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FBIDTIOF M iiN SEN

WORKS BY FRIDTIOF XANSEN.

THE FIRST CROSSING OP GREENLAND.

With numerous Illustrations and a Map.
Crown 8vo. 3s. Gd.

ESKIMO LIPR

With 31 lUustrations. 8vo. 16s.

LONGMANS, GKEEN, * CO.

London, New York, and Bombiiy.

J^'rontupieoe

FUIDTIOF NANSEN

{From a phntwjraph )

ieot>

FBlDTlub' NAN SEN

1893

-.'iJDVHL ROLF8EN

.'- !']::{;

WITH hUMF.

''I'lOKs AND MAPS

LONirJIANS, i
I-ONOOX, NEW

-VND CO.

At; riKlits

,''S

't'.'U.' .VANSKN

PEIDTIOF NANSEN

1861-1893

W. C. JillOGGEK AND NOEDAHL ROLFSEN

TRANSLATED BY

WILLIAM ARCHER

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY

1896

All riglits rfiseryed

l^ i^'^Vva-.v^'A "^

PEEFACE

Wjikn 1 iviid and began fo translate the following pages
enrly last summer, I could not hut feel that the authors were
somewhat over bold in assuming as a matter of course a
fort unate issue to Fridtiof Hansen's latest enterprise. I could
not but wonder, here and there, whether Fate might noi
already have written an ironic comment on some of their
serenely confident forecastings. Events have entirely put to
shame my apprehensions. Fridtiof Nanscn has done what
he set forth to do, and has practically solved the enigma of
the polar regions. If it be objected that he has not reached
the Pole itself, let me simply refer to his own words before
the Koyal Geographical Society, cited upon page 282 of this
volume. To stand upon the axis of the earth is in itself no
very great matter. Nansen or another will do this also in
due time. What Nansen has done, in the teeth of scepticism
and discouragement harder to face, perhaps, than the Arctic
ice-pack and the month-long night, is to lead the way into
the very heart of the polar fastnesses, and to show how, with
forethought, skill, and resolution, they can be traversed as
safely as the Straits of Dover. While other explorers have
crept, as it were, towards the Pole, each penetrating, with

LIFE OP FRIDTIOP NANSEX

increible toil, a degree or Uvo farther than the last, Nansen
has at one stride enormously reduced the unconquered dis-
tance, and has demonstrated the justice of his theory as to
the right way of attacking the problem. Nor is this the crown
of h.s achievement. As the Duke of Wellington ' aained
a hundred fights, and never lost an English gun,' so Nansen
has now come forth victoriou.s from two campaigns, each
mcludmg many . hard-fought fray, and has never lost a
Norwegtan li<-.. We have only ,o read the tragic record of
Arctic e:;p:oration in the past to realise the magnitude of this
exploit. It ,s in no way lessened by the fact that Nansen
has profited by the hard-earned experience of his pre-
decessors. Jn the contrary, it is the chief glory of this
expedition that absolute intrepidity went hand in hand
w-ith consummate inteUigence. The following account, then,
of Fridtiof Hansen's character and training cannot but be
read with all the more interest, since events have so amply
justified his countrymen's confidence in his genius and his
lucky star.'

London : September 26, 1896.

W. A.

CONTENTS

nrAPTER

I. Ancestry

II. Childhood

• • '

III. NORDMARKEN

IV. In the Polar Sea

V. In Bergen

VI. In Naples

* • • • .

VII. Fridtiof Nansen as a Biologist. By Gustaf Ketzius .

VIII. Greenland

IX. The Great Ice Ag*.

X. Hansen's Greenland Expedition-Preparations-Plan-
Equipment ...

XI. AcKoss Greenland ....

XII. The Scientific Significance of the Greenland Expedition

Xril. Eva Nansen-an Ill-starred Interview. By Nordahl

EOLFSEN ....

• • •

XIV. Arctic Expeditions from the Earliest Times. By Aksel
Arstal

XV. The Contributions of Norwegian Seamen to Arctic Geo-
graphv. By Professor H. Mohn .

• • • •

XVI. With the Current ....

XVII. At Home and Abroad ....

XVITI. Baron E. von Toll and the Nansen Expedition •.

XIX. New Siberia and the North Pole. By Baron Edward von

Toll

XX. On- ]3oAiiD THE Fjum. By W. C. BRiiGGEit .
Index ....

TAOR
1

100

112

123

139

159
178
201

210

224

2G3
277
287
825

848
868
887

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

PLATES

Fridtiof Nansen. From a Photograph .

Mrs. Nansen

The Drawing-room at Godthaab

Nansen's Study

Liv

Fridtiof Nansen. From a Drawing by E. Werenskiold
The Launch of the Fram ....
Otto Sverdrup

Front i82)iec(.

To fact

2)agc 210

„ 212

„ 21.-3

„ 222

»»

„ 288

»»

» 311

»»

„ 3(i()

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

Hans Nansen

Baron Christian Frederik Vilhelm Wbdel-Jarlsreuc.
Baroness C. F. V. Wedel-Jarlsberg (Nansen's Grandmother.)
Fridtiof Nansen and his Father ....

Nansen's Fathei:

Nansen's Mother

Great Froen— The Dwelling-house ...

The Farm Buildings at Great Froen

Nansen as a Child

Nansen as a Boy

Nansen as a Youth

Nansen as a Student

In the I'olau Sea, I

In the Polak Ska, II

In the Polar Ska, III

Dr. Daniklssen

11
17

LIl^E OF FEIDTIOF NANSEN

Portrait ....
Stone Tck ...
Portrait ...

The Members of the Greenland Expedition .
puisortok . . . ,

Under Sail in the Moonuoht-Crevasses Ahead!.
Nansen and Sverdrup in the Canvas Boat
Feidtiof Nansen. Bust by Leasing

Elling Carlsen

Sivert Kristian Tobiesen .

* * • • •

Edward Holm Johannesen

Nansen on th,.; Ice (Snnimer Dress)

Nansen on the Ice (Winter Dress) ....

Sketch by E. Werenskiold

Nansen's Home ....

Sketch by E. Werenskiold

Nansen and Mrs. Nansen on Snow-shoes

Sketch by E, Werenskiold

Von Toll's Expedition to the New Siberia Islands .

At Urassalach ....

The Fram in Bergen ....

Scott Hansen . , ,

Jacobsen; Hendriksen . . . _

Mogstad ....

Amundsen; Nordal ....

johansen ....

JUELL

Blessing

* ' ' " •

Pettekson . . , _
Sketch in E. Werenskiold

PAoa
. U8

. 168

. 169

. 179

. 188

. 192

. 194

. 228

. 264

. 265

. 268

. 280

. 281

. 287

, 296

803

317

Q9.B

333

338

359

362

364

365

368

309

371

376

382

385

LIST OF MAPS
Greenland according to latest Authorities Tn /

IcK Agi;

The Por.Ai; Aiiii.v . . „ 139

• • • » „ 224

I'AdK

. 113
. 153
. 169
. 179
. 188
, 192
194
228
264
265
268
280
281
287
296
303
817
39,3
333
338
359

364
365
868
869
871
376
882
885

cc page ll)\

224

LIFE OF FEIDTIOF NANSEN

CHAPTER I

ANCKSTRV

^i^KLY throe centuries ago, in the same Polar darkness
wluch has now, winter after winter, brooded over Fridtiof
Hansen and his sliip, a boy of sixteen watched the Northern
Lights shimmering and shooting over his head. In his eves
they were ' vaponrs wliich the snn draws ni, from tlie ea^th
into the an-, some in the upper, some in the lower atmo-
sphere. They tlien become ignited and burn ; wlience the
many fiery marvels seen in the skies.'

It was Fridtiof Hansen's ancestor, Hans Xansen ^ who
had come to the White Sea in his uncle's ship, hailing from
ilensborg_in those days quite an adventurous enterprise
liiey had practically no charts, they were scantilv supplied
with mstrumenls, and they had to keep cannon and cutlasses
m readiness. In the course of the voyage, indeed, thev
had heen twice overhauled and phnuha-ed bv the I]n<dish
JNow they were fast in the ice at Kola. But the intel-
ligent boy, eager for knowledge, did not permit himself to

>St'o Dinink liiafofish Ti/7<i>ilti'ff ^ it r . i> n ■ ,

name":;;; K:::rx.;;;;:„'r ^^t--^^' t'^ -^^ ^^••^"^^^"^«- »- '^'^•--

'' I!

LIFE OF FIIIDTIOF NANSEX

be depressed, lie employed the time in learning Russian,
and in the summer, wlien tlie uncle Ijent his course southward
again, his nephew did not accompany him. He preferred to
stay behind and learn more. He travelled alone ' through
several districts of Russia to the town of Kuwantz.' From
Kuwantz ' he took ship in September for Copenhagen.

His character came early 'to maturity, and his poM^ers
could not brook inaction. He had not completed his twenty-
first year when King Christian IV. placed him at the head
of an expedition to the rich fur regions about the Petschora.
13ut the ice was too much for him. He had to make up his
mind to winter at Kola. Here he received a connnission
from the Czar of Russia, and undertook, by imperial order,
an exploration of the coast of the White Sea. Not until he
reached Archangel did he rejoin his ship.

After that he held a command for eighteen seasons in the
service of the Iceland Company. He was by nature a keen
observer and a born leader of men, full of alert practicality,
and yet with a strong literary bent. And he was eminently
disposed to share with others the fruits of his reading.
' When I had nothing else to do,' he writes, 'I copied out
extracts from the Bible, and from various C(Jsniographical
and geographical works, to serve as an index and connnon-
place-book for future reference. . . And when, a little while
ago, I read it through again, I thought that perhaps there
might be others who would be glad to know these things,
but who, on account of other occupations and so forth, had
neither time nor opportunity to stud}- the great Avorks
on cosmography. For the benefit of such persons I have
given to the press this brief digest.' The title ran: Com-
pencUum Cosm(><jnij>/iicnin ; behig a short description of

' Possibly Kowno, at tlie confluence of the Wilnii witli thoKienien.

ig Russian,
southward
)refeiTed to
e ' through
tz.' From
igen.

his poM'ers
his twenty-
t the head
Petschora.
lake up his
jomuiission
^rial order,
ot until he

sons in the
ure a keen
racticahty,

eminently
s readinjj.
^ojjied out
ograpliical

connnon-
little Avhile
laps there
jse thincfs,
forth, had
2at works
tis I have
ran: Com-
ription of

ieiiien.

AXCESTIJY g

the entire eartli-inchuling, in particular, matters relating
to tlie heavens, the sun and moon, and tlie other planets and
stars, then- movements and tlieir courses, as well as the four
elements and tlieir differences, and the world with its divers
kingdoms and countries, and its principal cities. Treatiu<r
furtliermore, of the sea and of navigation, with certahi'

HANS NANSE.V

serviceable directions thereto appertaining. Collected from
various books, and transcribed by Hans Nansen. IVintod in
Kiobenhaffn (Copenhagen), ])y Andrea Koch, 10.^8, at the
expens(^ of Peder Andersen, bookseller, and sold hx him "
lore are astronomy and physics, geography and chronology,
<ln-e.-tions for taking the altitude, tables of exchano-e, tide-

LUK OF FUI1)TI(.)F NANSEX

:. i

I 'i'

tables, the declination of the sun and stars, etc. Some of
the information is certainly i-ather sui-prising to the modern
reader, who is no longer satisfied with the tlieory that
' thunder has its source and origin in a sulphurous humour
in the earth, which, heing drawn upwards by the sun into
mid air, becomes mixed with watery vapours and clouds, and
then, by perpetual movement, and by the action of the sun's
rays. a. last becomes heated, whereupon a terrific strife
ensues between the hot \apours and the cold ; and since the
dense chill clouds afibrd no outlet for this energy, it violently
bursts its way thi-ough them, with the noise and reverbera-
tion which we call thui.der.'

It is also impressive to learn, under 'Chronology,*
that on Good Friday, 1276, a Dutchwoman, in her forty-
second year, gave birth to 34(1 children, ' half of them boys,
and half of them girls, who all lived long enough to. be
l)aptised. The bo^•s were called John and the <Tirl,s
Elizabeth. " All died innnediately after baptism.'

These and other marvels, liowever, belonged to the aoe
Wliat particularly interests us is to hear what he thouo-ht
of the northernmost regions, ' Borealia.'

' Borealia,' he -ays, 'is the common name of all the
countries lying northward of Europe, Asia and America,
right up to the North Pole, some of which are little known
to us, and some not at all, on account of the intense cold
and ice which reign there. 'J'he most ftmious among these
countries are Greenland, Grenland, Bear Island, Jan ]\Iayen
Island, Nova Zembla and Friszland, all of which are cold
and barren lands, whereof little need be said.

' Greenland is a country of very areat extent, belono-iufy
to the Kingdom of Norway. Its coasts were exjjlored in
former years by the Norwegians, and were settled bv them.

\ Some of
the modern
tlieory that
Dus humour
he sun into

clouds, and
of the sun's
rrific strife
id since the

it violently
I reverbera-

'hronology,*

her forty-

them boys,

)uoh to. be

the jjirls

to the

age.

he thought

of all the
i America,
it tie known
itense cold
mono- these
Jan j\rayen
h are cold

, belonofin^f
'xplored in
i bv them.

ANCESTRY g

two iiishoprics being there established. But it is now many
years smce Greenland proper has been visited, and, althou.^;
It hes not far north-west of Iceland, it has become "so
entirely unknown to us that we are uncertain whether the
Chnstian religion is still practised there

• Grenland lies X.X.E. of the Xorth Cape, and is believed
by some to join on to Greenlaiid. It was discovered bv
the Lnglish, a,ul is visited every year by a number .^
English Danish and Dutch ships, for the sole purpose
o catching whales, which they boil down f„r train-oil
T^iis IS the northernmost land now known, viz.: over
<S0 north latitude, and is called by the Dutch Spitz ]Jeroen

' Bear Island lies about midway between the \c,rth
Cape and Grenland, and is only a small island, where the
whale and the walrus are found.

' Kriszland lies a little south-west of Iceland, and is not
now visited.

•Xm-a Zeinbla (that is to say, .\e«- Land) lies directly
opposite the Samoyedes, which belo,,;.- to Russia ; between
thetn ,s Vetgabit. This regie, was first discovered bv the
Ivussiaiis, and being ,iuite barren, is now abandoned ' '

'Ihe ■ Compe,„lium Costnographicnn, ' beca.ne a popular
handbook, so nu.eh read by seafaring nren and others tba
fonr editions were exhausted in the author's lifetime
Indeed, we gather that up to a few years ago it had not

of the i\a„ en family came, according to a w,.ll-authenticated
™l. .011. direct from a skipper who sailcl by it. Inside
the old cover the late owner of the book has inscribed the
following testimonial :

MIK (»!•■ l'l!ll)TI(»r XAN.SMX

i. i

Thus the h.iiulhook of the o;iIIiiiit old Arctic skipper
may I>e said to Iimvc done service down to the very
liiresliold of the time wIk'H Wm de.sceiidaiil, was i)repariiii«-
to add new 'coiiises' to those h(! had so dilioemly hiid
down -' coiirs(!S ' across ({reeuhiiul and to the Xorlh
I'ole.

At the n^e of I'orty. ilniis Xansen begins to rise in the
world: and soon he exchaii<res tlie command of a ship's
crew lor tiiat of the huruesses of ('oi)eidiao('ii. He first
became town comicillor, then one of the four burgomasters,
and in 1004 lie held tlie chief place amonj.- the four!
Siirewd, ready-wilted, ekKpient, accustomed to command,
and endowed with a firm will and invincible energy, he
seemed specially created to lake part, and a leading pari;,
in the critical times which followed.

In 1058 the Swedish king, Karl Ckistav, declared war
and invaded Zealand. The Estates met at the Tulace, the
royal message was read, and the king addressed them in
person. It fell to the h)t of Hans Xansen to answer that
the burghers 'would si.-nd by the king through thick and
thin,' and the populace behind him shouted their assent.
Not only was the integrity of theii- native land at stake, but
civic freedom and independence as well. On the following
day, the 10th of August 1058, the IVivy Council wal
obliged to issue a prochimation ' which was as good as a
patent of nobility to all the merchants and handicraftsmen
of Copenhagen.' Karl Gustav understood its significance.
'Since the burghers have obtained such privileges,' he
exclaimed, ' no doubt they'll stand a tussle." Amrdurhig
this • tussle ' the leading Burgomaster of Copenhagen had no
peace either by day or night. Earthworks had to be con-
structed, ditches filled, pro\isions laid in. soldiers quartered,

ctic skipper
to till! very
s i)i'('p;iriii^
i.yeiitlv laid
the Xoftli

> rise ill the
<>i' a sliip's
1. He iirst
rgoiuastcrs,
!' the four,
coininaiid,
ener<;y, he
adiii^f part,

c hired war
ralace, (he
d tlu'iii in
iiisvver that

tliick and
leir assent.

stake, but
3 foUowinjj
)uncil was
good as a
icraftsnien
Liiiificance.
ili'ges,' he
nd duriiio-
'Ml had no
o be con-
:iuartered.

ANCKHTIfV J

the Ijuioliers drilled and eoninianded, and public order pre-
served in the midst of a coneonrse of people crowding into
liie <-ily from every side. 'We find him now at home,
opening his plate chest and his money-box, placing great
sums at the king's disposal, lending l.ini his carri.-rge^.md
horses, and all the time doing his best to keep up the^spirits
of his own family; now in the Town Hall sitting in coum-il
or on the bench ; now in the CHiamber, n„w with the king;
then again at a regimental inspection, or on the fire-watch'
tower, or at the outworks, with the bullets picking men off
on every side; now listening to the sermons wldch were
preached on the ramparts, now goino- the rounds with the
mght patrol' ' And when it comes to meeting the enemy
outside the fortifications, the indefatigable Hiirgomaster is
still in the van.

This leader of his fellow-townsmen and champion of their
privileges shows the same promptitude and presence of
mmd in the days of the revolution which makes of Denmark
an hereditary kingdom. As we see him meeting Otto Ivra</s
threat of imprisonment, by pointing to the alarm-bell In
the tower of Our Lady's Church, we read in his face an
mdomitable strength of will and tenacity of purpose, which
cannot but remind us of the subject of these pages. Where
these qualities re-appeared in the intervening family history,
and where they lay dormant, we have not sufficient (Lat-i
to determine. But it is certain that there are remarkable
pomts of similarity between the old Burgomaster and his
grandson's grandson's grandson.

It would seem as though Fridtiof Xansen himself were
conscious of this hereditary strain in his character. In
one ot his letters to his father, he speaks of the Nansen

' Fr. Ilan.u.ericl,, in Hi.tnrLsh Tuh,knf(. ;}nl series, i. p. 204. "

Ml'K or I'lilDTHH' N.WSKX

II'

pride, which in liis case, wlu'ii occasion denmnds, takes the
lorni of .'in adamantine stubbornness.

Milt tliis pride does not descend to him on the male
side alone; through his motlier he inherits the blood of the
Wedels. Gnstav Willielm von Wcdel, a scion of this
onuiiially (leniian .stock, came lo Denmark during the
Seanian war as command<"r of a stron^r auxiliary 'ibrce,
which the IVin.T-Hishop of .Miinster placed at the disposal
ot Christian V. He swore feahy to the Danisji king, and
was appointed 'lieutenant-marshal.' In |(;8;J he bouiiht
'■'•••ni r. V. Gyldenlilve the former barony of Gri/liMileld
nt'ar Tilnsberg in Norway, inchiding an old royal residence
at f^em, now called Jarlsberg. At the Xew Year (1G84),
Lieut.-.Marshal von Wedel received the title of Count
Jarlsberg, and was subsequently .appointed (;ommander-in-
•■l"ci ot the arn.y in Norway.' He superintended the re-
construction of the fortress of Akershus (near Christiania),
and took a leadmg part in the fortification of the frontier
from Frederiksten to K'ristianstjeld. This energetic and
God-fearing man died in 1717. His fattier and grandfather
had been officers in the service of the Duke of Pomerania
In the Thirty Years' War, too, Ids f-ither had commanded
a regunent of cavalry under the Swedish General Haner,
and earned the nickname of ' Dare-devil.'

The barony of Jarlsberg was inherited by the grandson
of the first count, who went in quest of military adventure
to Italy and Spain, and had an arm disablJd d:iring a
Spanish invasion of Morocco. His great giaud.^on was
Count Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg, the famous political leader
ot 1814, afterwards Viceroy (Statholder) of Norway.

totheTI'''!!:;!!!;"' '"'"■ """^ *'"■ ■""'" *'""' '^ ''^"'"••■^ afterwards, bebngea

AMKSTI.'V

8, takes the

1 tlie mule
»lo()(l of the
)ii of this
(hiring [\u>
iarv I'orce,
lie disposal

k'lUif, and
he bonaht
GrifU-nleld
I residence
■ai- (1GS4),

of Count
niander-in-
cd the re-
liristiania),
le frontier
■getie and
randfather
^onieraiiia.
)nnnanded
ral Haner,

grandson
adventure

daring a
lIs( iji was
-al leader

Norway.

'ds, belonged

('cunt Herman IkkI a younger brotlier, Haron Ciuistian
Kredcrik Villielni of Forneho, whose daughter was the mother
of Fri(lii..f Xansen. 'Hius, if pride and spirit of adventure
may l)e said lo lit; at the root of tlie father's family-tree,

ll.VItON CIiniSTIAN V. V. WKDKL-.IARLHBKno (NANSEN's GRANDFATHER)

evciy branch of the mother's bears evidence of the same
([uaHties.

A few words more about tlie Xansen family. Hans
Xansen, Municipal President, Privy Councillor, and Judge
"f the Supreme Court, died at Copeidiagen, Xoveuiber J 2,
1^07. A daughter of liis eldest son, Michael Xansen, was

r i

1 1 'ij

I* i

II ■ i

l.il'K (]]■ I'llllJTKll- .NAXsl.N

mar„«l u, ,,,0 cvlcl-rated IV,..,- G,-i(r.„a.ld. A vo„„„e,-
n H„,s ^a„sc.„ w,,. jru,.ioi„a. IVe.i,,..,,, o.' (,,„■„„„::
a he tme of h,s deati, i„ I7JS. Ui,s g.-ani,,,, :,,
Anel,er A,,,h„„y Xa„.e„, „,,l, wl,o,„ ,1,. 1,1, li„, ^

or 0,,«. feog,,, a,Kl ,he,,. ,„a,...ie,l a lad, o,' the ..lae of
Le,erdahl, a „,e,„be,- of ,he Gec.h„„yde„ fa.nily. Iti. „„, '
son was called Ha,.s Leierdald Kaa.e,,. This „a,„c. is kI
.".k„ow,,,„ ,,e political his,,on.of Norway, and al ho, d
.l.« l.o.n s 01 rese,„bla„ce boveen his cha,ac,c.- a,ul hil
gra„dso,,s are few a„d not easy to specify, „.. ,„
nevertheless give some account of hi,,,

He ™s only a year old when his father died, and he
passe, more than thirty years in De„ma,-k-the vcar of
h,s educat,on and of his early official oa,-ce,-,,e ,
returned to Norway. He himself ha, with ample re, s™
described tins period of his life as far iron, h'.pp, 2
was d,vorced f,-o„, his fi,-st wife, who ,11,,! in Is,,, ,,
Abbess of ,he Convent of Estva,lgaa,d in I.enn.ark Pand
he l,vo,-ce was by no ,neans ,he only „„„ble that f'ell to
Ins lot 111 tliese years.

It was in Den,„ark that he ass„n,..d th,. s„„o,ons title of
,ovn,e,al Judge, which he conhl „..ve,- ahcr b,. induced to
arop,ahhough he held ..he,- offices of ve,,- dilferen ,
more extensive jurisdiclion.

On his retu,„ to Xorway he becan,,.. i„ .S.p„.„,be,- iS(l9
distr,ct.n,ag,st,-a„. „f Gul.hd, i„ the p,„vi,„,, of T,oudl,iem'
a post winch he nU,.d for .h,.ec yca,s a„,l a half. .., ,,,,:;

the rep„t,.„on of a zealous ,uagis„.a„. and a ,.ecable

member , soc,e,y. He was a leading ..pi,,, i„ ,|,e IVondhieu

has calh.,1 these h,s happiest days. a„,l when h,. was ...Rued

AXCESTIJY

A }'(.)uiio-er
Copeiiliageii
iiulsoii was
lie line re-

niagislrate
le name of
Tlis only
name is not
d althouo'h
er ami his

w^ must

ed, and lie
e years of
-l)efore he
>le reason,
jppy. lie
18(i2, as
lark ; and
hat fell to

us title of
luluced to
irent and

ber 1 809,
ondhiem,
'. eai'nino-

igi-eeable
■oudlu'em
e liimself
LS oflered

l)ronu)tion to anollier dislrict. lie hesitated wliether to
accept it.

It Nvas at this time, too, that ho entered political hfe.

I'AiioNKss r. 1.. V. \vi.;hKi,..,Ain.s,u;ii,; (nanskn's GiiANi-MornKn)

When liostilities witli fSwedeu broke out in IS]-], he <•(
posed a war song for the soldiers of 'I'rondliieni :

)m-

' Alt Stridslioni.l fr\>,'tclij,' Iv(l(>i'.
At (llJlKC fill clskiHlf Iljc.u

Ind-. I'd- OK Optiwulfi- (U't Indcr
<)^' ilc til r.fdiiif^'sfifrd ficiii.' '

' ■ Alrcad.y tho ^^u•.l,orn ^in^^s (o.-th t.rrild.v. It s.umuons the mon of Inner
(^.c.. ,uul I pp... Trondlnon. to ,uit th..i. beloved hou.c, and dash to™{

LIFJ.: OF FI'JDTIOF XANSEN

Tlie song is an average specimen of the martial rliyniin-.
of tlie penod. Its author fdt, in common with most of the
people of Trondhiem, that the issue at stake was whether
t^ieir provmce should pass under Swedish rule or remain
Aorwegian. Therefore it is that his muse speaks in terms
of provmcial no less than of national enthusiasm :

' . . . bliiinlt Fiemlens ta'tteste Haabe
frein, Tr..mler ! liiiiaiuleii tilraabo.
Ok 1 >.vn-.'r af faldne og Str^mme af Blod
slval vulne, at seirc.ule Trrfiuler der stoil.' ■

It was this enthusiasm for the unity of Xorway which
inspired ^ansen's political action when, on the conclusion of
the leace of Kiel, the Viceroy, Prince Kristian Frederik,
undertook his famous winter journey to Trondhiem

.vansen's name is not appended to the address with
which the people of the province prepared to greet the prince,
setting forth the popular desire for constitutional govern^
ment. J 1 n s is not, as might be supposed, a mere chance.
Xansen did not believe that the time had come for this
move ; he thought the first point was to secure bevond all
<luestion the independent existence and integrity of Xorway
Jn his festival poems, however, Xansen \lid fervent
homage l,oth to his country and to the prince

These poems of Xansen's give true expression to the
feehiig then prevalent in the north of Xorway, tlie key-note
of whicli was fear for the dismemberment of ' ,,amle Xor.^e '
and her absorption into Sweden. ' '"'

In March 1814, Xansen left Trondhiem for the district
known as Jv^deveu, situated in the extreme south-west of
Aorwny, ])etw,H'n Stavanger and Egersund.

' • Int.. the .1, usost masses oftl.e enemy, press forward, men of Trondhie,,, •

AN'CESTIJV

In his new sphere of activity he found the popular
sentiment radically different from that which prevailed in
the nortli. Here the pressure exercised by the war with
England upon all the conditions of life produced another
shade of provincial feeling. But there was no more inclina-
tion here than in the north to renounce one jot or tittle of
Xorway's rights.

When Nansen, as representative of the Stavanger district,
took his place in the first Provisional Storthing, the brief
war, and the way in which it appeared to have been con-
ducted, had impressed upon him the conviction that Xorway
ought to enter into an alliance with Sweden. But the terms
of this alliance nuist be as honourable to Xorway as
language could make them. It should unmistakably bear
the stamp of a voluntary arrangement, and in every depart-
ment in which anuilgamation was not unavoidably necessarv,
the freedom and independence of Xorway should be set
forth in clear and unequivocal terms. Xo clause should be
allowed to figure in the Xorwegian Constitution which could
give the Swedes the slightest semblance of supremacy.

By not a few of his contemporaries, Xansen was regarded
as an empty windbag ; and this unflattering opinicm was
probably not quite without foundation. He was uncon-
scionably loquacious ; so much so that he and his colleague
Justice Koren were likened to ])uckets in a well, for'^no
sooner did one of them subside after speechifyino- than the
other popped up iu his stead. And the fact tluit lie was
decidedly lacking iu the graces of oratory luade Xansen
appear all the more irrepressible.

However, he was a man of ]-eal ability and a fervent
patriot. It ought not to be forgotten that it was he who
on August 2, 181.3, moved nn<l carried the proposition that

l.iii: w iKiiiTioK XA.\s|.;.\

the ^ „,,I.,„g »l,„„|.l ,,,,,„i„t , ,,„,„„ .^,^^ j.^_,

:' ..".""'t" ■'""^"'■-' -' -'P'"'-' .■.<lv-.ee toward
. . . g the ™,.„t,uio„al .■esp„„.il,i,i,y „f tl.e Cabinet.

4 ','""; "^'"'' '""'■^ ™= """••' ^Joici.,^ over
l.e ^,„,.,1„„„., ,,,e,..on. People felt that „o v thev had

oke,, a«.y e„,nple.el, iVo,,, the tra„.„.els of the pa;t, it
that Ih , had learm, what e,m.,tit«tional irov.rnment reallv
mea..|." I" "S^^ N™»en ..et,,„,ed ,o p,,va,e 1 fe , 1^
IWIheagainsatii, il„. f^tonhni" '

|Vi,h all reco.nmi„,> fo,- the "cottrage and lyric fervour
of n. eharac er, ,t ,„ust be frankly confessed that his ton.ne
was an nnruly nten.ber, and that he was reckless botlU
^peech and ,n .ritin,. LW n,en in our public life av
b en so ready to cast grave aspersions on Iheir opponents
A the san>e tnne these charges were no donbt based on
honest conv.oon, arrived at a little too easily

lowards V. F. K. Christie he was biuerly hostile
denouncntg 1„„, a. a henchman of the Sw-edish ^a

hy . tush, as ,t were, a n.otion for removing to Ber.^en
he headquarters of the Norwegian Jiank. JfanLu thwa^
.s <les,gn w„h adn,ir,ble prou,pti,n,le of resource. T, i

t>..s ep,.ode wlnch is still daily recalled in tite counnon

' A'o/Y/cv Hisforie cffcr isi',

l«"Kev thought (;hri.stie '. stalwart' en, , 'i, v ^"^•'' ^^■''^■" ^''^^ Opposition no

I'lU'lis Kot a Koldoii cup

When l-roLHloni first drew broatli :
W itli wnie ho fille,] it up,

And drank tiie Inintlin^s death.

AXCKSTJtY

the revision
ice towards
lie Cabinet.
',' says the
oicinn- over
' they had
e past, and
nent really
life, but in

ric fervour
his tongue
5s both in

life have
opponents.

based on

y hostile,
dish and

to carry
o Beroen

thwarted
L'e. It is

connnon

?okl loving-
l condncted
^position )io
"Oil i)i the
I I'rcsideiit,

sMvino-: -vKirersund is a pretty Httle town, and that's wliere
/ live," said Judye Xansen.'

At the close of a prolonged sitting of tlie tStortiiing, on
>hiy I, 1S:>|, Xai.sen was seized with a paralvtic stroke,
and died on the lifteentii of the same mouth, ^at midday'
His funeral took pla<x- on May 2 1 . Dean Sigwardt, speakim^
at the grave, said : ' WJiatever was his inmost conviction"!
that lie spoke out frankly, and he proved himself in word
and dee<l faithful to king and country, and an upright.
Just, impartial friend to truth and righteousness.'

Those who accompanied him to his last resting-ijlace
sang at parting :

• TIjortots Adol, Veiiskiib.s Uiiderpant,
iiuiatto \'eimurs Hjerte til dig drage ;
thi nied Siiillet Froinlied du forbandt,
givet Haaiidslag aldrig tog tilbage.' '

Judge Xansen married a second time in 1810, the lady
being Vendelia Christina Louisa, daughter of Court-Printer
Chiller, of Copenhagen. An intimate friend of the family
says in a letter to the present writers: 'Mrs. Xansen
was a woman of uneonnnon ability, highly educated,
remaikal)ly well versed in languages, possessed of stron^r
literary tastes, and ol" no small capacity as a writei^
Especially in lier yonnger days, she was wittv, quick
at repartee, and excellenc company. Manv apt savino-s of
hers, as well as of her husband's, were in circulation ' He>-
^•harming and hospitable house was a social centre in
Chnst.ania from 1845 to 1808, the meeting-place of a larcre
circle, pnncipally composed of well-known and respected
official families. SeNeral times, on the occasion of Mrs.

' -The nobility of tli.v heart. h^iiMulship's pled-,. chiIcI „nt l.„f i .,

fV..nd. hoans to thee; .. thou did.t coLbiL ^^tt^:'l^ ^:^^
never (haw back a ham] oiK-eoiitsf.-etch.-d,' ' ' '1*^"".^' 'i'"! duU

LIl'l': OF IKIDTIOF XANWKN

Hansen's birthday (May 2ud), private tlieatricals were
given, tlie prime mover in which was .Aliss Augusta
Hagerup, the sister of one leading statesman and "iinnt
of another, and a niece of Henrik Sledens.' We may
possibly trace in Fridtiof Kansen, under ditlerent forms,
certain characteristics of his grandfather and grandmother.'
He too can be reckless, albeit in an absolutely different
fashion ; he too has a strong poetic tendency, though it
seeks absolutely different modes of expression. °And
ahhough his love of action and his scientific talent are
his salient characteristics in the pul)lic eye, he has also,
as we shall see in due time, a strong taste for literature
and art, combined with marked ability as a popular author.
But whatever uncertainty there may be as to the
inherited elements in his character, there can be no doubt
as to the influence exercised upon him by the home of his
childhood.

1/ *

CHILDHOOD

tricals were
-iss Augusta
in and aunt
.' Wo may
erent forms,
•ranclmotlier.
ely (litrerent
r, though it
ssion. And
' talent are
he has also,
V)r literature
ular author.
? as to the
l)e no doubt
home of his

CIIAl'TEli 11

CMILDIIOOU

pAX.si:x liimself says in one of liis letters (March 30, 1885) •

h Is It not really ^.onderful? If any one naay be excused for

behevmg in his lucky star, it is surely I-so often have ex-

[traordmary chances happened,

rjust at the crucial moments of

Imy life, which seemed to point

[the way for me.' The truth of
^this utterance will amply appear
Jin the following pages; but
leven at this point we need not
ihesitate to affirm that his lucky
|star was m the ascendant from
|his cradle upwards ; gave him
Jjust the home he needed, and
Jprecisely the natural environ-
^lent which, without any
Jbrcsight on his part, disciplined
tjand prepared him for lonf^

journeys and lofty goals.
i Fridtiofs father, Baldur

FKIDTIOF NANSKV AND HIS FATHER

Fndtiof Xansen, was born in Egersund in 1817 \fter
the death of his father in the twenties, JJaldur Hansen's
^mother removed from Egersund to Stavanger, for fhe sake

LIFE OF I'ltlDTiOF XANSIIX

of her son's ediicaliou. Here she lived till 183.'), when he
matriculated at the University of Christ iania.

' lie was industrious,' says that friend of the family whom
we have just quoted, ' Avell-behaved and exenii)lary in every
resi)eet. Uis abilities were not brilliant, but, being strictly
and plainly brouf.dit up, and stimulated by the influence of
his clever mother, he passed all his examinations with a cer-

NANSEN'S FATHKU

tain distinction, and became an accomplished jurist. He
had none of his parents' wit and fancy ; l)ut he was noted
for his thoroughly refined, amiable and courteous manners
and disposition.'

lie became lieporter to the Supreme Court ; but he was
principally emi)lov('d in iinance and conveyancino-. lie
enjoyed unbounded confidence.

CMILDIIOOI)

ISo'"), when lio

le family wliom

ij)l.ary in every

, being strictly

lie inflnence of

ons with a cer-

11)

(1 jurist. He
lie was noted
eons manners

t ; l)u( he was
^'ancino-. He

Those who have only kjiown by si«rli( the slightly built
little man, so precise in all his ways, a gentleman^of the old
school, and one to whom the pleasures of sport were entirely
^foreign, may be inclined to think that there could scarcely
be a sharper contrast, mental and phvsical, than tint
[between the father and the son. But a closer examination
. AviU reveal a pouit of reseml,lance. Fridtiof Nansen's desi<^ns
are brilliant ; but he would never have been able to carry
them out had he not from early childhood trained and de
veloped his p,nvers to the uttermost. This is apparent in his
|61)ortmg exploits, no less than in his scientili,. studies A
eer Gynt can conceive the plan (,f Hooding the Sahara
nth the waters of the Atlantic,' but the man who is to do
ft IS not content Avitli the luminous idea of his fertile brain
^nd it is just this immutable steadfastness to his oM-n ideals
h.s passionate, and at the same lime conscientious absorp-
^lo.i m all the details of his work, whether in the way of
^pliysical traimng or mental development, that is so cliarac
-teristic of Fridtiof Nansen. This gift of thoroughness he
;.aoubtless owes to his father.

The elder i\ansen possessed another quuIitN- which
i-omes out strongly in his private correspondence, "lie wis
I father in the most emphatic sense of tlie word. He could
^e strict, because he instinctively applied to the brin..ino-
^V of Ins children the principles which had governed" his
ou-n. He could wield the cane in the good old stvle ; but
he had a fine and sensitive nature, and was full of "watchful
^are for his child's future. He never made his will an
r^bstacle in the way <.f the boy's development. He was
always inclined (for this we have much documentary
B^•Klence) to waive his own views for the sake of his son's

' Ibsen, l\'cr ihpit. Act IV. .sc. 5.

c 2

tf^^M

MIK OK I'lniniUF NANSKN

S II

iulvanccnicnt. \\\^ will (iiiotoliciv a fovv lines wliich iiulicaUf
liis I'ccliiii'- lor his son. Tlioy form llic bc^'iiiiiin^r of ;i letter
written on September 4, 1882, shortly al'ler Fridtiof Naiisen
liad become Curator of the ]kM'n;(Mi Museum, and a month
after his return home from his first Arctic voyai^'e with the
sealer Vik'nui.

' Dear Fridtiof. — I Avrile these lines to let you know

something that you certaiidy have no suspicion (»f, 1 ani

longing for you intensely, and T miss you more and more

every day. Wlieu you were away for live months on your

Arctic adventures, of course I missed y(m too. Ihit I was

always looking forward to our meeting, thinking, "The time

will soon pass. Our Saviour will graciously preserve him on

his way, and when I do get him back again, no doubt 1 shall

be able to keep him with me all the longer." Then, too,

the happy confiih-nce that the journey would be particularly

advantageous to your future kept up my spirits. Jhit all

that is changed. Our paths are now almost completely

sundered, so far iu this world goes. The days will seem

terribly em})ty for the old man. Jhit I must console myself

exactly as I did during the Arctic voyage. People who

understand these things all declare that this post will be of

innnense service in advancing you in the world, and will

enormously facilitate your studies. . . '. '

Baldur Nansen's lirst wife was the daughter of j\lajor-
(leneral Sorensen, and sister to tlie wife of the poet Jori^^eu
Moe. His second Avife (Fridtiof's mother) was Adelaide
J()hanna Isidora, )i('e Wedel-Jarlsberg, who also had been
married before. lAlrs. Adelaide Xansen is described as a tall
and stately lady, capa1)le and resolute, even-tempered and
straightforward, without any i)retension on the score of
l)irtli and ancestry. She had a masculine will. It was

f li

CUWAtlUHH)

iirriiWy ii^raimt (lie wishos of her sfricL mikI .-iristcTHli,.
fMllicr flwit, she married a baker's son lor licr first, hiisl.aiul.
Ilowovvr, she carried her point, and her inoMicr appears in
liave sided witli lier in this a/Hiir of (lie l„.ari. 'I'lio parents
I were not a( the niarriauc, alllionol, ll.cy had ^riven their
consent.

NANHEN'S MOTUKU

Asa young o-i,l she had defied opinion and .-uUivated
that sport which her sou was afterwards to render uorkl-
|imons. She was devoted to snow-slu.eino- which was at
that time tlionght unwomanly and even imi,roper. As a
housewife, she was one of those wlio know every uook and
corner of the house from atth- ,o cellar-active, inaiuunno-

•)■)

Mil': OK I'lilinioF NANSKN

|«

rcjuly with Iut limuls jind not afraid of the coarsest work.
If the servant had hhsti-icd her liiifjrers, the lady of the
liouse would herself take hold and wriii;«' out the wet linen.
She worked in the <,'ar(h'ii, and she made her boys' clothes.
They had no other tailor until they were ei^diteen years
old. Xevcrtlu'lcss, siie found time to acciuire the knovvled<'e
she had not stored up in early youth. Her will power and
love of a(,'tivity, her intrepidity, her practical and resolute
nature, have descended to her son.

Mr. and Mrs. Xansen, after their marriage, settled down
upon a small propeity beh)n,i>in«jf to her at Great Friien,
in West Aker. Here Fridtiof was born on October JO,
IcSGI.

In the choice of his birthphice, his lucky star, as we
have said before, had ordered thin«rs for the best. Here
was country life, here were cows and horses, geese and
hens, hills for snow-slioein<j; on every side, great forests close
at hand, and, only stmie two miles and a half away, an
excellent school, one of the best in Christiania. These two
miles and a half were reckoned a mere nothing in the
Nansen houselu)ld. First to school in the morning, and
back again, then, on sunnner afternoons, down to the fortress
to learn to swim — that makes a good ten miles of a hot
sunnuer's day, to say nothing of minor wanderings. And
tiiere were invariably fights by the way — systematic
training, be it oljserved, from the very first.

Friien farmyard was the scene of the boy's earliest expedi-
tions, and it Avas not Arctic cold, but torrid heat that first
imperilled his life. One day when he was three years old,
and still in frocks, he stood hammering away at a wlieel-
Ijarrow, no doubt trying to mend it, when, to the consterna-
tion of those in the kitchen, a column of smoke M'as seen

I 1!

ClllUtllOOll

'S.i

(hoarsest work,
ic lady of the

the wot linen.

boyH' clothes.
L'i^^htceii years
the kii()vvle(l<.,'e
I'ill power and
d and resolnte

', settled down

CIreat Friieii,

I October 10,

:v star, as wo
e best. Here
jes, geese and
It forests close
lialf awav, an
[I. These two
lothin*^ in the
morning, and
to the fortress
dies of a hot
lerings. And
y — systematic;

arliest expedi-
heat that first
•ee years old,
y at a wlieel-
the consterna-
oke was seen

to be rising from his person. ' He's on lire!' was the cry.
Out rnshed the honsekeeper, and tore his clothes oil' his
back. In the course of his wanderings, lio had visited
H the brew-house, where some sparks IVom the tin; had lodged
in his petticoats; and behold! he was within an ace'^,,f

IIKKAT FuiiiCV— THE DWKLLINU-HOISK

being_ burnt to death in blissfid unconsciousness tliat

anylhuig was amiss.

I he Frogner river ilowed right past the front door
al l<riien, and here Fridtiof and his younger brother
^vould bathe in the fresh of the evening, in the coldest
pool they <.ould find. Indeed, the vounger of the two
would sometimes nearly perish with the cold, so that after

• SSfrtm

LIFE OF FIMDTIOF XAXSKX

coming out of the water lie liad to be draooed about at
a brisk trot, in the costume wliich preceded all fashions and
modes of dress, in order to keep life and Avarmth in his body.

Into this same river they fell through the ice in tlie
winter, and when their mother appeared on the scene she
Avould find Fridtiof in the act of fishing his brother out.
And it was in the Frogner river that Fridtiof himself came
near fo losing his life.

But it also presented a peaceful means of livelihood.

II -

! 'I,

THK FARM UUILDINUS AT liHKAT FUiiKN

They selected from among the pea-sticks those made of
juniper, rolled their trousers well up, and went digging
among the decayed leaves in the garden for bait, which
they stored in the turned-up portion of their breeches.
Then they went and fished for trout or mimiows. Now
and then the hook would go astray and stick fast in Fridtiof s
under lip ; whereupon Mrs. Nansen would have recourse
to father's razor, make a resolute incision and extract

I I

CHILDHOOD

igged about at
all fashions and
ith in his body,
the ice in the
the scene she
s brother out.
f himself came

of livelihood.

lose made of
went dicTii'ino-
r bait, which
eir breeches,
iinows. Now
it in Fridtiofs
lave recourse
and extract

:4|

the foreign body. No fuss or pother on either side. Not

so much as a sound.

Here at Froen he first ran his head against the ice

— the rough ice in the yard. When the little five-year-
old rushed into the kitchen, there was scarcely a white spot

left on his face, for the blood that trickled down it. He

would not shed a tear, and was only afraid of bein^

scolded. But from that day to

this he wears his first ice-medal
, in the shape of a scar.

There was a great leaf-plant

down in the garden, from the

fronds of which the boys contrived

to make weapons of offence,

filling them with Httle stones and

gravel, and then sHnging them

in each other's faces, where they

burst like shells. They made

spears of pea-sticks, and were

great in shields and wooden
swords, as \vell as darts feathered

witli pajjer.

They hunted squirrels with
dog and bow. 'Storm,' the dog, would chase the squirrels
up trees, where the little creatures found a tolerably secure
asylum ; for the arrows never hit them. Finally, Fridtiof,
inspired by Indian tales, hit upon a devilish device which he
thought must prove fatal. He anointed the arrow-head with
the juioe of a poisonous mushroom, so that a wound from
it meant certain death. Hut the arrows somehow did no
more execution, although he also tip])ed them with melted
lead to make the ni carry better.

NAN.SEN AS A CHILD

/r^-

f ■,

;

!i !i

LIFE OF FTJIJJTIOF NANSEX

After that lie took to a new variety of weapou-canuons
He stu/fed tliem to the muzzle with powder, but .^oiild
not get It to ignite. Theu he made a maroon, and poked
It about so much that it exploded in his face. The cannon
altnnately burst ; and it was again his mother's task to take
hnn aside and pick out the powder grain by grain

He himself tells the story of his first snow-shoes, and his
first great leap :

'I am not speaking of
the very first pair of all—
they were precious poor ones,
cut down from cast-off snow-
shoes which had belonged
to my bi-others and sisters.
They wer(^ not even of the
same length. But Mr. Fa-
britius, the printer, took pity
upon me ; " I'll give you a
pair of snow-shoes," he said.
Then spring came and then
summer, and with the best
will in the world one couldn't
go snow-shoeing. But Fa-
britius's promise sang in my

NA.\SK\ AS A BOY

ears, and no sooner had the autumn come and the fields
begun to whiten with hoar-frost of a morning, than I
placed myself right in his way where I knew he would
come driving by.

' " I say ' What about those snow-shoes ? "
'"You shall have them right enough," he said, and
lar^ied. But I returned to the charge day after day:
What al)out those snow-shoes ?"

CHILmiOOD

ipou — cannons,
ier, but (^ould
on, and poked
. The cannon
•'s task to take
'rain,
-shoes, and his

speaking of
pair of all —
ous poor ones,
cast-off snow-
lad belonged
3 and sisters.

even of the
But Mr. Fa-
ter, took pity
I give you a
oes," he said,
ne and then
ith the best
one couldn't
^ But Fa-
' sang in my
id the fields
ing, than I
vv lie would

e said, and
after day :

• Then came winter. I can still see my sister standing in
the middle of the room with a long, long parcel which she
said was for me. I thought she said, too, it was from
Paris. But that was a mistake, for it was the snow-shoes
from Fabritius — a pair of red-lacquered ash snow-shoes
[with black stripes. And there was a long staff too, with
I shining blue-laccpiered shaft and knob. I used these snow-
I shoes for ten years. It was on them I made my first
I big jump on Iluseby Hill, where at that time the great
snow-shoe races Avere held. We boys were not allowed
to go there. We might range all the other hills round
aliout, Imt the Iluseby Hill was forbidden. But we could
I see it Irom Friien, and it lured us day after day till we
; couldn't resist it any longer. At first I started "from the
[middle of the hill, like most of the other boys, and all went
I well. But presently I saw there were one or two who
started from the top ; so of course I had to try it. Off I
jset, came at frantic speed to the jump, sailed for what
seemed a long time in space, and ran my snow-shoes deep
[into a snow-drift. We didn't have our shoes fastened on in
[ those days, so they remained sticking in the drift, while I,
[head first, described a fine arc in the air. I had such way
jon, too, that when I came down again I bored into the
[snow up to my ^^aist. There was a moment's hush on the
[hill. The boys thought I had broken my n.eck. But as
soon as they saw there was life in me, and that I was bcgin-
I ning to scramble out, a shout of mocking laughter went up ;
[an endless roar of derision over the entire hill from top to
[ bottom.

'After that, I took part in the Iluseby Hill races and
won a prize. But I didn't take it home ; for I was put to
shame on that occasion as well. It was the first time I had

U ^ i

LIFE OF FiaDTlOF NANSJ;x

seen the Telem.rk peasants snow-shoeing, and I recognised
a^^a gance tj.at I wasn't to be ntcuioned in the same breath

and made the leap w.thont trnsting to anything bnt the
strength of tl>eir mnscles and the firm, lithe carriage of their
bodies. I saw that this was the only proper way. Until I
had mastered it, I wouldn't have any prize '

-sttc of Fndttof Nansen from his earliest childhood. He
never ,„s,sted on trifles-never sulked or bore ill-will.
What was past was past-blown to the winds. In this
comtectton tt .s n.teresting to read what the faithful friend
of h.s chddhood relates of the origin of their friendship.

kJ'v r ^''-^"''J' 'i'"'« =" l"™e at the school when
Karl, „s future comrade, arrived. They were both in the
second orn, „t te lower school. Fridtijf was the stronges
o the boys and lorded it over ,hen> all; but Karl tvas
strong as well. They eyed each other askance, these two
and each kept to his own domain. One day howev r'
during the recess, Karl began throwing a ball at the other
boys, each ,n turn. ' You nn.stn't do that,' said Fridtiof

HTf '■ ;,^";.™"-™'' ''' -""-1 '- o'l-. aimed
at iricltiof, and hit him.

A battle royal ensued; the fur flew and the blood
spurted nntU Aars, the head master, arrived on the scene
seized the two small figli.iug-cocks by the wing., and..ut'
hem in the empty class-room. - Xow just sit there, Cou
two, he said, ' and look at eacii other, and be ashamed of
}ourselves.

Thev J'r,\'"'""'''°'" ''-•^•P«'='"""-but it succeeded.
They did look at each other; the second part of the
masters injunction they neglected, but they began to ulk'

CIlILDIIOOl)

By the time Aars caine back, they were sitting with their
arms round each other's shoulders, reading out of the same
book. From that day forward they were inseparable.

There was always war with the Balkeby^ boys when
the two Nansen brothers were on their way home from
school. Fridtiof, indeed, was peaceably disposed and never
precipitate ; but when the moment came, he went in with a
thorough contempt for consequences. The youth of Balkeby
was not very particular in its choice of weapons. One of
the brothers was once hit on the back of the head with a
stone fastened to a leather strap. When Fridtiof saw the
blood he was furious, set upon them, and put the whole
band to rout.

Even in early childhood his thoughts were more to him
than his dinner ; and when he was absorbed in anythintT
lie was oblivious to his surroundings. One day when the
family were all at table, one of the children cried out, ' Why,
Fridtiof, that egg of yours is all green ! ' And so it was ;
but he was quite unconscious of the fact.

llis upbringing was Spartan. The children were made
to take turns in waiting at table. Even when they were
quite big boys, their monthly allowance of pocket money
did not exceed sixpence apiece, and of that they had to
render a strict account. J3ut these Spartan measures struck
a responsive chord in Fridtiof's own character. He was not
more than seven or eight when he and his brother were for
the first time allowed to go to the fair by themselves.

In those days Christiania Fair still presented a variety

' A suburb through whicli the boys hud to pass.

LIFE OF FlMltTfOF XAXSK.N

of attractions to the iinsopliisticatecl. There were jucralers'
booths fmd clowns, not to speak of toys, and whole "sUcks
of gingerbread cakes. The f^ur was the children's promised
land, and one of the greatest festivals in the year. Once,
when a Christiania clergyman asked a candidate for con-
firmation what were the feast days of the ecclesiastical year
the boy could think of none r .istmas and ' Fair-day ' '

On this occasion, Fridtio. .. ]us brother were com-
paratively generously supplied with funds ; they had re-
ceived sixpence each from father and mother, a shillin<.-
from grandmother, and one from aunt. But all the fun of
the f^iir, the theatres, the toy Ijooths and the mountains of
gingerbread, they passed by with ascetic resolution.

On their return home it was found that thev had laid out
all their money in tools. This made such an impression that
each of the home authorities came down with a fresh ..rant
to the original amount. Back they trudged all the way to
Young's Market Flace in order to supplement the outfit of
tools. When, on their way home, they passed the baker's
at Ilegdehaugen, they had only twopence left, and this was
invested in coarse rye cakes. It must be admitted that no
Christiania boy, at fair-time, has ever come nearer the
Spartan ideal.

He was a terrible one for falling into brown srudies
Between putting on the first and the second stocking of a
morning, there was always a prolonged interval. TlLi his
brothers and sisters would call out, 'There's the duffer at
it again! You'll never come to any good, you're such a
dawdler.'

^ He was always bent on getting to the bottom of every-
thing. He asked so many questions, says one of his older
friends, that it made one absolutely ill. • Many a time liave

CHILI )ii(.)oi)

I given him a thundering scokling for this everhisting " "Why ?
— Why ? — Why !•' " ' The arrival of a sewing machine at
Friten naturally aroused the demon of curiosity in all his
virulence. He must find out what kind of animal this was.
So he took it all to pieces, and when his mother came back
from town, the machine was the most di.sjointed puzzle

NANSKN AS A VOLTH

imaginable. If tradition is to be trusted, however, he did
not give in until he had put it all together again.

As a schoolboy, Fridtiof Xansen was in.dustrious, and
passed out of the intermediate school in 1877 with dis-
tinction. In the upper school, it is possible that sport and
a thousand and one private preoccupations absoi'bed too
much of his time. Iri anv case, wc find alieartfelt siulm-oin"-

II 1

IJFI-: OF FKIDTIOF NANSEN

up from the luilf-yearly report of liis musters, Aars and Voss,
in 187U : ' He is unstable, and in several subjects bis progress
is not nearly so satisfactory as might have been expected.'
It is true that their expectations were probablv rather hi<^h
m the case of a Ijoy Avho astonished his teacher of mathe-
matics by giving a geometrical solution of a problem in
arithmetic.

The fact was that Fridtiof Xansen had many other pro-
blems to solve besides those set him at school. The ques-
tioning spirit of early childhood grew apace in this period of
active development, and took decided and ever new forms.
There was scarcely a thing in heaven or earth that he did
]iot probe into. And as soon as he had got to the bottom of
it, he whistled all thought of it to the winds and attacked
a fresh problem.

In the natural sciences, which were his favourite study,
he had of course to experiment. When they were about four-
teen or fifteen, he and his young companion, who after that
first ' explosion ' had become his intimate friend, had some-
how got hold of a box of pyrotechnic materials and a mortar,
the latter lent to them on condition that they should be
exceedingly careful with it. By way of carrying out this
injunction, they one evening filled it full of a great variety
of fluid substances, the properties of which they had yet to
ascertain by experiment. A spark fell into the mixture, and
the flames fose to the ceiling of the little attic room in the
wooden villa where Karl lived. The youthful investigators
took resolute hold of the mortar and tipped it out of the
window, smashing it into a hundred pieces. Thus they ful-
filled to the letter the recommendation of extreme care.
While the sulphur was still running down the outer wall,
where it left a mark for many a year as a memento of i'r.a

CIIILDIIOOI)

advciiliire, liic hoys throw tliomselves cLnvii flat on the floor
mid blackened their faces, so that Fridtiofs In-other Alex-
ander, on coming in, should think they had been killed lly
the explosion.

Like all half-grown l,oys, Fridtiof had his tender, inflani-
nuil)le moods, and many a mooidit evening has he wandered
outside the windows of the chosen one of the moment. But
it probably never got as far as a declaration. Indeed there
would have been difficulties in the way, for he and Karl often
had the same flame, and sighed in the same mooid)eams before
the same window. Besides, he was as bashful as he was
vulnerable. On the other hand, we have historical testi-
mony to his chivalry.

One night— he was then about fourteen— he and his
brother were coming from a children's ball down in the town
In the suburb of Honiansby they passed a lady and her maid.
A little farther up the street three 'gentlemen' were standino-.
Just as the boys passed, they heard one of the men exclaim,
' That's the girl for me ! ' and all three made towards the two'
women. ' We must stand by them ! ' said Fridtiof; and the
two Ijoys set upon the three grown men and made a fight of it.
Fridtiof got one of the roughs up against a fence, planted one*
fist in the breast of his antagonist, and with the other hand
tore open his own overcoat. ' Don't you know who I am ? '
he cried, and pointed to the cotillion favours sparklincr i„
the moonlight. The ruse succeeded. The two boys Cere
left in possession of the field, and the damsels in distress
were rescued. But truth before everything : the lady's name
was not Eva, nee Sars,now Mrs. Nansen, and the brother did
not marry the maid. This is what happens in novels, but
not in Homansby.

F.ll'H OF I'lMDTlOl' NANSIIN

I •

Fridtiof Nansoii sent his first di-awiii<js to C'opcnliagc^n
when he was three years old. They have prol)al)ly not been
preserved, lint his first attempt at literary conqjosition is
extant, in the shape of a letter to his parents who were
travelling- abroad in 1870. His independenre of spirit shows
itself here particnlarly in the spelling, in which, for that
matter, his achievements were apt to be original and surpris-
ing for many years to come. ' I should very much like to
have some post age- stamps from Rome, some unused ones ;
oh ! never mind either, it doesn't matter wiiether they are used
or not ; l)ut I would rather have unused ones, liecause. of
course I should get more for them if I might sell them, but
then you said I mustn't sell postage stamps but '^M paste
them in a book. Now you needn't bother about that Wot,
for there's no word underneath it ; the next word comes after
it, just as if it weren't there.'

With a certain humour, he jests about the torture it has
cost him to write his letter. It ends as follows : ' And now
this story's over, and I shall have very little to tell in ano her
letter, but now it's over for the present; for now I \ tve
nothing more to tell you, my dear father and motlier. How
have you got on during all the long journey you ai^e taking,
and how far have you got by this time ? — for I don't re-
member where vou are. To-dav is Sundav, and do vou
know how long I have been at this letter ? Ever since
Thursday, and up to to-day Sunday, the 27th of March;
and this letter is almost every word wrong, so please ex-
cuse it being so badly written and having so many blots,
and this scrap belongs to the letter because I hadn't
room.'

A picture which shows Fridtiof Nanseu's childhood and
'Spartan' home life in a quite new and significant light, is

CniLDIlOOl)

opcnhagcni
y not been
[)osition is
who were
)irit shows
1, for that
k1 surpris-
ich like to
jsed ones ;
!y are used
lecause. of
them, but

■ P'^ste

that bU)t,

omes after

:ure it lias
' And now
in ano her
w I \ vve
er. How
i'e taking,
don't re-
d do you
]ver since
f March;
please ex-
im' blots,
I hadn't

hood and
t lio'ht, is

drawn by himself in a letter to his father, dated December

2U, 1883.

'My dear old Father,-So the first Christmas is drawin-
near that I shall have spent away from home, that happy
glorious Christmas-time which -eemed to our childish minds
the acme of all the joys of earth, and tlie model for all we
<'oiild imagine of the beatitude of heaven. In the eyes
of the 3'outli the picture is still bathed in a rosy radiance,
though Its outlines may be slightly altered, perhaps more
matured. . .

_ 'My thoughts fly silently lumiewards on soft, melancholy
wmgs, to greet all the bright and peaceful Christmas
memories, bathed in that magic glamour which ever sur-
rounds an unspeakal)ly dear and happv home, where so
many merry C^hristmas- tides have been celebrated.

' How peaceful and impressive it always was ! How softly
and silentty, how pure and white, Christmas sm.wed itself in '
The great soft flakes fluttered gently down, shedding a kind
of seriousness over the childish soul, even while it leaped and
bounded in irrepressible rrlee.

'At length the great thiy dawned-Christmas Eve Xow
our impatience reached its height. We couldn't stay quietly
m one place, or sit still on our chairs for a single moment
\\e had to be up and doing something to pass the time-to
distract our thoughts. We would peep through e.ery avail-
able keyhole or sample the great bags of raisins, almonds
and figs, before they were taken into the bedroom where
the Christmas-tree was; or we would be off" tobogganing. •
or If tlu-i-e was enough snow, we would go snow-shoeing TiH
dark. Sometimes, by great good luck, it would happen that
Lmar or some one else had to make one last rush into town
to do an errand or two before the candles were lio-hted • and

tr''

r t' I

i.n

oil

i.ii'i; (»!■• I'l.'iinior nanskn

llu'ii wliut joy to sit hcliind in llie h\v\<s\\ while it sped into
Christiania ami hack a}i;aiii over tlic sinoolli hard roads, tlie
bells rin<,'iiio- nu-rrily, wliilo the stars sparkled in the dusky
heavens !

'At last tlie j^'reat monieiit canie - lather went in lo li«;ht
up, our hearts leapin<^- and thnmpin^^f the while. Ida would sit
in the armchair in the conier uud guess what she would ^^et
from this person and from that ; oth»'rs smiled in advance
over some surprise thev knew all al)out aheadv ; and then
all of a sudden the door would opeii and all the Christmas
lights would be shining before our dazzled eyes. Ah, what
a sight ! We gasped with sheer joy, we were ([uili' dund)
and ct)uldn't say a word for the first few minutes, only to
1)reak out presently into all the wilder trans])orts.

•Indeed, indeed, T shall never forget those (Christmas
Eves as long as I live.'

This letter is a not nnimporlant document. It shows
that child life at Great Frfien was no whit more Spartan than
Fridtiof Nansen needed for the sake of his development and
of his future. It is true he was kept under rigid discipline
until he attained maidiood, but no violence was ever done to
the child in him, and the training which made him hardy
in no sense involved the hardening of his finer (pialities.
Two quite different sides of his nature, the gentle, chddhke
disposition and the indomitable will, were allowed to grow
freely from his earliest youth ; and as time went on, they
developed side by side into a personality curiously unlike
that of so many famous discoverers and i)ioneers, whose
nature has become so indurated and so -caUous that the
whole num seems little more than a kind of locomotive, with
just enough warmth in it to serve the mechanical purpose of
propulsion.

NOUDMAUKKN

CIIAITKK III

NOKDMAKKI'LN '

[\\ weary of the sofL frrace of the Christiiuiia Vallcv, one
liiriiH and ga/es northward from the lower on Tryvand
llei,ifhl,-' one is confronted, a.s far as eye can see, with blue-
black forests— forests and nothing but forests, ridge behind
ridge, on and on to the farthest verge of the horizon.

This is Nordniarken, an unbroken stretch of Norwe'dan
woodland, many s(iuare miles in extent, a h)nely world of
narrow valleys, abrupt heights, secluded glassy lakes, and
foaming rivers.

Into this solitude no murmur from the busy cai)ital
ever penetrates, not even the sound of a panting en'nn<! or
the warning whistle of a steamboat cautiouslv threadinji the
intricacies of the Ijord in the dense sea-fog.

Nor does the dirty town-fog of C'hristiania extend so far
as this. However thick and heavy it may lie over the
town, it has to yield before the fresh, cold airs from this
wintry-white wood-worhl, and breaks like a grimy sea
against the lower slopes. The fog of Xordmarken— Jbr it
has a fog of its own— is pure and full of moisture. There
is a heavy rainfall in the hills, and deep snowdrifts lin<Ter
hidden among th<; pines, when the last patch of snow has
vanished from the unwooded levels around.

'^ The description of Nordumrken is l»y Tlicodor Caapari.
Close to Fiuguui' SiL'Lof, about six miles from Christiiuiia.

It.

LIFE OF FIlll)TK»F XANSEX

1 ^U

, M

At the entrance to Xordmarken, the sedate grev country
roads all come to an abrupt end.

Multitudes of easy-going, irresponsible wood-paths rival
each other in offering themselves as guides. As gaily as if
ID were a game, with doublings and turnings, up-hill and
down dale, the path sets off through the thick of the wood
But have a care ! The fellow is not to be trusted. All of a
sudden he will divide into two or three equallv trustworthv
or untrustworthy tracks, and leave you without the slic.htes\
indication of which way you should go. Or else the" path
narrou's little by Httle, and sneaks on in the shape of a
wretched cow track. Or he stops dead at a bog and won't
stir a step further.

Nordmarken abounds in such surprises, and it would
be no easy matter to fmd a guide capable of leadin.. the
way unerringly through the vast area of the forest °laby-
rinth. -^

_ At the frontier of Xordmarken the comforts of civilisa-
tion instantaneously stop short. When you have said good-
bye to the great hotels on the slopes of the Frogner Sceter
and plunged into these interminable forests, vou may
wander for days without coining across anvthing remotely
resembling an hotel. " "^

At longer or shorter intervals-seldom shorter, however
than four or five miles-little red-painted forest homesteads
crop up beside the quiet lakes, which as vet have never
heard the whistle of the steam-pipe.

If you luave come upon the lake on the opposite side
irom «uch a homestead, and wish to escape the tramp round
to It your plan is to light a fire by way of signal for a boat.

irampmg and rowing are practicallv tlio .,nly means of
locomotion in this d^trict; riding, indeed, ,s not impossible,

NORDMAlfKEX

'ev country

paths rival
gaily as if
p liill and
' the wood.
. All of a
"ustworthy
le slightest
i the path
hape of a
and won't

it would
ading the
rest laby-

f civilisa-
laid good-
ler Salter,
>^ou may
remotely

however,
•mesteads
ve never

)site side
ip round
r a boat,
neans of
possible,

but as a horse prevents the traveller from availing himself
of the lake ferries, it is of douljtful assistance.

In this very inaccessibility lies the secret of the attraction

NANSKN AS A STUUKNT

exercised by Nordmarken. It may be expressed in the
single word, forest-solitude.

Here, only a few miles from the restless bustle of the
great city, oi.e is suddenly set down, with no apparent

^ r
III

LIFE OF FKIDTIOF XAXSFX

I ■

j;s

'' 1

;:K

transition, in the heart of ^ture's deepest seclusion Here
-only a few miles from the electric tramways and the hum
ol cafe hfe-one may come at any moment upon the Great
i an. One leels, in the midst of the vast silence of the
forest, that there are discoveries to be made on every side

Here-close to a town of 180,000 inhabitants-one
comes without warning upon

Tarns and hidden fountains
Where the great elk conies to drink,

While the music of the song-birds lures one further and
further into the woods. Here one finds oneself in regions
where the bodies of the dead have at some seasons to be
conveyed to tlie confines of civihsation on the backs of men
or packed on horses, before they can be coflined.

^es, here all is peaceful and still-breathlessly still
-when summer spreads her light veil over the glassy
lakes ana dark green. leas, when the black-grouse drowses
in the heather, and even the thrush in the pine-tops hushes
Ins son"'. ^

Tliere !s breathless stillness, too, of a, clear aut„,«„
evenmg when the birch sees its yellow silk, a,ul the aspe.,
Its fiorgeotts scarlet, reflecte.I i„ the black mirror of the
lake, framed iii the delicate pale red of the heather

Again there is breathless stiUness-perhaps even more
co,„plete-duri„g the long nigh, „f „-in,er, ,vhen the stars
ght er over the snow-laden forest and the white-frozen
surface of the lake, and n„ sound is heard save the soft
trickle of the icc-boimd river.

]iut there are times when this silence is broken,
hhou ing and hu.ghter are heard on every lea, and all the
forest farms are occupied. Hands of snow-shoers and snort-
lovmg young peopl.. „f all sorts have come up overiii..ht

f
'I

NORUMARKEN

to enjoy the freedom and fill their lungs with pure air
during their short holiday.

In the shooting and fishino- season it is no longer the
Great Pan who reigns. Fishing-rods b}^ the score hang over
the river like a bending wood, and the guns of the city
sportsmen keep up a continual popping and banging in a
spirit of noisy competition. Even the boundless abundance
of fish and game is thus on tlie decline. Waterworks have
interfered with the spawning, dam after dam bars the fishes'
way up stream, and the river bed lies dry for weeks together.

It was not so twenty years ago, in Fridtiof K^ansen's
boyhood. He was among the few, the pioneers, the elect.
That Eobinson Crusoe existence which less favoured boys
must be content to live in imagination was vouchsafed to
him in its glorious reality. Of his first expedition to the
borders of that Promised Land he has himself written as
follows : ^

' I showed no great intrepidity on my first voyage of
discovery, although it went no farther than to Siirkedal.

'I was somewhere about ten or eleven at the time,
and up in Si.irkedal lived several boys who were friends
of mine, and wlio had asked my brothers and myself to come
and see them. One afternoon in June, as we were sitting
out on the steps, it came over us all of a sudden that we
really ought to act upon this invitation. We had a notion
that we ought to ask our parents' leave, and an equally clear
notion that we shouldn't get it if we did. Father and
mother were taking a siesta ; we dared not disturb them,
and if we waited till they awakened it would be too late
to go. So we took French leave and slipped olf. The first
part of tlie way was familiar to us. We knew where

' In Xordahl riolfson's Childrcu'i Chn«lmax Tin:

i !

Lire DP miDTIOF NAXSEX

Engeland lay, awl made our way to Bogstad vvitl.out much
hesuat, on After that wo were rather at sea ; but we asked
our way from poiut to point, first to the Sorkedal church,
and after that to the farm where the boys Hved Bv
the tmae we got tliero it was seven o'clock in the evening
Then we had to play with our friends and go and see the
barn, and afterwards to do a little fishing. But it wasn't
any real fun. Onr consciences were so bad that we had
no peace for so mudi as half an hour. Then the time
came for us to go home, and our hearts sank so dreadfully
that the way back seemed ever so much wearier than the
way out. The youngest soon became footsore, and it was
a melanclioly procession that slowly dragged itself towards
Froen farm at eleven o'clock that night. We saw from a
long way off that people were afoot ; no doubt they had
been seardnng for us. -^e felt anything but fearless As
we turned the corner, mother came towards us, " Is that
you, boys ? ■• " Now we're in for it ! " we thought. " Where
have you been ? " motlier a.sked.

' Well, we liad been to Sorkedal. Kow for it ! But
mother only said in an odd way : '• You are strange boys t "
And slie liad tears in her eyes.

' Fancys not the least bit of a scolding - Fancy getting

o bed wtth our blistered feet, and without the leLrbit of

a scoldino- r

' And the most extraordinary part of it was that a few
Coull "iM "1 "T/"°^-'l '" g» -8-'> to Sorkedal.

tilt ,,f' '"""^ '™'' ™°"'- '"•-' ™- to think

that they Iiad been a little too strict with us >

' We had another acquaintance, too, in Siirkedal. His
r..me w.as Ola Knub, and his wi ' used to sell us berrie
We got leave to go and see Cha Knub, and fish witli him

XOKDMAliKEN

in I-fordmarken. Great was the rejoicing as we started
off with coffee-kettle and fishing-rods to have a taste of
backwood life up there in the forest. I shall never forget
those daAs. I can see the wooden hut before me now,
on the shore of tlie Langli Lake, with the long sweep of
talus behind it, and the great monkshoods growing round
the hut. There was freedom up there, and we could be
wild-men-of-the-woods to our heart's content. No father
or mother to tell us when it was bedtime or to call us in
to meals. We followed our own devices in everything.
The night was light and long, and sleep was brief.

' At midnight or thereabouts we crept into the hut and
lay down for a couple of hours on the juniper branches ; and
long before the peep of day we were down at the pool catch-
ing trout. We waded in the river, we jumped from stone
to stone. I well remember one time when I was jumping
after Ola Knub from one stone to another. There was scant
room for one, let alone two, on these stones. Presently I
managed to get too close upon his heels. Ola was standing
on the stone I aimed at, and I had no time to find another
footing. Before I knew where I was, I found myself lying in
the river with a stone under my neck, and one under my
knees, and with the water foaming over me.

' While I was in my teens, I used to pass weeks at a time
alone in the forest. I disliked having any equipment for
my expeditions. I managed with a crust of bread and
broiled my fish on the embers. I loved to live like Eobinson
Crusoe up there in the wilderness.'

But frequently Nansen was accompanied by his brother
and an older member of the family, who happened to be an
entlmsiastic huntsman and fisherman. And in this way,
ironi the age of twelve upwards, tlie boys trained themselves

'1^

■I I

! i
i !,

P i

' ■ f!

LIFE OF FUIDTrOF NANSEX

to bear t, • i fatigues which are the best thino- in the world for
hardening the muscles. The tramp became longer ai-d
longer, they pushed on farther and farther afield, as they
grew older ; first to Siirkedal— then to Langli River— then
Svarten (the Black Lake)— Sandungen— Katnosa.

' When the oak leaf is like a mouse's ear the trout will
jump for the fiy'— they abode conscientiously by that say-
ing. When the timber-floating was over — say two days after
—then v:as the best fishing. While the ' floating ' is going
on there is too much food in the water ; the flood washes
earth away, and in the earth are worms. But by the time
the river has quieted down, and the fish are hungry once
more, then they i-ise to the fly. At this time, that k to say
at the end of May, the three young fishermen would set off"
from Great Friien as soon as they had swallowed the last
mouthful of their Saturday dinner, carrying in their wallet
some bread and butter, a piece of sausage, and a little coffee.
First came a five hours' tramp— not making for any liouse
or farm, but straight for the river. Their goal once reached,
not an instant was to be wasted on rest. Thev did nc even
stop to eat, but had out tlieir fishing rods, and cast away as
long as it was light. At the darkest of the night, an hour
or two of rest. For supper, coffee, and fish broiled on the
embers. Then they would creep into a charcoal-hutch for
an hour's nap, or else sleep under a bush. Then to work
again at jjcep of day. A short rest at noon, and at it once
more— oftentimes up to the waist in the river. There they
would stand till well on in the evening, and then trudge
homewards at night with their shoes full of sand and water.
In the small hours of Monday morning they would reach
home, tired to death, and saying to lliemselves there was no

^'()RDMA^tKEN

sense in making such a toil of pleasure. But when they had
had a good sleep, the fatigue was forgotten, and there lay
the shining trout on the kitchen table. The next Saturday at
three o'clock they would be off again.

The hardship was even greater as the autunni advanced
and the nights turned cold. The tramps, too, became longer,
Avhen the boys grew big enough to take part in the hare-
lumting at Krokskogen. This involved going for long
intervals quite without food, and there would often be
scarcely an hour's rest to be had for the better part of two
days and two nights. Tliey used to get so hungry that when
they happened to descend upon Sandvik railway-station
they cleared the refreshment counter in a twinkling of
everything eatable. The man who was to become the
friend and historian of the Eskimos had early experience
both of fasting and voracity. Tlieir unsavoury domestic
arrangements could not dismay one who himself, during
his nocturnal meals in the forest, had many a time picked
up a stick from the ground and stirred his coffee with it,
tuid who, in somewhat riper years, was able to devour with
relish the raw and not over-tempting trout on the kitchen
bench.

The woods of Xordmarken offered plenty of long runs
for a snow-shoer who preferred to go his own way. It was
here that a feeling for nature was fostered in him — a sense
of the beautv of winter and summer, and of shiftin<j atmo-
spheric moods which do not as a rule appeal to boys. Here
his tissues were hardened to face the Polar winters, while
he stood in the crackling frost waiting for the hare, and
envying him his warm white fur. It was hereabouts (at
Fyllingen) that he was once hare-hunting with his brother
for thirteen days on end. At the last they had nothing to

Irl

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NAX8KN

live on but potato cakes, and were half starved, both they
and their dog. Then came killincr-day at the farm, and the
brothers consumed black-puddincrs till they nearly burst
When the time came to go home, Fridtiof had to shoulder
seven hares, slung by the legs. He slipped, fell forwards
and all the hares shot out like the rays of a halo round his
head.

There was one thing that used to annoy his snow-shoeino-
cronies in those days, and that was his total carelessness as
to creature comforts. If he happened to look from the
tower on Tryvand's Height away over to Stubdal, twenty
miles off, a whim would all of a sudden seize him, and no-
thing would serve but he must set off without taking a
crumb of food with him. He on one occasion descended
upon a farm in Stubdal so ravenously hungrv that the
people did not forget his visit for many a day.

Another time he and a party of his friends set off on a
long snow-shoeing expedition, each with his provision wallet
on his back-each one, that is to sav, except Fridtiof
Hansen. But when they got to the first resting-place he
unbuttoned his jacket and took out of his breast pocket-
concealed deep within the lining-several pancakes, which
were as hot after the snow-shoeing as if they had just come
off the pan. He held them up smoking : ' Have a pancake,
any of you fellows?' None of them were daintv, but the
pancakes seemed even less so, and thev declined with
thanks. ' Well,' he said, ' the more foolJ you, for let me
tell you there's jam in them ! ' It is in such traits that he
shows his kinship with the denizens of the great forests
He has the recklessness of the hunter and the lumljerman"
their daring and headlong spirits. He is a typical east-
country boy. But at tlie same time there is svstematic

NOlfDMAUFvKX

intention in the training to which he snbjects himself; his
alert ambition reinforces his deholit in unvarnished nature,
and his tendency to set at defiance the customs of civilisa-
tion. 'The least possible' is early his ideal, and he has not
the shghtest objection to sliocking public opinion in acting
up to his principles. It never occurs to him to doubt that
it is he who is right and the world that is wrong. He
appears to have been one of the first consistent disciples
of Jaeger in Christiania, and later on, in his letters from
Bergen, he boasts that now the wool theory is admitted
on all hands. He quotes in this connection one of his
favourite sayings : ' There was a man in a madhouse in
London, who used to say : " I said the world was crazy,
but the Avorld said that I was crazy, and so they put me
here." '

One thing his friends had to guard against : they must
never say to him that anything was inipossil)le, for that was
inevitably the signal for him to attempt it. His boyish
impetuosity brought him on one occasion to death's door —
to the very verge of one of those leaps which even the
expertest athlete cannot clear.

It was in 1878. On a walking tour with his brother
Alexander, he came to Gjendin in the Jotunheim, and must
needs climl) the Svartdal Peak. There was a way round
the back of the mountain wliicii was more or less prac-
ticable, but Fridtiof would have ncjne of that ; he must of
course go straight up the precipitous black face of the hill.
'As we got up towards the peak,' his brother relates, ' there
was a snow-field which we had to cross. Beyond the snow-
field lay the precipice, straight down into the valley. I had
already had several attacks of giddiness, so that Fridtiof
had given me his alpenstock, and was without it when it

UFIC OF FKIDTIOF XAXSKX

!)'

I ! il i

came to crossino- the ^rlaeier. Instead of <rniu<r carefully
step by step, as lie would do now, hv ooes urit with a
rush, slips, aad beoius to slide down. I c.-.u see him turn
pale. A few seconds more, and he will lie crushed to
death in the valley. He digs his heels and nails into the
ice, and brings himself to a standstill in tlie nick of time.
That moment I shall never forget. Xor shall 1 forget his
coming down to the tourist chalet and disappearing into
the trousers which the burly secretary of the Tourist' Club,
N. G. Dietrichson, had to lend him, an essential ])art of his
own having yielded to the friction of the glacier.'

The same year in which Fridtiof Xanscn was in the
Jotunheim, he had his first experience of ptarmi!.ran shoot-
ing ni the mountains-Xorefjeld and thereabouls-and it
was then tl.ey went on a tramp so exhaustim.- that one of
his brothers fell asleep far up on the heights, and had to be
hauled along with the greatest difficulty. It was probably
these early hunting expeditions through the forest and over
the mountain plateaux that gave him his taste for the accu-
rate observation of animal life, and thus supplied the initial
impulse towards the line of study M'hich he finallv chose
In the year 1880 he matriculated with sufficient Jredit to
prove that his distractions during schooltime had not been so
absorbing as to prevent him from settling down to work
when the moment arrived. He got a first class in all natural
science subjects, mathematics and historv ; and when in
December 1881, he went up for his second examination', he
was classed as landabilis p>w ceteris. He appears about this
time to have been in some uncertainty as to his choice of a
career. He was entered as a cadet at the militarv academy
but the nomination was cancelled when lie finally resohed to

NOIM)MAIMvEN

continue his selenlinc studies, lie never contemplated jroin^
into the medical profession, but had at one time an id"ea &[
takiii},' the first part of the medical examination. It ended,
however, in his choosing a special branch. Zoology. As
early as January 1882 he applies to Professor CoHett for
advice. The Professor happens to remember how he liimself
has been urged by Arctic seamen to go with them and prose-
cute his studi(>s during a sealing expedition. This ought to
be the ^'ery thing for Nansen. Ife is an expert sporrsman
and a good shot— why should he not go to the Arctic regions
on board a sealing vessel, make his observations, kelp a
record, and train himself for desciiptive zoological research ?
Xansen came to see him, and he made the suggestion, which
took hold of the young man at once. A week later he again
called on the Professor, having in the meantime spoken to
Captain Krefting of the sealer Viking, and arranged matters
with him. On January 23, Nansen's father telegraphed to
an old friend in Arendal asking him to secure the ship-
owners' sanction. The friend (to whom we are indebted for
this information) was able, when called upon, to declare
that Fridtiof Nansen was a sturdy, strapping fellow, ready
with his hands, and capable of great endurance, so that, to
tlie best of the witness's belief, he would prove a useful .and
desirable member of the expedition. Permission was instantly
wired back, and Nansen, having employed the brief interval
at the University in studying the anatomy of the seal, sailed
from the port of Arendal on board the Vikinn on Saturdav
March 11. *^'

So easy are the transitions, so clear is the continuity
of events, in the life of this young man, which to the outside
observer seems to consist of one ,)r two isolated exploits.

r)0

LIFE OF FllIDTIOF >'ANHK\

Tlie hare-sliooter of Nordinarkcn becomes tlie seal-shooter of
the Pohir Sea, passing from the imtroddeii forest to the
eternal ice. By <rentle (le-rrees, and without any painfid
wrench, his lucky star «,mides him almost imperceptibly
towards the great waste from which his name is to ring out
over t^ie world.

1 i

., A

CHAPTER IV

IN TIIK POLAH SEA

NAXH..V l,i„,self felt that a new chapter in hi, life was
..pening ansp.cously when the sun rose abo.e the sea an,l
the skemes on that .nornin, in Maroh. He ,„nge,l 7^^ th
.reat tee-fields; bnt he realise.1, too, that he "was sail^^
away front the sp„n., away frotn the woods and the Z2
leas, to a world where there wonld he hardly so n.neh as a
stone to be seen, and ttever a tree or a frieniv -rass-patoh '
lor the firat thne in hi, life he was to be on^^f^lCL
^orwe,.an spr.ng : " he was not to wander in the pine wood
. hahng the ft-agrant bree.es, and with the.n great dra,,!*
icottrage and et.ergy ; he was not to splash'abont am°oS
he rocks and tslets, and welconte the birds of passage
bnnging with them new life and new hope •

The first incident of the voyage is the si.d,tin<. of

.nd ,,. earned away and the deck is swept by the seas
u the eventngs the phosphoresce.tce plays L the'sp ; Tike
flame Bay after day he notes in his diary: numb! of
perels petrels of every variety. On March 18 the °
•sighted. He has more than once described his first im-
pressto,. drawntg upon his diary. Shortly before startin.
on Ins Polar expedition, he wrote as follows : ^'_

lim.wt':::.'' "'"•"" '°'"»"»' "f"" '>'«""■>■• .."p..bii.i.„ .,i.,v „, „.

' In No„,»l„ Bolt.e„.. K.„,,„ nco^^cr Nor„e<,U,n National Se„o,U.

s 3

LIFE OF FlilDTIOF XAXSFX

■I

H '

i 1

r »

I-

' The Polar Sea is a thing by itself, unlike everything
else, and al)ove all unlike what one is apt to imagine. Of
course I had read a good deal al)ont it before I went north
the first time, and had conceived it to be a world of
huge ice-mountains, where splendid towers and shimmerino-
pnniacles soared heavenwards on every side, in every
possible shape and hue, varied by vast unbroken fields of
ice. But I found nothing of all this. What I did find was
flat Avhite floes of drift-ice rocking on the greenish-blue
waves — alternate fog and sunshine, storm and calm.

'As I close my eyes now and think of it, a host of
memories crowd upon me; but one or two are specially
vivid.

' Most vivid of all, perhaps, is my first view of tli?.t world.
It was in the month of March. For seven days and nights
we had sailed northward from iVorway. It blew great guns
on the North Sea, but we liad crowded on all sail and
pounded ahead at a spanking rate. We carried away our
mainyard, but that made no diflierence. We had to push
on— our business was to catch seals, and we were already
later than we ought to have been.

