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Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seut cliche, il est film^ d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^■IJK'— . 4 t -si THE BEAR-HUNT ^HP m * mi. IvAiNE: THE AllOTIC HERO. A KAUUATIVfi OF UIS ADVENTUllES AND EXPLOIIATIOXS IN THE POLxVr. REGIONS. Jl l^aoli for 13 110. BY M. JONES, AUXnOR OF "the black FHINCE," "sTORIKS FPOM EUROPEAN niSTORY," ETC. LONDON: T. NKLSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YORK. 1879. ■■*, 7678P8 -^ HP] fate of Sir John Franklin, who went out in 1845 with the object of seeking wliat is called tlie North- VVest Passage — that is, a passage by seta from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, north of the continent of America — long excited the live- liest anxiety both among his own countrymen and foreigners. Several expeditions were at different times sent out in search of him, but all ended in disappointment. Among the most remarkable of these is that despatched from the United States in 1 853, under the command of Dr. Kane of the United States navy : one of the brightest, most undaunted, energetic spirits that ever passed into that drear zone, and v/ho has left a record of his arduous undertaking fascinating enough to tempt out others, spite Vi PREFACE. of the sulierings he and his brave crew experi- enced in their twenty-one months sojourn in that world of ice. For the facts of my own little volume 1 am indebted to this work of Dr. Kane's, published under the name of '' Arctic Explorations/' For the mode of their narration I must myself be chiefly responsible, as, considering the i)urpose I had in view, I preferred telling the story of Arctic life and travel in my own fashion, and mainly in ni} own words, to making a mere abridgment of his copious journals. M, J. 1% •■v-aJ&- C>Ioiifcnts. CHAPTER I. SAILING NORXn Leave New York - The /If^mjire- Equipments — LichtcnfUs, the Moravian Settlement in Greenland— Hans Cristian— Melville Bay— Rotten Ice— Anchoring to an Iceberg 43 CHAf'TER II. SEAHCn KOU WINTER QUARrEltS. Cutting through the Ice— The Ice-foot— Tlie Pack- Dogs for the Sledge— Sliip aground - The For?or/i //o^^e — Preparation for Return to Ship — Rens- 61 Sledging— The Sledge— Arctic Darkness selaer Harbour. CHAPTER III. FAST IN THE ICE. Housekeeping on l]oard the frozen-up Ship - Sledge-driving — It.s Perils-Harpooning Walrus— Hans tiireatens to go Home— How he was prevented— The " Eox-chase"— Old Grim— The other Dogs -Dying off (jo CHAPTER IV. THE D A y'.S work. Objects of the Expedition— The Observatory— Getting to it— The Observer— Day on Ship-board— Breakfast- Raw Potato— Handi- cr.irus— Practising Sledge-driving — Rheumatism— Dinner — Pla} till Supper-time— Cold— Frozen Sherry— All Plca.sant and Com- fortable with each otiier— Goutra.st 75 dii roNT i:\TS. CHAPTKU V. IN PKItlL. Drawing the Sledge theinsclves— Provisions and Bedding — Journey to deposit Provisions for tlie Searcli for Franklin — The Faith — Terrible Misadventure in the Snow — Dr. Katie's Party to seek his lost Men — Difliculties and Sufferings of tlie Search — Found — Trust in tlieir Leader— The Keturn — Halt on tlie lioad — Dread- ful State of the Men— Death of Two — Dr. Kane delirious— Uurial of the I )eail 85 CIIAPTKR VI. AMONCl TIIK NATIVI.S llsquimaux alongside -Dogs —Dress — How they behaved "Down IJelow " — Sad Thieves — How they fed — The J'.abies -Fresh Sledge-journey — The Faith unsucces.sful — Arctic Scenery — Snow — While Bears — Hans makes himself useful — Fresh Meat for the Sick - Spring Escpiimaux Mode of shooting Seal -Dr. Hayes sent off with Sledge Party — How the dogs did their Work — And were fed 95 CHAPTFll VII. BEARS, AM) OTIIKIl TlllN(i.S. The Arctic Summer-- A Bear pay.s a visit to the Tent -Pays for his Supper — Destruction of I'rovisions by Bears — Their Likes and Dislikes— Coffee, and Old Canvas — Their Play — Shoot a Bear and her Cub— Crossing Fissures in the Ice — Climbing the Land-ice— The open Sea — The Forlorn Hope again— Hans Island — Gulls and Eider Ducks — A Glacier— Auks 109 f CHAPTER VIII. A SECOND WINTKIl IN THE ICK. Fearful Pre /ect of the Crew — Hats— The Commander eats them — Preparation for the coming W inter — Attempts to make the Ship cold-proof — " Ben-Djerback "■ — Fuel — Provisions — Kindli- ness of the Esquimaux — A Baby for a Pillow — Terms of Agree- ment with the Natives— The Graves— Distress of the Party — A Deserter — Fetched back again 128 CHAPTER IX. PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. How to get back again — Boat and Sledge — Equipment ami Food - Cooking Arrangements — The Flag — Last Prayers on Board — The CONTENTS. IX Fi;,'uro-hua(l, "Miss Augusta" — Ksquiiuaux Kik tuipinont -Birds abundant ~ Catcliing Auits — I)cli(;atu Attcntiot i from an Estjui- niaux Lady — Real Kindliness of t'.e People— E.s(iiiimanx Hat and Ball -Bear Meat — Iiear Hunt-- How the Dogs take it— Walrus Hunting— Mrs. Eider Duck, and Esiiuimaux Politeness 141 CHAPTER X. IKlMK.WAUnS. Walk back to thu abandoned Sliip -Making Bread -Camping in a Snow-storm -Hardships and Dilliculti'.'S of the return Jouriu-y — Narrow Escape — Help from tlie Estpiimaux Food -Stratagem to get to the open Water — Kindly Leave-taking of the Escpii- maux -Launching the Boats at Cape Alexander — Halt at Pro- vidence Clilts -No Fuel — Auks at the Crimson Cliffs — Boiling the Tea-kettle —Raw Seal — End of Arctic Starvation —Hospi- table Reception by the Danes at Upernavlk — Met by the Rescue Party — Home loU -^TjV.-M^S'- ^ ""1* ist iDf sEKustriitrons. ^ffi STALKING SEAL, MELVILLE BAY, .. .. ,, KSguIMA < lOOS, T'! ' CKINQ ALONG THE I .'K-BELT, MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT AT LICIITENF FASTENED TO AN ICEBEHG, .. AOUOUND NEAIl THE ICE-FOOT, TUE "fOKLOIIN HOPE," SLEDGES, RENSSELAER HARBOUR, A NEWFOUNDLAND-DOG TEAM, WALRUS SPORTING, .. HUNTING THE WALRUS, THE DECKS BY LAMPLIGHT. .. THE OBSERVATORY, .. INTKBJOR OPTHEOBSERVATOnV, WINTER LIFE ON BOARD SHIP, RESCUE PARTY, INSIDE OF TENT, MEETING ESQUIMAUX, TUB "faith," THREE BROTHER TURRETS, .. ELS, 25 .. 33 .. 36 .. 37 .. -Hj .. 41) .. 64 .. 66 .. 59 .. 60 Go . . 07 .. 69 . 73 . 76 . 78 . 81 . 92 . 90 . 101 . 102 XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SIIOOTI.VO SEAL, DOOS AMONG liKRO.S, ., TdE BEAR IN CAMP, .. THE CACHE DESTROYED, CROSSING A FISSURE, MAKING THE LAND-ICE [CLTMRINo], EIDER DLCKS, GLACIER OF NOKTUUMBERLAND ISLAND. CLIFFS, NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND, GATHERING MOSS, THE GRAVES BY MOONLIGHT, A SKETCH, CATCHING AUKS, CHILDREN PLAYING HALL, .. boats' CAMP IN A STORM, CARRYING THE SICK,.. PROVIDENCE HALT, .. PASSING THE CRIMSON CLIJ- FS, 106 107 112 115 119 1'21 123 125 120 131 135 14(j 148 151 158 161 164 1()6 n V ittcmoir of 3i\ (EuBha ficnt fiant. [LISHA KENT KANE, the Arctic discoverer, and leader of the Second Grinnell Expedition in search of Sir John Franldin, was born in Philadelphia, United States, Feb. 3, 1820. His ancestors were Irish, Scotch, Dutiih, and English. His father was a barrister, afterwards well known as Judge Kane ; and Elisha was the eldest of his seven children. He was a vigorous child, and grew up a bold, fearless, high-hearted boy, excessively troublesome at times, as boys of such char- acter will be, before they have learned the great duty of submission to authority. Some amusing stories are told of him at this period of his life. It seems that before he was nin<^ years old he had, as eldest, chivalrously taken 14 MEMOIR OF I) II. KANE. i ■ I 1 upon himself the i)rotectioii of his younger brothers ; and this led him one day into a rather desperate encourter with their school- master, who had ordered tlie younger one for punishment. On hearing this, up jumped Elisha, exclaiming, " Don't w^hip him, he's such a little fellow — whip me ! " It was said in all honesty and simplicity of purpose, offering himself as his brother's substitute ; but the tone in which it was spoken, sound- ing excessively like defiance, was so construed by the master, who of course met it with the reply, '' I'll whip you too." The result was something like a pitched battle betwx'en him- self and the lad ; for Elisha, who had no notion of taking quietly what he thought au unjust whipping, used his small fists to the best of his ability on the sacred person of his master, but with unsatisfactory success, seeing that he retired from the contest, not '' covered with glory," but with what bore a very sus- picious resemblance to cane-strokes. But though utterly discomfited on this occasion, the spirit of generous protection of the weak was not knocked out of him. When he was ten 3'ears old, a cry from his MEMOIR OF DR. KANE. 15 little sisters one day drew him to the yard at the back of his father's house, to find that some big neighbour boys, who had climbed on the roof of a building overlooking it, were entertaining themselves — like little shabby wretches, as they were — with shooting dabs of putty at the girls with a " blow-gun," — what English boys call a '' pea-shooter." They were peremptorily bidden to desist and take themselves off; to which their response was a volley directed against himself Elisha's blood was up. Grasping the rain-spout, he was among them in an instant ; and with firmer footing on the steep slope than they, seized and beat each one of them handsomely ; then one by one dragged them to the very edge of the roof, and there demanded an apology for their misconduct, which, in terror for their necks, they were not slow to give. His little brother, who was watching the pro- ceedings from below, utterly terrified at thought of what might come of penance performed in such circumstances, called out to him, — '' Come down, Elisha ! 0, come down ! " and got the answer. — '' No, Tom ; they an't done apologizing yet ! ' f IG MEMOIR OF DR. KAXE. f hi The manner in which, on anotlier occasion, the spirited hoy avenged liis own wrongs, was exceedino-lv in<2:enious. Bein!:^ on the wharf "One dav, a "s as to have obtained from whalers the name of " Bergy Hole " — and his resi)onsibilities were heavy upon him. That of the last was cheerful, — • tellinii' his father what exertions he had been making to get his supjJies at that place, BO as not to delay his jn'ogress ; taking advantao'e of a lono- calm to o-q about in o o o his boat to make the necessary purchases without once comino; to anchor. And he had been successful in everything : furs ot all kinds, sledges, liarness, lines, and even dogs for draught, almost the most important item of the whole ; for, as he observes, '' the dog is the camel of these snow deserts ; " and the Esquimaux grudges parting with a single one as an Arab would grudge parting with ''the ship" of his "desert." On these long excursions the contrast between the filthy squalor of the natives and tlie ghjrious scenery of their country struck him forcibly. MKMOIR OF DR. KANE. 35 ESQUIMAUX DO( S. Ofcour.se after these, coniinunicatiuns could not Ije ex})ected froui liiui for a long time. But when the second winter after his sailinrr \ c •Mi ( I if ! Hi i I I' ( % r i ■( 3G MEMOIR OF DR. KANE. set in without either bringing him home, or tidinii's of him, the most serious alarm was felt, not only by his own friends, but by his countrymen generally; the greater that it was known the first winter had been an unusually severe one, and that the provisioning of the Advance would not suffice for a second. A relief expedition was therefore immediately oroanized and sent out to seek him. It com- prised two vessels, under the command of Lieutenant Hartstene, of the United States navy ; a man so thorougldy alive to the perils of a hunt through tlie Polar Seas — its crash- incj encountci's Avith iceberofs and hummocks, and its wearying, slow tracking along the margin of the ice-belt — that, before sailing, he begged that no expedition might be sent in search of them if they failed to return. He left New York on the 81st of May 1855, precisely two years after the sail- ing of the little vessel of which he was in search. And the search proved successful ; for they found Dr. Kane and his crew, jusi when all their dangers were at an end, and themselves coming comfortably home in a Danish vessel. Naturally enough, though mm m MliMOIU OF DR. KANE. 37 .r?i TliAlKINd AI.ONU IIIK ICE-BELT. rather ludicrously, one of the crew felt a little provoked at not having been found earlier, when they wanted help, ratlicr than now, when it was no longer needed. " There now," said he, " we have had all our hard work for no- thing." "Are you sorry," was Dr. Kane's reply, " that we owe our deliverance to our own exertions ?" But it must have been disap- pointing to everybody ; not the least so to those who had gone on this mission, and encountered all its hardships, just too late to be of any use. w i1 Mi! y^ m\ i: ' Hii 38 Mi;iMUlU OF I)U. KANE. The inissinu: ones — such as had survived — were landed in safety at New York on the 1 Itli October 1855, after an absence of thirty months. Tlie commander did not seem mnch the worse for tlie terrible exertions and anxieties of those thirty months — exertions and anx- ieties continually helped by prayer, and an imfailing trust in the providence of God. lie rather seemed to have gained strength by privation and liardship. ** My health," said he to a friend, " is almost absurd ; 1 have grown like a walrus." But it was only for a time. Payment was to be exacted for the long and unnatural strain upon both mind and body, under whose tension nothing but an indomital)le will, to- gether with that firm trust in God which was a principle of his manly life, could have sus- tained him. Not long after his return