was danger of its giving way and going bodily out to sea. Strange, too, along the margin of this water there came a flock of speckled birds to shelter themselves under the lee of the shore, and to warm their little feet in the waters which the winds would not let freeze. They were the Dovekie of Southern Greenland, — the Uria grylle of the naturalist. They are often seen about Disco Island and Upernavik in the winter time, but I was much sur- prised to find them denizens of the Arctic night so near the Pole. It was a singular sight to see them paddling ■MMMM ct ARCTIC BIRDS. 225 -about in tho caves, under the ice-foot, at 30° below zero, littering their plaintive cry, and looking for all the world like homeless children, shoeless and in rags, crouching for shelter beneath a door-step on a bleak December night. I wanted one of them badly for a specimen, but it would liave required something stronger than the claims of science to have induced mo to harm a feather of their trembling little heads. \ iii ^.^^^ip : K jA : t^^% ■'WV^ CHArTEK XXI. I'Vbruary 18th. EAVEN bo praised ! I liavo once more seen the sun. Knowing that the sun wouhl appear to-day, everybody was filled witli expectation, and hastened off after breakfast to some favourite sj)ot where it was thought that ho might bo seen. Some went in the right direction, and were gratified ; others went in the wrong direction, and were disappointed. Knorr and others of the oflicers climbed the hills above Etah. Charley limbered up his rheumatic old legs, and tried to get a view from the north side of the harbour, forgetting that the mountains intervened. Harris and Hey wood climbed to the top of the hill behind the harbour, and the former shook his Odd Fellow's flag in the sun's very face. The cook was troubled that he did not have a look at " do blessed sun ;" but ho could not gratify his wish without going upon the land, and this he could no more be induced to do than the mountain could be persuaded to come to Mahomet. He will probably have to wait until the sun steals over the hills into the harbour, which will be at least twelve days. My own share in the day's excitement has been equal to the rest of them. Accompanied by Dodge and Jensen, I set out at an early hour toward a point on the north I Sl/XA'/SK 227 Kido of the bay, fioiu winch I could coniinand a view of tlio soutlioni horizon. Wo htul luuch ditlicnlty in roucli- ing our dostination. Tlio opon wator ounio nearly a niih! withiu tho point for which we wore bound, and it was no easy task picking our way ahnig the sl(>j»ing drifts of tho ice-foot. Ihit we were at hist successful, aud reached our h)ok-out station (hereafter to bo known as Sunrise Point) with half an hour to spare. Tho day was far from a pleasant one for a holiday excursion. The temi)eratiire was very low, aud the wind, blowing quite freshly, brought the drifting snow down from the mountains, and rattled it about us rather sharply. But we were amply repaid by the view which was spread out before us. An open sea lay at our feet and stretched far away to the front aud right of us as we faced the south. Numerous bergs were dotted over it, but otherwise it was mainly free from ice. Its surface was nuich agitated by tho winds, which kei)t it from freezing, and the waves were dancing in the cold air as if in very mockery of the winter. It was indeed avast bubbling caldron, — seething, and foaming, and emitting vapours. The light curling streams of " frost smoke" which rose over it sailed away on the wind toward the south-west, and there mingled with a dark mist-bank. Little streams of young ice, as if struggling to bind the waves, rattled and crackled over the restless waters. To the left, the lofty coast mountains stood boldly up in tho bright air, and near Capo Alexander the glacier peeped from between them, coming down the valley with a gentle slope from the broad mcr de glace. The bold front of Crystal Palace Cliffs cut sharply against this lino of whiteness, and the dark, gloomy walls of Cape Alexander rose squarely from the sea. Upon the crests of the silent hills, and over the white-capped cape, light clouds lazily floated, and through these the sun was pouring a stream of golden fire, and tho whole Q 2 228 SUNRISE. southern heavens were ablaze with the splendour of the coming day. The point of Cape Alexander lay directly south of us, and the sun would appear from behind it at exactly the meridian hour, — rolling along the horizon, with only half its disk above the line of waters. We awaited the approaching moment with much eagerness. Presently a ray of light burst through the soft mist-clouds which lay off to the right of us opposite the cape, blending them into a purple sea and glistening upon the silvery summits of the tall icebergs, which pierced the vapoury cloak as if to catch the coming warmth. The ray approached us nearer and nearer, the purple sea widened, the glittering spires multiplied, as one after another they burst in quick succession into the blaze of day ; and as this marvellous change came over the face of the sea, we felt that the shadow of the cape was the shadow of the night, and that the night was passing away. Soon the dark-red cliffs behind us glowed with a warm colouring, the hills and the mountains stood forth in their new robes of resplendent brightness, and the tumbling waves melted away from their angry harshness, and laughed in the sunshine. And now the line of the shadow was in sight. " There 't is upon the point," cried Jensen. " There it is upon the ice-foot," answered Dodge, — there at at our feet lay a sheet of sparkling gems, and the sun burst broadly in our faces. Off went our caps with a simultaneous impulse, and we hailed this long-lost wanderer of the heavens with loud demonstrations of joy. And now we were bathing in the atmosphere of other •days. The friend of all hopeful associations had come back again to put a new glow into our hearts. He had returned after an absence of one hundred and twenty-six days to revive a slumbering world ; and as I looked upon his face again, after this long interval, I did not wonder that there should be men to bow the knee and worship SUNRISE. 229 the him and proclaim him " The eye of God." The parent of light and life everywhere, he is the same within these solitudes. The germ awaits him here as in the Orient ; but there it rests only through the short hours of a summer night, while here it reposes for months under a sheet of snows. But after a while the bright sun will tear this sheet asunder, and will tumble it in gushing f( Kmtains to the sea, and will kiss the cold earth, and give it warmth and life ; and the flowers will bud and bloom, and will turn their tiny faces smilingly and gratefully up to him, as he wanders over these ancient hills in the long summer. The very glaciers will weep tears of joy at his coming. The ice will loose its iron grip upon the waters, and will let the wild waves play in freedom. The reindeer will skip gleefully over the mountains to welcome his return, and will look longingly to him for the green pastures. The sea-fowls, knowing that he will give them a resting- place for their feet on the rocky islands, will come to seek the moss-beds which he spreads for their nests ; and the sparrows will come on his life-giving rays, and will sing their love-songs through the endless day. I I I - '^ ■•<-'■■->;;■ ^ ■ ■'■!■■''■ ^ >v\ / ■ --^^ CHAPTER XXII. Y time became now fully occupied witli prepara- tions for my journey northward. The sun appearing on the 18th, as recorded in the last chapter, rose completely above the horizon on the next day, was something higher the day following, and, continuing to ascend in steady progression, we had soon several hours of broad daylight before and after noon, although the sun did not for some time come in sight above the hills on the south side of the harbour. The long dreary night was passing away ; we had with each succeeding day an increase of light, and the spring twilight was merging slowly into the continual sunshine of the summer, as we had before seen the autumn twilight pass into the continued darkness of the winter. The details of my preparations for travelling would have little interest to the reader, and I pass them over. It is proper, however, that I should recur to the situation in which I found myself, now that the travelling season had oj)encd. The dogs, five in number, which Hans brought back from the southern journey, had recovered, and did not appear to have been materially injured; but there were not enough of them to furnish a serviceable team for one sledge. They were therefore of little use ; and it became clear that, unless I obtained a fresh supply from the ARRIVAL OF ESQUIMAUX. 231 Esquimaux, any plan of sledgo exploration wliicli I miglit fovm must depend wholly upon the men for its execution. Men, instead of dogs, must drag the sledges. The Esquimaux had disappointed me by not coming up to Etah ; and, February having almost passed away without bringing reinforcements from that quarter, I had quite given up the expectation of seeing them, when a party of three arrived most opportunely. This gave mo no vv encouragement ; for, although "^. could not hope to replace the fine teams which I had lost, yet there was still a prospect of some much-needed assistance. The Esquimau party comprised three individuals, all of whom I had known before. Their names were Kalutunah, Tattarat, and Myouk. Kalutunah was, in 1854, the best hunter of the tribe, and was, besides, the Angekok, or priest. He was not slow to tell me that he had since advanced to the dignity of chief, or Nalcgak, an office which, however, gave him no authority, as the Esquimaux are each a law unto himself, and they submit to no control. Tlie title is about as vague as that of " Defender of the Faith ;" and the parallel is not altogether bad, for if this latter did originate in a Latin treatise about the " Seven Sacramentr.," it was perpetuated by a sharp sword ; and so the title chief, or Nalegak as they call it, is the compli- ment paid to the most skilful hunter, and his title is per- l)etuated by skill in the use of a sharp harpoon. The excellence of Kalutunah's hunting equipments — his strong lines and lances and harpoons, his fine sledgo and hearty, sleek dogs — bore ample evidence of the sagacity of the tribe. Tattarat was a very different style of person. His name signifies " The Kittiwakc Gull," and a more fitting title could hardly have been bestowed upon him, for he was the perfect typo of that noisy, chattering, graceful bird, thriftless to the last degree ; and, like many another kittiwake gull or Harold Skimpole of society, he was, in spite of thieving and other arts, A r 232 KALUTUNAH. \ always *' out at elbows." Myouk was not unlike him;, only that he was worse, if possible. He was, in truth, one of Satan's regularly enlisted light-infantry, and wa& as full of tricks as Asmodeus himself. The party came up on two sledges. Kalutunah drove one and Tattarat the other. Kalutunah's team was his own. Of the other team, two dogs belonged to Tattarat, one was borrowed, and the fourth was the property of Myouk. It Is curious to observe how the same traits of character exhibit themselves in all peoples, and by the same evidences. While Kalutunah came in with his dogs looking fresh and in fine condition, with strong traces and solid sledge, the team of Tattarat was a set of as lean and hungry-looking curs as ever was seen, their traces all knotted and tangled, and the sledge rickety and almost tumbling to pieces. They had travelled all the way from Iteplik without halting, except for a short rest at Sorfalik, They declared that they had not tasted food since leaving^ their homes ; and if the appetite should govern the belief, I thought that there was no ground for doubting, since they made away with the best part of a quarter of venison,, the swallowing of which was much aided by sundry chunks of walrus blubber, before they rolled over among the reindeer skins of Tcheitchenguak's hut and slept. Next morning I had Kalutunah brought to my cp^bin, thinking to treat him with that distinguished consideration, due to his exalted rank. But caution was necessary. For a stool I gave him a keg, and I was particularly careful that his person should not come in contact with anything else, for under the ample furs of this renowned chief there were roaming great droves of creej)ing thing •», for which no learned lexicographer has yet invented a polito name, and so I cannot further describe them. Nor can I adequately describe the man himself, as he sat upon the keg, his body hidden in a huge fur coat, with its great hood, and his legs and feet inserted in long-haired bear- T r t t ^ DIRTY POTENTATE. 235 skin, — the whole costume differing little from the hitherto described dress of the dark-faced Tcheitchenguak. He was a study for a painter. No child could have exhibited more unbounded delight, had all the toys of Nuremberg been tumbled into one heap before him. To picture hi& face with anything short of a skilful brush were an im- possible task. It was not comely like that of " Villiers with the flaxen hair," nor yet handsome like that ot the Avarrior chief Nireus, whom Homer celebrates as the handsomest man in the whole Greek army (and never mentions afterwards), nor was it like Ossian's chief, " the changes of whose face were as various as the shadows which fly over the field of grass ;" but it was bathed in the sunshine of a broad grin. Altogether it was quite characteristic of his race, although expressing a much higher type of manhood than usual. The features differed only in degree from those of Tcheitchenguak, heretofore described ; the skin was less dark, the face broader, the cheek-bones higher, the nose flatter and more curved, the upper lip longer, the mouth wider, the eyes even smaller, contracting when he laughed into scarcely distinguishable slits. Upon his long upper lip grew a little hedge-row of black bristles, which did not curl gracefully nor droop- languidly, but which stuck straight out like the whiskers of a cat. A few of the same sort radiated from his chin. I judged him to be about forty years old, and since soap and towels and the external application of water have not yet been introduced among the native inhabitants of Whale Sound, these forty years had favoured the accumulation of a coating to the skin, which, by the unequal operation of friction, had given his hands and face quite a spotted appearance. But if he was not handsome, he was not really ugly ; for, despite his coarse features and dirty face, there was a rugged sort of good-humour and frank simplicity about the fellow which pleased me greatly. His tongue was not li; i ' 234 FURTHER SUPPLY OF DOGS. inclined to rest. He must toll me cverytliing. llis \vifo was still living, and had added two girls to the amount of his responsibilities; but his face glowed with delight when I asked him about their first-born, whom I remem- bered in 1854 as a bright boy of some five or six summers, and he exhibited all of a father's just pride in the prospect of the lad's future greatness. Already ho could catch birds, and was learning to drive dogs. I asked him about his old rival Sipsu, who once gave me much trouble, and was an endless source of incon- venience to Kalutunah. He was dead. When asked how he died, ho was a little loth to tell, but he finally said that he had been killed. He had become very unpopular, and was stabbed one night in a dark hut, and, bleeding from a mortal wound, had been dragged out and buried in the stones and snow, where the cold and the hurt together soon terminated as well his life as his mischief. Death had made fearful ravages among his people since I had seen them five years before, and he complained bitterly of the hardships of the last winter, in consequence of a great deficiency of dogs, the same distemper which swept mine off having attacked those of his people. Indeed, the disease appears to have been universal through- out the entire length of Greenland. But notwithstanding this poverty, he undertook to supply me with some animals, in return for which I was to make liberal presents ; and, as a proof of his sincerity, he offered me two of the four which composed his present team. From Tattarat I afterwards purchased one of his three, and for a fine knifo I obtained the fourth one of that hunter's team, the pro- perty of Myouk, and the only dog that he possessed. The hunters were all well pleased with their bargains, for they went away rich in iron, knives, and needles, — wealth to them more valuable than would have been all the vast piles of treasure with which the Inca Atahuallpa I A HARMLESS HOAX, 235 ir ll |0 sought to satisfy the rapacious Pizarro, or tho lacs of rupees with which tho luckless Kajah Nuncomar strove to free himself from the clutches of tho remorseless Hastings. And wc had made a treaty of 2)eace and friendship, and had ratified it by a solemn jiromiso, befitting a Nalcgak and a Nalegaksoak. The Nalegak was to furnish tho Nalegaksoak with dogs, and the Nalegaksoak was to pay for them. This exceedingly simple treaty may at first strike the reader with surprise ; but I feel sure that that surprise will vanish when ho recalls tho memorable historical parallel of Burgoyne and his Hessians. I did not tell Kalutunah tliat I wished only to bestow benefits upon his people, for no one is more quick to penetrate the hoUowness of such declarations than tho "untutored savage." He is not so easily hoaxed with philanthropic sentiment as is generally supposed, and ho fully recognizes tho practical features of being expected to return a (imii pro quo. But I did venture upon a little harmless imposition of another sort, giving him to under- stand that it was useless for the Esquimaux to attempt to deceive me, as I could read not only their acts but their thoughts as well ; and, in proof of my powers, I performed before him some simple sleight-of-hand tricks, and after turning up a card with much gravity told him exactly what (it was not mu^^h of a venture) Ootinah and his wooden-legged companion had stolen. He was much astonished, said tliat I was quite right about the stealing, for he had seen the stolen articles himself, and evidently thought me a wonderful magician. He owned to me that he did something in the jugglery business himself; but when I asked him about his journeys to the bottom of tho sea, in his Angckok capacity, to break the spell by which the evil spirit Torngak holds within her anger the walrus and seal, in the days of famine, he very adroitly changed the subject, and began to describe a recent bear-hiint which appeared to amuse him greatly. Tho wounded !*1 236 AN ARCTIC MICA WBER. animal broko away from the dogs, and, making a divo at one of the hunters, knocked the wind out of the unhappy man with a blow of his fore-paw. Kalutunah laughed heartily while relating the story, and seemed to think it a capital joke. Our savage guests remained with us a few days, and then set out for their homes, declaring their intention to come speedily back and bring more of the tribe and dogs. I drove out with them a few miles, and we parted on the ice. When about a mile away, I observed Myouk jump from the sledge to pick up something which he had dropped. No doubt rejoiced to be rid of this extra load on his rickety sledge, Tattarat whipped up his team, and the last I saw of poor Myouk he was running on, struggling manfully to catch up ; but, notwithstanding all his cfiforts, he was falling behind, and it is not unlikely that he was suffered to walk all the way to Iteplik. This Myouk was the same droll creature that he was when I knew him formerly, — a sort of Arctic Micawber^ everlastingly waiting for something to turn up which never did turn up ; and, with much cheerfulness, hoping for good luck which never came. He recited to me all of his hardships and misfortunes. His sledge was all broken to pieces, and he could not mend it ; his dogs were all dead except the one he sold to me ; he had stuck his harpoon into a walrus, and the line had parted, and the walrus carried it away; he had lost his lance, and altogether his affairs were in a very lamentable state. His family were in great distress, as he could not catch anything for them to eat, and so they had gone to Tattarat's hut. Tattarat was a jioor hunter, and he made a terrible grimace, which told how great was his contempt for that doughty individual. So now he proposed, as soon as he got home, to try Kalutunah. To be sure, Kalutunah's establishment was pretty well filled already, there being not less than three families quartered there ; but still, he 1 DOMESTIC FELICITY. 237 thought there was room for one family more. At all events, he should try it. And now would not the Nale- gaksoak, — the big chief who was so rich and so mighty, be good enough to give him so many presents that he would go back and make everybody envious ? Human nature is the same in th^ Arctic as in the Temperate zone ; and, gratified with this discovery, I fairly loaded the rogue down with riches, and sent him away rejoicing. But this wife, what of her ? " Oh, she's lazy and will not do anything, and made me come all this long journey to get her some needles which she won't use, and a knife which she has no use for ; and now when I go back without any dog, won't I catch it !" —and ho caught hold of his tongue and pulled it as far out of his mouth as ho could get it, trying in this graphic manner to illustrate the length of that aggressive organ in the wife of his bosom. " But," added this savage Benedict, " she has a ragged coat, so full of holes that she cannot go out of the hut without fear of freezing ; and if she scolds me too much I won't give her any of these needles, and I won't catch her any foxes to make a new one ;" — but it was easy to see that the needles would not be long withheld, and that the foxes would be caught when he was told to catch them. And so pitying his domestic misfortunes, I added some presents for this amiable creature of the ragged coat ; and when he told me that she had presented him with an heir to the Myouk miseries, I added something for that, too. This little hopeful, he informed me, was already being weaned from its natural and maternal supplies, and was exhibiting great aptitude for blubber. He had called it Dak-ta-gee, which was the nearest that he could come to pronouncing Doctor Kane. Kalutunah and his companions had scarcely been gone when another sleclge came, bringing two more Esquimaux, — Amalatok, of Northumberland Island, and his son. They had four dogs ; and having stopped on the way to f 238 ESQUIMA U GRA TITUDE catoli a walrus, part of which they had brouglit with them, they were iiiucli fatigued ; and, having got wet in securing the prize, they were cohl and a little frozen. Both were for several days quite sick in Tcheitehenguak's snow-hut, and I had at last a patient, and the snovv-hufc became a sort of hospital, for old Tcheitehenguak was sick too. I either visited them myself or sent Mr. Knorr twice daily ; but the odour of the place becoming at length too much for that gentleman's aristocratic nose, I could no longer prescribe by proxy, and so went myself and cured my patients very speedily, winning great credit as a Narkosak, the " medicine man," in addition to being the Nalegaksoak, '• the big chief." Amalatok thought at one time that ho was going to die, and indeed I became sincerely alarmed about my reputation ; but he came round all right in th(^ end, and, strange though it may appear, his memory actually outlived the service long enough for him to do more than to say " Koyanak," — " I thank you ; " — that is to say, as soon as he could get about ho brought me his best dog, and, in token of gratitude, made me a present of it. Afterward, upon the offer of some substantial gifts, ho sold me another, and he went homo as rich as the party that had preceded him, and happy as Moses Primrose returning from the fair with his gross of shagreen spectacles. And thus my kennels wore being once more filled up, and my heart was rejoiced c:^ " s^ '■m.-f^^w. '^ 4 CHAPTER XXIII. ALUTIJNx\H camo back after a few days, ac- cording to his promise, and brought ahmg witli him the entire Kalutunah family, consisting of his wife and four children. It was a regular " moving." The chief had managed in some manner to get together another team of six good dogs, and he came up in fine style, bringing along with him on his small sledge every- thing that he had in the world, and that was not much. The conveniences for life's comforts possessed by these Ai'ctic nomads are not numerous ; and it is fortunate that their desires so well accord with their means of gratifying them, for probably no people in the world possess so little, either of portable or other kind of proj^erty. The entire cargo of the sledge consisted of parts of two bear- skins, the family bedding ; a half-dozen seal-skins, the family tent ; two lances and two harpoons ; a few sub- stantial harpoon lines ; a couple of lamps and pots ; some implements and materials for repairing the sledge in the event of accident ; a small seal-skin bag, containing the family wardrobe (that is, the implements for repairing it, for the entire wardrobe was on their backs) ; and then there was a roll of dried grass, which they use as we do cork soles for the boots, and some dried moss for lamp- wick ; and for food they had a few small pieces of walrus meat and blubber. This cargo was covered with one of li n I i 240 AX ESQUIMAU FAMlfA the Rcal-Rkiiis, over wliich was passed from sido to side a line, like a sandal-lacing, and the wliolo was bound down compactly to the sledge ; and on the top of it rode tlio family, Kalutnnuh himself walking alongside and en- couraging on his team ratlier with kind 2)ersuasion than with the usual Esquimau cruelty. In front sat the mother, the finest specimen of tlie Esquimau matron that I had seen. In the large hood of her fox-skin coat, a sort of dorsal oiiossum-pouch, nestled a sleeping infant. Close beside the mother sat the boy to whom I have before referred, their first-born, and tlie father's ja-ide. Next came a girl, about seven years old ; and another, a three year old, was wrapj)ed up in an immense quantity of furs, and was lashed to the upstanders. As the sledge rounded to, near the vessel, I went out to meet them. The children were at first a little frightened, but they were soon got to laugh, and I found that the same arts which win the affections of Christian babies were equally potent with the heathen. The wife re- membered me well, and called me " Doc-tec," while Kalutunah, grinning all over with delight, pointed to his dogs, exclaiming with pride, " They are fine ones !" to which I readily assented ; and then he added, " I come to give them all to the Nalcgaksoak ;" and to this I also assented. What surprised me most with this family was their apparent indifference to the cold. They had come from Iteplik in slow marches, stopping when tired in a snow shelter, or in deserted huts, and during this time our thermometers were ranging from 30° to 40'^ below zero ; and when they came on board out of this tcmpcratiu'c it never, seemed to occur to them to warm themselves, but they first wandered all over the ship, satisfying their curiosity. A few hours afterward there arrived a family of quite another description, — Myouk and his wife of the ragged if' ftmHi'Hm if^^f^ MYOUK AND FAMILY. 241 coat. They had walked all the way up from Iteplik, tlio woman carrying her baby on her back all of these hundred and fifty miles. Myouk was evidently at a loss to find an excuse for paying me this visit ; but he put a bold front on, and, like Kalutunah, discovered a reason. " I como to show the Nalegaksoak my wife and Daktagec," pointing to the dowdy, dirty creature that owned him for a hus- band, and the forlorn being that owned him for a father. But when he perceived that I was not likely to pay mucli for the sight, he timidly remarked, with another signifi- cant point, " She made me come," and then started ofi*, doubtless to see what he could steal. My arrangements were soon concluded with Kalutunah. He was to live over in the hut at Etah, to do such hunting as he could without the aid of his dogs, all of which he loaned to me ; but, in any event, my stores were to be his reliance, and I bound myself to supply him with all that he required for the support of himself and his family. On the following day the hut at Etah was cleared out and put in order, and this interesting family took up their abode there, while Myouk, as eager to place himself under the protection of a man high in favour as if his skin had been white and he knew the meaning of " public office " and lived nearer the equator, followed the great man to his new abode, and crawled into a corner of his den as coolly as if he was a deserving fellow, and not the most arrant little knave and beggar that ever sponged on worth and industry. Kalutunah brought a solution of the Peter mystery. As soon as the daylight began to come back, one of the Iteplik hunters, named Nesark, determined to travel up to Peteravik, and there try his fortunes in the seal hunt. Arriving at the hut (these Esquimau huts are common property) at that place, he was surprised to discover, lying on the floor, a much emaciated corj^se. It was that of an Esquimau dressed in white man's clothing, and the description left no doubt that it was the bt)dy of R ' '? ^ Ir — — h 242 PURSUIT OF REINDEER. Peter. Ncsark gave it Esquimau burial. And thus, after the lapse of three months, this strange story was brought to a close ; but I was still as far as ever from an explana- tion of the hapless boy's strange conduct. I had now become the possessor of seventeen dogs, and awaited only one principal event to set out on a preliminary journey northward. The sea had not yet closed about Sunrise Point, and I could not get out of the bay on that side. To travel over the land was, owing to its great roughness, impracticable for a sledge, even if without cargo ; and to round the Point at that season of the year, tlirougli the broken ice and rough sea, in an open boat, was, for obvious reasons, not to be thought of. My plan had always been to set out with my principal party, when the temperature had begun to moderate to- ward the summer, which was likely to be about the first of April ; but I had looked forward to doing some service- able w^ork with my dogs prior to that time. March is the coldest month of the Arctic year ; but while I had no hesitation in setting out with dog-sledges at that period, the recollection of Dr. Kane's disasters was too fresh in my mind to justify me in sending out a foot party in the March temperatures. While waiting for the frost to build a bridge for me around Sunrise Point, I was feeding up and strengthening my dogs. They soon proved to be very inferior to the animals which I had lost, and it was necessary to give them as much rest and good rations as possible. I went repeatedly to Chester Valley in pursuit of reindeer. Along the borders of the lake these beasts had flocked in great numbers during the winter, and whole acres of snow had been tossed up with . their hoofs, while searching for the dead vegetation of the previous summer. The rabbits and the ptarmigan had followed them, to gather the buds of the willow-stems which were occasionally tossed up, and which form their subsistence. During one of my f KALUTUNAIf A T HOME. 243 \ journeys I secui'ed a. fine specimen skin of a doe, but in order to do this I was obliged to take it off with my own hands beforo it should freeze. The temperature at tho time was 33^ below zero, and I do not ever remember to have had my regard for Natural History so severely tested. I was exceedingly anxious to recover tho body of Mr. Sonntag before I left the vessel ; and, desiring to secure the assistance of Kalutunah for that purpose, I drove over to Etah a few days after he had become fixed there. I had eleven of my new dogs harnessed to the sledge, and Jensen " was himself again." I found Kalutunah very comfortably fixed and appa- rently well contented. 