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T.IE CUKW Ol rllE "1IAN8A" DKAGOISU TIIEIB I10AT8 ACROSS THE ICE.

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THE

ARCTIC WORLD

ITS PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND NATURAL PHENOMHNA.

82Iith n Distoricnl Sketch of Jlrctic iiscobcru,

DOWN TO THE

BR'TISH • POLAR EXPEDITION:
•875-76. .

I'ikm.

• liA< Ir- ilie bUiawa MUfen. aiid have: rnt. -COLB&IDCB

LONDON:

T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW;

EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.

;4 {:>1)-) V

•-.#

P 11 E F A C E.

JWT^CJNGLISHMEN have always felt a special interest in the regions of tiie icy North, from
11,^^ tlie days when Dr. Thome first proposed the search after a ptissage to the Polo, down
to these present times, when the Expedition under Captains Nares and Stephenson
has shown that such a passage is virtually impracticable. Tiio interest originally kindled hy
commercial considerations has been maintained by purer and loftier motives,— by the thirst after
knowledge, and the sympathy with the brave deeds of brave men. And it must be admitied
thri our national virtues of resolute perseverance and patient courage have never been more
happily displayed than in the prosecution of the great work of Arctic Discovery. ( )ur ex[)lorefs
ha\'o refused to know when they were beaten ; and in defiance of a terrible climate, of icebergs
and ice-floes, of hurricanes and driving snow-storms, of obstacles, dangers, and difficulties, have
pressed onward, until the latest adventurers have crossed the Threshold of the Unknown Region,
and confronted the immense plain of ice that extends for four hundred miles from the Pole.
Their labours, indeed, have been attended by the shadows of melancholy disastei-s, and the long
Arctic night closes over the graves of many whom England was loath to lose ; !jut in their
successful issue they have brought us acquainted wifli the phenomena of a strange and wonderful
world, and opened up to us a succession of sctiiios of the most remarkable character.

There can be no question that in the frozeii wastes and snowy wildernesses lurks a powerful
fascination, which proves almost irresistible to the advt .iturous sjjirit. He who has once entered
the Arctic World, however great his sufferings, is restless until he returns to it. Whether
the spell lies in the weird magnificence of the scenery, in the splendours of the heavens, in the
mystery which still hovers over those far-off seas of ice and remote bays, or in the excitement
of a continual struggle with the forces of Nature, or whether all these influences are at work, wo
cannot stop to inquire. But it seems to us certain that the Arctic World has a romance and an
attraction about it, which are far more powerful over the minds of men than tlie rich glowing
lands of the Tropics, or the

" Sumnior-isles of Kden lying iu dark-purple spheres of .sea,"

which are crowned with the bread-fruit and the palm, the spontaneous gifts of a liberal soil.
We follow with far deeper interest the footprints of a Parry and ii Franklin than those of a
Wallis, a Carteret, or even a Cook.

Jv IMiKFAfR.

Thu yeneriil reader, then fore, may not be displun-sed at the attempt of the present writer to
|)ut before him, with bohl touches, and in outline rather than in detail, a picture of that Polar
World which is so awful and yet so fascinating. In the following pages he will find its principal
ft'utures sketched, its chief characters legibly and clearly traced. They are not intended for the
Bcien Ific, — though it is hoped the scientific, if they fall in with them, will find no ground for
censure. They aim at describing the wonders of sky and sea and land ; the glories of the
aurora ; the beauty of the starry Arctic night ; the majesty of iceberg and glacier ; the rugged
drcaritiess of the hummocky fields of ice ; the habits of the Polar bear, the seal, and the walrus ;
and the manners and customs of the various tribes which frequent the shores of the Polar seas
and straits, or dwell on the border-land of the Frigid Zone. In a word, it has been the writer's
object to bring together just such particulars as might enable the intelligent reader to realize to
himself the true character of the world which extends around the North Pole. In carrying
out this object, he haa necessarily had recourse to the voyages of numerous explorers and the
narratives of sundry scientific authorities ; and he believes that not a statement has been
ventured wliich could not claim their support.

,•5;' ,'V • ' 1

CONTENTS.

rHAPI'EH I.

VaHouH routes lietu'tjt-n tlie Atlantic ami V.'uific Orcaim (lt;.scril)e(l
Advanta^eH of a North-Weal riusBage, if practicable— ».' at i« to b«
tfuineil from further Arctic exploration— What zooloijy would i 'n
—The problem of the mitfratiouof birds— About tlie Knots— Hound-
aries of the North PoUr Regions— ITieir principal geographical
featurea—Diviaions into two zones, or sections— Tlio stony tundras
—The flora of the Nortli— The Siberian desert — Limits of pfriwtual
snow- (leneral ch;u-aoter of life in thf Pohir World 9-21

OHAPTEU 11. , . .;

An imaginary voyage — View of the lireunland coast — A Bplendid
picture of land and sea—The winter night and its atmospheric
phenomena— The aurora borenlis described— Its {wculiarities and
[Missible causes- Winds and whirlwinds- -Phenomena of refraction
— ITie *' ice-blink "— Characteristics of the Arctic night— Described
by Dr. Kane— Hemarkable atmospheric conditions— Effect of pro-
longed <larknes8 on animal life— Characteristics of tiie Arctic Hj>ring
— A spring landscape described by Pr, Hayes — Summer in the
North— The Northern heavens and the Pole-Star— List of Northern
constellations— The Great Bear— Some conspicuous stars L'*_' 40

CHAFTER IIL

The Polar seas -Fonnation of icebergs— Their dimensions and appear-
ance— Description of colossal bergs— Their danger to navigation —
Adventures with bergs- Quotations from various writers— Disaolu*
tion of an iceberg— Icebergs in Melville Bay— How icebergs are
formed— Reference to icebergs in the Alpine lakes— J*rofessor Tyn-
dall quoted— Breaking up of a berg described by Dr. Hayes— A
vision of icebergs- Their range— The "pack-ice" described— Ex-
tent of the ice-fields—" Taking the pack"— An incident described
by Admiral Beechey— Dangerous jKisitioa of Captain Paity's ships
—Character of an ice-field— Crossing an ice-field— Its extraordinary
dimensions ~ Animal life in the Polar seas —Walnis-hunting —
Quotation from Mr. Lamont— A disagreeable process— Natural
history of the walrus — The walrus and the Polar bear- Historical
sketch of the walrus-fishery— Adventure with walruses— A walnis-
hunt described— Hunting in an Arctic gale— The Phocidae family
—Natural history of the seal— Different genera— Seal's flesh, and
its uses— An incident in Dr. Kane's exi)edition— An Eskimo hut—
An Eskimo seal-hunter— The whale, and all about it— ITie Green-
land whale— What is whalebone ?—j?ood of the whale — The Nor-
thern rorqual — Eskimo whale-fishers- About tiie narwhal— The

black dolphin The ore, or grampus—The Polar Iwar -Bears an'
seals Particulars of the huhils of the Polar bear -His vor .■•i'y--
Affection of the bear for her yoimg - An ep'-KHlo described— Battle
with a bear The bear and the Eskimo dogs— it e Arctic ni^iht -
Its various phases- Coming of the sun Hetuni of the birds-
Guillemots and aulu' About the puttins 'L'he mergansers — Ths
Mmew, or white nun— The eider duck described -Eider dueks in
Iceland— CoUectin.'i eider down— The wild awaii- Fable« a)x>ut its
death-song -The Arctic waters, and their teeming life — .Mi.:,Tations
offish 1U107

(iHAn'KR IV.

The fonnation of snow described- Snow -crystals Elfeets of the crys-
tallizing force—Ice-Howers— Sir David Brewster's exi^riment with
Is>lari8ed light— Regelation and moulding of ice - ('haracteristics of
glacier-ice— Cleavage in compact ice— l'he aN|H)ctof glaciers— On
the motion of glaciers— History of its discovery— Moraines de-
scribed—Theory of glacier-motion — Quotation fnmi ProfesfMtr
Tyndall— Glaciers of the Polar Rfgions Glacier in Bell Sound-
Formation of icebergs— Icebergs in Baffin Buy— Glacier de«cril>«l
by Dr. Hayes -The Greenland Mer de Glace— Ghicier of Henniat-
sialik- The great Humboldt (ilacier— Discovered by Dr. Kane-
Description of its features— Kane's theory of icelwrgs— Notes on
the glacier >....10»-13<

CHAFTER V.

Red snow, what is it?— First forms of v^'etable life The lichens,
their variety— Reindeer moss— Rock-hair— Rock trii»e, or tripe de
rocfie — Used as food — Iceland moss and its proiHirties — llie mosses
of the Arctic Regions — Scurvy -grass— The fly agaric— Microscopic
vegetation— A memorial of Franklin -I'hienogamous plants of ths
North- Cryptogamous plants— Vegetation ia Novaia Zumlaia~In
Spitzbtrgen — In Kamtschatka — The Frilallaria sarrana — ITie
wooded and desert zones— Forms of animal life- Natural history
of the reindeer— His usefulness— His footl— Reindeer and wolves-
Cunning of the Arctic wolf— Domesticity of the wolf-Tlie musk-
ox described— Captain M'Clintock quoted-Tlie Arctic fox— His
wariness— A fox-trap- The bear and the fox— The Arctic hare—
The Alpine hare — The Hudson Bay lemming— 'l'he Mustelidn
family— The marten— The sable — The iwlecat- About the gtuttuii,
or wolverine— anecdotes of his extraordinary sagacity— A great
enemy to thi? trapiwr— The biter bit— Arctio birds — The falcons —
The crows— Distribution of animals 135-161

CONTKNTS.

ni AITKIl VI.

Icplaml, iU i-xtcrit It« IjiriU.ry lu vul. luioi-" Mnkla ami it« ftup-
liniiM Kni|.tioii of th« Sk;i|itii .'"kill 'Hie iffymn, nr l"iilin|{
uprinifn Tl»-ir irliwumicna ili-*Til>i'il AniMint nf tlif Htrcikr-
CoMtH and vall.y" "' I'tIihhI 'I'Im' ■I'liiiiKViUlii :)i'»iri|itinii ol
Raiklavik, the tapiul -Clmriu tir ■>( the Irvl.iii.l r Ilia Imyiiiak-
iiig (iiwrfttlom -HU ilwolliiist ilencrilml— An Ki'liuulk- cliim:h-
Icelanillo clergy -TravKlllng In Iceliinil - lU iniionvenlence" -
K"n1in« llie «tTOiin» Fialiin^ hi Iri'lanil 102-174

CHAPTKK VII.

I'lic lanil of ttu> i:»kimo!i -Itangc nf tho so-calli'd Arctic IIiKlilaiii|i.T!i-
DaniHli Kcttleinint* in (Irecnlaml -Tiwrnavik ilcacrilwd -Jacolw-
hav'n ■ (JciiUiavii Thnir K«kilno inlialiitantu -The .Moravian
MinilniiH-("hariul.riitic» .if tlic nmnwlic KHkimiis -'I'hcir |ihy«ii-Bl
iinalitiM Their nuMlii nf dretm -An Kitkiinn hut— The V'liino
knvnk, nr rniioc -'I'licir weuiHrnn and ini|ili'liicntj*- HoHtlltty be-
tween llic K«kiiiiiis ami lied IndiaiiH -Eskimo nettleni nt at Ana-
toak IJikiiiKi ninKiiiK-Kooil of the K»I.iino!> -Dr. H.iye.i' inter-
conmc with the Knkinion — The story of Hans the Hunter - "he
Kskimn dii)pi- Anecdote of Toodla - The Eskimo sledj;c -Eiiiii|
nient of the sledtfo— K'lnipmcnt of an Kskimo hunter— General
cliaraclei of the KHkimoa 175-19fi

CHAPTER VIII.

Lapland, itji divisions, extent, and Iwundaries— Its climate -Its in-
haliitaiitri — Tlieir physical characteriatica —Dress of the LapjiB —
Their HiiiK'rstitioiiH - 'I'he Mountain I.apiis — Their nii},'rat<«ry
hahila Their Imjurid, or huts, dcacrilioil— Milkinj,' tlie reindeer
— .Sledjfiiij? and skating; -.-V I<app's skatea— A Lapp's sleiljie —
The Lapp hunters -Encounter with a hear - lutein [icrance of
till' Mountain Lajips -Tho Forest I,ap|w- Interior economy of a
Lapland hut - Lapjw at lijorkholm -Itjvcial charactcristicg of the
Lapiw IlabitM and maiuiers of the Lapps -The Lapp dialect—
Tho I^piM and the Qm^nes — The stationary Ijapjis, and their
gAnU 197-207

OHAITRK IX.

The Saniojodes Their de^;radin^• sn|s!istilions -Saniojede idol at Wal-
i!at7. The Tmlihlaiiii, or spirita Influence of the Tmliht, or sor-
cerer lUs iniide of incantation Customs of the SaniojiMles -The
Ostiaks 'I'heir Sehnilnnn and SihnmiiM Itesidence of the ()»tiak»
Hunting the white hear -Kanit«hatka descrihed -Its inhalii-
taiits 'I'heir physical |«'culiarities -The dot; of Kanitschatka
His (pialities -His usefulness -How he is trained Silieria and its
trihos The .lakuts -Their jm-ls, or huts— Their hardy h.ir»c«
Tho character of tho .lakuts— .laknt travellers -.laknt iiiercliants
and their caravans - Drearineaa of the country they inhabit-
limiting the reindeer - At Kolymsk The Tungusi- His mode of
travellinu His fisid The Tchuktche, ami their land — Their
aitivity a» tnwleni— Tobacco, a staple nf conimctte Visit to a
T'hukUlie family -The Tcnnu.yk and the Onkilon 208-'i21

CIIAPTER X.

IIi.<tory of Discovery in the Arctic Uegions— Expeditions of Thome
and Horo— Of Sir Hugh Willonghby— Martin Frobislier and his
adventures -Discovericsof Davis— Hudson, hisdiscovery of Hudson
I!ay, Jan Mayen, and Cape Wolstenholm — His fate— liaflin's
voyages -Hinhway to the North Pole— Expedition of Itoss and
Parry -Parry's second expedition— Ixiss of the /'hiv/— Ovcrhiiid
journeys— Franklin's last cxiiudition— The search after I'rnnklin—
Discovery of relics — Caiitain Penny's expedition — Sir liobeit
.M'Clure's discovery f^ the North-Wcst Passage — Voyage of
.M'Clintock— Lieutenant "^fnbsou'a ,:i»coveric.?— Dr. Kane's ex-
pedition—Explores Smith Hound— Uncovers the Humboldt (■ lacier
and Kennedy Channel— Wintering in the Arctic Regions— Dr.
1 laycs' exiwdition— Voyage of the Ucrmania and the //a;i»a— Loss
of the latter— EscajH; of the crew on an ieeraft— Arrival at (ireen-
land— Adventurcsofthe(Jorm<inta—I!aient« and Carlson — Austrian
expedition under Payor— Voyage of the i'ofann— Death of Hall-
Tyson's voyage on an ice-raft— Rescued by the T'lj/rcM— Captain
lluddington abandons the /Wnris -His winter nuartcrs— lioat
voyage— Safe arrival— liritish expedition of 1875-71)— Departure of
the Ahrl and Wjcmyi-ji— Narrative of the expeilition —Winter
Huuisemeiits — Tho sledging-parties — lii'iiortant discoveries No
roail to the Pole — Return home — Cruise of the Pancforo.. ..222-337

f.'

%\5\ of Jllustrations.

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21.

23.
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(a.

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THK CIIKW lir TlIK "M.\Mm" DRAOQINU THBIll IIHATH AOIIOSS

TUB ICK (KHONTmriKCK).
A DKNEUT (IF ICE IN TllK AllUTIO BEfllON,
TUB hWAMI'H OF THK Olll,

IM THE roHEBT JOKE OF THE NOBTll (Fm.I.-FAaE), ...
THK MinNIOHT SUN (FULL-rAQE), ..
OFF THE COAST OF dllEENlAND, ...
HOOMLIOHT IN THE TOLAll WORM),
THE AUROKA BOIIEAI.IJI, ...
THE AURORA nOREAI.IH -THE CORONA,
ATMOBPHEHIO IMIENOMKNA IN THK AROTIO IIEOIONS : — UKFr.EC-

TION OF ICEBERaa, ...
ADVENT OF SPRIKO IN THE FOI.AU REOIONh,
TIBHA MAJOR AND ORSA MINOR, ...
NtUULA IN ANDROMEDA, ...

ARCHED ICEBERO OFF THE GREENLAND COAST,

AMONG THE BERGS— A NARROW ESCAPE, ...

ICEBERG AND ICEFIELD, MELVILLE BAY, fillEENLANi ,

ORIGIN OF ICEBEU08 - EXTENSION OF A OL,\CIER RKAWARDS,

THE Al.ETSCIl GLACIEII, BWITZEHLAND, FROM THE .tOOISCH-
HOIIN, SHOWING ITS J.OIIAINES,

THE MAIIJELEN SEA, SWITZERLAND,

FALL OF AN ICEBERG (FOLL-PAOE),

IN AN ICE-PACK, MELVILLE B.IY, ...

OIUNNEL IN AN ICEFIELD, ... ... ..,

"hipped" Ih AN ICE-FIELD,

AMONG THE ICK-HUMMuCKS (FULL-PAGE), ..

HUNTING THE WALRUS, ...

THE WALRUS, OR MOUSE,

A WALRUS FAMILY,

FIUIIT BETWEEN A WALRUS AND A POI.AK BEAR, ...

BOAT ATTACKED BY A WALRUS (FULL-PAGE),

riOHT WITH A WAiRUS, ...

HERD OF SEALS, NEAR THE DEVII.'S THUMB, BAFFIN SEA,
GREENLAND,

THE COMMON SEAL, ... ... ... ... ...

SHOOTING A SEAL,

THE OTABY,

ii;
17
23
2.*i
20
28
20

32
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30
30
ii
43
45
47

4S
4.S
61

ri3

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3J).

30.

87.

88.

SO.

40.

43.

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47.

40.

60.

51.

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50,
67.
58.
60.
CO.

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02
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71.

THE HOODED SEAL,

AN ESKIMO HEAL-HUNTKR,

THE GREENLAND WHALE,

NARWHALS, MALE AND FEMAI E, ...

A SHOAL OF IHILI'HINH, ...

POLAR BEABS, ...

MtAU CATCHING A REAL,

BEARS DERTIlOVINi; A CACHE,

FIGHT WITH A WHITE BEAR (FULL PAGE),

HTALKIMI A BKAR,

HEA-BIRDS IN THE POLAR BKGIONS,

THE (nil'.lT AUK—UAZOK-BII.LR -THE PUFFIN,

PUFFINS, ,„ ... ... ... ••• »^

THE GOOSANDER,

A BIRD "bazaar" IN NOVAIA ZEMI.AIA (FULL-PAGE),

TllK BLACKB.VCKED GULL, ,„ ,.. ... ..V

TllK EiDKR-DUCK,

THE HAUNT OF THE WILD SWAN, ...

VARIOUS FOBMB OF 8NOW-CRY8TAL.S,

EXHIBITION OF KEFLOWEIIR BY PROJECTION,

ICE-FLOWERS,

MOULDING ICE, .. .„ u,

A POLAR GLACIER,

GLACIER, ENGLISH BAY, SPITZBEBUEN,

GLACIER, BELL SOUND, SPITZBEBUEN,

STEAMER "charging" AN ICEBERO, UPERNAVIK, liREKSLAND
(FULL-PAGE),

FORCING A PAS.fAOE THIIO'JGH THE ICE (FULL-PAGE),

THE OLACIKR OF SERMIATSIALIK, GREENLAND (FULL-PAQK), ...

PR0TO0O0CU8 NIVALIS, ... ... ... ,., .„

WILD BF.l.VDEER, ... .. ... ...

THE MUSK OX, ... ... ... .-

ARCTIC FOXES, ...

A FOX TRAP,

THE ERMINE, OR SABLE MARTEN, . .

THE GLUTTON, OR WOLVERINE,

PTARMIGAN,

AN ICELANDIC LANDSCAPE,

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71. HAmHlDR or NCIKIAVIK, .. .■•

7> ICKI.ANI'IIUI rillllKO t"ll NAHWHAL,

It ttl'KKNAVIK, OIICr.NI.ANII,

71 IIIHOO im.Allll, ORKRMI.ANIl,

Til OonilAV'H, IIIHCil IKlAilll, (IHEKSIASI),

7» DAMioH nrrri.KMiiKT or jacoiwhav n, (iK«iim.A»n,

aO nilll.lllXO AK IWKPMH HUT,

■I TIIK P.HKIMri KATAK,

Bl TtlK RHKIMO OOHIAK, ., ... ... t(*

Kl llH. IIAVm r\ I.S IN WITH HANK TIIR Hl'NTBH {rlM.I.PAOK),

M rxKIMO IM)(1«, ...

M ImKlMH (ILilKlK ANI' TFAll (HIM. PAOB), .

m llltlNIIKKH IN I.AI'I.ANIl.

»7 TIlAVr.I.I.INn IN I.API.ANO,

Wl riHIlKIt I.AITH, .

80 HAHiUKIlK MIITH ON WAKIAT)! mi.AND,

DO A HAMIUKOK FAMILY,

«1. JAKCT HIINTKB ANI> PKAIl,

W KAMTSCHATKANB,

(a A KAMTHCHATKAN Kl.ienCK AND TRAM, ...

M THE I.OH» or TIIK "bQIIIRIIEI,," ...

Wl KHIP or TUB RRVeNTEENTH CgNTOBT,

HB SrKNERT or .IAN MATEN,

VI. THK "IHOLa" and "rUKV" WINTSRINO AT WISTEK ISLAND,

W. THE "KURT" ABANDONKD DT PARRY,

W DIHCOVERT or THE CAIRN OONTAINI.SO SIR .lOHN FKANKI.IN'a
I'Al'BRH,

100 RELICS or THE PRANXLIN EXPEDITION BROUOIIT BACK TO

ENQLANIl, ... ... M> ••• ,

101 niHlOVKBT or ONK or THP BOATS OP THK FRANKLIN EX-

PKDITION, ...

lOi! THE "THREE BROTHER T0RBE1 " ... ... .<>

108 MORTON ON THE 8II0RB Or THE SUPPOSED POLAR OCEAN, ...

104 1)11. KANE PATINO A VISIT TO AN ESKIMO HUT AT ETAH, ...

106 TRVINO TO LASSO A BEAR (FrLL-PAOE), ... ...

lOa THK MIDNIOHT HUN, OREESLANI),

107 A BEAR AT ANCHOR,

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HEATINO orP TIIK COAST OP OHERNI.ANII,

SNOW LINNETS AND BUNTIKOB TISlTINd THE CMKW or THE

"llAN^A,"
THE CREW or THE " HAHSA " BIVOUAOKIIIO ON THE ICE
(rrLLPAOE), .« ... .. •»

A BAKH INTRIllir.R.

IIFAU HIISTINO, (IHEKNLANn,

" INTO A WATEHOAP," ..

THE (HEW OP THK " IIERMANIA " IN A SNOW-STORM (El LL-

PAIIE),
MArEUlALS E"R THE HOUSE,
ATTACK ON A BEAU,
HETTINO roX-TRAPH,
HELIEVKM,

EUNKRAL or CAPTAIN HALL (rULL-PAOE),
AN ARCTIC SNiiWSTiiRM,

THE CASTAWAYS ON THE ICE (PULLPAOE),
ADRIFT ON THE ICE-PLOK,

RECOVERY or THE BOAT BV CAPTAIN TYSON,
I0I.0E8 CONBTIlUrTEn BV THE CASTAWAYS,
HANS MISTAKEN FOR A BEAR,
DIFPIOULT TBAVr.I.LINO (FULL-PAOE),
THE nUinlNO LIOHT,
DRAaalNO A SEAL,
RETURN OF THE SUN (FULL-PAOE), ... ..t

SHOOTINO NARWHAL,

DKACIdlNa THE OOOJOOK,

SUNLIOHT EFFECT IN THE ARCTIC HEOIOM (FULL-PAOE), ...

FIRST BIOHT OF A WHALE,

F.VOE TO F."'E WITH A POLAR BEAR,

AN ARCTIC ICE-SCAPE (FUI.r.-rAOI.,, ... .«., ,

, ON BOARD THE B0.»;"; ...
BREAKINO UP OF THE ICE,
.lOE CAPTURES A SEAL, ... .. ... «.

. A NIOIIT OF FEAR (PUI.LPAOF.), ...

A "HELL OF W.VTERS," ...
. DRAQOINO THE BOAT ON TO A FLOE, ... ... ...

. CLINOINO TO THE BOAT (FULI.-PAOE),
BAYED I (. ■;LL-PAaE), ...

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'». ■• 'v

THE ARCTIC WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

THB NORTH POLE — TI1UE8II0LD OK TlIK UNKNOWN WOULD — THK CIllOUMPOLAR UKQIONS IIIK KLORA
OF THE NORTH — LIKE IN TIIK POLAR WORLD -THE NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST PAH8AOE8.

EJi!?S|S the reader knows, the Poles are the two extremities of the axis round which tlie Earth
DfA w revolves. It is to the North Pole, and the regions surrounding it, that the following
IrtTt'ilB pages will bo devoted.

The inhabitants of Western Europe, and more particularly those of the British Isles, have
a peculiar interest in the North Polar Regions. Deriving their wealth and importance from
their commercial enterjirise, and that commercial enterprise leading their ships and seamen into
the furthest seas, they have necessarily a vital concern in the discovery of the shortest possible
route from that side of the Earth which they inhabit to the other, or eastern side ; and vhis,
more particularly, because the East is rich in natural productions which are of high value to
the peoples of the West.

Now a glance at the map will show the reader that the traders of Western Europe — the
British, the French, the Dutch, the Scandinavians — are situated on the northern shores of the
Atlantic Ocean, and that, to reach the Pacific Ocean or the Indian, only two routes are at
present open. For instance, they may cross the Atlantic to the American coast, and, keeping
southward, strike through Magellan's stormy Strait or round the bleak promontory of C'ape
Horn into the Pacific, and then, over some thousands of miles of water, proceed to Australia or
Hindustan or China ; or they may keep along the African coast to the Cape of Good Hope, its
southernmost point, and so stretch across the warm Tropical seas to India and the Eastern
Archipelago. A third, an artificial route, has indeed of late years been opened up ; and ships,
entering the Mediterranean, may pass through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. But this
last-named route is unsuitable for sailing-ships, and all three routes are laborious and slow. How
greatly the distance would be shortened were it possible to navigate the Northern Seas, and,
keeping along the north coast of the American continent, to descend Behring's Strait into the
Pacific ! In other words, w^/e that North- West Passage practicable, which, for three centuries,
our geographers and explor >^ so assiduously and courageously toiled to discover ! But a still
shorter route would be opened up, if we could follow a Une drawn from the British Islands

KXTKNT OK THK UNKNOWN REGION.

stiaif^ht acrosH the North I'olu to Bohriiijf'H Sea and the Aleutian Archipelago. This line would
not oxLotd 5000 inile.s in leiij^th, and would brinf» Japan, China, and India within a very shoi-t
voyage from Great Britain. Wo should bo able to reach Japan in three or four weeks, to the
obvious advantaj^e of our extensive commerce.

Hitherto, however, all efforts to fallow out this route, and to throw open this great ocean-
high .vay between Kurope and Asia, have failed. Man has been baffled by Nature ; by ice, and
froht, and wind.s, and climatic intluenccs. With heroic perseverance he haa sought to gain the
open sea which, it is believed, surrounds the Pole, but a barrier of ice has invariably arrested his
[)rogrcss. Tlis researches have carried him within about 500 miles of the coveted point ; but he is
na yet unable to move a stop beyond this furthest limit of geographical discovery. Immediately
around the North Polo, within a radius of eight to ten degrees or more, according to locality,
still lies ail Unknown Rogion, on the threshold of which Science stands expectant, eagerly look
ing forward to the day when human skill and human courage shall penetrate its solitudes and
reveal its secrets.

'i'iiis Unknown Ro^fion comprises an area of 2,500,000 square miles ; an immense portion of
tlio terrestrial surface to bo shut out from the knowledge of Civilized Man. Its further explor-
ation, if practicable, cannot but be rich in valuable results. Not only would it furnish the
shortest route from the West to the East, from progressive Europe to conservative Asia, from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, but it could not fail to add in a very important degree to our stores
of scientific information. Sir Edward Sabine is surely right vhen he says, that it is the greatest
goograjihical achievement which can be attempted, and that it will be the crowning enterprise of
those Arctic researches in which England has hitherto hfid the pre-eminence.

' • We may briefly indicate to the reader some of the advantages which might be expected
from exploration in the Unknown Region. It would unquestionably advance the science of
liydrography, and lead to a solution of some of the more difficult problems connected with the
I'^quatorial and Polar ocean-currents, those great movements of the waters of which, as yet, we
know so little.

A series of pendulum observations, it is said, at and near the North Pole, would be of
essential service to the science of geology. We are unable, at present, for want of sufficient
data, to fomi a mathematical theory of the physical condition of the Earth, and to ascertain its
exact configuration. No pendulum observations have been taken nearer than 600 or 620 miles
to the North Pole.

Again : what precious information respecting the strange and wonderful pheaomena of
magnetism and atmospheric electricity would certainly be acquired ! How much we have yet to
learn in reference to the Aurora, which can be learned only in high latitudes, and at or near the
point which apparently represents a magnetic focus or centre I

It has also been pointed out by Mr. Markham that the climate of Europe is largely affected
by the atmospheric conditions of the Polar area, in which the development of extremely low
temperatures necessarily leads to corresponding extreme changes of pressure, asd other atmos-
pheric disturbances, who.se influence extends far into the Temperate Zone. For the satisfactory
appreciation of these phenomena, says Mr. Markham, a precise knowledge is required of the
distribution of land and water within the Polar Region ; and any addition to our knowledge of its
unknown area, accompanied by suitable conservations of ita meteorology, cannot fail to afford

■MM

mmiiiKii

PROBABLE RESULTS OF CONTINUED POLAR EXPLORATION. U

improved means of understanding the meteorology of our own countrj', and of the Karth
generally.

There can be no doubt, too, that geology would profit, if we noukl push our retseiirohea
nearer to the Pole, and force our way through the great barrier of the Polar ice. It ii hij^hly
desirable, too, that we should know more of that interesting class of animals, the Mollusoa,
both terrestrial and aquatic, fresh-water and salt-water. Again : what a wide field of inquiry is
opened up by the Polar glaciei"s ; their extent, their elevation, their rargo, and tho eflbcts
produced by the slow but continuous motion of those huge ice-rivers over the surface of the
country. And the botanist has a right to calculate upon the discovery of many precious
forms of vegetable life in the Unknown Region. The Arctic flora is by no means abundant,
but it is peculiarly interesting. In Greenland, besides numerous mosses, lichens, algte, and
the like, flourish three hundred kinds of flowering plants, all of which are natives of the
Scandinavian peninsula; and Dr. Joseph Hooker remarks that they exhibit scarcely any
admixture of American types, though these are found on the opposite coast of Labrador. It
would seem probable that in the warm period which preceded the Glacial Age, the Scandinavian
flora spread over the entire area of the Polar Regions ; but that during the Age of Ice it was
gradually driven within its present limits, only the hardier types surviving the blight of the
long lingering winter.

And what would be the gain to the zoologist ? Why, it is a well-known fact that life
abounds in the Arctic waters, and especially those minute organisms which play so important a
part in the formation of sedimentary deposits, and help to build up the terrestrial crust. We
have much to learn, moreover, of the habits and habitats of the fish, the echinodorms, the
molluscs, the corals, the sponges of the extreme Northern Seas.

There are questions connected with the migrations of birds which can be elucidated only
by an exploration of the Unknown Region. Multitudes which annually visit our shores in
the winter and spring, return in summer to the far North. This is their regular custom,
and obviously would not have become a custom unless it had been found beneficial. Therefore
we may assume that in the zone they frequent they find some water which is not alwfiys
frozen ; some land on which they can rest their weary feet ; and an adequate supply of
nourishing food.

From Professor Newton we adopt, in connection with this consideration, a brief accoimt of
the movements of ona class of migratory birds, — the Knots.*

The knot, or sandpiper, is something half-way between a snipe and a plover. It is a very
active and graceful bird, with rather long legs, moderately long wings, and a very short tail. It
swims admirably, but is not often seen in the water; preferring to assemble with its fellows on the
sandy sea-shores, where it gropes in the sand for food, or fishes in the rock-pools and shallow
waters for the small cmstaceans. It is known both as the red and the ash-coloured sandpiper,
because it changes the colour of its plumage according to the season of the year ; a bright red in
summer, a sober ashen-gray in winter, Now, in the spring the knot seeks our island in inmicnse
flocks, and after remaining on the coasts for about a fortnight, can be traced proceeding gradually
northwards, until it finally takes leave of us. It has been noticed in Iceland and Greenland, but
not to stay; the summer there would be too rigorous for its liking, and it goes further and

* The Tringa canutut uf uruitliologUta.

13 THRESHOLD OF THE UNKNOWN WORLD.

further no.th. WhitJicr? Whore does it build its nest, and hatch its young? Wo lose all
trace of it for some weeks : wliat becomes of it ?

Towards the end of summer back it comes to us in larger tiocks than before, and both old
birds and young birds remain upon our coasts until November, or, in mild seasons, even later.
Then it wings its flight to the south, and luxuriates in lilue skies and balmy airs until the follow-
ing spring, when it resumes the order of its migrations.

Commenting upon these facts. Professor Newton infers that the lands visited by the knot
in the middle of summer are less sterile than Iceland or Greenland ; for certainly it would not
pass over these countries, which are known to be the breeding-places for swarms of water-birds, to
resort to regions not so well provided with supplies of food. The food, however, chiefly depends
on the climate. Wherefore we conclude that beyond the northern tracts already explored lies a
region enjoying in summer a climate more genial than they possess.

Do any races of men with which we are now unacquainted inhabit the Unknown Kegion ?
Mr. Markham observes that although scarcely one-half of the Arctic world has been explored,
yet numerous traces of former inhabitiints have been found in wastes which are at present abai.-
doncd to the silence and solitude. Man would seem to migrate as well as the inferior animals,
and it is possible that tribes may be dwelling in the mysterious inner zone between the Pole and
the known Polar countries.

The extreme points reached by our explorers on the ice-bound Greenland coast are in J»out
82° on the west, and * u ^>xx t^'^ east side ; these two points lying about six hundred miles apart.
As man has dwelt at both these points, and as they are separated from the settlements further
south by a dreary, desolate, uninliabitable interval, it is not an extravagant conjecture that the
unknown land to the north has been or is inhabited. In 1818 a small tribe was discovered on
the bleak Greenland coa.st between 76° and 79° N. ; their southward range being bounded by the
glaciers of Melville Bay, and their northward by the colossal mass of the Humboldt Glacier,
while iidand their way is barred by the Sernik-sook, a great glacier of the interior. These
so-called Arctic Highlanders number about one hundred and forty souls, and their existence
" dei>ends on open pools and lanes of water throughout the winter, which attract animal life."
Wlierever such conditions as these are found, man may be found.

We know that tliero are or have been inhabitants north of the Humboldt Glacier, on the
very threshold of the Unknown Region ; for Dr. Kane's expedition discovered the runner of a
sledge made of bone lying on the beach immediately to the north of it. The Arctic Highlanders,
moreover, cherish a tradition that herds of musk-oxen frequent an island situated far away to the
north in an iculess sea. Traces of these animals were found by Captain Hall's expedition, in
1871-72, as far north as 81° 30'; and similar indications have been noted on the eastern side
of Greenland. In 1823, Captain Clavering found twelve natives at Cape Borlase Warren, in
lat. 79° N. ; but when Captain Koldewey, of the German expedition, wintered in the same neigh-
bourhood, in 1869, they had disajipeared, though thei'e were traces of their occupancy, and ample
means of subsistence. Yet they cannot have gone southward, owing to insuperable natural
obstacles ; they must have moved towards the North Pole.

We have thus indicated some of the results which may be anticipated from further researches
in the Unknown Region. It is not to be forgotten, however, that "the unexpected always
happens," and it is impossible to calculate definitely the consequences which may ensue from a

MMHIIki

LIMITS OF THE NORTH POLAR REGION.

more extensive investigation. " Columbus," it has been justly said, " found very few to sym-
pathize with him, or perceive the utility of the effort on his part to go out into tlio unknown
waste of waters beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, in search of a new country. Who can, at this
time, estimate the advantages which have followed upon that adventure ? If now it should be
possible to reach the Pole, and to make accurate observations at that point, from the relation
which the Earth bears to the sun and to the whole stellar universe, the most useful results are
very likely to follow, in a more thorough knowledge of our globe."

The reader has now before him the particulars which will enable him to fonn an idea of
the extent and character of the undiscovered region of the Pole. Roughly speaking, it is
bounded by the 80th parallel of latitude on the European side, except at a few poii\ts where our

A DESERT OF ICE IN TUK ARCTIC REOION.

gallant explorers have succeeded in crossing the threshold ; on the Asiatic side it descends as low
as 75°; and to the west of Behring Strait as low as 72°. Thus, it varies from 500 or GOO to
1400 or 1500 miles across. Below these parallels, and bounded bj' the Arctic Circle, or, in some
places, by the 60th parallel, extends a vast belt of land and water which is generally known aa
the Arctic or Circumpolar Regions. These have been more or less thoroughly explored ; and it is
to a description of their principal features, their forms of animal and vegetable life, and their
natural phenomena, that we propose to devote the present volume.

It is important to remember that the northern shores of Europe, Asia, and America are
skirted by the parallel of 70°, and that the belt between the 70th and 80th parallels, having Ijeen
partially explored by the seamen and travellers of various nations, intervenes as a kind of neutral
ground between the known and the unknown. We may, indeed, formulate our statement thus ;

14 OKOOHAPIIY OK THE NORTH POLAU UKOlONS.

from the Pole to the 80th degree stretches the unknown ; from the 80th to the 70th, the
[tartially known ; while, Houth of the 70th, we traverse the lands and seas which human enter-
prim; has complctoly conquorod.

The Circumiiolar Zone includes the northernmost portions of the three great continents,
pjuroi)e, Asia, and America ; and by sea it has three approaches or gateways : one, through the
Northern Ocean, between Norway and Greenland ; another, through Davis Strait,- both these
being from the Atlantic ; and a third, through Behring Strait,— the entrance from the Pacific.

It will bo seen that the Circunipolar Regions, as they are now understood, and as we shall
describe thoin in the following ]' iges, extend to the south of that imaginary line drawn by
geognaphoi's round the North Polt it a distance from it equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or
23' 30'. Within this circle, howev 'lore is a jjeriod of the year when the sun does not set;
while there is another when he is never seen, when a settled gloom spreads over the face of nature,
— this period being longor or shorter at any given point according as that point is nearer to or
further from the Pole.

But as animal and vegetable life are largely atte(!ted by climate, it may be justly said that
wherever an Arctic climate prevails there we shall find an Arctic or Polar region ; and, hence,
many countries below even the 60th parallel, such as Kamtschatka, Labrador, and South Green-
land, fall within the Circumpolar boundary.

The waters surrounding the North Pole bear the general designation of the Arctic Ocean.
But here again it is almost impossible to particularize any uniform limit southward. It joins the
Pacific at Behring Strait in about lat. 66° N., and consequently in this quarter extends fully
half a degree beyond the Arctic Circle. At Scoresby Sound, as at North Cape, where it meets
the Atlantic, it is intersected by the parallel of 71°, and consequently falls .short of the Arctic
Circle by about 4° 30'.

In the Old World, the Polar Ocean, if we include its gulfs, extends, in the White Sea, fully
two degrees beyond the Arctic Circle ; while at Cape Severe, the northernmost point of Asia, in
lat. 78° 25' N., it is 11° 55' distance from it. Finally, in the New World it is everywhere con-
fined mthin the Circle; as much as 5° at Point Barrow, about 7° 30' at Barrow Strait, and
about 3° at the Hecla and Fury Strait.

We may add that, so far as temperature is concerned, the great gulfs known, in memory
of their discoverers, as Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, and Hudson Bay, are portions of the Arctic
Ocean.

Of the more southerly area of tliis great ocean, the only sectioi? which has been adequately
explored to a distance from the continent, and in the direction of the Pole, is that which washes
the north-ea.st of America. Here we meet, under the collective name of the Polar i'l.rchipelago,
with the following islands : — Banks Land, Wollaston Land, Prince Albert Land, Victoria Land,
I'rince Patrick Island, Princess Royal Islands, Melville Island, Cornwallis Island, North Devoi.,
Beechey Island, Grinnell Land, and North Lincoln. Further to the east lie Spitzbergen, Jan
Mayen Island, Novaia Zemlaia, New Siberia, and the Liakhov Islands. The chief straits and
inlets are Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Smith Sound, Regent Inlet, Hecla and Fury
Strait, Wellington Channel, and Cumberland Sound ; while further westward are Belcher
Channel, Melville Sountl, M'Clintock Channel, Banks Strait, and Prince of Wales Strait.

THK STONY TUNDKA8. 16

The Arctic Lands comprehend two well-defined sections, or zones ; that of the forests, and
the treeless wastes.

To the latter belong the islands within the Arctic Circle, and also a consitlerablo tract of the
northern continents, forming the " barrens " of North America, and the " tundras " ar.d " steppes "
of European Russia and Siberia.

The treeless character of this vast area of wilderness is owing to the bleak sea-winds which
drive, without let or hindrance, across the islands and level shores of the Polar Ocean, compelling
even the most vigorous plant to bend before them and creep along the ground.