he be- gan to fail. The unaccustonierl ooil of literary work in prei)aring for publicacion an account of his recent Arctic experiences and discoveries, told upon him severely. The work was laborious, and he worked too hard at it. He was artist as well as author. Many of the MEMOIR OK DR. KANK. 30 exquisite sketches, whicli add so greatly to the charm of his book, liad been made in pencil, at a tenij)orature of nobody knows how many degrees below freezing^})oint, with the paper steadied on the shoulders of one of his crew ; and these all required his own close attention in the process of transferi'ing them to his printed pages. The whole thing weighed upon him like a nightmare. " The wretched book," ''the incubus," he writes at half-past three in the morning. " The book has been my coffin." Illness crept on by degrees. There was also annoyance from his own government — the doctor had never been its spoiled child — and he was indignant at it. A voyage to England being decided on, in the hope of benefit to his health, he sailed thither with his old friend and Arctic companion, Morton, on the 16th October 1856. He did not seem san- guine as to the result of this voyage, yet, when his strength permitted, enjoyed it ; cheerful himself, and contributing, with his natural unselfishness, to the cheerfulness of others. He landed at Liverpool on the 24th of the month, and speedily went on to London, i^ b i *S' r 4 ) * ii 5 i 'i 1" II 3 il :| it:; ! • IS ! y i \i) t i. 40 MEMOIR OF DR. KANE. wlici-e it was renuirked by Sir Putderick Miir- chison, wlio licaioiired and esteemed him, that he appeared to be in all but a dying state. Spite of the destructive fogs of the season, a little amendment afterwards took place, and he }n'oceeded, still accompanied by his faith- ful friend, to the island of Cuba, as of}crin<^ the mild temperature suited to his condition, and possessing the further recommendation of being near home, in case of need. But before reaching his destination he was stricken by death. Landing at Havana on the 26th De- cember, he was received by his brother Thomas, and speedily joined by his mother and brother John, who had come out to soothe and cheer him in his last liours. They were those of a Christian man, as had been those of his most active life. Daily the Bible was read to him by his mother ; and finally, as she read, his spirit was dismissed, so quietly that the read- ing had continued some mirmtes before it was discovered that the listener was in the " land that is very far aAvay." He died, on th<' 1 ()th Fel>ruary 1857, at the age of thirty-seven : a good, brave, CHnistian man, whose short but hard dav's work had r MKMOIR OF DR. KANE. 41 been done under such circumstances of bodily infinnity as might have kept more than one lialf of such invalids petting themselves up in the chimney corner. Whether a less laborious Dll. IvANl.. life would have prolonged his useful days can- not novr be determined. He thouu'ht other- wise ; acted upon his conviction, and perished; leaving " footprints on the sands of time " that may guide other brave spirits, whether their ff 1^ i ; f i) It M t fl , 42 MEMOIR OF Dll. KANE. course be, like his, one of wild adventure, or in the less conspicuous, not always less heroic, "Daily round, the common task," of quiet home life. Perhaps the most complete understanding of Dr. Kane's character may be had from his own record of those ''Arctic Explorations," which cost him his life. i 6 1; i DR. KANE : THE ARCTIC HERO. CHAPTER I. SAILING NORTH. N the SOth of May 1853, a little naval procession was seen sailing out of the harboiu' of New York. There was a small, stout brig, perhaps not quite so elecrant in her outline as might be desired for beauty ; but as she was designed for tough vvork, her proportions were admirable to know- ing eyes. For the present she lazily followed a stea..i-tufr to which she was attached, and a number of fine steamers attended as body- guard. Slowly they passed through the Nar- rows, amid cheers from the shore folk, and those who tlironged the vessels lying about. First the forts were passed, next the light "I f* ( 1 '■ f ' ] 44 SAILING NORTH. house ; and then, being fiiirly out, the brig felt able to take care of herself. Forthwith she cut the connection between herself and the tug ; the steamers reversed their paddles, and swept round their great bows shorewards, while the little brig, steering in a northerly direction, pursued its lonely way on the broad sea.s. This little veF>ol was the Advance, going in search of Sir o< Franklin and his com- panions, lost amid the wide, icy wastes of the Polar regions. The Advance was but a small vessel — only a hundred and forty- four tons burden ; but she had already made for herself an Arctic reputation. Her crew was to match, con- si.stinof of but eiohteen men, including' their gallant commander. Their equipment and stores were of the simplest description, though, as was hoped, sufficient for the hardy adven- turers embarked on this expedition. They had five boats on board, one of them a life- boat ; a number of planks for covering over the ship in her winter quarters (for being frozen up ouo there was part of their plan) ; India rubber and canvas tents, with sledges for ice-travelling. Their provisions were the ! . r; SAILING NORTH. 45 usual navy salt beef and pork, and biscuit; two thousand pounds of pemmican, and a quantity of meat biscuit ; . with pickled cab- bage, and plenty of dried potatoes and other vegetables — the use of these, after being a certain time at sea, being the only means of warding off that dreadful sailors' malady called scurvj^ Pemmican, it should be explained, is meat dried and then pounded, melted fat being afterwards poured in among it. Meat biscuit is made of the strongest soup possible, into which flour is stirred till it becomes a stiff paste ; this is then rolled out, and dried in shapes like biscuit, whence its name. They are both American modes of preserving meat without the use of salt. Something to drink was also added, in the shape of a very moderate supply of wine, beer, and brandy, together with a stock of malt and brewing vessels. But these good things were not for everyday use. Nothing stronger tlian coffee was allowed to be drunk, except by special order. They had, of course, plenty of warm clothing ; together with a lot of knives, needles, and such articles, with which to make purchases from the Esquimaux. t . 4G SAILING NORTH. TliiLs funiislied, the little vessel set off on her perilous expedition. They had a pros- perous voyage to Greenland, into one of whose harbours they sailed on the 1st of July, for i , "I I MORAVIAN SKTTLKMBNT AT L1CUTENFEL3. tlie purpose of getting fresh food for the dogs, of which they had taken a team on board at Newfoundland, for sledge -travelling. Here fl i !li M SAILING NORTH. 47 they had their last glimpse of civilized life at Liclitenfels, wliere some Moravian missionaries had long had their simple settlement for Chris- tianizing the natives. It was a dreary life for these good people, shut up in that cold corner of the world — chapel and dwelling-house under the one roof of the old-fashioned building, with its dormer windows, plenty of chimneys, and spiring bel- fry. And very grave they seemed, children and all; but they were kindly hospitable to their visitors, who left after a short stay, car- rying off with them an Esquimaux boy of nineteen, as hunter and provider-general, espe- cially for the dogs, whose ravenous appetites, if they were to be of any use, it was abso- lutely necessary to satisfy, while it was by no means easy to do it. Hans Cristian the Esquimaux turned out a very important personage in the expedition, and a very good fellow into the bargain. Indeed, that was evident at starting, from the lad's in- sisting that, in addition to his own wages, two barrels of bread (sailors call biscuit bread) and fifty pounds of pork should be given to his mother before he left her. He was fat, and Si ' i I 'M 50 SAII.INO NORTH. It was hard work ; unluckily, it was uselesj work also ; for almost before they had time to draw breath, some suspicious sounds were heard ; then small fragments of ice began to pelt the water ; and th.ougli at once all haste was made to undo their day's work, and '' cast off" from the berg to which they had so pain- fully fastened themselves, it was only just accomplished when, splash, dash, crash, thun- der, down came the whole face of the berg, a shower of ruins, into the sea. Their next " attachment" to an iceberg proved more fortunate ; for eschewing such towering concerns as had nearly put a prema- ture end to their adventures, they planted their ice-anchors in a low, safe one, in whose company they drifted slowly right on, instead of being hurried b}^ the gale violently south, precisely the way they did not wish to go. For their mission was to work tlieir way to the north, to seek the missing Englishmen, who were destined never to be found — a few bones, scraps of clothing and furniture, with little personal possessions, being all that even at last ever came to light as remains of the brave Franklin and his crew. \ i i 1 * \ CHAPTER 11. THE SEAUCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. 'HIS working their way through ice and water, mixed up in various deo-rees of thickness, is a trying mini iiiii iiiw »i '^ performance. Sometimes the vessel has to bore a passage, trusting to its hard head to push through the obstacles that beset it. Occasionally even its oaken bows fail to break up the iron incrustation (for Arctic ice is far more iron in its character than our feeble southern congelation) ; and then implements of different kinds — saws and chisels — have to be employed to cut a canal through the ice- field or pack. When the extent .of frozen surface is so great that its limits cannot be seen i.um the mast-head, it is called an ice-field ; the pack is the same field broken into fragments, which, pressed more or less closely together, are car- m ,1 > ■ I' r- t i m 52 TllK SKARCII tOU WINTER (iUAUTKRS. ried hither aiul tliither l)y the motion of the waves. Progress, thus obtained, is slow, and the labour great. A man who has not abundant patience, as well as courage, self-denial, and powers of endurance, had better not ship him- self for the Arctic regions. One of the great difficulties that had to be contended with during this expedition was the feeding and otherwise keeping in good condition of fifty dogs, partly Newfoundland, partly Es- quimaux, which were on board, for sledge- travelling when the time for that came. Dogs, especially these wild creatures, are not parti- cularly orderly animals, and their vagaries involved the voyagers in constant perplexities. The appetites of the beasts were something to be wondered at, rather than admired. Nothing came amiss to them, from natural history specimens of all shapes and sizes, in- cluding birds' nests, to even a feather bed, the attempt upon which did, however, prove a failure. While whenever the slow-advancinof brig, working its way through ice and water, came to a full stop against any impassable piece of ice, out they would all rush, like fifty ^ I THK SKA lie II Foil WINTKIl QUAUTKIIS. 53 h plagues as they were, spite of shouts and the liberal use of the Esquimaux whip, which is no joke ; and then catching them again, after they had had their own sweet will, was easier to talk of than to accomplish. Early in the voyage two of the dogs, having scampered ot\ in this wild fashion, got left behind; and as they could not be spared, it cost a boat party eight hours' hard rowing, through the ice- porridge we have described, before they were found alongside a dead narwhal, upon which they had gorged themselves. Another hour was spent in coaxing and catching one of the two — the blandishments employed for this purpose being utterly unavailing with the other, who had to be left to his own devices. These Esquimaux dogs, half wild to begin with, readily become wild outright; and then they hunt and kill reindeer on their own account, much to the disgust of the natives who, in their turn, hunt and kill them. Dog troubles, however, were things by the way ; the main business was to keep going north, throuorh ice and hindrances of all sorts; while in addition a secure wintering place had to be sous;ht. It looked as though this would ( f 'I 54 THJ'! SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. Ilii i be found for tlit^n, whether they wouhl or not, for "ni])pings," and occasional stickings fast, at length ended in tl^e brig's faii-ly get- tiriix ai2:ronnd near what is ■^'alled the Ice-foot, AUlluU.NU M;AK TIIK ICK-KOOT. where she liad to l)e tackled for safety, till the return of tlie tide might, as it was ho})ed, release her from her enforced |)roxiniity to the {antnstic l)erg towering high above lier masts. t 1 THE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. 