1 carried with mc as a present for a house-warming a quarter of a recently-captured d«^er, and a couple of gallons of oil. Observing our approach, he came out to meet us, and, some snow having drifted into the passage, he scraped it away with his foot, and invited us to enter. This we did on our hands and knees, through a sort of tunnel about twelve feet long ; and thence we emerged into a dimly lighted den, where, coiled up in a nest of reindeer-skins which I had given them, was the family of the chief and the wife and baby of Myouk. Kalutunah's wife was stitching away quite swiftly at a pair of boots for my use, and I brought her some more " work," and also some presents, among which was a string of beads and a looking-glass, which much amused the children. Myouk' s wife, on tho other hand, was quite idle, not even looking after her child, which, startled by our approach, rolled down on the floor about our feet, and thence into the entrance among the snow which lay scattered along the passage. The poor little creature, being almost naked, set up a terrible scream, and its amiable mother, promptly seizing it by one of its legs, hauled it up and crammed into its mouth a chunk of blubber which quickly sto2)pcd its noise. R 2 ■I 'tj S\ 244 A MORNING CALL. 1 fl I. >^ Both this woman and her husband wore evidently a great annoyance to the frugal proprietors of the hut ; but, with a generous practice of liospitality which I have not found elsewhere, in history or fiction, except in Cedric the Saxon, such a worthless crew are suffered to settle themselves upon a thrifty family without fear of being turned out of doors, I sat for some time talking to Kalutunah and his indus- trious wife. There was not room, it was true, with so many people in the hut, to be greatly at one's ease, and I had to dodge my head when I moved, to keep from striking the stone rafters. Besides, the smell of the place had rather a tendency to fill one's mind with longings for the open air ; but I managed to remain long enough to conclude some im- portant arrangements with my ally and his useful spouse, and then I took my leave with mutual protestations of friendship and good-will. I said to him at parting, " You are chief and I am chief, and we will both tell our respective people to be good to each other;" but ho answered, " Na, na, I am chief, but you are the great chief, and the Esquimaux will do what you say. The Esquimaux like you, and are your friends. You make them many presents." I might have told him that this all-powerful method of inspiring friendship was not alone applicable to Esquimaux. This visit was a pleasant little episode. I was much pleased at the honest heartiness with which Kalutunah entered into my plans ; while the childish simplicity of his habits and the frankness of his declarations won for him a conspicuous place in my regard. He was greatly amused with our guns, and begged for one of tliem, declaring that he could sit in his hut and kill the reindeer as they passed by. He would put the gun through the window, and he pointed to a hole in the Avail about a foot square, where the light was admitted through a thin slab of hard snow. In the centre of it he AX ESQriMAr FEAST. 245 eiitly a it ; but, lavc not Cedric settle )f being s indus- so many 1 had to :ing tbo rather 11 pen air ; ome im- spouse, ions of parting, tell our but ho great The |u make at this t alone much lutunah icity of ^on for ;ed for lut and kit the in the Imitted it ho had made a round orifice, whicli he said, Liugliingly, was for the purpose of looking out for the Nalcguksoak, — a well-turned compliment, if it did come from a savage, and all the more adroit that the orifice was really for ventila- tion, at least it was the only oi)ening by which the foul a,ir could possibly escape. Both himself and wife were highly delighted with the presents which I had brought them. Although they are surrounded by reindeer, venison is a luxury which they rarely enjoy, as they possess no means of capturing the animals. They have not the bows and arrows of the Escpiimaux of some other localities. Without waiting for it to be cooked, Kalu- tunah commenced a vigorous attack upon the raw, frozen flesh. His wife and children were not slow to follow his examj^le, crowding round it where it lay on the dirty floor ; and, without halting for an invitation, Mrs. Myouk joined in the feast. And I have never witnessed a feast whicli seemed to give so much satisfac- tion to the actors in it, not even ]iungry aldermen at a corporation banquet. Kalutunah was grinning all over with delight. He was eminently happy. His teeth were imintermittingly crushing the hard kernels which he chipped from the frozen '• leg," and a steady stream of the luscious food was pouring down his throat. His tongue had little chance, but now and then it got loose from the venison tangle, and then I heard much of the greatness and the goodness of the Nalegaksoak. The man's enjoy- ment was a pleasaTit thing to behold. But if the reindeer-leg gave satisfaction, the oil gave comfort. The hut was dark and chilly, not having yet become thoroughly thawed out. Kalutunah now thought that he could afford another lamp, and in a few minutes after wo had cntr^'cd a fresh blaze was burning in the corner. I have before explained that the Esquimau lamp is only a shallow dish, cut out of a block of soap-stone. The dried moss which they use for wick is arranged V' i 246 MV ESQUIMA U PEOPLE. i4 around the edge, and tlic blaze therefrom gives their only- light and heat. Over the lamps hung pots of the same soap-stone, and into these Mrs. Kalutunah put some snow, that she might have the water for a venison-soup, of whieh she invited us to stay and partake. I knew by former experience too well the nature of the Esquimau cuisine to make me anxious to learn further, so I plead business, and left them to enjoy themselves in their own way. How long they kept up their feast I did not learn, but when Kalutunah came over next morning, he informed me that there was no more venison in the hut at Etah, — a hint which was not thrown away. My Esquimau people now numbered seventeen souls ; namely, six men, four women, and seven children ; and they presented as many different shades of character and usefulness. The inconveniences to which they subjected us were amply compensated for by the sewing which the wives of Kalutunah and Tcheitchenguak did for us ; for, in spite of all our ingenuity and patience, there was no one in the ship's company who could make an Esquimau boot, and this boov is the only suitable covering for the foot in the Arctic regions. Of the men, Hans was the most useful ; for, in spite of his objectionable qualities, he was, Jensen excepted, my best hunter. Kalutunah came on board daily, and, as a privileged guest, he sought me in my cabin. My journey over to Etah made him supremely happy ; for, like the sound of coming battle to the warrior who has long reposed in peace, a new life was put into him when I offered him the care of one of my newly acquired teams. He came on board the next morn- ing and took charge of the dogs ; and when, a few days afterward, I further exhibited my confidence in him by sending him down to Cape Alexander to see if the ice was firm, the cup of his joy was full to the brim. The report of Kalutunah being favourable, I despatched Mr. Dodge to bring up the body of Mr. Sonntag. He RECOVERY OF SONNTAG'S BODY. 247 & t(3ok the two teams, Kalutunah driving ono and Hans the other. Mr. Dodge performed the journey with skill and energy. He reached Sorfalik in five hours, and had no difficulty in finding the locality of which they were in search, Hans remembering it by a largo rock, or rather cliff, in the lee of which they had built their snow-hut. But the winds had since piled the snow over the hut, and it was com- pletely buried out of sight. They wero therefore com- pelled to disinter the body by laboriously digging through the hard drift ; and it being quite dark and they much fatigued when the task was comi)leted, they constructed a shelter of snow, fed their dogs, and rested. Although the temperature was 42^ below zero, they managed to sleep in their furs without serious inconvenience. This was the first of Mr. Dodge's experience at this sort of camping out, and he was justly elated with the success of the experiment. Setting out as soon as the daylight returned, the party came back by the same track which they had before pur- sued ; but, greatly to their surprise, the tides and wind had, in the interval, carried off much of the ice in the neighbourhood of the cape, so that they had before them the prospect of the very difficult task of crossing the glacier. This, not particularly embarrassing to an empty sledge, would have been exceedingly so to them. Fortu- nately, however, they succeeded with some risk in getting over a very treacherous place where the ice-foot, to which they were forced to adhere, was sloping, and one of the sledges had nearly gone over into the sea. Kalutunah saved it by a dexterous movement which could have been performed with safety only by one familiar, by long experience, with such dangers and expedients. The body of our late comrade was placed in the obser- vatory, where a few weeks before liis fine mind had been intent upon those pursuits which were the delight of his ifii ri i: V I ' 248 BURIAL OF SONNTAG. ilfo ; and on the little staff wliicli surmounted the building the flag was j-aiscd at luilf-niast. The preparations for tlio funeral were conducted with fitting solemnity. A neat coffin was made under the supervision of Mr. McCormick, and the body having been placed therein with every degree of care, it was, on the second day after the return of Mr. Dodge, brought outside and covered with the flag, and then, followed by the entire ship's company, in solemn procession, it was borne by four of the sorrowing messmates of the deceased to the grave which had, with much difiiculty, been dug in the frozen terrace. As it lay in its last cold resting-place, I read over the body the burial-service, and the grave was then closed. Above it we afterward built, with stones, a neatly-shaped mound, and marked the head with a chiseled slab, bearing this inscription : — t AUGUST SONNTAG. Died - ; December, 1860, " • AGED 28 YEARS. And here in the drear solitude of the Arctic desert our comrade sleeps the sleep that knows no waking in this troubled world, — where no loving hands can ever come to strew his grave with flowers, nor eyes grow dim with sor- rowing ; but the gentle stars, which in life he loved so well, will keep over him eternal vigil, and the winds will wail over him, and Nature, his mistress, will drop upon his tomb her frozen tears for evermore. CHArTER XXIV. N the IGtli of March I found myself able for tlio first time to get around Sunrise Point. Except during a brief interval, the temperature had now fallen lower than at any previous period of the winter; and, the air having .been quite calm for two days, the ice had formed over the outer bay. This long- desired event was hailed with satisfaction, and I deter- mined to start north at once. My preparations occupied but a few hours, as everything had been ready for weeks past.' The charge of one of the sledges was given to Jensen, the other to Kaliitunah, the former having nine and the latter six dogs. One of the dogs had died and another had been crippled in a fight, thus leaving me only fifteen for service. My object in this preliminary journey was chiefly to explore the track, and determine whether it were best to adhere to the Greenland coast, following up the route of Dr. Kan^, or to strike directly across the Sound from above Cape Hatherton, in the endeavour to reach, on Grinnell Land, the point of departure for which I had striven, without success, the previous autumn. It was evident that everything depended upon being now able to make good what I had lost'by that failure, through a chain of circumstances which I luivo no need to repeat, as the E iS V > 2SO A MIS //A P. I ! reader will recall the struggle which resulted in the crip- pling of my vessel, and which had nearly caused its total wreck among the ice-fields in the mouth of the Sound. If the state of the ice should prove favourable to a speedy crossing of the Sound to Grinncll Land, or even to secur- ing, without much delay, a convenient point of dei)arturo on tlio Greenland side beyond Humboldt Glacier, I had little doubt as to the successful termination of my summer labours. Upon reaching Sunrise Point we found the ice to bo very rough and insecure, and the tide of the previous night had opened a wide crack directly off the point, which it was necessary for us to cross. This crack had been closed over but a few hours, and the dogs hesitated a moment at its margin ; but Jensen's whip reassured them, and they plunged ahead. The ice bent under their weight, and, as if by a mutual understanding, the team scattered, but not in time to save themselves, for down they all sank, higgledy-piggledy, into the sea, dragging the sledge after them. Being seated on the back pai't of it, I had time to roll myself off, but Jensen was not so fortunate, and dogs, sledge, driver and all were floundering together in a con- fused tangle among the broken ice. Kalutunah, who was a few paces in the rear, coming up, wo extricated them from their cold bath. Jensen was pretty well soaked, and his boots were filled with water. Being only five miles from the schooner, I tliought it safest to drive back as rapidly as possible rather than construct a snow-hut to shelter my unlucky driver from the cold wind which was beginning to blow. Besides, our buffalo-skins were as wet as they could be, and we should have precious little comfort on our journey if we did not return and exchange them for dry ones. The dogs, too, ran great risk of injury by being allowed to rest in their wet coats in so low a temperature. The whip was not spared, and the vessel was reached without serious consecpences either to Jensen €i* II A R TSl'EXICS CAIAW 25* IT' a or tlio tciun. An Iiour or so Kufllcod for us to refit, when wo started again ; and being this time more eautious, we got around the [)oint without farther trouble. The icG was found to be smooth and the travelling good as wo moved up the coast ; and, not being very heavily laden, wo got on at a good pace. The snow had been packed very hard by tlio winds, and wherever there had been hummocks it had collected between tliem, so that, although the surface was somewhat rolling and uneven, yet it was as firm as a country road. Darkness coming on (\vc had not yet reached tho constant sunliglit of summer), wo hauled in under Cape Ilathcrtou and made our first camp. It was a real Arctic camp;— picketing tho dogs and buiTowing in a snow-bank are very simple operations, and require but little time. Jensen made tho burrow, and Kalutunah looked after the animals; and when all was ready wo crawled in and tried our best to be comfortable and to sleep ; but tho recollection of tho ship's bunk was too recent to render either practicable, except to Kalutunah, who did not seem to mind anything, and snored all through tho night in a most awful manner. Tho outside tempera- ture was 40° below zero. I was not sorry when wo got under way again next morning, and we were soon warmed up with the exercise. The same condition of ico continuing after passing Cape Hathertonj we quickly reached tho north horn of Fog Inlet. Here, as wo approached the point, I discovered a cairn perched uj)on a conspicuous spot, and, not having remembered it as the work of any of Dr. Kane's parties, I halted the sledges and went ashore to inspect it. It proved to have been built by Captain Ilartstcne, while searching for Dr. Kane, as shown by a record found in a glass vial at its base. The record was as follows : — " The U. S. Steamer Arctic touched here ami oxuniiiied thoroughly for traces of Dr. Kane and his associates, m iihout liiidiiig anything j t ^<1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 I.I 11.25 IS 121 12.5 110 Ui 1^ 12.2 I U& 12.0 MUu It i 1.4 ^ h^ m ^> '> > '/ ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation f\ 4^ \ [v - > 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 873-4503 6^ HI* 252 CAIRM PO/iVT. more tliiin a vial, with a small piece of cartridj^e-papor with llio letters * O. K. Au^'. 185:5,' ^omv. inutclie.s, and a sliip's riflt-ball. We go from this unknown point to Cape Hatlierton for a search. " II. J. IIautstfae, Lieut, Conidg. Arctic Expedition. " 8 r. M. August ] Ctli, IS."):). " P. S. Should the U. S. bark Jiclcasr. find thi.s, she will under- stand that wc are bound fur a searcli at CajK) Hatlierton. -II. J. II." I was much gratified witli this discovciy, for it brought to my mind the recollection of the protecting care of our government, and a gallant effort to rescue from the jaws of the Arctic ice a very forlorn })arty of men. I was only sorry that the author of this hastily written evidence of his spirited search had not reached Cape Hatlierton some time earlier, for then wc should have been saved many a hard and weary pull. Tlic locality will hereafter bo known as Cairn Point. Climbing to an elevation, I had a good view of the sea over a radius of several miles. The prospect was not encouraging. In every direction, except immediately down the coast toward Cape Hatlierton, the ice was very rough, being jammed against the shore and piled up over the sea in great ridges, which looked rather unpromising for sledges. The view decided my course of action. Cairn Point would be my starting-place if I crossed the Sound, and a most convenient position for a depot of supj^lies in the event of being obliged to hold on u]^ the Grecnlaud coast. Accordingly, I took from the sledges ail of the provisions except what was necessary for a six days' consumption, and discovering a suitable cleft in a rock, deposited it therein, covering it over Avith heavy stones, to protect it from the bears, intending to proceed up the coast for a general inspection of the condition of the ice on the Sound. These various operations consumed the day ; so we fed t <■ *f sea fed out five feet high. Starting on the top of this, we dug a pit about six feet long, four and a half wide, and four deep, leaving between the pit and the square side of the bank a wall about two feet thick. Over the top of this pit wo placed OEG of the sledges, over the sletlge the canvas apron used, while travelling, to inclose the cargo, and over that again we shovelled loose snow to the depth of some three feet. Then we dug a hole into this inclosurc through the tliin wall, pushed in our buffalo-skin bedding, and all articles penetrable by a dog's tooth and not inclosed in tin cases (for the dogs will eat anything, their own harness in- cluded), then a few blocks of hard snow, and finally we crawled in ourselves. The blocks of snow were jammed into the entrance, and we were housed for the night. Being bound on a short journey, I thought that I could afford a little extra weight, and carried alcohol for fuel, as j mHB 254 COLD LODGINGS. this is tlio c)!ilv fuel that can bc3 used in the close atmo- sphere of a snow-liut. A ghastly blue Llazo was soon flickering in our faces, and in our single tin-kettle some snow was being converted into water, and then the water began to hum, and then after a long while it boiled (it is no easy matter to boil water in such temperature with a small lamp), and we were refreshed with a good strong pint pot of tea ; then the tea -leaves were tossed into one corner, some more snow was put in the tea-kettle and melted, and out of desiccated beef and desiccated potatoes wo make a substantial hash ; and when this was disposed of we lit our pipes, rolled up in our buffaloes, and did the best we could for the balance of the niglit. My invention did not, however, turn out so satisfactory as was expected. The hut, if more commodious, and admitting of a little movement witliout knocking down the loose snow all over us, was much colder than either of our dens of the Kalutunah plan, the temperature in each of which stood about zero through the niglit, elevated to that degree by the heat radiated from our own persons, and from the lamp which cooked the supper. But this pit under the sledge could not be warmed above 20° below zero. No amount of coaxing could induce the thermo- meter to rise. Notwithstanding all this I still adhered to my theory about snow-huts, and I very unjustly threw the blame on Jensen for carelessness in the construction ; so I sent him out to pile on more snow. This did not mend matters in the least, but rather made them worse ; for, through the now open doorway, what little warmth we had managed to get up made its escape ; and when Jensen came back and we shut ourselves in again, the temperature was — 35°, and never afterwards reached higher than — 30°. Even Kalu- tunah was troubled to sleep, and, as he rubbed his eyes and pounded his feet together to keep them from freezing, he made a grimace which told more plainly than words in <• ft ?7^7Vi'-.-f*rv;- LOIV TEMPERATURE. 2^3 rmo- «<» ^^ I what low estimation he held the Nalcgaksoak's talents for making snow-huts. The cause of all this trouble was, however, explained next morning. The hut was well enougli, and I stuck ever afterward to the plan, and even Kalutunali was compelled to o^vn that it was the correct thing. It was perfectly tight. The thermometer told the story. As it hung ngainst the snow wall I called Jensen's attention to it. The toj) of the delicate red streak of alcohol stood at 31^ below zero. Wo ci'awled out in the open air at last, to try the sun- shine. " I will give you the best buffalo-skin in the ship, Jensen, if the air outside is not warmer than in that den which you have left so full of holes." And it really seemed so. Human eye never lit upon a more pure and glowing morning. The sunlight was sparkling all over the landscape and the great world of whiteness ; and the frozen plain, the hummocks, the icebergs, and the tall mountains, made a picture inviting to the eye. Not a breath of air was stirring. Jensen gave in without a murmur. " Well, the hut must have been full of holes, after all ; but I'll fix it next time." I brought out the thermometer and set it up in the shadow of an iceberg near by. I really expected to see it rise; but no, down sank the little red column, down, dovvn, almost to the very bulb, and it never stopped until it had touched 68J° below zero, — 100i° below the freezing point of water.* I do not recall but two instances of equally low tem- perature having been previously recorded, one of which, by Niveroff, at Yakoutsk, in Siberia, was —72'^ of the Fahrenheit scale. I am not, however, aware that any traveller has ever noted so low a tcmperatui'c while in the field. * It is worthy of observation tliat i^.^ •^r^ ^^ #v_/ ^ 7 CHArTEU XXV. UIIING the next few days the dog-sledges were going and coming between the schooner and Cairn Point continually, carrying to the latter place the stores needed for our summer cam- paign. The temperature still held very low, and I did not deem it prudent to send out a foot party. I knew by former experience how important it is for a commander to keep inexperienced men under his own eye, for one frozen man will demoralize a dozen, and a frosted foot is as contagious as the small-pox, Kalutunah's team was turned over to Mr. Knon*, and in doing this I gratified both parties and served my o^vn interests. The novelty of serving me, and of travelling with me, had by this time worn off, and I could plainly see that the chief was quite as well satisfied to remain with his wife and babies as to trust himself to the un- certain fortunes of the ice-fields, more especially as his curiosity to see how this man that he called the big chief behaved himself had been fully gratified. The recent joiu'ney had convinced him that I was fully entitled to his respect, since I did not freeze, and altogether con- ducted myself as well as an Esquimau would have done under like circumstances ; and this was a great deal in his eyes. It was not difficult to perceive that Kalutunah UBki 262 KALUTUXAH CIVILIZED. Ftiii'tcd with mo expecting to take mo imdcr liis protecting ■\ving; and if ho did not have tho pleasing satisfaction of seeing mo groaning with tho cokl, at least lio should have tho o])portunity to instruct mo how to live and how to travel ; but when I began to instruct him, and turned tho tables on him, ho was much disappointed ; and when to this vicdation of propriety I added tho still more un- pardonable offence of refusing him a boar-hunt, his en- tliusiasm oozed out very rapidly ; and if ho admired tho Nalegaksoak tho more ho desired to follow him the less, particularly as tho dangers of tho service preponderjited over tho cm(duments. Indeed, tho fellow was disi)osed to avail himself fully of the advantages of his new situation, and I soon made uj) my mind that ho was henceforth a pensioner upon my bounty, so I doubled his riches and mado liim the hap2)iest Esquimau that ever was seen. My thoroughly energetic, daring, and skilful hunter, who prided himself upon tho excellence of his equipments and tho abundance of his supplies, for onco in his life found himself so situated that ho was freed from all necessity of giving thought to the morrow. It was truly a novel sensation, and it is not surprising that he should wish to enjoy tho short-lived holiday. Ho was greatly amused, — amused with himself, amused with tho Nalegaksoak who had mado him so rich and allowed him to bo so lazy, and amused with tho whito man's dress with which ho was bedecked, and in which ho cut such a sorry figure. His face was never without a full-blown grin. I gave him a looking-glass, and ho carried it about with him con- tinually, looking at himself and laughing at his head with a cap on it, and at his red shirt which dangled beneath an old coat. It was all very lino and very wonderful. *' Don't I look pretty ?" was the poser which he put to everybody. But this pleasing state of mind into which he had been thrown; by this uew style of costume was doomed to be «> Ill 1 I "I I ifrn LAIiOCR OF DRIVIXG DOGS. 5^'3 a i/ short-lived. The novelty wore oiT in a few days. It ceased to amuse liini ; and lie discovered, no doubt, tliiit iu gratifying his vanity ho was vexing tlie llesli. ()n(^ day he ajipoared on ])oard in his old suit of furs. '^ What has beooino of tlio cap and red shirt and coat?" *'()h! I tumbled into the water, and my wife is drying them I" The truth leaked out afterward that he had gone home, changed the white man's Unery for tho cold-resisting fox-skins, and had chucked the whole suit among tho rocks. Kalutunah's team fell to ^Ir. Knorr from sheer ne- cessity, since there was no one else in the ship except Hans who could handle the whip. Knorr, with com- mondablo forcsiglit, had commenced his tjxercises early in tho winter, plainly foreseeing that his chances of accompanying me throughout my northern journey were not likely to be diminished by knowing how to drive dogs. Tho laboui* properly devolved upon one of the sailors ; but the field was oi)en to all alike ; and the young gentleman, finding that official dignity stood iu tho way of his ambition, witli a spirit which I was not slow to ai)prcciate, did not long hesitate in his choice. I have olsewhcro mentioned that the labour of driving dogs is not an easy one. Indeed, of all tho members of my party, Mr. Knorr was tho only one who succeeded well. Even in Southern Greenland, among tho Danes long resident there, it is rare to fincl a skilful j^driver. Neither of tho sailors, Carl nor Christian, whom I had taken from Upernavik, could throw the lash anywhere else than about their legs, or into tho face of whomsoever might happen to sit upon the sledge. As for hitting a dog, they could scarcely do it by any chance. ' My recent journey had decided my course of action. The last view which I had from the top of the lofty clift* behind Cairn Point convinced me that my only chance for the season was to cross the Sound from that place, for my 264 'ly ESQUIMA U FUNERAL. I observations up the Greenland coast liad shown mo, as has been already observed, the impracticability of reaching the Polar Sea by that route. McCormick had immediate charge of the work of preparation, and pushing everything forward with his customary energy, we were ready to start before the close of March. But the temperature still continued to range too low for safety, and I only awaited a rise of the thermometer. Our little community was now full of life and business. The Esquimaux were not an unimportant element in the hive. The most useful service came, however, from the ancient dames who presided over the domestic affairs of the snow house and the hut at Etah. They were sewing for us constantly, and were probably the first women in the world who ever grew rich '• Plying the "aeedle and tlirciid." But misfortune fell at length within the snow-hut. Poor old Kablunet, the voluble and kind-hearted and industrious wife of Tcheitchenguak, took sick. Her disease was pneumonia, and it ran its course with great rapidity. All my medicines and all my efforts to save her were of no avail, and she died on the fourth day. This unhappy event had nearly destroyed my prestige as a Narkosak, and indeed it would have done so com- pletely had it not been for the fortunate occurrence of an auroral display, during which time Jensen, whom my journal mentions as " a convenient and useful man," in- formed the Esquimaux that the white man's medicine will not operate. And thus was saved my reputation. She died at five o'clock in the evening ; at six she was sewed up in a seal-skin winding-sheet, and before it was yet cold the body was carried on Hans's sledge to a neigh- bouring gorge and there buried among the rocks and covered with heavy stones. The only evidences of sorrow or regret were manifested by her daughter, Merkut, the 1 H ) THE SXOW-HUT DESERTED. 265 \ \] wife of Hans, and tlicso appeared to be dictated rather from custom than affection. Merkut remained by the grave after the others had departed, and for about an hour she walked around and around it, muttering in a low voice some praises of the deceased. At the liead of the grave she then placed the knife, needles, and sinew which her mother had recently been using, and the last sad rites to the departed savage were performed. Tcheitchenguak €ame over and told me that there was no longer anybody to keep his lamp burning, and that his hut was cold, and with a very sorrowful face he begged to be allowed to live with Hans. My consent given, that of Hans was not deemed necessary ; and so the snow-hut became deserted, and the cheerful family that had there dispensed a rude hospitality was broken up ; and the " house of feasting " had become a *' house of mourning," and Tcheitchenguak had come away from it to finish alone his little remaining span of life. Old and worn down by a hard struggle for existence, he was now dependent upon a generation which cared little for him, while she who alone could have soothed the sorrows of his declining years had gone away before him to the far-off island where the Great Spirit, Torngasoak the Mighty, regales the happy souls with an endless feast on the ever ' green banks of the bound- less lake, where the ice is never seen and the darkness is never known, — where the sunshine is eternal, in the summer of bliss that is everlasting, — the Upcrnak that has no end. The temperature having somewhat moderated, I de- termined to set out in the evening of the third of April. Although the sun had not yet reached the horizon at midnight, there was quite light enough for my purposes, and by travelling in the night instead of the day we would have greater warmth while in camp, which is really the time of greatest danger from the cold ; for when on tho march men have usually little difficulty in keeping warm, 266 THE START. ?l fl if t even at the lowest tempcratui'cs, iirovidcd there is no wiud. Besides this, there is still another difficulty obviated. The constant glare of the mid-day sun is a very severe tax upon the eye, and great caution is needed to guard against that painful and inconvenient disease known as "snow-blindness." In order to i)rotect my men against it, as nmch as possible, I had supplied each of them with a I)air of blue-glass goggles. My field party consisted of every available officer and man in the schooner, twelve in inimbcr. Wo were all ready to start at seven o'clock ; and when I joined them on the ice beside the scliooner their appearance was as picturesque as it was animated. In advance stood Jensen, impatiently rolling out his long whip-lash ; and his eight dogs, harnessed to his sledge, " The Hope," were as im- patient as he. Next came Knorr with six dogs and the *' Perseverance," to the ujistander of which he had tied a little blue flag bearing this, his motto, " Toupurs p-ety Then came a lively group of eight men, each with a canvas belt across his shoulder, to which was attached a line that fiistened him to the sledge. Alongside the sledge stood McCormick and Dodge, ready to steer it among the hummocks, and on the sledge was mounted a twenty-foot metallic life-boat with which I hoped to navigate the Polar Soa. The mast was up and the sails were spread, and from the peak floated our boat's ensign, which had seen service in two former Arctic and in one Antarctic voyage, and at the mast-head were run up the Masonic emblems. Our little signal-flag was stuck in the stern-sheets. The sun was shining brightly into tho harbour, and ^everybody was filled with enthusiasm, and ready for the hard pull that was to come. Cheer after cheer met me as I came down the stairway from the deck. At a given signal Radcliffe, who was left in charge of the vessel, touched off the " swivel," *' March," cried McCormick, crack went the whips, the dogs sprang into 4 \ -J THE DEPARTCRE. 