' The first sign that we were approaching the Polar
Sea was the appearance of a green sea-gull or " storm-horse."'
Somewhere about the Arctic Circle he came to greet us,
hovering on wide-spread wings over the endless blue wave-
crests. Far out on the ocean, hundreds of miles from am-
land, he keeps watch at the entrance to the I'olar regions.
None can pass in without his escort, he haunts the wake
of every ship. He had been following us a couple of days,

and the sea was beginning to grow greener we were

approaching Jan IMayen — wlien, on the evenin<T c^ the
seventh day, the cry Avent fortb 'Ice ahead!' I rushed on

IN THE POLAR SEA

i)6

deck and looked out—it was black night all around. Ikit
suddenly something huge and white loomed out through
darkness— it came nearer, it grew bigger and whiter, like
driven snow against the jet-black sea. It was the first ice-
floe we were passing. Then came others ; they cropped up
for ahead, glided by with a lapping sound as the sea washed
over tliem, and were left far behind. They were only

IN THE POLAR SEA. I

scattered outposts. But suddenly I was conscious of a
strange brightening ov: r the northern sky, strongest on the
very rim of the horizon, but perceptible right up to the
;^eiiith— a mysterious half-light, hke the reflection of a great
conflagration far, far away— indeed, in the world of spirits
it would seem, for the light was of a ghostly whiteness.
Tlien, too, I heard a dull roar which filled the air to the
iiortliward, hke surf breaking upon rocks.

j! .

•54

LIFE OF FlIIDTIOF XANSEN

!l:

.i ■'

II a

'It was nothing more or less than white masses of
dnft-ice ahead of us. The lioht was the reflection which it
casts upon the misty or cloudy sky, and the noise came from
the breakn^g of the sea over the floes, as it hurls them,
craslnng, one agamst the other. On quiet nights it can be
heard far out at sea.

^ 'It was a strange experience to stand gazing into the
night and listening, as we sailed into this new and unknown
world of ice. The roar grew louder and louder, and was
heard now on all sides ; the floes drifted past us more
frequently. From time to time the ship struck upon a floe
htting It up on end with a mighty crash, and hurling it aside
from the sturdy bow.'

The next morning finds him in the thick of the ice
Dazzling white, the new-fallen snow lies over ail-not a patch
that is not white. The ice-gulls and the fishing-gulls appear.
Snow-buntings alight merrily on the ice-floes close to the ship,
hop about, stick their bills in the snow, and dart off" again,'
as gaily as the sparrows at home flit about the farmyard"^

The next day there is a storm : the captain sticks to his
course through the ice ; the storm becomes a hurricane (the
diary conscientiously records 'Wind velocity ') ; the ship
quivers like a leaf and groans in every joint. The entries
of the succeeding days are full of breathless excitement, for
now they ought at any moment to drop across the seals.
Will they lie to the eastward or to the westward this year P
Everybody agrees that it is a confounded nuisance not to
have been on the spot early enough to find the seals in the
water. They are probably to the westward; but suppose
the}- should be to the east and one goes west, or vice versa
—there would be no time to rectify the mistake. It is no
mere question of a hare more or less, or of a passing dis-

IX THE rOLAR SEA

appointment to the noble ambition of the sportsman— great

sums are at stake, to be won or lost, thousands for'' the

owners, hundreds for the common seal-hunters. They have

no idea where they are, being unable to take proper obser-

varions. Then, in the midst of the direst uneashiess, two

ships are sighted to leeward. They crowd on sail and steam

to make up to them. At last the Viking overhauls one of

them. It is the Vega, which carried Nordenskiiild through

the North-East Passage, and is now seal-hunting. It

lies there proudly m the moonlight with its airy rigging.

Fridtiof Nansen looks with reverence at the famous ship,

while the crew about him put in their word in their own

way. ' That's the vessel, my lad, that's been the long round.'

'There have been grand doings aboard her in her time.'

' I'd have given something to have seen the fun at Naples.'

The captains hold a council that lasts far into the night,
and next day the two ships make the best of their way
northward. The third ship, the Novaia Semlia of Dundee,
follows under sail and steam. They are on the look-out for
tlie northern bight in the ice, although they are now at N.
latitude 74" 50', and it has scarcely ever been known to be
further north than that. Then they have a storm, and after
that fog. Fresh consultations and growing uncertainty. If
they could manage it, they ought to feel their way westward.
On the evening of the 28th, five ships are sighted to the south.
Consultation follows consultation when the five ships are
within hail. April 1 comes, and on the 3rd the hunting of
the young seal ought to begin ; there is not much hope now
of their reaching the right spot in time. First and foremost
they must try, if they possibly can, to get out of the ice. A
message is sent to the other ships for men to come and help
to ' spring ' the vessel. Soon a hundred men arc assembled

LIFE OF FKIDTIUF xXANSEN

I I

on the deck of the Viking and begin to tramp merrily back-
wards and forwards. It succeeds splendidly. The ship
glides on from one patch of open water to another. Then
it sticks. A couple of revolutions astern, and then on again
at full speed. The assembled crews dash themselves with all
their might against the bulwarks, and the ice has to give
way ; it rears up on end before the bow, is forced aside or
else under the keel, and now the ship glides on again for a
long stretch. The propeller now and again thrashes against
the blocks of ice so that the whole ship trembles, reminding
them of the risk they are running ; but on they go.

By evening they are out of the thick ice knd in amoncr
the blue ice and the clear water. There is a full moon, and
the stars are shining. The moonlight is reflected from the
open spaces of water, and occasional white ice-floes lie scat-
tered through the blue ice. The sky to the north-west is
a purplish red, otherwise the horizon is a yellowish white
This is again the moonlight, reflected from the distant ice.
fields.

But high spirits cannot be said to reign on board the
Vihm, on the evening of April 2. That nioht at twelve
o'clock the killing of the young seals ' would begin for those
who had rea(^hed the sealing-grounds. On April 8 a hurri-
cane comes on. The spaces of clear water grow bigger and
bigger, and more and more frequent ; it seems as though a
prison gate were burst open in the clamour of the elements
The whole mass of ice starts drifting towards the east.
^ext day they take the longitude and see, to their con-
sternation, that they are 131" E. It is unheard of that there

'At the en.l of March the .seals calve, and tlie taking of the young seals is
the first concern. That clone, the sealers go on to Denmark StJait after he
blacUler-nose sea], a very large variety, so called because the nmle has a piece of
skm on Its snout which it can blow up like a bladder.

IX TIIK POLAR SEA

should be ice in these longitudes ; they must be in the midst
of the Gulf Stream. Again they fall in with two ships. The
captains reckon and reckon, and make out that now there
are twelve ships in all that have missed the sealing. So,
after all, things look a little brighter. ]3ut the days f^o bv
—they sail on and on—would it not be better, perhaps, to
]nake straight for Greenland, and not waste more time over
the young seals ? Three ships sighted to windward, and
later on several more. Fresh councils and consultations.
The upshot of it is that not a single ship has reached the
sealing-grounds, unless, perhaps, the Capella. New courage
—hurrah ! And they settle down to the search again. But
in the midst of all this searching, the aspects of the Polar Sea
imprint themselves more and more deeply upon a 30unfy
and impressionable mind, prepared to recognise the beauties
of Nature in all her manifestations. His keen eye penetrates
the monotony of the ice-field and the sea, finding subtle dif-
ferences and rejoicing in them. ' There is a splendid play of
colour in the sky, now the brightness of the gleaming snow,
now the dusk of the sea, now the red glow of the sun, now
yellow when the sunlight mingles with the snowlight. And
tlien the ice ! Now shading offinto green, now more of a blue,
Avhile in the depths of the caves it is almost ultramarine.'
•Most people would be wearied,' we read further in the
diary, ' by the stillness and silence of Nature and the inter-
minable ice-fields. They would feel lonely and helpless, they
would miss the life, the smiling meadows, the grazing cattle,
the smoke curling up from the cottages where the evening
porridge is cooking. Such sights are not to be found here,
where every trace ol" the work of man is instantly obliterated
like the wake of a ship breaking through ice, which is frozen
over again before five minutes liave passed. But he who

|MJ]

LIFE OF Fl.'lDTIOF HANSEN

.) '■'

seeks for peace iu Xature, immutability, a,ul free,l„„,, will
l.erefi,Kl what he wants.' The sa.ne craving which early
H. life drove h.ni into the dense forests of Xordmark finds
sattsfactic, now in the open ice-field. He has been trained
to love sohtttdc, he feels himself at hon.e in it, and finds it
charged with life .and meaning.

Bnt to the seal-hnnters on board the Viking it becomes
plan, at^ hast, after five weeks' searching, that thev hav,.
.opelessly lost their first great stake. By April 25 the,-
begn> to find a few .voung seals lying abont on the icJ.
The weatlier is foggy, bnt not so thick but that they can
see a sh.p ahead of them, with furled sails ; and presently
several more are descried. They n.ake for the first; it is
he <^A„a. Why is this vessel lying here with furled
sails. Is H loaded, and are they boiling down blubber?
It seems low m the water. Or is it close to the sealin-
ground and waiting for less sea? E.vciten.ent rises to fevlr
heat on boar.l the Mki,,,. At last the ships are within hail.
Jiie captam of the C„p Konl shouts : 'Win-, where on earth
have you been, Captain Krefting? ' The question goes like
a stab to every heart. Here they lie, one ship after another
-theA«-,„„ S,mlia is loaded to the water's edt-e unable
even to carry all its take. The V,:j., is laden, the t ■„,„«.,
sahnost laden, the AlbM has U,(l(IO, the IMI„ 10,000 or
l.,000, tUCap K,„l itself has (i,000. The sealing-ground
lay four m.lcs W.N.W. from where we had stuck f^st We
should have been able to see them had it been clear

On May 2, a glimpse of Ppitzbergen, Secret longin,r for

he herds oi reindeer and the eider haunts. But the course

hes westward By the 25th they are off the coast of Ice-

h .ul Ihe gh,c,ers on the Eyafialla-jr.kel glow in the sun.set,

and the dark ragged lava peaks of the 7eslmanna Islands

IN TFIE I'OLAlt SEA

stand out wild and tlireatenino- against the purple horizon.
Here in Iceland Xansen once more feels solid earth under
his feet for a short time. In a great cave hollowed out
of a lava cliff they find an excellent boat-harbour, where
they land. Black lava everywhere, far as the eye can reach.
They visit the lighthouse-man in his hut. A little way off,
the ground is smoking as it does in a heath fire at home—

A^^K^J^

IN THK POLAR SKA. II

hot si)riiigs, which must of course be investigated. With
shppers on their feet, off they set over the rouoli lava, get a
Avhiff of the suli)liur, and then back again to the hut. Here
and there is a stunted juniper or a tui't of heather; here and
there a little withered grass ; and with that the sheep must
be content. Ikit the mountain fox carries off the sheep, and
the raven carries off the lambs, and the half-starved golden
plover freezes to death in the cold.

LIFE OF FlilDTlUF AANSEN

I .

|«

U ! il

Oil they set to sea again, and the diary tells of repeated
seal-hunting expeditions in the boats ; but the bi.v pH^e in
the lottery was not for them. On the evening of June 16
they had a regular set-to with the ice, blocks topplin.v over
close to the ship, others shooting up from the depths" with
such a rush that they might w.ll have knocked a hole in
her if they had happened to strike the right spot. Every
time the ship's bows fell into the trough of the sea
she sustained such shocks that she groaned in every joint
and trembled like a leaf. The crew felt anything but safe.
All went well, however. The last small icebergs were
cleared during the night, and the ship was in ope^n water
again. The next morning at breakfast the captain said •
' I am certain that we shall get some seals to-day. Don't
you remember, steward, how, last time the ice plaved us
these tricks, we sailed straight into the seals and took over
nine hundred ? '

And the captain was right. In the evening all the ten
boats are lowered. Every one is in the highest spirits,
jests fiy about while the shots are cracking ; and this time
It IS a downright battle, and a battle that lasts for three days
on end. When seal-hunting is at its height, sleep is not to
be thought of. Meanwhile other ships' lie outside and
have to content themselves with looking oi.-an impene-
trable barrier of ice shuts them off from the hunt. ]3ut the
likin,^ was m dire need of some such haul as this. It was
the one bright spot of the cruise.

At the end of June the ship froze fast off the coast of
l^.ast Greenland at 00" 00' X. latitude, and remained driftin..-
about for a month in the very middle of the l)est sealin"
season. Another lost game for the Vikwg ; but for Xansen
these were in every respect the most memorable days of the

IX TIIK I'OLAK SKA

wliole expedition. Now, at last, he could gratify his fondest
aml)ition and come to close quarters with tlic Polar bear.
Hitherto he had been as zealous a seal-hunter as any of
them, and had carried on his work as zoologist and observer
with the utmost conscientiousness. To this day Professor
Molin's instructions, whir]\ he followed to the letter, lie
between the leaves of his diary. He had investigated every
living thing he could lay his hands on, whether in the
air or in the water, and had trained himself to look at
things with the eyes of a man of science. But like the
passionate sportsman he was, he had all the time been
burning for an encounter with the four-footed sovereign of
the Arctic Seas ; and here, where they lay drifting helplessly,
it turned out that they had, .so to speak, stumbled plump on
the preserves of the Polar bear. Nansen lias himself drawn
upon his diary for vivacious descriptions of these bear-
hunts.' Day after day was filled with the delicious unrest
of the hunter, and he had never a moment's peace. Now
tliere comes a cry from the crow's-nest in the early evening.
' A bear to leeward ! ' Now he is wakened out of his
beauty-sleep by some one whispering in his ear : ' Look
sharp ! Turn out ! There's a bear close up to the ship's
side.' Now he has to jump up from the dinner-table (that
is to say, at ten o'clock at night), and again he must stop in
the midst of his deep-sea dredging, at a shout from the
crow's-nest — ' A bear on the lee quarter ! ' Away with the
dredge and out with the gun ; the bear is shot, and Nansen
goes calmly on with his work, which lies a hundred fathoms
down in the sea. He does not get to sleep until four
o'clock, and then only to be dragged up an hour or two
later : ' Another bear in sight ! ' On July G the spirits of

' Norsk Idnctshhid, ISS-J.

, ;•

;

I'll'K <»F Flilimoi' NANSKN

I I i'

i ' i '

■1 I

the crew are af the lowest ebb; tliey luave uia.le up
their inuuls that they will never get out ol 'he ice alive,
but wil eitlH. b. cTHshed between the ice-floes, or else lie
here till i:k,v cbo of starvation, ^^ansen and the captain
hetake themselves to the Ib'c'sle to cheer thorn ,„) Thev
pronnse to keep lite in them with bears' flesh ; or in the
event of the ship beino- crushed, they could all o,. on shore
and set up a new colony on tnc coast of Txreenlaud, where
there was sure to be an abundance of provender ; reindeer'
musk-ox, Polar bear, moss, and other delicacies. But all
the consohuion is wasted. Just then, from overhead, rino.
the cry, 'Three bears to I.eward ! ' It turns out to be
a she-bear with two <-u],s. They are all three shot ; and for
days the sadors live o.i bear-steaks and delicious ' hearts '
Ihey make a bonfire on the ice of the old meal, feedino-
•t generously with blubber, and keeping it up for several
chiys. It makes a very good lure. During tliese days
there are sighted from the crow's-nest about twenty bears
m all. On July 12 Xansen writes in his diary: 'In the
aftei-noon I went up into the crow's-nest to sketch a 1 -fc
of Greenland. First I scanned the ice carefully with the
glass to make sure that there were no ],ears about, and
then I began my sketch. Tiie men had turned in for a little
rest, and all was quiet on deck; only "the Balloon '" who
had the watch, was pacing up and down. I was buried in
my work and had almost forgotten where I was, when
suddenly I heard " the Balloon " call out : " Why look at
the bear!" Like lightning T sprang up and pe;r'ed ov^r
the edge of the crow's-nest ; there, sure enough, stood
a bear just under the bow of the ship. Pencil and sketch-
book were thrown aside-out by the backstays and down

' Olio of tlie crow.

IX Till'; I'OLAl? HKA

ihroiigh (he rig^rino- J. clambered, leaclunl tlie deck at a
lush. and tore below after rifle and cartridges.' But by
this time the bear had got scared, and both he and his
<-(.nirade, who was not tar oli; shambled away. Xansen,
uho was dressed in gA-mnastic slioes and jersey, ran a race'
with them; but they easily kept the lead. Tiie Viliwi
signalled him back, and he had to give iu. Of conrse the
captain .•halHd him well about the splendid outlook he
kept ior bears. 'A nice fellow to h. , on watch, M'ho
i^an't see them even when they're close under the bow ! '

Hut Nansen had his revenge. On Tulv 14 he went on
his last bear-hunt, and this time he took part n a race
which quite restored his character. The bear was a bi<r
fellow, but he shambled off as the two others did. 'Now
was the time to put <m steam, for it ^^•ent at a good pace
^^" (the captahi, one of the sailors, and I) rushed after
It, keepmg under cover as much as we could. When you
are m a hurry you are apt to forget caution, and so I foi-o-ot
the treacherous edges of the ice, hollowed out by the waler
underneath, and stretching in a brittle crust well out over
the pools of upen sea, but looking quite strong and solid
from above. We came lo .-, broad pool which it was
possible, though dillicult, to clear at a aimp. I rushed at
It. making a good spring to cover the stance; but, as ill
luck would have it, there was just such . liolbw ed-e, which
gave way beneath my feet, and instead of reaching die
other side plumped straight into ihe water. Well, ft wa^
rather cold; bu^ the main thing was to keep my rifle in
order. I pitched it up on to the other side, but the ice w
high; the rifle didn't ciuite clear it and slipped down a-ain
into the water. I dived and got hold of it. L, my vexa-
tion, I this thne flung it well or, to the ice-floe, and then

41*1

ill

i i:

f i /
U

Lin: OF I'KIKTIOI' XAXSKX

swam on, to a place whore I myself could clamber up and
recover the riHe. A hasry examuiation of lock and barrel,
and then ofl" again. The cartridcres, T kneu", would be all
right, for they were watertiglit Remingtons. In the mean-
time the captain had got a little start of me. Having seen
me fall in, and assured himself that there was no harm^done,
he crossed the pool at another point and went ahead!
Luckily I was very lightly clothed that day too, in
gymnastic-shoes and jersey, without any jacket, so that I
had not much water to carry ; it ran ofT almost as quickly
as it had soaked in. Consequently I was not long in
making up for lost time, and when I saw the bear^dis-
appearing behind an ice-hummock I made straight for it.
Xo sooner had I reached the knoll and peered oxev the crest
of it. than I found myself face to face with the l)ear. Up
went the rifle to my cheek, but Bruin was quicker than I,
and threw himself over the edge of the ice into the water
—the bullet only hit him in the hind-quarters as he dis-
appeared. I sprang over the crest of the knoll and rushed
to the edge of the ice to have a shot at him in the water,
but no bear was to be seen. Where was he ? I caught a'
glimpse of something while deep down in the water," and
understood the situation. But the pool was a long' one,
and I must make haste to get over to the other side iiforder
to receive him there. I caught sight of two small floes in
the middle of the open Avater. It was a long jump, but I
had to try it. I made my leap, and landed all right on one
of the floes. It just l)ore me, and no more. Wliile I was
unsteadily getting my balance, up shot the bear's head like
lightning close to the floe beyond. He clambered up on the
ice, roaring, and the next moment he would probably have
been upon me. but luckily I was beforehand with him

IN TJIIO I'OLAIt SKA

ccov re,l ,„y balance, and lo.l.-cl a bullet in ,he ,„id,lle of
•urns breast s„ that the fur was blackened by tl,.. pow. «
I .■ fell back n„o ,l.e wau. and breathed W,s last! I had
|.I..™ ™d ",n n.y arms." That was „„t ,uite tke ca e
... '-hi hnn by the ears a, he showed si,4 of sinki ,7-'
>""eh „ n,y snrpnse, since at this season the bears are
.enerally so fat as ,„ float. The others .soon can,e p Z

"ltl.e bear up w,th bu, n,y leather belt, and that was

mle enough. The belt was passed round his neck, andTy

h,s means we towed hint olf to an inlet in the ic . Now

.ere was no more danger of his sinking, and we could takT

.t easy and warp him „p by sh,w ,legrees. Ife was a,t

"nusnally b,g fellow, one of the very biggest we J Z

" isi '"th" 7' ;•"'"■«-••*• -"l I '-' li'eraltysa. that

waj to the sh,p, and a good hour passed before any ,me
came to onr ass.stanee. I„ the meantime we set to work to
cut up he carcase ; but I was presently disn.issed from ,1 i"
part of the busn.ess. The captain said I was wet and coU
^..Kl mnst be so good as to take myself ofl' to the ship

Unreasonable as it seemed, I let him have his way and
turned back. I was accusto.ned to find hi™ i„ the rflf
-ul h,s fme, as usual, I had no reason to regret my"!
.....on. As I drew near the ship, I caught .sFgh 7nl
ol the men a good way off on the ice. Only two of them Z
ar as I could see, had their rifles. I pu Jed n,. 1 . ;,' Z
to where they could be going, and learned wh™ I .^ ^^
board they had gone bear-hunting; but there was nollpe
of my bemg ,n tnne for the fun, as they were already withh
™.ge. Very well, I though,, IVe had enough for one ^ '
they re welcome to thi.s one. Then some one happened t J

Uil

itJ

I ■

L11<'E OF FRIDTIOl'' XANSEX

remark that there were three bears. That was too much.
I might liave let them have one, but out of three, one really
must fall to my share ; and ofl' I set again as fast as my
legs could carry me. I was wet already, and a little water
more or less didn't matter ; so I was not under the necessity
of making many detours on account of the pools of open
sea. Soon I made up on them, and saw they were lyino- in

IN THE POLAR SEA. Ill

ll I.

•■'A

wait for a Ijear who was coming toAvards them. I stopped
a short distance off, so as not to spoil sport : Imt the others,
probably fearing tliat I might l)e beforehand with them,
fired too soon and only wounded the bear, wiio rushed off
roaring. Xow it was my turn. I sent a shot through his
breast iind he fell, but got up again and began to run. I
tore after him, .md when he turned at bay and came towards
me, I sent a bullet through his head that finished him.

IN THE POLAR SEA.

' Now for the next one. At a signal from the ship we
went in the dh-ection indicated, and presently caught sight
of the bear. He was standing still, devouring the carcase of
a seal, and so absorbed in the occupation that we got within
easy range without being noticed. As I was not sure of
the others, I preferred to shoot from where I was. I whistled
to make the bear look up— but not a bit of it ! I whistled
again, still without effect ; then with all my might— and at
last he raised his head. I aimed behind the shoulder-blade
and blazed aw^ay, and simultaneously the two others fired.
The bear roared and staggered Ijack wards into the water. I
sprang forward to the edge of tlie ice ; but thinking he had
had about enough, I allowed him to swim quietly over to
the other side, intending to give him his quietus w^hen he
]iad got well up on the ice, so as to save us the trouble of
hauling him up. But this time I had reckoned without my
host, for the bear must needs land by an ice-hummock,
clamber up as lightly as a cat, and, covered by the hum-
mock, go gaily on his way. There I stood w^ith a very long
face, and could only send an ineffectual bullet in his wake.
But then began a race which turned out an ample compen-
sation for the disappointment. Oluf, who had no rifle and
carried nothing but an ice-pick and a rope, accompanied me
a little way, but remained behind at the first bit of open
water which was too wide to jump. I couldn't be bothered
going round, and took to the Avater. I heard a roar of
laughter behind me. It was Oluf, who had never seen
l)('ople getting over the open spaces like that before. He
was for doing it a better way — with the ice-pick he managed
to got a small Hoc into the middle of the pool, so that he
coidd jump on it. He made a leap, but this time it was my
nil to laugh, for he landed neatly on the edge, so that he

n if^

ft'

1 >'

f I

1 i '

r: i! ]

: ,^' ,

LIFE OF FRIUTIOF NANSEN

found liimself in water up to his waist, and of course got
his high sea-boots full of water. So now there was a long
emptying process to be gone through, which I, with my
canvas shoes, did not require, and had not the time to wait
for. Thus the bear and I were left alone to try our
strength, and we had both of us determined to do our utter-
most. He ran for life, and I for honour : for it would
have been disgraceful to get so near as that to a bear and
then lose him after all. My bullet had hit him right enough
behind the shoulder-ljlade ; but by mistake I had got hold
of a cartridge with a hollow ball, and had thus onlv iriven
Inm a surface wound, which did not seem to trouble him very
much. However, the wound bled a good deal, and the track
was not difficult to follow. The bullets of the others had
not hit him. So off we set over the ice as fast as our legs
would carry us ; sometimes I made up on the bear, some-
times he widened the distance between us. In this way we
dashed over one ice-floe after another. If the open pools
were too wide to jump, I simply swam them, for there was
no time to be lost in " going round about." ^ Stretch after
stretch lay behind us, and the bear seemed unwearied ; but
at last he took to doubling, and that enabled me to make
short cuts which helped me a good deal. I now saw he was
beginning to be tired, so T took it easier, until I saw him dis-
appear behind an ice-liummock. Under cover of this I set
off again at the top of my speed, expecting to get a good
shot at liim ; but no ! he saw my dodge and renewed liis
exertions. He kept up the pace for a little while, and then
slowed down again. Finally, I got witliin range and sen! a
bullet through his breast He made a couple of plunges
and then fell. A. bullet, beliind the ear finished ium off.

' See Peer Ui/iif, Act II. nc. 7.

1 ■ I

i:^w»"

IX THE POLAR SEA

' So there I stood alone with a dead bear. A rifle with-
out cartridges and a penknife were ray only weapons, for I
had lent the captain my sheath knife to cut up the other
bear. The first thing to be done was to signal to the ship
for help, but I could see nothing of her except the masts.
So I climbed up on the highest ice-hummock I could find
and waved with my cap on the end of my gun-barrel. Then
I began to skin the bear with my penknife, so that I might
at least take his skin back with me. It was a long business,
for the head and paws had to be cut off to go with the skin ;
however, with care and patience I got on, and had nearly
finished when in the distance I heard a voice. I mounted a
knoll to see who it was, and found it was Oluf, who had at
last caught me up. He was heartily glad to find rae, for he
had been running with his heart in his mouth for fear of
meeting the bear ; and no wonder, since his only arms were
an ice-pick and a packet of cartridges. We finished the
skinning and began the rather troublesome task of dragging
tlie skin home to the ship ; for a fell like this one, with its
layer of blubl)er weighing perhaps half a hundredweight,
is no light burden. However, we had not gone far before
we met the men who had come to help us. We gladly
handed over to them the skin, the rifle, and Oluf s cartridges ;
for they are very unwilling to be out on the ice without arms,
for fear of coming across bears.

' Oluf and I, feeling v, e had done our share, left them
and ])etook ourselves to the shij). On the way back, Ohif
was mucli taken up with my mt thod of crossing the open
pools, which was something ^uite new to him ; lu' could
not gei. over his annoyance at being left Ijehiud with his old
sea-boots. On the way we met an embasfsage from the cap-
tain with beer and food. I was quite touched bv this atten

ihts

LIFE OF FJIIUTIOF NAN8EN

»|(-|^

I !

tion, and I can assure you both Oluf and I enjoyed our
picnic. When I gnf on board I was told that the third bear
also Iiad l>een close at hand, l>ut had made off. We ought to
have liad him too, so tliat our whole bag might have been an
even score. As it was, we had oiil}' nineteen, and with that
w'e had to be contented.

' That was our last hunt, A tew days afterwards the
ice broke up and we got awaj . The seal-hunting was over
now, and there was nothing else to do but to steer for
home. Once more the T'Hking leaped over the crests of
the waves as fast as sail and steam could carrv her, and
great was the rejoicing on board when the peaks of dear
old Norway's weather-beaten mountains rose up out of
the sea.'

Nansen concludes with thanks to Captain Krefting for all
the pleasant hours they had spent together in the Arctic
regions. Krefting was the very type of a sturdy, fearless,
and enterprising Arctic skipper. We have little doubt
that this was a case of the meeting of two kindred natures,
and that Krefting's personality influenced and developed
Nansen's innate gifts. Tliey became fast friends ; and the
crew of the Viki,/;/ still give the ' Nansen-trip ' the place
of honour amongst all their An^tic expeditions. Companion-
able and courageous, he was liked and respected by every
one ; and there w^ere among them some rough customers
wdio were none the worse for rul,hing shoulders with a
man of education. And then he was such good company
— he would sit in the cabin will* them, yarning the whole
night tln-ough, and he knew the real name as well as tlie
nickname of every man on board. To tliis day, several
of the seal-lnmters have hanging on their wall a photograph
of the whole ship's company. There they stand, seventy-two

IN I'lIE rOLAIl SEA

men, grouped behind a huge Polar bear, tlie hunters with
their guns, the others with ice-picks and staves.

' But where is JSTansen ? '

' Nansen ? Why, he is standing in front and doing the
photographing, don't you see ? '

It seems as though all these appliances of his in-
troduced a softening touch of civilisation amongst the
wastes of the Polar Sea. He has his hands full ; eve'ry thing
that he sees, the sniallest animal or insect, he insists on
getting hold of. In the sea, alongside the ship, hang his
nets, ni which he catches his smaller specimens of marine
life. Did he not catch a young seal and feed it and tend it
for eight whole days ? • Ihit he couldn't photograph it,'
says the sealer, recalling these days. 'The young seals
aren't aceistomed to that sort of thing. No one asks them
if they'd like to be photographed before he knocks them
on the head. Ever}- blessed day Nansen had tliis one out
and made the attempt. lie would pose it so nicely on the
main hatch, and all would go well up to the moment of
taking the (-ap oif the camera; then it would begin to
flap about, and the picture would be nothing but a blur of
misc.'

Then, too, Nansen was tlie most /.-ealous sportsman, and
utterly reckless of life and L. ' I well remember being

out on the ice one time,' says the same shipmate, ' when
we heard some of the men calling for help. The skipper
and Xansen were on board— the mate was up in the ricro-in.r
With the spy-glass. We were so near we coidd hear him
shouting tliat some of tlic boys had got out on an ice-floe
and that a be;., was after tiiem. They had no guns with
them. The bear was making for the open water astern
of the ship and evidenth meant to swim across. I rushed

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF XAXSEX

h i

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11; '

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I. «/■

Off on the instant as hard as I could pelt. Nansen and
the captain did the same-but tliey were a little behind.
When I got within sight of the bear he was scarcely two
bounds from the water. It was a long shot, and I was
out of bieath with running, but I couldn't .rait any lon-er
If the bear succeeded in reaching the ice-floe, I wouldn't
dare to shoot for fear of hitting one of my mates.

' When I had iired, I heard Nansen calling, "Have you
hit him ? " And when he heard it was all over with the bear
he stopped dead as if he had been shot himself. I believe
he'd rather liave had the bear carry off one of the fellows
hrst, If only he could have had a shot at both of them
aiteruards.

' My word, he was a great fellow for bears ! When
there was a race between him and one of them, it was a
case of two chips of the same block ; Nansen was as much
under water as above it, just like the bear. I told him
often enough that he'd end by ruining his health, going on
like that. But he only pointed to his woollen clothinc-
— " I'm never cold," he said.' ^

We have Fridtiof Nansen's own word for it that these
weeks oil the east coast of Greenland exercised a determining
influence over him. ' By day the peaks and the olacierl
lay ghttering beyond the drift ice; in the evenino'and at
night, wh,.i the sun tinged them with colour and set air
and clouds on fire behind them, their wild beauty was
thrown into even bolder relief

He brooded incessantly over plans for reachino- that
coast which so many have sought in vain. It must be
possible, ]w thought, to make your way over the ice,
dragging your boat along with you. He wanted to set off
alone and walk ashore, but permission was refused hun.

IN THE POLAR SEA

Already he had begun to entertain notions of penetrating
to the heart of the country ; and within a year of his return
to Norway, the idea of crossing Greenland on snow-shoes
had taken firm root in his mind. So close is the connection
between the first expedition to Greenland and the second.
That lucky star which never deserts him keeps him drifting
off this coast for twenty-four days and nights, drawing him
nearer and nearer to it ; pnd while the others are filled with
terror, the radiance of the summer night sets his yearning
soul aglow for the land of adventure. Ambition awakenl
and chooses the most strenuous of tasks.

* •;

1* ' '
'f, •
1. i|i, ^

IJFl': OF FIMDTIOF NANSEN

i .^i

H I !i* U

« if-

CirAPTER Y

IN JJEKGKX

WiiiLii Fi-idtiof Xunsen was swimmino- across the rifts in the
ice after Pokir bears, the Director-in-Cliief of t]ie Jk^r^en
Museum, Dr. Danielssen,' was going his wonted round from
the Lungegaard Hospital to the Museum and from tlie
Museum to the Lungegaard Hospital, and turnino- things
over in his mind. He needed a new assistant, Olaf Jensen -'
having resigned his post. Before the bear-hunter had
reached Christiania, Professor Pol^ert Collett was applied to
by telegraph for liis advice. He thouglit instantlv of Hansen,
and asked him, the moment he' set foot on shore,"^ if he would
care to become Curator (Komerrator) of the Bergen Museum.
He agreed at once. He was not yet twentv-one, and had
done nothing whatever to make his mark in science ; so it
was certaiidy a very tempting offer. But he wanted first to
pay a visit to a sister in Denmark ; and this was reported to
Danielssen l,y vvire. We, luning known the old Director,
can literally hear him growling as he paces about the'
Museum : ' Who ever heard the like ? Has the chance of
becoming Curator of the Jiergen Museum before he's well out
of his teens, and wants to go and visit his sister! Who ever
heard of such sentimentality.?' He wired back: Xansen

' P-orn in Ber-cm -lul.y 4. IHir, ; died in Bergen Julv Bt, 1894.
Born 1H47; Curator of Ber;,'en Museum 1874 82." Died 1887.

works on leprosy, a distin<iuislied zoologist, honorary gradu-
ate of the. Universities of Lund and Copenhagen, and one of
tlie most interesting figures in our scientific anu pubHc hfe.
A thin httle man, Avho liad early triumphed over death in the
shape of tuberculosis, he always dragged one foot a Uttle
after the other, on account of an old attack of hip disease,

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JJFE OF rniDTlOF XANSKN

yet was always first on the spot at all the hundred^ of meet-
ings which he had to take part in or to preside over. His
face of statuesque beauty, which never showed any signs
of sleeplessness or over-study ; his eyes that were always
so brilhant, and, if occasion demanded, so threatening; his
irresistible gift of persuasion in privates talk, his daring
cut-and-thrust style of argument in pubhc debate, which
reminded one a Httle of a ship hacking its way foot by foot
through tlie ice— all this combines to form a i)icture which
cannot fade from the memory. Here was a working capacity
which might be said to know no limits, an untranunelled
energy, an incompressible elasticity; here was a rare com-
bination of fiery ardour and unflagging perseverance.
Whereas many another fine talent has withered away in a
small town for lack of emulation, and because the atmo-
sphere of every-day life ' is too enervating to permit of
spiritual growth. Dr. Danielssen, instead of either flving oi
surrendering, chose rather to re-create the town in his own
image. Instead of throwing up the sponge on reahsiim- his
isolation, he kept the fight going through a long series of
years, and won protection, both in the Storthing and in
the Town Council, for interests, nominally his own, which
were in reality those of society at large. On the spot
where his ashes now rest, he built for himself a monument
where his spirit lives on; and that monument is the
Bergen Museum.' As it is to-daA-, he may be saia to have
created it. He it was, and practically he alone, who rescued
it from the condition of a mere colleciion of curiosities, and
made it an instrument of popular education and an Academy
of Science. This man, who came through all the sorrows of

• See obituary notice by .T. Hrunchorst, in ti>e Annual lir/nui of the Bcrncn
Museum for mun. Ikrf,'on, 1894. "/ nie .ic);,cn

IN IJKirC.HN

■ with renewt'd vigour, seemed to Jiave taken for hiy life-
motto the old sayinj/ of the Ifdavamaal :

Kim die,
Knidreil i'

lialt (lie one day.

in 1 IvlloW

'1 ' ; iM I (lies;

Men's (leeniing as to the dead.

AiK^ he lew that tliis • deeming ' would be founded upon
the work he had left liehind him.

Danielssen was a man who remained young to the last.
He loved youth, but he exacted great things of it. • His idea
was,' w.-ites one whr -r many years was a fellow- worker of
his and of Nansen's, iluit a voung fellow oujzht to be able
to cope with any and every thing. He was pleased and cor-
dial when a given task was acconiplished, and scolded if it
didn't go as quickly as he thought it ought to. His method
was excellent in the case of a man of many interests, high
intelligence, and great industry. These qualities Nansen
possessed.'

So far as we know. Dr. Danielssen had no direct influence
on Hansen's choice of subjects at the Bergen Museum. But
his very personality was an incentive. At ten o'clock every
morning this man of sixty-seven mounted the Museum Hill
and sat himself down to his work-table. Already a portion
of the day's business lay behind him — he had gone his morn-
ing rounds at the Lungegaard Hospital. A young man
entering on his career under Danielssen's auspices, soon
found that although the claims of science were inexorable,
it did not at all exact a life of cloistral seclusion ; for to
tliis veteran nothing human was alien. He had himself been
a member of the Storthing, and he followed the political
development of the country with the liveliest interest. He

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(716) 872-4503

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LIFE OF riMDTIOl- NAXSKX

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had taken part in tlie foundation of the Norwegian Theatre,'
the Bergen Art Gallery, and the Bergen AtheiiKuni. He
was chairman of IJet nyttige Selskah (literally ' The Useful
Society ' ) ; he had been a member of the Bergen Town
Council for nearly a generation ; and he followed the fortunes
of all these institutions through the daily press. In the midst
of his spirit-jars, specimens, and instruments, he would foam
with rage or sparkle with delight when any of his dearest
interests were attacked or came ofF victorious.

And wdien, at home, in his little dining-room in the
Lungegaard Hospital, he would crack a bottle from his well-
stocked cellar, amid a circle of fellow-scientists, artists,
townsmen, and specially, and Ijy preference, young workers
of all kinds, it seemed as if the joy of life, die Tnstinctive
rejoicing in mere existence, was personified in the ardour of
that face, in the sparkle of those eyes, which had, neverthe-
less, seen death take from him all that was dearest to his
heart. His only son, a medical student, died in 1868, at the
age of twenty-five. Soon after (in 1869 and 1873) he lost
his three daughters. His wife died in 1875 ; so that he was
quite alone in the world when Xansen first came to know him.
Once more Nansen had been brought into close relations
with a character eminently fitted to further his development.
Their letters (of which we sul)join two) bear witness to the
relation between them. The first is from Dr. Danielssen to
Nansen, dated January 30, 1803, that is to say, al)out six
months before his death.
' My ue.vr Xansex, —

' It is getting on towards the time when you are to set

' Doubtless tlio theatre in Bergen, set on foot by Ole Bull, of which Ibsen and
Biornson were successivelv directors.

IN BERGEN

out on your great expedition. I Avas uneasy, I confess, as
to the result of your Greenland venture ; as to the issue of
your Polar voyage I am entirely at ease. I have followed
your exposition of the scheme with the liveliest interest, and
I have sufficiently acquainted myself with the arguments
which have on all sides been urged against you, to have
arrived at a settled conviction that your undertakino- will
succeed. It is likely enough, my dear Nansen, that I may
not live to join in the shout of welcome which will ring
through the country when Fridtiof N'ansen comes back
with his comrades from the North Pole, rich in discoveries
in every department of science. Therefore, I will take time
by the forelock and bid you a mos' affectionate welcome
home — a welcome which, next to Eva's [Mrs. Hansen's], will
be the sincerest and the warmest of all that will greet you.
If I understand aright, your route Avill lie through the Kara
Sea to the Xew Sil^eria Islands. In this case, I presume
you will look in at Bergen in passing, and I need not say
that your visit will be a great pleasure to all of us, and not
least to your old friend and admirer.

'Fridtiof Xansen will come back successful from the
Xorth Pole as surely as I am writing these lines — so much I
dare to prophesy. Pemember me kindly to your dear wife
and to the Sarses ; ' and for yourself, dear Xansen, accept a
warm kiss and embrace from your sincerely affectionate

I). C. Paxielssen.'

Shortly before leaving X'orway, in 1898, Xansen sent
him, from Kiitllefiord. on July 16, a greeting which ends as
follows : —

' Dear Daxielssex, — Much that T have to say to you I

' Mrs. Nanscn's faiaih.

'■ i ,m

1 I

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LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

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will leave unsaid, and only thank you once more for all that
you have been to me, dear fatherly friend. Fate has
sundered our ways, and debarred us from working together.
... But whether at your side or far away, you have my
undivided affection and my undivided admiration. You
are now in the evening of life, but it is a beautiful evening,
and the day's work you have to look back upon is long and
noble. I am as yet at hfe's high noon, and have, I hope,
still something left to do in the world ; but you will always
stand before my eyes as a shining example. If I should
grow weary or slack, the thought of your strength of will
and your untiring activity will spur me on as it spurs on
many and many another. A thousand good-byes until we
meet again.

' Yours affectionate and faithful,

' Fridtiof Nansen.'

Few things are more characteristic of Nausen than the
way in which he passed from Polar bear-hunting to the
work-room of the Bergen Museum. 'I have become an
absolute first-class stick-in-the-mud,' he says in a letter to
his father as early as October 17, 1882, ' and have really no
right to my nickname of Esau.' ' He, the athlete and sports-
man par e.vceUence, has to 'reassure' his father by informing
him that he is a member of two gymnastic societies ! He
throws himself into his scientific work as passionately as if
it were the most thrilling of adventures. He pursues the
paltriest insect reve.-^led by the microscope, no less impetu-
ously than he pursued the bears over the Arctic wastes.
At Christmas, on his way home to Christiania, he blows

' Given liim by the family of Tastor Holdt, with wlioiu lie lived. Here he
found a second home of which, in his letters, he speaks with the utmost
warmth.

IN BERGEN

away the cobwebs by crossing the mountains in a „ipino-
snowstorm^the whole upland reeking with snow-swirls, so
that even his dog whines and trembles under the lashing of
the wind. But in January we find him nailed to his post
beside the new 35/. microscoj^e with which his father ha.
presented him-the father who is so frugal an economist,
but who seems to set no bounds to his liberality when his
son s future is at stake. He peers and peers into his micro-
scope, and ' the world might tumble to pieces without his
noticmg it. -.^ow and again, when lie feels he needs
freshemng up, he sets off for a M^alk in the mountains,
enjoying the sunset by the sea, and making a great glissade
from the mountain-top right into the valley, without even
snow-shoes, 'going it as though king and country were at
stake with Flink [his dog] scampering after hir. so fast
that he hasn't even time for a single bark.' On the whole
however, these rain-swept mountains of the west coast
caimot have been much to his taste. ' One day we have a
cold snap with snow, and all the mountains, in full winter
dress he gleaming in brilliant sunshine ; the next day thev
are brown and black again, frowning in mist and rain
Then, on the heels of this, come sunshine and clear skies
and the mountains are smiling once more as though in the'
loveliest spring weather. Xow a warm southerly gale has
come on -last nigl t it blew a regular hurricane; the fields
are quite brown, and there is no snow to be seen except
a speck here and there on the very crests of the ran..e '
But It needs more than the lack of his accustomed winder
sports to depress a happy nature such as his, early devoted
to the principle that in order to attain the essential it is
often necessary to dispense entirely with the non-essential.

I 11

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

1 1 (

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'His eyes are fixed on the future; he is still on the
threshold of life.'

' Ungdomsmod,
ungdomsmod,
gaar som rovfugl i det blaa,
det inaa jagc, det niaa slaa,
det maa alle varder naa.''

His cry is ' Forwards ! '

Far more imperative longings come kjiocking at his study
door without his yielding to them. It was on' an autumn
evening of that same year that the project of the journey
to Greenland took root in his mind. ' I was sitting and
listening indiflerently,' he says,2'as the day's paper was
being read. Suddenly my attention was roused by a tele-
gram stating that Xordenskiiild had come back safe from
his expedition to the interior of Greenland, and that he
had found no oasis but only endless snowfields, on which
his Lapps were said to have covered, on their snow-shoes,
an extraordinary distance in an astonishingly short time!
The idea instantly flashed upon me of an expedition crossing
Greenland on snow-shoes from coast to coast. Here was
the plan in the same form in which it was afterwards laid
before the public and eventually carried out.'

Four years and a half elapsed before the scheme was
put into execution. He writes to his father on October 4,
1883, very soon after the news about Nordenskiold came to
his ears : =* ' I feel a sneaking longing to break loose every
time I hear of such adventures '—a longing for further ex-

> 'Youthful courage sweeps like a bird of prey through the blue; it must
chase nnd strike its prey ; it must soar to the loftiest beacons.'— Bicirnson.
" The First Crossing of Greenland, p. 2.

" Nordenskiold arrived at Thurso on September 20, and at Gothenburg
September 27. *»

■* Alluding to a shooting expedition of his brother's.

'fi [ i

i! <f

IN «ER(4EN

penences for travel-and such thoughts ],ring a restless-
ness vvlnch is oftentimes hard to subdue, and troubles me a
good deal before it finally calms down. However, the best
remedy for it is work, and I apply it, as a rule, with good
results. °

About this time, too, another call reached him from
the outer world. An English zoologist, who had visited
the Museum in the summer and seen a good deal of Nansen
niquned if he would like to accept a post in America!
Iroiessor Marsh, the celebrated palaeontologist, one of the
most eminent men of science in America, had expressed his
mteMion of recruiting his staff of young investigators, and
the Englishman had thereupon spoken of Nansen as one
whom he believed to be specially fitted for such work
Nansen answered that he must have certain assurances from
Marsh before he could enter into neo-otiations ' What I
want specially to stipulate for, and to have quite clearly
understood, is that I shall have suflicient time for inde-
pendent work and study.' The provisional inquiry was
made in October 1883. From Marsh himself nothing had
been heard Mdien Nansen wrote as above to his father on
December 28, and no further mention of the affair occurs
m their correspondence. There must, however, have been
something attractive in the idea. He would have had a
chance of seeing the world, and probably of makinc. yearlv
excursions to the Eocky Mountains and the West. " But it
was not easy to leave the Museum. ' I have much to do
here that I want to get finished and out of hand.' This
no doubt, was what kept Greenland also in the back-
ground of his fermenting mind. Nansen was in realitv
iar too clear-headed not to know that the Greenland scheme

7f r

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l-IFE OF FlUDTIOF NANSKN

was a matt IT of life aiul death.' He wanted to show tlie
world that it was no insignificant life that was to be staked
upon it; he wanted to leave behind a sudicient record of
scientific woi-k, before taking the leap into the unknown ;
and he probably hesitated, too, at the thonght of inflicting
on his old father so great an anxiety. The correspondence
between these two, from the autumn of 1882 to :March 1880,
is characteristic in the highest degree. It is the busy
beginning of the day for the young man, for the old one it
is almost the end.-'

The mere sight of the liergen postmark is a consolation
to the father in his loneliness. The son begins every second
letter with an apology for not having written. But these
letters of his, though often empty to the point of childish-
ness (all letter-writing being a task and a drndgery to him),
will sometimes, all of a sudden, become strangely warm and
expansive, when, in the press of work, he has time to
bethink himself Then he sends his father books, and
discusses literatu'-e with him. It is quite touching to find
the father writing, a couple of months before his death : ' I
hove not been able to enjoy Pasteur to th(^ fnll, since I have
never read a word of chemistry, and have therefore had to
apply for aid to a dictionary of foreign terms, and an
encyclopedia. I trust that when you come home again you
will give me a little course of chemistry, to enable me to
read this book with more understanding. In the meantime,
it pleases me to see such an indomitable man of science
constantly working towards a goal which, from all indica-

' His brother wrote to him, when the prehniiiiaries of the expedition were
being arranged, expressing a wish to join it. Ho received no answer to tliis
letter; but to otliers Fridtiof remarked, 'There's no good risking more tlian
one of the two Xansens that are left.'

' The father died April 2, IHSr,, while liis son was on his way to him.

ill

IN HKItOEN

tions, he conceives to be the rifrht one, and thereby steadily
advancnig tlie bound-iries of knowledge. . . . Wlien I ^et
a letter from you I often shed tears, not of .sorrow but^f
subdued joy. May God bless your work, and guide it to
liappy issues ! '

111 the son's letters, artless though they be, thon-hts as
wel as feelings find ready enough expression when it eomes
to the point. One is reminded every now and then of school
ccmipositions, so amazing is their naivete. On one occasion
Aansen wins at a bazaar a little picture of a waterfall, by
an obscure painter, and thereupon bursts forth • ' Xow
really, isn't it wonderful what good luck some people have'
m everything? How Fortune has smiled on me from every
quarter up to now! ' But one has only to ask this .-liild's
advice on a matter of importance, or touch upon any ques-
tion concerning his future, and at once the -rown man takes
Ins place, alert and decided, ready with well-considered
argument, and full of healthy self-confidence.

A valuable contribution to our knowledge of Fridtiof
Nansen's character at this time reaches us iii tlie sliape of
certain observations jotted down by his friend Dr. Lorents
Grieg, who saw a great deal of him in Bergen. ' I admired,'
writes Grieg, 'the consistency with which he always acted
up to his convictions, and his remoteness from any spirit
of compromise. It never occurred to him to take society
and circumstances into account as factors to be considered
and reckoned with. When once an idea took hold of him,
he followed it up unshrinkingly to its ultimate conse-
quences.

' Contradiction was wasted on him ; with kindness you
could get him to do anything. The reason why his intimates
were so devoted to him was that, though he was sometimes

■^Wl

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LIFE OF riUDTIOF NAXSEX

t! !

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if'-!

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inconsiderate and stifliiecked enouoli, at other times one
could not but reco<,niise in him an exceedingly delicate and
affectionate disposition, which, when it happened to come
uppermost, would often express itself in exceptionally
engaging and characteristic ways, showing a nature of real
depth. The child was always strong in him. How often
have I said to myself, ' What a child he is ! ' I remember
how, in the Christmas holidays, we would often sit in the
drawing-room at home with the biscuit-box between us,
fighting for what was left, while we listened to my sister
singing. Then the best and warmest side of his nature
came out, and never was he more lovable. He would sit
Hstening by the hour, with an expression of the deepest
seriousness, entering with understanding and sympathy into
the tenderest and most pensive sentiments. When the song
ended, he would at once begin fantastical ing in the mood
suggested either by the words or the melody, and then
there was no stopping him. Schumann and Schubert, with
their vehemence of passion, interested him; but he was
never thoroughly satisfied until we got on to our own poets
and composers. It was quite surprising to find such a
capacity for deep and sensitive feeling in this youth, who at
the next moment would show such grit and determination.
What we others at that time of life would blush to say or
quote, for fear of appearing sentimental, he would come out
with frankly and serenely, without the least self-conscious-
ness in voice or manner—in a word, he loved music and
poetry. First he would recite a couple of lines, and then
another couple— simply, and with feeling. "Now he will
stop," I would think ; " he probably doesn't know any more."
But no! he would go ahead without pause, especially if
he got upon Ibsen's " Taa Vidderne " (" On the Heights "),

If fl

rX URKfJKX

winch lie knew from beginning to end, or " Ingebor</8
Lament, or any other passage from " Fridtiofs Sa-a "
C uriously enough, nothing (that I can recollect) filled him
with more radiant delight than an opportunity of reciting
the dialogue between Fridtiof and Hjiirn. He would go intC
uts ot laughter over this passage :—

Ah I Fridtiof, tliy folly seems strange to my miu.l :

What ! .sorrow and sigh for a false woman's love I

In sooth, upon earth there are women enoiK-li i

For the one thou hast lost thou a thousand mays't find.

If thou wilt, e'en a loading of tluit kind of ware

Shall swiftly from Southland so glowing be brought,

As nuldy as rosebuds, like lambs tamo and fair ;

W e'll divide thorn as brothers, or share them by lot.'

' Often in reading or recaUing this canto, I have seemed
to see Hansen and Sverdrup before my mind's eye.

' Earely,' his friend concludes, 'does one find in a man
of that age so pronounced a love and yearning for what is
good, right, and pure, and rarely, too, such a dauntless
energy m following it up to its remotest consequences
The search for the right, whether in great things or in
small, was in his case accompanied by constant unrest
yearning, and struggle ; and to carry it through to the end'
m spite of everything and everybody, was his greatest joy.' '

Fridtiof Hansen's idea of paradise at this period is not
that of the Mohammedan, a blessed dolce far niente, sur-
rounded by beautiful women. His literature is En Ilanske
('A Gauntlet ') and Sirjuvd Slember His ideal of the world
beyond is founded on the Jotuiiheim, with its rugged and
ragged peaks, and glaciers on every hand. When this
titanic Nature outlines her noble contours against the deep,

• E. Tegner, Fridtiof s Saga, translated by the Key. W. L. Blackley.
Both plays by Biornson. "^

', I

MI'K or I'lMDTIOF NAXSKX

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(lark sky, it seems to liim like a ^diiapse of tlie lost
paradise.^

And 1,1 l,i,s lu,Ii(l;,y lu.urs he tlin.w.s liiniseif into the
mulst of this wild beaut3'-strai-htens his back after
bencliiig over the inirn.scope-and attacks the mountain
lastnesses witii dare-devil ylee.

One evenin<? towards the end of Januarv 1884 he is
Avalkn.o- ihrouoli the streets of Ber-en in pcurin- rain and
xiowhM^ wind, wondc-ring if the sun is going to sliine again
tins side of Easter. He says, like Peer (iynt :
'One must spit and trust to the force of habit.'
He looks in at the post-ofFK-e and gets liis IdrcvMid
('Jouriuil of Athletics'), comes home and sits in his arni-
<-liair, mtending to glance through tlie paper before .roin.r
at his work again. He reads ' Snow-shoe-Kaces on
Huseby Hill, February 4.' All („ a sudden the pine-forest
rises before his mind's eye, alluringly white, and vilh.cres
and meadows, nplands and mountains, lie bri.riit and
gleaming in the sunshine. It is a ringing frost! Your
breath floats visibly against your cheeks and whitens your
lair with rime. He feels the loop of the snow-shoe pressing.
Ins foot, the blood tingling through his veins, and the wind
whistling past his ears as he tears along. He looks at
the papers : the forecast indicates a general thaw. Never-
theless, early on Monday morning, while the rain lashes
against the windows of the railway-carriage, there he sits
with his snow-shoes, and a formal leave of absence from the
Museum in his pocket, on his way to Voss. ' Madness '
his friends exclaim. M'm going on snow-shoes,' say's
^ansen.2 ^

; From a .lescription of a tour in the .Totunhehn, in a letter to his father
He has yiven an acount of this journey in Aftcnimstcn, March 1884. "

I.N JJi:i' KX

^ And «,.oii he is i,, tlic l,e:ir( ..f il.o mi^rh,v .uoimtuins,
with a hl,„. winter sky overlu-ml. He sets of!" over Stal-
h.nnskleven, following, its endless y\.-,^.,^ now skirting
tlie edge of one preeipioe, now veering across t.. tlie other
; About midway, the image of a peasant, with amazement
in his lace, Hashed past me hke lightning; the man had
crept close in nnder the cliff in sheer consternation.'

Here he is in Xa>ri)dal, where the avalanches come
craslnng down, as thnndcr and lightning do in other places.
In the bottom of the valley, if local tradition may be
credited, the force of the air-current has been known to
carry people from one side of the fjord to the other. Here
at (Judvangen, lies a great stone which came leapin- from'
the very crest of the mountain, and went like a cannon-ball
through both walls of the first house in its path, and then
through roof and wall of the next, killing one old woman
and cripphng another.

The evil reputation of the place does not make him
nervous or even cautious. In the heart of La^rdal he sits
down by the wayside and eats his breakfast. The road
sku-ts the ravine through which, far below, the Lterdal
river foams-on the other side the mountain rises sheer
and culminates in great dome-like summits. Hehhid him'
the hillside is rugged and abrupt, a fissure seams it from'
t^op to bottom, and its slopes are almost precipitous. The
debris of a great avalanche lies all around. Xansen sits
hstening to the roar of the cataract, and thinking of the
summ..^ when, fishing-rod iu hand, he woidd saunter
through the river-gorge-there are manv splendid pools
liere for a fly. Suddenly he is roused by'a Avhinin.. voice •
'loure sittmg right in the track of the avalanche" And
youve picked out the worst possible place, too!' ^Oh

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LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEX

P^ !i

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fij im\

I should hear it coming,' says Xansen. ' It comes like
a rifle-shot, that's how it comes.' And the man hastens by

Hansen goes on with his breakfast. Then another man
appears, driving at top speed. ' This is no place for any one
who values his life ! '—and he's gone in a flash.

But to >s^ansen, for the moment, his breakfast seems
more than his life; he finishes eating before he moves
Then he crams what is left into his wallet, and prepares
for a start. He hears afterwards that the fissure is called
Sauekilen, and that it is the worst place in the whole of
La^rdal. Here the avalanches choke up the whole breadth
of the valley; the one that has already fallen is only the
vanguard to clear the way for the others, which may be
expected at any moment.

He takes a sketch of the remarkable place, and gets his
snow-shoes on again. Below him flows the river, thickly
flecked with ice ; the otter lives in the dark bubbhnr. holes
among its rocks, and down by the cataract the water-ousel
twitters.

It is niglit when he comes to cross the summit of the
pass ; the sky is full of stars, sparkling with unusual
clearness, and shedding an uncertain light over tho liicrh
plateau. ' Xature all about was vast and silent, there was
no sound to be heard except my own footsteps in the snow.
It gives one a singular sensation thus to wander quite alone
over mountain wastes in the clear and starry ^ih^ht, far
from all human habitations, and high above the life of I'nen
One feels here that one stands alone, face to face with
Nature and God. li is useless to try to creep into hidin<. •
no, a man must stand forth as he is ; there is no shelter
to be found on the naked upland.'

At last the windows of Breistiilen shine out into the

IN BERGEN

high

lie

night, and he reaches slielter. ' Lord in heaA'en ! are there
people out on the mountain so late as this ? Ah, it's you,
is it ? You're always a late bird, you are ! '

_ But it is on the way back to Bergen that he takes
his life in his hands time after time. First of all at the
very top of the pass, where the way leads through narrow
mountain clefts with precipices above and below. The
river, in the bottom of the ravine, rushes madly down
towards the lower valley. The surfiice of the road is
rounded and exceedingly slippery. ' I had to carry the
sledge more than it carried me.' When the road is better
for a bit, he falls into a brown study. ' I wonder if it wsls
this way King Sverre came from Voss.' Whereupon the
sledge sheers off towards the precipice and jolts against a
stone, and the post-boy behind is almost jerked off Into the
river. With one hand he grips the boy's collar, with the
other he gives the sledge a tug, and both are on even keel
again.

He passes the night at Gudbrandsgaren, the highest
farm in the district, in the direction of Sogn and Yoss. Wall
and roof are black with age and smoke ; Xansen is delighted
with the place. When the kindly people shake hands^'with
him and say good-bye, at three o'clock in the morning,
they beg him to go cautiously over tlie mountain. He has
told them that he means to cross Hallingskei and Vosse-
skavlen to Yoss, and they have warned him that it's not a
thing to be attempted on a winter's day, and that there isn't
a man in the district who would dare to go with him over
the mountain— unless, perhaps, the man at Myrstolen, who
is always tramping the uplands after ptarmigan and reindeer.
So Xansen determines to make first for Myrstiilen. He must
remember, say the people at Gudbrandsgaren, that, young and

I hi

LIFE OF F1!IJ>TI0F XAXSEX

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active thoiigli he may be, many a good man before him has
met his end upon the liills.

Off he sets by moonlight; through the woods, between
the straiglit tree-trunks, across open levels, over the crackling
snow. Then the way is overshadowed again, with thick
underwood on l)oth sides ; he slips and falls on his face in the
snow. But little by httle the valley begins to widen out, all
trees and bushes disappear, the plateau billows out before
liim— snow, snow, nothing but white sparklin- snow He
draws near Myrstiilen ; the day announces her* comincr over
tlie mountain range in the east, with her deepest, darkest,
flame-red hues, growing ever more and more intense. Soon
It seems as if the whole world beneath the horizon were on
fire, and its flames reflected on the sky.

The man at Myrstiilen is not at liome, he is away on the
other side of the lake with his herd of reindeer ; thev are in
the midst of marking them. The women are terrified when
they hear what route Xansen proposes to take. ( )ne of them
^ a bright young girl ; he asks her for a box of matches.
Yes, he shall have it, ' but on condition you promise not to
attempt the big mountain.'

He promises to be careful ; but he might have added in
the words of the peasant who was about to take the pledo-e •
' To promise is easy enough ; its keeping it that beats me.'

Presently he stands at the parting of the wa^•s— is it to
be Aurland or Vosseskavlen ? Before him stretclies a great
plain, with no mountains l)eyond it, but a steady descent right
to Sogn. It would be a quick run down there.

He turns. There lies the lofty plateau gleamino, with
peak on peak beyond it, like the tents of a camp, standino- out
greenish-white and clear against the horizon. It is not to
be resisted. He has been here before, in fog, rain and sleet.

i I

IN J5EKGEX

SO he can surely make his way now, in fine weather, with the
snow m splendid condition. If he fails to get across the
mountains to-day, why then he can pass the night at Hal-
Imgskei Sa^ter or Griindal Salter ; and, if the worst comes to
the worst, the dry, soft snow will make a cosier bed than
a hard shab of stone, of an autumn night, when one was wet
to the skin.

He chooses the upland-the way of the reindeer The
fresh tracks of a large flock are to be seen in the snow The
surface is excellent; he has the wind behind him, and his
snow-shoes scarcely leave a mark as he goes. More tracks,
first of wolves, and a little later of h-nx and wolverine-they
are after the reindeer.

He makes for the Ilallingskei Sorters and Griindal Lake
with Its sa3ter. Here he means to turn off and ascend to the
crest of the range. Tarn after tarn he passes, but never a
s^ter IS to be seen ; so none of these can be Griindal Lake.
When he last saw the place, it was raining, and all the
mountains around were bare ; only Vosseskavlen heaved
Its mighty white crest in the south and disappeared into the
fog. .^ow everything is white-the lakes, the mountain
sides, and the surrounding peaks ; it does not occur to him
that one of them may be the ridge he .^-ants. It is the
sa3ters, the sorters he is after ; but they seem to be bewitched
Li his impatience, he cuts straight across the windings of
he valley, over a long lake, and up on the other side-when
lo ! he finds liiniself on the brink of a precipice. He stands
on a hollow comb of snow, overhanging a dizzv chasm; below
the river rushes through a narrow gorge, ami on both sides
the descent to it is precipitous. Has he ever been here
before ? He cannot remember ; but no doubt it is all rioht
nnd he must just follow the river. He * '

finds

a way down

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LIFE OF FIllDTIOF NAXSEN

to it, SO Steep that lie has to hold his staff in the one hand
and his snow-shoes in the other, and stick them deep into
the snow. Finally, he gets down to the level of the river ;
but the banks above the waterfalls are so steep that he is
every moment in danger of plunging headlong into the black
foaming water. Whenever his footing fails, he sticks his
staff in up to the handle and hangs on to it. Presently he
comes to another rock-wall w^hich he must clamber up. He
creeps up step by step. At the top there is an overhanging
comb of snow^ He has to drive in his staff as far from
the edge as he can reach, and plant his snow-shoes by the
side of it ; the snow is fortunately hard, so that he can get a
good purchase. In this M'ay he hauls himself up over the
edge, and then his dog after him. Then on again— another
lake — another ravine, worse than the first — and still another
lake. He must have lost his way. At the end of the lake
is a large wood, and farther on, and much lower down, a
narrow valley with birch trees on both sides. He sees clearly
that he must have strayed in the direction of Sogn, and is
no doubt not far from Kaardal. But it is Vosseskavlen he
has made up his mind to cross ; so right about face, and
over the ravines again ! Since he has come down that w^ay,
he can of course go back ; and, sure enough, he manages it,
although it is dark by the time he crawls up the last
cliff. The snow is hard — underneath, the cataract thunders,
and above a mighty snow-comb tops the ridge. ' It was all
I could do to reach the edge of it, and plunge my staff and
snow-shoes well into the snow. For a moment I hovered
over the abyss, then got my knee well planted on the edge,
hauled myself up with all possible despatch, and stood safe
and sound on the top.'

By this time it is pitch dark ; the shiniiifr mvriads

IN BERGEX

of stars shed only a faint glimmer over the snow-waste.
Snow upon snoM'— lake after lake-but no seeter ! The place
must be bewitched. So far as he can make out his
watch by the starlight, it is half-past nine-bedtime, and
none too soon, certainly, for one who had been afoot since
three in the morning. But a sharp, penetrating wind is
blowing, and some sort of shelter must be found. The
wind has heaped up a high hard drift against a huge stone.
He creeps in between the comb of the snow and the stone,
hollows out a bed, puts on a woollen jersey, the only stitch
of extra clothing he has brought, and, with the dog curled
up by his side, its head tucked under his arm, and his knap-
sack for pillow, he falls asleep.

When he wakes and peers out of his lair, the moon is
shining over the plain of snow. It is three o'clock, so he
puts on his snow-shoes. Each mountain peak stands forth in
peaceful solitude and looks out over the plateau. If only
one could see what they see !

It is clear that in the darkness he must have stumbled
upon a side valley. He retraces his steps ; but no Grondal
S£Eter can he find. He enters a new valley, but sees that
here again he is on the wrong track. There is nothing for
It but to make for the top of the nearest peak, in order to
get an unobstructed view over tlie plateau. And there he
sees a sight ! ' If a man were going to sacrifice his life for
a spectacle, it could be for none other than this.' Before
him and on all sides stretches the plateau, like a frozen sea
of M^hite foam-waves, billowing into ridges and vallevs, calm-
ing down again to great plains, and then towering iloft into
sharp peaks and pinnacles, one after the other, as far as eye
can reach towards the horizon, wher. ^t is lost in a hazy
shnnmer. And over the whole rolling ocean the moon sheds

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NAXSKX

1 '

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lier mild and peaceful radiance, glancing and gleaming on
the ice-crests, sparkling on the snow, while the valleys are
plunged in dark and sinister shadows.

Due east, not far off, Hallingskarven rears its arched
and mighty bulk ; far to the south, the Hardanger glacier,
with its sharp outlines, glitters and shines ; and in the west,
a mountain stands forth abruptly against the sky— it must
be Vosseskavlen. Directly at his feet the ground shelves
down into the darkness, and overhead the dome of heaven
soars blue and clear, the glory of the moon almost eclipsing
the countless host of stars.

But the moonlight is deceptive. It would be wisest
to wait till dawn. Again he dug a bed in the snow and
went to sleep. A couple of hours later, when he awoke,
, the first flush of the dawn was illumining the peaks. Now
he saw plainly— to be sure it was Vosseskavlen. But he
must wait till the sunrise, he must see that from here. At
last a single bright bea.m comes shooting through space,
glances across the plate-u, and kisses the peaks. Then a
whole flood of rays bursts forth, steeping everything in its
glow of colour. The peaks seem to shoot up as they
redden, the snow-crests blush and shimmer, the valleys
remain plunged in their chill shadows. To see a sight like
this is indeed to hold communion with Nature, to feel the
touch of higher powers, to be lifted towards worlds un-
dreamt of; it is to obtain a glimpse of eternity.'

He strikes upwards towards Vosseskavlen. There are
dangers enough and pitfalls enough, but on he goes. Wlien
he is almost at the top of the range, he feels he deserves a

' Nansen's own account of this journey lias been followed closely, and even
verbally, though of conrse with considerable curtailment.

IN' UEKQE.V

rewanl for J™ labour, and l,e eats his last orange. It is

IT T' "f ■"" '"■■'' '' ' ™'^°'™"'- B"' »° ■""<=h the
Detter — it is a fruit ice.

Thus did he concjuer Vosseskavlon. He had achieved
one of the most perilous mountaineering feats on record

smce the days of Kino- Sverre JT-ul 1,p Z, i V,

f ., ^ f, / , f overre. iLid he not been an athlete
ot the first rank, and especially had he not possessed the
genius and sure instinct of bravery, he would have laid his
bones up there under the snow-combs, and would never
have reached any other ' inland ice.'

t. J'Mi '■' ''" ''^'''"'' '° '^"' '''''' '^'^' ^^^'^'^'^ writes
to his father, grumbling because people call it foolhardy.
Either /.. must be stupid, or else other people must be
tremendously wise ; why should this little adventure be
represented as so terrible a breach of the so-called rules and
regulations of common prudence ? Why, he would like to
W^ should he be supposed to be so much more tired of
nis lile than other people ?

No, he was certainly not tired of life , on the contrary,
he set the highest valne on it. The farther he advanced
m Ins studies and observations, the >nore his self-confidence
mcreased.

On March 29, 188.5, he writes to his father one of the
last letters he was ever to send hin,-a letter warmly
msptred by filial feeling, and yet full of the setrse of personal
power. It appears that he has had thoughts of leaving the
Museum, and that the economic outlook causes him no
anxiety. He has, in fact, various sources of income in
reserve. ' I a,u quite prepared, at a pinch, to put up with
the very plamest living, particularly for the sake of my
scientific studies whi.-h are my delight, and for which I

iii'i •

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n'iii

IJKK OF FlUDTroF NAN8KX

would uilliiinly sacrifice all the other so-called necessaries
of life.' Does not the assistant at the Museum live on
something like .").")/. a year, with his wife and family, of
whom several are now grown up ? ' lo require little is a
better capital than to earn much. The need to earn much
fetters and enslaves a man, while the ability to do with little
makes him free. lie who needs little will more easily strive
towards the goal he has in view, and will in general lead a
fullei-, richer life than he who has many wants.' He is
thinking of travelling to prosecute his studies, and he also
mentions the American scheme. ' I think that, when the
opportunity presents itself, there is nothing so conducive to
development as travel, seeing other parts of the world and
the civilisation of other races, beyond the bounds of this
tiresome Europe.' i

For the present, however, no new departure is made.
On the very same morning on which he despatched this
letter, Danielssen made him the most accommodating offers
of leave of absence. He can make what arrangements he
pleases for his journey, and start when he pleases. Nansen
determines to see the summer through at all events; but
he ' thinks he'll accept.' As is well known, he continued to
be associated with Bergen for several years more. Not until
his returr from the Greenland expedition was the tie really
broken. It is clear that the indefatigable Danielssen endea-
voured to the very last to attach this coming man to the
Institution for whose service he thought the very best
talents none too good. The correspondenc(^ between the
two proves this. On the other hand, we cannot tell whether
lie exercised any influence with reference to the negotiations
which appear to have been going on in the beginning of

ill*

J, , ,

It It { (:

M'lf ^H

j'i

IX IlEKfiEX

1887 bmveen X.nxen and IVofesso,- Davi.l Starr Jordan
then of the Unuersi.j. of nioo,„inst<,n, Indiana.

Early in January 1887 Professor Jordan enquired of
rofessor Collet, wl,e,l,cr he or Professor Sars happen",
U' have among lus stn.lents a n,an who would like to try
h- luck „, America. The idea was th.at such a per.,on
.".^'ht be,™ wuh a thousand dollars a year, and that both
salary and dut.es should increase with each year He
menfoned Xansen's natne. Upon CoUetfs con.municating
to to ^ansen. he replied that he wa.s much tempted,
but that he foresaw difficulties. He wrote personally to
Professor Jordan, to who.n CoUett had warmly reconnnended
lum. Sn.ce the correspondence led to no result, we may
conclude either that the difficulties proved insuperable, or
that the scheme of the Greenland expedition had in the
meanttrae thrust itself into the foreground and blocked

Nansen's scientific work at the Bergen Museum will be

dealt with later on by a writer who can treat the subject

with authont3-. In the meantime we must pause to relate

.1 brief, but important episode in the life of tlie youno-

zoologist. Its scene is neither the Greenland ice-fields, nor

Indiana, nor ' west of the Rocky Mountains.' It is as a

n.atter of fact, still within the bounds of ' tiresome Eu'rope''

though certainly one of the most endurable spots on tki's

hemisphere— to wit, Naples.

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100

MI'I': OF I'lMKTIol" N WSKX

U :

CIlATTKIt Vr

IN NATLK-S

I- H

In i1i(> course of li is studios of llie iktvous system, Nanscu
l)(>c;mie ;u'(|ii;iiiited with llie c.hroinic silver ineMiod of
st;iinin<r (lie nerve lihres iiivcMited by Trofessor (lol«ri of
rnvia.'

Ill order lliorou^rlily to f;,iuili;irise liiniself with this
imi)ort;mt auxiliary to the iiivesti<,r;itions whi(;li had now
occupied him for scv.-ral years, he determined, in the sprin^r
of KS8(;, to ,i;o to lt:ily. Tartly undcM- (Joloi's personal
,iiiiidanee, and partly at the Zool()<rieal Station in Naples,
where he would lind aniph^ material, lie hoped to ])e able
to carry his researclies somewhat further than had been
possibh' with the methods liitherto in vogue, '{'he previous
year, at the Hergen Museum, lu; had won the Joachim
Friele gold medal for his work on the myzostoina. He
had taken the medal in copper, and applied tlie value of
the gold to his travelling expenses.

After a short stay in Pavia, where he conferred with
Professor r4olgi and Dr. Fusari, lie went on to Naples, where
he spent the following months, fi-oni April till June 1886,
at the celebrated Zoological Station.

Along that beautiful curve of the sea, the Spiaggia di
Chiaja, between the old fort, Castel dell' Ovo, and La
Mergellina, stretches a nuignilicent i)romenade, the Via

' See tlie following chapter.

11/ f

spnii^r

fX NAIM.KH

101

C-ara(:cu,lo. Tins is th. Corso of tlu, N(.,poli(anH ; l,ut
..Ml.ko the ]{c„nan Com,, wl.irh is a .•nm.iu.l, narrow
IxTfoclly sfrai^rht strcol, 1„.tvvcen gloon.y old palacos, tl.J
Via Caraccolo is a grarofully ourvir.g, broad and open
esplanade, allorduig a (;ontlni.oiiH view over tlie bine sea
vv.Mi (Japri visible in the sonfh and Cape Tosilippo in the'
west.

'^onloring on this nni.^ue promenade, en.wded every
evenni- dnrnig M,,. season with handsome eqnipa-es and
well-appointed horsemen, lies the park of Naples the
niarvellously beantif.d ' Villa Nazionale,' with its avenues
of aeac:,a and dex, its swaying palms, and, scattered amongst
the bosky thiekets, a host of white marble statnes-no mere
tiresome reprodm-tions in stone of politieians and generals,
but copies ol the famous masterpieces of antiquity.

Tu the midst of this nol)le and beautiful park, where one
wanders about in a day-dream, wishing the clock of time
could be put back a couple of thousand years or so, lies
one of the most modern and go-ahead of scientific institu-
tmns-the lamous Zoological Station: the'aquario' as the
Neap(.htans .-all it. Among the luxuriant verdure of tl e
park vegetation, the two stately white buildings shine
forth, with their simple and noble outlines, visible for a
great distance around, and dominating the scene, as befits a
temple of science.

The story of how it came there-this creation of a sin^de
mans inspired thought and indomitable enercry-re-uls
almost like a fairy tale.

In the year 1870, Dr. Anton Dohrn, a young privaf-
dorent from Jena, thirty years of age, betook himself to
Naples with the object of calling into existence a new auxi-
liary to biological study, through the establishment of a

L
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102

Lll'i: OF IIUDTIOI" NAN.SKN

Zoolo^rical .StalioM on the shores of the Mediterranean,
wliose animal hie surpasses tliat of all olher known seas
hi wealth and variety. Every educated man now knows,
in a general way at all events, what a Zoological Htation
is. At that time no one had lusard of such a thing ; for the
idea was absolutely new and was evolved by Dohrn himself.
Jiefore Dohrn's time, zoologists in general were compelled
to study the fauna of the ocean, which includes the richest
variety of organisms, solely by means of dead specimens
preserved in spirit, for the most part curled up and squeezed
together, transformed in many respects at the very moment
of death, and often, too, badly enough cared for in the
museums. Only a very few had any opi^rtunity of studying
the living organisms in the sea itself

To create a new institution for the advancement of
science, where investigators should be enabled to study
' from the life ' the fauna of the sea in all its forms, and to
follow with a mitmteness hitherto undreamt of the vital
processes, the development, the propagation, etc., of the
particular organisms— such was the great goal J)t)hrn pro-
posed to himself ' As a sonmambulist sometimes passes
safely by the precipices on both sides of his path,' so Dohrn
went straight to his goal. He sought out the most beautiful
spot on earth, the ' Villa Xazionale ' of Naples, and hi 1870
applied to the municipality for an adequate site for a
' Zoological Station," he himself offering to furnish the neces-
sary means.

After encountering many difficulties, his reques'
strangely enough, was granted. The building was begun.
With immovable confidence in the triumph of his idea^^ he
sank his entire fortune in it. When the building, however,
was still far fron. r-mplete, it turned out, as It so often

IN NAI'IJOS

103

does, thill tlie money was iiisufnoient. P,.hni luirri.'s oil" to
JJerli.i ;u.(l applies to the Genuan (lovern.nent lor a sub-
ventiou. The minister, Dr. Delln iick, at fn-st reluses his
apphcation, l)ut promises-after a brilliant scene with the
yonng/.vr,,/rf<..,y,/_that if Dohrn can pro.ure the recom-
mendation of the Academy, tlie -over.unent will consider the
matter.

Never doubtin.4 that this reconn)iendation will be easily
obtamed, Dohrn retnrns to Naples; it is only a cp.estion
now of gettni- the bnilding roofed i,i },efore the be.rinnin.r
of the raniy season. What happens v The architect, with
whom he had fallen out, had durnig Dohrn's absence bron<dit
to tlie notice of the municipality a departure from Uie
orignial plan-a departure for wliich he himself was respon-
sible—and, under the influence of a sudden gust of hostility
towards t\w, foreigner who wanted to build a palace in tlie
midst of their beautiful park, the authorities forbade the
continuation of the work. There certainly must be some-
thing or other behind all this, thought the Neapolitans ;
It was not to be believed that any one should throw his
mcmey out of the windows, as Dohrn had done, in the mere
ardour of scientific enthusiasm.

With some difficulty, Dohrn obtained permission to roof
the l)uilding; but four weeks later orders came from the
municipality to stop all work. Dohrn did everything in his
power, without avail. Whilst all this was going m,, he
received, on Christmas Eve, 1878, a letter from Du j'iois-
lieymond in Berlin, to the effect that the Academy, too,
had refused its rec.mimendation, and that thus the prospect
of a contril)ution from the German Government towards tlie
completion of the building had come to nothing.

Most men, under these dismal circumstances, would

h M

104

LIFE OF FiaDTIOF XAXSEN

certainly have looked upon the matter as hopeless. ^-Qt
so Dohrn. He followed Du Bois-Eeymond's advice, sum-
moned up all his energy, and set ofl' for Berlin that very
evening. ^I have known pleasanter Christmas Eves than
that one,' he , remarks in his interesting account of his
experiences— and one can well imagine it. In Berlin he
hoped to win over the members of the Academy by his
personal influence ; and that he succeeded in doin-. Thus
the go^-ernment contribution to the building-fund was
secured. This, however, was not sufficient; in Naples
matters were in such a bad way that his only hope lay in
diplomatic influence ; and he succeeded in interesting the
Prince Imperial of Germany in the aflair. Shortlv after
when the question of the building once more came up for
consideration in the Town Council of Naples, Dohrn had
by his energy, succeeded in placing his plans in so'
favourable a light, tJiat his supporters carried the day, and
permission to go on with the building was accorded liim.
When finally, after five years of toil and struogle, the Naples
Zoological Station was inaugurated, it might truly be said
that here was a new laboratory for scientific research, whose
influence would make itself felt througli all time.

The Zoological Station, with its celebrated aquarium, is
now the first in the world, and one of the sights of Naples
which no traveller omits to visit. But in the upper stories,
above the public hall, students of every natioiialitv have
their own aquariums, their o^^il places for study, e-juipped
with every conceivable modern appliance. The results of
their researches have gone forth in an imposing series of
publications; and still more important is the indirect
influence which the Station has exercised upon bioloo-ical
studies in all countries. °

IN NAPLES

105

Dohrns inspired idea, as lie himself predicted from
he outset, has found numberless imitators. He prophesied
that in one or at most two decades, the earth would be
completely enveloped in a network of Zoological Stations '
At that time this prophecy was looked upon as fantastic,
and contributed not a little to the difficulties which beset
him As a matter of fact, there are at this moment
scattered about the world at least fifty such biological
stations, on the shores of nearly every sea ; but the o^e at
Naples IS still beyond comparison not only the most famous,
them aTl '' ^''' equipped, and most important of

A prolonged visit to a scientific laboratory of this de-
scription could not fail to exercise a most .beneficial
mfluence upon Hansen's development-not only directly,
through the admirable facilities here offered him for carry-
ing on his special studies of the nervous system, but perhaps
even more m another way.

I)ohrn himself, during Hansen's stay in Naples, had come
to the very end even of his remarkable energv. His two
eldest sons were dangerously ill, and his wife's strenoth
was terribly overtaxed by their illness. Nevertheless, the
dai y routine went on uninterrupted, and continual contact
with a personality so strongly marked as that of Dohrn
undoubtedly left its impress. In a little article by Xansen
which appeared in JVaturen (18S7) after his return, de-
scribing the Zoological Station, his enthusiasm for Dohni s
li e-work shines forth from every line, as well as his
admiration for just that quality of irresistible energv which
had achieved so great a result. We quote this brief de-
scription of the arrangements at the Station :

'The M'hole basement of the great buihljng is fitted

If'

/ 1. .

It li'

: hi-

"' i-.

\> i

if i.

•H J Him.

]()6

JJFI-: OF Fh'IDTIOF NANSEN

up as an aquariiim for the general public ; an aquarium

which it would certainly be dillicult to rival. This great

room, with its many tanks, is soberly decorated, with a

complete avoidance of all humbug ' or fantastic ornament,

which would only serve to distract the attention from its

essential purposes. It has a great attraction not only for the

ordinary traveller, Ijnt for the scientific student as well.

Down here he is able to pass hours in communion with

Nature, and face to face with the rarest of marine organisms;

and in a comparatively brief time he may learn more of

the life of the world than he could by long grubbing in

volumes of printed wisdom, or rooting through the dead

treasures of museums. He will contract the habit of ushig

his eyes and his powers of observation upon living nature,

and learn to regard life as the essential object of research.'

In this hall, with its subdued light and with all the
strange animals around him— cuttlefish, starfish, snails, and
radiata of all kinds, making one feel just as though one
were living at tlie bottom of the sea— Xansen sat and
gazed and thought, and did his devotions to Nature face
to face with her living forms.

He thus contiimes his description: 'Acquaintance with
the Station, for the majority of tourists, does not extend
beyond this room. Far more important to science, how-
ever, are the laboratories situated in the upper stories of
the building. Here naturalists from almost all European
countries are at work, here they lia\e everything they can
possibly require for their studies. They can come to the
Station, sit down at the work-table assigned to them, tell
the Curator, Salvatore I. o Bianco, what particular animals
they want, and presently the animals are brought alive to

' Nan«en"s own word.

ra NAl'LKS

107

then- very tables, ,vhere tliej- cu„ study ,he,„ at leisure
w h no neea to st.r fro.u their places except for tueals Ji

anTmals T ,'' ""■"'" '"""^^ '" "•"-'' "> ^-P ^e

hand n • '■"" '" ''^"^"™' '■'^'-J-. ■■'« "11 J-t at
hand. lh,s concentration of appliances is the novel and

important feature of the institution. . . If th vtk »

:::itc;j "■' tt" ''-' »- '- - «'- 1*

m of Iresh specm.ens. Besides several lishi,>,, boats the

surface fil-T 'lf«"g'ng, trawli.ig, net-fishin..,

surface-fishtng, and so forth. They are also supplied with
ntng apparatu,,, so that in this way. too, you'ean fitch
"p whatever you want.'

Intensely absorbed as Nansen was in his studies no one

scenerj of Naples and the anhnated life of the .-ay citv
were by ,,o n.eans without attractions for hi,n. %l 2

Tan.e., says Professor D<,hrn in a letter to the present
wnters; and who indeed, under such eircuntstances' cj d
h ip .jo,c.,.g ,u hfe not n.erely the life of the aquarnnns
but the v,v,d, pulsatn.g southern life at the foot of Vesuvius

"rri'd:"'"",""/"- "><--'-f .vears been Z^
as an eartlily paradise ?

In letters from his friends of these days, we find livelv
retunuscences of excursions, now in the moonlight to the
v.neyar,ls of Sa,t Sebastiano, now over the blue billow.s to
Oapri and Sorrento.

He was the hfe and soul of all our little festivities. Most of
>he students then working at the Station were in the h,,hit

108

LIFE OF FIUDTIOF XAXSEX

!» f i

■I !.

'fi'ri

meeting at the Cafc' Basta on the Corso Vittorio Emraanuele ;
eveiy evening at supper-time there was a little feast here, a
musical gathering, lighL-hearted and refreshing in the highest
degree. Nansen contributed greatly to the prevailing gaiety.
It sometimes happened that we devotees of science became
so enlivened with wine and music, that we proceeded to
dance a quadrille; and on these occasions Nanseu was
Master of the Ceremonies.

' Once we chartered a carriage to drive to Castellamare
and Sorrento by the famous coast road. On the way, another
carriage with two ladies came up behind us. The ladies
amused tliemselves by racing us and laughiui.' at us as
they sliot past ; wdiereupon Xansen sprang out of the
carriage and i-an by the side of the horse a long stretch
of the way. Thus we o^•ertook the ladies again, to the
unbounded merriment of both parties.

