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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s i des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. fv J LONDON : GILBEIir AND laviNGTON, PKINIEUS, ST. JOHN'S SQDAUE. SAE ^ 9 UNDEE THE NORTHEEN LIGHTS, B» J. A. MacGAHAN, Correspondent of the New Yorfr Herald ; AUIHOB OF CAMPAIOXING ON THE OXUS, AXI) THE KALI, OK KHIVA. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY G. R. DE WILDE. EonHon : SAMPSON LOW, MAKSTON, SEARLE, & RIVI.NGTON, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 187G. [^All right* resened.] \ * , 74c}lM ii„ijiii MM kk If |c ir:' 1 I' B!:'>'>i«J>l 1.1 a a i 'I ; A. I' t! ■■ ;. i « PKEFACE. 1 TuKKE lm\'o ))0(m al)()ut two Iniiidivd iiiid fiftv books written on tlio Arctic rcp^ioiifs. Tlio reader can tliorefore liardly expect to find in tlio following pages anything very new or striking. Those who wish to read detailed acconnts of voyages in this interesting ])ai't of the globe, will find in the nnr- ratives of Parry, Ross, Franklin, Back, Collinson, McClnre, McClintock, Osborn, Kane, Hall, and Hayes, a series of fascinaiing stories; while those who want a sjiort and interesting acconnt of all the voyages that have been made to these regions, and a summary of all that is known about them, can do no better than to read the TiiitESiioLD op THE Unknown REfaoN, by Clements R. ]\Iarkham, — the only intelligent synopsis of Arctic know- ledge ever published. It only remained for me to give a few [)ictures VI rUEFAOE. of tlio pleasant side of Arctic life — pictures liastily skctcliod on si voyajjcc that Avas rcniaik- ablo only for its dash and rapidity. I hope, therefore, that the Reader will not be disap- ])ointed to find 1 have attempted notliiii;jf more. ^^•^^taCS iS^S* CONTENTS. « tlAP. I. — Staktino . II. — Ol'K Cai'K Fauewi'.i.i. ni.— Hanko IV.— The Coast or Gkkkni.ani> V. — UlSKO VI. — A Hai.i. on iioAui) Ship VII. — A Tka-pakty Vlfl.— COAl.INCi . IX. — TlIK KsKIMOS X. — Eskimo LrrHiuTi.iM': . XI. — Eskimo Jok XII. — Lkavin*; tiik VVaioat XIII.— A BooTi.Kss Skahcii . XIV.— A Pkt Hkak XV. — Hki:kini t ok <*KKt- SritAiT . XXVIII.— A Ti{Ar iVoin Adiiiiriil Itioliiirds . . . 32i3 2. — Lcllcr (roiii Ailiniral Collinsoii . . . 329 3. — Li'ttcr from Adiiiiial Sir LroiioM McCliiitock 330 4. — Lcttci- Citmi AllcM Vdimjr .... 332 ,■). — Ivxtiiict, f'lom llic i]\ i(U'iic(i of Dr. Hcsscls liclort; till! CunlIlli^^sii)Il iippoiiili'il \>y tlit^ Secretary of lilt.' Navy .... 337 6. — Kxlract I'roin tlio Kvidcncc of Capluin Hiul- iliiigton ... ... 33S UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. CHAPTER I. S'1'ARTIX(?. Oi;u ship is tlio Pandora, our commandor Cap- tain Allen Young, and wo are bound for tlie Arctic. Wo aro leaving the homes of men, tho swarming cities, tho careworn, anxious faces, tho toiling multitudes, the smoky, ])oisoned atmosphere, tho fetters of civilization — for a world of j)ure aii" and savago freedom, for the frozen regions around the Pole; tho homo of the reindeer and tho walrus, tho haunts of the white bear, the land of tho J\lidnight Sun. Tho shore, tho houses, the steejiles, the domes, the tall volcanic chimneys, with clouds of heavy, black smoke hanging over them, and the countless roofs of the great city slowly recede fi'om view. tv h I ! 2 UNDKR THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. The decreasing roar of the busy streets, tlie cb])ing hum of civilization gi'adually dies upon the ear like the murmur of the ocean itself, and then is heard no more. We are out at sea. It is witli a feeling of vague sadness we look back at the low-lying land which gradually sinks into the ocean, and think how little we are missed from the great world we leave behind, how well it can get on without us, what a little place we filled in it. But no matter. If the world can do without us we can do without it, for a time at least. Is not the Arctic before us in all its glory ? Arc not the icebergs awaiting us with all their weird phantas- magoria of shape and colour, the cold green water dashing around their feet, and gurgling through caverns it has itself worn deep into their icy hearts ? Are there not mountains to be scaled, whose snow-capped heads no mortal eye has ever beheld ? and continents to be explored, that no mortal foot has ever trod ? Are there not cozy little bays and inlets land-locked and hidden away by towering mountains, where wo may drop anchor and hunt for seal and walrus ? Are there not quiet little rivers, whose waters have never been ripj)led by prow of boat or canoe, teeming with such delicious trout and salmon as Isaac Walton never dreamed of ? Are there not grassy little glades, where the snow has already melted under the steadfast gaze of a midnight sun, on STARTING. wliicli reindeer and musk-ox arc quietly grazing, only awaiting the ring of our rifles to turn them- selves into savoury steaks broiled over a camp- fire ? And with such a world and such a pros- pect before us, shall we regret the chagrins, crosses, disappointments, and petty annoyances, the stifling atmosphere of the world we have left behind ? Wo are going to try to make the North-West Passage ; to pass around the north coast of America, and come out through Behriug's Straits into the Pacific Ocean — a feat which has been the dream of navigators for centuries, but only a dream. Our object is to make this dream a reality. It is our ambition not only to accomplish the undertaking, but to accomplish it in a single season. P'or a North-west Passage that would require more than one season w^ould obviously be of no practical use to navigation. To take a vessel from Southampton to San Francisco, in a single summer, by way of Behring's Straits — that is the grand feat which any true seaman would give his right hand to accomplish, and that is what we are going to attempt. Let it be understood that we arc not cfoinas ice everywhere; t\\c. lioi-izon was white with it; while near the ship great })ieces, of every il 11 ,r 'im^r"'- imaginable shape and size, went drifting rapidly by, in what a])peared, to an inexpei'ionced eye, most dangerous proximity. There were old castles, with broken, ruined towers, battlements, and loo})- holes ; castellated fortresses ; cathedrals with the f 'li =tt i I i ■ ! ■ ( illl IC UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. ih most fantastic gotliic carving and delicate tracery, never equalled in beautiful irregularity of design by anything ever carved by man ; and triumphal arches, by the side of which the great Triumphal Arch of Paris would be but a plaything. The animal and vegetable kingdom were like- wise represented. There were huge mushrooms, with broad drooping tops, that were supported on a single slender stem ; and great masses of ice- foliage that crowned groups of beautifully-carved columns, like immense bread-fruit trees covered with ice. There were swans with long slender necks gracefully poised on the water; there were dragons, lions, eagles, with spread Avings and bended beak. No wild extravagance of shape, no improbable monstrosity of form that one could not have found among the hundreds of pieces that went gliding swiftly by, as thoy came down from the Arctic world. One example of Arctic scrdpture, we all particularly observed and admired ; it was an eagle with spread wings, perched on the back of a goose, as though he were trying to carry her away. The weather, which had been dark and cloudy for three or four days, had cleared up in the night ; and now all these wonderful objects appeared gleaming and sparkling in the bright morning sunshine, a most brilliant and animated spectacle. This was the first ice we had seen, although wo had been near the latitude of Cape Farewell for several davs. OFF CAFE FAREWELL. 17 Icebergs arc often seen as far south as the track of the ocean steamers between Enghand and America; but these come down the coast of La- l)rador, two or three hundred miles furtlier west. This ice was the first sign of our near approacli to the Arctic regions, our first foretaste of Arctic scenery, and was hailed with delight after the weary monotony of our long sea voyage. It was what is called tlie Spitzbergen ice, which breaks off from the great pack west of that island, and floats down the east coast of Greenland. It drifts up Davis Strait two or three hundred miles, then crosses with the current, and comes down the coast of Labrador. We could, therefore, expect to have it for several days, unless we should get what we had not had yet for more that a few hours at a time — a fair wind. AVe soon experienced our first bump. Hero and there, great flat pieces or floes, several acres ill extent, presented themselves just in our path, and had to be avoided. They grew larger and closer together ; sometimes only a narrow channel of water between them. At last we came to a place, where there was no passage at all, unless we went two or three miles out of our route. I was on the forecastle watching our tortuous course with interest ; and Avhen I saw the road closed to us, I looked back to the bridge, curious to see what would be done. Toms, the old gunner who, as I have said, c 'I r ' i ' t i (i 1 i:*l ' li m 1 1 ■Mlhi . I! 18 uNDi:i: Till'; N(jrtijeun lkihts. was out witli ('aptain Young in the Fnx, was tlicrc directing the vessel's course, and I soon perceived that instead of going around, wc were driving straight at the floe. Looking forAvard again I saw open water bej'ond. What I had taken for a solid field of ice, Avas in reality, two large floes, joined together at one spot, and tluis forming a narrow isthmus, only a few feet Avide. It was this isthmus that old Toms was going to charge. The Avind in the course of the morning, had sprung up from the east, and we had it consequently on the starl)oard quarter. The Pandora Avas coming smoothly along under reefed topsails, at the nite of about five knots. In a moment her proAv plunged into the ice Avith the force of a battering ram. There was a loud crash ; the ship qrivered and shook, the masts, with the sails pulling at them, bent and creaked ; the ice rolled up before her in great blocks that fell splashing into the Avater, and the Pandora stopped quite still, for the moment completely jammed. But it was for a moment only. Her sharp iron proAv had quite demolished the neck of ice, and it only remained to squeeze herself betAveen the floes into clear Avater beyond. She wriggled through like an eel, and then shot gaily forAvard, as though eager for another encounter. " That Avas rather a hard bump, Toms, wasn't it ? " said somebody. " Oh, bless yer, that's nothing," rephed the old Ot'L' CAPE FARKWEl.L. sea-dog witli a smile. "We'll have harder ones nor that before we gets through the North-West Passage." AVe had geveral more bumps that day, but they were comparatively slight. We were now approaching Cape Desolation. The snow had nearly all melted, and the red sand- stone mountains streaked with silver lines of snow, lay in the warm sunshine, veiled with a reddish pur- ple mist/; here and there were bright yellow patches probably glaciers, that shone like gold, in the bright sunshine, forming a picture, warm, silent calm, and lovely as a dream. Not for long could we gaze in quietness on the scene. Seals began to show themselves, quietly sunning themselves on the ice floes, or swimming about our ship, their round smooth heads like plum puddings floating in the water. As we had been living on salt provisions for twenty days, a great longing for fresh meat suddenly came over us. Seal's liver with bacon is a dish fit for the gods, and we determined to have some. Wo got out our guns, and waited till we saw a seal within range, and immediately opened fire, but althougli we probably hit him more than once, he managed to Avriggle off the floe into the water. The next one we fired at seemed to have been killed, as lie lay perfectly still on the floe after receiving our volley. A boat w^as lowered, the sails were put aback, and we waited with anxiety the capture of the game. c 2 < mmm asN J f \ M f - 1 1 r f : 'A L 'P 20 UNDEK THE NORTHETIN LTGHTS. As soon as tlio boat approaclied the ice, wo saw one of tlie men spring on to the floe. Wo could see him raise the boat-hook, or some other instrument, evidently with the intention of striking the wounded animal ; then there was a splash in the water, man and seal disappeared behind tho boat, and for a few minutes we could not make out what had happened. Then the boat put off, and came back to the ship ; but there was no seal ! It turned out that the floe, which had been under- mined by the water, and w^as besides somewhat rotten, broke off under tho additional weight of the man, and he, instead of giving a finishing blow to the seal, suddenly found himself, together with his intended victim, in the water. The seal sunk at once, and was seen no more, while the man scrambled into the boat amidst the laughter of his comrades. So we lost our expected feast. But it was not long before we saw another seal, and this one we succeeded in capturing. He was a fine large fellow ; and it was pleasant to see Joe's satis- fied grin, as he hauled it over the side of the ship, and proceed to divest it of its skin. The officers took to the seal-flesh most kindlv, but the sailors were by far too dainty to feed on such unusual food. It is a curious fact that men on Arctic expeditions will refuse to touch seal or walrus meat, or even preserved or tinned beef and mutton ! The result is that they frequently get the scurvy, which often enough proves fatal. OFF (JAPE FAKFWKLL. 21 Wo bad a fair Avind all day, blowing pretty stronfj from the south-east. But wo liad already lost so much time, that notwithstanding this first fair wind, Captain Young decided to put into Ivigtut, a little Danish settlement on the west coast of Greenland, and get a supply of coal sufficient to steam to Disko. Two days before reaching Cape Farewell, we had seen and boarded a brigantine, the Teaveller, bound from Peter- head to that port, for the purpose of getting a cargo of kryolito. The Captain had informed us that there was plenty of coal to be obtained there. To Ivigtut, accordingly. Captain Young decided to go, although it was some forty miles inland, up a deep fjord or inlet, and we would inevitably lose a day by the journey. But that was better than the chance of beating up Davis Straits with a head wind, and so the Pandoha's bow was turned shorewards. About sunset, we saw a large floe, almost directly across our course, and the excitement on board was great, when five large seals were observed upon it, apparently asleep. All the men came to the Captain, one after another, for per- mission to have a shot, which he good naturedly granted ; and in a moment the deck of the Pandoua presented the appearance of a man-of- war preparing for action. Thirty gun-barrels were quickly levelled over the nettings, beanng upon the hapless animals, which lay quite still, as I I' i ': 1 I 'I ,/r^ ».— llJ.l.|.4U»i^ [11 :i' 11 ■• \ i' il 22 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. the ship moved slowly up, calmly unconscious of their danger. Joe gave the signal when we were about fifty yards off, by firing his Snider, and then there was a regular volley, followed by an irregular rattling discharge ; each man loading and firing again, when the seals still showed signs of life, by wrig- gling towards the edge of the floe. Altogether we must have fired two hundred rounds, and yet three of the seals got away ! The biggest of the lot escaped, when we were only thirty or forty feet from the floe, although his body must have been traversed many times by balls ! But seals are hard to kill unless shot through the brain, and as it is difficult to tell just where the neck ends and the head begins, the brain is not an easy mark io hit. They might have all escaped, I believe, but that they were at first partly be\vildered by our fire, and partly curious to see what we were driving at, and this curiosity proved fatal to them. OFF CAl'E FAUEWRLL 23 In a few minutes we had moored the ship along- side the floe, and were out on it to secure our game. It was like going ashore. The floe was just Hke a Httle island, tw^o or three acres in ex- tent. There were little hills and hollows on it, covered with snow, of course; and what made the resemblance still more complete, we found a little lake of water, quite fresh and pure. We had been on a short allowance of water for several days, and had been obliged to wash in sea water, which is of little or no use as regards cleanliness. We hailed the sight of this lake with delight, the more as the little water remaining in our casks was bad. We had a long drink first of all, then a run over the island, and finally, a good roll in the snow — a luxury, which in the beginning of August, when the denizens of great cities are sweltering and panting with the heat, is not to be despised. Talk of iced drinks, and cooling draughts ! Here we could take a drink of pure, sweet, clear water, from a lake whose bottom and shores were ice ! The Captain decided to stop long enough to renew our supply of water ; and soon the island of ice presented a lively spectacle; officers and men running backwards and forwards, some dipping up the water, others carrying it in buckets to the ship, now moored against the floe. Lil- lingston and Pirie were sitting down by the snow at the edge of the water, filling the buckets by t M n .^llt m I (111 -^* 24 UNDi:i{ TlIK NOIITIIKKN LIGHTS. i : [II 1 r i; I i means of wooden ladles, and splashing it about like childi'cn. Everybody was laughing, shouting, singing, rolling over the snow. It was so de- lightful to be able to stretch one's legs, after the confinement of our deck-encumbered ship. Very pretty everything looked in this icy world. Behind us was the rugged, lowering coast-line, looming up high and dark against the eastern sky ; before us the tall, slender, raking masts, and light, airy spars and thread-like cordage of the Pandora, that rose up black as ink a^^ainst the fiery western sky, which was a blaze of crimson flame. 25 CHAPTER 111. ij i; BANKO. At ten o'clock we were again under way, steaming, — for we had lowered the screw, and lighted fires — towards the mouth of the Arsuk fjord or inlet, on which Ivigtut is situated. The next morning we were surprised to find that the Traveller, which we had not seen for three days, had arrived before us. She was be- calmed, however, and might have been two weeks getting up to Ivigtut had we not taken her in tow. The Arsuk fjord is a narrow, crooked inlet, extending inland about fifty miles between precipitous, rocky mountains, that for the most part come so steep down to the water that there is not footing for a goat. The de- clivities were covered here and there with a little grass or vegetation of some kind, which might support many a flock of sheep and goats, were it not for the long, cold, dark winter night. It was a bright, warm day, and our progress up the wild, rocky, little gorge — it could be called I: i '). m :;;;■ 26 UNDER THE NORTH EliN LIQIITS. i ' hiii il! notlnng olso — was far morc3 pleasant, I tliouglit, tlian a sail on tlio lako of Como. Stoaminf^ arouTul a littlo point, wo sudjlenly found ourselves before a collection of fifteen or twenty wooden huts, scattered over a rocky slope ; this was the settlement of Ivifj^tut. Three ships were anchored before it. One of those proved to be the Fox, Captain Young's old vessel, which is now in the Kryolite trade. While the ship was coaling, some of us went ashore, and wore rather disagreeably surprised by a sudden onslaught of flies and mosquitos that in- stantly settled on our faces. They did not seem dis- posed to sting, but the feeling they produced was maddening. As there was absolutely nothing to be seen hero but a few Danish houses — there were only three or four Eskimos in the place — and two or three heaps of kryolite, wo were glad to accept the invitation of the doctor of the colony, to enter his little house, and thus escape our tiny perse- cutors. These insects seem to be too wild as yet to come inside a house, and once we had passed the threshold of the doctor's door we were at peace. But sucb is the lot of man ! Wo had no sooner escaped one danger than we were beset by another. Our enemy in this case was a pleasant and insinuating one ; it came from Sweden, and its name was " banko." The doctor first gave us cigars and a glass of /)• ^ BANKO. sherry. Wlioii wo liad drunk this, ho jxnirod out somo " banko : " then wo put a hiycr of hanko on tho sherry, and then a layer of slierry on tlio bunko, tho doctor insisting, tliat was tho only ])roper way to drink it. Wo afterwards went on heapinpj up alternate layers of shei-ry and banko, until they had acquired a height I would be afraid to mention, partly because I might not ))o believed, partly because I am not quite sure about it myself. Then tho Governor of tho place came and invited us to take a glass of punch with him, an invitation we readily accepted. He was a larger fat man — one of the fattest men I ever saw. He wore sealskin trowsers, and a reindeer-skin jacket with a fur collar ; and was as like Falstaff in his uncontrollable jollity as in his portliness of person. The punch was made of sherry and claret and banko, and had a mild, pleasant tasto , quite disproportionate to tho powerful effects it ju'oduced. The Governor had entertained tho officers of the Tigress when she came here in search of the crew of the Polaris. They, ho said, had also drunk banko punch until some of them had been observed to stir it up with their cigars for teaspoons, and then to express astonishment at the cigars appearing d;imp. A good many events of that night I do not remember ; but I cannot forget the wonderful way in which one of our party went a-board ship. There was a very narrow gangway, fifty or sixty 4. 111'- Iff B il! 28 lINDKIt Till': NOIITIIKIIN IMOIITS. !l ii ■ fit !( foot lonj^, fiTidwiMioiit uiiy li;iii(lrjiil,l(':ulinijj from tlio hIioi'c, first to one of (lio sliii)H which wcvr, lyitipf th(>ro, and from lioi" dock to ours. Thoro wjis nothing at all by Avliicli to hold on to, and it looked oxccodin«^ly dan<]^orous to mo, nlthoiigli I had not romai'kod tho fact u])on coming nslioi'c. " Sh' all right," he said, as ho ])oisod himself, took a careful aim, and shot off like an ari'ovv over the high narrow phudc. He brought up Sidoly on our ship, a feat which I remember thinking at the time, on(^ of tho most brilliant and dariug I had over witnessed. Once started, ho coidd no more have changed his course than a bullet, jind tho slightest tloviation in his original aim would in- evitably have sent him into tho sea. lie brought up, however, quite safely on our deck. The rest of us got on board somehow — I do not remember exactly liow I mysolf got on board, as it Avas s(mie- what dark at the time, and this seems to have afTocted my memory. 'IMie last, thing I recolk'ct seeing, before tiu'niug in, was a figure in tho obscurity, that strjuigoly resembled our Doctor, leaning over the nettings, and gazing moodily down into the vv^ater. What hi; could have been looking at I caimot imagine, as it was too dark to Roo anything. There are about irjOi-" ' n Tvigtut in summer, while in winter there ai i> fd'ty, the rest going back to Denmark. The •<• employed in gc^t-ting out the kryolite, for win*' '^ jiii [)ose the colony was f ill to ler. ,vas ■i m^x9 I i 30 UNDER THE NORTITEUN UrUTTS. tlie slioro, r(^sting immediately upon the gneiss. The purest is of a snow white colour, without an}"- intermixture of foreign substances. The greyish wliite variety, which lies on the surface, is considered the second quality of commerce. The kryolite mines are now regularly worked by a company in Copenhagen, which employs a manager to superintend the works ; and sufficient men are sent out annually to load the ships, which generally obtain a freight — £2 per ton — to England or Philadelphia. These workmen are relieved at fixed periods. They do not bring any of their families with them, and generally contract to remain three years, the mines being Avorked both winter and summer. The kryolite is used for a variety of purposes, but principally for making soda, and also in the United States for preparing aluminium. The Fox, so celebrated in Arctic history, is now in the employ of the company, and is used for bringing out supplies and relief of workmen to the colony. The kryolite is all brought from the mine — which is, perhaps, 200 yards from the sea — to the beach, close to the shipping stage, and is stacked in large square heaps, as being the most convenient for measuring it both for shipment and for the royalty to be paid to the Royal Danish Greenland Company." I ; I CHAPTER IV. THE COAST OF GREEXLAND TiTEY were all very kind to us, and we were especially indebted to Mr. Fritz, the head engineer of tlic mines, for his extreme kindness in furnishing us coals and putting them on board. We got under way next morning at three o'clock, and not having another ship in tow, steamed down the fiord much faster than we had gone up. We ran along the coast a short distance but we soon found so much ice that we were obliged to put out to sea. Next day we got quite out of the ice, and all the way up the coast to Disco had clear water, with only here and there a small floating berg. Our old friends, the head winds, clung to us with the greatest fidelity, so that we had to steam nearly all the time. The coast of Greenland at this season of the year is beautiful in the extreme. It is a broken, serrated line of high, rugged mountains, that rise abruptly out of the water, in lowering ])erpen- dicular masses, to a heiglit of ;3000 feet. Over ~ — ~ '■fi: il ■ "^^T"^" w^ m ^ ' 1 I! 32 UNDRR TnK NORTIIERX LIGHTS. these tlic sun and atmosplierc combine to produce the most fantastic effects of colour. A thin veil of mist gathers over them, as if to drape and hide their savage nakedness — a kind of spider-web, of gigantic proportions, that catclies the sunlight, and holds it prisoner in the meshes of a fairy net ; that folds itself caressingly around the stern and rugged heights in a luminous film of purple rosy light, and blends here and there into the yellow trembling glimmer of a glacier. Here and there are sharp, needle-like peaks, behind which may be seen, gleaming whi'-e in the sun, the mighty sea of ice, 4000 feet deep, which has overwhelmed Greenland. The whole of this great continent is, in reality, nothing but one immense, deep glacier, with a fringe of mountains around it, forming the coast- line. This glacier has never been explored, never been crossed, and probably never Avill be ; for yawning gaps and fissures, many hundred feet in ■^ !«•*• mHm ( • : ii (iUEKNI..*NlJ. i Pane V: THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 33 doptli, traverse it in every direction, and intercept for ever the traveller's way. The interior of this great continent is an icy solitude that is a secret unknown to man, and it will probably always remain so. Its surface is 4000 feet above the sea, and when yon ascend to it, you will probably perceive somewhere on the plain which rises before you in a shglit ascent till it touches the sky, two or three little sharp conical hills, a few feet high, that pierce through the ice; and you will bo astonished to learn that these insignificant mole-hills are in reality the tops of lofty mountains, that have been submerged be- neath the mighty inundation of ice. Somebody has said of Switzerland, that if it were ironed out, it would be a very large country. If Switzerland were about ten thousand times larger than it is, and ice were then poured into it until it should bo full up nearly to a level Avitii the highest mountain peaks, it would present just the appearance of the interior of Greenland. And yet the whole of this vast continent was, at one period of the earth's history, green and fertile. There have been found here, forests of car- bonized trees and plants, and the fossil remains of many animals that could only have existed in a warm climate. Fossil corals and sponges are often picked up now in Lancaster Sound, and on the shore of Beechey Island. It is very certain that the D I i;!i if ^1 I- II 34 UNDER THE NOIJTIIERN IJOIITS. climate was soft and mild, and that tlio country- was covered with trees and verdure, and it is equally certain tliat tliis terrible inundation of ice came and buried every vestige of it, as Hercula- nasum and Pompeii were buried beneatb the ashes of Vesuvius. But, instead of the two poor little villages, and perhaps a few square miles of the adjacent country, that Vesuvius covered with its fine ashes as with a soft warm blanket, here is a continent larger than the whole of Europe, buried beneath a mas- sive sea of ice. It is as though the waters of the flood had suddenly frozen to the very bottom, and had never thawed. What terrible convvdsion of the earth's crust, what mighty effort of the forces within her bosom, has wrought such stupenduous changes in this great continent ? o The scientific men peering continually into the depths of ages, would fain believe they have dis- covered the secret, that they have torn aside the dark curtain of the past, and dragged the mystery forth to the light. In order to explain the theory as set forth by Professor Geike in his Great Ice Age, it will be necessary to begin by saying that the " glacial period," of which we continually hear, in discussions about geology, was a period when Britain and the whole of Europe and Siberia were in exactly the same condition in which Greenland is now, but long before the time when this continent THE COAST OF GREENLAND. 35 is supposed to havo been enjoying a mild climate. These changes, it would appear, aro in great part owing to the following cause : — For the last seventy or eighty thousand years — the difference of a few thousand more or less does not matter — the inclination of tho axis of tlie earth to the ecliptic has bccii slowly increasing. In other words, the North Polo is gradually lean- ing outward from the sun, so that if it should keep on long enough, say a few billion years, the earth would take a position in which the axis, if pro- longed far enough, would pass through tho sun. The consequences of such a change in the climate and seasons would be incalculable. The poles and Equator would, to a certain extent, change places. The Equator would, twice during the year, have an Arctic day, when the sun would go around the whole horizon without setting, but it Avould never have an Arctic night. The poles would each have successively six months day and six months night, as at present ; but the day would be the day of the tropics, with a burning, fiery sun directly overhead; the night would be the night of the Arctic, with results upon the climatic con- ditions of the globe that are beyond computation. It is unnecessary, however, to consider tliese rosrdts further, as they could only have an actual interest for our descendants, of some millions of years hence. Besides, it would appear that the change in tlio D 2 ■■^ 30 rNDETl THE NORTHERN LIOnTS. inclination of the earth's axis will never be so great as I liavo supposed. This inclination goes on increasing for about a hundred thousand years ; then it commences to decrease, and the axis begins to resume its former position, approaching the upright. In other Avords, the North Pole, as the earth goes spinning around the sun, sways back and forth, like the stem of a top that is gaining or losing its perpendicular. It is a kind of gigantic pendulum, whose oscillations each mark a hundred thousand years. Slight as these oscillations are — they are only a few seconds — their effects, never- theless, upon the earth, owing to the fact that dif- ferent regions are brought successively under the more direct influence of the sun, arc enough to appal the imagination. Wo have not yet reached the extreme limit of our present SA\dng ; and already one immense continent, larger than the whole of Europe, has been engulfed. England and Europe must inevitably follow and become as Greenland now is, and, indeed, as they once were, if Agassiz is right. All our great cities, our churches, our temples, our monuments that wo raise with so much care, London, Paris, St. Paul's, Notre Dame, will be ground to sand beneath this mighty, moving mass of ice. Even the Pyramids would be swept away, and the huge blocks of which they are built ground down to the size of marbles by this terrible mill-stone. The millions of people, our THE COAST OF GREENLAND. boasted civilization so liarilly acquircrl, our pro- gross, gained at the oxpoiiso of so many tliousand years of painful effort and suffering, our art, our science, our literature, all tho eflbrts of mind, oven Homer and Sliakspeare, will disappear, and leave not a wrack behind. Then, after the destruction has been accom- plished, when tho ruin is complete, the pendulum will swing back again, the ice will melt, vegetation will again spring up, and there will bo room for another race of men, who will know as little of us as wo know of our predecessors. In the course of fifty thousand years perhaps, at a cost of five hundred centuries of suffering and toil, a fifty thousand years' combat, during which untold millions must suffer and die, they will perhaps havo reached our present proud position ; to be in their turn wiped out, like tho sum on a schoolboy's slate, as the pendulum swings back again ! How pleasant are the ways of science, and how cheerful and encouraging tho prospects she opens up to our anxious vision ! Here and there the coast-line of Greenland is broken by deep narrow fjords, extending from fivo or six to sixty or seventy miles inland, so that they may easily bo mistaken for rivers. They often take rise in the glacier itself, and they teem with the most delicious salmon and sea-trout m the world. Their banks and the adjacent mountains and valleys, arc full of partridges, ptar T 38 rjNl)i;il THE NOIITIIKHN 1, If! UTS. iiiij^aii, roiiidooi', that arc scarcely cvor distui'bcd by tho presence of man, anil they offer tlio most do- lif^ditfiil liunting-grounds it is possible to imagine. But unfortunately, vvo had lost so much time with those exasperating head winds, that we dared not stop even for a day. And so wo glided past the silent, dreamy coast which lay asleej) in the pui'ple Hunshinr, content to feast our eyes alone on its wild and glorious beauty. But we got a taste of the delicious sea-trout, nevertheless. One evening, towards sunset, when fully fifteen miles from shore, wo were greatly sur- prised to see three kyaks approaching us. The kyak is the lightest of light canoes. It is made of a hglit framework of wood, over which is stretched a covering of seal-skin. It is about eighteen feet long, fifteen to eighteen inches wide, eight deep, is beautifully proportioned, and all covered in, so as to be water-tight, except where there is a round hole, just large enough to receive one man. In such frail crafts had three Esquimaux advanced fifteen miles out to sea, with a few trout, which they wished to barter for biscuit, coffee, and tobacco. Imagine a man getting into a canoe and paddling across the English Channel, from Dover to Bou- logne or Calais, in order to sell half-a-dozen trout 1 They came skimming along over the surface of the water like sea-gulls, and in a few minutes after we first perceived them, shot alongside. We hoisted THK COAST OP OUEKNLAND. 39 Img [ou- lut! I the we Ited thorn on board, one after another, kyaks and all. Before we had seen them, we had stood out farther to sea with a change of wind, but they, nothing tiauntod, paddled after us, although we were under steam and sail at the time. As soon as we had caught sight of them, we of course tacked, and ran in to meet them. They were thorouglily drenched with the water dashing over them, but they had got very little in the kyaks, so closely does the jacket they wear fit the round hole in the top of the kyak. They were un- der the medium size, and had great shock heads of black, coarse, uncombed hair, with very black eyes, and such big, round, good- natured, half-foolish faces, that wo were instantly prepossessed in their favour. "We brought them below, gave them a glass of rum round, which they took " straight," and without winking, as though it were the most natural thing to do in the world. The services of Joe were brought into requisition as interpreter, and we proceeded to trade with them. They had fifteen beautiful trout, that weighed about threo pounds apiece, which they •m. ■Ml 1 ■ 1 40 UNDER THE NORTH EllN LIOIITS. i; If i I' had just caught, and half-a-dozon fine smoked salmon. Tlioy seemed to have no idea of driving a bargain, but accepted thankfully whatever wo gave them, without asking more. We got alto- gether fifty-fivo pounds of delicious fish, in ex- change for about two dozen small sea biscuit and half a pound of tobacco, and they seemed delighted with their bargain. It was about nine o'clock when wo put them down over the side, after having given them anotlier glass of grog, and they started off on their return voyage of fifteen miles as merrily as if it were the merest trifle in the world. It would take them about two hours and a half steady paddling to reach tho land, and as it does not get entirely dark here at this season of the year, they would have no difficulty in finding their way. AVe continued our course along the coast, keep- ing mucli nearer in shore than the ordinary track of vessels. About noon on the 4th of August, when just outside of tho Arctic circle, wo were all brought to our feet by a sudden tliumj), whicli made tho dishes on the table dance and jingle. Had there been any ice near, this would not havo been alarming, but as there was none in sight it could only have been a rock. Tho sensation of striking on a rock at sea is a very unpleasant one, and we all rushed on dock to see ^vhat was tho matter. Wo saw on the starl)oard bcun a long line of reefs, over which the l)rcakers were dashing THE COAST OF nRKENLANP. 41 in wliito wreaths of foam and spray. Wo had given these reefs a wide berth, but they were con- tinued a long way under water, and it was on a sunken rock the P^v^vDOHA had struck. Fortunately she had, owing to her solid construction, suffered not the slightest damage. In this she was more lucky tlian the Valouous which, just outside of IJolsteinburg, struck a rock and knocked a hole in her bottom, obliging her to put into that place to repfjr the damage. These reefs were in latitude ()()° 12', and were not laid down on any chart, 'riiey were the first of our Arctic discoveries, and we named them the " Pandora Reefs." On the morning of the 5th of August, we crossed the Arctic circle with a fair wind, Avhich, however, only lasted a few hours — a briglit day, and a sea as smootli as glass. It is a peculiarity of navigation in these seas, that the water is always smootli. There is never any swell nor waves, and the ship is as ste{idy as if she were on some little inland river; a fact which makes sailing extremely pleasant. This smoothness of iho water is caused by the great quantities of ice, which seemed to prevent even the slightest swell. On the morning of the 7th of August — just forty (lays after leaving Portsmouth, we (h'op])ed anchor in the little bay of Godhavn, in the island of Disko. ^- I I .lii? ; '.It 42 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. CHAPTER V. DISKO. S I A LITTLE land-locked bay large enough for two or three ships to swing in, shut in on one side by towering red cliffs, between whose tops may be seen the edge of a glacier; on the other by a rocky slope surmounted by a flag-staff without a flag. Lying in the bay are two small schooners, and a vessel with a long, low, dark hull, and slender masts stepped back, that give her a rakish, jaunty air, as she lies reflected with the tall cliffs in the clear smooth water of the little bay. Scattered over the rocky slope are ten or fifteen half-wooden, half-earthen houses, standing about in a loose, fi'eo, and easy manner, quite inde- pendent of each other, as though despising the restraint of streets, to which they do not make the slightest pretension. The rakish-looking vessel is the Pandora ; the little bay is that of Godhavn, and the collection of houses scatterod up the slope is the town of B.«vse§5ifts«««!s*«»«' DISKO. 43 Lievely, in Nortli Greenland, usually known by tlio name of Disko. The Danes, by the way, seem to be ruinously extravagant in the matter of nomenclature. One would almost think they had resolved that this country, so poor in inhabitants, should at least be rich in names. Thus, the island on which the above-mentioned town is situated is called Disko, the name of the little harbour is Godhavn, while the collection of fifteen or twenty houses, which makes up the village itself, is called Lievely. Thev are evidently determined that no error shall be committed in regard to it, and that there shall be no danger of the town being mistaken for the harbour. A sunny pleasant little spot it is just now during its few short weeks of summer, when the grass is peeping out timidly between the rocks, and the great round smooth boulders exchange their winter dress of snow for one of moss, deep, green and soft ; when the melted snow comes tumbling down the ravines in white fleecy torrents, and the tall, rugged cliffs in the glow of the summer sun turn a warm reddish purple, like a great red cur- tain drawn across to shelter the little bay from the biting northern blasts. Altogether the little place has a warm and comfortable look, very agreeable after the chilly winds and icy air of these northern seas. But there are no trees; and of vegetation, !! !;J /: l» - «ir h m I; I ;( 44 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. properly speaking, tliere is none ; only a little grass and moss and a little yellow flower that shoots up almost as soon as the snow disap- pears, and smiles, and waves its tiny head in the afternoon sun, as gaily as do any of its sisters in the tropical air of the south. The world has probably a very exaggerated notion of the size and importance of Disko or Lievely. One continually reads of it in Arctic books of travels. Arctic ships are always putting into it, or going out of it, or touching at it, or getting a fresh start from it, or having some other relation with it ; and, in short, Disko plays so im- portant a roll in Arctic discovery that one very unreasonably, perhaps, gets an idea that it is a rich and thriving metropolis with thronged streets and busv marts, where all the luxuries of the Arctic world, all the commodities of the Polar regions are to be found in unlimited quantity. But it is in truth just the kind of place I have described ; so small, so primitive, bearing so little resemblance to anything approaching civilization, that it is difficult to bring one's self to believe it is the Disko of which we have heard so much. The Danish Governor of the place, Mr. Elbcrg, called on us soon after we dropped anchor, and from him we learned that the Alert and Discovery had proceeded on their voyage north, ten days pre- viously, and that the Valoeous had sailed for England about the same time. It was with the DISKO. Valorous wo had expected to send homo our first letters, and we were considerably disappointed to liear of ber departure, as our letters would now have to go to Denmark by some Danish merchant ship, to be mailed at Copenhagen. We all went ashore in the course of the fore- noon, and returned the Goveruor's call. Ho was li\dng in a neat little wooden house, which was pleasantly situated overlooking the bay. Ho offered us wine and cigars, and introduced us to his wife, who is an Eskimo lad}^ — in the days of her maidenhood one of the belles of Disko. The men who como out here from Denmark to take charge of these trading colonies, seem to resign themselves to passing their lives here. They leave the world behind, and completely identify themselves with the interests of the littlo colony around them. Some of them have been in Greenland for twenty years, having only returned to Denmark onco or twice during that time. When a man has passed so much of his life hero, he would probably find that even if ho should go back to the world, he would only bo a stranger in a strango land. Some of them marry Eskimo wives, others go back to Denmark and induce a Danish girl to sharo their lonely home, and some- times a girl comes out alone to her betrothed, and gets married here. We took a walk about the village. The people, young and old, men, women, and children, turned 4G UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. i I I- \ i; ! \ in out to see us, and greeted us with pleasant smiles ; many of them giving us a " Good Morning," in English, which they pronounced very Avell. The girls were all dressed in their best finery, and some of them, especially those who had Danish blood, were very pretty ; only it was rather difiicult at first to bring oneself to believe they were girls at all. This is the country for Mrs. Bloomer; the women all wear trowsers, and would scout the idea of anything else as absurd and probably indecent. I should pity the girl who tried to introduce the fashion of petticoats in Greenland. A fashion- able West End beauty who should walk down Regent Street in knee-breeches, top-boots, and a gentleman's shooting-jacket, with a cigar in her mouth, would not be more utterly lost in the eyes of Society, than a Disko young lady who ventured to walk about over the rocky slope, in a fashionable hat, ribbons, long skirts, and a crinoline. " Oh, the shameless huzzy ! " " the brazen-faced thing ! " would be the verdict of every Disko woman ; and Disko Society would know her no more. The Disko costume appears very funny until you get accustomed to it, but rather pretty, never- theless. The hair is done up in a kind of top- knot on the crown of the head, a loose-fitting jacket, made of any kind of light thin stuff and of any colour, trimmed with a fur collar, reaches to the waist; a pair of sealskin trowsers with the ■^■■^^ "W^nWB!!...