67 tlicir colte,tLo men stictcliccl their -track ropes "and the cavalcade moved off. ^ ' The events which follow I will give from my "fic-M- book, trusting that the reader will have sufficienUntercst in my party to accompany tliem throngli the icy ^^-ildor ness into .^nch they plunged; but for^his we wil tl'd a new chapter. ' ^^ It ff. f: n t. CHAPTER XXVI. April 4tb URIED in a snow-bank, and not over well plcafeod with my first day's work. The temperature of tlie air has tumbled down to — 32^, and inside the hut it is now, two hours after entering it, a degree above zero, and steadily rising. Three of the party succumbed to the cold on the march, and I had much difficulty in keeping them from being seriously frozen. We got on finely until we reached Sunrise Point, where the ice was very rough, and we were bothered for more than two hours in getting over it with our long and cumbersome boat and sledge. It was probably only a little foretaste of wliat is to come when we strike across the Sound. Once over this ugly place, wo halted to melt some water, for the men had become very warm and thirsty. Unluckily, just at this time a smart breeze sprung up, chilling us through and through, for we had been perspiring freely with the violent exercise. The first cold blast put an extinguisher upon the enthu- siasm which the party had carried along with them from the ship, and it was singular to observe the change which came over their spirits. It was the contrast of cham- pagne and sour cider. Some of them looked as if they were going to their own funerals, and wore that "My THE FIRST DA VS JOC RXE \ 269 ' God! what shall I do?" look that would liavo been amusing enough had it not been alarming. One of these, without sufficient energy to keep himself in motion, crouched behind a snow-drift, and when discovered he had s(i[uarely settled himself for a freeze. In half an hour his inclination would have been accomidished. When I came up to him he said very coolly, and with a tone of resignation worthy a martyr, " I'm freezing." His fingers and toes were already as wliito as a tallow-candle. There was no time to be lost. I rubbed a little circula- tion back into them, and, placing him in charge of two men with orders to keep him moving, I saved him from the serious consequences wliich wouhl otherwise have resulted from his faint-hcartedness. Without waiting for more of the coveted drops of water, I pushed on for tlie first snow-bank, and got my party out of the wind and under cover. But this was not done without difficulty. It seemed as if two or three of them were possessed with a heroic desire to die on the spot, and I really believe that they would have done it cheerfully rather than, of their own accord, seize a shovel and aid in constructing, if not a place of comfort, at least a place of rest and safety. This sort of thing at the start is not encouraging, but I cannot say that I am much surprised at it ; for my former experience has shown the liazard of ex2)osing men in the wind in such low temperatures. This, howx^vcr, is one of those things against wliich no foresight can provide. No serious consequences ajq^ear to have resulted frc^m the; event, and the sutt'orcrs are growing more comfortable as the temperature of the hut rises. We have had our ru»mmm*mmmm0mmm0HVMIIm 270 / T CJ/A\V POINT, II April 5th. Under the snow again near Cape Hatlicrton. Our halt at the last camp was continued for eighteen hours, until the men had got fairly thawed out, and the wind had entirely subsided. The short march hence was made slowly and steadily, as I do not wish at first to urge upon the men too much work, nor to keep them long exposed to the cold. There are no frost-bites of consequence resulting from the exposure of yesterday. The sj)irits of the party have somewhat revived. The temperature has risen, and the hut is warmer than that of last night — that is, my thermometer, hanging from the runner of the sledge over my head, shows 10^ above zero, April Otli. We have reached Cairn Point, and are comfortably housed. The men have come up to the work reasonably well. The depression of spirits which followed the blast of cold wind that overtook us above Sunrise Point has passed away, and all hands are gay and lively. I had no need to urge or instruct or use the snow-shovel myself at this camp. The weak in spirit have profited by their lessons, and have learned that in providing for one's comfort and safety on the ice-fields the shovel materially assists appeals to heaven — ^a very wholesome change, and, as a result of it, instead of being upwards of two hours in constructing our hut, as on the first night, wo have this time accomplished the task in less than one, and everybody seemed ambitious of doing the work in the shortest possible space of time. The travelling to-day has been very fair for the dog- sledges, but very bad for the boat. It runs easily enough on the smooth surface, but dragging its long length over a snow-drift even four feet deep, or, worse still, over hummocks even half as high, is a troublesome task ; and we have crossed many strips of rough ice to-day which could not be passed until we had broken a track. In A.V UGL Y SCEXE. 271 ;hG O id r In consequence of tins wo were obliged to leave some of tlio load behind, especially as I wished to reach Cairn Point before camping. Knorr and Jensen had already caclujd one of their cargoes of March at Capo Hathcrton, and this was left with it. It will cost us a day's labour to bring it up. The difficulties in transporting the boat among tho hummocks, and the very light load which either the men or dogs can carry over tho broken ice, as shown by this day's experience, convince me that the boat and carg<3 can hardly bo transported to tho west coast at one journey ; and I have therefore concluded to leave the boat here for the present, at least until the track is further explored, and set out with the two dog-slcdgcs and a foot party dragging tho other sledge, laden with such stores as tliey can carry, for a depot on Grinnell Land. I can at any time send the party back for tho boat ; and if it should turn out that the boat cannot be got across the Sound, then I shall, in any event, have a depot of supplies for my explorations over the ice with the dog-sledgcs, bcforo the thaw of Juno and July shall have put an cud to that species of travelling. The track before mo looks unpromising enough. After the party was housed, I climbed up to a consi- derable eminence, and have had the melancholy satisfaction of looking out over tho ugliest scene that my eye has ever chanced to rest upon. There was nothing inviting in it. Except a few miles of what has evidently, up to a very late period of the fall, been open water, which has frozen suddenly, there is not a rod of smooth ice in sight. The whole Sound appears to have been filled with ice of tho most massive description, which, broken up into a moving " pack " in tho summer, has come down upon this Green- land coast with the southerly setting current, and has piled up all over the sea in a confused jumble. I know what it is from havino: crossed it in 1854 : and if it is as 272 THE COOK'S LV DIFFICULTY. bad now as then (and it appears to be much worse) there is every prospect of a severe tussle. April 7tli. Did anybody ever see such capricious weather as this of Smith Sound? It is the torment of my life, and the enemy of my plans. I can never depend upon it. It is the veriest flirt that ever owned Dame Nature for a mother. We camped in a calm atmosphere, but in the middle of the night — bang! — down came a bugle-blast of Boreas, and then the old god blow and blew as if he had never blown in all his life before, and wanted to prove what ho could do. We could hardly show our noses out of doors, and have lain huddled together in this snow den all day — a doleful sort of imprisonment. It is with much difficulty that we have got anything to eat, and we never should if I had not turned cook myself, and shown these innocents of mine how to keep the furnace-lamp from being blown out ; for we can use only lard for fuel, and the smoke is so great that we cannot have the cooking done inside. It seems to me that nothing takes the wits out of a man so quickly as the cold. The cooks had not sense enough left to enclose themselves in a snow wall, and I had to teach them how to keep up the proper proportion of lard and rope-yarns in the lamp to prevent the flame from smothering on the one hand, and from being whiffed out on the other. We were more than two hours in making a pot of coffee, and came in out of the pelting snow-drift with our furs all filled with it ; and now it melts, and the clothing is getting damp, for we do not change our dress Vv'hen we crawl in between our buffalo-skin sheets. t April 8tli. Could anything be more aggravating ? The gale holds on and keeps us close prisoners. My people could no more live in it than in a fiery furnace. I never saw any- IX A SXOIV nA.\^'. 273 ro thing like it. Last night it fell warmer and snowed, whieh gave us encouragement; hut the wind hlow afterward more fiercely than ever, and human eye never beheld such sights. There was nowhere anything else but flying snow. The sun*s face was blinded, and the hills and coast were hidden completely out of sight. Once in a while we can see the ghost of an iceberg, but that is rarely. We tried to brave it yesterday and again to-day, for I wanted to go down to Cape Hathorton to bring up our cargo there. So we commenced tearing down the hut to get at the sledge ; but ten minutes con- vinced me that half tlie party would freeze outright if wo imdertook to face the storm, and I sent the flock again under cover, and went behind the snow wall to help the cooks with their fire. The i)oor dogs were almost buried out of sight. They had all crouched together in a heai) ; and as the drift accumulated over them, they poked their heads further and further up into it ; and when I came to count them to see if any had left us and run back to the ship or been frozen to death, it was truly counting noses. Thei'C were fourteen of them. It seems rather strange to be writing on at this rate in a snow-hut, but the truth is I have no more trouble in ^vi'iting here than if I were in my cabin. The temper- ature has come up almost to the freezing point, and it is a great relief to write. What else should I do ? I have two small books which I have brought along with me for just such emergencies as this, and while my companions play cards and bet gingerbread and oyster suppers and bottles of rum to be paid in Boston, I find nothing better to do than read and write ; and, since I cannot remain unoccupied, but must kill time in some manner, or else sleep, suppose I describe this den in the snow-bank. It is a pit eighteen feet long by eight wide and four deep. Over the top of said pit are placed the boat-oars, T iJ^immS^^SSil^tSmSmiimmmmmmma 274 'J'lIIRTKEX IX A BED, to support tlio slcclgo, which is laid across them ; and over tho slcclgo is thrown the boat's sail ; and over the sail is thrown loose snow. In one end of the den thus formed tlicro is a hole, through whicli wo crawl in, and which is now filled up tightly with blocks of snow. Over tho floor (if tho term is admissible) there is spread a strip of india-rubber cloth : over this cloth a strip of buffalo- skins ; which arc all squared and sewed together ; and over this again another just like it. When wo want to sleep wo draw ourselves imderneath the upper one of these buffalo strips, and accommodate ourselves to the very moderate allowance of S2)ace assigned to each person as best we can. The post of honour is at the end furthest from the door ; and exce2)t the opposite end, this post of honour is tho least desirable of all other places; for, somehow or other, tho twelve sleepers below me manage to pull the " clothes " off and leave me jammed against the snow wall, with nothing on me but my travelling gear ; for we go to bed without change of costume except our boots and stockings, which we tuck under our heads to help out a pillow, while what wo call " reindeer sleeping stockings " take their i)lace on the feet. And, further- more, there is not much that I can say. This caa hardly be called comfort. I have a vague remei ibrance of having slept more soundly than I have done these last four nights, and of having rested uj)on something more agreeable to the " quivering flesh " than this bed of snow, the exact sensations communicated by which are positively indescribable — a sort of cross between a pine board and a St. Lawrence gridiron. And yet tlie people are busy and merry enough. Harris, one of my most energetic and ambitious men, is sewing a patch on his seal-skin pan- taloons, stopping a "hole to keep the winds away;" Miller, another spirited and careful man, is closing up a rip in his Esquimau boot ; and Carl, who has a fine tenor voice, has just finished a sailor's song, and is clearing hi&. THE SOi'KCE OF HAmXESS. 275 r d a. Ir Is throat for "Tho Bold Soldier Boy." Several packs of cards arc in rcquisitiou, and altogctlicr wo are rather a jolly party — tho veriest Mark Tapleys of travellers. Wo aro leading a novel sort of life, and I can imagine that tho time will conio when I shall turn over tho pages of this diary and bo amused at the strangeness of tho contrast of these events with tho humdrum routine of ordinary existence. I have no doubt that I shall then wonder if this is not all set down in a dream, so singular will it aj^pcar ; and yet so quickly do the human body and the human mind accommodate themselves to the changing circumstances of life that, in everything wo do, tho events seem at tho time always natural, and cause ns no astonishment ; still, when we review tho i)ast, we aro continually amazed that wo have undergone so many transformations, and can scarcely recognize ourselves in our chamelion dresses. If it should ever again be my luck to eat canvas-back at Delmonico's I sliall no doubt very heartily despise the dried beef and potato hash which now constitute, with bread and coffee, my only fare ; and yet no canvas -back was ever enjoyed as much as this same hash; and no coffee distilled through French percolator was ever so fine as the pint pot which is passed along ta me, smoking hot in tho morning ; and tho best treasures of Perigord forest were never relished more than aro the few little chips of ship's biscuit which the coffee washes down. In fact, our i)leasures aro but relative. They are never absolute ; and happiness is quite probably, as Paley has wisely hinted, but a certain state of that " nervous net- work lining tho whole region of the praicordia;" and, therefore, since this cold pencil only gives me pain in the fingers, while nothing disturbs the harmony of the prrccordia, I do not know but that I am about as well off as I ever was in my life. True, I have not the means which I expected to have for the execution of my designs, and I am beset with difficulties and embarrassments ; but T 2 it. ;,A n i> % ■w ?1 276 ''ALL LS vanity:' if liappiiicsH HcH in that quarter, pleasure lies in the future, for wo willingly forget the present in the antici- l)ati()ns — in the delights to come from the contests and struggles ahead ; and it is well that this is so ; for that which wo spend most time in getting is often not worth the having. Tlio Preacher tells us that " All is vanity ;" and what says the Poet ? — t« — plonsures arc like imjjpics sinuud ; You Ht'izo tljo flower — its l)looin is hhcd; Or like tiio snow-fall in tho river — A moment white, then melts for ever; Or like the boreal is race, That Hits ere you can point the place." r -Mv ^e*- tio !1- 1(1 at til > I 1 ,H CIIArTER XXVII. WILL not lay so heavy a tax upon the reader's patience as to ask him to follow the pages of my diary through the next three weeks. Diaries are of necessity so niucli taken up with matters that are purely personal and contain so nnich of endless repetition, so many events tluit are of daily recurrence, that it is impossible in the very nature of things that they cm have much interest for anybody but the writci-s of them. Suffice it, therefore, to say that the storm continued with unabated violence during the day succeeding that which closed the last chapter, and it did not fairly subside until the end of the tenth day. Meanwhile, however, Avo were busily occupied. The storm did not keep us housed. Our first duty was to bring up the stores left at Cape Hatherton. This accomplished, we broke up our camp and set out to cross the Sound with a moderate load, the men dragging the large sledge, while the dogs were at- tached as before. The wind had, fortunately, hauled more to the south, and, coming nearly on our backs, wo found little inconvenience from this source. But diffi- culties of another kind soon gave us warning of the serious nature of the task which we had imdertaken. By winding to the right and left, and by occasionally re- tracing our steps when we had selected an impracticable IX i n mmmn iMU-iaSui&^'iMllr.l .'• .^ 'i 278 DIFFICULTIES OF THE TRACK. route, we managed to get over the first few miles without much embarrassment, but farther on the track was rough l^ast description. I can compare it to nothing but a promiscuous accumulation of rocks closely packed toge- tlier and piled up over a vast plain in great heaps and endless ridges, leaving scarcely a foot of level surface and requiring the traveller to pick the best footing ho can over tlic ineciualities, — sometimes mounting unavoidable obstructions to an elevation of ten, and again more than a hundred feet above the general level. The interstices between these closely accumulated ice masses are filled up, to some extent, witii drifted snow. The reader will readily imagine the rest. He Avill see the sledges winding through the tangled wilderness of broken ice-tables, the men and dogs pulling and jnishing up their respective loads, as Napoleon's soldiers niay be supposed to have done when drawing their artillery through the steep and rugged passes of the Alps. He will see them clambering over the very summit of lofty ridges, through which there is no opening, and again descending on the other side, the sledge often plunging over a preci- pice, sometimes capsizing, and frequently breaking. Again ho will see the party, baffled in their attempt to cross or find a pass, breaking a track with shovel and handspike ; or, again, unable even with these appliances to accomplish their end, they retreat to seek a better track ; and they may be lucky enough to find a sort of gap or gateway, upon the winding and uneven surface of which they will make a mile or so with comparative case. The snow-drifts are sometimes a lielj^ and sometimes a hindrance. Their surface is uniformly hard, but not always firm to the foot. The crust frequently gives way, and in a most tiresome and provoking manner. It will not quite bear the weight, and the foot sinks at the very moment when the other is lifted. But, worse than tliis, the chasms between the hummocks are frequently bridged over with snow in such I ^ SLOJV PROGT^ESS. 279 1 a manner as to leave a considerable space at tlie bottom quite unfilled ; and at the very moment when all looks promising, down sinks one man to his middle, anotbcr to the neck, another is buried out of sight, the sledge gives way, and to extricate the whole from this unl:'\p2)y pre- dicament is probably the labour of hours ; especially, as often hai)pens, if the sledge must be unloaded ; and this latter is, from many causes, an event of constant occur- rence. Not unfrequently it is necessary to carry the cargo in two or three loads. Tlio sledges are coming and going continually, and the day is one endless pull and haul. The nautical cry of the sailors, intended to inspire unison of action, mingles with the loud and not always amiable commands of Jensen and Knorr, each urging ou his fatigued and toil-worn dogs. It would be difficidt to imagine any kind of labour more disheartening, or which would sooner sap the energies of both men and animals. The strength gave way gradually ; and when, as often happened, after a long and hard day's work, we could look back from an eminence and almost iire a rifle-ball into our last snow-hut, it was truly dis- couraging. I need hardly say that I soon gave up all thought of trying to get the boat across the Sound. A hundred men could not have accomi)lished the task. My only purpose now was to get to the coast of Grinnell Land with as largo a stock of provisions as possible, and to retain the men as long as they could be of use ; but it soon became a ques- tion whether the men themselves could carry over their own provisions independent of the surplus which I should require in order that the severe labour should result to advantage. In spite, however, of everything the men kept steadfastly to their duty, through sunshine and through storm, through cold, and danger, and ftxtiguc. The cause of this extraordinary condition of the ice will need but little explanation in addition to that which has ,7 280 sMirir souxD, been given in tlic preceding chapter. The reader will liavc no difficulty in comprehending the cause by an examination of a ma^) of Smith Sound. He will observe tliat the Sound is, in effect, an extensive sea, with an axis running almost east and west, and having a length of about one hundred and sixty miles and a width of eighty. The name " Sound," by which it is known was first given to it by its discoverer, brave old William Baffin, two hundred and fifty odd years ago. The entrance from Cape Alexander to Cape Isabella is but thirty miles over, and by referring to the map it will be seen that this gateway rapidly expands into the sea to wliich I have invited attention, — a sea almost as large as the Cas2)ian or Baltic, measured from the terminus of Baffin Bay to where Ken- nedy Channel narrows the waters before they expand into the great Polar Basin. This extensive sea should bear the name of the leader of the expedition which first defined its boundaries — I mean, of course, Dr. Kane. Now into this sea the current sets from the Polar Basin throTigh the broader gateway above menti(med, known as Kennedy Channel ; and the ice, escaping but slowly through the narrow Sound into Baffin Bay, has accumu- lated within the sea from century to century. The summer dismembers it to some extent and breaks it up into fragments of varying size, which are pressing together, wearing and grinding continually, and crowding down upon each other and upon the Greenland coast, thus pro- ducing the result which we have seen. In order fully to appreciate the power and magnitude of this ice-movement, it must be borne in mind that a very largo proportion of the ice is of very ancient formation, — old floes or ice-fields of immense thickness and miles in extent, as well as of icebergs discharged from Humboldt Glacier. These vast masses, tearing along with the cur- rent in the early winter through the sea as it is closing up and new ice is making rapidly, are as irresistible as a ORIGIX OF A FLOE, 2Sr 1 tornado among the autumn leaves. As an illustration, I will give the dimensions of an old field measured by mo while crossing the Sound. Its average height was twenty feet above the sea level, and about six by four miles in extent of surftice, whieh was very uneven, rising into rounded hillocks as much as eiglity feet in height, and sinking into deep and tortuous valleys. To cross such a floe with our sledges was almost as difficult as crossing the hummocks themselves ; for, iu addition to its uneven surface, like that of a very rough and broken country, it was covered with crusted snoAV through which tlic sledge-runners cut continually, and which broke down under the foot. I estimated its solid contents, in round numbers, at 6,000,000,000 of tons, its depth being about one hundred and sixty feet. Around its border was thrown un on all sides a sort of mountain chain of last year's ice, the loftiest i^innacle of which was one hundred and twenty feet above the level of the sea. This ice-hill, as it might well bo called, was made up of blocks of ice of every shape and of various sizes, piled ono upon the other in the greatest confusion. Numerous forms equally rugged, though not so lofty, rose from the same ridge, and from every part of this desolate area ; and if a thousand Lisbons were crowded together and tumbled to pieces by the shock of an earthquake, the scene could liardly be more rugged, nor to cross the ruins a severer task. The origin of such a floe dates back to a very remote period. That it was cradled in some deep recess of the land, and there remained until it had gi'own to such a thickness that no summer's sun or water's washing could wholly obliterate it before the winter cold came again, is most probable. After this it grows as the glacier grows, from above, and is, like the glacier, wholly composed of fresh ice, — that is, of frozen snow. It will be thus seen that the accumulation of ice upon the mountain tops is 282 AVERAGi: THICKXESS OF THE ICE. not cliffcrcnt from the accumulation which talvcs phico upon tlicso floating fichls, an^"""-tLe shore it. gross suddenly arrested. Om ;":!;' ^° '""""' "'»■ I->- for a conspicuons headland hn,. , ""' ""''^'= 'I'^octly ward, over a strip of S "1^^ .f ''° '"''^ *" *'"> ""■■tt- and seemed to bo aJo. . V '° ' '''"''• This head- latitude 82', and iVas v rv 7' ^ "'""^ '™'" "«' '- "car ""happily, the old i e aZ u deiT' f '""^^ " ' »"■', f orambling over the frin'Tof h ' ^ ." "" '"''' ""^' »"«'• ;t. we found ourselves upof i 7^'- 'T T'''^'' ""'■•S'"^'! ""ernng instinet of tI,o Z ll 7 ^"■"''^'■- ^he danger. They were observed V'' "' "^ a^.^roaehing with unusual caution andfitfn'' "T ""^ *" "^" »«ving and left, and refused o leeed ft. 7 '"^1^""' '" "SJ'° of the dogs was too foS to n^ ''^- ^^''^ ''^''"^i"'"- to Its meaning ; a„d movifo "J:, *" '^r^' ""^ '^-''t as perceived that the ice ,v"s°rnfto ? '"^^''""''> ^ 1'"«Wv fat this might be mere t a £ "•"' ""'''"• ^Wnfa-ng fi'om some peculiarity of ho 7 ""'^"'"^'•'^"^o. resulting "i'on the old floe and ml" T"'' '^^ ''""""'l ''ack eastuard. Walking. nowTn o?l *'''' '""^ ^^'^''t to tho inspired with greater o"..'"?, 1"'° ^'*^S« '''^^ -.'c when I found tho ice ^ZT'- "'' "°' Proceeded far with which I sounded if'trS^ "T ""''- ')«> «tafi; back and sought a still more eaSn ^ "^'''" ^^^ ""'"^'l -rw^b^:xrz J- ^^^^ -.« --e that the ieeotSet^^--;:^^^^^^^^^^ y 314 REMARk'AnLE COXDITIOX OF ICE I.V THE /.\ / ) . sablo, and tliat iicrscvcnuico could oidy end in disappoint- ment ; for if wo happened to break tlirough, we should not only bo in great jeopardy, but would, by getting wot, greatly retard, if not wholly defeat our progress to tbo o])posito shore. Accordingly wo drew back toward tho hind, seeking safety again upon the old floe, and hauling then to the westward, endeavoured to cross over further up the bay; but hero the same conditions existed as out- side, and tho dogs resolutely refused to proceed as soon as wo left tlic old ice. Not wishing to be defeated in my purpose of crossing over, wo held still further west and persevered in our efforts until convinced that tho bay could not bo crossed, and then we had no alternative but to retreat to the land-ico and follow its circuit to our destination. With tho view of ascertaining how far this course •was likely to carry us from a direct line, I walked, while the dogs were resting, a few miles along the shore until I could SCO the head of tho bay, distant not less than twenty miles. To make this long detour would occupy at least two if not three days, — an undertaking not justified by the state of our provisions, — and wc therefore went into camp, weary with more than twelve hours' work, to await the issue of further observation on the morrow. Surprised at the condition of the ice in the bay, I deter- mined to climb the hill above the camp, with the view of ascertaining the probable cause of our being thus baffled, and to ascertain if a more direct route could not be found fui'ther to the eastward than that by the land-ice of the bay ; for it was now clear that it was only possible to con- tinue our journey northward in one or the other of these directions. The labours of the day made it necessary, however, that I should procure some rest before attempt- ing; to climb the hill to such an elevation as would enable me to obtain a clear view of the condition of the ice to the opposite shore. ipoint- sliouLl ig wet, to tho rd tho auling 'urtlicr as out- s soon in my )st and 10 bay ivc but to oiu* course , while until I twenty t least |by the camp, it tho dcter- licw of Raffled, I found )f the con- these jssary, 3mpt- Inable bo the I'lFAV l-ROM THE CI.II'F, " IS After a most profound and refreshing kIco]), inspired by a weariness which I had rarely bcforo experienced, to an equal degree, I climbed the steep liill-sidc to tho top of a ragged cliff, which I supposed to be about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. The view which I had from this elevation furnished a solution of the cause of my progress being arrested on the previous day. The ice w^as everywhere in the same condition as in the mouth of the bay, across which I had endeavoured to pass. A broad crack, starting from the middle of the bay, stretched over the sea, and uniting with other cracks as it meandered to the eastward, it exi)anded as the delta of some mighty river discharging into the ocean, and under a water-sky, which hung upon the northern and eastern horizon, it was lost in tho open sea. Standing against the dark sky at the north, there was seen in dim outline the white sloping summit of a noble headland, — the most northern known land upon the globe. I judged it to be in latitude 82^ 30', or four hundred jaid fifty miles from the North Pole. Nearer, another bold cape stood forth ; and nearer still the headland, for which I had been steering my course the day before, rose majes- tically from the sea, as if pushing up into the very .skies a lofty moimtain peak, upon which the winter had dropped its diadem of snows. There was no land visible except the coast upon which I stood. The sea beneath me was a mottled sheet of white and dark patches, these latter being either soft decaying ice or places where the ice had wholly disappeared. These spots were heightened in intensity of shade, and multiplied in size as they receded, until the belt of the water-sky blended them all together into one uniform colour of dark blue. The old and solid floes (some a quarter of a mile, and others miles, across) and the massive ridges and wastes of hummocked ice which lay piled between them 1 til ■i.i.mwarAwit-tH. ..