' In Sorrento Xansen met some Norwegian ladies. I was
very tired and went to bed ; but the Norwegian ladies
wanted to get up a dance, and as there was a scarcity of
partners, my presence was required. Xansen declined
to give me a moment's peace till I got up and dressed
myself Then he dragged me into the drawing-room
where we were gi-eted with loud applause by the ladies,
who were quite alive to the situation.

'At other times he would be quiet and absorbed, and
would sit by the hour without uttering a word. I have
seen liim at the foot of Vesuvius, amono- the ruins of San
Sebastiano, and on the melancholy lava-wastes. San
Sebastiano was devasted by tlie eruption of 1874 • nothino-
was left but a church. I have seen him sitthig oii a block
of lava there by the church, I lour after hour without stirrin-r •
he simply sat and ga.ed out into the distance TimJ

Lime

IX XAlMJvS

109

after time xxe others tried to make a start, and called to
him— he never moved. Afterwards, on the wav home,
as he and I walked together, arm in arm, I tried to make'
him talk, but found him absolutely mute— there was not a
word to be got out of him.'

It seems as though the gladness of youth and the stern
vocation of the man were struggling within him for mastery,
and he doul^ly relishes dancing amongst the orange trees'
and the roses, because he dimly foresees the first hard steps
across the ice-fields of Greeidand. Two years later, up
there in the midst of the ice, he sits outside the tent,
feasting upon a few mouthfuls of biscuit with melted snow,'
lemon-juice, and sugar, while the moonbeams play over the
boundless desolation. Then his thoughts go back to the
conditions amid which he last ate ' granita,' and he recalls
'one warm summer night by the Bay of Xaples, with the
moonbeams playing over the dark waves of the Mediter-
ranean.'

The Zoological Station in Xaples occupies a unique
position. It is, after a fashion, a kingdom in itself, with
complete autonomy. It is independent, but connected by
alliance with no fewer than twenty-four European, states.
It has become, as Nansen puts it, 'a central organ for
zoology.' ' It is a kind of international scientific exchange
where the various peoples meet and join hands, where

research is carried on with

assx Uiity, and where the

burning scientific questions of the day are sifted and
discussed in a foshion which helps in no small degree to
render a stay at this Station inspiring and profitable.'

Its organisation is also in a sense international, in that
it is maintained by subsidies from most of the European
states, Avhich acquire, in exchange for their annual contri-

LIFE OF riJIDTfOF XAXSKX

'- 4

^'i

:\\i

but ion, the riglit to one or more places for students of their

respective nationalities. Thus the German Government

contributes 4,000/. a year; the Italian Government pays

600/ for five places (besides contributing 200/. to the

library fund); the Austrian Government pays about 200/.:

and so forth. The following states have rights of admission

to the station : Prussia, Baden, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse,

Wlirtemberg, Austria-Hungary, Eussia, Holland, Belgium,

Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, besides the town of Hamburg,

the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Strasburg, and

the Berlin Academy. An American millionaire is also

among the contributors. The Scandinavian countries have

no right of admission, so that Nansen was simply a ' guest '

at the Station, through Dohrn's special courtesy. He

is not the oidy zoologist from the northern kingdoms

who has in this way enjoyed the hospitality of this great

biological centre, and he certainly does not stand alone

in desiring that the three Scandinavian countries might

combine to furnish the required annual contribution for, at

the very least, a single right of admission.

After Xansen's return home, he was naturally very desir-
ous of making Dohrn's idea bear fruit in the establishment
of a biological station on the west coast of Norway, where
the marine fauna certainly presents highly interesting charac-
teristics. His little article in Katuren accordingly ends with
a hii.t in this direction. He laid before Dr. Danielssen the
plan of a zoological station in Bergen, but Danielssen could
not at first give his full adhesion to the scheme. Thus
Xansen himself was the first man in Norway to advance
formal proposals for the establishment of a biological station.
The Greenland expedition, however, intervened to prevent
him from prosecuting lijs idea in its original ftn-m.

:i ¥\

IN NAPLES

111

His scheme, -in so far as it related to Bergen, was after-
wards taken up most energetically by Dr. J. Bruncliorst ;
and, about the same time, Nansen, together with Professor
G. A. Guldberg, Professor N. Wille, and others, took the
initiative in founding yet another Norwegian l)iological
station in Drcibak, a little way south of Christiania. This
station was inaugurated in 1894 ; and it is needless to say
that, at its opening, Nansen was justly remembered as the
man who had first conceived the idea of biolooical
stations for Xorway.

Hansen's stay in Naples has tiius been fertile of good
results, not onl}^ through the impulse given to his own
zoological work, but also through his transplantation to
Xorway of Dohrn's idea.

Once again we must emphasise the fact that Professor
Dohrn's great life-work, and the man himself in another and
more personal way, exercised an abiding influence upon
Nansen. It was inevitable that the greatly inspired and
splendidly successful achievement of an indomitable soul, not
less than that indomitable soul itself, should make a peculiar
impression upon a nature like Nansen's, and should fix itself
before his mind's eye as an encouraging example of what
idealism on a great scale, with resolution to support it, is able
to accomplish. There is no doubt whatever that the under-
taking which was to become the goal of all his enerjries, and
upon which he was to stake his life — to wit, the solution of
the Arctic enigmas — was secretly taking firm hold of his
mind even in Naples, under the blue skies of the south,
in the spring of 1886. It seems indubitable that 'a virtue
went forth' from the association with Dohni, however little
he and those about him may have divined the true streno-th
of Nansen's character.

^.m

I !if

■'^^

112

Ml'K OF I'lilDTlOF NANSKN

ii ^

' I

''I

^ ■ 1
' Mil
■ Ml
- ' >

CIIArTEll VII

FlflDTlOF NANSKN AS A BIOLOGIST
By GusTAF Retzius.

I ifAVE accepted with pleasure the editor's invitation to sketch
in brief outhne Fi-idtiof Nansen's work in the sphere of
biology — as a histologist and zoologist. :Many of his own
countrviuen are douljtless quite as competent as I to discharge
this duty ; but my own labours in two different directions
having led me into the same fields of study, I have had,
perhaps, unusual opportunities, both through his writings
and in personal intercourse, of appreciating not only his
talent, but his ' sacred ardour.'

Although Hansen's actual work as a biologist has, up to
the present, extended over a comparativel}' short space of
time, he has already succeeded in doing good service in
several directions.

His first work of importance appeared in 1885 under
the title 'Contribution to the Anatomy and Histology of
the Myzostoma,' a folio of eighty pages, illustrated with nine
plates, founded on his own drawings.

The myzostoma are a small group of worms (first
described in 1847 by the German zoologist, F. S, Leuckart)
which live as parasites upon certain radiata (crinoidea),
and which, obviously by reason of their parasitic mode
of life, have undergone highly significant secondary varia-
tions. Several eminent investigators, such as Sven Loven

WiiOTiOF ^•A^■.,I.:^• a„ ,^ ,„„,,„,,st jjg

(1840), Semper (1858), Grafl, Me.«ch„ikofl' ( 18C6), and Jieard

ien 'onh:- T"''°' ""'' «'"-'»- and to some
extent of then- evolut.on as well, and endeavoured to

rr "■'"' "O'-P-asi.ic species tl.ey are derhj"

bemg a specialist in this department, I have apphed

to Professor A. Wiren, ,vho has been so good as to favour

me witli the followin;; information.

The so-called &!u,it»r«-Tehnt (serial .section cuttin-)
had just at that time come into general use. With its aid
Mnseu earned out e.xtensive investigations into the more
dehcal^ structures of the n.y.ostoma, and succeeded in
<wrect„,g and enlarging i„ many respects the views of his

i ,S

.: -m

ii\ 'Mi

114

Lll'K Ol' I'lilin'KH' NANSEN

prodccessors. WlictluT liis cxpl.-UKitioii of cert.aiu organs
(as, for instance, the suckers, the foot-oanglia, tlie ovaries)
is correct or not, I'urtlier investigation must decide.'
Tlu! work referred to, however, establishes beyond a doubt
not only its author's mastery of the technical processes of
the time, but also his great perseverance and originality.

The myzostoma exhibits — not outwardly, but in many
important parts of its organisation — a marked resemljlance
to a grou}) of worms numerously represented amongst the
fauna of the sea, the chnctopod aimclids, of which several
are external or internal parasites of other marine animals, and
have theref(n-e undergone considerable variations, especially
in outward form. For the present, the myzotoma is usually
regarded as a cha^topod, or at least as closely related to that
family, although modified by its parasitism. The theory
has also been advanced that they may be related to
certain spiders. Towards the confirmation of the former
opinion Xansen's work ajjpears to have indirectly contri-
buted, especially through his description of the throat-
nerves which he disci>vered. Xansen himself, however,
puts forward, with every reservation, the hypothesis that
they may be derived from a species related both to the
annehds and to the spiders.

In the ' Annual Eeport of the liergen Museum for
18SG,' which a^jpeared in 1887, w^e find a new^ and im-
portant Avork by Xansen.

While he had concentrated his investigations upon
a special system of organs, he had at the same time extended
them over a considerable portion of the animal kingdom.
With all his youthful energy, he had thrown himself into the

• Tlmt NiiiiKon was mistaken as regards the ovaries, lias, 1 think, been
conchisively estabhsheil. A. Wiui';x.

'•■'•""'''"">I" NAXSEX AS A ni(,I.(,n,ST

('xaniiMution „r i|,e linor stnictmv of i|

ll-)

I.-)

'y«t(MM; and ],(> now (lovotcd himself

worms, but also lo tiiaf of
<'ii took into his kcii th(. 1

10 central nervous
'»ol only to the studv of

fish(an,phioxu,s)and(he'ha-'(myxi,

<'ru8taeeaus and molluscs, and
lowest vertebrates— the laneelet

At this tim(! chaos still

departnu'til. ft

le).
roi^'i.edinthatfrreai and obsc

iH true that various invest i<rators had

nre

1 , ""'' vaiioiia inves i<fa ors li-wl ,.n

(leavniii-n/l f/» .1 .1 • . «"^€in(iH nad en-

le. o,„e,l lo .s„lv,. llieml,ical(.,,rol,lt.,„»it,„-eseuk.<l an.l

""""■'■ '''": '"^ '""■ "■"'"- -ore lackhi i,, rf

".0 neve ,.,„„...„ts. ^..„.li„„.e„,|,, ,,„, „„,",, ...-'j'

"de ,o ,,I,.ar up the object, a,„l Xamen, among the TeTt
lal^onml „e■.e^•e^i,„lv at .he»e ,„e,h,„l.. I^.t",! ."l'
U...U Ihat they alone vould not lea.l ,o the desire,!. 'l Z
herefoje ca.t ahont f„. new i.leas and new ,levi™ A
Italian hist oloirist—Gol-i ofl'-.vi., i... i ^'^^^'f-^- An

invented the. ethod oft: Jin::;:^::::-::^^^^

.c Hcd and aftenvanfe with a .ohnion of caustic, i " .
^Uun the ne,.ve-cel,.s an.l thei. ollihoot. l.lac-l , so 1
1.™. onn, snuation, and course should stand ou dea v

; ::; r: ''cfTr "■^'"-'^""'""■'^ -.'-u„ces idii:

ivcsfgation Goljn had employed this „,e,hod of his upon
n.e bran, and spu.al cord of the luuuau bein, and of ce mi
;i-|ln.p«ls and birds, and had published his resuU , '
;n ^ on a,..K.|es in Itahau periodicals, and partlv ZV:^
.f ^.er drnrensions, which appearcl L ikr,. 'Z,
■•"nelusKms ol (.olgi's appeared so extraordinary to e
".ajoruy of lns,„logis,s .hat they were receivd with cop

Z^:;^ "^ "' ^"""^^^- -'"-«' "->'-I-t .

JJLIL 1 lUUlot A.'inspn To/-./^,^. ,;„„.! iV • . .„ i J

straight to Italv, faniil

ansen recognised their significance. IL

e went

'arised liiruself on the spot with the

i'x

1 J

1,1 KH OF I HIDTIOK NANSKN

I'i

(Ictjiils of the procrss. and then allcinptcd to apply it on
a lan^e scale. So far as I can discover, Nanseii was the
first to employ the Oolgi proness in the study of the
nervous system of invertobi-ates. Golgi's puj)il Fusari had
previously tested the process in the study of fishes, but luid
not applied it to the h)west vertebrates, the amphioxus
ami the myxine.

IW the use l>oth of this new method and of the above-
mentioiu'd Srhnitzcrci process, followed by staining with
the usual dyes (hematoxylin and aniline colours), Nansen
succeeded in penetrating some way further than his pre-
decessors into the secrets of the structure of the central
ner- ous system. His long paper, published (in Englisli) in
the ' Aiuiual l\eport of the liergen Museum for 188(i,' under
the title of T/ic Sfrnrtiu'c (Did Comlnnniion of the lHntdhxiical
Elements of the ( 'entiuil Nervous Si/stem, will therefore always
take an honourable place in the literature of this depart-
ment of science. With regard to the uiost delicate colloca-
tion of nerve-cells and fibres, Xansen took up and worked
out a fundauKMital conception which had been originally
enunciated by the great German histologist Ticydig. Though
I, for my part, have not been able to accept this view (of
which a detailed accu-jnt would be out of place), I must
emphasise the fact that we are here face to face with a
question which cannot as yet be answered with certainty,
and upon which the last word has assuredly not been said.

In his studies of the central nervous system of hiverte-
brates, Xansen succeeded in tracing the ganglia of the nerve
cells for longer or shorter distances, and in many cases
found that they gave ofi' lesser side-shoots, which struck
inwards, and contrilnited to form the so-called granular matter
{piuikt'substans). Had he had the opportunity of carrying

I'lllllTKJK NAXSHX AN A lllo;,(H.lST I17

I'is mv.stiga,i„,„ f„r,l,.r, will, „,„ assi.siauc. of th„ Ool...
""""'• ^""' "^l-'i"")- if l.e had U.o„ able to ,ake ^
-o ■„.. process, ,li„cove,,.,l ab„ut U,i» U,„e by vlZ

.vn,« annnals by ,ho aid of .uotylen bluc-hu woul.l I . i„W
have been able to co-operate to a greater e.ten ^^

: i ::: '";;;;-';.»'-" "-. taken p,ae„ au..in« -tbe ^a^
te» year,,. Ji„t Na„,,,„, ,t ;, ,k.,,^ ^^^ ^

of au ever.,„orea,i„« bent towards Arctic exlral on

meat „1 ,t da„„s ihe entire an,l excb.siv,. devotion of
tho«e engaged in it. A, tlte poet (Carl «noilsky) says

' ^'°" '""" '"' '""• """8. «»J »"S »lono, and tl,„t whoUj.'

Work«-i,hthen,icroscopeofneces.sitvde>nand8

Concurrently with it, even H'
to bear, ]i

"iiicJitijue.

a man brings all his ener

jries

ir ' '•^^cely ..^ inm;ii 111 ()[]ier (l('nartmenf«

However regrettable it „,ay be tlu.t Fri.Uiof xin 7 s
-."able ,0 carry further the inve..,igations into the c n ."
nervous system which had been begu.t with snch spi it .d
on so large a scale, tt must be adntitted that in fieM

^ ere was no lack of contpetent workers. In the do .in o
A 3ttc explorafon, on the other hand, Fridtiof N'ansen tood

1 r'T "■■ """ °" "•"""■ '"-OS'-- -Hetuled. as he
pland . showed, not long after, by his journey across , e
G^etdand ,ce-,ields, and later by his splendidfy con iv^
J olar expedition. ^ ^^^uLeuea

In the course of his investigations into the n.ore delicate
sureotlte spinal cord of the an>phio..us and ,nSe
W„ ntade several discoveries, upon one or two of wh ch'
- possessn,g the ,„ost general significance, I must ! 1'

J M

118

Liri: OF FiiiDTioF XA^^sI^^'

lit

at greater length. In the spinal cord of the amphioxus he
found no true neuroglia — that supporting or insulating
tissue wherein the actual nerve-elements generally lie em-
bedded — but he described, in the tissues around the central
canal, a species of ' epithelial ' cells (ependym) radiating out-
wards, in which he recognised the neuroglia cells of this
animal, maintaining I liat they represented the lowest form
of neuroglia known among the vertebrates. In the myxine,
indeed, he again found these ependym cells, but also true
neuroglia cells, although of a peculiar character ; whence he
concluded that the neuroglia cells have their origin in the
outer cotyledon, from which also the actual nerve tissue is
derived. This theory of K'ansen's has since been corro-
borated by numerous observations, and has won universal
acceptance. In the case; of the myxine, he further dis-
covered that the nerve fibres which compose the sensitive
nerve roots of the spinal cord, after their entrance into
the spinal cord, divide into two branches, of which the
one runs at right angles and backwards (down), and the
other forwards, up the spinal cord. This discovery has since
been verified by the Spanish nerve-histologist, Eamony Cajal,
and by various other investigators, and is proved, in the case
of vertebrates, to be an important and universal law. The
bifurcation of the sensitive nerve-roots ought therefore to be
de Ignated by the name of its real discoverer, Nansen.

Soon after this we find the voun<>- Norwegian biolooist
engaged upon the solution of another problem which
had hitherto defied research — the problem as to the develop-
ment of the above-mentioned 'hag,' myxine glutinosa. This
singular animal, one of the lowest of vertebrates, swarms in
the northern seas, along the entire Norwegian coast, and
also on the west coast of Sweden. On several accounts, it

»*»"».wm^jji. >i w,j,i,^ .,

FIUDTIOF NAN8EX AS A BIOLOGIST HQ

would be Of interest to science to discover its mode of pro-
pagation and development. The Eno-lish zoologist, G P
Cunningham, who had applied himself most zealously to this
problem, had advanced the opinion (in his first treatise on
the subject, pubhshed in 1886) that a great number of these
animals are hermaphrodite, particularly in the younc^er
undeveloped state, since the hinder part of the meso-
varium^ formed a mesorchium, which contained germs in
Its vesicles in different stages of development. He also

tozoa '"''^ ''"■''™' '''^''''' '" ''^''''^'^ ^' «P^"^^--

Fridtiof Xansen now subjected this question of the myxine
to closer study. After laborious investigation, he came to
conclusions which in the main coincided with Cunningham's
In his essay, entitled A Protandric Ilermap/u-ocf.te {Jfynne
ff^^^osa L.) amongst the Vertebrates (pubhshed in the
Annual Eeport of the Bergen Museum for 1887 '), he advances
the opmion that the myxine in its earlier phases is a mascu-
me animal, Mdiile in its later development it becomes, for
tlie most part, feminine. He also described the develop-
ment of the mesorchium vesicles and the appearance of the
spermatozoa at different stages of development. There is
mimh evidence in f^lvour of his view ; but, in spite of zealous
and comprehensive investigation, neither he nor the zoolooists
who have since devoted themselves to the subject have
succeeded in making entirely clear the developmeiit of this
sn^gular animal. The works of Cunningham and Nansen,
however, have brought us somewhat nearer to the solution
oi the problem.

Fridtiof N^r^sen had for many years taken a livelv interest
in yet another important biological problem, viz. the^levelop-
ment of the Cetaceans. These remarkable marine mam-

I! !l

1*5 II

' ^i

*■ ■■ -,«

120

LIFE OF FKIDTIOF NANSEN

mals, obviously descended from animals which formerly
lived on land, must, in their development, show traces ot
their origin. What was known on this subject possessed
great interest, but much still remained to be discovered. It
was a question of obtaining good material for study ; but
tliis was particularly difficult to come by. Fridtiof Hansen
did not shrink from the task. With his customary perse-
verance, he succeeded in adding considerably to the number
of embryo Cetaceans in the Bergen Museum. When he
came home from his great expedition across the interior of
Greenland, he determined to devote himself to the investi-
gation of these interesting embryos, and as soon as he was
settled in Christiania he joined forces with his friend, Pro-
fessor Gustav Guldberg, who had already made valuable
investigations into the anatomy of the whale. So, in the
winter of 1891-92, they Avorked together in the anatomical
school of the University of Christiania, concerning them-
selves in particular with the small embryos of the Lageno-
rhi/nchus acutus. After that, Xansen's time was so much taken
up with preparations for the Xorth Pole Expedition that
he was unable to do more than hold an occasional con-
ference with his collaborator on the subject of their
investigations, and left the carrying out of the scheme
entirely to IVofessor Guldberg.

Towards the end of 1894 the first part of their folio
work appeared, under the title : ' On the Development and
Structure of the Whale. Part I. On the Development of
the Delphin; by Gustaf Guldberg and Fridtiof Xansen.
Bergen Museum. V.' For the reasons stated, it is not pos-
sible for me to say how much of this great work, illustrated
with seven plates, was done by Xansen ; but in any case
he essentially contributed to the collection of material, and

: '\

FKIDTIOF NAXSEN A8 A BIOLOGIST J^l

sn.PP.1 1 ^ biological research is concerned

would lead ,!fr '. " '"S'^'y '"°»W«<i nature

any real kuowled™ nf i • i " °"^ "'"> 'las

'.acl not been ,'t: , r ""'"' ''" '""'' "'="' '' '^^
towards the™ eat II of :V"'""''"? "™--^"' ™-^«-

that^TrT' "■:'■"■"'■'' "■''" '' '""^■■^^'«'l in biolooy Wes

-e.a„ydl_rle.o^:rr^^^^^^^^

iiy the great public FriVlH'r.f v • ,

.-ichnired chiefly JtZ ^ n '''' '' ^'^"^'^^ ^^^

i.uieii;y as tile dauntless exnlorpr of fi,^ , i
wastes of the Xortli PoIp t . ^'^^f ^^^^ «^ the unknown

of note in anotherS^ 1 ^i^rT ", '^^ ™ "--''^-'or

- n.uoh attention, peri::;;:;:::;:;::;^ ;ir -' ^"'■-'

- ''' °' "■' "'"-oscope, in Nature'., secret workshop!

If m

122

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NAXSEX

these too minister to the enhghtenment of mankind and the
progress of civilisation. In this field Fridtiof Nansen proved
himself a born discoverer, and, at an unusually early age, de-
veloped an activity which was rich in promise. Let us hope he
may be destined soon to take up again the threads which
his Arctic exploration has for the present forced him to drop.
Let us hope he may continue his voyages of discovery in the
extensive and as yet imperfectly charted domain of biology, in
which limitless unknown regions still await exploration.

nd the
proved
ge, de-
ope he
which
) drop,
in the

3gy» in
11.

I ^

i' '

■ ^

'm, :

■

123

CHAPTER VIII

GREENLAxVD

We are now at the turning-point in Xan.en's l,fe, ,vhe„
he se..,ouslj- sets^abont the preparations for lu. expedition
to Greenland. The previous chapter will, «•« hope have
dtsstpated the misapprehension that Xansen isT' ' ea
sportsman and nuthin. more. In this chapter and" t e
next we shall endeavour to make clear the scientific im-
port of h,s work as an explorer. We shall give a brief geo-
gaphtcal survey of the country which he was the first to
penetrate front east to west, and an account of the geological
penod upon whn-h his achievement was to shed a Lw iLht
Ihe chapters, then, will deal with ' C4reenland ' and .vi.h
Ine Grreat Ice Age.

Ic and, whence, several years earlier, he had fled as an
outlawed manslaver he tnld ^f ., . , ,.

land ft,- , ,1 7- S''""' "''"■'j' discovered

and fa, to the west, which he called Greenland, because as

he s.^ people would be encouraged to settle thercT'ti:
count, bore an attractive name. As a matter of fact
accord„,g ,o the Saga) many fell i„,o ,he trap ; for tl a
very same sunnuer twenty-five ships are said to h ve sailed
fo Greenland fron, Breidafiord and Borgarfiord in Iceland
Only fourteen of them, however, reached their destu.tion :
the rest were driven back or wrecked

Bed Eric, to put i, mildly, showed no pedantic regard

M-, i

124

Lll'E OF I'lMDTlOF NANSEN

for the truth, lie onglit latlier to have calkvl the country
' Great Iceland ; ' for wliile there are very few green spots in
Greenland, there are not many places on earth which so
superaljound in ice.

It is a strange land. Until within the last few years we
did not know nuich more about it than our forefathers
knew 1)00 years ago. We Scandinavians may congratulate
ourselves on the fact that this increase in the world's know-
ledge is for the most part due to us— to explorations
conducted by Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes.

Greenland, as we may now conclude with every proba-
bility, is an island, the largest in the world, having an area
of from If to 2 milhon square kilometres. It is thus two
and a half times as large as New Guinea and Borneo, three
times as large as Madagascar. It is a long and narrow land
covering about 28 degrees of latitude (roughly speaking,
1,700 miles) from the southern point, Cape Farewell, which
lies almost exactly in the latitude of Christiania, to the north-
ern point which was reached byLockwood in 1882, and was
sighted by Peaiy and Astrup in 1892. Though more than
twice as large as Norway and Sweden together, it is in-
habited by only a httle over 10,000 people, who, with the
utmost difficulty, support life by fisliing and seal-hunting.
There is an average of one man to every 200 square kilo-
metres. The Sahara and the Desert of Gobi are not more
sparsely populated.

Thus Greenland, in spite of Eed Eric's euphemism, is one
of the most barren regions on earth, an immitigable waste,
where no artesian wells, no artificial appliances whatever,
are of any avail. It is an ice desert, ' The Sahara of the
North.'

But, as we have said, until a few years ago we had

(fUEENLAXI)

125

no clear conception of the actual nature of the country.
It was known, especially tlirough the excellent works of the
Director of the Danish colony, Dr. lUiik, that the coun-
try consists of a narrow coast-line of bare rocky land,
excessively broken up by fiords, and that the heads either
of the fiords themselves, or of the valleys which lead up
from them, are invarial)ly l)locked by miohty nlaciers, which
in many places extend to the ver^e of the open sea.
Any one tryiiio- to penetrate from the coast valleys into the
interior of the country is confronted in every case by a sheer
wall of ice ; and on clambering laboriously up this shattered
and rifted ice-wall, the explorer sees nothing beyond but ice,
ice without end, as far as the eye can reach.

It was Eink's clear statement, founded on personal
observations extending over many years, that first led people
to conceive the existence of a country entirely covered b^' a
vast ice-crust, to which he gave the name of the Inland Ice.

This information came just at an opportune moment for
science. At that very time— about the middle of the present
century— people were beginning to grasp the idea that
throughout the whole of Northern Europe and America, the
surface of the earth must at a recent period (geologically
speaking) have been covered with ice, wliicli had left many
traces behind it.

Thus Greenland came to possess an enormous interest
for science as a still extant illustration of the condition of
Northern Europe during the Great Ice Age. And a know-
ledge of this inland ice was of importance not only to the
geologist, but also to the biologist, the meteorologist, and
the geographer. Its thorough in^•estigation was necessarv
as beanng upon a long series of questions of the hirrhest
interest ; not to mention that the univei\sal-human craving

.■

I. ^ i

lit.

■It

■li

" 5

120

lAi'i: OK I'liinnoF nax.sen

h '

•n'^i

i'ov kiiowle<l<rc could not lon^v tolerate the existence upon the
Juup oniie world of so lar^re u tract on,-mi iiwognita.

Thanks in particular to the sacrifices and exertions of
the Danes, the narrow coast-line of Greenland has now been
pretty thoroughly mapped, and examined irom the neological
point of view— first the west coast, from Cape'' Farewell
northwards, and afterwards the east coast, which the drift-
ice from the polar sea renders much more difiicult of access.
In 1875 Prof. Johnstrup issued a proposal for a systematic
geological and geographical investigation of Greenland ; and,
from 1870 onwards, a nundjer of .Danish explorers' have
quietly carried on this arduous and admirable work in the
cause of science, the results being for the most part pub-
lished from time to time in the excellent Medddeker om
GrUnlmd ('Reports from Greenland"). Special mention
must be made in this connection of the geologist, Iv. J. V.
Steenstrup, who spent eight sununers and five winters iii
Greenland ; and also of J. A. D. Jensen, R. 1{. I. Hammer,
C. II. Ryder, (i. F. Holm, Y. Garde, and A. Kornerup. In
this way the Danes have systematically explored, and for
the most part charted, the west coast, right up to their
most northern colonies, Upernivik and Tesshisak (about 73°
N. lat.). The country to the north, along Melville Bav and
Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Chaimel, and Robeson
Channel, has for the most part been ercplored by English and
American Arctic Expeditions, which liave here reached the
most northern points upon the globe as yet known to have
been attained by any civilised being. The Nares Expedition
(187o 70) penetrated as far as 83° 22', and Lieutenant Lock-
wood, a member of the Greely Expedition (1881-84) of
melancholy celebrity, is said to have pushed on as far
as 83° 24'.

OlfEKXr.AND

127

The east coast of Greenlaiul has also of late years been
systematically explored l)y the Danes, especially by Holm's
'woman-boat' expedition of 1880-85. For the rest, the
belt of drift ice barricading this almost inaccessible coast
has been broken throuj,di for investi;4ation only at scattered
points — in particnlar by the Sabine, Scoresby, and Koldewey
Expeditions, by the Ifaiisd Expedition, and the v^wedish Sop /lia
Expedition. Thns there are still oreat stretches of this coast
of which we know very little. For instance, between Cape
Bismarck (about 77" N. lat.) and Indei)endence Bay (about
811° N. lat.), explored by Peary and Astrup in 1892, there
are only two points where land has been descried, and that
more than a hundred years ago (1770 and 1775).

It may be said, then, that we are now acquainted in
broad outline with the coasts of this remarkable country.
They are not everywhere equally inhosi)itable ; yet it must
on the whole be described as a land where only an extremely
easily contented race of men are able, with the utmost toil,
to support life without extraneous help. The narrow strip
of land along the entire coast of Greenland is wild, naked,
and rocky. While the country is more than 800 miles wide,
the ice-free coast strip very rarely (as at Ilolstenborg) extends
to so much as 100 miles. As a rule it is only a mile or two
in width, and in many places the glaciers stretch right down
to the sea. The outer edue of the coast has a flora consistinif
of lichen, moss, and sedge. Far up the long fiords of the
south-west coast may be found scanty copses of willow,
dAvarf birch, and juniper ; and in the colonies on this coast,
cabbages, radishes, carrots, and parsley are grown — indeed,
in favourable summers, in the south, one may even hope for
a little crop of green peas. But no forest tree grows on this
coast, no corn ripens.

128

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NAX8EX

In miserable huts of eartli and stones, some 10,000
Greenland Eskimos manage to support life on the coasts of
this country, carrying on a desperate struggle for existence
by means of seal- and whale-hunting and fishing. They are
kindly, amiable, children of nature, who, like all such races
must inevitably be exterminated by the benefactions of
civdisation, which are quite unsuited to them. All travellers
are agreed that the Greenlanders love their poor, barren
country, and we do not find that they seek to better their
condition by emigration.

In its own way it is a fine country, witii a wild and
stately natural beauty, not easily to be equalled. It is true
that wild mountain forms, with jagged peaks and pinnacles
and deep narrow fiords, are to be found in abundance in
Norway, which, indeed, especially in the wild mountain dis-
tricts of Nordland and along the Vestfiord, bears no small
resemblance to Greenland. But in Greenland the mountains
are loftier and much more barren right down to the coast •
and not only do whales and seals abound in the fiords, but
also swarms of icebergs formed by the ' calving ' of the
glaciers. And then the glaciers themselves! We have
glaciers, too ; but in comparison with those of Greenland the
mightiest of them is as a little brook to the Amazon or the
Nile.

We talk about the Folgefonn, the Justedal glacier or
the Svartisen glaciers ; they are dwarfs and pigmies com-
pared to the Jakobshavn glacier, to say nothing of the Hum-
boldt glacier, which has a frontage on Kane Basin of some-
thing Hke seventy miles.

By day and by night, through summer and winter, year
out and year in, these innumerable glaciers glide off on
every side, as outlets for the inland ice ; and they travel nt

GREENLAND

129

no such a slow pace either. Whereas Sexe found the rate
of the Buar glacier's advance to be about one-tenth of a
metre in the twenty-four hours, Helland ascertained that
the Jakobshavn glacier in Gi-eenland travels twenty metres
in the same space of time— that is to say, 200 times as fast.
Eyder, moreover, noted a still higher rate of advance in the
glacier at Augpadlartok, viz. over thirty-one metres in the
twenty-four hours. As rivers, with us, form outlets for
lakes, so these numerous and mighty glaciers or ice-rivers
round the entire coast of Greenland form outlets for the
inland ice.

It is no small quantity of ice that these frozen rivers
carry to the sea. The bulk of ice which is ' calved ' or thrown
off by the glaciers has been estimated by Eink at more than
300 milhon cubic metres annually ; and this is certainly an
understatement ; perhaps ten times that amount would be
nearer the truth. It was supposed in Eink's time that the
glaciers on the west coast were the main channels by w^hich
the inland ice disgorged itself into the sea ; whereas Holm's
' woman-boat ' expedition along the east coast (1883-86)
has shown that the reverse is the case, the main outlets
behig to the east.

The atmosphere of the Greenland coast is cold, raw, and
moist. The sea along the rocky shore is full of ice the
whole year round, some of it consisting of icebergs given off
by the glaciers, and the rest of drift-ice from the Polar
sea, carried down the east coast of Greenland by a mighty
current, which then doubles Cape Farewell, and follows the
line of the west coast northwards. The mean temperature
here is accordingly far lower than that usually found in
these latitudes. The country is not only sea-girt but ice-
girt. It is the land of the Great Ice, covered by the

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LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

mightiest ice-field hither to known on the northern hemi-
sphere, extending perhaps to more than 1,500,000 square
kilometres.

One would imagine that the Greenlanders themselves
would have found it to their interest, or would have been
driven by necessity, to acquaint themselves wdth the vast
uplands of ice which glide seawards in the form of glaciers
along their entire coast. This, however, is not the case.
The Greenlander himself has a superstitious terror of the
inland ice. It is the home of his evil spirits, his ghosts, his
apparitions and shades (tarajuatsiak), his trolls {timersek and
erkilik), his ice-men, who are supposed to be twice as tall as
ordinary people, and a wliole host of other supernatural
beings. Besides, what should he do there ? His life is a
continual fight for food, and on the inland ice there is
neither whale nor seal, neither reindeer nor ptarmigan— in
short, no animal fit for food. It is a lifeless desert.

We need not wonder, then, that the Greenlanders them-
selves have scarcely any knowledge of the inland ice ; and
until a few years ago the rest of the world was equally
ianorant.

It is clear, nevertheless, that our forefathers were very
well acquainted with the nature of the country. We read
in the Kongespeil (' The Mirror of Kings ') : ' But as to your
question whether the land is free from ice, or covered with
ice like the sea, then you must know that there is a small
portion of the land which is bare of ice, but all the rest is
covered with it.'

Tliis knowledge of the interior, however, had been lost
in the lap.se of centuries, and had given place to the most
extravagant notions, based upon anything in the world
except actual obstn-vation.

GREENLAND

131

As early as 1728 a vain attempt to reach the inland ice
was madfe by Major Hans Enevold Paars ; but the first man
we know of who really crossed the edge, thouc^h indeed the
edge only, of the inland ice, was a Danish merchant, Lars
Dalager, wlio had settled at the colony of Frederikshaab in
houth Greenland. In September 1752 he made his way a
few miles niland over the ice, accompanied by a Green
lander with his daughter, and three young unmarried
Esknnos. They suffered horribly from the cold the last nic^ht
and were obliged to turn back for lack of provisions, Ind
because their shoes had utterly gone to pieces on the way
Lookmg from a lofty pinnacle (called by the natives a
nunatak) on the edge of the inland ice, Dalager saw it
stretchmg, in the form of a level waste of ice and snow far
as the eye could reach. He regarded it as impossible' for
any human being to reach the opposite coast alive, partlv
because of the difficulty of conveying sufficient provision foi-
such a march, partly because the cold at night was so
intense that, in his opinion, any one who had to pass many
nights on the ice must inevitably freeze to death. Nansen's
experience of the temperature of the inland ice unexpectedlv
confirmed Dalager's observation, though fortunately not his
prophecy.

A hundred years elapsed before anv other serious
attempt was made to explore the inland ice. It was
the American Arctic traveller, J. J. Hayes, who first
tried to penetrate any considerable distance into the bar-
ren ice-desert. Hayes and five other men (among them
aDane,^C. Petersen) made their way up ' Brother' John's
dacier, which runs out from the inland ice near Port
loulke, on Whale Sound, in about 781° N. j^t The ice
journey began on October 23, 1860. According to their

K S

V\ '

lull

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182

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

own estimate, in the course of three days' travelling they
penetrated at least sixty miles into the interior, and had
reached a height of about -5,000 feet, when a tremendous
storm compelled them to turn back. The temperature, at
their turning-point, was very low for the season of the year
—viz. -37° C. ( -35° Fahr.). It is, however, very doubtful
whether, over a surface so terribly broken as he describes,
Hayes can have covered so much as sixty miles in three days.

Another quite unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the
inland ice was made in the same year by the English
traveller, John Rae.

In 1867 the w^ell-known English mountaineers, Whymper
and Brown, were commissioned by the Royal Society to
make another attempt. They started from Jakobshavn, but
met w^ith no success. The season of the year (July 26) was
unfavourable, as the hetit had melted all the snow along the
outer ridge of the inland ice, so that the ice itself was laid
bare, and furrowed with millions of clefts and crevasses,
which proved impassable. They were therefore obliged to
turn back, after vain exertions, entirely baffled. They had
taken several Greenlanders wdth them, who were very much
alarmed, before the expedition set out, because one of them
thought he had seen three men moving on the ice, who
were taken to be either shades of the old Norsemen or
Eskimo ghosts. We may conclude, then, that the natives
were not particularly courageous or valuable members of
such an expedition.

The first at all successful attempt to penetrate the inland

— successful in so far that a considerab''^ listance was

vered and important scientific results obtained — was that

undertaken by Professor Nordenskiiild and Dr. Berggren in

1870. Their point of departure was tlie southern arm of

GREENLAND

138

the Aulaitsivik Fiord (68^° N. lat.), a little south of the
colony of Kristianshaab. The ice was reached and attacked
on July 19. Taking no tent, but only a sleeping-bag and
a sledge for their provis-ions and other necessaries, the
intrepid explorers set off on their perilous march. The
sledge had soon to be abandoned, since the numberless clefts
and crevasses made it impossible to drag it along. So they
took with them only what they could carry in their knap-
sacks. Two Greenlanders accompanied them until the
morning of the 22nd, but would go no further. Norden-
skiijld and Berggren went on alone, with their knapsacks on
their backs, for two days more, and then turned back, at a
height of 2,200 feet above the sea, after having penetrated
between thirty-five and forty miles from the edge of the ice.
The great elevation of the point at which they turned
enabled them to see an immense distance over the interior
of the country. They could descry nothing but the endless
ice-field sloping evenly upwards to the east, so that the
horizon was bounded by an ice-rim almost as unbroken as
that of the sea. After two days' forced march they got
back to the fiord and their boat on the night of July 20.

Eight years passed before the next noteworthy attempt
was made to explore the inland ice, this time by an
expedition despatched by the Danish Government, under
the conduct of Lieutenant J. A. D. Jensen, of the royal navy.
His party consisted of the promising young Danish geologist,
A. Kornerup, who died three years later, Herr Groth,
an architect, and, lastly, a Greenlander named Habakuk.
The expedition was conducted with much energy and skill,
and its scientific results were in many respects considerable.
In proportion to the time occupied and the labours and

(laiin;ers uiidercfoue.

tliev (lid not succeed in niakinix their

134

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

I-

way very far over the .nland ice, properly so called. They
were impeded by a series of unfortunate circumstances. On
the one hand, the weather was particularly unfavourable, and
the expedition suffered from frequent and protracted snow-
storms and fogs ; and on the other hand, the ice in the region
attacked was so extraordinarily rugged and rifted, that they
could only with the utmost difficulty make any progress at
all. By the light of later experience, we can now see that the
starting-point was unfortunately chosen, since the expedition
had to traverse the longitudinal axis of one of the furthest
projecting tongues of ice, that which ends in the ' Frederiks-
haab Isblink,' at about 62J-° X. lat., between Fiskernajs
and Frederikshaab. It was only to be expected that the ice
of this protruding tongue of glacier should be particularly
broken and dangerous. Nevertheless, the expedition,
setting out on July 14, after ten days of indescribable toil
and difficulty, reached a range of bare and rocky peaks,
projecting above the snowfield about twenty-six miles from
its edge, which were called after the leader of the party,
Jensen's Nunataks. At the foot of one of these nunataks
the explorers were overtaken by a snowstorm, which lasted
an entire week, during which they had to keep to their
tent. The worst of it was that their stock of provisions was
extremely scanty, so that each man received only a daily
ration of aliout f kg. — about 1 of the usual allowance upon
such exhausting expeditions. Their cooking apparatus, too,
proved useless, and the canvas shoes of the whole party
had quite gone to pieces. The prospects of the expedition
were thus anything but bright. Finally, on the seventh
day, the weather cleared. From the top of the nunatak, at
a height of about 4,960 feet, Jensen looked eastward over
the interior of the country. The endless expanse of the

GREENLAND

135

inland ice stretched around him on all sides, rising higher
and higher to the eastward, as far as the eye could see, until
it melted into the sky at the horizon. The return journey,
too, M^as excessively difficult and dangerous. Not until
three weeks after their departure did tlie expedition regain
their starting-place, where the Greenlanders Avho were
waiting for them had long ago begun to doul)t whether
they should ever see them again.

According to Greenland legend, tlie interior of the
country was supposed to be free from ice; indeed, the
theory of an ice-free interior, and the desire to demon-
strate it, had been the motive of some of the earlier
expeditions — for instance, of Whymper and Brown's
attempt in 1867. Baron A. E. NordenskiOld, the great
pioneer of systematic Polar investigation, so far as Scandi-
navia is concerned, after his first journey on the inland ice in
1870, had undertaken a whole series of Arctic expeditions —
to Spitzbergen, including an examination of the north-east
glacier district, in 1872-73 ; to Nova Zembla and the
Yenisei in 1875; again to the mouth of the Yenisei in
1876 ; and, finally, the great circunmavigation of Asia on
board the Veja in 1878-79. He now, with the support
of the eminent physicist. Professor Edlund, advanced an
hypothesis as to the probability of an ice-free interior of
Greenland; and this hypothesis was, to some extent, the
occasion of the great Swedish expedition, at the head of
wdiicli NordenskiiJld set forth once more over the inland ice,
this time better equipped than on his first attempt in 1870,
which had, nevertheless, produced such valuable results.
The expedition, the whole expense of which was borne by
Baron Oscar Dickson,^ had its own steamship, the Sophia,
and was in all respects excellently fitted out.

1 This was the seventh Arctic expedition financed by Baron Dickson.

136

LIFK OK FIMDTIOK XANSKN

This tiiiu", too, Xonloiiskir»l(l chose for his point of depar-
ture the region south of Kristianshaai), oi-, mor(^ precisely,
the head of tlie northern branch of the Auhiitsivik Fiord at
aboUi. 08]" X. hit. Tn the actual journey over the ice, only
nine men took part besides Xordenskiiihl hiuiself, amon«>-
them two Ii;ipi)S. named Lars Tuorda and Aiidei\s h'ossa.
The start was made on July 7, ngain at the very mildest
season of the year. They thus escaped the excessively low
(emperaturr^ which prevails at a later season upon the inland
ice ; !)ut, on the other hand, the labour of making their way
with liand-sledges and baggage through the half-melted
slush was so much the greater. After advancing for
fourteen days, they found it utterly impossible to drag the
hand-sledges any further. They had come upon a plain of
half-melied snow, into whic^i they sank so deep at every
step that there was nothing for it but to turn back. These
fourteen days of strenuous toil had brought them about
seventy-eight miU\s from tlie margin of tlie ice. Early on
the morning of July 22, the two Lapps were sent further
inland on their snowshoes, while the rest awaited their
return. At the end of 57 hours the Lapps came back.
According to their own account, they had pushed on to a
point about loO miles east of the camp, and to an altitude
of about 5,000 feet abo^-e the level of the sea. Nansen's
subsequent experience, however, has shown it to be highly
improbable that they could have got so far ; he conjectures
that they turned back at a point about fifty miles east of the
camp, and therefore something like 130 miles from the
margin of the ice. At the furthest point they attained, the
Lapps saw only a smooth ice-field ])efore them, covered with
fine loose snow.

The return journey of the expedition was accomplished

OIIKKKLANI)

13'

without mis;i(lvoiiture, and on Aii^rnst 3 it ji^r-iiu reached the
margin of the inland ice, after having spent fonr weeks in
the interior.

Tims the expedition had attained particularly important
results, having ^nxslwd farther inland than any previous
expedition. It found no oases in the ice desert ; but it
brought back the important information that the terribly
rugged and rifted surface which the ice had presented to all
previous explorers must be confmed to the outer belt of
the inland ice, while the interior consisted for the most part
of an even snow-covered ice-field. Nordenskiiild's expedi-
tion in 188;-] was, in fact, the only one which had hitherto
penetrated within this deeply-fissured outer belt, and had
thus definitely ascertained the nature of the surface within it.
Yet another serious attempt to penetrate the interior of
Greenland pre(;eded Kansen's expedition. This was the
daring journey undertaken in 188(1, by the afterwards
celebrated traveller liobert E. I'eary, an engineer in the
American navy, and a Dane named Christian Maigaard, an
employe of the lioyal Danish Greeidand Company. Peary's
original idea, had been to make use of Greenland dogs and
sledges for the journey ; but at the last moment, the Green-
landers hired to accompany them refused to do so, and took
themselves off with their dogs and sledges. There was
nothing for it, then, but to start on foot and alone, dragging
the provisions and other necessaries on two light sledges
which they had brought with them. In order'^to light'en
their baggage, they took no tent, but only a tarpauhn, under
which they slept in the lee of the sledges. Sometimes, too,
they built themselves snow-huts. They began the ascent of
the ice on June 28, and continued their eastward march,
with several interruptions on account of the weather, till

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188

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEX

July 19, wlieii they found (heniselves, as they calculated,
about 110 miles from the margin of the inland ice, and at a
height of about 7,500 feet above the sea. For a consider-
able distance they had been able to use the snowshoes they
had brought with them ; for the surface of the ice, except in
the outer zone, was particularly even and covered with dry
snow, the temperature (for they tfa\ elled at night, and slept
by day) being for the most part under freezing-point. On
the return journey they tied the sledges together and rigged
up the tarpaulin as a sail, and in this fasliion, during the
first three days and nights, they sailed at a spanking rate
about forty-five geographical miles. They reached their
camp on the morning of July 24, having spent twenty-three
davs and nights on the ice. ,

No previous expedition had, with such simple equipment
and at so little expense, achieved such excellent results as
this first Peary expedition, which may with justice be said to
have been admirably planned and admirably executed.

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139

CHAPTER IX

THE GREAT ICE AGE

WiiEx the Scandinavian peasant is working his land he
finds, too often, alas! that it is full of stones. Great
boulders are strewn over his fields, generally of such size
that it does not pay to remove them, so that the plough has
simply to pass them by. Here and there blocks occur as
large as a good-sized house. If the peasant has an eye for
varieties of rock, he will most likely observe that these
boulders are of quite another kind of stone from that of the
neighbouring mountains ; and this will often be the case
even when the boulder rests npon the native bed-rock.

These stones upon the earth's surface are, therefore,
guests from afar, foreign immigrnts; they are 'erratic
blocks '—the name was given them long before their origin
was understood— which have in many cases come fron^ a
great distance. Erratic boulders are found all over Xorway,
Sweden, and Denmark, and down through Xortli Germany to
a line which runs a little south of L 'ipzic. But there they
stop.

At Lutzen in Saxony, where Gustavus Adolphus fell,
there lies a mighty granite boulder of this description, which is
called 'The Swedish Stone.' This name, which commemo-
rates the \'ictory of the Swedes, the science of our century
has shown to be justified in a different sense ; for the boulder,
an alien in that environment, is in reality a piece of Swedish

i| ' B'

140

LIFJ-: OF FlilDTIOF NANSEN

granite, and must at some former time have been transported
from Sweden to Saxony.

The study of erratic boulders led little by little to the
stud}' of gravel and loose strata in general. It was thus
ascertained that enormous quantities' of Finnish rock are
scattered over the low plains of Xorthern Russia, especiallv
in the Baltic provinces, while masses of Swedish rock
bestrew the plains of Xorth Germany and the Danish
Islands, and hosts of Norwegian boulders are scattered over
Xorthern Jutland, the north-west corner of Germany,
Holland, and even over the east coast of England.

Indeed, we can now go further than this. The whole
North European plain, with all its different strata of gravel
and earth, is for the most part built up of material which
has been transported thither, at one time or another,
from Finland and the Scandinavian peninsula. The fertile
Danish meadows are in this sense composed of Swedish and
Norwegian earth. The myth of Gefion, who transplanted
the island of Zealand from the place where Lake Wener
now lies, is not so entirely meaningless after all.

What manner of force is it which has removed all these
masses of stone and gravel, and scattered them over the
plains ?

According to popular legend, it was trolls and giants
who amused themselves by these feats of strength ; we, at the
present day, know that the trolls were the forces' of 'nature
herself. When science first began to inquii-e into these
matters, it was thought that water was the foi-ce which had
moved the erratic boulders and scattered such enormous
masses of gravel and stone and earth broadcast over the
plains. A mighty Hood— a deluge— was supposed to have
swept over mountain and valley, and torn away, and carried

THE GREAT ICE AGE

141

along ^^t]l it over the lowlands, gigantic quantities of rock
and rubble. At first, therefore, geologists apj^lied the name
diluvium to the deposits of this hypothetical deluge— a term
which is employed b}- many to this day.

It has long been ascertained, however, that tliere never
was a deluge in this sense, and in particular that the sedi-
mentary strata of Xorthern Europe have nothin- in ^he
world to do with the Biblical ' flood,' which was doubtless a
quite local occurrence— an inundation of tlie plains watered
by the Euphrates and the Tigris.

Then people began to connect the dispersion of the
gravel and soil over the plains with the fact, which science
had by this time demonstrated, that the Scandinavian
penmsula must formerly have been covered with ice, as
Greenland is now. Tliey conjectured that the erratic
boulders and gravel strata were transported from Scan-
dinavia, and scattered over the plains, bv drift-ice and float-
ing icebergs which had 'calved' in the Xorwegian or
Swedish fiords, and were then driven southwards, freighted
with gravel and stones, across the lowlan< s of XorUiern
Europe, which were conceived as lymg at tliat time entirely
under water. In the course of melting, the icebergs would
then deposit the rubble they had brought with them, just as
the floating icebergs from Cxreenland deposit their masses of
rubble in the sea between Cape Farewell and the banks of
Xewfoundland.

It is now known that this explanation (although it has
still a certain number of adherents) is quite insufficient to
account for the composition of the soil on the plains of
Northern Europe. The only tenable tlieory is that the
erratic boulders have been deposited where we now find
them by glacier-ice. Their present position (together with a

'I!

142

LIFE OF FIUJ)TIOF NAXSEX

long series of other circumstances which cannot here be
entered into) testifies that the surface of the country must
have been covered with glacier-ice, even where we now find
neither glaciers nor snow-fields.

By the close of the 'fifties, geologists had incontrovertibly
proved that the ground-rock of the Scandinavian peninsula
must at one time have been covered by an unbroken sheet
of 'land ice.' On this point the evidence afforded by the
present state of Greenland was of decisive value. Every-
where in Xorway, Sweden, and Finland are found striated
(ice-scratched) mountains and smooth roches moidonnks, just
as in the lower part of the Greenland coast belt. We have
everywhere, at our very doors, so to speak, ancient rubble-
banks, moraines, left behind by the land-ice, just as we find
them to this day along the margin of the land-ice in Green-
land. The configuration, too, of the mountains and valleys
of Norway, and of the fiords and skerries of Xorway and
Sweden, has been recognised by degrees as analogous to that
of the mountains, fiords, and skerries of Greenland, and has
been found explicable only on the assumption that the
whole of Scandinavia was at one time covered, as Greenland
is to-day, by a vast sheet of land ice.

But from the beginning of the 'eighties (or, properly
speaking, as early as the beginning of the 'seventies) it
came to l)e recognised that we could not stop at this point.
The Swedish geologists in particular, and especially Pro-
fessor Torell, have shown that the North European land
ice— unlike the Greenland ice-sheet, which is now surrounded
by an ice-free coast belt— was not confined to the Scandi-
navian peninsula. On the contrary, it may now be regarded
as sufliciently demonstrated, through the investigatk)ns of
the past twenty-five years, that the enormous masses of

THE GREAT ICE AGE

143

gravel which cover, and for the most part conceal, the bed-
rock of the entire North European plain, have in the main
been deposited by a continuous ice-sheet, AN'hich at one time
spread over the whole of Northern Europe.

Here, then, we come upon a much larger phenomenon
than that presented by Greenland ; perhaps the parallel in
this case should rather be sought in the condition of thinos
at the South Pole, if Murray is right in conjecturino- thlt
where we formerly assumed the existence of a sea, we shall
more probably find a huge ice-covered continent, perhaps
ten to twelve million square kilometres in extent.

The North European land ice must in the same way,
when at its fullest development, have arched over the whole'
of Northern Europe like a mighty sliield of ice and snow
Over ^Scandinavia it must have attained a thickness of at
least 3,000 feet, and more probably twice as much. Hence
the ice-sheet stretched west, south, and east— coverino- with-
out a break, the whole of the North Sea, Scotland, and
the greater part of England and Ireland, and reaching out
into the Atlantic, to where the bed of the ocean shelves to
vast depths-enshrouding Holland, North Germany, and
Denmark— and spreading over the entire Baltic, the Gulf of
Bothnia, the Baltic provinces, and a long wav south over
the Eussian steppes. The thickness of tlie ice-sheet must
have diminished towards the south, but even so far south as
the region wliere Berlin now stands, its depth was probablv
about 1,300 feet.

The limit of this enormous expanse of North European
land ice at the time of its greatest extent (accordino- to the
most recent observations) is indicated on the accompanying
map, which is based in essentials on Professor James Geikie's
work on The Great Ice Age (1894).

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,!(

Il-'

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144

Ml'l': Ol" I'rJDTIOl-' NANSKN

,i;.

The boundary runs, as we see, across the south of
England, the northern part of Helghun, the Ilartz mountains,
along the northern edge of the Erzgel)irge and the Car-
pathians, nortli ol Lendjerg in Gahcia, and then in a great
ton<nie south of Kief in liussia, after which it forms another
tongue to the west of the Volga, and then trends away to
the west of the river Kama, and northwards to the Polar Sea.
The area of this enormous ice desert must have been not
less than about five million square kilometres.

While Northern Europe lay under this vast ice mantle,
tlie Eiesengebirge. the Alps, the Jura, the Vosges, the l^lack
Foi-est, the Caucasus, the Pyrenees, and other mountain
ranges were also covered by enormous local glaciers.

Even more gigantic than, the European land ice was
(according to Chamberlin) the land ice of North America.
Here the immense Laurentiau glacier covered with its desert
of ice five-sixths of Eastern Canada, besides the greater
part of the sixteen most northerly States of the Union,
extending on the east side to below New York, and in the
middle of the Continent still farther south (in Illinois to
37^35' N. hit.).

A separate ice sheet extended, in the far west, over great
stretches of the North American Cordilleras, from about the
48tli degree of latitude, upwards towards the Polar Sea,
where it may possibly have joined the Laurentian ice sheet.

Oddly enough, it is supposed by many that Alaska has
never been covered with ice.

Besides the two main ice sheets (the Laurentian and the
Cordillera), which are supposed to have been separated
towards the south by an ice-free region, there existed in
North America, no less than in Europe, great local glaciers,
especialh' in tlie mountain distiicts to the south of (ho

THK (iltEAT lOK AliF-;

145

Corel, Ie,-a 1,„„1 :cc. The outire ar™ of the Xo.th American
ce "Is .s ctnuate,! at over ten tuilliou s,,„ave kilometres,
thus nearly correspon.ling in size to the ice-crust which
acconlmg to Murray's conjecture, now covers the Antarcti,'
V^ontnient.

As regards Xortl.ern Asia, no positive evidence has yet
been fonnd of any land ice having covered the flat s;a-

von Toll found ni Anal,ara Bay and on the New Siberia
Islands nuhcations that these regions, too, n,av possibly
have been covered by a tolerably extensive, thongh perhaps
not particularly massive, land ice. Baron von Toll conjec-
tures that the Polar regions were at that time elevated
above the sea,_and that thus the rainfall must have been
greater-sufhcient, indeed, to cause the formation of an
extensive ice sheet. Tie further supposes that after the
glacial epoch these regions must have sunk and become
submerged, and that the succession of islands to the north of
Asia the New Siberia Islands, Sannikoff Land, and pre-
sumably other islands as yet undiscovered) must be simply
the summits of the vanished Arctic continent.

In the ocean between Europe and America local ice
lields covered the ]< aroe Islands and Iceland

Greenland, which, as we know, has to this day its land
ice (with an area of about U million square kilometres)
must at one time have been totally buried in ice. or at all
events to a considerably greater extent than at present
Many suppose that the Greenland ice sheet extended oN'er
Lllesinere Land and Grinnell Laiid, and joined the Lauren-
tian land-ice ; but this is not certain. If, as Von Toll
flunks, there existed at that time an immense Polar continent
covered with ice, whidi extended over Xorth Siberia, it is

j*;^

UMi

i =j.|

140

1.1 IK Ol' riUDTfOl" NANSKN

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proliable tluit tl\is circuiupolar land ico also pxtcnclcd south-
ward over Greenland. As yet, however, tlie evidence on
these points is inoonelnsive.

It is enrious to picture to oneself the aspect of Northern
Europe and North America at the time when these condi-
tions obtained. The accepted theory is that at all events
Scandinavia and larye portions of North America were,
durinp' a part of this period, much more elevated above
the lev(. of the sea than they are to-day. The greater
altitudes would in that case contribute not a little to the
formation of the mighty ice sheets. Certain it is that along
the whole North Atlantic, from the latitude of Ncav York,
and on the European side from the south of England and
Ireland, there then stretched northwards a continuous ice
cliff or ice wall, probably hundreds of yards in height,
from which great icebergs were perpetually breaking loose
and floating away to sea, just as they to-day break off
from the Humboldt Glacier in North Greenland. This ice
wall must have stretched unbroken, right up to the Polar
Sea, until it merged in the Arctic land ice.

Within the ice rim stretched an interminal)le dssert of
ice and snow with no trace of life, smooth as a convex
shield, from Ireland to the Ural Mountains (at least), and
from the Polar Sea to the foot of the Carpathians. The
boundaries of land and sea' in Northern Euro;- ■ were totally
obliterated by the vast ice field, just as to-day no one
has the faintest idea what is concealed under the interior
expanse of the Greenland ice.

Outside the ice rim a climate prevailed somewhat like
that of Spitzbergen at the present day. In France, Central
Europe, and Hungary, the reindeer, the Polar fox. fhe
nuisk-ox and other Arctic animals flourished along with the

■run (iniiAT icn Afin

147

u «„ uotl>, the oIepl,ant of the l-e A,.. ( AV,/,/,,,,,;,,™;,,,,,.-,,,),
winch W.S much lar,or,han any exi.sti,,,, vanoty ofelcphan
an. ha.l a tinck l„ng-l,ai,.,.<l fur to protect i( front tlte coU
f« had also the woolly Rl,in,.c,rm th-hm-hinm. The flora of
tcntral E.tropc (now so warnt nn.l genial, the honte of the
vine and the walnut-tree) consistcl at that time of low wil-
low., , warf birch, and other Arctic growths, trow found
ahout the shores of the Polar Sea.

As is proved by the fossil re.nains of phtnt and anintal
l.fe, regions as far south as Italy had then a cold, raw
climate, and the Mediterranean contained numbers of animals
which have now retreated very niucli further north

In the south-eastern portion of Europe, covered, in part

ea the Aralo-Caspian-one gulf of which stretched right up
to Kasan ^vlule another ...tended lar hito Asia. It w^s also
connccte.1 with the Sea of A..,v and the Black Sea. The
Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea are the remnants of this
gieat basm, and still contain animal forms derived from the
time when the Aralo-Caspian was a salt-water sea

In the interior of Asia, even far to the south, the climate
was raniy and raw, and a vastinlan.l sea was formed, almost
as large as the Mediterranean, covering the present Tarim
basin and Desert of Gobi. At the same time 'the Himalayas
and other great mountain ranges were buried in ice

Even as far south as Africa, the climate must have been
chi and rainy, and great portions of the present Sahara and
of the regions about Lake Tchad presumably formed the
be.l of an extensive inland sea.

The comhiion of things in Europe wa.s reproduced in
America. Here, too, beyond the .lomain of the ice a raw
and cold Arctic climate prevailed. Here, too, there existed-

•li!

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;lil

148

Ml i; Ol'- FIUDTIOK NANSEN

at least durin^f .) part of this jxu'iod— a series of vast inland
seas, such as Liike lit)inievi)1p laljuut HJO miles in leii^rth),
of which the (J reat Salt Lake hi litah may l»! re<'arded as
the last remnant, Lake Titihontan. in north-eastern N(^vada,
and several oth.TS.

liecent investi<iations have rendered It extremely proba-
ble that not oidy has there been one such j^iacial epoch, but
that, between the tertiary pei-iod and the present geoloi^ical
era, several ;jjlacial epochs (a long si'i'ies, a(;cording to some)
nuist have intervened.

Certain it is that after this enormous extension of the
land ice over Northern Europe? and North America (and
portions, at any rate, of Northern Asia and the Arctic
regions) there followed a perit)d when the climate became
milder and the ice melted away little by little. TIovv far its
boundaries shrank to the nort' ward no one knows for cer-
tain, but it is beyond question that the whole of the North
European plain lay bare of ice. Many suppose that it even
disappeared entirely' from Scandinavia, while others main-
tain that it receded only from the soutliern districts. It is
n(>t improl)able that the shrinkage of the ice sheet was in
st)nie way connected with a subsidence of the land surface
throughout extensive regions (such as Scandinavia), during
the preceding epoch. In many parts of Central Europe are
found deposits dating from this period, which show that, after
the ice crust had vanished, the climate became ijuite warm
and genial. A host of southern animals and plants
wandered by degrees into the regions where formerly the
ice sheet had held all life at bay. Tlie surface of the
country was clothed with forests of the deciduous trees which
now flourish in England and Central Europe, and of still
more soutliern varieties. The hippopotamus, rhinoceros,

i I

TUM (I I! MAT ICK AdK

149

niid olopl.Mnl {FJri>l,as antiqnus) mi^rratGd iiortluvanl. lu
all i)ml)al.ility lluTc existed at that time a hri.l^r,. „f l..,,,,!
from AlVie;. t.. I-^urope by way of I'a.itellaria ;.nd Sicily,
^Niioreby tliese ti-(,pi<Ml varietie.s of aiiim.il lif,. fbimd
tlH-irway((. the eontiiienf of Europe niul even, by means
of a land-brid^re over the eham.el, to I<:.inland. And
together with tliese more southern animals lived the Irish
«'lk, the aurochs, and other now extinct species. Kvery-
thino- iudicates that the climate in Europe was at that thne
mild, possibly even milder than it is now ; and the . mie may
be said of America. Tn course of time, however, the
climate changed again, and became colder and colder.
Again, from the mouTitains of Scandinavia, a mighty ice
mantle crept downwards by degrees over the \(.rtli 8ea, the
Jialtie. and Ko.-thern llurope. This was the second great
extensi. nx of the land ice, the second glaciation. This t ime
the ice did not reach so far south ; but the extreme boun-
daries of the second glaciation of Xorthern Europe are not
yet <-learly ascertained. AFany believe that this time almost
the whole of Kngland lay uithout the glacial area, and that
on the continent its bomidary ran in a sort of curve from
Ibimburg to a little south of IJerlin. and then on hv Warsaw
to the e.ist of Si. Petersburg, until it reached the Wl ■• S a,
west of Archangel.

This renewed .'xtension of the land ice was, of course,
again accompanied ' a raw, cold climate. Again the'
rehideer, and even more peetdiarly Arcf- forms oi animal
life, roamed the Central J':uropean plains; aoain the
forests died out. ar.d dwarf bircji and willow .ook their
place.

In America, to(^ evidence has been found of a fresh
extension of the land ice on a great scale; but here, as in

It!

^1*

^11

'■ M

150

Ml'i: Ol' FlUDTlOi' NANShX

Europe, it probably did not extend so far soiilli as diiriii;,'
the lirst glacial epoch.

lk)th in iMiropc and in Aiuerica, then, we find evidences
of two j/reat glacial epochs,' two glaciations, during which
gigantic ice sheets extended far southward, to regions where
a mild and temperate climate now i)revails. Moreover, so
far as Central I'hirope, at any rate, is concerned, evidences
are found of a tem])erate interim — an inter-glacial period —
between these two Arctic eras.

It is clear,, of course, that this ivpeated s])reading an<I
shrinking of the land ice must have been a result of climatic
changes. But such radical changes as those here involved
must have taken place very slowly, and covered enormous
stretches of time, l^^ach of these glacial epochs, as well as
the temperate inter-glacial period, must therefore have lasted
many thousantls, or rather many tens of thousands of years.
As the climatic changes no doubt went on imperceptibly
during endless spaces of time (from the human point of
view), so, too, the accompanying changes in fauna and flora,
the accomi)anying flux and reflux of the land ice, must have
proceeded by equally imperceptible degrees through thou-
sands of years. The evidences of these climatic changes and
the accompanying changes in the aspect of the world — at one
time a lifeless desert, at another a luxuriant forest rich in
animal life of now extinct tropical forms — are stored up in
the strata of the earth's crust, with their animal and vetre-
table remains. Geoh)gists have laboriously investigated
sections of stratified soil and gravel, noAv laid bare by river
or brook, now by the construction of a road or railway, and
have accumulated in the course of years an enormously rich

' Tlic first has been called the Kansas Toriod, the second the Iowa Period,
tliese states laarking the southern boundaries of each, respectively.

THE (IKK AT iL'i; A(iH

151

Store of ol)S('rvatious, in which fho history of lon^^- vanished
periods can be read. These apparently insi^'nilicant layers
of earth are the <,'eoh)<>[ist's parchments and papyri, or, if
they are for a time less easily decipherable, let ns say his
cnneiform inscriptions, from which he has to spell out the
history of the «,dacial ejjochs.

As the sort of i-ock of which an erratic boulder consists
is often suflieient to tell us whence it has come, so the gravel
strata in Central Europe often show by their formation that
they are moraines— sometimes terminal moraines, swept
forward ])y Die outer edge of an advancing glacier, some-
times ground moraines, or in other words such layers of
rubble as we know can only have l)een formed undei-neath a
vast ice crust.

In many places in Central Europe there have been found,

above ground moraines, strata containing bones of the

lemming, I'olar fox, reindeer, musk ox, wolverine, wolf,

ermine, Tolar liare, snow owl, Ac, precisely the animals

which in our times abound in the Siberian ' tundras' ; while

in other places, above the rubl)k' of the moraines, ve-'etable

remams have l)een discovered belonging to species now

found in North Siberia and on the shores of the I'olar Sea.

Hence we draw the inevitable conclusion that after the laud

ice had deposited its moraines and retreated northward from

Central Juirope, the surface of the land gradually assumed

the character of a tundra region. A])ove these tundi-a

strata, again, are found other strata- of the peculiar sort

of earth to which, in the Ehine Valley, has been given the

name of Zcm—containing remains of a rich fauna of animals

peculiar to the steppes: the jumping hare, the jerboa in

several varieties, the German marmot, the saiga antelope,

the wild horse of the steppes [dschtCi/getai), the steppe lion.

,1 j!
'ill*

ifi

102

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF XANSEX

!S»

and a great number of steppe rodents, as well as sand grouse,
bustards, &c. ; and together with these animals there still
lived the mammoth. Thus Xehring's investigations enable
us to conclude with certainty that, after the tundra period in
Central Europe, a period ensued when there was as yet no
great forest growth, when the plains formed a dry grass-
covered steppe, with dust-storms in summer and snowstorms
in winter, like the Asiatic steppes of to-day, and for the most
part with, the same fauna and flora as are now found on
those high-lying treeless plateaux of Central Asia.

Xot til] later on did the climate grow steadil}' milder
and the soil produce a rich forest growth, while the animals
of the steppes withdrew to Central Asia, and were succeeded
by a race of forest animals. Thus do the strata of the
earth, by their formation and by the reuuains of animal
and vegetable life they contain, record the course of these
slow clhuatic chani>es, and bear witness to alternatina-
glacial and temperate periods.

In this connection there have been few incidents of
greater interest than the discovery of the famous ^Siberian
mammoths. At several places in North Siberia there have
been found l)odies of the eleijhant of the Ice Aae, the liuo'e
mannuotli, with its liide and hair, its great marrow bones
still full of nu.rrow, and the contents of the stomach, con-
sisting of pine-needles, still preserved — even, it is said,
whole frozen mammoths with tlie soft parts still intact.
Several expeditious, sent out liy the iiussian Academy,
and Von Baer. Fr. Schmidt, and lastly, IJaron vo.i Toll,
have succeeded in collecting a v'wh fuiul of evidence as
to the conditions under Avliich tlie nuimnioth existed. In
many places on the Arctic coast of Siberia, and especially
on the New Siberia Islands, Von Toll found extensive

THE GliKAT ICE AGJ';

1 -,'.»

deposits of dead ice, or ' stone ice,' wliicli lie holds to be
nothing else than remains of a great sheet of land ice, which
mnst once have extended over the whole of Xortheiu Asia
and right to the Pole ; the New Siberia Islands and Sanni-
kofl" Land being, in his view, relics of a great Polar conti-
nent originally continuous with Asia. His theorv is that

stom; icK

the <-lima(e being sufliciently cold, this ice must have re-
mained niimelted ever since the glacial epoch. And on
the top of the dills formed by this stone ice (which on
Great LiakhoJl" Island, for example, attain a height of over
seventy feet) is found a layer of frozen sand, miid and peat,
with numerous remains of a vegetation, consisting of willow
aiid alder [n/Ni/sfnif/com). Hence we may conclude (if Von

1.54

LIFE OF FllJDTlOF XANSEX

Toll's view of the formation of the stone ice is correct) that
up here on the shore of the Polar Sea, at a period subsequent
to that of the land ice, there was a climate so warm that the
willow and alder could flourish in the thin layer of soil
deposited by nuid and v/ater on the surface of the stone ice,
yet not so warm as to melt tlie ice itself. The northern
limit of vegetation of this kind is at present about four
degrees of latitude (oOO miles) farther south.

The mammoth, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, the musk
ox, and a great many other Arctic animals flourished simul-
taneously with this vegetation. Animals killed by one
chance or another — perhaps buried in a snowstorm, perhaps
caught in some crevasse in the stone ice, which was subse-
quently filled with ice or snow — have been preserved for us,
thanks to the constantly increasnig severity of the cHniate,
as butcher's meat is preserved at the present day.

In Scandinavia, too, the mannnoth was at home. One
small mammoth tooth found at Yaage in Gudbrandsdal shows
that it must have lived upon an Arctic vegetation in our
mountain districts. The mammoth and the woolly-haired
rhinoceros are now extinct ; Imt their contemporary, the
musk ox, a living ghost from the glacial epoch, still drags
out his melancholy existence in the most inaccessible re«>ions
of Northern Greenland, Grinnell Land, &c.'

The theory that Xorthern Europe, as far soutli as the
foot of the Carpathians, nmst have been covered with an
enormous mantle of land ice, in comparison with which even
the Greenland ice sheet sinks into insignificance, was at first
regarded as almost inconceivable, and, as it necessarily

' A section dealing in detail w itli tlio geological history of Scandinavia is
omitted. {Tninn.)

THE (^KEAT ICE AGE

155

involved a total reconstruction of the dominant hypotheses,
we cannot wonder that it met with long and fierce opposi-
tion. Tliis opposition may now be considered a thing of the
past, and there is scarcely any farther controversy as to the
fact of the glacial epoch, but only as to the precise explana-
tion of the series of climatic changes which we group
together under this common designation. A whole liost of
geologists have devoted themselves to the study of these
glacial periods and their effects; and a vast literature,
including special periodi(.'als, daily contributes to the under-
standing of this remarkal)le episodr- in tlie history of our
planet, which lies close behind us, geologically speaking
(for the geologist reckons time on a great scale), yet which,
until a few years ago, was utterly undreamt of.

Every day that passes adds to our realisation of the all-
pervading significance of the Great Ice Age, until it has
come to be reckoned among the ' critical periods ' in the
history of the eartli's development, not less than in that of
organic life.

In the first place, the aspect of great tracts of the earth's
surface has undergone essential alteration, both in the old and
the new worlds, tlirough the action of the land ice and its
marginal glaciers. Those fiords and lakes which are the glory
of Norway, her wild alpine peaks, the contours of her valleys,
in short, the wliole surface-modelling of the country, has
taken its final stamp from the action of the glaciers of the
Ice Age, and the influence of the conc(miitant chmatic con-
ditions. And over all the low plain of Northern Europe,
fi-om the Danish islands and on to the foot of the Erzgebirc/e,
tlie Iiiesengebirg(>, and the Carpathians, the soil virtually
consists of matter transported from tlie nortli-east mounfain
regions liy the action of tlie ice. Helland has estimated

156

LIFE OF FKIDTIOF X.WSllX

?i;! '

that the surface of Scandinavia has been ahradecl and carried
away to an a\crage depth of about 80 feet from tlie original
level as it existed at the beginning of the glacid peHod;
tluit is to say, the country has been denuded of a layor 80
feet thick, which, in tl.e form of sand and gravel a id mud,
has bpeu deposited in the North Sea and over tlit Xorth'
European plaiii. When one considers that these enormous
masses of matter were for the most part gouged out, as it
were, by the glaciers as they pursued their course down the
valleys, one can easily understand that the contours of the
valleys, and the very existence of the fiords and the lakes,
must be essentially due to the action of the glaciers of the'
Ice Age. It is held, indeed, that fiords, being formed by the
glacial excavation of pre-existing valleys, are to be found
only in countries which have gone through a glacial period
We know that, before the Ice Age, in the tertiary period, a
temperate climate, comparahle with that of Central Europe
and Northern Italy, prevailed in Spitsbergen and Greenland.
Then comes the glacial epoch, and everything is covered
with an interminable ice waste, where no hving tlnng can
possibly exist. Again and again temperate and Arctic
climates alternale, by sl..u changes extending over (humanly
speaking) endless periods ,•[' time. And when the wliole
series of alternations has l)een gone through, Europe and
North America (and pei^ha^.s Northern Asia)'liav<* ess. mially
changed their outward aspect, and ])arti<.ularlv thetr fauna
and flora. IMove the Ir, Age llinv lived iu'|.:urope and
North America a larg.. ninnber of now extinct manunals,
some of them of colossal size- : th,. mastodon, the nunnmoth!
and other gigantic members of the elephant tribe, extinct
species of hippopotanms and rhinoceros, the elasmotherium,
a huge beast of tlie rhinoceros type, the Irish elk hu<.-e'

THE GitEAT ICE AGE

157

varieties of the lion and the bear, and the machairodus, a
ponderous beast of prey with dagger-shaped canine teeth, in
comparison with wliich even hons and tigers must be
regarded as mild and innocuous creatures. In South
America lived the huge pachydermatous armadillo
{Ghjptodon), as big as an ox, an enormous sloth {Mega-
therium), and a multitude of other animals which have not
survived the Ice Age. Wallace may well say : ' We live in
a time in which the most gigantic, majestic, and singular
forms of animal life have disappeared from the earth.'

But one mammal whic;h, before the glacial epoch, had
played no prominent part, although it had probably already
made its appearance— to wit, the species known as man —
survived the glacial f poch, and emerged from it victor over all
the animal kingdom. Man's lordship over nature begins with
the Ice Age, and many hold that it was in reality tliat period
which made him what he is, and raised him above the brutes.
The hard conditions of life sharpened and developed those
special capabilities which fitted him to endure this series of
climatic changes to which the gigantic animals of the tertiary
period, his most formidable competitors in *^e struggle for
existence, had gradually to succumb.

It is probable that, geologically speaking, we have as
yet scarcely passed the threshold of this new era in the
existence of the earth, the age of man, the psychozoic
period ; and the course of its further development is hidden
from our eyes. But Ave now know, in outline, the manner
of its beginnings; and the .spiiiL of man will certainly insist
on knowing, not in outline only, but in all possible detail,
the history of that age which, even if it did not see the first
man come into existence, at least saw the human race sub-
jugate the earth — the great glacial epoch, tlie transition

ff^

■m

\>i SI.

158

LIFE OF FIJIDTIOF XANSEX

period between the age of the great maininals and tlie age
of man, one of the most mteresting and important episodes
in the story of the planet. Nor can we stop short at ascer-
taining the mere facts of this period ; we must also nisist,
sooner or later, on understanding the causes of this series of
climatic alternations, and fathoming the mj-stery of those
ice shrouds which killed every living thing wherever their
white expanse unrolled itself over land or sea. There is at
the present moment scarcely any prohaem for the investi-
gator — whether biologist or geologist— which can be said lo
lie nearer at hand, or to impose itself more insistently upon
the inquiring spirit.

One of the first essentials tow ards the solution of this
problem is a thorough examination of the regions where the
conditions which obtain to-day are similar to those existino-
in Europe and North Ameri(^a during the glacial epoch.
In Greenland with its ice mantle we have the closest analogy
to Scandinavia during the first great extension of the land
ice ; and the investigation of the still unknoAvn Polar
regions cannot but furnish us with a whole series of new
and indispensable contributions to the glacial theorj-.
Herein lies the main significance of such exphuts as Han-
sen's journey across the inland ice of Greenland and his
present expedition to the North I'ole. They supply us with
data for the understanding of one of the most important
periods in tlie earth's history, that which made man the
ruler of the world.

Il;«

loD

CIIAPTEJt X

NANSEN's QREKNLAXU EXI'KDITIOX — l'REl'AKATl().\8-

ECiUIP.MENT

-FLAX

' OiVE winter evenino-
in '87,' writes Dr.
Grieg. ' I sat in my
den at >].\ Parkveien.
absorbed in niy work.
Suddenly the door
was flung wide open,
and in stalked Xansen.
with his long-haired,
badly trained doa'
Jenny. Without pre-
tentling to be an
authoriiy on the sub-
ject, it is my opinion
that Nansen is too
absent-minded to be
able to train good
sporting- dogs. The
evening was cold, so
that e^•en Xansen had
thrown liis plaid over
his shoulders. He sat
down on the sola just
opj)osit.{' me.

i I

nil.

, !

]

i^ <i

IGO

LIFE or FRIDTIOF NANSEX

' " Do you know what I'm going to set about now ? " he
said. " I mean to have a try at crossing Greenland." And
he set fortli liis plans with the aid of my old atlas,
which I shall always associate with the memory of that
evening. He was excited and wrought-up, and, at that
stage, far from being certain, or even hopeful, of finding
things go easily. I saw he wanted objections to discuss",
and I supplied him with wliat occurred to me, thougli I
knew nothing of tlie subject. " It would be easiest to make
the crossing lower down, you understand," he said, " but the
real thing will be to show the world that Greenland can be

crossed so far north as this " and he pointed out where he

had at first planned to start. He little dreamed that this
stretch of coast, which he treated so lightly that evening,
would prove so hard a nut to crack. He said he was going
to Stockholm. " What are you going to do there ? " « To
look up ^^ordenskiuld, and ask him to give me his
opinion of my scheme. I shall just wait to take my doctor's
degree in the spring, and then off to Greenland. It will be
a hard spring, old man, but pooh ! I shall manage it."

'Another friend had meanwhile dropped hi. We all
three walked to Skarpsno, we two c-ery-day people making
feeble objections, he meeting them with increasing warmth
and with youthful emphasis of conviction. He would stake
his life on the plan, and we should see it would all go
smootlily. It was like a revelation, in these decadent days,
to find a man of action ready to lay down his life for his
idea. I was impressed and moved that evening when we
parted.'

He went to Stockholm. It may be noted at this point
that it was in 188C that Teary and .Alaigaard, with their
scanty equipment, had made a liighly successful inroad

NAXSKX'S (iiiKi.:xr,AMi i.;.\i>Ki)iri(].N 161

upon the Greeula„cl ice field, intended, as Pearv had e:.-
pressly stated in his brief narrative, n.erely as ; p e,il
nary reconna.ssanee. Nansen had no tin.e to lose if hell
not want to be anticipated. Moreover, his .oolo«ieal and
»ato,n,cal labonrs were in the meantinte at a ^tandstin
Hi. great essay on the histological elen.ents of the central
nervous systent was finished, and conld at any thn be
handed ni as a thesis for his doctor's .Icrree

w„rL™'"""-°" ?''""'"*'^' ^''^'"'^'- ^' 18«'. 1 ^'ered my

thet hadi; "■" V '^^"'■'^-■••■"n-itor.old n,e that
lefta card , '^r""'""' """8 •■<"■ ">- "^ "-1 ■«"

vithlt ' " : ""' '""^ ""'" '" ^■''- Compatriots

utho.t a name and w.thout a visiting-card were no rarity.

It was no .loubt some one wanting me to relieve him from

a n„„„en,„y embarrass.nent. What did he look like v

I said, with a touch of annoyance.

' " Tall and fair.'' answered Andersson.
' " Was he well dressed ? "

confld "f- n'"'"',' y ""'■"••"•" ««' A.Hlers.on. smili,,.,
< onfldentially, " he looked like a sailor, „r something of that

' Ah, yes-a sailor without an overcoat I \o doubt the
.dea was that I should supply him with one. I saw U all

.eent!::;'''"""'""'-^""™"-^"'''-' "H-you

' " Naiiseu ? Was that the name of the sailor ? The man
without an overcoat :- ■• i"t uian

'"Has he no overcoat? At anv rate he's ...i,,., to
.™- he 0,.eenla„d ice sheet." And Wille ruslielo;i
^vas 111 a liiirry.

' Now IVcfeM.stir „f Botan>- at Clulstia,

11 in U

nnertii

ity.

ir.l

'\i

162

UVK OF FIllDTiOF \AXSKN

t '

' After that ooines another of my colleagues, Professor
Lecke, the zoologist. " Have you seen Nansen ? Isn't lie a
s})lendid fellow ? He has been telling me of many iiUeresting
discoveries about the sex of the myxine — and about his
investigations of the nervous system too. Charming things !
Splendid ! "

'After all these preliminaries, Xansen at last ap})eared
in person — tall and erect, broad-shouldered and powerful,
yet with the grace and suppleness of youth. His rather
rough hair was brushed back from his massive forehead.
He came straight up to me and gave me his hand with a
peculiarly winning smile, while he introduced himself.

' " You are going to cross Greenland ? "

"• Well, I'm thhiking of it."

' I looked him in the eyes. There he stood with the
kindly smile on his strongly-cut, massive face, his complete
self-confidence awakening confidence in others. Although
his manner was just the same all the time — calm, straight-
forward, perhaps even a little awkward — yet it seemed as if
he grew with every word. This plan — this snow-shoe
expedition from the east coast — which a moment ago I had
regarded as an utterly crazy idea, became, in the ("ourse of
that one conversation, the most natural thing in the world.
The conviction possessed me all of a sudden : he will do
this thing, as surely as we are sitting here and talking
about it.

' This man whose name I had never so much as heard
until a couple of hours before, had in these few minutes —
quite naturally and inevitably as it seemed — made me feel as
though I had known him all my days ; and without reflecting
at all as to how it happened, I knew that I should be proud
and happy to be his friend through life.

liis

wi:r!.;i;:i;:::!:*r'"''''""i:^r'^!--

•It ract . ,.,,„„„ „ „,,( „|- „„e„tio,. i„ I),ot,ni„.r„a,.,„

een .00,,. ,.,.,■ ,,„„„, j , , .n,,,,,,,,,;t;

mm at hist f„r ,.i„ acrolKU or i-r,|)«.,l„„o,.r

- o«traI c,u„,,,.an,.lo „f „,e Aoa.,o,„y of Scicoo: ,vWo I'
always so.notl.inf.- a«-o.ins,,i,.i„« al„„. i,

time ,„ the mornmg. We went th,-, ,„.h tho anterooms filM
w .h .nn.era o„cal .pocin.ons an., case. •• Tho. ,.e„
b Bor.ol,u.s .l.,artors," I re,narko,l to Nanson in passin.-

both liands full of retorts and ohoniioals.

' "The old ma,> is inside ; he's up to his eyes in worit "
he wlnspered quietly i„ „,e. i ^ n woik,

'Tlu-ro. in the w^rkrootn, " old ,nan Xor " was wandorin.
ao, dan,on,. asnnnerals. I can never see his strong.

Us boat expedn.on up the Yenisei in 1873. At one point
where t e seas repeatedly threatene,, to swamp the bo '

hours , , "■* "" '■" '"•"^'^ '"■"='^- Tl'™ "« -t for

o s do ng duty ,n a literal sense, as a breakwater. Of
Mich Stuff are Arctic explorers made

■'Ct'trlrv" -^'""'^f ''■'•" •-""' l-f"™«l the introduction.
/-, , Jjergen. ±Je intends to cros«j tlm
Greenland ice sheet " ^

' " Good heavens ! "

' " And he would like to consult you upon the matter."

I 1!