55 There, however, from time to time she kept sticking fast " high and dry," in spice of all that could be done in the way of lightening her by hoisting heavy goods into the boat alongside, until at last it seemed as if they must make up their minds to be stuck fast, somewhere oi other, for the winter. The best thing to be done under these circum- stances was to seek a suitable spot, get into it, and resion themselves to their fate; for this year of all years, winter threatened to fall early upon the Arctic zone. A travelling party was therefore organized for this purpose, preparations for which had for some time been going on, without much having been said about it by th(^ wise com- mander of the expedition, who had all hearts to keep up, as well as to make all arrange- ments His plan was to leave the brig, in her helplessness, in charge of a competent officer, and make a journey himself, partly boat, partly sledge, to explov/^ the neighbour- hood in order that they might be frozen up as judiciously and as snugly as possible. Their best and lightest whale-boat, which was dignified with the name of the Forlorn it 1 W T ' W'' ) V I 4 I i \ 1 ■>\ 5G THE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. Hope, was accoi'diiigly covered with tin, to prevent the wood being cut by the hay, or new ice, and supplied with a canvas covering to put up overhead, to convert it into a sort of tent at halting places. Provisions — that everlasting pemmican chiefly — were placed in THE FORLORN HOPE. small cases; a sledge, reduced to its original elements, that is, pulled to pieces for the con- venience of carriage, also formed part of their baggage, for use when water utterly failed. .V .U' ^ THE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. 67 The dress of the travelling party, eight men includinsf the commander, Dr. Kane, was the ordinary one of the Esquimaux; a compound of bear and buffalo skins that made each man look amazingly like a bear on its hind legs. A glance at our cut will give a better idea of it than a page of description. Of course the amount of inner clothing in the way of woollen wrappers, and the like, depends upon each man's taste, and his personal and peculiar sense of cold, which differs with each in- dividual ; and according to the more or less of this, is his external appearance, more or less like a tombola, with the addition of a trifle of legs. Buffalo skins, called by the Indians buffalo robes, su^iplied the ^ace alike of bed and blankets, and are of coursu iufinitf^ly more sleeinfying than a ''soft plank;" in fact they may be deemed to verge on the luxurious, always bearing in mind that it is Arctic luxury of which we are speaking. One extra suit of furs also found its place among their stores ; to give some favoured one individual a chan of a dry set, if all went into the water at once. Woollen socks were stuck in the belt. where, if they were wet, they gradually dried ^ \ I i\ '/'■■ \ 58 THE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. with the heat of the body; these wdth a tin cup and sheath knife Avere private property. A soup kettle and lamp, in which spirit or fat could be burned as fuel for cooking purposes, were held in common. These lamps give out an amazing amount of heat. With a proper wick they could use them even for baking bread. The sledge merits a word. This is con- structed of well-seasoned oak or hickory — a very tough American wood — without a particle of metal in its composition, except a few unavoid- able screws and nails, as in those transcen- dently cold regions iron sna})s like ghiss. The various parts are accordingly bound together by thongs of seal-skin ; which have another valuable effect, that of allowing the vehicle to give way to the thumps and bumps it gets in travelling swiftly over the rough frozen sur- face, and which would soon tear it limb from limb if it were more tightly fastened together. It is well to give way a little sometimes, if one wants to carry one's point ; and this is eminently true where an Arctic sledge is con- cerned. The whole fobric thus built un is extremely light, and when drawn by a ^eam i THE S?:ARCn FOR WINTER QUARTERS. 59 of Esquimaux dogs, in good working order, tears along like the wind, its steel-shod runners gliding easily ovei even the roughest ice. SLKIJUKS. The equipment being com})lete, ofl' they set on their travels, in searcli of comfortable freezing quarters during the long Arctic winter of a hundred and forty sunless days. Not what we here call sunless days ; dark, sullen skies, when one has to lig.ib up, grumbling, at three or four in the afternoon ; but so dark that stars of the sixth magnitude, that is, mere pin-point stars, are visible at noon-day, and lanterns having to be always kept V)urning, at last becoming so utterly ghostly dark that S ill \iH - i i M ?i ! i > ! f k «i ^i f W ' It GO IHE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. you cannot see to count your fingers a foot from your eyes, and noonday and midnight are alike. Even the dogs are cowed by such thick darkness as this, which reminds one of RENSSELAER HARBOUR. the Egyptian darkness, that " might be felt.'* The journey had its various incidents, in- cluding that of leaving the poor Forlorn HoiDe very forlorn indeed, stuck away on the ice, t THE SEARCH FOR WINTER QUARTERS. Gl with which she could no longer contend) under the friendly shelter of a hummock, or rising ed^fe of the ice that had been broken up and sc^ueezed together. The result of it was that the brig could be in no better posi- tion for the rapidly advancing season than where she already was ; and they gladly returned to Rensselaer Harbour to prepare for and begin their settled winter life in this the highest latitude in which that season had ever been spent by any save natives. .i s \ 1 * '^1 ,k^ * H ■I, '■Jl; tv (. ■ H I * r i f I I t fli l\ m CHAPTER III. FAST IN THE ICE. jHE cares of housekeeping came first on board the poor ice-fast brig, — fast for good and all, for there she is still. Of preserved provisions the party was very short ; and the continued use of salted meats is certain to bring on scurvy, a malady at once painful, depressing, and de- structive to life. Fortunately a fresh water pond was discovered, and in this, long strips of salt meat, were hung in festoons under the ice to take the salt out. The salt fish, sal- mon trout, and cod, which they had got at Fiskernaes in Greenland were put in barrels, bored full of holes, so as to let the water pass through them, and these were then placed in the stream. Their pickled vegetables were treated in the same manner; and it was hoped that by this process all would be freshened up j FA^T IN THE ICE. G3 SO as to be less unwholesome than they other- wise would be. Then game of various kinds was looked forward to, when the time came; for there, as with us, game has its season, though Act of Parliament has nought to do with it; it is the act of Nature, which is equally binding. At the same time the vessel had to be made as cold-proof as possible, for a winter habita- tion; and a dog kennel established at a little distance. Strange to say when this last was completed, the dogs would not sleep in it; the brutes preferred society to warm lodgino-s, so made themselves comfortable on the snow in he immediate neighbourhood of the ship. All on board, officers and men alike, were as busy as a whole hive of bees; for they had only a month's daylight before them — this was on the 1 0th of September — previous to the setting in of the long, dark Arctic winter. Learning the art of sledge-driving was one part of the commanding officer's important business at this season. The driving of a team of twelve half wild dogs is decidedly one of the fine arts. The mere use of the whip, if it were to be used successfully, required a Si V. i a m I \i m * ct FAST IN THE ICE. series of lessons by itself. The lash was six yards long, while to propel the mighty flagi- lator, there was a handle measuring only six- teen inches, so any one may imagine the difficulty of making that long lash reach its journey's end on, say the leader of the team. Nor was that all ; even if it did arrive there safely, there was the getting it safe back again, against which there were various chances including those of its becoming entangled in the harness — if one must dignify dog-lines with the name — or of its whipping round pieces of ice, the immediate result of which was the jerking out of the unfortunate Jehu from his warm fur-wrapped seat in the sledge and sending him heels over head into the snow. The dogs are harnessed by one trace, a long line of seal or walrus-skin, cut spirally from the animal, so as to make it all of one piece, and then well chewed and greased to render it supple; and according to the number of the team are the chances of this long, slender trace becoming twisted or knotted by the leaps and bounds of the dogs. If the cold be not too intense to allow of the surrounding snow being FAST IN TUE ICE. C5 h thawed, tliis, properly applied, will so soften the knot that it will be possible to untie it; if otherwise, there is nothing for it but cutting it, an operation that, frecjucntly repeated, in- conveniently shortens the traces. On one A NKWFOUNDLAND DOG TEAM. occasion the sledge-driver had such a series of disentangleable knots that he was at last ob- liged to cut up a considerable portion of his own seal-skin trousers to supply dog lines. However, having made themselves perfect (102) 5 s I m ,1 1 r i C6 FAST IN THE ICE. in the art of sledge-driving, there they go, whip aloft, spinning over the ice, and leaping the cracks that at times beset it. Alas! they have also just sustained another of those acci- dents that " will happen even to the best regulated" sledge parties; one of the inside passengers having been suddenly converted into an " outside," by being flung out of the vehicle as a chasm was leaped, and sent plop into the water, saving himself only by clinging to what is called the runner of the sledge. Luckil}^ he was only wet through with his icy bath, so that, when furs, and bears' skins, and all the rest had been dried by the good fire they managed to keep down below in the brig, which was not far off, he was none the worse for it. " Down below" they were fortunate enough to secure the respectable warmth of sixty-five degrees, — a comfortable warmth anywhere, but admirable in that latitude. Their deck- house, however, they could only keep a little above freezing point ; the atmosphere outside being twenty-five below it, and there was some degree of wind, which always adds greatly to the sensation of cold. Almost any > FAST IN THK ICK. G7 de<»Tee of even Arctic cold may, it is said, be borne as long as there is no wind, Init let that only get up, and tlio same temperature be- comes unbearable. Up to the second week of September the walrus still remained around their home, floun- WAIiRHS SPnUTIVG. dering about in the mixture of ice and water, in which they seem to play bo-peep with each other. Where the ice is more compact they break breathing holes, at which they may come up to breathe, by rising up in the water M 'f In ' ' FAST IN THE ICE, 71 Every four minutes a halt was allowed to take breath. One of the crew kept up this dance fourteen minutes, when he won and wore the prize in triumph. Between the exer- cise and the laughing this would save some coal, of which they had need to be careful. A hunt of a different character had to be called and sent out in pursuit of old Grim, the patriarch of the dog kennel, who, having been taken out with the sledge against his will, jerked his trace in two, and bolted off in the darkness right for the brig, where he never arrived. Grim was quite a character, who, by dint of discreet flattery — tail- wagging flattery — and intense selfishness, contrived to lead a remarkably easy life for a dog whose duty it was to draw sledges, and otherwise work for his living. He was highly sagacious, so far as his own interests were concerned. Whenever harnessin '<^ c% tf>: > " <&. ''* o W //i Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 VEST MAIN S^' J^ST WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 iV 4? <> ^ «* Q^ ^'U % V 4^ Ux i r ill ii 94 IN PERIL. rades over the rugged ice and slippery ascent to the observatory, where, being reverently placed upon the stands used for the instruments, the burial service was read, snow being sprinkled upon the coffin instead of " earth to earth/' Then it was placed in an opening made for the purpose in the walls, for there could be no digging of a grave in tliat iron earth, the aperture was hermetically sealed with ice, and he was left to his sad rest. It was not long before another was laid by his side. But the passing and re- passing of their comrades was too depressing, more especially as the survivors had become weak and nervous with their hardships. So as soon as the summer's thaw rendered it possible to collect stones enough, a grave was built up with them on a hollowed out part of the rock, while others were piled up over it so as to protect the sleepers beneath from the ravages of wild beasts. ■i . I J I CHAPTER VI. AMONG THE NATIVES. |HILE watching the first death-bed a cry was raised that men were hal- looing to them from the shore. Going on deck it was seen that the dim land- scape was dotted over with creatures, certainly not bears, however much like them, and that they must therefore be Esquimaux. On they came with wild, unintelligible shouts, but as they had no weapons their tossing their heads and arms about violently was no reason why they should not be invited to come a little nearer. A huge, powerful fellow, who appeared to be a chief, readily came forward to meet Dr. Kana. He was dressed in white and blue fox skins, with white bear-skin trousers and boots in one, the toe of the boot being finished off by the claws of the bear. Piercing black eyes gleamed from under hia V i" w i!ili! 1 1| i hi f 96 AMONG THE NATIVES. fill' hood, and altogether it was apparent that Metek — such proved to be his name — was a man of mark. MKRTINO RSQCIMAUX. As soon as — with the help of Petersen, the interpreter of the expedition — he was in confab with the doctor, the .est of the Esquimaux thronged around them They were presently, I AMONG THE NATIVES. 