«ftmU«,C«ertM'*(ni« li6 THE JOURNEY ENDED. hi h:i I' ' and around their margins, were the only parts of the sea which retained the whiteness and solidity of winter. I reserve to another chapter all discussion of the value of the ohservations which I made from this point. Suffice it here to say that all the evidences showed that I stood upon the shores of the Polar Basin, and that the broad ocean lay at my feet ; that the land upon which I stood, culminating in the distant cape before me, was but a point of land projecting far into it, like the Ceverro Vostochnoi Noss of the opposite coast of Siberia ; and that the little margin of ice which lined the shore was being steadily worn away ; and within a month, the Avhole sea would bo as free from ice as I had seen the north water of Baffin Bay, — interrupted only by a moving pack, drifting to and fro at the will of the winds and currents. To proceed further north was, of course, impossible. The crack which I have mentioned would, of itself, have prevented us from making the opposite land, and the ice outside the bay was even more decayed than inside. Several open patches were observed near the shore, and in one of these there was seen a flock of DoveMe. At several points during our march up Kennedy Channel I had observed their breeding-places, but I was not c little surprised to see the birds at this locality so early in the season. Several burgomaster-gulls flew overhead, making their way northward, seeking the open water for their feed- ing grounds and summer haunts. Around these haunts of the birds there is never ice after the early days of June. And now my journey was ended, and I had nothing to do but make my way back to Port Foulke. The advancing season, the rapidity with which the thaw was taking place, the certainty that the open water was eating into Smith Sound as well through Baffin Bay from the south, as through Kennedy Channel from the north, thus endanger- ing my return across to the Greenland shore, warned mo that I had lingered long enough. PLANTING THE FLAG. 317 I the sea or. lie value- . Suffice b I stood lie broad I stood, t a point >&toclinoi the little steadily would bo 3f Baffin ig to and ipossible. >elf, have d the ice 1 inside. Lore, and i]z\G. At hannel I )t c little ly in the , making leir feed- launts of June. )thing to Ivancing 3g place, to Smith outh, as ndanger- irned mo It now only remained for us to plant our flag in token of our discovery, and to deposit a record in proof of our presence. The flags* were tied to the whip-lash, and sus- pended between two tall rocks, and while we were build- ing a cairn, they were allowed to flutter in the breeze ; then, tearing a leaf from my note-book, I wrote on it as follows : — " This point, the most northern land that has ever been reached, was visited by the undcr:5igned, May 18th, 19th, 18(51, accompanied by George F. Kiiorr, travelling with a dogsledge. We arrived here after a toilsome inarch of forty-six days from my winter harbour, near Cape Alexander, at the mouth of Smith Sound. My observa- tions place us in latitude 81° 35', longitude 70° 30', W. Our further progress was stopped by rotten ice and cracks. Kennedy Channel appears to expand into the Polar Basin; and, satisfied that it is navi- gable at least during the months of July, Augii-st, and September, I go hence to my winter harbour, to make another trial to get througli Smith Sound with my vessel, after the ice breaks up this summer. "I. I. Hayes. "i¥aT/19i7i, ISGl." This record being carefully secured in a small glass vial, which I brought for the purpose, it was deposited beneath the cairn ; and then our faces were turned home- wards. But I quit the place with reluctance. It pos- sessed a fascination for me, and it was with no ordinary sensations that I contemplated, my situation, with one * These were a small United States flag (boat's ensign), which had been carried in the South Sea Expedition of Captain Wilkes, U.S.N., and afterwards in the Arctic Expeditions of Lieut. Cumg. DeHavL-n and Dr. Kane ; a little United States flag which had been committed to Mr. Soniitag by the ladies of the Albany Academy ; two diminutive Masonic flags intrusted to me,— one by the Kane Lodge of New York, tlie other by the Columbia Lodge of Boston ; and our Expedition sigual-llag, bearing the Expedition emblem, the Pole Star— a crimson star, on a white field — also a gift from fair hands. Being under the obligation of a sacred promi.se to ui:furl all of these flags at the most noithern point attuine;!, it was my jjleasing duty to carry them with me— a duty rendered none th(? less pleasing by the circumstance that, together, they did not weigh three pounds. ,i8 rLANTIXG THE FLAG. solitary companion, in that hitherto untrodden desert ; while my nearness to the earth's axis, the consciousness of standing upon land far beyond the limits of previous observation, the reflections which crossed my mind respect- ing the vast ocean which lay spread out before me, the thought that these ice-girdled waters might lash the shores of distant islands where dwell human beings of an un- known race, were circumstances calculated to invest the very air with mystery, to deepen the curiosity, and to strengthen the resolution to persevere in my determination to sail upon this sea and to explore its lurthest limits ; and as I recalled the struggles which had been made to reach this sea, — through the ice and across the ice, — by generations of brave men, it seemed as if the spirits of these Old Worthies came to encourage me, as their ex- perience had already guided me ; and I felt that I had within my grasp " the great and notable thing " which had inspired the zeal of sturdy Frobisher, and that I had achieved the hope of matchless Parry. a,'-l lesert ; ness of irevious espect- ne, the shores an un- Bst the and to ination limits ; lade to le— by irits of eir ex- b I had which 1 1 had CHAPTER XXXII. ET ns j)ansc here a few moments, in order that we may take a brief survey of the Polar Basin and arrive at a correct understanding of what is meant by the term, " Open Polah Sea," so often used. By referring to the circumpolar map, the reader \^'ill be able to form a more accurate judgment than he could from the most elaborate description. He will observe that about the North Pole of the earth there is an extensive sea, or, more properly, ocean, with an average diameter of more than two thousard miles. He will observe that this sea is almost completely surrounded by land, and that its shores are, for the most part, well defined, — the north coasts of Greenland and Grinnell Land, which project farthest into it, being alone undetermined. He will note that these shores occupy, to a certain extent, a uniform distance from the Pole, and are everywhere within the region of perpetual frost. He will remember that they are inhabited everywhere by people of the same race, to whom the soil yields no subsistence, who live exclusively by hunting and fishing, and confine their dwelling-places either to the coast or to the banks of the rivers which flow northward. He will observe that the long line of coast which gives lodgment to these Arctic nomads is inter- rupted in three princi^^al places ; and that through these vi 120 BOUNDARIES OF THE POLAR BASIN. tlio waters of tlie Polar Sea mingle with the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, — these breaks being Baffin Bay, Behring Strait, and the broader opening between Greenland and Nova Zembla ; and if he traces the cur- rents on the map and follows the Gulf Stream as it flows northward, pouring the warm waters of the Tropic Zone through the broad gateway east of Spitzbergen and forcing out a return current of cold waters to the west of Spitz- bergen and through Davis Strait, he will very readily comi^rehend why in this incessant disjdacement of the waters of the Pole by the waters of the Equator the great body of the former is never chilled to within several degrees of the freezing-point ; and since it is probably as deep, as it is almost as broad, as the Atlantic between Europe and America, he will be prepared to understand that this vast body of water tempers the whole region with a warmth above that which is otherwise natural to it ; and that the Almighty hand, in the all-wise dispensation of His power, has thus placed a bar to its congelation ; and he will read in this another symbol of Nature's great law of circulation, which, giving water to the parched earth and moisture to the air, moderates as well the temperature of the zones — cooling the Tropic with a current of water from the Frigid, and warming the Frigid with a current from the Tropic* * Tho temperature of the air at the North Pole has furnislied a fruitful thenio of speculation, botli in connection with tlie influence of the sea and of the sun. I liave before mo a highly instructive paper on the climate of the North Pole, read before the Royal Geo- graphical Society of liondon, Af)ril 10th, I8(J5, by W. E. Hickson, Esq., from which I extract the following : — "It had always been supposed that the immediate arms of the Poles mnst be the cohletit regions of the globe, because the farthest points from the equator. Hence the argument that the higher the latitude tlie greater mnst be the difficnltiis and dangers of naviga- tion. Quite an I opposite opinion, however, had begun to prevail among meteorologists on the publication, in 1817, of the Isothermal system of Alexander Von Humboldt, v/hich showed that distance , 1 of tlie Baffin etween he cur- it flows c Zone forcing ' Spitz- readily of the e great several ably as ►etween orstand )n with it : and tion of tt ; and cat law earth erature water urrent islied a iflueiice tmctive al Geo- lickson, of the farthest ;her the naviga- prevail fhermal llistance POLAR CURRENTS. 321 Bearing these facts in mind, the reader will perceive that it is the surface-water only which ever reaches so low a temperature that it is changed to ice ; and ho will also perceive that when the wind moves the surface-water, tho particles which have become chilled by contact with tho air mingle in the rolling waves with tho warm waters bo- ncatli, and hence that ice can only f(jrm in sheltered places or where the water of some bay is so shoal and tho current so slack that it becomes chilled to tho very bot- tom, or w^here the air over the sea is uniformly calm, llo will remember, however, that the winds blow as fiercely over the Polar Sea as in any other quarter of the world ; and he will, therefore, have no difficulty in comprehending that the Polar ice covers but a small part of the Polar water ; and that it exists only where it is nursed and pro- tected by the land. It clings to the coasts of Siberia, and springing thence across Behring Strait to America, it hugs the American ^jhore, fills the narrow channels which drain the Polar waters into Baffin Bay through the Parry Archipelago, crosses thence to Greenland, from Greenland to Spitzbergen, and from Spitzbergen to Nova Zembla, — thus investing the Pole in an uninterrupted land-clinging belt of ice, more or less broken as well in winter as in summer, and the fragments ever moving to and fro, though never widely separating, forming a barrier against which all the arts and energies of man have not hitherto pre- vailed. from the equator is no rule for cold, as tho equator is not a paraHel of maximum heat. Tho lino of niaxinumi heat crosses tlio Green- wich meridian, in Africa, fifteen degrees north of the equator, and rises, to the eastward, five degrees higher, running along tlio southern edge of the Desert of Sahara. In 1821, Sir David Drowsier pointed out, in a paper on tho mean temperature of the glohe, the probability of tlie thermometer being found to range ten degrees higher at tho Pole than in some otlier parts of tho Arctic Circle. No new facts have since been discovered to invalidate this conclusion — many, ou the contmry, have come to light tending to conlirm it." I ii I \22 THE ICE- BELT, If tlic rc.idcr would further pursue the inquiry, let hiii: place one leg of a pair of dividers on the map near the North Pole (say in latitude 8G ', longitude IGO^ W.), and inscribe a circle two thousand miles in diameter, and he will have touched the margin of the land and the mean line of the ice-belt throughout its wide circuit, and have covered an area of more than throe millions of square miles. Although this ice-belt has ncjt been broken through, it has been 2)cnetratcd in many places, and its southern margin has been followed, partly along the waters formed near the land by the discharging rivers of the Arctic water- sheds of Asia and America, and partly by working through the ice which is always more or less loosened by the summer. It was in this manner that various navigators have attempted the north-west passage ; and it was after following the coast line from Behring Strait to Banks Laud, and then pushing through the broken ice that Sir Robert McClure finally succeeded in effecting this long- sought-for passage — not, however, by carrying his ship completely through, but by travelling over the winter ice three hundred miles to Wellington Channel, whence he returned home through Baffin Bay in a ship that had come from the eastward. And it was in this same manner that Captain CoUinson, passing from west to east, reached almost to the spot where perished Franklin, who had entered the ice from the opposite direction. And it is thus, also, that the Russians have explored tlie coasts of Siberia, meeting but two insurmountable obstacles to the navigation from the Atlantic to the Pacific side, namely, Cape Jakan, against which the ice is always jammed, and which Behring tried in vain to pass, and Cape Ceverro Vostochnoi, which the gallant young Lieutenant Prondts- chikoff made such heroic efforts to surmount. And it was by the same method of navigation that the Amsterdam pilot, earnest old William Barentz, strove, in 1598, to find by the north-east a passage to Cathay. n'A\lXGEi:S OPEX SEA. at hiiir iar tlic ), aiul iiid Lo xn lino overcd ugh, it utlicrii •ormcd water- iroiigli by th(j igators s after Banks lat Sir long- s ship ter ice ICC he it had lanner cached 10 had d it is asts of to the imely, cl, and Bverro 3ndts- it was crdam )8, to Tlie efforts to break through the bolt, with the expec- tation of finding clear water about the Pole, liave been very muuerous, and they have been made through every opening from the southern waters to the Polar Sea. To follow tlie liistory of tliose various attempts would not fall within my present purpose. It is but a long record of defeat, so far as concerned the single object of getting to the Pole, (.'ook, and all who liavc come after him, have failed to find the ice sufficiently open to admit of naviga- tion northward from Behring Strait, as Hudson and his followers have through the Spitzbergeu Sea ; and all the efforts through Baffin Bay have been equally futile. The most persevering attom2)ts to break tlirough the ice-belt have been made to the west of Spitzbergen, and in this quarter ships have ajiproached nearer to the Pole than in any other. The higliest well-authenticated position achieved by any navigator was that of Scorsby, who reached latitude 81^ 30', although it is claimed that Hud- son had gone still further ; and if the stories which Daines Barrington picked up from the fishermen of Amsterdam and Hull are to be relied on, then the old Dutch and English voyagers have gone even beyond this, seeking new fishing-grounds and finding everywhere an open sea. There is, however, as before observed, no well-authen- ticated record of any ship having attained a higher latitude than that of Scorsby. Tailing to get through the ice, explorers have next tried to cross it with sledges. In this the Eussians have done most. Many enterprising officers of the Russian service, using the dog-sledges of the native tribes inhabit- ing the Siberian coast, have, in the early S])ring, boldly struck out upon the Polar Sea. Most conspicuous among them was Admiral Wrangel, then a young lieutenant of the Russian Navy, whose explorations, continued through several years, showed that, at all seasons of the year, the same condition of the sea existed to the northward. ■Vn '■' si I The Y 2 I , 324 KANE'S OPEN SEA. travellers were invariably arrested by open Wiitcr; and the existence of a PoJ/jiua or open sea above the New Siberian Islands, became a fact as Avcll established as that the rivers flow downward to the sea. Sir Edward Parry tried the same method above Spitz- bergen, using, however, men instead of dogs for draft, and carrying boats for safety in the event of the ice breaking np. Parry travelled northward until the ice, becoming loosened by the advancing season, carried him south faster than he was travelling north ; and after a while it broke up under him, and set him adrift in the open sea. Next came Captain Inglefiold's attempt to get into this circumj)olar water through Smith Sound; and then Dr. Kane's. The latter's vessel could not be forced further into the ice than Van Rensselaer Harbour ; and, like the Russians, he continued the work with sledges. After many embarrassments and failures in his attempts to surmount the difficulties presented by liummocked ice of the Sound, one of his parties succeeded finally in reaching the predicted open water ; and, to quote Dr. Kane's words, " from an elevation of five liundred and eighty feet, this water was still without a limit, moved by a heavy swell, free of ice, and dashing in surf against a rock-bound shore." This shore was the shore of the land which ho named Washington Land. Next, after Dr. Kane's, came my own undertaking ; and the last chapter leaves me with my sledge upon the shores of that same sea which Dr. Kane describes, about one hundred miles to the north and west of the point from which one of his parties looked oiit upon the iceless waters. My own opinion of what I saw and of the con- dition of this sea, which Wrangel found open on the opposite side from where I stood, and which Kane's party had found open to my right, and which Parry's journey showed to be open above Spitzbergen, may bo inferred ILXPAXSIOy OF SMITH SOUXD, -» -» " J-3 ; aiul \ New ,s that from what I Lave already briefly stated, and may bo more briefly coneluded. The boundaries of the Pcdar Basin are snflieiently well defined to enable ns to form a rational estimate of tlie unknown coast-lines of Greenland and Grinnell Land, — tlio only parts of the extensive circuit remaining unex- plored. The trend of tbe northern coast-line of Green- land is ai^proxlmately defined by the reasonable analogies of physical geography ; and the same process of reasoning forbids the conclusion that Grinnell Land extends beyond the limit of my explorations. I hold, as Inglefield did before me, that Smith Sound expands into the Tolar Basin. Beyond the narrow passage between Capo Alexander and Cape Isabella, the water -widens steadily up to Cai)e Frazer, where it expands abru2)tly. On the Greenland side the coast trends regularly to the eastward, imtil it reaches Capo Agassiz, where it dips under the glacier and is lost to observation. That capo is composed of primi- tive rock, and is the end of a mountain spur. This same rock is visible at many places along the coast, but is mostly covered with the deposit of sandstone and green- stone, which forms the tall 0115*8 of the coast-line, imtil it crops out about thirty miles in the interior into a moun- tain chain, which (in company with Mr. Wilson), I crossed, in 1853, to find the mcr de glace hemmed in behind it. Further to the north the mcr de (jiace has poured down into the Polar Sea, and pushing its way onward through the water, it has at length reached Washington Land, and swelled southward into Smith Soimd. That the face of Humboldt Glacier trends more to the eastward than is exhibited on Dr. Kane's chart, I have shown ; and that Washington Land will bo found to lie much fartlier in the same direction, I have sufficient grounds for believing. According to the report of Morton, it is to be inferred that this island is but a continuation of the same granitic ridge which breaks off abruptly at Capo Agassiz, and ap- i u 326 T//E OPF.X POLAR SEA. pears again above the sea at Capo Forlx-s, in a lino con- formable with the Greenland range. It is probable tlicn •that at some remote period this Washington Land stood in the expansion of Smith Sound, washed by water on every side, — that lying to the eastward being now snp- l)lanted by tlie great glacier of Humboldt ; that lying to the westward now bearing the name of Kennedy Channel. With the warm flood of the Gulf Stream pouring northward, and keeping the waters of the Polar Sea at a temperature above the freezing point, while the winds, blowing as constantly under the Arctic as under th(^ Tropic sky, and the ceaseless currents of the sea and the tide-flow of the surface, keep the waters ever in movement, it is not possible, as I have before observed, that even any considerable portion of this extensive sea can be frozen over. At no point within the Arctic Circle has there been found an ice-belt extending, either in winter or in summer, more than from fifty to a hundred miles from land. And even in the narrow channels separating the islands of the Parry Archipelago, in Baffin Bay, in the North Water, and the mouth of Smith Sound, — cverj^- where, indeed, within the broad area of the Frigid Zone, the waters will not freeze except when sheltered by the land, or when an ice-pack, accumulated by a long con- tinuance of winds from one quarter, afibrds the same pro- tection. That the sea does not close except when at rest, I had abundant reason to know during the late winter ; for at all times, as this narrative frequently records, even when the temperature of the air was below the freezing point of mercury, I could hear from the deck of the schooner the roar of the beating waves. It would be needless for me to detain the reader with the conclusions to be drawn from the condition of the sea as observed by me at the j)oint from which the la^t chapter left us returning, as the facts speak for them- selves. It will not, however, be out of place to observe THE OPEN WATER. 327 that no one wliosc cyo Las ever iTst( d upon the Arctic; ice or witnessed the clmnjjjes of the Arctic seasons, conhl fail to realize that in a very short time, as the 8umm 1 ■» Around it were piled other masses ; and, in order to i)ass it, we were obliged to climb far up the hill-sido. Our next day's journey was even more diflicult, as wc be- came entangled among deep snow-drifts below Cai)e Frazer, and, on account of the rotten condition of the ice linin"" the shore, we could not take to the ice-lields. We tried twice, and came near paying dearly for the experiment. One of the teams got in bodily, and was extricated with difficulty ; while, on the other occasion, I, acting in my usual capacity of pilot, saved myself from a cold batli with my ice-pole, which, plunging through tlio rotten ice and disappearing out of sight, gave me timely warning ; so wo put back again to the more secure land-ice. In the bay below Capo Napoleon wo found, on the following day, secure footing, and reached Capo Hawks without difficulty, in two more marches. Thence ^vo jn'o- oeeded to follow our outward track through the liummocks. The sledges being now light, and Jensen having so far im- proved as to be able to walk, wc experienced less embarrass- ment than on our outward journey ; but the dogs were now in a very different condition, and lightness of load levelled not the hummocks and made not the steep places smooth, nor the ice less sharp, nor the snow-crusts less treacherous. The task was wearisome and exhausting to the last d(r'-ree, — a hard struggle, destructive to the energies of men and dogs alike. Some snow had fallen, but, fortunately, the wind had drifted it from our tracks in many places, and we found our way to the small provision caches which wc had left going north, and, luckily, they had all escaped the observa- tion of the bears except one; but, having made a good march on the first day from Capo Hawks, we picked up the first cache wc came to, and thus saved a day's food, — a piece of good fortune which we had not counted upon. The coast of Greenland rose at length into view, and, steadily rising day by day, wo came within sight of Cairn \ n I ADRIFT ON AN ICE RAFT. i >ii Point; but, for some tiino i^rcvions, wc were warned of tlio rapid advance of the season by tlie dark water-sky wliich lay before us, showing that the open water extended up to the Point, for ^vhich we were shaping our course. On the north side of it, however, the ice a2)peared to be solid. Thinking that we could make the land in that direction, we i)ushed on, picliing our way over the rough and thicker ice, and avoiding the younger ice, which was everywhere porous, and occasionally worn completely away. At length, when about a mile from land, we came upon a crack, which had opened not more than a foot. Crossing this, wc held in directly for the Point, but, unfortunately, the wind was blowing heavily down the Sound ; and, as we neared the land, we found that the water had eaten in between the ice and the shore, obliging us to keep up the coast. To our horror and dismay, we now discovered that the crack which we had crossed had ()])ened at least tv>'cnty yards, and wc vvcre adrift upon an ice-raft in an open sea, without power to help ourselves. The movement of the ice was slow. After waiting ji short time, irresolute as to what course we should pursue, it was observed that the outer end of the loosened floe Avas moving, while the inner edge was almost stationary, owing to a small iceberg, which, being aground and Listened to the floe itself, formed a pivot about which we were revolving. If this berg held, it was evident that the lioe would strike the laud, and we ajiproachcd nearer to its margin. The event which we had so eagerly desired now happened ; and, dashing forward when the collision came, we managed to get upon the land-ice. The tide, being at full flood, facilitated the undertaking. The contact did not long continue. The rotten edge of the floo broke loose from the little berg which had given us this most fortunate assistance, and ^ve were not sorry to see the ice- laft drifting away without us. TAKIXG TO THE LAXD. ^ ^ -• ) warned of c wutor-sky cr extended our course. 'eared to be ud in that tlie rough wliich was conii)letcly 1, wo camo lan a foot, .^oint, but, down tlie d that tlie e, obliging lismay, we rossed had ft upon an Lirselves. waiting a Id pursue, sened floe stationary, ound and which ^vG t that tlio nearer to ired now ion came, de, being 'i contact 00 broke his most the icc- Ey this time, the dogs had become more broken. Tliey had borne uj) admirably during the journey nortli, but th(i scant rations which wo had left behind for tlie return journey were found to be insufficient to support their strength, especially as they liud, for some time, Jensen's additional weight to carry. One of them gave out com- pletely, and died in a lit, during the first day's journey in tlie hummocks ; two others followed soon afterward % while another, having become unal)le either to pull or follow, was sliot. Much to my surprise, as soon as tlie bullet struck the animal, woiuiding him but slightly and causing him to set up a terrible cry, his companions in the team flew upon him and tore him to pieces in an in- stant, and those who Avere lucky enough to get a fragment of him were tearing the flesh from his bones almost before the echo of his last howl had died away in the solitude. The sea below Cairn Point was filled with loose icv), evidently broken adrift by a very recent gale. By keeping to the land-ice we managed to work our way down tht; coast, and got around Cape Hatherton ; but, below this, the ice-foot, too, was gone, thus obliging us to take to the land. To cross the mountains with our sledges was, of course, impracticable ; so wo were ccmipelkid to abandon them until such time as we could come for them in a boat. The land journey was very tedious and tii-esome, exhausted and foot-sore as we were already ; but we managed better than the dogs. Most of them sneaked avray as soon as loosened from the sledges, and would not follow us ; and when sought for ccmld not be found. T tl'd not feel apprehensive for them, as I supposed they merelv needed rest, and would follow our tracks to the vessel. Three of them only stuck to us. One is the ]ioble old beast, Oosisoak; another is his brave queen, Arkadik ; and the third Nenook, the finest of Kalutunah's dogs. Three others have come in since ; but four are yet missing. I have rent out to seek them, without success. a J. ill 336 A NEW SOUXD. I ill' I iiiucli fear that tlicy will not have strength to drag tlicmselves on board. And so my journey ended. If it has had its disapjioint- ments, it has liad, too, its triumphs and successes. It was unfortunate tliat I did not get the boat over the Sound, together with a good sujiply of provisions; but, failing in this, the failure of the foot-party was of little moment. No amount of assistance could, with sledges alone, have helped me further north ; or, if I had got further, could have ever got me l)ack again. Juno 8th. 1 have finished the plotting of my chart, and I find, as I have already had occasion to observe, that the coast-lino from Cape Sabine to Cape Frazer differs somewhat from that shown from my journey in 1854, which was made under the embarrassments of partial snow-blindness and a vapoiuy atmosphere. The most important feature in con- nection with this old survey is the fact that the Sound opening westward from Smith Sound, above Cape Sabine, formerly escaped my observation. The existence of this Sound was abundantly confirmed during my return journey ; and my materials, now reduced and put on paper, ffive me the correct conformation of the coast. The Sound is somewhat wiJ:" than Smith Sound, narrowing, however, steadily, from a broad entrance, something like Whale Sound. Whether it continues to the w^estward, parallel with Jones and Lancaster Sounds, separating the Ellesmero Land, of Inglefield, from the Grinnell Land of my former exploration, of course, remains to be proven; but, that such is tlie fact, I have no doubt. I give to this Sound the name of my vessel. The first conspicuous Cape which appears on its south side I name Cape Seward, and the most remote point of visible land lying beyond it, Cape Viele. The three last conspicuous Capes on the north side I name as follows: the most westerly. Cape Baker ; ihat next to it, Cape Sawyer ; and NOMENCLA TURE. ddi :tli to drag disappoiiit- cs. It was the Somid, but, failing 1g moment. Eilonc, havo 'tlicr, could June Stli. :1 I find, as ) coast-line what from was made luess and a Lire in con- tlie Sound pc Sabine, ce of this ^y return i on pajicr, ^he Sound ', however, be Whale \ parallel ^llesmere ly former but, that The first e I name ible land ispicuous ;he most J^er; and the third. Cape Stetson. Tlie apparently deep indenta- tions of the coast which lie between these bold headlands are designated as Joy Bay and Peabody Bay. Tlie two large islands lying in the mouth of the Sound I have distinguished as Bache Island and Henry Island. East- ward of Cape Stetson I havo applied such names as seemed to me a2)pr()priate to distinguish tlie prominent landmarks ; but it is unnecessary to mention them here, as the map tells its own story. In those parts of the coast whicli were plotted by Dr. Kane from my old survey, I havo endeavoured to adhere, as far as practicable, to his nomenclature ; and to such parts of the shores of Kennedy Channel as were seen by Morton alone, I havo, for the niC'St part, simply applied Dr. Kane's names, without iu(piiring very particularly as to their corresponding places on the two maps. I think this course, in the main, preferable to that somewhat confusing system which deprived Captain Inglefield of tlie benefits of his survey of Smith Sound ; and I have, besides, the additional satisfaction of joining Dr. Kane in paying respect to many distinguished men of science, dead and living, and among them to none that contribute more gratification than that of M. do la Roquette, Vice-President of the Geographical Society of Paris ; and to Sir Eoderick Murchison, Presi- dent of the Eoyal Geographical Society, London, and Dr. Norton Shaw, its Secretary. The coast-range, which forms such a conspicuous feature of Grinnell Land, I have followed Dr. Kane in designating as Victoria and Albert Mountains. The highest point attained by me I have called Cape Lieber ; a remarkable peak rising above it. Church's Monument ; and the Bay, which lies below it, is named in respectful remembrance of Lady Franklin. The con- spicuous headland whicli I vainly attempted to reach, on the last day of my north v/ard journey, I have named Capo Eugenie, thinking, in this manner, to express my high m '•\H Mil 138 WASHINGTO.W LAND. [ I' » '1 J 1 i feft t*^^p -1 ;: I , ; h\ i i'. t^ Hi K. ^^ ai)I)rcciution of tlio many acts of kindness to this expedi- tion and to mvself wliieli I owe to Frcncli citizens, bv remembering their Empress. Another prominent liead- land appearing beyond it I designate as Capo Frede- rick VII., in honour of the King of Denmark, to whoso subjects in Greenland I am indebted for so many service- able attentions. And to the noble headland whicli, in faint outline, stood against the dark sky of the open sea — the most northern known land upon the globe — I name Capo Union, in remembrance of a compact whicli has given prosperity to a peojile and founded a nation. In naming the bay which lies between Capo Union and Cape Frederick VII., I am desirous of expressing my admira- tion of Admiral Wrangel, whose fame in connection with Arctic discovery is equalled by that of Sir Edward Parry only. And the lofty peak which overlooks the Polar Sea from behind Cape Eugenie, I name Parry IVIountain. With this eminent explorer I will now divide the honours of extreme northern travel ; for, if he has carried the ] British flag upon the sea nearer to the North Pole than uny flag had been carried hitherto, I have planted the American flag further north upon tlic land than any flag has been planted before. The Bay between Capes Frederick VII. and Eugenie I name in honour of the distinguished geographer, Dr. Augustus Peterman ; and two large bays lower down the coast I call, respectfully, after Carl Eitter and William Scorsby. In plotting my survey I have been a little puzzled with the Washington Land of Dr. Kane's map, and I am mucli tempted to switch it off twenty miles to the eastward ; for it is not possible that Kennedy Channel can be less than fifty miles wide ; and, since I believe that Smith Sound expands into the Polar Pasin, I must look upon Washington Lan^l merely as an island in its centre, — Kennedy Cliaunel lying between it and Grinnell Land on the west, and Humboldt Glacier filling up what was once a channel on the right. this cxpodi- •itizoiis, l)y incut lioad- iipo Frcdc- k, to wlioso ny sorvicc- wliicli, in ic open sea )C — I name wliicli has lation. In n and Capo [Tiy admira- Dction with ^vard Parrv ! Polar Sea Mountain, ho honours larricd tho Pole than lanted the m any flag en Cai)c.s lur of the man ; and spectfully, zzled with am mucli ird ; for it than fifty 1 expands ;ton Land mcl lying lumboldt e right. CHAPTER XXXIV. HE extracts from my journal quoted in the pre- ceding chapter will have sufficed to give tlie reader an understanding of the results of my spring and summer sledging, and he will have ))erceived that they were regarded by me as having laid down a correct basis for future exploration. With the character of the Smith Sound ice I had become more familiar, and the accurate determination of the coast-lines enabled me more readily to calculate upon the influence of the summer drift ; while the rotten state of the ice in Kennedy Channel, even at so early a period of the season fis May, and the existence of open water beyond it, loft no doubt upon my mind as to the practicability of getting a vessel through under ordinarily favourable conditions of the season. It will be perceived, therefore, that my future course was dependent upon the condition of the schooner. Although I have not made more than a passing allusion to the report of Mr. McCormick as to the damage sustained by the vessel, yet the reader will have gathered from my journal that it caused me much anxiety. I was too much prostrated after my return from the journey to make, during the first few days, that thorougli inspection whicli was needed to form a correct judgment. I was consoled, however, in some measure for tho dehiy, by realizing the z 2 1 1 1 i 1 ! I 1 1' i ^J^' i^; i': I .i ! I! I. , 540 IXSPECTION OF THE SCIlOOyEK, necessity of wi'iting up tlio occurrences of my return journey, wliilc they were fresh in my mintl, and of (lefiniii<;' on my chart tlie ol)scrv{itions iiud geograi)liiciil dis- coveries wliich I liiid nuide. Tlieso duties ptjrtormod, and my strengtli snfheiently restore id to justify mo in leaving my cabin, I madc! a care- ful exainiuatiou of the schooner and tlie means which hsid l)een adopted for repairing lier. These means were alto- getlier unexcci)tion{i]>lo, and reflected niueli credit upon Mr. MeCorniick and also upon the mate, Mr. Dodge, who had given liim zealous assistance. McCormick had begun by digging ilio ice away from the bows down to the very keel, thus exposing all the forward part of the vessel as coniidetcly as if she lay in a dry-dock, '^riio damage proved to have been even greater than wo had anticijiated, and it seemed remarkable that the forward jdaidis and timbers had not opened to such a degree as to let the water through in torrents and sink us at once. The heads of the i^lanks wliich were let into tho stem were all started ; the outer planking was loose and gaping open ; the iron sheathing of the cut- water and bows was torn and curled up as if it had been pine- shavings ; the stem-post was started, and the cut-water itself was completely torn away. By dint of much earnest exertion and the use of bolts, and spikes, — by replacing the torn cut-water, careful calking, and renewal of the iron plates, — it seemed probable that the schooner would be seaworthy ; but I was forced to agree with my sailing-master, that to strike the ice again was sure to sink her. The stern of the schooner had been dry-docked in tho same manner as the bows ; and it was found that tho severe wrench which she had got off Littleton Island had started the stern-post, upon which hangs the rudder ; and the rudder itself had been twisted off, — the pintles having been snapped asunder as if they had been made of pipe- ADrAXTAGES OF STEAM EOIVEK. Jn y rctuni defining" icul dis- [liciently 3 a ciiro- licli had ore alto- lit upon Igc, wlia ay front all tliG lay in a I greater blc tliat ► such a sink us into tho oso and ;er and n pine- it-water 3f bolts. careful seemed but I strike in the lat tho id had r ; and having pipe- <.