Uii

f]|

■ i

■..^■1
'!!>I

iii

lii

.^^

.1^. -^^

^^'^ -^-nO.

8MAGE EVALUATBON
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

^1^ ll£

12.2

M mil 2.0

11:25 II 1.4

llllli

1.6

Photographic

Sciences
Coiporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

i/.x

164

UFK OF FRrDTlOF NAXSEN

' " I'm delighted to see him. So ! Mr. Naiisen iiitemls to
cross Greenland ? "

' The bombshell had fallen. The friendly, amiable, but
somewhat absent expression he had worn an instant before
had vanished, and his liveliest interest was aroused. He
seemed to be scanning the 3'oung man from head to foot, in
order to see what sort of stuff' he had in him. Then he
burst out with a twinkle in his eye : " I shall make Mr.
Nansen a present of a p;ur of excellent boots ! Indeed, I'm
not joking ; it's a very important and serious matter to have
your foot-gear of the l)est quality."

' The ice is broken. Nansen expounds, Nordenskiold
nods a little sceptically now and then, and throws in a
question or two. He no doubt regarded the plan — at least
so it seemed to me — as foolhardj^ but not absolutely
impracticable. It Avas obvious that Nansen's personality
had instantly made a strong impression on him. He was at
once prepared, in the most cordial manner, to place the
results of his oavu experience at tlie young man's service.

' There were of course numbers of details to be gone
into : the Lapplanders, snow-shoes, sledges and boats — and
then the question whether the drift ice could be crossed as
Hansen had planned. But " the old man was up to his eyes
in work," and it was agreed that Xansen should come again.
Meanwhile, we were to meet the same evening, at the Geolo-
"ical Society. As we were leaving I said aside to Norden-
skiold, " Well, what do you think > I back him to do it."

' " I daresay you're right,'" answered Xordenskiold. But
the sceptical expression was again to the fore.

' After the meeting at the Geological Society, Nansen
accompanied me home. It was pretty well on in the evening.
While we were sitting talking, he genial and at his ease, I

NANSEN'S (UiEEXLAND EXPEDITION 165

quite absorbed in all these new ideas, tliere came a rin-. at
the door, and in walked Xordenskiiild. I at once saw Uiat
he was seriously interested.

' We sat there till the small hours, discussing Arctic and
Antarctic explorations in general, and the Greenland expedi-
tion in particular. It was only four years since Norden-
skiold himself had made his last expedition on the Greenland
ice sheet; and he was at this time, if I remember rightly,
much interested in arranging a combined Australian-Sw^'edish
Antarctic expedition, in which his promising son, G. Norden-
skiold,! who unfortunately died so early, was to have taken
part.

' I was going the next dav to the usual Fourth of
November banquet at the house of the Norwegian Secretary
of State, and I asked Nansen if he would care to have an
mvitation. No, he couldn't well appear on such an occasion
—he had only the clothes he was wearing.

' " But Mr. Nansen can come and dine with me, just as
he IS," suggested NordenskiC.ld with frank cordiality; and
so it was arranoed.

'I cannot say whetiier Nansen, when he returned to
Christiania, a couple of days later, took with him the " ex-
cellent boots," though I know that Nordenskiiild afterwards
sent hnn a pair of snow-spectacles. But, 1)oots or no boots
he certainly took back with him many a valuable hint, and
the assurance of complete sympatliy on the pai-t of the areat
explorer. When, nearly two years later, they again nfet in
Stockholm, the foolhardy plan had been carried out and
the journey over the inland ice from coast to coast was an
accomplished fact.'

Nansen's application to tlie (Wlegmm Academicum for

• Tliree years later this .young man undertook an expedition to Spitsbergen.

166

Llll'] OF FKIDTlOl' XAXSEX

.^,(

the means to earn' out the expedition is dated November
11, 1887. The very first sentence .^roes straiglit to the
lieart of the matter : ^t is my intention next summer to
undertake a journey across the inkuid ice of Greenland
from the east to the west coast.' The amount lie asked for
was 5,000 crowns (less than 300/.). It is so infinitesimally
small in comparison with the magnitude and importance of
the undertaking, that one cannot speak of it now without a
smile. But as yet the project was cmly a project, and the
projector an untried man. The faculty and the council
warmly recommended the scheme to the Government. But
the Government could not see its way to sanctioning it.
One of the official organs was unable to discover any reason
why the Norwegian people should pay so large a sum as
800/. in order that a private individual might treat himself
to a pleasure-trip to Greenland. And undoubtedly the
Government here represented a very large section of the
people. Two widely difierent sides of the Norwegian
♦character were in this case at odds. The love of adventure
is represented in Nansen, the cautiousness, the ' canniness,'
of the Norwegian peasant is represented in the Government.
It is no mere chance that this 800/. should have come from
abroad. For except in scientific circles, and among the
young and ardent, the general opinion certainly was that
Nansen"s undertaking was only worthy of a madman— though
no one actualh- went so far as to have him locked up, like
the man in the London madhouse whom Nansen is so fond
of citing. A comic jKiper in Bergen inserted the following
ad\'ertiseinenr :

Notice.— In the month of June ne.xt, Curator Nansen will give a snow-
shoe display, with long jumps, on the Inland Ice of Greenland. Reserved
seats in the crevasses. Return ticket unnecessary.

NAXSEX'8 GREENLAND EXPEDITION 167

And in private conversation tJie affair was taken mucli
in tl.e same way, when it was not regarded from a more
serious ponit of view, by people wlio tlionulit it sinful to
give open support to a suicide.

Nor was it only the outside public that held these
opmions. Previous explorers of Greenland, who mi.-ht be
supposed to know the local conditions, characterised the
plan as absolutely visionary. Xansen has himself reprinted
in his book a short extract from a lecture delivered in
Copenhagen, by one of the younger Danish explorers of
Greenland. He says: 'Among the few of us who know
sometlnng of the nature of Danish East Greenland, there is
no doubt that unless the ship reaches the coast and waits
tor hmi tdl he is forced to confess himself beaten, it is ten
to one that either Nansen will throw awav M-, own life and
perhaps the lives of otliers, to no purpose ; or else he' will
be picJved up by the Eskimos, and convoyed by them round
Cape Farewell to the Danish stations on the west coast But
no one has any right needlessly to involve the East Green-
landers ni a long journey, which must be in man^- respects
injurious to them.' '

It was, however, from Denmark that the requisite
financial assistance came. Professor Amund Helland, who
had himself been in Greenland, had strongly advocated the
plan in the Dcujblad of Xovember 24, 1887 'After the
experiences of others on the inland ice,' he says, ' and after
what I myself have seen of it, I cannot see why youno- and
courageous snow-shoers, under an intelligent and cautious
leader, should not have every prospect of reachino- the other
side, if only the equipment be carefullv adapted to the
pecuhar conditions. ... All things carefully considered, I
believe there is every likelihood that competent snow-shoers

. i

168

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF XANSEN

should be able to manage this journey without running any
such extreme i-isks as shoukl nuike the expedition in-
advisable. Tliose wlio have travelled some distance on the
mland ice of Greenland number, at present, about twenty
men, and not a single Hfe has been lost in these attempts.'

As a result of this article, Professor Ilelland was able to
announce to the Collegium Academiciim, on January 12,
1888, that Mr. Augustin Gamcl, of Copenhagen, had okered
to provide the 5,000 crowns.

Nansen accepted the generous offer. Afterwards, when
all w^as happily over, people criticised this action. He
ought to have waited patiently till the money turned up
somewhere in Norway. This wisdom after the event is
foolish enough. It ignores the actual facts of the situation.
Nansen had made up his mind to pay for the whole enter-
prise out of his own pocket ; no one in Norway showed the
slightest eagerness to prevent his doing so. And, with all
his self-reliance, lie could not, at that time, regard the
realisation of his idea as a privilege that must be reserved
solely and exclusively for Norway. Tlie situation was
quite different when, five years later, with the eyes of
all the world upon him, he set out for the North Pole.
Then, indeed, it was of the utmost importance that the
money as well as the flag should be Norwegian. The
criticism seems all the emi)tier when we re^inember that the
Greenland Expedition did not cost 5,000 crowns, but more
than three times that amount, and that Nansen himself
would have met this deficit out of his small private means,
had not the Students' Society, after the successful return of
the expedition, set on foot a subscription wliich brouc^ht in
10,000 crowns. ""

It was, as Nansen had said to Dr. Grieg, a hard spring.

NANSKN'S GREENLAND EXPEDITION

1(59

The iirst six niontlis of 1888 passed in one incessant rush.
At the beginning of December 1887 he is back in Bergen.
At the end of January, lie goes on snow-slioes from Eidfiord
in Ilardanger, by way of Xumedal, to Kongsberg, and
thence to Christiunia. In March he is in Bergen again,
lecturing on nature and life in Greenland. One day— or
rather night— we find him camping on the top of Blaaman-
den, near Bergen, to test his sleeping bag, and a week later
he is on the rostrum in Christiania giving his first trial
lecture for his doctor's degree, on the structure of the sexual
organs m the myxine.^ On April 28, he defends his doc-
tonal thesis : The Nerce Elements : their structure and connec-
tion in the central nervous s^jstem—aud on May 2 he sets off
for Copenhagen, on his way to Greenland. ' I would rather
take a bad degree than have a bad outfit,' he used to say to
Dr. Grieg in those days. He succeeded in getting both
good, but only by straining every nerve. On the one hand
he had his scientific reputation to look to, on the other, his
own life and the lives of five brave men ; for he was fully
convinced that, of all the dangers which were pointed out
to him, the most serious by far was the danger of a defective
outfit. On the outfit, more than on anything else, depended
victory or defeat, life or death.

It was in the January number of the periodical Naturen
(1888) that he for the first time made a pubUc statement of
his plan. He explains that by striking inland from the east
coast, he will need to cross Greenland only once. It is true
that by this course retreat is cut off. ' The inhospitable
coast, inhabited only by scattered tribes of heathen Eskimos,
IS by no means an enviable winter residence to fall back

■ The subject of the second lecture was : ' What do we understand bv alter-
nation of generation, and in what forms does it occur ? '

l'\]

1 ■

17(

MIK OF I'UIDTIOF NANSEN

upon in the event of our encountering^ unforeseen oljstacles
in the interior; ])ut tiie less templinjr the line of retreat, tiie
stronger will he the incentive to push on with all our
might.' This is one of the essential points of the plan— all
bridges are to be broken. Here we see the irresistible self-
coiifKlence of genius— its triumphant faith in its power to
reach the goal. The thing that presents itself to oi-dinary
prudence as the (irst necessity, namely, a safe and easy line
of retreat, genius regards rather as a hindi-ance and a thing
to be avoided.

Setzet Ihr iiielit das Leben ein,

Nie wild euch das Leben gewonnen soin.

We will not here dwell upon the other features of the
plan, because in all essentials it was carried out as projected ;
and the modifications which proved necessary are sufficientlv
well known through ^^ansen'sown account of the expedition.
It will be remembered how they were caught in the drift ice,
carried down almost to the southernpoint of Greenland, and
then had to fight their way laboriously north agahi. It will
be remembered, too, that they did not strike inland, as they
intended, north of Cape Dan, but a good way farther south,
and that they reached the west coast, not, as contemplated,
on Disco Bay near Ohristianshaab, IhU at the Ameralikllord
near Godthaab. These alterations are important enough in
themselves, but inessential in relation to the main object.
The plan itself having been set fortli, the article proceeds to
enumerate the scientific problems which may be solved or
brought nearer to a solution by a journey across the iidand
ice. Nansen concludes by quoting Xordenskiold's words in
the preface to his book, The Second Dichon Expedition to
Greenland : ' The investigation of the unknown interior of
Greerdand is fraught with such momentous issues for

NAXHEX'S (JREEXLAXI) EXPKDITIOX

171

science that at present one can hardly suggest a worthier
task for the enterprise of the Arctic explorer.'

Nansen was himself fully conscious of the great scientific
import of the journey he was about to take.

For the rest, this expedition recpiired in its leader a
quite unusual combination of qualities ; an adventurous
imagination to conceive it, a Viking-like hardihood to carry
it through, strenuous physical training throughout child-
hood and youth to enable him to face its fatigues, and self-
sacrificing devotion to science in order to make the most of
the opportunities it afforded. And even more was required.
This young man, whose fame as yet rested entirely upon an
unfulfilled idea, had to take command of a little group of
brave men who all risked their lives exactly as he did, and
among whom were some who themselves had held command.
This was not a company of soldiers to be officered as a
matter of course ; it required a special tact, a peculiar
instinct, to bear oneseU as primus inte)' paves. With all his
proud self-confidence, Nansen had just this instinct. It
springs in part, no doubt, from a strain of gentleness in his
character, but may on the whole be regarded as simply
another manifestation of his singular knack of doiii<^ the
right thing at precisely the right moment. He had been
too early intent on ends of his own to develop what one
would call a specialh' social disposition. ' He is something-
of a soloist,' one of his friends writes to us, ' steadfast
towards those to Avliom he really attaches himself; but
they are not many.' He is too absorbed in his work.
He is not expansive, in the sense of feeling any inborn crav-
ing to make friends. But now, in the moment of need, the
unaffected geniality of his tenqjerament comes out quite
naturally in his relation tt) those who have had the courage

i '

172

MI'K (IK ruiKTioi- \.\.\si:\

un(lth,.,,,si,rl,,f,,pl,,,,i,,i,,,,,,,,i,,,,i,,, ruy,nauoihn-u.v
H<mHlily tl.uu his, tl... wlu.lo undertaking, wonl.l n<.l inn.n.-
Lably Iwivc .on,, to w.vrk, with ll„. ...ost diHastmus .-onse-
r'T ^^''^""^ 1><-«'M sin,,,Iy a .,u.-stioM of nMvhani.vtl
^iLscplnus the spirit of revolt niiol.t ....silv Imve arisen in the
^-onrseof these indescribable hardships, and mined every,
t »"^- As ,t was, all were a^rcvd that, thon^h disenssion
should ol ,.onrse be free, one ninst have- ih.. .Uu-isiv,. voiee
y <l'al one was of no higher rank than the others when
tlKM-e was work t.) be done or hnnger lo b. ..„dnred ; and it
was tins ,-oniplete equality that fonned th,- strongest b.H.d of
union. .Stones have b.vn invented as ,o ,h.> relations 1,.-
tvveen the six Gree.da.ul explorers, some oft hem of a dark
and ahnost tragie tenor. We are abh" to state on the best
"^•";^"-^'.v that all these k-gends, frotn first to last, are the
prodnct oi popular in.agination, whieh, after the tremendous
^■utln|s,asm over Xansen's return, neeessarilv underwent ,
reaetion.

Th,.„u.M «Ik, .,.vo,n,,™i«,! \aiwn wnv Cmiain Otl„
N<-uma„„ Sv,.,d,ui,, b„n, Oclobor ;ll, l8.-,5, i„ l)i,„lale„;

l..eutenunt OI„f n.Hstiau iri.l.so,,. boruJIav ;!1, 18.36

"> j-kogn, „,.,„■ Levang.,.; i'UrM.n Cini^lianson Tranu.bon,'

HW.V .(^ ]S(rsa, rlHMann ,,!■ Trana, ,,,.a,- Slenkj,.,;

l«»ul.jthei«„ Lapps. .SanuK.l Muunu^m Hallo, a..v,l 27
an.l a Xil.en Havna, afjo,! 40. All ,!„.«. nanu.s hav.- Ix-'
.ome lm,„ri,.al. To .he two ih-st-me„tio,„.,l in pa,n,.„lar n
f;.-..at shar.. ,„ ihe ,.re,li. of tl.,. ,.xp„ll,i„„ is ,lu,-. Tl„. wlu.I,.
omhscl worW is i,„l,.bte<l lo them, ami Xa„.,.,. ,„ost oi' all
•leople are veiy ,-ea,ly,' he savs i„ ii„. p,,faee ,o 77« Firs,
Cn,.su,., ,;,■ Gm.n!,n,d, -to heap the „l,„le blame of a,i u„-
sttoeessful e.xpeai,ion, but also the whole hoMour of a success-
ful .me, t,po>, the shot.hlers of the lea.le,-. This is parliculai-ly

NANSIIN s (iKKKNLANJ) EM'KIMTlON

178

unfair in tho ciisc of siu-l, an cxix-diij,,,, .-is lli.. piest-nt, where
Ihv iv«ult (IcpoiKU „i, .■ihs„hu,,.ly „„ „n,. lUlliMo- short, on
every one fiUinnr l,i,s pi.,,,, entirely and at every point.'

For the hves of all these men Hansen liad'now assumed
the r..spoMsil,ility, sc. far as th,- pla>n.inK and n.ai.a-enient of
the journey was coneenuMl ; an.) his resp.msihiHtv l.e^^an
with theoutlit. Wilh renanl ,o this essential mattc^r, all
the qualities vve have I.,,,, dweliiuj: upon vv(.uld have been
of no avail, had ho not |,os8ess„l one other, of tl„. first im-
portance. He was .•iccust..med (o s„. thiuus lor himself.
He was an observer not ,,uly iu the domain of scienee, but
also in that of pnu^tieal life. As a boy, h.. pulled the sewinjr
niaehine to pieces to see h..w it was made,.and as ., vounJJ
>'>.*"i he had none deeply int.. the question of the nutritive
value of the various luod-stnlls. He had an eminently
practical and mchanic-d t.d.Mit ; and he had l)een born with
the instinct of tj„. Voun.uest Son in the fairy tale, for i)icking
lip a ma-pie's wIul' whenever he .•ame across it, since you
never could tell wiien it might ,<mie in useful. Xodoubt he
had learnt much in his brief (,)nsultations with Nordeii-
skiiild, whose numer..us e.xpeditions had always been con-
si)icuous for their <'areful and excellent equipment. Hut the
expedition now in hand must be set about on an entirely
orioinal plan, since they were to have neither reindeer nor
ch)gs, but were themselves to be their own beasts of burden
and drag every crumb of food .,nd every instrument. Xow
was the time to a.-t up to the Xansen motto 'To recpiire
little.' The thing was to ascertain what food-stufls combine
a maximum of nourishment with a minimum of weight ; and
equally important was the consideration of the means of
transport to be employed. The lightness of evervthing was
the cardinal point which distinguished the Kansen expedition

Mri'] Ol' llfinridl' NANSKN

)'■

rn.Mi III! ofhcrs. M,irl,t.i,.sM Ixranir a sli.dv, .in ;.il. Xun^i,.,,
Im'«'«l('(l on tlic |.n.l,I,.Mi l.y .lay. an,l divaint ..f it at i.i-l.i.
1-ike Macbt'lli, he was haiiiitcd with visions „f insiiljsfairtial
tollclaiirs (slicatli knives).

Kvcrythin^r was nunutcly <-nfirist.(l, fn.n. tl,r raw
nialciial ui) to the (inisht'd imxliu-t. M.-mv of the most
important .•u'ti.d.vs Naiiscii dcsi^M.-d for Iiinis.-If. F.-om Ids
dcl.ailcd dcscriiWi.m of ||„. o„((i, .vc r.-prodiuv in a few
words flu. (..S8euti;d points :- Five speciallv constructed liand-
sled-es of ash, with broad steel-plated runners. These
sled-es were ..hout !) ft. (', i,,. Jon. |,y 1 fi. 8 in. broad, yet
wei-hed, with the shrl ruiuiers, only a little over 28 lbs.
They were so exeelh-ntly made that in spite of the tremen-
dous wear and t.'ar they were subjected to not one of them
broke. Xext came Norwegian snow-shoes (.v/l-/) of the most
careful make, .-.s well as Canadian snow-shoes and Norwcdan
wi<.kerwork tn,„'r. The last were used particmlarlv in
ascendmo- the outer slop,, of flu- inland ice, and on wet snow
where ./•/ were useless. The tent was furnished l,v Lieu-
tenant Ryder, of Copenhaoen. It was just large enmndi to
accounnodate the two sleeping-l)ags side by side upon tJie
floor. The dress of the party consisted of a thin woollen
vest and woollen drawers; over the vest a thick Iceland
jersey ; and for outer garments, jacket, knickerbockers and
thn-k snow-socks on the legs, all made of Norwegiai. home-
spun. For windy and snowy weather thcA- had an outer dress
of tlun sad-,^lotli. Their foot-gear consisted of boots with
pitched seams and Lapland hn/parsko, a sort of moccasin.
On their heads they wore woollen caps ami hoods of home-
spun, woollen gloves on their liaiuls, and in extreme cold an
extra pair of dogskin gloves. For their eyes they had snow-
spectacles, .some of smoke-coloured glass with baskets of

NANHKN's (• ! K.N LAN I) KXIMIIMTION

176

stCcI-win. M.-lwork, so,,,.. .,f l.|a.-k w.,n,l wit), l„„-i/o„(aI

<lil

H' provisions consislcd iiiiiiiily of jmmii

pOWdcl'. (!llOOol;il(', CJllf-j

nnojui, meat-

us hiillilii'hri)<l, ii,uat 1:

ohccMc, pea-soup powdcc, clioeolat

ivei- piilc, a Hwt'disli l>is(;iiii ki

lowii

'I'licy look two doii])l('-hai'r-elled

is«'iiits, l)iilfer, di-i,.d halihiit, a little
»', ;md condensed milk.

gims foi- i-epleiiisliin.r their

larder. The cooking appanitiis was a spirit-hnrnin" eon-
tnvan.-e devised by Nanseii a,..l a cl.en.ist named Schmelck,
"ipo'i which they .■.xpended much iahon,-. \o spj.-its fo,- eon-
siimption ; some tea, a littU; (^ofTee, a httle tobacco. ()„ the
other hand, an abumhmce of scientific instruments. .Vnd to
comph'le the hst, tarpaulins, which on th(> i,dand ice wLre
sometimes used as sails ; bam],oo poles ; aud a (juantity of
tools aud small necessaries of various kinds, f,-on, matches
and a few candles, down to darning needles-everything of
course as light as possiljle.

Tn only one single respect did this e,,uipment p,-ove in-
adequate. The penunican, which should have been the
staple of their diet, had in the couise of n.anufacture been
deprived of all fat, and Nansen did not discover the fact until
the last moment. The ,-esult was that they suffered after a
whde from ^ fat-hunge,-, of which no one who has not experi-
enced it can form any idea.' Even during the last days
wlien they had as much dried meat as they wanted, they did
not feel satisfied.

How easy it would have been in this terra innu/nita for the
outat to have fallen short in other respects ! For one thing
no one in the least foresaw that the expedition would, at this
tune of the year, be exposed to such severe cold as was found
to prevail on the inland ice. It was a new and unknown
meteorologuial phenomenon which the expedition encoun-

17S

LIFE OF FKTDTIOF NANSEX

i i
II

I ■

tered. If Nansen had clioseii woollen sleeping-bags instead of
those of reindeer-skin wliich he at last determined on, he and
his comrades, as he himself admits, wonld scarcely have
reached the west coast alive.

Yes, a great deal might have happened ; but luck was
on Isansen's side. His good genius was ver^- active in all
that concerned this, his first great undertaking. But in the
last analysis, no doubt, the man ivho has ' the luck on his
side 'is he who shov/s capacity, foresight, genius, and does not
pit himself against forces which are in the nature of thinos
unconquerable.

^ We cannot condude these lines on the preparations for
tne Greenland expedition without mentioning that Xansen
was in constant communication witli one of tlie most notable
of the explorers of Greenland, Dr. H. Rink, (hw service
that Rmk certainly rendered him was to throw into stron-
rehef the perils of the expedition, although there were
moments when the enfeebled and nervously conscientious
old man reproached himself with not having dwelt on them
sufficiently. Miink at first regarded the plan,' his wiiV
writes to us, ' as a mere romantic fancy. And the more he
pondered it, and the more he became attached to the man
who was to carry it out, the more perilous did it become in
Ins eyes, until at last lie blamed himself severely for not
having, in the course of all their discussions, painted in
strong enough colours the dangers to which he beIie^-ed
the expedition would be exposed. So, expressly on this
account, we invited Xansen to pay us another viJit. That
evening we spent for the most part in looking at pictures of
Greenland, in a quieter and more serious frame of mind, cm
the whole, than on pre^-ious occasions, when there had been
a vast amount of jesting over the chances (cannibalism not

XAXSEN'S GKEENLAND EXPEDITIOX I77

excepted) that luiglit beial! the expedition on the ice fields
Un tliese occasions everybody used to haugh very heartily
except liink. And I ren.ember I had to bear all the blame
ot tins unseendy conduct after the party broke up '

In Rhik's house, too, they used 'to take lessons in
Esknno when time permitted. Sverdrup tried it first ; but
he could not get his tongue round the Greenland idiom

t?P rUT.'""^ "' ''■ '^"^^"^^^^^ ™^-^^'' -rites
Mr . lank, I had pitched apon these two as the predestined

spokesmen of the expedition, and did not offer to give
Hansen any lessons. Whereupon he said, as though a little
Imrt: 'Mayn't I try too ? '-and he went at it with the
earnestness and perse^■erance that are such charming traits
m his character. How remarkably he succeeded in pickinc.
up the language, the Eskimos themselves bear witness ' ^

The last evening Xansen was at Eink's house, Mrs Kink
acconipanied him to the door. ' I said,' she writes, ' what
bad often occurred to me, " You nnist go to the Xorth Pole
too some day." He answered emphatically, as though he
had long ago made up his mind on the point, " I mean to." '

' See Chajjier XVII.

, I

r ji

178

LIFE OF riilDTIOF NAXSEN

CHAPTER XI

ACROSS GKEi:XLAXD

Ox May 2, 1888, Nansen started from Cliristiania, by way of
Copenhagen and London, for Leitli, where he was to nieet
the rest of tlie party, who had gone, with the whole ontfit,
from Cln-istiansand direct to Scotland.

From Scotland they proceeded to Iceland by the Danish
steamer TInjvn. Xot nntil June 4 did they join the sealer
Jason (Captain ]\I. Jacobsen) which was to carry them over
to the east coast of Greenland— under the express stipula-
tion, however, that the vessel should not be hindered in its
sealing operations for the sake of landing the party.

On Monday, June 11, they had their first ghmpse of the
east coast of Greeidand, sighting the high rugged peaks nortli
of Cape Dan at about the latitude Avhere, in 1883, Norden-
skiiild had succeeded in getting through the drift ice with
the Sophia. The ice belt between the vessel and the coast
proved, however, to be still so wide (from nine to ten miles
of rough ice) as to render any attempt to reach the land un-
advisable for the present. They had to wait about a month
for a favourable opportunity of leaving the Jiwr;;/, which was
bound to remain in the region where the seal-hunting was
likely to be good. Meanwhile, Xansen acted as ' doctor ' to
the whole fleet of sealers, and had to possess his soul in
patience imtil the sealing season was practically over.

ACIiOSS UIJEEXLAXD jyc)

1^6. .V at.) tliat Hansen detennined to force a passl<re
thro>,gh the comparatively .arrow belt of drift ice '

wlncl^'!," '""""^"'^ '" "'" '^''P^li'ion. and a smaller one
«h.ch the captam of the Jason had placed at their disposal!

ll.VVNA.

CHIlI'<lIAV>Ky.

NA.VSKX

wi.nui,-.,.uN-. svEituiar.

THE MKMBKRS OF THK GREENLAND EXPEDITION:

were therefo.-e lowered, the baggage packed and stowed in
t e boats, and every preparation pron.ptly made. At 7 p m
all was ready for a start. Xansen went np into the crowV
iiest for a last survey of the course, and saw plainly, with the
aid o the glass, a belt of open water between the drift i e
and the shore.

'We are taking to our boats with the firmest hope of a

K 2

180

LIFJ'] OF FUIDTIOF NANSEN

i>\ ,;:

%«

f»!

successful issue to our enterprise,' Hansen wrote in a letter
to the Morgenblad, hastily scribbled at the last moment.

It was soon apparent that their hopefulness was, at the
xeij outset, to be put to a severe test. After they had
tried tlie whole ni^jht lonir, in storm and rain, to get through
the drift ice opposite tlie moutli of the Sermilikfiord, the
ice became so packed by the current that, in the early
morning, they had to drag their boats up on the floes.
One of the boats Avas injured by the pressure of the ice, so
that it had to be repaired in hot haste ; and during the
short time lost in doing this tliey were caught in a strong
southerly current, and swept seaward again at a great speed.
At 6 o'clock on the 19th they found that they were already
twice as far from land as wlien they had left the ship.

There Avas nothing for it l)ut to drift southward with the
ice until an opportunity sliould offer of getting in under the
land again.

For ten days the expedition drifted along the east coast
of Greenland as far down as the island of Kudtlek, 61° 40'
N. lat., at an average rate of nearly six knots in the twenty-
four hours. Quite apart from tlie very serious dangers to
which Xansen and his comrades were exposed diirinij this
drift voyage, the expedition was carried a long way from its
projected starting-point, and had lost a great deal of very
precious time. It was not till July 20 that they succeeded
in setting foot on dry land, and thus the best part of the
summer was already gone.

Nansen has given a vivid descriiition of this interesting
drift voyage, and of lile on the ice floe which, tossed about
l)y the waves and 1)reakers, and repeatedly cracked and
broken, was yet the abiding-place of tlic expedition duiing
all these days. With t1ie mountains of the coast so near

ACIIOSS GllEENLAXU

181

that in brio-lit weather tliey could clearly distinguish their
outlines, they were steadily borne southwards, further and
further from their jroal.

The night of July 20 might easily have been their last
The ice floe on which they were drifting had come ri.rht
out to the verge of the open sea, which was running very
high, so that the surf kept on washing over the floe almost
up to the tent. Had the lloe been crushed, tliev might very
likely have found it impossible to launch the boats in such
a furious sea, and among the clashing masses of ice. In
any case they could not have saved more than one of the
boats, and the most indispensable part of the provisions and
e(iuipment. One scarcely knows which to admire the most
— Sverdrup, who kept the night watch, pacing calm and
composed, with his quid in his cheek, up and down the floe
between the tent and the boats, many times on the point of
loosening the hooks of the tent-flap to make them all turn
out, but always staying his hand— or Hansen and Dietrich-
son, who lay quietly asleep in the tent, while the surf roared
and rattled the ice-brash over the rocking floe, and swept
ever nearer and nearer until it lapped the very edge of the
tent. But just as the outlook was blackest, the floeluddenly
changed its course, headed shorewards once more 'as if
guided by an unseen liand,' and was soon in safer waters.

Nansen and his companions had a hard time of it during
these perilous, exciting days on the ice floe. They did no^t
so much mind their toil in the rain and surf, fruitlessly
striving to force a passage through openings in the ice pack";
they did not so much mind their scanty diet of raw horse-
flesh, &c. (the cooking apparatr. ivas only once liohted
during their days of drifting) ; they did not so much 'inind
the dangers that threatened them on everv hand ; but tUey

1-.

182

LIFE OF FIJIOTIOF NANSEN

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dreaded the prospect of haxing to give up for that season
the journey across the inland ice. These wasted days were
trying days indeed.

When the news o^ the success of the expedition reached
Stockholm, Nordenskiuld pointed out, as the strongest proof
of the admirable energy displayed during the entire journey,
that when at last they had got through the belt of drift ice
they instantly set to work to row nortliwards again, in order
to reach the proper point for attacking the ice sheet. They
had, in a way, made an unfortunate and discouraging start.
It was already well on in the summer, the supply of pro-
visions was not over-abundant, and— civilisation was, more-
over, within temptingly easy reach. They were now only
180 miles from the nearest ^colony, Frederiksdal, while the
Sermilikfiord, the starting-point originally fixed upon, was
nearly twice as distant, The mere foct of their resisting the
temptation to put off till the following year may be called
truly heroic; not many would have shown such "resolution.
But for them the temptation was no temptation at all. It
did not enter their thoughts that there was anything to be
done except to head the boats northwards as quilkly as
possible. ^ And it was not with anxious fear, but with
radiant joy that they now saw a clear water-way before
them.

The first problem, that of getting through the drift
ice with whole skins, was thus solved— with great labour,
it is true, and loss of precious time, but nevertheless
solved. It had been prophesied that even this would prove
impracticable ; for a long series of vain attempts had shown
that it was next thing to impossible to penetrate the ice belt
south of the sixty-sixth degree of latitude. Xot until 1883
had Xordenskiold, with the steamer Soj^/da, succeeded in

ACROSS GREENLAND

183

reaching the coast near Cape Dan (King Oscar's Haven).
So mnch tlie more daring was it on Nansen's part to make
the attempt.

But now the thing was to make all speed northward.
The best of the summer was gone. If they were to have
any chance of reaching the west coast that year, they must
go at it ill earnest. And they did go at it in earnest.

rUISOUTOK

On the day of their landing at Kekertarsuak they had a
lordly repast of hot chocolate and extra rations of oat cake,
Swiss cheese, mysost (goat's milk cheese), and cranberry jam,
to celebrate their landing ; but after that their meals con-
sisted of cold Avater, biscuits, and dried beef— they could
not waste time in cooking until they had in some measure
made up what they had lost in the ice drift. It was a toil-
some journey by boat northward alono- the coast. For louf^

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184

IJl'E OF Fi;[l)T[or NANSEX

^< I

distances tliey liad to exert all their .strength to force the
ice floes apart in order to get the boats tlirough the narrow
channels between them; and sometimes they had to drag
the boats over the ice, skirting the low barren coast, with
glaciers and snow fields coming right down to the margin
of the sea. They g„t safely past the dreaded glacier
Tuisortok (near it, at Cape BiUc, they came upon an en-
campment of heathen Eskimos, of which Xansen has given
a highly interesting description), and they forced "their
way Avith the greatest difliculty through a closely packed
belt of drift ice south of Ingerkajarfik. At Mogens
Heinesens Fiord the appearance of the coast altered. Fmni
this point northward there is a long stretch of bare coast-
land, with a view of high inountain ranges, ' summit on
summit, and rank behind rank.'

By dint of constant battling with the drift ice and the
current, the expedition reached Xunarsuak (62° 48' N. lat.)
on August 3. From this point they tried to sail, but the
wind soon rose to a ten>pest which was near proving fatal,
for the boats were on the point of being crushed between'
the ice floes, got their oars and thole-pins' smashed, and were
separated into the bargain. It was a hard pinch, but by
putting forth all their strength tliey got through it at last,
and the tent was pitched on a patch of soft greensward on
GrifTenfeldt's Island, for the highly needful repose after an
exhausting day. A feast of splendid hot carraway soup,
' never to be forgotten,' Avas the reward of their toils.

On August 5 the boats narrowly escaped being crushed
by the falling of a fragment of an iceberg, and ' after almost
incredible labour ' they reached in the evening an islet at
the mouth of the Inugsuarmiut fiord, where they intended
to rest for the night. But from here thoy perceived that

ACIiOSS UlJEEXLANl)

18.-)

the water was open ahead, the fiord lying smooth as a
inirror ; so tlieir rest had to be adjourned. Forward again I
They certainly did 'go at it in earnest.'

At Singiartuarfik, on August G, they again fell in with
Eskimos. Then northward again, now in open water, now
fighting with drift ice, always on cold dry diet which was
served out, moreover, in very scanty rations. They were
never really satisfied, not even directly after eating ; but
Nansen ' said they had had enough, so enough it had to
be,' as Christiansen put it. To the Lapps, who naturally
had no very clear notion beforehand of what they had em-
barked upon, this perpetual fighting with drift ice, and
ftisting on top of it, began to seem rather depressing.

The coast now became less precipitous again, and the
mountain contours rounder, and the explorers began to
think of landing and begimiing their journey proper. On
August 8 they reached Bernstorfi-'s Fiord (Kangerdlugsuak)
at about 631° N. lat. The fiord was brimful of glacier ice,
many of the huge icebergs rising out of the water to a height
of over two hundred feet (six or seven times as much being
under water), and running to a mile or so in breadth, some"-
times flat-topped, sometimes jutting forth into the most fan-
tastic peaks, pinnacles, and crests. These colossal masses
were so innumerable that they threatened to bar all advance.
From the top of one of them the eye ranged over an
' alpine world of floating ice.'

At last chinks were discovered even in this barrier— open
channels ' with a narrow strip of sky visible between high
walls of ice.' And ' although huge icebergs more than once
collapsed, or capsized with a mighty crash, and set up a
violent sea-w^ay,' here, too, they at last got out of their diffi-
culties for the moment. That night they slept in the sleeping-

186

LII'K OF FinDTlUl'- XANSEN

bags alone, uijon a rock so small that tiiere was not room to
pitch the tent.

In a more and more open water-way they pressed on
northwards, with masses of ice breakin«' off from the <dacier,s
and icebergs on every side. On Augnst 0, while they were
in the act of forcing asunder two floes, among a nundjer of
icebergs, a huge piece of an iceberg fell down with a mighty
crasli upon the floe they were standing on, smashing it and
violently churning up the sea. ' Had we gone to that side
a few moments earlier, as we originally intended, we should
almost certainly have been crushed to death. It was tlie
third time such a thing had hajjpened to us,' Hansen says in
his account of the expedition, characteristically describing it
as ' an odd occurrence.' Well may it be called ' odd ' ! llow
does it happen that some men come safe and sound through
all such adventures ; go voyages on ice floes and sleep un-
disturbed Avhile the surf is on the point of breaking up the
fragile barrier between them and eternity; row in boats
under toppling icebergs, and get clear of them two minutes
before they fall ; plump into fissures in the iidand ice at the
very points where their arms and their alpenstocks can save
them ; row for days in dangerous waters in nutshell boats
improvised out of sail-cloth, and get in just in time to
escape storms and certain destruction ; sleep on the ice in
a temperature of -45° C. (-40° Falir.) without freezing
to death ; fall into the ice-cold water half a score of times
not only without drowning, but without so much as taking
cold ; lead a dog's life of toil and hunger for months at a
stretch, and come out none the worse for it ; while others
— alas ! one has no heart to insist on the contrast. But truly
it may well be called ' odd ' !

Let us admit that ninety-nine hundredths of this ' devil's

I! : 11

ACROSS GREENLAND

187

' I

own luck' is due to liaviug an eye on t'\'ery finger, so to
speak — is clue to the sound mind in the sound body — to the
alert capacity of genius — to tlie indomitable energy of the
man with a vocation. Granted all this, how are we to account
for the remaining hundredth ?
• These Greeidand explorers are in league with destiny!

When Njaal and his sons were hard bestead, Njaiil would
have had them give in ; and one of the sons agreed with
him that that was ' the best they could do.' Whereupon
Skarphedin answered : ' I am not so sure of that, for now he
is fey.' The Saga-man would have us understand that he
who is ' fey,' who is marked for death, has no longer
complete control of his will and his intelligence.

These young men were not ' fty ' in any sense of the
word.*

They now pressed forward in tolerably open Avater past
the glacier-bound coast near Gyldenliive's Fiord and Col-
berger Ileide, and at last, at eight o'clock in the evening of
August 10th, in a thick fog, they made their final landing
on the north side of Umiviksfiord. They were now" done
with the boats, and were overjoyed to haul them up on land,
Nansen meanwhile making the coffee ' for the second hot
meal in twelve days.'

After Nansen and Sverdrup had assured themselves, by a
laborious reconnaissance on the 11th of August, that it w^as
possible to make the ascent of the inland ice from Ilmivik,
the following days were devoted to all kinds of repairs of
foot-gear, sledge-runners, &c., the final packing of the bag-
gage, and, in short, the most careful preparation for the

' The woiil in the orighml is 'feij;,' which means not only 'fey,' but
* cowardly.'

188

IJI'K OI" I'lUDTlUl' NANHKX

I";

joiinicy that lay before them. J)uiiiin all these (hiys the
weather was mihl and eahii, with a ^ivat (h;il of rain —
weather in which it would not in any case liave been
advisable to make a start.

At last, at nine in the evening- on August Jdih every-
thino- was in order for the ascent. The l);i<fo;,u(. was stowed
oil four sledges each carrying about 220 lbs., and a fifth,
somewhat larger sledge, carrying abtmt doubh' that amount,
This last was therefore drawn by two nun, Xansen and
►Sverdrup.

The a,scent of the ice was very steep, ,so that their [)ro-
gress was slow, and, although they at (li-st travelled Ijy night,
the surface was st)ft. The ice was full of crevasses, yet not
so diflicult but that tjiey could manage to get across them.
It rained a good deal, too, so that they were wet to tlifj skin.
For three days and nights, from noon on the 17th till the
morning of the 2t)th, the weather was so execral)le, with
torrents of rain and wind, that there was nothing for it but
to keep to the tent. They were not very agreeable days,
especially as the supply of provisions was so small that
Nansen decided that one uieal a day nuist suflice while they
were doin<r nothin<>-.

On the 20th they were able to start off ;igain. It was
frightfully slow going, over the steep surface, full of rents
and lissures. On the 21st it cleared u]), and there w.-i-;
frost enough to make the snow iirmer. From that dav
till they reached the west coast they found no drinkiug
water anywhere, and consequently suffered from a burning
thirst. While on the march they got nothing to drink but
just what they could melt by the warmth of their own
bodies. They filled tnudl flat pocket-flasks with snow and
carried tliem in UnAx ijriists, often next the skin, until the

ACUOHH UUKKNI.AND

18!)

snow was incited. In such intense cold as they encountered
latci-. flicsc were luird-earned chops.

Wlien llu'v luriied out at two o'clock on the inoniin<r of
tlie 22n(l, they found a frozen suiface. They were now at
a hei^dit of about 3,000 feet, and thought they had ^'ot over
the worst of the ascent. Hut the ice was still very uneven,
and the labour of diajjfjfin^- alon^r the heavy sled^'es was
terril)le — ' the strain on the n])|)er part of the body was very
tryiiifT, and our shoulders fdt as if ijicy were burnt by the
ropes.'

From the 24th onwards they travelled by day. The
cold now be^^iii to iticreasc rapidly. Xevertheless, except
for a single day, the surface was still, as a rule, extremely
heavy, on account of the loose snow into which the sled<n's
sank deep; and on the 2Gth thevhad, in addition, a re<rular
snowstorm. The ascent was still so steep (a gradient,
sometimes, of 1 in 4) that it would often take three men to
pull each sledge, so that they had to cover the ground
several times over. No wonder that Christiansen, who, as a
rule, never o[)('ncd his mouth, should have said to Dietric]i.son
after one of tliese return journeys: 'Good Lord! to think
of i)eople being so cruel to themselves as to go in for this
sort of thing.' The expedition had then reached a height
of about 0,000 feet.

This weather, with wind and snow-flurries, continued
during the following days. Although they tried to make
use of tlie wind l)y rigging up tarpauliiv sails on the sledges,
they nevei-theless got on so slowly that it began to dawn on
Nansen thai, at this rate, there would bo small prospect of
reaching Christianshaab now that the season was so far
advanced. On the 28th, therefore, he determined to take a
diircivni direction, and steer due west, for Godthaab. or

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190

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

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-i.

rather for the shores of the Ameralikfiord (64° 10'), directly
south of Godthaab, a considerably nearer point on the west
coast. This proposition was received with joy by everyone,
and they set off through tlie snow with the same unremitting
toil, although in a slightly different direction.

The projecting peaks (nunataks) which, up to this point,
they had passed from time to time, now disappeared ; the
last glimpse of bare rock was seen on August 31. After
that nothing but ice and snow met their view until they
reached the west coast.

Still their course lay steadily upwards. The snow-field
rose in long, gentle waves, higher and higher toward the
interior.

For weeks they fought their way inland in this fashion,
one day exactly resembling another, and full of endless toil
from morning till night. The surface of the snow was now
smooth and even as a mirror, broken only by the tracks
they themselves made with their feet or their sledges. The
snow, frequently fresh-fallen, was, as a rule, fine and dry,
and therefore exceptionally heavy to drag the sledges
through. The day's march under these conditions was not
long — not more than from five to ten miles, although they
were now able to use snow-shoes.

As they advanced the cold became more and more severe.
When the weather was fine, indeed, the midday sun was
often quite oppressive, and their feet would get wet in the
slush ; but as soon as the sun went down, they felt the cold
of the nights so much the more keenly — and they were often
in danger of having their wet feet frost-bitten. ' It often
happened, when we came to take off our laupar-shoes of an
evening, that we found them frozen fast in one solid piece
with snow-sock and stockir,<y.'

ACROSS (lUEENLAND

191

On September 11, the temperature at night within the
tent was under -40° C. (-40° Fahr.), and outside the
tent probably under -45° C. (-49° Fahr.). The difference
between the day and the night temperature was often more
than 20° C. (86° Fahr.). Even inside the closed sleeping-
bag, the cold was so severe that when they awakened the'y
would often find their heads completely surrounded with ice
and hoar frost. ' To be obliged to be out constantly in such
cold is not always agreeable,' says Nansen in his book. ' It
often happened that so much ice formed about the face that
the beard was absclutely frozen fast to the wrappings round
the head, and it was difficult enough to open the mouth to
speak.' When in addition to the frost there came a snow-
storm, we can readily understand that it was no joke for them
to drag themselves, each with a heavy sledge as well, day
after day across the interminable ice desert, at an altitude of
8,000 or 9,000 above the sea. From September 4 to 8,
they encountered a furious snow-storm, with a temperature
of -40° Fahr. On the Ttli indeed they dared not stir from
their tent, which was carefully hauled taut, lest the wind
should blow it to shreds— in which case, no doubt, their sat^a
would have been over. But when it was at all possible
their daily life followed its regular course ; and in spite of
cold and snow-storm, thirst, ' fat-hunger,' and other hard-
ships, they toiled steadily on towards the west coast. On
Septemljer 5 they passed the highest point on their route
8,860 feet.

On September 11 and 12 they were at a height of about
8,o00 feet ; and from here began a perceptible, if not very
marked, down gradient towards the west. On the 16th they
came upon several pretty sharp declivities, and when the

i i

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1!I2

LIFH OF FIllDTIOK NAXSKX

tcmpcivifurc at iiinli! 'just failed to i-cacli zero' they all Telt
that it was (iiiite mild.

On tlie 17th tl ley saw a snow-l)iiiitiiin-, and knew tliey
must now he nearinuf 'land.'

On the 19th they had a favouraljle wind, and hoisted .sails
on the sledu'es, which they hislicd together, two and two.
They Avere soon going at a si)anking pace, and now at last

I'NDKli SAIL IN THK MOONLIGHT -CHKVASSKS AIlKAl) !

tliey were disthictly upon the downward slope towards the
coast. Late in the afternoon thov saw ' land ' for the (irst
time. They went on sailing in the moonlight, and very
nearly sailed their last voyage, for they had now reached the
iissured marginal zone of the inland ice, with its yawning
crevasses many hundred feel deep.

Xanscn himself liad the fingers of l)()tli hands frosl-bilten
that evening, and snfl'civd 'nlniosi intolerahle ])nin ' (it

ACROSS (UJKEXLAxNJ)

J9*

must l.av. IxMM. Uid indeod ! ). Tlwy had little omnurh i„
;''^'' '""' '"'^ '<"• .'til this tl..y<-n.vdnot a whir, fo,"t]H.v
knew nou- iIkK tlioy were neurino- tlic urst coast

'n>(. n,.xl iHornincr (Sepr.mlM.r I!)) wlu.i they looked

;'^";^' "'<' «'"t, a.id s;nv (1.0 whol. country south of Godl-

-d>s.o.lsp,..doutl>clo..c,hcn,, ouc oau^uess what

-'■•""-•• '^■"l'>.;.s. ' We were liiccchildrcn-alun.p rose

'" our.hn.us while our eyes followed the valleys au<l

souo-ht ui vaiu lorao-linipseof (hcsea;

'I'l';- -xl day they ndvan<-cd pretty briskly, akhouoh

^vuh the .nva.est c.ution, on account of the numenn.s

fissures, anion,- wlnVh they ha.l n.any narrow escapes.

Outheevcnn.,ofthe21s.,lor,hc Hrst tin.e since leav in-
he east c-oast, ,hcy found wa.er, an<l after several weeks ol"

thirst wer,. able to drink freely. ' We ,ould positively feel

'""^, h.iJs.\,iii!,(j]L J licsfi were iiieiiioni,-
Uc (lays lor lliom all.

'""'^' ''"'•' '" """• '-'»•"■''- A,u,.,-a]iknonl; but it wa,

■■'" ^"'™"''" " •'■ 'li"i<'"llics. Tin- ice. .soot,be,,»n« torriblv

.."even, an,! lull .,f cracks a,„I classes o„ all sicl,*-.^,,,,,!
...nc, «., i,„|,,..ssal,le .],at ll„,v l,a,l ,„ ,„ak,.. 1„„,, <,e,„u,.s.
Several tunes, „„<■ or another ol' ,l,e,„ „o„l,l (M into a
crevasse, 1„„ wnul.l Generally ,na„a«e to get Lis alpeu»tock
fi.xe,l l,ke a I,„nzo,ital bar across ,1„. fissure. 'It ™s odd
euough that uoue of us f,.|| in auv deeper '

I" si-ile or uulold didiculli.; aud dangers .]„,. „„,,.
""•"- «ay durn.o. the s„cceediM;,,l..,ys across this treacherous
...ar^uud zoue, aud at last on Septeud.er lit reacl,ed naked
sod, and had ,he i.dand i.^e for .ver behind the.u 'Xo
words can possibly ,lescribc. wl,.„ i,, „.,, ,„ „^ ,„^.;.^ /
>.'.ve earth an,l stones un.Ier our feet-the sense of veil
'"""""'■■" ""■' ' ""™Kl' ■-■vn- ucvve whe,> we fel, ,hj

194

LIFE OF FIlIIvnOF NANSEX

heather springing under our step, and smelt the marvellinis
fragrance of grass and moss.'

Their difficulties, liowever, were not yd over — they liad
still a good way to go down the long Austmamiadal, and
now everything had to be carried on their backs. This
final stage they accomplished in the following clays, and at
last the fiord was reached.

Here Sverdrup and Balto set to work to stitch together

NANSKN AND SVi:if KKir IN TllK t'ANVAS 1K)AT

the hull of a canvas boat, using for the purpose the sail-cloth
floor of the tent ; while Xansen cut willow-wands to make
the frame. Oars Avere improvised out of bamboo staves
and split willow-branches covei'ed with sail-cloth. For
thwarts they had nothing but a theodolite-stand and two
thin bamboo rods.

It was an uncouth nutshell of a boat, about 8 feet lo'ig,
not quite 4 feet 6 inches wide, and scarcely 2 feet deep. It

ACROSS (illEEXLANI)

195

was just big enough to hold Nansen and Sverdrup, and the
most necessary baggage ; and they had to keep their ton^n.es
pretty straight in their mouths, or it wouhl have capsizc'd
After a terrible lousiness in getting boat and bag^rage
.rough the nver deha and across a clayey spit of land ^o
he open water, en Septend3er 29, Nansen and Sverdrup at
last rowed off down the Ameralikfiord. Although the boat
could scarcely be classed as Al, and leaked so that it luul
to be baled every ten minutes, it nevertheless carried them
to then- journey's end.

They had favoural)le weather on the whole, and, by dint

of great exertions, they brought their coracle safe and sound

o Aew Ilerrnhut at midday on October 3. Scarcely had

^ley got ashore, when a terrific southerly gale came on.

±rom ^e^y Ilerrnhut they went overland to Godthaab

Dietnchson, Christiansen, and the two Lapps, who had
remamed behmd at the head of the Ameralikfiord witli
the bulk of the baggage and no great store of provisions,
were brought off in safety as soon as the weather permitted •
and thus, on October 16, did this ren.arkable expedition
come to a fortunate close.

'We had toiled hard, and undeniably suffered a good
deal m order to reach this goal; and what were now our
sensations? Were they those of the happy victor? Xo •
we had looked forward so : mg to the goal that we had
discounted its attainment.' So Xansen writes of his feelinos
the evening before they arrived at Oodthaab. And this is
no doubt, comprehensible enough. They were too tired too
worn out, for the abstract exultation at having actu'ally
reached their goal to be able to assert itself effectuallv
against the more material delights, for example, of eatiir^r
till they were satisfied and sleeping in a proper bed.

196

LIFE OF FltlDTFOF ISANSi:X

fly

Besides, tlie satisfaction had l)eeii broken up into many
happy moments durino- the actual jo 'irney—tliey had liad a
taste of it Avlien, with confident liope, they hmded on the
east coast, after forcing their i)assage through the drift ice ;
they had revelled in it when they first saw land from the
heights of the inland ice, when they first found Avater to
drink, when they first felt the solid earth, with heather and
moss, nnder their feet, when they launched their boat on the
wa\'es of the Ameralikfiord. The satisfaction really lay in
the exploit as a whole, in the stimulating open-air life,
toilsome though it was— not so much in the goal attained, as
in the struggle to attain it. As soon as that was done, why,
it was done ; there was no longer anything to toil and strive
for, and lassitude rushed in upon them until otlier more
distant goals began to lo( mi ahead in tlieir thoughts. This,
indeed, is what inevitably happens to every man who is
really born wiili the spirit of research. So long as lie has
strength and faculty for new i)i'o])lenis, his joy over those
achieved must be short-lived. It must give place, in the
ferment of the mind, to new aspirations ; and in Nansen's
case these new aspirations were already- lying in wait. We
may safely assume that even during his stay in Greenland
tlie plan of his next great entei-prise must have been takiiKT
shape in liis ihouglits.

When the expedition reached the colony, the ship from
Godthaab had already started. Xansen, however, got
kaiak-men to take letters to Ivigtut, seventy miles south of
Godthaab. They were duly delivered, at the last moment,
on board the steamer Fo.r, which had carried McClintock
on his voyage in search of Franklin ; and thus the news of
the successful issue of the Greenland expedition reached

ACUOS.S ()RHi:XLAXI)

197

Europe that autiinui. It clianced that the Fox was obliged
by scarcity of coal, to toucli at 8kudesna.s, m that i\an,^u's
native country got the first intelhgence.

Tlie two letters brought by the steamer, one f,-(,m
Aanseu to Game)!, the other from Sverdrup t„ his father
were soon telegraphed over the whole world, and, as will be'
remembered, were everywhere received with great rejoicin<r
Meanwlule Xansen nnd his comrades had to winter i'^i
Godthaab, where IJerr Jiistrups, the director of the colonv
Doctor jimzers. Pastor Balles, and the other Danish residents'
showed them the greatest hospitality, and did evervthin.. to
make tluMr stay as pleasant as possible. Xansen hin?self
turned his time to account in studvimr the l-^skimos He
shared their life with them in their huts, went thorou^ddv
nito their methods of hunting, their customs and occupa-
tions, and even got to know their language prettv well ][e
learned to manage the kaiak and wield their weapons • in
short, he spared no possible pains in his study of 'this
remarkable people, for whom he soon came to entertair, a
real aifection.

He also mad(; several excursions with the Greenlanders
a hunting expedition to Ameralikfiord, and lon<?er trips to'
^ardlok and Kangek, during which he lived for some
weeks entirely with the Eskimos.

The results of his studies he afterwards embodied in his
book on Eskimo IJfe, in which he gave lively expression to
his sympathy with these children of nature, doomed as thev
are to extinction. This book, as we shall afterwards see is
an important document towards the understanding of liis
own character and temperament.

On April 1.1, 1889, while Xansen and his comrades sat
chattmg over their co/Tee with the colonial director and the

ft ■:

198

LIFK OF rillDTroF XANSKX

doctor, the whole colony resounded with one universal cry,
'Umiarsuit! Uniiarsuit!' (The ship, the ship!) It was
the longed-for vessel, I/ridbwnicii, under the conunand of
Lieutenant Garde.

The hour of departure had come, and everything was
soon in order. ' It was not without sorrow,' Xaiisen says,
' that some of us turned our backs on the people who had been
so good to us, and the place where we had lived so happily.'
So far as Nanseii himself is concerned, one may be sure
that these words are the expression of sincere feeling. A
nature like his, with its healthy passion for open-air activity,
must have been in its element among these kindly pi-imitive
people. He relates a charmingly characteristic little inci-
dent of their leave-taking. One of his Eskimo friends,
whom he had often visited, said to him the dny before hi.s
departure : ' Xow you are going back to the great world
whence you came to us, and you will meet n'lany people
there, and hear many new things, and you will soon
forget us ; />iit we icill necer fovget you.''

Those who know Xansen know that he has not forgotten
his Eskimo friends ; and those who have read his book de-
scribing theh- lilewill understand how dear they liad become
to him.

On Ma>' 21, after a favoural)le passage, Jh-ulhliinien an-
chored in the harbour of Copenhagen. It was a little more
than a year since Xansen, on his way to Greenland, had passed
through Copenhagen, and put the hasty finishing touches
to the prepai-ations for the expedition. A great deal had
happened in the interval. In himself, indeed, he was just the
same when he came back as when he went away ; but in tlie
eyes of the world he was a very dUTvnmt person. Then he
had been a young dare-devil setting forth on a foHorn hone ■

ACROSS OIJKKXLAXD

1!)9

now he was tlie world-rciiowiied explorer who had success-
fully carried throuoh a greal imdcrtaking.

And tlieu came the triuini)lis. First a week's festivities
in Copenhagen, and then the horao-coniing— such a honie-
coming as has fallen to the lot of no other Norwegian. It
was a lovely day as the triumphal procession passed up
Christiania Fiord- all the ships were in festal array, the
woods wore their first green leaves, there were flowers and
flags and nuisic on every hand, up the whole long iioi-d, to
the city. It was as though a, flood of colour and warmth
had streamed forth to greet these visitants from the white
wastes of the iidand ice.

First came the men-of-war and the torpedo l)oats, skim-
ming along beside the M. U. Mdchlor, and fornung a gmird
of honour, right up to the capital ; then the great squadron
of steamships, then the sailing-boats and cutters with their
white sails, darting around Xansen's ship like a flock of sea-
gulls, now astern, now abeam, now aheatl. There he stood
in his grey clothes which had turned to dirty brown i]i the
Greenland turf huts. The honour done him was too over-
powering for him to feel proud at that moment. A softer
and more subdued emotion nuist doubtless have been in the
ascendant. lie nuist have felt Iioav he passed over into his
people, and became one with it. He had gone forth as an
emissary, an interpreter of this puople ; the courage which
goes unknown and unrecorded to its fate in the dark nights
on sea and fiord, it had been his happy lot to lead forward
into sunshine and victory before the eyes of the whole world.
Among all the thousands who waved to him from the ram-
parts of Akerhus, who burst the cordon of the police and
swarmed round his carriage in the streets, how nuiny at that
moment had any thought of science ? It was the exploit,

200

r-lKl': OF I'UIDTIOK NAXSKX

that ap[)ealf(l to lliciii— ihcy saw in him the victorious dilef-
taiii, th(> coiiucctiiio' link holwccii tlic hrrocs of the Suhum
Mild the luToes of t'vervday hfc, the lishcnnan chiiohi^r
to his overtiinied boat, the suow-sliocr on tlic wintry up"
hands, tlic himborniaii .sliootino- ilu' rapids on hi.s raft. Tliey
saw in l:iin llic nalional lypc; and Ihi'y were rinht i,, a way.
Tnlliat liour ho must ccrlainly haw fch himself dose-knit
to the soil from wliicl, his iU'^] had sprun-. and memories
of childhood nuisl have rushed in upon liim when his car-
ria.ue stopped at the hons,- of Hu- sisters Larson, and lie ran
upstairs to uivet the (»ld honsekeeper at (Iroat Frilen, who
liad bauda.u-ed liis Uood-slained forehead the iirsi lime that
he kissed the ice.

Ihit we, whose business it is (,, ^ivo a c..mplete ph'ture.
cannot ignore science; for, to the uorW at lar<;e, it is the
scieiKiilc import of llu" expedili.m that oives this national
W( Iconic iis true historic validitv.

201

crrAiTKii x[[

Tin; sciK.NTinc SKIMKIcanci.; „k tiiK (iHDKM.WD
KXI'KDITIOX.'

TiiK plain n.Mii l.;,,s scuoliinos asked wIu-Hht, to In- ((uiie
lnuik,tl,<. sri,.nti(!,. „„(,.o,n.. of H.c Givonlun.l .-xpediii,,,. was
""• '•'""'•• in<'a-iv,.-,i„l wlu.ilu.r we nii-l,t ,,,.1 l.nvc cxinvt,,!
sonuihin. very ,lilli.,vnt. Son.c hav,- lluM.oh, j, pMrricularly
.strano-e ihat Nansen, l,,-!,,- oriui„al|y .,,,(1 spociallv a znohl
.y-ist, did not bring honu- with l,in. n.o.v y.oo]n.\rii\ infonna-
tion. And there arc even some, will, „iore pretence to
s.Mentihe knowled-e, wh,. have nnck-rrated the r-sulls of the
expedition beeans(. ihey have not been, Hke those of earlier
expeditions, published i„ ponderous le.-hnical tomes.

The answer is tolerably evident. H(,th bv their plan and by
the particular circumstances under which it was executed, the
explorers were compelled to concentrate their eneroies lipon
the one great point of pressing steadily forward, both
through the drift iee and over the iidand ice. Xo retreat
Avas possible ; all bridges were broken from the moment the
expedition left the Mson ; and it is not too nu.ch to say
that th,Mr lives depended upon their wasting no lime that
could possibly be applied to making headway. And in (he

' Xansen first sn.nM,,irise,l in lo.tu.<.s tho sci.-ntific rosnlts of tlio expedition

ami nail, s^xte.l „, fu , ,n ,1,.. article entitlo.l • Wis.sen.sehaWidu. l.:..Keb,nsso
I ^ iV 1 • u-Tr ' '•'"••■'"l'">''"">^' von (in-.nlan,!, IHHH.' von I'rof. H. Mohn
"ot!.a: Jh^! "■ '-'■^""^""""'"^'^ ^'•- ''' -• I'rlrn>.nu. ^fmr^nnZ

.i-

202

r-IlK OF riUKTlol- NANSIIX

'■I

act ofprc.urtvssioii, wlictlicf in the IukUs, on the ice floe, ,,r
over the inland ice, lliuir slrength luul always l<. he vxn\rd
to I lie utterniosl.

Even in the moments of necessary rest, it was impossible
to devote a -.real (h-al of lime to observation. There was
of course no possibility of makin<r collections, since the
bangaov IkkI I,, be restricted to what was al)sohiiely
essential in onlei- to support life. The seientifie luirvest,
then, was confined, in tlu- natun; of ihinns, to wliat could
be gathered (hiring the actual achance, and without any
liiiuh-anee to it.

\s to zoological and botanical results, it was ahnost
im])ossible on board the Ja.^< u to dredge or otherwise make
collections, since their conlract was thai nothing should
interfere wilh the seal-hunting t)peratioMs. JIad Xansen,
like Xordenskiiild, had a steamer of his own, the case would
have been (piite dillereiit.

The fad that Xaiisen did not bring l)ack from the
inland iee any material for zoological or botanical dis-
quisitions, is explicable .)n ijic sole and sunicienl ground
that within the marginal zone on both si(U's there was not
a single trace of life to be seen. This is an interesting ami
important negative result, even though it can be Ttated
in two words. On the west coast, during their winter at
Godthaab, they were entirely without seientilic apparatus
either for collecting (such as dredges, &c.) or for preserving
spechuens (spirit), or for study (microscopes, books of refer'-
eiice, &c.).

Thus it is not surprising that the zoological and
botanical harvest of the expedition was scanty ; it could
not, under the circumstances, be othei'wise. We must

SCIENTIIUJ HIOMl'ICANCK CU' (iliEENLAM) EXI'IIDITION 1^03

hear in iiiiiul, too, that Xaiisni is not specially endowed by
natni-e with the collector's faculty, so that we (!an scarcely
expect from him an exhaustive catalofjne of I he fauna and
flora of a fjfiven locality, or the discovery and description of
this or that new species. However useful and ini[)oitant
such labours may be, Xansen's temperament is not adapted
for tlufm. On the contrary, his talent evidently lies in the
direction of concentrating' every ener<fy u{)on tlie solution
of individual problems of wide si<,niiricance ; descriptive
cataloguing does not sufliciently stinudate his interest.'

On the other hand, the geograi)hical, geological, and
meteorological results of the expedition were i)articularly
valuable and important. The meteorological observations
are due for the most part to ])ietrichson. 'He devoted
himself lo this task with a zeal and self-sacrifice which I
caiuiot sulliciently admire,' Xansen writes in The First
('nmiiKj of Green] II nd; and 'what it means to do such work
under such circumstances, no one can fully realise who has
not tried to take observations and keep a meteoi'ological diary
exactly and punctually, in a temperature of -30" C. ( — 22''
Fahr.) in tlie midst of exliausting labour and with danger
threatening on every side, having sometimes to write when
the fingers are so munbed and swollen with cold that they
can scarcely hold the pencil. Such work as this demands
character and energy indeed.'

The meteorological, astronomical, magnetic, and trigono-
metrical observations have been tabulated bv Professor II.

• Tho expedition wiis not, however, (luito without zoolo^'ienl results. In
addition to the ueeounts of tlio hooded seal, Uie f,'nuupns, the Ijoltlenose whale,
itc, inehuled in Tlic First CrosHiii;/ of llrecnlaiid, eonsidorahlo collections were
brouf,'ht home by the Jdson, thoiij,'h not of suflicient interest to be made the
basis of a special study.

204

LIFK OF F1{II)T[01' XAXSEN

:\[()liii, ii\ tlie al)ovo-meiiti()iie(l paper in Petennanns Jfiffhei-
iinKjcii. Of special interest is tlie series of readinos of the
atmospheric temperature in a higli-lying desert of snow
and ice, wliich tlie expedition supplied for the first time.
The ellects of radiation in tlie dry rarefied atmosphere of the
inner plateau jjroved lo be surprisingly great. During the
period of extreme cold Avhich the expedition encountered
between the ]]th and :i.")th of Septend)er (at a height of
7,000 or 8,000 ft.), the temperature fell at night so low as
-45° C. (-49'' Fahr.), and rose in the warmest hours of the
day to -20' V. (-4' Fahr.), thus showing a daily variation
of about 25' C. (45" Fahr.). Such extreme variations are
not elsewhere rei^orded except in the interior of the Sahara and
other deserts, where also the dryness of the air renders the
radiation vcr\- great.

In acccn-dance with the o])servations of the expedition,
:\lohn cahmlates that the mean temperature of the interior
of Greenhind at a height of about 7,000 feet is -25"' C.
(-lo° Fahr.). and the mean temperature for January and
July respectively is -40° C. (-40° Fahr.), and -10 C (14°
Fahr.)

We may assume with tolerable certainty that the tempera-
ture of the inland ice in the coldest months falls as l,,w as
-• ) (. ( — S-) Fahi'.), 25' l)elow the mean temi)erature of
Januaiy, or ju-obably even as low as -70° C. (-1)4" Fahr.).

It thus appears, as a result of these observations, that
there is in the land ice of Oreenland a pole of maximum cold,
the second in the northern hemisphere, at the same distance
from the Xoi-th Pole as the one formerly known at Wercho-
jansk in Siberia. Thes,- fads were formerly entirely
unknown. The meteorological character of the inferior of
Greenland seems to exclude the hypothesis, advanced bv

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICAN'CE OF OUEEXLAXD EXPEJHTION 205

Xordeuskiold among others, of a fohn-wiiid ' blowing fi-oni
one side to the other.

The geographico-geological resuUs consist mainly in
observations as to the conditions of the land ice — firsth', as to
its extent, and then as to its conformation and general natnre.
The main scientific result of the expedition, as may be
understood from the foregoing sketch of the Great Ice Ao-e,
is the fact, whicli it has once for all ascertained, that we
have in Greenland an ice-covered country offering a tolerably
exact representation of the stale of Xorthern Europe and
Xorth America during this important era in the history of
the earth.

Even before Xansen's expedition, indeed, there was every
reason to suppose that the wliole of theinterior of Greenland
was covered with ice ; but absolute certainty' on the point
was only to be secured by an actual crossing of the ice sheet.
Even such an Arctic specialist as Xordenskiold, who had
penetrated further upon the land ice than any one before
him, still conceived it possible that the interior of Greenland
Avas not entirely covered by ice, conjecturing that in 1883
he might simply have chanced upon a broad Ixand of ice
stretchiui'' rialit across the country at latitude G0° and 70°.
Xansen's expedition must be held to put an end to all idea of
' oases,' or considerable stretches of ice-free country, in the
interior of Greenland ; and this result has now been com-
pletely conhrmed by Peary and Astrup's expedition over the
northern part of the Greenland ice field.

Tlie final proof of the existence of an ice sheet of such vast
extent i-: so important from the geological and geographical

• A moist suii-wiiid, !5trikiii<,' aj^ainst a chain of iiiountaius and cooling at a
great lu'iglit, gives oil' its vapours in tlio shape of rain ; thus the latent heat of
the a(iueous vapour is liberated, and tlie wind sweeps down on the other side of
the mountain chain as a warm, dry wind, calieil by the iiwiss j'uhii.

20G

LIFE OF FIIIDTIOF NANSEN

point of view that it will no doubt render the expedition for
ever memorable in the annals of science. And around this
main result a number of minor and special results group
themselves, by which our earlier conceptions of the configura-
tion, surface, structure, and meteorology of the land ice ''for
the most part based on observations taken in its marginal
zone) have been entirely altered.

As to the configuration, Nansen discovered that the ice
sheet arches with extreme regularity over the whole of Green-
land (except the narrow coast-rim) like a shield somewhat
pointed towards the south, all transverse sections of it takino-
very nearly the form of segments of circles whose radi is in-
creases from the south northwards. The surface of the shield
is thus more convex towards the south and flatter towards the
north. The highest point reached by Nansen Avas about
8,6G0 feet above the sea ; and from this point the surface
sloped with remarkal)le regularity symmetrically to both
sides, just as one would expect in an extremely viscous
plastic mass.

The highest point of Nansen's route, however, lay some-
what nearer to the east coast than to the west. It is pro-
bable, then, that the ice-shed of Greenland (the dividing line
between the ice which flows westward and that wdiich flows
eastward) must lie approximately parallel with the longitu-
dinal axis of the land ice ; so that its situation has probably
nothing to do with what would have been the water-shed if
Greenland had been free from ice.^

The ' nunataks ' of the coast zone apart, no trace of pro-
jecting peaks appeared anywhere on the route of the expedi-

' A number of investigators, and particularly G. de Geer, have proved that in
Sc'uuliiiaviii, during' a f,Tcat part of the f^'lacial epoch, the ice-slied (the division
betwecMi the ice which flowed to the Atlantic and that wliicli flowed to t!ie Baltic)
was quite independent of the existing water-shed.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE OF GREENLAND EXPEDITION 207

tion ; nor have projecting peaks been found anywhere else
in Greenland, except within the narrow coast belt. Thus
the mighty mantle of the land ice, at some points no doubt
something like 7,000 feet deep, completely conceals both
mountain and valley in the interior. It is itself entirely
devoid of any covering of stones, gravel, or dust,i and with-
out any trace of life.

The almost mathematical regularity of the surface of this
mantle of ice and snow proves that it is entirely conditioned
by the rainfall and snowfall, by the wind, and by the laws
which govern the contour of viscous plastic bodies, and is
not in any appreciable degree affected by the special form of
its substratum. This substratum, or in other words, the
underlying bed-rock, has doubtless in Greenland, as in Scan-
dinavia, a quite irregular mountainous surface.^

' No trace was found in the interior of the dust descrihed by Nordenskiiild
on the outer zone of the land ice, wliich he regarded as cosinic, and entitled
' kryokonito.' It has long been proved, by Von Lasault, Lorenzen, Wlilfing, and
others, that this dust does not descend from space, but is blown up from the ice-
free coast rim. Nansen's discovery that it is entirely absent in the interior con-
firms the theory that kryokonite cannot in any appreciable degree be of cosmic
origin.

^ The land ice nnist have originated somewliat in this fashion : in the high-
lying parts of the countr, (tlien probably higlier than at present) more and more
of the snowfall must have remained unmelted from year to year, as the climate
grew steadily colder, and the land perhaps rose higher and higher over tlie sea
level. Thus, through the customary transformation of snow into glacier ice,
more and more glaciers were formed in the higher parts of the country, which
gradually extended over the lower regions as well, until at last all inequalities
were tilled up. and the whole country was bin-ied in ice and snow. As is proved by
the glaciers along the fiords, the ice flows out from the interior to all sides ; it
also melts into water on its under surface (even in winter, rivers and brooks
everywhere flow from under the Greenland glaciers) ; and thus tlie growth of
tlie ice slieet, through the perpetual rain and snowfall on its upper surface, is kept
in check. It is as yet impossible to say whether the diminution of the ice sheet
by the giving-off of icebergs and tlie molting of tlie under surface (together with the
doubtless (juite insignificant evaporation from the upper surface), or its increase
by means of rain and snowfall, is for the present the more active ; or, in other
words, whetlier the ice sheet of Greenland is on tlio wliole increasing or decreas-
ing. What is certain is that it was at one time more extensive than it now is.

208

LIFE or FllIDTIOF XAXSEX

According to Hansen, then, tlie fact that tlie surface of
the land ice takes the form of a convex shield in no way
indicates that the mountains under it are highest where the
ice sheet is highest. The convex form, with the greatest
elevation in the middle, must have arisen irrespective of the
substratum, because a viscous plastic mass flowing out to
every side must necessarily be at its highest where the
resistance to its outflow is greatest, and consequently, as a
rule, in its middle.

The surface in the interior consisted everywhere of
snow, not of ice. They could everywhere plunge their
alpenstocks (over 9 feet long) as for as they woukl reach
through the covering of sn9w, which proved to consist of
alternate layers of loose snow and thin sheets of ice, formed
by the slight meltings of the surface. Ikit in their deepest
soundings they found no solid ice. The upper layer,
throughout the interior, consisted of loose snow-dust, which
was swept by the wind into long dunes, so flat as to be
almost imperceptible, running approximately north and
south. The stratiflcation of the snow sheet in the interior
of Greenland proves that here, at a height of 6,000 feet and
more, the snow does not melt in the summer so much as to
form a surfoce of strong ice; though the very trifling
quantity of snow-water, which the sun forms by melting the
thin surface layer, is congealed by the frost at night,*' and
does not flow ofl'in hquid form.^

All these important and interesting Tacts as to the interior
of the land ice may be said to lia\-e been practically
unknown before Xansen's expedition, all earlier expedition'^s
having either failed to get beyond the marginal zone or

' We may recall how Nordenskiold in 188;j ha.l to stop his advance because
the whole surface was found to be supersaturated slush, in which thev were
almost 111 danger or drowning.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE OF GREENLAND EXrEDITION 209

advanced such a short way within it as to have been unable
to reahse the essential features which give the land ice its
individuality.

We cannot here go into the details of Hansen's report as
to the conditions of the land ice. We cannot enter into the
questions of its movement, depth, and diminution by melt-
ing ; or reproduce the nmnerous facts he has collected, as
to the nature of the marginal zone, the formation of ice-
bergs, the Polar current, and the drift ice on the Greenland
coast. These observations are of less general significance
than those above mentioned.

The more clearly we recognise the importance of a
complete understanding of the Great Ice Age, the more
highly will the scientific results of Hansen's Greenland
expedition be appreciated.

210

LIKE OF riMDTIOF N.VNSEN

CHAPTEE XIII

EVA NANSEN — AX J].L-?STA1M{1:D INTERVIEW

By KORDAHL ROLFSEN

Ox the night of August 12, 1889, a shower of sand and
gravel rattled against the window-panes of the house in
Eilert Sundt's Street, where lived Fridtiof Nansen's half-
sister, to whom he was in tlie hal)it of confiding everything.
Her husband — the friend who, as a boy, had been Fridtiof s
companion in field and forest, anc"' had taught him to shoot
and fish — sprang out of bed and opened the window.

' Who is that ? ' he called out angrily into the night. A
grey figure loomed through the dai'kness, and a voice was
heard to say : ' I want to come in.'

From the window fell terms of abuse such as used to
be current in Nordmarken. But the grey figure stood its
iXround : ' I want to come in.'

And at two o'clock in the morning, Fridtiof Xansen
planted himself in the middle of his sister's bedroom, with
his long legs far apart, and his hands in his trouser pockets,
and glowered at her. She sat up in bed.

' Good Heavens, Fridtiof, what's the matter ? '

' I'm engaged, my girl ! '

' Oh, are you ? To wliom ? '

' To Eva. of course.'

Then he said he Avas liungry, And his brother-in-law
had to go out to the larder for cold roast beef and down

f" ■" ' ' iv w i ; *! "., JiMltj ii tB'

mm'mif^M^- ' ^

i >np t ill '"!" ■ [ ■■- - " njjji

MRS. NANSEN

'in

EVA NANSEX-AN lEL-STAKREU INTERVIEW 211

into the cellar for cJiampu-ne. Then the table was spread
on his sister's bed, and the new chapter of Fridtiofs Sa-a
was inaugurated by a nocturnal banquet, at which he no
doubt sang this stave from the Ilaavamaal :

For love of maid

shall no man mock

or Kcorn his fellow ;

the wise is oft won

by the loveliness

that moves not the witless.

Fridtiof wrote to his l^j.irn and told him the news But
Sverdrup did not reply 'Fridtiof, tliy folly seems strancre
to my mmd; He wrote : ' I have lain awake the whole nicrht
thinking it over ; the deuce only knows why Fm so <rlad
For I suppose it's all up with the Xorth Pole now.'

But thus says the Saga-and for this we have the testi-
mony of a true man and a true woman-that when Fridtiof
Nansen spoke of his love he said in the same breath, ' But
you know Fm going to the Xorth Pole.' 'For,' says the
one who has the best reason to know, 'he always plan's fair '

But who is she ?

Thus says the Saga : There was once a very famous man
a poet, whose name is known over Europe, America, and
Australia. And he would sometimes walk the streets so
buried ill thought that he didn't bow to Eva Nansen And
she complained of it. And the famous poet said, ' If it
happens again, you have only to whisper as you pass,' " Bow
you devil ! " ' And she did.

And this was the woman I was to interview ! I trembled
T had once been at Godthaab before Hansen's departure and
she had set two yellow hunting-dogs on me-for the more I
have thought it over, the more I am convinced that it was
she. And they bit and ore my calf, and I did not complain

P 2

212

LIFE OF FHIDTIOF NANSEN

for I knew that tlie poor animals were being trained to bear
hunger, and 1 wilhngly contributed my mite— no such small
one either — to the North Pole Expedition.

And now she was alone. And I must face her. I simply
dared not. I would first approach her by telephone, and
even so I would have an intermediary. I sent and asked for
an appointment. She replied that she was very busy and
couldn't promise anything definite, but she fancied she
might manage it— in about three weeks— by telephone.

But in three weeks this book was to be throiigh the
press. I had to pull myself together and risk it. I did not
go by rail. I took a sledge, so that I could beat a hasty
retreat at any moment. I drove in soft snow, very slowly,
up hill and down dale to Svartebugta, and gazed out over the
ice on the bay, dull and soft in the spring thaw. ' Heaven
grant that she may thaw, too ! ' I sighed.

She received me. She signed to her dog that he was not
to bite me, and she had my horse fed. She uttered certain
mystic words which I thought might be construed to mean
that I too should have something to eat.

I was quite overpowered; this friendly reception took
me utterly aback. I instantly took oil" my great coat and
out my pencil. A singular gleam came into her eyes,
which reminded me of the princess in the fairy tale, when
she looks at the victim who has vainly attempted to achieve
the quest, and has to retire with three red stripes scored on
his back, and salt rubbed into the wounds. J5ut she was
monstrously polite. At that moment Liv came in crying
with all her might. I remembered having read in an
article by ar. English interviewer how she had laid her hand
on the child's head and said : ' This is my only consolation.'
But Liv went on shrieking, for she wanted a pair of scissors

■<1
K
H
Q
O

■<

o
«

JIM

; i r Ml

EVA NAXSEN-AN ILL-STARIIEU IXTI^ItVIEW

213

to cut tlie tablecloth wltli, and Madaiu Eva said crossly :
' Fie ! you're intolerable, l.iv ! ' And Liv was removed. I
was abashed ; but I said with deep feeliii^^ : ' C)f course I
know she is your only consolation.'

Whereupon she laughed in my face: 'Liv wasn't at
home that day, as a matter of fact.'
* When the interviewer was here ? '
•She wasn't in the house.'

I stood and chewed at my pencil, and then blurted out :
' Wouldn't she tell me a little about Xansen ? '

' Xansen ? I don't know anything about Nansen.'
But a peculiar gleam came into her eyes, a gleam as of
a sunbeam through rain clouds.

Pause. I went and glared stupidly at the pictures.
I stopped in a remote corner before a beautiful picture
by an English master. It represents a woman sitting, or
rather crouching, on the globe, with her eyes blindfolded ;
but her face below the b.-mdage irradiated with light. And
under the picture is written ' Hope,'

^ And this was just at the time when Xansen's name was
flying far and wide over the globe. Mysterious tidings had
arrived that he had reached the North Pole and discovered
new land. But no one knew anything for certain. Over
all the civilised world, women were saying to each other,
' I wonder how Mrs. Xansen feels ? '

I was seized with emotion there in the corner. I dried
my eyes with my pencil, and turned and sa^d in a husky
voice : ' Where did you get that picture ? '

' In London. X'ansen and I bought it there.'
' Had you at that time— have you— I mean, has it any
association— any special value in your eyes.'
'X'one whatever.'

214

LIFE OF FRTDTIOF XAXSEX

I dropped into a chair beside the hearlli, or the fireplace,
or whatever they have out there at Godthaab.

She threw some papers across tlie table to me. They
contained the last report from the Norwegian Swedish
Minister at St. Petersburg as to the possibilities and impos-
sibilities in connection with the Kuschnarew letter, &c., &c.
' Latest news,' she said dryly. She could not have thrown
down the Jforgenjwst with less reverence.

' It grows less and less probable, don't you think P ' she
said with light scorn.

I read the whole folio through with care, and began, with
all the earnestness of conviction, to argue for Kuschnarew
and his nephew.

' I think tlifey're talking nonsense, the whole family,' she
said shortly.

This was more than I could stand— I who was to tell all
Europe how his wife was sitting quivering like an aspen leaf
between joy and fear !

But before I could say anything, I felt a cold shiver down
my back. She had opened a door behind me. ' Would vou
like to see my husband's work-room ? '

Xow I remembered distinctly what the English inter-
viewer had said about this work-room : ' Here one is
reminded of the saying of Scripture about the virgins who
had trinnned their lamps and awaited the bridegroom.'

' All you can find is at your disposal,' she said amiably,
sluit the door behind me, and sat herself down in her own
warm room by the hearth or the fire-place, or whatever it is.
And there I stood alone and gasped for breath. I had
the sensation of being in the ice-bashi of a Eonian ])ath. 1
made a note :

' Have discovered the third pole of maviuuim cold.'

li, or the fireplace,

Lab.

ble to me. They

orvvegiaii Swedish

'ilities and impos-

w letter, &c., &c.

not have thrown

you think ? ' she

3, and benan, with
for Kuschnarew

.'hole famih',' she

ho was to tell all
ike an aspen leaf

cold shiver down
lie. ' Would you

e Eno'lish inter-
' Here one is
the virgins who
ridogroom.'
le said amiably,
)\vn in her own
or whatever it is.
■ breath. I had
lioman ])ath. 1

mum cold.'

I'M

: 1 .
'I «!

if!

.! 11

H
u:

02
CO

<!
'A

H
to

01
CO

EVA XANSEX— AN lEL-STAllllEU IXTERVIEW 215

That was the only thing I did discover. Such a chaos as
that room I have never come across. Everything hiy topsy-
turvy, in boxes and out of them— nmsic and tools and pem-
mican, letters and folios, and under a pile of old photo-
graphic plates, Heaven forgive me if there wasn't a certificate
of nomination as a corresponding member of no less a body
than the Academie des Sciences in Paris.

By means of overturning and breaking up frozen blocks
of books and packages, I got my blood into circulation. I
hauled out a dirty old photograph. It represented this
room. On one side of the hearth sat Fridtiof Xansen,
leaning forward, and on the other side, something dicmonic,
a black figure, which I guessed to be his wife. I shivered
with cold the moment I stopped pulling things about, so I
crept back to the warm room. She sat bent over the fire ;
but the chattering of my teeth roused her.

' Was it cool in there ? ' she asked insinuatingly. Then
she leaned back with her arms crossed. ' Now you nmst ask
questions. You must be indiscreet.'

Indiscreet ! Good Heavens ! I didn't even dare to ask
when^ she was born. I don't know at this moment ; and
yet it's a date that ought to figure in a biograpliy.

I asked about the most absurd things, about things I
could have learnt in any biographical dictionary— not a
question about such inthnate matters as the skilled inter-
vit:;wei-, who ' knows what the public wants,' would have
pried into. In the end it was I who sat and talked— told
her stories about him, stories of his childhood and boyliood,
which I had picked up here and there, and wliicli she had
not heard.

Visitors arrived, who were to stay to supper. I do not
think I was invited, but I pretended that T was. The visitors

mil

216

Lll-'E OF FRIDTIOr NANSEN

|}i

were in tlie best of spirits, the hostess's Laughter was fresh,
musical, infectious.

Shortly before supper there was a brief interval of silence.
The lamplight fell upon her face— it was pale. She rose
hurriedly, and begged us to excuse her a moment.

' You want to say good-night to Liv ? ' I said, sympa-
thetically.

' She's been sound asleep for hours,' she said as she left
the room.

But I believe all the same that she went to say good-night
to Liv. I wondered if she missed the cliild when she was
aAvay from her on her concert tours. Yes, to be sure she
missed her. Had I not heard something to that effect ?