97 however, made to understand that none must go on board but their chief, upon which they at once fell back, and he fearlessly followed the first white man he had ever seen, down into the c?bin, whence orders were soon issued that the others might come if they liked. Nine or ten at once accepted the invitation, some of their fellows meanwhile bringing up their sledges and dogs, fifty-six of these latter, who were picketed by their long traces to lances set up in the ice. The dogs were fine crea- tures, the sledges beautiful, made of small pieces of bone, bound together by strips of stout leather, while the runners were of ivory — the tusks of the walrus. The dress of the Esquimaux was similar to that of their leader — frocks, trousers, and boots, with bear-claw toes of white bear-skin. Their arms were knives, scabbarded into their big boots, and lances, shaft and point of bone, steel- tipped, which were left secured to their sledgea When on board they were perfectly well- bred — that is if, as one has heard, good breed- ing consists in being entirely at your ease, for they made themselves at home in the most charming fashion, running hither and thither, (102) 7 S 4 < ■ ■> ! i i li 1 I ^; fi < » 3 J »M fii 98 AMONG TFIK NATIVKS. poking into all sorts of boles and corners, fingering everything they could get at, oegging anything they took a fancy to, and stealing wherever they could. This sort of rough work was borne very patiently for a time, but at last the jabbering, laughing, mischievous crea- tures got so troublesome that they wei'e obliged to be handed out — that is to sav, laid hold of and pushed bodily out of the place. They took it good humouredly, stealing cheerfully all afternoon, until, being tired with their ex- ertions in " conveyancing," they just dropped off asleep where they sat, on a buffalo skin hospitably placed for them by the cooking fire. Wheaten bread, salt pork, and large lumps of sugar, as a treat, had been offered them on the ice, but they would have nothing to do with them. Now, admitted to the interior, they cooked for themselves, in an iron pot lent for the occasion, some walrus beef, though the staple of their enormous meal consisted of raw meat, which they ate artistically in long strips of alternate fat and lean. There they sat by the fire, munching and sleeping on and on ; falling asleep with their raw meat by them, and setting to again the moment they awoke. I mi. ! AMONG THE NATIVES. yy They have excellent appetites. An Esquimaux will eat eight or ten pounds of meat a day, together with liquid, soup and water, to the amount of half a gallon. But in those inten- sely cold countries people not only can eat more, but they require much more, than they do in temperate climates ; it is the only way to keep life in them. So that we must not mea- sure a man's eating so much by its quantity, as by his special requirements. The fun was that even the babies ate away at raw meat to the same extent, according to their smaller powers, as did their elders. One little two- year- old savage, that bit Dr. Kane, when by way of making himself agreeable he tickled it as people do to British babies, cut away for itstif at the raw lump, with an old iron-hoop knife that it could scarcely lift, and ate, and cut, and cut and ate again, until it had eaten the size of its own head of raw walrus ; and after dedi- cating three hours to the digestion of the same cut and ate again ! Their mode of cramming was peculiar : a long strip of meat was cut, which they began eating at one end ; when they had swallowed as much of this as they could, all in one piece, it was cut off close to ! t 1] ' in ■u jrr M \t V % I "it if 'M I fl ' 100 AMONO THE NATIVES. their mouths so as to form ^ new em] to begin with; and in this manner even infants under two j^ears old fed themselves with entire suc- cess, though the strangers found it a difficult accomplishment. The visit passed off safely; though the visitors stole so many things, that at length their homeward pace was somewhat quickened by a charge of small shot sent after them, harm- lessly enough. The season for Arctic travel is very short; and as April was now almost at an end, it was time to bestir themselves, if anything was to be done to further the object of their sojourn in those regions. They were in poor condition for travelling; four sound men, and six in- valids were to be left in charge of the brig ; the commander and seven men, none good for much, were to form the sledge-parties. An officer with their fine, large sledge the Faith, laden chiefly with bread, which was almost indispensable to eat with the over-fat pemmican, was despatched in advance. Dr. Kane followed with a small and very light sledge, built on board, of hickory, canying with him pemmican, bread, tea, a canvas |:'l I \i AMONG THE NATIVES. 101 bent, two bags made of rein-deer skin to sleep in, and a soup kettle, which was to be a sort of utensil of all work, so far as cooking was THE FAITH. concerned, and so constructed that it might be used with eitlier fat or spirits, for fuel. The journey was not a successful one. First one, then another fell ill, for they were not in a state to bear hardships; and when Dr. Kane himself broke down, and took to fainting every time he was carried from the tent to the sledge, it was time to give it up. i n •4 |l w^ i! ' 1 : •I I \ \ ^ IM i^ 102 AM()N(i THE NATIVES. He was broiioht back to the brinr more dead than alive, and the others were little better. The wild forlorn regions of the extreme north are by no means so destitute of pictur ^;ii,;H(i:iii«j fi? TIIUEK BROTHKR TURRRT8. esque features as one might suppose, and these, as they gradually came in view, filled the travellers with astonishment, as well as delight 1 1 AMONG THE NATIVES. 103 Above the white monotonous surface rose frowning rocks, weather-stained into something like beauty; and worn by the action of the elements — and Time, that grand artificer — into all sorts of fantastic shapes. One had been gradually worn away into the likeness of a castle, by whose side stood, as if for defence, three towers, to which they gave the name of the *' Three Brother Turrets." Another shot up, slender and shapely, tapering to its crown, a height of four hundred and eighty feet, and this, as ''Tennyson's monument," was dedicated to the fame of Alfred Tennyson. A magnifi- cent commemoration of a great man; nobler than any work of art could possibly be. One cause of the failure of this exploring expedition was the unusual, and excessive amount of snow on the ground as they pro- ceeded. At the brig side, it was only four inches deep; as they advanced they sank in it up to the waist, while the dogs were so buried, that their help was out of the question. Further, the ever mischievous white bears had been beforehand with them, at their provision depots, called caches ; and though the stones with which one of these was covered were so V \ i H 1 k \ H' . 1 ■ A 1'i WF fi' !!! 1 lb '.t I M ;,; i V ^ I !l 104 AMONG THE NATIVKS. heavy that it required the united strength of three men to place them over the deposit, pemmican, it seems, transpired through all, and the creatures removed them. The iron cases in which the meat was contained, were cut up into bits as if with a steel chisel. A cask with spirit in it, — of so much importance for their cooking lamps, that a separate journey had been made to place it there in re^idiness — was so knocked to pieces that not even a bit of it could be found. During Dr. Kane's absence on this disastrous sledging expedition Hans the Esciuimaux was left with the brig, in the especial capacity of hunter. Hans deserved the high dignity of this post, for he very speedily shot two deer, the first that they had been able to secure ; and the fresh meat was a very God-send to the scurvy-enfeebled crew ; for it was that dreadful scurvy, brought on as it always is by the want of fresh food, that was knocking them all off their legs. But with regard to this their pros- pects, now that spring — May — was ftiirly in, were brightening. Numbers of little snow- birds, made their welcome appearance on the first of the month, making a very May-day of AMONG TFIK NATIVKS. 105 it; and seal, wliicli is not bad eating, to those who have nothing better, was in abnndnnce. r;.«"i 8I100TI.NQ SKAL. Here the services oi" the ever ready Hans again came into requisitioa Hans was a good shot, i 'J ! 1 |i ' { u III: I f ;'• !l ! i I ■15 t 'll '= i '! tj 106 AMONG THE NATIVES. but, to shoot a seal who, so to speak, sleeps with one eye open, by his breathing hole, into which he can instantly pass, if need be, requires a little cunning, or, a great deal of address. The former was preferred ; so with the native contrivance of a white screen, put up on cross sticks and mounted on a sledge that can be noiselessly pushed forward as required, Hans kneeled him down to his work, poked his ritle through the hole in the screen left for that purpose, and shot his game, Esquimaux fashion. He made a good bag ; bringing dovvn four of them. Indeed at this time their living, thanks to Hans, became luxurious in the extreme; seal, rabbits, reindeer, ptarmigan, all these were included in their bill of fare, and were rapidly bringing the half-starved crew to life again. Hares were at times to be had; but as the dogs also liked them, the men got the fewer. Things outside too looked more cheery; and the tiny vegetation of the pole, a species of heath, had already made its gladdening ap- pearance. While instead of buckets filled with chopped ice, hung up over head in the cabin, to melt into water, that was drawn fresh from slender rock stieams. AMONG THE NATIVER lo; Dr. Kane was still too lielple.ss from the effects of his unhicky jounie3% ^^ venture out sledging himself; but as he thought he could, if he were carried round to the sick men as they lay in their cots, attend to them as well DOOS A>fnXG EKUGR. as Dr. Hayes, the surgeon of the expedition, the lattci was sent off with a noble team of dogs, the leaders of which spanked along with the grand bounds of wild beasts. They did . «i 1. J' '(■ < ..' 4 1 1 y ■ \ •{ |i % m i! Ill 1 1' II Hi IP' f * i '■ * 108 AMONG THP] NATIVES. their work well. Ir some places the travellers would have been quite at a stand still but for the powerful efforts of these fine creatures, who strained along with the sledge at their heels (to which a hoist was perchance given by their masters) over great blocks of ice, whose intervals were filled with deep snow, out of which they would have had no little difficulty in scrambling, had any been unlucky enough to sink in. At times the heavy sledge itself went down; and then it was "all hands to the great cable" to haul it out. The poor dogs after this gallant woi'k deserved better feeding than fell to their lot more than once during the journey; when, on one occasion, they ate some of their traces and harness for sheer hunger ; and on a second, had a meal served out to them consistinor of the last crumbs that could be shaken out of the bread baof, rendered savoury by an admixture of the remains of a pair of skin gloves, and some cuttings from the lower edge of their master's trousers ! One thinks it would require an Esquimaux dog to digest that ; at which any civilized dog would unquestionably turn up its nose. CHAPTER VII. BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. HERE is summer in the Arctic regions as well as winter ; a short hot sum- mer, with the sun always staring j^ou in the face. For, as during a long period of the winter he never rises, so now he makes himself amends b}/ never going to bed. Idle sun in the winter; tiresome sleepless sun in the summer ! They were now in the midst of this season ; the first summer of their two years' sojourn in that dreary part of the world, which one might think almost God-forgotten, but that there His mighty hand is visible in the rock and snow, and w^onderful mountains and fields of ice, glittering in many coloured beauty; for ice, like glass and diamonds, throws off rainbow tints under the influence of varying light. While rivers of it pour themselves slowly down from some vast unknown denosit of || :\ i, It! ■ ' ^ !' Il H- ■ t^ no BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. eternal ice in the interior of the country. And tliere too His benignant hand is seen in the tiny little shrubs and plants that, covered up warmly with layer upon layer of soft snow — a ten-feet- thick blanket — spring up fear- lessly in the brief summer time, and open their bright flowers to the gladdening sunshine. Tiny heath and saxifrage are gladdening to look at, but it mav be doubted whether the most grateful sight of that brief summer, to those disease-enfeebled men, was not a little handful of humble scurvy grass, so called from its supposed virtues fur the cure of that miserable complaint. The interpreter stumbled upon this in the month of June, — each little plant an inch high — and brought it to Dr. Kane, who did what he knew tlie man would best like, — ate it up himself, without going through the ceremony of ofiering it to any one else. Other plants having valuable properties to men in their circumstances were also dis- covered, so that it became one of their after- noon recreations, after light work and plenty of basking in the sunshine, to stroll on the shore eating such green plants as were known to be eatable, and which did them a world of good ! BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 1 1 \ Their spirits too were clieered by the return of their exploring parties, who had been able to make some satisfactory astronomical and geographical observations, as well as to brin» back interesting details of their adventures. It was just the time of year when bears were in season, and pretty work they made for the travellers. Snugly sleeping in their tent one night after a very fatiguing day, one of the party heard something, he knew not what, outside the tent, scratching away at the snow not far from his head. He shook him- self, and peering cautiously saw a great beast of some kind, who was evidently taking a lively interest in the tent, and its inmates. The result of his scrutiny was that he uttered, what if he had been a fine lady would have been called a scream ; as he was a man, it must be dubbed simply a cry, which did quite as well, as it woke up his companions, who, as they rubbed their sleepy eyes, pain- fully remembered that all their guns had been left in the sledge outside, and that they had not even so much as a walking pole, with which to do battle with the beast, name unknown. As they half sat up in their fright, wondering It ) ■ 1 4') w m ■ w I' ' |i 1 |i^" !