-lay. Tills accident to the rudder luid been qui to un- avoidable, for wo were so situated at the time of its occur- r;mco that wo couLl not avail ourselves of the facilities with which we were [»r()vided for unshipping it. McCormick liad succeeded in getting in some stout screw-bolts, and liad managed, by an ingenious device, in hanging tho rudder in such a manner that we could rely upon it to steer the schooner ; but it would not bear contact with the ice, or another wrench, and it coidd not ])c unslii])ped. Tho schooner's sides were much torn and abraidcd, but no material damage seemed to liavo been done which Avas not rc^iaired with some additional spikes to secure the started planks, and a general calking to close tho scams. I felt much d isaiipointmont at tho turn of allfairs. It seemed very probable that, in view of tho cri2)pled condi- tion of the scliooner, tho project of getting into Kennedy Channel and of navigating the Polar Se-.i witli her would have to be abandoned for tho present, and that I had now no chance for another year but with boat and sledge. In this direction there was nothing to give encouragement. To transport a boat across such ice as that of Smith Sound was wholly impracticable, and 1 was now more poorly olf for dogs than before. Only six animals survived the lato journey. Of tlieso one died after a few days, ai:)parently from sheer loss of vitality ; and one was returned to Kalutunah. Under tlicso circumstances, it became a matter for serious reflection, whether it were not wiser to return homo, refit, add — what was of much consequence — steam- jiowcr to my resources, and come back again immediately. Once at Capo Isabella with a proper vessel, I was fully persuaded that I could get into tho northern water, and find a free route to tho Pole, although it might be a hard .struggle and somewhat hazardous. Tho chances of success would be greatly enhanced by steam. I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^0 1.0 I.I |4S ■ SO ^ ^ 12.2 - li !.25 jl.4 1.6 M 6" » Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 I V'^o ^ ^ ^ I I I 1 R' ' i I ; i( ; ' li i; Ml ;i y lit 342 PLAXS FOR THE FUTURE. On tlio other Laud, by remaining, T could not clearly Koo my way to accomplish anything more of northern discovery than had been accomplished already ; and 1 Avat-v now called upon to consider whether my time and means could be employed to better advantage by promptly re- turning to refit than to postpone that inevitable result to another year. The responsibilities of the expedition had been wliolly assumed by myself; and, from the time of leaving Boston until I should have completed the explora- tion which I had undertaken, 1 proposed to make the costs which, hitherto, various associations and individuals liad shared with me, now exclusively my own. I was, tlierefore, compelled to husband my resources and to act with caution and deliberation. I will not now detain the reader with the full details of my plans for the future, arranged to meet this new exi- gency ; suffice it here to observe that, after taking Jensen and Kalutunah into my counsels, I was fully convinced that, by bringing out two ships, — mooring one of them in Port Foulkc, and pushing north with the other, — a practi- cable scheme of exploration could be inaugurated, and that its success as well as eafety would be secured. To this end, I proposed to myself to establish a permanent hunting station or colony at Port Foulke ; to collect about that place all of the Esquimaux; * organize a vigorous hunt ; and make that hunt yield, whatever was essential for sustaining indefinitely an extended system of exploration toward the North Pole. In the practicability of establishing such a station, Jensen, whose experience in the Greenland colonies was extensive, fully agreed with mo, and he was much delighted with the plan, accepting \\ ithout hesitation my proposal to nuiko him su^icrintendent * The Esquiniaux may, io a limited extent, be even made available ill exploration, as has been shown by the experience of IMr. C. F. Hall, who is now, with no other reliance than the natives, energetically pushing his discoveries westward from liepiilse Bay. li^ rLAA'S FOR THE FUTURE. 343 clortily ortlicrii d ] was-/ 1 ineaiiB ptly rc- csult to lion Lad time of 3xplora- dec tho Lviduals r was, I to act of it ; Kalutnnali was overjoyed with tlio prospect of briiij^- ing all of his people together ; and, in this aspect alone, tho scheme poss(;ssed nuich that was to nie personally gratifying. My intercourse with this fast-dwindling race had caused me to feel a deep interest in them and to sym- pathize with their unhappy condition. The hardships of tlieir life were telling upon them sadly, and, if not rescued by the hand of Christian philanthropy and benevolence, in less than half a century these poor wanderers of the icy sea will have all i)assed away. j\Iy plans for tho future did not, however, assum(! (h^finite shape at the period of which I write, nor could tlicy until the schooner should bo set free. ^ tails of ew exi- Jensen ivinccd hem in l)racti- d, and 1. To nanent collect iiize a T was tern of ibility nee in , with 3pting ndent -v-/*';;^;^ *■ ^-- , < \\ ailublc Ilnl], iticullv I t II i' 'I I'i I M CHArTER XXXV. AVING determined to be guided by circumstances, as set forth in the last chapter, I had now only to await the breaking up of the ice and the liberation of the schooner, — an incident which I could not anticipate wholly without anxiety, owing t(i our exposure to the south-west rendering the disruption liable to come in the midst of a heavy swell from the sea that would set us adrift in a rolling pack. The spring had already fairly set in when I returned from the north, and each day added to the encroachment of the water upon the ice. A wonderful change had taken place since my departure in April. The temperature had risen steadily from 35° below zero to as many degrees above it; the wintry cloak of whiteness which had so long clothed the hills and valleys was giving way under the influence of the sun's warm rays ; and torrents of the melted snow were dashing wildly down the rugged gorges, or bounding in cascades from the lofty cliffs ; and the air was everywhere filled with the pleasing roar of falling waters. A little lake had formed in a basin behind the Observatory, and a playful rivulet gurgled from it over the pebbles do\vn into the harbour, wearing away the ice along the beach, and the banks of the lake and stream were softened by the thaw, and, relieved of their winter covering, were, thus early in June, showing signs of a SBS THE ARCTIC :^rKJXG. >45 ustances, low only and the nt which )wing to sruj^tion . the sea L'eturnecl achmcnt id taken ture had degrees had so y under of the gorges, the air falling ind the it over the ice stream winter s of a returning vegetation ; the sap had started in the willow- .stcras, while ice and snow yet lay around the roots, and the mosses, and poppies, and saxifrages, and the cochlearia, and other hardy plants, had begun to sprout ; the air was filled with the cry of birds, which had come back fur tlie summer ; the clilfs were alive with the little auks ; flocks of eider ducks swept over the harbour in rapid flight, seemingly not yet decided which of the islands to select for their summer home; the graceful terns flitted, and screamed, and played over the sea ; the burgomaster-gulls and the ger-falcons sailed about us with solemn gravity ; the shrill " Ea-hih-wec " of the long-tailed duck was often heard, as the birds shot swiftly across the liarbour ; the snipe were flying about the growing fresh-water pools ; the sparrows chirped from roclc to rock ; long lines of cackling geese were sailing for overlicad, winging their way to some more remote point of nortlmess ; the deep bellow of the walrus came from the ice-rafts, which the summer had set adrift upon the sea; the bay and the fiord were dotted over with seal, who had dug through the ice from beneatli, and lay basking in the warm sun ; and the place which 1 had left robed in the cold mantle of winter was now dressed in the bright garments of spring. The change had come with marvellous suddenness. The snow on the surface of the ice was rapidly melting ; and, whenever wo went outside of the ship, we waded through slush. The ice itself was decaying rapidly, and its sea-margin was breaking up. The "Twins" had been loosened from their bonds and had floated away ; and a crowd of ice- bergs, of forms that were strange to us, had come sailing- out of the Sound in stately and solemn procession, wend- ing their way to the warmer south— their crystals tumbling from them in fountains as they go. Everything about me gave warning that I had returned from the north in the nick of time. McCormick had been at work as well on the inside as ' REFITTING THE SCHOONER. on the outside (jf the vessel. The temporary house had been removed from the upper deek, and the deeks, and bulwarks, and eabins, and forecastle had been furbished up ; and, after all this spring house-cleaning, the little schooner looked as neat and tidy as if she had never been besmeared with the soot and lamp-smoke of the long winter. The men were setting up the rigging ; the bow- s})rit, and jib-boom, and foretop-mast had been repaired ; tlio yards had been sent aloft ; the masts were being .scraped down ; and a little paint and tar fairly made our craft shine again. The sailors had moved from the hold to their natural quarters in the forecastle ; and Dodge was busy getting off and stowing away the contents of the store-house, except such articles as I had proposed leaving behind, which were carefully deposited in a fissure of a rock, and covered over with heavy stones. The Esquimaux still hung round us. Tcheitchenguak Iiad set up a tent on the terrace, and had for a companion a new-comer, named Alatak, and for housekeeper a woman, Avlio appeared to have a roving commission, without special claim on anybody, and whom I had seen before at Booth Day, where she figured among my companions as " The Sentimental Widow." Hans had gone, with his family, up to Chester Valley, where he was catching auks by hundreds, and living in the seal-skin tent that he brought from Cape York. Angeit still prowled round the galley and pantry, and continued, alternately, to annoy and amuse the cook and still stoutly to resist the steward's elTorts at conversion. Kalutunah, my jolly old chief, held on at Etah, and looked to my abundant commissariat and fruitful bounty as the som'co of all human bliss. He had grown so rich that he did not know where to put all his v.ealth ; and when I went over to Etah to look after him, J found him waxing fat on laziness, and stupid with overfeeding. I discovered him lounging behind a rock, busking in the warm sunshine, like the monk in the MM TRACES OF ESQUIMAUX. 347 house Latl [locks, and furbished the little lever been the long the bow- rei)aired ; ere being made our I the hold )odgc was ts of the d leaving sure of a 3henguak >mpanion t woman, it special at Booth IS " The family, auks by brought e galley oy and ;eward's ef, held iat and He had all his r him, 1 with i rock, n the " Monastery," sitting before the fire, " thinking of nothing." JFe was nmch rejoiced at seeing me again, sisked me many questions about my journey, and where I had been ; said that he had never been so happy in all his life before ; and he stole the thoughts, if not the Spanish, of lumest Sancho, in his emphatic declaration, "You have tilled my belly, and therefore have won my heart." I was sorry to have but one dog to restore to him of the ei^ht with which he had supplied me ; but he declared himself satisfied. He appeared, at first, strongly to fear that, in returning his dog, I was withdrawing my support, and was much gratified when 1 told him to come over and get as much food as he could carry away. Kalutunah's first question was, whether I had found any Esquimaux. Before starting, I had frequently spoken to him concerning the existence of his people to the north, and he recited to me a well-established tradition of tho tribe, that the Esquimaux once extended both to the north and the south ; and that, finally, the tribe now inhabiting the coast from Capo York to Smith Sound were cut off by the accumulation of ice as well above as below them ; and lie believed that Esquimaux were living at this present time in both directions. That there was once no break in. the communication between the natives of the region about Upernavik, along the shores of Melville Bay, there can be no doubt ; and Kalutunah appeared to think that the same would hold good in the opposite direction. The ico has accumulated in Smith Sound as it has in Melville Bay ; and what were evidently once prosperous hunting- grounds, up to the very face of Humboldt Glacier, are now barren wastes, where living thing rarely comes. At various places along the coast Dr. Kane found the remains> of ancient huts ; and lower down the coast, toward the mouth of the Sound, there are many of more recent date. Near Cairn Point there is a hut which had been abandoned but a year before Dr. Kane's visit, in 1853, and has not 34^ THE ESQUIMAUX. W. il I; ?)ccii occupied since. In Van Rensselaer Harbour tlicro were several huts wliicli hail been inhabited by the last generation. Tho simple discovery of traces of Esquimaux on the coast of Grinnell Land was not altogether satisfactory to Kalutunah, for ho had confidently expected that I would iind and bring back with mo some living specimens of them ; but ho was still gratified to have his traditions confirmed, and he declared that I did not go far enough or I should have found plenty of natives ; for, said he, in otfect, " There are good hunting-grounds at the north, l)lenty of musk-ox (oomemak,) and ^yherever there arc good hunting-grounds, there the Esquimaux will bo found." Kalutunali grew more sad than I had ever l)cfore seen him, when I spoke to him of the fortunes of his own people. *' Alas !" said he, " wo will soon be all gone." I told him that I would come back, and that white men would live for many years near Etah. " Come back soon," said he, " or there will be none here to welcome you !" To contemplate the destiny of this little tribe is indeed painful. There is much in this rude people deserving of admiration. Their brave and courageous struggles for a bare subsistence, against what would seem to us the most disheartening obstacles, often being Avholly Avithout food for days together and never obtaining it without encoun- tering danger, makes their hold on life very precarious. The sea is their only harvest-field ; and, having no boats in which to pursue the game, they have only to await tho turning tide or changing season to open cracks, along which they wander, seeking the seal and walrus which come there to breathe. The uncertain fortunes of tho hunt often lead them in the winter time to shelter them- selves in rude hovels of snow; and, in summer, the migrating water-fowl come to substitute the seal and walrus, which, when the ice-fields have floated off", they can rarely catch. SCIENTIFIC COLLECriOXS. 149 rboiir tlici'o by the last aux on tlio isfactory to lat I would ccimens of traditions Par enough said he, in the north, tlicrc arc ho found." 'cforc seen ■ his own gone." I k'hite men ack soon," you !" is indeed erving of jles for a the most out food encoun- ocarious. no boats wait the s, alons 3 which of the r them- ler, the al and ff, they From the information which I obtained through Iliins and Kalutunah, I estimated the tribe to nunib(;r about ono liundred souls, — a very considerable diminution since Dr. Kane left them, in 1855. Hans made for me a rude maj) of the coast from Cape York to Smith Sound, and set down upon it all of the villages, if by sueli name tlie inliabitcd places may bo called. These places arc always close by the margin of the sea. They rarely consist of more than ono hut, and the largest village of but tlircc. Of tho nature of these habitations tlie reader will have already gathered sufficient from my description of Kalutunah's den at Etah. Awaiting the thawing out of the schooner, I could only employ my time in the immediate vicinity of Port Foulko with such work as I found practicable. The i)endulum experiments of the previous autumn were re2)eated, and several full sets of observations were made for tho determination of the magnetic force. The survey of tho harbour and the bay was completed ; the terraces were levelled and plotted ; and the angles on " My Brother John's Glacier " were renewed. In all of these labours I found an intelligent and painstaking assistant iu Mr. Radcliffe. This gentleman also laboured assiduously with tho photographic apparatus ; and, through his patient co- operation, I was finally enabled to secure a large number of reasonably good pictures. Some valuable collections of natural history were also made, and in this department I had much useful assistance from Mr. Knorr and Mr. Starr. The ice in the harbour offered them a fine opportunity as the cracks opened, and their labours were rewarded with one of the finest collections of marine invertebrata that has been made from Arctic waters.* My jom-ney to * I am indebted to Dr. WiUiam Stirapson for a careful examina- tion and comparison of this collection, the results of whicli were published by him in the " Proceedings " of the Aca^lemy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for May, 18G3. Tiie collection contains 111 - id I . ,;• 350 AjV enlive.wing scexe. \ I 1; I: 1! I h Hi the glacier occupied luc a week. "We pitched our t(!ut near Alida Jjake, and went systematically to work t measure and pliotogiapli our old acquaintance of the last autumn. We arrived at the lake in the midst of a very enliven- ing Hccne. The wiow had mainly disappeared from the valley, and, although no flowers had yet ai>peared, the early vegetation was covering tlie hanks with green, and tho fechlo growths opened their little leaves almost under the very snow, and stood alive and fresh in the frozen turf, looking as glad of their spring as their more ambitious cousins of the warm south. Numerous small herds of reindeer had come down from the mountains to fiitten on this newly budding life. Gushing rivulets and fantastic waterfalls mingled their pleasant music ^vith tlu^ ceaseless hum of birds, myriads of which sat upon the rocks of the hill-side, or were perched upon the cliffs, or sailed through the air in swarms so thick that they seemed like a dark cloud passing before the sun. These birds were the hitherto mentioned little auk {una allce^ and are a water-fowl not larger than a quail. Tlio swift flutter of their wings and their constant cry filled the air with a roar like that of a storm advancing among tho forest trees. The valley was glowing with the simlight of httlc that is wliolly new ; but, as Dr. Stimpson has remarked, " Tlicy possess great interest from having* been tbund, in groat part, in localities much nearer the Pole than any previous expeditions have •succeeded in reaching on the American side of tJie Arctic Circle. They include some species hitherto found only on the European side ; and, we may add, tlie number of species collected l)y Dr. Haves is greater than that brought back by any single expc^dition whicli has yet visited those seas, as far as can be judged by published accounts." The collection embraces, of Cnisfacea, 22 species ; Anne- lida, 18 species; MoJhi^ra, 21 species; Echfnodermata, 7 species; uicalephte, 1 specie ; and, besides these, a consideral)lo number of Nudihranchiata, Adinise, etc., which cannot well be determined from alcoholic specimens. GLACIER MOVE ME XT. j.^ r^d our tout to work to ■ of tlio lust iiy oiilivon- 1 from tlie [)onre(l, tlio green, and tnost under tlic frozen lieir more I'ons .small >"n tains to vulcts and 3 ^vith the npon i\\{.) le cliffs, or that they 1. These ma allce,) rho swift )d the air nong the nlight of cd, '• TJiey part, ill ions Iinvu ic Circle. )j'. Hay 03 ■>n wluch mb]ish(.0(1 from the early morning,', which streamed in over the glacier, and robed hill, m(»untain, and plain in hrightness. Hans had pitclied his tiMit at tlu; fnrtlier end of tlie lake, and Kalntnnah came up with INIyouk and Alatnlc and joined him. Jensen quickly shot a deer, and Hans brought us some auks; and, before going to work, w<; drew around a largo rock, of which wo nuido a table, and partook of a substantial dinner of Carls preparatior, washing it down with purest water from the glacier, while listening to the music of gurgling streams and the song of birds. The face of the glacier had undergone much chiingo. TJlocks of immense size had broken from it, and lay strewn over tlio valley at its base ; while the glacier itself had pressed down the slope, crowding rocks, and snow, and the debris of ice before it in a confused, wave-like heap. The progress toward the sea had been steady and irresistible. The journey to the top of the glacier was much more difficult than in the previous autumn, the snow having in a great measure melted away, exposing the rocks, and embarrassing us in the ascent of the glacier's side, as well as of the gorge. Everything was wot and mucky, over- head as well as under foot. The glacier-surface was shedding water from every side, like the roof of a house in a February thaw; and the little streams which flowed down its side, joining the waters of the melting snow, trickled underneath the glacier and reappeared in rusliin*;' torrents in the valley below from the glacier front; and thence poured into the lake, and from the lake to the soa. I was fortunate in finding my stakes all standing ; and, having brought up the theodolite, I repeated the angles which, with Sonntag, I had taken the previous October. These angles, when afterwards reduced, exhibited a descent of the centre of the glacier, down the valley, of ninety-six feet. ! ii 352 THE MUSK-0\\ \\ 9j and a more calm and lovely air never softened an Arctic landscape. Tempted by the day, I strolled down into the valley south of the harbour. The recent snow had mostly dis- 2 A 2 )i I, i: ■■^i! f ^A li :i I ! I .356 LITTLE JULIA'S GLEN AND FALL, appeared, and valley and lilll-side were speckled with a rich carpet of green, with only here and there a patch of the winter snow yet undissolved, — an emerald carpet, fringed and inlaid with silver and sprinkled over with fragments of a bouquet, — for many flowers were now in full bloom, and tlicir tiny faces peeped above the sod. A herd of reindeer were browsing on the plain beneath me, and some white rabbits had come from their hiding- places to feed upon the bursting willow-buds. New objects of interest led me on from spot to spot — babbling brooks, and rocky hill-sides, and little glaciers, and softening snow-banks, alternating with patches of tender green — until, at length, I came to the base of a lofty hill, whose summit was surmounted with an imposing wall which overlooked the sea, seemingly a vast turreted castle, guarding the entrance to the valley. I thought of my late comrade, and named it Sonntag's Monument. Passing this, I climbed to a broad plateau, probably five hundred yards above the sea ; and keeping along this toward Cape Alexander, came at length upon a deep gorge at the bottom of which flowed a stream, some ten yards over, which came from the melting snows of the mountains and the mer de glace. Descending into this ravine I followed its rough banks until they came abruptly to the tall cliff of the coast, over which the water leaped wildly down into a deep and picturesque glen, which it filled with a cloud of its own spray. The spot figures in my diary as Little Julia's Glen and Fall. 2d with a b patch of Id carpet, over with re now in the sod. n beneath ii* hiding- Is. New -babbling jiers, and of tender lofty hill, •sing wall ted castle, ^ht of my ;. Passing e hundred rard Cape he bottom er, which and the lowed its 11 cliff of wn into a cloud of as Little CHAPTEK XXXVI. HE reader will have observed the marvellous change that had come over the face of Nature since the shadow of the night had passed away. Recalling those chapters which recount the gloom and silence of the Arctic night, — the death-like quiet which reigned in the endless dai'kncss, — the absence of every living thing that could relieve the solitude of its terrors, — he will perhaps hardly have been prepared to see, without surprise, the same landscape covered with an endless blaze of light, the air and sea and earth teeming with life, the desert places sparkling with green, and brightening with flowers, — the mind finding everywhere some new object of pleasure, where before there was but gloom. The change of the Arctic winter to the Arctic summer is indeed the change from death to life ; and the voice which speaks to the sun and the winds, and brings back the joyous day, is that same voice which said *'Slic is not deail, but slccpclh," — and the pulseless heart was made to throb again, and the bloom returned to the pallid cheek. There is truly a rare charm in the Arctic summer, especially if watched unfolding from the darkness, and followed through the growing warmth, until the snows are loosened from the hills and the fountains burst forth, !! 11 ■| : f ) i ill I ' 358 THE ARCTIC SUMMER. and the feeble flower-growtlis spring into being, and tbe birds come back with their merry music ; and then again as it passes away, under the dark shadow of a sunless sky — the fountains sealing up, the hill-sides and valleys taking on again the white robes of winter and the stillness of the tomb, the birds in rapid flight with the retreating day, and the mantle of darkness settling upon the moun- tains, and overspreading the plain. To describe the summer as I have before de'scribed the winter, and to attempt fully to picture in detail those features which give it such a striking contrast to the winter as is not seen in any other quarter of the world, would too far prolong this narrative ; and I will therefore content myself with selecting from my diary such extracts as will show the progress of the season, and those occu- pations of myself and associates that bore upon the purposes which we had mainly in view. June 22ud. It is just six months since I wrote, " The sun has reached to-day its greatest southern declination and wo have passed the Arctic midnight ;" and now the sun has reached its greatest northern declination, and we have passed the Arctic noonday. Constant light has succeeded constant darkness, a bright and cheerful world has banished a painful solitude ; — ■ '* The winter is past and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come ;" and the long night which the glad day has succeeded is remembered as a strange dream. Juno 23rd. A bright day, with the thermometer at 47°, and light wind from the south. I have been out with my young assistants collecting plants and lichens. The rocks arc almost everywhere covered with the latter — one variety, orange in colour, grows in immense patches, and gives a ARCTIC FLORA. 359 ig, and tlie then again unless sky id valleys le stillness retreating the moun- cribed the tail those st to the ;he world, therefore h extracts ose occu- upon the 1110 22ucl. sun has and wo sun has we have ucceeded )rld has the earth ; icceeded 23rd. id light young •cks are variety, gives a cheerful hue to the rocks, while another, the ir'i^e de rocJie, which is still more abundant, gives a mournful look to the stony slopes which it covers. I have brought in a fino assortment of flowers, and it seems as if the plants aro now mostly in bloom. They have blossomed several days earlier than at Van Itcnssolacr Harbour in 1854. I have had a bouquet of them in my cabin for many days past, and from the banks of the little lake behind tho Observatory I can always rej)lcnish it at will.* * Not wishing to interrupt the text with details which would liavo little interest for the general reader, I give here the complete flora (so far as a most persistent effort could make it so) of the region northward from Whale Sound. Most of the plants were found at Port Foulke. My collections numhercd several thousand specimens, wliicli my kind friend, Mr. Elias Duraud, of Philadelphia, was good enough to assist mo in arranging, and afterwards to clfissify in a paper for the "Proceedings" of tlie Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, from which I give the following list : — 1. Ranunculus iilvalis. 