You know that there are things as to which one can't be
quite sure whether one has dreamt them or not. And this
is one of them. Mrs. Nansen had certainly been a great deal
in my dreams during the last few niglits, and perhaps I had
dreamt the following scene :

It Avas in an hotel at Gothenburg ; $he stood before her
impresario, pale and threatening of aspect. ' Still no tele-
gram ? ' It was not a telegram as to new concerts and new
triumphs she was inquiiing about. It was the daily
telegram about Liv. Her impresario tried to think of an
answer.

' It's not late — not more than '

' It's ten o'clock.'

' But Liv is perfectly well— you know that.'
'I don't know it. I told them they we- to telegraph
le every morning. The people at home d...e not telegraph
,0-day — they dare not ! '

She was to shig that evening. TJie whole day, the

EVA NANSEN-AN ILL-STARRED INTERVIEW 217

impresario was secretly sending inquiries by wire. Mrs.
Kansen went back to her room, and walked up and down^
up and down, never resting, and never opening her lips.'
At^ five o'clock she lay down. Then came the message :
'Liv w^ell'; and then— ' like summer tempest came her
tears.'

Was it a hallucination ? A case of second siglit ? If so
I must have had a moment of second hearing as°well. For
now I heard distinctly some one out in the passage saying,
' Xow, be strong,' and some one answer, ' Am I not ? '

' To be sure, to be sure.'

And then came an outburst. ' It's for Fridtiof s sake tluit
I endure him— perhaps he may write a nice book— but for
that, I'd send him about his business.'

At that moment the door opened. With a jest on her
lips and laughter in her eyes, Mrs. Eva Hansen entered the
room, looking young and radiant, and took my arm to go to
table.

And I sat as tliough bewitched by her joy in life, a
radiant, irrepressible gladness, uttering itself "in laughter
that rang out through the night as for as Svartebugta. ""

Xext afternoon I sat in her mother's drawiug-room in
Frogner Street. Mrs. Sars is now over eighty, so I may sav,
with reverence, that I love her. For one thing, she is one
of the best story-tellers in Norway. She was expecting me.
Her three coffee-pots were already hissing on the table"^ and
between them stood a basket containing cakes of an
innnoderate size.

Here, I thought, I shall be simply flooded with the
daugliter's biograpliy. But the old lady seemed to me

218

Livr OF FIUUTIUF xNAXSEN

f(
!! f

reserved and reticent that al'ternooii. Instead of answerin<T
my questions, she kept on jjressing me to eat one huge cake
after another. It was clear that my mouth was Hterally to
be stopped. Not without bitterness, I presently took my
leave.

' I can't help thinking, dear lady,' I said, ' that since I
last saw you, you have iidierited certain not very symi)athetic
characteristics from your daughter. It pains me to have to
say so, but I shall be compelled to write under her picture
the words of the Danish gentleman who drew up the Xansen
pedigree : ' I have met with but scant assistance at the hands
of the Norwegian branch of the family.'

The old lady stood there stiff and upright. Her face
reminded me vividly of the placards which I have seen stuck
up on German houses: 'Jiettelei und Ilausiren ist hier
ver])oten.'

Such were my adventures in search of data for the fol-
lowing biographical notes. I know nothing, I have to guess
at everything. I therefore think myself entitled to claim the
reader's indul<jfence.

I will begin by retracting what I said in my haste to old
Mrs. Sars. It is not the mother who takes after the daughter,
but the daughter who takes after the mother. Mrs. Maren
Sars, the sister of the poet Welhaven and wife of the famous
zoologist, has probably neVei' written a line of sung a note
— except when she crooned over the cradles of her children
— but she is one of the women who bring artists into the
world. All the materials of the artistic temperament are latent
in her, ready to be developed in the next generation. She has
herself no impulse towards creative work, no longinj; to fi<>]it
her way to that ultimate expression which we call art. It has

EVA NANSEN-AN ILL-STAHKED INTERVIEW

219

never occurred to her to seek piiblicity of any kind. But you
should hear her of a Sunday evenino-, -when lior family and
friends are gathered about her, and the lamps are taken out
of the room, relating her strange dream — how she went hito
the church of St. Mary by night, and saw all the dead women
of Bergen rise up in the pulpit, one after another, and con-
fess their sins, while the blood dripped from the botly of
Christ on the great Cross — and you will marvel to find, out-
side of literature, such a narrative gift. She has deep emo-
tion and dramatic power, an imagination which invariably
chooses the right word, in short, a rare art of oral presenta-
tion, iind it is no less remarkable to hear ]\Irs. Sars display
her power of humorous observation, or relate some every-
day episode which, in any one else's mouth, would be abso-
lutely insignificant. She turns it about and shows it in such
a light that it is all at once elevated above the plane of the
connnonplace ; in other words, it undergoes ihe artistic
transfiguration.

]\Tts. Sars's gifts are precisely the elements out of which
have grown up our folk-songs, our fair\-tales, and our Sagas.
She possesses an epic-dramatic temperament of great spon-
taneity. ]iut however striking her powers as an improvisa-
trice, she never misses to-day the points she made yesterday.
An unconscious artistic instinct registers them securely.

It is said — for how should I know ? — that Mrs. Xansen
is passionately devoted to her mothe.r. If so, this is one of
the few cases of passionate devotion that can l)e rationally
explained. For in Eva Nansen's rendering of musical
romance, Mrs. Sars's temperament finds expression in con-
scious art. In the daughter's declamation, the mother's
epic-dramatic power utters itself to the world, toned down,
modelled, i-estrained, yet possessing all that inward glow

220

I.IFK OK KIJlDTiOl' NANSKN

which is (ho soul of I'oiu.'iiicc. TJie now raiuoiis siii<j;t'r liiis
not, ill licr oiitwunl (Icineauonr on the [)hif lorin, licr nioLhor's
^a-iicious oLiiialiiy—iiot wlu-ii slit" (list appears al any rate,
feiie sliovvssonielhing of the Welliaveii liaiileiir and coldness.
It is ovidv'iit at once that slie (K)es not want to in«,n-atiate
herself by her [xTsonalitv, hut to coiuiuer by her sin<'in<>-.

Made ninch of from lier childhood onward, she has not
l)een accustomed to bei-- for favour. And for many years,
no doubt, her slngiii.r was simply a iavourite pastime, a
ileasant study, a joy, but not an ambition. When she camu
before llie public she was at once received with ()])eii arms.
Who can tell what would have happened if she, like many
another notal^le arlisljiad had to l)attle agauist indillercnee,
coldness, humiliation? Some think that she would never
have condescended to walk that rough road, but would in-
stantly have turned her back on the i)ublic and never sun<'
agaui. 'Song,' IJiese peoi)le say, • was not to her the one
essential, without which life is imi)ossil)k', for the sake of
which all must be endured.' I^or a while, indeed, she culti-
vated two arts, took 14) painting as her uncle did, and
studied under Jk'rgslien and Eilif Teterssen. Jhit she gave
it np because she herself did not ihiuk she had suflicient
talent.

Jler singing made its easy, natural progress from the
drawing-room to the salon, irom the salon to the concert-
hall. Her first teachers were naturally the mcunbers of her
own family. From her mother she got the spark of genius,
her first lessons came from her sister, her further instruction
from lier brother-in-hiw, r.ammers— so, at least, I picture to
myself the course of her development. In Herlin she studied
singing under :\ladame Artot.

But .Afadame Artot did not exercise the decisive influence

KVA XANHEN-AN ILIrSTAUKEl) rNTKItVIMW

221

iiI)on luM" ; Fridliof NiUiscu did lliat. W.'is it not tlirou^li
Inin that tlio notes of love, of niotlicrliood, of sud'criTig,
entered into her voice?

Tliey first met in the woods around Fro^nior Sicter — long
Ijoforc there was any ({iiestion of Oreenland or the North
Pole. One day tlie young athh^te saw tlie soU'S of two feet
sticking up out of the snow. IFe was cui-ious to know to
whom (liey belonged, and wlien lie drew nearer, behold!
a white-nowdcu'ed but })roud lil,tlo head appeared above the
snow drift. It was Eva's. Ihit Fridtiof s head was in no
way troubled al)(nit her for many a long day. What was it
that ultimately brought them together? TTow can I tell?
T know nothing. But I do not believe tlie legend tlvat he
proposcul to her the first time before; the great Gre(!nland
expedition, was refused, and therefore set forth to end his
days in the crevasses of the inland ice. Such a proceeding
would have been a little far-fetched f(H' so practical a nature;
and why should he have taken TJietrichson and fSverdruj)
and the rest along with him? Hecause, as a chieftain, he
must have attendance on his journey to the world below ?

But I am very certain that it was two Saga natures that
in this case met each other. The diderence is that while
his nature stands apparent to the whole world in his deeds,
her inner and real self is as though sealed with seven seals.
For l)oth of them trifles are trifling — too trifling perhaps.
Those commonplace considerations which win commonplace
friends are foreign to them. Tiierefore they chafe and
irritate some people, and are misunderstood. Each one of
us has some dominant trait ; and hers is a passionate de-
votion. On ordinary occasions she can be flippant, she can
sparkle as frostily as snowflakes in the sunshine ; but deep
within there dwells an undivided and therefore potent feeling.

' f

il^i!

*)')0

LIl'E OF KUIDTIOI' iXAXSEX

She is like Svanliild in Love's Cometh/— slie is not a woniaii
"vvlio has

In hundred hands plat-t'd out her capital,
Dispersed it, NO that no one owes her all ;
From no one can she crave again the whole,
For no one give her life, her heart, her soul.

Brought up ^vith tender care, indulged, made much of, in a

home possessing all the simph" luxuries of life, she accepts

without a murmur his extrone asceticism, teaches herself

to endure cold in the 'dog-hutch," eats his unpalatable

messes— im/sost (goat's milk cheese) and pemmican, which

he is testing for the Polar Expedition— or refrains from

eating them, and goes hungry for days at a time when she

is out with him on small expeditions. Her own work, her

artistic individuality, she keeps discreetly in the background.

She appears, indeinl, at concerts, but not often. Did she,

one cannot but wonder, want to accompany him to the

Xorth Pole ? And if she besought him to lot her do so,

what answer did he make ? Did he find it in his heart to

say the decisive, irrevocable word : Impossible ? Or was it

Liv wdio interposed?

When he had gone, she shut herself up for weeks, like a
widow. She lived through this great crisis in the eternal
tragedy of human life. He had chosen what he had to
choose. She would not have had it otherwise. But it was
not in her proud and fiery nature to hold rebellious thoughts
entirely in check. Had not she, too, something else Hiat
was dear to her, very dear ; and yet it was nothii^g, nothing
<at all. She would never, never have chosen her art in
preference to him.

When she opened her door again to the world she

' See Chapter XVII.

■'ill

lit K tv-au Tl*v\-. <AV .

4 iA '■!:%'

IV '

ii#

•B.At.

. tl

]

stood th(
li}^nire fr(
slie lias
clown.

She 1
crisis, it
(locisivcl;
to tijo ma
was not i
tlie enipt
tlie oravi
mount a
ociual fo
should g

It w
appearai
The moi
of Stock
methods
first stej

EVA NANSEN-A^ lLL-STAIUU:i) INTKllVIKW

223

stood tliore erect, hiioyant, smiling. She, too, is like a
ligiire from tlu; Sagas, and of the same lineage as he. Tf
she has her lumrs of anguisli, no one sliall see her bowed
down.

She has only one confidant — her art. After the terrible
crisis, it took possession of the empty home, gently but
decisively. To sit idle and wait would, for her, have meant
to 'TO mad. She had her own vocation and her right. She
was not a woman only, but a human being to boot. Out of
the empty desolation rose the need for activity, independence,
the craving to make a career for herself in good earnest, to
mount above the throng, and stand on something like an
equal footing with him when, in the fulness of time, she
should give hin\ her hand in welcome home.

It was in November 1895 that she made her first
appearance outside her own country and her own town.
The moment was a trying one, no doubt ; but the public
of Stockholm, a public accustomed to fine voices and good
methods, received her with synqjathy and enthusiasm. The
first step was taken, and the road lay clear before her.

.:^l

. tise'

224

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

CHAPTEE XIV

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM THK EARLIEST TIMES
By Aksel Arstal

Thkre is no royal road to the Xorth Tole, unless, indeed,

in this sense, that the ways to it are open to kings alone

kings among men. The mark of true royalty has always
been that courage which is begotten of will, born of strength,
and nurtured by intelligence.

We do not reckon Arctic exploration among the highest
problems of humanity. Life certainly presents even sterner
tests of courage and self-sacriiice than those to which the
explorer, or for that matter the soldier, is subjected.

But the history of Polar exploration— that battle of the
human soul and body against Nature in the guise of the ice
sphinx, that campaign of the spirit of inquiry, of investiga-
tion, with its faitliful vigils through the long nights of
shuddering cold — forms one of the most moving chapters in
the human Bil)le, the record of our race ' with its destiny's
seal on its brow,' ' the story of greatly willing, acting, and
suffering man.

It is a chapter of victorious defeats.

Polar exploration is now in its third millennium. If the
North Pole is reached in this century or the next, the boun-
dary of knowledge within the Polar Circle will have moved
forward, on an average, something under i. mile for every

' Peer Gynt, Act V. Sc. 10.

A Onrnm -CI VJCM3J:twax/-k.vu:< -t7>n.

rf-

T.S WttU«r,ZiiM«- ^t.IhnmMtkMai.lvndinSX.

u ]

I^J

ilit^

'"'^yuxtia

•*" ' » Sfttt""'"^

Seai>ii>ao,oao.ooo.

/^(u^nuwi*. 0«*^. * ft .I««/*n'i , N»i*- Ibf*- * ijombnv-

Sralei 1.20.000.000.

FSWJUr.Zlrt" **.tifui'»'*tKU.Ur>J0n.St

l^njfmanM.drtfn.Jtra.lon/imi.N^mrVtrk- * Hambny.

224

T.TIOir r\i^ T/UTn-PTrtp at i -vT^riTn^^

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 225

year since first an adventurous galley brought tidings of an ice
ocean in the north. And the rate of progress wilfreach this
average only if at last a sort of spurt is made to cover the
remaining distance. At the average rate of progress which
even our steam-driven century has attained, three hundred
years would still be required for the completion of the task.
And yet the distance to the North Pole from the beacon
built fourteen years ago by Lieutenant Lockwood on the
little island which bears his name, off the north coast of
Greenland, is no more than any reasonal% good walker in
one of the tourist districts of Europe would cover with the
greatest ease in less than a month !

But the ice path is harder to tackle. Even in the heio-ht
of summer, when now and then a Ian*? of open water is^to
be met with among the floes. Parry and Boss did not pro-
gress more than some four miles a day. Markham covered
ten miles, and found that his net advance had been—
two ! Endless time has to be spent in covering the same dis-
tance, forward and back, over the hummocky ice fields. The
Tegethoff party, who set forth on the ice from Franz Josef
Land in the summer of 1874, often failed to make so much
as a mile a day in the deep snow. If only the necessary
baggage could be minimised ! Payer relates that, in the
first days after he set forth, he used to return to tlie ship
when his evening camp had been pitched to replace the con-
sumption of the day with fresh provisions. Later on, the
dog-sledges covered in a few hours distances which, in the
advance, had taken a week ! A reckoning after two months
of toil showed, at last, tliat tlie drifting of the ice had
reduced the distance from the ship to ten miles !

•The first man who is historically recorded to have crossed

nil

226

LIFE or FllIDTIOF NANSEN

the threshold of the polar zone is the courageous astronomer
and geographer, Pytheas, a contemporary of Alexander the
Great. His starting-place was Massilia, the ancient Mar-
seilles, a city whose spirit of restless inquiry was a heritage
from its Graeco-Asiatic ancestry. Who can tell to how
many ardent spirits the worthy Pytheas, with his Thule, has
cost grey hairs, or at any rate wakeful nights? Thule
. probably meant for antiquity nothing more than an unknown
borderland, a meta incognita. The name, originally perhaps
that of a definite locality, was afterwards appUed by mer-
chants and map-ms^A-ers or geographers, now to one shore,
and now to another, which had vaguely loomed upon the
consciousness of the age somewhere on the northern horizon
But Pytheas not only led the first forlorn hope in the battle
with the frozen seas — he also suffered the fate of so many
who have forced their way into the world's great solitude,
and acquired knowledge which their own age is not in a
position to appreciate or to test. The geographical authori-
ties of antiquity attack Pytheas as untrustworthy and men-
dacious. ' It were better,' writes one of them, ' to believe
Euhemerus than Pytheas ; for Euhemerus says only that
he sailed to a single country, namely Panchaia, while Pytheas
reports that he explored Northern Europe even to the
world's end. Hermes himself would scarcely be believed if
he made such an assertion.'

It is a thousand years since the Viking ships began to
plough the North Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Sometimes
storm-driven, sometimes spurred on by the love of adventure,
these hardy seamen stumbled on one geographical discovery
after another, often without knowing how to bring their
discoveries home to the consciousness of the world .

Leif Erikssen and Torfin Karlsevne, on their voyages to

b
I

AHCTIC EXPEDITIONS VlUm THE EAULIE8T Ti:^lES 227

Vinlaml at the beginning of the eleventh century, crossed
once for all, the great dividing line between th; Atlantic-
Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, which may, roughlv speakin.-
be said to couicide with the isothermal line of 32° Fahr'
This line, the true boundary between the Arctic and
temperate zones, passes approximately from the sound
between Newfoundland and Labrador to the sea between
Wny and Bear Island. Only eastward of the meridian
of Greenwich, that is to say, eastward of the point of section
between that meridian and the seventieth de^^ree of
latitude, does the limit of the drift ice practically coincide
tor a considera])le distance with the aforesaid isothermal
line. For the rest, drift ice has been met with south-
east of Newfoundland, even as far soutli as the fortieth
degree of latitude, in the region of the Azores. Between
the Azores and the Faroe Islands the ice limit forms a great
arc, trending upwards towards Greenland and Iceland Up
to the Faroe Islands the outer boundary of the drift ice lies
f<)r a long stretch parallel with the isothermal line, and some
400 miles south of it.

In the stretch of about 4,000 miles between the North
tape and the south-east corner of Labrador, passing by
Greenland, we find the Atlantic base-line of the Polar Sea "

About the year 1000, this line, running south-west and
north-east, may be said to mark the boundary of the
geographical knowledge of the age. And for 500 years this
frontier hne remains stationary.

Such knowledge as there was, too, scarcely extended
beyond those who spoke the language of the discoverers
It was not imparted to the rest of the world The old
Vikmgs very probably penetrated to polar altitudes which
alter them, remained unvisited until the days of Davis and

Q 2

•0.

'Wi'l

*- ■■unnH T *"''i.'

A 'vmwm <» * h ^,^

•228

LIFE OF I'lUDTlOF NAN'SEN

lliulsoii. Even their discoveiy of Anu'rica had to be done

over a^ain.

ITow Uttle the voyages of the Scandinavians were known
to the world at hu'L'e is proved l)y this circumstance, among
many others, that even in England, where Ottar Ilaalo-
<»'aluMidinu's vovage to Hiarmeland had been pnt on record

FUIUTIOF NANSKN. BUST BY LESSINU

by Alfred the Oreat himself, Willoughby and Chancellor's
doubling of the Xorth Cape and exph)ration of the White
Sea, in the middle of the sixteenth century, was regarded by
contemporaries as a new discoveiy, redounding to the
special glory of the I'^nglish nation, and comparable to the
discovery of America or the exploration by the Portuguese of
the ocean route to India.

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS TUOM TIIIC KAULFEST TIMES 229

This totul lapse into ()])livion of a ivcorded fact may
partly ho. d\w, no douljt, to a vciy general scepticism as to
travellers' tales. Even in a<,n"s which had tiic most limited
means of acqiiirin<.- trustworthy inlorniatioii as to uniamiliar
and distant people and thing's, travellers wre apt to find
on their return a public which, while it would rehsh the
stran«reness of their stoi-ies, and sometimes swallow without
criticism the wildest cxao<renitions and misunderstandings,
wouhl yet, at the same moment, with the narrowness of
ignorance, reject what were perhaps the few really true
details in their romantic stories.

The mediieval mind, in picturing to itself the Arctic
world, could not get rid of the assumption of a ' great ocean '
surrounding all the kingdoms of the earth. The new
discoveries of laud in the beginning of the sixteenth century
led to a change in the common conceptions of the distribu-
tion of land and sea, which modified for the better even the
current theories as to the undiscovered portions of the <dobe.
These new discoveries filtered slowly and confusedly, in the
form of rinnours, into people's minds, and their ideas became
rather chaotic. Some seem to see a ])olar ocean, others a
polar continent. Opinion oscillates, at intervals of a few-
years, between the two theories. One map of about this
date shows a Xorlh-\\'est Passage, a sound which affords (so
It states) an ' t)pen way to the :Moluccas ' ; another treats
us to a Xorth-l'kst Passage. One typical theory represented
the North Pole as surrounch'd by one or two circles of
islands; and a, map of the year I.")87 assures us that the
sounds between these islands never freeze, bv reason of the
strong inward current setting through them — they sei've as
outlets for the ocean. A map of 1570 shows a long sound

231)

LllK Ol' FIMDTIOK NANSKN

8('l);iratin,u' (ho noi'thern rcj^ions of the known earth from llic
polar islands, between wliicli, -it convenient intervals, open
straits lead to the Pole itselt.

About the same timt when the Scandinavian voyaj^es to
the western worhl ceased, and intercourse with Clreeidand
was broken olT — perhaps in the same year in which
CV)lumbus sailed his ' hundred leagues ' from Iceland — his
countryman Ciiovanni rT;il)oto (John Cabot) landed in
Bristol.

A few years later, this true-born scion of the adventurous
Genoese-Venetian race suggested as a task worthy of English
seamanship, as yet hut luvlf-conscious of its mission, the
liiuling of the shortest sea passage for English couunerce to
the rich Asiatic regions — a Xorth-Wcst or a Xorth-East
Passage

The result shows how slnudating it is to have a worthy
goal proposed for our ellbrts. Throughout the whole of the
sixteenth century and more, Cal^ot's idea inspired the fore-
most seamen of the iMiglish nation, until Hairui declared the
prol)lem insoluble. But b}' that time English seanumship
had overtopped that of all other nations, and supplied the
most essential preliminary to a, dominion over land and sea
unparalleled in history.

In the year in which Caljot junior, .Sebastian Cabot,
set forth on the first of the north-west voyages, the }ear
of the lieformation, 1517, tiie port of London possessed
only four or five ships of more than 120 tons ; in the
second lialf of the sanu' century, Francis Drake imitates
Magellan's circumnavigation of the world, and over the
wreckage of the Invincible Armada there sail into view the
first squadi-ons of that vast fleet, whose carrying power is

.\|{<n'l(; ICXI'KDITIONs l"|{().M rilE KAKLIEST TI.MKS 231

equal to tlmt of the shii)piu«r of all the otlier nations put
together.

It is a tra.<ru' fact in history thji* from sons of Venice
and Genoa— a Cabot and a Columbus— the impulses should
have proceeded which were destined, in a rajjid course of
development, to lead to the decline of the splendid maritime
re])ublicH.

The first main <^roup of polar expeditions in modern
times was ins])ired by mercantile interests and aimed at
practical results. They may be rou<,ddy divi.^'d into north-
westerly and north-easterly. The former end with the
famous Franklin expedition and its sequels, in the middle of
this century ; the latter with that most fortunate of all pcjlar
expeditions, NordenskifOd's voyage in the \',^/>/ in 1878-7!).

The lirst series of north-west expeditions, that of the
sixteenth century, to which the orioinal initiative Avas given
by Cabot, culminates in the diMovery by Bylot and Baffin
of that basin to which the name of Baffin liay was given,
because it was thou rht to be landlocked towards the north.
On July 5, 161 (I, Byiot and Haffin, on board the Discovery,
stopped at the entrance to Smith S»und, the southern end
of that remarkable strait, some 3U0 miles ' aig, between
Baffin Bay and what we must, until further n* ice, call the
Polar Ocean. This strait, widening out hi the middle, bears
some resemblance of outline to the channel between Europe
and Asia at Coi antinople, which is also divided into three
parts, and is about huf the lengtli of Smith Sound. We
shall presently have something to say of the splendid pioneer
work of which Smith Sound has been the scene durino- the
last three decades. Tn crossinif over Baffin Iku', Irom WJiale
Sound to Jones Sound, some days after the above-mentioned

232

hll-E OK llUDTIUF N'ANHEN

(late, Baffin and Uvlot also cliristened the Oarcy IslandH,
which, ill the autumn of 1892, witnessed the catastrophe of
the expedition hea(h!d ])y tlie two young tSwechvs Hj(iiiin<,'
and Calstenius.

The practical results of tlie north-west voya«;es of the
sixteenth century were the rich Newfoundland fisheries, tiie
Hudson Hay fur trade, now the world's chief source of
supply, and an immense de\'elopment of the whalinjf trade,
which has found its best hunting-grounds in the Greenland
seas.

4s Hailin found no practicable outlet from the gulf
which bears his name, he pronounced it impossible to lind a
sea route to Japan in that direction. There is, therefori', an
interval of 200 years without any attem[)t to penetrate into
the Polar Sea on this side of the world, uiiless we except
Cook's passage through Bering Strait.

The north-east voyages, with conunercial obje(;ts in \'iew,
also begin in the sixteenth century.

The task of developing our acquaintance with the
European-Asiatic Polar Sea has i)io(!eeded pretty evenly, and
without any great interruptions. Our knowledge has pro-
gressed on this side in a much more steady sequence than
on the other, where it has proceeded by a series of leaps in
the dark and hazardous ventures. It was not until twenty-
five years after Mc^Clure had made the round of America,
that XordeiiskiiUd circumnavigated the Old World; hut this
conquest of the north-east passage was not tht; result of
chance and guess-work, but of a careful and scientific
syntiiesis of, and brilliant deduction from, the accumulated
investigations of three centuries.

The last name on the polar record of the sixteenth cen-
tury is that of one of the great pioneers of Arctic seamanship.

fjfulf
iml a

AHCTIC EXriiDlTlONS FUO.M TIIK |;a1{I>II;sT TrMEH 233

The En^'lish efforts after a north-east route had resuUed in
tlie establislimeiit of commercial relations between England
and Hnssia, but had been otherwise unsuccessful, and were
therefore entirely dropped until Captain Wiggins, in our own
day, resumed them. The Dutch in the meantime had taken
up the running, and Willem Barents of Terschelling, one of
the islands of North Holland, inaugurated, by his heroic
battle with the polar winter, what we may call the series of
great Arctic; campaigns.

Wintering in the Arctic ivgions is no longer an unusual
or a particularly dreaded exploit— that is to say, when the
necessaiy preparations for it have been carefully made. The
present age has succeeded in minimising the dillieulties of
travel and sojourn in the Arctic regions; but, to say nothing
of the inunense advantage aflorded by the steam-engine and
by improved weapons and food-stuffs, it is precisely the sum
of the experiences of his predecessors, often bought with
their lives, that enables the modern explorer to cmeroe vic-
torious from the dangers of the far north.

The Arctic winter overtook Barents almost unprepared.
For ten months he and his crew of seventeen in all lay fast in
the ice at the north-east corner of Nova Zembla. They had
bjiilt themselves a hut on land, partly out of driftwood wliich
they found in great plenty. Even in September the ice was
so hard that they could not bury a dead comrade, and had
the greatest didiculty in building their hut. Wlien, after the
fashion of carpenters, they would try to hold nails in their
mouth, the iron at once froze on to their lips and tore skhi
and flesh away with it. They had to work with their weapons
always at hand, on account of the inquisitive polar bears,
wliich, with their clumsy firearms, they had great difficulty
in keeping oil'. Strangely enough, it did not occur to them

li'

idj

'l .

■i ■- '

.'^ ■ > '

if,

234

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF XANSEN

to eat their flesh ; but they burnt tlie fat in their lamps.
The long night, lasting for three months in tliis latitude, is
one of the greatest horrors of the Aredc winter. 'The
circle of light around his lamp becomes a man's whole
world.* There were two inches of ice on the interior walls
of the hut, and the clothes they wore ' were as white as the
peasants' cloaks at home when they reach the city gate
early in the morning after having driven in their sledges all
night through.' The snowfall was at last so great that the
chinmey became their only means of communication with the
outer world. It is probable, however, that the phlegmatic
Dutch character is better adapted than that of other nations
for facing the hardship and monotony of such an experi-
ence ; and where there is humour there is health. They
cast lots for ' the kingship of Nova Zembla,' and the cook,
on whom the lot fell, was duly elevated to that dignity.

Short]}' after they left their winter quarters Barents died,
meeting his death Hke a hero, with the chart before him and
with words of far-seeing counsel for his surviving comrades,
who had set forth, with the uivalided mate on their hands,
to make the voyage back to Eui-ope in open boats.

Very different are the conditions of life during a winter
on board a sliij) drifting in the ice— such a winter, foi-
example, as fell to the lot of the Austro-IIungarian expedi-
tion of 1872-73 in the same part of the Polar »^ea. Payer
thus describes the teii'ible pressure of tlie ice: 'Like the
mob hi a rcTOlution, the Mdiolc of the ice seemed to riee
against us. Mountains towered up menacingly over the level
plains, and the light crackling noise became first a ringing,
then a rumbling, then a crashing, until finally it swelled into
a furious and myriad-Aoiced uproar.' More and more ice
collects under the ship, which begins to In- lifted out of the

AUCTIC EXPEDITIONS EllOM THE EAKLIEST TIMES 235

sea. Measures are taken in hot haste to enable tlie orew to
leave the ship at the siiortest notice, although the state of
the ice around seems to render it iin])assable for either men
or boats. It appears inevitable that the ship must be
crushed unless it is sufficiently forced upwards by the ice
from underneath. All the tim])ers crack and groan as
though in a conflagration ; and this intense pressure upon
the ship, with its corresponding pressure upon the spirits of
the crew, is repeated almost every day for a hundred and
thirty days, often several times in the twentv-four hours,
and almost always in pitchy darkness. The whole ship's
company slept in their clothes. At the slightest alarm, the
sleepers would awaken and hurry on deck ready for a start.
In the confinement of shipboard, and unable to make
any (^onsideral)le excursions on the ice around, men suffer
terribly, especially in the month-long darkness, from
monotony and the lack of adequate exercise and changing
occupations. 'No amount of habit reconciles a civilised
man to the sunless desert ; lie will always feel out of his
element in a climate against which he has to battle inces-
santly, the natural habitat only of a few animals and human
beings who pass their existence in eating and sleephig, and
have no recollection of happier circumstances. Contempt
for the cold and the habit of dispensing with comforts are
only sul)sidiary helps towards self-preservation. The true
protection lies in incessant work.'

We owe to the explorer Kane aiiother moving picture of
winter life in the Arctic regions. The 'Second Grinnell
Expedition ' of 1858-55 also wintered on board ship; but
the ship lay ice-bound in a harbour on the southern shore of
Kane Basin in Smith Sound. Kane gives a quite artistic
description of the preparations for the winter, and of the

- i"

ill

236

J.IFE OF lailDTlOF XANSEX

monotony of daily life on board. We see him taking liis
observations in the carefully constructed astronomico-ma<^-
netico-meteorological observatory on shore, sitting on a box,
dressed in sealskin trousers, a dog-skin cap, a reindeer-skin
jacket, and walrus boots, while the cold is so intense that
not only his breath, but the mere warmth of his face and
body is sufficient to cloud the sextant-arc and glasses with a
fine hoar-frost. ' London Brown Stout, aud somebody's Old
iirown Sherry freeze in the cal)in lockers ; and the carlines
overhead are hung with tubs of chopped ice, to make water
for our daily drink. Our lamps cannot l)e persuaded to
burn salt lard ; our oil is exhausted, and we work by
nnuldy tapers of coi-k and cotton floated in saucers. We
have not a pound of fresh meat, and only a l)arrel of
potatoes left. Not a man now, except Pierre and Morton, is
exempt from scurvy ; and, as I look round upon the pale
faces and haggai-d looks of my ctmirades, I feel that we
are fighting the battle of life at disadvantage, and that an
Arctic night and an Arctic day age a man more rapidly
and harshly than a year anywhere else in all this wearv
world.' '

And with the cold and the darkness comes disease — frost-
bites, tetanus, scurvy — and then death, and burial, or
ratliei- '])utting aside,' • with a little snow strewn on the
collin.'

Here Hudson perished, miserably deserted ; hei'e I lie two
brothers Oortei-eal and the two brothers Frobisher went
'missing" for all time; here liarcnts and Bering laid down
theii- lives; here Franklin, who had escaped the ])idlet-storm
at Copenliagen and Trafalgar, fell at the head of his picked

' Kane. Arctic Exjilnnifion.s in the Ycirf, IHS.'! to 185",. Vol. 1, p. 17;((Philu,
(lelpliiii. IS.'if)}.

ARCTIC KXPEDITrONS FIJOM THE EARLIEST TIMES 237

company ; liere Hall has for twenty-five years slept his last
sleep on the ver<,^e of the polar ice under the star-spangled
banner and a British memorial tablet. Who can reckon the
multitude whom cold, darkness, toil, hunger, and scurvy have
done to deatli in these regions, where titanic nature does not
murder the human pigmy openly as in the fever-breathing
tropics, but slowly petrifies its victims in a boyg-like ' em-
brace.

After the death of liarents, the disappearance of Hudson,
and Baffin's renunciation, there comes a long lull in Arctic
exploration. A lull of two hundred years — for it is not until
the present century that the search for the Pole recommences
in earnest. Tlie Arctic record of the intervening years consists
chiefly of the explorations of the north coas^ of the great
continents whi(;h we owe to Cheliuskin, Jiering, Mackenzie,
and others.

This century has been the age of scientific polar explo-
ration, undertaken, not in search of gold, not in order to
shorten ' the passage to Japan,' but, in the words of the
Admiralty sailing-orders to Caj)tain Xares, ' for the advance-
ment of science and natural knowledge.' It is characteristic,
then, that in this century the two chief impulses towards the
solution of the great polar enigma should have come, not
fi'om men of action, but from scientific students. ' So(mer
or later,' writes Xordenskifild, ' the thirst for knowledi^e
which has impelled man to measure the vast distances of the
fixed stars, and by the hel]) of spectrum analysis to ascer-
tain their component elenu'nts, could not ])ut impel him
1»» make every possible sacrifice in order to investigate the

The ' bov^'' is a i'orinlcss, iii\ iiliicniMo nionstor cneonntorcd bylVer (iviit.
wilt) iifterwitnls mldrosscs the Sphinx bv tlip name iit' • l.ov".' -iVcr r///;// Vet
K. Sc. 7. - J • ■

LfKl'; OF FRIDIIOF NANSEN

If) i
1

coiifiguration cf the little gruin nf dust steeped in salt which
we inhabit."

It is true ihal these ' ann diaii geographers' hoisted
misleading signals.

To know tho chart ih one thing, but
To Hiiil tlie ship's anotlier ;

The fact remains, nevertheless, that the imn\ense advances
which have been niade dnring this century towa-ds a solution
of the polar mystery may be grouped in two series : that to
which the Englisli geographer Barrow gave the first impulse,
cidminating hi the Frankhn expeditions ; and that which was
inspired by the German geograplier Pelermann, culminating
in the fixed-point investigations of the 'eighties. The Enghsh
geographer strongly backed the American route to the p'olar
regions, the German gave tlie whole weight of his authority
to the routes by the north coast of l-Airope and Asia.

Finally, we see how Nansen's crossing of Greenland, in
1888, and still more the setting forth of tlie jP/-a/// in 18 98, have
had the electrical effect of battle-cries. It seems, however,
as though the struggle witii the ice demon were henceforth
to assume the character </f a guerilla warfare ; the Fram
expedition alone, like the earlier polar enterprises, has the
air of a formal campaign.

What sort of a world, then, is this polar world, that it
should be worth tlie risking of so many hves?

It is an unknown world, a iiwhi 'nuuuiiiitit, m the Queen of
England called the northern part of America in the days
when Frobisher, Davis, and othei- leaders of the new-boru
Hritish seamanship made their names innnortal, and opened
new channels for human enterprise and lo\e of knowledge.

Queen Elizabeth applied the term meta wvognitn, ' a

AIIGTIC KXrEDITlON'S FROM TIIK JlAJiF-IEST TLMES 289

mark and bound hitherto [that is in J 577] utterly ua-
kiiowii,' to the first historically recorded landfall in the
maze of islands and channels between Greenland and
America. The name Meta Incogiiitd is still given to the
southern peninsula of Baffin Land, close to Hudson Strait.

The main reason why this treacherous and perilous
island-labyrinth has proved so tempting from the first, and
has been the scene of the greatest labours and tlie greatest
sacrifices, is that until Cook, at the end of last century, ex-
plored Bering Strait, the passage to the rich regions beyond
the Tacific was thought to be incomparably shorter by the
north of America than by the north of Europe and Asia.

Cabot and his contemporaries conceived the northern
part of America, the present liritish Ameri(;a and Alaska, as
an ocean more or less sparsely sprinkled with islands.
Even down to a century and a half ago, the north coast of
America was represented as a slightly curving south-
westerly line passing from the north-west corner of Hudson's
Bay to Cape Blanco on the Pacific coast, between San
Francisco and Vancouver.

The second reason why the advance towards the North
Pole has, during the greater part of the present century,
chosen this route, is that, up to ver^- ' 'gh latitudes, Green-
land presents a well-explored coast ime. Here a mighty
tongue of the polar world stretclies down into the temperate
zone, half as far again as, in Norway, a tongue of the tem-
perate world stretches in the opposite direction into the
l)olar regions. Thus Baffin, on ilie American side of Green-
land, had two centurirs and a half ago reached a latitude
which was not atta.ner upon the European side until Payer,
in our own days, reached it by means of a sledge journey
during the Germania-llaii,s(i expedition.

;il

Iff,

'f >J

. ,/

240

LIKK OF FIUDTIOK NANSKX

i! i;

L* ii

Between Labrador and rireenlaiul three passages pi-escnt
themselves.

One is named after the famous niidson, wlio, after many
Arctic voyages, one of them aiming at the Pole itself, sailed
into this strait on July 1, KilO. On August o, at the north-
west corner of Fiabradoi', a wicU- expanse of water opened
out before the explorer's eye. As it was three times as large
as the Baltic, we cannot wondei- at his concluding that he
liad entered the I'acilie Ocean. ^I'hat was Hudson's last
voyage; his mutinous crew stated, on iheir return to Eng-
land iri the following year, llinl they had put Hudson, his
young son, and si-ven others on board a boat at sea, after
the hardships of llie winter were over, and the homewartl
vovage was alreadv l)ei>un.

Between the northernmost point of the great liallin land
and Greenland, Davis Strait and liallin Bay branch out in
the shape of sounds towards the west and the north.

The western sounds, which have been explored chiefly
the course of the search for the hapless Franklin expedi-

tKMi, radiah' trom the little central basui winch bears the
same name as the basin explored by I']. Asti'up ' to the north
of Badin i^ay. Ai'ound that central basin, Melville Sound,
the Fi'anklin tragedy was acted out.

In May .1S4"), C*ai)tain Sir -h)hn Franklin put tc^ sea with
the Erclnis and the 'D'ri'or. two frigates already tested in
polar \-oyages, and provided, nioicover. with what was in
those days a comparative novelty, stt'am motive-power. As
we have n-cently seen a promising Arctic expedition give a
stimulus to Antarctic exploration ;is well, so in those vears

' Tlic liitti'V liiis liccn called Melville ISr.y after u Scck-h i'limily. coiiiiueiiii)-
rated in ,u<'ii;.M'ii|)lri('al iioiueiudiitiire wkli i)e\vildenii^' lavisliness. Wo should
prefer • Astnii)"s lla.v.'

tlK. au,=c,.,.sf,,l Antarctic oKp„luio„ of lUc dd.r Ji„s, 1,.„1
g.ve,> a ncnv n„,n„s., u, Arctic e.,„o„uion as a whole

ror nve 3.ca,-s ,u,tl,i,,. „.as k,„nv„ „f th„ n„„ „f ],;,„,|.,;,^

...■iu..ae,a.,,ca,,.:i;:;:^!;::,:;;,-^-

by La,ly LVanidh, I,,.,..,.; .cturne.l with .o„„. ' . :1"
-vvs. ri„. la-.st y,.a,.-« wi,aer quarlc. .,r Uu ° V k,

near the «o„t -„.„.t con.ef of No.th Devon, at th,. Z^:
entran.H, to Welli„t.ton Channel. Th,v,. .,, .ves v.l,

uponthen.w„..the.o,itat,,,„tHo,,,:,C:ia>:Za
by the oxpedilioji. oliiuui

Althou,,h in the foUovvine yeans .several ve,,ti.,es ol' the
o.pe,ht,o„ „.,,. .ILseoven,. i„ ,he e„a,st region, l^t een
<."pp.'nnn,e lhv..r ,„„, „,., ,,,„„ ,„,,, £ « ^^

.a,,,e4son,e.™.. e3MhatHn.e.,^

Siberia i' ""■"■ ^""'^™-'"'"' "" "^ -"■ "- "f

In the sante year in ulnVh the B.ili.sh A.huiralty ,,ives

•""' 'I'- lir,t,sh w,,r-sh,ps had .s,„.„, ,1,,,,, ,.„J, ;„ ,
search an.l conn, hon,e will, no ,„.„s_in ,1,

in vvhicii \r,.( ,1 V "' «•■'— m ihc same year

WW ' '''■^"""•'■-- '"■ 'I- so..,lled Ncrth-

lra„khns late. An Eskin.o, encountered in \„ril 18 U
the Boothia re.nnsuh,ea.st or the estuary;;!!;';':";:;:;

,'l

'')!

•- . -C" :..,"^ 'Mm

242

LFFK OK FIJIIvrrOF NAXSKX

declared that a party of white men, ' kahloona

Ills,

h;id died

of starvation on t

he liMiilcs of a ureat river to the west.

This was said to have hai)peued four winters ago. Certain
Eskimo families occupied in seal-hunting near ll

umo
coast

le no I

if tl

le <rre

th
at island known as King William's Tiand —
such was the purport of the letter— came upon a band of
fortv white men proceeding southward over the ice with
hoats and sledges. The Eskimos could not understand what
they said, but concluded iVom llieir gestures that their ship
had been crushed by the ice, and that they were now going
here thev hoped to find game to live upon. They bought

ipe
d's flesh fr^

some seals iiesn irom the I'-skimos. Tater on in the spring
more than thirty bodies and a few graves had been dis-
covered upon the continent, and live bodies upon a
neighbimring island. Some lay in tents, others under an
ove'rturned boat, others in the open. The report sent to the
Admiralty also eiuuuerates certain snudl objects which the
Hudson r.ay Company's agent had discovered among the
Eskimos: a silver spoon, with arms and the hirers F. (?)
El. :\[. C. (.T. E. >r. Cro/ier, Captain of the Ti'rmr), a silver
fork marked 11. D. S. G. (TTarry D. S. Coodsir, Assistant
Surgeon on board the Eirbtis), a round silver plate with the
nan'ie 'Sir John Franklin, K.C.P,; engraved upon it, and so

forth.

There could be no doubt that Franklin's party had
reached the mouth of the Fish Wiver. They woidd thus be
aboutseven degrees due south of their first winier ([uarters—
that is to say, they had covered hi between three and four
years a distance e(pud to that from the south point of Spitz-
bercren to Troms;'). The mouth of the dreat Fish Uiver lies
inunediately within the Arctic Circle.

Another ai^ent of tlie Uudson Eay Company —the Fjiglish

AI>CT,C ,.XPK,„T,„X.S ,.-,,„,r T,.,.; K.UM.,.ST ums 243.

w7 71''';1^''''' '''"^''''^"')™*^'''*^'«1 "'''-Crimean
. f„u,Kl l,u-,ho,- .....eo,, of tl.e e.xpo,liti„,. about tl>e Fish

;' ' *;T' •'",'•" "'""' "' "' ''^"••■"■y- ^"'"^ (•■•n-l these
skektons) l,„ne,l ,n fhe saud upon its banks

Not until 1809 does any .letailed iulbrnKUion come to

eald ,', r\ ■"■■"■ "'" ''""°" ^'«'g'---'-ll«-. MeClintock.

ca ,c.d an l.,sk,nu, camp on the w... side of the BoothiJ
1 enn,s„la, tunned.ately south of the Magnetic Pole The
Esk,n,„s ,vp„,.,c.d that several years back the crew of a ..reat

..r, wluclt had been ice-bound off the coast of Kil

P nm.ula, had n.ade the.r way to the Great Fish lU.er
;;!:r "7 ';-l P;™hed. on t.^. south coast of K , ;
.Ibams Laud McClintock cau.e upon a skeletott clothed ii;
i.iS«, l.vu.g as though the man had fallen forwards while pro-
-d„,g towards the south-east; and about the same .iu.ef on
fc ,,„,,, -west coast, another sledge-par.y at las, fou.ul a docu-
n nt rocechng fron, the cou,u,and<.rs of the expedition.
ll.iN the only commutucation ever received from the lost
.■x,,l,.,.,.rs, co„s,s,od solely of two pieces of writing on one of

e b„,k sheets which English ex ring .ships 'carry with

.l.em lor the purpose of putting in bottles, bearing a j^'iuted
miuest, „, s,x anguages, that the fn.der will send tin paper
etther ,„ the Adn.iralty in London or to the nearest Gov ™
.eu, omca of his own country. On this blank form st

;;:'., ■■■■'"•;!: -'^ "-' «-' --^en, ut,der the date

M.> -b, IM,, ,, statement to the eflcct that the expedition
It-I -u„<.r..d at the above-n,ention,.d place. Then on e
-tgn., the two officers next in co„u.,a„d had added .
i..rtl,er statement, tuuler dale April ■>:,, 1848 • thev Iru

-ue da,, before left the two ships^„tl; ice to\,,e!u.!*
»-'l. after havu,g been frozen iu for a year and eight

nil

MIS

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wtmmmmmm

244

Lll'K OF rilU>TI()K NANHKN
i-anklin himself liud died the year before. They

months.

intended to set forth the next day for tlie Ureal ^'^- -;-;
Neither ITall-who also made a search on Ivmg Willuun s
Land in the 'sixties, and even bronghl home with hnn a
skeleton which was identified as that of one of Lranklm8
heutenants-nor Schwatka, on his remarkable sledge jonrneys
in the 'seventies, could discover any fnrther documentary
traces, though Schwatka ascertained that manuscripts had
existed, but had been destroyed by the Eskimos. It was
also found that one of the derilect ships had drifted
southwards through Victoria Strait on the west side of Ivmg
William's Land, and sunk in the eastern part of the little bay
in the continent in which this strait debouches. As for the
crews there are indications that hunger drove them to can-
nibalism, and it is not impossible that the Eskimos may have
done away with some of their enfeebled and unwelcome
<vuests ; until in the end, as we have seen, a few reached the
continent, where the last of all perished, bearing the precious
diaries, which the Eskimo children afterwards tore m

^''""'^Eranklin and his followers secured the honour for which
tl,e died-that of being the first discoverers of the North-
West rassage.' So says a leading ]^:nglish authority, and not
without a certain justilieation. But the iinal conquest of the
North-West Passage must be assigned to McClure, who .et
forth through Bering Strait with the double purpose of dis-
coverin<r the passage and seeking for Frankhn. On October 2G,
1850 thirty years after Parry had made his way westward to
the south end of Melville Island, McClure, from a hig i point
on the shore of Prince of Wales Strait, where his ship the
Investigator lay hopelessly ice-bound, saic the >.orth-A\est
Passa/e-looked, that is to say, toward Melville Island, over

I. They
I Eiver.

Villuun's
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inu'utary
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It was
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ached the
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for which
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ATtHTKJ EXPKnrTlONS 1 IIOM Till.] l^VRLtlWT TIMES 24r^

the f! I, Sound which did not, as liis l)ook expresses it,
♦co!UH-ci the two points, but rather obstructed, and will
dou ilesH for ever obstruct, nil advance either from the East or
froii, he West. A , car n-wl ^ ], ■<• .afterwards, in 1852, when
the Investijatov had loi,.. ., oni the ice, and had made

Its way backward to I he north c. .ast of Jianks Land, McClure
complotecT the .nnection by setting forth from his new
wmter qu rter^ .ad traversing on sledges the strait between
Hanks Land and Melville Island, whicli hud been reached from
the east l)y Parry, and after him, in 1851, by McClintock.
Tiie meeting between McClnre and McClintock's expedition
at Last took place in 18-5:^ whereupon all the expeditions
which had been sent to investigate the Sounds were brought
home, in 1854, by ships despatched for the purpose.

T~)iiring the Last half-century, the passage of Smith Sound,
that chaiacteristic strait to the north-west of Greenland, has
been forced, as it were, inch by inch, each advance being
more dearly bought than the last.

Balliu, as before stat(?d, saw Smitli Sound, thougli John
Eoss, two hundred years after him, mapi)ed it as closed. In
1852 one of the Franklin search vessels, under Captain Ingle-
field, penetrated half-way through the Sound, and Inglefi'eld
was led to conjecture an open waterway stretching right to
Bering Straits and Siberia. Therefore, in the following^year,
the no less energetic than fantastic Kane set forth upon his
track. His ship was barely a])le to enter the Sound, but his
sledge parties, under Hayes ' and :\l()rton, made their way
over that ex])ansion of the Sound which takes its name from
Kane, and along Kennedy Channel— which was then free
from ice— an advance of almost three degrees beyond what

' Who also counimndea the Soiuul I':xpodition of laOl.

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LIFE OF FllIDTIOF XAX.SKX

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liad hitherto been attained. Morton imagined that he both
saw and heard open sea stretching to the Xorth Pole. ' His
ears were gladdened by the novel music of dashing waves.' ^
Six years later, Hayes, with his sledges, pushed on to about
the point which Morton had really seen. In 1871, Hall
made his way on board the Polaris nearly a degree further
north— that is to say, almost through Robeson Channel, the
last narrow portion of the Sound before the land trends out-
ward on both sides. After Hall's ship had drifted south-
ward through Kane Basin and Smith Sound, the crew were
separated during a disembarkment off Whale Sound, and
nineteen men were carried away on an ice floe, upon which
they drifted from October 15, 1872, till April 30, 1873,
through Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, almost to the eastern
extremity of Labrador, where they Avere picked up by a
whaler. The length of this voyage on an ice floe was
equivalent to the distance from the south of Spitzbergen to
Hamburg. Equally protracted in point of time, if not of
distance, w^as the drift-voyage of the German explorers, tlie
crew of the Hansa, on the other side of Greenland three
years earlier.

But to return to Smith Sound and its extensions. At the
north-west mouth of Eolieson Channel, during the winter of
1875-76, a three-masted ship lay jannned obliquely in the
ice, off a barren open shore covered with ice hummocks.
This was the Alert, under the connnand of Captain Nares, E.N.

The Admiralty's orders ran thus : ' The highest northern
latitude ... if possible the North Pole ! ' 'As the expecta-
tions which were entertained regarding our reaching the
North Pole were not realised,' wrote Nares, ' I must, in jus-
tice to the gallant men whom I commanded, express my firm

' Kane, op. cit. vol. i. p. 30)).

AKCTIC EXPEDITIONS FIlOM THE EAKJJEST TLMES 247

conviction that it was due solc4y to the fact that the Xorth
Pole is unattainable by the Smith Sound route.'

Even at the moment of separation, when the Alert
^teamed ahead and left its consort, the Discovery,^ stationed
in the bay named after it, Nares thought that everything
promised well for the solution of the prol,lem. Robeson
Channel was then supposed to be a narrow sound between
the little Hall Basin and a similar basin to the northward.

^They went ahead as fast as possible until they reached
82° 24' N. lat., the most northerly point as yet (F) attained
by any ship ; but there the ice beset them again, and this
time in good earnest.

' It is either affectatioii or want of knowledge,' says Sir
George Nares, ' that can lead any one seriously to recom-
mend an attempt being made to navigate through such ice.
. . . Steamers arc enabled to penetrate through a broken-
up pack which the old vo3'agers, witli their sailing-vesGels,
necessarily deemed impassable. . . . But no ship has been
built which could withstand a real nip between two pieces
of heavy ice.' -

This was written in 1878, before the Fram was thought of.

The Alert had reached a point somewhat higher than
Independence Bay on the east coast of Greenland. And
here, near Cape Sheridan in Grant's Land, she lay in winter
quarters for eleven months in a temperature that sometimes
fell to - 58-75° C. ( - 73-75° Fahr.).

In the course of extensive sledge journeys, covering
about thirty degrees of longitude, which at the eighty-third
degree of latitude means about 300 miles. Lieutenants Beau-
mont, Aldrich, and others explored the most northerly coasts

^ The second of the name ; the first was Bylot and Baffin's.
- Nares, Voyage to the Polar Sea, vol. i. p. I'.i6.

IS,

I J

lit-

& M

,—,

248

LIFE OF FIMDTIOF NANSEX

of the known world, east and west of the mouth of l^obesou
Channel; and on May 12, 187(), Markham and Parr reached
83° 20' 26" N. lat., about 63° west of Greenwich.

Markham, at the head of a sledge party, had set himself
to light liis way northward over the ice as far as possible.
Camping at night upon ice floes, cutting their way with
hatchets and spades through moraines of giant ice blocks,
sometimes blinded by tno snow, sometimes up to their waist in
snow-drifts, with Lieutenant Parr and the pioneers clearing
the way, and tlie others toiling after them with the sledges,
reeling, slipping, falling, recovering— so they went ahead.
' One thing is pretty certain, we cannot have it much worse,
and this is a consolation.' Well said, gallant seaman ! And
the nortli wind at - 55° C. ( - 67°Fa]ir.) ! ' It almost cuts
one in two.' And then the foffs !

Tlie shores are of course ])arricaded by moraines of ice
blo(.'ks piled one upon another. From Cape Joseph Henry,
where Markham left tlie cousL-line aixd started due north-
ward, witli provisions for sixty-three days, he looked forth
over an irregular sea of ice witli small but tliick floes and
great blocks, which had hurtled and splintered against each
other, often ranged in piled-up ramparts around floes of
greater or less extent. Further out from tlie shore the floes
were not thus walled around, but were exceedingly lumpy
and jumbled up, often tilted at very awkward angles, with
seemingly new-frozen patches between tliem, and with trea-
cherous snow-covered clefts. One floe was estimated to
measure a mile and a half from north to south, and about
seven miles in circumference. Ice blocks were found con-
taining patches of mud niid flay, proving that they had
pretty recently been in contact with the land. During the
journey on the ice, tracks of wolves and lemming were ob-

ARCTIC EXPEDITTONS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 249

served, and there were signs of hares nearly twenty miles
from land.

The exceedingly low temperature when the wind was
from the nortli dispelled in Markham's mind all idea of an
open sea to the north or nortli-west. The alternations of
opinion, from one year to another, on the question of the
open polar sea, remind one of the divergent reports of
travellers in Australia, one of whom will find an oasis on
the very spot where another, the year before or after, sees
only the desert in all its desolation.

Markham's sledge party had at last to retreat, worn out
by the incessant toil of digging its way through the pack
ice, while five of the little band of seventeen were disabled,
' and as many more showed deckled scorbutic symptoms.'
Their tents at night were more like hospitals tlian the abodes
of strenuously toiling men. With flags flying and boat-
standards displayed, they took a final observation which
showed their latitude to be 83° .20' 26" N., or 399A miles
from the IS'orth Pole.

Of the view in brilliantly clear weather from Mount
Julia, an elevation of 2,000 feet near Cape Joseph Henry,
Xares writes as follows : ' To the northward no land, or the'
faintest appearance of land, was visiljle. The interminable
u:-e pack appeared from our lofty station to consist of small
floes hedged round by l)road barriers of rough ice, until, in
the extreme distance, it blended with the horizon ; not a
pool of water or the faintest appearance of a water-cloud
was to be distinguished within the range of our vision,
which embraced an arc of 100 degrees. We were per-
fectly satisfied that no land of a "great elevation exists
^vithin a distance of eighty miles north of Cape Joseph
Henry, and none at all within fifty miles, which from our

t'
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250

LIFE OF FIJIJ)T1(JI' NAXSKX

outlook bouiult'd the visible horizon. We may rest assured
then, that .... to the 84th parallel of latitude stretches
the same formidable pack which Avas encountered by
Markham and his compauions. Whether or not land e.xisis
within the 360 mih's which stretches from the limit of our
view to the northern axis of the globe is. so far as sledge-
travelliug is concerned, inuuaterial. Sixty miles of such
pack as we now know to extend north of Cape Joseph
Henry is an insuperable obstacle to travelling iu that
direction with our present appliances ; and I uidiesitatingly
affirm that it is impracticaljle to reach the Xorth I'ole by
the Smith Sound route.' ^

It was about this time that the polar traveller Woyprecht
proposed an international enterprise for tlie sinudtaneous
carrying out of a series of scientilic observations at various
fixed stations in the polar zone.

The American expedition despatched under Lieutenant
Greely, in pursuance of this plau, has attained somewhat
tragic renown. In August, 1881, it installed itself in Dis-
covery Harbour in Grant's Land, near the liobeson Channel.
From September 11, when the transport which accompanied
it returned to Newfoundland, nearly three years passed
before anything was heard of, or from, Greef, „nd hia party,
the relief expeditions of 1882 and 1883 haviug failed to
reach them. It was not until the third year that seven
exhausted survivors (out of five and twenty) were found, and
six of them brought home.

Nothing but a full reproduction of the picture given day
by day in Greely's own diary of the miseries of existence iu
the midst of cold, hunger, sickness, and helplessness, would
convey an adequate idea of the horrors of an Arctic disaster.

' Naves, oj}. cif. vol. i. p. 325.

AKCTfC EXPKDFTIOXS VliOM TIIK ivVULIJOST TIMES 251

On June G, 1884, Lieutenant Greely sentenced a soldier named
Ileiuy to be sliot for having stolen some provisions— to wit,
some shrimps out of the general mess-pot, and a number of
sealskin thongs. He had been previously detected in the same
offence, and warned ; ' for,' writes Lieutenant Greely, ' it was
evident that if any of the party survived, it must be through
unity and fair dealing, otherwise everybody would perish.'
A few da}s afterwards the military surgeon. Dr. Pavy, died,
his end being hastened by his use of the narcotics to 'which'
he had access. ' EN-erybody is now collecting reindeer moss,
tripe de roche, and saxifrage, all of which it is possible for
us to eat.' One of the dying men, who was also suspected
of having stolen from the conmion store, inserted a protest
in his diary: he had only eaten his 'own boots and part of
an old pair of pants ' !

Lieutenant Lockwood, who died before the rescue,
together with Sergeant Brainard and an Eskimo named
Christiansen, had in the meantnne (May 1882) hoisted ' the
glorious stars and stripes' on Lockwood Island, off the north
coast of Greenland, in 83° 24' N. hit., and thus reached the
furthest north point as yet trodden by human foot within
the knowledge of civilised mankind.^ Markham had six
years before reached a point a little more than four miles
short of this. Lockwood wrote in his report: 'To the
north lay an unbroken expanse of ice, interrupted only by
the horizon. Could see no land anywhere between the" two
extreme capes . . . referred to, though I looked long and
carefully, as did Sergeant Jh-ainard.' Mr. Brainard, too,
wrote as follows : ' Toward the north the Tolar Ocean, a
vast expanse of snow and broken ice, lay before us. For

' The distance from tlie Nortli Tolo in e-iual to tlio distance from Chris-
tiania to the Arctic Circle.

01 ill]]

^r '-r

w!!93ISE

252

LIFE OF FlilDTIOF NANSEN

sixty miles our vision extoiulcd uninterruptedly, and within
it no signs of land appeared. The ice appeared to l)e rubble,
the al)sence of large i)ahcofrystic floes being renuirked
upon.' ^

Tiiere is no need to eidarge at tliis point upon the im-
portance of Greenhmd as a link in the chain around the
North Pole. It is a matter of common knoM'ledge that
Xansen's successful expedition of 1888 gave a potent
stinnilns to Arctic enterprise, while it made the reputation
of the dauntless and skilful explorer to whom 4iese pages
are dedicated. Here, however, a word of mourning may
not be out of season for our second Greenland explorer —
Eivind Astrup — who, but for his untimelv death, would
doubtless one day have taken his place with Markham,
Xordenskiilld, Peary, and Payer in the front rank among
Arctic pioneers.

The principal expeditions along the east coast of Green-
land have been fully described in a work no doubt known
to most readers of these lines— 77«; First Crossing of Green-
land. The most notable addition w^hich lias since been
made to our knowdedge of tliis particular region is due to
the exploration by Peary and Astrup, in 1892, of a small
stretch of the north-eastern coast, at about 82° N. lat.

One of the most important and serviceable outposts
towards the Xorth Pole is Spitzbergen, Avhicli may this year
celebrate the third centenary of its discovery by the before-
mentioned Dutch voyager, Willem Barents. The Spitz-
bergen islands were, until the Tifties, the most northern land
ever reached by civilised man ; and if w^e take into account

' Greely, Three Years of Arctic Service, vol. i. chap, xxv.

, i

AHCTIC KXPKDITIONS FKOM TIIK HAULIKST TI.MKS 2bii

the results of 8coresb}'s, rarry's, ami Xordenskiold's explo-
ralions to the north of the ishiiids, we find that their record
was not broken until twenty years ago. Spitzbergen oflers,
every summer, a more advanced point of departure than is
attainable anywhere else with equal security.

It was in 1827 tliat Parry, with two boat-sledges, set
forth northward from Spitzbergen. lie and his party went
ahead for a month, when it proved that the}- were drifting
backward on the ice ftister than they could shove their Ijoat-
sledges forward. They had then made their way nearly
three degrees northward— to 82' 45', a latitude which was
not outdone till lifty years later, and which even Lockwood
in 1882 did not pass by so much as one degree. This was
the first use of sledges in polar exploration.

On much the same meridian, the 18th or 19th east of
Greenwich, on which Scoresbx' in 180G and Parry in 1827
had succeeded in passing the 81st degree of latitude, the
Swedish steamship Soj>/mi, with Kordenskifild on board,
reached in 18G8 the highest latitude up to that lime attained
by any ship— viz. 81" 42'. ' We have readied a point,"
writes Captain von Otter, ' beyond that at which any one has
hitherto been al)le to prove thac he took the altitude on his
ship's deck.' This j)oint was reached only by ploughing
their way forward through the ice ; and when the ship pu"t
about, ' there was no direction in Mdiich a man, with a boat-
hook in his hand, could not have gone at least a mile upon
the ice-floes.' In this expedition Lieutenant Palander, after-
wards so well kiu)wn, was sec^ond in command ; and, besides
NordenskiJild, several Swedish men of science took part in it.

I ;

m!';

^At mid-day on August 30, 187:-5, in 79° 43' N. lat. and
59° 53' E. long.— that is to say, north of Nova Zembla— the

lilJ

it I

•J.*)4

I.ll'K (IF I'l.MKTlOK NANSKN

crew of ;iii Aiistro-Trmiirafian man-()l-w;ir, llic 7)yif/i,>(jf,
sh^Utod land lo fhe norlli-west, loomiii;,' tliroiiH-li a veil of
mist. A «flitterin_n- array of Alpine siimmils was suddenly
rovealod to flieir astonished jjfaze.

At llial lime this fine ship, with which Austria had
joined in the international race for the North Pole, had
drifted in the ice for more Ihan a year northward of Nova
ZcMiilila.. Tt li.id on board the Payer-Weyprecht I'A-pedition,
fitted out at the expense of Count Wilczek, to attempt the
route to the North I'ole between 8pitzber<ren and Nova
Zend)la, reconunended ])y Petermami, the geographer. Not
until two months after the first si.ijht of land did they suc-
ceed in makino- iheir way from the ice-bound shij) to the
new Pranz Josef Pand, one of the most interesting- dis-
covei'ies of the last two centuries.

l"\)r fully two degrees of latitude tlie Austrians pushed
on noi'thwards over the grou}) of islands, with their inter-
vening sounds, up lo Crown Pi-ince Ru(h)lph's Land, with its
two beacons on its western extremity. They gave the name
'Cape Fligely' to the northernmost point they reached, in
latitude 82° iV— about the same latitude readied by the
Poary-Astrup E.xpedition in North Greenland in 1892.

The open water along the coast below this cape was not
really open sea, but a ' polynja '■ enclosed by old ice.
Payer has no belief in any open polar sea, ' that anti([uated
hyjiothesis.' A broad white plain stretched to the liorizon,
broken oidy l)y two distant blue Alps to the north, which
they called King Oscar's Land and Petermann's Land.

Leaving the ship behind in the ice and draggino- their
boats, the crew of the T,';/('fho^ set forth from this distant
polar archipelago. They journeyed for almost three months

' A Russian term for a jjouI uiiiid tlie ico.

li ;t veil of
IS siuldoiily

Uistria had
Pole, had
•(1 of Nova
I'A'pcditioii,
,tt(Mnpt I ho
and Nova
plier. Not
d they siu;-
iliij) to tlu!
'cstiiii^- dis-

ms pushed
their iiiter-
ul, with its
e the iKiiiio
reached , in
led by the
892. "

)e was not
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anti([uated
le liorizon,
irth, which
ind.

I^iiiii" their
!iis distant
•ee months

AlfCTIC KXI'KIUTIONS FK(»M TIIK KAKI.lllST TIMKH 255

over the ice, until at last, aliout two d

/einhl,

avs north of Nova

I, they were able to launch their bont>

d<irtni_o- the roast of Nova Zembia for a fortni.rht th

Alter

I'll in with some belated K'nssian sealers, whicl
I lie party of three and twenty to Vardii.

1 conve

yed

In tl

10 wmtcr of IS82-88 two ships lay side by side in the
"")rwej,'ian steamship Vania,\v\t]i a Dutch

ara Sea- -the N(

sc'M-ntilic expedition on board, and the Danisli JJijmp/i

bieiitenaiit A. Tloviraard

'Ilia.

in connnand. Ilovraard, who had

lakcn part in the I >//./ expedition, set forth with the idea of

makin;,' for the North l*oi

le JNortli i'oie, and also ot Drmgmg aid to i».c
missino- Joawiettc; but when the fate of Win Jmniiette was
as<-,.rtained, he contented himself with an attempt to push
r<)i\vard hy the Tape ( 'heliiiskin route. If he could get as far
as Fi-Muz Josef Land, he would at least have established a
basis for fm-ther advance. At any rate, he thought, this
rnnte would have the support of a coast-line further north,
and might lead over to the northern opening of Smith
Sound. He could not, however, escape from his involuntary
imprisonment in the Kara Sea, and had to content hhnself
with the interesting observations as to winds and currents
M'hich it enabled him to make.

In 1874 Captain Wiggins began his attempts, indefatiga-
1)ly conlinned year after year, in spite of all misfortunes,
l'> estal)lish a commercial route between England and Siberia
lliiough the Kara Sea.

On June 21, 1878, the T^ sailed from Troraso; three
M-eeks later it left Dickson Harbour, at the mouth of
the Yenisei River; on August 19 it anchored off the
iiortheriunost point of the Old World, Cape Cheliuskin,
Mhe most monotonous and desert scene in all the northern
latitudes,' writes Nordenskilild. From September 27, 1878,

m I

ii'ii W-

■!""■*■

250

l.ll'K (II' rUIMTKtl' NANSKN

to July 18, IS71), the sliip lay ice-boiiiul only two days' .sail
from lU'riii^ Slrail, which it passi-d on .hily 20.

Thus waH till! North ICast I'assa^^u coiupk'tisd. X coii-
tinuoiiH base-line was at last provided I'or our knovvlcd^c^ of
the Arctic seas, and a new and virj^in rc;j;ion ol" the polar
world was laid o])en to tempt investi^^'ation.

T mean, what may l»i' calli'd the racific side, where
Berin^' Strait, on the same meridional circle as Trondhiem,
lies at about the same distance from the I'ole. I mean that,
{^reat tract, with the N(!W Siberia Islands Ibi- its mW Me
point, where, to the north-east of Asia, we siiem to divine
the risin^f contours of unknown polar isUinds like those to
th(! north-east of iMirope and t)f Anu'rica.

As this se,i,nuent of the Polar CircUs, stretchinnf from the
mouths of the Obi and Yenisei, with the New Siberia
Islaiuls and Jiering Strait in the middle, to the delta of the
Mackenzie River, has alwavs been the most remote from
European and American enterprise, there is nothiii«f remaik-
able in the fact that, on this side, we have looked no further
into the polar world than the eye can sec; from the northern-
most headlaiid of the continent, and, indeed, on tiie nu;ridian
of Jieriuii; Strait, no further than to the latitude of Bear Island
on the European side, liefore the voyage of tlie Jeaiiiwtte,
no ship is knowni to have penetrated much beyond a latitude
equal to one decree north of the North Capi', or to the lati-
tude of Upernivik on the wn-st coast of (ireenlaiul.

And yet the outposts of civilised hunumity had recon-
noitred the said New^ Siberia Islands as nmch as two
hundred years auo, and ever since the time of the Thirty
Years' War snudl bands of liussian sealers had patrolled the
sea and shore all alon<j the north coast of Asia.

» ' * "'" ''"""' ''''"S''^' "». «-l,i,.|, w,. have

gre,s „f „.x,,lora,,b„ o,> ,ho.o i„l„.,,i,ablo slu,,.. '

We e«„„„t homnor, o,„i, upasni,,^, ,„„,ti„„ ;„.,,,e ,„.,,,
I'xpedj ion in tlio fiiNt li..ir ,.r 1 . ''uiefem.ii

"»•■» "f liennf, an.l Cheliiiskin woil.l-famous ]„ the
whole ™^,e of polar e.v„,o,a,ioi,, a,,., even, „„ .n "
of ,cie,„ihc travel a« a whole, „„,hiii,, ean co.iipr:^;
.1, pu,„eeri,i,, enterpri.. of the IMssiaii Government, ,il
be the enormous efforts an.l sacrifices maile l,y the Ei it
(-vernmeiit an.l people in the search for FraiikL. '
What has ,ee„ e/fecte,! on the Siberian side In- far-seei,,..
■meal consuleratioi. (here, as in so manvoh'Z
"...Mrieaby interwoven with the interests of ^nence a T rf
commerce) pnrely mercantile consiaerations have b ol a
;t';' ™ .^' .^-■'- -'1- The exploration of th 7ort

'■«""-«'Mo a satisfactory conelnsion by the S.'.ili
- Wran,el ami Anjou in the eighteen-twenlie ' t '

tol.'rable exacitinle by lai„l exploration. ITere as on , lie
• -aticsice, further research has fiUecl iu gapsl ,d

hIIv completed the chain of kuowled.re 1^,1, ,

;'^ ;;-. especially by the simultat'e^ous ^ dU^us'^;

Mering Strait was not really known to Geography before
'■ """'""" -" "-"V" had explored" the 'easten!

!if

•1

urn I I

imm^m^ "■.■■"

- !

258

\AVV. OK KIM DTI OK NANS FA'

extremity of Asia, and ascertaiucd that there existed a
M'aterway between the Arctic Ocean and the I'acilic. Hut
that this connection took the form of a strait thgy had not
discovered.

How ' new,' in reahty, is the world we live in !
Only a centuiy before the Voja took its year-long rest
during its circumnavigation of the Old World, James Cook,
on his last voyage, had sailed into Bering Strait, and had
tried to force his A\ay ahead both to tlie east and to the
west, but withcnit any particular result.

m 1849, Keilet lauded on Herald Island. In 1867,
Wrangel Land received its name from Th. Long.

Ii^order to make the nations pull themselves together,
and attack in earnest the investigation of this vast region, we
shall perhaps need the stimulus of a strong emotion suc^li as
alarm for the fate of some heroic explorer. Such an emotion
was powerful enough to inspire the search for the Franklin
expedition during a space of two and-thirty years. Such an
emotion set great forces to work in the ellbrt to succour the
Jeannetie. Let us hope, however, that, in the present in-
stance our definition of polar history as a record of ' victo-
rious defeats ' may justify itself in the sense that the defeat
of the Dijmphna and the Jeannette may result in the victory

of the Fntm.

Of the disaster of the Jcdnnette some account must be
oiven, if only l)ecause its history has a curious bearing upon
tiiat of the expedition which has called forth these lines.
The Pandora, which had been bought by the well-known
newspaper proprietor, -lames Gordon Bennett, and re-named
after his sister, was at fust designed to strike an independent
course for the North Tole through Bering Strait ; but as the

vear 18

79 bromdit with it a keen interest in the question, g

I. In 1867,

ARCTIC KXPEDfTIoxs FJIOM TUV imt.t,.

liti^'.M nil.. KAKFJEST TIMES 259

' Wliat has become of t],e Fe<,a and .Nordemkiuld ? ' n

iieh, hteaniecl tlirouo-li Hp,- ,,„ Qf,.„:f r*

'■'i'" h."..l steamed out into the Pacifl;i ""

or wITl r T ' J'"'"' "'"'°"' ^y «- f™"' »« Long
"■■ l'.s s up But ,t was provisioned for three years and

«iu.pped w,th everything tlrat science and tlre wedth o a
f7' —P«Pe.-proprietor could suppIv-Edison Lself
-^ .upenntended the e.eetrie h^ht ins'taliation. M Zl

serious ; ttenl T " ■'"'""^ "^"■'■*« "»^ A^^'

Plcifie! ' '■""'' "" ''°"'' ^* by way of the

In December, 1881, Europe was startled by tidin<.s f™,
l.e Ukutsk district that a party of De Long's' mMdh

heptonber arnved at the n.outh of the Lenain an e" haul
o,>d, .on. Not till March, 1882, were the bodieso De W

L.mself and eleven of his comrades discovered. ®

llie survivors relafpfl tinf c.,> ^ i
^1- , . in^Leci mat, so earlv as Senteinhpr ISTO

he .npwas li.ed in the ice, which did not' ^t: .^' i

nearlj two years, when it was crushed and sank For

eventeen months a leak had rendered it necessa.; to keep

"ol.t. lor five n.ouths the ship drifted in a circle off
WrangelLand, after whichit was swept rapidly to the nortl.

« linici lie r.c»,.. ,u„l „ ,, " hi " "■' '^'■"1'° '»l«n'" ""J Upeniivik

; i'f

.^ji i ai ' i"!-.

•9B5-

J i ll. Wi

260

IJFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

west. On May 17, 1881, at seven in the evening, they
sighted hitherto undiscovered islands : Jeannette Island,
Henrietta Island, and Bennett Island, known as the De Long

group.

An impression prevailed on board that the current was
not continuous, but a mere drift following the course of the
wind. They imagined, however, that it might carry them
past Franz- Josef Land, and that they might thus emerge into
open water in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen.^

All the men had to leave the ship on June 12. They
were then about 460 miles froni the coast, due south, and
about loO miles further from the delta of the Lena. Having
set forth for the Lena and marched southward for a whole
week upon the ice, they took an observation which showed
that the northward drift of the ice had carried them twenty-
seven miles Ijackwards ! The intervening islands, however,
afforded good resting-points. In September, having reached
a stretch of open sea, and started to cross it in three boats,
they were separated by a storm. One of the boats was
never heard of again. We have already seen what befell the
crews of the two others.

The fever of investigation and invention which is one of
the leading characteristics of our timr may perhaps be
reckoned among the many symptoms that we arc entering

up' n a new era.

In the present connection, a saying of that niaster oi
worldly wisdom, Francis Bacon, may well be called to mind :
'Nee manus inula, nee intellectus sibi permissus, mulLum

• Not only was an active search for the Jeannette instituted in 1881 in the
waters and along tho coasts inside Berhi- Strait, but Greely's expedition,
which started in that year, was directed to keep a good look out for it in tho
Greenl;md seas.

ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 261

valet ;mstrumentis et auxiliis res perficitur, quibus opus est
noil minus ad intellectura quain ad manum.' ' Neither the
bare hand nor the unaided intellect is of much avail • the
mind, no less than the hand, stands in need of tools' and
instruments.'

A complete history of polar exnloration— which the
above nasty sketch can in no way pretend to be-would
necessarily comprise a list, and a long one, of the
names of those who have supplied the tools and instru-
ments of which the English philosopher speaks. Many of
these names are for ever attached to the districts and
locahties of the polar world, its mountains, headlands, fiords
glaciers, and rivers, its sounds, channels, and seas, side by side'
with the names of the discoverers tliemselves. Among these
patrons of polar exploration may be mentioned Booth Grin
nell, Dickson, Gamel, Oskar, Franz Josef, Wilczek, Thomas
Smith Dudley Diggs, Wolstenholme, Jones, Carey, and Lady
t rank in. Nations, too, have given tlieir millions and private
nulividuals their mites. The search for Franklin alone is
estimated to have cost England from two to three million
pounds. A no less honourable place in the record is due to
the polar theorists of the present century, MutJi Petermann at
leir head; and to this category the majority of the explorers
themselves also belong. It is true, indeed, that scarcely
any department of science has been so fertile of fallacious
theories as conjectural polar geography; but it is equally
rue that there can be no more wasted labour than a hap-
hazard polar expedition, no more futile and even criminal
undertaking than the sacrifice of money and lives on an
Arctic voyage which does not start from a thorough know-
ledge of all that has been done and suffered in these regions
and IS not guided by a practised talent for combinino- seem-

Til

! *

iij,f

ff r 3pnf

.,-J." ' . wi " - I"".'.

262

LIFE or I'ltlDTIOI' NANSEN

ingly unconnected data, constructing reasonable theories,
and even divining what lies hidden behind the mists and
beyond the immeasurable ice fields.

Many, no doubt, are of opinion that all these enormously
costly and perilous expeditions are at best futile and almost
criminal. But we do not live by bread alone. Our mind
requires to be occupied and exalted, our pulses to be nobly
stirred. The ' si)ectacles ' [clrcenses) which the people re-
quire are exhibitions of ideal energy and intrepidity in the
worthiest of arenas, where tlie explorer's life is ventured for
the sake of an addition, though it be but a fractional one,
to the sum of human knowledge.

263

CHAPTER XV

THE COXTKIDUTIOXS OF NORWEGIAN SEAMEN TO AKCTK;

GEOGKAPHV

li.V rUOFESSOK H. M0H\

The area within which the iuvesti<rations and discoveries of
Norwegian seamen have extended onr knowledge of the
Arctic regions stretches from the east coast of Greenland to
the north coast of Siberia, from the 27th degree west of
Greenwich to the 86th degree east-that is to say, 113
degrees in all.

It is chiefly to captains of whaling and sealing vessels,
who have been interested in geographical observation, and
have made good use of their opportunities, that we owe
those extensions of our knowledge of the lands and seas
around the North Pole, of which we shall here give a short
account.

Discoveries were no doubt made so long ago as last cen-
tury, when tlie whalers, for the most part, took the direction
of Spitzbergen. Little attention was paid to them, however,
until the end of the eighteen-fifties, when the Swedish ex'
peditions to Spitzbergen began. It may now be said, with
regard to certain portions of the Polar Sea, that the Nor-
wegian whaling-skippers have opened a new chapter in
geographical knowled^j.

About the end of the 'fifties, the supply of game on the
old hunting-grounds around Spitzbergen had so notably

'i*

' >VI

iJ I

.IWMJ U -Jtsi

MWUMlacai

I i

■..■I

iiS

264

LIFE OK FRIDTIor NANSKN

diminished that sealers were forced to go fnrtlier afield in
quest of seal and walrus, reindeer and polar bear ; and the
scientific significance of their voyages dates, naturally
enough, from the same period. The attention, too, which
men of science began about this time to devote to their*
discoveries doubtless contributed to induce some of these
gallant skippers now and again to venture a little further

KLLING CAKLSEN

into unknown Avaters than they would have done merely for
the sake of hunting.

We may begin our record of Norwegian discoveries in
the Polar Sea with the year 1859. In that year Captain
EUing Carlsen ^ was seal-liunting in the brig Jan Mai/en east
of Spitzbergeu at some distance from the islands which

' Born in Troniso in 1819. lie afterwards took part as ' Ice-Master ' in tiio
Austrian polar expedition of 1872-74.

CONTIIIBUTIONS OF NORWEGIANS TO ARCTKJ (il'OcnjAPFI V 265

form the eastern shore of Storfiord. Carlseu was accora-
panied by anotlier well-known Arctic sailor, Sivert Tobiesen.'
On July 21, 1850, Carlsen sighted land to the north, and on
the 22nd he was only two miles south of this land, which
has afterwards proved to be i)art of the <rroup of islands
known by the name of King Charles Land. It is probable
that they had already been siglited in 1G17 by an English-
man, Thomas Edge, who had given them the name of Wilkes

ister ' in tlie

SIVKHT KKISTIAN TOBIKHKN

Land. Tliis discovery had, however, disappeared from the
charts and fallen into almost total oblivion, so that Carlsen's
observation was in effect a new discoverv.

In 1803 Carlsen, again in company with Tobiesen and
on 1)oard the Jan Mm/en, did what no one had previously
done in historic times, and circumnavigated the whole Spitz-
bergen group of islands. After sailing along the west coast

' Born in Troinsii in 1821, died on Nova Zcnibla in 1873.

3 ; V < M .{

260

LIl'K OF I'lMDTlOl' XAN.SEN

and north coast and through Ilinlopen Strait to the south
coast of the North-East Ishmd, \iv was forced by the ice to
put about on July 27, sailed back through Ilinlopen Strait,
and then turned eastward, touched upon the Seven Islands,
and beat up on August 5 and to about 81" X. lat. On
August lo he skirted ' along the glacier,' and passed the
north-east point of Xorth-east Island, which has since been
called Cape Jieigh-Smith. On the 14th he passed ' between
Great Island and the glacier.' On the 16th he sighted land
to the south-east ; it was the same he had seen from the
south in 185'J — Kin"- Charles Land. On August 18 he was
off the south-east p(jint of North-East Island (afterwards
called Cape Mohn), and sailed right across the mouth of
Ilinlopen Strait to Unicorn Bay. Hence he sailed during
the following days along the east coast of Barents Island
and Edge Island to the Thousand Islands and Whale's Point
at the entrance to the Storliord, and onward into known
waters off West Spitzbergen.

By this voyage Carlsen proved that Spitzbergen can be
circumnavigated in years when the ice is favourable, that
the eastern part of North-East Island is covered by one
continuous glacier extending right to the sea, and that
south-east of this land there lies a group of islands, which
had been sighted before from the south.

In the following year — 1864 — Tobiesen, with the brigan-
tine ^^Eohts, skirted the east coast of North-East Island.
From Cape Mohn he looked across to the western point of
Kino- Charles Land, the so-called ' Swedish Foreland.' He
had afterwards to desert his ship with its full cargo at Great
Island, and take refuge in his boats.

In 1865 we find Tobiesen at Bear Island, where he
wintered in a hut on the north coast. Here he made

CONTItlUUTlONS OF NOliWlKJIANS T(» AUCTIC (ilKJGRAniV 267

meteorolooical o])serNatioiis Irom August I8G0 to June
1866, wliicli throw great light upon the chiuatology of
the Arctic regions and have been niinutcl}- registered' and
discussed. The seal-hunting proved unrenmnerative, so that
the experiment of wintering there was not repeated.

In 1807 Captain Kiimibiik, of Hammerfest, completely
circunniavigated West 8pitzl)ergen, and discovered a group
of islands on the east coast in the 70th degree of latitude.

In the year 1808 began the Norwegian voyages to the
Kara Sea. This sea, lying between Xova Zembla and
Siberia, has been called by the Ifussian naturalist. Yon Baer,
' the ice-vault of Europe,' because it is usually so packed
with ice, even in sunnner, that its temperature is lower than
that of the surrounding regions. The efforts of the Kussians
to find a practicable water-way between Europe and West
Siberia through the Kara Sea had hitherto proved unavail-
ing.

The first sealing captain who ventui-ed into the Kara Sea
was the above-mentioned Elling Carlsen. He took an
easterly course this year, instead of, as usual, making for
Spitsbergen, and entered the Kara Sea through the Waigatz
Strait, but soon turned back through the Yugor Strait and
proceeded along the whole west coast of Xo^•a Zembla,
almost to the northern extremity of the island.

The seals had been unusually plentiful, and he therefore
determined to repeat in the following year— 180U— the
experiment of entering the Kara Sea. He made his entrance
through Waigatz Strait and proceeded along the east coast
of the Kara Sea to White Island. Here he found the coast
of Siberia quite flat and the sea very shallow. In the same
year an EngHsh sportsnian_]\Ir. John Palliser— also entered
the Kara Sea, through Matotchkin Strait, and made his wav

■' i

•i

' ,'!

'Hi

iii

I *«1!|I1

jfrr

KMMp

<♦

208

l-ITK OI' I'UIDTKU' NANSKN

across tlie sea almost to White Island. He killed an
immense number of walruses and i)olar bears.

But the most notable exploration in this (juarter was
made by a young Norwegian sealing skipper, Edward Holm
Johannesen, born in 1844 in Balsfjord parish, and himself
the son of a well-known seal-lmnter.

On board the schooner Noniland, Johannesen sailed first
along the west coast of Nova Zembla right uj) to Cape

Nassau (7(JJ" N. lat.),
thence back to
Matotchkin Strait,
through it, and
southwards along the
cast coast of Nova
Zembla to Waigatz
Strait. Thence he
proceeded eastward
to the J^'amoyede
reninsula, and north-
ward i)ast White
Island, then westward
again to Nova Zembla,
and southward alon<r
the east coast of that
double island to Waigatz Strait. On this voyage he took a
series of soundings. Since the discoverer of the Kara Sea,
the Dutchman Willem Barents, wintered in 1500-1)7 on the
east coast of North Nova Zembla, no one had been so near
this coast as Edward Johannesen in 1809.