* li" ( ^ > 1 '' !! W. \ \ I ■" If- 112 BEARS, AND OTIIKR THINGS. what nuist be done, seeing that to make a rush for their arms was impossible, their con- sidering was cut sliort by a great big bear coolly sticking his head in among them at the THS BRAR IN CAMP. opening of the tent. Letting off lucifer matches at him was first tried, and then flar- ing newspapers in his face ; but he heeded neither the one nor the other. Instead of that, he quietly sat him down to supper off a seal — their seal — that was lying conveniently for the brute ; and then they felt themselves BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 113 posed : a great bear sitting there peacefully eating his supper— that is, their si^)per— as though he had received a regular invitation to do so ! Bear ate ; men stared and pondered. At length one, more wily than the rest, be- thought him of cutting a hole with his knife in the opposite side of the tent, through which he slid out, without disturbing their volunteer guest. Then, seizing a boat-hook, he dealt the animal a sounding thump on the nose, as he sat there munching. Could inhospitality go further? The bear backed on being thus set upon, for blows on the nose are not pleas- ant either for bears or boys (of course, the two have nothing in common !); and availing himself of this, the valorous Tom Hickey sprang to one of the rifles, and got it safely inside with him. A well-directed shot, right through him, put an end to the unfortunate bear ; and henceforth fire-arms inside the tent and a wide awake watchman were among the standing orders of their night encampment. This was by no means the end of the mis- chievous tricks of these animals. The pro- visions, that had from time to time been so painfully deposited in the caches to be in (102) 8 H I i ^ n w 1^ :| i , J.-ti Ml Ir^f i^ :<» il'f ■ 1 In I I'' us I ' 1,^ ( '. hm i! to' I 1 I ( ^1 ii y Hi BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. readiness for the travelling parties — thus diminishing the load they had to carry — were clawed up, and eaten in the most ruthless manner by them. Nothing was too hard or too heavy for their steel talons. There is a tool known to carpenters called a ripping- chisel (the name explains its use) ; and the white bear appears to have five of these im- plements at the end of each of his four fr ,. The last cache of all was found destroyed utterly. It had been made with uncommon care and pains. Great fragments of rocks had been placed over it with the help of capstan bars (those are the bars tliat turn the capstan in winding up or down the anchor of a ship) ; and when the panting labourers ceased from their toil, they flattered themselves that they had ''done" the bears this time. No such thing. Every morsel of pemmican was dug up and eaten, save that which, being made up in round iron cases with pointed ends, offered no point of attack to them ; their claws slip- ping off in all directions as they tore at them. Square cases would soon have been got into. The round, pointed ones defied even their accomplished pickers and stealers, whose efforts BEARS, AND OTHER TI1IN(3S. 115 to break through them were apparent in the way in which, thougli eighty pounds in weight, they had been tossed about like a football. A case of s[)irits, strongly bound with iron, was crushed to bits ; a tin case was squashed, and knocked almost into "a cocked-hat," doubled '-aef'^-a*e»~,»'-"'-'^s, '«*;;•-"-**-. ■ ■■•.■■■■ -V— "-. .^ ■', ; Tts ':^m THE CACIITi DESTROYED. up, and torn in all directions by the bears' pow^erful claws. They had their peculiar tastes too, the crea- tures ! All the articles in the cache, or hid- ing-place, were not, it is evident, equally acceptable to them. Salt meat was left uu- :' . ill i ■ii M I 116 HEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. touched ; were they wholesomely afraid of scurvy ? Ground coffee was appetizing, and old canvas, including the flag set up by way of taking possession, relishing. There is no accounting for tastes ; some of us like queer things, — so did the bears. While, obviously alive to the fact, that " mirth at meals is wholesome," they had amused themselves by rolling the bread barrels overboard, plump into the broken ice, and twisted up into all sorts of inexplicable and inextricable knots the India- rubber cloth, which even they voted uneatable. The whole space around the cache bore traces of these animals ; who, doubtless, by way of digesting the hearty meal they had made from its contents, subsequently gave themselves up to the recreation of sliding down a steep, icy plane, in a sitting position ! The thing was undeniable ; there was the slope covered with their fur ; further, they were caught in the fact. incorrigible beasts, thus to steal the poor travellers' goods and chattels, and then, as if they had no conscience at all, take to poking fun on an ice-slide ! But it was not all merrymaking wdth the bears. That mighty hunter Hans spoiled BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 11 their sport now and then. Falling in with a she bear and her cub, the two turned and fled; but the little one being unable to keep up so brisk a pace as its mother, she kept giving it a hoist, that sent it lumbering ahead, when slie followed to repeat the process ; from time to time stopping to keep the dogs at bay, as if to give it a chance of making off. The poor little thing was, however, too stupid to do this ; there it lay where she had pitched it, till she gave it another toss, or lifted it by the neck, as a cat does her kitten. Tiie two re- treated a mile and a half in this manner, fol- lowed by the hunters, who were too far behind for the chance of a shot at her. At length both were tired out, and the mother-bear stood bravely at bay ; sitting up and screening her cub with her hind legs, while s^.j fought the dogs with her paws, roaring so that it might have been heard a mile off. Grinning, roar- ing, snapping, fighting, she held the live dogs in check, protecting her little one all the while, until at length Hans, crouching down, deer- stalking fashion, got a clear aim at her, drew his trigger, and dropped her stone dead. The dogs sprang forward then, thinking ii I tl t * hi It; it lit i if ll 1 -' * i it ; Si, lit I' 1 118 BKARS, AND OTHER THINGS. they should have it all their owm way. But up jumped the iHucky little cub on the pros- trate bear, and dealt so briskly with them, making as much noise all the time as it could with its miniature roar, as frightened them effectually ; and it, like its mother, had to be despatched with the riHe. Poor little thing, it fell, defending its mother's body to the last. The dogs ate the old bear ; the young o?ie was put aside for the hunters' own eating. We have named how cracks and fissures in llie ice ai'e jumped over by sledge and dogs, Hying. Sometimes they are too wide to be got over in this manner ; and the mode of proceeding in that case is to chop up with tlieir axes the hummocks nearest at hand, and then roll the large blocks into the crevice, fill- ing up the interstices with smaller fragments, so as to make a rough sort of level, over which the dogs miglit be coaxed. If they went, the sledge bumped over, as a matter of course. This process of making a road, and crossing it, would occupy about an hour and half for one crevice. One may imagine the speed of tra- velling so carried on ; the other extreme of an express train. ^ r I OB.OSSINO A FI8SUKS. .•1 !i ■M I )': I 1 m 111 w Hi mi SI .laii ., 1' Hi." Jii 120 BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. But even dogs used to that sort of thing were not always to be coaxed into such per- formances. Sometimes the ice was unsafe — rotten, as it is called ; and the sagacious crea- tures, perceiving this, would crouch down, trembling with fright, and absolutely refuse to go on. In that case Hans — what would they have done without that fat Hans ? — would hunt about till he discovered a spot a little less unsafe ; and then, exerting all his blandishments, in the way of *' Good dog ! " "Poor fellow !" done into Esquimaux, which they understood, would induce them to follow his lead, grubbing on their stomachs, for they feared to trust their feet on the treacherous stuff*. Then tliere was a certain game of " pitch and toss" to be played. This consisted in throwing their baggage, in parcels, from the ground on a ledge of ice eight or nine feet high above them. These safely landed, the sledge would be set up, ladder-fashion, up which one of the party climbed to the high ice, whither, pulling and hoisting from behind, got the dogs, one after the other. The beasts all safely landed, the last man — Hans again — climbed up, and the sledge-ladder was drawn up after them. BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 121 "Nothing is denied to well-directed labour." Both labour and wise direction of labour are MAKING TIIK LAND-ICE [CLIMBlNOj. abundantly needed in the neighbourhood ol the North Pole ; as, indeed, where are they not ? One thing is certain — north, south, east, west — God never created people to be idle. There was something, however, at the ex- iii^ 122 BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 11 fc» ' I V \ I ( tremest point of this laborious journey to reward the adventurers. Standing on a cliff four hundred and eighty feet high, there, right before them, lay the open sea lashing in great waves at their feet, without a speck of ice to he seen by the most piercing gaze. Oh what a ^]'d<:\ sio^ht that was to men who had so Ions: been ice-bound ! The spectacle and the milder season were tempting to try a boat voyage in place of sledges. The old Forlorn Hope, which had been recovered from her sheltering place behind the hummock, was accordingly tink- ered up for the purpose. She was a r"«ere cockle-shell after all, but the best that they had. So with a new false keel, and some india-rubber fittings to remedy her over sharp bows (a boat may, it seems, cut the water too easily), she was launched — after crossing a considerable width of ice on the Faith — with a good store of pork for food. Pemmi- can they had none, as in addition to the bears gobbling up more than their share of the stores of this meat which had been cached, other deposits of it, carefully marked as they thought, were not to be traced now they were 1 ■I 1 BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 123 wanted: a mortifying circumstance, but one which had to be " endured" seeinij it could not " be cured." 1 r^^£ m.^j. ^m KlUKIl lU'CKS. The water was somewhat clogged with ice to begin with ; but that was surmounted ; and then they had the novel entertainment of sailing about, and being nearly sea-wrecked as they had so often been nearly ice-wrecked. ScuiMinsr alonof amoni,^ the headlands and islands of the coast, one of these latter was ^ M li- lt V) '■ j: ilr i ■ f ' tr rMij f' ' 1 ;' I ir' m 'i> 124 BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. worthily named after that good fellow Hans, the Esquimaux ; and as Hans Island accord- ingly it figures in the chart. Hans Island was a famous place for birds. Gulls, strong, impudent, hovered around and swooped down upon the unfortunate eider ducks, who were occupied in the interesting process of rearing their families — small members of which were from time to time gulped down by them. Their poor little splay feet would quiver for a moment at the extremity of a gull's devouring beak ; guzzle, swallow, — and feet and all went down its insatiable throat, to be served up a second time to one of the infant gulls, with whom, we hope, it disagreed. Mother duck fights well in defence of her brood ; but, alas, too often comes off second best — such is life! — and in her desolation occasionally adopts a few children of somebody else's in place oi her own " dear departed." Distressing this, but the game goes round. Gull eats eider, eider eats something smaller and weaker than itself, and the voyagers impartially ate both ; for in that outlandish region gull is reckoned delicate eating, and eider eggs are both good and abundant. They carried off with them BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 125 from Hans Island four large bags full of birds for future use, and got fiit on their new diet. Camping on shore in the course of this GbAClKR OF NORTHUMBERLAND ISLAND. boat travel, in sight was one of nature's mar- vels, a soi't of waterfall of ice, called a glacier ; and this one of Noi-thumberland Island was a ! w I ■ #~ m. I ' I' I i|! »\i''i^ 12G BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. remarkable one of its class, interesting not only from its beauty, but from some peculiar- ities of high importance in the eyes of scientific .^ft .'