Drearier scenes are nowhere presented than these st<jny tundras, or their boundless swamps.
Almost the only vegetation are a few gray lichens, a few dull blackish-looking mosses ; the
stunted flowers or crawling grasses that here and there occur do not relieve the unifonu desola-
tion,— they serve simply to enhance its gloomy character. In summer, indeed, the tundras are
full of life ; for the spawning instinct of the salmon and the sturgeon impels them to enter their
rivers and seek the quiet recesses of their mysterious lakes. The reindeer assemble in numerous
herds to feed on the herbage warmed into temporary vitality by the upward-slanting sun ; the
whirr of countless wings announces the coming of the migratory birds to breed, and feed their
young, on the river-banks and the level shores ; and in their trail arrive the eagle and the hawk,
intent on prey.

But with the first days of September a change passes over the scene. Animal life hastens
to the more genial south ; the birds abandon the frozen wastes ; the reindeer retires to the shelter
of the forests ; the fish desert the ice-bound streams ; and a terrible silence reigns in the desolate
wilderness, broken only by the hai-sh yelp of a fox or the melancholy hooting of a snow-owl.
For some eight or nine months a deep shroud or pall of snow lies on the whxtened plains. No
cheerful sunbeams irradiate it with a rosy glow ; the sky is dull and dark ; and it seems aa if
Nature had been abandoned to etenial Night.

But blank and dreary as the limitless expanse of snow appears, it is the security of man in
these far northern regions. It affords the necessary protection to the scanty vegetable life against
the rigour of the long winter season. In Rensselaer Bay, Dr. Kane found, when the surface
temperature had sunk to — 30°, a temperature at two feet deep of - 8°, at four feet deep of
-I- 2", and at eight feet deep of + 26°, or no more than 6° below freezing-point. Hence, under-
neath their thick frozen pall, the Arctic grasses and lichens maintain a struggling existence, and
are able to maintain it until thoroughly, resuscitated by the summer sun. It is owing to this wise
and beneficent provision that, in the highest latitudes, the explorer discovers some feeble forms of
vegetation. Thus, as Hartwig reminds us, Morton gathered a crucifer at Cape Constinution, in
lat. 80° 45' N. ; and Dr. Kane, on the banks of the Minturn River, in lat. 78° 52', met with a
flower-growth which, though fully Arctic in its type, was gaily and richly coloured — including
the purple lychnis, the starry chickweed, and the hesperis, among the festuca and other tufted
grasses.

In the tundras, the most abundant vegetable forms, next to the lichens and mosses, are the
grasses, the crucifers, the saxifrages, the caryophyles, and the compositis. These grow fewer and
fewer as we move towards the north, but the number of individual plants does not decrease.
Where the soil is fairly dry, we shall find an extensive growth of lichens ; in raoister grounds,
these are intermingled with the well-known Iceland moss. Lichens are everywhere, except in

THE REGIONS OF THE "BARKENS."

tho Hparno triw;ts of nuiidow liiiul lyiiif,' at the foot of shelteriixj: IhUh, or ii; those alluvial inundated
hollows wiiiih air fhickly jilaiiti'd with " whisiieriii^' roods" and dwarf willows.

It is not easy to trace ex.oetly the boundary botweoa the tundras and tlie forest zone. Tho
former diseend to tho south, and the latter advances to the north, according to the climatic influ-
ences which |irevail ; following the isotherniic lines of uniform temperature, and not the mathe-
matical limits of the geo(ria|ilii<al parallels of latitude. Where the ground undulates, and hilly
riilges liieak the fury of the icy bliusts, the forests encroach on tho stony treeless region ; hut the
desolate pliiins strike into the wooded zone in places whore the ocean-wimls range with unchecked
sway.

The southernmost limit of the "barrens" is found in Labrador, where they descend to lat.
.•i?" ; nor is this to be wondered at, when wo remember the peculiar position of that gloomy penin-
sula, witli icy seas wa.shing it on three sMes, and cold winds sweojiing over it from tlu north.
«.>n the opposite coasts of Hudson Jiay they <lo not strike lower than GO^; and they orrtinue t^

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'■-u.l'

THE SWAMPS OF THK OBI.

rise as we jiroceed westward, until in the Mackenzie Valley we find tho tall forest growth reach-
ing as far north as G8° or even 70°. Thence they recede gradually, until, on the bleak shore of
liehring Sea, they do not rise higher than 65°. Crossing into the eastern continent, we find
them begiiming, in the land of tho Tuski (or Tchi\ktcho), in G3°, and from thence encroaching
gradually upon the tundras until, at the Lena, they reach as high as 71°. From the Lena to
the Obi the tundras gain upon the forests, and in the Obi Valley descend below the Arctic Circle ;
but from the Obi to the Scandinavian coast the forests gain upon the tundras, terminating, after
many variations, in lat. 70°.

The rt ;lt to w hicli this rapid survey brings us is, that the " tundras " or " barrens " of
Europe, Asia, and America occupy an area larger than the whole of Europe. The Siberian
wilderness is more extensive than the African Sahara or the South American Pampas. But of
still vaster area are the Arctic forest regions, which stretch in an "almost continuous belt"

THE FLORA oF TIFK NORTH. \9

throii<j;li three quarters of tho world, with a l)ri'aclth of from 15° to 20' — that in, of 1000 to 1400
miles. And it ia a peculiarity of those Circumpolar woods, tliat tiicy art* almost wiiolly composed
of conifers, and that frequently a wide apace of (ground is covered for liai,'ius upon li;a<,Mus with a
single kind of tir oi ]iine.

" This irt tlio rciicMt priiiunal. Tlio niiiimiiiiiig |)iue9 aiiil tliu IhmuIdcIu,
iilc.iileil with inoH^, ami iu K'li'iui'iits ^rei'ii, iiiili.stiiK't in tho twili;(lit, ,

Stniicl lilje IJiiiiiis of olii, witli vuiirs sail iiiiil |iro|ilic'tlo,
Stand liltc harpcin lioar, with 1 aids tliat it»t on lliiMr boHoruti."

The American species, however, differ froni the Asiatic or Europenn. While in tho Hudson
Bay territories j^row the white and black spruce,* the Canadian larch,t and tho gray pine ; t in
Scandinavia and Siberia, the Siberian fir and larch,!;} the /Vcci. olovata, an! the Pi nun umbra
flourisli. But both in the Old World and the New the birch advances beyond tiie fir and niiio,
and on the banks of the rivei-s and the shores of the lakes dwarf willows form imnieiiso ;m<\
almost impenetrable thickets. Tho Arctic forests also include various kinds of ash, elder, ami
the service tree ; and though orchard trees are wholly wanting, both man and beast find a
great boon in the bilberries, cranberries, bog-berries, and the like, which grow plentifully in
many localities.

The area of the Arctic flora comprises Greenland, in the western hemisphere, and extends
considerably to the south of the Arctic Circle, especially on the coasts, where it reaches the
parallel of G0° N. lat., and even ovei-passes it.

In Greenland the vegetation ia more truly of an Arctic character than even in Iceland. The
valleys are covered with marsh-plants and dingy mosses ; the gloomy rocks are encrusted with
lichens; while the grasses on the meadow-lands that border the fiords and inlets are nearly four
times less varied than those of Iceland.

The flora of Iceland is approximative to that of Great Britain ; yet only one in every four of
British plants is included in it. The total number of species may be computed at eight hundred
and seventy, of which more than half blossom ; this proportion is greater than [irevails in Scotland,
but then only thirty-two are of woody texture. They are scattered about in grcjiips ai-cording as
they prefer a marshy, volcanic, dry, or marine soil. Many bloom in the immediate vicinity of the
hot springs ; some not far from the brink of the basin of the Great Geyser, where every other
plant is petrified ; and several species of confervaj flourish in a spring the waters of which are
hot enough, it is said, to boil an egg.

From the nature of the Arctic forests, the reader will be prepared to learn that they are n(jt
inhabited, like those of the Tropics, by swarms of animals ; or made musical by the songs of birds,
like our European woods. Even the echoes are silent, except when the hoarse wind bears to
them the peculiar cry of the reindeer, the howl of the wolf, or the sharp scream of some bird of
prey. Insect life, however, is active and abundant ; and our Arctic travellers have suffered
greatly from the legions of gnats which haunt their swampy recesses.

Passing from the forest region into the treeless wastes, we may glance once again at their
strikingly impressive features. North of the G2nd parallel no corn can ripen, on account of tho
fatal power of the winds Avhich pour down from the Arctic Ocean. As we advance to the north-

* Abia alba et nigra. + Larix Canadensia. % IHntu lianktiatux, J Abim Sibirica, iMric Hibirioi.

19 OI,()()M i>K TIIK SlItKHIAN Dl-XKUT

whkI, a wide .sjtiiad aicii nf flcsulaticiii JstiitclioH hot'din us: Hult stoppoH, Htouy ; ' iiiH, IxiUIkIIubs
swamps, and lakoH uf wilt aiui tresli water. So terrible ih the cold that the spoiif^y hoil \h per-
petually fVi)zrii tci tin' d(;pth of suuie huiidrrd feet helow the surface ; and the surface iUteH', thouj^h
not thawed until the end of .luni', is aj^ain ice-hound hy the middle oi' Septeniher. ()n(' of the
most Lrra|ihic skitclics with wliicli we are acipiainted of the extreme Siiierian desert is furnished
hv Admiral von Wraiij;"], who travelled iluring the winter from the mouth of the Kolyma to
JJehriu),' Strait.

Idle, he says, endle.sn Hnt>W8 and ice-crusted rocks bound the horizon ; Nature lies shrouded
in all but perjietual winter; life is a constant conflict with ])rivation and with the terrors of cold
and hnni,'er; the jrrave of Nature, containin<x only the bones of another world. The people, and
even the snow, throw off a continual vapour; and this evaporation is instantly chanjred into
millions of needles of ice, which make a noise in the air like the sound of torn satin or the i-ustlt
of thick silk. The ri'indeer take to the forest, or crowd togi^the'r for heat ; and the raven alone, the
dark bird of winter, still smites the frosty air with heavy laborious winjf, leavinj^ behind him a
lon<^ trail of thin vapour to mark the course of his solitary fliijht. The trunks of the thickest
trees arc^ ri'iit with a loud elaiif,', masses of rock are torn from their sites, the j^round in the
valleys is .split into a myriad fissures, from which the waters that are underneath bubble up,
throwiuij otr ;i cloud of smoke, and immediately confjealing into ice. The atmosphere grows
dense; the glisti'uini,' stars are dimmed. The dogs outside the huts of the Siberians burrow
in the snow, and their howling, at intervals of six or eight hours, interrupts the general silence
of winti^r.

The abundance of fur-bearing animals in the less rigorous parts of the tundras has induced
the haidy Russians to colonize and build towns on these confines of tht .'Vozon World. Yakut.sk,
on the river Tjciia, in 6:2° 1' 30" N., may be regarded, perhaps, as the coldest town on the Earth.
The groimd is perpetually frozen to the depth of more than 400 feet, of which three feet oidy are
thawe<l in summer, when Fahrenheit's thermometer frequently marks 77° in the shade. Yet
in winter the rigour of the climate is so extreme that mercury is constantly frozen for two and
occasionally even for three months. -, , •

Fi- ini the data set forth in the preceding pages, the reader will conclude that, as indeed
results from iiliysical laws, the line of perpetual snow will be found to descend lower and lower
on advancing to the Pole. By the line of peqjetual snow we mean, of course, the limit above
which a continual frost endures. Now, this limit varies according to climate. The lower the
temperature, the lower the snow-line ; the higher the temperature, the higher the snow-line. In
the Tropics it does not sink below the summits of the loftiest mountains. Thus, at 1° from the
I'iquator, where the mean temperature at the sea-level is 84°.2, the snow-line must be sought at
the elevation of 15,203 feet ; in 51° 30' lat., the latitude of London, it is usually found at about
5900 feet ; in lat. 80°, where the mean temperature is 33°.6, it sinks to 457 feet. These figures,
however, rei)resent its normal elevations ; but temperature, as we all know, is greatly affected by
local circumstances, and therefore the perpetual snow-line varies greatly in height. Owinc to
causes already explained, the snow-line in the Circumpolar Regions sinks to a very low level ;
and, therefore, many mountainous regions or elevated table-lands, such as Spitzbergen, Greenland,
and Novaia Zemlaia, which, in a more temperate climate, would bloom with emerald slopes and

I.IKK IN rilK I'(»LA1! Wolll.li, Ut

waving wooiIh, mo covered with liugo j^liu'iiTH and tieldH uf icf, with apparently inti rniinahle
reaches of uiitroddun nnow.

It Khould he noted, however, that nowhere docs the pcrpc tiiiil .-^nnw line diwend tn the
water's edge ; nowhoro has the spell of winter ahsohitely erushed the life out i>f all ve;,'(tation.
Lichens and ftrasses, on which the reindeer j,'ains its hardy suhsistentr, air fnind n. ar lat. 80';
even on the awful plains of Melville Island the snow melts at inidsuiiiint r ; and llif di serts nf
New Siheria afford food for considerahle mnnhers of leniinini^M. As far as man has rt'aehed l<i
the north, says a popular and accurate writer, vegetation, when fostered hy a shelttud situatinn
and the refraction of solar heat from the rocks, has everywhere heeii found to rise to a intisidtinihio
altitude ab' the level of the sea; and should there he land at tln' North I'ule, wc may
reasonably supi)ose that it is destitute neither of animal nor vegetable life. It would 1m' <piite
wrong to conclude that the cohl of winter invariably increases as we approach the l^»l(^ the
temperature of a land being controlled by many other causes besides its latitudi'. Kviii in the
most northern regions visited by man, the influence of the sea, particularly where lavnurcd by
warn\ currents, considerably mitigates the severity of the winter, while at the same timc! it
diminishes the heat of summer. On the other hand, the large continental tracts of Asia ^r
America that slope towards the Polo, possess a more rigorous winter and a fiercer summer than
many coast lands or islamis situated far nearer to the Pole. For example : the western shores
of Novaia Zemlaia, fronting a wide expanse of sea, have an average winter temperature of only
— 4°, and a mean summer temperature which rises very little above the freezing-j)oint of water
( r 36° 30') ; while Yakutsk, situated in the centre of Siberia, and 20" nearer to the Ecjuator, has
a winter temperature of — 36° 6', and a summer of + 66' 6'.

But though such are the physical conditions of the Polar Regions, it must not be supposed
that Nature wears only a severe and repellent aspect. There is something l)eautiful in the vast
ex])an.se of snowy plain when seen by the light of a cloudless moon ; something majestic in the
colossal glaciers which fill up the remote Arctic valleys ; something picturesque in the numenjus
icebergs which grandly sail down the dark Polar waters ; something mysterious and wonilerful in
the coruscations of the Auror.a, which illuminates the darkness of the winter nights with the glory
of the celestial fires. The law of compensation prevails in the far North, aa in the glowing anil
exuberant regions of the Tropics.

CHAITKI! II.

TIIK AHC'TIO IIKAVKNS : ATMOHI'IIKIIIO ANMI METKOIIIC I'llKNOMKNA.

k'l^jd I'"r tho roiulur fancy liiinsclf— hIkjuIiI Im l)u readin<» tlieso pa^^s on a warm sumiuor's day,
nBfW *'" '"'"'^ ^^'" ""*' '"' uriplcaHant !— lut tho reader fancy himself on board a well-
"•"■ -* fmind, stoutly-huilt wlialiiij^-vessol, and rapidly approaching tho coast of Greenland.
Hut liic 111 (ivy mist lian<,'s over the Ictjt'iid-haimted shores, and we can hut catch the sound of
the claiij^inj,' surf as it rolls u[)on them. All around us spreads the mist, — dense, impenetrable.
What is that before us? 'J'lic di-ad white mass of an iceber<,', slowly drifting with the current,
and almost upon us before the look-out man discovered it. But the helm has been shai-ply
handled ; our good ship has put about ; and wo sail clear of the mighty pyramid. Fully ono
huiidrcd and fifty feet high, we can assure you, and twice as broad at its base. A sudden
break in tho mist reveals its radiant spire, with white cloud-wreaths circling and dancing round
it in the sunlight.

And now, as we steadily move forward, the fog is lifted up like a curtain, and before us,
iiko a scene in a panorama, looms tho Greenland coast in all its austere magnificence : yonder
are its broad ice-filled valleys, its snow-clad ravines, its noble mountains, its iron-bound range
of cliffs, its general aspect of solemn desolation.

Away over the westward sea fly the scattered vapours, disclosing iceberg after iceberg, like
tho magical towers in some of Turner's pictures. We seem to have been drawn by some irre-
sistible spell into a world of enchantment, and all the old Norse romance comes back upon tho
memory, with its picturesque associations. Yonder lies the Valhalla of the ancient ocean-
rovers ; yonder the dazzling city of the sun-god Freya, one of the most popular of the Scandina-
vian divinities, as well he might be ; yonder the elfin caves of Alfheim ; and Glitner, with its
walls of gold and roofs of silver ; and the radiant Gimele, the home of the blessed ; and there,
too, towering above the clouds, the bridge Bifrost, by which the heroes ascended from earth to
heaven. Heimdall, who can see for fully a hundred leagues, as well by night as by day, stands
sentinel upon it, prepared to sound his h(irn Gjallar, if intruders should attempt to cress it !

The sea is smooth as glass; not a ripple breaks the wonderful calmness of its surface.
It is midnight, but in this strange Arctic world the sun still hangs close upon the northern
horizon; tho icebergs rear their dazzling crests around, like floating spires, and turrets, and
many-towered minsters ; tho dark headlands are boldly outlined against the sky ; and sea, and
sky, and mountains, and icebergs are suffused in a wildly beautiful atr.osphere of crimson, gold,
and pui-ple. The picture is like a poet's vision; and so startlingly unreal, that it is difficult
for the unaccustomed spectator to believe it ot'.er than an illusion.

A 0U)K10UH LANDHCAI'K AND SEASCAPE.

'J^

We adopt the followin;,' description from tlu; vivid languajjjc of Dr. Haves, who di.splays a
keen feeling for the beauties of tlie Polar world.

The air was warm, he says, ahnost a.s a summer't* ni^lit at liome, and yet there \\i\v the
icebergs and the bleak mountains, with which the fancy, in our own la?K? of green hills and wav-
ing 'voods, can associate nothing but what is cold and repellent. Bright was the sky, and suit
and strangely inspiring as the skies of Italy. The bergs had wholly lost their chilly asjdct, and,
glittering in the blaze of the brilliant heavens, seemed, in the distance, like niiusses of burniHlud
metal or solid flame. Nearer at hand they were huge blocks of I'arian marble, encrusted with
colossal gems of pearl and opal. One in particular exhibited the perfection of grandiiir. Its

t.&mnosillV»

OFF THE COAST OF GREENLAND.

form was not unlike that of the Coliseum, and it lay so far away that half its height was buried
beneath the line of blood-red waters. The sun, slow moving along its path of glory, passed
behind it, and the old Roman ruin seemed suddenly to break into flame !

Nothing, indeed, but the pencil of the artist could depict the wonderful richness of this com-
bined landscape and seascape. Church, in his great jiicture of " The Icebergs," has grandly
exhibited a scene not unlike that we have attempted to describe.

In the shadows of " e bergs the water was a ricli green, and nothing could, be more soft and
tender than the gradations of colour made by the sea shoaling on the sloping tongues of some of
these floating masses. The tint increased in intensity where the ice overhung the wat^M-s, and a
deep cavern in one of them exhibited thi' solid colour of the malachite mingled with the trans

CONTIUSTS IN THE POLAR WORLD.

parency of the emerald, while, in strange contrast, a broad belt of cobalt blue shot diagonally
through its body.

The enchantment of the scene was heightened by a thousand little casctides which flashed
into the sea from the icebergs, the water being discharged from basins of melted sr.ow and ice
which tranquilly reposed far up in the hollows of their topmost surface. From other bergs large
bouldera were occasionall" detached, and those plunged into the water with •>. deafening din,
while the roll and rush o ' the ocean resounded like the music of a solemn dirge through thnir
broken archways. r, •;;^

The contrasts and combinations of colour in the Polar world are, indeed, among its jmrti-
cular attractions, and of their kind they cannot be surpassed or imitated even in the gorgeous
realms of the Tropics. The pale azure gleam of the ice, the dazzling whiteness of the snow, the
vivid verdure of the sunlit plains, the deep emerald tints, crossed with sapphire and ultramarine,
of the waters, would in themselves afford a multiplicity of rich and beautiful effects ; but to these
we must add the magical influences of the coruscations of the Arctic heavens, with the glories of
the midni<'ht sun and the wonders of the Aurora.

HOUNLIOHT IN THE POLAR WORLD.

Even moonlight in the Polar world is unlike moonlight anywhere else ; it has a character
all its own, — strange, weird, supernatural. Night after night the sky will be free from cloud or
shadow, and the radiant stars shine out with a singular intensity, seeming to cut the air like
keen swords. The moonbeams are thrown back with a pale lustre by ice-floe and glacier and
snow-drift, and the only relief to the brightness is where the dark cliffs throw a shadow over the

iMMM

IN THE LONG WINTEK-NIOHT l»

landscape. Gloriously beautiful look the snow-clad mountains, as the moonlight pours upon
them its serene splendour, interrupted only by the occasional passage of a wrcatli of mist, whiih
is soon transformed into sparkling silver. The whole scene produces an impression of awe on
the mind of the thoughtful spectator, and he feels as if brought face to face with the visible
presence of anothei world.

The prolonged winter night is in itself well calculated to aft'ect the imagination of the Euro-
pean. He reads of it in travels and books of astronomy ; but to know what it is, and what it
means, he must submit himself to its influence, — he must " winter" in the Polar Regions. Not to
see sunrise and sunset, and the changes they bring with them, day after day, enlivening, inspirit-
ing, strengthening, is felt at first as an intolerable burden. The stars shining at all hours with
equal brilliancy, and the lasting darkness which reigns for twenty days of each winter month
when the moon is below the horizon, become a weariness and a discomfort. The traveller
longs for the reappearance of the moon ; and yet before she has ran her ten days' course, he feels
fatigued by the uniform illumination.

But sometimes a relief is supplied by the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. We inha-
bitants of the United Kingdom know something of the rare beauty of the " northern lights,"
when the heavens kindle with a mysterious play of colours which reminds us of the strange
weird radiance that occasionally kindles in our dreams; yet these are poor and trivial when
compared with the auroral display. Let us endeavour to realize it from the glowing description
painted by one of the mjst eloquent and observant of Arctic explorers.

He was groping his way among the ice-hummocks, in the deep obscurity of the mid-winter,
when suddenly a bright ray darted up from behind the black cloud which lay low down on the
horizon before him. It lasted but an instant, and, having filled the air with a stiange illumina-
tion, it died away, leaving the darkness even greater darkness than before. Presently an arc
of coloured light sprang across the sky, and the aurora became gradually more fixed. The space
enclosed by the arc was very dark, and was filled with the cloud. The play of the rays which
rose from its gradually brightening border was for some time very capricious, modifying the
burst of flame from what seemed a conflagration of the heaver to the soft glow of early morn.

Gradually the light grew more and more intense, and from irregular bursts it settled into
an almost steady sheet of splendour. This sheet, however, was far from uniform, and may best
be described as " a flood of mingling and variously-tinted streaks."

The exhibition, at first tame and quiet, developed by degrees into startling brilliancy. The
broad dome of night seemed all a-blaze. Lurid fires, fiercer than those which reddened the
heavens from burning Troy, flashed angrily across the zenith. The stars waned before the mar-
vellous outburst, and seemed to recede further and further from the Earth ; " as when the chariot
of the sun, driven by Phaeton, and carried from its beaten track by the ungovernable steeds,
rushed madly through the skies, parching the world and withering the constellations. The
gentle Andromeda flies trembling from the flame ; Perseus, with his flashing sword and Gorgon
shield, retreats in fear ; the Pole-Star is chased from the night ; and the Great Bear, faithful
sentinel of the North, quits his g .ardian watch, following the feeble trail."

The colour of the light was chiefly red, but this was not permanent, and every hue mingled
in the wonderful display.

Blue and yellow streamers shot athwart the lurid fire ; and, sometimes starting side by side

A VISION OF MANY COLOURS.

! \

from tlio wide fx pause of the illumined arc, they melted into each other, and flung a weird
f^laro of j^rocn over the landscape.

Ai,'ain this fjreen overcame the red ; blue and yellow blended with each other in their swift
fli^'lit ; violet-tinted arrows flashed thri>Uf,d» a liroad j^low of orange, and countless tongues of
wliiti' flame, fiirincd tif Muse uniting streams, rushed ahjft and clasj)ed the skies. The effect of
the many-colnurtd lustre upon th(! surrounding objects was singularly wonderful. The weird
forms of inimmorable icebergs, singly and in clusters, loomed above the sea, and around their
Hummits hovered the strange gleam, like the fires of Vesuvius over the villas and temjiles of

T'^tVi. «.»*w».«ap'

TUR AURORA noREALtS.

Pompeii. .Vll along the white sui-faoe of the frozen sea, upon the mountain-peaks and the lofty
clifTs, the I'jjht glowed and dinunod and glowed again, as if the air were filled with graveyard
meteors, flitting wildly above some vast illimitable city of the dead. The scene was noiseless, yet
the senses were deeeivetl, for sounds not of earth or sea seemed to follow the swift coruscations,
and to fall upon the ear like

'• The trend
Of pliaiituiuM ilrend,
, ,- . Witli bnuuer, aud sjiear, .iiid iliime."

Though the details, so to speak, are not always the same, the general character of the aurora
changes very slightly, and, from a comparison of numerous accounts, the gradation of the pheno-
menon would seem to be iis follows : —

The sky slowly assumes a tint of brown, on which, as on a background, is soon developed a
nebulous segment, bordered by a spacious arc of dazzling whiteness, which seems incessantly

•i.

i '

:■{ ■

CHANGES OF THE AURORA BOREALIS. tl

agitated by a tremulous motion. From tliis arc an increilible number of sluift.s and lays of li<4lit
Knip upwards to the zunitii. These luminous columns pass tlirou;;ii all tlie hues of the raiiiliow,
— from softest violet and intensest sapphire to green and purple-red. Sometimes tlu; rays issue
from the resplendent arc mingled with darker flashes ; sometimes they rise simultaneously at
different points of the horizon, and unite in one broad sea of (lame pcrvaiKiI by rapid undulations.
On other occasions it would seem as if invisible hands were unfurlin<^ tiny dnzzliii'.,' b.imn is, to

THE AURORA RORKALIS — THE CORONA.

stream, like meteors, in the troubled air. A kind of canoj)y, of soft and tranquil li,y:bt, wiiicii is
known as the corona, indicates the close of the marvellous exhil)itioii , and shortly after its
appearance the luminous rays begin to decrease in splendour, tlie richly-colouiod arcs dissolve
and die out, and soon of all the gorgeous spectacle nothing remains but a whitish cloudy haze in
those parts of the finuament which, but a few minutes before, l)lazed with the mysterious fires
of the aurora borealis.

The arc of the aurora is only part of a broad circle of light, which is elevated considerably
above the surface of our globe, and the centre of which is situated in the vicinity of the Polo.
It is not difficult, therefore, to account for the different aspects under whiili it is pre.sentefl to
observers placed at different angles to f,he focus of the display. A person some degrees si>iith of
the ring necessarily sees but a very small arc of it towards the north, owing to the interposition
of the earth between him and it ; if he stood nearer the north, the arc would appear larger and

30 I'HKNOMENA OF THE AUKORA.

highor ; if iinincdiatcly below it, ho would hco it apparently traversing the zenith ; or if within
tlio riiij,', and Htill furtlior north, he would sec it culminating in the south. It has been supposed
that the centre of the ring corresponds with the magnetic north pole in the island of Boothia
Felix.

Generally the phenomenon lasts for several hours, and at times it will be varied by peculiar
features. Now it will seem to present the hemispherical segment of a coloasfd wheel ; now it
will wave and droop like a rich tapestry of many-coloured light, in a thousand prismatic folds ;
and now it exhibits the array of innumerable dazzling streamers, waving in the dark and
intense sky.

The arc varies in elevation, but is seldom more than ninety miles above the terrestrial sur-
face. Its diameter, however, must be enormous, for it has been known to extend southward to
Italy, and has been simultaneously visible in Sardinia, Connecticut, and at New Orleans.

According to some authorities, the phenomenon is accompanied by noises resembling the
discharge of fireworks, or the crackling of silk when one piece is folded over another ; but this
statement is discredited by the most trustworthy observers.

Mrs. Soinerville's description is worth quoting, as taking up more emphatically some points
to which we have already alluded : —

The aurora, she says, is decidedly an electrical (or, more strictly speaking, a magneto-
electrical) phenomenon. It generally appears soon after sunset in the form of a luminous arc
stretching more or less from east to west, the most elevated point being always in the magnetic
meridian of the place of the observer ; across the arc the coruscations are rapid, vivid, and of
various colours, darting like lightning to the zenith, and at the same time flitting laterally with
incessant velocity. The brightness of the rays varies in an instant ; they sometimes surpass the
sj)lendour of stars of the first magnitude, and often exhibit colours of admirable transparency, —
blood-red at the base, emerald-green in the middle, and clear yellow towards their extremity.
Sometimes one, and sometimes a quick succession of luminous currents run from one end of the
arc or bow to the other, so that the rays rapidly increase in brightness ; but it is impossible to
say whether the coruscations themselves are actually affected by a horizontal motion of transla-
tion, or whether the more vivid light is conveyed from ray to ray. The rays occasionally dart
far past the zenith, vanish, suddenly reappear, and, being joined by others from the arc, form a
magnificent corona or immense dome of light. The segment of the sky below the arc is quite
black, as if formed by dense clouds ; yet M. Struve is said to have seen stars in it, and so it
would appear that the blackness of which several observers speak must be the effect of contrast.
The lower edge of the arc is evenly defined ; its upper margin is fringed by the coruscations,
their convergence towards the north, and that of the arc itself, being probably an effect of
perspective.

The aurora exercises a remarkable influence on the magnetic needle, even in places where
the display is not visible. Its vibrations seem to be slower or quicker according as the auroral
light is quiescent or in motion, and the variations of the compass during the day show that the
aurora is not peculiar to night. It has been ascertained by careful observations that the
disturbances of the magnetic needle and the auroral displays were simultaneous at Toronto, in

ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMKNA DESCRIBED. It

Canada, on thirteen days out of twenty-four, the remaining days having been oloudiil ; r.nd
contemporaneous observations show that in these thirteen days there were also niagnetii' dis-
turbances at Prague and Tasmania; so that the occurrence of auroral phenomena at Tnninto on
these occasions may be viewed as a local manifestation connected with magnetic etfeits, wliich,
whatever may have been their origin, probably prevailed on the same day over (he irhule surface
of the globe.

Among the atmospheric phenomena of the outer world we are justified in reckoning the
Winds, which are remarkable for their variability. Their force is considerably diminished when
they pass over a wide surface of ice ; sometimes the ice seems even to beat back the breeze, and
turn it in a contrary direction. The warm airs from the south grow cool as they sweep across the
frozen expanse, and give up their moisture in the form of snow. In a region so bleak and chill
it is not often that clouds are created, the atmospheric vapours being condensed into snow or hail
without passing through any intermediate condition.

Whirlwinds of frozen snow are formidable enemies to the seaman forced to traverse the itte
on foot, or in a sledge drawn by Eskimo dogs. Dense showers lash and sting the unfortunate
traveller's face, penetrate his mouth and nostrils, freeze together his very eyelids, and almost
blind him. His skin assumes a bluish tint, and bums as if scarred by the keen thongs of a knout.

An optical illusion of frequent occurrence in the P6lar liegions makes objects apj)ear of
dimensions much larger than they really possess. A fox ossnmes the proportions of a bear ; l(tw
banks of ice are elevated into lofty mountains. The eye is fatigued by dwelling upon the horizon
of lands which are never approached. Just as in the sandy deserts of the Sahara the distances
of real objects are apparently diminished, so the Arctic explorer, misled by the aerial illusion,
advances towards a goal which seems always near at hand, but is never attained.

Another source of error, common both to the Arctic and the Tropical deserts, is the
mirage, a phenomenon of refraction, wliich represents as suspended in air the images of remote
objects, and thus gives rise to the most curious illusions and fantastic scenes. Dr. Scoresby one
day perceived in the air the reversed representation of a ship which he recognized a.s the Fame,
commanded by his father. He afterwards discovered that it had been lying moored in a creek
about ten leagues from the point where the mirage had played with his imagination.

Again, in approaching a field of ice or snow, the traveller invariably descries a belt of
resplendent white immediately above the horizon. This is known as the " ice-blink," and it
reveals to the Arctic navigator beforehand the character of the ice he is approaching. At times,
too, a range of icebergs, or of broken masses of ice, will be reflected in colossal shadows on the
sky, with a strange and even weird effect.

But, after all, the special distinction between the Arctic lands and the other regions of the
globe is their long day and longer night. Describing an immense spiral curve upon the horizon,
the sun gradually mounts to 30°, the highest point of its course ; then, in the same maimer, it
returns towards the horizon, and bids farewell to the wildernesses of the North, slowl}' passing
away behind the veil of a gloomy and ghastly twilight.

When the navigator, says Captain Parry, finds himself for the first time buried in the silent
shadows of the Arctic night, he cannot conquer an involuntary emotion of dread ; he feels

A .MOONLiailT NIOIIT IN THE NOHTH.

ATUOSrilERIC rnENOMENON IN TIIK ARCTIC UEOIONS : — REFLECTION OK IC'KUERUS.

transported out of the sphere of ordinary, coninionplaec existence. The deadly and sombre
deserts of the Polo seem like those uncreated voids which ^lilton has placed between the realms
of life and death. The very animals arc affected by the profound melancholy which saddens the
face of Nature.

Will) can read without emotion the following passages from Di'. Kane's Journal ? —

" October 28, Friday. — The moon has reached her greatest northern declination of about
25° 35'. She is a glorious object ; sweeping around the heavens, at the lowest part of her curve
she is still 14" above the horizon. For eight days she has been making her circuit with nearly
unvarying brightness. It is one of those sparkling nights that bring back the memory of sleigh-
bells and songs and glad communings of hearts in lands that are far away.

" The weather outside is at 25' below zero."

A few days later, and the heroic explorer writes : —

-SBS

SINGULAR ATMOSPHEHIC CONDITIONS. 3|

'' iVoreiitbi-r 7, ^fo^H^^tl/.--'^'he darkness in coniini,' on with insidious stt-adinoss, nnd its
advanws can lio jioiwivid only by coniparini,' onu day with its iMIow of soini- tini.- hack. Wo
still read tho tliernionit'ter at noonday witliout a hjjfht, and tlio hlack nia.sHcs (.f tlic hills aiv plain
for about fivo liours with their ghu'wg patches of snow ; but all the rust is darkness. Lanterna
are always on the spar-deck, and the lard-hinips never e.\tinj,'uished below. The stars of the
si.xth magnitude shine out at noonday.

"Our darkness has ninety days to run before we shall ,t,'et back again even U, the cc.ntested
twilight of to-day. Altogether, our winter will have been sunless for one hundred and forty
days."

Here is another significant passage ; yet all its significance can scarcely be appreciated by
the dwellers in temperate climes : —

•'Xovember 37, Sumla)/.-— The thermometer was in the neighbourliMod ol' 10 bi-Iow zero,
and the day was too dark to read at noon."

"December 15, Thursdai/.—We have lost the last vestige of (jur midday twilight. Wo
caimot see print, and hardly paper : the fingers cannot be counted a foot from the eyes. No.jn-
day and midnight are alike ; and, except a vague glimmer on the sky that seems to define the
hill outlines to the south, we have nothing to tell us that this Arctic world of ours has a sun."

On the 11th of -January (1854), Dr. Kane's thermometer stood at 49° below zero; and on
the 20th the rango of those at the observatory was at - G 4° to - 07'. On the 5th of February
they began to show an unexampled temperature. They ranged from 60° to 75° below zero, and
one very admirable instrument on the tatfrail of the brig stood at - G5°. The reduced mean of
the best spirit-standards gave - G7°, or 97° below the freezing-point of water.

At these temperatures chloric ether became solid, and caiefully prepared chloroform exhi-
bited a grarudar film or pellicle on its surface. Spirit of naphtha froze at - 54', and oil of
sassafras at - 49°. 'J'he oil of winter-green assumes a floccident appearance at - 50°, and solid at
- G3° and - G5°.

Some further details, borrowed from Dr. Kane's experiences, will illustrate still more power-
fully the singular atmospheric conditions of the Arctic winter.

The exhalations from the surface of the body invested any exposed or partially-clad part
with a wreath of vapour. The air had a perceptible pungency when inspired, but Dr. Kane did
not undergo the painful sensation described by some Siberian travellers. When breathed for
any length of time it imparted a sensation of dryness to the air-passages ; and J)r. Kane observed
that all his party, as it were involuntarily, breathed gradually, and with compressed lips.

It was at noon on the 21st of January that the first glimmer of returning light became
visible, the southern horizon being touched for a short time with a distinct orange hue. The
sun had, perhaps, afforded them a kind of illumination before, but if so, it was not to lie distin-
guished from the "cold light of stars." They had been Hearing the sunshine for thirty-two days,
and had just reached that degree of mitigated darkness which made the extreme midnight of Sir
Edward Parry in lat. 74° 47'.

We have already alluded to the depressing influence exercised by the jn-olonged and intense
darkness of the Arctic night, and we have referred to the singular eflect it has upon animals.

S4 C'llAUAfrrKlilSTICS OV TMK AltCTIC WINTKI!.

Dr. Knne'H dogn, tho ijjli inoHt of tlitm wore luitivuH of the Arctic Circle, proved unable to bear
up ttfjaiimt it. Most of tliom diod IVdim an aiioinalouH form of cliseaHe, to which the absence of
lij,'ht would Hoeni to have contributed an much as the extreme cold. This circumstance seems
worthy of fulltn- notice, and wc (|uote, therefore, Dr. Kane's observation upon it : —

" JuniKirif -20. — Tiiis morninjf at five o'clock — for 1 am so afflicted with the iVisowmium of
tliis eternal nii,'ht, that I rise at any time between midnif,'ht and noon— I went upon deck. It
was absolutely dark, the cold not permitting,' a swinj^ing lamp. There was not a glimmer came
to me through the ice-cru.sted window-panes of the cabin. Whihi I was feeling my way, hah
puzzled as to the best method of steering clear of whatever might be before mc, two of my
Newfoundland dogs |)ut tiuir cold noses against my hand, and instantly commenced the most
exuberant antics of satisfaction. It tlien occurred to me how vely dreary and forlorn must these
poor animals be, at atmo.sj)heres + 1 0° in-doors and - 50' without, — living in darkness, howling at
an accidtintal light, as if it reminded them of the moon, — and with nothing, either of instinct or
sensation, to tell tiiem of the passing hours, or to explain the long-lost daylight."

The etfect of the j)rolonged daikness upon these animals was most extraordinary. Every
attention was jjaid to their wants ; they were kept below, tended, fed, cleansed, caressed, and
iloctoird ; still they grew worse and worse. Strange to say, their disease was as clearly mental
as in the case of any human being. There was no physical disorganization ; they ate voiaciously ;
they slept soundly, they retained their strength, ^^ut first they were stricken by epilepsy, and
this was followed by true lunacy. They barked .nziedly at nothing; they walked in straight
and curved lines with anxious and unwearying })erseverance. They fawned on the seamen, but
without seeming to appreciate any caresses bestowed upon them ; pushing their head against the
fiiend who noticed them, or oscillating with a strange pantomime of fear. Their most intelligent
actions seemed of an automatic character ; sometimes they clawed at their masters, as if seeking
to burrow into their seal-skins ; sometimes they preserved for hours a moody silence, and then
started off howling, as if pursued, and ran to and fro for a considerable period

When spring retunied Dr. Kane had to mourn the loss of nine splendid Newfoundland
and thirty-five Eskimo dogs ; of the whole pack only six survived, and one of these was unfit for
draught.

Having dwelt at some length on the characteristics of the Arctic winter, we now turn to
consider those of the Arctic spring. This begins in April, but does not exhibit itself in all the
freshness of its beauty until May. The temperature rises daily in the interval ; the winter fall
of snow, which has so long shrouded the gaunt hills and lain upon the valleys, rolls up before the
rays of the rising sun ; and the melted snow pours in noisy torrents and flashing cascades
through the rugged ravines and over the dark sides of the lofty cliffs : everywhere the air
resounds with the din of falling watei-s. Early in June the traveller sees with delight the signs
of returning vegetation. The willow-stems grow green ^vith the fresh and living sap ; mosses,
and poppies, and saxifrages, and the cochlearia, with other hardy plants, begin to sprout ; the
welcome whirr of wings is brought upon the breeze ; the cliff's are alive with the little auks ;
flocks of stately eider-ducks sail into the creeks and sounds ; the graceful tenis scream and dart
over the sea ; the burgomasters and the gyifalcons move to and fro with greater dignitj' ; the
long-tailed duck fills the echoes with its shrill voice ; the snipes liover about the fresh-water

A I'OLAH I.ANDSCAl'K IN Sl'HIN(i.

(wols ; the sparrows chirp from rock to rock ; loiijf linuH of ciickliii!^ gccso sail in tlio blue cluar-
rioss ovcrlu'nfi on tlicir witv to a niiiotfr north ; tliu wuhiis i nd the soul hank on the i('t>-flo«^n

Al>VKSr UK HI'lll.Nd IN TlIK I'UI.AIl IlKlllUNS.

which have brokoii up into small rafts, and drift lazily with the currents ; and a Hcet of icebergs
move southwards in solemn and stately procession, their spires and towens flashing and
coruscating: in the suidisht.