-^"*.. ..I. UISKO. 47 hairy side out descend nearly to tlie knee, wliere they are confined with a garter ; a pair of top- boots meet the trowsers at the knee, the feet and ankles being of red leather, the upper portion of white linen, trimmed with fur around the tops. Imagine a pretty girl clothed in this costume ; with the darkest, demurest eyes, and the sunniest brown complexion ever painted by sunshine and sea breezes and ocean spray, and you have a faint idea of a Disko girl. You should see them tripping about in their little red boots, that scarcely seem to touch the ground, so soft is their tread, or springing over the rocks like young antelopes, to know how cliarming a girl may be in boots and breeches. And they have the daintiest little feet and hands too ; feet and hands that would make the prettiest English or American girl burst with envy, so finely shaped, so small, so delicate, and yet so strong. These girls dance like sylphs, a fact which we soon discovered. It is the custom in Disko to give a ball to every ship that comes there, and the Pandora, of course, could not form an excep- tion to the rule. The entertainment proved to be a very great success. The ball-room, it is true, was rather small for forty or fifty people to dance in, being only twelve feet by fifteen. It was also perhaps a little dark, be'ag lighted by only one small window, for, as it was b^oad rbylight at ten o'clock in the evening, Ilpffl A .1 48 UNDER TITC NORTHERN MOIITS. it was not thought worth while to bring in candles. In fact, there was no place to put candles, oven had they been necessary ; the ceiling was barely six feet high, so that most of us had to bo very careful not to bump our heads, and the room, besides, was crammed full of people, excepting a little space in the middle four or five feet scjuare, where the dancing was done. The festive hall was no other, in short, than the workshop of Disko's lonely carpenter, whicli had been cleaned out and transformed for the oc- casion ; although the following legend, inscribed over the door in chalk, would seem to indicate that its natural and normal state was something far re- moved from tho stern realities of carpenter life. "MUSI CHAL DOR E OPE NAT 8 CLOCK." This inscription naturally excited tho curiosity of our learned and erudite Doctor, Avho having in the beginning pronounced it to bo a first rude attempt of tho Eskimos at a written literature, finally deciphered it to mean " Music Hall Door open at 8 o'clock." Further investigation proved that this was the only record the Alert and Dis- covery had left of their visit here. I will not deny that this hall w^as perhaps a little warm and close when twenty of our blue-jackets and the whole population of tho village had crowded into it, and that a little more room might have been desirable. But LOVE AT FIIJST SIUHT. 49 then there were no petticoats, no crinoline, no long trains to be trampled upon ; a woman took up no more space than a man, and that made a vast deal of difference. You have no conception of the small space you can dance in when you have no petticoats to deal with. I found that three feet square was oceans of room to waltz in, while for a polka I was quite lost in so much super- fluous space. After a while, however, we found the plase so oppressively hot that we decided to adjourn to the open air. It was now eleven o'clock. The sun had just set, bit there was a pleasant twilight, which would lust all night. As we went forth we gave a glance at the Pandora, that lay asleep in the little bay, looking like a mere toy-ship beneath the towering cliflFs that rose above, threatening to ftill and crush her like an egg-shell, beneath their tremendous masses. The dancing was continued outside with re- newed enthusiasm, and I am ready to aver that I never enjoyed a dance more in my life. Officers and blue-jackets all mixed together on equal terms, and went through w^altzes, polkas, and cotillions, with a vigour and good will only to be acquired by forty days at sea. The girls were not acquainted with all the forms of cotillion, which we, in the exuberance of our imagination, adopted for the occasion ; but they were quick to learn, and got through the most complicated figures very readily. ■n %^' li i W :. Yt 60 UN'DER THE NOUTHERN LIGHTS. Ill' I My partner was a demure little beauty, with dark, slightly almond-shaped eyes, a skin as brown as that of tlio nut - brown maid herself, the reddest, ripest lips, and the dain- tiest little feet that ever were seen. A greater pleasureeven than to encircle her slender waist or to gaze into her dark eyes, was to watch her little red-booted feet as they skimmed ovTr the ground like the wings of a sea-bird over the waves — a pleasure quite lost when you dance with a girl who wears petticoats. And then what a hand she had ! So small, so delicate, so soft and brown, it dropped in mine as lightly as the falling of an autumn leaf. The motion of dancing had caused her boots to settle down, leaving just above the knee a bit of the leg ex- posed, which, contrasting with the white starched linen tops of the boots, appeared as brown as a walnut. This peculiarity of the costume is a bit of coquetry with the Disko girls, by wliich they probably in- demnify themselves for not wearing low-necked dresses. But a girl who should expose her bust LOVE AU' FIRST SKillT. 51 as a European Uuly docs at a l)all ortlieatre would be hooted out of tlio village. My partner's queer little top-knot, planted perpendicularly on the top of lier head, and tied up with a red ribbon, just reached to my mouth, so that I must have looked as though I had an enormous imperial, with a girl suspended to it by a red ribbon. Young girls, by the way, tie this top-knot up with a red ribbon ; married women, with a blue ; widows. REKRKSHMK.NTS. with black; while those who are neither maid, wife, nor widow, are restricted to green, or to a simple handkerchief, tied around the head. E 2 11 UNDER TIIK NORTnERN LIOHTS. < . ! I I could not talk nmch with ber, but I had been studying Eskimo with Joe, and could say a good many tilings, though, as is always the case, not the things 1 most wanted to say. I opened the conversation during one of the pauses in the dance, by uttering the following easy little word, which I had learned from Joe, for the occasion, — *' Audlarhatiguemangilyannaamcrica?" I asked, in as carelessly natural a voice as I could assume. She looked at me in doubt. " Nuliaginga ? " I continued gravely. She evidently regarded it as a somewhat abrupt way of opening the conversation ; but she grasped the situation instantly, smilingly kissed her hand to me, and with a merry little laugh, replied, " Ukharluguangutil," which would bo equivalent in English to " You must ask Pa, please." But her Pa was away on a fishing expedition, a distance of three or four days' march, and as the Pandora steamed out of the little bay an hour after our dance was over, that match was untimely broken off. While the younger and prettier portion of tl female community were thus " chasing th' 'lo" " hours with flying feet," their elders were jmg u thriving business with those of the sailoiH, who were not for the moment dancing. The o' ' women came loaded down with sealskin slippers, sealskin needle-cases, sealskin pin-cushions, seal- skin tobacco-pouches, sealskin boots, breeches, LOVE AT PIIiST SIGHT. 68 jai'kets, and aliuiulrod otlior thitifrs niiido from the skin of this usofid animal, which they exclian<,'ed for old coats, trowsers, liats socks, handkerchiefs, pocket- knives, beads, needles, brass, jewellery, and sometimes a little money. This ball was therefore a combination of business and pleasure in the strictest sense, and was . equally successful, whether considered as a ball or as a mart. The language in which business was transacted was, it is true, of a somewhat la- conic and restricted kind, and the commercial terms were of the fewest, con- sisting chiefly of "You truckum?" "No!" "Yes!" "How much you wantum?" "How much you givum." But these, with the use of the fingers for counting, and an astonishing variety •^f signs and gesticulations, very remarkable for ueir expressiveness, made the transaction of usiness a pleasant and easy matter. As these people cannot cultivate cotton, nor flax, and can raise neither sheep nor silkworms, all kinds of woollen, cotton, and silk clothing are more hi; ly prized by them than the finest furs are by Our men drove some A^ery profitable bargaiii !>y exchanging their old clothing for furs V y. t'-f.'- ' ■ ' r; ™l.i?."j ^m^BHHmwv^ e54 UNDER THE NOliTllEUN LK^ITS. and "skins. No more valuable present can be made, for instance, to a Disko lady than an old coat or a pair of troAvsers. Old clothes were found to be so very acceptable to the fair ones, that if the Pandora had lingered a few days longer at Disko I am afraid several of our officers, including " Tromp " and myself, would not have had a whole suit of clothes left. The poet has sung that it is the nature of man to drink. I think it is the nature of a Dutchman to waltz. " Tromp " seemed to throw his whole soid into the dance, and went flying over the ground with a grace and smoothness AvhicL are only acquired by people of his nation. He told me afterwards, that never, even with the most beautifid and re.lined European lady, had he enjoyed a dance so much, and that he had never seen a waltzer that even approached this Disko girl. " Why, she does dance so lightly as a feather," he said. " You feel as though she would escape you from your fingers and fly away very quick. It is like waltzing with a butterfly." The truth is that " Tromp " had fallen despe- rately in love with his partner. From the moment he discovered her, he refused to dance with any other girl, and so monopolized her that nobody else had the ghost of a chance. She was, in fact, the acknowledged belle of Disko, the prettiest girl in the place, and well tht little coquette knew it. ,. ... *ja./'4»iKSJ8S«aw«a«»««^'* LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. 55 Her tiny red boots showed some very pretty needle-work done in different coloured thread by her own dainty fingers ; the white starched and ironed hncn of her boot-tops was embroidered with some kind of open work, resembling that sort of thing you continually see civilized ladies working upon, but which always mysteriously disappears just when it is reatly to be worn, and is henceforth lost to the vision of man. Above this was a band of white fur, a circlet of brown flesh and blood, a red garter fastened with a buckle, then a pair of sealskin trowsers of a soft, mouse colour, above which, puffed out around the waist, was a red chc- ruisc covered by a sort of jacket, fitting close around the throat and loosely over the bust. This jacket was trim- med around the neck Avith a white fur collar, and out of it arose a soft, rounded throat and chin, a pair of ])outing lips, a little, slightly turned - up, saucy nose, and such * -^- eyes ! It was no wonder the susceptible " Tromp " fell in love at first sight. So largo and brown and soft, and they cast upon him now and then such a timid, half-teiuler, half-saucv glance that it was it i ' ;;; V t ll^' . ■ , m n i;;it :!'.r i fl .: P !||; ii 56 UNDER THE NORTHERN UGUTS. enough to drive a liardened old bacliolor mad, let alone a vouncf and enthusiastic adorer of the sex like " Tromp." And how divinely she danced ! It was a pure delight to watch her little feet flitting over the ground like butterflies, or humming-birds, or rose- buds, or anything else that is delicate and sweet and delightful. It was not dancing at all, it was flying, it was floating through the air on a wave of rhythm without ever so much as touching the ground. Her name was Darwa, and she appeared to be about half Eskimo, half Danish. Her father, the pilot of the little harbour, was by far the richest and most influential man of all the Eskimos of Disko, and we had an o})]iortunity of seeing the young lady in her own home, which was a fine large residence, built partly of wood, partly of earth. There were two rooms in this house, one of which Avas fully fifteen feet square, and lighted by a largo glass window, that filled up nearly one whole side; the other, smaller and less pre- tentious. The house was warmed by a stove, and on the side opposite the window was a kind of wooden stage or platform, raised two feet above the ground, and running across the room. On this were arranged coverlets, blankets, and furs, and here it was the young lady slept, with brothers and sisters, all together, higgledy- piggledy, like a nest of young squirrels. There LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. 57 were four or five guns hung on racks on tlie ceiling, a few religious prints around the walls, together with cooking utensils, and all the fine clothes of the family. We had ample opportunity to examine the whole of the young lady's wardrobe, which wo could easily distinguish by its superior fine- ness from that of her younger brothers and sisters. We learned that her father had dogs and lii/aJcs and an um'talc, or large boat, besides men employed in hunting and fishing for him. He also had some gold pieces stowed away in a bag, among which I saw some American half eagles. Miss Darwa was therefore a very great heiress. This, together with her beauty, of which she was as Avell aware as any other pretty girl Avould be, made her somewhat proud, disdainful, and disposed to queen it over the rest of the girls. But " Tromp " was so desperately in love that he found even this grave defect of character charm- ing, and defended her hotly. In spite of the fact that we were all, officers and men, dressed very much alike, she early detected the difforence and re- fused to dance with anybody but ofiicei'S. " Tromp " encouraged her in this odious distinction, and at last, with a subtle and malicious cunning which I cannot too strongly reprehend, persuaded her to push her exclusiveness to the extent of dancing with nobody but himself. Fortunately for the peace of the Pandora's wardroom, Miss Darwa had three «^» q«*l9i«K «"J 68 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. or four dangerous rivals, who, if less wealthy, were far less proud and haughty ; and if less beautiful, far sweeter and more charming. For my own part, I early concluded that I pre- ferred the sweet and gentle style of beauty, to the proud and scornful, and inwardly decided that Miss Darwa was a spoiled, ill-natured, disagreeable young lady, and wished " Tromp " joy of her with all my heart. Her pride and arrogance may have been aug- mented by the circumstance that her uncle played the violin, and was the musician of the ball. It was he that directed the festivals ; and in truth lie did it very well. He gave us a waltz, or a polka, or a reel as we in turn de- manded them, although he spoke only a word or two of English, which he had picked up from an occasional English whaler, or a still rarer Arctic exploring ship. *> It must not be suppc ed, however, that "Tromp" was the only one who was susceptible to the charms of those fair ones. Our navigating officer appeared to be just as badly smitten, and devoted himself to a young lady who wore a very high top-knot, with an assiduity which, I am t ) m '^ ■ ill LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. 59 afraid, would have rendered some fair English lady higlily indignant could she but have seen him. When the dance was overlie went walking about the vilhige with her on his arm, smiling down upon lier, in a way which must have stirred her little heart to its very depths ; carrying on a conversa- tion by means of signs, nods, and winks, and from time to time making Avhat to a perfectly unpre- judiced spectator, seemed to be idiotic gesticula- tions, but which were intended probably as passing remarks about the weather. It should not be forgotten with regard to these girls, that they were all very well behaved. They allowed the men not even a kiss nor a squeeze of tlie hand, and know as well how to maintain their dignity and keep people at a proper distance, as any other young ladies. They are all good Chris- tians and church-going people, belonging, as do all the Eskimos of Greenland, to some form of the Lutheran faith, to which they have been converted by the mild and beneficent influence of the kindly Danes. They have a neat little wooden church, where they have religious service every Sunday, and a pastor, who goes the rounds of a district and appears among them three or four times a year, and they lead a quiet, innocent, virtuous, and to all appearances a happy life in their little ice- bound world. The summer is probably the most lonesome time for them, as nearly all the men are away then on the hunting aiul fisliing grounds. ' r if ^mm 60 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. .Hi, !' I Wo only saw five or six about the village, but tliey took no part in tho festivities, and the girls look for ships touching here — a very rare occurrence — as the great event of the summer. At length, about 12 o'clock, we saw the signal to come off flying from the Pandora's masthead, and after one more waltz we took an affectionate leave of our fair friends, thanking them as well as we could for the pleasant evening they had given us. They accompanied us down to the water-side, and we then scrambled into the jolly boat, while they stood on the shore in a group, watching us with smiling thougli saddened faces. As we pushed off they set up a kind of half- laughing, half-tearful cry which followed us far out into the bay, and came to us over the widening water, softened into a strain as sweet and musical as the sigliing of an ^olian harp. It was so sad withal, that the dogs of the village, that had likewise followed us down to the water's edge, joined in with a mournful howl, and made up a sorrowful chant that sounded strangely wild and weird in the dim twilight of the Arctic summer night. It was a pretty and grace- ful farewell, and added one more kindly souvenir to our memories of Disko. The dear girls ! we shall never see them again, but we shall not soon forget their happy mirth and smiling faces that made the dreary desolation around them blossom as with roses. "IS^I'^ 61 CHAPTER VI. A BALL ON BOAKD SHIP. We had not lost miicli time in Disco. Eighteen hours after we dropped anchor in the little bay, the Pandora suddenly awakened, as if from a nap in which she had overslept herself, slowly turned around, looking all about the harbour, trying to find out where she was ; and then, having appa- rently discovered the right way, spread her wings and darted out to sea. But, instead of directing her course out into Baffin's Bay, she turned up tlie Waigat Strait, 62 UNDER THE NORTHERN I,I(iHTS. M? wliicli separates tLo island of Disko from the main- land. For tlio Pandora was hungry again. In spite of her delicate lines and light, jaunty appear- ance, she had an insatiable maw, and having already consumed nearly all the coal we supplied her with at Ivigtut, was greedily demanding more. We did not choose to let her encroach upon our winter supply just yet, and so we steered up Waigat Strait, on whose shores coal could be ob- tained for the trouble of putting it aboard ship. We were no sooner fairly out of the little har- bour than our old friends, the head winds, greeted us and intimated that we might count upon them all the way up the strait. So we had to commence our old business of beating again, which at last began to appear to us the natural and normal way of sailing, so long had we been at it. We kept the screw going at " easy," as we hnd now but little time before us and could not depend upon the persistently obstinate winds for getting forward. All that day and the next, until noon, we worked up the strait, either shore of which was visible nearly all the time. We met a good deal of floating ice, but not enough to interfere with our progress, except when we ran into great, thick, heavy curtains of fog, which at times prevented our seeing more than a few yards ahead of the vessel. Navigation under such circumstances is ex- ceedingly dangerous, as it is almost impossible to k Ba ««» ■•i** A BALL OX HOARD Sllll'. see tlio heavy pieces of ico in time to avoid them, and it becomes necessary to proceed very slowly ill order to prevent a dangerous collision. During the whole forenoon of August 0, we were most of the time in one of these fogs, which effectually hid the western shore from view. This was very an- noying, as we were on the look out for an Eskimo village where we wcj'o to get a number of the natives to show us the coal and help us to put it on board. We felt our w^ay along the shore, blindfold as it were, until one o'clock, when Captain Young decided that we must have passed the place, and he therefore put the ship about. He had scarcely done so when the fog lifted and we bclield the coast but a few cables' length distant, and we were not long in making out the village, which we had already passed two or three miles back. We were soon opposite ; the ship was hove to, and the Captain went ashore with a letter to the Danish Governor which had been given him by Governor Elberg at Lievely. By this time the fog had quite cleared away and we saw the eastern shore about ten miles distant, which rose in a steep, rugged wall that appeared to be scarcely broken by a single crevasse, and curving around to the north and south seemed to meet our shore and form a large and beautiful inland sea. It was full of floating ice ; not in sufficient quantities, however, to impede the progress of a ship, and there 64, UNDER THE NORTHERN ^IGHTS. were many icebergs wliicli rose in huge masses here and there, disphiying beautiful tints of bhie, green, and white that became so brilHant as to dazzle the eyes in the warm bright light of an after- noon sun. The wind, now that we were no longer moving, had quite died out, and the water, undis- turbed by a single ripple, was as smooth as glass ; while from time to time there was a deep, dull report like the distant booming of a heavy gun, fol- lowed, perhaps, a long time afterward, by a gentle swell, telling wliere an ice-berg had split asunder and turned over. These reports are heard con- tinually among icebergs, and so resemble a distant cannonade that Dr. Kane named them very aptly ice artillery. The place ofF which wo had stopped is called Yu- yarsusuk,and consists of four or five houses jumbled together and inhabited by perhnps thirty or forty people, young and old. The Captain soon came off with the Governor, who spoke a little German, by means of which language we communicated witli liim. To our great satisfaction we learned that the coal was dug out for us and all ready to be put on board. For this we had to thank Captain Nares, who had promised Captain Young to have the coal got out, and had faithfully kept his promise in all the hurry and trouble of making the final preparations for his own departure. Closely following the Governor came an urnial', or "woman's boat," loaded full of women and i f A »AT,n ON rOAmi SHIP. 65 chiklrcn. They had come ])artly out of curiosity to see the ships, partly to bring oil' four fine dogs that Captain Young had bought. Dogs, women, and children were taken on board, and they all seemed about equally frightened at everything they saw. The dogs were tied up, and the women and children given something to eat, Avhich very soon put them at their ease. The Eskimos have always shown so much kind- ness to shipwrecked whalers and distressed Arctic explorers who have fallen into their power, that Arctic navigators always make a point of treating them kindly and giving them little presents, which are highly prized. The women were nearly all old and ugly, and there were no pretty girls among them, except two children with fair flaxen hair and blue eyes, who looked very odd in their little boots and trowsers. They turned out to be the children of the Governor, who was married to an Eskimo woman, and ho had, as we afterward learned, several more. He informed us that all the men and several of the women of the village were up the strait, some- where in the direction of the Kudliset, or Ritten- bank, coal-mine, in a boat, and that if we went on we should find them. We accordingly turned the ship's head again to the north, and proceeded up the strait. In an hour we perceived a little sloop coming lazily down before the wind, the crew appa- ll 'r: ■m i\ te 'i f'f i. M m ■1 I I: ■p^ r CO UNDEK TriM NORTnERN L[GFITS. rently, all oxcopt the man at tho holm, aHlcep in tho warm Hunshino, as indolently as if thoy woro drifting on some sunny Southern sea, instead of among the ice mountains of tho Arctic. In a few minutes they were within liaihng distance. The Governor spoko to them, and about twenty of them tumbled into a boat that was towing astern, and came off to us. He gave them their instructions, which woro to go with us, help us coal, and bring back any letters wo might want to send to Europe, and then went aboard the little sloop, after wishing us a hearty God speed on our voyage. Arctic navigators owe a great deal to tho kind- ness of those simple, honest Greenland Danes, and the courtesy of the Danish Government. Year after year Arctic explorers and whalers are in- debted to them for assistance in a number of ways, which they always offer with the most hearty and friendly cordiality ; nnd seamen of nearly every nation have to thank them for many acts of kindness. They rendered us every assistance in coaling, and we had to rely upon them to send our letters to Denmark, where they are always carefully mailed by the courtesy of the Danish authorities. With the addition of sixteen Eskimo men and six women to our crew, we continued our course up the coast toward the Kudliset coal banks. We were not very long in learning i \'.' A HALL ON ll()ATiI» Sllll' 07 tliat fivo of tlio six women avoi-o ^'wh, two of tlicm puro Eskimo, tlir(>c luilf TJaiiisli, and very pretty ; wliilo tlio other was a vigorous and muscular old woman, sent along with them, as is al- ways the custom, to look after their mo- rals — a precaution which, I would has- t(>ii to observe, was altogether superfluous on board the Pandora. As soon as it was dis- covered that the girls were pretty, a place was cleared away on the deck, and a dance organized upon the instant to the music of a plaintive accordion, played by one of the blue jackets, while the ship steamed slowly forward. The deck of the Pandoka now presented one of those strange, pretty scenes often rcpT-esented upon the stage, but which one rarely looks for in real life, least of all upon an Arctic ship. She Avas still encumbered with the great heaps of sacks, full of coal, we had brought from England, in addition to which there was heaped up in bulk on either side of the funnel a part of that we had taken in at Ivigtut, and which, continually trampled F 2 W : i! G8 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. ! ( m \H li : i o\:^ by cvcryl)0(ly running back and forth, liad blackened the rest of the sliip, until she looked like a colUcr. It was useless to try to keep her neat and clean under such circumstances, and the result was that she had been allowed to go to the dogs in her own way, and now presented a disreputable, dis- orderly, vagabond appearance, reminding one of a stray dog without an owner. In fact, the Pan- doj;a, instead of tlio trim, neat, jaunty, well- dressed thing she used to be, began to have a very dirty, slip-shod, draggle-tail look. But she had gained so much freedom in exchange for her lost respectability, ard had such a jolly, reckless, happy air, that you cuuld not find it in your heart to blame her. On what proper, well-behaved ship, for instance, could you have witnessed such a sceuo of mirth and fun as her decks presented this evening ? Dogs, a pig, and cats we had obtained in Ivigtut, by way of insuring fair winds, were running loose about the decks. Music and dancing; the men gathered around the dancers, some up on the heaps of coal around the funnel, some up on the shrouds, one man standing on the nettings playing the accordion, while six or eight dancers kept up a patter on the deck like the rattle of a drum, amid shouts of laughter and a cross fire of cheers and exclamations. The great, strong, iron heart of the Pandora, deep dowu A TALL ON BOARD SHIP. 69 below, seemed to llirob and pulse with a new delight as she swept along through the masses of floating ice, breaking through their cold embraces as they closed around her, and rejoicing in her freedom and wild dissipation. From time to time she glided past some tower- ing iceberg, in which you could see a kind of indistinct resemblance to a gigantic hunian face, as though some mighty old giant shut up in there were glowering down upon us through his ice window. Sometimes one of these icebergs would suddenl commence to crumble and break when we gliuod past, as though the Pandora's wild be- haviour were too much for the old fellow inside, and as if, taken with a sudden fit of rage, he were struggling and writhing through the w^alls of ice to get at her. Then there would bo a report like a clap of thunder and a ten'ible splash, as a great mass would drop off, and. having lost his balance, the old giant inside w^ould pitch over, head fore- most, and disappear in the cold p-r jn water with a roar. How big and round and red the sun looked as ho rolled along the tops of the purple moimtains and casst a crimson glow over the pure blue, gi'cen, and white of the towering icebergs ! 1 low weird and sad and lonely looked the silent, desolate coast ! How the water shimmered and glistened in the white, icy glare of the evening, and how warm and merry and cozy looked our little ship as she lightly 1^^ (I i- ! 1 I m! 5 I m-\ 70 UNDER THE NOKTUEltN LIGHTS. i: 1:1 threaded her tortuous course among the ice- bergs ! Who would have expected to behold such a scene in the Arctic, of all other places in the world ? < m BSS -■■•■ CHAPTER VII. A TEA-rAETY. T. At length, about nine o'clock, wo dropped anchor '^ a steep, high bluff, that came sheer down to ■ b: water's edge, behind which, at the distance of two or three miles, rose the sharp ragged summit of a mountain. Along the face of this bluff, which was 150 feet high, we could see two or three dark streaks, that Captain Young recognized as the coal seams. It was too late to beo-in coaling, but everything was got ready for an early start next morning, with the hope of getting in thirty or forty tons. In the meantime the dancing had ceased, and we had all gone below to take tea. We had just sat down to the table when the girls came aft, and we invited them all down into the wardroom to take tea with us, an in\atation which they accepted without the sliglitest hesitation. This we considered a touching proof of the con- fidence with which the polite and kind treatment of the officers had inspired them — a confidence wliich we endeavoured to persuade ourselves was 8{; •; ■« V ^-Hi:i|f 72 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. t f; ' I not altogether disconnected with our prepossessing looks and superior accomplishments ! We, there- fore, made room for them at our little table and invited them to sit down ; but, although they had come below fast enough when invited, once there, they stood timid and abashed, with downcast eyes before the splendour and magnificence that burst thus suddenly upon them. They had probably never seen but one or two such ships before, and certainly had never gone aboard one, and our little wardroom, ten feet square, possibly appeared to them as the very height of magnificence and splendour. It was amusing to observe their timid, half- frightened looks as they watc^^ed us pour out their tea and heap up their plates wit!i strange- looking viands, Buch as they had never seen before, and which, perhaps, even appeared to them very unsavoury. Indeed, their position must have been altogether very embarrassing. Imagine four or five little barbarians, very pretty and very girlish, in spite of their trowsers and boots, who have never seen anything but their own poor little village of five or six huts, and who suddenly find themselves in a mess-room of an exploring shij), at table, surrounded by strange peoplf and strange faces; with iiliiii ^ SX'^ A TEA-PARTY. 73 five or six polite, affable, and distinguished, but strange young gentlemen, wlio flatter themselves that their blandishments are not, as a rule, alto- gether thrown away upon the fair sex, and all heaping up their plates and doing the polite in the most approved style, and you can form some idea of the position of these poor little girls. Nevertheless, I must say that they got on very woll, considering the circumstances, and showed themselves remarkably quick to learn. They had never even used a knife and fork before, and declined to touch the ones we gave them until they saw how we managr . these symbols of civilization. It was amusing to see the sly way they watched us out of the corners of their eyes ; and when on«^ of them, having apparentl3' mastex'ed ^lie theory of the use of these implements, took up a fork and carried it to her mouth, the others looked at her with a droll, in- (juiring expression, as though asking her if it was a success. Apparently, the result of this eye telegraphing was satisfactory, as two or three more of them proceeded to imitate her in a very grave and demure way, and, to tell tlio truth, acquitted themselves very well indeed. Please do not, reader, turn up your nose at these pretty little barbarians and imagine yourself vastly superior to them simply because you know bow to eat with a kuifo and fork. Do you think Cleopatra used a knife and fork ? or the cold, pale Octavia, ' i ' I' iwm V:l ii' 'l.TT hi < M i 74 UNDER THE NORTHERN JJUIITS. the sister of Augustus ? or the Queen of Slieba ? or Rebecca ? or Rachel ? or Ruth ? Just remem- ber that there is a people who once were nearly masters of the world, distinguished alike for their refinement, music, poetry and architecture as well as their chivalry and feats of arms, and princes before whose splendour and riches the magnificence of modern western monarchs pale and grow dim, who never knew the use of these weapons. Do not, therefore, think you have any right to look down on our little friends simply because you know how to use instruments that by seven or eight hundred inillions of the earth's inhabitants arc considered ridiculous and al)surd inven- tions. To return to our friends, we found they were very fond of tea, sugar, biscuit, and pickles. Pre- served meat they did not seem to relish much — a fact we did not find at all strange after having; ourselves learned to like seal and bear. As soon as the one who sat beside me had somewhat re- covered her presence of mind, I proceeded to open a conversation with her and she told me her name was " Akushta," -svhich we soon discovered to be only the Danish for Augusta. The names of the others were Carolina Wilhelmina, Julietta, jVIarie, and so on, which rather disappointed us, as we would have preferred to hear unpronounceable Eskimo names. Julietta was the prettiest of them, and, it nui} f Hi •_*«•" -)p-<« A tea-i'ai;tv. 75 have been quite accidental, but it struck me as singular tliat she should have taken a place at table beside " Trorap," and that Carolina Wil- helmina should have gone straight and sat down beside our navigating officer. The truth is, I was considerably grieved and pained at the conduct of these young gentlemen, and must say that their levity and inconstancy wore really shocking. No sooner had they dis- covered that the girls were pretty, than, for- getting all about Disko and the tender glances given and received there, and the gentle squeez- ing of hands, and mute . but eloquent protesta- tions of attachment, they commenced making the most violent love to these girls with a cynicisr i worthy of Don Juan himself. Before the evening was half over they had wormed themselves into the good graces of the old woman, by plying her with rum and tobacco, and she now sat there com- placently smoking a pipe, with her legs crossed like a man, and a grim smile on her bull-dog face, while these two double-dyed Don Juans sat each beside a girl, with her hands clasped in his own. It ib true that .-ome palliation may be found for Vi '■•^ir 1^ mum wmmmm 76 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. fi' f their conduct in the fact that the hands in question were very soft, small, and delicate, and they nestled in yours so gently and softly that it was almost impossible to resist their charm ; and I would not have been, upon the whole, inclined to look with d isfavour upon this behaviour, had it not been for the proceedings of those sam^yjung gentlemen at Disko ordy two days before. We had some music during the course of the evening. The old wheezy accordion was brought aft and produced much satisfaction and delight. The girls even favoured us with some songs, very sweet and plaintive, to which the Doctor played a lamentable accompaniment. It was now eleven o'clock and we went on deck. The sun was still shining brightly above the hori- zon, and it was broad daylight. The Moon had risen, but she was only the faintest shadow. She had faded away to the merest ghost of a moon, at^ though, seeing herself supplai ted by the Sun and finding she was of no use, she had determined to pine away and die. It seemed to me that Tweedle Dee must have had this scene in his mind when lie wrote his immortal poem of the " Walrus and the Carpenter," where he says, — ■Js i^ " The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all liis might. He did his very hest to make The hillows smooth and white, And this was odd, because it was The middle of the uight. A TEA-rARTV. 77 Tlie moon was sliiniiif^ aiilkily, 15ecaii8e she tlioii^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 yj 80 DNDEIt THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. abovo the level of the water, and it was on this soara the Eskimos had been at work ; while still abovo this could be seen two more black streaks that appeared likewise to be coal. The cliff seemed to bo composed, as nearly as we could judge, of alternate strata of coal, sandstone rock, containing in many places iron, slate, soapstone, and irregular layers of loose earth and stones. The Eskimos had simply uncovered the coal by cutting away the soapstone and loose- earth that overlaid the second seam, leaving a bench or shelf from two to six feet wide, running along the face of the bluff a distance of a quarter of a mile or more. We had only to plunge a crowbar into the cracks and crevices, and pry it out in great blocks and lumps, and roll it down the face of the bluff to the Water's edge. Never was coal more easily got. The only difficulty was in climbing up to it in the first place ; but after that was once accomplished, we ran up a couple of lines, which we fastened to crowbars driven into the ground, by whicli means we were enabled to scramble up with- out much difficulty. The getting down was easy enough. We had soon thrown down a great heap of loose earth and rubbish, which formed a moving inclined plane that slid down with each step so rapidly that only about two steps were required to reach the bottom. The fine coal was filled into large sacks on the ledge where it was got I I 6) on this lie stiU streaks he cliff e could [le rock, apstone, tnes. ) coal by irtli that I or shelf r the face , mile or r into the }at blocks the bluff ?he only the first iplished, fastened jy which |up with- )wn was |n a great formed a leacli step required ras filled was got COALING. 81 out, and tumbled over the precipice, while the blocks that came out were rolled down. Coaling, such hard work under ordinary circum- stanceF, here afforded the greatest sport. There would be a cry of " Heads !" as a mass of half a ton, perhaps, was launched on Its mad course, down the steep, while the crowd below, engaged in getting the sacks into the boats, would drop every- thing and scatter in all directions, and the block rushing down the steep bank, gathering new force at every instant, would suddenly strike the bottom, break to pieces and fly in all directions like an exploding shell. It was not altogether unattended with danger either, for sometimes those above maliciously delayed singing out, " Heads I " until it was almost too late to escape, and more than one of those below received a piece of coal about the legs or shins that made them call down loud maledictions on the heads of the guilty ones. As fast as the boats were loaded they were towed off to the ship by the steam launch, and the work progressed so rapidly that at noon, when we went to dinner, we had already got in twenty tons. It was not, however, very good coal, for although it burned very readily and made little smoke, it produced scarcely more than half the steam produced by an equal quantity of Welsh coal. But it had every appearance of growing better as it was worked deeper into the hill. And 82 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. as we really could only get that which, cropping out of the steep face of the bluff, had been exposed to the action of the frost for centuries, and had, of course, been more or less decomposed, we had no means of seeing what it was really like. But I believe that if worked in from the face of the cliff, say ten feet, coal would be found of excellent quality. The girls employed themselves in picking up the pieces and filling them into the sacks, and they appeared to enjoy the sport as much as any- body, evidently regarding it as a grand holiday. I must say that I think that everybody was greatly astonished at the neatness these girls displayed in their dress, and the trouble they took lo keep from getting stained and soiled with their work ; for we had generally heard the Eskimos accused of want of cleanliness. These girls, like those of Disko, wore white starched linen tops to their boots, and as it was impossible to keep them from getting blackened with the coal-dust, they changed them, and put on clean pairs no less than three times during the day — a fact which is alone a sufficient refutation of the slanders that have been heaped upon their devoted little heads. About seven o'clock in the evening a slow, drizzling, disagreeable rain set in, giving promise of bad weather for the next two or three days. But we had, fortunately, got in nearly forty tons COALING. 