■/' H I .v-i.»a^;^a l CLIFFS, NORTIlUMBRRIiAND ISLAND. people. Pieces of ice kept falling down during the night, sometimes sounding like artillery in the distance, and then like the sharp fire of 1 1 BEARS, AND OTHER THINGS. 127 ill-directed musketry ; that is, from what is called the awkward squad. Glaciers, however, though excellent things in their way, were not the only product of Northumberland Island. Its northern cliff literally swarmed with birds — auks, gulls, and dovekies. There they sat, perched on every possible and impossible ledge of rock; the auks with a droll, bolt upright attitude, for their legs are placed so very much nearer their tails than are those of most birds, that the position is one of necessity. And then, when stuck up in this fashion, their little wings, which are short, make very tolerable sham arms. Black coats and white waistcoasts are the family dress, and very neat it is too. I ' fl I Si' ; i I' ! if \ il Mi ill;; i ■ i '■ '14 1 i ji :l 1 1 111 4- ' t 1 i l^l , i • i 11 1 ( ! k u ! . CHAPTER VIIT. A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. [HE winter of 1854 fell early. Ice strong enough to bear a man in August was a fearful sort of thing for those who were destined, with insufficient food and fuel, to spend a second winter amidst its rigours. These good men made daily prayers a part of their daily plan ; but now there was a melancholy change in the suppli- cation, from pra) ^. for success in their under- taking, to prayer for restoration to their homes. But both were prefaced with the same thanks- giving for blessings still bestowed ; life, dull and dreary though it was, and food sufficient to sustain it, if not to make it vigorous. The prospect was discouraging. Cold, dark- ness, disease before them, together with that next best, or rather next worst, feature of arctic life, rats. It seems something like au Hi' A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 129 anti- climax to name them after the other serious evils enumerated ; but really the way in which these creatures tormented our settlers in the ice, entitled them to a place among the grievous ills of such a life. They swarmed in all directions, and, apparently, in all circum- stances, however unfavourable these might be thought to the well-being of Rat-dom. It was attempted to smoke them out with char- coal and brimstone ; and, in addition to half choking one or two of the party, they nearly set the ship on fire with doings of so perilous a character; as, though water is good for ex- tinguishing fire, ice is not. Clothing of all kinds, natural history specimens, — everything that it was wished they should not eat, that they did eat ; making unto themselves also " happy homes" in the men's bedding. Of course they were well pelted with all sorts of things that came to hand ; but this eventually was abandoned, as it was found that Arctic rats do not mind being pelted. Their impu- dence surpassed belief. One discreet mother of a young family settled herself for nursing purposes in a bear-skin mitten, and bit to the bone the finger of its lawful owner when, in (102) 9 :( ! i!;i t ( 1 ■ ■I" 1 ■ ' ' ' H I ■ . ! 1 130 A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. happy unconsciousness of its being appro- priated by another, he proceeded to draw it on. Among them they walked oft* with the glove before he could well pop his finger to his mouth, as people do instinctively when their fingers are hurt. A dog, famous for its exploits with bears, was set to try his skill upon the rats, but speedily retired yelling and discomfited before the abominable brood. At length want and hunger broke down the strong objection that most people, including even Arctic voyagers who banquet unreluct- antly upon raw meat and blubber, feel to eating rats. Hans the hunter did not disdain to turn his weapons against these small pests; and shooting right and left among them with his bow and arrow, procured many a hot, savoury stew of rat for the enlightened com- mander of the expedition ; who, however, had that stew all to himself, for he could not pre- vail upon his hungry companions to eat of his dainties. Preparations had now to be steadily made for the approaching winter. The first thing was to make their home, the strande/l brig, 9S warm as their lamentable deficiency of fuel A 8EC0ND WINTER IN THE ICE. 13] would permit. Their plan was to cut as much turf and moss as could be found — it UATUEIMNO SIOSS. was frozen nearly as hard as stone, and had to be quarried like it with crow-bars and such tools, — and then give the quarter-deck a thick layer of this, well padded down, so as to make a warm roof over their heads. Down below it was to be liberally employed in stopping up every ciuck and cranny, and forming a It hi "•ll 1 «W1 i« ■ r,t I • I 132 A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. thick lining for the walls. The floor was to have its crevices filled with plaster of Paris and paste, over which was laid a couple of inches of oakum — oakum is old rope pulled to pieces until, in texture, it is like new hemp, — carpeted over with canvas. It was to be entered from the hold by a low, narrow pas- sage, also lined with moss, and curtained, and doored ad libitum, all to keep out the cruel cold, if that might be. The avenue received the poetical name of Ben-Djerback ; which, alas, only indicated that from its extreme lowness you must go down on your hands and knees — bend your back — to get through it into the living-room. In this apartment of all work, for it was kitchen, dining-room, study, and everything, they also put them selves to bed, lying in their berths like so many bundles on shelves, each man tied up in his fur sleeping bag. For fuel, the outer deck planking, and all the wood work that, according to the critical judgment of the car- penter, could possibly be spared from the brig without rendering her unseaworthy, in case she ever got again into open water — which she never did, — was ripped off and carefully A 8EC0ND WINTKR IN TIIK ICE. 133 stacked. Later on, even this runnincr short, they were glad to cut up lengths of cable to feed the stove, and found it answer very well. But the cutting it up was tough work, seeing it was frozen. Their provisions, in small bulk now, were piled up in barrels, forming a square upon the ice, from one corner of which rose a flag-staff, whence flaunted a red and white flajr in the frosty air. A she bear who paid them a visit ciawed these down with strokes of her sinewy paws. Boats and spare ropes were arranged beyond this ; and outermost of all was a sort of hut, built of old barrels and snow, to accom- modate their Esquimaux visitors, with whom they were glad to make friends ; for the poor savages turned out hospitable and kind in their way, and seemed to acquire a genuine regard for their civilized neighbours ; though at times they plagued them hombly with stealing — the national weakness. Occasionally they showed their good will in an odd kind of manner, such as giving to Dr. Kane the place of honour in their filthy, crowded huts, where all lay higgledy piggledy for warmth, and handing him a fat baby for his pillow. i > \ " ) k ii ' iQy ,1 ^(i^i .If' '* ' ^ 134 A. SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. It was dreadful accommodation that, but it was the best tlie poor things had, and the}^ gave it willingly ; so it was true politeness after all — especially the baby ! To prevent misunderstandings between these good, kind, dirty, thieving, laughing folks, and their polished acquaintance, terms of amity were arranged and agreed upon. The Esqui- maux on their part promised that they would not steal, and that they would bring fresh meat, as well as a supply of dogs for sledging. On the other side it was enojao^ed not to kill, or bewitch the Esquimaux (for being bewitched was one of the fears of these simple people), who were to have the benefit of the voyagers' guns ; permission to come on board was also secured to them, and they were further to receive valuable presents of pins, needles, hiU of wood — all precious to an Esquimaux, who seldom has a scrap — with full leave, if they wanted more of these good things, to trade for them, the purchase-money being walrus and seal meat. The treaty was leligiously observed by both parties. All honour to both; but especially to the loving, greasy, pagan Esquimaux. A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 135 On a conspicuous point of the harbour where, frozen in, they were thus preparing to pass their second winter, the name of their vessel, the Advance was painted in large ' '' i I; TTIF flHAVKS F.T MOOXI,IGITT. characters, extending over the side of the rock. Crowning a second, a small conical heap of etones, marked with a cross, and surmounted !> I Ji__ w m m i ii, *;i 1 1 136 A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. by a small flag, indicated the last resting-place of their unfortunate comrades, who had sunk under the terrors of this Arctic wilderness. Their names, Peter Schubert, the light-hearted Frenchman, who was wont to chant Beranger's songs from his sick cot; and Jefferson Temple Baker, were painted conspicuously on the rock-side beneath; a dreary memento, in the glittering moonlight of those brilliantly moon- lighted northern regiona And here also documents were sunk into the rock, carefully secured, for the purpose of informing all comers, should there ever be any, of the fate of the little party, in case the worst came to the worst. This second winter proved one of excessive suffering — as how could it be otherwise? — ''old, hunger, disease, darkness, depressed hopes, all had to be sustained. Fuel, as has been said, was scanty, and the cutting it was at times almost beyond their strength. As to food, a stray rabbit or two was a God-send to the sick, for whom in their dreadful state of illness, fresh meat was absolutely necessary, only it was not to be had. Brave Hans did indeed about this time manage to kill them a deer, so big A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 137 that the difficulty was to get him down below; until the bright idea struck them that it was possible to cut up the animal before getting him aboard. They banqueted upon this deer. Among the incidents of this trying winter was one not much in keeping with the har- mony and good feeling that under Dr. Kane's skilful leadership seems to have prevailed among these ice-locked men; and this was that one of the party thought proper to desert. Will Godfrey'- and his chum John, had for some time excited the commander's .suspicions, who could not get rid of the idea that it was not all right with them. They were bold, hearty, daring fellows, and valuable on that score; but who, or what, they had been before that voyage he would have given something ^0 know. At this season, however, it became apparent that some mischief was brewing be- tween the two, and it was conjectured that their plan was to give their comrades the slip, steal their dogs, and drive off themselves, to "squat," in dirty plenty, among the Esqui- maux. At length Bill was overheard whispering to If ■ I I ,!• ; I ' . lid ■Ai ) i 138 A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. his ally, whose part of the compact was to be lame, his intention of going off that very day. This was in the night. When morning came, Dr. Kane was quite ready for him. Bill was ordered to cook breakfast, which duty, after some whispering with John, he performed with considerable placidit}^ Meanwhile the commander, V c vmed, and accompanied by two of his officers, lay in wait for his man near the entrance of the room of all work. He had not long to wait freezing. First emerged John, limping and groaning, very lame indeed, until, having looked round, and satisfied him- self that the coast was clear, as he thought, his infirmity left him in an instant. These remarkable cures will take place at times. Planted on deck. Bill soon followed him, dressed and booted for a journey. But before he gained the deck, that unpleasant Dr Kane, pistols and all, stepped forward, and ordered him down again in a manner that there was no gainsaying. When he was safe below, John was fetche 1 to meet him, and soon made his appearance, suffering as severely from lame- ness as ever ; yea, the symptoms increased in severity as, coming fairly into the light, he i:: I r A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. 131) got a good view of the group awaiting him in the cabin. Conviction of the culprit was prompt, punishment equally so. We suspect Will was flogged, and, served him right too, a dishonourable, sneaking fellow. Whatever he got seemed to agree with him, as he speedil}-, after expressing his gratitude for having his handcuflfs removed, was at work again, — and deserted within an hour. This was serious ; for there was every reason to fear that he had made off with the intention of intercepting fat Hans, who was out hunting for the party, stealing his sledge and dogs, and so leaving his comrades to their fate, whatever that fate might be, minus sledge, dogs, and the food they were to convey to the brig. Indeed these dogs were their only dependence for ever getting the helpless sick men away, or hunting bears and seals for food ; no wonder they were anxious about them. Godfrey did ultimately take refuge among the Esquimaux, where, when his commander drove in with his dog team in search of him, he pretended to be as good a savage as any of them, screaming out an Esquimaux welcome like the rest. It would not do, however, he i I i; I ^ i^ if'. It i ■!