2. Papaver nudlcaule. 3. Hesperls Pallasii. 4. Braba Alplna. 5. Draba corynibosa. 6. Draha hirta. 7. Draba glackilas. 8. Draha nipestrls. 0. Cochlearia ojichialis. 10. Vesicaria Arctica. 11. Arenaria Arctica. 12. JStellaria Immifusa. 1'). Stellar la Strtcta. 14. Cerastium Alpinum. 15. Silene acaulis. 16. Lychnis apetala. 17. Lychnis panciflora. 18. Dryas intigrifolia. 19. Dryas octopetala. 20. Potentilla 2iulchella. 21. Potentilla nivalis. 22. Ak'hemilla vulgaris. . 23. Saxifruga oppositifolia, 24. Saxifraga flagellar is. 25. Saxifraga cxspitosa. 20. Saxifraga rivularis. 27. Saxifraga tricuspidata. 28. Saxifraga cwnua. 20. Saxifruga nivalis. 30. Leontodon palustre. 31. Campanula linifolia. 32. Vacciniuni idiginosum. 33. Andromeda tetragona. 34. Pyrola chlorantha, 35. Bartsia Alpina. 36. Pcdicularis Kanei. 37. Armeria Labrador ica. 38. Polygonum viviparuni. 30. Oxyria didyma. 40. Empefrum nigmm. 41. Betula nana. 42. Salix Arctica. 43. Salix lierhacea. 44. Luzula (too young). 1 ^ 36o SUMMER SHOWERS. til |! Juno 25tlu A rainy day for a novelty. Nearly an inch of water has fallen already, and it still continues to patter upou the deck. I 'was out completing my geological collections when the shower began, and not only got thoroughly soaked, but had like to have got killed into the bargain ; for, in attempting to cross a small glacier which lay on the side of a hill, my feet flew up in consequence of the water making it more slippery, and I slid down over the ice and the stones which stuck up through it, and was finally landed among the rocks below with many bruises and not much clothing. The thermometer has stood at 48°, and the continuance of the warmth since the 20th, together with this "gentle rain from heaven," is telling upon the ice. It is getting very rotten, and the sea is eating into it rapidly. The "hinge" of the ice-foot is tumbling to pieces, and we have trouble in getting ashore. June 26th. Our summer shower has changed its complexion, and the " gentle rain " is converted into hail and snow, quite as unseasonable as it is disagreeable. The white snow with which a fierce wind has bespattered the cliffs gives a very un-June-like aspect to the prospect from the deck. The wind is southerly, and the waves, coming into the bay with no other resistance than that given by a few icebergs, begin to shake the ice about the schooner, and we can see the pulsations of the seas in the old fire-hole. I should not much relish seeing the ice crumbling to. pieces about us in the midst of such a storm. 45. Carex rigida^ 40. Eriophorum vaginatum. 47. Alopecurus Alpinus. 48. Glyceria Arctica. 49. Poa Arctica. 50. Poa Alpina. 51. Hierocloa Alpina. 52. Festuca ovina. 53. Lycood ium annoUnum IRESir EGGS. 361 uiio 2otli, of water tter upou sollections boroughly bargain ; ch lay on ice of the over the ;, and was ly bruises ntinuance s "gentle is getting lly. The 3, and we me 26th. xion, and .ow, quite lite snow ffs gives le deck. into the by a few mer, and fire-hole. )ling ta num Jinii' 27th. The storm continues — occasional rain, mixed up with a great deal of hail. The scene from the deck, to seaward, was so wild that I was tempted to the nearest island (the only one of the three not in open water), to get a better view of it. I had much trouble facing the wind, and was nearly blown into the sea, and the hail cut the face terribly. The little flowers, which had been seduced by the warm sun of last week into unveiling their modest faces, seemed shrinking and dejected. I was, however, repaid for some discomfort by the scene which I have brought back in my memory, and which is to go down on a sheet of clean white paper that is now drying on a di'awing-board which I owe to McCormick's ingenuity. I have not seen the equal of this storm except once — a memorable occasion — last year, when we were fighting our way into Smith Soimd. The ^vind seemed, as it did then, fairly to shovel the water up and pitch it through the air, until it had to stop from sheer exhaustion, and then I could see away off under a dark cloud a vast multitude of white specks creeping from the gloom, and moving along in solid phalanx, magnifying as they came, and charging the icebergs, hissing over their very summits, or breaking their heads upon the islands, or wreaking their fury on the ice of the harbour, into which their Titan touch opened many a gaping wound. June 28tli. The storm subsiding this morning, a party got a boat over the ice into the water, and, pulling to the outer island, brought back the first fresh eggs of the season. Those of the little tern or sea-swallow are the most delightful eggs that I have ever tasted. Those of the eider-duck are, like the eggs of all other duck, not very palatable. Knorr lit upon a patch of cochlearia which had just sprouted up around the bird-nests of the last year, 362 UPHEAVAL OF T/fE GRRENLAXD COAST. and no head of the first spring-lcttnco was c\cr more enjoyed. I had a capital salad. The islands promise to give us all the eggs wo want, and we shall have little more trouble in getting them than a housewife who sends to the farm-yard. The ducks have plucked the first instalment of down from their breasts, and Jensen has brouglit in a good-sized bagful of it. The poor birds have been, I fear, robbed to little purpose, and will have to pick themselves again. Jensen tells me that, upon the islands near Upernavik, where lie has often gone for cider-down, the male bird is sometimes obliged to pluck off his handsome coat, to help out his unhajipy spouse, when she has been so often robbed that she can pluck no more of the tender covering for her eggs from her naked breast. Juno 30 th. Another rain storm, during which half an inch of water has fallen. The temperature has gone down to 38°. The ice is loosening, and threatens to break up bodily. July 2nd. I have been occupied during the past two days with running a set of levels from the harbour across to the fiord and with plotting the terraces. These terraces are twenty-three in number and rise very regularly to an altitude of one hundred and ten feet above the mean tide- level. The lowest rises thirty-two feet higher than the tide, but above this they climb up with great regularity. They are composed of small pebbles rounded by water action. Of these terraces I have frequently made mention in this journal, and their existence in all similar localities has been before remarked. They have much geological interest, as illustrating the gradual upheaval of that part of Greenland lying north of latitude 76° ; and the interest attaching; to them is hcij:jhtened when viewed in 1AS7\ GEOLOGICAL CHANGES, 363 c\cr moro promise to have littlo I who sends 1 the first Jensen has poor birds I will have kt, upon tho I gone for d to pluck )py spouse, m pluck no 1 her naked June 30tli. ch of water m to 38°. bodily. July 2nd. days with )ss to the )rraces arc irly to an mean tide- than tho egularity. by water lention in localities geological that part and tho viewed in connection with the corresponding depression which has taken place, even within tlie period of Cliristian occupa tion, in southern (jlroenlaiid. These evidences of tho sinking of the Greenland coast from about Cape York, southward, arc too well known to need any comment in this place ; but I may dwell, for a few moments, upon tho evidences of rising of tlic coast lierc and northward. At many conspicuous points, where the current is swift and tho ice is pressed down upon the land with great force and rapidity, tho rocks arc worn away until they are as smooth and polished as the surface of a table, — a fact which may at any time bo observed by looking down through the clear water. This smoothness of the rock continues above the sea, to an elevation which I have not been able with positive accuracy to determine in any locality, but having a general correspondence to tho height of tho terraces at l*ort Foulke, which, as before observed, rise one hundred and ten feet above tho sea- level. At Cairn Point the abrasion is very marked, and where the polished line of syenitic rock leaves off and tho rougn rock begins, is quite clearly defined. This same condition also exists at Littleton Island (or, rather, McGary Island, which lies immediately outside of it) to an almost equally marked degree. I have before mentioned the evidences of a similar elevation of the opposite coast found in the terraced beaches of Grinnell Land. It is curious to observe hero, actually taking place before our eyes, those geological events which have transpired in southern latitudes during the glacier epoch, not only in the abrasion of the rock as seen at Cairn Point and elsewhere, but in tho changes which they work in the deeper sea. In this agency the ice-foot bears a conspicuous influence. This ice-foot is but a shelf of ice, as it were, glued against the shore, and is the winter-girdlo of all the Arctic coasts. It is wide or narrow as the shore slopes gently into the sea or meets it abruptly. It is ii 11 \ \\ I 11 1 i l! I' I I 364 t IVALKUS jicwr. usually broken away toward tlio closo of every suiiinicr, and the masses of rock wliieli have been burled down upon it from tlio cliffs above are carried away and dropped in the sea, wbcn tbo raft bas loosened from tlie sboro and. drifted off, steadily melting as it floats. Tbe amount of rock tbus transported to tbo ocean is immense, and yet it falls far sbort of tbat wbicli is carried by tbo icebergs ; tbe rock and sand imbedded in wliicb, as tbey lay in tbo parent glacier, being sometimes sufficient to bear tliem down under tbe weigbt until but tbe merest fragment rises above tbe surface. As tbe berg melts, tbo rocks and sand fall to tbo bottom of tbe ocean ; and, if tbe place of tbeir deposit sbould one day rise above tbo sea-level, some geological student of future ages may, perbaps, be as mucb puzzled to know bow tbey came tberc as tboso of tbe present generation arc to account for tbo boulders of tbo Connecticut valley. July 3rd. I have bad a walrus bunt and a most exciting day's sport. Mucb ice bas broken adrift and come down tbe Sound, during the past few days ; and, wben the sun is out bright and hot, the walrus come up out of the water to sleep and bask in tbe warmth on tbe pack. Being upon the hill-top this morning to select a place for build- ing a cairn, my ear caught the hoarse bellowing of numerous walrus ; and, upon looking over tbo sea I observed that the tide was carrying tbe pack across the outer limit of the bay, and that it was alive with the beasts, which were filling the air with such uncouth noises. Their numbers appeared to be even beyond con- jecture, for they extended as far as the eye could reach, almost every piece of ice being covered. There must have been, indeed, many hundreds or even thousands. Hurrying from the hill, I called for volunteers, and quickly had a boat's crew ready for some sport. Putting three rifles, a harpoon, and a line into one of the whale- A WALRUS HUXT. 365 •y suiniucr, rlcd down id dropped shore and amount of and yet it ) icebergs; lay in tho bear them jment rises ;s and sand light of tho bold ore. But ut ; so wo oral cows itly year- or three while on 'bey, were ad great t length raft, and ily never ie as we sn dead, e there- 3ither to )on well m until .•/ //://. A* r.v i/rx'r. z^>7 ]r! was killed. As to killing the uiiiimil wlicn^ ho lay, that was not likely to happen, for the thick skin destroys tho force of the ball lu'fore it can reach any vital part, anuld be left lotive there- II A en < A WALRUS num. 69 foro to be active. Miller plied his lance from the bows,, and gave many a serious wound. The men pushed back the onset with their oars, while Knorr, Jensen, and myself loaded and fired our rifles as rapidly as we could. Several times we were in great jeopardy, but the timely thrust of an oar, or the lance, or a bullet saved us. Once I thought we were surely gone. I had fired, and was hastening to load ; a wicked-looking bruto was making at us, and it seemed probable that he woidd bo upon us. I stopped loading, and was preparing to cram my rifle down his throat, when Knorr, who had got ready his weapon, sent a fatal shot into his head. Again, an immense animal, the largest that I had ever seen and with tusks apparently three feet long, was observed to be making his way through the herd with mouth wide open, bellowing dread- fully. I was now as before busy loading ; Knorr and Jensen had just discharged their pieces, and the men were well engaged with their oars. It was a critical moment,, but, happily, I was in time. The monster, his head high above the boat, was within two feet of the gunwale, when I raised my piece and fired into his mouth. The discharge killed him instantly, and he went down like a stone. This ended the fray. I know not why, but the whole herd seemed suddenly to take alarm, and all dove down Avith a tremendous splash almost at the same instant. When they came up again, still shrieking as before, they were some distance from us, their heads all now pointed seaward, making from us as fast as they could go, their cries growing more and more faint as they retreated in the distance. We must have killed at least a dozen, and moi*tally wounded as many more. The water was in places red with blood, and several half dead and dying animals lay floating about us. The bull to which we were made fast pulled away with all his might after the retreating herd, but his strength s^on became exhausted; and, as his 2 B \\ fi ;7o THE ** GLORIOUS FOURTHS !:■ f i m W I t i I; 'i ! speed slackened, we managed to haul in the line, and finally approached him so nearly that our rifle balls took effect, and Miller at length gave him the coMjp de grace with his lance. We then drew him to the nearest piece of ice, and I had soon a fine specimen to add to my Natural History collections. Of the others we secured only one ; the rest had died and sunk before wo reached them. I have never before regarded the walrus as a really formidable animal; but this contest convinces me that I have done their courage great injustice. They are full of fight ; and, had we not been very active and self- possessed, our boat would have been torn to pieces, and we either drowned or killed. A more fierce attack than that which they made upon us could hardly be imagined, and a more formidable-looking enemy than one of these huge monsters, with his immense tusks and bellowing throat, would be difficult to find. Next time I try them I will arm my boat's crew with lances. The rifle is a poor reliance, and, but for the oars, the herd would have been on top of us at any time. July 4th. The " glorious Fourth " gives us a sorry greeting — rain and hail and snow are unusual accompaniments to this national holiday. The thermometer has gone down almost to the freezing point ; but, nevertheless, we have fired our salute, and have displayed our bunting, as in duty bound. Thanks to the hunters, we have had a good dinner of venison and birds, winding up with a cochlearia salad ; and if we lacked the oration, we did not the less turn our thoughts to the ever dear land where all are gay — all alike forgetting for the time their differences of party creeds and party interests, unite together uLier the nation's broad banner, to hail the returning dawn of its wonderful career, and to drink bumpers to fraternal union. God bless the day ! PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 371 line, and balls took die grace •est piece Id to my 3 secured 3 reached 1 a really me that rhey are and self- ieces, and ;tack than imagined, } of these bellowing try them rifle is a ould have July 4th. ing — rain s to this ^vn almost fired our ;y bound, dinner of ia salad ; turn our gay — all of party LJer the wn of its fraternal July 7th. I have been up fto Littleton Island for tlireo days, ^'atching the ice, hunting, etc. AVc caught another walrus and had another fight, but this time we had fewer enemies, and drove them off very quickly. Littleton and McGary Islands are literally swarming with birds, chiefly eider-ducks and burgomasters. There was no end to the number that could have been shot. Tho eggs have nearly all chicks in them, but fortunately wo have already collected from the islands of the harbour a good supply. I found a flock of brant-geese, but could not discover their nests. The burgomaster- gulls are very numerous, but there were no ivory or other gulls, as I had hoped to find. They do not appear to come so far north. The open water has made still further inroads upon tho ice. The islands are all now in the open sea, and it is but a few rods from the ship to its margin. The ice still clings tightly to the schooner, notwithstanding all our efforts to free her. In anticipation of a southerly swell setting into the harbour and breaking the ice, I have had the men at work for several days sawing a crack across the harbour from the vessel's forefoot in the one direction, and from the stern post in the other. The ice is now only 4i feet thick. The sails are all bent on, the hawsers are brought on board, our depot ashore is completed, and we are ready for any fortune. If blo\vn with the ice out to sea, we are fully prepared. Upon the hill top of the north side of the harbour we have constructed a cairn, and under it I have deposited a brief record of the voyage. The Observatory I leave standing, and Kalutunah engages that the Esquimaux will not disturb it during my absence. All of them who have been here are so amply enriched that I think I ought to rely upon their good faith ; yet the wood will be valuable 2 B 2 1 372 AFLOAT AGAIN! ; fl : 1 to tliem, and these poor savages are not the only people who find it hard to resist temptation. July 9th. I have paid another visit to Chester Valley, and have bade adieu to " Brother John." If the latter continues to grow until I come again, the stakes which I have stuck into its Lack will show some useful results. The valley was clothed in the full robes of summer. The green slopes were sparkling with flowers, and the ice had wholly disaj)peared from Alida Lake. Jensen shot some birds and tried hard to catch a deer, and while thus engaged I secured a yellow-winged butterfly, and — who would believe it ? a mosquito. And these I add to an entomological col- lection which already numbers ten moths, three spiders, two humble-bees, and two flies — a pretty good proportion of the genus Inseda for this latitude, 78^ 17' N., longitude 73^ W. July 10th. A heavy swell is setting into the harbour from the south-west. There has evidently been a strong southerly wind outside, although it has been blowing but lightly here. The ice has been breaking up through the day, and crack after crack is opening across the harbour. If it lasts twelve hom*s longer we will be liberated. It is a sort of crisis, and may be a dangerous one. The crashing of the ice is perfectly frightful. The schooner still holds fast in her cradle. July 11th. We have passed through a day of much excitement, and are yet not free from it. The seas continuing to roll in, more cracks opened across the harbour, until the swell at length reached the vessel. Late this aCjcrnoon, after more than thirty-six hours of suspense, the ice opened close beside us, and after a few minutes another split came diagonally across the vessel. This was what I had feared, and it was to prevent it that I had sawed WAITING FOR A IVIXD. 373 y people uly 9tli. ud have ontinues ,ve stuck LG valley le green 1 wholly Qc birds, igaged I d believe jical col- spiders^ •oportioa ongitude ly lOtli. rom the outherly lightly he day, arbour. berated* one. The us |y 11th. jtement, luing to \ntil the brnoon, Ithe ice mother IS what sawed ticross the harbour. The ice was, however, quicldy loosened from the bows, but held by the stern, and the wrenches given the schooner by the first few movements made every timber of her fairly creak again ; but finally the sawed crack came to the rescue, and, separating a little, tlie schooner gave a lurch to port, which loosened the ice from under the counter, and we were really afloat but grinding most uncomfortably, and arc grinding still. July V2i\\. The swell has subsided, the storm clouds have cleared tiway, and the tide is scattering the ice out over the sea. We are fairly and truly afloat, and once more cannot leave the deck without a boat. It is just ten months to a day since we were locked up, during which time our little craft has been a house rather tlian a shij). We are glad to feel again the motion of the sea ; and " man the boat " seems a novel order to give when one wants to go ashore. We await only a wind to send us to sea. July VMh. Still calm, and we are lying quietly among the ice which so lately held us prisoners. I have been ashore, taking leave of my friends the Esquimaux. They have pitched their tents near by, and, poor fellows ! I am truly fjorry to leave them. They have all been faithful, each in his way, and they have done me most important service. The alacrity with which they have placed their dogs at my disposal (and without these dogs I could have done absolutely nothing) is the strongest proof that they could give me of their devotion and regard ; for their dogs are to them invaluable treasures, without which they liave no security against want and starvation, to themselves and tlieir wives and children. True, I have done them some good, and have given them presents of great value, yet nothing can supply the place of a lost dog ; and out 374 ADIEU TO PORT FOULKE. I ■■ !! of all that I obtained from them, there Jwcro but two animals that survived the hardships of my spring journey. These I have returned to their original owners. I have given them high hopes of my speedy return, and in this prospect they apj)car to take consolation. It is sad to reflect upon tho future of these strange people ; and yet they contemplate a fate which they view as inevitable, with an air of indifference difficult to com- prehend. The only person who seemed seriously to feel any pang at the prospect of the desolation which will soon come over the villages, is Kalutunah. This singular being — a mixture of seriousness, good-nature,''and intelli- gence — seems truly to take pride in the traditions of his race, and to be really pained at the prospect of their downfall. When I took his hand to-day and told him that I would not come ashore any more, the^tears actually started to his eyes, and I was much touched with his earnest words — it was almost an entreaty — " Come back and save us." Save them I would and will, if I am spared to return ; and I am quite sure that upon no beings in the whole wide world could Christian love and Christian charity more worthily fall. July 14tli. Moving out to sea under full sail, with a light wind from the eastward. We make little progress, but are able to pick our way among the loose ice. As we pass along, I see shoals of old tin cans, dead dogs, piles of ashes, and other debris of tho winter, floating on ice-rafts upon the sea — relics of the ten months which are gone, with all its dreary and all its pleasant memories. As I retreated from the deck, I saw the Esquimaux standing on the beach, gazing after us ; the litlie white Observatory grew dim in the distance ; and I have come below with a kindly " Adieu, Port Foulke," lingering on the lip. 3Ut two journey. I havo 1 in this strango ley Yiew to com- y to feel vill soon singular 1 intelli- ns of his of their ;old him actually with his mo hack if I am upon no love and ily 14th. Lght wind , hut are 3 we pass )gs, piles )ating on hs which memories. Isquimaux ttle white Lave come gering on .tm^*" ^ifc^s^ /S^ ^ w^y^ t)'V \ CHAPTER XXXVIT. HE schooner glided gently out to sea, hut tho wind soon died away and the current carried us down into tho lower hay, where wo moored to a herg, and I went ashore and got some good photographs of Little Julia's Glen and Fall, Sonntag's Monument, Crystal Palace Glacier, and Capo Alexander. Although douhtful as to tho prospect ahead, I was determined not to quit the field without making another attempt to reach the west coast and endeavour to obtain some further information that might he of service to mo in the future. I had still a vague hope that, even with my crippled vessel, some such good prospect might open before me as would justify me in remaining. Accordingly, as soon as the wind came, we cast off from the friendly berg, and held once more for Cape Isabella. The wind rose to a fresh breeze as we crawled away from the land, and the schooner, as if rejoiced at her newly-acquired freedom, bounded over the waters with her old swiftness. But, unhappily, a heavy pack lay in our course, through which, had the schooner been strong, a passage might have been forced ; but as it could not be done without frequent collisions with the ice, the intention was not entertained. The pack was not more than ten miles from tho Greenland shore, and I therefore put back to I ! ■ li'l (i i i i i ■ i ' M li I 37^ A T LITTLETON ISLAXD, Littleton Island, and from that point watched the move- ments of the ice. Wo found a convenient anchoraj:;e between Littleton and McGary Islands, and we reached it just in time ; for a severe gale, witli thick snow, set in from the northward as 1 had anticipated from tlic ai)pearance of the sky, and held for several days. Meanwhile the people amused themselves witli hunting. A herd of deer was discovered on Littleton Island, and the walrus were very numerous. Four of the latter were captured, — this time, however, not from a boat, but by Hans, in the true Esquimau style. They came along the shore in great numbers, lying upon the beach in the sun, Avhere Hans approached them stealthily, and got fast to them one by one with his harpoon. The line being secured to a rock the animals wore held until they were exhausted, and then drawn in, when they soon became a prey to the rifles. Wishing to obtain a young one for a specimen, I joined the hunters ; and, selecting from the herd which lay upon the rocks one to suit my purposes, I fired upon and killed it. The others plunged quickly into the A.nicr. The mother of the dead calf was the last to leave tiie rock, and seemed to do so very reluctantly. In a few moments she came to the surface, and, wheeling around, discovered the young one still lying upon the rock. Finding that it did not answer to her cries, she rushed frantically into the face of danger, and in full view of the cause of her woes (for I had approached very near the spot) the unhappy creature, intent only upon rescuing her offspring, drew herself out of the water, crying piteously all the while, and, crawling around it, pushed it before her into the sea. I endeavoured first to frighten her off, and then tried to arrest her, and save my specimen, with a fresh bullet ; but all to no effect. Although badly w'oundcd, she succeeded in her purpose, and, falling upon the dead calf with her breast, carried it do\\Ti with her, and I saw them no more. I RES( '[, TS OF THE J '0 J '. / CE 77 ho movc- Littlcton time ; for lortliward I sky, aud amused liscovcrcd iivmierous. \vever, not iiau style, ying upon icd tliem with his le animals drawn in, Vishing to ) hunters ; the rocks II it. The mother of seemed to e came to the young it did not the face of voes (for I Y creature, lerself out I, crawling ideavoured st lier, and all to no cd in her ler breast, more. I liavo never seen a stronger or more touching instance of the devotion of mother to its young, among dumb animals, tind it came from a quarter wholly untixpected. Having leisure while the snow-storm histcd, I went up to Cairn Point to see how the ice api)carcd from that place. After waiting there for a day, tlio atmosphere cleared up, and I could see witli much distinctness to Oapo Isabella. The line of tlic solid ice extended in a somewhat irregular curve up the Sound from that cape to a few miles above Cairn Point. The sea thence down into the North Water was filled with a loose paclc. The day after my return we i^ut to sea. The pack being now much scattered, we entered it and penetrated to the margin of the fast ice without difficulty. In two days we reached the coast near Gale Point, about ten miles below Cape Isabella. Thenco to the cape I went in a whale-boat ; but the cape itself could not be passed ; so we hauled into the first convenient bight, and climbed the hill. The view convinced me, if I was not convinced already, of the folly of attempting anything further with the schooner. I no longer hesitated, even in thought. My opinions were thus recorded at the time : — " I am fully persuaded, if there still remained a linger- ing doubt, of the correctness of my decision to return Lome, and come out next year strengthened and refitted with steam. If my impulses lead me to try conclusions once more with the ice, my judgment convinces mo that it would be at the risk of everything. As well use a Hudson-river steamboat for a battering-ram as this schooner, with her weakened bows, to encounter the Smith Sound ice. " I have secured the following important advantages for the future, and, with these I must, perforce, rest satisfied, for the present : — *' 1. I have brought my party through without sickness, i! I 378 AV':sorA'Cf:s of port foui.kf.. !., < ( and liavo tliiiH bIiowu that tlio Arctic winter of itself hrcctls neither scurvy nor (liscontent. **2. I have shown that men may subsist themselves in Smith Sound indopcndent of support from home. "3. That a self sustaining colony may be established at Port Foulke, and bo made the basis of an extended ex- jdoration. " 4. That the exploration of this entire region is practi- cable from Port FouUvc, — having from that starting-point pushed my discoveries much beyond those of my prede- cessors, without any second party in the field to co-opcrato with mc, and under the most adverse circumstances. " 5. That, with a reasonable degree of certainty, it is shown tliat, with a strong vessel, Smitli Sound may bo navigated and the open sea reached beyond it. " 6. I have shown that the open sea exists. -:!l " And now, liaving proven this much, I shall return to Boston, rejjair the schooner, get a small steamer, and come back as early next spring as I can. The schooner I will leave at Port Foulke ; and, remaining there only long enough to see the machinery set in motion for starting tho hunt, collecting the Esquimaux, and establishing the dis- cipline of the colony, I will seek Cape Isabella, and thenco steam northward by tho route already designated. If I cannot reach the open sea in one season, I may the next ; in any event, I shall alway:) have at Port Foulke a produc- tive source of food and furs, and a vessel to carry them to Cape Isabella, upon which I may fall back ; and if I need dogs, they will be reared at the colony in any numbers that may be required. Besides, if in this exploration I should be deficient in means, and the expedition should be hereafter left entirely to its own resources, a sufiicient profit may be made out of the colony in oils, furs, walrus ivory, eider down, etc., to pay at least a very considerable proportion of the wages of the employes, beside subsisting CAPE ISAIU'lLLA. 379 self breeds jmsclvcs ill abliblicd at Uoudcd cx- n is practi- Ttiug-poiiit my prcdo- I co-opcrato inccs. ;ainty, it is nd may l)o II return to r, and como 3ncr I will only long starting tho ing the dis- and thence atcd. If I the next ; e a produc- •ry them to d if I need ly numbers ploration I 1 should be a sufficient 'urs, walrus onsiderable subsisting them. Tlio whole region around Port Foiilko is teeming with animal life, and ono good liunter could food twenty mouths. IJotli my winter and summer experitjuee proves the correctness of tliis opinion. Tho sea abounds in walrus, seal, narwhal, and white whale ; tho land in rein- deer and foxes : the islands and the clill's, in summer, swarm with birds ; and tho ico is tho roaming-ground of tho bears," Thus nnich for tho future ; let mo now como back to the present. Inglefield has very correctly exhibited the expansion of Smith Sound, as 1 have had most excellent opportunity for observing, both in my 2)assage over, and from Capo Isabella. He has placed some of the capes too far north, and his local attraction, probably, has caused a slight error in the axis of the Sound. His Victoria \ lead is tho eastern capo of my Bachc Island, and his Cape xVlbert is tho eastern cape of Henry Island. The view up the Sound from Cape Isabella was truly magnificent. The dark, wuU-sided coast, rendered more dark in appearance by the contrast with the immenso cloak of whiteness that lay above it, was relieved by numerous glaciers, which jiour through the valleys to tho sea. The mcr de glace is of great extent, and, rising much more rapidly and being more broken, gives a picturesque effect not belonging to the Greenland side, and adds much to the grandeur of its appearance. The mountains aro lofty, and are everywhere uniformly covered with ice and snow ; u ^ the glacier streams which descend to the sea convey tho impression almost as if there had once been a vast lake on the mountain-top, from which the overflowing waters, pouring down every valley, had been suddenly congealed. Off Cape Sabine there are two islands, which I name Brevoort and Stalknccht ; and another, midway between il r4 Mm 380 A ''DIAMOND OF THE DESERTS \ i ij ,% them and Wade Point, which I name Leconte. A deep inlet running parallel with the Cadogen Inlet of Captain Ingleficld, fringed all around with glaciers set into the dark rocks like brilliants into a groundwork of jet, opens between Wade Point and Cape Isabella. I leave the naming of it until I see whether Inglefield has not a bay set down there, as I have not with me the official map of his explorations. Cape Isabella is a ragged mass of Plutonic rock, and looks as if it had been turned out of Nature's laboratory unfinished and pushed up from the sea while it was yet hot, to crack and crumble to pieces in the cold air. Its surface is barren to the last degree ; immense chasms or caiions cross it in all directions, in which there was not the remotest trace of vegetation, — great yawning depths with jagged beds and crumbling sides, — sunless as the Cimerian caverns of Avernus. As I clambered over crag after crag, I thought that I had not in the summer-time anywhere lit upon a place so devoid of life ; but, as if to compensate for this barrenness, or through some freak of Nature, a charming cup-like valley nestled among the forbidding hills, and upon it I stumbled suddenly. Balboa could hardly have been more surprised when he climbed the hills of Darien and first saw the Pacific Ocean. It was truly a " Diamond of the Desert," and the little hermitage in the wilderness of Engedi was not a more pleasing sight to the Knight of the Couchant Leopard than was this to me. The few hardy plants which I had found in all other localities had failed to find a lodgment upon the craggy slopes of this rough capo, and the rocks stood up in naked barrenness, without the little fringe of vegetation which usually girdles them elsewhere ; but down into this valley the seeds of life had been wafted; the grass and moss clothed it with green ; and the poppies and buttercups sprinkled it over with leaves of gold. In its centre re- r." ate. A deep )t of Captain set into the of jet, opens I leave the las not a bay ficial map of lie rock, and 3's laboratory ile it was yet cold air. Its ise chasms or ihere was not ming depths nless as the )ught that I a a place so 3 barrenness, ing cup-like nd upon it I e been more en and first nond of the ilderness of le Knight of in all other L the craggy up in naked ition which this valley and moss buttercups s centre re- A GLACIER GROTTO. 