83 of coal, as miicli as the Captain wanted, and we accordingly stopped, tired, but well satisfied with the result of our day's work. Had we not been favoured with fine weather, we might have been here four or five days without accomplishing so much. We did not get up anchor till next morning, having in the evening taken leave of our Eskimo friends, who had set up a tent on shore, where they passed the night before returning to Yuyar- susuk. We gave the girls a number of little presents, with which they seemed much pleased, before bidding them adieu. Among other things, I observed that Juliet had received a prettily embroidered white linen pillow-case, but could not find out who had given it to her, although I am pretty sure I had seen it in Tromp's cabin. It is probably long ere this worked up into boot- tops. As we shall meet with no more pretty girls in the course of our narrative, I would like, before finally taking leave of these, to assure the reader that I do not think I have exaggerated the charms of the fair girls of the Arctic in the least. Nor am I alone in my appreciation of them, for I found that all my messmates were of the same opinion as myself. Perhaps it was because these people have been so persistently misrepresented by travellers as " dirty " and filthy " that we were agreeably astonished to find them otherwise, and all the more disposed to do them justice; but It ta :.,' T 84 UNDEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. certain it is that my companions were even more enthusiastic in singing their praises than my- self. Soon after leaving England we had estab- lished a little ■weekly paper, called the Pan- dora's Box, to which everybody was expected to contribute; and the week succeeding our visit to Disko and Yuyarsusuk the editor was considerably amused to find that every contributor had chosen one subject with a unanimity that was somewhat embarrassing. The consequence was that the Pandora's Box for August 17, 1875, presented a funny suc- cession of articles about the Arctic girls, one of which I herewith present as an evidence that I have not been exaggerating. It was signed " Tromp." " It IS a truth old as the hills that the sailor stops just long enough in every harbour to feel the true value of those whom he is obliged to leave behind him. Untrue it is, however, that he forgets those good fairies who throw now and then a warm sun- beam on his troubled path as quickly as he does the privations which he often has to bear. On the contrary, once returned on board of his ship, he often quietly remembers the lovely beauty to whom he was obliged (perhaps for ever) to bid farewell, and he remains a long time thankful for the mo- ments which were so dear to him. Let us then, too, in pur Pandora's Box reserve a little room for COALING. 85 the commemoration of these simple children of nature of the high north, wlio, daring two days, have shared with us thf) joy and grief of our life ; for it is impossible for us to see in those kind ^ pretty sisters from the unknown homes of Yuyarsusuk, common workers of a coal-mine. There is no resemblance at all between these healthy, merry children of Kudliset and the poor, worn-out faces of the miners of old Europe. Without being aware of it, they possessed all the virtues which we ad- mire in a high-bred woman — simplicity, modesty, intelligence, and refinement — and when we com- pared them with the ugly old woman who guarded them with the eye of an Argus, we regretted very much that these lonely flowers were planted in the cold, barren ground of this bleak shore to pre- maturely wither beneath its long and bitter winter. More utterly forgotten in the world none can live ; but as we recall those sweet, melancholy tones of their native land, we are unable to forget that fellow-creatures were never more misplaced. Let ' li f f m 1^1 mtmm 86 PNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. US, tlien, finish with wisliing them all possible good, and let our thoughts sometimes return to those pretty little flowers who flourish utterly forgotten in the snow-covered mountain homes of Disko Island." 87 CHAPTER IX. THE ESKIMOS. A PEOPLE who livo neither by agriculture nor the pasturage of sheep and cattle, nor yet, properly speaking, by the chase, as the chase is ordinarily understood : a people who have for food neither beef, mutton, nor pork ; neither fruit, bread, nor vegetables ; neither sugar nor salt ; who have for drink neither tea, coffee, wine, beer, nor spirits of any kind ; for clothing neither silk, cotton, flaxen, nor woollen stufi's; who have n Ither iron, nor steel, nor lead, nor copper, nor gold, nor pottery ; who have for fuel neither wood, nor coal, nor peat — such a people are the Eskimos, or, as they call themselves, the " Inuuits," of the Arctic. In the barren, desolate world they inhabit the frozen earth brings forth no fruits, end there is no food for the animals that in a softer climo supply man with food and clotliing. There are here no forests of trees, no smiling orchards, no fields of waving grain, no hill-sides covered with sheep and cattle ; and consequently there are none 88 UNDER TlIK NOUTIIERN LIGHTS. of those things which we, of another world, think necessary for the existence of Man. It seems at first sight impossible that men should live amid such conditions. The things I have enumerated appear to include all the possi- bilities of food, clothing, and fire, found on the Earth; and the question which unconsciously arises to our lips is. Can a people, then, live with- out either of these three first necessities of life — food, clothing, and fire? But the Innuits, deprived literally of everything which in our clime makes life possible, have i^ KPRim 9^ THE ESKIMOS. 89 nov^ertheless found in the world they liavo choson, or into which they have been driven, the means of existence in a very different shape from that in which they abound in our southern clime. They have found them all — food, fire, light, clothing, arms, implements, everything — combined in one single animal. That animal is the seal. Without it, the existence of man in these regions would be an impossibility, for there is no other animal here, sufficiently numerous and easy of cav)ture, to supply him with sustenance. This one animal alone furnishes him with everything. Its flesh supplies him with food ; its blubber with light and fire; its skin with clothing and sliolter. It is astonishing to see the ra'u'ltifarious uses to Avhich the Innuit has put this animal, the extra- ordinary number of things he has obtained from it. Its skin supplies him not only with the hoots he wears on his feet, the hood that protects his head, the coat that covers his back, but the thread or thongs with which these articles are sewed; and its bones supply the needles Avitli which he sews them. In its skin he finds not only the covering for his bed, but the material with which he makes his summer tent, and the hangings or tapestry which clothe the walls of his winter habitation. In the absence of wood, its bones furnish him with the framework of his ^■\ 1 I ; 1 ii ] I' _ 90 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. kayak and umiak, his hunting canoe and his large boat ; while its skin supplies the shell or covering. From its bones he makes the runners of his sledges ; from the skin he cuts the lashings that bind the different parts together. From the bones he fashions his arms, knives, axes, spears, harpoons, darts ; and in its entrails, stretched thin and dried, he even finds a substitute for our window glass. There is not a necessity of life which is not supplied in some way by this Protean animal. Man has become here a mere parasite — eating, living, sleeping on this creature, regulating his movements by it; going where it goes, abandoning the places it abandons, and finaliy dying where it becomes extinct ! The Eskimos display a wonderful skill in fashioning the bonqs and skin of the seal for their various purposes. Their oars are tipped with bone, giving them an elegant and finished appear- ance. The edges and corners of their kayaks are also ornamented with a continuous border of bone, showing a neatness and skill not to be surpassed by the most practised joiner, and tliese canoes, which are often made entirely from different parts of the seal, are remarkable and beautiful specimens of nautical workmanship. The kayak is used for hunting only. It is just large enough for one man, and so light that it re- quires long practice, something like that on the r THE ESKIMOS. 91 tiglit-rope, to keep it from capsizing. This being the case, it is necessary that all the arms and implements used in hunting be firmly secured, to prevent their being lost. This is done in the most ingenious manner. The kayaker's spear and dart are placed before him on the kayak, fixed on little bone brackets, so that they cannot be washed away by the waves, and yet in such a manner that the hunter can seize them instantly. His harpoon-line is coiled securely, but is never- theless free to pay out when the spear is thrown. A large bladder, likewise taken from the seal, and used to enable him to float the body of his cap- tured prey, is placed behind him, securely attached to a bone hook. The construction of the harpoon and dart is most ingenious. The spear is thrown by means ^e a short handle laid against the shaft about the middle. This handle detaches itself from the sliaft, and renyiins in the hand ; and the shaft, after striking the animal, detaches itself in its turn from the point, but remains hanging to it by a thong. This arrangement prevents the shaft from being broken, or the barbed point from being twisted out by the efforts of the animal to get away. To the after-end of the shaft is fastened a small bladder, which prevents it from sinking when the mark is missed, and likewise retards the move- ments of the seal in the water, when struck. I' P I! i: ■Ofl^^^WW W.I 1 1 %I ' f f "^ «'^ill TOO UNDEU TUK NORTHRRN LUIHTS. people. Tho only regular courts were the public meetings, which at the same time sapplied the national sports and entertainments, and greatly contributed to strengthen and maintain the national life. If a person had a complaint against another, he forthwith composed a song about it, to be sung at one of these meetings, and invited his opponent to meet him, announcing the time and place, when and where, he would sing against him. These songs were called Nitli songs, and were used for settling all kinds of quarrels, and punishing any sort of crime or breach of public order or custom, with the exception of those only to be expiated by death, in the shape of the blood revenge. Generally, and always in cases of im- portance, both sides had assistants, who, having prepared themselves for the task, would act the parts of the principals if the latter happened to become exhausted. The cheering or dissent of the assembly at once represented the judgment and the punishment." They still have one of the prettiest customs I think I ever heard of among any people, it is the following : — When any one dies, leaving near re- ations, as brother or sister, father, mother, or even cousins, the next child born in the village is named after the departed one, and replaces to a certain extent the loss. The infant becomes the pet of the bereaved family, who look upon it almost as their own, treat it in the most affec- THK KiSKlMoS. lOl tionate maimer, and always extend to it tlirougli life the greatest kindness. They have been converted to Christianity by the Danes, who established their authority throughout the whole of Greenland, about a century ago. Nearly all can read and write their own language. There is no country in the world in which the schools that have been established in every village are better attended ; and there '.ire very few of the Greenland Eskimos who cannot read and write. The introduction of intoxicating liquors has been prevented, and those acts of violence and oppression which in every other country have destroyed and degraded primitive races, have been here altogether unknown. This may be said to be the only case in which white men have not perpetrated the foulest wrongs on the natives of the countries they have subjected, the only instance in which they have treated their weaker brothers with any degree of justice. To their honour be it said, the Danes have always endea- voured to elevate and educate the natives, and they have refused to profit by selling them things which they thought might prove prejudicial to their health and wellbeing. This example of moderation, kindness, and justice, should entitle the Danes to more respect and consideration than if they could marshal a million of men on the field of battle. ?i il; i (!l ^ ^f i'1 102 UNDER TlIK NUUTIIKUN LIGHTS. •>,• Cloments R. Markliam lias written a most intcresting''])ai)or on the origin and migration of the Innuit, for tlie uso of tlio Arctic expedition commanded by Captain Nares. In this })aper, ho maintains that the Eskimos camo originally from Asia, that groat cradle of tho human race, and that it is among tho Tuski tribes of northern Siberia that we must look for their origin. Ho believes that their separation from those tribes took place at a comparatively modern period — not earlier, perhaps, than tho eleventh or twelfth cen- tury. This paper of Markham's is not easily accessible to tho general public ; and as it is written in a very condensed form, I find I can do no better'' than to make the folloAving interesting extract from it : — " Until within the last nine centuries the great continent of Greenland was, so ftiv as our knowledge extends, untenanted by a single human being — the bears and reindeer held undisputed possession. There was a still more remote period, when fine forests of exogenous trees clothed tho hill-sides of Disko, when groves waved, in a milder climate, over Banks Island and Melville Island, and when corals and sponges flourished in the now frozen waters of Barrow's Strait. Of this period we know nothing ; but it is at least certain that when Erik the Red planted his little colony of hardy Norsemen at the mouth of one of tho Greenland fiords, in the end of the tenth century, TI[K ESKIMOS. iu;i lio apparently found tlio land far more liabitablo than it is to-day. '*For three centuries and a lialf tlie Norman colonics of Greenland continued to flourish ; up- wards of 300 small farms and villaj^es were built along the shores of the fiords from the island of Disko to Capo Farewell. The ancient Icelandic and Danish accounts of these transactions aro cor- roborated by the interesting remains which may bo seen in the Scandinavian nuiseum, at C()i>enhagen. During the whole of this period no indigenous race was seen in that land, and no one appeared to dispute the possession of Greenland with tho Norman Colony. A curious account of a vcyago is extant, during which the Normans reached a latitude north of Capo York; yet there is no mention of any signs of a strange race. Tho Normans continued to be the solo tenants of Greenland, at least until the middle of the four- teenth century. Our last historical glimpse of them shows them living in two districts, in villages along the shores, with small herds of cittle finding pasturage round their houses, with outlying colonies on the opposite shores of America, and occasional vessels trading with Iceland and Nor- way; but no grain would ripen in their fields. They seem to have been a wild, turbulent race of hardy pirates, and their history, short as it is, is filled with accounts of bloody feuds. " All at once, in the middle of the fourteenth 104 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. il century, a horde of men, short of stature, ap- peared on the extreme northern frontier of the Norman settlements of Greenland, at a place called Kindelfiord — the modern Omenak fiord — north of Disko. These men resembled exactly some men Thorwald the Viking had met with on the shores of Labrador, and whom he had contemp- tuously named Skroellings (chips or parings). Eighteen Norsemen were killed in an encounter wirh them ; the news of the invasion travelled to the southern settlements, then called East Bygd ; one Ivar Bardsen came to the rescue in 1349, and he found that all the Norsemen of the West Bygd had disappeared, and that the Skroellings were in possession. Here the record abruptly ceases, and we hear nothing more of Greenland until the time of the Elizabethan navigators, and nothing authentic of either Norsemen or Skroellings until the mission of Hans Egcde, in the middle of the last century. " When the curtain rises again, all traces of the Norsemen have disappeared save a few Runic in- scriptions, extending as far north as the present settlement of Upernivik, some ruins, and the broken church bells of Gardar. The Skroellings, or Eskimos, are in sole possession from Kingitok to Cape Farewell. And the ancient Norse records are fully corroborated by the traditions of the Eskimos, in the statement that they originally came from the north. " The interesting question now arises — whence THE FSKIMOS. 105 came these Greenland Eskimos, these Inuuit, or men, as they call themselves ? We look at them and see at once that they have no, or only very remote, kinship with the red race of America ; but a glance suffices to convince us of their relationship -with tlie Tuski or northern tribes of Siberia. It is la Asia, then, that we must seek their origin, that cradle of so many races, and the search for some clue is not altogether without result. "During the centuries preceding the first reported appearance of the Skroellings in Greenland, and for some time previously, there was a great move- ment among the people of Central Asia. Tugrul Beg, Jingiz Khan, and other chiefs of less celebrity, led vast armies to the conquest of the whole earth, as they proudly boasted. The land of the Turk and the Mongol sent forth a mighty series of in- undations, which flooded the rest of Asia for Sfiveral centuries, and the effects of which were fplt from the plains of Silesia to the shores of tlio Yellow Sea, and from the valley of the Ganges to the frozen tundra of Siberia. The pressure caused by these invading waves on the tribes of Northern Siberia drove them still farther to the North. But these regions were formerly inhabited by numerous tribes which were driven away still farther north, over the frozen sea. Wrangell has preserved tra- ditions of their disappearance, and in them, I think, we may find a clue to the origin of the Greenland Eskimos. Their migrations did not 91 m r;, nt U; %'f :i ..I irf r I ^1 lipiU ■■piM^H I I I I, 106 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. probably take place at one time, but spread over a period of one or two centuries ; and the age of Mongol invasion and conquest was doubtless the age of tribulation and flight for the tribes of Northern Siberia." Mr. Markham finds the first traces of their mi- grations in ruined yourts on Banks Island ; thence he follows them to Melville Island, where a piece of timber, standing upright on the summit of a low, flat-topped hill, was found; by Byara Martin Island, where were some ruined huts, to Bathurst Island, where were found seven huts and some circles of moss-covered stones ; to Cornwallis Island, where were found more huts, a portion of the runner of a sledge, and some very perfect stone fox-traps. From there he traces them down Wellington Channel, along the east shore of which was found an Eskimo lamp lying on the beach near Cape Lady Franklin ; to Griffith Island, where Mr. Markham himself found the sites of four summer huts, some bones of birds, and the runner of a sledge, and the piece of a whale's bone marked with cuts from some sharp instrument ; to Prince of Wales Island, where was found an old Eskimo cache, containing bones of seals and bears; to North Somerset, where Allen Young found some circular walls of very ancient date, used for watching rein-deer ; to North Devon, where Markham again found the remains of huts, and twelve tombs built of limestone slabs, containing / 1* -.^v.. THE ESKIMOS. 107 skeletons ; to the Gary Islands, -where Lg found old ruined liuts and a stone fox-trap, and so on to the coast of Greenland, where they would have aiTived about the time of the invasions of the Skroellings reported by the Norsemen. The region through which they passed, Mr. Markham thinks, would not afford the necessary conditions for permanent abodes of human beings. Open water during the winter in pools and lanes at least appears to be necessary for the existence of Man in any part of the Arctic regions, because seals are to be captured only where there is open water, and this essential is not to be found in the frozen sea through which we have traced tliem. These pilgrims were without bows and arrows, and had no means of catching large game on land. They would therefore travel gradually onward, looking for open water, where they could kill seals with bone spears and darts, until they came to the coast of Greenland, which was very well suited to be the home of these hardy Asiatic wanderers, and here at length they found a resting, place. " Its granite cliffs are more covered with vegetation than the bare limestone ridges to the westward. Its bergs and currents keep the water open during the winter, to which walrus, seals, and bears resort. Without bows and arrows, without canoes, and without wood, the Eskimos of Cape York can still secure abundance of food with their bone spears and darts." ! J ■' ;t 108 UNDEH THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. In addition to the facts already stated, Mr. Markham evidently inclines to the opinion that the Eskimo is a Siberian language, and would class the languages of Greenland, Labrador, Iglulik, Boothia, Kotzebue Sound, and parts of Siberia as dialects of the same mother-tongue, and he gives a list of some of the most common words of the same meaning, in both languages, which certainly are strikingly similar. Dr. Rink, however, is of opinion that the Eskimo icngue is more nearly allied to the languages of America. It is probable that the North American Eskimo and Siberian languages have a common origin, but, until all the languages spoken in Northern Siberia and North America, as well as that of the Innuil' are better understood, the subject must remain in considerable obscurity. 1 i 't 109 CHAPTER X. ESKLMO LITERATUEE. There arc few people who bavo read Mr, Ralston'a cliarming books, " Russian Folk Lore," and " Songs of the Russian People," that will not turn with interest to a work of a similar kind — Dr. Rink's " Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo." This book is a collection of tales, probably the most curious that have ever been ])ublished. They are entirely different from those stories which comprise the folk-lore of otlier peoples, and re- semble them neither in construction, in incident, nor in the dominant idea which governs them. As is well known, the f^lk-lore of all the nations of Europe and of Asia may be considered identical. All the well-known English ami Ger- man tales, such as Cinderella and Bluebeard, are found to exist, with variations, not only in all tlie languages of Europe, but likewise in those of Asia and India. The stories of all these peoples l^:.fi l^^'M h I ' t ? \ 110 UNDIJl 'HIE NORTHETIN LIGHTS. I seem to have had a common origin, in the fiir- away East, at a time perliaps long anterior to history ; and this would account for their strikiiin; resemblance to each other in every country and language. But here is a folk lore, a series of tales that, with the exception of three or four, perliaps, have not the slightest likeness to those stories which for ages have been the delight of the other races of mankind ; here is a people who have no share, no part in this wealth, the common property of the rest of Mankind, but who have a rich mine of their own, infinitesimal in quantity as com- pared to the combined treasures of the rest of the world, but in some respects superior in quality. The first remarkable characteristic of the Eskimo folk-lore, which distinguishes it from that of other peoples, is in the perfect picture it gives of Eskimo life. Their manners and customs, — their dress, their means of gaining a livelihood, their arms and implements and houses, their religious beliefs, their ideas of justice, of right and wrong, are all described with a minute- ness that is astonishing. There is not a weapon nor an implement in use among them, nor a poculiarity of their way of life, that is not meu- 1/ioned in these stories. The kayak, or " Imnting boat," the umiak, or " woman's boat," the harpoon, the dart, the hunt- ESKIMO LITKRATITRE. Ill inf^ bladder, the summer tent, the winter habita- tion, the oil lamp, which furnishes at the same time heat and light, the funnel or chimney which carries off the smoke, the entrance to the houses, the ledge or platform whereon is placed the skins that constitute the bed, their manner of hunting the seal, even the habits of that animal itself, are all so accvu'ately described that any one who had never even heard of the Eskimos could from these stories alone give a very good description of the people. Manners and customs form so important a part of this folk-lore that the stories could not have been borrowed from any other people, unless from a people living amid exactly the same conditions. Nor could any other people adapt the tales to a different kind of existence, so essential a part of tliom are the conditions amid which their scenes are laid. The story of " Jack and the Beanstalk" is of such a nature that it can be told and understood by any people, and actually is told with little varia- tion in every known language. But the story of the boy who used his sister and mother as a hunting bladder is essentially an Eskimo tale, and could only be understood by a people living amid like conditions. Although magic, enchantment, the use of amu- lets, and various other supernatural agencies, play important parts in these tales, they are 1 - -' t I ■' • 1 1 i'l ii- * in J 12 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. ? : !1 i k i! ■'■ < i Hi .! I,; employed in the most direct and unconditional manner. Tliey eitiier confer great bodily strength , by means of which prodigies are performed, or else aid in the every-day affairs of life, as seal- hunting and kayaking. A man may, by the use of the magic art, by intercourse with the mysterious and benevolent beings of the lower world, acquire great strength ; or he may be enabled always to find the seals and to kill great numbers of them, where ordinary hunters cannot find a single one, or he may acquire the faculty of seeing things that are happening far away in distant places, and even transport himself long distances through the air. But this power is always used in a direct and absolute manner. The Eskimo hero has no need of seven-leagued boots nor flying horses to make his journeys ; nor does he require magic rings, handkerchiefs, or other enchanted objects to accomplish his wishes. The magic power rarely lies in any inanimate object, which might there- fore pass from hand to hand, but in the man him- self on whom the power has been conferred. There appears to be none of those complicated conditions which ordinarily attend the use of magic, and necessitate so much care on the part of the magician to prevent this power escaping from him, and perhaps even turning against him. The might once obtained is generally absolute. ESKIMO LITERATURE. 113 Even the power ascribed to amulets seems to proceed rather from the owner of the amulet than to bo inherent in the amulet itself. This most useful article is only useful to its own master, and its power cannot be transferred to anybody else. It is something which seems to form as essential a part of him as his soul or will. When a child is born a bone or part of some animal is given it for an amulet. This bone, at the bid- ding of its master, is capable of suddenly turning into the animal from which it has been taken, and this magic animal becomes a powerful auxiliary, and for its owner's enemies a terrible adversary. It is a curious circumstance, showing how indi- ^^dual prowess is valued, that the power of magic is in most cases employed to obtain great bodily strength, by means of which prodigies are per- formed. The hero fights and kills bears with his hands alone, without the aid of weapons ; he picks up his enemies and flings them on the ground and crushes them, or tears them limb from limb, by sheer brute force. Tremendous strength of this kind is evidently priz ed more highly than mere skill in the use of weapons, and this characteristic would seem to point to the great antiquity of the tales. Another peculiarity of these stories is the absence of all reference to kings and queens, princes and princesses, who play such important parts in the folk-lore of other peoples. M if;; in. 1 114 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. i 1 J t M I: I •1 P. The Eskimos have neither kings nor queens, nor even chiefs, and there is nothing in the least approaching royal authority known among them. All their tales have a direct relation to the every- day affairs of life, as kayaking and seal-hunting, and their heroes are mere ordinary mortals. In fact, their favourite hero — one who appears in a great number of the tales — is a poor orphan boy, who grows up and becomes a mighty hunter. Several of the tales are evidently traditions of events that actually took place ; as those refer- ring to intercourse, encounters and fights with the "Inlanders," who are, Di*. Rink thinks, no other than the Indians of North America. There are only three or four of the tales that bear the slightest resemblance to the well-known stories of other countries. It is worth remarking that one of these is the famous Bluebeard. But the grim old hero has here turned cannibal, and not only kills, but eats his wives, by way of showing, probably, how much he loves them. The incident of the seciet chamber has therefore disappeared ; the Eskimo Bluebeard had no oc- casion to keep a secret room, as he stowed his dead wives away in a far safer place ! There are likewise two or three variants of the well-known story about the man who discovers a number of pretty girls bathing, and steals the clothes of one of them, thus making her a prisoner, while her companions turn into seals or birds ESKIMO LITEKATUKK. 115 and fly away. As in our version he induces her to marry him, and she, after living with her husband a number of years, suddenly disappears, and is never heard of again. There are also two or three relating to the union of earthly, maidens with mysterious super- natural beings of the underground world, which remind one somewhat of the Biblical tradition of the loves of angels for the daughters of men. There is one, however, of a mythological nature, relating to the origin of the sun and moon, on which it would be interesting to have the opinion of Gubernatis, as it is utterly unintelligible to the ordinary reader. Although Dr. Rink dwells principally on the historical and ethnological significance of these tales, they possess for the ordinary reader an interest of a far higher kind. It is the field they offer for psychological study of the Eskimo mind. There is a fascination in observing and analyzing the literary methods and effects that are employed in these tales, in endea- vouring to seize and follow the thought which animates them, in determining the qualities and characteristics that have made them popular, and which on the principle of the survival of the fittest have made them live ; thus to construct, bit by bit, objectively as it were, the mind of this strange people who live amid such extraordinary cou- T ') m > f V ■ I I Uv i i- =«^^#- 116 UNDKR THE NORTH RKN LIGFITS. • )■ L. ditiona, so \on^ separated fi'om the rest of mankind. There is little brilliancy of imagination aud not much ingenuity of invention displayed in the stories. These people are too closely absorbed in gaininr^ a livelihood to find leisure for flights of fancy ; the struggle for existence is too implacable and inexorable to allow time for indulgence of the imagination. Even Love, the imiversal theme, is here scarcely mentioned ; the fire which in warmer climes glows with such fervent heat here waxes dim, and is scarcely taken into account at all. But there is displayed a rugged power in the presentation of facts, in the recital of events, which is striking. The grotesque, the hideous and frightful are depicted in crude but effective colours, and there is a fearful realism in many of the descriptions that makes one shudder. But it is not only in the portrayal of material facts that this power is displayed. In many of the tales an idea is presented with a unity and force tliat places them in point of merit far above the stories of any other people. There is among them a tale of vengeance that ought to satisfy the most vindictive nature. It is of a poor, sickly orphan boy, left to the care of people who, instead of treating him kindly, half starve, beat, and maltreat him in the most cruel manner. They are in the habit of picking him up ESKIMO Lrri;UATURF. 117 of too 10 for e, tlio . ; tho such taken laterial lany of by and above ;e that re. It ;are of .y, half it cruel lim up by tho .lostrils and tossing him about, and — hero the grotesque comes curiously in — tlio result is, that only his iu)strils grow, while tho rest of Ids body remains stationary. Ho becomes ugly and repulsive, which only causes him to bo the moro persecuted. His tormentors, bv way of atnuse- nient, are in tho habit of covering him with filth, and out of mere gai(>ty and lightness of heart, they often fill his clothing with snow, and then keep him out in the cold foi' hours at a time. Finally, a benevolent anil supernatural being of tho mountain takes pity on the ])Oor boy, and by Avrestling with him every day for a long time teaches him how to grow strong. He begins to increase in size and vigour, and as he grows up becomes a very giant in strength, without his tormentors ever suspecting the trans- formation. One day, however, three bears appear on an iceberg near the village. There is nobody among the hunters courageous enough to attack them, and great is the surprise of everybody upon seeing Kagsaksuk, the despised orphan boyj ad- vancing towards the bears without even a weapon. They think at first that he is crazy ; but what is their astonishment and terror upon seeing him ascend the iceberg, seize each bear successively by the fore-paws and beat it to death against tlie ice ! V 118 UN'DEK THE NORTHEEN LIGHTS. The last one be flings among liis former per- secutors, and kills two or three of them. He then descends from the iceberg, and inquires whether anybody wishes to lift him up by the nostrils ! But they all tremble at the mere suggestion, and invite him into the house, give him the place of honour, and offer him food. The cowardice and pusillanimity of the people who are capable of ill-treating an orphan child are then depicted in the most striking manner. He asks for a drink of water, and it is brought CO him by the daughter of one of his persecutors, who had herself been particularly forward in tormenting him. He takes her in his arms as if to kiss her, and squeezes her till, the blood gushes from her mouth, then hands her to the father with the remark, " I think she is burst." To which the father replies, " Never mind, she was good for nothing but fetching water." He next kills a young man in the same way, but the father only said, " It is no matter, he was no hunter." He kills several more by crushing them to death, or tearing them limb from limb, but the others only applaud, until it comes their turn. Finally, he destroys his persecutors to the last one, and then becomes a mighty hunter, and the provider of all the widows and orphans, and of alltliosewho ever showed him any kindness when he was a weak and sickly child. With regard to the severity of the punishment mmm \ \H ESKIMO LITERATURE. 119 iu this case, as compared to the offence, it may be remarked that the one unpardonable sin in the eyes of the Eskimo appears to be the ill-treatment of orphan and sickly children. Although there are other tales in which the idea of revenge occurs, it is only referred to incidentally and without sympathy, while in this case all the details of the vengeance, as tearing the offenders limb from litnb, and crushing them to death, are dwelt upon with evident approval and relish. The idea of revenge does not occur often in these tales. On the contrary, there are several ill which the favourite hero, an orphan boy, although not very well treated in his youth by his house-mates, grows up, becomes a great hunter, and returns good for evil, by providing, in times of scarcity, for the whole village, including the people he had least reason to love. The orphan Iliarsorkik after having been alter- nately adopted and turned out by several people, is finally taken in by a poor widow. He too becomes a great hunter, repays his foster mother by the greatest devotion, and finally one terrible winter when the blow-holes of the seals are frozen over, when all the hunters return home bootless, and the people are on the very verge of starvation, he, alone, by his great skill, is able to find and kill game, and he becomes the provider of the whole village. Once when far out on the ice ho is beset by a , ( V- •,; I - : vm i] 1^ li- illlh 1 7 f»»" 'J i r T'»j»'TT,.'r- •^itwrT-^T^rvf^" !i^ 11 ■I i i r' 120 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. fog, and endeavours to find Ids way liome by the wind. But the wind changes, and he is led by this strange guide to another village, where the people are starving. He becomes their provider likewise, and the good deed performed by the poor widow in taking care of the orphan, is thus paid back, to the whole world, a thousand-fold. The ability to provide for a great number of people would seem to be the greatest glory to which an Eskimo can aspire. When he becomes thoroughly civilized, this barbaric idea will of course be duly eradicated, and his ambition will then be to slaughter the greatest number. To merely terrify an orphan child seems to be considered a grave misdemeanor. One story turns altogether on the following incident. A poor or^Dhan boy who had no friends was at work cue day trying to make a kayak, with no instruments but sharp stones and shells. A wicked man put on a bear-skin, stole up behind, and frightened the boy nearly to death, with the result that he was very much tormented and ridi- culed by everybody. But when the people after- wards came and saw the instruments the poor boy was working with, " they were greatly moved at the sight." The boy grew up, and as usual became a suc- cessful hunter, and an angaJcoh, or magician, as well. It then occurred to him to be revenged. • 'tl ESKIMO LITERATURE. 121 :i.:H This he did by putting on a walrus skin, and playing at walrus with the man who had played at bear with him. He went into the water where his former tormentor would be sure to see him, and thus tempted him to throw his harpoon. This he seized and carried off, by diving under the water, to the great mystification of the hunter. Finally he exposed the trick, and made his old enemy the laughing-stock of the village. The idea of returning good for evil often occurs in the folk-lore. There is one in which an old man is severely beaten, and finally driven out of the village, because he will not give his daughter in marriage to a man she does not love. He goes off to another place, builds a house, hunts seals, and lives all alone with his child. Upon awaking one morning just before day- hght, he observes a man slipping through the doorway. He questions his daughter, and finds to his great joy and satisfaction that she is secretly married to one of the mysterious beings of the mountain. His supernatural son-in-law now becomes pro- vider, and supplies seals in abundance. The old man does not have to go kayaking any more, but can take his ease all day long in his house. While living thus in the greatest abundance he hears that his old neighbours are in the severest need, and he instantly loads a boat with pro- ' i W If < I 'BE 122 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. visions, wliich he takes to tliem as a present. Then, after giving them a great feast, he taunts them mildly with their former behaviour, vaunts the prowess of his son-in-law, becomes reconciled with them, and promises that he will always supply them in time of need. Of all the forms of an avenging Nemesis, I think the most frightful and ghastly ever con- ceived is that of the Eskimos. It is character- istic too that it should only appear as the avenger of child-murder. Examples of the avenging power of this Nemesis occur in two of these stories, and I do not think that even Bluebeard himself could read them without a shudder. In one of these, the daughter of a magician gets married secretly against her father's wishes. As soon as he finds it out, he packs up everything in his umial; or boat, and with his whole family determines to move to another place, taking with him his disobedient daughter. When he is start- ing the husband comes aiiu claims her; but the father refuses to give her up, and takes her away. He camps after two or three days on an island, and here the daughter secretly gives birth to a child, which she destroys. Finally, a long time after they have arrived at their future home, the father decides to give her in marriage to another man. She consents, lives happily with her new husband, and gives birth to several fine children. ESKIMO LITERATURE. 123 But each when it comes to a certain age, on a certain day and hour, suddenly utters a shriek, the blood gushes from its head, and it dies. Finally, the magician determines to try a conjuration, to learn the meaning of this terrible visitation, and he then discovers it to be the ghost of the babe murdered years before, that is thus avenging itself on its 3'ounger brothers and sisters ! This spectre is called an anrjliiak, and it often tiikes a bodily form. In another story there are a number of brothers who refuse to allow their only sister to marry, because there is no other woman in the family, and they want her to stay at home and keep house for them. She gets secretly married ta her lover. But after a i:ime the brothers discover what she has dcvi-^, and so torment and persecute her that at last she brings forth a still-born child. The corpse of this child, like the Russian Vam- pire, becomes animated with a demoniac kind of life and intelligence. It gets up from its grave and wanders forth in the daytime invisible, and takes to persecuting the brothers as the cause of its death. With the skull of a dog for a boat, it follows them out to sea when they go kayaking, and one by one capsizes and drowns them. At night the ghastly thing returns to its mo- ther's couch, creeps under the coverlets, and sucks her breasts. 