«»f ! '^ uo A SECOND WINTER IN THE ICE. was detected in a moment, and with the help of a six barrel revolver, and a stout pair of foot cuffs — those answer quite as well as hand cuffs — secured and carried off to the brig, where vagabond as he was, his presence was not particularly desired, but desertion Tnust be punished. It is a shabby, dishonest thing. CHAPTER IX. PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. |S the winter dragged its slow length along, it gradually became apparent that the brig would never be ex- tricated from the ice ; and that the men themselves would never survive another winter in it. How to escape was the next thing to be thought over, and decided upon; and after mature consideration it was concluded that their only chance was to sledge and boat it, a distance of thirteen hundred miles, chiefly over the ice, to the Danish settlement of Upernavik in South Greenland, where they would be sure of finding whalers, or other vessels, in which to get home. A journey like this required some prepara- tion. The plan decided upon was to take a small supply of food with them, as much aa their heavy sledges could conveniently carry, ;»1i iV 'i H: « ■I h i * '!» i I';i U2 PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. while from time to time, as long as distance rendered it practicable, Dr. Kane should race back to the brig, their storehouse, with his light dog-sledge, for a fresh stock. For clothing, in addition to the ordinary furs and blanketings, each man was to have a pair of canvas mocassins — with three dozen on board over and above this supply, in case of accident, — and three pairs of boots, made of thick carpeting, and soled with walrus or seal skin. When these skins were all done, they fell foul on such pieces of leather as could be got from the ship's gear; and better still, the gutta percha speaking tube, which cut up beautifully into boot soles. Then, as to bedding, some old woollen curtains, well quilted with eider down, were not amiss for sleeping bags, especially with the addition of buffiilo skins out- side. A man might have a worse bed than that anvwhere. Bao-s of all sorts and sizes, so as to stow in and about the boat, had also to be found to carry their provisions. These bags were of sail-cloth well pitched, after it had been coated over with plaster of Paris and common paste. All these things had to be made, and took long making, for the important journey. PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. 143 up Their commisariat was scanty enough. Biscuit beaten to powder with a capstan bar was rammed down hard and tight into bags. Others were filled with melted pork fat and tallow, and also a well boiled -down bean soup. What little flour and meat-biscuit they had left was also carefully enclosed in double bags, to keep it from any chance ducking in the water, or dripping from thaw- ing ice and snow. This meagre diet was to suffice; for anything further they must depend on supplies fetched from the brig, and the produce of their guns ; powder and shot for which were stowed away with all the care that their supreme importance demanded. Their cooking apparatus was as simple as their fare. It was constructed of a quantity of old iron stove pipe, cut down into eighteen inch lengths, within which was placed a metal saucer, full of fat, with a yarn wick. Over this, and inside the cylinder, which screened it from the cold, their cooking pots made out of used-up cake canisters, boiled and bubbled gloriously. Cups and plates were extemporized from the various old, cast-ofF tin articles that lay about; their sheet tin being much too V 144 PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. Hi M precious to be devoted to such mean uses; it was required for sheathing the boats to pre- vent their being cut with the thin knife-like ice. Boats they liad three, in poor conditioa They were carpentered, however, so as to pro- mise to hold together, and each one was fitted with a covering of canvas overhead, tent fashion. The sledges also were overhauled ; and they wanted it, for they were shaky enough. Amid all their misery they had yet spirit left to manufacture a flag of an old linen shirt; the stars and stripes upon which were effected by the red ink bottle, and the laun- dress's blue bag, and that waved as gaily over their boats as though it were made of more costly material. Then, when all was in readiness, came the leave-taking of the old ice- fast brig, that had so long been their home, dark and dreary enough, yet clung to as being their home; besides that every true sailor is in love with his own ship. It was a solemn and sad little ceremony that Sunday morning, when, everything around stripped bare and dismantled, they read their usual prayers and chapter in the Bible for the last time on PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. 145 board. The portrait of Sir John Franklin which had up to that time hung in the cabin, was taken down in silence, and put away carefully in a case of india-rubber. Next came a few brave, kind words, on both sides; for the men, with the exception of the deserters, w^ere worthy of their officers. After this the party went on deck, the flags were hoisted and hauled down again for the last time, and fare- well looks were taken of the old familiar place. The figure head. Miss "Augusta" — the figure head is always the special pet of a sailor — bumped, and battered, and nose-less — for she had lost that expressive feature by a "nip" in the ice — was yet tenderly placed in the Hope; for, as was affectionately remarked by one of her admirers, being wood, she would at least do to burn. Then the word of com- mand was given, and off they set ; each one pulling manfully at his line, as they tramped over the ice and snow. Their journeying homewards bx ought them once more into contact with their old friends the Esquimaux. Dr. Kane had occasion to drive his dog-team in among them — he careered about, fetching and carrying between the brig ^ ■ (102) 10 I ' I 11 w I i !'«» i<« M>i> W !)> 14G PRKPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. and their baiting place, wherever that might be — and so saw an Esquimaux encampment to perfection. A 8KRTGH. Thirty of them, men, women, and children, were out there, camping on the bare rocks, with the thermometer — O how happily ignorant they were of thermometers! — five t>. I'RKPATUTIONS F»)R ESCAPE. 117 degi-ees below freezing point. They were as linppy in their destitution, as the day wuh long. Sonae were feeding, gi'ossly enough ; two of tlic children were quarrcllinir, and fin-htinf' for a live owl, which they at last seized, tore to pieces, and actually gobbled up, picking it from among its torn feathers, before the wretched bii-d was quite cold. Dr. Kane would have liked that owl as a specimen ; the children preferred it as dinner. Their fires, used for cooking alone, were of peat moss, saturated v ith fat. For their own personal comfort, so far as heat was concerned, fires were disdained. They managed to keep themselves warm by lying as close together as possible ; more like a knot of eels intertwined together than anything else. The little ones kept up the circulation by rushing about, feeding the fires ; the blood of their last meal smeared over their ugly little faces, and munching raw liver, by way of finishing touch to the feast. It was a scene of rude plenty; very rude indeed, just lasting for the short summer. Winter and its starvation were utterly for- gotten for the time. Birds were abundant here; the little black |.< l\ \ i t f' It ill •i I!' *> * 1> i If h HI ii i t «^ ► .i*! ^ J li I l\ ) i 1 i 148 PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. coated, white waisteoated auks, spoken of as swarming at Northumberland Island, being so very numerous that they might be taken, in CATCHING AUKB. any number, with the least trouble possible. A,n Ill^quimaux boy sent out on a ledge of ,( 111 as so in ^ e. of PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPS. 149 rock, with one of their bird nets, — what is called a purse net — of seal skin, caught, in a few minutes, as many of them as he could carr}' off with him. It was "dilly, dilly duck, come and be killed;" and the foolish birds readily accepted the invitation. The dogs crammed to the very muzzle, were here evi- dently as happy as their masters; and very much in uhe same way. The visitor was kindly treated in the huts of these wild people. The wife of one of them, an important gentlewoman in her way, took him under her special patronage, out of grati- tude for his medical skill which had relieved her from some harassing little maiady. On this occasion she manifested her esteem for him, by stripping off a portion of her own warm dress, in order to endow him with it, as a coverlet ; and she further handed him her baby for a pillow. He had got so used to these delicate little attentions, that he accepted them without demur; wrapped himself up in her bird skin dress, placed the baby conveniently for his head, and then, well filled with a supper of auks' livers, fell asleep in comfovt, if not dignity. w \\ li •i ■} 111 ( i I. J i i 'if 150 PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE, t' I. These good, dirty creatures did more than giving him their own clothes and babies — they supplied him, unhesitatingly trusting to his honour, with a good, well-fed, vigorous team of dogs — the only one they had left, for dogs had become scarce with them — in place of his own worn-out one, whose nursing they under- took, piled up his sledge with walrus meat, and sent him off a new man. The Esquimaux boys are famous bird- catchers, flapping at them with their nets at the end of a bone pole, and bagging them to any amount. This, amusement with us, is business with them. The rogues have their fun as well. One of their games is for each youngster to arm himself with a rib of walrus for a bat — wood is too scarce to be so j^rofaned — and with its sti'oke to send the ball (made of the round knotty bone of a walrus flipper or fore-arm) up a frozen, sli[)pery baidc. The young ger.tlemen were in full career with their sport at this settlement, and they struck and laucfhed, and laughed and struck with as vehe- ment enjoyment as more civilized folk pro- fess to find in golf or shindy, or even cricket, — games classic or popular among ourselves. PREPARATIONS 'OR ESCAPE. 151 Auks, the natives gorge, but salmon-trout, which abounds in the lake at Etah, they do »'S fM :; Ipi 1^ OUTLDRKN PLATING BAI-l.. not touch. Perhaps they do not think it fit to eat. If they did they would surely, with all tlieir hunter craft, devise some means of ! 'I >\i iH i * I. .n I, U ' 'i';^ ' II! \ ■ 1 i 1 ' 1 ! ii II i li-i -i-i' r 1^ \ !■' ■ \ ' . \ m: ■ill , 1 I J 52 PREPARATIONS FOIt ESCAPE. getting it out of the water, a feat to which they seem utterly inadequate. Hunting in general they excel in, like all savage nations. A walrus or bear would have their blood up at once, and it would go hard if walrus or bear did not "come to grief" in the encounter. Bear meat they consider the most invigorating of all their provender, and a grand cram of it is therefore deemed all-im- portant before setting out on any especially fatiguing expedition. There goes one of these furry savages after a bear. Bear is seen looming in the distance dX the foot of an iceberg. The dogs are laid upon his tr^ck, and Esquimaux follows, in silence, the great stalking beast, who pretends to know nothing about him, but keeps his " weather eye " open nevertheless. Suddenly the dogs bolt forward barking, or rather how- ling vehemently, for their wild cry has not yet been educated into a bark. Bear sits up on end for a moment, the better to take in his various chances, then dropping on all fours again rushes on as if for his life, for he suspects alike dogs, hunters, and sledge. Off g* dogs and hunter after him ; hunter gradually letting ^ PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. 153 them all free from the sledge, till the yelling pack bring the bear to a stand, ready for their master to try his lance on him when he can. If thcic are two hunters in company then it is two to one against the bear, for while one of them loretencls to stick him on his right side, the other does it in reality on his left, exposed by the energy with which he turns to the fiilsely menaced quarter. But if there is only one hunter it comes to much the same thing, though not precisely in the same time. Threatened attacks, masking real ones, soon do the business for poor Bear, and ere long he is converted into roast, and frock coat, — warming his destroyer both inside and out. The dogs often get a precious tossing before Bear suc- cumbs to his fate. The older hands among them allow themselves to be tossed a few yards, relaxinor all their muscles for the hoist, so that they alight a limp bundle, little the worse for their ride through the air. Those who do not yield thus discreetly fiire the worse for it. The hunter's chances are also various. If driven to bay. Bear will sit up on his haunches and box them powerfully ; and when they turn to run from him (discretion being the better M .! ,: !i ii ^1 \ ■ a i i; 154 PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. part of valour) bite them unpleasantly behind Perhaps the bear does not think it polite for people to turn their backs upon him, and so takes this method of indicatinoj his feelings on the subject. Walrus hunting also has its perils. Not only those of the direct encounter with a powerful beast — a sort of Behemoth, large, heavy, and clumsy — but its incidental ones. During a season of scarcity two Esquimaux ventured to hunt this creature on the open ice, dangerous as they knew it to be. They killed their walrus, an old thing, " bearded and bluff," and were about to return with their prize, when to their dismay they found themselves, game and all, afloat. The ice had broken up under a violent gale, and their piece had taken them out to sea ! It was well they had killed their walrus, as it was an entire month before they came to land, and during that dreadful period his flesh served to keep life in them. One story of the gentler life of the Esqui- maux, and we will return to our travellers and their adventures. These frozen, dirty heathens have actually their little etiquettes of polite life, which are as rigorously observed as any PREPARATIONS FOR ESCAPE. 