5S1 posed a little sparkling lake, like a diamond in an emerald setting — a little " chai'med sea," truly, •' Girt by mouutaius wiKl and hoary ;'* and weird and wonderful as any that ever furnished theme for Norland legend. From the lower margin of this lake a stream rushed in a series of cascades through a deep gorge to the sea, and from the valley a number of little rivulets giu'gled among the stones, or wound gently through the soft moss-beds. Tracing one of these to its source, I came upon a glen which was terminated abruptly by a glacier, appearing at a little distance like a draped curtain of white satin drawn across the narrow passage, as if to screen some sacred chamber of the hills. As I approached nearer this white curtain assumed more solid shape, and I observed that a multitude of bright fountains fluttered over it. Near its centre a narrow Gothic archway led into a spacious grotto filled with a soft cerulean light, fretted with pendants of most fantastic shape and of rare transparency, which were reflected, as in a silver mirror, on the still surface of a limpid pool, from which gushed forth a crystal rivulet, pure and sparkling as the cypress-embowered waters that laved the virgin limbs of the huntress-queen. While peering into the deep recesses of this wonderful cave, so chaste and exquisite, where solitude appeared to dwell alone and undisturbed except by the soft music of streams, I became suddenly conscious of having been enticed into danger, Actaeon-like, unawares. A mass of ice broke from the glacier front and, splitting into numer- ous fragments, the shower came crushing down upon the rocks and in the water near me, and sent me flying pre- cipitately and with my curiosity still unsatisfied. Keturning to the lake, I followed around its green border, plucking, as I went, a nosegay of bright flowers, which have so pleasing an association that they will not L>«* •^.82 TRACES OF ESQUIMAUX. \ I 'il find place in the "botanical collections," but, rather, in another collection, — mementos, if less prized, more cherished ; and the recollection which I shall carry with me of this charming valley, and the silvery lake, and the gushing rivulets, and the grottoed glacier, will be enhanced when I name them in remembrance of the fairest forms that ever flitted across the memory of storm-beaten traveller, and the fairest fingers that ever turned Afghan wool into a cunning device to brighten the light of a dingy cabin ! Upon going ashore at Gale Point, I discovered traces of Esquimaux much more recent than those at Gould Bay and other places on the shores of Grinnell Land. Indeed they were of such a character as to cause me strongly to suspect that the shore is at present inhabited. The cliffs are composed of a dark sandstone which, to the northward of the Point, breaks suddenly away into a broad plain that slopes gently down to the water's edge. This plain is about five miles wide, and is bounded at the north much as at the south, by lofty cliffs, which rise above the primi- tive rocks back of Cape Isabella. The plain was com- posed of loose shingle, covered over in many places with large patches of green, through which flowed a number of broad streams of water. These streams sprang from the front of a glacier which bulged down the valley from the mer de glace. It was about four miles from the sea, and bounded the green and stony slope with a great white wall several hundred feet high, above which the snow-covered steep of the mer de glace led the eye away up to the bald summits of the distant mountains. As I looked up at this immense stream of ice it seemed as if a dozen Niagaras had been bounding together into the valley and were frozen in their fall, and the discharging waters of the river below had dried up, and flowers bloomed in the river-bed. My journal compares it to a huge white sheet, hung upon a cord stretched from cliff to cliff. t, rather, in •ized, more carry witli ike, and the be enhanced }t forms that Dn traveller, ,n wool into igy cabin ! 'ed traces of Gould Bay ad. Indeed ! strongly to The cliffs e northward ,d plain that his plain is north much 9 the primi- n was com- places with number of g from the y from the he sea, and white wall ow-covered to the bald ked up at n Niagaras and were ers of the ed in the hite sheet, ^W^ ^^ ^i^^ CHAPTEK XXXVIII. HE ice coming in at length with an easterly wind, and being unable to find any harbour (Cadogen Inlet was completely filled with ice), we had no alternative but to stand away to the south ; and this we did at a fortunate moment, for the ice crowded in against the shore with great rapidity ; and, had wo waited longer, we should have been unable to escape, and would have been driven upon the beach by the irresistible pack. We carried the wind along with us down the coast until we reached below Talbot Inlet, when we came upon a heavy pack, and held our course for Whale Sound, which I was desirous of exploring. Passing close to the land, I had an excellent opportunity for observing the coast and per- fecting the chart, especially of Cadogen and Talbot Inlets, both of which were traced around their entire circuit. The coast is everywhere bristling with glaciers. A large island lies below Talbot Inlet, inside of the Mittie Island of Captain Inglefield, and not before laid down. Skirting the northern margin of the ice, we made a course to the north-eastward, across the North Water, through one of the most charming days that I have spent under the Arctic skies. There was but the feeblest " cat's-paw " to ruffle the sea, and we glided on our way I mtfiam 384 A RARE DA V. I'l over the still waters through a bright sunshine. The sea was studded all over with glittering icebergs and bits of old floes, and here and there a small streak of ice which had become detached from the pack. The beasts of the sea and the fowls of the air gathered around us, and tho motionless water and the quiet atmosphere were alive. The walrus came snorting and bellowing through the sea, as if to have a look at us ; the seals in great numbers were continually putting up their cunning heads all around the vessel ; tho narwhal in large schools, " blowing " lazily, thrust their horns out of the sea, and their dappled bodies followed after with a graceful curve, as if they enjoyed tho sunshine and were loath to quit it ; great numbers of white whale darted past us; tho air and the icebergs swarmed with gulls ; and flocks of ducks and auks were flying over us all the time. I sat upon the deck much of the day, trying, with indifferent success, to convey to my portfolio the exquisite green tints of the ice which drifted past us, and watching a most singular phenomenon in the heavens. These Arctic skies do sometimes play fantastic tricks, and on no occasion have I witnessed the exhibition to such perfection. The atmosphere had a rare softness, and throughout almost the entire day there was visible a most remarkable mirage or refraction, — an event of very frequent occurrence during the calm days of the Arctic summer. The entire horizon was lifting and doubling itself continually, and objects at a great distance beyond it rose as if by strange enchantment and stood suspended in the air, changing shape with each changing moment. Distant icebergs and floating ice-fields, and coast-lines and mountains were thus brought into view ; sometimes preserving for a moment their natural shapes, then widening or lengthening, rising and falling as the wind fluttered or fell calm over the sea. The changes were as various as the dissolving images of a kaleidoscope, and every form of which the imagination could conceive stood out against le. The sea and bits of )f ice which. ►easts of the us, and the were alive. )ugh the sea ambers were [ around the ing " lazily, opied bodies enjoyed the numbers of he icebergs d auks were eck much of onvey to my ^hich drifted lenon in the [ay fantastic e exhibition ire softness, ras visible a ent of very the Arctic d doubling nee beyond suspended g moment. coast-lines sometimes n widening uttered or I various as try form of kit against ARCTIC MIRAGE. tho sky. At ouj moment a sharp spiro, tho prolonged imago of a distant mountain-peak, would shoot up; and this would fix.^hion itself into a cross, or a spoar, or a huiaan form, and would then die away, to bo replaced by an icaberg which appo.ired a^ a castlo standing upon tho summit of a hill, and tho ice-fiolds coming up with it flanked it on either side, sooming at ono moment like a plain dotted with trees and animals ; again,* as rugged mountains ; and thon, breaking up after a while, disclosing a long lino of boars and dosjs and birds and men dancin'' in tho air, and skipping from the sea to tho skies. To l)icture this strange spectacle were an impossible task. Thore was no end to the forms which appeared every instant, molting into other shapes as suddenly. For hours we watched tho "insubstantial jiageant," until a wind from the north ruffled the sea; when, with its first breath, the whole scene molted away as quickly as the "baseless fabric" of Prospero's "vision;" and from watching these dissolving images, and wooing the soft air, Ave were, in a couple of hours, thrashing to windward through a fierce storm of rain and hail, under close-reefed sails. We had some ugly knocking about and some narrow escapes in the thick atmosphere, before we reached Whale Sound. A heavy pack, apparently hanging upon tho Carey Islands, drove us far up the North Water ; and, to got to our destination, we were obliged to hold in close to Hakluyt Island. Here the air having fallen calm, I pulled ashore ; and, when we set out to return, wo found our- solves enveloped in a fog which caused us some alarm. Observing its approach, we pulled to catch the schooner before the dark curtain closed upon us, but were overtaken when almost a mile away. Having no compass we became totally ignorant of v/hich vray to steer ; and, although we heard the ship's bell and an occasional discharge of guns to attract our attention, yet, so decep- 2 i I hi II I i ;r I -^SG AN ESQUIMAU VILLAGE. tivc is the car wlicro the eye is not concerned in guiding it, that no two of us caught the sound from the same direction; so we lay on our oars, and trusted to fortune. After a while, a light wind sprung up ; and the schooner, getting under way, by the merest chance bore right upon us, and came so suddenly in view out of the dark vapours that we had like to have been run down before we could get headwa}Pon the boat. Wo had much difficulty, owing to the fogs, current, and icebergs, in getting up Whale Sound ; but, after much patient perseverance, we arrived at length in Barden Bay, and came to anchor off the native settlement of Netlik. The settlcjment was found to be deserted. The fog lifting next day, disclosing much heavy ice, among which it would be dangerous to trust the schooner, I took a whale-boat and pulled uj) the Sound. The Sound narrows steadily until a few miles beyond Barden Bay, where the coasts run parallel until the waters terminate in a deep bay or gulf, to which I gave the name of the enterprising navigator, Captain Inglefield, who fii'st passed the entrance to it. The coast on the north side runs much further south than appears on the old charts ; and two conspicuous headlands, which Ingle- field mistook for islands, I have designated on my chart l)y the names which the supposed islands have on his. A cluster of islands at the farther end of the gulf I called Harvard Islands, in remembrance of the University at Cambridge, to members of whose faculty I am indebted for many coui'teous attentions while fitting out in Boston ; and a range of noble mountains which rise from the head of the gulf and with stately dignity overlook the broad mer de glace, holding the vast ice-flood in check, I named the Cambridge Hills. On the south side of the Sound, toward which the Har- vard Islands seem to trend, there are two prominent capes which I named respectively Capo Banks and Cape in guiding L tlio same to fortune. schooner, right upon rk vapours •e we could urrent, and ifter much lardcn Bay, Nctlik. , The fog aong which ;, I took a les beyond until the ich I gave Inglefield, )ast on the ears on the liich Ingle- my chart on his. A ilf I called iversity at indebted in Boston ; the head the broad ., I named the Har- [nent capes land Cape 1 a ESQUIMA U STA TISTICS. s; Lincoln ;* while two deep bays are designated as Cope's Bay and Harrison Bay. Another, on the north side, I called Armsby Bay. I had to regret that I could not reach the further end of the gulf. The ice for about twenty miles remained quite solid and impenetrable, so that I was obliged to draw back. Skirting along the southern coast wo came upon the village of Itcplik and found it inhabited by about thii-ty people. They were living in seal-skin tents, three in number, and were overjoyed to see us. Near by, there was a rookery of auks similar to that near Port Foulke, which, together with the seal and walrus that were observed to be very numerous in all parts of the Sound, furnished them ample subsistence. There were in all nine families, but there was no family that consisted of more than four persons, — the parents and two childi'cn. The largest family that I have seen among them was that of Kalutu- nah. Hans told me of several families of three children ; and Tattarat, now a lonely widower, lives on Northumber- land Island, near the auk-hill of that place, with three orphans ; and his wife bore him a fourth, which disap- peared in some mysterious manner soon after its mother died and while it was yet a babe at the breast. With the aid of Hans, I endeavoured to get at a correct estimate of the whole tribe, and, commencing with Cape York, took down their names. In this community there can be no domestic secrets, and everybody knows all about everybody else's business, — where they go for the summer, and what luck they have had in hunting, — and talk and gossip about it and about each other just as if they were civilized beings, having good names to pick to pieces. But I strongly suspect that Hans grow tired of my questioning and cross-questioning, and stopped short at * In honour of His Excellency N. P. Bankn, Governor of jNIassa- cliusetts, and of His Honour F. W. Lincoln, Mayor of Boston, at the time of my sailing, in ISGOa 2 c 2 mimmm 3S8 ESQUIMAU MARRIAGE CEREMONY. ! I ! ! Bcventy-two. I have good reason to believe, however, that the tribe numbers more nearly one hundred. I obtained a complete list of the deaths which had taken place since Dr. Kane left them, in 1855. They amounted to thirty-four ; and, during that time, there had been only nineteen births. Their marriage engagements are, of necessity, mere matters of convenience. Their customs allow of a plurality of wives ; but among this tribe, even if there wer j sufficient women, no hunter probably could support two fiimilics. The marriage arrangement is made by tlio parents, and the parties are fitted to each other as their ages best suit. When a boy comes of age, he marries tlio first girl of suitable years. There is no marriage ccro- mony further than that the boy is required to carry oif his bride by main force ; for, even among these blubbor- cating people, the woman only saves her modesty by a sham resistance, although she knows years beforehand that licr destiny is sealed and that she is to become the wife of the man from whose embraces, when the nuptial day comes, she is obliged by the inexorable law of public opinion to free herself if possible, by kicking and scream- ing with might and main until she is safely lauded in the hut of her future lord, when she gives up the combat very cheerfully and takes possession of her new abode. The betrothal often takes place at a very early period of life and at very dissimilar ages. A bright-looking boy named Arko, which means " The spear thrower," who is not ovei* twelve years of age, is engaged to a girl certainly of twenty, named Kartak, " The girl with the large breasts;' Why w^as this ? I inquired. " There is no other woman for him." I thouj^ht he loolvcd rather dubious of his future matrimonial prospects when I asked him how soon he pro- posed to carry off this b'g-brt listed bride. Two (ithcrs, whom I judged to bo about ten years each, were to be mar]"ied in this romantic style as soon as the lover had however, Ldrcd. I lad taken amounted been only ity, mere ', plurality ere wei'L) ^port two 3 bv tlio L' as tlicii' arrics tlio iage ccro- ) carry oit' ) blubber- osty by a eforeliand come tlio e nuptial of public cl scream- ed in tlio iibat very :de. The d of life ►y named not over ainly of breasts." T woman [lis future ^1 lie pro- otlicrs, re to be lover Lad TYXDALL GLACIER, 5S9 ciiught his first seal. This, I was tolil, is the test of man- hood and maturity. I talked to the oldest liunter of the tribe, an ancient, 2)atriarchal-looking individual named Kcsarsoak, — " Ho of the white hairs," — about the future of the tribe. The i)ro- spect to him was the same as to Kalutunali, — "'Our people have but a few moro suns to live !'* Would they all come uj) to Etah if I should return, and stay there, tmd bring guns and hunters ? His answer was a prompt, " Yes," He told me, as Kalutunali had done before, that Etah was the best hunting-place on the coast, only the ice broke up so soon and was always dangerous ; while Whale Sound was frozen during nearly all the year, and gave the hunters greater security. After returning to the schooner, I pulled up into Barden Bay, taking with mo the magnetic and surveying instruments and facilities for completing my botanical find other collections, and for photographing the fine scenery of the bay. Landing on its north shore, wo found the hill-side covered in many places with a richer green sward than I had ever seen north of Upernavik, except once on a foimer occasion at Northumberland Island. The slope was girdled with the same tall cliffij which everywhere meet the eye along this coast ; and the same summer streams of melted snow tumbled over them and down the slope from the mountain sides. The day was quite calm and the sky almost cloudless. The sun shone broadly upon us, and the temperature was 51°. Immense schools of whales and walrus, with an occa- sional seal, were sporting in the water ; flocks of sea- fowl went careering about the icebergs and through the air, and myriads of butterflies fluttered among the flowers; while from the opposite side of the bay an immense glacier,* whose face was almost buried in the sea, carried the eye along a broad and winding valley, up steps of ice of giant height, and over smooth plains of * I have named this glacier in honour of Professor John Tyadall^ jri I! ¥ I ' If I 390 TYNDALL GLACIER. whitcncRS, around the base of the Lills, until at length tho slope pierced the very clouds, and, reappearing above tlio curling vapours, was lost in tho bluo canopy of the heavens. Three glaciers were visible from my point of observa- tion — a small one, to tho right, barely touching the water, and hanging, as if in suspensive agony, in a steep declivity ; another, at the head of the bay, was yet miles away from tho sea ; while before us, in the centre of the bay, there came pouring down the rough and broken flood of ico before alluded to, which, bulging far out into the bay, formed a coast-lino of ice over two miles long. Tho whole glacier system of Greenland was hero spread out before me in miniature. A lofty mountain-ridge, like a whale's back, held in chock tho expanding racr de glace^ but a broad cleft cut it in twain, and the stream before mo had burst through the opening like cataract rapids tumbling from the pent-up waters of a lake. The sub- limity and picturesq[ueness of the scene was greatly heightened by two parallel rocky ridges, whose crests were to the left of the glacier. These crests are trap- dykes, left standing fifty feet perhaps above the sloping hill-side below them, by the wasting away of the sand- stone through which they have forced their way in some great convulsion of Nature. On the day following, I visited this glacier and made a cnreful examination of it, pulling first along its front in a boat and then mounting to its surface. It would be difficult to imagine anything more startling to the imagination or more suggestive to the mind than the scene presented by this two miles of ice coast-line, as 1 rowed along within a few fathoms of it. The glacier was broken up into the most singular shapes, and pre- sented nothing of that uniformity usual to the glacier's face. It was worn and wasted away until it seemed like the front of some vast incongruous temple — here a groined roof of some huge cathedral, and there a pointed window it length ng above ly of tlic obscrva- liing the 1 a steep jret miles •0 of the I broken out into long. 1*0 spread dge, liko de glace, m before it rapids rhe sub- greatly crests re trap- sloping e sand- lin some Id made Front in tartling Id than line, as glacier id pre- lacier's d like Iroined rindow GOrillC GLACIER, 391 or a Norman doorway deeply moulded ; while on all sides were pillars round and fluted, and pendants drii)ping crystal drops of the i)urcst water, and all bathed in a soft, blue atmosphere. Above these wondrous arcliways and galleries there was still preserved the same Gothic cha- racter — tall si)ires and pinnacles rose along the entire front and multiplied behind them, and new forms met the eye continually. The play of light and the magical softness of the colour of the sea and ice was perfectly charming, as the scene I have heretofore described among the icebergs. Strange, there was nothing cold or for- bidding anywhere. The ice seemed to take the warmth which suffused the air, and I longed to pull my boat far within the openings, and paddle beneath the Gothic arch- ways. The dangers from falling ice alone prevented mo from entering one of the largest of them. Pulling around to the west side of the glacier, I clam- bered up a steep declivity over a pile of mud and rock, which the expanding and moving ice had pushed out from its bed. Once at the top of this yielding slope, the eye was met by a perfect forest of spires ; but it was not easy to get on the glacier itself. Along its margin, half in mud and rock and half in ice, a torrent of dirty water came tearing along at a furious pace, disclosing the laminated structure of the ice in a very beautiful manner ; and this was not easily crossed. At length, however, I came to a spot where the chief feeder of this rushing stream branched off at right angles, coming from the glacier itself, and I had no difficulty in wading across above the junction of the two arms. Following thence up the eastward branch as it dashed wildly down in a succes- sion of cataracts, cutting squarely across the lamineB or strata (which lay at an angle of about 35°), I came at length to a place where the ice was much disturbed, and rose by broken steps from the plain on which I stood to the height of about one hundred and fifty feet, and right out from this wall came the rushing torrent, hissing and foaming H l^ i ?f: i rl i ■( I f* ij 392 CIJMBIXG THE GLACIKK. from a monstrous tunnel, to which tlic Croton A(HU(luct wonhl 1)0 a piginy. It was a strauf^c sight. The ico was perfectly pure and transparent ; and yet, out of its very lieart, was pouring the muddy stream of which I have made mention, and which, although the comparison is rather remote, reminded me of the image which Virgil draws of the Tiber, when i?Eneas first beheld its turbid waters, pouring out from beneath the bright and level}- foliage which overspread it. The tunnel out of which the waters poured was about ton yards wide and as many high, the supporting roof being composed of every form of Gothic arch, fretted and fluted in the most marvellous manner, and pure as the most stainless alabaster ; yet the distant eftect within the tunnel was quite different — the dark stream beneath being reflected above ; and truly, if I might be allowed to paraphrase a line of Dryden — ••The nuidtly bottom o'er the arch was thrown." I clambered within this tunnel as far as I could, along a slippery shelf above the tumbling waters, until the light was almost shut out behind me, but far enough to per- ceive that, on my right hand, other tunnels discharged into this main sewer, as the underground culverts which drain into the main artery the refuse of a city. Eeturning to the open air, I pui'sued my way up the glacier for a couple of miles further, and discovered that this stream had its origin in the mountain on the right, where the melting snows rolled over the rocky slope, evidently by a newly-formed channel, for the water was tearing through moss-beds and deposits of sand and silt, and rushing thence on the glacier, tumbled headlong hundreds and hundreds of feet, down into a yawning chasm. This chasm or crevasse no doubt extended to the bottom of the glacier, and the water, after winding along the rocky bed under the ice, finally has found its way into the cracks formed by the ice in its descent over a steep and rugged A(iiU'(liiet 10 icc! was f its very ;ll I llUV(J )ari8oii is icli Virgil its turbid lul lovely was about ting roof li, fretted d pure as set witliiu 11 beneath D allowed lid, along the light L to per- schargcd 'ts which up the that this it, where jjvidently tearing 8ilt, and kndreds This of the |cky bed cracks rugged '!ki: ■l':'l!i;iiiiii'i.!;::r'':»i;.ii' I'll. l,hP' ■■ ' 'Ml' I a '^Vl 1^ ''1' ir1'!'? II ' 4ll. '. ' . 'll : "I , Hll ,1 ■ I III ' ' ,' Mliii \:i: I:" i:;OT C|'„l|il Ml !:'!il:!H.|t;i ' 'III III u:illii>! tiiiliiii h-P m^\' ;|i I wmmMm i :l„':li ;:': ■;: J' ' 'li,' .ii;i 'I,: vL 4|iii!'''il r v'i', ■iikmm ' '''H i!'iv>J pi'dlli I I ,. 'i'\.''.. 'I,' I r. ,ii'i|«;- |j' ' ail! li'^'V*, m;ri i|i:;-^vi II: J !,1 !l I ' ', 111 ' iJi!! ! ill 1,111 si; !itK;;" il'iH 'i 'i' !y 11, 'H;;! , ill; III |i,i::!Mii;:,i l| Jm^ ■ ' Mi" i'"'' ■ ' ::"'i!i«i|(' ' • L jiii;tei,:iii'Hi;iiiiili!!- U' liiiliitlil;', '■'» c y. o 'A VD I iH < 1 'H S 3 C «j H »- (■ y. '»■■ > L. "^. 1 ' 1 1 j' 1 1 f i| |i H ! ii i > GRANDEUR OF THE GLACIER. 393 declivity, and has slowly worn away the tunnels or culverts which I have described. I had now come to the gorge in the mountain through which the glacier descends to the sea. The view of the glacier from the margin is, at this point, somewhat like what I fancy the mer de glace at Trelaporte, in the Alps, would be if the Grande Jorasse and Mont Tacul, and the other mountains which form the cradle for the glacier de Lechaud and the glacier du Ge'ant, and their tributaries, were all levelled. Instead of the variety disclosed in the Alpine view, the eye lights here upon one expanding stream instead of many streams, which narrows as it approaches the pass until it is about two miles over ; thence descending the steep declivity to the sea, breaking up as it moves over the rougher places in the manner before described. In all my glacier experience I had not seen anything so fully exhibiting the principles of glacier movement or so forcibly illustrating the river-like character of the crystal stream. To scale the glacier further was not in my power ; but the eye climbed up, step by step, through the mountain-pass to the giddy summit, and as the imagi- nation wandered from this icy pinnacle over sea and mountain, it seemed to me that the world did not hold any more impressive evidence of the greatness and the power of the Almighty hand ; and I thought how feebh; were all the efforts of man in comparison. As I turned away and commenced my descent, I found myself re- peating these lines of Byron, i)cnned as his poet-fancy wandered up the ice-girdled steeps and over tlie ice- crowned summits of the Alps :— " these are The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps. And throned Eternity in icy halls Of cold sublimity." ;* m I CHAPTER XXXIX. Y story is soon ended. Having completed the exploration of Wlialo Sound, wc tripped our anchor and stood southward. The heavens were bright and the air soft with a summer warmth ; and as we glided down the waveless waters, all sparkling with icebergs, watching the scene of our ad- ventures slowly sinking away behind us under the crimson trail of the midnight sun, it seemed truly as if smooth seas and gentle winds had come to invite us home. But this repose of the elements was of short duration. A dark curtain rose after a while above the retreating hills, and sent us a parting salute, in the shape of a storm of snow and wind, so that we were soon obliged to gather in some of our canvas, and keep a sharp look-out. My purpose was to reach the " West Water," by making a course toward Pond's Bay, then round the "middle ice " to the southward, and make an easterly course for the Greenland coast. The atmosphere cleared up at length, but the wind held on fiercely. Being from the north-north-east, it seemed to me then to favour an easterly rather than a westerly passage ; so, having reached a little below the latitude of Cape York, on the meridian of 73^^ 40' without discovering any signs of ice, I changed my original purpose, and altering the course of the schooner, struck directly across ipletccl tlio tripped our he heavens a summer , waters, all of our ad- }lie crimson if smooth me. t duration. retreating of a storm i to gather t. by making " middle course for wind held it seemed a westerly- latitude of liscovering rpose, and ctly across ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. 