We transcribe a sketcli of a spring landscape in the Polar world from the pages of Dr.
Hayes : —

We arrived at the lake, lie says, in the midst of a very enlivening scene. The snow
had mainly disappeared from the valley, and, altlKJUgh no flowers had yet aj^peared, the early
vegetation was covering the banks witii green, and the feeble growths opened their little leaves
almost under the very snow, and stood alive and fresh in tlie frozen turf, looking as glad of the
spring as their more ambitious cousins of the warm South. Numerous small herds of reindeer
had come down from the mountains to fatten on this newly budding life. Gushing rivulets and
fantastic waterfalls mingled their pleasant nmsic with the ceaseless hum of birds, myriads of
which sat upon the rocks of the hill-side, or were perched upon the cliffs, or sailed through the
air in swarms so thick that they seemed like a dark cloud passing before the sun. These birds
were the little auk, a water-fowl not larger than a quail. The swift flutter of their wings and
their constant cry filled the air with a roar like that of a storm advancing among the forest trees.
The valley was glowing with the sunlight of the early morning, v hich streamed in over the
glacier, and robed hill, mountain, and plain in brightnes,s.

Spring passes into summer, and all nature seems endowed with a new life. The death-
like silence, the oppressive darkness, the sense of fear and despondency, all have passed away ;

AlloUT TIIK Nonril lol.K.

ami raitli mill . :tli'i° i tlin v\ iili rlifii fill viiii'i.'s, llii' lanilM(-ii|iL' i.s liiitlii-<l in a i^'lorioiiH radiiiiice,
tliu huiiiiiii Niiiil is roii.sriiir.tH of a Hciitiiiii'iit uf iiu|)i) and exju'ctiitiun. 'I'lic \vint< r is puHt mid
Koiir ; till' lliwds a|i|Mar mi the laiili ; tlio tinn- ortiii; wiiigiiij^ of liirdw is ckiiic, Thu smiw luui
iiicltt'd I'loni till' liills, and the strt'iiniN run witli u niuriy imisic, and tlio .seunty Hma of tlio tar
niiitlitrii wuild attains iU lull devel<i|iMU'nt. J\v day and ni^dit thu sun pnurs furth itM in-
vi;roiatinj( rays, and ivcn the liutterHy is oiicourai^ed to Hport ainonj; tlio blossonis. Thu Aurora
no longer i-xliiliits its niany-roiouri'd lirus, and tho sky is a« clear and i-loudluss as in genial Italy.
Jiut this siason of liff and warmth is of Hlmrt duration, and when July has passed the sun
liigins to sink lower and lower, as if to visit another world ; a shadow gradually steals over the
sky; winds hli.v. fiercely, and hring with them hlinding showerH of sleet and icicles; the
fountains and the streams cease their pleasant tlow ; the broad crust of ice spreads over the
imprisoned sea; the snow-mantle rests on tho hill-sides and tho valleys; the birds wing their
way to till' warmer Smith ; and the Polar world is once raoro given over to the silence, the
ioiu'liness, aiii' the glomii of the long Arctic night.

Tuining niir .dtintimi now to the "starry heavens," we oUserve that conspicuous among the
glorious host is tho North Star, which, from earliest times, hn« been the friend and guide of tho
navigator.

The J*ole-8tar, or Polaris, is the star a in the constellation of Ursa Minor, and is the nearest
li'.rge star to the noiih polo of the celestial equator. Wo say the " nearest," because it does not
actually mark the jiosition of the pole, but is about 1° 30' from it. Owing, however, to the
motion of the pole of the celestial efjuator round that of the ecliptic, it will, in about 2000 A.n.,
approach within 28' of the' north jiole ; but after renching this point of ajiproxiniation it will
begin to ii'cede. At the time of Hipparchus it was 12" di.stant from it (that is, in 15G n.c); in
1785, 2' 2'. You may easily find its place in the " stellar firmament," for a line drawn between
tho stars a and /8 (hence called the " Pointer.s ") of the constellation Ursa Major, or the Great
Bear, and produced in :i northerly direction for about four and a half times its own length, will
almost touch the Pole-Star. Two thou.sand years this post of honour, so to speak, was occupied
by the star ft of Ur.sa Major ; while, in about twelve thousand years, it will be occupied by the
star Vega in Li/ra, which will be within 5° of the noiih pole.

Till' constellation of ifrsa Major is always above the horizon of Europe, and henco it has
been an object of curiosity to its inhabitants from the remotest antiquity. Our readers may

easily recognize it by three stars which form a
triangle in its tail, while four more form a quad-
rangle in the body of the imaginary bear. In the
triangle, the first star at the tip of the tail is
Benetnasch, of the second magnitude ; the second,
Mizar ; and the third, Alioth. In tlie quadrangle,
nisA MAj.m AN,. 1III.SA MINOR. tho first star at the root of the tail is named

Megrez ; the second below it, Phad ; tht !l;.id, in a horizontal direction, Merak ; and the fourth,
above the latter, Dublie, of tiio first magnitude.

In Ursa Minor the only conspicuous star is Polaris, of which we have rjcently spoken.
We subjoin a list of the northern constellations, including the names of those who

A MST OF NoltTllhliN (« •NSIKI.I.A III »NS.

formed them. (!.,■ niimlur of their visihl,. stais, iiii.l th.' iuviiuh cf thi- m<.>t iiii|M)itiiiit .luA
conspii'iious.

NUUTII KIIN t.uMlTICLLATIONII.

OonmiAnovi.

ITrsn Minor, llip r.e»»i.r lliur

I'rsa Mnjnr. thr (!mit IWnr

PtTBiMn, luiil llciul (if MmliuK

AuriK'ifc, tlie \Va^'K'"m■r

Dui>tett, tlio llvnUiiittn ,,...

Uratn, the Drn^rnn ... .

Ci'iiheus ^ ^

Caiif, Voimli.i, thn (irivli"iin.l, Char* and Aateria..

(W ( 'iipiili, Ilcurt cif ( 'luu-l,.., It

Trinntjuliiiii. IIil' Trian;(lu

Trlnii|,'iiliini Minu.i, tlm Ia-mit Triansla

Miii4i-H, the Kly

Lynx

.-.q

Loti Minor, the LemT TJon

Coma liiTfnIiT.H, Ik'rcnice'H Itair ..

r'anii'li'opanlalln, the (itrairH ,.,

Monn .Mcriflaus, Mount Mtni'lam

forona liori'ali'.. tho Xorthirn Crown

Ht-riK'nH, tilt! HeriMtnt .

Suutnni Sol)ioj.ki, Holiii^aki's Shield

Hert'iiK-K. with Ccrlu-ruH

Ser|«intariiM, or (l|iliiuchii«, thu Herpent-licarer .
TauriiH 1'oniatowi.lii. or thf Hull of Ponlatowski

I.yra, tliu Harp

Vnlpftulu.i ft AnsiT, the Fox and tlio Gouse

Sa^'ittn, thu Arrow ...,_

Acpiila. the Kai;h', with Antiuoua

Delphinus, thu Dolphin

C'yt'niH. thiiHwan

Oaasio|)fia, the La/ly in hur Chair

Kquulua, the Home's Ij 'ad

I.acerta, thu I.i/anI

Peganus, the Flying Horw

Andromeda

Turandua, the Uuindeer

No or
8r«iu.

Almtiu.

Aratiu.

Arntna.

nil

Aratiia.

I'll

Aratna.

Arotua.

Hevvlina,

Hnlley.

Aratua.

Ileviliua.

IlMle.

Heveliu.H.

Heveliua.

'ry< ho llrahe.

4.1

Heveliua,

lleveliila.

Aratim.

A rati] M,

Hevelius.

AratiiM.

11. 1

Aratu--*.

Poezohat.

Aratun.

•h}

Heveliuif.

Aratiw.

AratuB.

Aratud.

AratuH.

AratuK.

Ptolemy.

Hevelin*.

ArattiH.

Ar.atn.-.

Lemonnier.

P«iiiar«i Staw

Pularia, 2.

l)ul>he, 1 : Alloth, 2.
Alxenib, 2; Algol. 2.
Ca|wlla, 1.
ArcturiH. 1.
lta<«tal>i'n, 'A.
Alileramln. it,

ll.ui Aluratha. S.
Ihut Aliiigua, 2.

\'cf!a, 1.

AlLiir, 1.
Deneli, 1.

Afarkab, 2.
Altnooc, 2.

A few remark.s in reference to some of these con.stellations, and the glorious orbs which they
help to indicate to mortal eyes, may Ktly close this chapter.

We have already alluded to Ursa Major, which forms one of the most conspicuous objects
of the northern heavens. It has borne diflereut names, at different times, and among different
peoples. It was the "ApKro, ^ey,i\n of the Greeks ; the " Septem triones " of the Latins. It is
known in some parts a.s David's Ciiariot ; the Chinese cull it, T< ficuu-pei/.

Night and day this constellation watches above the northern horizon, revolving, witii sl.nv
and majestic march, around Polaris, in four and twenty hours. The quadrangle of stu in the
body of the Great Bear forms the wheels of the chariot;, the triangle in its tail, the ch^riot-pole.
Above the second of the three latter shines the small star Alcor, also named the Horseman.
The Arabs call it Saidak, or " the Test," because they use it to try the range and strength <^f a
person's vision.

This brilliant north-^rn constellation, composed, with the excepticjii of S, of stars of the
second magnitude, has frequently been celebrated by poets. We may paraphrase, for the
advantage of our readers, a glowing apostrophe from the pen of the American Ware :—

With what grand and majestic steps, he says, it moves forward in its eternal circle, following
among the stars its regal Avay in a slow and silent splendour ! Mighty creation, I salute thee 1

S8 THE "POETRY OF HEAVEN."

I lovo to sec thoe wiuidorin<r in the Hhining paths like a ^ant jnoud of his strong girdle — severe
indit'atigabii', ruKolvod — whoso fcet never lag in tiio road which lies before them. Other tribes
abandon their nocturnal course ""d rest their wearj* orbs under the waves ; but thou, thou never
closest thy burning cyi's, and never suspendest thy determined steps. Forward, ever forward !
AVliile systems changi', and suns retire, and worlds fall to .sleep and awake again, thou pursuest
thy eudle.ss march. The near horizon attempts to check thee, but in vain. A watchful sentinel,
thou ni'ver cpiittest thy age-Ion^' duty ; but, without allowing thyself to be surprised by sleep,
thou guardest tiio fixed light of the univereo, and preventest the north from ever forgetting its
place.

Seven stare dwell in that shining company ; the eye embraces them all at a single glance ;
tlii'ir distances from one another, however, are not less than the distance of eacli from Earth.
And tliis again is the reciprocal distance of the celestial centres or foci. From depths of heaven,
unexplored by thought the piercing rays dart across the void, revealing to our senses innumer-
able worlds and systems. Let us arm our vision with the telescope, and let u,s survey the
firmament. The skies open wide ; a shower of sparkling fires descends ui)on our head ; tlie stars
close up their ranks, are condensed in regions so remote that their swift rays (swifter than aught
else in creation) must travel for centuries before they can reach our Earth. Earth, sun, and ye
constellations, what are ye among this infinite immensity and the multitude of the Divine works!

If we face towards the Pole-Star, which, as we have seen, preserves its place in the centre
of the northern region of the .sky, we have the south behind us, the east is on our right, the west
upon our left. All the stars revolving round the Pole-Star, from riglit to left, should be
recognized accordin-^ to their mutual relations rather thai referred to the cardinal points. On
the other side of Polaris, as compared with the Grea! Bear, we find another constellation which
is easily recognized. If from the central star S we carry a line to the Pole, and then prolong it
for an efjuil distance, we traverse the constellation of Cassiopeia, composed of five stars of the
third magnitude, disposed somewhat like the outer jambs of the letter M. The small star x.
terminating the square, gives it also tho form of a chair. This group occupies every possible
situation in revolving round the Pole, being at one time above it, at another below, now on the
left, and then on the right ; but it is always readily found, because, like Ursa Major, to wliich it
is invariably oi)posite, it never sets. The Pole-Star is the axle round which these two constella-
tions revolve.

I f we now draw, from the stars a and S in Ursa Major, ^wo lines meeting at the Pole, and
afterwards extend them beyond Cassiopeia, they will abut on the square of Pegasus, which is
bounded on one of its sides by a group, or series, of three stars resembling the triangle in Ursa
Major. These three belong to the constellation of Andromeda (a, ^, and y), and themselves
abut on another three-orbed group, that of Perseus.

The last star in the square of Perseus is also the first a of Andromeda : the other three are
named, Algcnib, y ; Markab, o ; and S'heat, ^. To the north of Andromeda j8, and near a small
star, 1', the Arctic traveller will discern an oblong nebula, which may be compared to the light of
a tajier seen through a sheet oi horn ; this is the first nebula to which any allusion occurs in the
annals of astronomy. Tn Peisevs n, an orb of great brilliancy, on the prolonged plane of the
three principal stars of Andromeda, shines with steady lustre between two less dazzling spheres,

VIEW OF THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS.

\f
J

and forms in conjunction with thuni a concave are very easily disti guishcd. Of this arc wc

may avail ourselvos as a new point of duparture. By prolonjjfing it in the direction of (J, wo conu'

to a very brijflit star of the first mai^mitudo, the Goat.

By forming a right angle to this ]>rolongation in a

southerly direction we come to that glorious mass <>[

stai-8, not very frei,uent!y above the Polar horizon, the

Pleiads. These were held in evil repute among the

ancients. Their appearance was supposed to be ominous

of violent storms, and Valerius Flaccus speaks of them as

fatal to ships.

Algol, or Medusa's Head, known to astronomers a^
Perseus ^, belongs to the singular class of Variable Starb.
Instead of shining with a constant lustre, like other orbs,
it is soinethnos very brilliant, and sometimes very pale ;
passing, apparently, from the second to the fourth magni-
tude. According to Goodricke, its period of variation is
2 days 20 hours 48 minutes. This phenomenal chara'-ter
was fiist observed by Maraldi in 1GK4 ; but the duration
of the change vas determined by Goodricke in 1782. For
two days and fourteen hours it continues at its brightest,

and shines a glory in the heavens. Then its lustre suddenly begins to wane, and in thice hours
and a half is reduced to its minimum. Its weakest period, however, does not last more than
about fifteen minutes. It then begins to increase in brightness, and in three houis and a half
more it is restored to its full splendour ; ■ iius passing through its succession of changes in 2 days
20 hours 48 minutes.

This singular periodicity suggested to Goodricke the idea of some opaque body revolving
around the star, and by interposing between it and the Earth cutting off a portion of its light.
Algol is one of the most interesting of the welcome stars which kindle in the long Arcti<'
darkness.

The star ^ in Perseus, situated above the " stormy Pleiads," is double ; that is, a binary
star. ^ in Ursa Major is also a twin-star ; and so is Polaris, the second and smaller star appear-
ing a mere speck in comparison with its companion.

KRBUl.A IS ASBROKBDA.

These are the principal stars and starry groups in the Circumpolar Regions of the heavens,
on one side ; let us now turn our attention to the other.

For this purpose we must again take the Great Bear as our starting-point. Prolonging
the tail in its curvature, the Arctic traveller notes, at some distance from it, a star of the
fir- "^ -nagnitude, Arcturus, or Bootes a. This star, though without any authority, was at
one time considered the nearest to the Earth of all the starry host. About 10° to the north-
east of it is Mirac, or e Bootes ; one of the most beautiful objects in the heavens, on account
of the contrasted hues, yellow and azure, of the two stars composing it. Unfortunately,
the twin-orbs cannot be distinctly seen except with a telescope of two hundred magnifying
power.

VIKW OK TllK NOUTHKUN CONSTELLATIONS.

A Kinull liii!,' of Htar« to tlie left of Booths is appropriately known as Corona liorealis, or

the Nortliern Crown.

The (u.nstellation of Bootes forms a pentagon ; and the stars coniposiug it are all of the
third nrngnloude, with the exception ..f a, which is of the Hrst. Arcturus, a. we have said, was
anciently considered the star nearest to the Earth. It is, at all events, one of the nearest, and
belongs to the small number of those whose distance our astronomers have succeeded m calculat
ing. It is 61 trillions, 712,000 millions of leagues from our planet ; a distance of which we can
form no appreciable conception. Moreover, it is a coloured star; on examining it through a
telescope we see that it is of the same hue as the " red planet Mars."

By carrying a line from the Polar Star to Arcturus, and raising a pei-pendicular in the
middle of thi.s line, opposite to Ursa Major, the observer of the Arctic skies will discover one of
the most lumin..us orbs of night, Ve<ja, or a Lyra, near the Milky Way. The star /3 Lyra,
or Sheliak, is a variable star, changing from the third to the fifth magnitude, and accomplishmg
its variatimi in 6 days 10 hours and 34 minutes. /? and ^ Lyra are quadruple systems, each
composed of binary or twin-stars.

The line drawn from Arcturus to Vega cuts the constellation of Hercules.

Between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor may be observed a prolonged series of small stars,
coiling, as it were, in a number of convolutions, and extending towards Vega : these belong to
the constellation of the Dragon.

■ Such are the principal objects which attract the attention of the traveller, when contemplat-
ing tliu star-studded firmament of the Arctic night.

CHAPTER III.

THE POLAR SEAS : ICEIIERGS — ICE-FLOKS — THE SEAL — THE WALRUS — THE NARWHAL — TIIE WHALE-
SUNDRY FORMS OF MARINE LIFE.

HOSE masses of ice wliich, towering to a considerable elevation above the surface dI'
the water, are carried hither and thither by the currents of the Polar Sea, are known
as Icebergs. They are fresh-water formations, originating in the great glaciers of the
northern highlands. For as the rivers continuously pour their waters into the ocean, so do the
glaciers incessantly glide downward from the head of the valleys which they occupy, until,
arrivii!"' on the coa.st, they throw oft' their terminal projections, to be carried afar by the action
of the tidal waves.

These bergs, or floating mountains, are sometimes 250 to 300 feet above the level of the sea,
and their capacity or bulk is invariably equal to their height. From their specific gravity it has
been calculated that the volume of an iceberg below the water is eight times that of the portion
rising above it. They are frequently of the most imposing magnitude. Ross, in his first expe-
dition, fell in with one in Baffin Bay, at a distance of seven leagues from land, which had gone
aground in sixty-one fathoms water. Its dimensions, according to Lieutenant Parry, were 4,1 GO
yards in length, 3,869 yards in breadth, and 51 feet in height. Its configuration is described as
resembling that of the back of the Isle of Wight, while its elift's recalled those chalky ram})art.s
which stretch their glittering line to the west of Dover. Its weight was computed at 1,292,397,073
tons. Captain Graab examined a mass, on the west coast of Greenland, which rose 120 feet out
of the water, measured 4,000 feet in circumference at the base, and was calculated to be equal in
bulk to upwards of 900,000,000 cubic feet. Dr. Hayes took the measurements of a berg which
had stranded off the little harbour of Tessuissak, to the north of Melville Bay. The square w all
which faced towards his base of triangulation was somewhat more than three-quarters of a mile
in length, and 315 feet in height. As it was nearly square-sided above the sea, it would be of
the same shape beneath it ; and, according to the ratio already given, nmst have drifted aground
in a depth of fully half a mile. lii other words, from base to summit it must have stood as high
as the peak of Snowdon. Its cubical contents cannot have been less than about 27,000,000,000
feet, nor its weight than 2,000,000,000 tons !

When seen from a distance, the spectacle of any considerable number of these slowly-moving
mountains is very impressive, and it becomes particularly magnificent if it should be lit up by the
splendour of the midnight sun. They are not only majestic in size, but sublime in appearance,
at one time assuming the likeness of a grand cathedral church, at another, of a lofty obelisk ;
now of a dazzling pyramid, and now of a cluster of lofty towers. Nature would seem to have

DR. RANK'S ADVENTURE.

AIUHKU lUKIlKIlii OKK TIIK (ir,KKNI..\XI) CO.VST.

lavished uj)oii thoin all hor architectural fancy ; and as they are grandly swept along,
one might be pardoned for supposing them to be the sea-washed palaces of a race of
ocean Titans

In Xrolvillo Bay, Dr. Kane's ship anchored to an iceberg, which protected it from the fury
of a violent gak'. But ho had not long enjoyed the tranquil shelter it afforded, when a din of
loud crackling sounds was heard above ; and small fragments of ice, not larger than a walnut,
began to dot the water, like the first big drops of a thunder-shower. Dr. Kane and his crew did
not neglect these indications ; they had barely time to cast off, however, before the face of the
icy cliff fell in ruins, crashing like near artillery.

FLOATING ISLES OF ICE.

,^ r '•- .- ,.

Ai'terwards ho made fast to a larger berg, which he describes as a moving bruaivwuter, and
of gigantic jjroportions ; it kept its course steadily towards the north.

When he got under weigh, and made for the north-east, through a labyrinth of ice-floes,
he Was favoured with a gorgeous spectacle, which hardly any excitement of i)eril could
have induced him to overlook. The midnight sun came out over the northern crest of the
huge berg, kindling variously-coloured fires on every part of its surface, and making the ice
around one sublime transparency of illuminated gem-work, blazing carbuncles, and rubies and
molten gold.

Dr. Hayes describes an immense berg which rese' in its general aspect (he West-

minster Palace of Sir Charles Barry's creation.
It went to ruin before his eyes. First one tall
tower tumbled headlong into the water, start-
ing from its surface an innumerable swarm of
gulls ; then another followed ; and at length,
after five hours of terrible disruption and
crashing, not a fragment that rose fifty feet
above the water remained of this architectural
colossus of ice.

These floating isles of ice are carried
southward fully two thousand miles from their
parent glaciers, to melt in the Atlantic, where
they commimicate a perceptible coldness to the
water for thirty or forty miles around, while
their influence on the atmospheric temperature
may be recognized at a greater distance.
Their number is extraordinary. As many as
seven hundred bergs, each loftier than the
dome of St. Paul's, some than the cross of St. Peter's, have been seen at once in the Polar
basin ; as if the Frost King had despatched an armada to oppose the rash enterprise of man
in penetrating within his dominions. The waves break against them as against an iron-bound
coast, and often the spray is flung over their very summits, like the spray of the rolling waters
of the Channel over the crest of the Eddystone Lighthouse. The ice crumbles from their face,
and tumbles down into the sea with a roar like that of artillery ; and as they waste away,
through the combined action of air and water, they occasionally lose their equilibrium and
topple over, j)roducing a swell and a violent commotion which break up the neighbouring ice-
fields ; the tunuilt spreads far and wide, and thunder seems to peal around.

The fractures or rents frequently visible in the glittering clifts of the icebergs are of an omc-
rald green, and look like patches of beautiful fresh sward on clifis of chalk ; while pools of water
of the most exquisite sapphirine blue shine resplendent on their 8ur%ce, or leap down their
craggy sides in luminous cascades. Even in the night they are readi' distinguished from afar
by their effulgence ; and in foggy, hazy weather, by a peculiar blackness in the atmosi)here.
As the Greenland Current frequently drifts them to the south of Newfoundland, and even to the
40th or 39th parallel of latitude, the ships and steamei-s crossing between Europe and America

AMONO THB nEllOS— A NARdOW ESOAFK.

44 ADVENTUKKS WITH ICEBERGS.

soiiictiiiii-s iiiwt tliciii on their triu-k. To coino into collision witli them is certain destruction ;
and it is probiildu tlmt some of tliose ill-fated vessels which have left their liarbours in safety,
hut have never since been heard of,— as, for example, the steamer President, —hayo perished
throngli tliis cause.

But if they are sometimes dangerous to the mariner, they often prove his security. As
most of tiuir Imlk lies below the water-surface, they are either carried along by under-currents
against the wind, or else from their colossal size they are able to defy the strongest gale, and to
move along with majestic slowness when every other kind of ice is driven swiftly past them.
And hence it happens tliat, when the wind is contrary, the whaler is glad to bring his ship into
smooth water under their lee. In describing the difficulties of his passage through the loose
Mild (IriVting ice near Cape York, and the broken ice-tields, Dr. Kane records tlie assistance he
derived from the large icebergs, to which he moored his vessel, and thus was enabled, he says, to
hold his- own, however rai)idly the suiface-floes were passing by him to the south.

Yet anchoring to a berg brings with it an occasional peril. As we have already said, largo
pieces frecjueutly loosen themselves from the summit or sides, and fall into the sea with a far-
resounding crash. When this operation, " calving," as it is called, takes place, woe to the unfor-
tunate ship which lies beneath !

All ice becomes excessively brittle under the influence of the sun or of a temperate atmos-
l)here, and a single blow from an axe will suffice to split a huge berg asunder, burying the heed-
less adventurer beneath the ruin.s, or hurling him into the yawning chasm.

Dr. Seorosby records the adventure of two sailors who had been sent to attach an anchor to
a borg. They set to work to hew a hole in the ice, but scarcely had the first blow been struck,
when the colo.ssal mass rent from top to bottom and fell asunder, the two halves falling in oppo-
site directions with a tremendous uproar. One of the sailors, with i-eniarkable presence of mind,
instantly clambered up the huge fragment on which he was sitting, and remained rocking to and
fro on the dizzy summit until its equilibrium was restored ; the other, falling between the
masses, would probably have been crushed to death if the current caused by their commotion
luul not swept him within reach of the boat that was waiting for them.

Fiistening to a berg, savs Sherard Osborn, has its risks and dangers. Sometimes the first
stroke of the man setting the ice-anchor, by its concussion, causes the iceberg to break up, and
the people so employed run great risk of being injured ; at another time, vessels obliged to make
fast under the steep side of a berg have been seriously damaged by pieces detaching themselves
fiom owrhead ; and, again, the projecting masses, called tongues, which form under water the
base of the berg, have been known to break off, and strike a vessel so severely as to sink her.
All these perils are duly detailed by every Aictic navigator, who is always mindful, in mooring
to an iceberg, to look for a side which is low and sloping, without any tongues under water.

Ca])t4vin Parry was once witness of that sublime spect^clo, which, though of frequent occur-
rence, is seldom seen by human eyes, the entire dissolution of an enormous iceberg.

Its huge size and massiveness had been specially remarked, and men thought that it might
well resist "a century of sun and thaw." It looked as large as Westminster Abbey. All on
board Captain Parry's ship described as a most wonderful spectacle this iceberg, without any
warning, completely breaking up. The sea around it became a seething caldron, from the
violent j)lunging of the masses, as they broke and re-broke in a thousand pieces. The floes, torn

IN MELVILLE BAY.

up for a distaiuo of two miles around it, by tho violent action of the rollinif waters, threatened,
from the agitation of the ice, to destroy any vessel that had heen ani(>n>,'st tin in ; and ( 'aptain
Parry and his crew conLjratulated theniselvoa that they were sutticiently far from the seme to
witness its sublimity without being involved in its danger.

Icebergs chieHy abound in Baffin Bay, and in the gulfs and inlets connected with it.
They are particularly numerous in the great indentation known as ^felville Bay, tho whole inte-
rior of the country bordering upon it being the seat of immense glaciers, and these are constantly
"shedding off" icebergs of the largest dimensions. The greater hulk of thes(! is, as we have
explained, below the water-line ; and the conseijuent depth to which they sink when floating

ICEBEllO AND ICEFIELD, MELVILLE BAY, UllKK.Sl.ANU

subjects them to the action of the deeper oceiin-currents, while their broad surface abcjve the
water is, of course, acted on by the wind. It happens, therefore, as Dr. Kane remarks, that
they are found not infrequently moving in difl'erent directions from the floes around them, and
preventing them for a time from freezing into a united mass. Still, in the late wintei-, when
the cold has thoroughly set in, Mebille Bay becomes a continuous mass of ice, from Cape York
to the Devil's Thumb. At other times, this region justifies the name the whalers h.ave bestowed
upon it of " Bergy Hole."

Captain Beechey, in his voyage with Buchan, in 1818, had an opportunity of witnessing the
formation of a " berg," or rather of two of these innnense masses. In Magdalena Bay he had

[MliiiiililMaMllib

40 A COLOSSAL ICEUKRO.

taken the ship's launch near the shore to examine a magnificent glacier, when the discharge of a
gun cau.sed an instantaneous disruption of its bulk. A noise resembling thunder was heard in
the direction of the glacier, and in a few seconds more an immense piece broke away, and fell
headlong into the sea. The crew of the launch, supposing themselves beyond the reach of its
influence, quietly looked upon the scene, when a sea arose and rolled towards the shore with
such rapidity tiiat the boat was washed upon the beach and filled. As soon as their astonish-
ment had subsided, they examined the boat, and found her so badly stove that it was necessary
to repair her before they could return to their ship. They had also the curiosity to measure the
distance the boat had been carried by the wave, and ascertained that it was ninety-six feet.

A short time afterwards, when Captain Beechey and Lieutenant Franklin had approached
one of these stupendous walls of ice, and were endeavouring to search into the innermost recess
of a deep cavern that lay near the foot of the glacier, they suddenly heard a report, as of a
cannon, and turning to the quarter whence it proceeded, perceived an immense section of the
front of the glacier sliding down from the height of two hundred feet at least into the sea, and
dispersing the water in every direction, accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and followed by
an f)utflow of water, which, being previously lodged in the fissures, now made its escape in innu-
merable tiny fla.shing rills and cataracts.

The mass thus disengaged at first disappeared wholly under water, and nothing could be
seen but a violent seething of the sea, and the ascent of clouds of glittering spray, such as that
which occurs at the foot of a great waterfall. But after a short time it re-appeared, raising its
head fully a himdred feet above the surface, with water streaming down on every side ; and then
labouring, as if doubtful which way it should fall, it rolled over, rocked to and fro for a few
minutes, and finally became settled.

On approaching and measuring it, Beechey found it to be nearly a quarter of a mile in
circumference, and sixty feet out of the water. Knowing its specific gravity, and making a fair
allowance for its inequalities, he computed its weight at 421,660 tons.

In Parry's first voyage he passed in one day fifty icebergs of large dimensions, just after
crossing the Arctic Circle ; and on the following day a still more extended chain of ice-peaks of
still larger size, against which a heavy southerly swell was violently driven, dashing the loose
ice with tremendous force, sometimes flinging a white spray over them to the height of more
than one hundred feet, and accompanied by a loud noise " exactly resembling the roar of distant
thunder. '

Between one of these bergs and a detached floe the Hecla, Parry's ship, had nearly, as the
w hiilei-s say, been " nipped," or crushed. The berg was about one hundred and forty feet high,
and aground in one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its whole height must have exceeded
eight hundred feet ; that is, it was of a bulk equal to St. Catherine's Down in the Isle of Wight.

In his second voyage Parry speaks of fifty-four icebergs visible at one time, some of which
were not less than two hundred feet above the sea ; ajid again of thirty of these huge masses,
many of them whirled about by the tides like straws on a mill-stream.

IceL3rgs can originate only in regions where glaciers abound : the foi-mer are the offspring of
the latter, and where land unsuitable to the production of the latter does not exist, the former are
never found. Hence, in Baffin Bay, where steep cliffs of cold granite frown over almost
fathomless waters, the " monarch of glacial fonnations " floats slowly from the ravine which has

(ILAOIEHH AND ICEBEHOS.

been its biith-pluce, until iliirly Inunchcd into tlvo depths of ocean, and, "after Ion<,' years,"
drifts into the wanner reffions of the Atlantic to assist in the preservation of Nature's laws of
equilibrium of temperature of the air and water.

There was p time when men of science, and, amongst otl ers, the French i)lulo8opher St.
Pierre, believed that icebergs were the snow and ice of ages accunndated ujton an Arctic sea,
which, forming at the Poles, detached themselves from the jiarent nia.-ts. Such an hy]>othcsis
naturally gave rise to many theories, not less ingenious than startling, as to the eft'ect an
incessant accmnulation of ice must ])'oduee on the globe itself; and St. Pierre hinted at the
possibility of the huge "domes of ice" — which, as he supposed, rose to an immense height in
the keen frosty heavens of the Prdes— suddenly launching towards the Equator, dissolving
under a trojjical sun, and resulting in a second deluge !

In simple language Professor Tyndall furnishes an explanation of the origin of icebergs,
which we may transfer to these pages as supplementary to the preceding remarks.

What is their origin ? he asks ; and he rej)lies, as we have done, the Arctic glaciers.
From the mountains in the interior the indurated snows slide into the valleys, and fill them
with ice. The glaciers thus created move, like the Swiss ones, incessantly downward. I3ut
tlie Arctic glaciers descend to the sea, and
even enter it, frequently ploughing up its
bottom into submarine moraines. Under-
mined by the continuous action of the
waves, and unable to resist the pressure
of their own weight, they break across,
and discharge enormous masses into the
ocean. Some of these drift on the
adjacent shores, and often maintain them-
selves for years. Others float away to
the southward, and pass into the broad
Atlantic, where they are finally dissolved.
But a vast amount of heat is demanded
for the simple liquefaction of ice, and the melting of icebergs is on this account so slow that,
when large, they sometimes maintain themselves till they have been drifted two thousand miles
from their place of birth.

Icebergs, then, are fresh-water formations ; and though they are found on a colossal scale
only hi the Polar seas, yet they are by no means uncommon among the lofty Alpine lakes.

The monarch of European ice-rivera is the great Aletsch glacier, at the head of the valley
of the Khonc. It is about twenty miles in length, and collects its materials from the snow-
drifts of the grandest mountains of the Bernese Oberland— the Jungfrau, the Monch, the Trug-
berg, the Aletschhorn, the Breithorn, and the Gletscherhorn.

From the peak of the ^ggischhorn the Alpine traveller obtains a fine view of its river-like
coui-se ; and he sees beneath him, on the right hand, and suiTounded by sheltering mountains, an
object of almost startling beauty. " Yonder," says Tyndall,'' " we sec the naked side of the
glacier, exposing glistening ice-cliflPs sixty or seventy feet high. It would seem as if the Aletsch

* Tyndall, " Forms of Water," p. 137.

ORIOIN OF ICEBERns — EXTENSION OF A OLACIEB SKAWAnDS,

(a.ACIKK.S IN SWrrZKItLAND.

THE At.KTHCII Ut.AriKR, BWITZKRl.ANn, FtlOM TUB .K(i(ll SOU HORN, SIIOWINO ITS MOnAlNK-".

here
so;

the
The

were I'li^fmid ill the vain attini|pt tu thnist an arm thrDUgh a lateral valley. It onee did

hnt the arm is now incessantly inokfn idl' close to the body of the glacier, a great space

formerly covered hy the ice being oecui)ied
^ by its water of li(|iiefaction. In this way
a lake of the lovidiest bine is formed,
wliich reaches (|nite to the base of the
ice-clirts, saps them, as the Arctic waves
sa|) the Greenland glaciers, and receives
from tliem the broken masses which it
has nnderniined. As we look down upon
the lake, small icebergs sail over the
^_^^_J tranquil surface, each resembling a snowy
swan accompanied by its shadow."

This lake is the Miirjelen Sea of the
Swiss.

Professor Tyndall goes on to describe
a spectacle which he witnessed, and which,
as we have seen, is of frequent occurrence
in the Arctic seas. A large and lonely
iceberg was floating in the middle of the
lake. Suddenly he heard a sound like
that of a cataract, and on looking towards

iceberg could see the water teeming from its sides. Whence came the water?

berg had become top-heavy through the melting underneath; it was in the act

TIIK MAHJKI.KX SKA, SWITZERLAND.

llJiKAKfNd IP OK A HKI!(i.

of jJL'rformiiijf a Honiomuilt, iiiui in rollini,' nvcr fiiriitd with it ii vii.st qunntity <>\' wator, wliifh
ruHlied like a watorfall down itn nitlcs. And tlie ii't'l)oiXi wliirli, hut a nioini-nt hulori;, wiw mmwy
white, now I'xhilited tlic (h-licate hliu' (•(•Iniir charaftcristic of ('iiniitaft it•^^ It wnnld smm, how-
ever, he rendered white aj;aia l>y tliu action of the fsun.

Wo may eontrant this picture of tlio solitary icelierj^ in the centre of the dark hlue lake with
one which Dr. Hayes dcscrihes in his jjicturesijuo voyage in the ojien Polar Sea.

After passing' Upernavik ho wvw a heavy lino of icehergH lyiiif; acnms hin course, and haviii;,'
no alternative, shot in ainoni; them. 8onu^ of them proved to lu' of immenwo nize — upwaidw of
two hundred I'eet in height, and a mile in length ; otherH were not larger than the .schooner which
wound her way amongnt them. Their forms were as various as thi'ir dimensions, from solid wall-
sided masses of dcotl whiteness, with waterfalls tumlding from them, to an old weather-worn
accunmlution of Gothic spires, whcso crystal jiiaks and sharp angles meltiil into the hlue sky.
They seemed to he endless and innumerahle, and so close together that at a little distance tiny
appeared to form upon the sea iui unhroken canoj)y of ice.

Dr. Hayes records an adventure which may serve to give the reader an idea of the nature
of the perils encountered hy the Arctic explorer. The ocean-current was cariying his schooner
towards a lahyrinth of icebergs at an uncomfortahly rapid rate. A hoat was therefore lowered,
to moor a cable to a berg which lay grounded at about a hundi'ed yards distant. While this
was being done the schooner absolutely grazed the side of a berg which rose a hundred feet
above her topma.st,s, and then slipped past another of smaller dimensions. But a strong eddy at
this nK>.iient carried her against a huge floating mass, and though the shock was slight, it proved
sutfic'jut to disengftg some fragments of ice largo enough to have crushed the vessel hod they
stride her. The bt.g then began to revolve, slowly and ponderously, and to settle slowly over
the threatened ship, whoso destruction .seemed a thing of certainty.

1'. >rtunatoly, she was saved by the action of the berg. An immeii.se mass broke off
from that part which lay beneath the water-surface, and this colo.s.sal fragment, a dozen times
larger than the schooner, came rushing up within a few yards of them, sending a vast volume of
foam and water flying from its sides. This rupture arrested the rotatory motion of the berg,
which then began to settle in another directif)n, and the schooner was able to .sheer off.

At this moment the crew were startled by a loud report. Another and another followed
in quick succession, until the din grew deafening, and the whole air seemed a reservoir of chaotic
sounds. The opposite side of the berg had .split off", piece after piece, toppling a vast volume of
ice into the sea, and sending the berg revolving back upon the ship. Then the side nearest to
them underwent the same singular process of disruption, and came plunging wildly down into
the sea, sending over thorn a shower of spray, and raising a swell which rocked the sh.,j to and
fro as in a gale of wind, and left her grinding in the debris of the crumbling ruin.

" The ice wiw here.
The ice was Iheiv,

Tlie ice wiw .'ili aroiiiH] ;
It cre.iked and prowleil,
Aud roared and howled.

Like demons iii a swoiiud."

It is im possible, we should say, for any one who has not had actual experience of tho
conditions of the Arctic world, to comprehend or imagine the immense (luantitv of ice upborne

(0 A VIHION OK Ii'KHKICIH.

(Ill iU (Mild hlciik wiitciM. Till' iii.ic ••iiuiiicriitioii of tin- tlofitinij htirgs lit tiiuoH di-tles tlie
rmvii,'at(ir. I )i. llnyi.'M oncf cuiintoil as t'lir as five liuii(!i d, niid tlifii ^'avo up in di'sfmir. Near
hy tln'V htiMid Dut, lie HiiyH, in nil tlit' nijfncd liarMiiiierfs of tiieir sliiirj) mitiincs ; and from this,
w.riJiiiiiir witli tlic di.Htanco, tiicy melted awftv into tho dear gray Hky ; and there, far off upon
the HI a (if li<|uiil HJivt r, tin' iina>,'inution uonjured up the Htrangost and mo8t wonderful groups
and olijeitH. Iiirdsand hoiiHt.s and liumaii forma and architectural designs took shape in the
dintant iiia.sscs of hliie anil white. Tin; dome of St. Peter's was reeognizable here ; then the
Mpire of a sillage eliuicli rosr ,'<liarp and distinct; and under the shadow of the Pyramids nestled
a liyzantiiie tower and a 'irecian temple.

"To the eastward," ,iys Dr. Hayes, describing a similar scone, " the sea was dotted with
little islets— dark s]>eiks upon a brilliant sui-face. Icebergs, great and small, crowded through
the chamiclH which divided them, until in the far distance they appeared massed together, termi-
nating agaiii.st a snow-ii)vere<l plain that sloped upward until it was lost in a dim line of bluish
whiteness. This line could be traced behind tho serrated coa:4 as far to the north and south
08 tho eye could carr\'. 1 1 was the great M<')' cle Glace* w hich covers the length and breadth of
the (Jreonland continent. The snow-covered slope was i glacier descending therefrom —the
parent stem from which had been discharged, at irregular intervals, many of the icebergs which
trouliii'd us so much."

We liavt 'W brought together a suHicieiit number of data to assist tho reader in forming a
vivid I'once' hose monsters of tho Polar Seas, tho icebergs; and to enable him, uidesa he

is verv agination, to realize to hini.self what they arc, and what their general aspect is.

But add one interesting detail, noticed by Mr. Lamont, the persevering seal-hunter,

whic. .ery generally overlooked.

In the course of the brief Arctic summer the increased sol if warmth has a perceptible effect
upon the solid ice, and it becomes undermined and honeycombed, or, as the sailors call it,
"rotten," like a chalk cliff. It deirays fastest, apparently, "between wind and water," so that
enormous caverns are excavated in the sides of the bergs.