'il i ■ Mi 124 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. « I ii r.' ■ I Finally, wlien it has avenged itself on its uncles by drowning them to the last one, it goes forth on the world a terrible scourge — a kind of de- strovjp • angel. It has become such a horrible thing to -uok upon, so ghastly an apparition, that everybody who sees it is frightened to death ! All the inhabitants of one whole village are destroyed to the last \l .n by merely looking upon it ! At lr:.:c, a v.' iesi-" magician makes a conjuration to find 01"' ivi iL IS the meaning of this scourge, ar I he di^'co-^ers "■ -^ be the angliiah of the mur- dered child, :7p> 'I V. - :'>ii incantation to destroy it, and the frightful ^hj.iy returns to the dustheap beside its mother's house, buries itself there, and dies! But the idea of retributive punishment does not seem to be a necessary one to the Eskimo mind. There are several stories in which the conception of poetical justice, as v»^e understand it, is altogether absent. Among the Eskimos, if a man commits a crime, there is no regular tribunal before which he can be taken but that of public opinion, no legal punishment to which he can be subjected but the hatred and contempt of his fellows. The result is, that certain crimes, and even murder, may go unpunished, unless avenged in the shape of tlie blood revenge, by a relative of the murdered person. As might be expected, this state of things is ESKIMO LITETtATURF. 125 reproduced in the folk-lore, and there are several talcs in which the interest hangs upon the fact that murder has not been punished. The Eskimo mind does not perceive the neces- sity of that kind of jiistice which demands an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But he has replaced it by a far higher and grander concep- tion. It is that of Remorse ! Several of these tales turn upon this idea alone, and they have touches of pathos that are not surpassed by anything in our own literature. There is one relating the dissensions among a family of brothers. The eldest of the family was a ftimous hunter, and in times of scarcity he and his brothers used to supply the whole village with food by their skill and prowess. But their wives, in distributing the provisions, offended two old men, Avho the first time they found everybody out of the house worked a charm in its walls. The result is, that the eldest brother quarrels with his wife and beats her. At this the youngest son begins to cry, whereupon the child's uncle interferes between man and wife, and a struggle ensues between the two brothers. The other brother interferes to separate them, and a free fight, in which several of the neighbours join, is the consequence. Then the eldest brother takes all his things, moves to another place, and builds himself a house. But from this time war is declared r > !i ■;l s?v I ff'v 12G UNDER TUM NOHTHERN LIGHTS. i I TV 11 between the brothers, and tliey mutually conspire how they can kill each other. The younger brother at last, by the help of a number of conspirators, succeeds in capturing the elder, and kills him by piercing him many times with his spear. But he no sooner sees his brother lying dead at his feet than he thinks of all the kind- ness he has received at that brother's hands, and he repents bitterly. He weeps and says, " Alas ! we have killed him who did well towards us. In the short, dark days when we were almost starving, when the sea was covered with ice, and the land with snow, he did not mind toiling for us. He has saved our lives many a time, and we have killed him. I am sorry, indeed ; now kill me also." But they refuse to kill him, and he lives on many years, always tortured by the pangs of remorse. It will be sr^n that the Eskimo poet has conceived the true idea of remorse. It is not a mere feeling of regret at having done wrong, of having violated a law, but that pang we feel at having inflicted an irreparable injury on a being who loved us. It is a far higher and more pathetic conception of the idea than that contained in tlie story of Cain. For Cain flees before the wrath of an avenging God, and we see only his terror at having brought condign punishment on himself, but no feeling of sorrow for his murdered brother. m\ ESKIMO LITERATURE. 127 In the Eskimo tale, on the contrary, it is remorse for the murder of the brother who had loved and cared for him, unmixed with the baser sentiment of fear. It will be observed that the brothers in the pre- ceding story are unconsciously driven to quarrel with each other by some mysterious occult power set in motion by an enemy. They are forced to commit crimes for which they are not responsible ; they are made to suffer for no fault of their own ; they are playthings in the hands of some fearful diabolical power that amuses itself by torturing and crushing them. The story closes with a reference to the fact that the charm worked in the walls by the two old wizards was thus fulfilled, and it is strange that the old Greek idea of the helplessness of man under the blind, stupid, cruel, relentless decrees of fate should thus appear among a people so utterly different from the Greeks in every respect. There is another story about two friends, who, almost inseparable for a number of years, finally quarrel ; they become partly reconciled, and visit each other, but one of them is very vindictive, and still harbours ideas of revenge. At last he tries to poison his friend by offering liim meat, one side of which he has rubbed against a corpse. But the other is warned by a friendly spirit to turn the meat over, and eat only from the under side. This he does, and escapes uninjured. ir,: |j ', ; 'SI i ;■ l-'H :i iil^ l':! 12S UNDER THE NOUTHERN LlfJIlTS. He now determines to be revenged, and in his turn offers his friend food that has been poisoned in the same way.- The latter has no famihar spirit to warn him, and unaware that his own plan has been unmasked, ho eats without suspicion and returns home. A few days afterwards the other begins to repent of what he has done, and goes to see his friend. He approaches the house, but nobody is to be seen about. As it turns out, the housemates and companions of the poisoned man have all fled in terror. He enters the house, and beholds his friend lying on his back, his head hanging over the edge of the couch, and his eyes staring wildly. The other goes up and asks how he does, but gets no answer. A moment afterwards the sick man suddenly springs to his feet, and shrieks " Because thou hast feasted me basely, I will now devour thee," and then rushes at his visitor. He is a raving madman ! The other flees in terror, is pursued by the mad- man to his kayak, and barely has time to escape. He returns again and again to the house of the madman, and is always received in the same manner. His housemates try to dissuade him from going, but he only replies, " I must go, I cannot stay away," and it seems as though he were continually drawn there by some invisible power which he is unable to resist. He rarely eats now, and still more rarely speaks. He is thinking of ESKIMO LITKRATURE. 129 l\[\ the old days when they were children and play- mates together; of the love they had for each other ; of their life-long friendship ; of the dark crime he has committed; and while thus under- going the pangs of remorse, ho is obliged to witness the fearful sufferings of the madman, without being able to relieve them. Tho latter always springs at him with the same reproachful words, '* Because thou hast feasted me basely, I will devour thee too." No more terrible punishment can be imagined. This continues for a long time ; the same visit repeated, day after day ; the same desperate struggle, always with tho same result. But tho madman is steadily growing weaker and weaker. One day he is found lying on the floor, his eyes far protruding from their sockets staring wildly, and "his nose as thin as a knife-blade." The same oft-repeated scene takes place ; but when the friend returns next day, the madman is gone. The visitor follows his tracks to a cave far up in the mountain, and there he finds him, sitting bent up in the cave, and looking out with staring, bloodshot eyes. The friend speaks, but receives no answer. Then he goes up and touches him, but the mad- man never moves. He is dead. Then the other closes up the mouth of the cave with stones and earth, and goes forth into the world a lonely, friendless, despairing man. E ^1 H i'' k^ \i- - f , ; ■ . J1 '■ i ^^"»»)^»rj"'-»i""ni» I .iiiii " 130 UNDEU THE NORTHERN LIOnTS. »J 7 Such an cndinj^ contains tlie Eskimo idea of poetic justice; the only punishment, the only artistic climax required by the Eskimo mind. It should be remembered that these translations give us probably but a very imperfect idea of the story as told by the composer or poet. They have come down to us shorn of all tlieir original beauty of language. We have them in the merest outline, and none of them exceeds in length more than four or five pages of this book. In some, the dominant idea is barely pre- served ; in others it is evidently quite lost, and the story remains utterly pointless. This is not the fault of Dr. Rink, who has done his work in the most thorough and conscientious manner, but of circumstances over which ho had no control. The greater number of the tales were sent to him in manuscript from different parts of Green- land. They were written down by nearly illiterate Eskimos, who could barely read and Avrite ; persons for whom writing would be a great labour, and the filling of three or four pages of foolscap, a colo^.c^l undertaking. It is not probable that under such circumstances they would give more than the barest outline of the story ; and in truth this is all they have done. These stories were evidently poems, and they were related or sung by professional story-tellers, or minstrels, who would preserve the original ESKIMO LITERATURR. 131 poem in its purity, witli all its beauty, life, colour and draraatic ofTect. But the very men who from command of verbal lanp^uago would become tlio most popular story-tellers are the ones who would probably find the greatest difficulty in putting on paper a story partly recited, partly acted, partly sung, with all the aids of intonation and gesticulation ; and, as might have been ex- pected, they have given us the merest skeleton eutlines. These have been translated into Danish, and from DrvUish into English. Suppose the plays of Shakspoaro to have been transmitted to us in the same way — written down f memory by almost unlettered rustics, then ticii- .ated through two foreign and utterly diss! milar languages, and they would appear in as poor a garb as these tales. But the grandeur of conception would remain wrapped up in homely words aod phrases, like a beautiful woman clothed in rags, or a statue of Phryne, over which somebody should have thrown a beggar's cloak. So it is with these stories. Once you can seize the idea that is vainly struggling for utterance in the simple, homely, ill-chosen words, you are astonished at its originality and beauty. I do not think there is a grander conception of remorse found in any literature than that con- tained in the story of the Blind Boy. It readily falls into the dramatic form, and al- though very short it contains the material for a five- K 2 / uv I*; ! (' M. 1 th ■ ■■ .1 J ■ ■: * mm I ; A 132 UNDER THE NOUTIIKRN LIGHTS. act tragedy ; homely as is the language in which it is given, it is equal in sombre power of conception to Manfred, while it has none of the morbidness of Byron's masterpiece. Although it is probably founded on some event in real life, it would almost seem as thougli the Eskimo poet had constructed the story solely to develope the Eskimo conception of remorse. It is as follows : — There was once a woman who had a son and a daughter. As the son grew up he became a liunter, and one day he killed a thong seal, from the skin of which he proposed to cut some thongs. But the mother wanted the skin for some other purpose, and she and the boy quarrelled about it. Then she went and pronounced a charm on the seal-skin, and when he went to cut it up the end of a thong flew up, struck his eyes and made him blind. The winter came on, they were destitute of seal meat, and had to live entirely on mussels, for the blind hunter could go hunting no more. But one day a bear appeared at the window, and began to eat away the window pane, which was made of skin. The mother and daughter fled to the other side of the house, but the stripling asked for his bow. His sister gave it to him ; he bent it, asked her to take aim for him, and then he shot and killed the animal. The mother said, " Thou hast missed." But the sister whispered, " Thou hast killed the bear." They had now plenty of meat, but the mother ,:ii: ESKIMO LITERATURE. 133 refused to give the boy any, pretending that as he had not killed the bear there was none, and only gave him mussels. But the sister gave him his share of the bear-meat in secret. Finally, in the spring, a flock of wild geese restored the boy's sight, and he resumed his hunting occupations. He with his sister used to go out on the edge of the ice where the seals and white whales (a kind of dolphin) were seen, and ho would kill them with his harpoon. He had no hunting bladder, but he used to tie the harpoon line round his sister's waist instead, and when the animal was struck, they would drag it up on the ice by means of the line. One day he asked his sister, " Dost thou like our mother? " She made no answer, but upon his repeating the question she replied, — " I am fonder of thee than of her." "Then to-morrow," he replied, "she shall serve us for a bladder." The next day ho accordingly proposes to his mother that she should help in the hunt, and to this she consents without the slijxhtest suspicion. He ties the line round her waist as he had done to his sister, but she now begins to grow frightened at " the look that is in his eyes," and when she sees him preparing to throw the harpoon, she cries, — ■ V iU'.^ M N UHIVU^ iMipi^u^ i!.-.i/>«T|q^ii I. jlfV ■■^■"'JIV 134 UNDEli THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. s I " My son, choose a small whale, choose a small III m >> one. Just then a large white whale rises to the surface of the water at the edge of the ice near his feet. He throws his harpoon into the animal, and tlien lets go the line. The whale instantly begins to drag his motlier towards the edge of tlie ice, she struggling with all her might to get free, and crying out for a knife to cut the line. But the son only reproaches her with her cruelty in having made him blind, and says, " This is my revenge." Then she cries out, " Oh my ullo ! my uUo ! it was I that suckled thee, it was I that suckled thee." And this she continues crying until the whale drags her into the water. She floats for a few moments on the surface, still crying, " Oh my son, it was I that suckled thee, it was I that suckled thee ; " then disappears for ever. The brother and sister gaze a few minutes at the spot where she went down, and then, terror- stricken, turn and flee. But the cry of their mother continues ringing in their ears, and follows them wherever they go. They finally fly from the village to the interior of the country, far away from any human kind, with this voice still pursuing them — still ringing in their ears, " It was I that suckled thee, it was I that >'! ESfUMO LITERATURE. 135 Buckled thoe !" like the refrain of " Macbeth shall sleep no more," in Shakspeare's sublime tragedy. They disappear, and nobody who knew them ever sees or hears of them again. But they are not dead. Their death would not carry out the Eskimo idea, and the poet has added one more act to the tragedy in which there is a grandeur of conception not unworthy of Shakspeare himself. The event recorded in this act takes place a long time afterwards ; nobody knows how long. It may be a hundred years, for all, even the chil- dren who knew the matricides, have grown old and died. The tradition of the crime is almost forgotten. The scene is laid in the interior of the house of the angakulc, or priest-magician. It is night — a winter night in the arctic, with an arctic moon throwing its glamour over the plains and moun- tains of ice and snow. Inside the house the priest magician is performing a conjuration, and the people are gathered around, silent and trembling, listening to his muttered incantations. Suddenly they hear a cry outside, and the onijukol', says " Something evil is approaching." They go to the door and look out. There they behold a gigantic hunter a little distance away, standing in the moonlight. His hair is white as the snow on which he stands, and it hangs down over his shoulders in long silvery locks. '\n tri p ^^Wr- 136 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. l!S ! i ■! But his face is black as night. They watch him for a moment, and lie gazes at them with burning, fiery eyes. Then the angakoh comes forward and asks the stranger who he is, and what he wants. The other replies, — *' Do you not know me ? " They answer in the negative. Then he asks, — " Do you remember the son who used his mother for a hunting bladder ? " A very old woman then remembers hearing her mother talk about the crime when she was a very little child. The hunter replies, — " I am that man, and I still live." Then he tells them something of the life of him- self and li'.s sister have lived since that time ; says they are still suffering all the tortures of remorse as on the day of their flight; that he has been driven by some mysterious power to come and denounce himself to the people that the crime may not be forgotten, and — fearful retribution — during all this life of three generations, day and night, the voice of their murdered mother has been always ringing in their ears, — " Oh, my son, it was I that suckled thee, it was I that suckled thee ! " Then he disappears, and is never heard of more. iA 137 CHAPTER XI. ESKIMO JOE. WnEX Captain Allen Young decided to undertake an Arctic voyage, one of the first men lie engaged to go along with him was Jo- seph Eberbing, better known to the world as " Eskimo Joe." Joe arrived in due time, and shipped in the Pandora as able seaman, hunter, and interpreter ; but his accomplishments in the latter capacity proved to be somewhat limited ; for al- though to all appearance a master of the Eskimo tongue, and speaking its various dialects more or less fluently, he knows scarcely any English. This somewhat impairs his use- fulness as interpreter, as it is almost as hard to understand his interpretation as it is the original expression in the mouth of a wild Eskimo. JOE IN ILEET STBBET U\ \n 138 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. ,i- On the outward voyage I was rash enough to undertake to learn the Eskimo language, with Joe for a teacher, an enterprise which I may as well confess resulted in an ignominious failure. It proved to be the most heart-breaking work I ever undertook ; partly because the structure of the language is so utterly different from that of any other, and I had been unable to obtain a copy of either of the three or four grammars that have been written on it, but principally because Joe's vocabulary is very limited and meagre, and his ideas of the meaning and uses of the English verb are of the most vague and indefinite description. But if I did not learn much of the Eskimo language, I learnt a good deal about Joe himself, and he proved to be by far the most attractive study of the two. For Joe is one of the most interesting and pleasing characters I ever met. It took me some time to discover that there was any more in him than appears at first sight, for he is naturally of a retiring disposition, which, with the fact that he speaks little English, and knows that he is liable to be misunderstood and oven laughed at, makes him reticent and reserved. There is, besides, a quiet dignity and gravity about him which effectually repels anything like idle curiosity. He resents the idea of being regarded in the light of the mere show, which people are only too apt to behold in a poor Eskimo. It was only after a long series of ex- ESKIMO JOE. 139 asperating lessons in his native tongue, wliicli usually ended in a talk about Captain Hall and tlio Polaris Expedition, that I won his confidence. The first thing Joe did when he came to London, although he had absolutely no clothes except what he wore on his back, was to buy an umbrella, in which investment he spent, I think, his last penny. It is true that in the climate of London an umbrella is not the least useful thing one could have, but I do not think Joe was moved by any considerations of weather or fear of rain ni making this acquisition. I am inclined to the opinion that he bought it because he looks upon an umbrella as the highest expression of civiliza- tion, and, as such, a right and proper thing for every man to have. For Joe professes a great admiration for civilization, and evi'rything per- taining thereto. He would walk about the streets of London with the umbrella in his hand, viewing everything with an admiring though critical eye, and a grave, complacent air that was very pleasant to behold. " London — big place," he would say, " pretty good noise — plenty buggy — hansom — go fast — two wheels — hurt him head — not hear speak ])retty good — streets stony — pretty crooked — not find him right road hotel — not pretty easy — plenty men want speak me — not know him." By which I understood him to say that — " London is a very large and beautiful city, but tuiA :^; if;M ll '■ '?)'»■ ' ':?f^' 140 UNDER THE NOUTUERN LIGUTS. that the noise, however, is deafening and terrible, owing to those strange-looking vehicles the han- som cabs, of which there are an infinite number, and that, mounted on two wheels, go dashing over the stone-paved streets with such velocity tliat the uproar actually hurts your head, and at times prevents your hearing yourself speak. The streets, too, are very intricate and complicated, so much so, that it is almost impossible to find one's way about, and very difiicult to find one's hotel. There are a great many people who want to speak to me, but as I see they are prompted by mere idle curiosity, I repel their advances, and decline to enter into any conversation further than is absolutely required by the laws of polite- ness. He was not in very good health when in London, just before starting. His face was thin and hollow, and he had a disagreeable cough, which was pr(3- bably caused partly by the warmth of the summer, but principally, I am afraid, by an inordinate use of tobacco, of Avhich he is as great a smoker as General Grant. " By'n bye git him little seal- meat, then all right," he remarked, in reference to this cough ; and his predictions were quickly ful- filled. We had no sooner got amongst the ice, and killed a seal, than he began to grow fat, liis cheeks began to puff out, and his whole expres- sion to change. Wliether it was the seal-meat, or the cold, bracing, icy air, and healthy active life, ESKIMO JOE. 141 or all those tbino^s together, I am unable to say, but certain it is that Joe was another man from that time forth. It was pleasant, on a bright sunny day, when the ship was gliding almost silently along over the smooth, still water, and slipping now and then noiselessly past some huge iceberg, to get Joe to talk about Captain Hall and the Poi-aris Expedi- tion. If it were his watch, and there was nothing to do, I would generally find him leaning against the rail, or a boat, smoking his pipe, and watching the sea. His face always wore a sedate, grave expression, which was, however, tempered by a gentle, good-natured look, that made it a very pleasant face to see, in spite of its Mongolian features. " Joe," I would say, perhaps, " how would you like to stay out here all winter ? " " Don' know," he would reply ; " long time — stay all winter — think better go home — like see Hannah." " You are lonesome without Hannah, are you? " I ask. " Yes— little." "You wouldn't like to winter, then, would you? " " Oh, yes, if Cap'n Young winter I like winter too. But think better winter New York." " You wintered a good many times with Captain Hall?" 11 : .1 ■d Si' 142 UNDKR THE NORTOERN MOnTS. .^{ m ( =■) "Yos; five, six, seven winters Cap'n Hall." " How did you like Captain Hall?" " Like him vely much — vely much ; he vcly good man — good to me; vely good tome. No other friend like Cap'n Hall." Then, after a pause, looking away out to sea, — " Dead now." " Do you think, Joe," I ask after a moment, " if Captain Hall had lived, that ho would have gone very much farther north ?" " Yes, think he do it — he want go furder — North Pole — you know — nobody on ship un'er- stan' Cap'n Hall vely well — he think — read good deal. Nobody know him pretty good ; vely good heart — give everything go North Pole. Want to go good deal — nobody un'erstan' him." " Joe, what was the reason you did not all go on to the North Pole after Captain Hall died?" " No cap'n ; nobody cap'n. Cap'n Budding, he cap'n. Captain Tyson, he cap'n. Doctor, ho cap'n too. Mr. Chester, cap'n. Mr. Myers, cap'n; me cap'n; everybody cap'n — no good." "Why didn't Captain Buddington go?" " Guess he got about enough — not want go no furder — maybe couldn't — don' know. "What kind of man is Captain Buddington?" "Vely good man — like him vely much — like Mrs. Budding' too — good friend Hannah — come to see her — help her — tell her what to do." I asked him one day about that unfortunate ESKIMO JOE. 143 jifTair Captain Hall had one clay with tlio four sailors of a whaling ship, whom he cmployod to go with him in an attempt to reach King William's Laiul. As is well known, these men mutinied, and Hall shot one of them. "You heal (hear) about that too?" he asked, when I mentioned it to him. " Yes," I replied, " a little, not much ; how was it?" " Want to take him boat — Cap'n Hall want boat heself — speak him not take boat — men not mind — all go down — see boat — one man get in — Cap'n Hall shoot him." "What did the others do then ?" " Run back house — get guns, shoot Cap'n Hall — no gun there " (with a chuckle) — " I take him — hide him — no can't find him gun." " Then what did they do ?" " Everybody shake hands." " What did they do that for ?" "Vely good friends. Do what Cap'n Hall speak him. Say Cap'n Hall, you good man — we wrong — not take him boat no more — all right." " What did they say to you ? " "Me all right too — good friend — Hannah all right — everybody all right — shake him hand." " Did the man who was shot die quick ? " " Die after while — pretty soon — same day." " Did he say anything after he was shot? " " I never heal (hear) him say nothing — pretty m ' ' VI 1^ :?; ,! :< :■ '1 !! ■ I ; 144 UNDER THE NOBTUEliN LIliliTS. ■' bad — plenty Inirt hira — not can speak — tliliik lio not know much — everybody very sorry — die after while — bury him." I asked him once if they had seen any Eskimos on King William's Land. He said they had, and that they were at first disposed to be hostile. " Men all come out meet us — no women — no children — bad sign — march like soldier — one after other — ten, fifteen — all carry spear — some, kuifo tied stick — don know where he learn hira — never see Eskimo march that way." " What did they say ? " " Say want to fight." " What did you say then ? " " We speak hira — not want to fight — not come fight — corae find white man lost — Franklin." " What did they do then ? " " Throw down spears — hold up hands — say all right — we not fight — friends — then women, chil- dren all come out see us — speak, go in house — give us plenty Seal meat." To my questions about what the Eskiraos would probably do with Franklin's papers, if they found any, he said, — " Think give him children play with him — after while tear him up — burn him." The most interesting talks I had with him were, however, about the winter on the ice with Tyson's party. He speaks very kindly of everybody in this party, but his feelings seem to be rather a ■ifcji. # ESKIMO JOE. 145 kho aft or Imoa , and 1 — no 1 after kuifo -never b coiuo -say all cliil- louse — would found -after were, ty son's ]ody in itlier a compound of pity and forp^ivcnoss than of friond- sliij), and tlio truth in tluit Joo had a ^ood deal to pity as well as to for^ivo in their behaviour towards him. I have just been readinf^ over again tlie old jiccounts of that wonderful winter on the ice, as given in the papers by Captain Tyson and his comrades; and 1 must say that I could scarcely repn s my indignation when I saw that the namo of Joo is not even mentioned. They tell us how, when they found there was no hope of reaching land, they built snow-houses, in which they lived all the winter ; how they hunted ; how they suffered from the cold ; how they shot seals and bears and birds, with which they eked out their store of ship's provisions ; how, when they Avere once out of food of all kinds, they managed to kill a great Ugjuk seal ; how another time, when they had not tasted anything for thirty-six hours, they killed a bear, which was sent in their way, and which sup- plied them Avith food for a few tlays more ; and we melt with pity and admiration at the recital of such steady, undaunted courage and fortitude. A long tune afterwards it turns out that it was ' A't .juilt them their snow-houses ; that it V.O ho hunted for them throutifh the lonof I ble .inter; that it was Joo who killed so numy seals; that, in fact, nobody elso but Joe nd Hans killed a -single seal , that it was he wdio killed the big Ugji when they were at the point of starvation ; tb wjis Joe who killed the bear, L :--l it ,•1'! n.' 1 iC. ' i ■ s,wi7»wpvv«^'^^^«''' ■*si"™'T"«.'V'«iKrr<^" 146 UNDER THE NORTHEKN LIGUTS. without wliicli tlicy must all have died; tLat it was in fact Joo, and Joo alone, wbo saved the lives of the whole party. And yet there is not a word of Joo in all the first accounts of the disaster. He is incidentally referred to as one of the " natives," and wc are left to infer that they, with their children, were dread- fidly in the way. It is true that a long time afterwards, when the journals of some of these men were published, journals written at the time when the danger was still before them ; when Joo was feeding them from day to day like children ; when he gave them every moment a fresh display of skill and hardihood, cool com^age, and simple devotion to duty ; when the impulse was still warm in them, we find an acknowledgment of their debt to Joe, in words that overfloAV with gratitude, and bear an impress of sincerity and truth. llerron says in his journal, " Joo is very much to bo praised, also his wife Hannah. Wo may thank them and God for our lives, and for tno good health we are in. Wo could never have got through thus far without them. If wc over get out of this difiiculty, they can never bo too much paid." Tyson also renders Joe a tardy kind of justice in his journal, but, even here, the passages referring to the Eskimos are written in a carping tone. These " natives, " ho says, were employed as hunters for the expedition, and paid mmm ESKIMO JOE. 147 for that purpose, and therefore they were doing nothing more than tlieir duty." But when the danger was over, when these men were safe aboard a good strong ship, and there was no more need of a seal-hunter, they appear to have for- gotten Joe. These noble white men evidently did not think it wo?'th while to speak of so poor a creature as an Eskimo — a kind of negro — who liad saved their lives. It must not be pupposed, however, that Joo looks upon them as ungrateful. I sounded him on tliat point, but he said, — '■ They all vely good men — like me good deal — meet him — say Joe — how you do — you save our life — come take a drink — give cigar sometimes too." And in this he seemed to tlilnk that they were very generous. " Did they ever try to go out and kill seals ? " 1 asked him. " Kill him seal. No ! never go out house — try keep warm — afraid go out — pretty cold — vely weak " — (with a great deal of contempt) — " not know how kill him seal — nothing but starve." It seems that they not oidy novel' went out to look for seal themselves, but that when Joo would bring in one, they would often take it and divide it up in tlieir own way, giving him just as much as tlu^y thought he ought to have. Hans used to object to this, and more than once threatened to I'un away and leave them to shift for themselves; L 2 vr |M; ji .! ^■'^*40r^m,im^tfm i#*aM^jL,. .. ^.^L. J-_!!? 148 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. but Joe, wliom he obeyed in everything, matlo him stay. Hans, besides, had Httle success as a hunter, and fully nine-tenths of the seals broup^ht in, were killed by Joe. When Joe killed the big Ugjuk seal, they took it into their heads that he was trying to cheat them out of the liver, because he told them it was not good to eat. The liver of the Ugjuk seal, like that of the boar is poisonous, while of other seals it is a great delicacy. They therefore determined to eat tlio liver. Joe's account of the result was very amusmg. " After while, all sick — skin all come ofE face, look very bad — one man black — nigger-man" — (there was a negro in Tyson's party) — *' after while little skin come off here — little there — then ho spotted — by'n by skin all come off — then he white man — he ! he ! he ! he ! he ! " And his sharp black eyes tAvinkled, his face expanded, and his sides shook with half-suppressed laughter, as the picture of the negro turning into a white man, by eating Ugjuk liver recurred to him. Tyson says in his book that Joe and Hans were afraid of being killed and eaten by the men, and that ho himself suspected some of them of tliis design. Indeed, Hcrron says in his journal, " I hope wo won't bo reduced to cannibalism ; but if the Lord wills it, we must try and sub- mit." This pious expression of submission to the ESKIMO JOE. 149 made CSS as seals ! killed heads e liver, to eat. ,lie bear a gvcat eat tl\o as very off ^ace, ■-man"— Etor while -tlien lie lien lie And liis idcd, and ghtcr, as bite man, [aBS were Imen, and of tliis liiriial, " 1 isra ; b^^ land sub- to tli<^ possible necessity of eating the man who was providing for them is highly edifying. \Vlicn I asked Joe about this, ho only laughed. " Kill me ! no danger, kill me — not get any more seal — know better — try kill me — tako Hannah — run away — build house — kill him plenty seal for me and Hannah and little Ponney. Poor httle Ponney dead now" — and ho looked very sad. Little Ponney, Joe's child, died some time after tlieir return to America. " Captain Tyson seemed to think they wero going to eat you and Hans, and the women and children," I said. " Maybe Captain Tyson think so — I not think so — I not afraid o' that, couldn't do it." " But, Joe," I said, " why diiln't you take Hannah and little Ponney, and go away off on tlio ice somewhere, build a house, and catch seals for yourself ? Three or four seals would have been enough for you all winter. You must have killed sixty or seventy." " All die." " All who would die ? " " Captain Tyson and everybody." " But they somethnes wouldn't give you some of the seals you had killed ? " " No, that not so — always give me little — some- times not much — Hans ho not like that." " But why didn't you run away, Joe? " 11: !■ li' ' 1! n /■ I't H'f •I •'lt%mi*^t'* ■' " •'••VIS.'* 150 UI^DRR THE NORTHERN LIGRTS. "Cap' 11 Hall not like that— say — Joe, you come witli me — you kill liim plenty seal for expedition — I come to hunt him seal, reindeer, bear." " But Captain Hall was dead ! " " Yes ; dead now. Cap'n Hall good man ; good man. If Cap'n Hall alive, he not run away. I not run away neither." I took his hand, and shook it involuntarily, saying, however, — " In your place I would have run away, Joe." " What for run away ? If men all die, what I speak him Sec'ry Robeson when get home America? Before start — Sec'ry Eobeson — he say — Joe, you hunt him plenty seal — kill him plenty bear, rein- deer — by'm by — I come back — men all dead — Sec'ry Robeson speak him — Ho say, Joe, you bad man — you no do right — Sec'ry Robeson good man — vely good man — then I feel pretty bad — I no like that — no good." It will be seen tliat Joe has very good old- fashioned ideas on the subjects of honesty and duty, even though he does not speak English with all the correctness and fluency which could bo desired. I have endeav.; red to give his own words as nearly as possible, because Joe's talk is a part of himself, and once you get accustomed to it, there is a certain charm in his rugged iutor- jectional English. Usually, when a savage is brought within the > ESKIMO JOE. 151 influences of civiliy.ation, ho becomes degraded and depraved, and soon unites in himself all the vices of a civilized and of a barbarous state, with the virtues of neither. This has not been the case with Joe ; he appears to have dropped all his savage vices, if he ever had any, and to liave acquired only the virtues of civilization, thus solving in his own person a problem which usually takes three or four generations to work out. Ho had been with Hall for several years, and Hall, who was one of those rugged, honest, devout, sincere men, an old-fashioned believer in right and wrong, seems to have implanted his principles in Joe. Joe appears to try, even now, to be like " Cap'n Hall," and always to do as he thinks Hall would have done. I believe it was in trying to imitate him, in holding up Hall as a model for himself, that this poor uneducated Eskimo learned how to become a hero — a hero, too, of the grand and noble typo. Tliero is not in tlio whole history of Arctic Exjdoration, and it is full of acts of courage, of fortitude, noble de- votion, anything that surpasses the heroism of this simple Eskimo. I defy anybody to read the evidence contained in the report of the Secretary of the United States Navy, Captain Tyson's journal, and the journals of tlie other men, without feeling a gcMie- rous glow of admiration for the sturdy, unconi- ^ M \f..' il ' 'r: ■1 152 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. I; \S i plaining fortitude, the cheerful hopefulness in the midst of despair, when the lives of the whole party depended alone upon his unaided exertions ; for the cool courage and steady hand, when ho knew that if he missed his shot, the whole party, his wife and child included, must perish; for the quiet, unconscious heroism displayed by Joe throughout. Day after day, if the word "day" can be used in connexion with what for a great part of the time was total darkness, during the long cold winter, with the thermometer fifty de- grees below zero, Joe went out to hunt. He would remain for hours in the darkness, and driving snow-storms, waiting beside some hole in the ice for the appearance of a seal. No number of failures seemed to discourage, no length of waiting to weary him. Storm and darkness, whid or bitter cold, it mattered not. He would re- turn nine times out of ten with nothing, per- haps, but he would start out again and again ; ho would watch for hours, and even days, beside a seal-hole, until, at last, his patience would be re- warded by the appearance of the long-expected seal, when they were on the very verge of star- vation. Herron's journal is full of such entries as these : — " Wediiesdaij, March t>tJi. — Joe went out in the last blow ; it seems he cannot stay in ; he is a "4tL«£L^. m' ESKIMO JOE. 153 first-rate fellow; wo would have been dead men long since, had it not been for him. " November (jth. — Joe caught a seal, which has been a godsend ; wo are having a feast to-niglit ; three-fourths of a pound of food being our allow- ance. " 2lst. — The natives caught two seals. " 22nd. — Joo caught one seal ; another good supper we had. " Dec. 20th. — Joo found a crack yesterday, and three seals ; too dark to shoot. " 29th. — Joe shot a seal, which is a godsend, as we are pretty weak ; we have had a good supper, thank God. " Jan. 26th. — Joe caught a seal in a blow-hole to-day ; this will get up our strength, as we barely live on the scoush. " Feb. 20th. — We must soon get a good lead of water running in shore, and so escape, or kill seals ; else our time in this world will be short. " 21st. — Joe shot a seal. " April 22nd. — Mr. Myer is starving ; he cannot last long in this state ; chewed on a piece of skin this morning that was tanned and saved for clothing. " Joe ventured off on the ice tho fourth time, and, after looking a good while from a piece of iceberg, saw a bear coming slowly towards us. Ho ran back for his gun. We all lay down and remained perfectly still, Joe and Hans (; : tr 'I ■■ ^iM-C 'I. J 54 UNDER THE NORTnERN LIGHTS. : m ImiII: going out somo distance to meet the boar. Get- ting beliind a hummock, tliey waited for liim. Along camo Bruin, thinking ho was coming to a meal, instead of furnishing one himself. Clack, bang, went two rifles, and down went Bruin, to save a starving lot of men. The Lord bo praised ! this is His heavenly work. We cannot catch a seal for the pash-ico, and we are in bad scaling ground. He therefore sends a bear along where bears are seldom seen, and we certainly never expected to find one. The poor bear was hungry himself; there was nothing in his stomac]i. Joe, poor fellow, was looking very much down on our account. Everything looks bright again now." March 2iid. — Captain Tyson writes : — " Joe has shot a monster oogjook, a large kind of seal, the largest I have ever seen. It took all hands to drag him to the huts. Peter fairly danced and sang for joy. No one who has not been in a similar position to ours can tell the feeling of relief which his capture produced. How we re- joiced over the death of this oogjook it would bo impossible to describe. It was indeed a great deliverance to those who had been reduced to one meal of a few ounces a day. Hannah had but two small pieces of blubber left, enough for tlio lamp for two days ; the men had but little, and Hans had only enough for one day. And now, just on the verge of absolute destitution, comes along this monstrous oogj(.)ok, the only one of the the ig of re- el bo ^reat o one but mv tlio , and now, omes f the ESKIMO JOE. 155 seal species soon to-day, and the follow, T have no (Joiibt weighs six or seven hundred pounds. Truly, wo are rich indeed. Praise the Lord for His mer- cies. A few dovekies wero also shot, but the oogjook is the joy of our eyes. Our glorious oogjook proved on measurement seven feet nine inclies in length from head to tail, excluding tho latter ; adding the hind flipper, he measured fully nine feet. What a godsend ! " 17th. — Soon after sunrise I espied a largo oogjook. Joe was at a distance, and not having Lad as much practice as he, and feanng I might not kill it with my inferior rifle, I beckoned Joe to como along with his Springfield. In tho meantime, to keep the creature from slipping away, I commenced whistling. I whistled until Joe crept along to within shooting distance, and killed the oogjook. Ho has killed three seals to- day, but one sank and was lost. ^' Jayi. 16th. — Found the natives had shot a seal. It seems as though God lots one get to the verge of despair, and then sends some mitigating cir- cumstance to relieve tho gloom. I ordered the seal to be taken into Joe's hut to be divided ; as he did the most towards getting the food, I thought this was right. One of the men, however, took it upon himself to take it into their hut. They have divided the seal to suit