NordenskiiUd justly characterises these first voyages
through the Kara Sea as ' among the most remarkable ex-
ploits in the history of Arctic seamanship,' and treats them

EDWARD HOLM .lOHANNKSKN

I I

CONTUIHUTIOXS Ol' N()UWK({|ANH TO AIICTIC OEOGUAPIIY 269

as opeiiiii^r a „(nv eni in the history of the North-East
Passage.

Johamiesen, who was tlieii only twenty-five, received a
silver mfilal from the Swedisli Acadcniy of Science, to which
he had sent in a report of his discoveries. In forwarding
him the niechd cm behalf of the Academy, Nordcnskiiild re"-
marked, by wayof a joko, that a complete circumnavigation
of Nova Zembla would doubtless have earned him a gold
medal. Tt was not long before the suggestion made in Joke
was carried out in earnest— no longer, indeed, than the
following year.

In 1870 Joliannesen sailed round the vJiole of Nova
Zend)la. Through Waigatz Strait (July 12) he entered the
Kara Sea, and crossed it to Yalnuil ; then put back to No\a
Zembla, and crossed to Yahnal a second time. He had now
his full cargo of seals, but determined, nevertheless, ami
despite the fact that the sununer was over, to attempt the
circumnavigation of the dou])le island. In this he was
succe>^sful, though he passed the north-east point so late
as September 8. He sent in his report to the Swedish
Academy of Science, and duly received his gold medal.
This same summer some other sealing captains (T. Tor-
kildsen, E. A. Ulve, T. B. Mack, P. Quale, and A. 0.
Nedrevaag) contributed several details to our geographical
knowledge of Xova Zembla and the Kara Sea. '^Tire results
of the Norwegian observations were published in Petennanm
iimirujisi'he MittheUumjen for 18()9 and the following years.

Our acquaintance with Xova Zembla and Sphzbergen
was notably extended in 1871. Mr. lienjamin Leigh-Smith,
afterwards celebrated for his expedition to Franz- Josef Land
in 1881-82, chartered at Tromsii the schooner Samson,
Captain Erik A. Ulve, for a sealing ^-oyage. In August they

il'

,;'S

•i.f

:)if

i|.

! 1

270

I, IKK OK KUlDTKd NANSKN

were at tlic soiiih ciid ol" Iliiildpcii Strait. Fi-oni 'rimnib
Point on William Island they .s;iw that \ortli-Kast Island
sti-etchod nuioh further eastward than the charts represented,
and lixed the .south-east point ol" this island, which Peter-
mann has called Cape Mohn, four degrees eastward from the
south point indicated on the chart. Tn the 1)e<.jinning of
September, Smitli and IJlve sailed akmg the iiortli coast of
North-h'ast Island, and found that here, too, it extended four
degrees further east than was shown on the earliei- charts.
Several islands were here discovered, which Petermann has
named after Norwegian Arctic voyagers and men of science.

The map of north Nova Zembla was considerably cor-
rected in accordance with the fcsults of the Norwejriau
sealers' observations in 1871, and these corrections have not
shice been found to re(piire any essential modification. The
most important contributions on this ]).)int came from E.
Carlsen, the brothers E. TI. and 11. ('. Johannesen,' S.
Tobiesen, F. ^NFack, Diirma, and Isaksen.

It was in 1871 that Elling Carlsen discovered Harents's
winter quarters on the east coast of north Xova ZembU, and
brcMight back relics left by the Dutch explorer and his crew
in 1596-97.

It was Mack who this year penetrated furthest east in
the Kara Sea. On the 3rd of August he doubled the
northern point of Nova Zembla, and by Hk 12lh of Sep-
tember he had reached 82 1 E. long, and 7'^ ".^5' N. iat. On
the 2r)th of September he passed Yugor Strait, and Nova
Zembla was thus for the second time (nrcumnavigated, an
exploit which only two years previously had been regarded
at u;' possible.

-' V' •". .Toii,.iinesen is also known as the captain of ilu' steamship Lena,
vihic'h if lS7ii aijconipanieil JJaron Nordonskiolil as tar as the mouth of the
L(.pji, on iiis circunmavij^'atioii of Asia.

(OVnjimJTIONs Ol.- N(M{\Vi;(ilANS TO M..,T|,. (;i;,„;|.M.|,^ o? I

The season on S72 also l,rin^rs iniporfant, contril.utiona
to Arctic ^.'co^rraphy IVoin Xorwc^ian seamen.

Tl.cland oastofSpiizlH.rov,,, which had been seen by
(•arisen ni IS.-iilancI ISOy, bvTobiesen in 1864, by a Swedish
.'xpedition in 18(54, by Ileu-lien in 1870, and by Ulve in
1 87 1, was reached in 1 872, and in part ascended and exph.red
by Alfniann, Xilsen, and .lohnsen, all three Xorwe^rian cap-
tanis. The land, wlii<-h has been called Kin^r (<haHes Land
proved to consist of several islands. Tin- western part was
caUcd (he Swedish Foreland, the northern hei^d.t TIaarfa.rer
Hdl, and the sonthern height Cape Tordenskiold.

In 1881) King Charles Land was again visited by an
oxi)edition despat.-hed by tlie Bremen Oeograpliical Societv
under Dr. Kllkenthal and Dr. Walther, on boar.l a Xorwe.riun'
seahno- vessel, commanded by a Norwegian captain, Ik^m-
nnng Andreassen. Their observations in the main confirmed
those of their predecessors. The land consists, as Altmann
supposed, of several islands, separated by sti-aits or sounds.'
In 1872 the Kara Sea was closed by the ice, so that the
sealers could not enter it. Some of them, therefore, kept
to the west coast of Xova Zend)la ; and among these was the
well-known veteran Sivert Kristiaii Tobiesen. He had several
tnnes before, in the course of his gallant career, learnt what
It meant to winter in the polar regions. Li 1864, for
n.stance, after having circumnavigated tlie Xorth-East Island
ot Sp.tzbergen, he liad been ice-bound, alon- with two other
vessels, oil' llinlopen Strait. They had to abandon their
ships and cargoes, and make tiieir way in boats to Ice Fiord
where they were all picked up by the Swedish Spitzberc^eJ
Lxpedition of 1864. In 1860-06, again, as before-
mentioned, Tobiesen wintered on Bear Island. When there-

See Karl Putterssei

I's Uiiip ill Yiiur, IbH'J.

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i
I'j

tmmmmmimtfmmim

r? 1

272

LIFE OF FKIDTIOF NANSEN

.«

fore, he found himself in September 1872 ice-bound on the
west coast of Nova Zembla, near the Cross Islands, and was
forced to face the winter there, he well knew what he had
to look forward to. Seven of his crew took to the boats,
and started southward in search of some sealing ship wliich
should take them on board. They did not find any ; but six
of them, after terrible toils and sufferings, fell in with some
Samoyede families who had pitched their tents on the coast
of Goose Land. Here they passed the winter, and managed
next year to make their way southward, till they fell in
with some sealers who brought them back to Norway.
Two of them, however, remained several years among the

Samoyedes. ,

In the meantime Tobieseu himself and his son, with two
•men, had remained with the ship. They were very insuffi-
ciently equipped for an Arctic winter, both in regard to
provisions and other necessaries of life. During the first
part of the winter they got on well enough, for they shot a
number of polar bears ; but when, in the spring, they had
nothing but the salted and lialf-decayed bears' flesh to eat.
and the temperature went right down to-o9i° C.(-39-l"
Fahr.), they all got scurvy. Tobiesen died on April 20 ; his
son sickened in ]May, and lingered on to July 5. The two
survivors of the crew made their way southward in August
in an open boat, and were rescued by a Eussian sealei'.

The memoraljle pc)int about this tragic adventure is that
Tobiesen and his son, so long as their strength lasted, kept a
diary of observations, made with instruments tested at the
Meteorological Institute, and thereby furnished a most im-
portant contribution to the meteorology of these regions.
The observations extend from October 1873 to May 1874.
It is a splendid proof, not only of a strong sense of duty, but

i-i

d on the

and was

t he had

le boats,

lip which

; but six

ith some

the coast

managed

iy fell in

Norway.

nong the

with two
ry insuffi-
:-egard to

the first
ey shot a
they had
li lo eat.
C.(-39-r
il 20 ; his

The two
n August
aler.

ire is that
ed, kept a
ed at the
most im-
^ regions.
,Tay 1874.
duty, l)ut

CONTHIBUTIOXS OF XOHWEOrANS TO ARCTIC GEOGRAPHY 273

Of the true scientific spirit, that, in their desperate condition
these men should have made observations and kept their
diary up to the very threshold of the grave.

The same winter which imprisoned Tobiesen on Nova
Zembla, Nordenskiuld passed in Mossel Bay in Spitzber^en
and seventeen Norwegian seal-hunters at Cape Thordsen iJ
Ice Fiord, on the same island. All seventeen, Norwegians
and Qu^ns, fell victims to the scurvy. Their sad experi-
ence, however, was not without its fruit. They, too, l^ft
behmd them a meteorological diary, containing observations
from the middle of October to the end of^Alarch The
tJiermometer they used had been given them by Nordenskiold.
.hese observations have been tabulated, and constitute a
n-elcome contribution to the climatology of Spitzbercren

In 1875, Nordenskiold chartered at Tromso the sealer
Frove, Captain N. I. Isaksen, and, with a crew of twelve
experienced seal-liunters, all Norwegians, made his celebrated
voyage to the Yenisei. The Prllre is not the only one of
these sealers that has done duty on scientific expeditions •
Hideed, It may almost be said to have become the rule in'
such enterprises, to charter one of these vessels. In these
instances, of course, the captains can claim no share in the
honour due to the scientific observations ; but the indirect
assistance they have rendered ought not to be under-
^■alued.

In 187G, Captain Christian Bierkan, of Vadsii, sailed on a
scvahng expedition to Nova Zembla,and there, on October 1
|V''nt into winter quarters in Moller Bay, near Little Karma-
kula. Tlirough the whole winter and spring, up to June 10
18 n, lie carried on meteorological observations with instru-
ments wliich had been supplied him, at his own request by
tlie Norwegian Meteorological Institute. TJiese o])servationl

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LIFE OF FlilDTlOF XANSEN
■f

have been tabulated by Aksel S. Steen, and printed ia the
annual report of the Institute for 187G.

In 1877 a Norwegian Arctic Expedition visited Jan
Mayen. The chief result of this visit was a new map and
description of the island. It appeared that on the earlier
charts, especially Scoresby's, it was placed in the right
latitude ; but its longitude had to be shifted no less than
nine miles to the westward. This correction was at once
embodied in the official charts of the different nations. The
Austro-Hungarian Tolar expedition passed a year upon Jan
Mayen (1882-83), and were able to make a very complete
map of the island, which confirmed in all essentials the
corrections of the coast-line made by the Norwegian expedi-
tion.

The year 1878 brings us to an actual n.ew discovery
made by a Norwegian— the above-mentioned Captahi
Edward Johannesen, who sighted a hitherto unkm)wn island
between Siberia and Eranz-Josef Land. After sailing along
the west, north, and east coasts of Nova Zembla, as far as
Ikrents's winter quarters, Johannesen struck eastwards on
August 10, 1878, and on the IGth was off the coast of
Siberia a little westward of Cape Taimyr. Nordenskiold had
passed this spot in the T>/'« three days ])efore. Hence
Johannesen laid his course to the west, north-west, and
north, and on August 28 sighted an island, which he cir-
cumnavigated on the following day, before turning eastward
again. Johannesen gave his new discovery the name of
Ensomhed (Lonely Island). It was about four geographical
square miles in extent, and only about a hundred feet above

the level of the sea.

In 1878 an Arctic Expedition visited Spitzl)ergen,
and succeeded in making a map of Advent Bay in Ice

CONTRIIJUTIONS (,F XOUWEGIAXS TO ARCTIC r4E0Gl{Al.Ilv 275

Fiord, and correcting the geographical longitude^ of tliese
regions.

The season of 1881 was remarkably free from ice to the
west and north-west of Xova Zembla. The most notal,le
mcKlent of this year was the northward voyage made by the
sealer Prlive, Captain Isaksen, on board which, as before
mentioned, Xordenskiiild had made his first expedition to
the Yenisei. On August 19 Isaksen had reached 77^ 85' N
lat., in water entirely free from ice, nor were any shnis of
ice to be seen to the north or north-west. Isaksen feU con-
vinced that if his vessel had been of more modern build (it
was forty years old) he would have had no diHiculty in
saihng riglit to Franz-Josef Land, or even to some liitherto
undiscovered region nearer the Pole.

In 1889 Captain R. Knudsen made a sealing voyacre to
East Greenland in the Uerla. On this vovaije he° was
enabled to correct the charts of the Greenland coast between
the />]rd and 76th degrees of latitude. A-ain, in 1893
Captain Knudsen succeeded in making several corrections
m the chart of the Blosseville Coast in East Greenland.

Ill 1894, Martin Ekrol, with his schooner the WUIem
Barents, wintered at the eastern point of 8torfiord in Spitz-
bergen, and brouglit back with him several rectifications of the
•'hart. He also kept a meteorological diary which throws a
very interesting liglit upon the climate of south-east Spitz-
bergen, where no winter o])servations had previously been
made. ''

Most of these observations made by Norwegian sailors
in the Polar Seas have l)een tabulated by (he Meteorolooioal
Institute before being published. Xotices of all the e^ue-
. itions and their results will be found in IMevmanns
MittheiluiKjen.

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276

LIFE OF FlilDTIOF NANSEN

In the above short survey of our seal-hunters' con-
tributions to the geography and meteorology of the pohir
regions, we have spoken only of the absolutely or practically
new additions which they have made to our knowledge. It
is of course impossible in such a survey to give any adec^uate
account of the dangers and toils and deeds of heroisni that
underlie these dry data. Let it not be forgotten that this hfe
in the Polar Sea, off the coasts of Greenland, Spitzbergen,
and Nova Zend)la, fighting drift ice, and fog, and frost, and
storm, is the calUng l)y which these men earn their bread.
It is in the thick of the struggle for existence that many
of them have patiently and unostentatiously carried out
important scientific work, all the more admirable in that it
was entirely disinterested. It brought them no sohd reward,
and tlie honour — well, that Avas scarcely a realisaljle asset.
Of the thirty or forty ships which year after year have set
forth to liunt the seal and wahiis in their fastnesses, how
many have never returned ! How many Arctic winterings
have passed unrecorded, how many fine exploits have been
performed that ha\e never come to the ear of the historian!
T)iese men, who, xU their search for better hunting-grounds,
have led the way round the north of Spitzbergen and into
the Kara Sea, are pioneers born and bred, and their
contributions to polar investigation entitle them to an
lionoura])le place in its history.

When they one day find their historian, who shall not
onlv set forth their services to science, but also give a true
picture of their characters and their lives, their own country-
men will no longer stand alone in assigning them the place
of honour they so well deserve. Many a renowned name
mi<ditshow in truer proportions if the saga of tliese unknown
sailors were to be written.

277

T »l

CIIAPTEli XVI

WITir THE CURRENT

fsjhe begi,„,i„,, of 1S90, Nansen delive,-e.l a lecture before
he -Norvveg,a„ Geographical Society, a„d .set forth his pla,
for a new Polar Expe.litio,,. 'I believe/ he .aid, rfter
gvnjgashort sketch of the history of polar irnestiOat b ,
"'"t ' "c study the forces of uature itself which a,', he e
eady to baud a,ul try to work wUh the.u instea.l of a-a
c.„,, we sl,all „„d the surest aud easiest way of read.iug
li'e lole. It ,s useless to work agaiust the ,,,rre„t Z
p.cvK,us expeditions have done; we n„,st see if there is' no

;: ""■'■"" !•"■" -'" -"k -i'l' "- There are strong reasons
!'•'■ supposnig that such a current exists '

Nansens plan was founded upon the assumption that
lu.n, liermg^«tra,t and the north coast of Eastern 8iber a'
-onstant and cotnparatively strong sea-current sets i The
-..onofthe North Pole, wi,ence, again, it .urns
o (h . south-west, between Spitzbergen and (ireenland
- .he east coast of Grecdand, and then sweeps arou d
<- ape J^ are well into Davis Strait.

Three years after the sinking of the Jeannetfe, nonh of
e ^evv Sjbena Islands in Jane 1881, a nnmber of arti le
e onnd on the drift ice off the sonth-west eoast of ( W

- ;^::; '^"t ^"^^^^"^^f ^>^^-- belonged to the lost ship
among them, for example, a provision list with th

lure of tlie captain, Do Lono-. a 1

ist of I lie ./,

lie siona-

('<inii('tf <'.'-■ boats.

''Till

!)'

jBi i i-..jLi ' ";ii-*JK .ja | a'«.,itiiii't>-p.?.. ' MiVfc*i i "i^i.iJ ea«gBt^

% !'

278

LIFE OF I'UIDTlOl' NAX8KN

aiul a pair of oil-skin trousers marked with the name of
t)ne of the sailors who were rescued. The news of this
discovery upon the drifting icefloe attracted much attention,
and it was conjectured, with a plausibility approaching to
certahity. that the floe must have been carried by the above-
mentioned current from the New Siberia Islands, across or
near the l\)le, to the place where it was found. It was
calculated that the articles must have been conveyed at a
speed of about two miles in the twenty-four hours, which
corresponded with the rate at which the Jeannette was borne
along in I be ice during the last four months of her

existence.

These relics of the' Jeannette are not, however, the only
objects which have made the h-)ng journey with the current
from East Siberia across the Pole, and have been swept
southward along the east coast of Greenland. A so-called
' throwing stick,' used by the Eskimos for hurhng their bird-
darts, was found by a Greenlander, and given to Dr. Eink at
Godthaal). who afterwards presented it to the Christiania
University. It has been shown that this instrument is quite
different \u form from that used by the Greenlanders, but
exactly resembles the throwing-sticks used by the Eskimos
of Alaska, the north-western extremity of North America,
which borders on Bering Strait ; so that it too, in all proba-
bility, had traversed the Polar Sea.

The drift wood which is washed ashore in Greenland in
such large (luantities, and is so indispensable to the Eskimos
in the absence of timber trees, has been shown to consist for
the most part of limber native to Siberia, so that it too must
have been carried by the same current across the very pre-

eincts of the Pole.

In the course of his wanderings along the shores of Den-

Wrril TllK CL1M4EXT

279

iiores of Dell-

...ark Strai,, Nanse,. fouu.I on tl.e drift ico large quantities
of .nud. Of tl>is I.e collected a nun.ber of .peclm '^J ^h e,
were exan„„e.l by Professor P. Olevo, of L>ala, a,„ A E
Tornebonn of Stockhohn, and proved to cot.ist ^f varieties
"t sod charactenst.c of Siberia. Thus the probability is that
th.s nn.d, too, had made the Ion;, polar vo>a.-e '

These facts of themselves sudiciently' prove that there
.....s be a practicable connection between tl.e sea to the
..orth of As.a a.,d the sea ou the east of Greeuland-not
l.e.-^,aps an open water-way, which one could scarcelv expect
to fand, but a practicable route in the sense that tlie'current
carries the ice floes (now fro.eu togethc,-, now piled one on
the top of the other, and then again broken up a.td scattered)
across the distance indicated, with consideiable reaularitv
and .,, an ascertainable space of tin.e. From these premises,
-hen .Nansen drew what we may fairly call the inevitable
conclusio,. that if a,, ice floe with what happens to be upon
.t eau thus make its way acoss tl.e polar area in a .viten
t.me .t must be no less possible for a ship, fixed an.on° the
.ce floes .„ the course of the current, to co.nplcte thela.ne
passage in the same time.

His plan was to make his way, with a small but stroiH^ly
Imilt vessel, to the New Siberia Islands, and there or thei-e-
abouts await the most opportune moment for making the
iurthest possible advance in ice-free water. He thouo-ht it
probable that he could get well past the Islands ' When
once we have come so for, we shall be right in the current in
which the Jeannettc was caught. Then the thing will be to
press on northwards with all our might until we stick fast.

Sec Nansen's lecture O??, //(cr'owf^r/ iV,.i')/v.«.v,„ 7w t^

Ih^ui.nrnl. delivered before the ^lZ^t^!^"^'lf''^'''''°''''^^'' '''
2H, ly()2. '""^^i^oian Oeograplueal Society. September

r;; >n

i:iiii

ifW

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tmefm

1 7

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280

LIFE 01' I'UUUTior XANSKN

We must now choose a favourable place, moor tlie ship firmly
between convenient ice floes, and then let the ice screw
itself together around her as much as it pleases — the more the
better. The ship will simply be hfted out of the water into a
firm and secure ice berth.' Henceforth— so the project con-

NANHKN ON THE ICE (SUMMER DUESS)
From (III liiiiiiiilmi'iiKu l'/inio:ir"Ji'i

If* u

11*

tinues — the current takes up the work of propulsion ; the
ship is no longer a means of transport but a barrack. The
current sweeps it past the Pole and onwards into the sea
between Greenland and Spitzbergen. At the SOtli degree of
latitude, or possil)ly before that if it be sunnner, it Avill pro-
b;il)lv find open water and be able to sail home. But if it

WITH TIIK CIKUKNT

281

should be cruslied by the pressure of the ice ? Then the
equipment and provisions will be moved to a stron^r ice floe,
wliere tlie tents Avill 1)e pitched, warm tents of doul)le'sail-cloth'
witli an intermediate layer of reindeer-hair. One can get far
upon an i.'e floe. The crew of the ITanm drifted from'smith

\A\SKX ON THK ILK (WINTER DRESS)

h'rom (in li(stiuilivi''i>iix J'/i(i>0(/r(i/ili

Sound riglit down to Davis Strait. But if the ice floe should
break ? Even that will not ])e fatal, for the stores will be dis-
triljuted over the ice and placed upon wooden rafts. Then,
having in this way arrived in the Greenland sea and found
open water, tlie expedition will take to its boats. It is not
the first time Xorwegian seamen have traversed the Arctic

H \i\

' f

in
III '

1
1

282

LH'K UF I'lJlDTlOF NANSKN

S f

Sea in open boats ; if v(ui boats are jjooil, it is not at all
impossible to <^et on amid the ice.

And it is no nnreasonable calculation that all this may
take no more than two years. Five years' provisions, at
any rate, will be amply sufficient. With the food-stuH'snow
available, there is no fear of scur\-y. Besides, a certain
amount of fresh meat may probably be counted on ; seals
and polar bears are to be found very far north, and the sea
no doubt contains plenty of small animals which may be eaten
at a pinch. But suppose, now, that the Jcannette current
does not pass riuht across the Pole, l)ut, say, between
the Pole and Franz-Josef Land ? That matters very little.
' We do not set forth to seek for the mathematical point
which forms the northern end of the earth's axis ; to reach
.this particular spot is not, in itself, a matter of the first mo-
ment. Wluit we want to do is to investigate the great un-
known reuions of the earth which surround the Pole ; and our
investigatiouf. will have practically the same scientific value
whether we reach the actual Pole itself, or pass at some dis-
tance from it — curious though it would be, no doubt, to stand
on the very Pole and be turned round with the earth on
one's own axis, or see the oscillations of the pendulum de-
scribe an angle of exactly fifteen degrees in the hour.'

Xansen finally dwells ' upon the scientific significance of
polar exploration — its important bearing upon the problems
of geography, terrestrial magnetism, atmos[)heric electricity,
the xVurora Borealis, the solar spectrum, dawn and twilight,
the physical geography of the sea, meteorology, zoology and
botany, palaeontology and geology. 'We Norwegians,' so
he ends his lecture, ' have before now contributed not a little
to the exploration of the Arctic area; our gallant Troraso

' la his lecture of 1890.

WITH Tfii: criMJKNT

288

)t ut ull

his may
Lsioiis, at
tuflsnow
, certain
in ; seals

the sea
be eaten

current
between
ry httle.
3al point
to reach
first nio-
;reat un-
, and our
ific vahie
ome dis-
, to stand
earth on
Lihini de-

Icance of
problems
ectricity,
twilight,
)l()gy and
^ians,' so
lOt a little
t I'roraso

and Hannuerfest men in particular have done excellent ser-
vice in this respect. Jiut as yet no Norwegian crew has set
forth straight for the Pole in a Norwegian craft.

' The polar area must and sluill l)e investigated througliout
its whole extent. There has hitherto been a noble rivalry
between the nations as to which should first achieve the
goal ; and one day it will be achieved.

' :May it be Xoi-way's fortune to lead the way ! May it
be the Norwegian flag that first floats over the Pole ! '

In November 181)2 Nausen expounded the same plan
before another geographical society, not a young body like

ours, but old and world-renowned above all others the

I'oyal (leographical Society in London.

Tiiere was a brilliant gathering, including almost all the
Englishmen who have distinguished themselves in Arctic
exploration, and tliey are not a few. Hefore this society, the
first to which Nansen, on his return from Greenland (1889),
had set forth the results of his expedition— before this
society, which had done more than any other for the ad-
vancement of Arctic research— before, in short, tlie most
competent body of Arctic specialists in the world— he had
now both to explain and to defend the basis and the details
of his plan.

Thei-e they sat before his eyes, all those celebrated
explorers Avhose names were already inscribed in the history
of Arctic research— those grizzled and white-haired pioneers
(>r the polar world, the lieroes of so many an achievement
before Nansen was born. There sat Admiral Sir George
Xares himself, the celebrated chief of the Ah'vt and
Discovei'ii ex[)edition, duiing which Commodore Markham
liad, on ]\Iay 12, 1870, reached the latitude of 83° 20',
;i record which only Lockwood had beaten. There sat

284

\.\VV. OF I'IMltTIOl' NANSKN

I i i

.If
I ' I'

5 f f

Admirul Sir Leopold McClintock, the leader of the Fox
expedition (1857-58), ])y which Franklin's fate had been
finally ascertained. There, too, was Admiral Sir E. In«fle-
field, who in 1852 l»ronj,'ht Kane Masin within the s})here of
geof^rapl ileal knowled<fe. And there, among the rest, was
the famous Arctic traveller. Sir Allen Young, who, so long
ago as 18o7, had accompanied ArcClintock, and in 187-") had
taken the Paiidoni right up into Smith Sound to bring tidings
of the Nares expedition — the same Pandord which, under
the name of the Jcdnncfte, carried the hapless De Long to
his fate.

A whole host of otlicr famous polar ti'a\ell('i's were
present — Admiral Onnnanney, Dr. Kae, C-aptain Wiggins,
the well-known Yenisei trader. Captain Wharton, >Sic.

It was to this illustrious gathering that Xansen was to
expound his scheme. His lecture was, as usual, clear, sober,
attractive in its form, and plausible in its matter. But he
here stood face to face with a concentrated nuiss of expe-
rience, all tending to pro\e the insuperable dilliculties of
polar travel, which could not instantly make way for a
new idea. Practically all of these famous pioneers of Arctic
research, one after another, commented unfavourably upon
the scheme.

Old Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock opened the discus-
sion as soon as the lecture was over. He began his speech
thus: 'I think I may say this is the most adventurous
programme ever brought under the notice of the lioyal
Geographical Society. We have here a true Viking, a
descendant of those hardy Norsemen who used to pay this
country such frequent and such unwelcome visits.' But he
could not venture to express any great confidence in the
sclieme put forward, even supposing Dr. Xansen succeeded

WITH TlIK fl ItlMlXT

285

in gettiiio- int., the jillc^rod polar current. Sir Leopold
leared the force of the ice-pressure, and did not beheve that
it vvotdd force the ship up upon the ice.

The next speaker, too. Admiral Xares, expressed stron^r
doubts as to the plan. He particularly d«.ubted whether
the Fmw would succeed in findinu- any polar current, and
dwelt upon the (hinders „f a drift voya-e such as Nansen
projected.

Admiral Innk-lic'ld expressed himself more favourably,
but Sir Allen Young again emphasised the dangers and dilli-
culties, thought that hmd and shallow water would be found
in the neiglibourhood of the Pole, and very much doubted
whether the ship would be forced up ui)on the ice. His
opinion was that it would be wisest to strike for the north
from a point well to the westward of the New Siberia
Islands.

Captain Wiggins, too, was oi)posed to making the Xew
Siberia Islands the starting-point, ' as they are the most
treacherous, low, sandy, muddy, horrible places.' lint, on
the whole, he approved of Nansen's plan, and ended by
Avishing him a hearty God-speed.

Captain Wharton, a well-known authority on these
questions, gave him warm encouragement as to his theory
of the current. He thus ended his speech : ' People some-
times ask: What is the use of Arctic exploration? Amon-^st
other things I think it may be said that its use is to foster
enterprise and bring gallant men to the IVoni. To-night we
have an excellent example of that in Dr. Nansen. ""l can
only say to him, God-speed ! '

Alamiscript communications from Admiral Sir Geor<.-e

)h D. Hooker were

also read, both sceptical and full of

wni

•nings. Sir Joseph

I ,1

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(I*

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280

LIFE Oi' FlilDTlOF NANSEN

tit

Hooker thus ended his remarks: 'I may condude with
expressing the hope that Dr. Nanseu may dispose of his
admirable courage, skill, and resources in the prosecution of
some less perilous attempts than to solve tlie mystery of the

Arctic area.'

It ^\ as not until late in the evening that Nansen himself
was at last called upon for a short reply to all these doubts
and anxious warnings. His answer is as like him as it could
be. Though plainly willing enough to take advice as to
details, he is in the main unshaken in his conviction of the
practicability of his scheme. And while he answers, point
by point, the objections to it, he gathers new arguments
from these obieetions themselves. Eeferrhig to Admiral
Xares's remark, that an Arctic expedition ought always to
luive a secure line of retreat, he answers : ' I am of the oppo-
site opinion. My Greenland expedition jjroved the possi-
bility of carrying out such an enterprise without any line of
retreat, for in that case we burnt our ships, and nevertheless
made our way across Greenland. I trust we shall have the
like good fortune this time, even if we break the bridges

behind us.'

It is, as Sir Leopold McClintock said, the old Viking
l)lood that speaks in these words.

For it is true, as that famous explorer hinted at the
beginning of his speech, that there is a touch of romance in
Nansen's scheme. It is constructed, indeed, upon a scientific
basis ; but no one who was exclusively a man of science, cr
exclusively a sp(_)rtsman, would have had the foresight to
conceive such a plan, or the courage to execute it. A creative
and darino- imaaination is its determining element.

287

L creative

'^;

CHAPTEE XVII

AT HOME AND ABROAD

We liave presented in this book a series of portraits of
Fridtiof ^^ansen at different a-es, so that our readers have
been enabled to follow the development of Ids physio-
gnomy from the

thoughtful but ' ^''•*^^^

jounded and un-

wrinkled boyish-
ness of his student

days, up to the in-

tentness of Weren-

skiold's drawina-,

the almost painful

concentration of

Lessing's bust, and

the melancholy of

the London por- <.r:. ,.

trait wliich forms -'

the frontispiece.

We here see the

cheeks sunken, the

eyes dilated, the

brow corrugated, the skin lying in folds on the sinewy

diroat. One can scarcely believe that this is the face of a

nian of very little more than thirty. It almost seems as

though a whole lifetime were recorded in these traits a

£.0.

/F..

SKKTCH HY l.. WKRKNSKIOLD

If :'i

« 1

11 -I

LIFK OF FiaUTlOF NAXSEX

lifetime with all its sufTerings ; yet it is in reality the
face of a young man who has been spared all great
sorrows. It is the unrest of the discoverer, it is the
habit of brooding over great plans, and forecasting the
means of their realisation down to the smallest details, that
has furrowed this countenance, to s:t} "othing of an
insatiate thirst for work from boyhood upwards. This is
the portrait of a man who has never known the beautiful
indecision of youth, its dreamy repose, its vague delight in
mere existence. lie has been straggling with problems
from the first. He has from the first transmuted the
freshness of vouth into energv, into conquering fortitude.
It is w^ith full appreciation of their meaning that he quotes
(as Ave have seen), in an early letter to his father, these
words of Biijrnson's : —

Unsdoinsiuocl.

Ullgdouisiuod

gaar soni rovfugl i det blaa,

(let inaa ja^'e, det inaa slaa,

(let man (illc varch'y ikih.^

These last words may serve as the motto of his whole
youth. He has already reached several beacons, and he is
now girding up his loins to make for the highest of all,
which had been the goal of his dreams for many a year,
when that picture was taken in London. The expedition
across Greenland (so one of his most intimate friends writes
to us) was only a preparation for the Pole. Long before
his name was known, or his character divined, either at
home or abroad, he had set himself this gigantic task. The
moment for attacking it is nov.- at liand. Traces of the vast
expenditure of energv it has cost to achieve what lies behind

' Sec p. S2.

;

1 1

ality the
ill great
it is the
■it'u\<f the
tails, that
ff of an
This is
l)eautiful
lelit^ht in
problems
uted the
fortitude.
iie quotes
ler, these

(lis whole
and he is
est of all,
ly a year,
.'xpedition
nds writes
in_u before
eitliei' at
ask. The
)f the vast
ies behind

I'M

i'!T

I'RIDTIOF NAXSEN

(/V,.;„ „ ,li„,nn,j by E. llVn ,iskiolu

iohl)

v::mm

tern

S I

{

liii;

I '

hil

th(
co<
im

was
Chr
dut
up
exp
he r
to a
of I

(II

i I

I ■

the ]

buro-

scen€

tlie 1

huslx

back

witli

itself,

peopl(

tliey ]

weve 1

once ]

a meet

Societ-'

confer

AT JJOMJ.: AND AHROAl)

289

the «ufuH,lle,l-tIiat wistful rnelancliolv ,v],icli we re-

n,r;.H-o, • T— • ^'"'^^°' "* t^^e Zootomic Museum of

dut es of this position, an immense quantity of work fills
..p the interval between tlie Greenland and ihe .Xorth Pole
eK,«dmons; he writes the story of what he has done, and
te malces the preparations for wliat he has yet to do. And

of Ern'ope"' """' '■"'" '" '"*"""" '°"" '° "'"■"-" P"«^

A honeymoon was out of the question. The- day after
the marriao^, the happy couple started by wav of Gothen-
burg, Upenhagen, Flushing, and London, for Ne,vcastle, the
scene of a geographical congress which lasted a week, while
he new-made wife wondered in her secret soul that her
husband should thus prefer ' geography ' to ' love.' • Thence
back to LoiKlon. In the great city, tliey let the world
yit 1 Its discovered and undiscovered countries, look after
.tsel , and gave themselves up, in the solitude of that densely
peopled wilderness, to the rapture of existence. Tlie;,
they passed si.x glorious days in Paris. In October they
"■ere home again ; but the sixteenth of the month found them
■'"ce more on the move, this time for Stockholm, to attend
a meeting of the Swedish Anthropological and Geographical
-ociety. 'rids society had, in January ISSO, determined to
''"•*'■ "^ ' '!'" ■""'•■'I "Pon Fridtiof Nansen, and it was now

' A,i nlliision to o comoily ot BiOrnson, a,o,„/i «,, Ki„Hl,l,cd.

< » I

_ 1!

Mf!

200

Ml-'H OF FltlDTroF NANSEN

handed to liim bv the King. Only five people had received
it_Nordenskiold, Palander, Stanley, Trzewalski, and Junker.
The spokesman of the society, Trofessor Gustaf Retzius, said
in the course of his speech : ' Dr. Nansen has had fortune
on his side hi his first e< i ^'^. Let us hope that this
victory may not prove his : . a, leading him to underrate
difficulties, and thus luring him on to a Pultowa. May it be
only the first of a series of triumphs ! ' The speaker knew,
he said, that Dr. Nansen was in no way puffed up by his
achievement, but precisely the same as he had been two
years ago when he came to Stockholm to consult Professor
Nordeuskir.ld as to his projected journey. But Nansen
mi^ht well be proud of his exploit, the speaker continued,
because it was an honour, not only to himself, but also to
• his country. It is not on the field of battle that small
nations can vindicate their place in the world, and secure
their independence. It is in the domain of culture, of
civilisation, of science and art-a domain which lies open
to all— that thev must press forward into the front rank and
strive for the palm of victory. Here it is that they must
seek for their true distinction, and earn the respect of the

great nations. ^

So far as we can ascertain, the Ve;i<i medal was the nrst
distinction of its kind conferred upon Nansen. Seven years
aero, as an unknown seal-hunter in the Polar Sea, he had looked
with reverence upon the gallant craft which had borne
Nordenskiold round Asia. Now he himself held a place ot
honour by the side of that renowned traveller, and received
the medal which bore the name of his ship and was, ac-
cording to custom, presented on ihe day when the \ ega
reached Stockholm after her North-East passage.^

' Kausen ou this occasion aolivored a lecture before the Society on his

received
I Junker,
zius, said
I fortune
that this
underrate
May it be
ver knew,
ip by his
been two
Professor
.t Nansen
continued,
ut also to
that small
ind secure
culture, of
. lies open
t rank and
they nnist
)ect of the

as the first

5even years

; had looked

had borne

i a place of

nd received

nd was, ac-

n the Vega
I

Society on his

AT HOME AND ABKOAl)

291

The Vega medal was far from being the only nnrk of

distinction conferred upon liini Tn Ti i

years \in.Pn l ^^'"^ ''''''''^^ "^ these

yeais xNansen became a menihpi- of .. h-. ,f *•

J .1 , "icuiuei oi a liost oi "•eoo-ranli ffll

and o her learned societies, .„„ received severalU.Hk
and Other deponfinno iir '" o^^^i "nciais

»eda, and rc^a^TdZ/r'z.rrfr' T\

for th,., d,stmct,on:->The patrons of the Victoril

luraseli and h.s companions; and calling, forth the highest
'1-1't- of an explorer. For having taken ase to
as rononncal and meteorological observation. dlcL
stances ol extren.e difficnlty and privation, d.trin. a "re .
vinch re,nn-ed exceptional powers of str n.th an du
nSrofT:-' ^t"'""^ °'-^ "'^"" order;;s.eU :: e

te terior of r """ ^"T'' »'' ''- l^'J-al character
ot themtenor of Greetdand, as well as for other vdnalilc
«-.ent>flc resnlts of his expedition ' ^'

"rattlat'^^'f "' *■""■"' " ^"1'™'-.-'. -Aing to con-

k L I "■' T7rf "" ''"■'°™ ^^-•"'' ™<i« '-

". G rm Cro, -f'" °" ' '"""'■'"• '''^"""- C'ommander
. (^ ...Kl Ctoss of any order ,vhatsoever, yon n.nst ex.-nse

iX;;;:::r^»!i,.s: j's -t'li-' -'•"*•• '>■ "■•■ ^"-'»" -.,„.

u -2

1*1

202

LIl'K OK I'UIDTIOF HANSEN

^1:'

;
J'

■ 1

J6i

,nv if I do not cou-ratulate you. Crowds of people have
the rioht to Avear a ribbon ; but the Victoria Medal is held
by very few, and it's a devilish select company it brings you

The Grand Cross is presumably in reserve for his return
from the Polar Seas. Hitherto Nansen has received the
Kniohts' Cross of the St. Olaf Order (May 25, 1889) and ot
the Order of the Dannebrog. It can scarcely be indiscreet
to add, that it pahied him greatly to be the sole recipient of
these distinctions. He felt strongly that his comrades who
Ind risked their lives with him, and shared with him his
toils and dangers, ought also to share with him the pubhc
recocTuition of their exploit. It was certainly no fault ol
his That he was the only member of the expedition who
■ received the cross of St. ( )laf.

Even before he returned from Greenland he had been
elected a meml)er of the Christiania Scientific Society. A
whole host of evidences of the appreciation of his achieve-
ment in scientific circles streamed in upon him after his
return in the form of letters from the leading authorities on
Arctic exploration. We shall here quote only a single
expression from a letter addressed to him by the celebrated
Arctic traveller, Sir Clements Markham, dated ]\[arch 11,
1891 He savs of the Greenland expedition : ' For my part I
reo-ard it as being, from the geographical point of view, one
of^he most remarkable achievements of our time, remark-
able alike for intrepidity and for the imporiance of its

scientific results.'

On June 24, 1891, Nansen was appointed Corresponding
Member of the Institute of France, in succession t.. Nor
denskiiUd, who was promoted to the rank of Foreign
Associate.

AT HOME AM) AHKOAD

2Ui}

When he and his wife retui-iuMJ from Stocklioliu they
lodged for two months with M;irtha Larseu, formerly
housekeeper at Great Friien, whom we have already liad
occasion to mention more than once. Her house, whieli
revived all the memories of his childhood, was like a haven
of rest where he could take refuge at any time. lie had
lived with her during the 'hard spring,' when he had to
struggle both with his doctorial thesis and with his pre-
parations for the Greenland Expedition. Here he would
seek rest and refreshment of an evening in chatting over the
old days at Froen.

'Do you remember, Martha,' he would say all of a
sudden, ' that time when I came to you streaming with blood
from a cut in the le^ ? '

' Indeed I do— you had fallen on some broken glass.'
' Xo— I can tell you the truth now, Martha. You see
we had got new sheath-knives, both Alexander and I ; and
as I was slashing the heads oil' thistles with my new knife,
I ran it into my leg. But of course I couldn't tell vou'
that.' ■^

' It Avasn't like you to tell me a lie,' says Martha, with
mild reproach.

' No, but there's a limit to everything, Martha ; and I
couldn't have the new sheath-knife taken from me.'

It has been the lot of Martha Larsen to sweeten tJie
year-long toils of the polar explorers. Xot that she, personally,
took part in the expedition ; but she was the self-appoint«l
purveyor of jams and jellies to the From. In the course of
his voyage northwards, when Kansen was sending his
farewell greetings in letters to all who stood very nelr to
him, or had played an important part in his life, he did not
forget his faithful old iVuma. From Khabarova, Yu<.or

,!'■ 'I,

{nl

«*

. !i

II \

2U4

LIFE OF FIMDTIOF NANSKX

Strait, lu- writes to her on August 3, 1803 : ' As I am on
the point of leaving this last place from which letters can
be despatched, I must send you a parting greeting, and
thank vou for all y.Mir friendship and goodness to me.
Her friendship he describes as untiring, and says that
she is always finding opportunities to be of service to
him and to" his wife. We need not apologise for refer
nn- to this simph' little letter. It is not every celebrated
man whose mem..vy is so alert at the critical moments of

' From Martha Larsen's the newly-married couple removed
to the Drammen Eoad. where they set up house. But there
was too little sun here, and too much town, too much
civilisation. Thev determined to build for themselves, and
• bou-ht a site at Svartebugta (the Black Bay), where
Nan'scn. as a hoy, had often lain in ambush for wdd duck.
While their buihiini: operations were in progress, they lived
in a pavilion close to Lysaker railway station-a i-.-^vdion
which has since been transformed by the pamtei. Otto
Sindino-, iuto a comfortable house with a splemhd studio.
But up to this time it had never been inhal)ited. The iloor
was close to the oround, and it was very cold ; tiic water m
the pitchers froze hard every night. 'That winter' says
Mrs. Xansen, ' cured me of the habit of feeling cold. In
this dog-hutch and in this biting cold, Nansen set hnnself
down to his book upon Greenland-he had no difficulty m
recallintr the atmosphere of the inland ice.

If he took an hour's holiday and became a human bemg
a<Tain, he repented of it afterwards. But he was for evev
goin.-v over to watch the progress of the new house, ni the
details and arrangements of which he took a keen interest.
The 'hi-h seat' .and the bed, in the old Norwegian style, were

yi'

AT IIOMK AM) AlUfUAl)

295

executed from his own desi^rns by Borgerson, aflervvards so
well known as a wood-carver. The house, whicli was built
by Mrs. Nansen's cousin, Arcliitect Welhaven, was finished
in March 1800, but they had moved into it long before that
It was Buirnstierne Miiirnson who gave it its name He
rose from the ' high seat,' champagne-glass in hand, and
said: ^Godthaah d„l det Iwdv ! ' ('It shall be called, Good
Hope ! ')

Godthaab lies in the bight formed by a little projectlncr
ness, sheltered and secluded, and quite alone. In front ol
the house is a wooded and grassy- slope, leading down to
the shore, whence the fiord stretches wide and open right
to Xesodland. Here Xansen had his foot on liis own
ground, and could keep his own boat for sailin<.- on the
fiord. '^

Jiut in the autunui he set off on a long lecturing tour
accompanied by his wife. He spoke in Copenhagen, London,'
Berhn, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich, and ILanil)urg. We havere-
ceived from one of the most eminent geographers in Europe
Baron Ferdinand von Uichthofen, a very valuable statement
of the impression which Xansen at this time left behind him
in scientific circles. We quote from a letter, dated M-iv 1 7
1896: ^ -^ '

'As I have been confined to my room for several weeks,
and am not yet permitted to do more than the most impera-
tive work, I unfortunately cannot give myself the pleasure
of entering upon a detailed account of Dr. Hansen's visit to
Berlin. I hope, therefore, that you will accept in its stead
the following Ijrief notes,

' Fridtiof Xansen was here in November 1800, two years
after his memorable crossing of Greenland, and a year and a
half after his return to Xorway. As he wanted to complete

' 1

»-M

lift

I i

2 1)0

MIE dl' llilivnol' NANSKN

his Ixu.k (Ifscvil)ing the exiu'dilion, lu- luul hhlu-iK. hueu
un:il)h- to accept any of the repeated invitations lie had re-
reived to visit Berlin. On Xovend)er S he lectured before
a meetino- cf the Geouraphieal Society. He was warndy
received, for ;ve had all followed his darino- journey with
interest. The peculiar nia«ric of his jiersonality, which never

nanskn's homk

fails to affect those who stand face to face with hhn, was
strongly felt dnrino- the delivery of this lecture. He took us
all captive by the magnetism of his immovable will. We
saw in him a strong man marching towards a clearly realised
goal, and clinging with tenacious energy to a well weighed
and carefully projected plan. We were strongly mipressi-.l
^viih, tills feelinir. even as he told of his crossing of Greenland,

AT llo.MK ANI» AlUtOAD

297

iiiitl how hu had " burnt liis sliips " lu'lon' scniii<,' forth on
what was then roijardcd as a tbolhardv act of (hiiin<r. And
it was with nrovvin<f enthusiasm tliat the uieotinjr hun;^' ui)on
his woids as lie went on to sketch in outline his ^reat new
spheme for reaching- the Nortli Pole. ^lany were of opinion
that the enterprise was altogether tt)o hazardous, and were
doubtful of the premises on which he based his belief in it8
possibility. Hut not one amonf; his hearers doubted that if
the thincr was within the ran^c of luunan possibility, Nansen
was the one man predestined to carry it out. < )n looking
into the reasons for the brilliant suci-ess of his first under-
takino-, one could not ])ut recognise that they hiy in the
care with which every detail of the plan was thought out.
the sedulous forestalling of every jrassible contingency, the
physical training Avhich enabled hhn to cope with all physical
didiculties, the talent for making the most of mechanical aids
to locomotion, and finally, the indomitable strength of will.
Although, no dou1)t, this new project far surpassed the former
enterprise in magnitude and daring, yet all the precautions
necessary to secure a fortunate result seemed to have been
conceived on a proportionally larger scale.

'Such, my honoured friend, is the impression Xansen left
behind him. Xo one who was present can ever forget the
picture of the handsome, well-knit young man who so
modestly told the story of an accomplished feat, and sketched
in such simple words the outhnes of a still more daring enter-
prise. Every one felt fully assured tlu t whatever determina-
tion, strength, and intelligence can do to vanquish the hostile
forces of Arctic nature might be confidently expected of
I'ridtiof X\ansen. And although we cannot (^uite rid our-
selves of the idea that the assumptions on which the scheme
is founded are not as vet fullv established, vet we are con-

-1

298

IJFE OF riairrioF naxsex

'■

f '■

'I! ; i

vinced that Nansen's clear insight will realise the actual
conditions when he comes face to face with them, and that
he will wisely confine himself to attempting what is physi-
cally possible, instead of clinging with stolid obstinacy to the
plan once laid down. In this confidence, we look forward
to seeing your gallarxt young countryman return with a rich
harvest of scientific results, followed as he is by the warm
sympathy of the whole civilised world.

' One thing I must add to my account of the impression
produced by Nansen. I must note the happy combination
in him of a remarkable spirit of enterprise with a strong
scientific sense. These two qualities are not often found
together. Especially in our age of athletics, it may ahnost
be" said to be the rule that the most daring exploits— for
• example, in mountain climbing— are carried out purely for
their own sake and to satisfy a mere love of adventure. So
nuich the more heartily should we applaud the man who is
impelled by higher motives to the conquest of the greatest
physical difiiculties. Nansen's lecture left no doubt of his
keen interest in, and thorough understanding of, the prol)lems
connected with Arctic research. He took especial pains to
acquire and communicate a scientific insight into the physical
conformation and conditions of Greenland; and he has
clearly a no less enlightened sense of the scientific signi-
ficance of polar exploration.'

Soon after Nansen's return from his lecturing tour, the
last part of his great work, The First Cros.wig of Greeidand,
appeared— completing a book of over seven hundred large
octavo pages. This work, together with his Eskimo Life,
w^as his chief occupation during the first half of the interval
between the two great hmdmarks in 1 ' career. It nuvy not

AT HOME AND AlUfOAD

299

be out of place, therefore, if we here say a few words of
Nansen the man of letters, and of his relation to the other
two Nansens whom we already know — the man of science
and the man of action.

We have long ago pointed out that his temperament is
poetic, that he can give himself up to his moods, yet without
letting his moods get the better of him in the sense of
impairing his energy or his resolution. On the contrary, in
this happily endowed nature, even moods seem to transmute
themselves into motive forces and to stimulate to action. It
is characteristic of both the expeditions which have made
his name famous, that they could be conceived only by a
creative imagination. Not Avithout justice does a German art-
critic thus express himself with reference to Lessing's bust
of Xansen : ' If one had never heard of Nansen, and knew
nothing of his aims and his achievements, if one had not the
slightest idea whose head was represented, one would, never-
theless, feel instinctively that the features here reproduced
must be those of a man who not only possessed fortitude
enough to brave the greatest dangers with iron will and
invincible energy, but who was also endowed with a clair-
A'oyant imagination, inspiring him with the most daring
dreams and with the firm belief that it was his vocation to
realise them.'

So far as we know, this imagination has never been
applied to any poetical effort, proi)erly so called. A childlike
expression in one of his letters from Bergen to his father is
significant in a wider sense than he intended : ' I have really
nothing to write about, and Avhen I have nothing to write
about I can't write.' As an author, Nansen cannot make
something out of nothing — he cannot create. He never
takes up his pen until he has something to write about,

500

LIFE OF FillDTlUF NAN SEN

l!i

?i >

ull

P^'

whether it be an adventure or a scientific observation. But
when he has matter to keep him j^oing, he at once proves
himself an extremely lively narrator. He takes such
pleasure, indeed, in the recollection of an interesting
experience, that he is apt to overload his presentation with
details, to the injury of the general artistic impression. But
his inborn talent is unmistakable. One can trace, even in
his very early writings, the effects of a long communion with
Nature ; where it has seriously taken hold of him, every-
thing inessential falls away, and the lines of his picture
become large and potent, like the lines of a snow-clad
mountain.^

If we look into his style in T/w First Crossimj of
Greenland, we can still recognise these characteristics of his
first attempts at authorship. This life in the open air is so
dear to him in all its details that he dwells upon even
the smallest of them — sometimes with an almost boyish
dehght. But here, too, we can everywhere discern, when
the action culmhiates, or Avlien the love of Nature inspires
him, a rare faculty of description, a noteworthy talent for
narrative. As a snow-shoer presents his most typical aspect
at the moment of ' the great leap,' when every nerve is
strained for the decisive effort, so is it with Nansens style.
It is at salient points, where it dashes ahead at lightning
speed, and every word goes straight to the mark, that it
most deeply impresses us. But here, in his first carefully
elaborated performance, we can also recognise with pleasure
the even flow of the narration throughout. The work is
very broadly planned, too broadly, if Ave look at it from the
artistic point of view alone. If romantic interest were the

' Sec the extracts in Chapter Y. from A Tour on Snow-shoes from Voss to
CJiristiania.

>n. But
e proves
es such
teresting
ion with
on. But
, even in
lion "with
Li, every-
picture
now-clad

osshuj of
ics of his

air is so
pon even
it boyish
rn, when
3 inspires
talent for
3al aspect

nerve is
en's style.

lio'htninfT

k, that it
carefully
1 pleasure
e work is
t from the
b were the

from VosH to

AT ]IUME AND ABllOAU

301

main thing to be aimed at, the drift-voyage along the coast,
and the actual crossing. of the inland ice should, of course,
form the real substance of the book, set in the slightest
possible frame. But it is not his object to produce a work
of art in this sense. He is composing a geographical
document, the rejxirt of an enterprise undertaken in the
cause of science ; and, for science, the material history of
the scheme, its context, so to speak, and its details, are of
the greatest interest. When an artist sets about painting
an animal, he selects and emphasises its essential features,
so as to make an effective picture of it ; whereas the
descriptive naturalist is bound to reproduce every possible
detail. In constructing this book, Xansen was in the
position of the naturalist rather than the artist. It is not
written simply for the amusement of an idle public ; it is a
link in the chain of geographical research, the experiences it
describes are to serve as a guide for others, and precisely
what the general reader thinks superfluous may be of
decisive moment for the Arctic traveller of the future. The
reader who cares onh- for testhetic enjoyment, and is
impatient to come to the exciting parts, may think it
unnecessary to go so minutely into the equipment of the
expedition; but for the man of science, and for future
explorers of unknown ice fields, every word will have its
significance. A chapter of some sixty pages devoted to
snow-shoeing, its history and development, may seem to
delay the narrative disproportionately ; but when we
remember that it was in tlie Greenland Expedition that the
Norwegian snow-shoe made its lirst appearance in the
history of science — in miHtarv historv it had alreadv i)laved
a part — such a chapter cainiot l)e regarded as out of place,
in llus book of all otlicrs. Tlie same niav l)e said, with still

: 1 !

'ill

LIFK OF FRILVriOF NANSEN

: l<

(,
I

greater justice, of the liistoric surveys ; they are absolutely
necessary in order to place the main matter of the book in
its right perspective. The fact that Nansen succeeds in
retaining our interest through all these heterogeneous
chapters is due to the untiagging animation of his style, the
clearness of his exposition, in short, to his unusual talent
for treating science popularly. In our literature, which is
specially poor in this department, he takes an eminent

place.

At the end of his First Crossing of Greenland, he prints
some extracts from his diary at Sardlok and Kangek. ' It
is no active life I am leading here,' he says ; ' in fact, I am
fast turning Eskimo. I live as the natives do, eat their
food, and am learning to appreciate such dainties as raw
• blubber, raw halibut skin, frozen crowberrles mixed with
rancid blubber, and so on. I talk to the people as well as
I can, go out in my kaiak, fish, and shoot on land and water.
In fact, I begin to see that there is really nothing to prevent
a European turning Eskimo, if he only has his time before

him.'

He devoted himself to the unusual sport of drawnig
haliliut— the same hahbut— three or four tunes up to the
surface from a depth of a hundred fathoms, in such cold
that his cheeks, nose, and chin were hi danger of being
frost-bitten. At the end of February he was at Kangek. ' It
is delightt"al,"he writes, 'to see the days lengthening, and the
sea shinnnering in the rising sun, to feel it shine almost
warmly, to go out seal-hunting in the grey of the morning,
and to return in the even-- with the daylight not yet quite
spent. Society, steam, great thoughts, and great misery-
all lie far, far away. To roam at large and enjoy life— that
is our sole concern.'

AT HOME AND ABROAD

oUo

The Greeulaiiders themselves have given a sketch ' of
Nanseu and his comrades which deserves to be quoted.
' Nansen was unusually clever,' says the writer, ' at learning
the language ; for although it Avas only six and a half months
since he landed here, he could understand almost every-
thing, and whether he was out in the surf helping to beach
our kaiaks, or visiting us in
our houses, he spoke without
much difficulty, and so that we
could easily understand hhu, as
he understood us.

' We missed them all terribly
when they went away ; they
Avere such handsome fellows it
did us good to look at them,
and they took to us in return,
so that we came almost to re-
gard them as our own country-
men. We went and visited
them whenever we pleased ; and
l)esides, they were not at all
particular, but ate almost any-
thing we gave them, except
rotten, fermenting things, and
said that they liked it.' Nan-
sen, the writer continues, was verv soon able to manao-e
a kaiak without any special appliances for safety. 'He
would accompany us both in stormy weather and when we
were going to be out far into the night, paddling with the
Ijest of us.'

SKETCH BY K. WKREXSKIOLD

' Tniiisliited by Mrs. S. Rink fVoiu tlio (.ireenkml newspaper, Afiia-
<jaijilUutit.

304

LIFE OF FniDTIOF NANSEN

When Nansen had finished his acconnt of the journey
across Greenland, he recorded in detail his impressions of
the Greenland natives in his book entitled EsUmo Life
(189J). This is not only an excellently written and nn-
usually interesting book, bnt also a most important docn-
ment towards the elucidation of Xansen's character. He
quotes in the preface the old saying : ' Amiens Plato, amicus
Sao'utes, mar/is arnica Veritas ; ' and he tells what he believes
to be the truth with characteristic courage, and here and
there with a recklessness which is perha])S no less character-
istic. His views on Christianity and Christian :Missions are
so diametrically opposed to the accepted doctrines that if
he had had popularity in view he would never have written
this book, or at any rate would have kept his heresies in
•the background, and aimed at an objectivity wdiicli should
wound people less. But it was not in his nature to do so.
On the contrary, he gave free rein to his enthusiasm on the
one hand, and to his defiant youthful audacity on the other.
There can be no doubt that where he sets about weighing the
civilised man and the child of nature against eacu other his
own character gets in his light and prevents him from taking
a quite impartial view of things, liut for that very reason
the book becomes a valuable piece of self-revelation.

Nansen is of course right when he dwells upon the sins
of which so-called civilisation has l)een guilty in its dealings
with the primitive races. ' What has become of the Indians ?
What of the once so haughty ^lexicans, or the highly gifted
Incas of Peru ? Where are the aborigines of Tasmania and
the native races of Australia ? Soon there will not be a
single one of tliem left to raise an accusing voice against the
race which lias brought them to destruction?' >

1 F.Kiimo Life. ]). nn.

\k.

AT HOME AND AUKOAD

505

Every day the newspapers bring us accounts of outrages
committed in the name of civihsation, wliich fill one with
indignant horror. ]Jut when Nansen places himself entirely on
the side of barbarism, when he represents it as a n)isfortune
that the Eskimos should have learnt to read and write, because
they cannot possibly devote time to these acquirements
without sacrificing some of their expertness as seal-hunters,
many people will be unable to follow him. There is, as it
seems to us, something too individual in this point of view.

What, then, can induce Nansen, the man of science, the
explorer, one of the dauntless pioneers of civilisation, to talk
of its ' venomous sting,' and so forth ? One is tempted to
ask whether any event in his life has embittered him against
society ? We know of no such event. There is one utter-
ance in EsJcimo Life that might lend itself to misunder-
standing in this sense. ' When I see all the wrangling and
all the coarse abuse of opponents which form the'^staple of
the different party newspapers at home, I now and then
wonder what these worthy politicians would say if they knew
anything of the Eskimo connnunity, and whether they would
not blush before the people whom that man of God, Hans
Egede, characterised as follows: 'These ignorant, cold-
blooded creatures, hving without order or discipline, with
no knowledge of any sort of worship, in brutish stupidity.'
With what good right would these savages look down upon
lis, if they knew that here, even in the public press, we
applied to each other the lowest terms of contumelv, as for
example, 'liar,' 'traitor,' 'perjurer,' 'lout,' 'rowdy,' &c '^
while they never utter a syllable of alnise, their very lan-
S-uage being unprovided with words of this class, in which
ours is so rich.' '

' Esldma Llf,\ p. 100.

y4.

■'i

III' *-

306

IJKK OF FIUUTlOl' NANSEX

This passage no doubt t-ame straight from the heart ; for
Xanscu himself is of a type more akin to the old Norsemen
than to certain of their descendants, in whom the lust of
battle has degenerated into mere quarrelsomeness, and who
cannot strike, but rather scratch and claw. He is of a largely-
moulded and at the same time gentle nature, such as we find
in the Sacras, self-confident, and determined to follow his own
path, but° without a trace of low pugnacity. The goals he
has set himself are too great to permit of any pettmess.
Like the Greenlanders, he 'cannot afford to waste tune m

squabbling.'

Personally, therefore, he lias always held aloof from this
trumpery warfare. Tlie troll-urchins in the Dovre-King's
Hall ' have never really molested him. When he wrote his
book about the Eskimos, he had no quarrel whatever either
Avith humanity in oeneral, or with Norwegian society m par-
ticular But all the influences of his childhood and his youth
attracted him to the primitive forms of life. To ' roam at
large ' and to ' enjoy life ' are for him synonymous. To
most of us, the privations involved in life in an Eskimo hut
^vc.uld be unendurable, while its filthiness would revolt us.
To him, these things are trifles. He has been accustomed
from childhood upwards to go without food for long periods,
and then to eat whatever comes in his way. House, hut, or
tent-it is all the same to him. The joys of action ami
achievement await him without. He can dash with his
kaiak into the jaws of the tempest, he can stalk the walrus
and the polar bear- all in the midst of vast natural sur-
roundings. He is attached to this people because it is
amiable, warm-hearted, and full of brotherly kindness and
true Christian charity. But he is also filled with admiration

1 See Peer Gynf, Act. U. Se. G. .

AT HOME AND AIUiOAD

b07

oarl ; for
Norsemen
■i lust of
and who
I largely-
,s we find
r his own
ffoals he
pettiness.
; time in

from this
're-Kinjr's
wrote his
^^er either
ty in par-
1 lis youth
' roam at
lous. To
skimo hut
revolt us.
^customed
g periods,
se, hut, or
iction and
. with his
he walrus
Ltural sur-
■ause it is
dness and
iidmiration

for It because it has conquered such luird natural conditions
lor the conquest of nature is, in Ids eyes, ' the .reat problem'
of hu,na,u.y . ' To some people,' he writes, ' existence is so
easy that they need only plant a bread-fruit tree in their
youth, and their whole life is provided for. Others, a^ain
seem to be denied everything except the strength to blttlJ
for life ; they must laboriously wring from hostile nature
every mouthful of their sustenance. They are sent forth to
the outposts, these peoj)le ; they form the wings of the great
army of humanity in its constant struggle for the subjugation
oi nature. °

'Such a ,,(.ople are the Eskimos, and among the most
remai-kable in existence. They are a living pi-oof of the
rare f^^culty of the lunnan l3eing for adapting hinvself to
circun,stan(,.es and spreading over the face of the earth. Tlie
l<.sknno forms the extreme outpost towards the infinite still-
ness of tl.e regions of ice, and as far almost as we have
forced our way to tl.e northward we find traces left behind
tliem by this hardy race. The tracts which all others de-
spise, the l-:skimo has made his own. By dint of constant
s ruggle and slow development, he has learnt some thin^^s
that none have learnt better.' ' ^

Here we are at the very lu-art of the matter. It is not
nnsanthrojn-, but a peculiar dual feeling towards Nature'
which n.spn-esXansen with his boundless sympathy for these
prinnt.ve people. It is a feeling akin to that of the male for
the female : he loves her, he will conquer her. For most of
us, It IS civdisation that brings with it the enjoyments which
umajHse existence : art, hterature, social intercourse, all
"at lends beauty ^o life. Nansen is no barbarian; he is
devoted to science, and he can appreciate art. But for him

' Esldmo Life, ji. 4.

808

J.ll'JO OF I'ltlDTIOl-' NANSKN

■I !,

'♦i

i I

the eiijoynients of chilisatiou have always taken a secoiul
l)lace ill comparison witli vvoi'k in its service. Work —
whether with the microscope or in the kaiak — is tlie Alpha
and Omega of his creed. That is why, in his e^'es, it
would be no misfortune for the Eskimos to l)e unable to read
and write, '"liey W(,)uld have all the more time to become
experts in their vocation, and to sulyngate nature.

If we consider the amount of reading involved in the
preparation for these books, we see that they represent a very
respectable sum total of work. Tliis, however, was no more
tlian quiet mental occupation, which does not take too much
out of a man. What especinlly occu})ied him in these years
was the preparations for the Polar Expedition. The eciuip-
ment involved an immense expenditure of thought — from the
construction of the ship to the minutest detail of the com-
missariat. Even the selection of the crew must have meant
a great deal of correspondencf- -no fewer than 150 foreigners
applied for leave to join the expedition. The list is headed
by Englishmen and Americans, then come (lermans, l>anes,
Swedes and Finns, Italians and Frenchmen, &c. A Venetian
wrote: 'Oh, monsieur, faites-moi vivre, ce ([ue j'appelle
vivre, et ne me condanniez pas a languir ! I'ar priere ! ! '

But all this he himself, we conlidently hope, will one day
relate in his book upon the Polar Expedition. We Avill not
anticipate him, and merely note that the labour was enor-
mous. Everything had to pass through his head, every one
of the thousand details. Compared with this mental toil, the
labour of dragging the sledges over the Greenland ice fields
M'as little more than child's play. It engrossed him day and
niglit, and encroached terribly on the few hours that were
left for his home and his family. The strain upon his vital

! !

AT IIOMl-: AN[) AlllictAl)

309

force was incomparably greater than in any of his previous
eilorts. '■

In tl»e beginning of 1S92 lie again sot forth on a lee
turu.g tour, this time in England, the profits goin.r to the
expecht.on fund. He spoke in London and in tlu otlJr ^re-tt
towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland, visiting Liverpool
Manchester Shedield, Ihrnnngham, Hull, Newcastle, Edin-
burgh, Belfast, Dublin, Jh-i^tol, and nianv other places

' His lectures,' writes a friend in England, ' were highly
appreciated and made a great success. His niasterv of the
'.nghsh language was remarkable. He made ' himself
thoroughly heard and understood. Of course he read his
addresses; but to my thinking his speaking was most effec-
tive when, at the end of his last lecture before the lioval
Ge(.graphical Society, he laid his manuscript aside It was
;n a sense, a farewell to England, inspired by a depth of feel-
ing which stirred his audience to enthusiasm. I can assure
you that when Xansen returns, a magnificent reception awaits
him ill this country.'

Late in the autumn of this year his ship M-as launched.
A Mo troop of invited guests,' writes Gustaf liet/ius
ni the Jftonh/ad for November 3, 1892, ' took the morninj
tram on October 2G, from Christiania to Laurvik. Tiiere
had been ten degrees of frost in the night ; snow had fallen
and a thin white veil lay over hill and vallev. Graduallv
the mists dispersed, and the morning sun shon; out with (h;
peculiar softened splendour characteristic of a clear winter
Jay Xansen himself receives us at Laurvik station, and
leads us to a whale-boat, lying at the pier, with a crow's-nest
at Its foretop. It carries us down the fiord, then turns to
the left and runs in shore. Here, in Ka^kevik Bay, lies the
inill of a ship, shored up on the beach, with its stern to the

310

IJMO (»!■ FUJJ)T1()F NANSKN

mt(

sea. It is Fridtiof Xanseu's new sliip, which is now to go ofl"
the stocks. The liull is hi<,'h and broad, ])hick ludow, white
above. Tiie tlirec ^'oodly masts ci" American pitch-pine are
still lyin^f alongside her on tlu! whaif. Three flagstadshave
been erected on the deck, two with fl;ins, the one in the
middle without. It is reserved for the nemiant bearintr the
.^IH]) s as yet unknown name, which is to be hoisted after tlie
christenin<.r. There are many speculations as to what the
name is to be. People guess J-Jni, Lrif, Non/e, and Nord-
polen.

'Tliousands of spectators have gathered around Colin
Arc])er's wharf, thousands have clambered uj) on the rocks.
JJut round the great vessel lying shored up on the slij)s
stand groups of sturdy figures in working clothes, with
grizzled hair and furrowed features, carefully examining
her lines and build. These are whalers and seal-hunters
who have year after year braved the dangers of the I'olar
Sea. There are also many workmen among tlieiu, sliip's-
carpenters who have helped in the building, and who now
regard their work witli just satisfaction. Jhit the nuister
builder is the stately man with the serious refined features
and the long white beard. It is Colin Archer.

' Fridtiof Nar.sen, ft)llowed by his wife, now mounts a
l)latform erected close to the vessel's bows. :Mrs. Nansen
steps forward, breaks a champagne bottle against the stem
at one strong blow, and says loud and clear : ' Fram skal den
hede '— ' She shall be called Fram.' ' At tlie same moment the
Hag is hoisted on the unoccupied flagstaff, and the word can
be read in white letters upon a red ground. The last moor-
ings are now (piickly cast off, the last supports knocked
away, and the great vessel glides, at first slowly, then

' Fnim = IVirwards.

nv to 20 oH'
'low, wliite
'li-piiie Jire
^'stjiflshave
oiip iti the
earing the
id after tlie
J what the
ami Noi'd-

)mi(l Colin
the rocks.
1 the slij)s
)the.s, -with
exaniinin<f
eal-hunters
the I'olar
em, ship's-
l who now
he master
'd features

mounts a
I's. Nansen
It the stem
im skdl den
loment the

word can
last inoor-
s knocked
>wlv, then

III

l»

M."

1 1

I'
1 I

1? i ' ^

AT HOME AXJ) ABROAD

511

quicker and quicker, stern-foremost, down the sharply sloping
groove which leads to the water. It plunges deeper and
deeper. For a moment it almost seems as though it were
going to sink, or at any rate to strike the bottoin. But as
the stem approaches the water the stern rises, and finally the
whole ^'essel floats away, to be brought back in a^ few
minutes, laid alongside the wharf, and there moored. Vt
the moment when the whole bulk of the ship had taken the
water, a great wave swept shoreward and washed over the
rocks and over the onlookers who had perched themselves
close to the sea. We could see Jiem fron. the distance
scrambling like wet flies up the slippery rocks. A lame
boat which had been swept ashore by the wa^-e was wiUi
difliculty saved, but without misadventure.

' On the platform, by his wife's side, Fridtiof Xansen
stood tall and erect, and watched the scene. All eyes were
bent upon them. We could not but think what their feel-
ings must have been at the moment when the vessel glided
into the sea : fee'-'ngs of gladness that the prolouue t^'o the
long dark drama that was to be enacted in the polar ni-dit
was now happily concluded ; feelings of pain at the thouolit
of the long separation that lay before them.

' For all who were present, it was a moment of deep
emotion when, amnl the booming of guns and the thunder-
ing cheers of the multitude, the Fmm plunged into the sea
and rose again proudly in its freedom. Many were after-
wards heard to say that it was one of the most imprcssi^•e
experiences of their lives. As the sliip glided forth in the
silvery hght reflected from the cahn surface of the sea, we
seemed, in a flash of foresight, to be reading the Saga of the
Inture. We seemed to glance down the vista of her destiny
to see her, in waters no keel has yet furrowed, suread"

spreacun<

812

LIFE OF FRTDTIOF NANSEX

lioht over regions no eye has yet seen. And when we came
to think of the stern realities which must one clay surround
the vessel and its crew on their daring quest, the cold, the
darkness, the storms, the icebergs, and all that follows in
their train, we could not but feel a touch of awe. But in
Fridtiof Nansen's serene, unembarrassed, steadfast glance,
there was no trace of doubt or anxiety. He has the faith
and the will-power that can move mountains.'

CoHn Archer, the builder of the Fram, belongs to a
Scotch family. His name is widely known and highly
respected in Norway. ' It is not many years since our pilot
boats were sadly deficient in point both of speed and of
safety. They were neither well built nor well designed for
the work they had to do, so that it frequently happened that
the boat went down and took the pilot with it. Mr. Archer
devoted himself to the task of furnishing our pilots with a
faster and safer sea-boat. After more than twenty years'
work, he has met with such success that the pilot can now
face almost any weather in one of his boats, and that those
he leaves at home need no longer tremble and turn pale when
the surf is lashing and the storm sweeping over the sea.' ^

In a speech which he made that day, Mr. Archer said that
he would never have been able to solve this peculiar proV)lem,
oo unlike any that he had hitherto attempted, if Nansen him-
self had not furnished him with the key ; it was Nansen's
constructive sense that had throughout pointed the way.
But Xansen had no less right on his side when he praised
Colin Archer's talent, and expressed the belief that never
before had a ship been built for Arctic work with any
approach to the care and thought which had been devoted
to this one. Let us hope that Colin Archer's most note-

' See Folkebladet, September 15, 181>3.

AT HOME AND ABROAD

315

worthy « pilot boat; wliicli is to pilot humanity tlirough ice-
packed chajinels and over imkuown waters, may stand tlie
test as well as the other ' x\rcher-boats,' its predecessors.

The Fram, which in reality somewhat resembles a pilot
boat, is specially designed to play the part allotted it in Han-
sen's general scheme. His idea is not to burst his way by
force through masses of ice, but to let the Fram lie firmly
frozen in and be carried forward by the current. It is not a
fast ship, then, that he needs, but a vessel which can bear an
nnmense pressure of ice without being crashed. It had to be
so designed that the ice should not be able to grip its side,
and squeeze them together, but should, as it were, wedge itself
under the hull and force it up out of the water. For this
reason the sides and bottom are strongly rounded. In
order to secure the greatest possible strength the ship
had to be as small as possible, and particularly short in
proportion to its breadth. This would facilitate both the
raismgof the hull when the ice got packed under it, and the
handhng of the vessel among the floes when it should be
released from its ice-berth.

The Fram's length on deck is 128 feet ; length on water-
Ime, 113 feet ; keel, 102 feet. Her extreme breadth is 80
feet ; breadth at water-line, exclusive of ice-skin, 34 feet ;
depth, 17 feet. When she is lightly loaded, the draft of
water is 12 1 feet. The keel, which is 14 inches bv 14 inches,
American elm, projects only 3 inches below the planking'
and its edges are well rounded. The frames are double,'
being built chiefly of Italian oak, obtained from the dock-
yards at Horten, where it had been stored for thirty years.
The lining is pitch-pine. The outside planking consists of
three layers : the inner one being 3 inches oak, the middle
one 4 inclies o;,k, and outside all an ice-skin of greenheart.

I'i

1"f-.

314

LIFE OF FHIDTIOF XAXSEN

increasing in thickness from 8 inches at the keel to inches
at the water-line. Both bow and stern are protected by a
covering of iron bars. The total thickness of the ship's
sides is 24 to 28 inches, and their power of resisting pressure
is thus very considerable ; but it is greatly increased by
powerful beams or stays of wood or iron. The hold is
divided hito three water-tight compartments. The structural
strength of the Fram is thus quite exceptional. Never before
has a vessel been so fortified against the attacks of the ice.

\ I

During these years of toil Nansen enjoyed breathing
spaces, when he gathered his friends around him. These
pleasant interludes in his work will ne^•(n• be forgotten by
tl^ose who took part in them. They remeinber the dinner
when all the painters — Werenskiold, Eilif Peterssen,
8kredsvig, Munthe, Sinding — gave themselves up to high
links without beginning or end, when tliev would on no
account listen to polite speeches, but rushed into the
kitchen and set the pump going whenever any .one began.
Xansen was thoroughly at home among the painters— he
himself daljbled a little in their handicraft,^ and, during his
Jiergen days, had worked in the studio of old Schiertz, who
thought he had the makings of an artist in him.

They remember, too, that Midsumn.ier Eve, when
Lammers sang of the hero Poland, and Xansen went down
to the bonfire aiid piled on wood.

liy way of exemplifying the hours of relaxation in the
life of labour depicted in this book, one of the authors will

' Naiiscu (li'iuvs I'xt'c'llontly ; nil tlio jilati's foi- his zooUjgical, anatoiuical.
and histolof^ical essays are drawn by himself. We may mention, a.s a charae-
teristic instance of his energy in every department, that he was not content witli
himself makiiif,' the drawing's for his works, but also learned lithography, so that.
for example, the plates in his principal essay on the nervous system are drawn
on the stone with his own hand.

t.i

AT HOME AND ABllOAB

01 r
010

iiote down his recollections of a luncheon party at Xansen's
house, the day after the launch of the Fram.

It had rained overnight, so that tlie roads were ankle-
deep ni autunn. mud. Xansen himself met us at the station
m the hiohest of spirits.

When we reached his house (a quarter of an hour's walk
from Lpaker station) it was raining. The fiord stretched
before us dark and depressing, the grey autumn skv seemed
to droop disconsolate among the pine stems. " But in
.^ansens study, branches and logs were crackling and
.smouldermg cosily upon the open hearth

Here everything is in old Xorse style. Xansen himself,
AS before mentioned, designed the furniture of Ihdit pine
wood, beautilully carved with dragon arabesque;. Over
the Ingh seat hangs a tapestry of an antique pattern

Luncheon was served in the cosy little dining-room and
nierrinumt was the order of the day. Full justice was done
;> one dish after another ; and Xansen is not the man to
iorget to season the viands .vith talk. He was, of course,
^^till full of memories of the previous day, and one incident
o the launch after another was related and discussed
A rs. Hansen had to analyse her sensations at the moment
when she broke the champagne bottle against the bow and
sau : ^J^ram sh,l den hede r Some one else related how
Archer was seen to close his eyes when the ship be-an to
move ; and so forth. ^

When the champagne appeared, Xansen proposed
Ketziuss health, and Ket.ius thus ended his speech m
reply :— ^

' This is a delightful home of yours, Xansen, and I
oannot but marvel at your resolution in tearing yourself
away from it u. set forth into the polar winter, aiii brave

!l: 1

31G

I,[FE OF FKIDTIOF NANSEN

' ' I

hi i 1

an unknown fate. You, a biologist, have the sea stretchino-
before your very windows, with all its inexhaustible and
fascinating treasures. Here you are in the midst of all your
old friends, the marine fauna — with worms, molluscs, ainl
mud-eels at your beck and call. We scientists, who so
highly appreciate Nansen the biologist — the man who has
successfully steered many a voyage of exploration over the
unknown, depths of the biological world, and especially
through the intricacies of the nervous system — cannot quite
rec'i cile ourselves to the thought that you are deserting
this field of labour to go so far and to be absent so long.

'Bi^r vou have yourself determined it, you have decreed
your own destiny.

'And besides, when the exj)lorer returns from his
adventurous voyage, the biologist will find the field of
investigation as rich as ever. You may make your mind
easy — we who are left at home will not reap the whole
harvest — there will be plenty left for you to do. We are as
yet only at the beginning of our work.

'There is only one thing I fear, and that is that Fridtiof
Nansen, when he comes back from the Xortli Pole, will
discover that the earth has a South Pole as well.'

As we clink glasses and drink Xansen's health, strange
thoughts fill our minds. Who knows when this circle of
friends may meet again? Not, at any rate, until one of
them shall have returned from afar.

Nansen is, as usual, (piiet and at his ease. As the later
courses come on, we get him to tell us some of his stories.
He has an unusual gift of oral, no less than of written
narrative ; he describes pictun sipiely, witli powerful
touches, and. on occasion, with charming humour. First
we get him on the polar l)ears. Then some one asks about

AT IIOMi; AND ABROAD

> 1 r»

the time when lie and Mrs. Xansen clhnbed Xorefjeld on
New Year's Eve.

NANSEN AND MRH. NANSEN ON SNOW-SHOES

^Jrih

'Yes, it was really New Year's Eve; it was in 1890.
Eva and I had gone np to Kroderen for a breath of fresh
air, and we made up our minds to climb Norefjeld— -to the

hii

;«

* i .':

1 s

318

top of

LIKE OF riMDTIOF XANSEX

We slept at Olbt

lul

raflier 1;

cours(
tne luorning, so tliat it was about ten o'clock before we
made a start. And we didn't liiirrv at all at first, so that
the day slipped on. It's soiiiethin<f of an ascent even in
summer ; but in winter, when the days are short, you have to
look sharp if you want to get to the top while it's light. And
then we had taken a course of our own — well, it may have been
the most direct, but it certainly wasn't the quickest. The snow
was very deep, and we hadn't any guide. At last we couldn't
possibly use our snow-shoes any longer; it got so steep we
had to take them off and carry them. But we were bound
to do it all the same ; you can't face abt)ur and leave a thin<>-
half done, however much ice and frozen snow there may be.
The last piece almost beat us ; I had t(j cut our wa}' step
by step with my stafl'. I went ahead, Eva followed. It
reminded me of what the little girl wrote in her school
essay : " For every step we went forward, we went two steps
back. At last we reached the top."

' Well, we too reached the top, but it was dark, and we
had been at it from ten till five with nothiuij to eat. 8o
now we set to and picnicked in the snow ; iid the pitchy
darkness, on mysost ' and })emmican mixed.

' You may thank heaven we don't treat you to that to-
day,' said ]\Irs. Nansen.

' Yes, you made wr\- faces over it, Eva.' growled her
husband. ' But it's all a matter of ha])it.'

We lingered over our walnuts and our wine while
Nansen continued : ' Well, there we two sat alone in the
snow^ at the top of Xorefjeld, something like 5,000 feet
above the level of the sea. The frost-wind nipped our
cheeks, the darkness grew denser and denser. Far away in

' (Idiit'a milk cheese.

AT HOME AND ADIJOAD

310

the west there lingered a very, very feeble

out getting down ncrain.

last in the year. We had to see ab

gleam of day, the

We struck a course nior

■e or less in the direction of

Eggedal. From Ilogevarde ' do".vn into the valley is perhaps
about a Norwegian mile,- which would have been nothing
at all if it had been light. Ihit it wasn't so easy to find our
way in the darkness.

' Off we plunged into the night, I ahead and Eva follow-
ing. We went like the wind over rocks and slopes, and it
w^as no joke to keep our balance, I can tell you. When
you've been out in the dark for some time, a sort of dim
shimmer seems to rise fi-om the snow ; you can't call it light,
but it isn't absolute darkness either. Heaven knows how
we managed to get along sometimes, but manage we did.
All of a sudden I had to stop short, and shout to Eva. It was
too steep for snow-shoes, there was nothing for it but to sit
down and slide. It's not good for your trousers, but it's
safer in the dark.

' The whid nipped our ears till tliey tinghnl, for it was
freezing like anything; and on we went. Suddenly, as we
were going at full speed, my hat blew off— a little grej- hat
of the sort I nsually wear.

' So I had to put the brake on, and get to my legs again.
Far up I saw something black upon the snow, scrambled up
to it, seized it, and found it was a stone. The hat nmst be
further back— yes, there it was. Again I clutched at a
stone. Hats seemed to swarm all over the snow ; but when
I came to put theni on they all turned to stones. Stones
for bread may be bad enough, but stones for hats are not a
whit better. There was nothing for it but to go ahead
hatless.

' The top of Norefjekl.

■ Seven Endish miloF.

' t,

820

J. IFF, OF FIMDTIOF HANSEN

i!l

,iBi

l!j'

s ■

1 ■: i

1 ■■ I

'Eva remained where I had U'l"! lier. '• , -va ! " I shouted
"Eva!" riic "".swer came from far, far Ixlow.

'There .seemed to be no end to tliat mUe. ^^\\^ we
manaj^ed to keep jioing somehow ; and now and then we
could use our snow-shoes too. All of a sudden the jiround
seemed to fall away at our feet ; we stopped i\' tlie ver<fe of a
precipitous l)ank — how high it was we couldn't see, but over
it we had to go, one first, the otlier after. The snow was deej),
and when that is so, you c:iu clear itu!redil)le distances,

' We had long ago lost our bearings, if we had ever had
any. We only knew that we must go ahead. At last we
came to a dead fix. I'va had once more to sit and wait while I
cast about for a way. T went gr( )i)ing around in the darkness
and was a long time gone. All of a sudden a thought
struck me : suppose she were to fall asleep ! Such things
have bet 1 knov/n to happen, and she nuist l)e dead tired.
" Eva, ICva ! " I shouted. " Yes ! " she answered right enough,
but this time from far, far above. If she had fallei; asleep I
don't know that I. could ever have found her again. As it
was I groped my way u[) to her, bringing with me the good
news that I had found a watercourse. 1 won't say that a
watercour.se is the best possible snow-shoe course, especially
in pitchy darkness, when }Our stomach is empty and your
conscience ill at ease — for this was really a reckless piece of
work. Ihit somehow or other w" did contrive to make our
wa)^ down the watercour.se.

'Now we were anu)ng the birch trees, and at last we
struck upon a road. So the worst was over. Far down,
we came upon a hut. 1 thought it looked cosy enough,
but Eva said it was dirty and horrid. And now she was
(piite lively; she was determined to ])ush on. Just like a
woman.

AT IIO.MJ.; \NM AMIto.M)

821

To make a loner story short,
pJirish clerks house in Kj«re(lal. It

we at Jast reached the
was now late at i M^ht

so we liad to knock the people up. The parish clerk
q«iil<' friMhtened when he h.-ard we had con.e from the
ol Norefjeld,

' This time Kva was mH so particular about her ni..]
lod^rmg. She Iiad no sooner sat do

was
top

it's

I'ell asl

vvn in ,i chair than si

cej); It was twelve at ni.irjit, and she had 1

feet for fourteen lumrs.

WiV I

He's quite worn out, poor
->va was wearin,ir a grey snow-shoein.r dr

H'eii on her

oy," said the parish dcrk

,. , ~ • -^^''iress, with a short

skirt and trousers.