I'oets never dreamed of anything more beautiful than these crystal vaults, which sometimes
appear of a deep ultramarine blue, and at others of an emerald-green tint. One could fancy them
the favourite haunts of mermaids and mermen, and of every kind of sea monster ; but, in
truth, no annual ever enters them ; the water dashing in and out through their icy caves and
tunnels makes a sonorous but rather monotonous and melancholy sound In moderately calm
weather many of these excavated bergs assume the form of gigantic mushrooms, and all kinds of
fantmitic outlines ; but as soon as a breeze of wind arises they break up into little pieces with
great ra|)i(lity.

Icebergs are met with on every side of the Southern Pole, and on every meridian of the
great Antarctic Ocean. But such is not the case in tho North. In the (JOth meridian of longi-
tude which intersects the parallel of 70° N., icebergs spread over an extent only of about fifty-
five degrees, and this is immediately in and about Greenland and Baffin Bay. Or, as Admiral
Osljorn puts it, for 1,375 miles of longitude we have icebergs, and then for 7,G35 geographical
miles none are met with. This ftict is, as the same writer calls it, most interesting, and points
strongly to the probability that no extensive area of land exists about the North Pole ; a sup-

* The name given to a pl.iin of ice near Mont Blatic.

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PERILS OF I'ACKlCa

position streugthened by another fact, that tho vast ice-fields off Spitzbeigen sliow no signs of
ever having been in contact with land or gravel.

Another difficulty which besets the Arctic navigator id the " pack-ice."
In winter, the ice from the North Pole descends so far south as to render the coast of
Newfoundland inaccessible; it envelops Greenland, sometimes even Iceland, and always sur-
rounds and blocks up Spitzbergen and Novaia Zemlaia. But as the sun comes north this vast
frozen expanse, which stretches over several thousands of square miles, bieaks up into enormous
masses. When these extend horizontally for a considerable distance they are called ice-fudds.

\-» AN ICE I'ACK, MKI.VII.I.E IIAV.

Kfloe is a detached portion of a field ; a large area of floes, closely compact together, is known
as pachi'ce ; while drift-ice is loose ice in motion, .and not so firmly welded as to prevent a ship
from forcing her way through the yielding fragments.

This " pack-ice," however, is the great obstacle to Arctic exploration ; and frequently it pre-
sents a barrier whicli no human enterprise or skill can overpass. At times, it luis been found
possible to cut a channel througli it, or it breaks up and opens a water-way through which the
bold adventurer steers. In 1800, Captain Scoresby forced his ship through two liundrtd and
fifty nriles of pack-ice, in inmiinent jaril, until he reached the parallel of 81° 50, his nearest
approach to the Pole, in 1827, Sir Edward Parry gained the latitude of 82° 45', by dragging

THE ICE-FIELDS OF THE NORTH.

a Ixjiit over the ico-fiolds, but was then conipollcd to abandon his daring and hazardous attempt,
because the current carried the ice soutliward more rapidly than he could traverse it to the north.
In warm summers this mass of ice will suddenly clear away and leave an open streak of silver
sea alonjj the west coast of Spitzbergcn, varyinjj in width from sixty to one hundred and fifty miles,
and reaching as high as HO or 80' W N. latitude. It was through this channel that Scoresby bore
is ship on the expedition to wliich we have just alluded. A direct course from the Thames,

CH.\!fSEL IN AN ICE-FIELD.

across the Pole, to Behring Strait is 2,570 geographical miles ; by Lancaster Sound it is 4,GG0
miles. The Russians would saved a voyage of 18,000 geographical miles could they strike
across the Polo and through Reining Strait to British Columbia, instead of going by Cape Horn.
Ice-fields, twenty to thirty miles across are of frequent occurrence in the great Northern
Ocean ; sometimes they extend fully one hundred miles, so closely and solidly packed that no
opening, even for a boat, intervenes between them ; they vary in thickness from ten to forty or
even fifty feet. At times these fields, which are many thousand millions of tons in weight,
acquire a rajiid rotatory motion, and dash against one another with a fury of which no words

can give an accurate idea. The reader knows
what awful results are j)roduced by the collision
of two railway trains, and may succeed, perhaps,
in forming some feeble conception of this still
nore appalling scene when he remembers the huge
dimensions and solidity of the opposing forces.
The waters seethe and foam, as if lashed by a
tremendous tempest ; the air is .smitten into still-
ness by the chaos of sounds, the creaking, and
rending, and cracking, and heaving, as the two
i<?e-fields are hurled against each other.

Woe to the ship caught between these grinding

"XII'I'KH" IX AN K'F-FIKI.D.

"TAKING THE PACK." W

masses ! No vessel ever built by liununi hands could r it their pressure ; and luauy a whaler,
navigating amid the floating fields, especially in foggy weather, has thus been doomed to destruc-
tion. Some have been caught up like reeds, and flung helplessly upon the ice ; others have been
overrun by the ice, and buried beneath the accumulated fragments ; others have been daslicd to
pieces, and have gone down suddenly with all on board.

The records of Arctic exploration are full of stories of " hairbreadth escapes ' from the perils
of the ice-field and the ice-floe. Here is one which we borrow from the voyage of the Dorothea
and the Trent, under Captain Buchan and Lieutenant Franklin.

The two vessels were making for Magdalena Bay, when they were caught in a violent storm,
and compelled to heave-to under storm stay-sails. Next morning (June 30) the ice was seen
along the lee, with a furious sea breaking upon it. Close-reefed sails were out in the hope of
weatherin<>' the danger. When Buchan found that this could not be efibcted by his ship, a slow
and heavy sailer, he resolved on the desperate expedient of " taking the jiack," in preference to
falling, broadside on, among the roaring breakers and crashing ice. "Heaven help them !" was
the involuntary cry of those on board the Trent, and the prayer was all the more earnest fiom
the conviction that a similar fate would soon be their own.

The Dorothea wore, and, impelled by wind and sea, rushed towards what seemed inevitable
destruction ; those in the Trent held their breath while they watched the perilous ex])loit. The
suspense lasted but a moment, for the vessel, like a snow-flake before the storm, drove into the
a-'\'ful scene of foam, and spray, and broken ice, which formed a wall impenetrable to mortal eye-
sight. Whether she was lost or saved, the gallant hearts on board the Trent would never know
until they too were forced into a manoeuvre which appeared like rushing into the jaws of deatli.
But it was inevitable ; and when Franklin had made all his preparations, he gave, in firm, decisive
tones, the order to " put up the helm."

No language, says Admiral Beechey, who was then serving as a lieutenant on board tlie
Trent, can convey an adequate idea of the terrific grandeur of the effects produced by the collision
of the ice and the tempestuous ocean. No language, on the other hand, can convey an idea of the
heroic calmness and resolution of Franklin and his crew. As they ai)proached the terri'ule scene,
Franklin watched for one opening less hazardous than another ; but there was none. Before
them stretched one long line of frightful breakers, immense blocks of ice heaving, rearing, and
hurtlino- ao-ainst one another with a din which rendered the loud voice of the gallant commfinder
almost inaudible. On the crest of a huge billow the little Trent rushed into the horrible turmoil ;
a shock, which quivered through the ship from stem to stern, and the crew were flung up(m tlie
deck, and the masts bent like willow wands.

"Hold on, for your lives, and stand to the helm, lads!" shouted Franklin. "Ay, ay, sir,"
was the steady response from many a heroic heart. A billow came thundering against the stern of
the brig ; would the brig be engulfed, or would she drive before it ? Hapi)ily, she forged ahead,
though shaking like a spent race-horse, and with every timber straining and creaking. Now,
thrown broadside on, her side was remorselessly battered by the floe pieces ; then, tosscrl l>y the sea
over ice-block after ice-block, she seemed like a plaything in the grasp of an irresistible power. V^n-
some houi-s this severe trial of strength and fortitude endured ; then the storm subsided as raj)idly
as it had arisen, and their gratitude for their own escape was mingled with joy at the safety of
the Dorothea, which they could see in the distance, still afloat, and with her crew in safety.

50 PEUILOUS POSITION OF PARKY'S SHIPS.

On ('iiptiiiii I'iirry's socoiid oxpodition, in 1822, his ships, tho Ilecla und tho Fury, were
j)hico(l ill a position < it' scarcely loss ilanifor.

Thus wu read of tho Ilt'clu, which at tho tiiiio had boon made fast by moans of cables to the
land it-o, that a very iioavy and oxtonsivc flou cauj^iit hoi' on lior broadside, and, being backed by
unotlicr laij^o Ixxly of ice, giaihially lifted her s<>ern as if by tho action of a wedge. The weight
every moment increasing, her crow were obliged to veer on the hawsers, whose friction was so
giviit as nearly to cut through the bitt-hoads, and ultimately set them on tiro, so that it became
i('i|uisito to pour upon thorn buckets of water. Vt length the pressure proved irresistible; the
cables snapped ; but as tho .sea was too full of ico to allow tho ship to drive, the only way in
wliicii .she could yield to the enormous burden bidught to bear upon her was by leaning over the
land-ice,. while her stern at the same time was lifted clean out of the water for fully five feet.

Had another floe backed the one which lifted her, the ship must inevitably have lolled
broadside over, or lieeii rent in twain. But tho pressure which had boon so dangerous eventually
proved its safety ; for, owing to its incroasing weight, tho floe on which she w.-is carried burst
upwards, unable to resist its force. The I/ech( then righted, and a small channel opening up
amid tho driving ice, she was soon got into comparatively smooth water.

On the following day, shortly before noon, a heavy floe, measuring some miles in length,
came down towards the Fiiri/, exciting the gravest apprehensions for her safety. In a few
minutes it came in contact, at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, with a point of the land-ice,
breaking it up with a tremendous roar, and forcing numberless innuense masses, perhaps many
tons in weight, to tho height of fifty or sixty feet ; whence they again rolled down on the inner
or land side, and wore (juickly succeeded by a frosh supply. While they were compelled to remain
])assivo spectators of this grand but terrific sight, being within five or six hundred yards of the
point, the danger they incurred was twofold : first, lost the floe shoulil swing in and serve the ship
in the .same unceremonious manner ; and, secondly, lest its pressure should detach the land-ice to
which they were secured, and cast tlieni adrift at the mercy of the tides. Fortunately, neither
of those terrible alternatives occurred, the floe remaining stationary for the re.st of the tide, and
setting off with tho ebb when tho tide sotni afterwards turned.

Tho reader must not imagine that an ice-field is a smooth and uniform plain, as level as an
Knglish meadow ; it is, on tho contrary, a rugged succe.ssion of hollows, and of protuberances called
" hiiinmoeks,"' interspersed with pools of water, and occa.sionally intersected by deep fissures. In
many parts it can bo com})ared only to a promiscuous accumulation of rocks closely packed
together, and piled up over the extensive dreary space in groat hea])S and endless ridges, leaving
scarcely a foot of level surface, and compelling the traveller to thread his way as best he can
among the perplexing inequalities ; .sometimes mounting unavoidable obstructions to an elevation
of ten, and a''ain more than a hundred foot, above the sjenoral level.

Tho interspaces between tho.si! closely accunudated ice-masses are filled up to some extent
with drifted snow.

Now, iet tho reader endeavour to form a definite idea of the scene presented by an ice-field.
Let him watch the slow progress of the sledges as they wind through the labyrinth of broken ice-
tables, tho men and dogs pulling and pushing up their respective loads, iis Napoleon's soldiers
may have done when drawing their artillery through the rugged Alpine passes, or Lord Napier's

-1

■'•ft

FniiMATIOK OK AN ICK I'l.OK. RQ

heroes when they scaled thf steep Abyssinian lieij^hts. He will sco them clambering over the
very summit of lofty ridges, where no gap occurs, and again descending on the other side, the
sledge frequently toppling over a precipice, sometimes capsizing, and sometinics l)rcaking.

Again : he will see the adventurons party, when liaHlcd in their attemjit to cross or find a
pass, breaking a track with shovel and handspike ; or, again, unable even with these appliances
to accomplish their end, they retreat to seek an easier route. Perhaps they are fortunate enough
to discover a kind of gap or gateway, and upon its winding and uneven surface accomplish a
mile or so with comparative ease. The snow-drifts sometimes prove an assistance, but more fre-
quently an obstruction ; for though their surface is always hard, it is not always Hrm to tlu' foot.
Then the crast gives way, and the foot sinks at the very moment when the other is lifted. But,
worse than this, the chasms between the liummocks may be overarched with snow in such a
manner as to leave a considerable space at the bottom void and empty ; then, when everything
looks auspicious, down sinks one of the hapless explorers to his waist, another to the neck, a third
is " lost to sight," the sledge gives way, and all is confusion worse confounded I To educe order
out of the chaos is probably the work of hours ; especially if the sledge, as is often the case, must
bo unloaded. Not unfrequently it is necessary to carry the cargo in two or three loafls ; tlie
sledges are coming and going continually : and the day is one " endless pull and haul."

Dr. Hayes speaks of an ice-floe, crested with hummocks, and covered with crusted snow, the
solid contents of which he estimated, in round numbers, at 6,000,000,000 of tons, its depth being
about one hundred and sixty feet. All around its border was banked up a kind of rampart of
last year's ice, the loftiest pinnacle of which rose fully one hundred and twenty feet above the sea-
level. This ice-tower consisted of blocks of ice of every shape and size, piled one upon an-
other in the greatest disorder. Numerous other towers, or bastions, equally rugged, though of
less elevation, sprang from the same ridge, and from every part of this desolate area ; and " if a
thousand Lisbons were crowded together and tumbled to pieces by the shock of an earthquake,
the scene could hardly be more rugged, nor to cross the ruins a severer task,"

We must date the origin of a floe like this back to a very remote period. I'robably it \vaa
cradled, at the outset, in some deep recess of the land, where it remained until it had accun)ulatod
to a thickness which defied the summer's sun and the winter's winds. Then it would grow, as the
glacier grows, from above ; for, like the glacier, it is wholly composed of fresh ice — that is, of
frozen snow. Thus it will be seen, to quote Dr. Hayes once more, that the accumulation of ice
upon the mountain-tojis is in nowise ditferent from the accumulation which takes place upon these
floating field,s, where every recurring year marks an addition to their depth. Vast as they are to
the sight, and pigmies as they are compared with the inland Mer de Glace, yet, in all that con-
cerns their growth, they are truly glaciers, dwarf floating glaciers. That only in this manner
can they grow to so great a depth will at once be conceded by the reader, if he recollects that ice
soon reaches a maximum thickness by direct freezing, and that its growth is arrested by a natural
law. Necessarily, this maximum thickness varies according to the temperature of the locality :
but the ice is in itself the sea's protection. The cold air cannot absorb the warmth of the water
through more than a certain thickness of ice, and that thickness attains a final limit long before
the winter has reached its close. The depth of ice formed on the first night is greater than that
formed on the second ; on the second is greater than on the third ; on the third greater than on

flO VVALHUHHUNTINO.

the fourth ; mid ho it coiitinufs, until tho iucronHo no longer takes jihice. In other words, the
ratio of increase of tlie tiiiekness of ico is in inverse proportion to the duration of the period of
freezin;,'. There ciinies ii time when the water V)eneath tiu; ice no lon<(er conj,'eals, hecause the
iee-cru.st ahove it protects it from the action of the atmo.spiiere. J)r. Hayes asserts tiiat he
never saw an Arcti<" m-ta.\)\(! Jhrmcd hij diri'ct frcezinfj i\mi exceeded eighteen feet; and he justly
adds, that were it not for this all-wise provision of the Deity, — this natural law, as our men of
science term it, — tlio Arctic waters would, ages ago, have heen solid seas of ice to their pro-

foundest depths.

Having said tlais nnich about the various forms which the ice assumes in the Polar seaa, —
ahout till ir ieuhergs and ice-fields, pack-ice and drift-ice, and the thick belt of ice which surrounds
tlieir sliores, — we n)ay now direct the remlcr's attention to their Animal Life ; to the creatures
wliieli inliabit them, walrus and seal and whalo, the fishes, the molluscs, and even minuter
organisms.

And first wo shall begin with the Walrus, which finds a congenial homo in the Arctic
wildernesses. ;■''.' ^ - .,";■; </' .: -; :; :.; ■ ':■. : ^-^.'^,■ -/u,-"

Walrus hunting is the principal, or at all events the most lucrative, occupation of the Norse
fishermen, who annually betake themselves to the cheerless shores of Spitzbergen in search of
booty. Their life is a terribly hard and dangerous one ; and Mr. Lament, who has had much
experience i<\' tlieni, observes that they all have a restless, weary look about the eyes, — a look as
if contracted by being perpetually in the presence of peril. They are wild, rough, and reckless ;
but they are also bold, hardy, and enduring of cold, hunger, fatigue ; active and energetic while
at sea, thougii sadly intemperate during their winter-holiday.

The vessels engaged in the seal-fi.shery and walrus-hunting are fitted out by the merchants
iif TinTnsiie and Hanmierfest, who have, of late years, adopted the system of sharing their proceeds
witli their crew,'', thus giving them a direct interest in the pro.spcrity of the expedition. The
sliip is fitted out and provisioned by the owners, who also advance to the men what money they
may rei|iiire to purchase clothing and to make provision for their families during their absence.
Then tluv allot one-third of the gross receipts of the adventure to the crew, dividing it into
shares, three foi- the captain, two for the hai-pooneer, and one each for the common men. So that
if a fairly successful voyiige should realize in .skins, blubber, and ivory a sum of two thousand
dollars, and the number of hands amounts to ten, the usual strength of a seal-shiji's cre\v,
eacli will receive forty-seven and a half dollars, or about £10, — a very considerable sum for a
Norwegian.

Each shi]) carries a couple of boats, and a walrus-boat, capable of holding five men, which
measnri's twenty-one feet in length by five feet be.am, having her main breadth at about seven
feet from the bow. She is bow shaped at both ends, pnd so built as to turn easily on her own
centre, besides being strong, light, and ea.sy to row. Each man plies a pair of oars hung in
"grunnuets" to stout thole-pins; the steersman directs the boat by also rowing a pair of oare,
but w ith his face to the bow ; and as there are six thwarts, he can, if necessary, sit and row like
the others. By this arrangement the strength of the men is economized, and the boat is more
swiftly turned when in pursuit of the walrus.

AVALias IllNl'INC.

«1

Tho steersman also acts as harpoonecM", iiml, of ciMirsc, sits in thr linw. 'Uw. st n mnrcMt man in
tiie boat is usually placed next to him, to hoi . and liiinl in the line wiicn a walrus is struck, and
it is his duty ti) hand the har|)oons and lances to <he harpooneer as re<|uired.

Kach hoat -wiiii'h, hy tho way, is paintrd white, so as to ri'semhle the icf ani(in<rst wliich it
moves — is usually provided with three harpoon-litads inside llie Imw, <>n ini'li side : these fit info
little racks of painted canvas, so that their keen |ioints and edt,'es may not 1k^ hlunted, and to
prevent them from injurinpr the men. The liarpoons serve ecpially well for seal and Widrus, and,
simple as they seem and are, answer a(lniiral)ly th(^ purpose for which tiiey are desi^fued. The
weapon is thrust into the animal ; its struggles tii^iilen the lino ; tlie larfje outer harh then
catches up a loop of its tenacious iiide. or the tousfh reticulated fibres containing' its hlulilur;

HUNTING THE WAI.BDS.

while the small inner barb, like that of a fisli-hook, prevents it from being detached or loosened,
When a walrus has lieen properly struck, and the line hauled taut, it rarely escapes. To catih
hai'poon a line of twelve or fifteen fathoms long is attached : a sufficient length, as the Avalrus ia
seldom found in water more than fifteen fathoms deep ; and even if the water should exceed that
depth, it cannot drag the boat under, because it is unable to exert its full strength when subjected
to the pressure of twelve or fifteen fathoms of water.

Besides the harpoons, each boat is provided witli four or five enormous lances ; the shaft
being made of pine-wood, nine feet long, and one inch and a half thick at the handle, increasing
upwards to a thickness of two inches and a half where it enters the iron socket. This would seem

fi2 ■ . A i>is.\(;i;kk.\i;i.i; ri;i»('(:H«,

* ., ::,«■

u iunuiUublc WLMiiKiii, anil foriiiitlalili.' it is in tlio Mtmit lititnU ot'u Nor«u harpooneor; yet, fiL'(|ueutly,
tlio iron Hliank is l)i iit <loui)li!, or I'm stiDii;^ siiiil't snapipod liku a ixoil, in tiiu vi>(lfnt rusistaneu of
tlic sia liorsc ; and, tlicrt lure, to pruvent tiu: licad Ipcin^j lost, it is tiistcned to the shaft by a
doiililv llmn;^ of raw >• 'al-skin, tied roinxl t\u- sliank and nailed to the handle for about throe feet
lip. 'riie shaft may >eeni of disproportionate leni,'tii, hut it is necessary to give the buoyancy
HuHiiient for tloatiiif,' the heavy iron sficar if it should fall into the water. This spear, or lance,
is ni>< used for seals, bc'cause it would spoil the skins.

Xotwithstiindini,' tlie destruction itferted liy the yearly expeditions of the walrus-hunters, the
sea-horses are still found in laii,'e herds in many ]iarts of the Polar world. Mr. Lamont describes
a eurious and exciting .spectacle, where four large flat icebergs were seen to be so closely packed
with these animals that they were sunk almost level with the water, and presented the appear-
ance of "solid i.slands of walrus I" The walrus lay with their heads reclining on one another's
bai'ks and hind-(iuarters, just as rhinocenwes lie asleep in the dense shade of the African forests,
or, to use a more commonplace but familiar comparison, as hogs slumber and wallow in a British
farmyard.

Such a sight was a temptation not to be withstood by a walrus-hunter, and Mr. Laniont and
his h.ti]MM)iieer speedily disturbed the repo.se of the monsters, which chiefly consisted of cows and
young bulls. After slaying their victims, and getting them on board, came the disagreeable but
tuicessary task of separating the blubber from the skins to stow it in the barrels; a process which
is j)erfornicd in the following manner ; —

Across the ship's deck, immediately aft the hatchway, is erected a kind of framework or
stage of stout timber, about four feet in height, but sloping down at an angle of about sixty
degrees, with the deck at the forward side: on the other side it is perpendicular, and there the two
specli-nioiiirr.'i (or " blubber-cutters ") post themselves, clad, not in armour, but in oil-skin from top
to toe, and armed with large keen knives, curved on the edge. Then the skins are hoisted out of
the hold, and, two at a time, are suspended across the frame, with tlie blubber side uppermost : the
fat, or blubber, is next removed by a kind of moiviny motion of the knife, which is held in both
hands, and swayed from left to right. Only long practice, and great steadiness of wrist, can give
tlie dexterity requisite for the due peiformance of this difficult operation. Even in skinning a
walrus, skill is imperative.

As tlie blubber is mown off, it is divided into slabs, weighing twenty or thirty pounds each,
and flung down the hatchway, where two men are stationed to receive it, and pack it into the
casks, which when full are securely fastened up.

The skin, which is taken off the animal in two longitudinal halves, is a valuable commodity,
and sells at the rate of from two to four dollars per half skin. The principal purchasers are the
Russian and Swedish merchants, and its principal uses are for harness and sole leather. It is
also twisted into tiller ropes, and employed to ])rotect the rigging of ships from friction. The
()lubber is valued on account of the oil ; but neither has the walrus so much blubber, in propor-
tion to its size, as the seal, nor does the blubber afford so good an oil. A seal of 600 lbs. will
carry 200 to 250 lbs. weight of fat ; an ordinary walrus, weighing 2000 lbs., will not carry any
more.

The most profitable portion of the unfortunate sea-hoi-se is its tusks, which are composed of
vory hard, dense, and white ivory. This ivoiy is not so good, and consequently does not com-

ABOUT I UK WAI.UI'S M

luand Hi) high a pricu, an ulophiuit ivory, l)tit is in hii,'h ii-jiiito for the inauufactun! of falHo tocth,
cheHHinon, unilirella handles, whistles, and otlier small artielis.

The tusks are not an extra pair of teeth, but a develoj)inent and modification of thr canines.
For about six or seven inches of their length they are solidly set in the mass of hard bone which
forms the animal's upper jaw. So far as they are imbedded in the head they are hollow, but
mostly filled up with a cellular osseous substance containing much oil ; tlu; remainder of tlie
tusk is hard and solid throughout.

The young walrus, or calf, has no tusks in its first year of existence; but in its second,
when it is about the size of a large seal, it has a pair of mucii the same size as the canines of a
lion. In the third year the tusks measure about six inches in length.

In size and shape they vary greatly, according to the animal's age and sex. A good pair
of bull's tusks, says Mr. Laniont, will be twenty-four inches each in length, and four pounds
each in weight; but larger and heavier specimens are f)f frequent occurrence. Cows' tusks, it is
said, will avoraco fidly as long as those of the Ijulls, because less liable to be broken, but seldom
weigh more than three pounds. They are generally set nmch closer together than the bull's
tusks, sometimes even overlapping one another at the points ; while those of the bull will often
diverge as much as fifteen inches.

■Tt^n^^^.'SSA

In scientific language the walrus, morse, or sea-horse (Trichecun), belongs to a genus t)f
amphibious mammals of the family Phocuhe, a family including the well-known seals. It agrees
with the other members of that family
in the general configuration of the body
and limbs, but distinctly differe from
them in the head, which is remarkable, —
as we have seen, — -for the extraordinary
development of the canine teeth of the
upper jaw, as also for the protuberant
or swollen appearance of the muzzle, —
due to the size of their sockets and the
thickness of the upper lip. This upper
lip is thickly set with strong, transparent,
bristly hairs, which measure about six
inches in length, and are as thick as a
crow-quill. The terrific moustache, with
the long white curving tusks, the thick
projecting muzzle, and the fierce and
bloodshot eyes, give Rosmarus trichccus
a weird and almost demoniacal aspect as
it rears its head above the waves, and
goes far to account for some of the
legends of sea-monsters which embellish the Scandinavian mythology.

The walrus has no canine teeth in the lower jaw. Its incisors are small, and ten in number ;
six in the upper and four in the lower jaw. The molars, at first five on each side in each jaw,

THE WALRUS, OR MOR8R.

fit

THE WALRUS AND THE POLAR BEAR.

but fewer in the adult, are Mimide and not larj^o ; their crowuH are obliquely worn. The noHtrilH
would Heeni to be diHpiaced by the Hockots of the tuskn ; at leant they both open alinont directly
ujtwardH at Home diHtaiice from the nmzzle. 'I'h<' even iirc small, but savage ; tlitie are no
external ears.

The Arctic walrus in the sole known species of the genus. It is a gregarious aninuil,
alwavH assembling in large herds, which occasionally leave the water to take their rest upon the

A WAUIUS K.MIII.V.

shore or on the ice ; and it is at such times the hunters chiefly attack them, since their move-
ments out of the water arc very laborious a-id awkward.

They defend themselves against their enemies,
of which the Polar bear is chief, with their for-
midable tusks ; and these they also use in their
herco combats with one another. They fight with
great determination and ferocity, using their tusks
niuch in the same manner as game-cocks use their
beaks. From the unwieldy appearance of the
animal, and the position of its tusks, an inexperi-
enced spectator would suppose that the latter
could be employed only in a dowmvard stroke ;
but, on the contrary, it turns its neck with so
much ease and rapidity that it can strike in all
directions with equal force.

Old bulls very frequently have one or both of

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IHH^MHI

FIUIIT IIKTWKKS A WALlltS AND A POLAR DKAR.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE WALKUS-FISHERY. 67

their tusks broken ; w hieh may arise either from fighting or from using tliem to assist in scaling
the rocks and ice-floes. But these broken tusks are soon worn down again and sharpened to a
point by the action of the sand, as the wah'us, like tlie elephant, employs its tusk.s in digging its
food out of the ground, — that is, out of the ocean-bed. Its food princii)ally consists of starfish,
shrimps, sandworms, clams, cockles, and algce ; and Scoresby relates that he has i'ound the
remains of young seals in its stomach.

In reference to the gradual decay, or, more correctly speaking, ext>;rmination of the wall us,
the following particulars seem to be authentic.

When the pursuit of the walrus was first systematically organized from Tronisiic and Ham-
mcrfest, much larger vessels were employed than are now in vogue ; and it Wivs usual for them to
obtain their first cargo about Bear Island early in the season, and two additional cargoes at
Spitzbergen before the summer passed away. This regular and wholesale slaughter drove away
the sea-horse herds from t'eir haunts about Bear Island ; but even afterwards it was not a rare
occurrence to procure three cargoes in a season at Spitzbeigen, and less than two full cargoes
was regarded as a lamentable misha]). Now, however, more than one cargo in a sea-son is
very seldom obtained, and many vessels return, after four months' absence, oidy half full.

It is estimated that about one thousand walrus and twice that number of bearded seals
{Phoca harhata) are annually captured in the seas about Spitzbergen, exclusive of those which
sink or may die of their wounds. Some idea, therefore, may be formed of the number of sea-
horses which still ride the waves of the I'olar seas. But it is ([uite clear that they are under-
going a rapid diminution of numbers, and also that they are gradually withdrnwing in*" the
inaccessible solitudes of the remotest North.

We learn from the voyage of Ohthero, which was undertaken tun centuries ago, that the
walrus then aboimded even on the very coast of Finmarken. They have abandoned that region,
however, for some centuries, though individual stragglere were captured up to within the la.st forty
yeai-s. After their desertion of Finmarken, they retreated to Bear Island; thence they were
driven to the Thousand Islands, Hope Island, and Ryk-Yse Island ; and thence, again, to the
banlcs and skerries to the north of Spitzbergen. It is fortunate for the persecuted walrus that
the lat*"" districts are accessible only in open seasons, or perhaps once in every threr or four
summers ; so that they obtain a respite and t; :;« to breed and replenish their numbers. Other-
wise the end of the present century would mark also the total extinction of the walrus on the
island-shores of Northern Europe.

We agree with Dr. Kane that the resemblance of the walrus to man has been absurdly
overstated. Yet the notion is put forward in some of our systematic treatises, and accompanied
by the suggestion that we are to look fur the type of the mennan and mermaid in this animal.
I L" we look we shall not find. The walrus has a square-shaped head, with a fi-ontal bone presenting

i a steep descent to the eyes, and any likeness to humanity must exist in the imagination of the

"f spectator. Some of the seals exhibit a much greater resemblance : the size of the head, the

I regularity of the facial oval, the di Doping shoulders, even the movements of the seal, remind us

% impressively of man. And certainly, when seen at a distance, with head raised above the waves,

it affords some justification for the fanciful conception of tlie nymphs of ocean, the mermaids who
fignre so attractively in song and legend.

eS ADVKXTUKKS WITH WALRUSES.

Dr. Kane remarks that the instinct of attack, which is strong in the walrus, though so
f'oeJilc in the seal, and is a well-known characteristic of the pachydeiTOs, is interesting to the
naturahst, as assisting to estal)li.sh the affinity of the walrus to the latter. When wounded, it
rears its body high out of the water, plunges heavily against the ice, and strives to raise itself
upon the surface by uieiins of its fore-flippers. As the ice gives way under its weight, its
countenance assumes a truly ferocious expression, its bark changes to a roar, and the foam poure
out from its jaws till it froths its beard.

_____ Even when not excited, the walrus manages

its tusks bravely. So strong are they that
they serve as grappling-irons with which to
hold on to the surface of the steep rocks and
ice-banks it loves to climb ; and thus it can
ascend rocky islands that are sixty or a hun-
dred feet above the sea-level. It can deal an
opponent a fearful blow, but it prefers to
charge, like a veteran warrior ; and man, un-
less well armed, often comes off second best
ii^, the contest.

Governor Flaischer told Dr. Kane that, in
1830, a brown walrus — and the Eskimos say
that the brown walruses are the fiercest — after
being speared and wounded near Upernavik,
put to flight its numerous assailants, and drove
them in fear to seek help from the Danish
settlement. So violent were its movements
as to jerk out the harpoons that were launched
into its body. The governor slew it with
much difficulty after it had received several
rifle-shots and lance-wounds from his whale-
boat.
'"^^"^it"'^'-'', " .iiiJili^ ^^" another occasion, a young and adven-

^ "^'--^s/^Is^ImPhX^ *'"'"""'" !'!""'* plunged his nalcgeit into a brown

KioiiT WITH A wAi.iii's. walrus ; but, alarmed by the savage demeanour

of the beast, called for help before using the
lance. In vain the older and mo.'e wary hunters advised him to forbear. " It is a brown
walrus : •• they cried : " A,h-nk-kaiok ! Hold bad: ! " Finding the caution disregarded, his only
brother rowed forward, and hurled tlie second harpoon. Almost instantaneously the infuriated
beast charged, like the wild boar, on the unfortunate young Innuit, and ripped open his body.
Here is a description oi' a walrus-hunt : —

On first setting out, the hunters listen eagerly for some sounds by which to discover the
habitat o\' tlie animal. The walrus, like amateur vocalists, is partial to its own music, and will
lie for hours enjoying the monotonous vocalization in which it is accustomed to indulge. This
is described m something between the nooing of a cow and the deepest baying of a mastiff; ver,'

MaiiHBa

AN ESKIMO HUNTER. W

round and lull, with its " barks " or " detaciied notes " repeated seven to nine times in rather
quick succession.

The hunters hear the bellow, and press forward in single file ; winding behind ice-hunmiocks
and ridges in a serpentine approach towards a group of "pond-like discolorations," recently
frozen ice-spots, which are surrounded by older and firmer ice. .: -

In a few minutes they come in sight of the walrus. There they are, five in number, rising
at intervals through the ice in a body, and breaking it up with an explosion which sounds like
the report of heavy ordnance. Conspicuous as the leaders of the herd are two large and fierce-
looking males.

Now for a display of dexterity and skill. While the walrus remains above water, the
hunter lies flat and motionless ; when it begins to sink, behold, the hunter is alert and ready to
spring. In fact, scarcely is the tusked head below the water-line before every man is in a rapid
run ; while, as if by instinct, before it returns all are prone behind protecting knolls of ice.
They seem to guess intuitively, not only how long it will be absent, but the very point at which
it will reappear. And, in this way, hiding and advancing by turns, they reach a plate of thin
ice, scarcely strong enough to bear a man's weight, on the very brink of the dark pool in which
the walrus are gambolling.

The phlegmatic Eskimo harpooneer now wake:is into a novel ccjndition of excrement. His
coil of walrus-hide, a weil-trimmed line of many fathoms length, lies at his side. He attaches
one end to an iron barb, and this he fastens loosely, by a socket, to a shaft of unicorn's horn ;
the other end is already loosed. It is the work of a second ! He has grasped the harpoon.
The water eddies and whirls ; puffing and panting, up comes the unwieldy sea-horse. The
Eskimo rises slowly ; his right arm thrown back, his left hanging close to his side. The walrus
looks about him, and throws the water off his crest ; the Eskimo launches the fatal weapon, and
it sinks deep into the animal's side.

Down goes the wounded awah, but the Eskimo is already speeding with winged feet from
the scene of combat, letting his coil run out freely, but clutching the final loop with a desperate
grip. As he runs, he seizes a small stick of bone, roughly pointed with iron, and by a swift
strong movement thrusts it into the ice ; he twists his line around it, and prepares for a struggle.

The wounded walrus plunges desperately, and churns the ice-pool into foam ; meantime, the
line is hauled tight at one moment, and loosened the next ; for the hunter has kept his station.
But the ice crashes ; and a couple of walrus rear up through it, not many yards from the spot
where he stands. One of them, a male, is excited, angry, partly alarmed ; the other, a female,
looks calm, but bent on revenge. Down, after a rapid survey of the field, they go again into the
ocean-depths ; and immediately the harpooneer has chosen his position, carrying with him his coil,
and fixing it anew.

Scarcely is the manoeuvre accomplished before the pair have once more risen, i)reaking up
an area of ten feet in diameter about the very spot he loft. They sink for a second time, and
a second time he changes his place. And thus continues the battle between the strength of
the beast and the address of the man, till the former, half exhausted, receives a second wound,
and gives up llie contest.

The Eskimos regard the walrus with a certain degree of superstitious reverence, and it is
their belief that it is under the guardianship of a special representative or prototype, who does

ta ; • ak akctic galk.

not, indeed, interfere to protect it from being hunted, but is careful that it shall be hunted undei
tolerably fair conditionH. They assert that near a remarkable conical peak, which rises in the
solitudes of Force Bay, a great walrus lives all alone, and when the moon is absent, creeps out
t<j tliu blink of a ravine, where he bellows with a voice of tremendous power.

The walrus-hunter, unless he keeps to the sea-shore, and the ice-floes within reach of a boat,
naust be prepared to undergo many hardships, and to confront with a calm heart the most baffling
and terrible dangers. He may be overtaken by a gale ; and a gale in the wild remote North, far
from any shelter, — a gale which drives before it the blinding snow and pitiless icicles, — a gale
which sweeps unresisted and irresistible over leagues of frozen snow, — a gale which comes down
from tli« mountain-recesses where the glaciers take their rise, — is .something so dread, so ghastlj',
tliat the dweller in temperate regions can form no idea of it.

We remember that one of the gallant seekers after Franklin describes an Arctic gale, and
its offiM'ts. lie says that the ice, at a short distance from the shore, had in many places been
swept bare of snow by the driving blast; and over the glassy sheet he and his companiu/is were
helplessly carried along before the gale. The dogs, seldom stretching their traces, ran howling
in front of the sledges, which pressed upon their heels.

Wild was the scene, and dark. The moon had sunk far behind the snow-shrouded moun-
tains, and the travellers had no other light than the shimmer of stars. The deep shadows of the
cliffs, towering a tliou.sand feet above their heads, la}' heavily upon them, and enhanced the
midnight gUxmi. The patches of snow clinging to the sharp angles of the colossal wall ; the
white shroud lying on its lofty summit; the glaciers which here and there protruded through its
clefts, brought out into striking relief the blackness of its cavernous recesses. The air was filled
witli clouds of drift, which sometimes completely hid the land, and swept relentlessly before the
explona-s, as they tottered across the ft-ozen plain.

Suddenly a dark lino became visible across their path ; its true nature revealed by circling
wreaths of "frost-smoke." " Emerk! emerk!" (Water I water!) shouted the drivers, checking
as suddoidy as possible the headway of the sledges, but not until the party were within a few
feet of a recently opened and rapidly widening crack, — a fissure in the ice-crust, already twenty
feet across.

Some of the travellers now clambered to the summit of a pile of hummocks, and endeavoured
to pierce the obscurity. A headland, laid down on the map as Cape Alexander, lay only a few
miles in advance. The ice in the shallow bay on its southern side was rent in all directions ;
while beyond, from the foot of the cape, a broad sheet of water extended westward. The wind
divoi-sified its dark surface Wich ridges of snowy spray ; while here and there a frosty surf
tumbled in breakers over a small berg or drifting floe. The pieces of ice lying along its margin
were in motion, and the crash of their har<l surfaces could be heard as they came into constant
collision. Their strident clamour, the cea.seless wasliing of the surface, the moaning of the wind,
the steely rush of the drift, the jiiteous wail of the <l(igs, and all the strange noises and voices of
tho storm, added to the gloom and awful molandioly of that moonless night.

We need not wonder tliat the Eskimos of the Arctic wilderness are as feart'ul of a tempest
as are the Bedouins of the African desert. It overwhelms the one with a cloud of snow, and it
buries tho other in a cloud of sand ; and each demands and receives its quota of victims.

THK GltKAT PUOCID.t FAMILY.

That seal-hunting should be more extensively pursued than walrus-hunting Ib natural ; for
if less exciting, it is also less dangerous ; and tha seal is not only a more valuable prey than the
walrus, but is more easily captured. v

The PhocidtB are well represented in the Arctic waters. In Behring Sea we encounter
the sea-lion and the sea-bear ; while froui the Parry Islands to Novaia Zemlaia extends the
range of the harp seal [Phoca Groenlandica) , the bearded seal {Phoca harhuta), and the hispid seal
{Phoca hispida). The skins of all these species are more or less valuable ; their oil is nnich
esteemed ; and their flesh supplies the wild northern tribes with one of their principal articles
of subsistence.

The structure of the seal is admirably adapted in every detail to an aquatic life. It lives

IlKl'.O (IF SE.VI.S, NKAIl TFIK UEVII,'s THUMB, IIAFFIN SEA, UREENLASD.

chiefly in the water, where its motions are always easy and graceful ; but it spends a part of its
time in enjoying the sunshine on ice-fieldti, open shores, rocks, and sandy beaches ; and the female
brings forth her young on land.

The body of the seal is elongated, and tapers considerably from the chest to the tail. The
head has been compared to that of the dog ; the brain is generally voluminous. The feet ai'e
short, and little more than the paw extends beyond the integument of the body ; they are
webbed, and pentadactylous, or five-toed : the fore feet are set like those of other quadrupeds ;
but the hind feet are directed backwards, with toes which can be spread out widely to act aa
paddles. Tlie tail is short.

72 niFFKIJENT GENEKA OK SEAI^.

The niotioiia of the hwiI on land are constrained and peculiar. The fore feet are but little
used, and the body is thrown forward in a succession of jerks produced by a contraction of the
spine. Awkward as this mode of proj^ression seems, it is, nevertheless, exceedinjrly vapid. The
seal, iiowever, never ventures far from the shore, and the moment it is disturbed or alarmed it
plunf^es into tiie water.

The physiof^nomy of the animal is in perfect accord with its character, and expresses a con-
siderable degree of intelligence combined with much mildness of dispo.sition. The eyes are largo,
black, and brilliant ; the nose is broad, with oblong nostrils ; and there are large whiskers. The
seal has no external ears, but in the auricular orifices exists a valve which can be closed at will,
and protects the internal organi.sm from the water; the nostrils pos.sess a similar valve. The
l)ody is thickly garnished with .stift' glossy hairs, very closely set against the skin, and plentifully'
lubricated with an oily secretion, so that the surface is always smooth, and unaffected by water.
The teeth differ in different genera, but in all are specially adapted for the seizure of fi.sh and
other slippery l>rey, tliough the seals are omnivorous in their habits, and will partake both of
vegetable and animal food. There are either six or four incisors in the upper, and four or two
in the lower jaw ; the canines are invariably large and strong ; and tiie molars, usually five or
six on either side, in each jaw, are .sharp-edged or conical, and bristle with points. The seal is
fond of swallowing large stones : for what purpose is not certain, but, probably, to assist
digestion.