themselves, and 1 hope they are now satisfied ; but it does seem hard on the natives who have huuted day after 1 f ' BK , ; ; ' In, ' ^' i^H ii;: HB li': Hi [ . ■ 1 ;i V. VlV: !;■ ; I ■! t k ; 156 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. I ': day in cold and storm, while those men lay idle on their backs, or sat playing cards in thoir huts, built by these same natives whom they thus wrong. A native will sometimes remain watching a seal-}iole thirty-six or forty-eight hours before getting a chance to stroke, and if the first stroke is not accurate, the game is gone for ever. " 19th. — Joe and Hans hunting, but it was blowing heavy and very cold. Joe says he tried to shoot, but that he shook so with the cold that he could not hold his gun steady, and that his fingers were so numbed that he could not feel the trigger, and so the seal escaped. " 22nd. — Joe is not well, I hope he will not get down sick, for wo depend greatly upon him. Though such a little fellow, he is a mighty hunter in his way. " 29^/i. — The Esquimaux ofi" as usual on the hunt. They do not stop for fog, cold, or wind. Were it not for little Joe, Esquimaux though he be, many, if not all of this party must have perished before now. He has built our snow-huts, and hunted constantly for us, and the seals he has cap- tured have furnished us not only with the fresh meat so essential to our position, but without the oil from the blubber we could neither have warmed our food, nor had any means of melting ice for drink. We survive through God's mercy and Joe's ability as a hunter. " Feb. 1st. — Little Puuoy, Joe and Hannah's n^'-Vil ESKIMO JOE. 157 child, a little girl, is sitting -wTJippcd up in a musk-ox skin ; every few minutes she says to her mother, * I am so hungry 1 ' The children often cry with hunger ; it makes my heart ache, but they are obliged to bear it with the rest. *• 7th, — "We have had some little trouble over the seal this evening. Hans, if he gets a seal, which is seldom, for ho has shot but few, wishes to appropriate it all to his own family's use. He is a very thoughtlcFS Esquimaux, or selfish ; he is not a successful hunter, like Joe, nor has he Joe's sense. He does not know how to build a hut for himself, or, at any rate, he did not do it; Joe built it for him. He threatened this evening, not to hunt any more. He was hired, and will be paid if we ever get home, for the very purpose of hunting for the expedition ; it is no favour on his part." The thoughtlessness and selfishness of Hans consisted in wishing to give the game he had captured, to his starving wife and children. " 19th. — Saw only one seal to-day, Joe shot him. This seal the men took possession of, and divided as they pleased. Joe was very angry, which was no wonder. Joe and Hans are exposed many hours every day to the wind and cold, and it comes very hard that these idle men should take the seals from them." Be it remembered that Joe was in no wise bound to stay with these men. He could at any moment — when they were huddled together in the i^ 158 UNDEU THE NORTHEUN LIGHTS. honso ho had l)iiilt for thorn, trying? to kcc]) a littlo warmth in tlicir starved bodies, and afraid to stir out of doors — have picked up his few effects,, and, with Hannah and the chihl, gone off fifteen or twenty miles on the ice, and there have built a snow-house for himself. Jfero ho would not liavo been obliged to share the hard-earned spoils of his spear and gun with others ; to take the food out of the mouths of his wife and child to give to a lot of men who, according to their own accounts, were ungrateful, and often unjust towards him, and who evidently looked upon him as a poor creature of an inferior race. But, " Cap'n Hall not run away ; I not run away neither." And yet when these men wore finally rescued, they did not, in the accounts they gave the papers, say a word about Joe, nor even mention his name. When, on the publication of those journals, a long time afterwards, the truth did appear, it did not come out in such a way as to attract public attention. Joe speaks littlo English ; his old friend, Captain Hall, was dead; and there was nobody to look after him. Joe told me he has not received all his pay for the time ho was engaged in the PoLAins expedition. I do not know how this is, as he speaks English so badly that it is impossible to get a clear idea of the contract he made, how much he was to get, nor what he actually ESKIMO JOK. 169 did receive. But I thitik tlmt either flome col- lection nf^cnt pot part of thia money, or else that Hull had promised lum a good deal more than liis rcfj^ular pay from the Government, a ])romiso which of course ho would havo fullilled, had ho over returned. As it is, Joe is cast loose on tho world, with no means of gaining a livelihood, except by going with Arctic ships, and that lie cannot always do. IIo is too light and small to do heavy work, and ho has no trade ; his only dependence now is Hannah, who is obliged to sew for a hving. If Secretary Robeson had systematically organ- ized this PoLAiiis expedition with tho intention of making it a failure, tho arrangements, I thiuk, could scarcely havo been more perfect. In tho first place he gave two foreign scientific gentlemen to Hall, to tako charge of tho scientific department, who, for tho reason that they were highly educated in tho best Universities of Europe, could not understand the rough-and-ready merits of Hall, and had in fact a good deal of contempt for him. The result was that they soon quarrelled, and that one of them at least mutinied before they had been long at sea. I use the word " mutinied" advisedly, for in a man-of-war ho would havo boon put in irons. Hall was no seaman nor navigator, and could not of course handle a ship ; but to make up for this, they gave him an old whaling captain, who was utterly unfit for tho t ' vW im I IGO UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. position," w!io cared no more to reach the Nortli Polo than to reach the moon, and wlio looked upon the whole business as the most extra- vagant nonsense ; and yet this man, owing to Hall's ignorance of seamanship, was really commander of the expedition. .As if this were not enough, they gave him a mongrel crew of Germans, Danes, Russian:;, English, and Americans, and then bundled them all off together to the Nortli Pole. In this American expedition, there were only four or five Americans, all told, and there wer.' but two or tlireo Engildh. Thus many of the crow were unable to understand each other. Captain Tyson complains in his journal that tlio men were always talking German, and that he could not understand a word they said. An ex- pedition organizofl in such a manner could oidy result in fiiilure. But there was one man who made amends for all these mistakes; one man whose heroism redeemed the faults of all the others, whoso courage saved the expedition from ending in a terrible and frightful, as well as disgraceful, disaster. He was an Eskimo, a being of an inferior race, who spoke English badly. Secre- tary Robeson therefore discharged him when his services were no longer needed, without reward', without a shake of the hand, or w^ord of thanks. ' See Ai)pendix. loF. ON HIS NAinr jidaiii. |l';l^'..■ li;o. J'll; li'l in.1. I.I J* Vi ■ ■« IB ¥ ■^I^H'^^H v9ii H< j|.i^na 'Hi i l H 1 H B^H ^ i' I'^Ih I j iifli i IGl CHArTER XII. LEAVING THE WAIGAT. What a miserable, dirty, disrcputable-lookmg ship the Pandoea was next morning after coaling ! A dull, dar^p, heavy fog, that made the coal bluffs of Kudlv" ;: i<»! m up high and indistinct on the star- board ocl:^, that seemed to hang about the shrouds and rigging in festoons, and trickle down the ropes in little streams and drop on the decks in puddles, wliere it turned to ink in the coal-dust, which now covered the ship like a thick coat of dirty, black paint. Her decks, when she left Portsmouth, bad as we then thought them, were clean and respectable and orderly when compared to their present condition. Coal everywhere, from the jibboom to the taffrail; everything was covered with it; you could not touch a rope without having it trickle through your fingers in a thick, dirty ooze, nor lay your hand on anything without getting it painted black. It seemed to travel and climb, too, for it went below and invaded the wardroom and cabins, turning everything a dirty black, and I found it on the shrouds at the main- ■ i! iiii r'\] s < ( ' '1' i:l f ; I ^1^ k u\ in :l 1G2 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. top. Tho Pandora, in short, was reeking with coal, saturated with coal, drunk with coal ; she had greedily gorged herself until she rolled and stag- gered deep down in the water, when wo com- menced getting her under way, and groaning ag though protesting against being disturbed until Bhe had digested her gluttonous meal. The dogs ran about with drooping tails, and hair streaming with dirty, inky water, seeking in vain a place to lie down in ; and even " Mr. Hogan," the pig, had changed his coat of white for one of sooty black, as though he had been dis- guising himself with a view of escaping to avoid attendance on a Christmas dinner to which he Lad long since been invited. In a short time each of us was transformed into a kind of cross between a coal-heaver and a chimney-sweep, and we went about glaring at each other like negro minstrels, with distended eyeballs that seemed to have sud- denly turned all white. But this was a state of things we had expected, and which we knew had to be endured until our deck-load of coal should be consumed, and we thero» fore made the best of it. We got out of Waigat Strait during the day, and following the coast of Greenland, were soon favoured by light breezes blo'^rving from the south, south-west, and south-east — almost the first fan" winds we had had since leaving England. We got into Upernivik on the morning of the ^■i LEAVING THE WATGAT. 163 -: ;l 9 1 I with e had stag- com- iig as . until s, and dng in L "Mr. f white een dis- to avoid 1 he had each of ibetween went linstrels, lvo sud- cpected, intil our M ve there* B the day, ■ jrc soon H soutli, Ifirst fair ur f the 13th, but did not drop anchor, as Captain Young only proposed to stop long enough to leave lettv -q and buy, if possible, a couple of dogs. The Governor soon camo off in his boat, kindly bringing with him his meteorological journal, by which we were enabled to see what had been the direction of the winds during the last three months — an important factor always to be taken into consideration in ice navigation. It is upon winds more than anything else that navigators depend for breaking up the ice and opening the way to the higher latitud^^s within the Arctic circle. If strong northern winds prevai' during the early part of the summer, then the it •:» which is breaking up will be dr ven south through Hudson Bay and Davis Strait into the broad Atlantic, and the northei'n watars will be found in August and September quite clear. If, on the contrary, the winds blow mostly from the south, the ice will move out very slowly, or perhaps not at all, and the northern seas will remain closed until the rapidly returning winter locks them up again for another year. We found, upon looking over the Governor's journal, that northern winds had been blowing steadily from the 22nd of April until the 1st of June, and that during the months of June and July they had for the most part prevailed, with only an occasional breeze from the south, which had, however, never lasted long. The probabilities M 2 '1 i; ii I . IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 [fi^ IIIM 2.5 2.2 I.I 1^ 2.0 1.8 // /. f/. ^^ 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► Hiotographic Sciences Corporation ^ \ ^ s \ %* . ■T<^J"'^^19VPW» 170 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGUTS. and a half above the horizon, wo suddenly camo upon the ice. It was, however, not very formidable, as it was only in thin, locje floes, that offered little resistance to the sharp prow of the Pandora. As often happens, however, when getting among the ice, we were soon enveloped in a thick fog, which prevented our making much progress as long as it lasted, and we did little during the night. The thermometer went down five degrees — from 37 deg. to 32 deg., the freezing-point, — in less than an hour. When the fog cleared away, which it did very early in the morning, we found we were off" Capo York, the north-wesu extremity of Melville Bay, with a stream of ice before us that looked suspi- ciously like a pack. We soon made out from the masthead, however, that it was only a tongue or point that extended a few miles south from Cape York, and which, in truth, usually keeps its hold on the land until very late in the summer. Standing south along its edge for half an hour, we found, not a lead, but a place where it seemed less compact ; and, as we could see the open water shining beyond at the distance of throe or four miles. Captain Young pushed into it without hesitation, and the Pandora was soon engaged in crashing her way through the loose, rotten floes that obstructed, but were powerless to completely bar the way. A BOOTLESS SEARCH. 171 It was very pleasant to climb to the foretop with the sharp, bracing sunny air blowing in one's face, and look down over the forechains and watch the ship's head as she threaded her way industriously through the floating ice field — now pushing labo- riously through the soft " pash " ice, that seemed to hang on her and clog her with its dead, passive, stubborn resistance ; then knowingly making for a short lead of open water, that sometimes offered a narrow but unobstructed passage; now daiting suddenly to the right, to turn some heavy floe that doggedly baiTed the way ; again veering to the left, to get into a little open lake that invitingly offered itself ; and sometimes, when it was impos- sible to avoid the ice, dashing bravely at it, full speed, like a knight in armour, her long, sharp jib-boom seeming to pierce it like a lance and overthrow it, as it broke up and tumbled aside in great massive pieces — pushing, twisting, butting, squeezing, elbowing, wriggling herself through like a live and reasonable being. The fat burgomaster gulls or " molly mawks" of the sailors came sailing around, beneath, in great airy circles, as you sat on your lofty perch, and down deep in the clear cold water the eye could follow the little auks that always dived at the approach of the ship, and watch them as they flew down deep beneath the surface with lowered head and outstretched neck, as easily as though they were gliding through the upper air. Is not this '/ ii ■ ^ffr^ V'v - '-"Mp^wm^fiB^pupjmp twiiiii 172 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. better than even a life of luxurious ease in tlio dusty, sweltering cities of civilization ? In an hour we were clear of the ice and out in the open water beyond, the " North Water " of Baffin's Bay. From hero our course lay a little south of west, to Lancaster Sound, which forms the only practicable entrance to that labyrinth of straits, sounds, bays, inlets, and islands on the north coast of the American continent. But instead of taking this direction the Pan- dora's head still pointed toward the north, and all that day and the next, until six in the evening, she kept steadily ploughing the waters north- ward against a fei.i*ong head wind and sea, on the track followed by all the exploring expeditions in search of the Pole. This was the route followed by Kane, by Hayes, by Hall, and last by the English expedition of the present year. On the evening of the 19th of August we were at the Gary Islands, in latitude 7Q deg., 100 miles north of Cape York, and 100 south of Littleton Island, where that part of the Polaris' crew under Captain Buddington passed their second Avinter. We had come thus far out of our course to get news of the Alert and Discovery. Captain Nares had left a letter at Disko for Captain Young, stating that he intended to touch at the Cary Islands and leave there despatches for the Admiralty, and this was the reason we had come so far out of our course. A rootle>;r search. 173 The nortli-wcst island of tlie group was tlio one he liad fixed upon, and to this one we accordingly steered, in the teeth of a strong breeze from the north, which made it a somewhat difficult job to approach. At length the ship was hove to off the south side of the island, which rose in a high, irregular mass of stones and rock, bare and desolate, to the height of 700 feet above the water. Although wo were two or three miles out to sea, Avo could perceive on the top a cairn, that we immediately took to be the one loft by Captain Nares, of which wo were in search. A boat was lowered, and Captain Young, leaving Lieutenant Pirio in command of the ship, put off with Lieu- tenants Lillingston, Beynen, myself, and four or five sailors, taking two casks full of letters for the Aleut and Discovery that we had brought from England, and which we proposed to leave here, as arranged with Captain Nares. Hoisting a sail, our sharp, light little shell of a whaleboat shot through the water like an arrow, and we were soon in a little bay, on a rocky beach, where we had some difficulty in landing. We found ourselves at the mouth of a kind of valley covered many feet deep with large boulders and stones, worn round and smooth by grinding against each other as they are gradually forced i I n Ht-- ■ »"J»— T» -«;:c::;::'c ?-« ^ ..4a.j*». - ;na ■is liH' I I 198 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. often degenerated into a low cunning that would not have been unworthy of an English fox. One day the whole ship's company were witness to the means he employed to steal a bone which Joe had given to one of the other dogs. This dog was rather small and somewhat timid, unless Dublin — her natural protector — were there to take her part; but Starboard knew that if he tried to take the bone by force, Joe would interfere in an unpleasant manner with a whip. So he went to her with a smiling face and a wagging tail, and, leaning against her, began to push her aside in the most friendly way possible. She, not quite understanding this manoRuvie, let go the bone, and commenced to growl in a very threaten- ing manner. This is what Starboard had ex- pected apparently, for he instantly lay down on the treasure, and looked around in an unconscious and abstracted manner, as though nothing were farther from his thoughts than the bone. The other dog sniffed around a little, evidently not understanding the trick, and then walked away, growling in high dudgeon. Starboard then dis- covered, to his great astonishment, that he was lying on a bone, and proceeded to pick it with a hypocritical assumption of unconsciousness that must have been extremely offensive to Snarley, who had been an interested spectator of the pro- ceeding, and who expressed his contempt for such tricks by a growl. OUR DUMB COMPANIONS. 199 Starboard bad besides a low turn for practical jokes, and was of a treacherous disposition wboro other dogs were concerned. I have often seen him, when they were all playing together in the most pleasant and friendly way, give Snarley a sly nip when they were all in a heap, so that it was impossible for the latter to tell who did it. But Snarley was of a suspicious temper, and had besides an ill-concealed dislike for Port, whom ho invariably accused of these underhand attacks. The result would be a set-to between Port and Snarley, while Starboard would look on with an excited though critical air, throwing in a bark now and then by way of encouragement, until the old King would come along and thrash both of the combatants soundly. Starboard was not, however, altogether devoid of courage when ho considered there was a suffi- cient cause for a display of it. One day the King had been punishing him rather severely for some breach of canino eti- quette probably, and Starboard was lying on his back, doing his best to propitiate and conciliate the old feUow, who was standing over him and growling in a threatening manner. Snarley was watching the scene with evident satisfaction, and he could not help expressing hie approbation by a low growl. Starboard, still lying on his back, looked around and beheld Snarley showing his teeth. i'il: t ''vim'V."n'wm»}i »" ■f w»^T^ t ■ ' ■'> I. if: il 11 II MB' MB ~i B V H 'B^B ' 11 B Hi IBM^B mi 2 00 UNDER THE NORTUERN LIGHTS. A look of defiance passed over his face, wliicli was quite as expressive as that of a man. He seemed to say, " I'm obliged to knuckle down to the old man, you know, but I'll stand none of your nonsense !" and as soon as the King let him up, he went at Snarley, and they had a regular mill, until the King interfered and separated them. But there was one subject upon which all the dogs showed a remarkable unanimity of sentiment, and that was the suitability of " Mr. Hogan" as an article of food. Mr. Hogan, it will be remembered, had taken passage with us, at IvJgtut, upon an agree- ment tacitly consented to on his part, some- what hastily perhaps, that he would furnish us with favourable winds during the rest of the voyage. I do not think he fulfilled his engage- ment with that strictness which had been ex- pected of him, but he nevertheless soon succeeded in making himself a universal favourite by his cleverness and gaiety. Mr. Hogan, therefore, with his little sharp, black eyes, his impertinent manners and funny, intelligent looks, — pigs, it is well known, arc among the most intelligent of all animals, — be- came a great favourite ; and a very pleasant time he had, running loose about the deck, rooting among the coals, sleeping in the sun, as free and independent as though he had been on ice, until we reached Yiiyarsusuk. wliicli . He »\vn to )f your up, he L. until all the timent, m" as i taken agree- , some- nish us of the sngage- len ex- :cecded by his sharp, funny, rn, are |s,— be- lt time roothig lee and until OUR DUMB COMPANIONS. 201 There we took on the dogs, and although they had never seen a pig before, they no sooner laid eyes upon him than they instantly, "vvith a unani- mity that was astonishing, understood that ho was intended for the table, and made a most desperate onslaught upon him, with the intention of putting him to immediate use. A terrible conflict ensued, during which the deck of the Pandoka, what with the savage barking of the dogs, the high, piercing treble of Mr. Hogan, and the angry shouts and oaths of the friends who had interposed to save him, became a very pandemonium. From that moment Mr. Hogan bade farewell to freedom and independence, to the easy, happy existence he had hitherto led. His life became one of constant fears and alarms, of dangers and hair-breadth escapes, of fearfully unequal combats, of cautious sallies out, and hurried skurryings into his barrel, of frantic gnashings of teeth and snorts of rage and defiance, in answer to the hungry, disappointed barks of his enemies. He could scarcely slip out to take a quiet root in the coal, or a meditative turn about the cap- stan, or an inquiring excursion among the slop- buckets, but one of his terrible enemies would pounce upon him with the leap of a tiger, and he would rarely escape without painful loss. First his tail went piece by piece, then bits of his hams, and finally his ears began to grow shorter instead ■f 1 .«#. II --y^^^lf/f^^'iwvi^m f 9^ w,- ■"!,' I'J i':l I Si 202 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIQUTS. of longer, until they were as short, sharp, and vigilant as those of his enemies. His nights were as wakeful and full of terrors as though he had committed murder ; he could never go to sleep with the assurance that he would not find himself in the stomach of one or all of his enemies before morning. They organized night attacks upon him; and more than once we were awakened by the demoniac uproar of the conflict. The sunshine in which he was wont to bask so luxuriously became a trap, the coal-heap a snare, and his barrel a prison, out of which he emerged at rare intervals. He seemed to be trying to accustom himself to being salted down, and confined his thoughts to eating, sleeping, and growing fat. In this he succeeded so well that although he might have been put into a cigar-box when he came on board, he weighed a hundred and fifty pounds at the date of a big dinner, at which he had somewhat unwillingly consented to be present. 203 CHAPTER XVII. BEECHEY ISLAND. A BOLD, high promontory, rising several hundred feet above the surf that dashes against its base, streaked with alternate layers of brown and black, like a wall of massive masonry ; a little bay running in behind this promontory, along whose shore may be seen, first — a large boat dragged high up on the beach, with a tall mast standing up in her ; farther along two more boats, likewise hauled up on the shore; then a house, with masses of boxes and barrels scattered around in heaps, and a flagstaff in front. It is midnight; and the steep, high walls of rock that shut in the little bay on all sides, arc bleak and bare and dark, except where lighted up here and there with streaks of snow ; and they rise up against the bright northern sky still aflame with the departing glory of the Arctic sun, in masses of rugged, sullen grandeur. But there are no lights sliining from the windows of this house, no children about the door. hT,:': ■1^ ' Wm' ' Jl r'' 1 1 m ^ ^' Iwiyiii ' iil 204 UNDER THE NORTUEEN LIGHTS. no figures on the beacli to wave us a welcome, no fishermen moving about among the boats, no nets strewed along the shore, no flag on the flagstaff ; there are no dwellers in this dwelling, no inhai)i- tants in this habitation. The place is sad, silent, and lonely as a graveyard. And it may well appear lonely, for no human form has crossed the threshold of this house, no human foot trod the beach, no human voice disturbed the long, dreary silence for twenty years. It may well appear silent and mournful, for it is Bcechey Island, where was picked up, after years of search, the lost trail of Sir John Franklin, where were found the first tokens of the passage of the lost expedition. Ominous and sinister tokens they were, that seemed to point, but too surely, the way the expedition had gone ; for they were graves — the graves of three men the expedition lost when wintering here. It was here Sir John passed his first winter after leaving England. This was evident from many things that were found — such as boards, the remains of a house, fireplaces built of stones, and a blacksmith's forge. Last but not least was a huge cairn, built of empty meat tins, most of which had contained rotten meat, fur- nished by a man now known among Arctic navi- gators and explorers as " Goldner the Infamous." But not a line of writing was found, nor any indication of the movements of the expedition, ■§P»«W[^iff mmm r.REf'irKY ISLAND. 205 nor what had boon accomplishcfl, nor what phms were made for the next season, nor wliich direc- tion they wore going, except the ominous indica- tions furnished by the head-boards of the graves. As long as the search for Sir John Franll| |. i r I' ii! 218 UNDER TUE NOUTDERN LIGHTS. CHAPTER XIX. UNKNOWN WATERS. We arc steering for Peel Strait, and the ship's head is towards the north. To the north ? How can that be? Peel Strait is due south from Beechey Island, and Bcechey Island is directly astern, therefore Peel Strait m '^t be directly ahead. Yet the north end of the needle jjoints exactly in the same direction as our jib-boom, — that is, to the south ! What strange revolution is this ? Is the world turned upside down, or has some Arctic sprite, to bewilder us, reversed the card on the needle, mak- ing the north south, and the east west? This cannot be, for the north end of a long, fine needle, suspended without the card, points likewise to the south. We know it is the south, unless — fearful supposition ! — the earth has begun rolling the other way, and the sun is going backward to set in the east. No; it is the compass itself which is reversed, and which now points to the south instead of the UNKNOWN WATKUS. 219 tiG sliip's I ? How ith from 3 directly 3 directly ts exactly hat is, to blio world sprite, to (die, mak- St? This ne needle, •ise to the J — fearful )lling the ,rd to set reversed, jad of the north. We are here nortli of the mapfnotic pole, and tills accounts for the strange revolution of the needle ; but it moves feebly now, and is not to 1)0 trusted. Of the five or six compasses we have on board, no two point in the same direction by twenty-five or thirty degrees. Our guides hence- forth must be the sun and stars. Wo were now entering upon unknown and un- explored waters. No ship, as far as has been ascertained, ever penetrated into Peel Strait. McClintock attempted it in the Fox, but was stopped almost at its very entrance by ice, which rendered any further advance impossible. As his object was to reach King William's Island, he was obliged to turn back and make an attempt by way of Regent's Inlet an<' Bellot's Straits. J t is generally supposed that FranMin's ships, the ill-fated Erebus and Terroii, passed down Peel Strait to reach the point where they were finally beset, never to escape again. This, however, is by no means certain. It is possible that afior reaching their highest latitude in Wellington Channel, instead of going back to Peel Strait, they turned due south through McClintock Channel, hoping to find open water in Victoria Strait. This is the more probable as Peel Strait was then supposed to be an inlet, as King William's Island was believed to be a peninsula. Notwithstanding the chances against getting down through Peel Strait, Captain Young had 1 1 i ! I li 11 220 UNDER THE NOETHEEN LIGHTS. decided to make the attempt. He thought that if Buccessful in reaching as far as Bellot's Strait, he would have a better chance of getting through the pack which he feared he would find there. McChn- tock actually succeeded in getting through Bellot's Strait, but his further progress was stopped by a pack just outside of its western entrance, a pack which he never succeeded in getting through. By going down Peel Strait and approaching this pack from a side on which he would have more sea room, Captain Young hoped to discover some part through which he could force his way. All our hopes were therefore fixed upon getting down Peel Strait. Should we find it sufficiently clear of ice to allow us to push through ? or should we, like other ships, be arrested at its very entrance ? In the latter case our only plan was to turn back, go down Eegent Inlet, and Bellot's Strait, as the Fox had done, with the hope that the pack which stopped her might be broken up. As to the route by way of Wellington Channel and Melville Sound, it may be as well to state that Arctic navigators have long since abandoned all hopes of ever penetrating far in that direction. These waters have never yet been found open, unless indeed, Franklin found them so. Neither in summer nor winter have they ever been knowTi to put off their icy armour. We soon had reason to believe that our worst fears were to be realized. By nine o'clock in the UNKNOWN WATERS. 221 evening of August 27th, twenty-four hours after leaving Beechey Island, we were at the entrance of Peel Strait, and lying up against a pack which — joined to the coast of North Somerset on the south and stretching away to the north-west as far as the eye could reach — seemed to effectually bar our further progress. Wo made fast to a floe, and Captain Young decided to wait. The adoption of this plan may prove somewhat disappointing to the reader. It is expected of an Arctic ship, I believe, that she should dash into a pack, and crush her way through it, like a reaping-machine through a field of wheat. But such a feat cannot, in fact, be accomplished. It is only upon very rare occasions that a ship can work for even a short distance through a close, heavy pack. The power upon which Arctic navigators depend to open a way through such an obstacle is neither that of steam nor gun- powder, nor any other force within the control of man. It is the power of the wind. Very few people, probably, have anything like a correct conception of tho sort of thing an ice- pack really is. It is not a smooth, level sheet of ice, over which you might skate ; but a broken, uneven plain, covered with little hummocks, peaks and ridges, formed by huge pieces of ice, that have been rolled upon the surface by the grinding of immense ice-fields against each other. It will be easily understood that such a plain, with Wm 'U .. m 222 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. i:ll all these irregularities and projections acting as so many sails, offers an immense surface to the action of the wind. In truth, the slightest breeze sets the whole pack moving with a might that is irresistible. The best plan, therefore, for the navigator is to wait and count upon the assistance of this powerful auxiliary. An hour sometimes will suffice to open a passage that weeks of blast- ing and sawing would not have made ; or even completely to break up and disperse a pack that seemed as solidly fixed as the rock itself. J I ^'r^f?'^^'^ ■■ •" Captain Young maintains that the greatest requisite in ice navigation is patience — patience to wait for a change which is almost sure to come sooner or later — patience not to push blindly into a pack in the hope of getting through somehow, as well as not to turn back and abandon the attempt too soon. This is what he decided to do in the present case, and the Pandora was put alongside the ice, and made fast for the night. No change had occurred next morning, and as UNKNOWN WATERS. 223 wo were short of water we proceeded to take in a supply, a kind of work which proved to be as pleasant as play ; for it gave us an opportunity of stretching our limbs and running about over the ice. Mr. De Wilde busied himself making sketches and photographs of the ice, the ship, and the coast of North Somerset. The coast extended along the sky in a low, black line on our left, as faras Limestone Island, which appeared as a round, dark mount far away to the south. The doctor went shooting gulls, and Joe took his rifle and went to look for seals ; the rest of us amused ourselves, after we had done watering ship, by playing on the ice with the dogs. About noon a light breeze sprang up from the south, and almost immediately the ice began to move. In an hour or so, an opening commenced to show itself not far from the shore, and into this Captain Young decided to push, although no open water was visible beyond the pack, which extended to the horizon. But he perceived to the south, hanging over Peel Strait, what is termed a " water sky," giving indications of open water below the horizon, and it was this sign which induced him to risk his ship in the pack. Wo worked through the loose ice which filled up the lead with much difficulty, and by six o'clock in the evening we were off Limestone Island, in a wide lane of open water. But although this lane, which was two or three miles wide, ran south i f :i| ^ iffi! is ;■ :: I'l*' ^ i 1^ fr- .fl i; 224 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. along the coast of North Somerset, as far as we could see, the pack still continued stretching away to the horizon. Evidently we were by no means past it. Captain Young decided to land on Limestone Island, and to search for a cairn, which it was supposed some former navigator had left there. He found no signs of a cairn; but he re- marked many traces of the Eskimos, in circles of moss-covered stones, evidently of a very ancient date. He returned to the ship, and de- cided to steer through the narrow channel between Limestone Island and the coast, the passage of which was accomplished without accident. & i t 1 i| 1 ^t-iZ. ggmnjnnn ',T».. 225 CHAPTER XX. THE LAND OF DESOLATIOIS. The weather had, in the meantime, changed. A cold, drizzhng rain set in, accompanied by the inevitable fog, and gave promise of a bad night. The wind began to blow in gusty blasts, that swept the rain over the decks in rushing, splashing showers. On the starboard beam an occasional gleam of white told where the pack we had not yet passed was lying in wait for us. On the left, the coast of North Somerset rose up, dark and fi'owning, like a heavy black cloud, scarcely dis- tinguishable against the lowering sky. What a wild, desolate place is this Arctic world ! On the charts it looks like any other part of the globe. Land and water, islands and penin- sulas, straits and bays, inlets, continents, such as you see on the charts of the equatorial zone. But what land ! and what water ! and how different from the smiling, bounteous world of the tropics ! The islands of North Somerset and the Prince of Wales Land, between which we are sailing, are U I tli f 226 UNDRR THE NORTUERN UORTS. J, IS more hoaps of stones and boulders. For Imndrods of miles in every direction it is the same. The whole north coast of America, from Behring's Straits to Hudson's Bay, with the great Archi- pelago north of it, is nothing but stone and rock and ice, not only without a tree or shrub, or blade of grass, but without even a handful of earth to hide its savage nakedness. The water is ice, the land is rock ; the sea a frozen corpse, the earth a bare, grinning skeleton, that meets you everywhere, that seizes you in its bony clasp, and will not let you go ; the skeleton of a dead world. There is something unaccountably oppressive in this Arctic universe. The immensity of these regions, their dreariness, their silent immobility that appears like the stillness of the grave, have a strang(;ly depressing effect. They weigh upon the mind, and bear it down like some fearful incubus, like that half-waking, half-dreaming, indistinct consciousness of weight upon the chest felt in the oppression of nightmare. I believe that to this depression of spirits is to be attributed — almost as much as to the lack of proper food — the prevalence of scurvy in Arctic ships. The effects of it were plain and unmistako- able on those of our men who were most impression- able and superstitious. They grew despondent and low-spirited, and went about their work in a half-hearted way, as though afraid to touch any- adrcds . The hring's Avclu- mo aiul brub, or ndful of ho water I corpse, at meets )ny clasp, 3f a dead THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 227 thinty. Our petty officers f^row over-cautious atul timid. One of them, a most exemplary man in England, suddenly took to drink ; and another went to bed, and remained there until we were far on our way home. Both these men, and others I could have pointed out, would inevitably have died had we wintered in the Arctic ; while all of us, even tho strongest and most buoyant, were affected by this mysterious influence. Nature never smiles hero. lu sunshine or shadow, in light or shade, she is always gloomy and taciturn. When the sun comc?< out bright and warm, as it does sometimes, tingeing tho bare, bleak rocks with a melancholy yellow, she is silent, sad, and mournful ; when tho grey leaden clouds are drawn over the sky like a dripping canopy, she is silent, sombre, threatening; al- ways gloomy, stern, inexorable, implacable. She shows here no rich carpet of grass and flowers to delight and refresh our eyes ; no fields of waving grain ; no grand old forest with its ocean of green foliage ; no rustle of leaves whispering their mysterious secrets ; no chant of birds nor hum of insects ; no murmur of life and love and joy. Her voices are hushed, her smile is gone, her face is cold. We are used to a smiling, l)ounteous Earth, clothed in verdure and flowers, that opens her arms to us, that warms us on her breast, that gives us Hfe and light, and warmth and plenty. ci 2 1 i I 'N ^''il IL^ 228 UNDER THE NORTHERN UnniS. \ Hero wc nro like children looking on tlio pnlo, cold face of a dead mother ; Ave are struck with terror. There is something fearful in the rigid features that were so full of expression, in tlie closed eyes that beam no more ; in the still liands that move not — a strange, dreadful mystery which appals. This is the first impression. It is succeeded hy something far more fearful and terrible — a feeling I have tried to seize and analyze without success. It is as though you gradually began to perceive a sinister meaning — a darker signification in this lonely, silent world. You bcn-in to feel that it is endowed with a sullen kind of life — a sombre intelligence that you vainly try to comprehend. You feel that something terrible has happened here, or is going to happen. We have hitherto been accustomed to look upon the world as made for our particular convenience and use. The Earth brings forth its fruits for us and teems with plenty ; the flowers bloom for us ; the sun rises and sets for us; it rains, because rain is necessary to our well-being. The moon revolves around the Earth only because we need a moon ; the stars adorn the sky for us to look at ; the Earth, the World, the Universe, in short, is made for us and our wants. But here is a world uninhabited and uninhabitable by man — a world that can never have been miide for him ; that has been created without the slightest regard for his i I THE LAND OP DESOLATION. 220 wants or necessities — a world that will not afford him sustenance for a day. Nature, wrapped in lier own silent, desolate, mysterious sorrow, ig- nores his existence ; she is indifferent whether ho lives or dies; she will let him perish without offering him a berry or a root. This is a new idea that presents itself to his mind, that forces itself upon him; a fearful, inexor- able fact which shatters all his preconceived ideas, his habits, his education, his methods of thought, and flings them to the winds. The result is stupefaction ; a vague, oppressive feeling of blank terror. You begin to feel that instead of the world being created for you, you are only an accidental atom, an insect upon it, and that it is a wonder you have not perished long ago. You begin to divdne arovmd you gigantic forces, blind, savage, Ijrutal, cruel, relentless, that may crush you as you crush the worm beneath your feet, without seeing you or even knowing of your existence. It is then that the conviction of its utter nothingness forces itself upon tlie mind with over- whelming force. The strongest and most powerful organizations shrink and tremble before it; tho weak and despondent wither and die. mm. I ■(■•iB II I I fli' » 230 UNDEU TJIK NOUTUEUN LIGHTS. CHAPTER XXI. A NIOllT IN I'EKL STRAIT. The night conies on apace. The clouds gatiiur thick and black overhead, and the darkness rises up out of the earth like a sable spectre; the wind drives the rain about in fui'ious torrents that sweep over the rocks with a continuous swash. The darkness, lined with the inevitable fog, gradually grows black and impenetrable, and the bleak, bare, savage world sullenly sinks into the gulf of night "without fire, or light, or life. But no ! we are mistaken. There is a light, a single solitary spark that gle.;ms through tlie darkness like a Will o' the Wisp ; and see ! there is the dusky shadow of a ship flitting through the gloom, like a twihght ghost. This great, lone, silent u' << then not quite deserted. Wher< 1... at ; re is life, and that dusky shadow a real aip, leeling her way along the forbidding coas* . groping through the darkness like a blind man. Who is she ? How has she fountl her way hert A NUillT IN I'lIKL STItAlT. 