"■Tf IS my wife," said I.

' You should have heard the -xclamations. •' Oh Lord
oil I.or,l,you don't mean to say so! Think nf dra.v.in.'
yonv w,n. with you over the top of Xorefjehl on Xew YearC
hve !

' Hut now came supper- and as soon as she smelt that
It was not mywstaiu] pemmican, she wakened uj).

'It ended in on,- resting three days at the parish clcrl 's
-and that was oi.r New Year's T-^ve ascent of Xorefjel 1
' tliought it great fun ; i.ut 1 doi kuow what Eva would
say.

'When we left Eggedal the poor hoy and I drove down
-Nmnedalto Kongsberg. and the boy was almost frozen to
deal

' Jiut on., has to g,. ihrough a liiiJe hardship now and
!i't*n to enjoy life properly at- r it. [f you don't now
^vhat cold IS, neither do you know what it is to },e warm.'

The time draws .m for the great departure. The
summer of 18^'.^ has come, l- '

" the evenings, while h

322

|,ll''K or l'"l!ll>TI(»l' NANHKN

spcretary is writing at full speed, and Nansen is walkin,^ np
and down direc-tino- and dictatin*;, he will suddeidy slip out
and ai)pear on the sU)pe in front of the house. Here plant-
in" is nciug (.n— o'oosebeiry and currant bushes, apple and
pear trees. Nansen himself points out to the gardener
where every tree, every hush is to stand. ' It will be
sph-ndid .soil,' says the man, as he fdls the holes with mould
mixed with seaweed. 'Oh yes, I hope they'll grow,' says
Nansen. The evening sun throws long shadows from the
great pine stems in front of ihi' house, tiu' waves w^ash
softly, in a long slow swell, against the beach. The nurse
comes out of the house carrying little Liv. who is to be put

to bed.

How lung will be the shadows cast by these bushes and
trees before he comes Ijack? How many evenings will the
sun disappear behind the ridge, before current and wind
and wa\ e l)ring his ship home again ? Evening after even-
ing, month after month, year after year !

On Midsummer Day the /wvn// lies at Pipervik ready to
start. Only a small group of Ohristiania people have
gathered to stare at the clumsy-looking ship, which still
lies at its berth hmg after the tune appointed for the

start.

So .slight is the notice taken of an achievement in the
bud. When he comes back again, all Ohristiania will turn
out to receive him. But men are always so. As though it
were nothing to conceive this great design, to take this
immense responsibility, to bear all burdens until you are
ready to drop under them— and to stand erect on the
quarter-deck and take your life in your hands. There wcn>
„ot mai'.v that day who remend)ered the old saying which

'^i

AT IIO.MK ANI> AMI.'OAI*

>523

had been citod at Itekevik vvIum, the Frru» was launclu-d •
'Mm/no.s homines nrtuw m,'tmnr, no,, fortuna:

lint anu.ng those who had .iratheml to "see Nanse.i oH'
^v<•^' .nany members of the Storthin... \^y two resolutions,
which must be reckoned to the credit of so sni.-dl .-, ,,e„nh.
tlu- Stortl,i,,irhad co„tri],uted a sum of about 15,0(10/ t,.the
expenses of the expedition. To-day it had adjourned in
order to b.,1 farewell to its leader. Mut Xansen had not been
'"formed „f this, and had not yet .-cMne on board. The

SKKTCJI ItY K. WKKKNSKIOLD

members of the Storthin-r waited for hours, a.id at last could
wait no lonoer

Eve.i at the last moment there were details of business
tliat Nansen had to attend to. The whole mornin<.- passed
and he had had scarcely a moment to exc-hanc^e a word with
Ins wife. 1 he farewell was of the shortest. When he came
downstairs, little Liv was brounjlit to hin. smilin-. He took
the elnld in his arms : ' Ah yes, you laugh, Liv, but T— ! '
ilc sobbed.

'I'l'eH he jumped into the little petroleum launch, steamed
up the hord. boarded the Fram, taking no notice of any one

I h

324

LIFE OF FKIDTIUK NAXSEN

went up to the bridge, and gave orders for the start. Those
who saw liis face at that moment will never forget it.

If' :1

One picture from his story of that Xew Year's Eve ex-
pedition has often risen ])efore our minds during these years
of waiting. She site alone upon the mountain, and gazes
forth into the impenetrable darkness, so long, so long. Then
a voice is heard from far off on the suow-field. He is there !
He is coming !

Those

325

Then
rj there !

CHAPTER XVIII

liAROX VOX TOLJ. AND TfF!': NANSEX E.XI'KDITION

At the end of the year 1892, Baron Edward von Toll was
ready to start upon his second journey to the New Siberia
Islands and the coast of the Arctic Sea between Sviiitoi Nos
and Khatano-a Bay, at the expense of the Russian Academy
of Science.

His previous journey had taken place in the years 1885-
8G, and he had brought back with him a comprehensive
knowledge of the whole region, aiid of the means of commu-
nication there available. On these points he was undoubtedly
the first living authority.

In December, 1892, Xansen applied to him to know
whether he could send from Siberia to Norway a mimber of
good Silx^rian sledge-dogs, or wh-ther it would l)e possible
to pick up such dogs at the mouth of the Lena or at the New
Siberia Islands, if the Fram were to call tliere. Baron von
Toll, after discussing the matter with several olHcials and
men of science, came to tlie '-onclusion that it would be best
to have the dogs sent to Khabarova, on Yugor Strait, a point
at which the Fram must in any event touch. It would not
be advisable to place the depot of dogs further east ; for the
Fram might be blocked by the ice in the Kara Sea, and thus
unable to reach the point where the dogs, so necessarv to the
success of the expedil ion, awaited her. Lnmediately befoi-e

320

LIFE OV FHIDTIOK NAXSKX

If.

starting, Ikron von Toll wrote to Nansen to this ellect, pro-
mising at tlie same time to estiJ.blisli a se(M)n(l depot of dogs
at the mouth oi' tlie Ok'nek in East Siberia ; for the East
Siberian (U)gs were unquestionably superior to those of West
Siberia.

Amoniif those whom liaronvon Toll had consulted on this
matter was rrivy Councillor W. Troinizki, who liad formerly
been Governor of Tobolsk, but was for the moment resident
in Si. Petersburg, lie informed Von Toll that sledge dogs
were still in use among the Ostiaks, and recommended him,
as he passed thnmgli Tiunion, lo apply to an English trader,
named Edwnrd Wardroper, who would give him all possible
help in this uuitter.

The advice proved excellent. Wardroper was al)le at
once to lay his hand upon the right man both for l>uying
the Ostiak dogs and conveying them to Khabarova — namely,
Alexander Ivanovitch Trcntheim, who was then engaged
in fishing operations on the Sosva. Before l)aron von Toll
had left Tinmen a contract had been concluded with Tront-
heim, through W^irdroper's intermediation.

Trout hcim proved to be the very man foi- this dilRcult
piece of work. Born in Riga, of (lennan parents, he had
since 1S70 been settled in Sibei'ia, where in 187S 7'.* he had
accompanied the Danish traveller, 11. von Teichner, on his
journey down the Obi. Shortly after, he entered the service
of that well-known [)atron of polar exploiation, \. M.
Sibiriakoll, and niadr a voyage with him in the steamship
Ofri, first to Yugor Strait and then to Norway. In 1888 he
shipped on board the Lnhnnlar, which, undei conunand of
Captain Wiggins, had just reached the mouth of the Yenisei.
When ilic J.dhrmlor arrived at Yugor Strait. Tiontheim left
the shi]) to accompany yonng Mr. Moi'ier on his journey

I'.AHOX VON TOM. AM) TIIK NANSKX KXI'KDITION ;->27

tVoiu the Polar Sea, right through tlie tundra district, and
over the northern spur of the Ural Mountains to Jierezoff.

On January 10, 18',»:-;, Trontheini was at Berezoff, where
great numbers of < )stiaks and Satnovodes had <;athered for
a. taxation meeting. After careful trials, he selected and
])ought thirty-three dogs, which he conveyed to the village
of Muski on the Lower Obi, his point of departure for the
iournev over the Ural Mountains to Yn<for Strait.

( )f this journey an ac^count is given in a pamphlet written
by A. Krylofl'on the basis of Trontheim's oral narrative, and
j)ublished in Tobolsk under the title of To Meet Xdiineii.
Baron von Toll, in his report to the Secretary of State, Von
Ueuterskiiild, makes co[)ious extracts from this pamphlet.

After having hired a herd of 4-"')() reindeer, thirty of
which were to be killed for rations on the way, Trontheini
left ]\ruski on April 4. The caravan, with four dogs
attaclicd to each sledge, followed the course of the river
\V(nkara \\\) to its source in the Ural Mountains, crossed
them by way of the Choila Pass, and then followed the i-iver
Lemva until it joined the Usva. Here they arrived on
April '12. The slippei-iiu'ss of the snow, which made it
almost impracticable for reindeer, and the exhausted condi-
tion of the animals, fon-ed them to remain in camp until
May 7.

( >n the night of the 7th, Troiuheim got undei- wav again,
and next day reached the river Warkuta. Its banks ar<'
toh'rably well wooded ; but fnmi this pohit northwards the
trees rapidly dwimlled in height. On May Hi tlie caravan
entered upon the treeless tundra country, where th< ■
could (ind only dwarf bushes to burn; and ab(.ut the
Karataikha, where the country became extremely swampy,
even this fuel failed them.

328

MKI-; <»!•" MMD'I'IOF NANSEN

tr"

' i

Oil June 2 tli(>v r(»!u;luHl iJiildino Lake, in which tlie Sylva.
a tril)iitarv of the Kara, takes its rise. On June 22
tliey came in sidit t)!' the open sea. The next day they
saw the litth; church and camp of Khabarova, and that
evening reached the town.

To his jrreat relief Ti-ontlieim leai'iied that no steamei- or
other vessel of any kind had as yet appeared. Dnrin^- the
following days the north wind drove masses of ice towards

eoast, packing ^'ugor Strait and the sea beyond it, as far
as the eye could reach. Not until -luly 10 was the sea oiice
more free from ici', and Tiontheim now looked anxiousl}'
every day for Nansen's arrival

The Fid/ii nu'auvvhile had left Yardi) on July 21 (new
style), aiul headed for the soutlu'in point of Xova Zembla,
in order to escape the ice at the entraiu'c to Yugor Strait.
At midnight they got into a thick fog, which forced the Fraiii
to cast anchor and to lie there for two days, which Nansen
occupied in zoological observations and investigations. Early
ill tlie m/)ruing of July 2'), th(^ fog lighten»'d a little, and the
first ice was visible on the horizon, slowlv driftinu' towards

lem ; but il soon disaj)j)eared agaii

ie\'

had

scarce

made Iw'iity miles when they were again enveloped in a thick
fog and .(impelled to cast anchor II cleai'cd in a few hours.

an(

1 I]

leii

lie\ uol

into a belt of drifl ice

It wah a Lii'cat

easu

re,' sa^■s Xansen'?* >ei rctarv, < '. ( "hrislophersen, who

accompamec

1 the Fnhi' a^ fai- as Yuuor Strait, ' to be on

board the ship and -ec how admii'ably it is adapted for
meeting the dilliculties of pohu- navigation. It is impossible
to describe how easy and uiumpedeil is the ])rogress of the

I-

I'liiii

lull

ill

irouun waves lull oi crasiiuiL;' ice noes.

il.

l']\'en if the

fairwav s(>enied absolutely blocked by the closely ])acked

loe-

Ihe /

rit)n was not

hindered a moment in its course,

i':li,¥..*<t'

liAK'ON VON TOIJ, AND TFIK NAXSKX KXI'KDITION 320

steamed ([iiietly ahead, clearing ifspatli witli its mighty steel
prow, and hinlitig aside ice floes weighing a hundred tons
and more, without anv noticeable shock. For au<dit we
could tell when not actually on deck, we might have been in
open water witli a very slight sea on.'

At Khabarova, in the meantime, day after day passed,
and Tronlheim wondered if Nansen were ever cominy. At
hist, on July 18 (old style), he saw smoke on the horizon,
and pi-esently a steamsliip appeared — there could be no doubt
as to its being the Fr«nit. Trontheim got hold of a little
Sanioyede boat, and went out to meet the steamei*. When
he hailed her and gave his name, he was at once taken on
boai'd. A tall and very determined-looking man in a greasy
working jacket came to meet iiim. Trontheim at first took
him for one of the engineers or sailors ; but presently he saw
that it nuist be Nansen himself. Nansen greeted him in the
friendliest way, and asked how lie had prospered (.n his long
and didicult journey. Then the two at once went ashore to
ins])ect tlH> do<is.

Xansen's personality made an exceedingly deep impres-
sion upon Trontheim. lie thus describes him : ' Xansen is
a tall young man. every motion, his every word,

e.\j)resses energy, resolution, and strength of will, fn his
iiUercourse with his subordinates- -all of them picked men —
he is pU'asant and ge.iial. All the heavy work on board is
er[u.ally apportioned anK)ng the ship's company, and there is
no distinctit)n between tlie sailors, the ca])tain, .".nd the chief
himself. .• ^ n everywhere and in everything sets a good
example. l']ven the doc'tor takes his part in the ordiiuuy
work of the shi[). . . . And this conuuu'uty of l;d)our, this
absenceof all class distinction,' says Trontheim. 'is the bond
which holds the wholi- expedition togethei', andjustilies the

lt|

l-ll"]': OF Kh'IDTIOF NAXSKX

hope thai in liours of (hllicidty and danger it will succeed in
defying fate.'

The Fnnn remained at Khal\arova several days, awaiting
the arrival of the schooner Ui-aiiui, wliich was to bring up a
cargo of co;d. Xansen employed tlu>, time partly in examining
into tlie staio of the ice out at sea, partly in shooting
and making geological studies along the coast. Trontheim
was a daily guest on l)oard. When Xansen came to know
him better, he wanted to enlist liim as a sailor, and oilered
him seventy roubles a month for three years. Hut Trontheim
was not inclined to undertake the adventure.

July -I'l (old style) was the last day oi" the Fr,i)n\s stay
at Khaliarova. Coals had to be shiftcnl from the coal-bunks
into the stoke-hole — a task in which all took part, with
Xansen at their head, everything going with the greatest
good humour and merriment. Then they went ashore to
make a trial of Trontheim's dogs, and found that it took eight
of them to draAV a sledge with tln-ee men upon it. X'^ansen
was satisfied wdth the trial, and the dogs were taken on board.
When Trontheim asked for a certificate that he had consci-
entiously carried out his contract, Xansen exclaimed: ^A
certificate is not enough! You have perfonned your task
admirably, and done tlie expedition a very gi-eat service. I
am emi)Owered to pi-esent yon, in the name of llis Majestv
the King, with a gohl medal in recognition of the vaJ Liable
assistance you liave rendered us.' Tlitreupon Xansen
handed Troiitheim the 'King Oscar II." medal, and witli it
a strongly worded certificate, written in (lerman.

As fliei-e was no sign t)f tlie Unin'hi, Xansen concluded
that she must have been stopped by the ice, and determined
to weigh anchor.

'J'ronfhcim and Xansen's secretary, O. Christophersen,

i I

w 1,1

IJAUON VON TOLL AM) TlIK NANSKN E.\1'KJ)JT1()\ ^c!!

now went ushore, and as they would probably have to wait
some time tor the Untina, which was to take them to Vardii,
Nanseii left with them a.i ample stock of provisions. Chris-
topliersen was enti-usted with seventy-nine telegrams to all
parts of the world, which were to be despatched on his
arrival at Vardii.

Hitherto the weather liad been calm ; but on this even-
ijig a change set in. The wind rose, and presently it was
blowing half a gale. Precisely at midnight, the departure-
signal sounded from the Fniin, and she steamed up the
Strait and out to sea. Xansen himself preceded her in the
steam-launch, to make sure of the fairway, and pilot her
along.

Baron A'on Toll, however, was not (•oiilcnt willi what
he had already d(jne for tlie expedition, but, in the c(>urse of
his further journey through East Siberia, continued to take
all possible measures for its assistance in case of disaster,
not only by establishing a depot of dogs at the moutl. of the
Olenek, but also by placing supplies of provisions on the
\ew Siberia Islands.

In passir.g thi'ough Irkutsk, Von Toll consulted with
A. M. Sibiriakoff, and nicule the accpiaiutance of his partner
Mkolai Kelch. The Baron explained to him how impor-
lanl it would be for the crew of the Fnnu, if tlieir ship
should meet with the fate of the Jeiiiinotta, io fuul depots of
provisions on the New Siberia Islands. Kelch was (ired by
llie idea of oU'ering the g illant Norwegian and his conn-ades
triu* Siberian iu)S})itality. As Von Toll intended to ^'isit
regions tlu? natives of which go every smnmer lo the
southern islands of the group, he thought he woidd easily
find seal-hunters wlio wonld undertake the establishment

* ii

Ill

i>()S

\AIT. OF I'lilDIKH' NANSKN

of the depots; and Keleli ill once placed 1, ")()() roubles
at his disjjosal for the carryiujjf out of this plan, and the
purchase of dous to he left, at the mouth of the Olenek.

The provisions were bought at Yakutsk, and sent with
all speed to the coast, at the mouth of the Yana.

Mut when \'on 'J'oll arrived here it ])roved more difU-
cult than he had expected to lind trustworthy aii'ents for
estal)hshinu- the three (h'pnts he had (U'termined to i)rovide
for the expedition. A Kussian seal-hunter, Michael vSaniii-
kofl", who had I'ormeily spent several sunnners upon Liakhod'
Island, at lirst undertook the care of two of the
But fiudinu- that his (h)ys were not in sullicientl
condition, and that he could not at the moment procure
sufheient food for them, he withdrew his promise, and would
only undertake to see to \'on Toll's third depot, on Little
Liakhod' Island.

During- his voyauc down the Lena, Von Toll had already
determined to extend his journey to Kotelnoi, the northern-
most of the islands, and therefore himself undertook to

To this end Jacob Sannikofl',
livelv interest in Xansen's fortunes.

depots,
v ijood

tabi

ish the olhei' t wo depots.

a merchant, wl

lo look a

placed at \'on 'J'olTs disposal three dou' sledu'es — that is to
say. three sli'dn(is with a team of twelve doii's apiece — and

as nnich dou's" food

IS could I'cadily be procured.

\'on Toll had ai'ranu'ed

as loiiows

the disDosal of tin

pi'it;

One was to be at Stan DniMKiva on th

e west coast

of Ivotelnoi, at 7") :)"' X. lat.; one about seventy miles

further south, at 74 •")•")' X. lat., on tlie river T

jrassa

lach

and the thii'd on the south coast of Little LiakhoU" Island.

If the crew should desert the ship and land on the
noi-thernmost of the \ew Siberia Islands, it would lind in the
iirst de])()! rations foi' t\vel\-emen for eiuht days. This would

'*f,V

UAUON VON lOM, AM) 'I'lIK NANSKN llXI'llDITloN MHH

(•liable tlicin to miikc their way aloiij/ the coast to the (le|)ot
on llie Urass;il;ieh. Ileic they woiihl riiid, in a house which
H.iroii voii Toll had hiiill, in l.S.SO, provisions sullicieiit t'oi"
one month. At liie third station, in ;i litth' lioiist! at the
southern [n)\\\\ of i/itth' liiakhofl' lsl;in(l. they would find pro-
visions for two months, which would enable them to reach
the mainland.

Viu.^9

'mitsmama^s

VON TOLL S i;XI'i;i)ITIiiN I'd THK NKW SIHKKIA ISLANDS

h'ri'iit Kii tnshinttmiunn I'liohniritfih

In a lett<'r to Haroness von Toll, dated Aidschergaidacli.
on the Arctic ( )cean, .lune (>/iS, IS'.to, which has been
most kindly commuiiicaicd tons, Haron von Toll has ^^iven
a lively description of his journey, which proved far n>or<'
adventurous thafi rrontluim's expedition from Muski to
Khabarova.

P J 111

:)34

Ul'K OF I'lMDTlor XANSKN

'kW

Vi It

By a pious fniiKl, Von Toll Imd left his wife in injnomnce
of his (k'stiimtion. 'We have <sve:H mison to thank God,'
lie writes, aftei- his safe return ; ' for a God there is, who helps
every one who honestly strives towards u (rood end; and you
will find in what foHows many clear proofs of His power.'

Thus the letter continues: 'On April 1(1, whe?i I
sent off my last letters from here, T was ready for a start,
and those " mannnoth-districts " which T said in my teleoTam
that 1 was .uoinu' to ex[)lor(' w<'re the New Siberia Islands.
This prevjirication was desiirned lo snxc you anxiety. I
could m)t do otherwise, and I know yon will for|t?ive me.
In the first place I had to fulfil a formal promise ; for when
Saunikoff "funked the job," there was no one but I to
underlake it. Neither Djergili nor Ovandje would have
^^one to Kotelnoi without me; and even ii they had they
woidd never have placed the depots with the ne( cssary care.
And what would have l)oen the result if Xansen, after losing
his ship, had taken refuge at Kotelnoi. and found nothing
there ? '

All that Von Toll could get (Uit of the [jeopleat Yakutsk
was thirty-six dogs, three sledges, and a considerable part of
the dogs' food required for the journey, which was estimated
to take thirty-six days. Sonu' more of the requisite dogs'
food he would find on (Jreat LiakhofT Islund. where it had
been left by Sannikoff's searclicrs for mannnoth tusks;
and Sannikoff would briiio- a fui-ther supply to Little
Fiiakhofr Island, when he went there to establish the
third Nansen depot. The dogs were in anything but good
condition ; of tlie sledges one was warped and crooked
l)efore they started, another was patched along the bottom,
while the third, though good, was very heavy.

The expedition consisted of Haron von 'loll, his com-

^l<

ffirii.if

I'i '{ :

ILVJMX VON TOLL AM» THE NAXSEN KXPKDITK >.\ 885

panion Schikiko, a Cossack uanied Rastoi;.' ijew, two
Lainuts Djeririli arl Ovandje, who had accoinpauied \ on
I'oll on his • .[' 1885, and a Yakut named liban.

The last mt'n, -md. wliu was a himbennan and u capital
do^Mlrivcr and guidi-, unfortunately fell ill before the start,
an iiad to be left behind. In his stead they took a Tun-nis
named Maxim. As tr> the natives of his party Baron von
Toll writes :

'My friends the 'i'lui/iuses care for nothin<jf but reindeer,
and do not uu'^ -stand hr>w to treat do_us and still less how
to drive them. vVc three, tSchileiko, Kastoi-gujew, and I, had
therefore to lielp our drivers to train and manage the dops.
Djeru-ili drove my sledge, Maxim drove Schileiko's, and
Ovandje East orgujew's. It was quite anuising to see that
not one of my drivers knew which of the dogs should be the
leaders. On the first days of the journey, Djergili tried all
twelve one after another, until at last he fixed upon a \rMv,
consisting of his own huntino-dop-, which he had brou<dit
with us out of affection for it, and a little lean white sledo'e-
dog witli black spots. These leaders from first to last dis-
tinguished tliemselves with the most admirable consistency
by totally disregarding the cries of " Xano, nano " (to the
left), and "Tock, tock " (to the right), and further by their
uncontrollable mania for always going straight for the worst
torosses instead of avoiding them. Before starting from
Aidschergaidach. Djerixili cut himself a hu<>e drivinijf-stafl'.
which he kept carefully laslied to the sled«e and never once
used, as it was fur too big and heavy foi- him. When we
wanted to stop the sledge, he would hel])lessly call " 'I'oi, toi,"
and at sharp turns all we could do was to commend ourselves
to the care of a benevolent Providence. As a mattri- of fact,
we only once capsized, and then Djergili fell under the

,11

'U\

-^f.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

1.0

I.I

■^IIIM

|50 ""'^=

I" m "'"^

•- "'" '""2.0

L25 III 1.4

2.5
2.2

1.8

1.6

llUlUgicipiliC

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

'^•V

<f'

Ci3

'■• f. \-te>

886

J.IFE OF FUIDTIOF NANSEN

I
i

1 "!

sled<;e. But by good luck it was not tlien loaded, as it had
been, with twenty pud, but only with two pud; foi- this
happened on the way back from Stan Durnova upon
Kotelnoi. Djergili was always very proud of his hunting-
dog, which could snap up leniniings while running, with the
result that it overfed itself and grew too fat to work.
Ovandje, in spite of his unaffected hatred for every animal
that does not wear reindeer's horns, developed a real talent
as a sledge-driver. He beat his dogs with the sledge-staff
and with a whip, whicli is not generally used, so that his
sledge always took the lead. Djergili, on the contrary, was
too kind-hearted ever to beat the dogs on the wliole course
of the journey ; so that naturally my sledge was always last.
Maxim's method with his dogs was conversational. He
told them long stories in one uninterrupted flow, always
consisting of the same words : " Chara bar, ol tugui, chara
bar, ol tugui," &c., that is to say, " There is something there,
there is something black ; " and in this disingenuous way
he tried to egg them on by suggesting to them the idea of
imaginary game. Schileiko nicknamed him Cham {the
black); they got on well together, and his half-weeping,
lialf-laughing countenance afforded Schileiko a perpetual
fund of amusement.'

The expedition started on April 20 (old style) from
T'schai-Powarnya (the Tea Hut) at the foot of Sviiitoi-Nos,
and, tlie weather being fine and clear, covered in tliirteen
liours the seventy versts to Maloje-Simovje on Liaklioff
Island, after which it continued its way in alternate snow-
and rain-storms to Michael Sannikoffs hut, Micha Stan, on
the south-west point of Little Liakhoff Island, which they
reached on the evening of April 24. On tlie morning of the
28th they arrived safe and sound at liear Cape, the southern

BARON VON TOLL AND THE NANSEN EXPEDITION 337

point of Kotelnoi, and proceeded, witliout giving their dogs
much rest, to tlieir first main destination, Urassalach, where
the hut which Von Toll had built in 1886 was to serve as a
storehouse for Nansen's provisions. ' I had hoped to spend
some days in my house,' Von Toll writes to his wife, ' and
get my depot arranged at once. But this was no easy
matter. All the three rooms in the hut were filled to the
very roof with snow. The innermost room, which in 1886
I had used as a bath-room, appeared to me best fitted for
storing the provisions. In the first place, then, we had to
dig and sweep the snow out of the house before we could
even begin to make our deposit. Schileiko and I set a <.ood
example, and by the second day we had at least clear^'ed a
passage through to the bath-room. The Cossack took the
lead in the work. Djergili lifted two shovelfuls of snow (the
Tungus shovels are no bigger than a child's spade), and said
with the utmost simplicity, " How can I do more ? " Ovandje
and Maxim were not much better. Plere, of course, we felt
keenly the want of a good workman ; but I succeeded, partly
by exhortation and example, and partly by the expenditure
of half our store of brandy (we had only one bottle with us)
in so far encouraging my men that tliey began to think the
work might possibly be carried through. On the night of
May 3 I was ready to proceed. Ovandje was, at his own
request, left behind to improve the condition of the bath-
room, which was now free from ice and snow, and to store
the provisions carefully, while Maxim was to accompany us
to Stan Durnova, there to lend a liand in the establishment
of the depot, and then to return at once with the sledge, and
help Ovandje with tlie final closing up of the store of provi-
sions at Urassalach.'

On May 5 the expedition reached Stan Durnova, where,

338

LIFE OF FKIDTIUF NANSEN

in a pit some fifteen inches deep, they buried a case con-
taining ' twelve pounds of chocolate, six boxes of preserved
pea soup, three blocks of tea, ten pounds of butter, preserved
in a zinc box, six pounds of sugar, one pound of salt, three
packets of matches in a zinc box, one pound of dried
vegetables, two pounds of shot, one pound of poM'der, 280

AT UUASSALACH

percussion caps. The pit was carefully filled in to prevent
the polar bears from getting at it. On the top of the case
we laid a thoroughly frozen board, and covered it witli
snow over which we poured water, thus converting it into
ice ; above that, again, we pla(;ed beams and clay ; then
snt)w and water and clay ; and, finally, on the top of all, a
little block-house. In the cliest we left a written greeting :

BAKON VOX TOLL AND TIIK XANSKX EXPEDITIOX 33<>

-Fram, witli God." But in the pit we had planted and
battened firmly into ih^. ground a tall pole, which could
be seen from a great distance; and to it we fastened a
plate with the inscription " Xansen's depot, No. 1, 3tan
Durnova." Against the pole we placed a pickaxe and a
spade.'

Von Toll had intended to remain some time here to

make scientific observations. But the dogs' food was

running low, and on May 7 he had to set out on his return

At the mouth of the river Tschukotskaia they called a half :

and a snowstorm, which came upon them here, kept them'

prisoners from May 8 till the 11th, so that th. dogs had

to be put on half rations. On May 12 they re^'sumed

their march ; the snow was so soft and slushy that they

<x)uld not possibly drive, but had to go on foot. Schileiko

went out shooting, and killed a polar bear, whose flesh

made up to the dogs for the privations they had had to

endure.

Thus they returned to Urassalach. ' Ovandje had been
eight days alone instead of three, for the snowstorm had
prevented Maxim from reaching him any earlier than we
did. The unwonted loneliness, in addition to a not quite
unfounded fear of the polar bears, had produced a terrible
effect ui)on old Ovandje. He was quite unrecocvnisable and
looked as if he had risen from his coffin. Like the un-
thinking barbarian he is, he was furious with me for having
let him remain there, although he himself had begged to do
so, thinking the work in the house at Urassalach would be
easier than the toil of travelling. However, he gradually
recovered, and Djergih's influence soon brought him to
reason. He several times begged my pardon for havin^r
been so foolish as to blame me for the trying time he had

z 2

340

LIFE OF FRIDTrOF NANSEN

gone through, and to accuse me of having been indifTerent
to his fate.

' Schileiko liad paid dear for his success as a sportsman ;
his eyes, which liad given him trouble even at Stan Durnova,
were quite closed the day after our arrival at Urassalach ; he
was unable to open them, and snlfered terrible pain. It was
very liard for me to see my comrade suffering tlie agonies of
snow-blindness, the more so as I knew that it was due to a
mistake of my own. I had taken from my medicine-chest
at Aidschergaidach small portions of all the most important
drugs for use on our journey, and among the rest drops of
a,tropin. But I put too much of this tincture in a small
phial, so that it burst when the liquid froze, and I had to
throw it away. The only drug I had that was of any use in
this case was suljlimate ; but I had forgotten the requisite
proportions for a solution. A friend of mine, an oculist in
St. Petersburg, had told me the right quantity in 1884,
but I had had no occasion to use the drug during the interval,
as neither I nor my comrades had suffered at all from snow-
blindness. Schileiko had brought it on mainly by his
astronomical work, taking the altitude of the sun ; but tb
exertion of hunting the polar bear, and the tramp on foot
over the loose snow, without snow-spectacles, from the
place where he killed it to Urassalach, had made him
much worse.

' I could not stand by and see Schileiko suffering without
doing what I could to cure him. I determined, at all
hazards, to try the sublimate, and fancied I could remember
the right strength recpiired ; but I miscalculated the attenua-
tion, and dropped three-quarters per hundred instead of
three in a thousand. The result was that I went throu<rh
twenty-four hours of extreme anxiety, in which I feared he

BAllON VON TOLL AND TIIK NANSEN KXPKIHTION 341

might lose his eye (I had apphed the solution to the right
eye alone). When these terrible hours had passed, an im-
provement set in. Thank God, Schileiko could now open
his eyes — the pain had consideraljly diminished, and
furthermore, the right eye was much better than the left !

' Schileiko's improvement was the signal for our depar-
ture. There was no longer any doubt that we had to reckon
with an unusually early summer. So early as May 8, we
noted the arrival from tlie south of the first birds of passage,
the great silver gulls. I consoled my old men, who were
shaking their heads over our situation, with the proverb,
" One swallow does not make a sunnner." On May 12, at
Urassalach, the first pair of geese greeted us. On the 15th
we saw a flock of Sommateria spectahilis flying from the
north. At last, on the 16th, at Bear Cape, my favourite
bird, the Trimja ishnidica, greeted me with its melancholy
tuiirle, tiuu'le, taurle — hogiji. Our case was, after all, not so
desperate. There was no danger, but only the prospect of
a laborious journey back. What I feared most was the loss
of time, thinking that my expedition to the Anabar might
be interfered with.

'On the 14th, tlien, we made a start from Urassalach
(Nansen's depot Xo. 2), tiie same friendly and harmonious
feeling prevailing among us as at our arrival. I took leave,
probably for ever, of my old house, in which I had lived
for almost three months in 1888, and in which I had now
again passed several days. We spent Whitsuntide at Bear
Cape, and did some good work. On the evening of May 17,
we bade our final farewell to Kotelnoi. When we took our
last view of the island, it was bathed in clear and beautiful
liglit, and presented a picturesque aspect which is deeply
imprinted on my memory. On May 18 we camped on the

342

F-IFK OF KIMDTIOK N'ANSKN

ice about forly-fivo versts from the i.sliuid, haviurr covered
that (listanceon foot in ten hours. Tii the meant inic flietorosses
had stealthily enier<re(l IVoni under their coverino- of snow.
The surface, which had formerly been ([uite ilrm, was now a
mass of slush, in which we sometnnes sank up to our waists.
It rained on the followin<>' day, and in consequence the water
between the torosses increased ^-reatlv.

' From my diary : :\Iay 1 '.), G.HO a.m. On the 'ce between
Kotehioi and Little Liakholl" Island, uncertain where. A
critical position; wet to the skin, lost in the fo^r ; amon*,^
torosses which exhaust oui- doj^s ; no wood for burn-
in<r, the thermometer at zero, chilled to the bone. We have
covered perhai)s fifteen versts in flic ei.<,dit hours since our
start. First we went east to south-east. Then we came
upon the track of reindeer, which avc followed up. Now
beoan the torosses, with wet snow between them, more
water than snow, up to our waists. The doers will not i)ull
unless there is some one beside them draggin««- or pushin
the sledge. After we had gone about seven versts from ou'r
camp, we saw a bank of mist, which showed that there must
be land in that direction. Ovandje and I agreed that it
must be Little LiakhofF Island, ^oon the bank of mist dis-
appeared, and we were without any landmark and wet to the
skin. At eighteen versts we held a consultation. We
pitched the canvas tent. Djergili had thrown away the
wood for burning which we had brought with us, thinking
that the island was only twenty versts away. ( )f this 1 knew
nothing, having gone on ahead. He and Ovandje are par-
ticularly downcast, because they feel that they have doiu;
wrong. I tried to encourage them with, (I) a distribution
of chocolate on the march, (2) a cup of warm cocoa in the

liAKON VON TOU. AM) TIIK NANSEN KXt'KDITlON ;U3

tent, {:)) as a last resource, tlic aiinoniicciiienl, that there
would be brandy at Miclia Stan, wliieh Sanniko/I" would in
the meantime have broujiht there. Hereupon Ovandje said
to me : " Very well, sir, but if we get there and find no
])randy, we shall die. 7\nd if you giv(> us any, you must
give us our fill ! "

'The snow is melting on all sides, and we see nothing
but water, with no prospect of getting anything dried at our
])oor little glinnner of a fire. Schileiko and 1 are in good
enough spirits, the others are very downcast. .Vs I write, I
liear a shout of joy from Djergili — he sees land, the fog
has lifted, and the north coast of Little Liakhoir Island is only
ten versts distant ! We will give the dogs a little more food,
and then make a start again. On the way a flock of Hanida
jlur'uiUs flew close over our heads, coming from the east-
ward.'

It was an exhausting day. ' At starting from our yes-
terday's resting-place,' says the diary for the IDth, 'I was so
chilled, and the others no less so, that notliinjf but rav word
of command " The band to the front," could keep up our
sinking spirits. This means that I headed the column, sin<T-
ing loudly and imitating drums, flutes, &c., and keeping up
a quick march time with my feet.'

On the 21st they arrived at ]\[iclia Stan. Here ^Michael
Samiikofl'had estal)lished the third Nansen depot, and here
they stopped a while to recruit.

' On May 2o we started from Little Tjiakhoff Island, and
arrived on the 25th at Maloje Simovje, where we found
sununer at its height : the river was a torrent of melted
snow, and along the shore there was a broad belt of water
above the ice. I wanted to be on the mainland again by the

■e

344

LIFE OF FRtirrrOF NANSKX

'•

27th, so as to celebrate your birthday with a i-eoovered ^'oud
conscience — and I mana<?ed it.

' In the clear glow of the niidni«.ht sun, and in a liglit
frost, we set out on May 2') for our last staye upon the ice.
We had first to ^et through the shore water, and then across
toleralily good ice, till we readied the first belt of torosses.
There the old toiling through the slush began again. When
we started, the mountains of Sviiitoi Xos to tlie south, which
were our landmark and goal, were gleaming in a gohlen
radiance. Now they stood out in sharp contours against a
dark background. We could now see that only the upper
part of the mountains was covered with snow, while the
lower slopes were already bare and wore a dark-blue tinge.
But it was the dark background of sky that made both the
old men shake their heads ominously. Out of it there
emerged a heavy cloud, like a thunder cloud, which drew up
from the south-west against the wind.

' At five o'clock in the morning Sviiitoi Xos darkened,
for the cloud had reached it ; at ^,.80 it was entirely wrapt
in clouds. liy six o'clock the whole sky was black, and in a
few minutes the storm came tearing down upon us : first
hail, and then floods of rain. The frt)st had ceased a little
before, and between the torosses our half -naked feet in our
ragged shoes sank deep in water at every step. The first
downpour of rain thoroughly drenched us once more. I had
managed to co\'er the sledges with the tent in time to pro-
tect our instruments, although our bedding remained exposed.
The dogs flatly declined to do any work, and there was
nothing for it but to call a halt, although we had done only
thirty versts. The men's spirits recovered a little when we
had got into the tent and taken a dram of brandy all round.
Indeed, we were not greatly depressed, in spite of the walci-

UAUOX VON TOLL AM) TIIH NANSEN EXI'KDITION 345

below, above, and around us ; for this was probably to be our
last encampment on the ice, and our second last stage witli
the dogs. Tlie next day, the 26th, we devoted to sleep and
rest. At midnight on tlie 2()th we started ; the weather was
fair again, the mist had lifted, the mountains on tlie main-
land stood out clearly before us, and we had now only to
cover forty versts in order to reach them.

'After an uninterrupted march of 8.1 hours, partly over
smooth ice covered with water, partly over liorri])le torosses,
and at last in knee-deep water of a frightfully low tempera-
ture, we reached the mainland on your birthday, and cele-
brated both it and the happy conclusion of our journey at
Tschai Powarnya.

' At the foot of the most eastern of the Sviiitoi Nos
mountains, Chaptagaitar, we found a great commotion afoot.
SamiikofT had sent fifte^^n reindeer to meet us, under the
charge of lliban, who had in the meantime recovered ; and
three companies of mammoth-ivory seekers had pitched
their tents here, and were awaiting a favourable moment
for starting with their reindeer for (jreat LiakhoiF Island.
TJiey had lashed their baggage high upon their sledges,
so as to l)e able to sit on the top of it and escape the wet.
Most of them turned back when they saw how deep the
water was above the ice, and only eight men stuck to tlieir
purpose. On the day of our arrival, two of these men
attempted the crossing which we had just made in the other
direction, but were forced to turn back. Not until June 1,
did they succeed in reaching the island, a sharp frost
and snowstorm on May ol having restored tlie wintry
aspect of things. We, too, took advantage of the moment,
and drove our reindeer-sledges in great style along the
coast to the western extremity of Sviiitoi Xos. We no

.1 rx

346

UTK or I'UihTior nanskx

longer needed lo .steer or dviv^ Ww .sled<,'«',s, or to eiieoiir;i<,'o
\\\v. do«,',s witli incessant romances, according; to Maxim's
in<,'enioiis system. What, had become of (he dogs, tlie
hrave animals wlio, with very little rest and on scanty
f'ai'c, had dragged ns, or at any rate onr baggage, for fnlly
thirty-eight days, and had well deserved a, handsome reward
for their service? At Tschai-Powarnya all bnt a few of
them fonnd their grave! We had not enongh food for
them, and to let them rnn h)ose on the tundra would have
been dangerous, for they have still wolfs blood in their
veins, and would .soon have been chasing the tame and wild
reindeer, and dangerously reinforcing the i)Iagne of wolves.
^^o there was nothing for it but lo have them killed— it was
a horrible act of ingratitiule. Only a few were .spared.
]>jergili of course l)egged for the life of his " atejkan," a horri-
ble ;uiimal, in my opinioji, which had done little or no work,
but regarded the whole journey as a hunting expedition for
its enjoyment. T. saved the life, too, of a fine old Arctic dog
which had twice d(me me good service; but in crossing'
one of the many swollen torrents on our way the poor
beast was drowned.'

Later in the year, twenty-six East Siberian dogs, bought
by Haron von Toll's directions, at the expense of Kelcli, were
l)rought by Johan Torgersen, a Xorwegian, to the mouth of
the Olenek. Here lie awaited t he Frnin from the beginning of
Angust till Septend)er 25, but the ship never arrived. All
JJaron von Toll's observations tend to the conclusion that in
thesunuuer of 1893 the Polar Sea must have been nnusually
free from ice, and it is therefore probal)le that after passing
Cape Cheliuskin Xansen headed straight north, or perhaps
kept N.X.E. from tlie Kara Sea, in the dire(;tion of Ensomhed
Island (Lonely Ishmd).

IIAKON VON TOl.h AM) TlIK NANSKN KXI'KIUTIOX 347

Fridtiof N.-iiiHeirs comitrytiH'ii cannot 1)ut read witli the
liveliest intt^rest liaron von Toll's grai)lii<' description of
the faligueH and dangers of his <'xpedition to llu; New
Siberia Islands. The reinarkahUf devotion and self-saerifu-e
(lisplayed by a foreigner in behalf of onr eonntrynian
alli)rds a striking i)roof of the sympathy with which foreign
nations follow Iiis (!nterj)rise.

I ;

348

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

^IH^Blmr^. .

T-j

^^S!^|

•1

^^B^Ki^H

^^^^hHS

CHAPTEH XIX

NEW SIBliRlA AND THE NORTH POLK
By Bakon ErnvARD Von Toll

' Tangara [God, the ruler of the world] is far too great to
trouble himself about e\ery thing. How could a great Lord
ever get on without an agent ? '

Thus did my old friend Djergili take up the thread of a
conversation one evening by the tent fire, on the return
journey from the Xew Siberia Islands in November 1886.
Outside, the storm swept and swirled t)ver the tundra, so
that the snow-dust filtered through every seam and cranny in
the tent, all over our clothes and bedding.

With a hasty movement of his lithe little body, Djergili
put down his tea-cup, after having for the tenth time drained
it rapturously to the last drop, and held out to n.e a piece
of drift wood, with which he was preparing to stir the
smouldering fire.

'Toion-mo' [my Lord], he conthmed, 'who is it that
provides the drift wood F And who sends tlie reindeer in
summer over to the islands ? Who has scattered the big
bones [mammoth tusks] over the islands ? You don't think
it's Tangard inmself > Xo, it's the island's own itscldtii [spirit]
that has done all that ; and l)eyond the sea, on the mainland,
it is the itschitii of the maiidand that looks after thii^gs in the
same way. How can you think it possiljle that Tanganl
should not have liis agents, every one of whom knows quite

NEW SIBERIA AND THE NORTH POLE

349

well what lie lias to do ? And these agents are precisely the
itschitiis. But underlmgs are all alike — when they have
anything to do, they want something for doing it. So when
we have had a good day's hunting or earned a good day's
wage we give our itschita the customary fee. And it's just
the same wdth the saints: we burn candles before them
that they may secure us a g( od place in heaven.'

Djergili took out his snuff-box, refreshed himself with a
pinch, and gazed thoughtfully before him for some time.
' T('i(m-7no,' he suddenly turned to me, coming back to his
favourite subject, ' I wonder whether there's plenty of drift
wood, and reindeer, and mammoth tusks on Sannikoff Island *
as well ? '

I told him I had every reason to believe that there
must be drift wood on the west coast of Sannikoff Land,
and that there were possibly reindeer and mammoth tusks
there too. Djergili's face wore an expression partly of
intense longing, partly of inward rapture, at the thought of
hunting reindeer and gathering mammoth tusks upon an
island where no one had ever hunted or gathered ivory
before.

But soon this expression vanished and gave place to one
of deep cogitation. The result he summed up as follows :
' The drift wood must come there from the Lena, that's clear
enough. Then if these Americans have found reindeer-
horns on the second Sannikoff Land [Bennett Island] why
should not there be reindeer on this Sannikoff Land as
well ? And as to mammoth tusks, why it's only natural,'
he added, ' that there should be plenty of them, for j^otop
[the Deluge] must have been there too.'

' Sannikoff Land, north of tlie New Siberia Islands, has only been seen from
them in the distance, and has never been visited.

350

LIFE OF FKUrnoF NAN8KX

' What do you mean by tliatP' I asked, anxious for a
further explanation.

'It's easy enough \o undei-stand. town. When Xoah
built the ark, he intended to drive all the animals into it ; but
he had built it very badly, and had not made room en'ouoh
in it for the manuuolli. So the poor animals swam after
the ark as far as their strenoth would carry them ; but at
last they were all drowned, and that's why the bodies of the
mammoths now lie upon the stone ice, along with the heaps
of drift wood that j^ofnp also left behind it. And as the
flood covered the New Siberia Islands, of course it nu,st
have covered Sannikoff Land as well.'

In order to vindicate my friend Djergili's originality, I
nuist here remark that he has never heard of Iloworth's book
The Mammoth and the Flood. Djergili's view of these ques-
tions, like his whole philosophical conception of the world, is
an independent mixture of Biblical and other legends, with
old heathen ideas, and observations of his own! Djer.rili,
moreover, could support his A'iew by evidence unknown^ to
the above-mentioned author-he could appeal to his own
observation of the so-called ' Xoah-wood,' and its constant
appearance in company with mammoth bones. Wherever a
quaternary birch-trunk or alder-truidc protrudes from the
earth, whether upon 'he mainland or the islands, Djergili
knows that mammoth tusks may be looked for. He had^to
admit, however, that his view was untenable, when in 189:-|
I was ablo to show him the fine tall alder bushes {Ahms
frutirosa) fifteen or twenty feet high, with their leaves and
seed cones still upon them, which projected from the
quaternary strata above the stone ice on Great Liakhoff
Island.

He tlien admitted that these remains of vegetation could

NEW SIBERIA AND TIIi; NOimi POLE

not; have been l)rought there by the Deluge, and was con-
vinced that here, on the New Siberia Ishmds, at the time
when the niannnoth inhabited tliem, tliere must also have
existed a vegetation such as we now find on tlu; mainland
several hundred miles further south, close to the present
forest limit. Moreover, Djergih can now distinguish from
each other the several sorts of wood to be found on the Xew
Siberia Islands— the modern drift wood, the remains of
quaternary vegetation (the so-called ' Noah-wood '), and
the tertiary growths which bear witness to a nmch warmer
climate at the time when they were deposited.

So impoi-tant is the part played by drift wood in the
economy of these northern regions, to say nothing of itg
share in piloting uur daring adventurers across the Tolar
Sea, that we need not apologise for dwelling a little upon
the history of these relics of vegetation. In order to under-
stand the matter fully, we must go as far back in tlie geo-
logical history of these regions as our imperfect knowledge
permits.

Apart from certain Cambrian strata on the Olenek river
at 711° X. hit., and the perhaps contemporaneous strata of
the Uekla-Hook formation on Spitzbergen, the earliest fossili-
ferous strata in the polar regions are the Silurian beds on the
islands north of Ameri<'a, including Grinnell Land (up to 80°
N. lat.), and, at the other side of the Pole, on Kotelnoi (7()°
N. lat.), where the rocks are composed of layers of Silurian
coral. These strata were all deposited by the sea, and con-
tain no remains of vegetation. This is also the case in the
Devonian strata innnediately above them, found on the islands
of the North American Archipelago, on Nova Zembla, in the
northern ranges of the Ural :Mountains, and on Kotehioi. Tn
the subsequent Carboniferous period, too, a polar ocean

352

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NAXSl^N

i i''

covered Spitzl,ergen, Xova Ze.nbla, and the Ural Mountains
and stretched eastward to the mouth of the Lena

Tl^;^ probability is that durino- the earlier PaL^ozoic period
the Sdur^an and Devonian period) a circunipolar sea must
have covered the Arctic area, while in the later Palaeozoic
period some portions of land already en.erged here and there
Among the remains of vegetation which bear witness to this
fact we may mention bu.rria, ralamtr,, and lepidodcdron,^
ot which the same characteristic species are found in Ireland
tlie Bear Islands in the far north, and in Siberia, on the'
Yenisei, in 65° X. lat. These remains of vegetation furnish
evidence of a continental period with extensive forests, at a
time between the I^evonian age and the Carboniferous age
which has been named the ' Ursa period.'

Towards the end of the Palaeozoic age, in the Permian
period, we again find marked evidence of a division into land
and sea in the polar regions. For example, we find Permian
marine deposits spread over Spitzbergen and Xova Zembla
proving that during the Permian period they were under
water. Further east, on the other hand, beyond the Ural
Mountains, no trace of Permian marine deposits has been
found in the northern portions of the Siberian mainland ; so
that all this region, whose flora is mainly known from the '
graphite-bearing strata on the lower Tunguska, was probably
dry land during the Permian period.

During the following period, the Triassic period (the
beginning of the Mesozoic age), this land was surrounded by
a vast sea which covered half of north-east Asia, from th'e
mouth of the Amur to that of the Lena, thus forming a con-

'■'"■ '""■■■'"" '^'^ THK M,urn .,„,.

'inuotis raci/lo-Aretic Ore-u, n • , ^"^

P-t of the Cretaceous Jo ,;";'" ''"■'"''^•""" "^ --■'"-
Pola,- regions .„„! ncrth-ea j As,'' '"" ■'"" ™^"«1 'I'e

This part of JVorth-F.,«f ^^a '•" ,
of the Pal,„o.„,e, and ,« 1 '"'" "'""''' '''"-fr the close

■nto a series of mountai,, olnins i. f ""' ""™l*'l "P
;»« OK, Wes..Si,eria„ e„::; J ;;:';; "^ "*- hand!

^ithtsr^r::;:™:^,--.., , - ~

P-en-e„ in „. ri.l, fo^iu: .^ 1: ^ »■^-'■-■ah^v
The nvers of this Siberian h,vnJ °""'' ^''^'''^k.

ean-ie„ „,e-,n,nks clow ; ht " °°"'"""'' """ ^ "o«'.
I-olar Sea, where the, e^nln'l"':;';;':; T """ "^
preserve,] an.onjf the other nnrine 1 ""'"' ^'"'1 "' =

'"-. h. the marine .Inras.i , 'r;,''^ "' '"" "'■''""•

Anabar IJiver, there are „„„," ' "'" """"'' ">' the
strikinglj. ,-ese,nble modern drift ! , , ^'-'™nl<'' which
-v-,. have passed since t tev t^dd ' '™^"' """»- °f
we now And -then,. It i, ^^.r!"- ' ''°""' '" the spot where
■■e;..ains, both here and ; ' J J'^ "^ f = vegetable
which at that ,in,e covere,! ZT T'"^ '^^ ""^ ^ea

ft";"y. ■'■I- fact supports the irvpote":^^.'° "" """
••""l especially of a boreal ,one ""''""^ ^"""■''

period ; while t„e fossils fron, ,he' ^' " ""^ "^'"■'■•^^ie
Penod,bofh in the north (in Grlr, r'"™' ^'"^"'oeous
(New Zealand), seen, to po to a w "^ ,"'" '" *«= -'"'■
Towards tl,e end of th Me ^ r™ ''T'-

■°"- "Se, the coast-line of
A A

ill

854

LIFK OF FIUDTIOF NANSKN

the <jfreat rcacific-Arctic Ocean must liave sti^adily retreated ;
for on all the Arctic islands we find de])()sits of the
tertiary a<jre, traces of a land ilora which prove that they
must all, at that time, have formed parts of a great continent,
contiiuious with the continent of Siberia, h^ven on the New
Siberia Islands and Bennett Island vegetable remains (lignite)
have been found, which support this theory. Certain it is
that during the tertiary :ige the climate Mas much milder
than it is now, l)oth in fTreenland (wliere, at Atanekerdluk,
about 70° N. lat., there have been found reniains of some
two hundred species of plants, excellently preserved) in
Spitzbergqn (about 78"), and in Grinnell Land (81° 42'). In
these regions. no\^ absolutely treeless, the investigations
of Ileer, Nathorst, and others, have shown that there
then flourished sucli trees as the swamp cypress (now found
in Florida), the walnut, hickory, pojjlar, oak, magnolia, ha/el,
lime, ash, elm, as well as gra})e-vines, a!id many other
species of southern vegetation. According to lleer, the
mean temperature of Greenland during that portion of the
tertiary age when the ft)ssilil'er()us strata of Atanekerdluk
were deposited, must have been about 12°C. (•^r Fahr.), and
the mean winter temperature about 5° C. (40" Fa]n\). Xow
the mean temperature is more like —8" C. (18" Fahr.), and
the mean temperature of Jamiary about —15" C. (5° Fahr.).
Tiie vegetable remains from the tertiary age on the other side
of the Pole (in Kamschatka, Saghalien, and Japan) seem to
indicate a smaller difference between the mean temperatures
of that period and those of the present day. Some writers
therefore conjecture that during a part of the tertiary age
the Pole may have been situated nearer Siberia than at
present. If, at the Pole itself, we should find some remains
of the great Arctic tertiary continent, its vegetable fossils

I '

ivgions. \'<"iiita ) (It till! Arctic

Of all the Arctic l„calities, Spii.berj,™ is iha, wl,! 1 .
been most closel.v i„vesti,,a,c,l f on, th^ ,;.,'' '''■':.
v.ew. We know that it ,.„„.,],„ „f ,., T ';""" "'

by a .erics of rifts, runnin. n ,1; '■'"'; '"■"'^'■" "P

t'.ein.li.Kinnl.iisiocationsMnt,;:::::::';"'"''-'-^''-''''

The iSorth-Siherian n.ainlan,! exhibits „„ ,1„ , ,
<•> smt.lar strnctnrnl sclicnu. West of t I *'

fne which a.,„„t coincides with! .^ rj:^' i"™""^'-

liave a talilelan.l broken „, T '"'"•''• "«

'l'>-'>"f.'b the rifts .u,lT ', ■""""'■'■ l''^^"''-*"^; ™,1

.'..atioica,;:!: . ;r:::;:; T "f ■-" "'■•^"^-

f- the „ep,hs, an., iLve'sprl' T . :.■ riVt^'T, ^

.n,l-over the Cambrian, Si,„ria„, l-e™, V ,^ '*'"

Jnrassic strata, .'"nnan, J.iassic, and

To tl,e cast of the ^,reaf clivi,lin.,-li, , „ , , ,

-e (ind a lar,,o expanse of crnmi;. ,"""''

inaividna. c„rr,„a,io,!s (n.ountain Z ::::'"":; ^^''T"
from north to south. ' ' '^'^ '' ''"'e'

In nm-nlarul, likewise, at tlie places wherr tl, • • n
reoular homontal stratific-.tion l , "" " ^''<' "'-'.^".ally

-bseciuent upheavals ^tt:, o^tl *^^'" ,''"''^^' '^

-1.- .uunin, north and .:. i / T.e'" ' "^'^^' ^^^^

^\ii(l the same orientation

' Tlie surface is in niiinv nlacos <lix i,h i i t. .
p.ocoH of a mosaic ; and wlioro an indi l, m;;,''^'; '"'" ""'^r '" "'^'"■'^' ''"^^ "'«
to the rest (has l.o.m .loprcsHed. tw e '^'1 ''""" '^"^l'''"""l '" "-"''^tion

described a.s a dislocation. ' " ^'"'^'^ "P'- '^"^ pLenoninnon is

A A 2

350

Ml'i: Ol' ri{|l>Tl(t|' NANSKN

recurs in llic Now Sil.cnu Islands, wliicl
cxtciisioii of (he Vcrkhoiaii moimfaii

\ roallv form an

1 rani^c

>outlu'rn Siberia, on the oilier hand, beh)n«rs struelnralb

to the (Vntral At^ian
rumiiny east and wesl.

■syslenu its jreoloojcal fr

iniework

We nii<?lil call I he north and sontl

I oiieiilalion of the

polar moiMilain chains ihe Ural orientalioi

I, in contra-

distinction to the

All

)ine otienlation of the Tethvdi

lUO

nnlain chnins, which nn„,p themselves around tlu
present and I he })rinueval ^h'diterranean (Tethy.s).

The Ural orientation of the Avci

ic mountain chains

cond

)ines \vi

th ;i nund)er of other facts tosupi)ort the theory

le separate ]>ieces of land

of a former conlinuih bet ween tl

the pohii- area, ll seems to me tliat, in order to decid(
question whether all tlie Arctic islands, (Jreenland,

Spitzber.uen, FranzJosef Land, \c., are to be regarded as
remaindn islands ^ih:il is to say, sin-vivals from ;i former
continuous conlinent), we riMpiire a closor ovoIom!,.;,! in-
vestioation of the striking' analogy be! ween the structure of
all these Arclic islands and lliat of tiie Siberian <'ontinent.
Accordino- to my view, these islands i)robably re])resen( a
great .Vivtic-Siln'rian continent, ratJiei- than a separate polar
continent.

What, then, was the aspect of the Airtioarea during the
quaternary age (tiie h-v Age)? On this point then- are
many (piestions yet to be answered.

One and the same (|uateinary formation can l)e traced
from the Sil)erian maiidand over to the New Siberia
Islands. The mainland and these islands at that time
formed a continuous st.retch of land, where dwelt herds of
the great extinct mannnals, the marum -th, the woolly-haired
rhinoceros. Scr. l\ is the remains of these animals which

NHW SlilliltlA ,\Nri TIIK XUI.TII ni|,|.;

ijr.7

Z"'-- •■"'"■ "," ' '^"""""I- ■■■I-- k,. I|„,i,

"'" «•!" !"■■■ I1,.H f. ,, „,,,s ,.„„„.,„|„„,, „,, „.„,

;;. 'T- . ^^•■- ''■-• -■''i..^^.'" w,,i,:,:;::;;;' ,: ;

N'-.S.I.,.n,-,.H,,,l,,,.t,i,,,,.,,,v,.,v,li,.,l,,.. Ii|<,.,l„.'l ,

rr: '■'•;;"' .' •-•'■;>- ■i-.i-:- ..,.., ,,,.„:

<" iN<'N\ SilxTi;., ;u,(l Sam,ik,»ir \,uu{ -, ,r,,...i ^- .

1 . . liiiini ,1, <ri(',II, COIlf infUif^

""'".""' •■""' k.„,v ,|,.iv,., ,|„,„,,,i ,„ ,

hil«'nal,y II,,. f,,,,,,,,,| ,,,,,„„,. „|-,|„.i,,,.^l„.„,.^

. '■^"' ""■'■'■ '"■' "'I'' l"»l« IIUT,., I„„V' This is il„.

Z;::;:"; 'r' -• >• "■"'■n™M,j,.,,,„i „:. »„

'""^ ": ''•■:"■ •■"'""'•'■'■'I. ■•' «i, ,.„i„.,. i„, ,„,„,i„,,

■■'"'";■ "T"'"- '■'■»>- An.iir ,„..,, , ;,

:;/■'''•■'''''"''■■■■•«■■•'''-■■".- ^:.v..n.M„^ ■,.„

;;:;::7.'-" ;'-■''''"' > '"'■'■ j-j'-^iii-i,,.,;,,;.. ', _

'"• ' I'" «••'■-. ,,, .s„ gn.at, «, jj,„„I, ,,,,,1 .s„ wis,. i|,.a |„.
.".•>k;..s l„,s ,„./„,,, every wl„.,.. ,.„.,,,,,„,. ,„„, „, '^J

ii«.,«im, ,.„l,l,|,, " ' "•" • '"" """ """ "'«" «"« .lri,iti,„„ ,„„ ,;„„„| „,„|,,

358

TJFK OF FhTDTfOF XAXSEN

CHAPTER XX

ox BOARD TirE ' FRAM '
By W. C. iiHiidGKn

TiiR wind l.aci heen right alieud the wliole day, ever since
we started from Landeoode. We liad first made a tack
under fidl sad ri-ht across the Vestfiord towards Moskemes
Island, an.l had now put about, and were headin- straio-ht
lor the passage south-east of Skraaven.

The steady fresh breeze liad swept the sky clean, and
lilted tlie sea into foam-topped waves which plashed mono-
tonously against the broad bow of the i'Vam, assheplou-hed
her way through tliem, as heavy as an old Dutch galhot'and
as steady as a rt)ck.

Up on the bridge the pilot, Ilaagensen, was pacnn- to
and fro m sturdy security, now and tlien sliouting an ordcM-
to the man at the wheel in liis homelv Xordland dialect
liut the lairu-ay was at this point so clear that there was not
very much for a pilot to do-a wide channel in front, and a
steady wind blowing, hour after hour.

At the end of the bridge Xansen had rigged up for liim-
self an open-air stndio_an easel and a few boxes of pastel
colours-and here he sat the whole eveninij, and well on into
tlie niglit, ni his yellosv-grey silk waterproof, heedless of the
cold wind (which, however, was gradually dropping), dabbino-
on colours, and smudging with his linger tips on the saiuf-

ON J{()AI!I) TIIK ' Fh'AM'

359

paper, so intently and indefati-ahly that lu, rubbed the ski,
on The blood trickled from the abrasion, and made a broad
red stripe down the sky of his landscape.

THK • FliAM ' IN- HKliUKN

And the landscape the Fram was passing was indeed
worth panitmg in its sunset radiance. • Xo pen could

'i!

300

I'll'K OF I'lnfUrOF NANHEN

possihly draw a true picture of its ever-cl
of form and Ime.

langin^' splendour

Eastward, illuniiiied by the reflection of ilie sink

in''- sun.

rose the whole

Mummits of tii

snow-flecked Lofote.i-Wall loomed dark and threatening, a

Cham of Alps sprin^diig riglit np from the sea. The sun

was so low Ihat the island mountains lay entirely in the

shadow, dnrk purple silhouettes against the marvellously

soft and shifting colours of the evening sky.

Over the highest peaks liimg heavy grcAish-white masses
of cloud, now molting into the strips of snow, which formed
a delicate lacc-like collar round the shoulders of Vaaovkallen
now transpierced by the smouldering glow of the'evening
sun, which, down towards Moskeiues Island, formed a con-
tmuous broad band of gold over the k.w-lying banks of mist,
like the reflection of a sea of fire in the far distance.

Above our heads stretched the pale evening skv, tonincr
oH into greenish-blue and the most delicate rose-pink, so
cloudless, and bright, and pure, that it seemed as thoucrh
Heaven had specially willed that Xansen and his comrad'es
should see our land at its very loveliest, without stain or
flaw, before they bade it farewell. And beneath us leaped
the glorious sea, still crisping into foam-crests that sh<a.o
white on the dark-blue ground-our forefathers' royal road
to Maine and might,' ' the road on which the Fmm was j^ow
covering the first stages of her way to immortality.

The Fram plodded doggedly- on towards Skraaven.
Hour after hour the strange sharp peak stood out rhdit
ahead of us, sec^m.-n;.: always to recede as we advanced.

Mast'' '""''°" '" "■"' ^' ''"''' ""^'""'^ '°"^' ^"'"-' ^''"■*<^«" «^"'^ v'-d hojen

/
I

<»N IJOAUIJ Till-; » [.HAM

861

ihe /mm, as we know, does not pretend to l,e a clipper
.^he has no occasion for speed, she has the years l,efore her
liight you are, Fmm ! Slow and sure wins in the end Chi
vn pvino va mno, rhi ra forte n, in morte.

lie From was now comparatively trim and shii)-shai,e •
Sverdrup himself had superintended ,hc cWrtKi,, /process,
nm worked ,he hose the whole afternoon, while (fjertsen
followed urn with the mop, and whole rivers of water poured
throu^di the scppcrs, cariyin,^ with them all superfluities I
should not like, to swear that they did not now and then s.mirt
a drop or two anu)n^r X,„sen's pastels, when thev hnppened
to pass under the bridge; but it C(,uld not be helped-the
/mm had to bestir herself in order to look presentable when
she ^rot to Tromso, and a daily scourinj; was necessary to
remove all traces of the coal-shift in,, operations in xL-o-

i\ow the coal was finally stowed awa^■ in the hold, and
the greater part of the dried fish cleared from the derk both
fore and aft, so that the ship began to look fairly habitable
again. Ihis clearing up had cost a good deal of trouble
for the crew was small, and things were not vet quite in work-
ing order. The chief difficulty lay in the fact that tlie car.^o
. ^vas so exceedingly heterogeneous. It is not so easy to <^et
<^verything into order when an exact account has to "be
kept of where all the innumerable articles are stowed, so
that they may always be at hand when needed, perhaps in
the moment of danger. Thus every one had his own depart-
ment to attend to in addition to the general work of the
slup, and the average day was anything but a holiday

Even now, one or two had not yet finished their day's
work. The first mate was busy carpentering. Little Scott
Hansen was every one's favourite ; although a mere boy to

" U

362

I.U'E OF FKIDTIOr NANSEX

•IS

UW\

undertake such a voyage— lie was only twenty-five— he did
his man's work with the best of them. He was always in
good humour, always friendly and pleasant to every one ;
but his eyes would beam with affection when they fell upon
the barometers and chronometers and all his other dear
instruments up in the chart-room, which had been placed

iSi'dlT IIANSKX

under his care. He was to be both astronomer and meteo-
rologist—and first mate into the bargain, and a little of
everything else. He was expecting to meet Professor Molm
next day up at Ltidingen, and was consequently very busy
putting together a cage for his thermometers, planing and
naihng away until far on in the evenino-.

OS JBOAllU THE ' VUXSl '

563

^ There was not much room on the deck of the Fram •
mdeed, there was scarcely a spot that was not cumbered with
deck cargo of all sorts. Almost the whole space forward
was taken up with the supports for the longboats, and the
superstructures over the hold, to say nothing of an inunense
number of odds and ends, such as a huge pair of bellows
a spare crow's-nest, a great tool-chest, &c. But aft it was
even worse-what with a stack of timber (planks, beams,
&c.), a number of large l)eer.barrels (a steadilv diminishin<r
number, it mus. be admitted), the huge sparJ rudder nnd
s]>are propeller, several parts of the great windmill for .vene-
rating electricity when the coal is exhausted, capacious
tanks for petroleum and gas oil, one of the boats, and fin.llv
n.ider the bridge, a whole pile of dried fish to feed the doos
Avlio were to be taken on board at Yugor Strait

Around the wheel, however, was a small open space
built in with deck cargo, where one could actually put one's
loot on the deck and sit cosily sheltered from the wind This
was the favourite evening rendezvous of those who had time
to spare for a smoke and a chat.

Here we sat this evening in the twilight, wjiile tlie Fram
bufleled Its way through the seas under the Lofoten-Wall-
Hendriksen, Gjertsen, Jacobsen, Christiansen (one of the
Greenland party), and I. The pipes were in full blast and
tlie talk m full swino-.

Jacobsen was a capital narrator, when aou could work
him up to the point, which was not every dav. He had s-^en
a great deal of the world between the South I'ole and the
^orth, and had an unusually rich stock of experiences to
draw upon. Whether he was recounting his adventures
among the Maoriesof Xew Zealand or among the icefloes of
^ovaZembhuhe always managed to put an extraordinary

1':

♦ is I

364

LIFE OF FIJIDTIOF XAXSEN

amount of life into the situation, and to transport liis hearers
into the tliick of it. This evening he was telhng tlie story
of Ins pohir-bear Imnts, with one of tlie Bourbon princes, on
fcpitzbergen, and he graphically depicted for us all tlie man-
ners and customs of the polar bear, its spirit of inquiry and
Its clumsy cunning. I have since read somewliere that at
parting the prince presented him witli his own gold watch •
of that he said nothing, and I saw notliing of it while I was
on board the Fr<un.

J>COBSEN

HKNDUIKSKN

Polar bears being the topic, first one and then another
contributed something of his own experiences.

' ITow many bears have you sliot, Hendriksen, roughly
speaking?' asks the mate.

Hendriksen was a ]3alsfiord man; the shape of liis foi-e-
head, his broad cheek bones, and the whole type of liis
physiognomy seemed to indicate that he had Qu.tii blood in
his veins. Be this as it may, he was a good-natured and
genial fellow, and one who could put his shoulder to the
wheel to some pui-pose when strength was needed, lie had

ON BOARD THE ' FRAM '

365

now sailed (lie Arctic Sea in every direction for fonrteeH con-
secutive seasons, ever since he was nineteen ; durin- all
these years he had never felt the heat of sunnner, nntU he
had come south for a short time to help in fitting out the
Fram.

He was not a man of many words, but it was easy to see
that lie was by no means .^earnino- to repeat his experience
of the summer temperature. He was one of those members
of the crew who preferred to pass the niffht in one of the
'hotels ' on deck, either in the Grand Hotel or in Gravescn's
—so they had christened the
two loiiol)oats. It is true

that these boats were deeply

padded with all sorts of

packao-es of furs, so that you

could no doubt make yourself

a comfortable enough bed

amoiiL'- tliem, when once vou

had wormed your Avay down

through the layers of hand-
sledges, snow-shoes, kaiaks,

and other vVrctic appliances

which Avere piled up in these

airy hanging hotels h In Semiramis.

Tve never kept count of tiiem,' answered the o-iant
evasively.

'I daresay you may put t at fifty at least,' said the
mate.

' Oh no ! perhaps sometliing like forty— white bears, I
mean,' he added, as though a mere white bear were scarcely
worth speaking about.

'Have any of you shot brown bears then?' 1 asked.

MOIISTAI)

366

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

'Yes, Mogstad lias killed several,' replied the mate.
'The first one, he had another man to help him, but
that was when he was only sixteen. Five or six years
afterwards he kept a bear barricaded in his lair for a whole
month, and then let him out, and put a bullet in liim as he
ran. Oh, he's a rare hand at all sorts of things, is Mogstad
—you won't easily find him at a loss.'

' But Sverdrup has shot brown bears too ! ' remarked
Christiansen, who was now at the wheel and had hitherto
not opened his mouth. He and Sverdrup were both Bindal
men, so he felt he must stand up for his district ; as a rule
it was not easy to get a word out of him. He was evidently
suffering agonies of indecision as to whether he should go
on with the ship or not, altliough he had declared in
advance that he would go no further than Tromso. ^t
that the Greenland trip had frightened him off—it was
other hindrances that stood in his way.

Sverdrup had now relieved the pilot, and was pacing
backwards and forwards on the bridge, with an even, slow
step. The Fmm and he are in reality not unlike each
other ; the same indescribable air of solidity and security
Ijreathes around them botli. Each has a very thick outer
hull, but within all is snug and warm and sound. Xow and
again he stops beside Nansen, and watches him minglincr the
colours on Ins paper, but as a rule says nothing and^esumes
his walk, casting quick searching glances ahead over the sea.
Whoever has seen Sverdrup on board the Fmm knows
well that he is the right man in tlie right place. The Fram
is no luxurious pleasure-yacht, nor is Sverdrup a model of
€ourtly elegance— but you may be sure tliat

Arioat 'twixt sky and sea,
The first of men is lie.

ill

OTTO SVERDRUP

ON BOARD THE ' FRAM '

367

Al)out the wheel tlie talk went merrily, uiKlisturbed by wind
or weather. The waves kept on giir<rling up into the rudder
hole, which, besides fulfilling its original purpose, served as
a gigantic spittoon. Xow and again an extra puff of wind
would come, and the rigging would creak as the sails
tightened ; while the throb of the pistons in the engine-
room supplied a monotonous accompaniment. Behind the
pile of planks and the boat which shut us off from the bul-
warks, we could hear Kvik, the Greenland dog, snoring and
growling in his sleep, keeping up a sort of murmur of con-
tentment, now and then interrupted by a short bark.

' That confounded cur ! ' said the mate. ' What do you
think he's done to-day ? Eaten up the soles of a pair of
bran new slippers that Amundsen had got from his wife.'

Kvik was everybody's favourite on board ; but he had an
unfortunate habit of devouring whatever he came across in
the way of leather or skins, without the smallest respect of
persons. Field-glass straps and shoe-soles, portmanteaus and
portfolios, everything that was made of an animal's skin was
for him a dainty scarcely to be resisted, though he knew that
indulgence would be followed by a beating. After all, he
had to lay in strength for the voyage. Young as he was, he
had seen more of the world than most dogs or men, having
travelled from East Greenland to Copenhagen with the
Eyder Expedition, then from Copenhagen to Lysaker ; and
now he was on his way from Lysaker to the Polar Sea.
' Amundsen is married, is he ? ' I asked.
' Why, of course he is ! He's the most married of the
whole lot of us. lie has a wdfe and six children. It's a
wonder he can leave such a lot at home for so long a time.'
' Has he been north before ? '
' Yes, he was out sealing wath the Diavn one season, and

368

LIFE OF FIMDTfOF XANSEN

then last year he went to tlie Yenism' win, n

oi • 1 1 /-M J-Kiust'i witn a car<Tfo from

Sh.e..K Oh yes. he. ,uite a. hou.e i„ the hi,h U,X

' Jiiell, tlie steward, is l,e ,„a,-.ie,l too?'

ujertseii. That fine figure of a woma.i you saw on boanl
on the way front Christiania to Horten, ,o„ know^tlL s fc
wtfe. She s been a Io= about with hitn.' too. A fe w.e''
go she went witlt hhu ri,ht tt, the Gold Coast, .Z ^1
'hey were gotng ashore, Jnell thought he shou d nevj

AML'NDSKN-

NOKDAL

his wtie agan,_f,„. ,,|, of a sudclen the boatn.en, the uh.rers
you know, as nake.l as ,uy hand, took a,„, si. ef
1. ..■ a,.,ns an.l ju.nped into the water with her Jue
beheve,! heV seen the last of her; for you know, site's ^
cotnmonly plun.p atul appetising, and he titough ■ o doX
Ihey were (•annibals, tliese fellows '

■ Then a great ,ua.,y of .vou are n.arried y ' I sai.l.
Oh yes, we ve ahuost all got some one to leave behind '
answe,.d I endr.k.n. > Atnundsen heads the list 1^ ej
for he has five or s,x ehildren ; the.t Xordal has five. Ju i

ox BOAIM) THE ' FIJA.M '

360

and I have four apiece, and then— let niesee— Petterson has
two I think, and '

'And Nansen and I have one apiece,' added the mate
My thoughts flew back to little Liv, and I turned my
head and saw him still sitting up there upon the Ijridge, busy
with his panning, as though he had never in his liTe'done
anything else. He had taken off his cap in order to see
better, and was shading the picture with his arm or lookino-
through the hollow of his hand to get a concentrated inf-
pression of the colour. Ilis bust stood out br,ldly, the
massive head with the short-
clipped hair showing in sharp
outhne against the indescri-
bably pure and clear colours
of the evening sky. Were
his thoughts Ijent on his
distant goal, or were they at
home with little Liv in her
cradle r'

The evening air began to
grow chill, so I rose to iro
below and get hold of ni}-
greatcoat. As before mentioned, it was no such easy matter
to make your way about on the deck of the Fram ; so I
remarked jokingly, ' One would need either four legs or a
pair of Avings to get about among all tliis litter.

' You should do as Johansen did,' answered the mate.
' He walked on his hands the other day up the steps from
the fo'c'sle, across the wlu)le of the forward deck, up the
steps to the after deck, and down the companion 'into the
cabin : and I'm bothered if he was even red in the face when
he put his feet down again upon the floor of tlie saloon.'

15 n

•TOHANSEN

LIFK OK FlilDTlOF NANSEX

' Oil, tliat's notliin<x for Johanseii, he's flie first ^.^ymiiast
in Norway,' remarked Gjertson. ' In Paris, he made a clean
somersault over foi-ty-two men, so that the Freiiehmen
thought there would be nothing l)ut a \vi . ^pot left when he
came down. Ikit he fell on his feet, as right as possible.
He got a gold medal for that, too ! '

' Amundsen's not bad at that sort of thing, either, you know.
What do you think he did the other day down at liiirvik,
wliile we were loading all that beastly eoal ? He was uj) in
the main-top and wanted to come down to the deck, forward.
Confound me if he didn't slide down the stay from the main-
top to the fore-top, holding on by his hands alone all the
way ! There isn't another man on board could have done it ;
but Amundsen's fists are as hard as shoe leather, and no
mistake. And then, of course, he's a bit lighter than I am,
for example,' said Gjertsen.

I, unal)le to emulate either of these feats, made my way
as well as I could over the obstacles that bestrewed the after
deck, past the chai-t-room, in the open doorway of which
several powder-casks were piled up drying, and down the
cabin companion— a journey which, if it did not require a
gymnast of the first rank, was certainly not to be recom-
mended to a gouty subject or a fat man.

The cabin steps went right past the galley, Avhere Juell
was at that moment deep in his culinary occupations. A
tempting smell of cooking greeted my nostrils, and I looked
in for a moment to warm myself a little and have a chat.

Juell stood in his shirt-sleeves busy at his work, the per-
spiration i)ouring down his high forehead, and his heavy
moustaches drooping like a bridle from the corners of his
mouth.

' Nice and warm here, Juell,' said I.

(le a clean
Veiirlimen
t when he
> possible.

y( )U know.
If Kiirvik,
was n}) in
:, forward,
the main-
ne all the
'p done it ;
v, and no
han I am,

e my way

I the after
of whi(^li
down the
require a

)e recoin-

lere Juell
tions. A

I I looked
I chat.

:, the per-
ils heavy
;'rs of his

ON noAiji) Tin; • i'K'am'
rni ! I should think it was! Wl

171

arc boilinnf for dinner T hchevc the devil 1

len a

11 th

linisclf would

pots

singe

his nose if he poked it in here. It's the hardest job I've ever
had in my life. I've made many a voya.^re in niv day, i)nt
this is the first time I've ship])ed as cook, andV I'rome
safe and sound back anrain, it shall be the last time ! Take
my advice, Professor, and never be a cook, whatever nou
are.'

'2^0, no, Juell— we can't all be tailors, you know. I
don't suppose I'm in much danger of receiving an appoint-
ment as chef', lint when you
come home again, Juell, I
hope I shall be able to give
you a dinner and say takfor
•s/V/v/,' and thank you for all
the good diiniers on board
the Fniiii.'

'Thanks for tlie invita-
tion,' answered Juell. ' But
it won't be for some time vet.
I'm afraid. If only Peik here
will hold out till we come
back, I daresay it won't be such a bad trip after all.'

' Peik ' was the i)opular name for an insulated cooking-
apparatus, of Finne's invention, a great contrivance which
held the warmth very long. Xansen took a lively interest in
it, and several times, while I was on board, assisted at the
cooking of the dinner, in order to familiarise himself with
the working of Peik. And Peik cooked man}- excellent
things. The fare on board the Fram, in spite of Juell's
apologies for liis deficiencies as a culinary artist, Avas reall}'

' ' Thanks for our last meeting '—a coinmon form of salntation,

.JUKLL

li It

872

lAi'K ni' rininior xax.skx

(•u[)it,'il ;iih1 not at all monofonoiis. Tlic niciiii ^ronerally
con.sist.-rl of soiii) or fish, and a dish of meat, with half !i
bottle of IxM-r a head, so loiio- a^ the beer lasted. T reiueinber,
for iiiMtaiuc. that the first dinner I ate on board eonsisted of
tinned fish-puddings fVom Stavaiincr, tinned raljbit from Aus-
trali:., and wild ducks which Xansen liad shot on the way.
A nrcat \ ariety of German preserved vegetables were used
ni the soups, and American cranberry jam was often served
with the meat. The provisioning of tlic ship, like all the
rest of lis (([uipment, was most carefully thought out in all
its details. There was a particularly large supply of vege-
tables and (.f fatty matter, so that, so long as it stuck to the
Frffw, I he expedition should not suller from ' fat -hunger,' as
the Gi-eeidand explorers had suffered. TJiere were no less
than 1:;,{I(I() lbs. of butter on board, one-third of it the best
Danish butter, and the rest superfine margarine, a prese-t
from Telh-iin & Co. While I was on' board we ate
nothing but this nmrgarine : it was of such excellent quality
that I do not think anyone would have taken it for arti-
ficial butter, uidess he liad been told.

On the whole, the ship was lavishly provisioned; you
could scarcely name a thing that was not in stock, and
generally in considerable (piantities. One thing, however,
Avas entirely a])sent, and that was ah-ohol— for drinking!
that is to say. The spirits for preserving ' specimens ' would
scarcely come under the heading of connnissariat.

A passing steamer in Trondliiem fiord had thrown us a
bottle of port wine, bidding us drink it at the Xorth Tole.

This was— wi 1 1, the exception of t he beer, which was calculated
to last foi- a couple of months—all the drinkable alcohol on
board. ' You must lay in one or two bottles of champagne
in Ti-omso. Nansen.' I said one day in a joke. ' to drink a sLa/

ox IJO.MM) IIIK ' I'ltAM '

373

jf one rally

ith luiir a
cnicmbcr,
insisted ()\
from Au8-
tlie way.
eere used
en served
(' all tlu'
ut in all

of W'ne-

ck to the
mger,' as
e no less

tlu> best
I prescT't

Avo ate
( qualit}-

for arti-

ed ; yon
)ck, and
'lowever,
Irinkinii',
s ' would

vn us a
th Tole.
ilculated
"oliol on

mipanne
V a .s/i-f/ii/

for (iitmle Noi'ije, when you Iioist your lla^' on the axis of
the earth.' ' I was thinkinnr of snuigglinn' on Ijoard one
or two bottles of brandy for Christnuis Eve,' he answered,
• bnt yon needn't speak abont it to the men.' The doctor
afterwards swore me to secreey, and told nie that he, too, in-
tended to snui<,'gle a bottle or so on l)oard at Tronisii.

I can see in my mind's eye the saloon on Christmas Eve,
with the steaming toddy on the table. If 1 know Nansen
aright, the dose for each man will be of the homeopathic
order. TIow clearly it stands forth in my memory, that
(!osy little low-roofed cabin, with the small state-rooms
around it !

' Saloon ' is a misleading word to use. The Franis
saloon was little more than a cot. But the tlumght of the high
endeavour to whicli it was dedicated made it seem loftier and
more spacions than the most majestic hall. Fn itself, too, it
was a (^osy little retreat, exceedingly pleasant to creep down
into Avlien it Avas too raw and cold and wet to remain m\
deck.

On the front wall of the saloon, between the two entrance
doors, was placed a long .sofa with high end-posts carved
into dragons' heads. It was covered with a heavy rug of
bright Xorwegian colours. In front of it stood the long
narrow dining-table ; by makhig ourselves as small as pos-
sible, we could all (except those on watch) sit down to it at
once. The table-service was the same for all dishes ; an
enamelled tin plate and a big enamelled cup.

Over the middle of the sofa hung, in a frame, an admira-
bly painted design for tapestry, by Gerhard Munllie, repre-
senting three fairy-tale princesses surprised by three princes
transformed into bears. To the left of this little masterpiece

■m

or- 1

LIFE OF llJIJ)Tf01' XAXSEX

«■:!

hung a woodland scene by Eilif Peterssen, and on tlie right
a delicate sketch in coloured chalks by Skredsvig, represent-
ing the ponit and landing-stage at Xansen's borne at Lvsaker
with, under it, a study from Ja^deren by Kitty Kielland '
Against the right hand wall stood an harmonium made bv
^yslnnn S. Co.. of Karlstad. It was arranged so that it could
be played either by means of the keys like a piano, or with
^i handle, like a barrel-organ, the tune being detern.ined bv
a strip of perforated paper. Its repertor^■ consisted of ovt^v
a hundred pieces, from the minuet in B.:. Glonnud and airs
Irom Der FmschUt:, down to the commonest dance tunes.
As an institution, ho .ever, it did not seem to be particularly
popular ; at any rate there was a unanimous movement on
board tor buying, a concertina in Tromsii, and great expecta-
tions were abroad as to what Mogstad would do with his
violin when he joined the ship.

Over the harmonium hung a picture bv Ifansteen, and
be ween the door of «cott Hansen's comfortable and taste-
ul .V arranged cabin and the back wall of the saloon, hum., a
bttle woodland sketch also by Hansteen ; while over L
stove (a petroleuiu pipe-stove made by Blunck, which served
at the same time as a ventilating apparatus), in the middle of
be back u-all, hung a third painting, a studv of birch-stems
In- the same artist.

On the left wall, between the entrance to Dr. Jilessing's
ami hverdrup's cabins, was fixed a stand with seven Krat-
Jorgensen carbines These, however, were only a smdl
poition of the ship's armament, which consisted in all of
no fewer than thirty-two ritles an,l twenty-four revolvers,
all of the best quality, to say nothing of two cannons, and a
great store of ammunition.

Above the stand of guns hung another charming picture

UN 150 Ai; I) THE ' FltWi

oiD

bv Skredsvig — the fir-trees in front of Xansen's house, a
whiter hmdscape with snow.

A httie way from the table, the great mast divided the
sah)on into two parts. It was surrounded bv a (juite narrow
upholstered seat, which, however, was seldom used. lioose
(Stools were scattered about the cabin.