Seals live in herds, more or less numerous, along the frozen shores of the Arctic seas :
and on the lonely deserted coasts they bring forth their young, over which they watch with
singular affection. They swim with much rapidity, and can remain a considerable time under
water. They arc migratory in their habits, and at least four species visit our British waters.
( )n the northern coasts of Greenland they are observed to take their departure in July and to
return again in September. Tiiey produce two or three young at a time, and suckle them for
six or sever weeks in remote caverns and sequestered recesses ; after which they take to the sea.
The young exhibit a remarkable degree of tractability ; will recognize and obey the maternal
summons ; and assist each other in distress or danger. Many, if not all, of the species are
polygamous, and the males frequently contend with desperate courage for the possession of a
favourite female.

There is not much difference in the habits of the different genera or species of the Phocidue ;
but while the great Arctic seal dives like the walrus, making a kind of semi-revolution as it goes
down, the common seal {Phoea vituUna), called by the huntei-s the stein-cohhe, from its custom
of basking on the rocks, dives by suddenly dropping under water, its nose being the last part of
its body which disappears, instead of its tail.

; The common seal has a very fine spotted skin, and weighs about sixty or seventy pounds.
It is much fatter, in proportion to its size, than the bearded seal, and its carcass, consequently,
having less specific gravity, floats much longer on the water after death.

A third kind of seal found in the Spitzbergen seas is, probably, the Phoca hispida, though
the hunters know it only by the names of the " springer," and Jan Mayen seal. In the spring
months it is killed in large numbers by the whalers among the vast ice-fields which encircle the
solitary rocks of Jan Mayen Island.

Mr. Lamont observes that these seals, though existing in such enormous numbers to the

'^mmmmmmmm

THE J'lfOCA IlISl'IDA, OR "SPRINtiKR."

^^=^^

west, are not nearly so numerous in Spitzltorgen as the great, or even as the much less abumlaiit

common seal. They are gregarious, wliicli neither of the other varieties is, and geneially

consort in bands of fifty to five hundred. They .Te extremely difficult to kill, as during the

summer months tjicy very seldom go ujkhi thc^ ice; they seem much less curious tliMU the

othei- seals, and go at such a rapid pace

through the water as to defy pui-suit from ,-.-«,^ •-_ ' *

a boat. On coming up to breathe, these %i • li . ■

seals do not, like their congeners, take a

deliberate breath and a leisurely survey, but

the whole troop make a sort of sinndtaneous

flying leap through the air like a shoal of

porpoises, as they go along, and reappear

again at an incredible distance from their

preceding breathing - place. • Hence the

name of " springers " given to them by the

whalers.

The Jan Mayen seal weighs from 200
to 300 lbs., and is described as the fattest
and most buoyant of the Arctic mammals.

We have spoken of seal's flesh as an
important article of subsistence to the
Eskimo tribes. Our Arctic voyagers and
explorers have frequently been glad to

nourish themselves upon it, and speak of it as somewhat resembling veal in flavour. Not once
or twice, but several times, it has saved the hardy pioneer of civilization from destruction, and
the discovery of a stray seal has been the means of preserving a whole expedition.

There is a very striking incident of this kind in the narrative of Dr. Kane. He and liis
party had reached Cape York on their way to the Danish settlements, after their long but fruit-
less search for Sir John Franklin. They were spent with fatigue, and half-dead from imnger.
A kind of low fever crippled their energies, and they were unable to sleep. In their frail and
unseaworthy boats, which were scarcely kept afloat by constant bailing, they made but slow
progress across the open bay ; when, at this crisis of their fortunes, they descried a large seal
floating, as is the wont of these animals, on a small patch of ice, and apparently asleep, — a seal
80 large that at first they mistook it for a walrus.

Trembling with anxiety, Kane and his companions prepared to creep down ujion the
monster.

One of the men, Petersen, with a large English rifle, was stationed in the bow of the boat,
and stockings were drawn over the oars as muftlers. As they approached the animal, their
excitement became so intense that the men could hardly keep stroke, That no sound might be
heard, Dr. Kane communicated his orders by signal ; and when about three hundred yards off"
the oars were taken in, and they moved on, stealthily and silently, with a single scull astern.

The seal was not asleep, for he reared his head when his enemies were almost within rifle-
shot; and long afterwards Dr. Kane could remendier the hard, careworn, almo.^t despairing

I'HK COMMON SliAL.

DR. KANE'S NARRATIVE.

expression ot' the inen'H hiij^gaid faces as they saw him move ; their lives depended ou his capture.
Dr. Kane lowered his hand, as a signal ibr Petersen to fire. M'Gorry, who was rowing, hung,
ho says, upon liis oar, and tlie boat slowly but noiselessly forging ahead, did not suem within
range. Looking at Petersen, he saw tliat the poor fellow was paralyzed by his anxiety, and was
s'ainly seeking to find a rest for his gun against the cut-water of the boat. The seal rose on his
(iippor.H, gazed at his antagonists for a moment with mingled curiosity -and alarm, and coiled
himself fur a i)lunge. At that moment, simultaneously with the crack of the rifle, he relaxed his
iiuge hulk on the ice, and, at the very brink of the water, his head fell helplessly on one si'le.

SHOOTING A REAL.

Dr. Kane would have ordered another shot, but no discipline could have controlled his men.
With a wild yell, each vociferating according tt) his own impulse, they urged both boats upon the
does. A crowd of hands seized the precious booty, and bore it up to safer ice. The men seemed
half crazy, tlicy had been so reduced by famine. They ran over the floe, crying and laughing,
and brandishing their knives. Beibre five minutes had elapsed, each man was sucking his
streaming fingers or mouthing long strips of raw blubber. ■■ - \ ; " - ,

Not an ounce of this seal was wasted 1

The intestines found their way into the soup-kettles without any observance of the pre-
liminary home-processes. The cartilaginous parts of the fore-flippers were cut off" in the vielce,
and passed round for the operation of chewing ; and even the liver, warm and raw as it was, bade
fair to be eaten before it had seen the pot. That night, on the large halting-floe to which, in
contempt of the dangers of drifting, the happy adventurers had hauled their boats, two entire
planks of the Red Eric were devoted to the kindling of a large cooking-fire, and they enjoyed
u bountiful and savasje feast.

A SA<HKI) noMlOII.K.

T»

Such in an experience of Arctic iil'c : of tin- liimlsliijis cndiirefl l>y tlic luToic men wlio go
forth to do thi' \\iiri< nf Science and Civiliaitioii.

Returninji; to the senls, we may remark that, according to a Hcientific authority, tlif angle
of weedy rock on whidi ;. plioca iH acfust<inu'<l to rest with his family comes to be regarded oh
his property, and no other individuals of his species are entitled to lay claim to it. Altliough
in the water thene animals congregate together in numerous herds, and protect and courageously
defend one another, yt^t, when tlioy have once einerge<l from their favourite element, they regani
themselves on their own space of rock as in a sacred domicile, where no connado has a right to
intrude on their domestic tranquillity. Ff any stranger approach this family centre, the chief —
or shall we call him the father ? — prepares to repel hy force what he considers an unwarrantahle
encroachment; and a terrible combat invariably ensues, which terminates only with the death
of the lord of the rock, or the conipulsory retreat of the intruder.

But a family never seizes upon a
larger tract than it absolutely requires, and ^

lives peaceably with neighbouring families,
from which it is seldom separated by a
greater intei-val than forty or fifty jiaces.
If compelled by necessity, they will even
live on amicable terms at much closer
quarters. Three or four families will share
a rock, a cavern, or an ice-tloe ; but each
occupies the place allotted to it at the
original apportionment, and shuts himself
within it, so to speak, nor ever meddles
with individuals of another family.

Our modern naturalists divide the
PhocidsB into two distinct ordtjrs : the
Phocw properly so called, which have no
external ears, but only an auditory orifice
on the surface of the head ; and the Otariw,
which .are provided with external organs.

The remarks we have been making
apply more particularly to the common seal

{Phoca vitulina), or small Spitzbergen seal, which measures from four to five feet in length.
The Greenland or harp seal {Phoca Grcenlanclica), to which we have already alluded, is larger
and fatter, and is distinguished by the changes of colom* it undergoes before it reaches maturity.
We have also spoken of the bearded seal (Phoca barbata), which sometimes attains a length of
ten feet, and is known, not only by its size, but by its thick and strong moustache. The hooded
seal (Stemmatopm cri.-i.'tm) is distinguished by the globular and expansible .sac situated on the
summit of the head of the males. This species grows to the length of seven or eight feet, and
inhabits the waters of Newfoundland and Greenland.

THE OTART.

7«

AN ESKIMU UUT.

' xs.'S-SCt

The valuo of the aeal t<j tlio Eskiiiio tribes will best be uiitluistoutl fitjin a cleseiiptloii of the
UHUH to wliirh vnriouH parts r)f liie aiiiiiml aiv ;i|i|i|ic<l in an Eskimo hut.

\Vu will siipjjo.He this hut to measure
aliout five or live and a half feet iu height,
and about ten feet in diaiueter. The walla
are made uf utonea, niuaa, and the bunea of
seals, narwhals, whales, and other ocean-
creatures. They are not arched, but approach
each other gradually from the foundation,
and are capped by long oblong slabs of
slate -stone extending from aide to aide.
We enter : the Hooring consists of thin flat
stones. At the back part of the hut the
tloor rises about a foot, and this hreek, as
the elevation is called serves both as couch
and seat, being coverei with a thick layer
of dried mo.ss and grass, under seal-skins,
dog-skins, and bear-skins. Similar eleva-
tions are placed at the corners in front ;
under one of which will lie, perhaps, a
litter of pups with their mother, and under
the other a portion of seal's meat. In the square front of the hut, above the passage-way, a
window is inserted ; the light being admitted through a square sheet of strips of dried
inti'stincs, sewed together. The entrance is in the Hoor, close to the front wall, and is covered
witli a piece of seal-skin. Seal-skins are hung about the walls to dry. At the edge of the
hrt'ck, on cither side, sits a woman, each busily engaged in attending to a smoky lamp, fed with
h^oal's oil. These lamps are made of soa|)stono, and in shape resemble a clam-shell, being about
eight inches in diameter. The cavity is tilled with oil obtained from seal's blubber ; and on the
straight edge the flame burns qu'te vividly, the wick which furnishes it being made of moss.
The bvLsincss of the women is apparently to prevent the lamps from smoking, and to keep them
8 ij^plied with Itlublier, large pieces of which are placed in the cavity, the heat drawing out the
oil. About three inches above this flame hangs, suspended from the ceiling, an oblong square
pot made of the same material as the lamp, in which a joint of seal is simmering slowly.
Alxne this Jiangs a rack, made of bare rib-bones, bound together crosswise, on which stockings
and mittens, and various garmcnta made of seal-skin, are laid to dry. Xo other Are can be
seen than that which the lami)s supjjly, nor is any other needed. So many persons are crowded
into the confined interior that it is insufterably hot, while the whole place reeks with the smell
of seal-tlesli, seal-oil, and seal-skin !

TIIK nOODKD SKiM..

It is natural enough fnat we should here introdu ;e ai account of the Eskimo mode of
catching seals. The great season of the seal-hunt is the spring, when the inoflfensive i^hoca
gambol and siiort in the open water-ways near the coasts, or clan^ber on the ice-floes to enjoy the
rays of the tardy sun. They are of a wary and timid disposition, and we may suppose that their

rill:; KSKIMU SEALUUNTKU.

7»

tnulitioiis liavo taiii,'lit them to be on their guard against man ; but an all their habits and ways
are well known to tlu' Kskiuio, they do not Hucceed in eluding lii.s dexterous perseverance. Some-
times the hunter attires himself in a se.d-skiu, and so exactly imitates their apjiearanco and
movements that he ai)proaehe3 within spear range oi' them before the disguise is detecti'd ; or else
he creeps into th ir haunts behind a white screen, which is proi)elled in front of liim by moans of
a sledge. As the season verges upon midsummer less j)recaution becomes necessary ; the eyes of
the seals being so congested by the tierce radiance of the sun that they are often nearly blind. In
winter they are assailed while labouring at their breathing-holes, or when they lise for the pur-
pose of resjiiration.

If an Eskimo satisfies himself that a seal is working away beneath the ice, he takes u|) his
station at the suspected point, and seldom ([uits it, howevir severe the weather, until he has
captured the aninu\l. To jnotect himself from the freezing blast, he throws up a snow-wall iilmut

AS ESKIMO SEAL-UUNTKU.

four feet in height, and seating himself in its shade, he rests his spears, lines, and other appliances
on a number of little forked sticks inserted into the snow, in order that he may move them, when
wanted, without making the slightest noise. Ho carries his caution to such an I'xcess, that he
even ties his own knees together with a thong to prevent his garments from rustling 1

To discover whether the seal is still gnawing at the ice, our patient watcher makes use of
his kccp-huttuk ; a slender rod of bone, no thicker than ordinary bell-wire, cleverly rounded, with
a knob at one end and a sharp point at the other.

This implement he thrusts into the ice, and the knob, which remains above the surface,
informs liim by its motion whether the animal is still engaged in making his hole ; if it does not
move, the attempt is given up in that place, and the hunter betakes himself elsewhere. When
ho supposes the hole to be nearly comoleted, he stealthily raises his spear, and as soon as he can
hear the blowing of the seal, and knows therefore that the ice-crust is very thin, he drives it
into the unsuspecting animal with all his might ; ami then liacks away with his sharp-edged

fa AbOL'T THK WHAl.i;.

IpiU^itr i>ninia, thi» inuTV»<ninf( itc, ho hh to repeat liis Mows, uml Htumro Iiis vii-tiiii. Tho iirilid;
or Phora hisjiida, Itcinj^ tli<^ Hinalk'Ht soal, in held wliilo Htni;,'j;lin),f, titliur liy tlie liaiid, or
\>y 11 lint? oiic! L'liil of wliifli is twisted round a Hpiar driven into tho ico. In tlio caHo of tlie
heardt'd hwiI, or oijitka, the lino is ooilod round tiic Iimittr's Icj^ or arm ; for a wairuH, round
hiH hoily, tho foot boing at tho waiuo tinio firmly iilantcd a;,'ainMt a hunnnock of ice, so as to
inc'reaw the capaliiiily of roHiHtanec. A hoy of fifteen ciin kill a iieitid; Itut tho larger aninialw
can be nia.stiired only by a robuMt and experienced adult.

We come now t(» speak of tho Whale, which, in size, is the Hovereign of tho Arctic seas, and
tho grandest type of marine life.

Wliales (Cftdci'd) are, as nicst persons now-a-day« know, an order of aquatic mammals,
distinguished b}- their fin-like anterior extremities, and by the peculiarity that the place of the
posterior extremities i.s supplied by a large horizontal caudal fin, or tail ; while tho cervical
bones are so compressed that tho animal, externally at least, seems to have no neck.

The general form of the whale, notwithstanding its position among the Mammalia, is similar
to that of the lislies, and the horizontal elongation of the body, tlie smooth and rounded surface,
tho gradual attenuation of the extremities of ^he trunk, and the magnitude of the fins and tail,
are sjiecially adapted to easy and swift motion in the water. The arrangement of tho bones
composing the anterior limb is very curious. The whole of the fin consists of exactly the same
parts as those which we find in the human hand and arm ; but they are so concealed beneath the
thick cutaneous or integumentary envelope, that not a trace of bone is visible. In this respect an
intermediate organization is shown by the fore limbs of the seal.

The posterior extremity, in all the Cetacea, is either absolutely deficient, or else rudimentary.
If rudimentary, its sole vestige consists of certain small bones, tho imperfect representation of a
pelvis, suspended, an it were, in the flesh, and unconnected with the spinal column. Here we
n>ay observe a remarkable difference between the whale and the seal : in the latter, as we have
seen, there is a short tail, and the posterior extremities perform the office of a true caudal fin ; in
the former this important organ of progression consists, to use Mr. Bell's words, of " an extremely
broad and powerful horizontal disc, varying in figure in the different genera, but in all con-
stituting the principal instrument of locomotion." In fishes the tail is set vertically, but in whales
horizontally ; and it has been well said that the admirable adaptation of such a peculiarity in its
position to the requirements of the animal forms a fresh and beautiful illustration of the infinite
resource and foresight of the Creative Wisdom. " f ''s, :

Thus : the fishes, respiring only the air contained in the dense liquid medium in which they
live, require no access to the atmosphere ; and, therefore, their progression is chiefly confined to
the same region. But the whales, breathing atmospheric air, must necessarily come to tho
surface for each respiration ; and hence they need a powerful instrument or lever, the position of
which shall apply its impulse in a vertical direction, so as to impel their colossal bulk from the
lowest depths of ocean to the surface every time the lungs require to receive a fresh supply of
atmospheric air. The greatest rapidity of motion is effected by alternate strokes of the tail
against the water, upwards and downwards ; but the usual progression is accomplished by an
obliciue lateral and downward impulse, first on one side and then on the other, just as a boat is
propelled by a man with a single oar in the art of " sculling." The extent of the tail in some of

TIIK iilti:K.NI,ANH WIIAl.K.

tho luiKor rt|iucioti \h roally iiniuoiiHo; tliu suiwrticius boiii^' no li-ss tlmii abiMit iv liiimlri'd w|unre
foot, iind its breotUh coiwidi nildy t'X('oe<linR twenty fcot.

Tho c'omnion, rijjlit, di- ( Jrooulainl wlmU' {/inlifiin ini/sticeliis) liiis lu'on, for ii'iituricH, tlic
nlijict (if iiian'w HyMtfiuatic iiurwiiit, on account of itn valual>lo oil and scarctdy lesH valualilo
baliH'ii.

Thin wlialo seldom oxrocdrt fifty to sixty twt in Icnj^'tli, or tliiity to forty in ijirlli, and, tlicio-
foio, is l)y no nioaiiH tin; head of its family. Ah in othor spi'iMcs, the Ixidy is thick and bulky
forwards, lai>,'eHt about tiio middle, and tapers suddenly t<iwards the tail. The head is eolos.sal ;
broad, flat, and rounded beneath, and narrow above ; it forms about a third of the animal's entire
lentfth, and is al)out ten or twelve feet broad. Its lips -such lips I are five or six feet thick.
Thev do not cover liny teeth, but they protect a pair of very forniidablf jaws. The cavernou.s

TIIE ORRKNt.AND WRALK.

interior (jf the mouth is filled up with two series of whalebone lamina?, about three hundred in
each, which re(|uire particular description. Tlie whalebone, or baleen, a.s it is called, consists of
numerous parallel plates, layers, or laminic, each of which is formed of a central coarse fibrous
layer lying between two that are compact and externally polishctl. But this outer part does
not completely cover the inner ; a kind of edge is exposed, and this edge terminates in a loose
fringed or fibrous extremity. Moreover, at the base of each plate of baleen lies a conical cavity,
covering a pulp which corresponds with it ; and this pulp is sunk within the substance of the gum
or buccal membrane stretched over the palate and upper jaw.

The comjmct outer layers of the baleen plate are continuous with a white homy layer of the
gum, which passes on to the surface of each plate ; and the pulp may be regarded, therefore, as
the secreting organ of the internal coarse structure only. The filaments of the fringe are
exceedingly numerous, and so fill up the mouth-cavity as to form a very efficient and ingenious,
sieve or strainer; and as the esophagus, or "swallow," of the whale is so confined as to be
unable to admit of the passage even of the smaller fish, and the food of the whale consequently

80 TIIK NOliTHEKN KOKQUAL.

is limited to minute (iri,'iiiiiisiiis, .siicii as tlie inedusic, tiiis skilfully devised construction ia abso-
lutely leciuisite in order to retain the whole of those which are take** into the mouth.

The mode in which the whale feeds may be thus described : —

The broad waters of the Arctic seas teem with innismerable shoals of molluscous, radiate,
and crustaceous animals, and these are frequently so numerous as absolutely to colour che wave
surface.

When a whale, therefore, desires food, it opens its colossal mouth, and a host of these
organisms is, as it were, swept up by the great expanse of the lower jaw : as the mouth closes,
the water is ejected, and the life it contained is imprisoned by the appliance we have attempted
to describe.

If we consider the number of whales found in the Northern seas, and tlie mighty bulk of
each individual, our imag-nation entirely fails to appreciate the countless myriads of minute
organisms which mu.st be sacrificed to their due nourishment.

One of the principal products of the Greenland whale is its baleen, or whalebone, with the
domestic uses of which our readers \'i\\ be familiar ; but the large quantities of oil which it yields
arc still more valuable. A whale si\ty feet in length will supply fully twenty tons of pure oil.

Besides the common whale, cur hunters find in the seas of the Nortli the razor-backed
whale, or northern rorqual (Br.lCBnoptera phy sab's), characterized by the prominent lidge
which extends filong its mighty back Thi.s monster of the deep attains a lengthy it is said, of
one hundred feet, and measures from thirty to thirty-five feet in circumference. But its yield of
oil and baleen is less than that of the right or Greenland whale, and as its capture is a task of
difliculty and danger, the whalers seldom attack ll. !;• its movements it is more rapid and
restless, and when harpooned it frequently plunges downward with such force and velocity us to
break tlie line. In several respects it differs from the Greenland species ; and particularly in the
nature of its food, for it feeds upon fishes of considerable size.

Some of our naturalists affirm that several species of rorquals exist in the Arctic seas ; and
the 'tiivo whale, "o called from tl' resemblance of its mouth to that of a pike, i^ fre(iuently
described as in independe t opecies. Others, however, are of opinion that the pike is simply the
young of tlie monster we have been describing. The rorqual i"^ very voracious, and preys
extensi'. ely uuon fishes ; as irany as six hundred cod, to say nothing of smaller " fry," having
been found in the sf niacli of a single individual.

Wiiile the Greenland whale is being rapidly driven I ack into the icy Wildernesses beyond
Bchring Straiv., on the west and the creeks and gulfs heyoiid Baffin Bay, on tlic east, the
rorqualS; including the Balcencptera rostrattts (or beaked whale), Balwnoptera musculus, and
Balxenoptera hoops, still frequent the open wa'.,trs, — their pursuit being, as we have ,nho\vn, more
difficult and 1' ss profitable. They arc generally found in attendance on the hoinng-.si.cJs, of
which they are the assiduous and destructive enemies. Off Greenland, Snitzbergen, and Novai v
Zemlaia they are founii in considerable numbers.

Our whalers go fortli every year in well-provided ships, and sujjplicd with the best and
most formidable weapons which scientific ingenuity can devise. Still they find the enterprise
one of peri) and hard.sh'p, and it is universally recognized as requiring in those who embark in
it no ..rdinaiy powers of endurance, as well as courage, patience , and perseverance. Yet the
Asiatic and American tribes do not fear to confront the oceau-leviathan with the simplest of

MmiUM

WHALE-FISHERY tN THE NuKTHEHN WATERS.

arms. The Aleilt embarks in his little skift", or baidar, and catchinir sight of his pro}', stealthily
approaches it from behind until he nearly reaches the monster's head. Then he suddenly and
dexterously drives his short syie&r into the huge flank, just under the fore tin, anil retreats as
biviftly as his well-plied oars can carry him. If the spear has sunk into the flesh, the whale is
doomed ; within the next two or three days it will perish, and the currents and the waves will
hurl the vast bulk on the nearest shore, to be claimed by its gallant conqueror. And as each
spear bears its owner's peculiar mark, the claim is never disputed.

Occasionally the baidar does not escape in time, and the exasperated leviathan, furiously
lashing the waters with its tail, hurls the frail boat high up into the air, as if it were a reed, or
sinks it with one cru-shing blow. No wonder that those of their race who undertake so hazardous
a calling are held in high repute among the Aleuts. To sally forth alone, and encounter the
whale in the icy waters of the Polar Sea, is a task demanding the utmost intrepidity and the
utmost tranquillity of nerve.

Many of the whales thus daringly harpooned are lost. It is on record that, in the summer
of 1831, one hundred and eighteen whales were struck near Kadjack, and of these only forty-
three were found. The others either drifted to far-oft" shores and lonely unknown isles, or became
the prey of sharks and ocean-birds. Wrangell states that of late years the Russians have intro-
duced the use of the harpoon, and engaged some English harpooneers to teach the Aloiits the
secret of their craft ; and, therefore, the older and more hazardous method, which the Aleiits had
learned from their forefathers, will soon be a tiling of the past.

The Eskimos devote the month of August to the whale-hshery, and for this purpose they
a'^'^emble in companies, aud plant a colony of huts on some bold headland of the Polar coast,
where the water is of depth sufficient to flo it their destined victim.

As soon as a whale's colossal bulk is seen outstretched on the water, a dozan kayaks or more
cautiously paddle up in the rear, until one of them, shooting ahead, comes near eno'.igh on one
side for the men to drive the spear into its flesh with all the force of both arms. To the spear
"e attached an inflated seal-skin and a long coil of thong. The whale dives immediat(jly it is
stricken. After awhile it reappears, and the signal being given by the floatin<v seal-skin buoy, all
the canoes again paddle towards their prey. Again the opportunity is seized for launching the
fatal «7>ears ; and this process is repeated until the exhausted whale rises more and more fre-
q. ■ .itly to the surface, is finally killed, and towed ashore.

Captain M'Clure fell in with an Eskimo tribe off C pe Bathurst which hunted the whale in
this primitive fashion, but the females, as well as the men, engaged in tli<i piirsuit. An omcdal;
or w iman's boat, he &ays, is " manned by ladies," having is harpooneer a chosen man of the tribe;
and a shoal of small fiy, in the form of kaifaks, or sin^'o-men canoes, p.re in attendance. The
hai-pooneer single? mt "a fish," drives into its flesh his weapon, to which an inflat(!(i seal-skin is
attached by mcars ol a walrus-hide thong. The wounded fish is then inecs.santly harassed by the
men in the ka,yacl with weapons of a similar description ; and a number of these, driven into
the unfortunate whale, b, le its efforts to escape, and wear out its strength, until, in che course
of a day, it dies front exhaustion and loss of blood.

Sherard Osborn tells us that the haipooneer, when successful, becomes a very great personage
indeed, and is invariably decorated with the Eskimo order of tiie Blue Ribbon ; that is, a blue

AB(->UT TIIK NAl;w;iAI,.

lino is (Imwn acrDss liis i'nw uvor tlie l-iid-ri' ut' liis iiosu. This is tiio )iii,'hust honour known to
tiio lierocs of Ciii)C Biitiiurst ; but it carries alonj; with it tiie i)rivilego of the decorated individual
being allowed to take unto liiniself a second wife I

In the waters c.t No\aia Zendaia, Greenland, and Spitzbergen is found the narwhal, or sea
unicorn (Moiiodon uioiiocero.s), which was at one time the tlienie of so many extravagant legends.
It belongs to the (Atacca, but differs from the whale in having no teeth, properly so called, and
in being armed with a formidai)le horn, projecting straight forward from the upper jaw, in a
direct line with the bcidy. This horn, or tusk, the use of which has not been satisfactorily ascer-
tained, is harder and wliiter than ivory, spirally .striated from base to point, tapers throughout, and
mea.snn;8 from si\ to ten feet iti length. IMr. Bell remarks that it would lie a strange anomaly

rrJK--

'^m

t !>j^-

SAItWIlAl.s. MAl.K ANn FKMAt.K.

if the apparent singleness of this weapon were real. In truth, both teeth are invariably found
in till' jaw, not only of tiie male, but of the female also; but in ordinary (thougli not in all) ca.ses
one only, and tliis in the male, is fully developed, the other remaining in a rudimentary condition
— even as both do in the female.

The narwhal, from moutli to tail, is abmit twenty f(!et long, though individuals meas iring
thirty feet are sonii'times met witli. Its head i.s short, and the upper jiart convex; its mouth
small : its s])ii'acle, or resjiiratory vent, duplicate within ; its tongue long ; the pectt)ral fins small,
'{'he back, which is convex and rather wide, has no fins, and siiarpens gr.adu.Uly towards the tail,
whidi, as in other C'etacea, is horizontal. The food of the narwhal, whose habits are remarkably
|)acific, consists uf medus.e, the smaller hinds of flat fisli, ant' other marine animals.

A striking .spectacle which fretpiently greets the eye of the voyager hi the Arctic .seas is tliat
of a shod of dolphins gambolling and leaping, as if in the ve.y heyday of enjoyment. The
'.M^uga, sometimes called the white whale {Dv^phinus leucos), attracts attention by tl' ; dazzling
whiteness of its body and the swiftness of its -noversents. It fiequer.ts the estuaries of the Obi

^■"^'^

T(1E BLACK DOLPHIN.

and the Irtish, the Muokt'iizio ami the Coppermine, wliieh it sometimes ascends to a considerable
distance in pnrsiiit of tlie salmon, its len<,'th varies from twelve tn twenty feet : it ha.s no <lorsal
tin; and its iiead is round, with a broad truncated sncHit.

The black dolphin {(rlohiccphalus yloh'ceps) is also an inhabitant of tin- Polar seas, butli
Sey^nd Behring Strait, and between Greenland and Spitzbergen. It is, however, tVequently
met with in waters further south. Its length averages about twenty-four feet, and its circumfer-

A SHOAL OF noi.riiiNS. _ ■^i-

ence ter. .jet. Its smooth oily skin is bluish-black on the iqijier, ami an obscure white on the
lower, parts of the body. Twenty-^ ivo oi' twenty four strong interlocking teeth in each jaw form
its formidable apjiaratus of offence and d- ^'ence ; its dorsal fin is about iifteen inchc high ; its tail
five feet broad; the pectoral fins are long and narrow, and well adapted to assist their owner in
its rapid movements. It consorts with its kind in herds of several hundreds, under the guidance
of some old and wa'-y males, whom the icai follow as doc' " • as a Hock of shee]) their bell-wether ;
hence the Shetlanders term it tin; "ca'ing whale." Large shoals are frequently stranded on the
shores of Norway, Iceland, an(' tln' (trkney. Faroe, and Shetland Isles, furnishing the inhabitants
with a welcome booty.

To the same latitudes belong the ferocious ore or grampus (Delj)liiiius r,ri-(t), the tiger of the
seas, which not only attacks the porpoise and dolphin, but even the colossal whale. Its broa<l
deep body is black above and white beneath ; the sides are marbled with black and white. Then^
are thirty teeth in each jaw, those in front being blunt, round, and slender, while tho.se behind are
shai-p and thick ; and between each is a space fitted to receive those of the ()))posite jaw when the

THE rOI-AR BEAU.

mouth ib closed. Tlio buck fin of the <,'rauipu.s is of great size ; sometimes measuring as much aa
six feet in IfUgtli, from the base to the tip. The grampus generally voyages in small squadrons
of foui- or five individuals, following each other in single file, and alternately rising and sinking in
such a manner as to resemble the undulatory motions of a huge kraken or sea-serpent.

Anion" the inhabitants of the Polar Ucean must certainly be included the Polar bear
(TlKilKssavctos maritimus), since it swims and dives with great dexterity, and, moreover, is often
found on the drifting ice-fioes at a distance of eighty to one hundred miles from land. It is a
creature of great strength, great fierceness, and great courage, though we may not accept the
exaggerated accounts of it which eidiven the narratives of the earlier voyagers.

^V noble creature is the Polar bear, says Sherard Osborn, whether we speak of him by the

I'OLAR BEARS.

learned titles of " Unsus maritimus,'' " Thalussarctus nuiritimu.s, ' or the sailors' more expressive
nomenclature of "Jack Rough ! With all her many w-onders, continues this lively writer, never
dill Nature create a creature more admirably adapted to the life it has to lead. Half flesh, half
fish, the seaman wandering in i!:e inhospitable regions of the North cannot but be struck with
the a]ipearanco of latent eneigy and power its every action atte.sts, as it rolls in a lithe and swrg-
geri.ig way over the rough surface of the frozen sea; or, during the brief Arctic summer, haunts
the broken and treacherous "pack " in se.^rch of its prey.

When not too loadeil with fi\t — and it seems to fatten readily — the pace of the bear is leisurely
and easy, yet at its slowest it is equal to that cf a good pedestrian ; and when alarmed or irritated,
its .sppod is surprising, though not graceful. On lev:' ice, it flings itself ahead, as it were, by a
violent jerking motion of the jiowerful fore paws, in what has been described as an "ungainly
gallop ; ' but it always makes, when it can, for rough ice, where its strength and agility are best

BHAli AND SEAL U

displayed, and where neither man nor dog can overtake it. In the Queen's Channel, durini,'
Captain M'Clure's expedition, more than one bear was seen niakinjif its way over broken-up ice,
rugged and precipitous as the mind can picture, with a truly wonderful facility ; their powerful
fore paws and hind legs enabling them to spring from piece to piece, scaling one fragment and
sliding down another with the activity of a huge quadrumane rather than that of a quadruped.
Evidently it is conscious of its superiority in such rough and perilous ground, and is generally
found at the edge of the belts of hummocks or broken ice which intersect most ice-fields, or else
amongst the frozen pack-ice of channels such as Barrow's antl the Queen's.

There is, however, another reason why beare keep among hummocks and pack-ice — namely,
that near such spots water usually first makes its appearance in the sunnner. Seals, consequently,
are most numerous there ; while the inequalities of the Hoe afford .shelter to the bears in approach-
ing their ]n(iy. During summer the colour of the Polar bear is of a dull yellowish hue, clo.scly
resembling that of decaying snow or ice. The fur is then thin, and the hair on the soles of their
feet almost wholly rubbed off, as with the other animals of Arctic climes ; but in the autunm,
when the body has recovered from the privations of the previous winter, and a thick coating of
blubber o\ erlays his carcass to meet the exigencies of another season of scanty fare, the feet, as
the season advances, are beautifully incased and feathered with hair, and the animal's colour
usually turns to a very pale straw, which, from particular points of view, as the light strikes it,
looks white, or nearly so. The nose and lips are of a jetty black ; the eyes vary in colour. Brown
is conunon, but some have been seen with eyes of a pale gray. 'J'heir sense of smell is peculiarly
acute, facilitated no doubt by the ])ecuUai' niannrr in which the pure keen air of the North carries
.scent to very considerable distances.

Sherard Osborn states that bears have beeix seen to follow up a scent, exactly as dogs would
do; and the floes about Lowther Island, in 1851, looked as if the beara had quartered there in
search of seals, after the fashion of a pointer in the green fields of England. The snorting noise
which till V make as they ajiproach near indicates how much more confidence the}' place in their
scent tlian in their vision ; though '.inth, when the hunter is concerned, are apt to deceive them.

The Polar bear attains to very foiiuidable proi)ortions ; but when seamen speak of monsters
fifteen feet in length, their auditors may be excused for withholding their belief. Ten feet would
seem to be a maximum; and the bear need be iiuge, strotig, and muscular to master the large
Arctic seal, esjx cially the saddle-back and bladder-nosu species. For though it nw'rv well and
dives well, it neither swims no'' divct us well as the seal, and would therefore have but little
chance of obtaining a suliicient livelihood if it could not attuck and capture its victim on the
ice-floes.

The seal, on the other hand, fully aware of its danger, and of the only means of escaping
from it, always keeps close to the water, whether it be the hole it has gnawed and broken through
the ice, or the open sea at the floe edge.

And when it lies basking on the floating ice, and apparently apathetic and lethargic, nothing
can exceed its vigilance. With its magnificent eyes it is able to sweep a wide range of the
horizon, however slightly it tui us its head ; its keenness of hearing adds to its security. There is
something peculiarly striking in its continuous watchfulness. Now it raises its head and looks
around ; now it is intent on the slightest sound that travels over the crisp surface of the ice ; now
it gazes and listens down its hcle, a needful precaution against so subtle a Iiun^er as old Bruin I

MANY A SLIP."

It would Heuiii iiii}M>H8ible to surprise an iuiiiual so vi<j[iliint and so wary ; and, indeed, in circuni-
ventinj,' its prev the bear exliibits an astuteness and a skill wliicli overpass the bounds of instinct,
and approach ck)sely to those of reason.

Fioni its scent and by its <iuick stronif vision the bear apprehends the position of the seal.
Then it throws itself prone upon the ice, and profitin<( by inequalities which are invisible to human
(iyes, },nadually steals upon its destined victim by a soft and scarcely perceptible movement of the
hind feet. To hide its black nmzzle, it constjintly uses its fore feet ; and thus, only the dinj^y
white of its coat beint,' visible, it is scarcely to be distin<;uislied from the general mass of tiie floe.
Patiently it draws nearer and nearer ; the seal, mistakin<f it for one of its own congeners, or else

yielding to a fatal curiosity, delaying until its
assailant, with one spring, is upon it.

Yet, as the old adage says, there is many a
slip; and even in these circumstances the bear
does not always secure its feast. It is disap-
pointed sometimes just as the prey seems \\itli-
in its grasp ; and how keen the disappointment
is can be a[)preciated only, we are told, by hapless
Arctic travellers, " who have been hours crawlinix
uf), dreaming of delicious seal's fry and overtlow-
ing fuel bags, and seen the prey pop down a hole
when within a hundred yards of it." The great
muscular power of the seal frequently enables
it to tling itself into the water in spite of the
bear's eftbrts to hold it on the floe ; Bruin, how-
ever, retains his grip, for his diving powers are
not much inferior to those of the seal, and down
they go together ! Sometimes the boar jiroves
victorious, owing to mortal injuries intlicted upon
the seal before it reaches the water ; sometimes
it may be seen reappeaiiiig at another hole in the
floe, or clambering up another loose piece of
ice, ajiparently mucli mortified by its want of
success.
A we have .said, the bear dives well, and is nearly as much at home in the water as
upon the ice. If it catches sight of a seal upon a drifting Adc, it will slide quietly into the
sea, swim with only the tip of its nose above the water, and, diving under the floe, reach
the very spot which the hapless seal has regarded as an oasis of safety. It is this stratagem
of its enemy which has taught the seal to watch its hole so warily. Even on extensive ice-
fields fast * .he land, where the bear cannot conceal its approach by taking advantage of
hummocks or other inequalities, the seal is not safe ; for then Bruin drops down a hole, and
swims along under the ice-crust until it reaches the one where the poor seal is all unwittingly
enjoying its last rays of sunshine.

The bear's season of plenty 1 egins with the coming of the spring. In February and March

I1K.\R rATClnivri A SK.M..

ABOUT THK UKAl!

the seal ia giving birth to liur young, wlio are bmii liliiid and heljiless, and I'nr ton day.-* are uiiablr
to take to the water. The poor niotliers use every effort to protect them, but, in 8i)ite of their
affectionate exertions, a perfect massacre of the innocents takes place, in which, not improbably,
the Arctic wolf is not less guilty than the Arctic bear.

Voracity, however, frequently proves its own Nemesis, and the bear, in its eager pursuit of
prey, often involves itself in serious disaster. The seal instinctively breeds as close as possible
to the open water. But the ice-floes, during the early equinocti^ . gales, will sometimes break U]i
and drift away in the form of pack-ice; a matter of indifference, says Osborn, to the seal, but a
question of life and death to the bear. Borne afar on their little islets of ice, rocked by tem-
pestuous waters, buffeted by icy gales, numbers of these castaways are lost along the whole area
of the Polar Sea. It is said that when the gales blow down from the north, bears are some-
times stranded in such numbers on the shores of Iceland as to endanger the safety of th»; flocks
and herds of the Icelandic peasants; and they have been known to reach the coasts of Norway.

Bears drifting about at a considerable distance from the land are often enough .«eeu by tlie
whalers. They have been discovered fully sixty miles from shore, in Davis Strait, witlxjut any
ice in sight, and utterly exhausted by long swinniiing. It is thus that Nature checks their too
rapid increase ; for beyond the possibility of the wolf hunting it in packs and destroying the cubs,
there seems no other limitation of their numbers. The Eskimos arc too few, and too badly pro-
vided with weapons, to slaughter them very extensively. Wherever seals abound, so do bears ;
in Barrow Strait and in the Queen's Channel they have been seen in very numerous troops. Tlie
Danes assert that they are plentiful about the northern settlement of Upernavik in Greenland,
for nine months in the year; and from the united testimony of the natives inhabiting the nortli-
eastern portion of Baflin Bay, and that of Dr. Kane, who wintered in Smith Sound, it is
evident that they are plentiful about Wie polynias, or open pools, formed there by the action of
the tides.

In the summer months, when the bear is loaded with fat, it is easily hunted down, for then
it can neither move swiftly nor run long ; l)ut in deep winter its voracity and its great strength
render it a formidable enemy to uncivilized and unarmed man. Usuallj^ it av(jids coming into
contact with our British seamen, though instances are on record of fiercely contested engagement.^,
in \\]iic'li Bruin has with difficulty been defeated.

It is folly, says Sherard Osborn, to talk of the Polar bear hibernating : whatever bears
may do on the Amei'ican continent, there is only one Arctic navigator who ever saw a bear's
nest ! Bears were seen at all points visited by our sailors in the course of M'Clure's expeilition ;
at all times and in all temperatures; males or females, and sometimes females with their cubs.
In mid-winter, as well as in : uid-summei-, they evidently frequented spots where tifles or currents
occasioned either water to constantly exist, or only allowed such a thin coating of ice to form that
the seal or walrus could easily break througli.