231 What is alio doing in this divary world, where no whips aro over seen, whoro tliore are no eyes to seo them, flitting like a siiadow tbrougli the nigiit and storm. She is 8carc(!ly visible from her own deck. Tlio light we saw is from the binnacle, and it casts a yellow flare on tlie black face of night like a sphisli of gold. In it is seen the face of tho man at tlie wheel, ga/.ing steiulily and earnestly towards tho head of tlio ship. His body is invisible, only his face is seen ; and it floats there in that splash of light, like a grizzled, bronzed, nautical clierub. Everything else is in darkness : tho sails rise up like ghostly shadows to an immense height, and blend with tho gloom ; the rain dashes over the deck in plashing waterfalls that wash everything with a rushing, sleepy murmur. Leaning against the port nettings is a dark figure, gazing steadily into the night, with the fixity of a statue. It is Ca])tain Young. He has been there for two hours, and he Avill be there two hours longer, peering into tho darkness, watching foi" the first shadoAvy outline of the land, tho first white gleam of breakers to Avarn him of tho too near approach of danger. The wind whirls around liira in fitful gusts, the rain dashes over him in torrents, but he never moves. The safety of his ship, the lives of his crew depend upon his keenness of eye, his soundness of judgment, his w t r'l .,iJi Minw ii iLj i i^ TT m w *— ^py ^' I 'i ,i i $ i i ; 232 UNDER THiJl NORTHERN LIGHTS. promptness of decision, and he is for the moment as insensible to the storm as the statue he resembles. There is no other sign of life; all below is dark and still. The wind soughs overhead as it meets the sails, with that deep eternal sigh heard in a forest of pines ; the rain patters on the deck with a low, continuous plash. But for the flare that lights up the anxious face of the man at the wheel, and the bottom of the mizzen trysail above his head, it might well be a shadow ship. It is a wild and fearful night, a night to make the hardiest seaman treriible. There are few people who have any idea of the dangers that beset a ship, even under ordinary circumstances ; who have any conception of the common, every-day perils of navigation; for they are dangers that are only understood and appre- ciated by seamen. This is, perhaps, just as well ; for if the thousands of people Avho now cross the ocean, and commit themselves to the mercy of the sea Avith such lightness of heart, understood to what dangers they are exposed, three-fourths of them Avould stay at home. To any one who has ever taken the trouble to reflect upon the matter, a ship is a marvel, a kind of continuous miracle. Of all the conquests of mind in the never-ending combat with matter, iu that unceasing struggle with the blind, reckless forces of Nature, there is noue so great, so 1 A NIGHT IN PEEL STRAIT. 233 wonderful as a ship. Its very existence is a victory over tlie most powerful forces on the globe, a subjugation, control, utilization of those forces which are its greatest enemies, and without which — a strange contradiction — it could not be. Its greatest foes are those very elements that make it possible. But it is a conquest only maintained by almost superhuman effort of science, vigilance, and skill. We severely censure officers who lose their ships, and we talk lightly about neglect and im- prudence, carelessness, blunders, incapacity, as though a ship could not possibly be lost, unless her officers were guilty of the most idiotic in- capacity, or the most reprehensible neglect of duty. We do not know anything of the skill, coolness, judgment, prompt decision, unremit- ting vigilance required to handle a ship — a kind of vigilance which demands a continued power of concentrated attention — almost beyond the capacity of the hunum mind. We think it requires days and weeks of neg- ligence to result in the loss of a ship. We do not know that a single moment, a second of distraction on the part of the captain, or the officer of the watch, is sufficient sometimes to lose a vessel; that the slightest accident to the machinery, the smallest mistake in the reckoning, a wrong turn by the man at the wheel, which is often made by the oldest sailors, may, in Jlf t; r^ ; |. ; I 14 F ! '" ' > ' i i il> 1 IP ■ IP:' li I • ^il 4 'mm'* '- >• f'"*' ■<«Wii ."9"i" I ' i! 234 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. a moment, send ship and crew to the bot- tom. The wonder is not that accidents do sometimes happen, but that they do not always happen. The wonder is not that ships are sometimes lost, but that they are not always lost as soon as they go to sea. The captain, on whose skill and presence of mind the safety of a ship depends, is up and down all night ; he often does not undress to sleep for a week at a time, and the sleep he does get is broken by fits and starts. He may be said to carry his ship about on liis back. It is a crushing burthen that he can never lay down even for a moment.. Sleeping or waking, it is always upon him, always with him, always pressing him down, until it becomes a dull, heavy stupefying pain. But if such are the perils of ordinary navigation, in known and explored waters, what were the dangers that beset us this night in Peel Strait ? A ship lost on the wide waste of the ocean, has in the sun, moon, and stars, hundreds of beacons to guide her. She has in the sextant a strange artificial sight which enables her to tell her exact position, to know where she is, no matter how long she has been lost, how far she has sped without her reckoning ; in her chart, a guide which indicates her course from day to day, Avhich points out coast-lines, capes, promontories, bays, inlets, shoals, rocks, and sand-banks, to the A NIGHT IN PEEL STRAIT. minutest detail ; which, in shallow waters like those of the English channel, tells the depth of every square rood, and the kind of bottom that will be found there; in her sounding-line she has a sense of touch, by which when blinded by fog and darkness, her other senses fail her, she may feel her way along the bottom like a blind man with a stick ; in her compass, a mysterious instinct, far more wonderful than that which enables birds of passage to travel half around the globe, and find their way home again. The approaclxcs to dangerous coasts are shown by buoys, signals, and lighthouses ; everything that human skill and science can do has been done to arm her for the great struggle with the ocean. And yet how often does the fight prove an unequal one ? How many good ships go down, notwithstanding all these aids ! But all the dangers peculiar to the ocean seem to have gathered around us this night in Peel Strait, where we are deprived of all the safe- guards provided by the skill and science of man. Had wo been out in the broad Atlantic, we could wait for daylight, or until stars, moon, or sun should re-appear, as there would bo no danger of running ashore. Here, with a rocky coast on one side, and the ice-pack on the other, we can afford to make no mistakes. We are like a blind man groping on the edge of a precipice, with the difference that ■j»i>.',»f'r''T*r7 '™ "^ ^rrv^^ifim^T'" ' *"t'','WtMtroh"J'l ■-"'^ 236 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. the blind man at least can feel his way, while we cannot. For us there is no transition between absolute safety and absolute destruction. We know we are safe as long only as the ship does not strike, but she may strike at any moment. Enveloped in fog and night, we have no kindly light of moon or stars to guide us ; there is no friendly light- house on this wild, desolate coast, to warn us off; no buoys nor signals to show us the way ; we have no pilot in these unsounded, unexplored waters, to point out shoals and reefs, and sunken rocks. But we have one thing left to guide us — the compass, that unfailing friend of the mariner. We have it, at least, to tell us where the coast is. Its silent finger still points to where the danger lies ! No ! Even that fails us here. The needle which in other parts of the world points so steadily, which, when everything else deserts the seaman, remains true, has here groAvn uncertain and wavering. In this night of tempest and darkness, in these wild, desolate regions, even the mysterious . urit that rules the magnet is bewildered and confused ; it can tell us nothing. It wavers and trembles, and hesitates, like a guide who has lost his way. But see ! yes, thei-e is one direction in which it points when set free on a universal pivot, with •.V liJc. /,!'i4*tW»4.\A)s.,. A NIGHT IN PEEL STRAIT 237 startled, trembling, excited finger. It is downward, straight down ! What fearful thing is this ? Go where you will on the surface of the earth — South America, the heart of Africa, the islands of the South Pacific, the wilds of Australia, the wide, dreary plains of Central Asia, the close, dark, thick-set jungles of far-off India — everywhere j^ou find this ghostly finger pointing silently, sternly, persistently here to this wild region like the finger of Fate. Now that wo have obeyed its mysterious bidding, now that we have followed its strange guidance here, it points downwards, down to the bottom of the sea ! What is the mysterious treasure hidden hero in the earth, that this spirit-finger has been pointing at for centuries, without being under- stood of man ? What the dark and fearful secret it would disclose ? What ghostly crime would it reveal ? Whatever it bo, we can follow it no farther ; it is no longer a guide for us ; we must trust to some- thing else. But what ? The winil ? Yes ; the wind, the variable wind, that ocarcely remains the same for an hour at a time. Wo are steering by a weather-cock ; but it is the only thing left to guide us, and we must follow it or let the ship drift. It was blowing on shore when last we saw the land, and we, consequently, keep the ship's head to it, and thus we know, as long as it does not l:f! ■ \ ^^^^H- ^ft s 238 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. change, on which side we have the coast. But, suppose it veers slowly round, and blows off shore ? In that case we follow it insensibly, un- consciously, until our head is landwards, and then we go ashore on the rocky coast. There is no help for it. We cannot even drop anchor, and thus stop the ship until the fog clears av/ay, or until daylight comes. The water is too deep, and there is no other way of stopping her. She will move in some direction, whether we will or no. We can only do our best, and trust to Providence that the wind may hold from the same direction. Gradually the day breaks, and leaves hanging about us the grey curtain of fog which lined the night. A fog is worse than darkness alone, if the sky be not overcast. So long as the stars can bo seen the sailor has a guide; but a fog hides {dike the sun, stars, and land. Nothing can be scon, and the mariner is helpless. He can only wait for it to clear away. Daylight, therefore, brings little change in our position. So we wait anxiously through the long, cold hours of the morning. The wind begins to fall light, and the danger therefore grows less, so long as it blows steadily from the same quarter. At length, towards ten o'clock, the sun gets the better of the mist, and breaks through now and then, showing us a pale, watery image. Then the fog lifts in heavy masses, like a curtain, ■4 A NinnT IN PEEL STTIAIT. 209 and suddenly reveals close on our port-beam, the barren, rocky coast. In the space of half an hour a wonderful change is wrought. The sun f^hines out bright and warm, and we seem to have emerged into another world. For the moment the danger is past. ''. :_ '»vp««n"w^«q(l!y \y 240 UNDER THE NORTHERN LTOIITS. Hi CHAPTER XXIT. A DAY IN TEET, STHAIT. NoTniNO can be more sudden than tlie transitions from danger to safety wliicli often take place here in the Arctic. With daylight, a clear atmosphere, and a light breeze, our position had completely altered from what it was a few hours before; and until another fog should come on, accompanied by a storm, we were quite safe. We found besides that one source of danger was removed, for the ice which had so hemmed us in the night before had quite disappeared. We had now plenty of sea-room, or what appeared so to us, at least after our cramped position of the night before. The ordinary navigator, unaccustomed to these waters, would still have thought himself in a most perilous situation, in case of a gale and fog, shut in between these two coasts. The day turned out a beautiful one, and the contrast with the gloom of the previous night was striking. As the sun rose higher it grew warmer ; the thermometer went up from twenty- in¥iiiffT¥}ia ffl< If A DAY IN I'EEL STRAFT. 241 seven to thirty-five — a tomperaturo which to us appeared sultry — and but for tlio barren, for- bidding coast, we niiglit easily have imagined our- selves on some sunny inland lake of the far-off tropics. Wo were in a sea free of ice, for there was not a particle to be seen far or near ; the cold, sharp sting to Avhich we had been accustomed for (lays, had left tlie air, and tlie land was bare of snow, except where we caught glimpses of the liiglilands of the interior, on which here and there white patches might be perceived. AVo seemed to have got into another climate and another world. The strangest of all was the disappear- ance of the ice. We had partly worked past it during the night, but the storm also had probal)ly (h'iven it in the opposite direction, or towards Barrow Strait. AVo were now far past the point at which the 'Fox had been turned back, and began to con- gratulate ourselves on our prospects of success. Contrary to what had generally been supposed, Peel Strait was clear of ice ; and there now was every probability tliat we would find it open as far as Bellot Strait. The wind now fell very light, and veered round to the south-east, a change which, had it occurred while the fog lasted, would probably have put us ashore on the rocks. We continue our course under steam and sail, and all day long we glide down the silent, barren a i »♦ u 242 UN »i;i{ Tnr-: n<)|{ti[ku\ lkjuts. coast, p^cttiri*^ farther and Fartlior soiitli, iioarcr and nearer King William's Land, the goal of nil our hopes. The view from aloft is superb. I pass half the day on the topsail-yard, watching Peel Strait un- roll itself beneath me, like a ribbon from a great reel, and gazing down into the clear, blue water, which is so transparent that it appears like another sky. The air is soft and mild as that of a Mny morning. Looking down from my lofty perch J SCO the deck of the vessel, a huge, long, narrow plank, that seems to swing beneath me like the car of a balloon ; below which, far, far down, white, fleecy clouds are flitting across that lower liquid sky, scarcely more unreal than the clouds above. It is like being up in a monster balloon, floating between two skies, out of sight of earth. The dogs are curled up down there on deck, asleep in the sun ; the men have gone below to dinner, and there is no one to be seen but the look-out and the man at the wheel. The stillness is so complete that I can hear the ticking of the clock in the after-companion-way, a strangely unnatural sound; and up from the galley stove comes a steaming odour of plum-pudding, and the smell of frying bear meat. Lifting my eyes, I behold to the east the shore of North Somerset, a mass of granite boulders, worn round and smooth, and heaped up in wild confusion, mfmst rrrv A PAY IN TEEL STRAIT. 243 of ck, to tlie ness the tove tlio rc of :ovn :;ioii, behind whicli tlio low mountains of the interior, capped liuro and there witli snow; to tho south, the glassy strait roflectinf^ tho rays of tho sun in a long flash of dazzlinp^ light that blinds tho eyes ; to tlio west, the distant coast of tho Pi'inco of Wales' Land, high and mountainous, enveloped in a cloud of purple mist that hangs over it, a drapery of luminous gauze, sad, silent, but beauti- ful as a dream, in the golden light of the Arctic afternoon, A good look-out was kept toward the shore, with a powerful astronomical telescope, to discover, if possible, signs of animal life, musk-ox or rein- deer, as well as for cairns, the tokens of the passage of men. But nothino: of the kind could be detected. From time to time we could distinguish heaps of stones that looked like cairns, but these upon closer inspection always proved to bo huge granite boulders, with which the coast and especially tho ridges Avcrc strewn. ^rovvards evening wo began to approach the farthest point reached by Ross and ]\IcClintock wlien coming down the coast on foot from tho north, in 1849. They were wintering at Port Leopold, on the north-east shore of North Somer- set, and this journey was made in the Avinter, in tlio hopes of finding some traces of the Franklin expedition, of which they were in search. They built a cairn, and left a record at the point where R 2 'III ii m 11! Jit 241 u\nri: tifk yoRTiiERN nnnTs. (It: ) flioy had boon obligod to turn baok for wnnt of provisions ; and for UukS cairn wo now kept u sliarp look-ont. At length, about six in tho ovcninnr, wo doseriod th(^ object of our search. Tho ship was liovo to, lialf a niilo from slioro, and Captain Young, Lieutenants Pirio, Bcynon, and niysolf got into a ])oat and rowed off. Wo found a little piece of ice fast to tho rocks, and upon this we effected a landing without any difficulty, and then hurried up to tho cairn, which Avas situated about 300 yards inland, at a point about ninety foot {il)ovo the level of the water. AVo had soon all gathered around it. It was a heap of stones about five feet high ; and after a moment's search we found the tin tube stuck in a chink between the stones, whore it had been placed by Captain Ross twenty-eight }'ears before. I think there is nothing impresses one more forcibly with the utter loneliness of those regions than the finding of such a document. A scrap of paper placed here in a prominent position on purpose to be seen and found, yet which has remained all those years just as it was loosely placed on this heap of stones, by a hand long since turned to dust. Captain Young opened tlie tube, which was sealed up with red lead, and found a quarter of a sheet of blue foolscap, on which was written the record which I give below : — N**- A DAY IN I'IU;L STIIAIT. 245 Tui; Ukcoim). ^* June 7fh, IS ID. — The cylinder wliioli contains this papor was left hero by a l)ai'ty dutaoliod from lioi- Majesty's ships Enthui'uise and Invkstigator, under tho comniand of (^iptaiii Sir James C. lloss, Royal Navy, in search of tho expedition of Sir John Franklin, and to inform any of iiis party that may tind it that those ships, having wintereii at Port Leopold, have formed a depot of pi-o- visions for tho use of Sir John Franklin's party suflicient for six months. The party aro now abont to retnrn to the ships, which as early as possible in the s[)ring will push forward to IMelvillo Island, and search tho north coast of Barrow Strait, and, failing to meet tho pai-ty they arc seeking, will touch at Port Leopold on their way back and then return to England before the winter shall set in. Jas. C. Ross, Captain." As a cnrions example of the discipline main- tained by Ross on this expedition, I may remark that Sir Leopold McClintock never saw this record nor knew what it contained, although he was with Ross at the time it was written and placed here. And this, although they had been travelling together for Aveeks. I make the following extract from Captain Young's journal in reference to this record : — il 240 U\I)i;i< Tilt; NUliTllIiKN LIOU'l'S. (c T1 ; * 1 '^ <): \: imv'l Tliis simple paper, given as tlie record of a mei'e visit to tlie spot, really shows what a remarkable journey Ross and McClintock iiKide when they travelled on foot from Port Leopold around this unknown coast in the days when sledge travelling was in its infancy. " It also shows how sti-angc ai'o the chances of Arctic navigation, for Ross was in the exact track of the EitEuus and Teuroi{, and but one season in arrear of Franklin's party having abandonei' theii" shi|)S, and Ross's impression must have been strongly against the probability of Frankh having passed down the straits ; otherAvise iie would have expressed his intention to follow this route with his ships the ensuing summer rather than the north shore of Barrow Strait. " It was in 1859, in the month of June, that, having completed tl"^ journey round the south- west coast of Prince of Wales' Land, I again started from the Fox, and reached Brown's fnrthest on the north-west side of these straits ; thence, in crossing ove*" to this eastern slioi(>, I met with so much water on the ice that I was prevented from reaching Ross's cairn, passing about four miles southward of it. I returned to the ship with the greatest dillicultyj liaving found the ice between this point and Bellot Straits flooded with water to such an extent that Ave were travelling knee-deep in it and ,'dmost floating the slcdgo itself. T thus missed seci'ig » m'm»»< mmmn A HAY IN PEEL STRAIT. 247 this cairn, liiiL I c;ui claim to liav(3 (liscovcn'd, uiidcr McCliiitock's command, tlio land on Ijotli sides of these straits southward ot" Brown's fiirtliest on the western shore ; and soutliward of the point or capo about cij^ht miles south of this cairn, to which point Ross walked, havinrr left his party to build the CJiirn during his absence. Having left a copy of floss's Record, with anothei- of my own, I took away the original papei', and after carefully closing the cylindf^', deposited it in its former place, fird then we returned to our ship." •I Strange indeed ai'o the chances, the fatality rather, of Arctic navigation ! Ross was hero Avithin 200 nwlcs of the spot where only the year before the crews of the "Hhebus and Tehroii had abandoned their ships. Even then there may have been some of the survivors dragging out a miserable existence on King William's Island, w^" .a ho might have reached, had he but known or suspected they were there. How strange that this letter, written to Sii* John Franklin, for it is really intended for him, should have been received by Captain Young t wenty-eight years afterwards ! These few hurried lines, written in the cold, with benumbed fingers, carry us back to the time when tlu^ excitement about Sir John was just beginning; an excitement which moved the PI f til i I o 48 UNDKu TH''; N'ojn'iii;i;N lights. world to ojitliLisiasm and pity, wliich led to sending out ship after sliip in searcli of the lost expedition, and to the most superhuman efforts to save it; all, alas! without avail. The hands which should have opened this letter were even then cold and stark, wrapped in their winding- sheet of snow. And the eyes which should have read it, closed for ever. Many of those who took so lively an interest in unveiling the n;ystery of the lost expedition, have gone to solve that mystery in a more direct and surer way, each upon his own account, and at his own c, t ■"'. Lieutenants Pirie and Beynen took .'):■• rva- tions for the dip of the needle, which they found to bo 89°, one degree from the perpendicular. We then descended to the beach, scrambling with difficulty over the round, smooth boulders, got into our boat, and rowed back to the ship. 1 — f m M iimimmm^ qv •■JmJ-i 24'.) 'i I jd to e lost efforts hands even mding- Id have Hi wlio ig tlic io solve ly, cacli •;' )b< rva- ;y found idicular. iig witli crs, got CllAPTEK XXJll, SUSPENSE. That niglit we wore again l)csct by the fog ; but the wind was veiy light, wo Lad more sea-room, and the danger was therefore small compared to that of the previous night. When I went on deck next morning I was astonished to see the man at the wheel with his back turned towards the ship's head, looking astern instead of forward. In lieu of sun or compass, he was steer- ing })y the land, which vvas visible in that direc- tion through a rift in the fog. Towards ten o'clock the fog cleared away, and we were favoured with another bright, clear day. As an example of the ditliculty of finding one's way in this part of tiie world in chjudy oi- thick weather, Koss relates that during one wliole day ho was beating up against a fair wind; or, in other words, working with much ditfic'dty in exactly the opposite direction to his course. We were now rapidly fipproaching Bellot's f 11 1 m i m m lllt'i V iB 250 (INDEll THE NOIITHETIN LIOUTS. Striiits, and our eyes wore anxiously turned Houthward. What sliould wo find tliere? the ice-pack wliicli had stopped tlio Fox, or open water tliat would allow us to reach King William's Land? that wild, bleak, desolate isbnd wdiose narrow shores con- tain the awful mystery that still hangs over the fate of Sir John Franklin. If we should find no ice in Franklin Channel, or not sufficient to bai' the way ; if we should be ablo to reach the lone, sad isle in time for a sum- mer search, what might we not find there in the way of relics ! — books, papers, and journals, the log-books of the Erebus and Terrou, and perhaps the grave and the skeleton of Sir John himself I Besides, if we should get so far, there was good reason to hope thai, we would be able to go farther; that we would find open water all the way along the coast of North America to Behring's Straits, and thus make the North-west Passage. That which has been the dream of navigatoi's for centuries set^med to us a reality almost within our grasp. It was only fifty miles to Bellot's Straits, one hundred and seventy to King "William's Island — a day's run — and there was no appear- ance of ice as yet. Tweuty-four hours would decide the matter. How excited we were that day ! We dis- cussed the probabilities in the most hopeful miitiner, all except the captain, who remained silent SUSPENSE. 251 turned (C wliicli [, would lat wild, •OS con- )vei' tlie ;;jhanuf'l, lould be r a suni- •c in tlie nals, the I peril aT)S msclf I was good 3 farther; ^ay aloii (y Straits, ivigators 1st within Bellot's I^Villiam's appcar- ts AY ould hVe dis- hopi }tul d silent and taciturn. "Wo said, " If everything goes well, we will be this time lo-uiorrow in sight of King William's Island." If anybody had suggested that everything might not go well, we Avould have regarded him as a croaker, and have put him down. We watched the silent coast with questioning eyes, as wo glided by, for any indication o!:" what we should find farther south ; but it lay sullenly asleep in the warm sunshine, indifferent to our hopes and fears, and gave no sign. Down uic strait we fly under steam, for the wind has quite died out ; rapidly we glide past little points, baj^s, and inlets, while the opposite coast looms up high and distinct cii the western side, and the broad sheet of water stretches away boiore us to tlie soutli, like a grand and mag- m'ficent river, until it meets the sky. There is nor a breath of wind, nor the sign of a current or tide, to raise a ripple on its glassy surface, and it, lies there calm, placid, beautiful, clothed in the warm, trembling sunlight as \/ith a quiver- ing luminous veil. The dark hull of the PA>fP0EA, throwing out) a widening circle of rippling wave- lets, looks like a monstrous black spider crawling over this silvery web, making it tremble and \ ibrate to its very edge. And still no ice ! What does it mean ? This bright sunny weather, this iceless sea, this silence, this death-like stillness! There is something almost ■I 4^. m n j . I? m 11 ;*: ; : ' at ' ^K I if Mi!'!; 'i I ■) 252 UNDEK THE NOKTlIMIiN EKillTS. jiwful ill it. It looks as thougli tlic Spirit of the place had laid a trap for us, and were only waitinj^ for us to fall into it. Was it not down over these same waters that the doomed EiiEBUsand Tkiuioi; sailed on their last fatal voyage? Did not the sun shine as brightly on them as it now does upon us ? Was not the water as calm, the sky as blue, the air as soft and warm ? Were not their hopes as high as ours ? And were they not caught in the fatal snare at last ? Is it not possible that we may be entrapped in the same way ? Apparently our captain thinks it very possible, for he casts many an anxious glance behind as well as before. Indeed, who can tell whether the pack we passed with so much difficulty at the entrance to Peel Strait may not drift down after us, fill up the narrow channel behind, and render retreat impossible ? For all we know to the contrary, the way back may be already closed. And then, if Franklin Channel should be full of ice, and impassable, our only hope of escape would be through Bellot's Straits into Regent Inlet. Our hopes, as we approach the critical point, begin to be troubled by many misgivings. We therefore look anxiously forward to reaching liellot's Straits, not only as the critical point where the Fox was stopped, but as a means of changmg, if necessary, our base of operations. The danger of waiting in Regent's Inlet would lie far less than in Peel Strait, because there is less probability of SUSPENSE. 253 tlio outlet bcinp^ closed. If wo can rcnch Bollot's Strait, tlieroEoi'o, we may wait several days for the ice to break u}), should we find Franklin Channel blocked. Onward to Bellot's Straits. It is only thirty miles now, and three hours more will decide it. We go below to dinner at one o'clock, as usual, and lively are the discussions which ensue. It is almost certain now that we will reach the Straits of poor Bellot ; we suppose we will get that far as a matter of course ; we ought to be there by five o'clock. But will we find the pack or open water? that is the great question. We have for dinner to-day pea-soup, fried seal-steak, and plum-pudding. We are dining unusually well, and feel gay, though excited and anxious. We expect to be in San Francisco in six weeks, and wo talk of what we will probab'y ;'at in the best restaurant the first time we go ashore there. We chaff "Tromp" on the probabihty of his never seeing Darwa again, if we come out on the other side of America, and the young hypocrite pretends to be sorry. The skipper is, however, gloomy and taciturn, and does not take any "part in our gay, light-hearted conversation ; it turns out that before coming below he had observed certain ominous signs which had escaped our in- experienced eyes. How uncertain are the chances of Arctic navi- gation 1 When we go on deck after dinner, a i^^ i' 111 i. I 1 H i'S I! » '''5 til ...1- H 1 m ! ^- i i -.-..- 2hA< I XDEU TITH xVOKTITRRN IJflllTS. dark moiintl is rising far out of tlio water, away on tlio southern horizon, Avhicli is soon mado out to be La Roquctto Island, and behind anri beyond it, stretching along the sky, a whitish glare, which avo all recognize, too surely, as the di'eadcd " ice-blink." As we advance white specks begin to appear on the horizon, that gleam liki' calcium lights in the bright sunshine. The tliormometer begins to go down, keeping pace with our hopes, and we would be a-ware of the presence of ice without seeing it, by the raw cold that begins to creep tlirough the air and chill us like a damp sheet. Still there is hope. The ice we see may not be the pack, but only loose floes, through Avhich we can force our way, as far perhaps as Bellot's Straits, from which we are now only twenty miles distant. Rapidly the island of Roquette rises out of the water as though coming up from a prolonged plunge, and rapidly the white specks thicken behind it, until they present an unbroken, serried line, extending from shore to shore — the soldiers of the Ice Queen arrayed in her own Avhite uniform, draAvn up in l)attle array to oppose our further advance. All hands are on deck ; some on the top-gallant forecastle, some on the nettings, some up on the shrouds, anxiously and curiously Avatching this unexpected apparition. At f(jur o'clock Ave are off Sl'Sl'I'NSH 2e55 liii Rofniotto Island, botwocii it and tlit' coast of North Somerset; we stop steaming, and tlie Pan- noifA drifts slowly np towards the ice, u<^ainst which she lazily flinij^s herself at full len<]!'th, as though determined to take a rest after her lonfr run. Several of us have already scramhled up to tho fbretop, where old Toms, tho gunner, is on the look-out, and we ask him about tho ])rospect. lie sliakes his head, and says, " It looks bad, but I hopes wo will get through it yet." Old Toms is always hopeful, Ijut the prospect is not. Just away to the south-east we can see a tre- mendous wall of rock, the continuation of the coast of North Somerset, through which a deep gap is cloven whose high perpendicular walls form a mighty gateway. This is tlie entrance to Bellot's '91 <> <" 2:)C> UNDEK TltK NfiHTirCRN IJOIITS. n Straits, DOW only Urn miles distant. "Rut alas! tlicsc ton miloa ai'o ten miles of solid pack ice, throii which no ship can penetrate. From Bellot's Sti'aits across to the western coast it is the same, a solitl plain of ice, extending from shore to shore. Wo climb to the topsail yard, then to the dizzy fore-crosstrecs, hojiiiig to catch a gliinj)se of open water. It is without avail. Vainly we soiircli with eager eyes for some dark streak along the distant hori/on line that would tell us of watei'; vainly we 8 wee]) the |)laiii with our glasses; tlic dull white floor reaches without a break to tlie yellow golden sky. Although we were not yet sure of it, we had come to the end of our voyage. Wo waited hero for three days, but wo never succeeded in making another foot. I am afraid people in general have a very im- perfect conception of the conditions of ice navi- gation, and very exaggerated notions of the possibility of driving a ship through a pack. Wc read so much of sawing the ice, of blasting it with gunpowder, of turning the ship into a battering- ram and charging it, coming down on it with a run and a jump and crushing it, that wo begin to think a ship can bore its way through any pack, however formidable. This is a very false notion. The truth is that only under exceptional and com- paratively rare circumstances can any of these means be used. When the ice is thin, for in- H SUSrKNSR. stance, say not moro than a foot thick, when it is impoi'tant to put tho ship in a safe position, or to pot h(>r out of dangor, and the distance to l)o made is very sliort, say one or two miles, either, or all of these means may bo employed with adviin- tage. But no navigator would think of entei'ing a solid and extensive pack, even one foot thick, with the idea of boring his way tlirougli any distance. His progress would in the first place be very slow ; two or three miles ii day would be good work. The pack would in the meantime close behind, Jind lu; would be locked in, or " besot." While here he would probably have the chagrin of seeing the ice 0]ien somewhere and leave a passage which he would bo unable to reach ; or the pack might commence moving off in ex- actly the opposite direction from that which ho wished to go, carrying him in its firm grasp twenty miles to his one. The wind is the great engineer on whom the navigator must depend for opening routes through tho ice ; an engineer who in an hour will do more than man, with all his puny appliances, can accomplish in weeks. In our case the ice was from five to thirty feet thick, a mass of heavy floes jammed together and piled upon each other in jagged heaps ; in sharp serrated ridges like a saw ; in rugged, craggy hil- locks and hummocks, that bristled with spiky edges, angular cones and peaks, all welded to- m^ i ! Mi IF III ; III I 7i J^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I »- Ilia 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1 6 ■« 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation ^^ ^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •1 1 s>° '^. &?/ rf> '^^ jy",»u?n;*uin)|ji ■^ 258 UNDER THE NORTHERN LTGHTS. «: ! ■^!!!l gether by freezing, and as solid as granite. No appliances ever invented by man would take a sbip through such a pack. Our only hope now was the wind, which might yet kindly open us a passage, and allow us to get through to Bellot's Straits at least. In the meantime we could only lay the ship to, and wait for a change. The captain went to his room, and turned in, to get if possible a few hours' repose. Lieutenants Lillingston, Beynen, and my- self got into the dingey, and rowed off in quest of seals. The doctor took his gun and proceeded to shoot and skin gulls for specimens. Mr. De Wilde got out on the ice to do some sketching, and the crew smoked their pipes, and discussed the pros- pects. We got several shots at seals that came popping their pudding heads up out of the water to peer at us in their curious, inquisitive way. But they were timid and distrustful ; our boat was very crank, which made it difficult to shoot, and we did not succeed in killing a single one. This was another disappointment, as we had eaten our last piece of seal-steak that day, and would now have to fall back on our salt beef and pork, a not very agree- able prospect. Salt beef and pork are undoubtedly very estimable things in their way, and they even Ihive a certain commercial value, but they are not good to eat. li SUSPENSE. 259 After wasting several cartridges with no effect, but that ot making the seals duck with a sudden- ness that was surprising, only to reappear at a safer distance, we returned to the ship. We found the Doctor had been more successful than ourselves. He had bagged any number of birds, which ho proceeded to dissect with as much apparent interest as if they had died under his treatment. Pirie was hard at work correcting the chart of the west coast of North Somerset ; De Wilde was re- touching some of the sketches by the light of the setting sun ; Joe was leaning over the nettings, watching the ice, and complacently smoking his pipe ; and Captain Young was still asleep. The sun set at last, after skimming along the horizon an immense distance, as though looking for a good place to go down, then suddenly made a plunge and disappeared. Night came on and brought with it a fog, heavy, damp, and dismal, that made us glad to go below, where there was a bright coal-fire burning in the grate. There was nothing to do but wait. So we drank our tea, smoked our pipes or cigars, listened to the ice grinding against the ship's sides, and, as usual, dropped into a most violent (hscussion, this time on the general principles which ought to govern the tenure of land. I have observed that people under such circum- stances usually choose for conversation subjects that could not have by any possibility the most s 2 III «3" ^BMW 2G0 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. remote interest, the most distant connexion Tvitb their actual situation. This discussion did not strike us as in the least absurd, there in the midst of thousands of square miles of land, which any body who chose might occupy without the slightest possibility of his claim being disputed. I would venture to predict that if some good fairy would come and tell us Avhat the people in tlie Alert and Discovery talk most about during their long, winter night — for it is all night to them — we would be astonished to learn what absurdly irrevelant matters they choose for subjects of con- versation ; not because they lack interest in what they are doing, but because their work is ever present with them, weighing upon them, and tlioy are always glad to lay down the burden for a moment and soar away to another hemisphere. We turned in at last, hoping the morning would bring us brighter prospects. ' 1 i ^^ i J t ' ' > 1; ■ l| f i 1 '« i If • di 26] CHAPTER XXIV. WAITING. The morrow came, but brought no change. The fog hung over and around us like a great, wet ragged fleece of wool that had got entangled in the Pandoua's rigging, and hung from it in dripping masses. Here and there, through the ragged interstices, could be caught faint, spectral glimpses of ice floating around, which seemed to be equally thick in all directions. Steam was kept up, and the ship was moved every half-hour or so ; but, for my part, I cannot imagine how the Captain knew in which direction he was moving her. The island of La Roquette, although dangerously near, was invisible, as was the coast of North Somerset, and there was no- thing else to serve as a land-mark. A seaman acquires, I imagine, another sense, a kind of instinct, which enables him to keep the points of the compass in his head like birds of passage. It iimst require a kind of intuition approaching in- stinct to have enabled Captain Young to save his i.' i i If fcl! li' r^ ;t r ' \i '•A i.l;i 262 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. ship amid tho dangers wliicli surrounded us iu Peel Strait. To make one completely miserable, wretched, disheartened, discouraged, misanthropic, and dis- gusted with life there is nothing, I think, equal to an Arctic fog. It is cold, dank, and disagreeable. It searches and penetrates everywhere. The thickest, warm- est clothing does not suffice to keep it out. It crawls through folds and unknown crevices of your dress, and wraps itself about your shrinking limbs like a snake trying to warm itself. Ugh ! only those who have tried the cold-water cure can form any idea of it. At noon the fog commenced to cle^r away, and by two o'clock the sky was bright again. But no change had occurred in the ice. We found our- selves a little to the north of La Roquettc Island, and Captain Young started the screw going, and bore along the edge of the pack towards the western shore, rather with the object of moving about than in the hopes of finding a lead. It was too clearly evident that there was none. In the course of the afternoon we came back towards the island, but loose ice prevented our approaching nearer than a mile. The Captain, however, decided to land, and he, Pirie, Beynen, De Wilde, and myself got into a boat and rowed off towards the island. We first landed on a floe, where Mr. De Wilde made a photograph of the WAITING. 