395 Melville Bay for Upcrnavik. The result proved the prudence of this change. In twenty-four hours wc ran down nearly two degrees of latitude, and hauled in seven degrees of longitude, finding ourselves at noon of August 10th in latitude 74° 19', longitude m"", without having encountered any ice seriously to trouble us. The air still holding clear, we had no difficulty in avoiding the bergs. The sea had by this time become very angry, and I was almost as anxious as I had been the year before, when entering the bay from the south. The atmosphere was, however, perfectly clear. While bounding along, logging ten knots an hour, wc almost ran over an immense polar bear, which was swimming in the open water, making a fierce battle with the seas, and seemingly desirous of boarding us. He was evidently much exhausted, and, seeing the vessel approach, doubtless had made at her in search of safety. The unhappy beast had probably allowed himself to be drifted off on an ice-raft which had gone to pieces under him in the heavy seas. Although these polar bears are fine swimmers, I much feared that the waves would in the end prove too much for this poor fellow, as there was not a speck of ice in sight on which he could find shelter. As we passed, he touched the schooner's side, and Jensen, who had seized a rifle, was in the act of putting an end to his career, when I arrested his hand. The beast was making such a brave fight for his life that I would not see him shot, more especially as the waves were running too high to lower a boat for his carcass, without a risk which the circumstances did not warrant. The presence of this bear warned me that the pack <30uld not be very remote, and accordingly we shortened sail, and I took my old station aloft on the fore-yard. Sure enough the pack was there, as was soon evidenced by an " ice-blink," and in a little while we were close upon it. Hauling by the wind, we sldrted its margin for some time mmm 'mmniMifi^t 96 RECROSSING MELVILLE BA Y. t I % t «* i !i; I i \ %\ without discovering any termination to it ; and, the ice appearing to be very loose and rotten, I stood away again on our southerly course, and entered the first favourable lead. It was something of a venture, as we could not, although the ice was wholly different from that of Smith Sound, owing to the condition of the schooner's bows, strike it with safety. Luckily the wind favoured us, and the schooner answering her helm promptly, we managed to avoid the floes for about twelve hours, at least without a thump of aiiy serious consequence, at the end of which time the wind had fallen to calm ; and this continuing for some time, with the temperature several degrees below freezing, new ice was formed more than half an inch thick, all over the sea. A light and fair breeze springing up again, we were once more under way, crunching through this crystal sheet much to the damage of the schooner's sides, where there was no iron, and very embarrassing to our progress, for we were often absolutely stuck fast. We were glad enough when the breeze stiffened and knocked the ice to pieces, giving us a free passage into the " East Water." We made land on the morning of the 12th, and found it to be the Horse's Head. The pack was now far behind us, and our southern passage through Melville Bay had been made in about five hours less time than our northern. From the Horse's Head we jogged on through a foggy atmosphere with occasional thick squalls of snow and light variable winds, until after three days' groping we found ourselves again at anchor in Upernavik Harbour. While the chain was yet clicking in the hawse-hole, an old Dane, dressed in seal-skins, and possessing a small stock of English and a large stock of articles to trade, pulled off to us with an Esquimau crew, and, with little ceremony, clambered over the gangway. Knorr met him, and, without any ceremony at all, demanded the news. '' Oh ! dere's plenty news." and, the ice . away again t favourable ) could not, lat of Smith oner's bows, ired us, and we managed east without nd of which ntinuing for grees below ti inch thick, in, we were srystal sheet where there progress, for were glad id the ice to ; Water." L, and found V far behind lie Bay had ur northern, ugh a foggy f snow and groping we Harbour, wse-hole, an ing a small es to trade, , with little )rr met him, he news. T//£ REBELLTOX. 397 « Out with it, man ! What is it T " Oh ! de Sout' States dcy go agin de Nort' States, and dere's plenty fight." I heard the answer, and, wondering what strange com- plication of European politics had kindled another Con- tinental war, called this Polar Eumjcus to the quarter- deck. Had he any news from America ? " Oh ! 't is 'merica mo speak ! De Sout' States, you sec ? (ley go agin de Nort' States, you see ? and dere's plenty fight !" Yes, I did see ! but I did not believe that he told the truth, and awaited the letters which I knew must have come out with the Danish vessel, and which were imme- diately sent for to the Government-House. It proved that letters had been brought for us by our old friend. Dr. Rudolph, who had returned a few weeks before from Copenhagen, and who kindly brought them aboard himself as soon as he knew of our arrival, and almost before my messenger had reached the shore. These and some files of papers, and the Doctor's memory, gave us the leading occurrences which had taken place at home up to near the end of March, 1861. We learned of the inauguration of the new President and of the leading events following his election, but of the startling incidents of a later period we were ignorant. We could not apprehend that war had actually broken out. We knew only of the intrigues for a division of the States and of the acts looking to that design. We learned that suspicion on the one hand, and treason on the other, ruled the hour ; that threats of violence and irresolute counsels had thrown society into a ferment ; and that the national safety "was imperilled ; but wo knew not of the firing on Fort Sumter, nor of the bloody wound which the Nation liad received at Bull Eun ; nor that a vast army for the protection of the Capital and the defence of the Govern- ment was then growing up on the banks of the Potomac. ;98 GOODIIA VEiX. fi Wc little thought, that in every city, and town, and hamlet, the occupations of peace had already given place to the passionate excitements of war ; that a cry of indig- nation and anger had gone up throughout the land against men who, pledged to protect the national flag and the national name, had abandoned and repudiated them ; or that under the banner of States' rights and under the impulse of ambition, a powerful party had boldly bid defiance to the Federal power and declared their purpose to break the Federal compact. And, even had we heard these things, it would have been difficult for us to have thus suddenly realized that, in a single year, human folly and human madness had so completely got the better of right and reason. >; I occupied myself while the schooner lay at Upernavik with visiting a magnificent glacier nine miles wide, which discharges into a fiord named Aukpadlatok, about forty miles from the town. Near this glacier there is a hunting- station of the same name which is superintended by a Dane, called Philip, who lives there in the enjoyment of peace and plenty, with an Esquimau wife and a large family of children, among whom are four full-grown half- breed boys, — the best hunters, I was told, north of Proven. My surveys detained me several days at Philip's hut, and, before I left, I had made full arrangements with himself and his seal-skin-coatcd boys and his wife and daughters, to make sledges, for which I gave them abundant materials, and fur-clothing, and skin-lines ; and I engaged them to rear and accumulate dogs for me, that I might be well supplied when I came back the next year. After leaving Upernavik, light and baffling winds kept us at our old trade of dodging the icebergs for four days, at the end of which time we were at anchor in Goodhaven, and I was enjoy iDg, as I was sure to do, the courteous hospitality of my old friend, Inspector Olrik. This settlement is situated on the south side of Disco Island, and takes its name from the excellence of the I to^vn, and given place )ry of indig- land against flag and the ed them; or L' the impulse ifiance to the to break the ese things, it us suddenly and human it and reason, -t Upernavik wide, which about forty is a hunting- bended by a mjoyment of and a large ■grown half- ti of Proven. 3's hut, and, ith himself daughters, it materials, ed them to ght be well winds kept bur days, at Goodhaven, 3 courteous le of Disco ice of the LEA VIXG GREENLAXD, 399 harbour, which is completely land-locked. It is th(i principal colony of North Greenland, and, being the resi- dence of the Viceroy or Royal Inspector, has attached to it an air of importance not belonging to the other stations. Mr. Olrik exhibited to me an order from his Govern- ment, commanding the Greenland ofiicials to give atten- tion to my requirements, and offering me at the same tiiiio as well his official as personal good offices. Being on my way home, I had little occasion to avail myself of this gracious act of the Danish Government ; but I informed the Inspector of my future purposes and signified to him my desire to avail myself of its privileges next year. I am glad of an opportunity publicly to express my admira- tion of the conduct of the Danish Government toward the Arctic expeditions of whatever nationality ; and in my own case it was the more personally gratifying, and the more highly appreciated, that I had no "Department" orders wherewith to back up my claims to consideration. From the Chief Trader, Mr. Anderson, as well as from the Inspector, I had much kindly assistance in perfecting my collections and in completing my scries of photo- graphic views, and I found myself so agreeably as well as profitably occupied that I was truly loath to quit the good harbour ; but it was necessary for me to be hastening home, as the nights were growing dark, and I did not wish to be caught among the icebergs without some sun- light to guide me ; so, when the first fine wind came, I huddled my collections aboard, bade good-bye, saluted the Danish ensign for the last time, and — well, we did over again what we had done a dozen times before — dove into a villainous fog-bank, out of which came a rush of wind that sent us homeward a little faster than we cared to go. It was a regular equinoctial storm, and, from the time of leaving Disco until we had passed Newfoundland, it scarcely once relaxed its grip of us. Wc wore blown out through Davis Strait even more fiercely than we had been blown an 400 FL YING BEFORE THE GALE. in. At one time wc were beset with a perfect hurricane, and how the schooner staggered through it was little short of a miracle. Ulysses could hardly have had a worse dusting, when his stupid crew let loose all the winds which JEolus had so kindly bagged up for him. Every stitch of canvas was ripped up but the little rag of a top- sail, under which we scudded before the gale through four days, running down in one four-and-twenty hours two hundred and twenty miles of latitude. The seas which came tumbling after us, each one seemingly determined to roll over the poop, were perfectly frightful; especially when one looked aloft and saw the little patch of canvas threatening every moment to give way, and heard the waters gurgling under the counter as the stern went down and the bows went up, while a very Niagara was roaring and curveting after us, as if maddened with defeat, and with each new effort the more determined to catch the craft before she should mount the crest ahead. But she slipped from under every threatening danger as gracefully, if not as " Swift, as an eagle cleaving the liquid air," and leaving the parted billows foaming and roaring behind her, passed on triumphant and unharmed. When off Labrador, the wind hauled suddenly to the westward, and we had to give up the chase, and get the schooner's head to it. McCormick had managed to patch up the foresail, and, getting a triangular piece of it rigged for a storm-sail, we proposed to heave her to. There did not appear to be much chance of a successful termination to this new venture, but it was clearly 'this or nothing. The sail was set and the determination come to just in time, for we shipped a terrible sea over the quarter, the schooner gave a lurch to locward, and then righted so suddenly that the little top-^niil which had done us sucli good service went into ribbons, the top-mast cracked off at CRIPPLED BY THE STOKM. 401 ; liuri'Icano, little short ad a worse the winds im. Every ig of a top- brough four hours two seas which termined to ; especially h of canvas [ heard the I went down ^vas roaring defeat, and ) catch the i. But she gracefully, •ing behiuu ily to the tnd get the od to patch 3f it rigged There did ermination )r nothing. to just ill uarter, the righted so ne us sucli eked off at the cap, and crash went the jib-boom right away afterward. " Hard a-lee I" was rather a melancholy sort of order to give under the circumstances, and, as was to bo expected, when the helm went down we were thrown into the trough of the next sea, where wc were caught amidshi2)S by the ugliest wave that I ever happened to look upon, and down it thundered upon us, staving in the bulwarks, sweeping the decks from stem to stern, and carrying everything over- board, our water-casks included. The schooner shivercHl all over as if every rib in her little body was broken, and for a moment I felt sure that she was knocked over on lier beam ends ; but the craft seemed to possess more lives than a cat, and, righting in an instant, shook herself free of the water, took the next wave on the bow, rose to it nobly, and then shot squarely into the wind's eye. " Bravely done, little lady !" was McCormick's caressing approval of her good behaviour. We lay hove to for three days, at the end of which time we found ourselves drifted from our course two hundred miles. Meanwhile, there had been a good deal of alarm caused by the loss of our water-casks. We had an extra cask or so in the hold, but these could not be got up without removing the main-hatch, an effort not to bo thought of, as the decks were flooded and the vessel would be swamped ; so I at once set myself to work to remedy the evil, and succeeded perfectly. With a teakettle for a retort and a barrel for a condenser, I managed to distil water enough for the entire ship's company ; and, in loss than three hours after the disaster, all alarm vanished when it was known that a stream of pure water was trickling from this novel contrivance in the officers' cabin at the rate of ten gallons a day. The damaged condition of the schooner compelled us, when off Nova Scotia, to make a port as speedily as possible, and accordingly we put into Halifax. Our reception there was most gratifying, and among a people 2 D 402 ARRIVAL IN BOSTON'. famed for hospitality wo had ahiiiidant reason to rejoice over the ill winds which had blown us so much good. The admiral of Her Britannic Majesty's fleet, then in Halifax Harbour, generously tendered the iiso of the Government conveniences for repairing my crippled vessel ; and from the officers of Her Majesty's civil service and of the squadron and garrison ; from the Mayor and many other citizens of Halifax, — most especially from tho Medical Society, — the Expedition received attentions which exhibited not less a friendliness of disposition for our- selves than respect for tho flag under which our explora- tions had been made. Up to tho time of our arrival at Halifax we had, of course, no further news than what reached us at Upcr- navik. Wo had scarcely dropped our anchor before a citizen of the town and a countryman of my own, neither of whom was long a stranger to my friendship or my gratitude, hurried oif to give us greetings, and to bring the news. They had picked up some files of New York papers on the way, and we soon learned of the terrible struggle that had been going on for many months. Although not wholly unprepared for this by the intelli- gence received at Upernavik, yet we had confidently cherished the expectation that hostilities had been averted by wise and prudent counsellors. The shock was to us such as those who had watched at home the progress of events from day to day could perhaps hardly realize. The first intelligence I had of the war was the account of the Bull Run battle, next I heard of the firing on Sumter, and then of the riots in Baltimore, and the destruction of Norfolk Navy- Yard, and the capture of Harper's Ferry ; and then followed an account of the universal arming and volunteering. We remained at Halifax not longer than was necessary to complete the repairs of the schooner, when we again put to sea, and in four days made the Boston Lights. REALIZATION OF THE REUELUOX. 403 . to rcjoico nuch good. )t, tlicn in ISO of tlio )lccl vessel ; vice and of and many from tlio tions which )n for our- ur cxplora- wc had, of s at Upcr- r before a wn, neither ;hip or my id to bring New York he terrible ly months. ;ho intelli- confidently leen averted was to us progress of ly realize, account of on Sumter, truction of sr's Ferry; irming and s necessary we again on Lights. We picked up a pilot out of the thickest fog that I had ever seen soutli of the Arctic Circle, and witli a light wind stood into the harbour. As the niglit wore on tlio wind fell away almost to a calm ; the fog thickened moro and more, if that were possible,* as wo sagged along over the dead waters toward the anchorage. The niglit was filled with an oppressive gloom. Tho lights hanging at the mast-heads of tho vessels which wo passed had tho ghastly glimmer of tapers burning in a charnol-houso. Wo saw no vessel moving but our own, and even those which lay at anchor seemed like phantom ships floating in the murky air. I never saw tho ship's company so life- less, or so depressed even in times of real danger. Tlie sun was beginning to pour into the atiiK^sphero a dim light when we let go our anchor ; but it did not seem that wo were at home, or that a great city lay near by. No one was anxious to go ashore. It appeared as if each one anticipated some personal misfortune, and wished to post2)one the shock foreboded by his fears. I landed on Long Wharf, and found my way into State Street. Two or three figures were moving through the thick vapours, and their solemn footfall broke the worse than Arctic stillness. I reached Washington Street, and walked anxiously westward. A news-boy passed mo. I seized a paper, and the first thing which caught my eye was tho account of tho Ball's Bluif battle, in which had fallen many of the noblest sons of Boston ; and it seemed as if the very air had shrouded itself in mourning for them, and that the heavens wept tears for the city's slain. I was wending my way to the house of a friend, but I thought it likely that he was not there. I felt like a stranger in a strange land, and yet every object which I passed was familiar. Friends, country, everything seemed swallowed up in some vast calamity, and, doubtful and irresolute, I turned back sad and dejected, and found my way on board again through the dull, dull fog. 404 THE DETERMINATION. I f H I I Tho terrible reality was now for the first time 2)resent to my imiigiiiation. The laud wliich I liad left in tlie liiippy enjoyment of peace and repoHo was already drencluid with blood ; a great convulsion had come to scatter the (dd landmarks of the nationaUUnion, and the country which I had known before could be the same no more. Mingled with these reflections were thouglits of my own career. To abandon my pursuits ; to give uj) a project in which I had exi)endcd so much time and means ; to have nii)i)ed, as it were, in the very bud, a work upon wliich I had set my heart, and to which I had already given all tho early years of my manhood ; to sacrifice all the liojMiS and all tlic ambitions which had encouraged me through toil and danger, with tho promise of the fame to follow tho successful completion of a great object ; to abandon an enterprise in which I had aspired to win for myself an honourable place among tho men who have illustrated their country's history and shed lustre upon their country's flag, were thouglits which first seriously crossed my mind while returning on board, carrying in my hand the bloody record of Ball's Bluif. In the face of the startling intel- ligence which had crowded upon mo since reaching Halifax, and which had now culminated ; in the face of the duty which every man owes, in his own person, to his country when his country is in peril, I could not hesitate. Before I had reached my cabin, while our friends were yet in ignorance of our presence in the bay, I had resolved to postpone the execution of tho task with which I had charged myself ; and I closed as well the cruise as the project, by writing a letter to the President, asking for immediate employment in tho public service, and offei'ing my schooner to the government for a gun-boat. ;■( i ! Five years have now elapsed since the schooner United States crept to anchorage through tho murky vapours of rr.AA's posrroxKP, not AnAxno.y/w. 405 iiHO present left ill tho ly ilroucluid ittor the ()1<1 try which I I. Minglod own career, in which I e nipped, as hud Hct my 1 tho early »p(3S and all v^\\ toil and follow tlio abandon an f myself an illustrated [)ir country's pd my mind . the bloody rtling intel- 30 reaching the face of irson, to his lot hesitate. L'iends were lad resolved vhich I had ruise as tho asking for md offering oner United vapours of Boston llarbonr. The terrible struj^gh^ then fu'st realized by me, as at liand, is now ovi^r, and lias becoiiu; an event of history. The destinies of individuals are ev(^r subordi- nate to the i)ublic weal ; and in the presence of great social and political revcdutions, when ideas are fringiid with bayonets, and great interests aro in conflict, men have little leism*o for the consideration of questions of science, or of remote projects unconnected with tho nati(mal safety. Therefore it is that the further exploration of the Arctic regions was lost sight of by me during the past few years. The facilities which I had acquired, and the advantages which I had gained, have been in a great measure sacri- ficed since my return to Boston in October, LSGl, and I cannot therefore speak with confidence as to the time when tho exploration will bo renewed. The scheme has not, however, been abandoned, nor are my views in any respect changed. I still contemplate tho execution of my original design, and hope at an early day to carry into eftect tho plan of discovery indicated in tho concluding chapters of this narrative. It is still my wish to found at Port Foulko such a colony as I have hitherto described, and, with a corps of scientific associates, to make that the centre of a widely extended system of exploration. The value of such a centre will be evident to every instructed mind without illustration, and tho availability of the situation is shown by tho experience of my own party. The ju'o- ject has the more interest at this time in connection with the effort by way of the Spitzbergen Sea, contemplated by the Prussian government, the inception of which is due to the eminent geographer, Dr. Augustus Petermann. As with my own enterprise, that of Dr. Petermann has tempo- rarily given place to tho necessities of war ; but 1 have been informed that the expedition is contemplated for tho coming spring. The organization of this expedition is founded upon, I think, a correct assumption that the Open (ftiiia*S&A^!>ft.*;KK-«!iftSfcs^i! . ^£f. -"i (« 'I I 406 ADVANTAGES OF ARCTIC EXPLORA TIOX. Sea and the North Pole may be reached with steam-vessels by pushing through the ice-belt to the west and north of Spitzbergen. This route possesses some advantages over tliat of Smith Sound, while it has some disadvantages. The temporary colonization at Port Foulke gives to the Smith Sound route its chief claim over the other, to the consideration of the explorer. It is not needful that I should hero demonstrate the advantages to be derived from a continuation of the lino of exploration which I have indicated ; — the age in which we live has too much profited by researches into every department of science, which, not immediately prosecuted witli the view to practical advantage, have, by a steady enlargement of the boundaries of human knowledge, promoted the interests of commerce, of navigation, of the arts, and of everything which concerns the convenience and the comfort and the well-being of mankind. In truth, civilization has profited most by those discoveries which possessed at the outset only an abstract value, and excited no interest beyond the walls of the academy. The vast system of steam communication, which weaves around the world its endless web of industry, began in the apparently useless experiments of a thoughtful boy with the lid of his mother's teakettle; that wonderful n<'t-work of wires which spreads over the continents and underlies the seas, and along which the thoughts of men fly as with the wings of light, results from the accidental touching of two pieces of metal in the mouth of Volta ; the lenses of the mam- moth telescope of Lord Rosse, which reduced to practical uses the celestial mechanism, came from observing the magnifying powers of a globule of water ; the magnetic needle which guides the navies of the world to their distant destinati(ms, succeeds the casual contact of a piece of loadstone and a bit of steel : everywhere, indeed, wo witness the same constant growth from what seemed unprofitable beginnings;— the printing-press, the loom, Tioy. cam-vcsscls ,nd north of utagcs over ;ad vantages, gives to tlio >tlier, to tlio nstratc tlio of the lino go in which into every prosecuted y a steady knowledge, ,tion, of the ionvenience In truth, jries which and excited The vast around the apparently e lid of his of wires es the seas, the wings two pieces the mam- practical erving tlio magnetic 1 to their of a piece ndeed, we it seemed the loom, COXCLUSION. 407 the art of solar painting, all sprang from the one same source, — from minds intent only upon interrogating Nature, and revealing her mysteries, without knowledge of the good to come therefrom. The progress of scientific discovery is indeed the progress of the human race, and the question, Cid bono ? is now no longer asked of him who would reveal hidden truths. Wherever men have sought wider fields of gain, or power, or usefulness, there has been science in the midst of them, — guiding, support- ing, and instructing them. AVherever men have sought t:. plant, among barbarous peoples, the emblem of the only true religion, there has she gone before, — opening the gates and smoothing the pathway. She has lifted the curtain of ignorance from the human mind, and Cliris- tianity, following her advancing footsteps, has banished from the West the ancient superstitions, and the dark Pantheism of the East and the Fetich worship of the savage tribes are passing away. 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The %est reason^ of cheerful ers of ffold, lie writer's be humble- ith the more without the 'athers, and h Steele and t before the rof **The iappy idea." is, that they Hons and the r maxims, or —Literary De Imita- a Vignette id Edition. to a hundred ost moments he friend of 165. the original, ich may well out a trans- ore exquisite ited London leresting." — IV. FAMILIAR WORDS. An Index Verbonim, or QiK.tation Handbook. Affordine an immediate Reference to Phrases and Hentenees that have become embedded in the English language. Second and en- larged Edition. " Should be on every library table, by the side of ' lionet's Thenaurus.' ' te-Duily News. ** Almost every familiar quotation is to be found in this work, ichich forms a book of reference absolutely indispensable to the lite- rary man, and of iriff^'st and service to the public ginerally. Mr. Friswcll has our best thanks for his painstaking, laborious, and conscientious work."— City Press. V. ESSAYS BY MONTAIGNE. Edited, Compared, Revised, and Annotated by the Author of " The Gentle Life." With Vignette Portrait. Second Edition. " We s/iould be alad if any words of ours could help to bespeak a larae circulation for this handsome attractive book ; ana tt-ho can refuse his homage to tne good-humoured industry of the editor." — Illustrated Times. ** The reader really gets in a compact form all of the charming, chatty Montaigne that he needs to know." — Observer. *' This edition is pure of questionable matter, and its peinasal is calcidated to enrich without cor- rupting the mind of the reader." — Daily News. VI. THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE'S ARCADIA. Written by Sir Philip Sidney. Edited, with Notes, by the Author of "The Gentle Life." Dedicated, by permission, to the Earl of Derby. 7s. 6d. •' All the best things in the Arcadia are retained intact iti Mr. Friswell's edition, and even brought into greater prominence than in the original, by the curtailment of some of its inferior portion*, and the omission of most of its eclogues and other metrical digressions." — Examiner. •' It icas in itself a thing so interesting as a development of English literature, that we are thankful to Mr. Friswell for reproducing, in a very elegant volume, the chief work of the gallant and chivalrous, the gay yet learned kniqht, who patronized the muse of Spenser, and fell upon the bloody field of i^utphen, leaving behind him a light of heroism and humane compassion which would shed an eternal glory on his name, though all he ever wrote had perished with himself." — ^London Review. VII. THE GENTLE LIFE. Second Series. Third Edition. " There is the same mingled power and simplicity which makes the author so emphatically a first-rate essayist, giving a fascination in each essay which will make this volume at least as popular as its elder brother." — Star. " These essays are amongst the best in our language." — Public Opinion. VIII. VARIA : Readings from Rare Books. Reprinted, by permis- sion, from the Saturday Review, Spectator, &c. " The books discttssed in this volume are no less valuable than they are rare, but life is not long enough to allow a reader to ivade through such thick folios, and therefore the compiler is entitled to the gratitude of the public for having sifted their contents, and thereby rendered their treasures avaUaole to the general reader." — Observer. t Sampson Low and Co*s» IX. A CONCORDANCE OR VEHBAL INDEX to the whole of Milton's Poetical V orlcs. Coinprisiiiitf uynvards of 20,000 References. By Charles D. Cleveland, LL.D. NVith Vignette Portrait of Milton. •,♦ This work UiTrdH an immediate reference to any passage in any edition -f MiUon's ioems, to which it may be justly termed an indis- pensable Appendix. . " By the admirer fi of Miltm the hook will he hiffhly appreciated, but its chief value ivill, if " viisfake nut, befuiind in the fact t/iiit it is a compact word-book of the fii'/lish langudije. ''—llworA. '^ An invaluable Index, tthick the pvhlishcra have done a public service in reprinting." — Notes and Queries. X. THE SILENT HOUR : Essays, Original and Selected. By the Author of " Tlif Gentle Life." Second Edition. " Cut of twenty Ai^snys five are from the Editor's pen, and he has se- lected the rest from fhe leriiiny^ of Jiarriw, llaxter, Sherlock, Ma ssillon, Latiiiier, Sandys, .hremy Taylor, liiiskin, and Izaac Walton. The se- lections have been i,uide with taste and jui/r/nient, and the Jiklitor's own contributions are not nnicorthy in thi msilves of a place in such dis- tinguished company. The volume is arowedh/ meant '■for Sunday reading, and those who have not access to the oriyinals of great authors may do wor.:e on Sunday or any other afternoon, than fall back upon the * Silent Hour' and the golden uords oi Jeremy Toy /or and Massillon. All who possess t/ie ' Gentle Life ' should own this volume," — Standard. XI. ESSAYS ON ENGLISH WRITERS, for the Self-improve- mcnt of Students in English Litei'ature. " The author luir. a distinct purpose and a proper and noble ambition to win the young to ilw pure and noble si udy of our glorious English literature. The book is too good intrinsically not to command a wide and increasing circulation, and its style is so pleasant and lively that it will find many readers among the educated classes, as ivell as among self -helpers. To all (both men and. women) icho have neglected to read and study their native literature we uould rertainly suggest the volume before us as a fitting in- troduction." — Examiner. XII. OTHER PEOPLE'S WINDOWS. By J. Hain Friswell. Second Edition. " The old project if a icindow in the losom to render the soul of man visible, is what t tiry honest fellow has a manifold reason to wish for."— Poipe's Lett( ;s, Dec. 12, 1718. " The cJutptcrs are so lively in themselves, so mingled luith shrewd views of human nature, su full of illustrative anecdotes, that the reader cannot jail to be amused. Written with remarkable power and effect. ' Other People's Windows^ is distinguished by original and keen observation of life,