That the Polar bear does not willingly attack man, except when hotly pursued or when suf
fering from extreme want, is asserted by several good authorities, and confirmed by an experience
which Dr. Hayes relates. He was strolling one day along the shore, and observing witli much
interest the effect of the recent spring-tides upon the ice-foot, when, rounding a point of land, lie
suddenly found himself confronted in t!ie full moonlight by an enormoiis bear. It had just
sprung down from *^!io land-ice, antl met Dr. Hayes at full trot, so that they cauglit siglit <if each

A VOUACIOUS INTltUUKl!.

otiif- :iiiiii and brute, at thu aaiiiu iiioiiiuiit. liuing without a HHo or other means of defence,
Dr. Haye» suddenly wheeled towards his sliip, witii iiiucli the same reflections, probably, about
discretiuM ami valour as occurred to old Jack Falstaff when the Douglas set upon him ; but
discovering, after a few lengtiiy strides, that he was not "gobbled up," he looked back over his
slioulder, wlieii, to his gratification as well as surprise, he saw the bear speeding towards the
ojien water with a celerity which left no doubt as to the state of its mind. It woukl bo difficult
to detennine wliidi. on this occasion, was the more frightened, the bear or Dr. Hayes '.

A curious illustration of the combined voracity and epicureanism of Bruin is recorded by
Dr. Kane. A cache, or depot of provisions, which had been constructed by one of his exiiloring
parties with great care, and was intended to supply them with stores on their return journey,
they found completely destroyed. It had been built, with every possible j)rccaution, of rocks
brought togetlier l)y heavy labour, and adjusted in the most skilful manner. So far as tiie
ine.ms of the laiiiders |>ermitted, the entire construction was most effective and resisting. Yet

these " tiofers of the ice" seemed tf have
scarcely encountered an obstacle. Not a
morsel of pemmican (preserved meat) re-
mained, excei)t in the iron cases, which,
l)eing round, with conical ends, defied both
claws and teetii. These they had rolled and
pawed in every direction — to.->sing them
about like foot-balls, although upwards of
ei'ditv iiounds in weight. An alcohol-case,
strongly iron-bound, was dashed into small
fragments ; and a tin can of liquor twisted
almost into a ball. The bears' strong claws
had perforated the metal, and torn it up as
with a chisel.
But the Ijurglars were too dainty for salt meats. For ground cofi'ee they had evidently a
relish ; old canvas was also a favourite, — dc (jtistibit.s non ent dispi.itandum ; even the flag which
bad been reared " to take possession " uf the icy wilderness, was gnawed down to the very
.staff'. It seemed that the bears had enjiiyed a regular frolic; rolling the bread-barrels over the
ice-fout and into the broken outside ice ; and finding themselves unable to masticate the heavy
India-rubber cloth, tliey liad amused themselves by tying it up in unimaginable hard knots.

The she-bear displays a strong pftection for her young, which she will not desert even in
the extremity of peril. The explorer already (juoted furnishes an interesting narrative of a
iJUi-suit of UKjther and cub, in which the former's maternal (jualities were toucliingly exhibited.

On the appearance of the hunting jiarty and their dogs, the bear fled ; but the little one
being unable either to keep ahead of the dogs or to niaintai;> the same rate of speed as its
motlier, 'he latte" turned back, and putting luu' head under its haunches, threw it .some distancf"
forward. The cub being thus safe for the moment, she would wheel rounil and face the dogs, so
as to give it a chance to run away ; lutt it always sti>pped where it had alighted, until its mother

riK.illS PKSTi:()VIN(; A CACilE.

THK UKAICH MATKKNAI, AFKKOTION

caino up, mul ^aw it another forward iiiipulHe ; it Huoint'tl to expect her aid, and wouUl not go forward
without it. Soinctinies the mother wouhl run a few yards in advance, as if to coax her cuh >ip to
her, anil wlicn the doi,'s approacfied she would turn fiercely upon them, and drive tlu>n\ hack.
Then, a,s they dodged her lilown, .slie would rejoin the cuh, and jiush it on,— Hometimes putting
hor head under it, Homotimes seizing it in her mouth hy the nape of its nock.

For some time she conducted her retreat with equal skill and ceKrity, having tlie two
hunters far in the rear. They had sighted her on the land-ice ; hut she led the dogs inshore, uji
a small stony valley which penetrated into the interior. After going a nule and a half, however,
her pace slackened, and, the little one being spent, she soon came to a halt, evidently determined
not to desert it.

At this moment the men were only half a mile behind ; and, running at full speed, they soon
reached the spot where the dogs were holding her at l)ay. The fight then grew d<!spenite. Tln^
mother never moved more tl an two yards ahead, constantly and affectionately looking at lur
cub. When the dogs drew near, she .«at upon her liaunche.s, and taking the little one between
her hind legs, she fought her as.sailants with her paws, roaring so loudly that she could have
been heard a mile off. She would stretch her neck and snap desperately at the nearest dog
with her shining teeth, whirling hor paws like the sails of a windmill. If .she missed lun- aim, not
daring to jjursue one dog le.st the others should pounce ujion her cub, she uttered a deep howl of
battled rage, and on .she went, pawing and snapping, anil facing the ring, grinning at them with
wide-opened jiws.

When the hunters came up, the little one apparently had recovered its strength a little, for
it was able to turn round with its dam, however quickly she moved, .so as always to keep in
front of hor belly. Meantime the dogs were actively junqjing about the she-bear, tormenting her
like so many gadflies ; indeed, it was difficult to fi'-o at her without running the risk of killing the
dogs. But Hans, one of the hunters, resting on bis elbow, took a quiet, steady aim, and shot
her through the head. She droj)ped at once, and rolled over dead, without moving a muscle.

Immediately tlie dogs .sprang towards her; but the cub junq)ed upon her body and i eared
up, for the fir.st time growling hoar.sely. They seemed quite afraid of the little creature, she
fought so actively, and made so much noise ; and, while tearing mouthfuls of hair from the dead
mother, they would spring aside the minute the cub turned towards them. The men drove the
dogs ofi' for a time, but were compelled to shoot the cub at last, as she would not quit the body.

A still more stirring episode is recorded by Dr. Kane, which will fitly conclude our account
of the Polar bear.

" Nannook! nannook!" (A bear ! a bear!) With this welcome shout, Hans and Morton,
two of his attendants, roused Dr. Kane one fine Saturday morning.

To the scandal of his domestic regulations, the guns were all impracticable. While the men
were loading and capping anew, llr. Kane seized his pillow-companion six-shooter, and ran on
deck, to discover a medium-sized bear, with, a four-months' cub, in active warfare with the dogs.
They were hanging on her skirts, and she, with remarkable alertness, was picking out one victim
after another, snatching him by the nape of the neck, and flinging him many feet, or rather yards,
by a scarcely perceptible movement of her head.

Tudea, the best dog, was already horn de combat : he had been tossed twice. Jenny, another

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A HATTLE WITH A HEAR.

of the pat;k, luadf lui uxtraordinary somerset of nearly fifty feet, and alighted senseless. Old
Whitcy, a veteran comhatant, stanch, but not "bear-wise," had been foremost in the battle;
w>on he lay yelping, helj)lcssly, on the snow.

It seemed as if the battle were at an end ; and nannooi v.ertainly thought so, for she turned
aside to the beef-ijarrels, and began with the utmost composure to turn them over, and nose out
their fatness. A bear more innocent of fear does not figure in the old, old stories of Barents
and the SpitzbtTgen explorers.

Dr. Kane now lodged a jiistol-ball in the side of the cub. .A.t v-^nce the mother placed her
little one between her hind legs, and, shoving it along, made her way to the rear of the store or
" beef-housL'." As she went she received a rifle-shot, but scarcely seemed to notice it. By the
unaided ctfortw of her fore arms she tore down the barrels of frozen beef which made the triple
walls of the storehouse, mounted the rubbish, and snatching up a half barrel of herrings, carried
it down in her t«eth, and prepared to slip away. It was obviously time to arrest her movements,
(ioing up within half pistol-range, Dr. Kane gave her six buck-shot. She dropped, but instantly
rose, and getting her cub into its former position, away she sped !

And tl'.is time she would undoubtedly have effected her escape, but for the admirable tactics
of Dr. Kane's canine Eskimo allies. The Smith Sound c'ogs, he says, are educated more
thoroughly than any of their more southern brethren. Next to the seal and the walrus, the
bear su]ii)lies the staple diet of the tiibes of the North, and, except the fox, furnishes the most
important element of their wardrobe. Unlike the dogs Dr. Kane had brought with him from
liafhn Bay, the Smith Sound dogs were trained, not to attack, but to embarrass. They
revolved in circles round the perplexed bear, and when pursued would keep ahead with regulated
gait, their comrades accomplishing a diversion <at the critical moment by a nip at the nannook's
hind-quarters. This was done in the most systematic manner possible, and with a truly wonder-
ful composure. " T have seen bear-dogs elsewhere," ^ays Dr. Kane, " that had been drilled to
relieve each other in the mSlee, ind avoid the direct assault ; but here, two dogs, without even a
demonstration of attack, would put themselves before the path of the animal, and retreating right
and left, lead him into a profitless pursuit that checked his advance completely."

The unfortunate animal was still fighting, and still retreating, embarrassed by the dogs, yet
affectionately carrying along her wounded cub, and though wounded, bleeding, and fatigued,
gaining ground uj)on her pursuei-s, when Hans and Dr. Kane secured the victory, such as it was,
for their own side, by delivering a couple of rifle-balls. She staggered in front of her young one,
confronted her assailants in death-like defiance, and did not sink until pierced by six more
bullets.

When her l)ody was skinned, no fewer than nine balls were discovered. She proved to be
of mediimi size, very lean, and without a particle of food in her stomach. Hunger, probably, had
stinnilated her courage to desperation. The net weight of the cleansed carcass was 300 pounds ;
that of the entire animal, G50 pounds ; her length, only 7 feet 8 inches.

It is said that l)ears in this lean condition are more palatable and wholesome than when fat ;
and that the impregnation of fatty oil through the cellular tissues makes a well-fed bear nearly
uneatable. The flesh of a famished beast, though less nutritious as body-fuel or as a stimulating
diet, is rather sweet and tender than otherwise. Moral: starve your bear before you eat him !

The little cub was larger than the qualifying adjective would imply. She was taller than

ESKIMO nO(iS AND POLAR BEARS.

a do", and her wei<flit 114 ll)s. She sprang upon the corpse of her slaughtered mother, and rent
the air with woful lamentations. All efforts to noose her she '•npdled with singular ferocity ;
but at la.st, being completelj' muzzled witii a line fastened by a running knot between her jaws
and the back of hei- head, she was dragged off to the brig amitl the ujiroar of the dogs.

Dr. Kane asserts that during this fight, and the conipuls'v>ry somersets which it involved,
not a dog suffered seriou-.ly. He expected, from his knowlcdj.^o of the hugging i)ropensity of tiie
plantigrades, that the animal would rear, or if she did not rear, would at least use her fore arms ;
but she invariably seized the dogs with her teeth, and after disposing of them for a time, refrained
from following up her advantage, — probably because she hail her cub to take care of. The
Eskimos state that this is the habit of the hunted bear. One of the Smith Sound dogs made no
exertion whatever when he was seized, but allowed himself to be flung, with all his muscles
relaxed, a really fearful distance ; the next instant he rose and renewed the attack. According
to the Eskimos, the dogs soon learn this " possum-playing " liabit.

It would seem that the higher the latitude, the more ferocious the bear, or that he increases
in ferocity as he recedes from the usual hunting-fields.

At Oominak, one winter day, an Eskimo and his son were nearly killed by a bear that had
housed himself in an iceberg. They attacked him with the lance, but he boldly tumod on them,
and handled them severely before they could make their escape.

The continued hostility of man, however, has had, in Dr. Kane's opinion, a modifying
influence upon the ursine character in South Greenland ; at all events, the bears of that region
never attack, and even in self-defence seldom inflict injury upon, the hunters. Many instances
have occurred where they have defended themselves, and even charged after having been
wounded, but in none of them was life lost.

A stout Eskimo, an assistant to a Danish cooper of Upernavik, fired at a she-bear, and the
animal closed at the instant of receiving the ball. The man had the presence of mind to fling
himself prone on the ground, extending his arm to protect his head, and afterwards lying perfectly
motionless. The beast was deceived. She gave the arm a bite or two, but finding her enemy
did not stir, she reti-ed a few paces, and sat vipon her haunches to watch. But her watch was
not as wary as it should have been, for the hunter dexterously reloaded his rifle, and slew her
with the second shot.

It has been pointed out that in approaching the bear the hunters should take advantiige of
the cover afforded by the inequalities of the frozen surface, such as its ridges and hillocks. These
vary in height, from ten foot to a hundred, and frequently are packed so closely together as to
leave scarcely a yard of level surface. It is in such a region that the Polar bear exhibits his
utmost speed, and in such a region his pursuit is attended with no slight difficulty.

And after the day's labour comes the night's rest ; but what a night ! We know what night
is in these temperate climos, or in the genial southern lands ; a night of stars, with a deep blue
sky overspreading the happy earth like a dome of sapphire : a night of brightness and serene
glory, when the moon is high in the heaven, and its soft radiance seems to touch tree and stream,
hill and vale, with a tint of liver ; a night of storm, when the clouds hang low and heavily,
and the rain descends, and a wailing rushing vfind loses itself in the recesses of the shuddering

THK AKC'TIC NKiHT.

woods; wo kiK.w wluit iii^'ht is, in these temperate regions, under all its various aspects,- now
mild and l)eatitii'ul, now frlooniy and sad, low ffrand and tempestuous ; the long dark night of
winter with its fmsty airs, and its drooping shadows thrown hack by the dead surfa'-e of the
snow ; tlu; brief bright niglit of summer, which fomis so short a pause between the evening of
one day and the morning of anr.ther, that it seems intended only to afford the busy earth a breath-
j„jr.ti,i,o ;— but we can form no idea of what an Arctic Niyht is, in al! its mystery, magnificence.
1111(1 wonder. Strange stai-s light up the heavens ; the forms of earth are strange ; all is unfami-
har. and ahiiust uiiint(;lligible.

STALKINU A UEAR.

It is not that the Arctic night makes a heavy demand on our physical faculties. Against
its rigour man is able to defend himself; but it is less easy to provide against its strain on the
moral and intclloetual faculties. The darkness which clothes Nature for so long a period reveals
to tlu! senses of the European explorer what is virtually a new world, and the senses do not well
adapt themselves to that world. The cheering influences of the rising sun, which invite to
labour ; the soothing influences of the evening twiligjlit, which beguile to rest ; that quick change
fiom day to night, and night lo day, which so lightens the burden of existence in our temperate
clime to mind and soul and body, kindling the hope and renewing the courage, — all these
are wanting in the Polar world, and man suflTers and languishes accordingly. The grandeur of
Natiirc, says Dr. Hayes, ceases to give delight to the dulled sympathies, and the heart longs con-

ITS VA1UOU8 PHASES.

tinually for now associations, new hopes, new objects, new sources of interest ami plousure.
The solitude is so dark and drear as to oppress the understanding; ; the inaa<;ination is
haunted by the desolation which everywnere prevails ; and the silence is so absolute as to
become a terror.

The lover of Natuie will, of course, fird much that is attractive in the Arctic ni<;'\t; in the
mysterious cora.scations of the aurora, in the flow of the moonlight over the hills and iceberfrs, in
the keen clearness of the starlight, in the sublimity of the mountr.ins and th'' gla. lers, in the
awful wildncss of the stonns ; but it must be owned that they speak a language which is rough,
rugged, and severe.

All t lings seem built up on a colossal scale in the Arctic world. Colossal are those dark and
tempeHt-benter cliffs which oppose their grim rampart to tlie ceaseless roll and rush of the ico
clad waters. Colossal are those mountain-peaks which raise their crests, white with unnunibeied
winters, into the very heavens. Colossal are those huge ice-rivers, those glaciers, which, born
long ago in the depths of the far-.off valleys, have gradually moved their pondei ;)us masses down
to the ocean's brink. Colossal are those floating islands of ice, which, outrivalling the puny arclii-
tecture of man, his temples, palaces, and pyramids, drift away into the wide waste of waters, as
if abandoned by the Hand that called them into existence. Coir 'isal is that vast sheet of frozen,
frosty snow, shimmering with a crystalline lustre, which covers the icy plains for countless
leagues, and stretches away, perhaps, to the very border of the ea that is supposed to encircle
the unattained Pole.

In Dr. Hayes' account of ais voyage of discovery towards the North Pole occurs a fine pa.s-
sage descriptive of the various phases of the Arctic night. " 1 have gone out often," he says,
" into its darkness, and viewed Nature under different aspects. I have rejoiced with her in her
strength, and communed with her in her repose. I have seen the wild burst (>f her anger, have
watched her sportive play, and have beheld her robed in silence. I have walked abroad in
the darkness when the winds were roaring through the hills and crashing over the plain. I
have strolled along the beach when the only sound that broke the stillness was the dull creaking
of the ice-floes, as they rose and fell lazily with the tide. I have wandered far out upon the
frozen sea, and listened to the voice of the icebergs bewailing their imprisonment ; along the
glacier, where forms and falls the avalanche ; upon the hill-top, wiiere the drifting snow, coursing
over the rocks, sung its plaintive song ; and again, I have wandered away to some distant valley
where all these sounds were hushed, and the air was still and solemn as the tomb."

Whoever has been overtaken by a winter night, when crossing some snowy plain, or making
his way over the hills and through the valleys, in the deep drifts, and with the icicles pendent
from the leafless boughs, and the white mantle overspreading eveiy object dimly discernible in
the darkness, will have felt the awe and mystery of the silence that then and there prevails.
Both the sky above and the earth beneath reveal only an endless and unfathomable quiet. This,
too, is the peculiar characteristic of the Arctic night. Evidence there is none of life or motion.
No footfall of living thing breaks on the longing ear. No cry of bird enlivens the scene ; there
is no tree, among the branches of which the wind may sigh and moan. And hence it is that one
who had travelled much, and seen many dangers, and witnessed Nature in many phases, was led
to say that he had seen no ej^pression on the face of Nature so filled with terror as the silence
of the Arctic night.

00 ADVENT OF THE SUN.

But by degrees the darkness grows less intense, and the coming of the day is announced by
the prt(valence of a kind of twilight, which increases more and more rapidly as winter passes into
spring. Tliere are signs that Nature is awakening once more to life and motion. The foxes
come i>ut upon ihr. hill side, both blue and white, and gall»)]i hither and thither in search of food,
— following ill tli(^ track of the bear, to feed on the refuse which the " tiger of the ice" throws
aside. Thr walrus and the seal come more frcfpiently to land ; and the latter begins to assemble
on tile ice-floes, and select its breeding-places. At length, early in February, bniad daylight
comes at iKHiii, and then the weary explorer rejoices to know that Jhe end is near. Flocks of
Hjicckird birds iinivc, mid sliclter tlieiiiselvos under the lee of the shore ; chiefly (lovc-kii's, as they
are called in Soiithe.n Greunland—the Uria (jrijlle of the naturalist. At last, on the 18th or
litth of February, the sun once more makes its appearance above the southern horizon, and is
welcomed as one welcomes a friend wht) has been long lost, and is found again. Upon the crests
of the hills light clouds are floating lazily, and through th^sc the glorious orb is pouring a
stream of golden fire, and all the southern sky (piivers, as it were, with the shooting, shifting
spleii(!our.s of the coming day. Presently a soft bright ray breaks through the vaporous haze,
kindling it into a purple sea, and touches the silvery sunmiits of the lofty icebergs until they
Hoem like domes and jiinnaclcs of flame. Nearer and nearer comes that auspicious .-ay, and widens
a» it comes ; and that ])urple sea enlarges in every direction ; and those domes and ^.iimacles of
flame multiply in quick succession as they feel the passage of the quickening light ; and the dark
red clitls are warmod with an indescrilmble glow ; and a mysterious change passes over the face
of the ocean ; and all Nature acknowledges the presence of the sun !

•' The ])areut of light and life everywhere," says Dr. Hayes, " he is the same within these
solitudes. The germ awaits him here as in the Orient ; but there it rests only through the short
hours rif a summer night, while here it reposes for months under a sheet of snows. But Jifter a
whilf the bright sun will tear this sheet asundei-, and will tumble it in gushing fountains to the
sea, and w ill kiss the cold earth, and give it warmth and life ; and the flowers will bud and
bloom, and will turn their tiny faces smilingly and gratefully up to him, as he wandeis over
these ancient hills in the long summer. The very glaciers will weop tears of joy at his coming.
The ice will loose its iron grip upon the waters, and will let the Avild waves play in freedom.
The reindeer will ski; gleefully over the mountains to welcome his return, and will look longingly
to him for the green pastures. The sea-fowls, knowing that he will give them a resting-place for
their feet on the rocky islands, will come to seek the moss-beds which he spreads for their nests ;
and the sparrows will come on his life-giving rays, and will sing their love-songs through the
endless day."

With the sun return the Arctic birds, and before we quit the realm of waters we propose to
glance at a few of those which frequent the cliffs and shores during the brief Polar summer.

Among the first-comers is the dove-kie or black guillemot {Uria grylle), which migrates
to the temperate climates on the approach of winter, visiting Labrador, Norway, Scotland I, and
even descending as far south as Yorkshire. In fact, we know of no better place where to
observe its habits than along the immense range of perpendicular cliffs stretching from Flam-
borough Head tc Filey Bay. Here, on the bare ledges of this colossal ocean-wall, the guillemot

O'JILLBMOTS ANM) AUKS

»T

lays its eggs, but without the protection of a nest ; some of them parallel with the edge of the
shelf, others nearly so, and otiiers with thtir blunt and sharp ends indiscriniinately pointing to
the sea. They are not affixed to the rock liy any glutinous matter, or any foreign substance
whatever. You may see as many as nine or ten, or sometimes twelve, old guillemots in a line, so
near to each other that their wings almost touch. The eggs vary greatly in size and shape and
colour. Some are largo, others small ; some exceedingly sharp at one end, others rotund and
globular. It is said that, if undisturbed, the guillemot never lays more than one egg; but if
that be taken away, she will lay another, and so on. But Audubon a.s.'^erts that he has seen
these birds sitting on as many as three 3ggs at a time.

BEA-BIKDS IN TUB rOLAK REOIONo

The black guillemot differs from the foolish guillemot {Uria troile) only in the colour of
its plumage, which, with the exception of a large white patch on the coverts of each wing, is
black, silky, and glossy ; the feathers appearing to be all vinwebbed, like silky filaments or fine
hair. The bill, in all the species, is slender, strong, and pointed ; the upper mandiblo bending
slightly near the end, and the base covered with soft short leathers. The food of the guillemot
consists of fish and other marine products.

The Alcidw, or auks, are also included amongst the Arctic birds. The little auk (Arctica
(die) frequent.s the countries stretching northwards from our latitudes to the regions of perpetual
ice, and is found in the Polar Regions both of the Old Worl'^ nd the New. Here, indeed, they
congregate in almost innumerable flocks. At early morn they sally fort^ to get their breakfast,
which consists of different varieties of marine invertebrates, chiefly crustaceans, with which the
Arctic waters teem. Then they return to the shoie in immense swarms. It would be impos-

ATKH AND STARAKIR

fiiblu, Kiiys till Arctic v(iyag«r, to convey an adequato idea of the nunibera of theHO birds wliiih
Hwanncd around bini. Tlio Hloi.e . >i Ix.th niduH of the valley in which ho liad pitclied his camp
rose at an an},'h! of nl)out forty-fiv- doffrees to a distance of from 300 to 500 feet, where it met
the cUfis, wliich Htood about 700 feet higher. Tiiese hill-sides are comi)osed of the loose rocks
detached from tiie ditfs by the action of the frost. The birds crawl anions these rocks, winding

far in through nan'ow places, and there
deposit their eggs and hatch their young,
secure from their great enemy the Arctic
fox.

On one occasion, they were congre-
gated along a slope, fully a mile in
length, and over this slope rushed a
constant stream of birds, only a few feet
above the stones ; and, after making in
their rapid flight the whole length of the
hill, they returned higher in the air,
performing over and over again the com-
plete circuit. Occasionally a few hun-
dreds or thousands of them would drop
down, as if follow ing some leader ; and
in an instant the rocks, for a space of
several rods, would swarm all over with
them, their bliuL backs and pure white
breasts speckling the hill very prettilj^
Though quantities are destroyed by
the crews of vessels as well as by the Eskimos, their numbers never seem to decrease. Their
flesh is both wholesome and delicate, and affords a welcome change of diet to the mariner
weary of salt meat and pemmican. They are very tame, and easily captured, — in some places
being actually caught in hand-nets, like moths or butterflies ; and they pass a gi"eat portion
of thei' time on the ocean, where they disport themselves with equal grace and self-
possession.

The starakis {Plmlendince) inhabit the archipelagoes which lie between China and North
America. They assemble in small flocks, and swim about in quest of the crustaceans, molluscs,
and other marine animals on which they feed. At nightfall they return to land, where they
find shelter imder the ledges of the rocks, or in burrows dug with their bill and feet. The
female lays a solitary egg.

The auks abound in the high northern latitudes. They are all ocean-birds, and are never
found, like the divers, in fresh-water streams and lakes. Those species which possess the power
of flight nestle on the rocky cliffs and icebergs, where they lay a single egg, of conical form ; a
shape which prevents it from rolling away, or moving, except within a very narrow circle, on
the bare rocky ledge where it is deposited.

The puflSns (Fraten-ola), which in winter abound on our own shores, live chiefly on the water.
They dive and swim with dexterity, but, owing to the shortness of their wings, are capable only

1. TIIK I.^KAT AUK.- 2. RAZOR-BILLS.— 8. THE PUFFIN.

I'UFFINS AND ME150ANSEUS.

of limited flight. Their pluiuago is thick, smooth, and dense, and so completely throws oft' the
water that it is quite imjjervious to wet ; while their deep, compressed, and pointed beak,
resembling exactly a double keel, is i 'mirably adapted as an instrument for cutting the waves
when the bird wishes to dive.

The puffins live principally upon sprats and other small fishes ; and the fo \ intended for
their young they retain until partially digested, when they disgorge it into their mouths. Like
all the auks, the mother-bird lays but one egg.

The appearance of an island or iceberg frequented by these birds is very vividly skctchc*)
by Audubon, than whom no naturalist has ever more completely attained a thorough acquaint-
ance with the Bird- World.

He tells us that on every crag or stone stood a puffin, at the entrance of every hole another,
and yot the sea was covered and the air filled with them. The burrows were all inhabited by
young birds, of different ages and sizes; and clouds '^f puffins flew over us, each individual hold-

ing a small fish by the head. The burrows all conniiunicated with each other in vari(jus ways,
so that the whole island sgemed to be perforated by a multitude of subterranean labyrinths, over
which it wap mipossible to run without the risk of falling at almost every step. The voices of
the young sounded beneath the traveller's foot like voices from the grave, and the stench was
exceedingly disagreeable.

Something must next be said of the mergansers {Meryinob), a sub-family of the palmipeds,
which also belong to the Polar wo.'ld. Their principal characters may thus be stated : a straight
bill, much compressed on the sides, .and convex towards the tip, which is furnished with a broad
and much-hooked nail ; the wings are moderate, and pointed ; the tail is short and rounded ; the
tarsi are short, and the toes moderate, the outer being as long as the middle, the three anterior
ones united by a full web, while the hind toe is moderate, elevated, and provided with % broad
web on its margin.

From these characters it is easy to infer that the bird is aquatic in its habits ; that it can
swim and dive well ; that it is also capable of strong, swift flight ; and that its food \n\l consist
chiefly of fishes.

The dun diver or goosander (Mergus merganser) is widely distributed throughout the
Polai Regions both of the eastern and western continents. During its southern migration, it

::»

100

THE WHITE MERGANSER.

TIIK nOOSANDER.

vi«itH tlio Unitffl Stuten. hh wt-ll hh Kniii.v, Hnllmul. and Germany; but on the ii|.i.roach of
mininuT it rutiroH to Siburiii and Kaintsclintka, I.x-land, Greenland, and the Arcti.- Hhores of

North America.

In these loealiti.'« it coiiHtnict.s itn nest -alvvayn near the cd^e <'<" the water; huihlinf,' it up
of irnvHH, roots, and similar materials, with little rej,'ard to symmetry, and lining it with down.

It is placed sometimes among the
mossy, weedy stones ; and sometimes
it is concealed in the long grass, or
under the cover of hushes, or in the
stumps or hollows of decayed trees.
The female lays from twelve to fourtt-eii
eggs, of a cream-yellow colour ; tluir
form is a long oval, both ends being
(■(jually obtuse. The goosander may be
said to spend its time in the air and
on the water ; and in truth, on the
land it moves but laboriously and awk-
wardly, owing to the backward position
of its legs. It rises with difficulty from
the jxround ; but when once on the
wing, its course is swift, strong, and
steady. As it lives mainly upon fish, its flesh is oily and ill-flavoured ; a circumstance which
goes far to compensate the s])ortsman for the frecpient failure of his attempts to captui'e it. It
is a wild and wury bird, and as it swims witli rapidity and dives with ease, it generally effects
its escape from all but the most experienced hunters.

Anotlier species which abounds in northern latitudes is the smew (Mergtis alhelhis), also
known as the white mm or white merganser. This palmiped is about the size of a widgeon ;
is of elegant form ; and its plumage beautifully coloured with black and white. Its bill is of a
dusky blue, nearly two inches long, tiiickest at the base, and tapering into a slenderer and more
nariow shaj)e towards the point. An oval black patch, glossed with gnjen, marks each side of
the head ; the under part of the crest is black ; but all the rest of the head and neck, as well as
the graieful breast and the belly, are white as snow, with the exception of a curved black line
on each side of the upper i)art of the breast, and similar marks on the lower part ; the back, the
coverts on the ridge of the wings, and the primary quills are black ; the secondaiies and greater
coverts are white-tipped ; while the sides of the body, under the wings to the tail, exhibit a
curious variegation of dark wavy lines. The le,<j^ and feet are of a leaden blue.

The range of the smew is very extensiv, , for it migrates as far southward as the Mediter-
ranean, while it is found everywhere in the Arctic Regions.

On the shores of Novaia Zendaia, as on those of Spitzbergen, the sep birds arrive in count-
less hosts as soon as the summer sun has removed the long and dreary spell under which Nature
labours through the winter months. The narrow rock-ledges on which they congregate, and
where auks and guillemots assemble in thousands, the Russians call " a bazaar." The large gi'ay

A BIRD ''bazaar" IN NOVAIA ZEHLAIA.

ABOUT THE EIDEK-DUCK.

IU3

v^r*

TITP. IlLACK llACKKn Cll'l,!,.

Hen-mow {f.'iniii (flauciin), the " liiirKonia«tor " of tin- Dutch wliiiltTx, proforM the loiioly fcUiiiinitjt
of iwolatcd clirt'M, whero it can roign the moiiniTh of nil it survoy«. Tho ivory gull (lAtnm
fhiirnvun) in wfldoiu found in higii northern
latitudes ; hut the common jfull {Imi-uh cunus)
and tho l)lack-i)acked gull {lAtrus marinm)
arc nhnoHt aH abundant as guillemots.

In Iceland, one of the most useful, and
certainly not the least hcautiful, of the birds,
is tho eider-duck (Somntenn molligdma),
which also frecjuents the shores of Baftiii
and Hudson Bays, Lapland, Greenland, and
Spitzhergen. It loves to breed on the small
flat islands which lie off the coast, such as
Akeney, Flutry, and Videy, where it is
secure from the attacks of the Arctic fox. Its breeding-places in Iceland are private j)roperty,
and some of them have been for centuries in the possession of the same families, which owe to
tho birds all their wealth and prosperity. Hence they are very vigilantly guarded. Whoever
kills one is fined thirty dollars ; and to secrete an egg, or pocket a few downs, is an offence
punishable by law. The chief occupation of some of tho proprietors is to examine tlirough theii
telescopes all tho boats that approach, so as -s*-- _

to be sure that there are no guns on board.

As the birds on theso islands are quite
tame, the eider-down is easily collected.
The female having laid five or six pale
greenish-olive eggs, in a nest fashioned with
marine plants, and thickly lined with down
of the most exquisite delicacy, the collectors
carefully remove her, rob the nest of its
precious lining, and then replace the bird.
Immediately she begins to lay afresh, and
•igain has recourse to the down on her body
to protect her eggs ; and should her owh
stock be exhausted, as is not un^requently
the case, she is furnished with an auxiliary
supply by the male. Even this second
lining is often taken away, and the poor

bird a third time repeats the process, both as regards the eggs and the down ; but if tho
plunderers do not spare her now, she afterwards abandons the nest, and seeks a home in some
more sequestered nook.

As it comes to the European markets, tius down, which is highly valued on account of its
lightness, plasticity, and wannth, occurs in ^alls about the size of a man's fist, and weighing
from thrt ^o four pounds. Such is its fineness and elastic quality, that when a ball is o];ened,

THK EIDBR-DCCK.

mmtm^

104

ElbEK-DUCKS IN ICELAND.

and cautiously laid near the fire to expand, it will completely till a quilt five feet square. It
should be noted, however, that the down from dead birds is of comparatively little value, having
lost its elasticity.

An interesting account of a visit to Vigr in the IsaQardardjufs, a favourite resort of the
eider-duck in he north of Iceland, is furnished by Mr. Shepherd : —

As he '.pproached the island, he says, he could see flocks upon flocks of the sacred birds,
and could hear their cooings at a great distance. Landing on a rocky wave-worn shore, against
which the waters scarcely rippled, he set ott' to survey the island. The shore he describes as
" the most wonderfid ornithological sight imaginable." The ducks and their nests were every-
where, (hviit brown ducks started up under his feet at every step ; and it was with difficulty
tliat he av-ided treading on some of the nests. As the island is but three-quarters of a mile
across, the opjiositc shore is soon reached. On the coast was a wall built up of large stones, just
above the high water-mark, about three feet high, and of considerable thickness. At the bottom,
on Ijoth sides of it, alternate stones had been left out, forming a series of square compartments in
which the ducks might make their nests. Almost every compartment was occupied ; and as the
human intnuler walked along the shore, a long line of startled ducks flew out one after the other.
The surface of the water also was white with ducks, who welcomed their "brown wives" with
loud and clamorous cooing.

ifr. Shepherd, on arriving at the farmhouse, was received in the most hospitable manner,
hospitality being one of the special virtues of the Icelander. He was much impressed by the
a])pearancc of the house, which seemed to be converted into one large duckery. The earthen
wall surrounding it, and the window-embrasures, were filled with ducks; on the ground,
encircling the house, was a ring of ducks ; on the sloping roof were seated ducks ; and a duck
was perclied on the door-scraper I

A grassy bank close by had been cut into square patches like a chess-board (a square of turf
of about eighteen inches being removed, and a hollow excavated), and all these squares were
occupied by ducks. A windmill was infested with them, and so were all the out-'iouses, mounds,
rocks, and crevices. In fact, the ducks were everywhere. Many of them were so tame as to
allow the stranger to stroke them on their nests ; and their mistress said thei*e was scarcely a
duck on the island which would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear. When she
liist became possessor of the island, the produce of down from the ducks did not exceed fifteen
pounds weight in the year, but under her careful nurture it had risen, in twenty years, to nearly
one hundred pounds annually. About a pound and a half are required to make a coverlet for a
single bed ; and the down is worth from twelve to fifteen shillings per pound. Most of the eggs
are taken and pickled for winter consumption, one or two only being left to hatch.

Elider-ducks congregate in numerous fiocks, generally in deep water ; they dive with
wonderful force, and thus are enabled to capture the shell-fish which form their piincipal fiiod.
If a storm threatens, they retire to the rocky shores where they love to breed and rest. The
Greenlanders kill them with darts, pursuing them in their little boats, watching their course by
the air-bubbles that come floating upward when they dive, and dexterously aiming at them as
soon as they rise to the surface wearied. Their flesh is eaten by the Greenlanders, but it is not
well-flavoured ; their eggs, however, are hold in high esteem.

THE WILD SWAN.

lOS

The king eider {Somatet^a spectabilin) belongs to the same genus as the former.

We suppose that every reader is acquainted with the beautiful lines in which Tennyson has
embodied the fable of the dying swan singing its own dirge ; -

" With nil iuuer voice the river ran,
Aduwn it floated a dyiug swan,

Auil loudly did lameut

The wild gwau's death-hyiuu took the soul
Of that waste place with joy
Hidden in sorrow : at first, to the ear

The warble was low, and full, and clear ;

But anon her awful jubilant voice.
With a music stninge and ninnifold.

Flowed forth on a carol free and bold

And tlie creeping mosses and claiulx'ring weedi<.
And the willow-branches hoar anil dunk,
And the wavy swell of the soughing reeds,
And the wave- worn horns of the echoing bank.
And the silvery marisli-flowers that tlirong
The desolate creeks and |>o<>ls among.
Were flooded over with eddying song."

But the wild swan's voice, even in its death-hour, has no such musical sweetness as the poet
here sets forth. It is always harsh and dissonant, and when it breaks on the silence of the
Arctic skies carries with it an almost painful impression.

rnB IIAt'NT OF THK WILD SWAN.

The lakes of Iceland, and its streams, abound with these beautiful bird.?. They arc very
numerous on the Myvatn, or Great Lake, as well as the wild duck, the scoter, the common
goosander, the red-breasted merganser, the scaup duck, and other anserines. The wild swaji is
shot or caught for its feathers, which are highly prized for ornamental purposes. It is sometimes
found in large flocks, sometimes in single pairs ; and besides the lakes and streams, it frequents
the salt and brackish waters along the coast. It is chiefly at the jjairing season, or at tlio
approach of winter, that it assembles in multitudes ; and as the winter advances it mounts high
in air, and shapes its course in search of milder climates.

The famale builds her nest of the withered leaves and stalks of reeds and rushes, in lonely
and sequestered places. She usually lays six or seven thick-shelled eggs, which are hatched

106

Tin: AUCTIC WATEUS.

in about six wuolts, when both parents assiduously guard and feed the cygnets. When <ull-
grown, this fiiio bird measures nearly five feet in length, and above seven in breadth across
its extended wings ; it weighs about fifteen pounds. The entire plumage is of a pure white, and
ne.xt to the skin lies a coat of thick fine down.

The wealth of the Arctic and sub-Arctic seas is apparently inexhaustible. In many parts
cod are plentiful, and supply the Grecnlanders with a valuable article of food. The capelin
[MuUotus I'itlosus), which in May and June frequents the Greenland waters, is eaten both fresh
and dried ; in the latter case forming a useful winter provision. The halibut is found of a large
size ; and ocean also contributes the Norway haddock, the salmon-trout, the lump-fish, and the
bull-)iead. Nor are the Crustacea unrepresented : long-tailed crabs being abundant, while the
common mussel may be gathered almost everywhere at ebb-tide. The seas, however, grow
jjoorer as we advance towards the Pole, and many important species of fish do not penetrate
further north than the Arctic Circle.

Yet even where these are wanting, the ocean-wate"8 t'?em witii life ; and a recent writer is
I'ully justified in remarking that the vast multitudes of animated beings which people them fomi
a remarkable contrast to the nakedness of their bleak and desolate shores. The colder surface-
waters are, as he says, almost perpetually exposed to a cold atmosphere, and being frequently
covered, even in summer, with floating ice, they are not favourable to the development of
organic life; but this adverse mnue..?'" is modified by the higher temperature which constantly
prevails at a greater depth. Contrary to the rule in the Equatorial seas, we find in the Polar
ocean an increase of temperature from the surface downwards, in consequence of the wanner
under-currents, flowing from the south northwards, and passing beneath the cold waters of the
supei-ficial Arctic current.

Hence the awful rigour of the Arctic winter, which strikes the earth with a death-blight,
is not i)erceptible in the ocean-depths, where myriads of organisms find a secure retreat from
the frost, and whence they emerge during the long summer's day, either to haunt the shores
or ascend the broad rivers of the Polar world. Between the parallels of 74° and 80°, Dr. Scoresby
observed that tlie colour of the Greenland sea varies from the purest ultramarine to olive-green,
and from crystalline transparency to striking opacity ; and these api>earances are not transitory,
liut permanent.* The aspect of this green semi-opaque water, which varies in its locality with the
currents, -often forming isolated stripes, and so'.netimes spreading over two or three degrees of
latitude, — is mainly due to small medusas and nudibranchiate molluscs. Many thousands of
square miles must literally run riot with life, since the coloured waters we speak of are calculated
to form one-fourth of the sea between the 74th and 80th parallels.

On the Greenland coast, where the transparency of the waters is so great that the bottom
and every object upon it are clearly discernible, even at a depth of eighty fathoms, the ocean-bed
is covered with gigantic tangles, so as to reuund the spectator of the ocean-gardens of the
Tropical Zone. Alcyonians, sertularians, ascidians, nullipores, mussels, and a variety of other
sessile animals incrust every stone, or congregate in every fissure and hollow of the rocky ground.
A dea<l seal or fish flung into the sea is .soon converted into a skeleton, it is said, by the myriads

♦ Scoresby cilcul.ited tliat it would reqiiiro 80,000 iwrsons, labouring coiUinuouBly from the crc.itioii of man to the present
Jay, to count the number of oritauums coutniued in two miles of the gi'ecn water.

MAF.INK LIFR.

107

of small crustaceans whii-li infest these northern ^vater8, and, like the ants in the equatorial
forests, perform the part of scavengers of the deep.