263 island, and Mr. Pii'io took observations for the dip of the needle, which he found to be hero 89° 30'. We then rowed on towards the island, but there was so much ice in the way that wo only suc- ceeded in reaching it with the greatest difficulty. We at last managed to get ashore between two pieces of ice, where the water was so shallow that we had to wade to land at the risk of getting our feet wet. We found the island to be, like the Cary Isles and North Somerset, a mere heap of huge boulders, worn for the most ])art round and smooth as if by the action of water. It was, perhaps, a mile and a half in diameter the longest way, and it rose from the shore in an irregular slope to a height of about two hundred feet above the water. We hurriedly scrambled up to the top, anxious to have a look away to the south, from a stand- point a hundred feet higher than our look-out on board the ship. But^ alas ! the same white plain met our view we had seen the day before, the same snowy floor extending without a break to the sky. The only difference was that we perceived an iceberg far away to the south, which wo had not remarked the day before. This iceberg Captain Young thinks a curious and im})ortant fact, bearing upon the movements of the ice, as no icebergs are formed in this part of the Arctic, and it must have come from a long distance. :f I 'ill H mm ^H 204 UNMEK thl: noktueun lights. is, where it will stav until the next ship goes down Peel Strait. As there was nothing more to be done here, we descended to our boat and put off for the ship. The loose ice, under the pressure of a light breeze, had commenced moving, and oj)ened an easier passage than we had found Avlicn going ashore. The sun was now setting, young ice had begun ■ l(j form while we were on the island, and it was fifP' i f i > ;! i 1' ■^ I : ■:! l"! : li ■ l;?i 2G6 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. already a quarter of an inch thick, thougli very soft. It was strong enough, however, to make rowing very warm work, and wo were very glad to get back to the ship, whore a warm su})per was awaiting us. it 2G7 CHAPTER XXV. ALLliN YOUNU'S SLEDGE JOURNEYS. The voyage of the Fox under McClintock, and the details of the wonderful sledge journeys performed by him and Hobson, with the dramatic incidents that attended the findinor of the relics of Sir John Franklin, are familiar to English readers. But I think that Captain Young's sledge journeys performed at the same time, an account of which he has never yet given ^he world, are equally full of interest. He came out with McClintock as navigating ofl&cer, having resigned the command of his own ship to accept that position, and contributed besides, to the ex- penses of the expedition. His work was allotted him, the region he was to explore marked out by his commander, and he performed that work with thoroughness and zeal, contending with the most frightful difficulties ; but as he found no relics of Sir John Franklin, which was the grand object of the expedition, he has always thought that the story of his own adventures could not ' ^w^ 2G8 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. Iv^i it ^ have tlio sliglitcst intorc.st for the public. It was only uj)on my earnest request, that lie at hist consented I should embody in the present clia])tcr, his journal kept at the time, wgether with many incidents I picked uj) in conversation with him. For my own part, I tliink that these journeys performed in the sim])le execution of an aj)- pointed task, with no hope of fame or reward, and with no results but the exploration of the country, are scarcely surpassed in interest by the more brilliant and successfid feats of McClintock and Hobson. But the reader shall judge. It will be remembered that the Fox, the first summer out, was beset in IVIelville Bay, and drifted during the winter down through Davis' Straits, where she was only released the following sj)ring. As soon as he got free, McClintock returned again to the charge, and this time — the summer of 1851) — succeeded in passing down Regent Inlet, and through Bellot's Straits to its western entrance, where he was stopped by ice about ten miles from the present position of the Pandora. He went into winter-quarters on the east side of Bellot's Straits, and determined to prosecute the search for the missing ships of Franklin by sledge journeys round King William's Land to the mouth of the Fish River, and also to the west to explore Prince of Wales' Land. It Avas not then known whether the latter 'm ALLEN YOU NT. S SLKnCIK JoUKXEYS. 2(»9 was part of Victoria Ijand, or wliotlior tlicy were dividi'd by a chaiinol, wlioso existence was afterwards proved by Youiifj's sl('d(:ro jour- neys. It had then been pretty well ascertained that Franklin's expedition had perished on tho shores of K'm^ "William's Island, and about the mouth of the Great Kish River; but in order that the whole of the unexj)loi'ed region in which Franklin had disappeared might be included in the search, Young Avillingly undertook the explo- ration of tho unknown tract where was the least probability of finding any traces of the lost expe- dition. It was arranged, therefore, that three travelling parties should engage in the search. Tho first, commanded by Ca|)tain McClintock, was to push directly for the Fish lliver, andexamine Montreal Island at its mouth, where he hoped to find the lost records, and then return to the shi]) by tho west side of King William's Land. The second exploring party was under the command of Lieutenant Ilobson, and its object was to pro- ceed by the west side of King William's Land as far south as possible towards Fish River. The third party, led by Allen Young, was to cross Peel Strait to Prince of Wales' Land, and go southwards, if possible, to Victoria Land, as far as Collinson's winter-quarters. In the event of finding a channel to exist, he was to proceed to the north-west, and connect his discoveries with those of Captain Sherard shorn. 270 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. During the winter, while awaiting the coming of spring to commence the projected sledge jour- neys, an account of the provisions was taken, and it w^as found that some very necessary articles were running short. This being reported to Captain McCHntock, Young volunteered to pro- ceed to Fury Beach, where Parry had landed stores from the ship Fury in 1825, which it was hoped would still be found there. Failing to find these, he was to go to Port Leopold, where Sir James Ross had left provisions, and endeavour to procure the necessary articles, returning to the ship in time to commence his long spring journey. Owing to the fact that the rest of the available sledging force was exhausted by earlier journeys, Young went on this desolate and uncertain ex- ploring tour, accompanied only by the ship's cook, two Eskimos, and a few dogs. He started on March 18, and succeeded in reaching Fury Beach, eighty miles distant, after a severe struggle with the dreaded north-west gales. Arrived at the place where he expected to see the store-house containing the provisions, he could find nothing. An even, unbroken line of snow met his gaze on every side, without the shghtest indication to mark the spot. The only guides he had to show him where the stores on Fury Beach lay hid were his sextant and chronometer ; these had led him here to this smooth, level plain, where a rabbit could not ALLE NYOUNG's SLEDGE JOURNEYS. 271 have found hiding, and there was nothing to bo seen. This was a bitter disappointment ; for if he found no suppHes here, he would have to go on to Port Leopold, a hundred and fifty miles farther, with no assurance that he would find anything when he arrived there. He had almost made up his mind to proceed to Port Leopold, when he was surprised to hear, a short distance away, the report of a fowling-piece. He looked, and saw that one of his Eskimo com- panions had fired at some small, dark object on the snow, about the size of a rabbit. When an Eskimo perceives any object on the snow, he always fires, without waiting to see what it is, as it is impossible to distinguish, in the glare of the sun, whether it is ptarmigan, hare, or only a stone. Upon going to the object in question, the Eskimo perceived that, instead of a partridge, it was the top of a flag-staff, which barely came through the snow. Young then knew the store-house was near. In fact, it proved to bo directly beneath them, as the flag-staff, a very short one, was nailed to the house. They had therefore to open a mine, and bore down through the snow until they found the door, and it was not without considerable diffi- culty that they succeeded in hoisting the supplies they were in search of to the surface. He commencedhis return journey with two loaded 272 UNDER THE NOUTIIEUX LIGHTS. i* ;1 m yitih I sledges, the whole weight being about 1200 pounds. In recrossing Cresswell Bay, one of the sledges broke down, and the whole of its burden had to be placed on the other. This one was now so heavy that in places wliere the way became rougli the load had to be taken off and transported in parts, thus necessitating double labour. Tliis involved such exhausting work and fatigue that Young became snow-blind. But finding it would be dangerous to delay, ho ordered the rest of the party to proceed, and leave him alone in his sleeping-bag, to recover. Tliis they accordingly did, and he remained here two days lying in the snow, in the midst of the dreary plain, blind and utterly helpless, far removed from human aid. He had with him nothing to eat but a little frozen pemmican ; nothing to drink but snow, which he melted in his mouth, and he was thirty miles from the land, in a locality frequented by bears ! The snow, however, drifted over him, and lie remarks that he passed the time in tolerable com- fort, listening, when not asleep, to the wind howling around, and feeling the warm coverlet of snow gradually thickening over him. But these two days did not pass without some fearful emotions. Once during the time — he could not tell whether it was night or day — he heard steps approaching ; thinking it was a relief party that had been sent out for him, he cried out, to let ALLEN YOUNG S SLEDP.E JOURNEYS. 273 them know where he was, for fear the snow had completely buried him. The steps suddenly stopped, and there was a long silence. Then he heard them approaching, slowly crunching over the snow with a sound he knew could not be human. Then they receded; again approached; then went all round him, evidently reconnoitring. This continued for what to the blind man appeared an age. Finally the steps began to approach cautiously, and at last he felt a great muzzle rooting at him, with a low, querulous sort of growl, as though asking him what ho meant by it. He could even feel the breath of the animal through a crevice beneath the flap that closed the bag over his head. It was a bear ! But Bruin only seemed to be remonstrating with him for sleeping out in that reckless maimer, and, having expressed his disapprobation by a few nudges and growls, walked away. At the end of the second day his sight returned, and he therefore proceeded to overtake his party, and found their encampment about twenty-five miles distant. One of the Eskimos was completely snow-blind, the other had been away twelve hours, out to seaward, with three dogs, in chase of a bear, and had not returned ; and the cook was in despair. On the following night the hunter returned, having killed the bear, as he thought, T "9 ;: < hit I i ^ if :i- i it-A 274 UNDEH THE NORTHERN LTGITTS. in n ■H:: li t E^' I twenty miles away; and, having had a good meal, was greatly disgusted because Young would not allow him time to fetch in the carcase. The party finally rejoined the ship on March 20, and prepared to start on the long spring journey — the real expedition — which they calculated would extend over a period of seventy-five to eighty days. The travelling parties were each to consist of four men, drawing one sledge, and six dogs witli a second sledge, besides the officer in charge, and the dog-driver. By the aid of depots, already carried out, the extreme care Avith which Captain McClintock had prepared the travelling equip- ment, and reduced every ounce of unnecessary weight, they expected to be able to extend the journey over periods of from seventy to eighty days, and, if necessary, even longer. The captain and Hobson both started on the 2nd of April, and Young got away upon the 7th. The Fox was left in charge of Dr. Walker (surgeon) and three or four invalids, who were unfit for the fatigues of travelling. Captain Young crossed Peel Strait, and found, as he proceeded, that the coast turned to the north- west, and led up, as was parti} anticipated, to- wards the point which Sherard Osborn reached from the north. In this outward journey, the ice was found to be exceedingly heavy for travelling, and constant ALLEN YOUNG S SLEDGE JOUIJNEY. 275 foga, gale.'?, storms of slcct and snow, continually delayed the progress of the party. The difficul- ties of dragging the sledges, arising from the nature of the ice, and the deep snow, were such that a whole day's work did not sometimes ad- vance them more than six miles. As they did not know which way the land migiit trend, and wero on quite unknown ground, they wero constantly making the circuit of deep bays in the land, where, if they had known it, they miglit have gone straight across, and thus saved many a weary day's march. Their progress was therefore very slow and fatiofuino:. Their manner of camping at the end of the day was as folic .vs: — They carried witli them on their sledo:es a small tent of brown hoi- land, a sleeping-bag for each man, and two or three large pieces of felt. As soon as they had decided to camp, they would instantly unharness their dogs, and set up the tent, which was then carpeted by means of a piece of felt laid dowu on the snow. The sleeping-bags Avero then thrown inside, and all, except the cook, instantly crept each into liis own bag, drew it up close round head, neck, and cars, and waited impatiently for his supper. This meal consisted of a pound of pcmnncnn, and a pannikin of tea warmed over a spiril-laiii[), and each man took his turn as cook. When the su[)- per was despatched, and the dogs were fed, the cook crawled into his bag; they stretched themselves T 2 |! I ill: fi i I 27G UNDEH TDK NORTHERN LIGHTS. rll out side by side, lying as close together as pos- sible, drew the otbor piece of felt over them, and tucked it in all round. They were then prepared for the cold of an Arctic night. The stuff of which the tent was made was so thin that the wind seemed to blow through it as through a net, with its force scarcely broken. After a few days, however, the thin canvas became permeated with ice, and it then afforded much better shelter. The sleeping-bags were made of a thin kind of felt called duifle, and lined with a thick soft woollen blanket, which was found much more suitable than fur, for the reason that furs after a few days become a frozen mass of ice. The dogs would lie down in a heap on the shel- tered side of the tent ; in a short time the snow would cover them over with a warm wliito blanket, and they were far better protected witli their thick furry coats than their masters. Captain Young's accounts of the nights passed in this manner are most interesting, and his sketches of the British Tar especially, are very amusmg. The men with him were, of course, all sailors. It might be supposed that living amid such con- ditions, so far away from home, and from human help or succour, they would form a band of brothers, among whom never a word of quarrel or dissension would be heard. I ALF.EN young's SLEDQE JOURNEYS. 277 Not so the British Tar. No sooner were tlioy comfortably tucked in for tlio night than some one of them woiihl start a question wliich in- variably resulted in a heated discussion. This question of "How about that grog?" appears simple enough in itself, and one could hardly imagine the sinister meaning wliich was wra[)ped up in it. These men were all old shipmates, and had known each other for years, and one of them about ten years before had been accused of making away with some grog which belonged to one of his moss- mates, a charge which, however, was never pro- perly substantiated. Now, Jack is not by any means a vindictive person. He might be persuaded perhaps, to shako hands with the murderer of his brother. But there is one crime ho will not forgive nor forget, were he to live a thousand years, and that is, any sleight-of-hand where grog is con- cerned. This grog was therefore a never-ceasing subject of recrimination, contention, and dispute. Never a night passed without some reference to it ; and one particularly cold night, when the thermometer was fifty degrees below zero, the quarrel waxed so hot that two of them, before Young knew what they were about, suddenly scrambled outside of the tent, with the intention of having it out by the light of an Arctic moon. ii " '^fmmm 278 UNDKR THM XOltTIIEHN LIOnTS. A Tlien often after tlic iiflair had been adjusted foF* tlie niglit, and tliey had all gone to sleep, one of them would awaken in the night and imagine he heard a bear outside. Wliereupon ho would awaken his neighbour, who would arouse the next, and so on until all were awake, including the captain, who would, however, on these occasions generally feign sleep. Then a whispered dis- cussion would ensue as to the advisability of awakening the " Old man " — who, by the way, was a good deal younger than any of them — mixed up with exclamations of " There he is ! " — "I hear the — sanguinary rascal ! " — " He's scratching the snow away under my head ! " — " Tell the ' Old man,' ho has the gun beside him ! " — " Geordio, you p) out and see ! " — " Oh, yes, of course I'll go out 1 " — and so on until finally they would decide that there was no bear at all — a fact which they might have known from the first, because the dogs were quiet. Then the man who had first raisetl the alarm would get put down and sat upon in the most ruthless manner. Once, however, it would seem they really were visited by a bear during the night. This happened, however, to the party Young afterwards detached and scut home, which party were without dogs. Among them was the ono who had been most per- sistent in stirring up discord on the question of tlie grog. His nnme was Tommy Florence, the same old Arctic veteran who was with us in the ALI.EN VOUMi .S SLKDGE JltU'UNEVS. ore) Pandoua. They had a piece of bacon with them, which old Tommy used to put under hia head every night for safety. One night a bear came, and, slipping his claw under the tent stole it, with- out awakening the tired sleeper. The tables were then turned on Tommy, for ho who had been accused of stealing the grog now affected to not believe in the bear, and ])rotonded that Tommy had got up in the night and eaten the flitch of bacon himself. The result was a pitched battle then and there, the particulars of which Captain Young was never able to obtain. But to the question of the grog was now added that of the bacon, which served as subjocLs of dis- pute until the Fox returned. The difficulty of dragging the heavily-laden sledges over the hummocks of ice became so great that Young resolved to adopt the plan of sending all his men back, excepting one, rather than incur the risk of not completing the search of the area which had been assigned to him. Ac- cordingly, when twenty-one days from the ship, he sent his men all back but one, George Hobday, giving them the tent, and then proceeded on the dreary journey accompanied by a single com- panion. As they were now without a tent, they were obliged at the end of each day's march to build themselves a snow-house — not the scientific Eskimo 280 UNDllH THE N'ORTIIF.RN I.KUITS. r. domo-slmpod structure l)uilt of blocks of snow, each cut with tlio precision of a geometrical figure, the proper size and shape for forming an arched vault ; but a mere hole in tho frozen snow, large enough to crawl into with their sleeping-bags. Then, having warmed some pemmican, and fed themselves and the dogs, they would throw their bags into the hole, struggle into them, and draw over them a brown-holland sheet, which was really tho only thing they retained in tho way of shelter, and leave it to tho wind and snow to cover them in. In a very short time they would bo buried beneath a thick deposit of drift-snow, and were thus literally entombed during their sleep. Travelling under such circumstances was never done before ; and yet for days and days they pro- ceeded northwards, camping in this manner. Once they were attacked by snow-blindness. They hast^lly encampted, a gale came on, they were buried completely, and slept for many hours beyond their time without awaking. They were only aroused by the dogs, who scraped down to them through the snow to see if they were alive or dead. On Captain Young exerting himself to get rid of the pressure of snow, he found his sight quite restored. But in the meantime his chrono- meter had run down, and it was impossible at first to tell whether they had been encamped one night or a week. This was a very serious mishap, for, unless he IV AI.I.EN YOlINu's SLEDGE JOURNEYS. 281 could rocovor liis lost reckoning it would bo im- possiblo to continue the survey, and even dinicult, without astronomical observations, to find his way back to the ship. The problem was rendered all tlie more complicated becaiiso for several days ho had not,owingto cloudy weather,l)een able to obtain a single altitude of any heavenly body. Fortunately it turned out a brilliant morning, and the sun and moon were both visible, lie measured tho angular distance between them, and ascertained the day and Lour at which that distance would be found to bo correct, and bo then discovered that tbey had slept in their snowy tomb foi'ty hours. Those only who know what it is to bo exposed to a temperature of frozen mercury, accompanied with wind, can form any idea of the discomforts of dragging a sledge over the ice, upon an unknown track, day after day, and for eight or ten consecu- tive hours, without a meal or drink, tho hands and face constantly frostbitten, and boots full of ice; to be attacked with snow-blindness ; to encamj) and start in tho dark, and spend sixteen hours upon tho snow, in the hastily-erected snow-house, listening to tho wind, tho snow-drift, and tho howling of tho dogs outside, and trying to wrap the frozen blanket closer round the shivering frame. The exhaustion to the system is so great, and tho thirst so intense, that the evening pannikin of tea and the allowance of pemmican would not be given I *'■' ' } . i; ■|! :i i n^^^ 282 UNI) 111! THE NORTHERN LIOHTS. III' ) -0 3 'I up wore it possible to receive the whole world in excluingo; and woe to the unlucky cook if he cup- si/icd the k(!ttle ! Captain Young eventually reached the desired point, vi/., Sherard Osborn's farthest, having thus completed the entire coast of Prince of Wales* Land, which ho thus jn'oved to be an island. lie then attempted to cross from that point the wide channel which ho had discovered, now called McClintock Channel, and succeeded in proceeding about forty miles. But the ico was broken up, and the fissures full of snow, into which he and liis companion frequently fell headlong, so that there was no alternative but to commence the return journey. They were now about 270 miles from the ship, and for sustenance during the homeward journey had to trust to the small caches of provisions they had dropped on tlio outward route. On again reaching the land, and verifying the results of his previous observations by the interval of time elapsed, and ascertaining beyond doubt that he had overlapped Sherard Osborn, Young pushed on with all haste to reach the ship before his strength should finally break down. But, on arriving at one of the caches a few days after- wards, he found, to his consternation, that the pemmican had been eaten by the bears, and, still worse, that one of them had put a claw through the tin containing the concentrated spirit, the imm M.IF.S VnirNl's SLKDriK JOrKNKVS. 283 only fuel availiihU', iiiid tliiit the wliolo liad boon loyt. There was now not u uionioiit to lose, for, by the ordinary calcidations, tlioro wcro not snlHcicnt provisions for nioro tlian lialf-way to tho ship, and should tlio next earhc, which coidd not l)o rcachrd under a week, fail, complete starvation would in- evitably result. This was perhaps the most tryinji^ period of tho whole journey, for they had scai'e(>ly atiything to eat, and there was nothing for the dogs except tho merest scraj)S of ])enimican. They were obliged to make forced marches, which so enfeebled both men and dogs that tho mere act of moving could only bo performed with difficulty, and the travellei's could not summon enough strength to even dig a hole in tho snow for their night encampment, but had to content them- selves with lying down beside the sledge, without any further shelter than that of the dogs, who would come and lie down upon them. Finally, the poor brutes fill succumbed, and Young was couipellcd to ask his companion if he thought he could manage to eat tho flesh of their faithful canine friends ; to which Hobday replied that ho could eat dog if his connnander could. They frequently had fainting fits, and, to save time, agi'eed tliat they should not wait for e.'ich othei*, but let the stricken man overtake his com- panion as he best could, on recovering. w It ■II : •■ 'J ■I* 284 UNDER THE NOIITDKIIN LIGHTS. Tliey were now on the very verge of starvation, and Young was convinced, that unless game of some kind should fall in their way, they would never reach the ship. To keeD up the energy of his companion, Young from time to time told him that they v/ould arrive next day. Finally, Hobday completely lost his reason, and Young had the greatest diffi- culty in preventing him wandering away and getting lost. But his delirium seems to have strangely sharpened his vision, for one day ho kept exclaiming that he saw a man on a floe far out to sea, when Young himself could see nothing, and he was so persistent in this declaration that Young, to humour him, deviated from his course, and went in the direction indicated. Ilis surprise and joy were great when ho perceived, not a man, but an enormous bear, that was following them. The animal kept a long way off, however, and occasionally stood up on a hummock, with his paws stretched out, looking something like a man. He had probably been following them for days. Hero was a chance to get food sufficient to last until the ship was reached; it was, too, their last hope, and they halted, lay down behind the sledge, and waited with anxiety for the bear to come up. Then ensued one of those terribly dramatic scenes in which Nature, our cruel step-mother, so ATJ.EN young's SLEDOE JOUHNEYS. 28; nnich deliglits. Not a fierce liand-to-liand stniggle wliicli would liave ended in a minute, but a period of that intense suspense, and alternate ebb of liope and fear, that racks and shatters the strongest nerves. Contrary to the general supposition, the polar bear is the most prudent and circumspect of animals, and never approaches any unknown ob- ject boldly and unhesitatingly. The movements of this one were of the most tortuous and un- certain kind. He would approach within two or three hundred yards, then retreat to the distance of half a mile ; again approach, make a wide circuit around them, and then retire a long dis- tance, as if going away for good. The two travellers knew well that, unless they could kill him and get a meal of his warm flesli and blood, they would never reach the ship — that they must inevitably perish of starvation. Would the bear approach near enough to allow them to shoot him, or would he suspect the danger and go off? This was the question on which their lives depended. The bear wandered about over the plain apparently without aim or object, alternately ap- proaching and receding, circling around them in the most exasperating manner.' Sometimes ho Avould stand up on his hind legs and watch them with outstretched paws for half an hour, as mo- tionless as a statue. Then he would lie down f iB't ' imf i iff 28G UXDRR THE NORTHEUN LIGHTS. and apparently take a nap for anotlior half-hour, at the end of which time he would probably Avalk off a distance of a mile or two. Young had determined, in order not to miss his shot, to wait until his prey should approach within five yards ; and he was so well acquainted with the habits of the polar bear that he knew the animal would come even closer, if time were given him, and he were not in the meantime frightened away. But here was the difficulty. Hobday was deli- rious, and he insisted on Young shooting when the animal was still two or three hundred yards away. This would have been folly, but Hobday was almost uncontroll.able. Young had to watch him as well as the bear, and at one time he became so clamorous that Young had to threaten him to keep him quiet. A silent, desperate struggle for the mastery ensued between these starving men, while the hungry bear was circling around them. Not a physical struggle — for the slightest move- ment would probably have frightened the animal away, and thus have proved fatal — but a struggle of will against will — of a sane man keeping the mastery over a madman by the mere force of will and eye. And this scene — with the two haggard, starving, freezing men watching with burning eyes the huge beast that was likewise starving and waitir^ to feed upon them — lasted for five hours ! ■ 'll^ljlllljlii-^ lilt AT,T,E\ YOUNn's SI.EDr.F, JOl'RNEYS. 287 Jt is only in tlio Arctic that Nature offers us such tragedies as this. At length the bear approached slowly — very slowly, with many a long pause, until lie was within fifteen feet ; then, and not till then, the thunderbolt was launclicd. Tlio huge beast dropped dead in his tracks, and in a moment the two men were feasting on the warm blood that gushed, from the wound. They soon prepared a warm meal, cooked by means of the bears own grease ; then tliey slept, and when Hobday awoke he was perfectly sano ; but he could scarcely remember anytliing that had happened for the last two or three days. After a long rest, during which time they ate three or four hearty meals, the}'' packed up enough of the delicious food to last them to the ship, whero they arrived without further incident. Allen Young, although he found no traces of the Franklin expedition during this journey, walked 800 miles, discovered the broad channel since named McClintock's Channel, proved the Prince of Wales Land to be an island, and ex- plored and laid down 400 miles of new coast-liue. r it- ::■ Si! i'' > ; f 288 UNDER THE NORTH liBN LIGnT,S. CHAPTER XXVI. THE LAST MAN. The results of McClintock's and Hobson's most successful sledge journeys are too well known to the English public to require more than the briefest summary here. They pursued their journey together as far as Cape Victoria, on the cast c'oast of King William's Land, and then separated. Hobsou went around the north and west side of the island, which he was to explore as far as he should be able to travel ; while McClintock himself went around the east and south side, with the intention of travelling until he should meet Hobson, or reach the point where the latter should have turned back. In this way the circuit of the whole island, or peninsula as it was then supposed to be, would be made. Hobson, upon arriving at Cape Felix, the northern extremity of King William's Land, found numerous relics of the missing expedition. Ho discovered a cairn, around Avhich was heaped a great quantity of warm clothing and blankets, THE LAST M\N. 289 that liad probably been left there as a depot by somo of Franklin's nien, in case they should bo obliged to abandon their ships. But, altliougli ho made a very thorough search, he found not a lino of writing. He continued his march around the coast to Point Victory, and there he found a cairn, in which was placed a record, containing the only direct information ever obtained of the Franklin expedition. It was a scrap of paper, on which there were about ten lines of writing, resuming the progress and condition of the expedition up to the moment when the record was deposited. Even these few lines were written at two different dates, nearly a year apart, and in two ditFerent handwritings, that were readily recognized. This showed that the record had first been left by a party of Franklin's men, and that nearly a year after, the cairn in whicli the record was placed, had been visited by another party, who had added the writing under the second date. The first part of the record simply stated in the briefest words that the Erep.us and Tei;i;oi{ had passed the winter, 1845-(), at Boechcy Island; that sailing from thence they were beset in the ice, September 12, fifteen miles N.W. from Cape Felix, the northern extremity of King William's Land, and that all was well with the expedition. This part of the record was written in May of 1817. The second part was dated April 25, 1818, and u J!i t|:ji ill 290 UNDEU ini'] NORTHERN LIGHTS. stated tliat Sir John Franklin had died June 11, 1847, that there had been, all told, twenty-four deaths in the expedition, and that at the date of the writing, lOG men, nnder the command of Captaiu Crozier, had landed at Point Victory, with the inte!ition of starting the next day for the Great Fish River. This record is the only scrap of writing ever found of the Franklin expedition, althoguh thirty voyages have been made in the search, and the whole region around King William's Island has been thoroughly explored. It is a strange circumstance tlp,t the expedition left not the slightest trace behind it in the shape of writing. It has always been the custom of Arctic sliips to build cairns in prominent ])ositions, where they can be seen from a long distance, and to place in them records, stating where the ship has been, and in which direction she is bound, together with other details of the voyage. But here, although all the coast-lines along which Franklin must have sailed Avere searched in the most thorough manner, not the slightest trace of him was ever discovered. The only marks he over left behind were the three graves at Beechey Island ! It seemed as though some mysterious fatality had driven the doomed sliips into the network of this great Archipelago, far beyond the point that any ship has since been able to reach, then had swept away all traces of ■rirK LAST MAN'. 291 tliom, and with a wall of ice cut thorn off from tao oiitsido world. As to tho fate of the 10(3 men who had landed at Point Victory, Hobson soon discovered evidence that showed only too clearly what that fate had been. Proceeding south along tho coast, ho discovered marks of their passage ; not graves this time, but skeletons. At Cape Crozier he dis- covered a boat, by means of a stanchion, which just showed above the snow, very much tis Allen Young had found the house at Fury Beach, Clearing away the snow% ho found in the boat a heap of clothing and two skeletons. One of these was lying down, under the clothing, tho other sitting in a half-recumbent position, and two rifles, loaded and cocked, were leaning against the boat, within easy reach. This huntsman had been sitting here wailing for game, with cocked rifle, eleven years ! Ilobson found many other relics of the lost expedition here — heaps of clothing, cooking utensils, watches, astronomical instruments, silver spoons. Bibles, Prayer-books, and a great variety of things that had been brought from the ship. But there was not a scrap of anytliing to eat, but a little tea and chocolate, neither of w'hich would support life in such a climate. The truth was only too evident; the poor fellows had perished of cold and starvation. Although one of the Bibles was underlined in u 2 iir ■'if .: 'i ¥r ■I i , 202 UNDFn Tin: \m?TnT;R\ LionTS. almost cvory verso, not a sin<^lo lin(3 of writiiiL;' was found to tlirow further liglit on the history of the rctrcntinf]r parties. Ilobson liad during the hitter part of the journey been suffering sev(Tely horn the scurvy. Tie was now so bad that he decided to return. But he did not have Young's iron constitution, and liis strength soon broke down completely ; he became so weak that for forty days he had not only to be dragged on the sledge, but to bo carried from tlio sledge to the tent Avhen camping for the night. The men who were with him were common sailors, and they treat-ed him during the whole of this time with the greatest tenderness and care. Among them was Toms, the same who had shipped with us in the Pandora as gunner — a man of Herculean frame and strength. He it was who used to pick Hobson up in his arms, and carry him back and forth from the sledge to the tent morning and evening. Ilobson relates that the jolting of the sledge over the rough places in tho ice caused him such intense suffering, and ho dreaded so much being lifted about, that he often begged Toms to leave him behind, to let him lie there and die. But they used to all gather around him, before starting of a morning, cheer him up, and do their best to keep up his spirits during the long, weary march ; and in this they succeeded so well that they brought him safely home to the ship, where he soon recovered. L Ill THK LAST MAX. ■ < * I Jack lovc3 his groir, but lie is l)y no means a bad sort of person for a travellinsj^ companion. McClintock bad in tlio meantime proceeded south, along the coast of King AVilliam's l^and, to prosecute the search in that direction. He found tliat King AVilliam's Land, wliich up to that time was thought to bo a peninsuhi, was in reaUty an ishmd, separated from North America by tlio narrow channel of water called Simi)son Strait. On the Southern shore of tlio island ho met with Eskimos, who were very friendly and com- municative, lie found them in possession of a mimber of relics, that had evidently belojiged to the missing expedition, such as silver spoons and forks, with the names of some of Franklin's officers engraved on them, which they readily exchanged for knives and needles. They had obtained them, th(>y said, from a ship that had gone ashoro on the west side of the island ; and they further informed him that the white men from the ship had all died, that " they dropped down and died as they walked along," but that some of them had reached Montreal Island in the mouth of the Great Fish River. Thither McClintock continued his march. He crossed Simpson Strait, searched IMontreal Island, and the neighbouring shores of the river, without finding anything but a few bits of iron and co[)per. Then ho continued the exploration westward, along the southern shore of the strait, which ml- :in" ) i I If ' i»: r *i? ..ii' 294 UNDIOH THE NOUTIIRRN LIfillTS. lie finally again rccrosscd to King William's Island. There he soon began to conio upon the traces of the lost expedition. Ho foimd near Capo Herschel a skeleton lying in the snow, face down- wards, and near it a note-book with writing, wliicli has never yet been deciphered. Further north ho came to the boat Hobson had already discovered, and from there he followed in Hobson's track back to the ship, which he reached after an abs'enco of nearly three months. He had obtained in the paper found by Hobson the only direct information ever procured of the lost expedition. There could be no doubt now of the fate of the lOG men who had landed at Point Victory, and of the fearful catastrophe in which the expedition had ended. They had all perished. But not until they had accomplished the great object of their voyage — the discovery of the Nourii-wi'jsT Passage ; and the poor skeletons lying along the bleak, for- bidding shores of King William's Island bore melancholy evidence of their success. AVe of the Pandowa were now within one hundred and twenty miles of the place where these men met their fate. From the top of La Roquette Island we strained our eyes south- ward, in anxious longing, towards the melancholy spot. What would we not have given for some means of getting over this icy plain that inter- THE LAST MAN. 295 poaod like a gliostly wall between us and ilio niysterioiis island ? It si-eiued to us that wo wore almost there. From our elevateil position we had a view to the south that appeared to extend a liundred miles, and we ahuost thought wo could S(3metimes distinguish far away ou the southern horizon a dark, low-lying coast-lino — the shores of the fateful isle. If the ico would break uj) and open a pas- sago, wo might be there to-morrow ! We could easily make the run in twenty-four hours ; and once there, with the ground bare of snow as it is now, what might "wo not find in the way of relics ! Papers and join-nals, the log-books of tho EiiKiUTs and Terkou, the private journal of Sir John himself. One could not help thinking of those lOG men who landed on King William's Island twenty- eight years ago, starving and freezing to death. Wo wore so near tho spot that the fearful tragedy began to wear an aspect of reality it had never worn before. Tho imagination is seized u])on by it, and in spite of you, goes, on picturing the last moments of those men with feai'ful distinctness, and constructing whole scenes of the tragedy that are full of a terrible fascination. You follow them, in spite of yourself, along that bleak shore, where " they dropped down as they walked along," wondering who died last, and how they finally met their fate when thev saw it was inevitable. I li tr: vm ih f^ 296 UNlJEIt THE NoUTlIEllN LKIHTS. i -v Amoiif^ tlieso lOG men, tlioro would bo a few who would iiiako a gallant fif^lit for life ; two or tlireo at least, stron*^ iti IVauio and stout of boart, who would survivo when all their comjtanions had perished, and the inuifi^iuatiou is drawn towards theso last survivors by a fascination that is irresistible. You cannot help thinking, for instance, that ono of them kept a journal to the end, and that this man was the last to die ; that his skeleton would bo found somewhere in the samo position in which ho sat down tho last time, resigned to freeze to death, with note-book and pencil still clinging to tho bony fingers. Ono sees this num, after the death of his last remaining companion, all alono in that terrible world, gazing round him in mute, voiceless despair, the solo living thing in that dark, frozen universe ! There is no hope for him — none. Ho knows that within a few hours, he will be as stark and cold as his companion who is lying there in tho snow, his stony eyes gazing reproachfully at tho relentless sky. He shivers and shuts his eyes ; his mind wanders far away to the sunny south, and ho sees a great city with its lighted streets, its crowds of people, its tall domes and spires and steeples, that rise like Titanic ])illars to support the warm, soft blanket of smoke that hangs over it. K-x-' M W H m» THE LAST MAN. 297 IIo sees its t]i(3iitro.s, and balls, and clubs, brilliant with li<^''lit and ovortluwing with boat ; its bright, comfortable, En<^li.sh homos, with tluMi' bla/ijig coal-fires and cozy rooms. Ho looks into the theatres ; a flood of light flashes upon him, and ho soes, in a confused picture, the great chandelier, the stage, the rows of faces that aro so snugly enfolded by tlio warm rod up- holstery. But it is not the stage, nor tlio actors, nor the ballet, nor the people, that attract him. It is the great chandelier throw- ing down its beneficent flood of light and heat that ho looks at ; it is tho warm, soft atmo- sphere that flows over him like a hot shower- bath that he enjoys. Ho looks in at a ball, where ho would be a welcome and honoured guest; he sees people whom he knows, his own friends dancing, moving about, talking, laughing, chatting gaily. Ah 1 if he could only speak to them ; if he could only let them know ; if ho could only make his voice heard. He looks into his club. He sees there many of his friends. They greet each other as they come in, and say, " How do you do, old man ? awfully hot, isn't it ? " and they go and dine, two or three of them, at tho same table where he always dines, in a snug corner, and they complain of the heat and open tho window. How can they think of such a thing ? Ho *1I I ! i^! i^p*» 298 UNDER TOE NORTHERN LIGHTS. I l-f: hears what they order for dinner — juicy beef- steaks, now potatoes, green peas, asparagus, fruit — things he has not tasted for three years. And then they have coffee and cigars, and one of them wonders as he Hghts a Havana, where ho is by this time. Ah ! if they could only know wliere he is ! He looks in upon his own home, and sees wife, mother, sister, with dreaming eyes that are trying to pierce the darkness around the Pole ; that are trying to find him out, wondering where he is, hoping he may soon return, praying he may yet be safe. But now he is glad they do not know where he is this winter night. He goes through the streets, looking in at the windows upon snug, cozy drawing-rooms, with steaming tea-urns, bright blazing coal-fires, with cor.foi'table old gentlemen around them, lying back in ens}> chairs, blissfully toasting slippered feet, smoking and reading the newspapers. Everywhere thou- sands of lights gleaming bright, thousands of fires glowing hot — a world teeming, overflowing with light, warmth, heat, life ! He alone of all this multitude is cold. These fires do not warm, these liglits do not cheer him. Ho is freezing to death. Ah ! it is like a horrible nightmare. He opens his eyes, and instead of the great city witli its lights and fires, bcliolds this stern, dark, frozen world. TIIK LAST MAN. 299 The sun has sot and the darkness gatliors and thickens. The sky is sombre with dull, h'^avy clouds ; but the earth is whitened with a cold, glittering whiteness that chills the heart. His clothing is covered with frozen snow, his face is lean and haggard, his beard a cluster of icicles, his boots two hnnps of ice. But his feet are not cold, and he knows they will never feel the cold agani. lie sits down in the snow, takes out his note-book and pencil, and scrawls a few lines, as he has done every da}^ since he left Eng- land. But a deadly torpor is crawling over his limbs, a drowsy stupor over his senses. It will be so sweet to sleep, and ho will sleep well now — not that shivering, half-waking sleep he has slept so many nights, but a sound, sweet sleep, untrou- bled by dreams of cold and hunger. Suddenly there ajipears a red flash of light low down on the western horizon, that gleams through a rift in the clouds like an angiy, bloodshot eye glaring out from behind a sable curtain. Nature is pitiless, and will glut her thirst for cruelty to the last. From her throne in the western sky she looks back to earth to see her last wretched victim die. He turns and meets her sinister gaze with a I i I Wr 300 UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. steady eye, in wliicli a fiery gleam is reflected, as though he were bidding lier defiance. For a few minutes they glare at each other, this man and this spectre, and then the curtain is drawn, and all is dark. Is br W foi Pe off wh we: of WIE teri dan escj thai pasf T 301 CHAPTER XXVIT. A RACE OUT OP PEEL STRAIT. if We remained here, cruising about La Roquette Island tliree days, vainly hoping the pack would break up, and open us a passage. It was a period of excited, anxious waiting. We were in a most critical position — one in which we might be beset at any moment and imprisoned for the winter. We could not even be sure that the mouth of Peel Strait had not already closed, and thus cut off our retreat. There was no harbour here into which we could put the ship for safety. And we were waiting with the knowledge that the delay of an hour might result in our staying here all winter, in a place the most unfavourable for win- tering that can be imagined. For besides the danger of getting beset, and the probability of not escaping again next summer, there was the fact that it would be utterly useless and purposeless to pass a winter here. There was absolutely nothing for us to do, no % 302 UNDER THE NORTUEHN LIGHTS. i i 1 \:i work to occupy us during the ten long months of a forced imprisonment. We could only remain in the ship and waste away with scurvy and in- action. At length, on the afternoon of September 2nd, th i'c came a change. A light breeze sprang up from the south, which soon commenced to move the ice. This was a chanw, but a most unfavour- nhh cue; for all this mass of ice was moving lighi; to^-ard^ us. I'. SLiuld bo remembered that we were here, not trying i ~' V'*i north, but south. We had been runiring "f^^^i .