Light was supplied at night by several incandescent
electric lamps over the sofa. The great arc lamp was not
used while I was on Ijoard.

One other detail must not be omitted : the Norwegian
lion on a red background in the skyliuht over the stove.

Such was the saloon of the Fj'inn. The roof was so low
that Gjertsen, Ilendriksen, and Juell could touch it with
their hats, and so narrow that at scarcely any part of it
could two couples pass each other without turning sideways.

How every little detail between these low walls has fixed
itself in my memory, from the half-frightened, half-curious
expression on the faces of Munthe's princesses, to the check
rug on the sofi seat, which, however, Xansen used to turn
wrong side up every day, for he found that the many pairs
of coal-dusty and tarry trousers left too obvious traces on
the pattern, and Avere already beginning to soften the ga}-
colours rather too much. 'It's got to last till we come
l)ack again,' so id Xansen, "so we must be sparing of our
splendours.'

In the saloon I found the supper-table still spread,
although it was already pretty late. The engineers who had
been on duty had come up to have supper and draw a breath
of fresh air, whicli they had well earned; for the stoke-hole
of the Fnnn, a paradise no doubt in the polar wintei-, so
long as the coal lasts, must in these more southerly latitudes
and in sunnner have seemed very much the reverse.

m(]

IJKE OF FRIDTIOF XAX.SKX

Tliere they sat, then, the two atliletes aforesaid, En.-i-
neer Amundsen and Lieutenant and Stoker Johansen, enjoy-
ing their rest and their supper. Presently in came Scott
Hansen and Dr, Blessing, and we got a warm cup of tea
from the steward and attacked the supper n^anfullv-I,
indeed, for the second time. '

I knew that I should probably eat onlv one niore supp..
on board the Fram, and recollections strJamed in upon me
of my days on board, which had passed so quickly, along

with many a thought of the
days that were as yet hidden
in the mists of the future-
In the meantime, the supper
and the talk went on as
usual, Juell going backwards
and forwards and assisting
in both. Tiie talk ran on all
sorts of topics, but of course
chiefly on the Fram and
everything connected w-ith
her. Xow the petroleum
launch was the theme— one
held that it was a wretched
affair altogether, that it was quite impossible to keep it
olean, and that after you had used it once, it took half -i
day to make it fit for use again, while another defended it
and mamtained that, with its great speed, it would be in-
valuable for reconnaissances, &c. Then some one described
what a sharp look-out you had to keep aniono- the open lanes
111 the ice, how it felt to get into an Arctic fo- and so forth
T was to take no part in all this, so felt mvself rather
outside the conversation. T turned to the l)„etor and said

BLESSIVO

ON BOARD THE 'IKAM'

377

aid, Engi-
eii, eiijoy-
nne Scott
up of tea
iifiillv_I,

re supptj
upon me
:ly, along
it of the
3t hidden
3 future-
e supper
t on as
Lckwards
assistino'
m on all
>f course
tm and
'd with
'trolenni
tie — one
^retched
keep it
: half a
nded it

be in-
'scribed
3n lanes
o forth.

rather
id said,

' Tahfor inndeii,^ Doctor. It will probably be a long time
before you and I have supper together again on board the
Frani.'

' Two summers, I expect,' said the Doctor, with his usual
cheery confidence.

'If you have good luck, perhaps you'll be back next
autumn,' said I.

' That would be the devil's own luck,' was the answer.

' Xo luck at all,' Amundsen put in. ' If anything worth
while is to come of the trip, we nmst be away two years at
the very least.'

A hearty burst of laughter greeted Amundsen's frank
prognostication. His view of the matter was undeniably
both a stoical and a practical one.

After supper I Avent into my cabin to rest a little and
get out my overcoat before going on deck again. Xansen
had given up his own cabin to me, and slept in the deck-
house while I was on board. The door to his cal)in was on
the right, well forward in the saloon, and, like all the doors
in the Fnuii, was immensely solid, with a high threshold.
X'one of the cabin<? had any sort of window (the sides of the
ship were twenty-four inches thick), and when the door was
closed, the only means of ventilation was a couple of small
holes in the door itself. It was of course pitch dark, too,
unless the incandescent lamps, with which each cabin was
provided, were liglited.

When you entered the ca1)iii and turned the knob for
the electric light, the hrst tiling it shone upon was an
admirable drawing by Werenskiold : ' Eva with little Liv in
her lap.' Thus all tliat was dearest in the world confronted

l-i

'Tliiuiks lor till} fiini'i ! '—a foniiuhi idwavs us.c.l at t!

i(> cMil of M, meal.

:j78

i.ire (II- ntiiiT

I'll' NANsKX

lum the ,no,„e,u Ik- put l,is head i„ a, ,l,e „abin ,1,>„,-. I
ell reme,„l,a- „„.. ,„„,„i„g „,,„, ,,e .a.uo ,o fr„l, »„n,e-
t ig K.l,„<. I |,aa oo, „p. H, t„..„,,i ,he l,a„o„ while
»t 11 „uhe doonvay and began to chat with „,e ; but I .aw
where h,s eyes Ml, a,„l where his thouoh,. wore

...ler the pieture wa. a beu.h, a .oh by ,lay, a be,l bv

pa let.u a patr of warn, blaukets and a single vervmea»re
p.llo;v. But how sound one could sleep ;n this si.n*
onch-that ,s to say, when the F,;„., was not roUin. so'as
to laud one on the floor every now and then

lor the /■,.««, could roll, at any rate before the caroo
was shifted ni the ya>L«siii.d. °

Scott Uansen declared that she had describe a.t angle
of forty-six- .legree.s in a lu-avy sea ofT Lister. It nu,s, h^ve
■een an nncotnlortable nigh, ; the whole forward deck .vas
eep ,n water, so that the deck cargo was washing about
on oue sue to the other, and at last there was nothing for
t but o throw overbear.! a nunt.,er o^ paraffin battels.
<n,unately they were only en.pty barrels httended for
p.-eser„ng the sk.ns of bears, seals, walruses, and other
ga.ne ; and there were plenty of then, left. Even while I
-m on boa,-d the /■■,,„„, she rolled a good deal one nigh,
although ,t was no, blowing particularly hard, and the^sej
M not run very lngh_indeed, the.e was onlv a Ion.
well. In cross,ng the Testfiord, on ,he other l,an,l, whe.°
t was bIow,ng quite fresh, the sl,ip was as stea.h- as a
ok the tnon.ent she was un.le,- r,.d sail. She was, indeed,
. ^ ttange, a „,„cp,<. vessel. Sve,„,.„p, who, as a rule, said

m^ enough, eotthl no, hel, w and then giviug expression

to h s aflect,o,ntte snrpnse in a subdued ' She's a ,-a,e little
<Tatr, and no mistake!'

simple

ON JJOAKl* TIIK ' 1'1{AM

379

But tt) retui'ii to Xaiiseu's cul)in. On one side of the
end wall was a cu})board containin*^ the cash-box, papers,
diaries, (Sec, the key of wliich was in Xansen's own keeping ;
on the other side, near tlie head of the bed or sofa, was a
bookcase with a rich selection of literatnre of many kinds.
Numbers ol' books had been presented to the Frani by
Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish publishers and others.
The tolerably extensive library thus formed was always at
the disposal of the crew. Besides, the doctor had his
own medical library in his cabin, and Scott Hansen kept a
collection of l)ooks, mainly meteorological and astronomical,
alonuf with the charts in the chart room. But Nansen
had picked out for his own use a number of books which he
kept in his cabin. They were for the most part, of course,
geographical, geological, zoological, and other scientific
works,' but with a fair sprinkling of imaginative literature
and philosophy. Ibsen and Biijrnscm, Vinje, Jonas Lie,
liuneberg, and others were represented, some of them by
tlieir complete works ; and here too were Tennyson, Keats,
liyron, Frauenstedt's Schopenhauer, &c. — in short, an ample
stock of reading even for the long night of the polar winter.

When I entered on my short occupation of the cabin, the
greater part of these Ijooks lay in a chaos on the floor, along
with all sorts of other things ; so I took it upon myself to
arrange them according to subject in the bookcase, and I
made free use of this library while I was on board. This
evenino-, for instance, when T lav down on (he sofa after

little

' r noted tlio ibllowiiii,' titles: A. Cieikie, Tcvthool; af Gcolofjij \ E. Siiess,
Aiitlitz del- Erde; A. Heiiu, GlctHcherkiuule; K. A. Zittol, Handhiich dcr
Fdliioiitoloffic ; Darwin, V^oijugc of the Bcor/lc; Miiller, Uittcr den Tungiisen
iDid Titliutcii ; V. Eielitliofen, Fiihrcr fiir Forschunrsreincndc \ Neumayer,
Anleitunf) zit iinsHenselinftUehen Beobdchtuiiffcit uiif lieixcn; I'ei/ae.rpeditionciis
vetcuskupliija luldhujehcr, &c.

380

IJI'K or FianTlOF XAN.SEN

pper, T opened 1 lie first l,o(,k that

it to beNanseii's //,

'»/r

-coutainiiinf his h'cture l.efore t]

canieloliand, and found
cn^ tlw North Polar Ueijion be Crossed?

le li

ojal Geon^rapliical

-"•■ety. a,„l ,,„ „„ ^bjocions of the celebmtecf I
sudors. It was tl
l)eculiar and

le first time I had

iiiiilish

inovin<r

inipn

seen it. It made

in Xa„.Vs own ...hi,,. ■ '■™-— - I -,1 iU.e.e

Mg,„fica ,oe „1 h,s enterprise. He hin,self was always so

uisy and u„,„.e,en,li„,,, an,I o„ , ,,) ,„e F,;„„ everj^hin.

"k US daily convse with such a total absence of solemnitj-
llu I had, as tt we,-e, lost the .sensation of ll,..,,. be!,,..
.".,v Inn. nnnsnal in ,hi, ,„,,,„,. ^o e,.oss (3,.ee„land, ,0

ee,.u.,n o ,,,,,,,,, ,,,^.,^,,,^^,,^^
noKl 10 tlie ordnuuy mortal.

leould hear .Ineirscmiek tongue, in the saloon, snpplvi,,.,
a nmnn,,, eo,nn,enta,y ,0 one of the doetor's stories ; L' the
<Wk sotneone w,.s f.nnl.li,,,, a bee.-l.a,..! alon,,; the piston

■ '"";"- •^— 'I'O"^'' 'Liven 1,,,- son.e nat.nal la^
e^n onward and onw.ard towards the unknown -oal

boa,d, n ,,„, ,„ ^„^,. .,„,, ^^..^^.^^^ ^|_^^^ .^ ^^^_ __^^^

«k.n „„o a posnive glow when T had it on. Thank 1 Lave,
t K,„,„, „ , , ,,,,,,,,. „, . j^„_, ^^^^_,^,^ ___^^ ^,__ ^ ^ V .'

a,^ the //v/;;/ holds torretlier. '^

But if the Fr.nn should l)e crushed, as one of the Kn-dish
admirals prophesied ? "», i.n,_iisii

'Then we'll take to our longboat,' Xansc-n had ans.-ered.

UN BOAIU) THE ' FHAM '

881

and found
? Crossed?
'.yrapliionl
I Eiio-lisli
I made a
d it licie

see Iiiiii.
ilised the
hvays so
ery tiling
)lemiiity,
J'e being
iland, to
3 world,
ristiania

pplying
; oil the
e piston
l)ratioii,
the sea,
iral law

was on
[Hit my
leaven,
so lonu

Miglisli

we red.

'The boats arc too big and heavy,' another admiral had
objected.

'We liavc live or six smaller boats with us,' was
Nauseu's !'e})ly, ' ;uid if the worst comes to tlic worst, we'll
get along on an ice iloe ; I've done it before.'

Yes, 1 felt 1 nuist see him and express my aflectiou for
him in tlic little time we could still be together. Up the
c()mi);uiion, past the steaming galley, out uUo the free air of
heaven I

There the Fnnii lay, heavuig gently in the full glory of
the sununer night. We had at last drawn near the peaks
of Ilannnero, so that we coidd see their green-clad base,
liefore us stretched all the mountains of the mainland, those
nearest bathed in a splendid purple glow, while further
ahead they passed through all gradations of subdued colour
from tender violet to deep grey, right down to the edge of
the crisp blue-black sea

It was strangely still. Xot a soul was to be seen on the
deck, forward, and when I looked aft, to the southward, I
saw nothing but sky and sea. The solemn silence of the
summer night took such hold on my mind that I remained
leaning im the bulwarks for a long time, watching the plash
of the waves against the ship's side, before I went up to him.

There suddeidy Hashed upon me the recollection of a
little rajjfged urchin whom I had seen a few days befove on
the beach near Trondhjem while I was waiting for the i^/-a//«.
He was going barefoot in the sand, dirty and unkempt, but
beaming with health and contentment, and singing at the
top of his voice, ' Jeg gaar i lare, hvor jeg gaar ! ' ^

Then the thought of my own conhrmation came upon

' ' I go in danger wherever I go '— tlie first line of a li ynni.

i 1

f 1

: ii

!'•

882

J''1.'H ()!.' FIMDTIOF x.vxskx

It'

fcome one came aloinr tl.e deck wl,;«fi;

i' was th. lioht-].earted r., '''" ' '"'""•'' '^^"" '

• ^'"^ r^'tterson, stni)pe(l to tlu^ .vaist in

tliocl.illevenin-Avind, carrying
•'I 1>asiii and a towel and \>ve-
paniig to wasli tlie o-rime of t]ie
•'".liine-rooni o/F liis face and
'^o<b'- He liad been in the
I'olar Sea befoiv, on board the
Ilerf/u,, so fliat lie Avas at liorae
'■" tliese waters. AVhat a
splendidly modelled back !
How line the play of the
mnscles in Jiis arms! Yes
indeed, snch frames as this

tlie darkness and the fo. 'TT^ ^''"'' ^'"' ' '''''^' ''''^'

-hole personality ^t ^ "^^^ ^^^^ t! '•''' ''^ ^^^- ^^«
which was runnh., : ,^ ,:^; 7' '^'f "^^ -^ ^om that

.sing: ' '''^- ^''^'■.^' ^■"^' ^'f if seemed to

'Vwr glad nam- faren veior
I'vcrevnc, soiiiiliieicT!-'

and from all his comrades irnnn.l f

at the helm, from tholt^ ' ' "'" "^"'^ ^^'^^'^ «t"«^

all who no; 1 rsl 1. .r"T'°'"^" ^^'^ '"^■'^-^' ^--
- third line rS!::;-^^^^^^^

' Og dosto stcirre seier ! ' -

I'KTTKRSON

; '«<'ioice, when .langor puts t., tho test evcrv f.,., U
And so mucli f,nratc>r tli. Nict^ry/ '^ "^'^' •>

yon possess.'

ON IJ()A1!I> rilK 'I'KAM'

383

'1 tlic rest,
i»ty organ -

>iigh they

n-y tune ;

waist in

carrvinnr
iind pre-
me of t]ie
lice and
in the
oard tlie
at liorae
V'hat a

back !

of tlie
! Yes
as tills
5le Avitli
e. His
)m that
nied to

stood
, from
hough

I could delay no longer, I must go up to Xansen. I
clambered ,)ver boxes and boards, wormed my way between
barrels and stacks of di'ied fish, and finally, in spite of all
obstacles, managed to liaul myself up on the bridge.

There he still sat in his thin silk waterproof, as he had
sat hour after hour, defying the wind. When he saw me he
rose and nodded, and said, as th( "Ugh apologising for having
been so absorbed in his paintinjz :

' I've just finished ! ' And then, without a pause, ' Have
you ever seen such a lovely evening ? We're lucky in our
weather, and no mistake.'

' It's a beautiful country, this of ours,' I said. ' You
must make haste and come home and have a better look at
it ! — And now let me see your works of art.'

' I have a whole bundle here,' he answered. ' You shall
have the lot of them to take to Eva.'

Ah, ves — that was whv he had been so busA'.
' I've been down below, reading,' I went on, ' and I got
hold of that English pamphlet of yours with the plan of
your expedition. You didn't get much encouragement out
of them, in London.'

' Oh, they didn't treat me at all badly — and there wasn't
really anything to discourage one in what they said. It was
just the same when I w' as starting for (Treenland, you know^ ;
and that, to my mind, was really a more ticklish Imsiness
than this. Here, thank goodness, we've got everything we
can possibly want, and I hope we shall neither starve nor
freeze.' He looked in my face with a frank smile and said
sloW'ly and emphatically : ' Boasting apart, no ship has ever
been equipped for an Arctic voyage as thie one is.'

Then he bundled up his painting things and we went
below.

!'<

384

i'll'E OF 1 lilDTlOF XAN.SKX

Tu(. (l;,y,s later, on tlie eveni

Tromsii. It I.ad mined and

";^' ol" Jidv 12.

we parted at

snowed alternately all day Ion

along ,l,e iiord, a,. i„,,,,hick .shoot of „ ..-lall,.,, s^m hv
over l,e ,..,„,,,,, ,,„i „„ j,,^^ ,,.^^^ ^^ icyno 1, I a
wus M,>„-,n,, .o that tho fionl soe.ne.I ,o rook bo„,.at ,
and ,o„ oouhl seo .ho »a„all» „„.,,,„, over ,he ;.;: ''
Nanson and I had boon af„„t all day nu.kin.. m.rohasos

Moreover, we hart been studvin.. ooolo.rv i„ T,„L ' '"•
l,,„i i,.„j „ , , . • 'ooooio;;; ni iiomsii Jliisenm,

..«1 1...<i a .lass o( w,ne at MackX and had, for tho rest
l.nt ,n our tnno nsefuUy and agreoablv

I hart been aboarrt tho Fr,„„ in "the afternoon to sav

goort-bye, a„d had poked n.y nose i, vorv hole anrt

corner ,o fix my nnpressions firndy in „.v n.nnorv
board I fonnd Mogstart. who had „.,„. j,,,,;,,, „,. ,,;V^ '^
^vas ,,, roplaoe Gjertsen anrt Christiansen' He i„,„; Zd'::

:rt:":;:r;.::r^*""-'''^-'^^""''''-''-"-«

While I was busy packing n,y portn.antean. Kanson ,-an.e
own w,.h ,0 water-colours and pas.ols, the produc s of
>enor,.wa. voyage which I had promised to 'take "ll
ufe He had placed then> within the leaves of Xonlon-

t ; ,;:r^' v^''''ff "'•^■'' "■"' '■^■•"■•"•'^«' - ■» ^-- -.

™a i' T f"'" *'^' ^^■""k'-kii-.lrts book with

ou us so oosth- anrt valuable, it wonlrt be a great pity to
ose ,t .f the luck should go against us, and we fhou d ifa-

to leave the Fniu, behind.'

He said this with as nmch nonchalance as if he had been

.;.^^ leaving behinrt an olrt overcoat, or ;r::

sairt".^"" ""'" '"■ ""'' ''""" "'° ^'-""' '""»<■' -!•>' .V-.' I

V-

ON BOARD THE ' FRAAI

parted at
(lay loiio',
te ^^ardens
snow lay
n-tli wind
ncatli it,
iter.

Lircliases.
Museum,
the rest,

to say
ole nnd
•y. On
!iip, and
ssed me
'aluable

'U came
ucts of
to his
KH'den-
ive me
k with
pity to
1 have

d been
rn-out

385

•ou,' I

'Oh, you may be sure we won't leave the vessel until we
can't do anythin^r else ; but of course the ice might be so
bad that we couldn't cret her through, and then it would be
unnoynig to have to lose more than necessary.'

That evening Nansen and Sverdrup accompanied me on
board the Vesteraalen, and had a glass of hot todch- bv way
of stirrup cup.

A last hearty embrace, and good-bye. ' My love to your

wife ! And be sure and give my love to Eva and Liv and
all at home ! '

' Promise me you'll take care of yourself, and not be too
reckless— and a safe return to both you and the Fram ! And
God bless you, my dear friend ! '

The steamer's bell rings for the last time. At midnight
precisely the Vesteraalen starts for the south. I see Kansen
and Sverdrup standing erect, side by side, in the .stern boat

c c

F ''

f i

386

LIFE OF nUDTlOF NAN8KN

ol" the Frain. For a moment more T ran distinguish Xansen's
light waterproof; tlien tlie two figures seem to melt Into
one behind the veil of snow, thick as in mid-winter, which
is sweeping over the sound. One last glimpse of the Fram
through the mist, and all is over.
When shall I see him again ?

INDEX

Aars, Hchooliimster, 28, 29, 82

Advent IJiiy, '17 Tt

Mollis, brif,'initiiie, 2fi(5

Africa, clinmt,. durin;,' tlio (Ireiit Ice

Ako, 147, 14J
A/fen postnt, (juoted. 88
AidHchergaidiicli. !J8«, 885, 840
AkcrHlms, tlie fortress of, H 10!)
Alaska, 144, 2;«», 2.)7
Albert, sealer, AH
Aldrich, Lieut.. 247
Alerf, the, 246, 247. 288
Alfted tiio Great and the discovery of

Biarniol.'iiid, 228
Alps, the. and the fjlacial theory, 144
AJtmann, Oajjtnin, 271
Ameralikliord, 170, I'JO, 198, 1!».- l'j(5.

America, in the (ireat Tee Age, 125,
if, 228^' ^^'^' l''''«'205;disco;erie8

American Arctic expedition, its work

m dreeniand, 126
Aniphioxus, the study of, 115-117
Amundsen, en<,nneer"of the Fravi, SGJJ

a67, 868, 870. 376, 877
Amur river, 852
Anabar river, 841, 358
Anabara Bay and the glacial theory,

Andersen, Peder, 3

Andersson, his description of Nansen,

Andreassen, Captain HemminL'. 271
Anjou, explorer, 257

Aral Sea, 147 i

Aralo-Caspian Sea, its extent, 147 i

Archangel, 2, 149

olU-old, 815
Arctic expeditions from the earliest
times, 224 ; polar explorations, a

chapter of victorious defeats, 224.
^.>M; slow rate of progress, 224 2'"3 •
comparatively short distance to Uie
>orth Pole. 225; dimcultios of the
ice-path. 2'25 ; the first record..d
polar explorer, 226; Viking ex-
Plo'-ers 22„, ^27; the isothermal
nic, 227 ; the Atlantic base hne. the
boundary of geographical know-
ledge for hve hundred years, 227 '
early discoveries allowed to l.ipse in
oblivion, 227-229; oHciHation „f
tlieones regarding the polar regions-
ocean V. continent, 229, 280; the in-
debtednesa of British conimorce to
t abot, Columbus, and Drake, 280,
^81; commerce the principal in-
spiration to polar oxploration, 231 •
north-westerly and north-easterly
expeditions, 281-288; practical re.
suits to Britisii trade of the north-
west voyages, 232, of the north-east
oi!!!^o?,'!°"',.^''^ = Barents's exploits,
, 284 ; Payer's and Kane's pic-
tures ot life iji the polar seas, 234
2db; death roll, 28{i. 287; north
coast explorations, 287 ; scientific
character of later expeditions, 237,
, ; the American v. the P^uropean
and Asiatic routes, 288, 289; rea-
sons why the American route was
formerly preferred,289 ; the three pas-

Zr'Js^k.^^A ^™"'^''" oxpediUon,
240 244; McClureand McClintock's
expeditions, 244, 245; Kane's, 245,
24b ; Hall's, 246 ; the \ares expe-
dition 246 247, 249, 250; Beau-
> m ; ;)f'"'K''a'n. nnd other explorers.

ifii^V' •'"■' ^''""'^y expedition
2o0 2i>l ; importance of Greenland

M '^u """Z" "'^ "h*^"' '^ro'inJ the
North P,>le. 252: Spitsbergen as au

c 2

;88

LIFE OF FIUDTIOF NANSEN

outpoai, 252, 253 ; the Austro-Hun-
garian expedition, 254, 255 ; Dutcli
scientific expedition, 255 ; Captain
AViggins and the Veija expedi-
tion, 255, 250 ; our knowledge of
the north-east passage completed,
256; Eiissian enterprise in Arctic
exploration, 257 ; tlie Jeannettc dis-
aster, 258 260 ; the patrons of Arc-
tic explorations, 201 ; necessity for
proper equipment, 261 ; a few words
in defence of Arctic exploration, 262
Arctic exploration, Nansen's interest

in, 117, 122
Arctic geography, contributions to, by
Norwegian sean)en, 263 ; area within
whicli our knowledge is increased,
263; class to whom we are most
indebted, 263; scarcity of whales
and seals the principal factor tliat
occasioned these discoveries, 263,
264; the explorers and their dis-
coveries and adventures, 264 276
Arctic Ocean, the, 226, 227
Areudal, 49
Arstal, Aksel, on Arctic expeditions

from the earhest times, 224 262
Artot, :Madame, Mrs. Nansen's musical

instructor, 220
Asia, its circumnavigation, 135; and
the glacial theory, 145, 147, 148, 152,
153, 156
Astnip, E., his explorations, 124, 127.

205, 240 ; his death, 252
Atanekerdluk, 354

Atlantic, the, and the glacial theory,
143, 145, 146; its dividing line,
227
AtiiagagdUidit, Greenland newspai)er,

on Nansen, 303
Augpadlartok Glacier. 129
Aiilaitsivik Fiord, 133
Aurland, 92
Austmannadal, 194
Australia, tlie oases of, 249
Australian-Swedish Antarctic expedi-
tion, 105
Austria- Hungary and the zoological
station at Naples, 110; its polar
expeditions, 234, 254, 204, 274
Azores, 227
Azov Sea, 147

Baden and the zoological station at
Naples, 110

Baer, Von, explorer, 152, 267

Baffin, the explorer, 230 232, 237, 239

245, 247 n.
Baffin Bay, 231, 240, 24(5
Baffin Land, 239
Baldino Lake, 328
Balkeby boys, Nansen's fight with,

29
Balles, Pastor, 197
Baltic, the, and the glacial theory. 143.

149 ^ '

Balto, Samuel Johannesen, 172. 194
. 195 '

I Baner, General, share in the Thirty
' Years' War, 8
' Banks Land, 245
Barents, AVilliani, the explorer. 233,
234, 236, 237, 252, 208, 270, 274
' Barents Island, 206
Barrow, the geographer, on the
American route to the Polar recions.
238 "

Bavaria and the zoological station at
Naples, 110
i Bear Cape, 330, 341
Bear-hunting, (il^70
Bear Island, 4, 5, 227, 256, 266, 271.
'^52 '

Beard, and the myzostoma, 113
Beaumont, Lieutenant, 247
Belgium and the zoological station
at Naples, 110; and tlie glacial
theory, 144
Bennett Island, 260, 349, 354
Bennett, James Gordon, 258
Berezoff, 327

Bergen, connection of the Nansens
with, 14, 47; its public buildings
and places, 77, 78 ; Bergen, Nansen's
scheme regarding a zoological station
for, 110, 111
Bergen Museum, Nansen Curator of,
20, 74, 80, 83, 114. 110, 119,120;
Danielssen's work tiiere, 74-78
Berggren, Dr., his exploration in

Greenland, 132, 133
Bering, the explorer, 230, 237, 257
Bering Straits. 232, 23!), 244 245

256 259, 200 n., 277, 278
Berlin and the glacial theory, 143, 149
Berlin Academy and the ' zoological

station at Naples, 103, 104, 110
Berlin tieographical Society, Nansen's

lecture before, 295
Bernstorff's Fiord, 185
Biarmeland, 228

INDEX

389

Bierkan, Captain Christian, 273

iiinzers, Dr., 197

Biological stations in Norway, 110,

Bicirnson, director of tlie Darken
theatre, 78 w. ; quoted, 82, 87, 288

B]orlin<T expedition, 282

Bistrups, Herr, 197

Blaanmnden, 109

Black Forest, the, and the glacial
theory, 144

Black Sea, 147

Blackley, Rev. W. L., his translation
of Tegner's Fridtiofo S,ig<t (juoted,
87

Bladder-nose seals, 50 n.

Blessing, Dr., of the Fram, 374, 370

Blooiaington, University of, 99

Blosseville Coast, 275
Bogstad, 42

Booth, a patron of Arctic explora-
tion, 201
Boothia Peninsula, 241, 243
' Borealia,' descriljed, 4
Borgarfiord, 123
Eorgersen, the wood carver, 295
Borneo, 124

Brainard, Sergeant, 251 j

Breidafiord, 123

Bremen Geographical Society, 271

Briestcilen, 90, 91

British America, Cabot's conception

of, 239
Brogger, Trofessor, liis account of

Nansen, 101 ; his contribution ' On

board the Frani,' 358 386
' Brother John's Glacier,' 131
Brown, liis exploration in Greenland

132, 135
Brunchorst, Dr., and the cultivation of

biological study in Norway. Ill
Buar Glacier, 128
Bull, Ole, his connection witli the

Bergen theatre, 78 n.
By lot, the explorer, 231, 232, 247 n.

Cadot, Jolm, 230, 231, 239
Cabot, S('I)astian. 230
Cajal, Baniony, jiis biological investi-
gation, 118 :

Calstenius, lijs fate. 232 !

Cambrid^'e University and the zoolr-'i-

cal station at Naples, 110 "

Canada and the glacial theory, 144 i

Cape Bille, 184 ' '

Cape Bismarck, 127

Cape Blanco, 239

Cape Cheliuskin, 255, 354

Cape Dan, 170, 178, 183

Capc^Farewell, 124, 126, 129, 141, 167,

Cr.pe Fligely, 254

Cape Joseph Henry, 248, 249

Cape Leigh-Smith,' 266

Cape Mohn, 206, 270

Cape Nassau, 268

Cape Posilippo, 101

Cape Slieridan, 247
Cape Taimyr, 274
Cape Thordsen, 273
Cape Tordenskiold, 271
Cape York, 259 n.
Cupelhu sealer, 57, 58
Cap Nonl, sealer, 58
Capri, 101, 107

Carey, his interest in Arctic explora-

tion, 261
('arey Islands, 231
' Carlsen, Captain Filing, 264-200 267
270, 271 ' '

Carpathians, the, and the glacial
theory, 144, 140, 154, 155
! Caspari, Theodor, his deserii)tion of
>ormarken, 37
Caspian Sea, 147
('astel deir Ovo, Naples. 100
Caucasus and the glacial theory, 144
Chamberhn. his tlieory regarding the

Nortli American glaciers, 144
Cliancelloi', the explorer, 228
, Chaptagaitar, 345
I Cheliuskin, the explorer, 237, 257
Choila Pass. 327

Christian IV. King, and Hans Nan-
sen, 2

Christian V. (King of Denmark) and

Count Jurlslierg, 8
Christiania, particulars concerning,

and the Nansens' connection with'

^' !''• 1«. 2^' 29. yO. 30, 37.74,80,

111,124.165,109.178,200
( in-istiania Fiord, 199
Christiania Scientitic Society, 292
Cln-istiaiiia University. 1,S, i20. 278
CIn'istiiinsen. tiie Fs'kimo. and Lock-

wood's discovery, 251
Christiansen, of the Fnim. ,303, 306,

384

Ciiristiansand, 178

Christianshaab, 189

Christie, President V. 1'. K., 14

390

LIFE OF FliUrnoF NANSEN

HII

■'-ill

Chrlstophorsen. O., Nansen's secre-
tary, 828 830
Clave, Professor, 279
ColbergerHeide, 187
("ollett, Professor, 49, 99
CoUinson, explorer, 257
<'olHiiibus, and tlie ii.se of British

coiiiinerce, 280, 281
Conqicndium Cosmocjniphicum, aim
^ and scope of the work, 2-6
Cook, James, tlie ex|)lorer, 232, 239
2r)8 '

Copenliagen, connection of the Nansen
family witli, 2, 8, (i, 9, 10, 15, 169,
178, 198, 199
Coppermine Kiver, 241
Cordillera fflacier, 144, 145
Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Naples, 108
Cortereal brothers, Arctic exi.lorers,

their fate, 280
Cross Islands, 271
Crown Prince Kudolph's Land, 254
Crozicr, Captain J. It. M., relic of, 242
Cummiglmm, G, P., on the Mijulnc
glutmosa, 119

Dagblad, quoted, 167, 168
I )alaKer, Lars, his explorations in Green-
land, 181

"^^'y,7? 'f the^Arctic regions, 5, 124,

Danielssen, Dr., chief of the Bergen
:\Iusenm, his life, work, and chamc-
teristics, 74 78, 98, 110

Danish Islands and the glacial tlieorv
155

Dannebrog, Order of, conferred on

Hansen, 292
Davis, the explorer, 227, 288
l)avis Strait, 240, 246, 277, 281
Delbruck, Dr., and the zoological sta-

tiqn at Xai)les, 108
De Long, Lieut, (i. W.. Jiis career and

fate, 259, 260, 277, 284
Dc Long group of islands, 260
Delphni, the. Gnldberg and Nansen's

researches, 120
Deluge, the, of the Bible, 141. 850
351 '

Denmark, connection of Nansen's
ancestors with, 7, 8, 10 ; Norwav a
possession ot, 8; erratic blocks' in,
140; and the glacial theory, 148

Denmark Strait, 56 «., 279

I'osclineff, explorer, 257

Dickson, Baron Oscar, his interest in

Arctic exploration, 185, 261
Dietrichson, N. G., 48
Dietrichson, Lieut. Olnf Ciiristian, 172

.177, 181, 189, 195, 203, 221
Diggs, Dudley, interest of, in Arctic

exploration, 261
DijiiipJuia, steamship, 255, 258
Disco Bay, 170
Discovert/, the, 281
Discover;/, the (second of the name).

247, 288
Discovery Harbour, 250
Disko Island, 259 n.
Djergili, a, member of Baron von Toll's

New Siberia expedition, 884-887,

339, 842, 348, 346, 348 851, 357
Dohrn, Dr. Anton, the creator of the

zoological station at Naples, 101-

105, 107, 110, 111
Dorma, Captain, 270
Drake, Francis, and British commerce,

Drobak, its biological station, HI

Du Bois-Iieymond, and the zoological

station at Naples, 103, 104
Dutch whalers at Spitzbergen, 5

; East Gukenland, 275
' Eastern Siberia, 277, 278
Edge, Thomas, 265
lildge Island, 266
Edison and the ligliting of the Jean-

iictte, 259
Edlnnd, Professor, and the exploration

of Greenland, 185
Egede, Hans, on tlie Eskimo, 805
Egersund, 12, 15, 17
Eggedal, 319, 821

Elirlich, I'rofessor, his process
colouring the nerve elements, 117
Eidfiord, 169

l-^Krol, Captain Martin, 275
J':iizabeth, Queen, iiivfa incognita, 28H.
289

Eliesmere Land, and the glacial theory,
145

Engeland, 42

England, at war with Norway, 18 ; her
interest in and indebtedness to
Arctic exploration and explorers,
126, 228, 280, 281, 288, 255, 257,
261 ; erratic blocks in, 140 ; and the
glacial theory, 148, 144, 146, 148,
149

INDEX

391

English whalers at Spitzbergen, 5

Ensomhed (I.onely Island), '274, 34G

Erebus, the frigate, 240

Eric the Red, 123, 124

Erikssen, Leif, 226

Erratic Weeks, and gravel strata, pre-
valence of, in Scandinavia and North
Europe, 13[!-141

Erzgebirge and the glacial theory, 144,
15;")

Eskimos, Nansen and the, 45, 177, 1<)7,
l'.)8, JJ02-308; of Greenland, 128;
at Cape Bille and Singiartuarfik,
184, 185 ; their account of Franklin's
fate, 241-248; with the Jcanncttc
expedition, 259 ; of Alaska, 278 ;
throwing-stick, 278

Euphrates, the, and the Flood, 141

Europe, and the glacial theory, 125,
147-149, 150 152, 154-15(i, 158,
205

Eyafiallajokel, its glaciers, 58

Fabritius, Mr., and Nansen, 20, 27

Faroe Islands, 145, 227

Finland, 140, 142

Fish River, 243

FiskeniiGS, 134

Flensborg, birthplace of Hans Nansen,

Flink (Nansen's dog), 81

Folgefonn glacier, 128

Fox, steamer, 190, 197, 284

Fram, the, 238, 247, 258, 293 ; launch-
nig of, 309-313, 323 ; her design and
dnnensions, 313-314 ; ready to start,
322 ; her journey, 328, 329 ; life on
board, by W. C. Brogger, 358 ; the
pilot, 358 ; Nansen's studio, 358, I
351) ; the sunset. 359, 300 ; view
from its deck, 300 : cleaning opera-
tions, 301 ; the first mate, 301, 3(52 ;
st^ories on deck, 303 ; the crew, 303 ^
371 ; the cooking apparatus and
provisions, 371, 37-2 ; the ' saloon '
and its funntnro, 3/3 375 ; supper,
370,377; X.uisen's cabin, 377-380;
its library, ;i79 ; conversations with
Nansen, and confidence of his crew,
380-385 ; adieu and God-si)eed, 385.
380

France in the Great Tee Ago, 140
Franklin, Capt. Sir ,lohn, his ill-fated

expedition. 231, 230, 238, 240-244,

257, 258, 201

Franklin, Lady, her interest in Arctic

exploration, 261
Franz .Josef Land, 225. 254, 255, 260,

209, 274, 275, 282, 353, 350
Frederiksdal, 182
Frederikshaab, 131, 134
' Frederikshaab Isblink,' 134
Frederiksten, 8
Friszland, 4, 5
Frobisher brothers, Arctic explorers,

their fate, 230, 238
Froen, see Great FriJen
P'rogner river, 23, 24
Frogner Sieter, 37, 38, 221
Fusari, Dr., 100. 116
Fyllingen, hare-lumting at, 34

Gamkl, Mr. Augustin, interest in

Nansen and Ai-ctic exploration, 108,

197,261
Garde, Lieut., the explorer, 126, 198
Geer, G. de, his theory regarding the

ice-shed of Scandinavia, 200 n.
Gehon, the myth of, 140
Geikie, Professor, his work on The

Great Ice Af/e, 143
Genoa, her deciine as a maritime power,
I 231

Geologists and glacier deposits, 141,
I 142 ^

Gcrmania-Hansa expedition, 239
Germany and its erratic blocks, 139,
140; and the zoilogical station at
Naples, 103, 104, 110
Gjcndin, 47
Gjertsen, of the Fram, 301, 303, 368,

370, 375, 384
Glaciers of Greenland and Norway
compared, 128, 129 ; theorv regard-
ing ♦ calving ' of. 129
Gobi, Desert of, 124, 147
Godthaab, 190, 195-197, 202
Godthaab (Nansen's home), 211, 212.

214,294,295
Godthaabsfiord, 193
Golgi, Professor, his method of staining

the nerve fibres, 100, 115. 110, 117
Goodsir, Surgeon H. 1). S., relic of,

242
Goose Land, 272
Graff, and the myzostoma. 112
Grant's Land, 247, 250
Great Fish River, 241, 242. 243, 244
Great Froen, the liome of the Nan-
sens, 22-27, 38, 42, 44, 200, 290

392

LIFE OF FRIDTIOF NANSEN

Great Ice Age, Greenland and, V23,
125 ; the emigration of erratic
blocks and gravel strata, 139, 140 ;
tradition and the phenomena, 140 ;
scientific theories and demonstra-
tions concerning glacier deposits
and land-ice in Northern Europe,
141-144; in North America, 144,
14,'5 ; in Northern Asia, 145 ; theory
regarding the Atlantic Ocean, 145 ;
Nortliern Europe, North Anserica
and Central Europe. 145-H8 ;
animals and plants of this Age, 146,
147 ; the inter-glacial period, 148^
149; the second glaciation, 149,
150; names of the two glacial
epochs, 100; the cause of the
siu'eading and shrinking of land-ice,
150; animal, regetable, and other
evidence confirming the glacial
t]u>or,y, 150-157 ; man's survival of
the Great Ice Age and his future,
157, 158 ; Nansen's Greenland ex-
pedition and the study of the subiect,
205, 209 •'

Great Island, 200
Great Liakhoff Island, 153, 834, 845,

350
Great Salt Lake, 148
Greely, Lieut., his expedition, 126, 250,

251, 260 n.
Greenland, Hans Nansen's description
of. 4-6 ; Nansen's first experiences
in. 60 ; the exploration of, 72, 73
79. 83, 98, 99, 109, 110. 117, 120;
l{ed Eric and, 123; Scandinavian
explorations of, 1'24; its size and '
population, 124; limited knowledge
of the country, 125 ; its inland ice,
125, 142, 146 ; scientific interest in,
125 ; Danish and other explorations
of. 126, 127 ; cliaracter of its coast, :
127 ; its inhabitants, 128 ; its '
mountains and glaciers, 128. 129;
atm()sphfr(\ 129 ; probable extent of
Its ice field. 129, I'lQ; superstition of
its people concerning tlio inland ice,
130 ; expeditions into, 131 138 ; its
iceberg deposits, 141 : the musk-
ox in. 154; effect of tlic glacial epocli
on, 156 ; Nansen's expedition across,
his preparations. 159; his consulta-
tion with Nordeiiskiold. 160-165 ;
ways and means, 165 168; his
plans, 169 ; colleagues, 178 ; outfit,
173 176; the jouiiiey across. 178

( 200; the scientific significance of
the expedition, 201-206; ice-shed,
206; its 'nunataks,' 206; absence
of dust and life from the in-
terior, 207; probable irregularity
of its substratum, 207 ; its explored
coast line and polar tongue, 239 ; its
importance irom an explorer's point
of view, 252; seal-hunters of its
coast, 276; the polar current and,
277-279; tlie Royal Geographical
Society of London and other appre-
ciations of Nansen's expedition, 277
279, 283, 286, 288, 291, 296
Grieg, Dr. Lorentz, his uiterest in

Nanson, 85 87, 1(J0-165, 168, 169
Griffenfeld, Teter, 10
Griffenfeld, the barony of. 8

Gritfenfeldt's Island, 184

Grinnell, liis interest in Arctic explora-
tion, 261

Grinnell Land, 145. 154, 351, 3,'54

Griindal Lake and its Saeter, 93, 95

Groth, Herr, and the exploration of
Greenland, 133

Gudbrandsgaren, 91. 92

Gulf of Bothnia, 143

Guldberg, Professor Gustav, 111, 120

Guldal, 10

Gudvangen. 89

Gustavus Adolphus, his defeat, 139

Gyldenlove, U. F., former owner of
Jarlsberg. 8

GyldenliJve's Fiord. 1H7

Haagensex. tlie pilot. 358

Haalogalii'ndiuf,'. Ottar. his voyage to
Liarmebuul. 228

Haarfager. 271

Ilabakuli. a Greonlander, and tiie ex-
ploration of (h-ecnland, 13;{

' Hag,' the. See Myxine.

Hagerup, Jliss Augusta. 16

Hall, the explorer. 236, 244. 246

Hall Basin. 247

Hallingskoi. 91. 93. 96

Hamburg, 110, 149. 24()

Hammer, 11. R. I., aiid the exploration
of Greenland, 126

Hammoifes 283

Hammeri .s peaks. ;!K1

Hanm expedition, 127. 24(1. 281

Hansen. Scott, chief mate of the Fram,
361. 3()2. 374, 37(;. 378

Hansteen. artist, 374

INDEX

393

Harrlanffer placiur, 9()

Hartz Mountains and the f,'lacial

tlieorv, 144
Hayes, J. J., 131, 132, 245. 24(1
Hecla, sealer, 27r)
Heer, geologist, 354
Hegdehaugen, 30
He kid, sealer, 58
Helland, Trofessor Annnid, 121), ir,{\

167, 1G8 . . ,

Hciidriksen, of tlio Fnini^Sm, 804, 305

368,375
Henrietta Island, 260
Herald Island, 258
Hcrthd, the, 382
Hesse and the zoological station at

Naples, 110
Heuglien, Captain. 271
Himalayas, during the Feo Ago, 147
Hinlopen Stiait, 266, 270, 271
Hogevarde, 311)
Holdt, Pastor. 80 n.
Holland and the zoological station at

Naples, 110; erratic blocks in, 140;

and the glacial theory, 143
Hohii. G. F., 126
Holm's ' woman-boat' expedition, 127,

Holstenborg, 127
Hooker, Sir Joseph J)., 285
Hovgaard, Lieut. A., his expedition,
255

Hudson, the explorer, 228, 236, 237
240

Hudson's Bay, 239 ; its fur-trade. 232
Hudson's Bay Company and the

Franklin expedition, 241. 242
Hudson's Strait. 230, 240
Humboldt Glacier. 128, 146
Hungary in the Great Ice Age. 146
Hnsehy Hill. 27, 28. 88
HvidbUlnirn, tlie steamer, 108

Ibskn- and his \v()rks. 10, (',8. 78 h. H(!
B8, 234 w., :>37 n.

Icebergs, the calving of. 141

Ice Fiord, 271, 273, 275

Ice tloes, descrii)tion of, 5;:(

Iceland. 5, its lava caves and hot
springs. 59; early emigration from
to Greenland. 123; and t lie glacial
theory. 145 ; and the great ice limit.
227

Iceland Company. Hans Nansen's
connnan<l under, 2

I'lrcrfuhtad (Journal of Athletics), 88

Illinois in the Great Ice Age, 144

Independence Bay, 127, 247

India, its ocean route, 228

Indiana, offer from, to Nansen, 99

Ingorkajarfik, 184

Inglefield, Captain Sir J:., 245, 284,
285

Institute of France, and Nansen, 293

Inugsuarmiutfiord, 184

Invcsti(/(itoi; 244, 245

Iowa period (glacial epoch), 150 n.

Ireland and the glacial theory, 143,
146

Irkutsk, 331, 35;i

Isaksen, Captain X. L,. 270, 273, 275

Isothermal line, tiie, 227

Italy, Count Jarlsberg's adventures in,
8; and the zoological station at
110 ; Nansen's visit to, 115 ; climate
of, m the Ice Age, 147 ; the climate
of Northern, 156
Ivigtut, 196

Jacobsen, Ciiptain :\r. of the Jusoii,

178
Jacobsen, of the Friim, 363, 364
Jsederen, 12

JjEger, Nansen a disciple of, 47
Jakobsliavn, 132
Jakobshavn glacier. 128, 129
Jan Mdijcn, the brig, 264, 265
Jan Mayen Island, 4, 52, 274
Japan, the passage to, 232, 237 ; fossil

tlora of, 354
Jarlsberg, Count. Sec Wedel, Gustav

Wilhehn von
Jarlsberg, the second Count, his mihtary

adventures, 8
Jason, the sealer, 178, 179, 201
Jcannctic, the, her lUto, 255, 256, 258 -

269, 277-279. 282. 284, mi
Jeaimette Island, 260
Jensen, Lieut. J. A. IX, and the ex-
ploration of Greenland, 126, 138-
135

Jensen. Olaf, curator of Bergen Mn-

seum. 74
Jensen's Nunatak, 134
Joachim Friehf Gold Med.al, 100
Johaimesen. Captain Edward Holm.

268, 269, 270, 274
Johannesen. Captain TI. C. 270
Johansen, Lieut, and stoker of the

Fram. ;i(!9, 370, 376

II
1/

394

UVE OK FlUDTlOr XANSKN

Johnstrup, I'rofessor, on the exi)lora-
tion of Greenland, 126

Johnsen, Captuin, 271

Jones, his interest in Arctic explora-
tion, 261

iTones Sounil, 231

Jordan, Professor David St«rr, his
negotiations with Naiisen, 91)

Jotunheini, 47. 4H, 87, 88

Jufll, the Frinii's steward, 368 371,
37.'), 880

Junidtii, the, 2o9 n.

Junker, receives Vega medal, 290

Jura, and the glacial theory, 144

Justedal glacier, 128

Jutland, Norwegian blocks in, 140

Kaaudal, 94

Kama river, and the glacial theory,
144

Kamschatka, 3a4

Kane, explorer, 235, 230, 245

Kane Basin, 12ti, 128, 235, 230, 240,
284

Kangek, 197, 302

Kangordlugsnak, 185

Kansas period (glacial epoch), 150 7!.

Kara Sea (the ice-vault of Europe), 79,
255, 267 271, 270, 325, 346

Karataikha, 327

Karl (iustav, King of Sweden, his in-
vasion of Zealnnd and I'elations with
Hans Nansen, 6, 7

Karl Eitter medal conferred on Nan-
sen, 291

Karlsevne, Torfin, 226

Kasan, 147

Katnosa, 44

Kekertarsiiak, 182

Kolch, Nikolai, 331, 332, 340

Kellet, explorer, 258

Kennedy Channel, exploration of, 120

Kennedy Channel, 245

Kliabarova, sledge-dog station, 325,
320, 328-330, 333

Kliatanga J?ay, 325

Kief (llussia) and the glacial theory,
144

Kiel, tlie Peace of, 12

Kifllaiul, Kitty, 374

King ( 'hiu-les Land, 265. 200, 271

King Oscar's Haven, 183

King Oscar's Land, 254

' King Oscar II ' .Medal, 330

King William's Land, 242, 243, 244

Kidllefiord. 79

Knub, Ola, Nansen's fishing expedition

with, 42
Knudsen, Captain II., 275
Koch, Andrea, 3
Kola, 1, 2

Koldewey expedition, 127
Kongcspvil, quoted, 130
Kongsberg, 169, 321
Keren, Justice, colleague of .Fudge

Nansen, 13
Kornerup, A,, and the exploration of

Greenland, 126, 133
Kotelnoi, 332, 334, 336, 337, 341, 342,

351
Krefting, captain of the scaler VikiiKj,
^ 49, 58, 60 ; characteristics of, 70
Kristian Frederik, Prince, 12
Kristianfjeld, 8
Kristianshaah, 133, 136
Kroderen, 317

Krokskogen, hare-hunting at, 45
Kryloff, A., his pamphlet To Med

N((>isr)i, 327
Kryokonito not of cosmic origin, 207 n.
Kudtlek Island, IKO
Kukenthal, Dr., 271
Kuwantz, 2
Kuschnarew letter on Nansen's North

Pole expedition, 214
Kvik, the Greenland dog, 367

Labrador, 227, 240, 246

Labrador, tlie, 320

I-ierdal, 89, 90

Lake Uonneville, 148

Lake Jjaliontan, 148

Lake Tchad, 147

La Mergellina, Naples, 100

Lamniers, at Nansen's diinier partv.
314

J^andegode, 358

Langli Lake, 43, 44

Larsen, Miss .Martha, formerly honpe-
keeper at Great Fnien, 200, 2il3.
294 ; Nansen's letter to, 294

Lasault, Von, on dust, 207 n.

Laurentian Glacier, extent of. 111.
145

Lanrvik, 309

liccke, Professor, on Nansen, 102

Leierdahl, .Miss, wife of .Vncher An-
thony Nansen, 10

Leigh-Smith, Mr. Uenjamin, 269, 270

Leipzic, 139

IVJ
W
M

IVJ

.AI
.M
.M

M
.Ml
Ml

INDEX

395

5 expedition

and tlio f,'Iacial

of .rud;,'o

lioration of

', 341. ;t42.

ilcr VIkiixi,
•s of, 70
12

it, 4")

; '/'() Meet

figin, U07 n.

len's Xortii
(i?

iner party.

?rly lionsi'-

•200, -iii;},

94
n.
It of, 111.

n, 16-2
inchor Aii-

i, 209, 270

Tjoinbcrj,' (Galicia)

tlieory, 144
Lemva, 327
Lena Kiver, 259, 2G0, 270, 325, 332.

352, 355
Lena, steamahip, 270
Lessinf,', his bust of Nanson, 287, 299
Leuckart, ¥. S., on the myzostonia,

Tieydif,' and the nervous system, 116

Liakhoff Island, 332, 336

Lindstrom, Profossor Nordenskiiild's
assistant, 163

Little Junintd, tlie,259 n

Little Karinakiila. 273

Little Liakhoff Island, 332 334 ; 336
342, 343

Lo-Hianco, Salvatore, of tlie zoolo-
gical station at Naples, 106
Lockwood, Lieut., tlio Arctic explorer.

126, 127, 225, 251, 253, 283
Lockwood Island, 251
Lodingen, 3(V2
Lofoten-Wall, 360, 303
Long, T., 258
Lorenzen on dust, 207 n.
Lovt'n, Sven, and the niyzostonia, 112 I
Lower Obi, 327 ' i

Lungegaard Hospital, 74, 77, 78 <

Liitzen, 'the Swedish Stone ' at, 139

140 ' :

McClintock, Sir Leopold, the ex-
l)lorer, 243, 245, 257, 284, 285,
286

I\Ic(Uure the discoverer of the North-
West Passage, 232, 241, 244 245

Mack, F., 270

Mack, Captain T. ]'>., 269

Mackenzie, explorer, 237

Mackenzie Kiver, 256

Madagascar, 124

Magellan, his circunniavigation of the
world, 230

Maiganrd. Christian, and the explora-
tion of (ireenland, 137, ItiO

Malqje Siniovje, 330, 343

Markham, Sir Clements, 292

.Marsh, Professor, Nansen's negotia-
tions with, 83

Massilia, the city of, 226

Matotchkin strait, 267, 268

Maxim, a nienil)er of Jiaron von Toll's
New Siberian expedition, 335 337
339, 346

Mcddvlelser om Griinland, 126
Mediterranean, the, in the Ice Asre
147 '

Melchior, M. O., 19'J
Melville liny, 126
.Melville Island, 244, 245
Melville Sound and Hay, 240
Metschnikoff and the myzostoma, 112
IVIicha Stan (Nansen depot), 336,

343
Moe, Jdrgen, the poet, 20
Mogens Ileinesens Fiord, 184
Mogstad, of the From, 363, 374, 384
Mohn, Professor H., 61, 203, 204,
362 ; on the contribution of Norwe-
gian seamen to Arctic geo^ranhv
263 276 " ^ ■^'

Moller, Vendolia Christina Louisa,
second wife of Judge Nansen, 15,

Moller Bay, 273

Morijenhlad, the, 180

Morier, explorer, 326, 327

Morocco, the Spanish invasion of, 8

Morton, in Kane's Sound, 245, 246

Moskenics Island, 358, 360

Mossel Bay, 273

Mount Julia, 249

Minister, the Prince-Bishop of, his

share in the Scanian War, 8
Muntlie, Gerhard, 314, 373, 375
Murray, his theories concerning the

South Pole, 143, 145
Muski, 327, 333
Myrstiilon, 91, 92
-Myxine, 115-119, 162, 169
Myzostoma, 100, 112-114

N.i.:R<")n.\i., its avalanches, 89

Na'riisund, 361, 378

Nansen, Alexander, Nansen's brother.
33, 47, 48, 293 '

Nanson, Ancher Anthony, 10

Nanson, Baldur Fridtiof (Nansen's
^ father), 17, 18 -20, 83, 84, 97, 98

Nansen, Evert, father of Hans, 1 n.

Nansen, Fridtiof, ancestry; paternal,
17, 9 16; maternal, 8; his lucky
star, 17, 22, 50; his father; 17 20;
niother, 21) 22 ; birth, 22 ; scene of
his early training and narrative of
his childish exiieriences, 22-26 ; his
lirst ice medal, 25 ; his first snow-
shoes and great leap, 26 28 ; boys,
29; his brown studies, 29. 30;

396

LIKE 01" I'ltlDTlOl" XANSKN

Spartan-liko rliiii-at'tcr of Ihh nj)-
briiiKiiif,', 29, ;i(). .it ;tr. ; piin-liusi's
lit tlu) Christ iiuiiii f'liir, *2'.t, itd ;
,M)iitlil'iil niiiniRT mill cliiuiictoris-
tics: school fif^iit witli Karl, "28,
with the BalkcJpv hoys, 'ill ; his
spirit of (inostiii/iiii}^, MO ; takes
a Hi'\vin<,'-iiiacliiiui to pieces, itl ;
prot,'res.s at school, HI. !i'2 ; his
pvrotcclinic experiniont, ;J'2, !t;! ; his
teiuler passion ami chivalry, ;!!! ;
his iirst drawin;,'s ami exaiiiiile of
his early literary style, ii t ; his
word picture of hoiiie life at Christ-
mas, ;!"), ii() ; ins description of \ isils
to Sorkedalaiid NordiuMrken, 41 44 ;
his lisliiiifj; e\[ieditions, hare-hnnt-
inj; excursions and snow-shoeing
exjjloits there, 44 47 ; experiences
on the Svartddl Peak, 47 ; his matri-
culation and choice of a jn'ofession.
48- ;"■)(); voyage in the I'ikiiii/ in the
Polar Sea, 4i), r>{) ; extracts from his
diary descrihinj,' ins first experiences
in senl-himtinf,', 51-()0; ami bear-
huiitin^', (U 70; his relations with
the captain ami crew of tiie Mhimj,
70, 71 ; a shipinate's estimate of
Nanseii, 71, 7'2 ; inliueiico of the
V(\yaj,'o on his future, 72, 78 ; curator
of ]5erj,'en Museum, 74 ; relations
with J)r. Danielssen, 77 80 ; Xan-
son's work nt the museum, 80, 81 ;
his resolve to cross (ireeuiand, 8'2 ;
offer from America, 8;i ; eoi n^spon-
denee with his fatliei', HH 85; Dr.
Grie;j;'s estimate of Nansen's charac-
ter, 8") 87 ; his interest in litera-
ture, 86, 87 ; his ideas of Paradise,
87 ; description of the .lotunheim,
87. 88 ; love of snow-shoeinj^, 88 ;
exploits in the mountains, 80, 00 ;
liis successful attack on N'osseskavlen
and his experiences oi nuitr, 01-07 ;
letters to liis father on the exploit
and on thrift, 07, 08 ; tiie American
and (.ireenland schemes, 08. 00 ; his
studies of the nervous system in
Pavia and Naples, 100, ' 10') ; in-
fluence of his intercourse with Dr.
Dohrn, and description of the
zoolof,'ical station at Najjles, 10")-
107; contemporary accounts of his
life in Naples, 1()7 100 ; a 'i,'uesi'
only at the /oolonic;il station. 110;
his share in estahlishin'' l)iolo>'ic!il

study in Norway, 110. Ill ; Nansen
as a biolof,'ist : his researches and
discoveries in the Hcieiuu!, 1P2 1'22;
experiences of the tiunperature of
(ireenland, liil ; and the Norden-
skiiild expedition, I'M; scientific im-
portance of his Arctic expedition,
li")8 ; announces to Dr. (irie^,' his
intention of cro'-siiifj; Gre(uil,ind,
150. 100; account of his visit to
Stockholm to consult Xordonskioid,
KiO Kl'j ; ills application to the
('olle;,'iinii Acadenncnm for funds
reliised, IOC), 107; funds i)r()vided
by Mr. darnel, 1(18; his busy life
in 1888, 100 ; his lectures on Myxiue
and till! Nerve Elements, 'lOO ;
plans for Greenland expedition,
100 171 ; his (pialitications for
the task, 171, 172 ; his collea{,'ues,
172 ; e<pjipment, 17;i 17(5 ; in-
debtoduess to Dr. Kink, 17(5 177;
start viii Scotland and Iceland,
178 ; first },'limpse of (ireenland,
178; takes to the l)oats, 170, ISO;
life on the ice lloe, 180 182 ; land
at Kekertarsuak and expericiiices
round tJie coast, 182 187 ; jirepara-
tions for aacendinj,' the inland ice,
187, 188; the ascent, 188 101 ; the
down f,'radient, 181-102; sle(l;,'e-
sailinj,', 102, lOJi ; reaches land, 10;5.
104; the canvas boat, 104; the
victory, 105, 100; life at (iodtliaiih,
100-108; reception in Norway, 108
200; the scientific outcome of the
exploit : scanty character of xoolo;,'i-
cal and botanical information. 201 -
20;{ ; the },'eoi,'raiiliical. f,'*""b>>^ic,il,
and meteorol()j,'ical I'csults, 201! 21l();
tlieconfi;,'uriition of (ireenland. 200-
200 ; character ofthe( ireenland and
Polar exjieditions, 2;i8 ; lecture to
the Norwej,'ian (ie(),i,'rai)]iical Soeiety
on a new polar exiiedition, 277 ; his
theory ref^'iiidiu!,' the ])olar current,
277 270; his plan explained, 270
282 ; probable time, 282 ; the
scientilic value of the expedition,
282,28!!; expounds his plan to tlu;
lioyal (ieoj,'rapliical Society- in
London before Arctic experts, 2.s;i,
284 ; their criticisms of his scheme,
284 280; Xans(«n's reply, 2H(i ; a
study of his character,' 287 280 ;
becomes curator of the /ootomic

INDKX

397

1 1 : Ndiispn
iirclum mill
', 112 1'22;
poratiiic ol'

10 Nordcii-
licntific iiu-
oxpoditidii,

(irii'j,' his
tiri'iuilaiul,
in visit to
irdonHkiiilcl,

11 to till'

tor 1'iiikIh

H proviiicd

< l)us\- lilo

on Myxiiio

'iits, 'iC.U ;

expedition.

.tions tor

colleagues,

17(5 ; ill-

, 17(5 177;

1 Iceimiil,

lireeniitiul.

17!», ISO;

lH-2; 1,111(1

ixpericiiiees

; lircpani-

iiliuid ife,

i-l'Jl; the

; sleilj,'('-

1 land, ll»;j,

1U4; the

(iodtliaiil),

I'way, I'.tH

lie of tlie

of XOol<)J,'i-

ition. 201 -

t,'(>0l0ni,.;|l,

, 20;! 20(i;
ilaiid. 2(10 •
Milaiid and
lecture to
cal Society
, 277 ; his
ir current,
lied, 270
2H2 ; tlie
'Xix'dilioii,
Ian to tin;
oci(>t.\' in
)ei-ts,' 2M;i,
is schenie,
■, 2H(): a

2S7-2M0;

/ootoiiiic

lVriiseuni,280; inarria^'e and jonrneyH
to liOiidon, Taris, and Stockholm,
2H0; receives IVr/miiid otiier medals,
nnd Orders, 200 202; iioiioiirs con-
ferred hy scieiitilic Koeieties mid
confjratiilatioiis Crom public men
'202, 20!1 ; visit and h'tter to .Miss
I-arsen, 20;», 204 ; married ex-
periences, life in a ' ilo^r-liiitch,' tuid
<leHcription tif his new house, 201,
20,') ; his continental lectiiriiif,' tour.
'iiT); his lecture in M(>rliii, and the
niipression made there, 20r) 20H ;
us a man of letters; his Firnl
('roHnin;/ of (Irrnilnml, 20H ;i()2 ;
<'Xtracts from his diary on life aiiiont,'
the lOskimo, ;t()2 ; the' (JieenlanderH'
sketch of Xansen, itO.'J ; his Knl;int()
^^if>\ Ilia characteristic views on
Christianity and civilisation, ;i()4,
*(().") ; his attraction towards the
primitives forms of life, ;(0()-;tOH; his
preparations, plans, and lectures in
England on the forthcoming polar
expedition, ;)0H, ;!()0; launcliinL' of
the i'W/m, yoo ;tl4; Naiisen as an
artist, ;U4; a; count of a hineheon
party at Nansen's lionse, ;tl4 ;i21 ;
his account of tlie climh of Norefjehl
with Airs. Nansen, ;tl7 ;)21 ; j)re- I
paring for the git'at departure, ;{21, I
;{22; the Storthing and the expe- i
ihtion, ;!2;); goodine to wife and
child, !i28 ; the start, f(24 ; his com-

innnications with liaron

von Toll

concerning sledge-dogs, ;J2.'-.; meets
Irontheim at Khabarova, ;J20 ;
Baron von Toll's services on his
hehalf, ;52.5-:i47 ; life on hoard his

ship, ;{r)H-aH()
Kansen, Hans, his life and works, 1-7,

Nansen, Hans Leierdahl (Judge). \mh-
^ lie life and characteristics of, 10 U>
Nansen, Hans, the younger, 10
Nansen, Michael, and his daughter, 0,

Naples, Nansen's visit to, 00, 100; the
zooh)gieal station at, 100 111; the
Corso of the Neapolitans, 100, 101 ;
its Park and the ' Villa Nazionale,'
101 ; its scenery and surroundings.
^ 107, 108 ^ '

Nares, Sir (ioorgo, the explorer, 126,
2;(7, 240, 250, 28;} 286

Nathorst, geologist, ^54

' Ntitu>r», .pioted. lOf) 107, 110, 1(59
Nelu-ing, his geological investigationfi,

Nervous systf 'xaminations into its

problems, 114 118, 101, loy
Nesodland, 20r)

Nedrovaag, Cajitain A. ()., 269
Newcastle, (ieographical CoiigreHs at,

Newfoundland, 141, 227, 250; its

hshories, 21(2

New (iiiinea, 124

' New llerrnhut, 105

New Siberia and the North I'olo ;
j iJjergili's theories, iJ48 ;}51 ; geolo-
gical history of these regions, ;!51 ■
' fossil flora, ;i54; the geological'
stiiicturo of the Arctic regions, !J55-
I it57

I New Siberia Islands, 70, 145, 152
1 5;}, 25(i, 277 270, 285, !525, mi, \m,

\ ;)H4. ;t47

New York, the glacial theory rogardinc.

144, 140 •"

Nielsen, Vngvar, on .Tudgo Nansen's

etiorts on hehalf of reform, 14
Nilseii, Captain, 271
Nonh'iiskiold, JJaron A. K.,his explora-
tions, scientific theories and interest
in Nansen, 82, i;{2, !;{;{, ijjr, i;{7, 160
1(S;{ l(i.5, 170, 178, 182,202,204,20.5.
207, 208 «., 2;!1, 2;!2, 2;t7, 2;58, 252,
2;,;{, 255, 25H, 2(i8,2()0,270,27S 275.
200, 20;(, 284, ;i84 '

Nordenskiold, (i., 1()5
Nordland, its mountains, 128
NordhuKl, schooner, 208
Nordniark, 58
Nordiuarken, 87 47, 210
Norcfjeld, 48, ;517 ;{21
North America, the glacial theory re-

garding, 144, 145, 146
North American Archipelago, 351
North Cape, 5, 227. 228, 250, 257
North-East Isbmd, 2(56, 270
Northern Europe;, and the emigration
of boulders and gravel strata, 140,
141; theories regarding, 142, 14;};
liuid-ice over, 14;!. 144, 146
Northern Lights, Hans Nansen's de-
scription of, 1
North Germany, and the glacial theory.

14;}

North Tole, scientific importance of
its exploration and other particulars
concerning, 4, 6, 79, 120, 121, 158,

! .1

398

MFK OK FIMDTIOF NANSKN

\ii

168, 177, 204, 2*11, '2-21. -222, '21(5, 247,
250, 277 2H()

Nortli Sea, r>2, 148, 149, inci, 226

Norway, Judgo Nanson's Hlmre in her
hostilitit'H against Hweilen, 10 lit ;
its settlement of Greenland, 4 ; its
fortifications, H ; connection of Nun-
sen's ancestors with, 10 10 ; Niinsen
and the establishnuMit of zoological
and biological stations in, 110, 111 ;
compared with Greenland, 124, 12H ;
erratic blocks, 189, 140 ; and glac' r
deposits, 141, 142 ; influence of
glaciers on its scenery, l.Or) ; public
opinion and Nansen's proposed ex-
pedition across Greenland, 100, KIH ;
and the isothermal line, 227 ; its
temperate tongue, 280 ; and polar
exploration, 282, 288

Norwegian Arctic Expedition of 1H77.
274

Korweginn Hank, Judge Nansen's
opposition to its removal, 14, 1.')

Norwegian Geograpliical Society,
Nansen's lecture before the. 277 288

Norwegian seamen, theii geographical
investigations and discoveries, 208

Norwegians, their explorations of
Greenland, 124

NiWiiia Scmiia, the sealer, r>r). ,'J8

Nova Zenibla. 4, T), 18r), 288. 284, 258-
255, 267 271. 278 270, 828. 851, 852

Numedal, lOil. 821

Nmiarsuak, 184

Om river, 250, 820

Obi, steamship, 820

Olberg, 318

Olenek, 820 ; dog depot at, 881, 882

Olenek river. 840, 851

Oluf, 67, 09, 70

Ommanney, Admiral, 284

Oskar, patron of polar exploration, 261

Ostiaks, their sledge-dogs. 82(), ;!27

Otter, Captain von, 258

Otto Krag, his relations with Hans

Nanseu, 7
Ovandje, a member of Bnron von Toll's

New Siberia expedition, 884 887,

839, 842, 348
Oxford University and the zoological

station at Naples, 110

Pacific-Arctic Ocean, theory regarding,

858, 854
I'alandor, Lieut., 258, 290
ralliser, Mr. .Tohn, 207
I'lindom, the {Jcaiinittc), 258, 284
I'autellaria, 149
Tarr, I.ieut., 248
Parry, Arctic explorer, 225, 245,

253
Pasteur, the elder Nansen on, 84,

85
Pavia, Nansen in, 100, 110
Pavy, Dr., his death, 251
Payer on Arctic exj)l()rations. 225, 284,

235, 289, 252. 254
Payer-Weyprecht expedition, 254
Peary, Kobert E., explorer. 124, 127.

137, 138, 100, 101, 205, 252. 254
Pedorsdatter, Maren, maiden name of

Hans Nansen's mother. 1 n.
Petormann, the geographer, 288, 254,

201, 270
Petermann's r,and, 254
Petcrmann'8 Mittheilimgen, 204, 275
Petersen, C, 131
Peterssen, Eilif, 314, 374
Petschora, its fur regions, 2
Petterson, of the Fram, 809, 382
Petterssen, Karl, his map, 271 n.
Pipervik, 822
Polar bears, Barents's experiences with,

233
Polar Ocean. 281
Polar Sea, 50, 51-78, 144. 151, 227,

282, 270
Polaris, the, 240, 259 )i.
Pomerania, Duke of, services of tlii>

Wedels with, 8
Port Fonlke, 181
Portugiiese, tl;eir exploration of tlie

ocean route to India. 228
Priiiri' Albert, the, 241
Prince of Wales Strait, 214
Priivr. the pealer, 273, 275
Prussia and the zoological station at

Naples, 110
I'rzewalski. presentation of the Vi;j((

medal to, 290
Ptarmigan -shooting at Norefjeld, 49
Puisortok glacier, 184
I'yrenees, the, and the glacial theory,

144
Pytheas, the first Arctic explorer, 220

Paaus, Major Hans Enevold, 181

QuALi;. Captain P.. 209

^NDEX

399'

IIak, Dr. John, oxplorcr, ia2, 2H4
Ku'kevik IJiiy, iJO'J, }t'2»
Hastoruiijew, a iiieiubor of Uaron
von Toll's Now Siberia expedition,

Eiivna, Ola Nilsen, 172, im
Eetziua, Professor (iustftf, im, 25)0
aOO !)12, 8ir>, 81(5; on Xtuisen as a
biologist, 112 122
KenterHkiiild, Von, report from iiiiron

von Toll to, 827
lihino valley, fossil remains found in

the, ir)l
Richards, Sir (joorfje, 285
Itichthofen, Itan.n Ferdinand von, on

Nansen, 295-29H
Kink. Dr., 124, 129, 170, 177, 27H
Iliesenfjebirgo and the glacial theorv,
144. LOS '

Itobeson, the American Naval Secre-
tary, 2.'J9 i(.
EoboHon Channel, 12(), 240-248, 2')0
EolfHoii, Norduhl, his works quoted,
41 44, .'Jl; interviews Mr.s. Nansen.
210-223
Riinnbak, Captain, 267
UosH, .John, explorer, 22.'), 24 J, 24.')
llossa, Anders, and the exploration of

Greenland, 180
Royal Danisii Greenland Comnanv.

187 I

Royal Geograijhical Society of London,
Nansen H lecture before, 288 28(5;
confers Victoria medal on Nansen,'

Royal Society, its efforts to explore
Greenland, 182 '

Russia, the Czar of, commissions Hans
Nansen to explore the White Sea,
2; her posseH.«ions in the Arctic '
seas, .5 ; and the zoological station
at Naples, 110; Finnish rock in
Northern. 140; commercial relations
with lLn-:land, 233 ; lier enterprise
ni Arctic exj)loration, 2.')7 ; lier
efforts *;o open a waterway through
the Kara Sea, 207 |

Russian Academy of Science, its geo- ]
logical expeditions. 1.52 ; and Baron !
von Toll's expedition to the New
Siberia Islands, 32")
Russian sealers in the Arctic reffions
255. 2rj6

Russian steppes and the glacial theory,

148
Ryder, Lieut. G. H., 120, 129, 174

Hahink expedition, 127

Saghalien, 8.54

Sahara ((f the North, 124

Sahara Desert, 147, 204
I St. Olaf Order, the Knight's cross con-
; lerred on Nansen, 292

St. Petersburg, glacial theory regard-

Sainojede Peninsula, 2(iJS
I Samoyedes, C, 271, 327
I 'S'fjw«()», schooner, 209
I Sandungen, 44
I Sandvik, 45

San Francisco. 230
, Sannikoti", .Jacob, 882
: Sannikoff, Michael, 382, 384, 880, 348
845 ' '

Sannikoff Land, 145. 158, 849, .858
San Sebastiano, its vineyards and lava-
wastes, 107, 108
Sardlok, 197, 802

^"'^h l'''"^'^««o»'. ^rrs. and Miss Eva
I (Mrs. F. Nans.n), 88. 79, 99, 217,

j t^ll)

Sauekilen, its evil reputation, 90
Saxony and the zoological station at

Naples, 110
Saxony, the ' Swedish Stone ' in 140
Scandinavia and the zoological station
at Naples, 110; and the glacial
theory, 189148. 140, 148, 149, 154
150, 200 n., 207 ; the discoveries of
lier sons, 228, 280
Scanian War, 8
Schiertz, artist, of lU-rgen, 814
Schileiko, a member of Uaron von
Toll's New Siberia expedition, 885,
887, 389, 348; suffers from snow'
blindness, 841
Schnielck, the chemist, 175
yclimidt. Fr.. explorer, 152

Schnifzvrvi-Tcknil; process, 113 11.5
116 I . , ±io,

Schubert, Nansen's interest in. 80
Schumann, Nansen's interest in, 8(i
Schwatka, his search for Franklin 244
Scoresby, explorer, 127, 253; his chart,

274
Scotland and the glacial theory, 148
Seni (Norway), 8
Semper, and the myzostoma, 112
Sermilikfiord. 179. 'iKO, 182
Sexe on tlie advance of the liuar

glacier, 128
Siberia, 145, 151 153, 245, 2.55, 257

207,274,279 '

400

I.IKK OF l"|{ri)TI(tr NANSKN

' t .

Sibcriiui mammoth, 1.V2

Siberian ' tumlraH,' l')l

HihiriiikofT, A. M.,!»2ti, ;>81

Sicil.v, 14(»

Hi>»wiir(U, Doim, on tlu) churnctorlHticH

of .FiKlfjo Naiiscti, 15
Hiiii,'iartuar(ii<, IHii
HimliiiK. Otto, tlip i)ainter, 294, n\\
tikarpHno, KiO
Skraaven, »;>,■•. !l(i()
SkrcdHvi^,', tho artist, ai4. ;174. ;i7."i
HkiidcsMii'M, 1!)7
Sinitli Souiul, 12(5, 'PM, 'iJ'i '247, 'iM,

25;), 2H1
Sinitii, TlioiiiiiH, interest in Arctic ox-

ploratioii, 2(11
SiKiilBky, Carl, tho poi't. (|iiot"(l, 117
Sno\v-aiioein<,', 45, 4(), H2, HH
Ho^n, id, 1)2, i»4

6V/"'". «t<>iini«hip, l;t5, 17H, 1H2, 25a
Siiri'MHt'ii, Major-Oencral, 20
Sorkudal, Naiiwn visits, 41, 42, 44
Horronto, Niuiscn at, 107. lOH
Soiiiul Kxpcditioii of iHdl, 245
South I'oks, huul-ifo nl. 14;1, 145
Spain, Count .lai'lsl)cr;,''s adventures
in, H; and tho zoolof^ical station at
Naples. 110
Spia{,'f,'ia di Chiajii, Naples. 100
Spit/herj,'on (or (irenlaiid). 5, 5H, li(5,
I4(), 15(5, 1(55 H., 242. 24(5, 252-254,
2(50, 2(i:J 2(55, 2(57, 2(50, 271, 27!!, 274,
27(5,277, 280, »51-;{5(5
Stalhoiniskleven, H9
Stan Durnova (Nansen depot), .'332,

;5:i6, ;!;i7, ;5:tH, liso, ;540

Stanley, and the Vcfjit medal, 290

Stavanf,'er, 12, 18, 17

Steen, Aksel S., 274

Steenstrnp, K. J. V., 12(5

Steffens, Ueiirik, 1(5

Stockholm. H;;!, 182,823

Stone ice, 158

Storliord, 2(55, 260, 275

Strasbnrfi; University and iho zoologi-

cal station at Naples, 110
Stubdal. 4(5
Svartdal Peak, Nansen's experiences

on, 47,48
Svarten (the Black Lake), 44
Svartebugta, Nansen's new house at,

294
Svartisen Glacier, 128
Sverdrup, Captain Otto Neumann), 87,

172, 177, 181, 187, 188, 194, 195, 197,

211, 221, 801, 80(5, 807, 874, 878, 885

Sviiitoi-No«. »25. WM, 848, 845
Sweden, her IronblcH witli Norway, 11 ;

lier erratic Idocks and glacier do-
posits, 189 142
Swedes, their exploration of Oroen-

land. 124
Swedish Academy of Science, its

medals for geograpliical disc(ivi>ries,

2(59
Swedish Anthropological and (leo-

grapiiical Society, 289, 290
Swedish Arctic expeditions, 127, 18/5,

27!
Swedisii Foreland, 271
' Swedish Stone,' tho, at LUtzen, 180.

140
Switzerland and the zoological station

at Naples, 110
Sylva, 828

T.uiiM basin, 147

Tri/r/li«0', the, exploration partv, 225,

254
Tegner, E., his Fnilllof^ Siiijn, 87
Teichner, II. von, the traveller. 82(5
Teleinark, the peasants of. their method

of snow-shoeing, 28
Terror, the frigate. 240
Terschelling Island, 288
Tessiusak, 120

Thirty Years' War, share of tho Wodols
in. 8

Thousand Islands, 2(50

Thule, probable meaning of the word.
22(5

Thumb Point, 270

Thyrn, steamer. 178

Tigris, the, and thi! Flood, 141

Tobiesen, Swert Kristian, 205, 800, 270,
271 ; his tragic death, 272

Toll. Baron von, his theories regarding
North Siberia, 145 ; explorations in
tlio New Siberia Islands, 1,52, 825 ;
his theories on stone ice, 154 ; his
dog depots and other arrangemeiita
on Nansen's behalf, 825, 820,881-
888 ; letter to his wife on his
experiences, 888, .884 ; composition of
his crew, 884. 835; dog-slodging
experiences, 885. 886 ; establishes a
depot at Urassalach, 387, .841 ; and
at Stan Durnova, 388,889; a case
of enow-blindness, 340, Ml ; tho
journey from Kotelnoi to Micha
Stan, 342, 348 ; journey to tho main-

INKKX.

J•!!(.:.;^1^^S"'" '"^"- North

ToiihIktk (Norway), H

Toivll l'r„f,mH()r, oil ^jhicial denoHitHin

NuitlHUM iMiropo, 14'2, 14;j
U)r^;(.rH()ii, .lolmii, ;t.|(j
TorkildHoii, Captiiin 1'., 'iOD
Torriobulini, A. M., 27!>

TrMiiaCliriHtian CliriHtiiiiiHoii, 172,
iHr,, IHU, lOfi

^ t"!''!'V t\': ^^•' '"'" Oovornor of
IiiIioIhIj, H'2t,

Tri)niH(ial I'eak, JJH4

Tro.MHo, 24'2, 2.0.5, 2H2, Ji(!l, ;J72

Ironisi) AfuHoiiiu, «H4

Troiidliciiii, 11 12,256

'J'roMtlKUiu, Aloxandor Ivaiiovitcli, Iuh
iidvcntnroH and jourmiy to Kliaba- '
rova, msn2H; I.Ih iinj.n.HHion of '
NaMHon,;t2i»,!).'(0; pn.Hcitcd with a
Kold modal hy Naiiscii, ;i;i()

^T"',''' ^l'''K''t«. vi(3W fi'on, itH tower,

Tachai-l'owarnya, ,})»(, 'Mr,, 84(}

J HcliukotHkaia river, .'i.'JO
Tundras period, lr»l
TiniKiiska, ;i,'')2

'i'limda, Lars, and the exploration of
Oreeidand, 18(1

401

Uiii.VN, in(>nd)or of Baron von ToU'm

oxplointion ))arty, nm, Mr,
U I vo. Captain E. A., 20«, 270, 271
Unnvdt, 1H7
LTnuviksliord, 1H7
Unicorn liay, 26(J
Union JJay, 241
Upcrnivili, 12(J, 250, 25!) /<.
I ral .MountainH, 14(1, ;i27, ;J51, 8.'52
vviiniii sclioonfr, ."WO

^'•MM^'-Mi' (^'^'""«'-'" 'l'^P''t). ;jaa, 837.
o4u, ii41

Usva, 827

Vaaok in Ondbrandsdal, tlio xnaui-

nioth in, 154
Vancouver, 2.'J<J
Vaido, 255, ;{2H, ;j;!i
Vaniii, steamsliip, 255
Vr;/<i, tin-, 258

^J'!~ .*,'.'/,' (;>>^''>n«l"<'l'l). expedition,
I'io, 281, 255, 250, 274

Vf'jd, tJie, seal-luinter, 55, 58

V>'!/" Medal, ilio, confcrrod on Nan-

Hen, 200, 201
Vei^'abit, 5

VoMico, her doelino m a maritimo

power, 281
Vixliraalrn, tlui, 885
VoHtfiord, 128, .'t.5H, 878

VeHtnmnna Islan.ktheir lava peakH,fi8
Vm Caraecioio, Naples, 101

Victoria iVInlal, the, conferred on

NanHcn, 201, 202

Victoria Ntrait, 244

Vt/'/«r/, the, Healer, 20, 40 7.8

l^dan^'Sir"' • ''"'•'"• ^•^^' ''''
VolKa and the (,dacial theory, 144
V "HKCH. the and the glacial theory, 144
VoHH, HchoolniaHter, .82
VoHHeHkavlen NanKen'H HUcceHfcful
(ittaek on, 01 0(1

Wak.ai/ Strait, 2«7 2(J9
, Wallher, Dr., 271

i Wardroper M.hvanl, and the Hled«o.
<u)KH lor NiiiiHen, .'^iO, 827

Warkuta, .827

Warsaw and the glacial theory, 140

Wedel G.iHtav Wilhelni von (after-

=k:a.^;rEd,^^it'^^^' ^'^ '"«•

''ex^lollsi'n"''^' ^""'" '*^-'"'- '-
We.lel..larlsl,,T^, Maron Christian

l^rederik Vdhelni, grandfather of

iNaiiHen,

Wedol..Iarlsbor-, Miss Adelai.h, ,]„.
Iiimna Isid„,a, mother of Nansen,
deHcripti.H. or. 20 22 ; readiness of
resource, 21, 2(), 42

W«'ihaven, the poet, 217, 220

Williaven, the architect, 205

U'elhiiKton Channel, 241

Wener, Lake, 140

^^'orillii'"'''' '" ^'^'-''"'' '«'"r'«'-itnro
WerenHkioId, M., artist, 287, 814, .877
West Ni)itzber-en, 2(m, 2(37
\\ eyprecht, the traveller, 250
N\hale, Guldberj,' and Nanpon's re-
searches re^'ardin« the, 120

\V halo Sound, 181,281, 246
\\ halo's I'oiiit, 2()0
Wharton, Captain, 2H4. 2H5

I) \)

r^'

402

LIFE OF FEIDTIOF NANS]:X

"White Island, '2l)7, 268

■White Sea, 1, 2, 149, 228

Whyniper, his exi)loration in Green-
land, 182, 185

"WiR^ins, Captain, the explorer, 238,
255, 284, 285, 326

Wilczek, Count, 254, 2ol

"Wilkes Land, 205

"Wille, Professor N., Ill, 161

WiUetn Barents, schooner, 275

"William Island, 270

"Willonghby, the explorer, 228

"Wir^n, Professor A., liis account of
Nansen's investigations as a biolo-
gist, 113

"Woikara river, 827

"Wolstenholme, a patron of Arctic
exploration, 261

Wrangel, explorer, 257

"Wrangel Land, 258, 259

"Wiilting on dust, 207 n.

"Wiirtemberg and the zoological sta-
tion at Naples, 110

Yakutsk, 259, 882, 834

Yaluial, 209

Yana river, 332

Yenisei river, 135, 1C3, 250, 256, 278,

275, 284, 326, 352
Ymer, cited, 291
Young, Sir Allen, 284, 285
Yugor Strait, 2(57, 270, 325-328

Zealand, invaded by King Karl
Gustav, ; myth concerning, 140

Zoological Station at Naples, Nansen
at, 100 ; its surroundings, 101 ; the
story of its creation, 101- 104 ; imi-
tations of, 105 ; described by Nansen,
105-107 ; its unique position, 109 ;
international character of its organi-
sation, 109, 110; tho Scandinavian
countries and, 110

Zootomic museum of Christiania Uni-
versity, 289

rUlNlED BV

SronUiWOODK AND (O., h'KW NTIIKE'I S^UAUE

LONDON

56, 273,

? Karl

140

Nansen
31; the
4 ; imi-
Sfansen,
n, 109;

orgaiii-
inavian

lia Uni-