It is evident, from the observations of Professor Forbes, that dejHh hais a very considerable
influence in the distribution of marine life. From the surface to the depth of 1 380 feet eight
distinct zones or regions have been mapped out in the sea, each of which has its own vegetati«)n
and inhabitants ; and the number of these regions must now bo increased, after the astonishing
results of the deep-sea soundings of Dr. Carpenter and Professor Wyville Thomson. The
changes in the diftei'ent zones are not abruj>t : some of the creaturt-s of an under region always
ap[)ear before those of the region above it vanish ; and though there are a few species the same
in some of the eight zones, only two are common to all Tt is to be observed that those near the
surface have forms and colours analogf)us to the inhabitants of southern latitudes, while those at
a greater depth are analogous to the animals of northern waters. Hence, in the .sea, depth
corresponds with latitude, as heujht doe.«i on land. ^Irs. Somerville adds, in language of mvM'h
terseness, that the extent of the geographical distribution of any species is proportioned to the
depth at which it lives. Consequently, those which live near the surface are less widely
dispersed than those inhabiting deep water.

The larger and more active inhabitants of the seas obey the same laws with tho ret,', of
creation, though their provinces, or regions, are in some instances very extensive. Above the
44th parallel the Atlantic species fre(j[uently correspond with those of the Pacific. The salmon
of America is identical with that of the British Isles, and the coasts of Sweden and Norway ; the
same is true of the Gadidw, or cod. The Cottas, or bull-head tribe, are also the same on both
sides of the Atlantic ; increasing in numbers and specific differences on approaching the Arctic
seas. The same law holds good in the North Pacific, but the generic forms difier from those in
the Atlantic. From the propinquity of the coasts ^f America and Asia at Behring Strait,
the fish on both sides are nearly alike, down to Admiralty Inlet on the one side, and the Sea of
Okhotsk on the other.

■HH

CHAPTER IV.

'iLACIKIlS.

|S introductory to a description of the Arctic Glaciers, a few words on the formation ot
snow seem necessary. Briefly, it may be said that snow is the result of the crystal-
lization of water.

The molecules and atoms of all substances, when not constrained by so^.ie external power,
build tliem.selvcs up into crystals. This is true of the metals and minerals, if, after having
been melted, they are allowed to cool gradually. Bisnmth develops the process in a very
impressive manner, and when properly fused and solidified exhibits large-sized crystals of
singular beauty.

In like manner, sugar dissolved in water produces, after evaporation has taken place,
crystals of sugar-candy. The ready crystallization of alum is known to every school-boy who has
(hibbled in "chemical experiments." Chalk dissolved and crystallized becomes Iceland spar,
and assumes a variety of fanciful and graceful shapes. The diamond is crystallized carbon ; and
the crystallizing power is inherent in all our precious stones, — sapphire, topaz, emerald, beryl,
amethyst, ruby.

In the process of crystallization, it is found that the minutest particle of matter is possessed
of an attractive and a repellent pole, and that by their natural action the form and structure of
the crystal are determined.

The attracting poles, in the solid condition of any given substance, are firmly interlocked ;
but dissolve the cohesion by the application of sufficient heat, and the poles will recede so far as
to be practically beyond each other's range. And thus the natural tendency of the molecules
to build themselves together is neutralized.

Water, for example, as a liquid is, to all appearance, without form ; but when sufficiently
cooled, its molecules are brought under the influence of the crystallizing force, and then arrange
themselves in the most varied and beautiful shapes. When snow falls in calm air, tlie icy
particles present themselves in the form of six-rayed stars. From this type there is no departure,
though the appearance of the snow-stars in other respects is infinitely varied.

It is worth pausing, as Professor Tyndall remarks, to think what wonderful work is going
on in the atmosphere during the formation and descent of every snow-shower : what " building
power " is brought into play I and how imperfect seem the productions of human minds and
hands when compared with those produced by the forces of Nature I

We have spoken of attracting and repelling poles ; but a few words of explanation seem

CKY8TALMZIN(; FOKCE .N ICE.

100

(lesirablo. Every magnet possesses two such poles ; and if iron tilings bo scattered over a magnet,
each particle becomes also endowed with two poles. Now suppose that similar particles, devoid
of weight, and floating in the atmos-
phere, come together, what will
happen ? Obviously, the repellent
poles will retreat from each other,
while the attractive will approach,
and ultimately interlock. Further :
if the particles, instead of a single
pair, possess several pairs of poles
iuranged at definite pcjints over their
.suifaces, you can then picture them,
in obedience to their mutual attrac-
tions and repulsions, building theni-
selves together in masses of definite
shape and stiucture.

\ )u have, then, only to imagine
the aqueous particles in cold calm air
to be gifted with poles of this descrip-
tion, compelling the said particles to

assume certain definite aggregates, and you have before your mind's eye the invisible architecture
which creates the visible and beautiful crystals of the snow.

VARI0D3 FORMS OT SNOW-CRTSTALS.

The important part played by this crystallizing force in ice as well as snow, will bo under-
stood from the following remarks by Professor Tynda'.l, who may justly be described as the most
eminent living authority on the subject :—

At any temperature above 32' F., — that is, freezing-point, — the movement of heat is
sufficient to loosen the molecules of water from their rigid bonds of cohesion. But at 32° the
movement is so diminished that the atoms lock themselves together, and unite in a solid. This
act of union, however, is controlled by well-known laws. To the unintelligent eye a block of ice
seems neither more interesting nor more beautiful than a sheet of glass ; but to the instructed
mind the ice is to the glass what an oratorio of Handel is to the scream of a ballad-singer. Ice
is music, glass is noise ; ice represents order, glass confusion. In the latter, the molecular forces
have brought about an inextricable intertangled network ; in the former, they have woven a rich
and regular embroidery, the designs of which are infinitely beautiful.

Lot us suppose ourselves examining a block of ice. In what way shall we get at its
structure ? A sunbeam, or if that be wanting, a ray of electric light is the anatomist to which
we must confide the work of dissection. We direct this ray straight from our lamp across the
plate of transparent ice.

It shivers into pieces the icy edifice, exactly reveraing the order of its architecture.

The crystallizing force, for example, had silently and systematically built up atom after
atom ; the electric ray dislocates them (so to speak) just as silently and systematically.

We elevate the ice- block in front of the lamp, so that the light may now pass through its

110

8IX-KAYKD ICE-FLOWEIiS.

flul)Mtancc. Compare the ray as it enters with the ray as it makes its exit ; to the eye there is
no perceptible difference, and its intensity seems scarcely diminished. But not so with its heat.
As a thermic agent, the ray was more powerful before its entrance than it was after its emer-
gence. A portion of its heat is arrested, is detained in the ice, and of this portion we now
proceed to avail ourselves. What will it effect ?

We place a lens in front of the ice upon the screen. Now, observe this image (see lUustra
tion), the beauty of wliich is still very far from the real effect. Here is one star ; yonder is

E.XIIiniTIOX OF ICE-FLOWERS BT PROJECTION.

another ; and in proportion as the action continues, the ice appears to resolve itself more and
more into stars, all of six rays, like snow-crystals, and resembling a beautiful flower. By
moving the lens in and out, we bring new stars into sight ; and while the action continues, the
cilge of the pet.als is covered with indentations like those of the leaf of a fern. Probably, few of
our readers have any conception of the magical beauties concealed in a block of ice ! Let
them remember that prodigal Nature works in this way throughout the whole world. Every

"«u*

ICE-FLOWERS.

atom of the solid crust which covers the frozen waters of the North, has been wrought out in
obedience to the law we have enunciated. Nature is always and everywhere harmonious ; and
it is the mission of Science to awaken us to an appreciation of its concords.

There is another point of our experiment to which the reader's attention must be directed.
He sees the flc ers illuminated by the ray which traverses them. But if he examines them,
while turning upon them a ray which they will reflect and send back to his own eye, he vdW
see in the centre of each a spot with the brightness of burnished silver. He will be tempted

SIK DAVID BHKWSTKK'S KXl'KKIMKNT.

Ill

to think that this spot is a bubble of iiir ; but, by immei-sing the ice in hot water, you can melt
the ice all around the spot, — and when it alone remains, you will see it diminish and disappear
without any trace of air. 'J'he spot is a vacuum. Such is the faithfulness to herself with which
Nature operates ; thus, in all her operations, does she submit to her own laws. We know that
ice, in meltinjj, contracts ; and here we arrest the contraction, a", it were, in the very act. The
water of the flowers cannot fill the space occupied by the ice whidi by its fusion has j^ivcn liirtii
to them ; hence the production of a vacuum, the inseparable companion of each liquid flower.

The fragment of compact ice whose elements assume such beautiful crystalline forms is itself
a crystal. This was shown by Sir David Brewster, who employed for the purpose of analysis
that modified form of light which we call polai'ist'd li<jht. It is singularly well adapted to bring
out the peculiarities of the main structure of substances, owing to the coloured figures which
it outlines on a screen after passing through them. All crystals witii an axis — such, for instance,
as Iceland sjiar — yield a series of brilliantly-tinted rings, traversed by a regularly-foriiied cro.ss
entirely black. As ice produces the same figures, we are justified in attributing to it the same
kind of crystallization. We must note, however, that we are referring now to the thick ice
formed on our canals and lakes. If we examined the first film formed on the surface of the water,
we should discover in it a completely irregular crystallization, the ray of polarised light jirodufing
only a mosaic of varied tints, distributed without any order. But it is easy to explain the way
in which this j)rimary crust or film is produced. Those portions of the fluid mass in contact with
the air are the first to freeze, but each molecule of ice abandons its heat to the contiguous water,
which thereby is slightly raised in temperature, and the result is a partial congelation. The
surface we are examining then presents a network of fine needles intercrossed in every direction,
aiid fonning a kind of delicate lace, the meshes or intervals of which are gradually filled up.
When the network is transformed into a continuous sheet, the loss of heat is diminished more
and more as this external crust grows thicker and thicker ; but the development of the ice
invariably takes place by means of long interlaced needles, as the reader may see for himself by
breaking off a portion from the nearest pond (in winter), and examining the sectional surface.

Having said thus much in reference to the crystallization of id id snow, we proceed to
explain the reyelation and moulding of ice. Some years ago, Faraday astonished the scientific
world by a very curious experiment. Splitting into two parts a piece of ice, he brought together
the parts at the moment that fusion took place on their surfaces, and they united immediately.
How are we to account for this effect, which can be produced even in hot water ?

When the temperature of water rises, the surface molecules first become liquid, then
gaseous ; being placed beyond the coercitive action of the surrounding particles, they are easily
set free ; transported, on the contrary, into the centre of the mass, they are brought absolutely
under the influence of this action, which induces a new solidification, — or, to use the scientific
term, a regelation. In this way it becomes easy to understand how very various forms can be
communicated by simple pressure to a fragment of ice. If the observer successively places a
straight bar in moulds of increasing curvature, he may easily compel it to assume the shape of
a ring or even of a knot. In each mould, it is true, the ice breaks ; but if the pressure is kept
up, the surfaces of the fragments are brought into contact, and adhere so as to re-establish a

112

CHARACTKRS OF GLACIFK-ICE.

coiuiition of continuity. A snowball may thus bn converted into a sphere of ico, anil the sphoro,

by constant pressure, into a cup or a statue.

Professor Tyndall refers to a remarkable instance of re{,'elation which he observed one day

in early sprin;,'. A layer of snow, not quite two inches thick, had fallen on the glass roof of a

small conservatory, and the internal air, warming the
panes, had melted the sn so far as it was in im-
mediate contact with them. I'lie enJre layer had
slipped down the pane, and projected beyond the
edge of the roof, without falling, and had bent and
curved as required, just like a flexible body.

--^^f<i^.'^^-'^-^, 1.^,^.

MOULDINO ICK.

The snow-fields which overspread the upper part
of every glacier, whothoi in the Arctic Regions or
elsewhere, are composed of crystallized snow, whose
fragile, delicate, and fairy-like architecture endures so long as it remains dry, but undergoes a
great transformation when the sun, melting the upper stratum, allows the water to interpene-
trate its substance. The fluid, congealing anew during the night, transforms the snow into the
condition technically known as neve; a terra given by the Swiss physicists to a granular mass
composed of small rounded icicles, disaggregated, but more adhesive than snow-flakes, and of a
density intermediate between that of sn w and that of ice. Under the pressure of new layers,
and as a result of infiltrations of \\i< >i\ the nev4 imites, and solders into ice of constantly
increasing compactness.

But glacier-ice presents some other curious peculiarities. Every abundant snowfall on the
summit of the mountains forms a layer easily distinguishable from preceding layers — which, in
most cases, have already passed into the 7idvd condition. This stratification becomes more
apparent when the whiteness of the surface has been sullied by dirt or dust wafted or " the
wings of the \vind." It is perceptible also in ice ; but here we must not confound it with another
phenomenon of which the cause is different, the veined structure.

In places where glaciers have been accidentally cut down in an almost vertical direction,
the section is found to exhibit a series of parallel veins, foniied by a beautiful and very
transparent azure ice in the midst of the general mass, which is of a whitish colour, and
slightly opac^ue.

In different glaciei-s, and in different parts of the same glacier, these blue veins will vary in
number and intensity of colouring. They are specially beautiful in crevasses of recent formation,
and on the sides of channels excavated in the ice by tiny rills resulting from superficial fusion
Not a few glaciers exhibit this remarkable veined structure throughout their entire extent.
When a vertical cutting exposes the delicate azure network to atmospheric influences, the softer
ice melts prior to the fusion of the blue ice which then remains in their detached leaflets. On
examining these attentively, we cannot fail to remark' the absence, or, at all events, the extreme
mrity, of air-bubbles, though they are so plentiful in the coarser ice.

Professor Tyndall's explanation of this phenomenon is as interesting as it is ingenious. M'hile
on a visit of inspection to the slate-quarries of Wales, he had occasion to study the cleavaje of
the rocks which compete them ; in other words, their faculty of dividing naturally, a projierty

CLEAVA(JE IN COMrACT KK

113

inherent in all crystjils. The HchiHtous Hiato HCparates onHily into sheetjH, and in trnvei"sinij diHeient
quarries one secH that all the planes of cleavage are parallel in each. From this circuniMtanec
our men of science wore at first induced to look ujwn slates as the products of the stnitiHcation of
different deposit^t. Such an explanation, howc>ver, could not he accei>ted by 'i'y'idall, when he
observed that the minute fossils embedded in them were constantly misshapen and tlattt-ncd in the
direction of the plane of cleavage, because the great modification they had undergone could not
have taken place in superimposed strata at the bottom of the primeval sea. He concluded that
these schists, therefore, must have been subjected to a considerable pressure ; and further, that
this pressure must havb been exorcised at right angles with the plane of separation of tl e different
layers.

A long series of experiments proved that many bodies, when forcibly compressed, cxinbit in
their structure a very distinctly marked lamination, and frequently veins of very great beauty.

He carefully examined iron which had passed under the steam-hammer, or through the
rolling-mill ; clay and wax were subjected to the hydraulic press. In all cases he dete<;ted signs
of cleavage ; and hence we are justified in the inference that the phenomenon is invariably j)ro-
duced by pressure in all bodies of irregular internal structure. Such is the result with glacier-
ice, from whose mass the air-bubbles introduced by the snow aro gradually expelled. At first
of brilliant whiteness, it assumes, in the parallel layers corresponding to the planes of cleavage,
those beautiful azure tints which characterize the veined structure. So little has it to do with
stratification, that in places where this is apparent it has given rise to a series of horizontal lines,
while the parallel veinings, in the same masses of ice, are all inclined at an angle of about 60".

The tendency to cleavage in compact ice would seem to explain the regular form of those
fragments or detached pieces with which some parts of the glaciers aro covered. Usually they
occur as cubes, or as rectangular parallelepipeds. The Alpine mountaineers name them sdracs,
— in allusion to their resemblance to certain cheeses which bear this name, and which are manu-
factured in rectangular boxes. They have been found in many parts of a really colossal size,
measuring fifty feet in length, breadth, and depth, and as regular in shape a« if they hud been
hewn with a chisel.

There are many interesting points connected with the formation and constitution of glaciei-s
which we should gladly discuss, but we are confined by our limits to remarks of a general char-
acter, and we must now pass on to speak of the phenomena attendant upon their motion. No
doubt, the traveller who for the first time comes in sight of one of these huge ice-rivers, and
sees the mighty mass apparently rooted to its valley-bed, solid, unchangeable, adamantine,
finds it hard to believe that it moves onward with a certain and an unresting, though a
gradual progress. It looks like a noble river, suddenly petrified by some overwhelming force :
congealed, as it flowed, in a moment, by some irresistible spell ! Such, indeed, is the conception
of the poet : —

" Ye ice-falla I ye timt from the moiuitiiiu'D btow
Ailuwu euuriuous itiviues slu|)e iininiii....
Torreutii, iiietliiuks, tliut lieiiitl ii iiiighty vuice,
Alid stupijej at ouce amid tlieir maddest phiiigi' !
MotioulesH turreutA ! aileut catiinictji I "

And this conception is justified by the aspect of the glacier. Thus, of the Glacier du G<5ant,

114 HKNDU UPON ni.AniKHH.

I'rofoBflor Tyndftll Hays: — "It HtietchoH Hiiioothly tor ii long distance, then beconicH uiHturbed,
and then changes to a groat frozen cascade, down which the ico appears to tumble in wild
confusion. Above the cascade you see an expanse of shining snow, occupying an area of some
square miles." But we shall see that here, as in the world of man, appearances are deceitful,
and that the glacier well deserves tf> be called .mi ice-river, in allusion to its regular and
continuous motion.

Between the snow-fall in the higher regions of the globe, and the quantity of snow which
every summer disapj)ears through liquefaction, the difference is very considerable. The supply,
so to speak, exceeds the demand, and a residuum is aimually left. It is oidy below the perpetual
snow-line that the snow created and accumulated in winter is wholly melted in the warm season,
And, therefore, if for any considerable period the excess upon any particular mountain contirmed
to accumulate, immense masses of ice would gradually rise to the extreme height in the atmos-
phere affected by acjueous phenomena.

Hendu, the Itoman ("atholii prelate, who first led the way to the discovery of the hue
nature of glaciers, says, very justly, — "The economy of the world would be soon destroyed, it at
certain points accumulations of matter prevailed. The centre of gravity of the globe would be
insensibly displaced, and the admirable regularity of its movements would be succeeded by dis-
order and perturbation. If the Poles did not send back to the Equatorial seas the waters which,
leduced into vapour, issue daily from these burning regions, to be converted into ice in the
Arctic and Antarctic Zones, ocean would be drained dry, and life would cease, as well as water,
to circulate throughout our world. The Creator, however, in order to ensure the permanence of
His almighty work, has called into existence the vast and powerful law of circulation, and
this law the careful observer sees reproduced in all the economy of Nature. The water ciiculates
from the ocean into the air, from the air it spreads over the earth, and from the earth it passe.s
into the seas. The rivers return from whence they came, in order that they may issue forth
anew ; the air circulates around the globe, and, as it were, upon itself, passing and repassing
successively at all the altitudes of the atmospheric column. The elements of every organic
substance circulates in changing from the solid to the liquid or aeriform state, and in returning
from the latter to the state of solidity or organization. It is not improbable that the universal
agent wliich we designate under the name of fire, light, electricity, and magnetism, has pro-
bably also a circle of circulalluu as extensive as the universe. Should its movements ever be
known to us more than they now are, it is probaW. Lhat they would afford the solution of a host
of problems which still defy the intellect of man. Jirculation is the law of life, the method of
action employed by Providence in the administration of the universe. In the insect, as in the
plant, as in the human body, we find a circulation, or rather several circulations, — blood, humours,
elements, fire, all which enter into the composition of the individual."

However fanciful may be some of the amiable prelate's speculations, it is certain that the
glaciers obey this law of circulation. The snow-accumulations in the upper regions are to some
extent reduced by the descent of the avalanches, — that is, of masses of snow and ice which detach
themselves from the mountain-sides and dash headlong into the valleys below, where they are
rapidly n -jlted by the warmer atmosphere. But this would, in itself, be wholly insufficient.
Another movement, at once more efficacious and more regular, is necessary ; a movement which

VARIOUS KINDS (»K MOHAINKH

115

uiubnictiH thu L'utiru systuin of the icc-masaes, and which carrioH the j^lacici-H below thu puiiMjtual
aiiow-liiio, HO that ovory year they nmy givo up a portion of their torniinal oxtroniitifH. Tho
discovory of this ^'oneral proj^rt'snioii it* one of tho niOHt fortilo with whith, of h»to yoai-H, the
physics of the jflobo have been enriched.

I'rofu8«or ryndall rightly obwt rves that tht re tiro nuinerouH obvious indications of thu exist-
once of glacior-motion, though it is too slow to catch the eye at once. The crevasses change within
certain limits from year to year, and sometimes from month to month ; an<l this could not bt; if
the ice did not move. Rocks and stones also are observed, which have been plainly torn from
the mountain-sides. Blocks seen to fall from particidar points are afterwards noticed lower
down. On the moraines roch o fo'.nd of a totally dittereiit inineralogical character from those
composing the mountains righi and left ; and in all such cases strata of the same character are
found bordering the glacier higher up. Hence the conclusion that the foreign honldf t have been
Jloated down by the ice. Further, the ends or • rmouts " oi many glaciers wi, like ploughshares
on the land in front of them, overturning with irresistible energy the huts and chAlet.s that lie in
their path. Facta like these have been long known to the inhabitants of tlu; High Alps, who
were thus made acquainted in a vague and general way with the motion of the glaciers. But
Science cannot deal with generalities : it re(|uires precise and aceuiat*,' infonnation ; and tliis
information, so far as the jirogression of the glaciers is concerned, has boon obtained through tho
])atient labours of Rendu, Charpentior, Agassiz, Desor, Vogt, Professor Forbes, Bravais, Charles
Martins, Hopkins, Professor Tyndall, Colomb, John Ball, and Schlagintweit. Their experiments
and observations ' a,ve established the truth of certain immutable principles, and proved the
existence of general law of movement.

The accunmlation of the dt^bris hurled headlong by the mountains forms on the glacier-surface
long lines of stone and earth, which are called momines ; these diverge in certain directions,
according to the circumstances we now come to explain.

The landslips which occur on the banks or edges of the glacier give rise to the lateral
moraines, which are enlarged and extended daily by the twofold effect of the fall of stones and
debris, and the progressive movement which carries them along with the whole mass of ice.
Towards th^ centre of the great glaciers, in almost every case, is found a medial moraine ; the
result of the encounter of the lateral moraines of two glaciers which have united into one. These
superficial moraines participating in the movement of the glacier, each of their blocks eventually
rolls to the foot of the terminal precipice, and thus a frontal moraine is formed on the very soil
of the valley, like an embankment raised to prohibit the further advance of the ice. And, la,stly,
the bed of sand, gravel, pebbles, and detritus which is found beneath the glacier, and over which
it glides, is called the profound moraine.

The furrows wrought by this last-named stratum on the bottom of the glacier-channeis
show the wonderful force of friction which the glacier exercises during its descent. The dept);s
of these furrows depends entirely on the hardness of the debris carried down by the glacier, and
the nature of the rocks submitted to the fiiction. The polish a,ssumed by these rocks when they
are sufficiently solid to resist the thunderous march of the glacier, indicates the enormous
pressure which it exercises on the slopes of the valley through which it forces its way. This
effort, bearing principally on the side of the rocks turned in the direction of their crests, impresses

|t« A KIVER OF ICE.

ii|M)ii thoiu a jHtculiar rounded form, ho liko the npiwarance of n flock of Bheep {moutona) that De
SiiUHMurt! jfavu tlieiii t' j iiaiiio of rochi's moutoniurn.

Coriiiootod with tho si-ientific ovidonec of the j)rt)Krt'BMivo niovcmoiit of Klaciors, a ghicior in
thii JlcrniMt' (Mx-rhmd will for ever bo inoniorahle. Two branch ^jiacitrH, tho Lauternar and tho
Finntcnuir, unito at a jiroinontory called tho Alwchwunf,' to fonn tho trunk-glacier of tho
Untoraar, which carrion a ^,'reat medial moraine alonj,' itn colosHal hack.
I Here in 18-7, an " intrepiil and onthuHiaHtic" SwIhs professor, Hugi, of Solothurm (or

\ .Soleure), erect. (I a small cabin <if stones for the purpose of observations up<in the glacier. Tho

1 hut moved, and ho took stops to nieaaure its motion. In throo years, 1827 to 1830, it movod

j 330 feet downwards. In 1836 it hatl descended 2354 feet; and in 1841, it had accomplislied o

1 journey of 4712 foot. [This wa« at tho rate of about 33G foot a year.]

I . In 1810, M. AKassiz, with some scientific friends, Messrs. Dosor, Vogt, and Nicolieb,

I OHtablisl'ed themsolves under a proat ovorhan},'ing slab of rock on tho same moraine, and by

moans of side walls, and other a,.]»liancos, constructed a rough abode which, because some of those
men of scionco came from Noufchiltel, they named tho " Hcitol dos NeuchAtelois."

In two years after its erection, Agassiz discovered that it hod movod downwards no less a
distance than 480 feet.

These and some similar measurements brought to light a very important fact. The reader
will observe that the middle numbers, correspond ing to the central portion of tho glacier, are tho
laiyest : hence it was obvious that the centre of a glacier, like that of a nvei; moves more
rapidly tfuin the sides.

Owing to tho greater central motion of a glacier, its crevasses invariably assume a curved
outline, of which the convexity advances towards the bottom of the valley.

It has also been ascortniued that the aupei-ficial part of a glacier moves more rapidly than
its base.

Again : Tyndall and Hirst, by employing instruments of great precision, have demonstrated
that the maxinmm of motion is not to be found exactly in the centre, but that, according to the
windings of the valley through which the glacier flows, it moves sometimes to the right of the
centre, and sometimes to the left. Now, the progression of a river exhibits all the cliaracters we
have just enumerated, and the truth foreshadowed by Rendu has been confirmed in every detail.
The glacier is a " river of ice."

The reader will naturally ask, How can a substance of such apparent rigidity as ice obey, as it
does obej', tho same laws which regulate the movement of fluids ? I can understand, he may say,
how wattir flows in such and such a manner : it is a liquid, and its molecules are deficient in the
property of cohesion ; but that so solid, and firm, and unimpressible a substance as ice should be
capable of motion seems impossible. 1 can understand very easily that a mass of ice, when
loosened or detached from its resting-place, will glide downwards until arrested by some
adequate obstacle ; but this is not the kind of motion you are describing. According to your
ey.planations, every constituent portion of the glacier moves, and the central faster than the lateral,
and the surface faster than the base.

Those objections were advanced by men of science when the motion of glaciers was first put
forv.ard as a theory; and the answer given by Scheuchzer was, that a glacier might be com-

TIIKUKY OF OI-ACtKlt. MOTION ^ lit

(^tU'od, in the Huminer hoosoii, to a Hixjnjfo Haturatod witli water, wliieh, wliun iifterwiirds coiijjealed
by tlio cold temperaturo of aiituinii and winter, ex[)aiided, and produced a dilatatinn of the niuHH
in every direction. Then, as it could not recede, a« it could not ivaiicend its valley-slope, tho
augmentation of size would necessarily take place in its lower :")rtion.

It is unnecessary for us to explain why this answer was unsatisfactory. Subsequent obser-
vations, however, proved its impossibility, and I'rofessor Forbes then put forward his ideas of
tho vUcouti character of ice. But these, too, did not meet the conditions of the phenomenon ;
and the view now adopted is that of Professor Tyndall, who has shown that it is the result of
the regelation we have already described.

Professor Forbes enuncin ted his theory in words to the following eH'ect : " A glacier is an
imperfect fluid or viscous body, which is urged down slopes of certain inclinat'on by the natural
pressure of its parts." But we know the exceeding brittleiiess of ice, and Iiow is vi.scosity com-
patible with brittleness ? We know, too, that crevasses and fissures will suddenly form on a
glacier, like the cracks on a pane of glass. But if ice were viscous, and could exp. ad, dilate, or
stretch as viscous substances do, these crevasses would be impossible. They would gradually
I close up, like an indent in a mass of jelly. And yet it cannot be denied that a glacier does uiove

like a viscous body ; the centre flowing past the sides, the top flowing over the bottom, while tho
motion through a curved valley corresponds to fluid motion. How are we to reconcile these
apparently conflicting circumstances ?

By Professor Tyndall's regelation theory, which is founded on a fact already mentioned ;
namely, that when two pieces of thawing ice are brought in contact, they freeze together.

This yac<, and its ai)[iIication irrespective of the caune of regelation, may be thus illustrated :
" Saw two slabs from a block of ice, and bring their flat surfaces into contact ; they i.amediately
freeze together. Two plates of ice, laid one upon the other, with flannel round them «i" jrnight,
are sou itimes so firmly frozen in the morning that they will rather break elsewhere .^. long
their surface of junction. If you enter one of the dripping ice-caves of Switzerland, you have
only to press for a momeni i slab of ice against the roof of the cave to cause it to freeze there and
stick to the roof.

" Place a number of fragments of ice in a basin of water and cause them to touch each
other ; they freeze together where they torch. You can form a chain of such fragments ; and
then, by taking hold of one end of the chain, you can draw the whole series after it. Chains of
icebergs are sometimes formed in this way in the Arctic seas."

From these observations we deduce the following result : — Snow consists of small particles
of ice. Now, if by pressure we squeeze out the air entangled in thawing snow, and bring the
little ice-granules into close contact, they may be expected, as they do, to freeze together ; and
shoiUd the expulsion of tho air be complete, the squeezed snow will assume the appear..nce of
compact ice.

It is in this way tVat the consolidation of the snows takes place in the Arctic as in the
higher Alpine regions. The deeper layers of the n^e are converted into more or less perfect ice
by the pressure of the superjacent layers ; and further, they are made to assume the shape of tho
valley which they fill, by the slow and continuous pressure of its sides.

In glaciers, as Professor Tyndall points out, we have ample illustrations of rude fracture and
regelation ; as, for example, in the opening and closing of crevasses. The glacier is broken on

118

OLACIEKS OF THE POLAR WORLD.

tho cascades, and mended at their bases. When two branch glaciers lay their sidtjs together,
the regulation is so firm that they begin immediately to flow in the trunk glacier as in a single
stream. The merlial moraine gives no indication by its slowness of motion that it is derived from
the sluggish ice of the sides of the branch glaciers.

We may sum up tho regelation theory in few words. The ice of glaciers changes its form
and retains its continuity imder pressure which keeps its particles together. But when subjected
to tdtsion, sooner than stretch, it breeds, and behaves no longer as a viscous Ixirly.

I'hese are Professor Tyndall's words, and the fact which they embody it would be difficult
to set forth more clearly or more concisely.

A I'OI.AU OLACIEIt.

Having said thus much of the struciture, causes, characteristics, and movement of
glaciers, we proceed to consider some of the more remarkable of those which are situated in
the Arctic World.

The glaciers of the Polar Regions do not differ in structure or uiode of formation from those
of other countries. Yet they possess some peculiar features, and to a superficial observer might
seem independent of the physical laws we have attempted to explain. That this is not the case
has been shown by Charles Martins, who carefully studied the glaciers of Spitzbergen on the
cHJcasion of the exjiloring voyage of the Recherche to tliat island, and has demonstrated that their
differences are but a j)articular case of the general phenomenon.

As special characters he points out, firat, the rarity of needles and prisms of ice, which he

ICK-CAVEKNS AND GLACIEKS.

attributes to the slight inclination and the unifonnity of the slopes, as well as to the diiainution
<,i the solar heat, which, even in the long summer days, does not melt the surtacc. Tliort! are no
rills or streams capable of hollowing out crevasses and moulding jjrotuberances or projections.
But transversal crevasses produced bv the movement of the glaciers arc numerous, and those are
often very wide and very deep.

In the terminal escarpment, which melts in proportion as it plunges into the sen, immense
caverns are sometimes seen ; caverns so immense that the azure-gloaming grottoes of the Arveiron
and Grindelwald, so much admin-d by European travellers, are but miniatnies. " Oie day,"' says
Charles Martins, " after having afecertamed the temperature of the sea off the great glacier of Bell
Sound. I proposed to tlie sailors who accomps^'iied me to carry our boat into il< cavern. I
explained to them the risk we should incur, being unwilling to attempt anything without their
consent. When our boat had crossed the threshold, we found ourselves in an iinnieiiso (jlothic

OI.AL'IKIl. KNlJI.lKIl IIAV, Sl'IT/.IIKUUKS.

cathedral ; long conical-pointed cylinders of ice descendeil from the roof ; the recesses seemed S(j
many chapels opening out cf the principal nave ; broad fissures divided the walls, and the open
intervals, like arches, sprang towards the sumn.'ts ; azure gleams played over the icy surface, and
were reflected in the water. The sailors, like myself, were dumb with admiration. But a too
prolonged contemplation would have been dangerous ; we soon regained the narrow opening
through which we had penetrated into this winter temple, and, returning on boanl our vessel,
preserved a discreet silence respecting an escapade which might have been justly blamed. In the
evening, we saw from the shore our cathedral of the morning slowly bend forwai-ds, detach itself
from the parent glacier, crash into the waves, and reappear in a chousand blocks and fragments of
ice, which the retiring tide carried slowly out to sea.'

110

FORMATION OF ICEBERGS.

OLACIKR, nBLL SOUND, SPITZDKROKN.

The Spitzborgen glaciers do not exhibit those numerous moraines which are observed on the
majority of those of Switzerland.

'J'he inountains, not being very lofty, are buried, as it were, under their burden of glaciers,
instead of preponderating over them, and seem with difficulty to lift their peaks out of the mass

of ice and snow surrounding them. Con-
sequently, there are no consideraMe land-
slips or falls of earth and stone, which,
accumulating along the borders of the
glaciers, might form moraines. Martins 'i
of opinion that the Spitzbergcn glaciers
correspond to the upper part of the glaciers
of Switzerland ; to so much, that is to say,
as lies above the perpetual snow-line.

Now, he says, the higher we ascend on
an Alpine gla/jier, the more do the lateral
and medial moraines diminish in width and
form, until they taper away and finally disappear under the high 7idvds of the amphitheatres from
which the glacier issues, just as the mountain torrents often take their rise in one or in several
lakes terraced one above the other.

For all these reasons, he adds, the medial and lateral moraines are scarcely conspicuous on
the glaciers of Spitzbergen ; a number of stones and boulders may be seen along their sides, and
sometimes in their centre, but the ice is never hidden, as in the Alps, under the mass of debris
accumulated upon it. As for the terminal moraines, they must be sought at the bottom of the sea,
since the terminal escarpment nearly always overhangs it. Hence, the blocks of stone fall simul-
taneously with the blocks of ice, and form a submarine frontal moraine, of which the two
extremitias are occasionally visible upon the shore.

In a previous chapter we have alluded to the manner in which icebergs are formed by the
detachment from the seaward extremity of the glacier of huge masses of ice, which the current
carries out into the open sea* To the description already given, we may here add that which
Charles Martins furnishes in his valuable and interesting record of peraevering scientific enterprise,
" Du Spitzberg au Sahara" : — In Spitzbergen, he says, the glacier, after a traject of more or less con-
siderable duration, reaches the sea. If the shore bo rectilineal, it advances no further ; but, in the
recess of a biiy, where the shore is curved, it continues its progression, supporting its bulk on the
sides of the bay, and advancing above the water, which it overhangs. Tliis is easily understood.
In summer the sea-water at the bottom of the bays is always at a temperature a little above 32° ;
on coming in contact with this comparatively warm water the glacier melts, and, at low tide, an
interval is perceptible between the ice and the suri'ace of tlie water. The glacier being no longer
suppoited, partially crumbles and gives way ; immense blocks detach themselves, fall into the
sea, disappear beneath the water, reappear revolving on. their own axes, and oscillate for a few
moments until they have taken up their position of equilibrium. The blocks thus detached
from the floating masses, of all sizes and shapes, are called icebergs.

Our traveller records that twice a day, in Magdalena Bay and Bell Sound, he was an eye-
witness of this partial ruin of the extremity of the glaciers. Their fall was accompanied by a

10EBERU8 AS IMI'KDIMENTS TO NAVIGATION. 183

noise like that of thunder ; the swollen sea rushed upon the shore in a succession of gigantic waves ;
the gulf was covered with icehergs, which, caught in the swirl and eddy, issued out of the bay.
like immense fleets, to gain the sea beyond, or were stmnded here and there at jwints where thu
water was shallow. The icebergs seen by M. Martins were not, however, of any surprising
magnitude ; he estimates their average height at thirteen to sixteen feet. Wo have seen that
those of Baffin Bay are tenfold more considerable and imposing ; but then, in that bay the tem-
perature of the sea is below 32°; the glacier does not melt when it entere the water ; it sinks to
the bottom of the sea ; and the pi >itions detached from it are all of greater height than even the
submerged part of the icebergs wl 'ch drift to and fro in the bays and gulfs of Spitzbergen.

We may follow up this description with some observations by Lieutenant Bellot, the
chivalrous young Frenchman who perished in one of the expeditions despatched in search of Sir
John Franklin and his companions. He is speaking of the masses of ice his ship encountered
soon after doubling Cape Farewell, the south point of Greenland, and he remarks, that a« Bafhn
Bay narrows towards f^e south, the icebergs, first set in motion higher up the bay by the northern
gales, necessarily tend to accumulate in the gorge thus formed, and so to impede and block uj)
Davis Strait, even when the higher wnt^rs are quite free. It is only through a series of alternate
movements of advance and recession ^nat the bergs finally pass beyond the barrier, and float out
into the Atlantic, to undergo a slow process of dissolution.

The mobility of the bergs, though necessary to navigation, forms at the same time its peculiar
danger, since a vessel is often placed between the shore and the colossal masses driven forward by
the wind, or between these and the solid ice which as yet has not broken up. It is useless to
dwell upon the immense force possessed by masses which are frequently several squar(< leagues in
extent, and which, once in movement, cannot be stayed by any human resistance. A sailing-
vessel finds herself placed in conditions all the more unfavourable, because the winds blow from
the very direction which she is bound to take in order to open up a way through the floes. Now,
if the gale is violent, it is perilous indeed to push forward in the midst of a labyrinth of bergs,
which form so many floating rocks ; if a calm prevails, a ship can move forward only by laborious
hauling or towed by the boats. The application of the screw-propeller to steam-ships has given
to them a great superiority, because they are not liable to any accident to paddle-wheels, exposed
as such must be to collision with the floating ice. It is recorded that, on one occasion, a screw-
steamer, near Upemavik, on the coast of Greenland, actually charged an iceberg, and drove
right through it, as a railway-engine might crash through a fence or hurdle. Of course, the
berg was of no great elevation ; but its solid mass yielded to the imm'?nae force of the steam-ship,
and split into large fragments.

In the convulsions caused by furious tempests, which are far from being so rare within the
Arctic Circle as is popularly supposed, the shape of the bergs becomes very irregular, and the
configuration of the ice-fields is constantly undergoing modification. Hence it often happens that
the voyager sees before him an open basin of water of greater or less extent, from which he is
separated only by a narrow strip of ice. In such a case he endeavours to efiect an opening, either
by driving his ship at full speed against the weakest pare of the ice, or with the help of immense
saws, twenty feet in length, which are worked with a rope and pulley placed at the top of a
triangle formed of long poles ; or, finally, by exploding a mine. When the ice is not very solid.

1S4 MOVING ISLANDS IX BAFFIN BAY.

Iho Hhip is f'nrwd into the opoiiiiip, a«,'nin8t tho sides of whirli it acts like a wodge. It will some-
times occur, in the course of tho operation, that the ice-fields, set in motion by the wind or the
rurrcnts, close in together, after havin„' treacherously separated for a moment, and the vessel is
then sul)jecte<l to a dangerous pressure. Unhappy the mariner who does not foresee or sufficiently
note the waiiiing signs of tliis accident, which is almost always accorai)anied by fatal consequences.
The ice, which nothing can check, passing underneath tho ship, capsizes it, — or, if it resists,
crushes it.

We iiave alluded to the colosstvl bergs of Baffin Bay. These are thrown ott" from the
northern glaciers, and particularly from tho enormous ice-river named after Humboldt, which
cumbers the declivities of the Greenland Alps, beyond the 79th parallel. It has been a frequent
source- of suiprise to navigators that these mighty masses should float in a contrary direction to
that of the ice-fields which descend with the Polar current towards tho Atlantic. They reascend
with such rapidity that they shatter the so-called " ice-foot," or belt of ice, still adhering to the
shore. Cajjtain Maury has collected numerous observations on this important subject, and he
quotes the ca.se of a ship which was being laboriously hauled against tho current, when an enor-
mous floating mountain coming up from the south steered against it, but fortunately did not come
into collision with it, and forging ahead, very quickly disappeared. How is such an incident to
be explained ? By the existence of a submarine counter-current, acting on tho lower extremity
of the submerged portion of the berg, which, as we have stated, is always seven or eight times
larger than the bulk above the surface of the waves.

Our whalers, in their hazardous expeditions, often derive assistance from these moving islands.
They seek shelter under their lee when sudden storms arise ; for the huge bergs are scarcely
aftected by the most violent gales. They find their shelter valuable also during certain operations
of the fishery for which rest and quiet are necessary. Yet it is not absolutely exempt from
danger. The seeming friend may prove to be a concealed foe. The iceberg may collapse, or be
capsized ; or formidable fragments, loosened from their sides or summits, may topple headlong and
threaten to overwhelm the ship beneath : but as on these and other accidents we have already
dwelt at length, we refrain from wearying our readers with a twice-told tale. The repetition in
which, to some extent, we have indulged, was needful, in order to show the reader in what way
the dis-solution of the lower extremity of the glaciers is effected in the Arctic world.