^ -r since we left Bcechey Island, and would hav? v^iiLinued to do so for 2(H) miles farther, had we not been stopped by this pack. It was Captain Young's intention, had we reached King William's Island, to attempt the passage east and south of that island, through Victoria and Dease and Simpson Straits. As Sir Leopold jMcClintock has clearly shown, Sir John Franklin, owing to the fact that King William's Land was then supposed to be a peninsula, attempted the passage west of that island instead of east. This mistake, unavoidable on his pai't at that time, was probably the pi'incipal cause of the disaster, which ended in the loss of the expedition. For to the best of our knowledge, McClintock Channel is always closed, summer as well as winter, by an impassable barrier of heavy floe-ice, which, driven down from the north, liea])S A RACE OUT OP VEEh STRAIT. 303 itself against the western shore of King Wilham's Island, and comi)lctely closes the way. While on the other side McClintock ascertained to a cer- tainty that Victoria and Simpson Straits are always open in the summer. Had Franklin only attempted the passage on the east, instead of on the west side of this little island, he would have made the North- West Passage the same season, and the disaster which cost him his life and the lives of his party would not have occurred. Such are the chances of Arctic navigation. It now became necessary for us to decide what we were going to do ; for if we lingered much longer, it would not remain in our power to choose. Captain Young decided to go ashore on La Roquette Island, and have one more look at the prospect. There was no change for the better. Away to the south-east could bo seen the perpen- dicular cliffs, that form the gigantic gateway to Beliefs Straits ; beyond, the coast of Boothia Felix, stretching away to the south until it was lost in the horizon ; on the western side, but far away to the south, a bold, high promontory, tlie south-eastern extremity of the Prince of Wales Land ; and all between these two coasts, the same unbroken plain of rugged ice reaching to the horizon. The iceberg we had seen the day before was considerably nearer, and it was clear that this immense [)lain of ice was in motion ; that it was ii' ' III I J: ; £ TINDER TIIR NORTMKKN' LIGHTS. Wo rotiinied to tho sliip, not without (Ulficulty, for tlio loose pieces of ico were in rapid motiou, and it was no easy matter to work tliroiitj^U them. Ca[)tain Young tlion gave the oi'der to turn tlio I'andora's Iiead to tho nortii; she swnnu; round at the word of coniTuand, and was soon j^loiighing hei* way at full speed up I'eel Strait, througli a narrow channel of water that was rapidly closing uj). in half an hour wc had outstripped the ict>, aud our speed was slackened. By nightfall wc had loft it far behind, and wo hove to, partly to see if it was still following, partly on account of tho danger of proceeding in the darkness. Daylight came, and showed ice in every di- rection that had drifted after us during the night. Tlie light breeze which had started it still kept blowing from tlie south, and we knew that as long as it continued from that direction the ico would keep moving after us. AVo again proceeded north, with the pack close at our heels, it was now evident, that summei* had gone, and tluit the winter was bciginning in earnest. Wo had s(pialls of snow and sleet, that rattled over the decks like hail, and tho tempera- ture wont down to 2G°, then to 24°. The rigging became covered with a thin coating of ice ; aud as the sails would soon have become so stiff as to be unmanageable, the Captain ordered the top- gallant-sails to l)e furled, and the topsnils to be -.- " ■! I %»l . ilil A HACK OJiT f»l' VV.VA. STI!AIT. n07 roofed down close, thus avoidiiiLT tlie iw^ccssitv of ^o\\\^ aloft on the icy ri^n-ini^. liy tlie eveniiiuf of the It h we were afifuin in siglit of Limestone Jshmd. As we approached it an enormous pack became visible, which, stretching across the mouth of Peel Sti-ait, seemed to com- pletely close it up and bar tho way. It was the same pack we had passed with so mu;.h difHculty when entering tho Strait, iind it still lay there in Avait for us. As wo nearcd it, there could be distinguished at intervals between tho snow s(jualls a narrow thread of open water, along the shore of North Somerset, and through this Captain Young decided to attempt a passage. It was dangerous to run so near the shore, with tho on-coming darkness, but it was our only chance of getting out of the Strait ; for had wo hesitated, or attempted to turn tho pack on tho south-west, wo would, in all probability, liavo been caught for the winter. Should this load of open water roach as far as Capo Rennel, the most northerly point of North Somerset, and enable us to pass that cape, we had little doubt of finding open water beyond, as Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound were almost certain to bo clear. So wo pushed on with tho Hist-increasing dark- ness. It was a fearful night. The wind increased to a gale, bringing hail and sleet, which it dashed over us in blinding srpialls. We tlu'eaded our way 'Ml •iHl 11! |:'m rios iTNiiRi; Till; \i»i{TMi;i;\ i.hiiiTs. tlii'otif^li tilt' (liii'kiiess, it as we were, a most threatening spectacle. IMie pack was close on the other side, and, look- inij: ahead, Ave saw it extendini)- rif^ht across our patli until it met the foot of the clitf. The lead of open water we had been following was com- pletely closed, and our escape in this direction was clearly impossible. Wc had hardly time to put the ship about when another snow squall beat down on us, and again hid everything from view. It now looked as though we w^cre to be jannned A i;.\(i; OUT m' i'i;i:i, stijait. noo iigiiiiisl tlu> rocks by the ]);ick, wliicli Wiis slowly closiii<^ tlio iiiuTow luno of open water in which wc foinid oursoJvcs. Wo ran hack rapidly aloii<;- the edge ol" this pack, looking for some opening, which proved to bo a most dilHcidt thing to lind, with the air full of the whirling, driving snow. Fortunately these snow s(pialls were of shoi-t duration, and when this one ceased, we perceived open water beyond the pack, which was scarcely more than a mile wide at this point. We had evidently passed the main body of ice in Ihc night, and this was only a border stretching along the coast. It was, however, formidable enough ' < > crush us against the I'ocks, had we not escaped in time. Wo fortunately soon found a weak place in it; into this wo dashed, and commenccfl boring our way through. The pack here coi listed of old Hoes, welded together by young ico whicli was rapidly forming. We met a considerable swell as wo advanced, and the young ico rose and fell on the waves without breaking, presenting a curious spectacle, as though the water had been covered an inch thick with oil. Finally, there was only a narrow neck of ice between us and the open sea beyond. This we charged with a full head of steam, and the sharp, iron-clad otem of the Pandoi!A angrily tore its way through this last barrier like a wild beast breaking out of a cage. Then the good ship dashed into the open waters of Barrow 8trait. and \vv were iree. I ^ il !! n ;f! 3J0 UNDKU THE iNOUTlIEIfN LKillTS. Tlie Pandora how presented a curious aiul beautiful siglit. As tliougli the dangers of tliis night had been too inucli for lier, she had turned quite white, as a man's hair may do sometimes under similar circumstances. Her sides were covered with a heavy casing of ice, her decks were heaped full of snow; great masses of snow and ice covered her yards, and hundreds of icy stalactites hung pendant from yards, rigging, and shrouds. The Pandora, in short, had turned into a large and magnificent icicle. It was well for us that the top-gallant-sails had been previously furled and the topsails close- reefed, as it would have been impossible to do anything with them in their present condition. Three days later we had got through Barrow Strait, and out into the north water of Hudson's Bay. ■ We had failed in the principal objects of our expedition, but we determined to at least make another trial to obtain news of the Alert and DrscovERY. The attempt would be attended with consitier- able risk, for it was now the 6tli of September; ice was rapidly forming in all the little bays and inlets wherever slieltered from the wind, and winter was fast setting in. Captain Young, however, decided to run up to the Cary Isles, search them all thoroughly, and i he found nothing there, to make a tlasli A RACE OUT 01' l'i;i;i, STIJAIT. ;5ii IK •" for Littleton Island, at the entrance to Smith Sound. He was strengthened in this resolution by the despondent views of our crew with regard to the Government expedition, who expressed it as their opinion that the Aleut and Uiscoveky had got caught in Melville Bay and " droov down the coontry." Had we gone home without news these fears would have grown into a fixed belief, which they would, upon our return, have spread throughout the country, and have thus caused unfounded anxiety and alarm. There are ahvays peo})le only too ready, not- only to circulate but to fabricate, through pure ])ervcrseness, the most idarniing reports about any- thing that may occupy the public mind. We learned upon our return that an instance of this kind had already occurred. Some imbecile, as ignorant as he was malicious, actually wont to the trouble of writing a letter purporting to be from somebody in the Alert or Discovery, and stating that one of the ships had been sunk ; this letter he sealed up in a bottle and cast into the sea, to be picked up, read, and ])ublished in the papers ! Captain Young knew that if we returned with- out news such reports would be kept in circula- tion until next year, and he detci'mined to nip them in the bud. The Pandora's head was therefore oiice more m 11 II I ai2 UNDER THE NORTIIEKN LIGHTS. turned to tlio north, as'ainst a strong^ brcczo "wliicli was blowing at tlio time, and wliicli soon freshened into a gale. It took us four days, liard work, to reach the Gary Isles, beating up the wliole distance in the teeth of this gale, Avhich lulled and freshened alternately, but continued blowing steadily from the north. At length, on the forenoon of September 10th, we arrived off the S.E. island of the group, and soon made out a cairn on its summit. The ship was hove to, and Lieutenants Lillingstou and Beynen put off in a boat, to land and make the search. The islands were now covered with snow, and the unsightly heaps of stones of which they are composed h.ad been transformed into huge silvery cones, that rose up out of the sea to a height of 800 feet, like gigantic sugar-loaves. Lieutenants Lillingston and Beynen mounted the steep ascent by means of the snoAV, and upon cxaminino- the cairn found the tube containing Captain Nares' despatch, and many private letters from the officers and crews of the Alert and Discovery. It was fortunate that we happened to hit upon the right island this time, for the boat had scarcely returned to the ship when we were assailed by a violent snowstorm, which Avas so dense as to hide everything at a distance of a hundred yards. Had the boat's crow been a few minutes later they A H.M'R UUT OF I'EF.I, STliAri', 313 could not liavo fomul tlic ship, and would have been obliged to wait on tlie island until the storm abated — perhaps all night. It would have besides been impossible to search the other islands while the storm lasted ; the ship would have been obliged to put out to sea to avoid the danger of going ashore, and we might thus have been de- tained here for several days. As it was, everything happened for the best, and having obtained the news we sought we turned our ship's head to the south with light hearts. We had not been successful in the grand objects of our voyage, but we were nevertheless not altogether dissatisfied Avith the results of our summer cruise in the Arctic. In conclusion, I would say that, although I have here and there made a little sport of my messmates, the reader Avill, I am sure, have read between the lines, and perceived that this was not done through any Avant of respect and esteem. In truth, although no two of us had ever seen each other, before stepping on board the Pandoka, there existed nothing but the best of good feeling in our little mess-room. This was so true, that the Caiitain good-humouredlv complained of the fact, and pretended there was so nnicli good-fellowshi]), that it resulted in our sitting around the table smoking and talk- ing Avhen we ought to have been at work. Never- theless 1 Itelieve tlie work Avas done well and I, i fi II 1 I 314 UNDKR THE XORTllKUN LlLiHTS. thoroughly, if not in the most regular and methodic manner. Lieutenant LilHngston, with liis experience as a naval officer, managed the internal economy ol' the ship in the most satisfactory and efficient mann(T The position of Lieutenant Pirie, our navigating officer, was a very trying one, for he, as well as the Captain, was responsible for the safety of the ship. There are only two or three officers now living who have navigated a ship under such difH- cult circumstances ; for it is only in the direct neighbourhood of the Magnetic Pole that naviga- tion becomes so dangerous. The escape of the Panpoua from the dangers which beset her in Peel Strait is the best evidence of his skill, as of Captain Young's ready presence of mind. Dr. Horner was indefatio-able in collecting botanical specimens, of which lie found seventy- one varieties ; in taking barometric and thermo- metric observations, in the midst of difficulties ; and he displayed an exemplary equanimity under the vituperation and abuse that, as caterer of the mess, was heaped ui)on his devoted head. Lieutenant Beynen was a very hard worker, and has made a most interesting and valuable report to his Goverimient on ice navigation. lie is the first Dutchman I ever met, and my acquaintance with him has convinced me that the old Dutch spirit which waged an eighty years' mm ps^W^^yvrt--' ' A RACE OUT OF I'EEL STRAIT. 315 war for liberty is as vigorous as ever, and tl.nt now, as then, the love of country is for the Dutchman, and especially the Dutch oflicer, a kind of religion i'i m i 11 [iff . 1 Hj 1 II \ ;51() INKHIJ Tlir: NOliTllEUN MCIITS. CHAlTKIl A'XVIII. A THACiEDV. 1 riNi) tlicit I shall have to close my book witli the recitiil of a tragedy. In a })i'evioiis chapter I liave spoken of the (logs, and incidentally referred to the one avo had It is a Avx'll-known fact that in Ki] 'K- named every Ai'ctic dog team there is always one dog Avho rules tlie rest, and whose sway is undisputed. Indeed, tliG driver of the team depends to a con- siderable extent upon the assistance of the " King Dog" to maintain his authority over the others, and keep them in proper subjection. Our King Dog Avas a magnificent specimen of the race, and Avith his great size, his grave in- telligent face, and his heaA'y fur collar, that almost approached the dimensions of a mane, had a leonine appearance that was very impressive. Ho was A^ery intelligent. It is said to be diffi- cult to teach an old dog new tricks, and tliere is oven a proverb Avhicli flatly affirms that this can. not be done. A Th'.\Oi:i>V :317 Our " Kiiii:>'," lidwcvcr, evidently Ibnued iiii exception lo the nile. Altlion^'h tlie cnstoni ot" sluiking liands is unknown to tli(> Eskimo d()ji;s, lie had not boon on board our shii) a wctjk bot'oro he learned it, and he liked this mark of friendship so well that he used to follow one about oti'ering to shako hands, when there was no occasion for it at all. We was very plucky, and was ready at any moment to fight the bear, whom he evidently re- j2;arded as a superfluous and useless animal. If I' iJmin used to have a very di.-sajjfi-eeable way, when chained up on the deck, of jumping at the dogs if they passed neai" him, with a savage roai'. which was enough to shake the stoutest nerves. The other dogs were very much in di'ead of Bruin, and got out of his way without the slightest regard for appearances. The King, how- (n'er, scorned to be frighteneil b\- mere noise, I.' ^^m 318 UNDER TFIK NORTIIERM LKIIITS, and when the bear leaped tlio length of his chahi at him, refused to budge an inch. It is true ho generally kept just out of reach ot' Bruin, and ho often must liavo measured the distance with an accurate eye. Once, however, ho missed his calcu- lation, came a little too close, and tlio bear got a mouthful of his fur. Nothing daunted, the old fellow sunnnoned tho other dogs with a yelj>, and was about making a general onslaught with his whole army, when Joe interfered and drove him off. Afterwards, when we had put the bear in a cage, King lay down beside it, and Bruin caught his ear through the bars, and held it until obliged to let go by a blow over the snout. Two or thi'ee days afterwards the dogs were all playing upon the deck in the greatest good humour possible, tho King with the rest, when ho was suddenly seen to fly at the cage, and seize the bear by the ear. Bruin had lain down against the side of tho cage to take a nap ; his ear had come through between the bars, and the old monarch had seized the opportunity to bo revenged. He was a veritable old tyrant, and ruled the other dogs with a rod of iron. He had only to look at one of them and lift his bristles to bring the delinquent crouching at his feet begging for mercy, and fawning upon him in the most abject manner. To tell the truth, however, his authoritv, > ill A TRAGEDY. 319 altliouf^li most despotic, was exorcised witli a jj^roat deal of moderation. lie never robbed his subjects of tlioir food, for instance ; but if they ran af^ainsfc him or annoyed him by any other breach of canine etiquette, the punishment was sure, swift, and summary. In spito of his tyrannical disposition lie was very fond of his subjects, as appeared afterwards. When wo touched at Disko on the homeward passage, it was thonght necessary to get rid of some of the dogs. Captain Young decided to keep King, and Lieutenant Lilhngston took Snarley, because tliey were the finest specimens of the Eskimo dog. But nobody wanted poor l?*ort and Starboard, and they were sold back to the Eskimos. I pitied the poor brutes with all my heart. The first night they were on shore they stood down at the water's edge and howled all niglit, while old King, with his fore paws up on the taffrail, answered them with the most dismal wailing. The old fellow seemed quite heart-broken, and refused to be comforted. When we went on shore next morning the two dogs leaped all over us with their muddy ])aws, and indulged in the most extravagant manifestations of delight. And when we finally put off to the ship, the last night before weigiiing anchor, their howling was so utterly wretched and despairing that I put my hands to my ears to shut it out. Curiously enough, the despair of the young dogs 'I I. ;32(i UNPKIi Till'. NOHTllEKN LKiilTS. was caused,! tliink, moiv by tlioir separation from us tlian from the Kin;^', while he ehmg to tliem rather tliau to us, and, if any clioice liad been left him, would have followed them ashore. Such is the difference between the old and the yountif. Snarley, however, was rath(>r delighted than otherwise at the departure of the others, and was gayer than over. And although he made a hypo- critical pretence of sorrow by occasionally joining in a weakly howl, to please the old King, his delight was too apparent to be concealed. The King was neva'r (|uito himself again, and when upon arriving at Southampton everybody he knew left the ship, and Snarley, his last subject, Avas taken from him, his cup of bittei'uess was full to overflowing. He walked about the ship for days, refusing to cat, and liowling in the most dismal manner. Existence under such conditions became in- tolerable; life was a mere blank, a thing not to be accepted as a gift. He determined to ^y, pvo- bably in hopes of regaining his kingdom and r(>- joining his well-beloved subjects in the far-otl" (xreenhmd. He escaped from the ship one day, and wandered forth into the streets of South- ampton. Here he Av^as beset by a crowd of men and boys, Avho, instead of tidying to make friends Avitli the poor bewildered, harmless brute, ran after him, shouting and hooting. All the ciu's of South- ampton recognizing in him a fugitive king, joined A I'RACKDY. 321 in tlio hno and cry, and litoi'ally drovo him out of tlio ])]aeo. Ho had lost hin ma.stor, he was abandoned by his frioiids, depi-ivod of his well-bolovcd subjects, and liunted down Uke a wild beast. IIo deter- mined to become a wild dog, and ho fled to the woods. Ho completely disappeared, and for some weeks nothinijf more was heard of him. Then through- out all Ihe country of Hampshire there arose a ci'v of terror. A strange animal was seen bv many difierent peo])le in a great number of places, flitting through the woods and along the roads in the dusk of tho evening. Some thought it was an escaped lioness, others believed it to be a panther, and many good people of Hampshire maintained that it was tho Evil One himself. Tiiero were paragraphs in all tho Hampshire papers about this strange a[)parition. Finally it was decided to be a wolf, and hunts were organized all over the country. In the meantime Captain Young, who avrs having a search made for his favourite dog in Southam])ton, heard of the " Wolf," and innne- diately telegraphed to several people in Ham[)- sliire that it was his Eskimo " King dog," asking them to try and [)revent the poor animal fi'om being killed. It was all in vain. The good peo[)le of Hamp- shire wanted a wolf, and a wolf they would Y ft If II V m^ 'lOO HNIiKl; Tin; N'niriMIKUN I.ICIITS. liiivo. 'I^'"'y luint(Ml the poof hnito down on liorscback, .'ind shot liim. Tho ulTectionfite, liarmlcsa animal ini^lit havo boon led by a child ; if they had called to him and offered him something to cat, ho wouM liavo como and held up his paAv, and licked their hands ! Ills body was brought into the town in triumph, and tho mighty Nimrod wlio had shot him added tho last insult to this fallen and unhappy monarcli by exhibiting his remains at sixpence a head I Tho circumstance reminds mo of a Frcjicli ac- count T remember reading somewhere, of tlic fearful death of tho man who attempted to de- scend, or, more properly speaking, who did descend from a balloon in an inverted parachute. Ho fell into the garden of a public-house, and tho pro- prietor exhibited tho mangled body to the public, exacting tho charge of a shilling a head ; " frif)• <)_• )-l where tlioy nro living, in spito oftlio fact tliat tlioy mistako diickcns, gccso, and ducks for bnro-o- master gidls, eider ducks, and little auks, and aro disposed to treat tbera as they used to treat poor Mr. llogan. ii Y 2 T^^RITT" .,l_.^..' mm APPENDIX. No. 1. v**' i LETTER FROM ADMIRAL RICHARDS. (To the Editor of the Times.) Siu, — When the Pandora left Portsmouth, in June last, the object of her voyage was to a gi-eat extent shrouded in mys- tery. Little more could be gatheretl than that she was pro- visioned and e((uipped to pass a winter in the ice, and that she was receiving letters for the Polar Expedition which had pre- ceded her a month. It was known, of course, that Captain Allen Young was an experienced Arctic navigator; that he had some able naval and other officer? under his command, and that he was accompanied by a staff of talented correspondents, naturalists, artists, tV:c., with <". small but picked crew, equal to any service they might be called on to perform. Under these circumstances, and with- out any display, he quietly sailed out of Portsmouth harbour on the 20th of June last for the Arctic regions. But Captain Young's aims were not purposeless, and ho did not leave England without confiding to a few of his Arctic friends what his hopes and intentions were. I confess I was among those Avlio believed that he displayed a wise discretion in hisi reticence. The Panboea has returned, probably, before many expected 1 i 111 ^ •^wimmgf^ ^^mm^^^^immm 326 AITENDIX. I I '■■\il her, and though the incidents of lier voyage have heen ably and graphically depicted by the talented special cotrespondeut, it has not appeared very clearly or authoritatively what were the precise objecls of her cruise oi' why she returned. A few words in your columns, therefore, from one who has no per- sonal interest in the matter, and who docs not overstep the bounds of confidence in writing them, may not be unfitting at the present time. It is generally known that the late Lady Franklin enter- tained to the end of her life an unalterable conviction that some records of her husband's expedition still lay buried on King William's Land, off the shores of which his ships were abandoned in 184S. However much Arctic authorities may have difFored as to the utility of a further search for thosiu documents, Captain Allen Young was always anxious to gra- tify this natural desire, and, indeed, was the only one in- terested in the subject whose private means would permit him to do so. More than once ho went so far as to purchase a vessel, with a view of carrying out this object, though from one cause or another his efforts were frustrated. Last year, however, he succeeded in obtaining a suital)lc vessel in the Pandoha, and with the assistance of one or two associates who joined him in the enterprise, ho strengthened and completely equipped her for Arctic service, himself assuming the command ; and al- though he was probably encouraged by the change which bad been gradually coming over public opinion in regard to Polar exploration, and by the decision of the Government to send out an expedition, it is pretty certain tliat he would have carried out his favourite project irrespective of either of these considerations. The Pandora then left England, and passed by the nsunl route through Davis Strait and Lancaster Sound, but instead of sailing down Prince Regent Inlet and trying Bellot Strait, where McClintock had been arrested in the Fox, Captain Young pushed down Peel Sound to the westward, which had scarcely before been attempted by ship, but which was \ciy generally believed to be the true gateway to the north-west APPENDIX. ■S-27 passage along the coast of America, which CoUinson, in the Entkrpkisk, so nearly clFected from Behring Strait. Coiihl the Panuoua have j)asscd the barrier of ice wliicli choked tlie narrow tiiroat of thi.s Sound abont 120 miles witliiu it entrance, tiie northern edge of which she reached, there is Jittle doubt in my mind that Captain Young would have accomplished the nortli-west passage, and ho wouM at the same time have had an opportunity of re-examining the western shores of King William's Laml under favourable circiunstanecs; but when he had reached this barrier, and saw from an eminence tlio western entrance oi' IJcllot Strait, with firm ice stretching right across Peel Sound, he saw that there was little or no hope of effecting the i)assage during the present sea-on. It was manifest, then, that he must either return or adopt the alternative course of seeking winter quarters, the nearest shelter being forty miles to the northward. In the latter case tlio Pandora would notliave been so advantageously placed for travelling as the Fox was under il -Clintock when he dis- covered the fate of Franklin, and all that could have been done would have been, in the summer of 187G, to have le-examiued under less favourable circumstances, a portion of the ground traversed by McClintock, Ilobson, and himself, fifteen years before. It must be admitted, then, 1 think, that a sound judg- ment was exercised in the course which was adopted. But if Ca[itain Young failed to accomplish with his little vessel what has never yet been achieved with greater means — viz., the passing by ship from one ocean to another — he has rendered good service to the Government expedition, which deserves to be recorded. The last intelligence received from the Alkrt and Discovkkt was dated from Disco, the 17th of July, and we had no reason to exiKCt anything further, unless i'rom Upernavik — a short distance to the north — until their return in lS7(i or 1877. Now, from Disco to the entrance of Smith Sound, a distance of about 600 miles, is the most diilicult and critical portion of an outward Polar voyage, and through Captain Young's p(?r- severance we now know that the ships arrived sai'ely at the Carey Isles, within 100 miles of Smith Sound, after a remark- 1 328 Ari'ENDlX. m ably successful run of nine duys from Disco, inclutlinj^ stop- piif^os. It is true that Captiiin Young had promised tiio commander of the Polar expedition that ho would endeiivoui' to communicate with the Can^y Isles, but the chances against his being able to do so were considerable, and were perfectly nnderstood to be so by Captain Nares. Not only did Captain Young go considerably out of his way to fulfd his promise on his outward voyage, when be was late in the season, and had an important object of his own in view in another direction, but, failing then to find the records, he made a second attem])t late in the year, when his own enterprise was at an end, and against a heavy northerly gale and very severe weather again fetched the Carey Isles on the 10th of Septemlwr, and dis- covered and brought away the intelligence which must have been alike satisfactory to the Government and comforting to all who have friends in the expedition. From this information we learn that the ships left Upornavik, the northernmost Danish ])ost in Greenland, on the 22nd of July, and that Captain Nares, by boldly pushing out into the middle ice, had achieved in five days what formerly occupied more than as many weeks to accomplish, with harassing labour, in sailing vessels, along the land ice of Melville Bay, In a short note to myself from Carey Isles, dated July 27, Captain Nares describes the season as most favourable, and their pros- jiects bright beyond anything they could have hoped for; and an extract from a [)rivat,e letter which has been put at my dis- posal, and which you may, perhaps, think will be of interest to your readers, speaks also more hopefully of theii' prospects. It is fiom Connnander Markham, of the Alekt. No doubt the season had been favourable; but I am inclined to believe that unfavourable seasons were more impressed upon us formerly from the absence of steam power. There can be no tpiestion but that the prospect from the Carey Isles was very promising. Northerly winds and a current of a mile and a half an hour '.. ' app<»rently cleared out the ice to the north, and no doubt existed in Captain Nares' mind but that they would be within the Sonud in less than two days. This fair prospect was corroborated by Captain Y'oung, who ArPKNDIX. 320 oltsorved the same favoniahlc stiito of tilings on the iHih of Aiif^iist, and a<,'iiin on tlio 10th of Soptcmher. Humanly spcakin;^, therefore, the profframmo, so far as it conld he laid down with any degree of certainty, has proimhly l)een accomplished, and less thnn MOO miles from the entranco of Smith Sound would place the DiscovEiiT in the position hoped for. What lio3 beyond the 82nd deg. j)arallel we must Avait to learn. In tlie meantime there is much cause for liope and confidence. Most people will probably agree that Cap- tain Young has more than fulfilled his promise — a promise sj)ontaneoiisly and generously made and carried out at some sacrifice. The Pandora v/onld gladly have followed the Polar explorers on the lOtli of vSeptendjer, tempestuous, though promising, as the prospect was then to her; but those who know Captain Allen Young will beet understand the delicacy which foihade him to seek a share of the honours where he could not add to the resources, and where possible disaster might have caused iiim and iiis gallant companions to become an extra burden upon them. I am, sir, your obedient servant, GliumiK IIkNUY ElCIIAUUS, Kear-Admiial. Atliona'uin Club, Oct. 23. t) 'I No. 2. LETTER FROM ADMIRAL COLLIN SON. Dkai{ ]\Iiss Ckacroft, — I enclose Allen Young's letters to McClintock, sent from Disco. The Pandoba's outward ])assage has l)ccn so long, that I have uo doubt the loss of daylight will prevent their attem])ting Peel Sound this season. It would be madness to winter in tlu; neighbourhood of Bellot Strait on that side. I do not ijelievc there is one indentation either on North Somerset, west side, I- V if 330 APPENDIX. f ' or Prince of Wales Land, that the ice docs not move in diirini' the winter, and it will not do to expose the Panuoha to asccond edition of what the Teukou nniierwent in Ilndson'h IJay. The tide will be the means by which the j)aHHago will be made, \>\\l that tide must be encountered with the advantage of dayliglit anil a iiighcr temperature. I shall not be surprised to see ihem in England before the end of the month. Very sincerely yours, K. COLLINSON. The Hnvcn, Killing, Oct. 12, 1875. fi\ No. 3. LKTTEll FROM ADMIRAL SIR LEOPOLD McCLInTOLK. Portsmouth, Eiitfhiiul, Nov. 3, 187'). James Gordon Bennktt, Esq. Dear Sir, — You call for my ideas upon the subject of Allen Young's recent voyage into Peel Strait, and you call for it as being yourself deeply interested in Arctic exploration, and in all matters relating to the practicability of the North-west Passage. I can have no sort of hesitation in complying with your wish. Young was with me in the Fox when we attempted to pass down Peel Strait in August, IHGH. We were stoi)peil by fixed ice, after a run down of only twenty-five miles. Without wasting time in waiting there, wo attempted to pass through Bellot Strait ; and although wc succeeded in this, yet our further progress was stopped by lixed ice across its western outlet. You will remember that my object was to reach King William's Island. From my position, at this western outlet of IJellot Strait, 1 could see that all to the north, as far as the, horizon, was covered with unbroken ice, while all to the south was watei', with the exception of the belt, of fixed ice, some Ari'ENDIX. 831 tlirec or four miles wide, wliicli so efriM'tiially hurrod my way. Subsequent slo(l;j;inf^ explorations (o llie Groat Fish Hivor, and all round Kiiif; William's Island, convinced me that we actually saw in that narrow barrier of ice the only impediment to our progress to and beyond King William's Island. It also convinced me that Franklin's sliips passed down Feel Strait, thus proving that seasons do occur when it is navigal)le. And now to sum up. Wo know of one year ( Fiaidy him lo do, and W(!il ho has doni! i(. He ha> brought us intelligence of our Arctic expedition o| v(iv nujit iiileie,-l. liy it we know that 1'^: t r 332 AI'J'ENJJIX. tliuy liiul sniiiioiHitcd all tlio iliHiciiltics of HaHiii'H liay navi- gation, iuul ciossLnl tiio tircadcd Alclvillo Hay wilii hardly a cliccii, und that us early as .July 2Gtli tiioy woio wiliiin 100 miles of Smith Sound, wlieic their work of exploration was to begin, and that they were favoured with an unusually j^ood season. JJut for Alien Young, in the Pandora, this good news eoidd not iiave reached us for another year at the least. The country has been spared a year's doubts and misgivings, and I trust that Mr. Young has received fioiu ollicial ([uarters an acknowledgment conmiensurate with the great public service he has thus rendeied, at so much })ersonal hazard and cost. 1 remain, dear sir, faitlifully yours, F. L. McClintock. No. 4. .f-1; I.ETTEll rilOM ALLEN YOUNG. St. Jiimus's StroL't, Loiuloii, Oct. 20, 1875. My I)KA1{ Bknnktt, — You will do(il)tless ere this have gatliered some idea of our Arctic cruise in the yacht l*ANDOKA, toward the expenses of wiiieli, as an act of Iriendship toward Lady Franklin, as well as to myself, and with that interest in the work of exploration wliich you have always shown, you so generously contributed. Your representative, Mr. MacGahan, who accompanied me, and who was of the greatest assistance to us, ai)ait i'rom the special duties he had to perform in his capacity as au ofTicer of the Pandoua, will have informed you already of what we accomplished. I fear that the results attained will uot have oome up to your anticipations, but you are too well aware that the chances of navigating the Polar Seas are so uncei'tain that it was scarcely possible to reckon seriously on carrying out all our cherished plans. One can only try to do one's best. It is unnecessary for mc now to go into the details AITENDIX. 33:] (•(' our voyjiiio, Imt I lake .) •>•) ai'1'i;ni)I\-. ^Mm shore ofKiii}^ Willinin's Islimd, and, i •* is well known, ahnn- (loiiod lifter cij^litc'cn nidiil lis' iinpiisonmcnl in tlio ico, having (h'if'tL'il in that time only nineteen miles. It is now tlionyiit that liad Sir John FianlI\. Fniiikliii piissctl lliroiin, of our expedition has not proved the impracticability of the North-west l*assage. A more favourable season mij^ht permit of siiccess. The pack alone prevented our further proj^ress. Our ship was perfectly c(|uipped and in better condition than when she left England. We hail still ninety-five tons of coal on boi'.rd, everybody in good health and spirits and very anxious to proceed. It was only the obstacles otiered by natiiie that prevented the accomplishment of our enterprise. I do not, therefore, Avish to protest against the jjossibiiity of making the North-west Passage, On the contrary, 1 believe it will yet be done. As to the yecoiid object of our expediti(>n, our hope was to reach King William's Islaiul in time for a summer search for the books and papers of the KuKisus and Ti;i;ki)K, which recorded scientific observations extending over n period of four years, and would have been probably deposited in some place on the m I]nli Al'I'KNIUX. m liind ill or noiir llio viciiiily of tlic iin|)risoiiptl sIiipH, tlioro to await, another oxpfditioi), whicli would ('.cituiMly Iiavo been sent lor tlio purpose) of rccovoriiif^ tlicui had any of tho party su(!C(!i'dod ill reaching home. This Hiippo.sition is eonlirined l)y reports brought homo by that enterprising and gallant Ameriean explorer, Captain Hall, who gathered from coiiversatioiis with tho Ksquimaux that a triidilioii existed of sui'li deposit. When that great Arctic explorer, Sir Leopold McClintoek, inad(! his most exhaustive search in liis extraordinary sledge journey from IJellot Strait down tho east coast f>f King William's I>*laiid to the month of the rJieat Fisji River and Montreal Island, thciico round tho south and west coast, uiid thus circumtravclliug tho wholo Island, the ground was eov(!red with deep snow, and it is possible that many objects were con- cealed that might, when the ground was bare, have lieeii revealed, and on this supposition our project was founde^uid i^oniething to me regarding it. I just took liim by the collar, and told him to mind hi> own business. That is all the diffi- culty J ever had with him; that is, openly. That was coming down out of Kennedy Channel, after we had started to come liome. It was alioii^ taking soDiCthing to drink; tliat is all. I went to the al't-hatch to get something to drink. He was down there at tiie time, and made some remarks about it. I ilo not rememiier what he said exactly. It v/as alcohol reduced that I was drinking; alcohol and water, I suppose. (iuestion. — Was not the alcohol put on board for scientific purposes ? Answer. — Yes, sir. (Inestion. — What d'J you drink that for? Answer. — I was sick and down-hearted, and had a bad cdhl, and 1 wanted some stimidant — that is, I thought I did. 1 do n(»t suppose I really did. Qiu'stion. — Was there any other kind of liquor on board? Answer, — No, sir; not that I know of. (liie.'^tion. — Were you in the habit of drinking alcohol? Answer. — No, sir. (lucstiun. — IIow did it get into the after-cabin? ■inswer. — It was brought up from the forepeak. Question. — Is that where it was kept? Answer. — It may have been kept in other places. Qncstion. — IIow was it brought up? Answer. — By myself. There was a half- pint bottle or pint, bottle full; I caimot tell which. It was a very small bottle. Question, — Arc you in the habit of drinking ? Answer. — I make it a practice to drink but very little. I did take too much twice duriii<: this vovaue that I remeuiljer liiul eol 1, lid. I c () ionvd ? liol? :aptain AFI'KNDIX. :U0 wus wlK3„ we ; , ' '"•'">"'' '" ^''•' ''^"-- P-'^ "^' April, it ""•vingtij; .,:,::"'^^'-""^7-- ^''-o shi,. ... „.., '"••<<-t coming ,l,nvn Knino.lv f'l > . '"f"' ""* . ■""a"^'Li would liavo seen t on me at •dl r l>., i r i -'«ally before, l.u not to any oxce^ '""^ Ol "■"""' "" -"»"■ -«™"^^^^^.T«,7.-„-^,;; 5 I!*'; ''tit i '*-i.^ Crtrun BuiUiHgs, 1 88, Fleet Street, London. 9 ILi0t of TBoofeB PUBLISHING BY SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE. li. ALPHABETICAL LIST. BBOTT (J. S. C.) History of Frederick the Great, with numerous Illustrations. 8vo. it. is. About in the World, by the author of " The Gentle Life." Crown 8vo. bevelled cloth, 4th edition. 6s. Adamson (Rev. T. H.) The Gospel according to St. Matthew, expounded. 8vo. 12s. Adventures of a Young Naturalist. 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