155 small observances of that class among ourselves. One of these is that of crying with each other if anything is amiss — somebody dead, their har- poon line broken, or the like. On these occa- sions one begins weeping, and it is expected that all the rest will follow, whether they happen to know what he is crying about or not. Further, when a satisfactory quantity of tears has been shed it is required that the person of highest rank present should — with whatever they may chance to use for a pocket kerchief — wipe the eyes of the leading weeper. Mrs. Eider Duck (with an impossible maiden name) one day looked up from her cooking, and cried mildly at Dr. Kane. The doctor was equal to the emergency: drawing out his handkerchief — it was a fragment of one of his own shii'ts — he instantly applied it, in the pre- scribed mode, to the lady's face, and then per- formed a few tears himself (which — in utter itrnorance of what had set her off — he fortu- nately for his own reputation as a well-bred man had at command), after which they both "cheered up," and resumed their respective occupations. fi M :i: 1: I )F ■irfi CHAPTER X. HOMEWARDS. HE party improved in health as they travelled homewards. Perhaps turn- ing in that direction had something to do with it. But as their health improved their appetites did also, and this brought with it its own inconvenience — more frequent re- turn visits had to be made to the brig for pro- visions, for they did not like to dip too deeply into their travelling store: that must be re- served as much as possible for use when too far off for their storehouse to be available. On one of these victualling trips to the brig, as the dogs were employed on other business. Dr. Kane and Torn Hickey undertook to walk back there, do a lot of baking, and have it ready for the dogs to fetch when they were at liberty. It was a stiff journey, sixteen hours on the HOMEWARDS. 157 ice, and as they had forgotten their " goggles " — those are pieces of wood with a slit to look through, worn to protect the eyes — they were nearly blinded by the glare of the sun by the time they got there. To work at once they set. Tom was an old professional, the doctor only an amateur baker ; but between them they made some miraculous bread, kneading it in an old pickled cabbage tub, and heating their oven with a suflficient quantity of Penny Cyclopaedias. Those who put them on board little dreamt of what use they would be to the expedition. This wonderful batch — Tom said it would be thought excellent even at home — was, alas, the last of their flour ; but they con- soled themselves with the reflection that on that account they should not have the trouble of making any more bread. The dogs duly arrived to carry off* the store. But with them came such a storm that departure was impossible for a time ; so that once more they had Sunday service on board the desolate old brig. Finally they set out, and reached their companions in safety. They found them camped in the snow, the three boats drawn up side by side, anchored fast with a !i|' !■.. y "t 'J \f i 1 h t V. 158 HOMKWARDa. whale line, and rigged with their canvas coverings, tent fashion, quite comfortably, though one of them was so buried in the drift that Brooks, n^ettinn: ont of it throucjh tlie roof, .-^,-, boats' camp in a storm. as there was no other road out, looked just like a walrus rising from the sea. Their slow progress homewards was hard ■ I •; HOMEWARDS. 159 E16 ft f J :e and monotonous work. Sometimes cuttinL' their way through the ice, then, perhaps, sledging their boats on the treacherous frozen surftice, going through, splash into the water; while as time passed, severe labour, and short- ness of food so reduced their strength, that the exertion needful to push or pull was almost out of their power. They thought something was the matter with the ice, or the runners of their sledges; but, alas, it was simply that they were no longer equal to their work. In attempting to save one of their boats — the Hope — when, mounted on its sledge, it broke through, one of the most valued of the party lost his life ; and, wrapped up in his blankets, was buried in such grave as they could con- struct, by raising fragments of rock over the slight depression in the ground where they had laid him. The sinking of the Eric nearly cost them all their important documents re- lating to the expedition ; but luckily, boat and all were fished up, and they were spared so great a mortification as the loss of their papers would have been. Two of the men in her had a narrow escape. One was caught by the sledge, and the other dragged out by his . I »11 IV I! r il "^ w s»l I ,1 ' t'i 160 HOMEWARDS. hair, just as he was sinking beneath the ice. That was literally a /lair-breaclth escape. The dogs, left with their Esquimaux friends at Etah to recruit, \\ere at length brought back in good working order, and enabled them to prosecute their march towards the open water with rather less toil than before. They still experienced the advantages of having treated the natives so kindly. A party of these one day — five men, and two women just as good as men where working was con- cerned — gave them half a day's work in get- ting up a sledge that had gone through the ice ; and, apparently, all for love, for they asked nothing in return. Now as they approachod another of their settlements, all turned out to help the travellers. Some offered them- selves to haul at the sledge, while others re- moved the invalids tenderly on their little, light hand-sledge. Food they brought in abundance. The little auks swarmed so that they were caught in hand- nets to the amount of eight thousand birds a- week, and as dogs ate them as well as men, it was a prize for all, and put all in heart. The men took to laughing again, and singing their jovial sailor 1 HOMRWARDft. IGl Bongs, which had been nearly knocked out of fcheir heads by suffering; and the march, hauling at the sledges, was less gloomy than before. d 11 mW ' \ CARRYING TUB SICK. " Filling their hearts with food and glad- ness," says the Psalmist. This was precisely the condition of these poor creatures. The anxiety now was to get to open water, instead of fighting their way through what was neither ice nor water, but both ; so dread- fully mixed up that their hearts were nearly broken by contending with it. To induce their Esquimaux friends to guide them to this, (1-02) 11 II •li' m ii'.. i Mi ^ s 51 't ■ ; ii l! FN ' » ; 1 '. \ < . \. n \\\ 1 i^i t 162 HOMEWARDS. Dr. Kane had to practise a little stratagem. Their old acquaintance Metek, the one who first came on board, a good honest fellow, with a dash of the gentleman in him, one night came privately to Dr. Kane, when all the rest had put themselves to bed, and begged him to prescribe for his youngest son, who was evidently in a bad way, as in addition to eat- ing nothing but blubber, he s ept badly, and did not grow. Other symptoms were enume- rated, and in reply Dr. Kane said that to complete the cure he himself must dip his hand in the open water, and Kiy it upon the child, for whom meanwhile a piece of brown soap, a silk shirt, and an absolute prohibition of blubber-eatinor micrht suffice. The bait took, and with irrepressible delight they found themselves, on the 16th of June, looking out over the deep blue sea, and hearing its musi- cal roar — such it was indeed to them — in their ears, at Cape Alexander. Having done them this, and many other services, their Esquimaux friends prep-ired to take their leave. It was kindly done on both sides. Little presents — a knife, a file, a saw, or a lump of brown soap, highly esteemed for M HOMEWARDS, 163 its medical properties, for the Esquimaux eat their soap, instead of wasting it upon their outside.s — were bestowed upon them, and were gratefully received, even the little children crying out, '^ Thank you, thank you, Big Chief:" thanks from savages being rarities. In return, endless gifts of birds innumerable were forced upon the travellers, who, after all, could not eat for ever, though their ftxmished performances might well have led to that con- clusion, while amid the warm leave-takings, one poor woman stood crying, and wiping her eyes with a bird skin. Surely tliat should have brought out Dr. Kane's shirt-pocket- kerchief! The sledge dogs, now useless, were presented to the tribe as common property, all save two, the leaders of the team, with whom their master could not bear to part. One of them, the survivor, has strangely found a liome in the London Zoological Gardens. ItwasonTuesdaythe 19 th of June ' 855, that the three boats — the Faith, the Hojje, and Red Eric — were at length launched on the smooth, open water at Cape Alexander, to begin their perilous voyage along the coast. There was still much tracking througli tlie %*> i I I I H i| i \ -4 IG-i HOMEWARDS. ice, now sticking f(ist, now carried away by a large Jloe — a Jloe is a detaclied portion of the y ■i:^\; '"O msmw: V»;4*!»» PROVIDKNCR MALT. ice, whose extent can be seen from the mast- head — that nearly wrecked them by going crash a^^ainst the shore ice, until, witli incred- I HOMEWARDS. 165 ible exertion they had made their way rather more than one-third of the distance to Uper- navik. A halt was called at Providence Cliffs, which, barren and forbidding as they were, were yet better for their wasted strength than fruitlessly struggling with the ice. For they were yet rather too early for the Arctic summer, which was required to remove that obstacle. At the foot of these craggy cliffs there was a five feet wide strip of the old, trustworthy winter ice, washed by the tide, while the waves constantly lapped against it; and upon this the boats were drawn, for their stay of a whole week, rendered positively joyous by the abundant birds, eggs, and scurvy grass with which the place abounded. It was true there was not a speck of fuel to cook with, so they ate them raw, as they had done many a time before. They carried off with them, when they left, a good store of dried birds, by way of relish to the meagre allowance of bread- dust and tallow to which they had been reduced. Passing the Crimson Cliffs, so called from the patches of red snow on them, which give them that appearance, added still more pleasantly ■ ( [ ; i 1 m ^ . v^ )! "III I; I < : i »f!i 1G6 HOMEWARDS. to their supplies. Resting on their oars, the little auks — thanks to powder and shot — found it impossible to resist the travellers' PASSING TFIE CRIMSON CUFFS. hospitable invitation to dinner, and were se- cured in loads. Plenty of turf around gave them lovely fires both for cooking and warm- \l \ fi HOMEWARDS. 1G7 ing themselves, and boiling their tea-kettle, their grand treat whenever they could get it; and they enjoyed it as only men who had gone through such bitter hard- ships of cold and hunger, could do. More fasting followed tliis feasting. A seal, which they could scarcely shoot for agitation, saved them from famishing; and in two or three minutes they were ail eating at it, without waiting for the cooking-pot. Another fol- lowed, and that was the last of Arctic starva- tion. Their voyage was prosperous after this. One familiar point after another presented itself; and, at last, trembling with joy, they found themselves once more in sight of civi- lization, and the possibility of home, as they neared Upernavik, rowed into the harbour, and dragged up their boats for the last time, after eighty-four days' life in the open air. Right hospitable was their welcome from the Danes there. Until the 6th of September the time was spent in much needed recruiting after their toils. Then the party sailed for tlie Shetland Isles, carryinp; with them their little boat, the Faith, as a memento of the n ^i n ^'11 t . ^ J )i I^ ■ 1' I ' !l i| j^ il l.n !« 1 : t» , \> ' i '^ I , ) :l^ i i^ 1 , iiiH i! ; 1 1 \ 1 t r, ■ i 168 HOMEWARDS. past. Before they arrived there, however, a F-^eamer was seen in the distance, from which the floating '' stars and stripes'* were at length visible. The Faith was once more lowered, and pulling smartly at their oars, with their little fluttering Arctic flag flying at the mast, they were soon alongside, and had the satis- faction of finding thnt it was a vessel that had been sent out to seek them in the frozen regions ; but which through not having sought in the right place, had now only found them, when they had surmounted their perils. Cheers from the well-manned rigging greeted their approach; and they were gladly taken on board to be conveyed to the homes from which they had been so long absent, after having been frozen up twenty-one months, and travelled, in sledges and boats, thirteen hundred miles of Arctic ice and water. ' |:' I I ^ook5 oi ^uttfi aiib Example. NO GAINS WITHOUT PAINS. A True Tale for Boys. By H. C. Knight, Author of " The Rocket." Illustrated. Royal i8mo, cloth. Price is. THE POWER OF KINDNESS, and Other Stories. Illustrated, Royal i8mo, cloth. Price is. STRIVE AND THRIVE; or. 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