In the neighbourhood of Cape Aley.nder, one of the headlands of Smith Strait, Dr. Hayes
met with a glacier, of which he gives an interesting description in his narrative of an " Arctic
Boat Journey," (1854):—

It was the first, protruding into the ocean, which he had had an opportunity of inspecting
closely ; and though small, compared with other similar formations, it had nevertheless all their
principal characteristics. It presented to the sea a convex mural face, seventy feet in height and
about two miles in length, its centre projecting into the water beyond the general line of the
coast to the east and west of it. The surface rose abruptly to the height of about two hundred
feet, and, sloping thence backward with a gentle inclination, seemed to be connected with an
extensive mer de glace above. Several fissures or crevasses, apparently of great depth, struck
vertically through its body, and extended far up into its interior; and others, more shallow, which

THE AUCTiC MKK I)E GLACE. U7

seemed to have been formed by the utreams of melted snow that poured in cutaracts down into
the sea. Dr. Hayes remarks that ho was impressed by its viscous appearance ; hut we have
shown that a certain amount of > iscosity naturally appertains t<i glacier ice.

Parallel with its convex face ran a succession of indistinctly marked lines, which gave it the
aspect of a semi-fluid mass moving downward upon an inclined surface ; and this idea wiu* con-
firmed by its appearance about the rocks on either side. Over these it seemed to have flowed ;
and, fitting accurately into all their inequalities, it gave the ett'ect of a huge moving mass of
partially solidified matter suddenly cngealed.

Of still greater interest is the same adventurous explorer's description of the great Arctic
Mer lie Glace which lies inland from Rensselaer Bay, in about lat. 79° N., and long. G8° W.

Dr. Hayes and his party had set out on an expedition into the interior, anil after pa.ssing
through a really picturesque landscape, enriched with beds of moss and turf, patches of purple
andromeda, and the trailing branches of the dwarf-willow, they emerged upon a broad i)lain or
valley, in the heart of which reposed a- frozen lake, about two miles in length by half a mile in
width. They traversed its transparent surface. On either side of them rose rugged bluffs, that
stretched off into long lines of hills, culminating in series in a broad-topped mountain-ridge, wliich,
rumung away to right and left, waa cut by a gap several miles wide that opened directly before
them. Immediately in front was a low hill, around the base of which flowetl on either side the
branches of a stream whose course th^y had followed. Leaving the rivci'-bed just above the lake,
they climbed to the summit of this hillock ; and there a sight burst upon them, grand and inqjos-
iug beyond the power of words adequately to describe. From the rocky bed, only a few miles in
advance, a sloping wall of pure whiteness rose to a broad level plain of ice, which, apparently
without limits, stretched away toward the unknown east. It was the great mer de glace of the
Arctic continent.

Here then was, in reality, the counterpart of the river-systems of other lands. From behind
the granite hills the congealed drainings of the interior water-sheds, the atmospheric precipitations
of ages, were moving in a mass, which, though solid, was plastic, moving down through every
gap in the mountains, swallowing up the rocks, filling the valleys, submerging the hills : an
onward, irresistible, crystal tide, swelling to the ocean. The surface was intersected by numerous
vertical crevasses, some of considerable depth, which had drained off the melted snow.

It was midnight when the explorers approached this colossal reservoir. The sun was
several degrees beneath the horizon, and afforded a faint twilight-gleam. Stars of the second
magnitude were dimly perceptible in the cold, steel-blue Arctic heavens. When they were
within about half a mile of the icy wall, a brilliant meteor fell before them, and, by its reflection
upon the glassy surface beneath, greatly increased the magical effect of the scene ; while louil
reports, like distant thunder or the roll of artillery, broke at intervals from the depths of the
frozen sea.

On closer inspection it was found that the face of the glacier ascended at an angle of from

30° to 35°. At its base lay a high bank of snow, and the wanderers clambered up it about sixty

feet ; but beyond this their efforts were defied by the exceeding smoothness of the ice. The

mountains, which stood on either hand like giant-warders, were overlapped, and to some extent

submerged, by the glacier. From the face of the huge ice-river innumerable little rivulets ran

138 OLAC'IKlt OK HKllMIATSJALIK.

down tlie chnnnulH ;liiir action had ^'nidimlly excavated, or f,'iirplod from henuath the ice ; Ibnn
iiiy, on till! level laiidn helow, a M.vt ut" marsh, not twenty yards from the icy wall, lioro, in
Btran^'o contnwt, bloomed bods of vurihiroiw moss ; and in thoso, tufts of dwarf-willows were
wreathin^f their tiny arms and rootlets about tho feebler Hower-growths ; and there, clustered
tog* th r, erout'hini,' amoiij^ tliu fi;raHn, and sheltered by the leaves, and foedinj^ on tho bed of
lichens, Ihjiirisiied a tiny, white-blossomed draba and a white chiekweed. l^ottinjjf tho few feet
of ;(reen around mi^dit be seen the yellow Hower.s of the more liardy poppy, tho purple pv)tentilla,
and saxifrages yellow, purple, and white.

The f^eat glacier of Sormiatsialik is one of the arms, or outlets, of this immense reservoir of
i(!0. It occupies the bed of a valley, varying from three and a half to five miles in width, and
attaining at certain j)oii>ts a depth of upwards of three hundred and seventy feet. This valley
opens upon the fiord of Sermiatsialik, which is separated from that of Julianshaab by tho range
of mountains culminating in the peak of Kedkammon.

We owe to ])r. Hayes a lively description of the Sermiatsialik glacier, which he thinks
must at some j)laces be more than seven hundred and fifty feet in depth, overfiowing tho borders
of the valley like a swollen torrent. For upwards of four leagues, the icebergs which throng the
fiord, or gulf, are those of the glacier itself, and terminating in a wedge-like outline, disappear in
the vast sea of ice expanding to right and left above the loftiest summits, and drawing irresist-
ibly the eye to its rippled surface, — boundless, apparently 3 that of ocean. As the voyager
sails up the gulf, he gradually loses sight of the frozen . " i^e, and then of the white line of the
mei' lie rfhtce : he finds himself in front of an immense cliflP, from one hundred to two hundred
feet in height, diaphanous as the purest crystals, and reflecting all tho hues of heaven.

One almost shudders ns one approaches this vast domain of Winter. Collecting in copious
streams, the ice and snow melted on the surface of tho glacier pour over its brink, forming float-
ing clouds of spray, irradiated by minbow colours. The din of these cascades fills tho air. At
intervals, the loud rej>orts of tho internal convulsions of the glacier are repeated by every echo.

The cliflF is entirely vertical ; but its face, far from being smooth, is broken up into an infi-
nite variety of forms : into unfathomable cavernous hollows, symmetrical sjiires, ogives, pinnacles,
and d(;op fissures, where tho eye plunges into a transparent blue, which changes every second
its fleeting, opaline tints ; tints so soft, and yet so vivid, that they dofy tho skill of the artist to
reproduce them. The lustre of the " dark eye of woman" is not more difficult to seize. A deep
dark green, less delicate but not less splendid, colours all the recesses where the ice overliangs
the waters. In the sunlight one sees the surface of these huge crystals shining with the white-
ness of tho jiurest snow ; except, indeed, where recent fractures have taken place. They suggest
to the mind tho idea of the gleams and reflections of a piece of satin ; the undulatory lustre and
shifting sparkle being produced by the different angles under wliich the light is reflected.

But let us suppose that we have landed; with much diflSculty have ascended the cliffs; and
have clambered up the glacier to its very summit. The scene before us, how shall we convey to
the mind of the reader ?

Imagine, if you can, the rapids of the Upper Niagara congealed even to their lowest depths;
imagine the falls, and the broad river, and the great Lake Erie all frozen into solid ice ; with

UL^VCIKU OF HKIt.MlATSlAl.lK. 131

l)erj^ aliovo tho cataract tnworiti;; us hijjli n» tho luwcr biiiikH ; hui>im.su that you, the fi|K.'ctat<ir,
liaviiij.' ukoii yinir wtaml u|miii tin," ni|ii<lK, with the Krit! so innr tliiit mhi can we its civstalliztil
surface, and jfou will liavo a picture, on a reduced stale, oC the sea of ice now s|)rea(lin),' far hefore
us. The rapids will ropresisnt tho jjlacier ; tho (!rcat Fidl tho clilf which it i)rojccts into the sea
(only that tho colohratcd "horHc-shoo" iu hero turned outwards) ; ;h • river which liroadeiis into
tho Ontario will bo tno fiord ; and tho Ontario, that dark j^riin ofcan into which the ),rii,'antio
borgs dutachod from tho niiji,'hty icc-cascado are slowly niakinjf their way I

Wo must indicate, howover, ono roinarkable dissimilarity, lor which our previous oliMrva-
tions on tho nature of j,dacierH will have prepared tho roodor. From one bank to the other, the
surface of a river is always horizontaJ, but that of a fjlacier is sli<,'htly convrx,

'I'hrouf^h tho narrow <,den, or ravine, formed by this curvature of tho {jflacier, a kind of lateral
troujfh or ffully, bounded by tlie escarpment of the soil, we reach tho sea. Tlie dcsci iit is not
without its danfjei-s, for at every point crevasses open, separated by slippery projections. These
deep flashes, at some points, are only a. few yards apart; and they incessantly cross each other,
and run into one another, so as to form a perfect labyrinth, in tho windings of which tho adven-
turous traveller is ajit to feel bewildered.

The border of tho glacier once cro.sscd, tho way becomes less difficult ; for a mile tuid a half
the level is almost perfect, and tho ice but little broken »ip. Tho frozen desert, however,
impresses us with an almost solemn feeling, and there is something terrible in the desolation of
uuch a Sahara of snow I

Moreover, the traveller is irresistibly affected by the continual roar or growling of tho enor-
mous mass, which seems to stir and shake u.;dcr our very feet. He would nt)t be surj)rist:d if a
vast chasm sudaenly yawned before him ! These harsh deep voices of tho glacier, liowever, are
not tho only sounds avo hear. On every side rises tho murmur of brooks which trace their fur-
rows acrOiHs the crystalline plain. Some of these gradually convcgc, and, uniting, forui a con-
siderable torrent, which leaps with a clang from icy crag to icy ledge, until it is lost in a
crevasse, or precipitated over tho frozen cliff into tho waters of the fiord. 'J'he Koluude of tho
scene is complete, but not tho silence. The air is as full of " noises" as ever was Prospeio's isle.

Such aro the principal features of tlu^ glacier of Sermiatsialik.

About ninety miles north-east of Rensselaer Bay lies tho great Humboldt Glacier, which
scorns to servo as a connecting-link between tho Old World and the New.

It lies between the 79th and 80th parallels north, and between tho 64th and C5th meridians
west, skirting the shore of Peabody Bay, which is a bold indentation of the east coast of Kane Sea.

It was discovered in Dr. Kane's expedition, and is probably ono of the grandest spectacles
in the Arctic world. Dr. Kane acknowledges himself unable to do justice to its magnificent
a-spect. He can speak only of its " long, ever-sliining line of cliff diminished to a well-j)ointed
wedge in the perspective;" of its "face of glistening ice, sweeping in a long curve from tho low
interior, the facets in front intensely illuminated by the sun."

This line of clivf rises, like a sohd wall of glass, three hundred feet above the water-level,
with an unknown, unfathomable depth below it ; and its curved face, sixty miles in length, dis-
appears into unknown space at not more than a single day's railroad-travel from the Pole. The

132 THE HUMBOLDT GLACIER.

interior with which it eomniunicatea, and from wliiclv it issues, is an unexplored mer de glace,
an ico-occan, of apparently boundless dimensions.

Such is the " mi;'htv crj'.Htal hridfjjo " which connects the two continents of America and
Grconhiiid. Wo say, continents; for (j!k nland, as Dr. Kane remarks, however insulated it
may ultimately prove to be, is in mass strictly continental. Its least possible axis, measured
from Cape Farewell to the line of the Humboldt Glacier, in the neighbourhood of the 80th
parallel, {.''ves a length of upwards of twelve hundred miles, — not materially less than that of
Australia from its northern to its southern cape.

Imagine the centre of such a continent, says Dr. Knne, occupied through nearly its whole
extent by a deep, unbroken sea of ice, that gathers perennial increase from the water-shed of vast
snow-covered mountaina and all the precipitations of the atmosphere upon its own surface.
Imagine tliis, moving onward like a great glacial river, seeking outlets at every fiord and valley,
rolling icy cataracts into the Atlantic aid Greenland seas ; and, having at last reached the
northern limit of the land that has jorne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen torrent into unknown
Arctic space.

" It is thus," remarks Dr. Kane, " and only thus, that we must form a just conception of a
phenomenon like this great glaeier. I had looked in my own mind for such an appearance,
should I ever be fortunate enough to reach the northern coast of Greenland. But now that it
was before me, I could hardly realize it. I had recognized, in my quiet library at home, the
beautiful analogies which Forbes and Studer have developed between the glacier and the river;
but 1 could not compreliend at first this complete substitution of ice for water.

"It was slowly the convic^tion dawned on me that I was looking upon the counterpart of
the great river-system of Arctic Asia and America. Yet here were no water-feeders from the
south. Every particle of moisture had its origin within the Polar Circle, and had been converted
into ice. There were no vast alluvions, no forest or animal tiaces borne down by liquid torrents.
Hero was a plastic, moving, semi-solid mass, obliterating life, swallowing rocks and islands, and
ploughing its way with irresistible march through the crust of an investing sea."

When, at a later period. Dr. Kane made a closer examination of this great natural wonder,
lie found that previously he had not realized the full grandeur of the spectacle. He noted that
the trend of the glacier was a few degrees to the west of north ; and he remarks, as the
peculiarity of its aspect, that it did not indicate repose, but activity, energy, movement.

Its surface seemed to follow that of the basis-country over which it flowed. It was undulat-
ing on and about the horizon, but as it descended towards the sea it represented a broken plain
with a general inclination of some nine degrees, still diminishing toward the foreground. Crev-
asses, which in the distance seemed like mere wrinkles, expanded as they came nearer, and were
intersected almost pt right angles by long continuous lines of fracture parallel with the face of
the glacier.

These lines, too, scarcely perceptible in the far distance, widened as they approached the
sea until they formed a gigantic stairway. It see nod as though the ice had lost its support
below, and that the mass was let down from above in a series of steps ; and such an action is the
necessary result of the heat thrown out by the soil, the excessive surface-drainage, and the con-
stant abrasion of the sea.

DR. KANE'S THKOKY OF It'EBEKOS. 133

The indication of a great propeliintf agency seemed to be just commencing at th- time that
Dr, Kane visited the great glacier. Tlie split-off lines of ice were evidently in motion, pressed
on by those behind, but still broadening their fissures, as if the impelling action grew more and
more energetic nearer the water, till ai last they floated away in the form of icebergs. Long
files of these detached masses might bo seen, like the ranks of a stately armada, slowly sailing
out into the remote sea, their sepai.ition marked by dark parallel si ''ows ; broad and spacious
avenues near the eye, but narrowed in the perspective to mere furrows. A more impressive
illustration of the forces of nature it would be diflficult to conceive.

Dr. Kane's view of the formation of icebergs differs considorrbly from that which most
physicists entertain.

He dees not believe that the berg falls into the sea, broken by its weight from the parent
glacier; he is of opinion that it rises from the sea. The process is at onco gradual and compara-
tively quiet. " The idea of icebergs being discharged, so universal among systematic writers,
seems to me at variance with the regulated and progressive actions of Nature Developed by
such a process, the thousands of bergs which throng the Polar seas should keep the air and
water in nerpctuai commotion, one fearful succession of explosive detonations and propagated
waves. But it is only the lesser masses falling into deep waters which could justify the popular
opinion. The enormous masses of the great glacier are propelled, step by step and year by year,
until, reaching water capable c supporting them, they are floated off to be lost in the tempera-
tures of other regions."

The Humboldt Glacier did not differ in structure from the Alpine and Norwegian ice-
growths ; and its face presented nearly all the characteristic features of the latter. The overjlow,
or viscous overlapping of the surface, was very strongly marked. " When clo.so to the island
rocks," says- Kane, "and looking out upon the upper tab'' of the glacier, I was struck with the
homely ansilogy of the batter-cake spreading itself out under the ladle of the housewife, the upper
surface less affected by friction, and rolling forward in consequence."

The crevasses bore the nrirks of direct fracture, as well as of the more gradual action of
surface-drainage. The extensive water-shed between their converging i)lanes gave to the icy
surface most of the hydrographic features of a river-system. The ice-born rivers which divided
them were margined occasionally with spires of discoloured ice, and generally lost themselves in
the central areas of the glacier before reaching its foreground. Occasionally, too, the face of
the glacier was cut by vertical lines, which, as in the Alpine examples, were evidently outlets for
the surface drainage.

The height of this ice- wall at the nearest point was about three hundred feet, measured from
the water's edge ; and the unbroken right line of its diminishing perspective showed that this
might be regarded as its constant measurement. It seemed, in fact, a great icy table-land,
abuttino- with a clean precipice against tiie sea. This, indeed, is the great characteristic of all
those Arctic glafiei.s which issue from central reservoirs or mers de glace upon the fiords or bays,
and is strikin^-ly in contiust with the dependent or hanging glacier of the ravines, where every
line and furrow and chasm seem to indicate the movement of descent and the mechanical
disturbances which have imp^ ded and delayed it.

Dr. Kane named this monster glacier after Alexander Von Humboldt, to whose labours

'^' NOTES <»N TirK OLACIEU.

I'liysical Scionco is ho largely indebted ; and the cape which flanks it on the Greenland coast
alter the distingui.shed ii.-ituraliHt, wliom the world has so recently lost, Professor Agassiz.

Tlui point at which tlio irumboldt Glacier enters the "Land of Washington " affords even
ut a distance very clear indications of its plastic or semi-solid character. The observer finds it
impossible to resist the impression of fluidity conveyed by its peculiar markings. Dr. Kane very
appropriately named it Cape Forbes, in honour of the illustrious son of Scotia who contributed
so largely to our true knowledge of the structure and mode of progression of glaciers.

As the surface of tlie glacier, adds its discoverer, receded to the south, its face seemed
l)roken with piles of earth and rock-stained rubbish, until far back in the interior it was concealed
lV..ni view by the slope of a hill. But even beyond this point its continued extension was shown
by the white glare or ice-blink in the sky above.

Its outline to the northward could not bo so easily traced, on account of the enormous dis-
-harges at its ba«e. The talus of its descent from the interior, looking far off to the east, ranged
fr(jm r to 15^ so interrupted by the crcva.sses, however, as only in the distance to produce the
effect of an inclined plane. A few black protuberances rose above the glittering surface of the
snow, like islands in a foamy sea

It could bo seen, from the general inequalities of its surface, how well the huge mass
adapted itself to the inequalities of the basis-country beneath. The same modifications of hill
an.l dale were discernible a. upon land. Thus grand and various in its imposing aspect, it
st.v.t..hes to the north until it touches the new Land of Washington, cementing together by an
apparently iHissoluble tie the Greenland of the Norse Vikings and the America of the An<rlo-
8a.\on coloiiists. "

CHAPTER V.

THE ARCTIC LANDS — FAUNA — FLORA — GRF.ENLANl) — ICELAND — NOVAIA ZEMLAIA—SIDKBIA.

ifiVUIE have already pointed out that in the northernmost regions of the Arctic lands the
WwBj year is divided into one prolonged and bitterly cold night of several months' duration,
IMMlii and one glorious summer's day extending over nine or ten weeks, which brings the
scanty vegetation to a sudden maturity. We have indicated that even witliin the limits of
pei-potual snow the life of Nature is not altogether crushed out ; and in support of this statement
we may refer to the "red snow" which figures so often in the pages of our Arctic voyagers,
tiiough its true character was not at first .apprehended.

This so-called "red snow" was found by Sir John Ross, in his first Arctic expedition in
1808, on a range of cliffs rising about 800 feet above the sea-level, and extending eight miles in
length (hit. 75° N.). It was also discovered by Sir W. E. Parry in his overland expedition in
1827. The snow was tinged to the depth of several inches. Moreover, if the surface of the
snow-plain, though previously of its usual spotless purity, was crushed by the pressure of the
sledges and of the footsteps of the party, blood-like st<ains instantly arose ; the impressions being
sometimes of an orange hue, and sometimes more like a pale salmon tint.

It has been ascertained that this singular variation of colour is due to an immense aggrega-
tion of minute plants of the species called Protococcus nivalis ; the generic name alluding to the
extreme primitiveness of its organization, and the specific to the peculiar nature of its habitat.
If we place a small quantity of red snow on a piece of white paper, and allow it to melt and
evaporate, here will be left a residuum of granules sufficient to communicate a faint crimson tint
to the paper. Examine these granules under a microscope, and they will prove to be spherical
purple colls of almost inappreciable size, not more than the three-thousandth to one-thousandth
part of an inch in diameter. Look more closely, and you will see that each cell has an opening,
surrounded by indented or serrated lines, the smallest diameter of which measures only the five-
thousandth part of an incL When perfect, the plant, as Dr. Macmillan observes, bears a
resemblance to a red-currant berry ; as it decays, the red colouring matter fades into a deej)
orange, which is finally resolved into a brownish hue. The thickness of the wall of the cell is
estimated at the twenty-thousandth part of an inch, and three hundred to four hundred of these
cells might be grouped together in a smaller space than a shilling would cover. Yet each cell is
a distinct individual plant ; perfectly independent of othera with which it may be massed ; fully
capable of peifomiing for and by itself all the functions of growth and reproduction ; pos.sessing
" a containing membrane which absorbs liquids and gases from the surrounding matrix or elements,

136 F0KM8 OF VKOETAULK LIFE.

ii contfiiiiod fluid of peculiar character formed out of these materials, and a number of excessively
niinuto granules equivalent to spores, or, as some would say, to cellular buds, which are to become

the genns of new plants." Dr. Mat millan adds : " That

- ^^— ^^^ ^^^j ^j^^ same primitive cell should thu.s minister

^^ ^^^•jSC^jflJL^n^ ^^ ^ equally to absori)tion, lutrition, and reproduction, is an

_•■ #, WKf^ _. extraordinary illustration of the fact that the smallest and

3;^:;^kL-~, ;,>,^^^- . "if \ ■ simplest organized object is in itself, and, for the part it

,'.\I^.^%^y;(*|«ii^^^ was created to perform in the operations of nati -e, as

admirably adapted as the lareest and most complicated."

pnoTOCOCCDs NIVALIS. J r o r

Tlio firet vegetable forms to make their appearance at the limits of the snow-line, whether
in higl.i latitudes or on mountain-summits, are lichens ; which flourish on rocks, or stones, or trees,
or whc jver they can obtain sufficient moisture to support existence. Upwards of two thousand
four hundred species iiru known. The same kinds prevail throughout the Arctic Regions, and
the species common to both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres are very numerous. They
lend the beauty of colour to many an Arctic scene which would otherwise be inexpressibly
dreary ; the most rugged rock acquiring a certain air of picturesqueness through their luxuriant dis-
play. Their forms are wonderfully varied ; so that they present to the student of Nature an almost
inexhaustible field of inquiry. In their most rudimentary aspects they seem to consist of nothing
more than a collection of powdery granules, so minute that the figure of each is scarcely distin-
guishable, and so dry and so deficient in organization that we caimot but wonder how they live
and maintain life. Now they are seen like ink-spots on the trunks of fallen trees ; now they are
freely sprinkled in white dust over rocks and withered tufts of moss ; others appear in gray filmy
patches ; others again like knots or rosettes of various tints ; and some are pulpy and gelatinous,
like aerial seorwceds which the receding tide leaves bare and naked on inland rocks. A greater
complexity of structure, however, is visible in the higher order of lichens, — and we find them
either tufted and shrubby, like miniature trees ; or in clustering cups, which, Hebe-like, present
their " dewy offerings to the sun."

In the Polar World, and its regions of eternal winter, where snow and ice, and dark drear
waters, huge glacier and colossal berg, combine to form an aAvful and impressive picture, the
traveller is thankful for the abundance of these humble and primitive forms, which communicate
the freshness and variety of life to the otherwise painful and death-like uniformity of the frost-
bound Nature. It is true that here,

" Above, around, below,
Ou niouutjiiii or in glen,
Nor tree, nor shrub, nor plant, nor flower,"

may be found in the lands beyond the line of perpetual snow ; it is true that

" All is rocks at random thrown,
Black wavea, bare orngs, and banks of stone ;
As if were here denied

Tlie summer's sun, the spring's sweet dew,

That clothe with many a varied hue
The bleakest mountain-side ; "

but vegetation is not absolutely wanting, and the lichens are so largely developed and so widely
distributed as to impart quite a peculiar and distinctive character to the scenery.

LICHENS AND TIIEIK CHAUACTEKS. 137

A lichen which is discovered in almost every zone of altitude and latitude, which ranges
t'rom the wild shores of Melville Island in the Arctic to those of Deception Island in the
Antarctic circle, — which blooms on the crests of the Himalayas, on the lofty peak of Chiniboi-azo,
and was found by Aj^assiz near the top of Mont Blanc, — is the Lecidea geograplnca, a beautiful
bright-green lichen, whose clusters assume almost a kaleidoscopic appearance.

A lichen of great importance in the Arctic world is the well-known Cladonin rangiferina,
or reindeer moss, which forms the .staple food of that animal during the long Arctic winter. In
the vast tundras, or steppes, of Lapland it flourishes in the greatest profusion completely covering
the ground with its snowy tufts, which look like the silvery sprays ame magic plant.

According to Linnaeus, it thrives more luxuriantly than any other pn- „ in the pine-forests of
Lapland, the surface of the soil being carpeted with it for many miles in extent ; and if the forests
are accidentally burned to the ground, it quickly reappears, and grows with all its original vigour.
These plains, which seem to the traveller smitten with the curse of desolation, the Laplander
regards as fertile pastures ; and here vast herds of reindeer roam at will, thriving where the
horse, the elephant, and even the camel would perish. This useful animal is dependent almost
entirely on a lichen for support. What a deep interest is thus attached to it ! That vast
numbers of families, living in pastoral simplicity in the cheerless and inhospitable Polar Regions,
should depend for their subsistence upon the uncultured and abundant supply of a plant so low
in the scale of organization as thi.s, is, says Dr. Macniillan, a striking proof of the great importance
of even the smallest and meanest objects in nature.

When the ground is crusted with a hard and frozen snow, which prevents it from obtaining
its usual food, the reindeer turns to another lichen, called rock-hair (Alectoria jubata), that grows
in long bearded tufts on almost every tree. In winters of extreme rigour, the Laplanders cut
down whole forests of the largest trees, that their herds may browse freely on the tufts which
clothe the higher branches. Hence it has been justly said that "the vast dreary pine-forests of
Lapland possess a character which is peculiarly their own, and are perhaps more singular in the
eyes of the traveller than any other feature in the landscapes of that remote and desolate region.
This character they owe to the immense number of lichens with which they abound. The ground,
instead of grass, is carpeted with dense tufts of the reindeer moss, white as a shower of new
fallen snow ; while the trunks and branches of the trees are swollen far beyond their natural
dimensions with huge, dusky, funereal branches of the rock-hair, hanging down in masses,
exhaling a damp earthy smell, like an old cellar, or stretching from tree to tree in long festoons,
waving with every breath of wind, and creating a perpetual melancholy sound."

In regions furthest north are found various species of lichens belonging to the genera
Gyrophova and Umhilicuria, and known in the records of Arctic travel as rock tripe, or tnpe
de roche ; a name given to them in consequence of their blistered thallus, which bears a faint
resemblance to the animal substance so called. They afford a coarse kind of food, and proved
of the greatest service to the expeditions under Sir John Franklin ; though their • utritious
properties are not considerable, and, such as they are, are unfortunately impaired by th( presence
of a bitter principle which is apt to induce diarrhoea. In Franklin and Richardson's terrible
overland journey from the Coppermine River to Fort Enterprise it was almost the sole support,
at one time, of the heroic little company. Dr. Richardson says they gathered four species of

138 nOCK-LlCHKN, OU STONK-MOSS.

(t'l/rophora,* and used them all as articles of food ; " but not having the means of extracting the
liittcr principle from them, thoy ])rovod nauseous to all, and noxious to several of the party,
prcMlufiiig severe howol complaints." Franklin on one occasion remarks : " This was the sixth
day since we had enjoyed a good meal ; the tri/w iJc mche, even when wo got enough, only
serving to allay the pangs of hunger for a short time." Again, we read : " The want of tnpe
de roche catised us to go suppcrless to bed."

Dr. Hayes, in the course of his " Arctic Boat Journey," was compelled to have recourse to
the same unsatisfactory fare. The rock-lichen, or stone-moss, as he calls it, he describes as about
an inch in diameter at its maximum growth, and of the thickness of a wafer. It is black exter-
nally, but when broken the interior appears white. When boiled it makes a glutinous fluid,
which is slightly nutritious.

" Although in some places it grows very tabundantly," writes Dr. Hayes, " yet in one
locality it, like the game, was scarce. Most of the rocks had none upon them ; and there Avero
\cry few from whicli we could collect as much as a quart. The difficulty of gathering it was
much augmented b}' its crispness, and the firmness of its attachment.

" For this plant, poor though it was, we were compelled to dig. The rocks in every case
were to be cleared from snow, and often our pains went unrewarded. The first time tliis food
was tried it seemed to answer well, — it at least filled the stomach, and tlius kept off the horrid
sensation of hunger until we goV to sleep ; but it was found to produce afterwards a painful
diarrhoea. Besides this unpleasant effect, fragments of gravel, which were mixed with the moss,
tried our teeth. We picked the plants from the rock with our knives, or a piece of hoop-iron ;
and we con not avoid breaking off some particles of the stone."

These lichens are black and leather-like, studded with small black points like "coiled wire
buttons," and attached either by an umbilical root or by short and tenacious fibres to the rocks.
Some of them maj-^ be comjiared to a piece of shagreen, while tithers resemble a fragment of
burned skin. They are met with in cold bleak localities, on Alpine heights of granite or
micaceous schist, in almost all parts of the world, — on the Scottish mountains, on the Andes, on
the Himalaj^as ; but it is in the Polar World that they most abound, spreading over the surface
of every rock a sombre Plutonian vegetation, that seems to have been scathed by fire and flame,
until all its beauty and richness were shrivelled up.

Some of the lichens in the less remote latitudes — as, for instance, in Sweden — are far
superior in usefulness to any of those we have hitherto described. The Swedish peasant finds
in them his pharmacy, his dyeing materials, his food. With the various lichens that grow upon
the trees and rocks, says Frederika Bremer, he cures the virulent diseases which sometimes
afflict him, dyes the articles of clothing which he wears, and poisons the noxious and dangerous
animals which annoy him. The juniper and cranberry giv-e him their berries, Avhich he brews
into drink ; he makes a conserve of them, and mixes their juices with his dry salt-meat, and is
healthful .and cheerful with these and with his labour, of which he makes a pleasure.

The only lichen which has retained its place in modern pharmacy is the well-known " Iceland
moss." It is still employed as a tonic and febrifuge in ague; but more largely, when added to
soups and chocolate, as an article of diet for the feeble and consumptive. In Iceland the

♦ So culled from its circular form, and because the surface of the leaf is marked with curved Hues.

MOSSES IN THE ARCTIC KE010N8. 139

Cetraria Islandica is higlily valuod by the inhabitants. Wliat barley, rye, and oats are to the
Indo-Caucasian races of Asia and Wostorn Europe ; the olive, the fig, and the grape to the
inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin ; rice to the Hindu ; the tea-plant to the native of the
Flowery Land; and the date palm to the Arab, — is Iceland moss to the Icelander, the Lapp,
and the Eskimo.

It is found on some of the loftiest peaks of the Scottish Highlands ; but in Iceland it
overspreads the whole country, flourishing more abundantly and attaining to a larger growth on
the volcanic soil of the western coast than elsewhere. It is collected tricnnially, for it retpiire-s
three years to reach maturity, after the spots where it thrives have been cleared. We are told
that the meal obtained from it, when mixed with wheat-flour, produces a greater quantity,
though perhaps a loss nutritious quality, of bread than can be manufactured from wlieat-flour
alone. The great objection to it is its bitterness, arising from its peculiar astringent principle,
cetraria. However, the Lapps and Icelanders remove this disagreeable pungency by a
simple process. They cliop the lichen to pieces, and macerate it for several days in. water mixe<l
with salt of tartar or quicklime, which it absorbs very readily ; next they dry it, and pulverize
it; then, mixed with the flour of the common knot-grass, it is made into a cake, or boiled, and
eaten with reindeer's milk.

Mosses are abundant in the Arctic Regions, increasing in number and beauty as we approach
the Polo, and covering the desert land with a thin veil of verdure, which refreshes the eye and
gladdens the heart of the traveller. On the hills of Lapland and Greenland, they are exten-
sively distributed ; and the landscape owes most of its interest to the charming contrasts they
afford. Of all the genera, perhaps the bog-mosses. Sphagna, are the most luxuriant ; but at the
same time they are the least attractive, and the plains which they cover are even drearier i-han
the naked rock. In Melville Island these mosses form upwards of a fourth part of the whole
flora. Much finer to the sight is the common hair-moss {Pohjtrichum commune), which extends
over the levels of Lapland, and is used by the Lapps, when they are bound on long journeys, for
a temporary couch. We may mention also the fork-moss (Dieranum), which the Eskimos
twist into wicks for their rude lamps.

We have not space to dwell upon the grasses and fungi, though those are numerous, and
some of them interesting. The cochlearia, or scurvy-grass, has often proved of groat utility to
Arctic explorers ; and Dr. Kane on more than one occasion availed himself of its medicinal
properties. Fungi extend almost to the very limits of Arctic vegetation. The Greonlanders and
Lapps make use of them for tinder, or as styptics for stopping the flow of blood, and allaying
pain. In Siberia they abound. Frequently, in the high latitudes, they take the form of "snow
mould," and are found growing on the barren and ungenial snow. These species are warmed
into life only when the sun has grown suflScient to melt the superficial snow-crust, witliout
producing a general thaw, and then they spread far and wide in glittering wool-like patches,
dotted with specks of red or green. When the onow melts, they overspread the grass beneath
like a film of cobweb, and in a day or two disap lear.

In Siberia grows the fly-agaric (Agai-icus muscarius), from which the inhabitants obtain an
intoxicating liquor of peculiarly dangerous character. It has a tall white stem, surmounted by a
dome of rich orange scarlet, studded with white scaly tubercles, and in some parts of Kamt-

140 A MKMOKIAL OF FKANKLIN.

schatka iind the northern districts of Siberia is so abundant that the j^round Hparkles and shines
as if covered with a scarlet caqx-t. The natives collect it durin<( the hot summer months, and dry
it. Steiped in the juice of the whortleberry, it forms a powerful mtoxicatinj^ wine; or rolled up
like a bolus, and swallowed without chewinj^, it produces nuuli the same effect as opium. On
some, however, it acts as an excitant, and induces active muscular exertion. A talkative person,
under its influence, cannot keep silence or secrets ; one fond of music, sings incessantly ; and if a
person who has partaken of it wishes to step over a straw or small stick, he takes a stride or
jump Hurticient to clear the trunk of a tree !

'J'iie Koriaks and Kamtschatkans personify this fungus, under the name of Mocho Moro, as
one of their penates, or household gods ; and if they are impelled by its effects to commit any
dreadful crime, they pretend they act oidy in obedience to commands which may not be disputed.
'J'o (pialify themselves for nmrder or suicide, they drink additional doses of "this intoxicating
j)roduct of decay and corruption."

During Captain Penny's voyage in search of Sir John Frankhn, he picked up two pieces of
floating drift-wood, far beyond the usual limit of Eskimo occupation, which, from their peculiar
appearance, excited a lively curiosity. The one was found in Robert Bay, oft" Hamilton
Island, lat. 70' 2,' north, and long. 7G° west, — that is, in the route which Franklin's ships, it is
suj)j«)sed, had followed, — and was plainly a fragment of wrought elm plank, which had been part
of a ship's timbers. It exhibited three kinds of surface, — one that had been planed and pitched,
one roughly sawn, and the third split with an axe. The second piece of drift-wood was picked
up on the north side of Cornwallis Island, in lat. 75° 36' north, and long. 96^ west. It was a
i)ranch of white spruce, much bleached in some places, and in others charred and blackened as if
it had been u.sud for fuel.

On both i'ragnients traces of microscopic vegetation were discovered ; and as it was thought
they might, if carefully examined, afford some clue to the fate of Franklin's expedition, they
were submitted to Air. Berkeley, a well-known natumlist. In the report which he addressed to
the Admiralty, he stated that the vegetation in both cases resembled the dark olive mottled
patches with wliich wooden structures in this country, if exposed to atmospheric influences, are
speedily covered. The bleached cells and fibres of the fragment of elm were filled up with
slender fungoid forms, mycelial; while on its different surfaces appeared several dark -coloured
specks, belonging to the genus Phoma. As it was not probable that plants so minute could have
retained, through the terrible severity of an Arctic winter, their delicate naked spores in the
perfect condition in which they were found, Mr. Berkeley concluded that they must have been
developed through tiiat same summer ; wliile from three to four years, in those high latitudes
and amid the rigour of stormy ice-covered seas, would sutfice to produce the bleached appearance
of the wood. Hence he inferred that the plank had not been long exposed.

(Jn the other fragment of drift-wood he discovered some deeply-embedded minute black
fungoid forms, called Spovidcmnium leprcma. Uidike the phomas, which are very ephemeral,
these plants possess the longevity of the lichens, and the same patches last for years unchanged on
the stxme pieces of wood, while their traces are discernible for a still longer period. From their
condition, Mr. Berkeley inferred that the fungi on the drifted wood had not been recently developed,
but that, on the contrary, they were the remains of the species which existed on the drift-wood
when used for fuel by the unfortunate crews of Franklin's ships, the Erebus and the Teiror.

I'H^NOOAMOUS PLANTS OF THE NOHTII, 111

There can be no doubt whatever, as Dr. Macmillan remarks, conMidtrinj^ the circumstnncoa
in which thoy were discovered, and the reniarkablo appoaraucen tiioy prcsuntod — tliuro can be no
reasonable doubt that both fragments of drift-wood belonged to, or were connected with, the lost
ships ; and the curious information regarding the course they pursued at a ce:tain time, furnished
by witnesses so extraordinary and unlikely as a few tiny dark specks of cryptogamio vegetation
on floating drift-wood, was confirmed, in a wonderful manner, by the after-discovery of the first
authentic account ever obtained of the sad and pathetic histoiy of Franklin's expedition.

The reader will not expect to find the tundras of Northern Asia or the shores of the Polar
Sea rich in bud and bloom, yet even these dreary wastes are not absolutely without floral decora-
tion. Selinum and cerathium, as well as the poppy and sorrel, androineda, and several species of
heath, are mentioned by Dr. Kane as blooming in the neighbourhooil of Smith Strait. On the
south coast of the Polar Sea Dr. Richardson found a considerable variety of vegetation. We
noticed, he says, about one hundred and seventy phrenogamous or flowering plants ; being one-
fifth of the number of species which exist fifteen degrees of latitude further to the southward.
He adds : — The grasses, bents, and rushes constitute only one-fifth of the number of species
on the coast, but the two former tribes actually cover more ground than all the rest of the vege-
tation. The crucifene, or cross-like tribe, aftbrd one-seventh of the species, and the compound
flowers are nearly as numerous. The shruhhy j)lants that reach the sea-coast are the common
juniper, two species of willow, the dwarf-birch, the common alder, the hippophae, a gooseberry,
the red bear berry {arbutus uva ursi), the Labrador tea-plant, the Lapland rose, the bog-
whortleberry, and the crowberry. The kidney-leaved oxyria grows in great abundance there,
and occasionally furnished us with an agreeable addition to our meals, as it resembles the garden-
sorrel in flavour, but is more juicy and tender. It is eaten by the natives, and nmst, as well as
many of the cress-like plants, prove an excellent corrective of the gross, oily, rancid, and fre-
quently putrid meat on which they subsist. The small balls of the Alpine bistort, and the long,
succulent, and sweet roots of many of the astragaleas, which gi'ow on the sandy shores, are
eatable ; but it does not seem that the Eskimos are acquainted with their use. A few clumps of
white spruce- fir, with some straggling black spruces and canoe-birches, grow at the distance of
twenty or tliirty miles from the sea, in sheltered situations on the banks of rivers.

It has been pointed out that the principal characteristic of the vegetation of the Arctic
Regions is the predominance of perennial and cryptogamous plants ; but further southward, where
night begins to alternate with day, or in Avhat may be called the sub-arctic zone, a diflerence of
species appears which greatly enliances the beauty of the landscape. A rich and vividly-coloured
flora adorns these latitudes in Europe as well as in Asia during their brief but ardent sununer,
with its intense radiance and intense warmth, — consisting of potentillas, gentians, starry chick-
weeds, spreading saxifrages and sedums, spirfeas, drabas, artemisias, and the like. The power
of the sun is so great, and the consequent rapidity of growth so extraordinary, that these
plants spring up, and blossom, and germinate, and perish in six weeks. In a lower latitude
many ligneous plants are found, — as berry-bearing shrubs, the glaucous kalmia, the trailing
azalea, the full-blossomed rhododendron. The Siberian flora differs from tlie European in the
same latitudes by the inclusion of the North American genera, phlox, mitella, and claytonia,

Ut VEaETATiON IN THK POLAR WOULD.

and l»y tlif luxiiriaiict' of its (wtoiH, HpiriwiH, iiiilk-vetchuH, nml the Malino plants gooHofoot and
Mjiltwort.

lu Novaia Znnilaia and otlior nortliorn ri'j^ioMH tlio vojjotation is so stunted that it baroly
lovtrs tlxo j^'ioimd, but a niucli groator viuioty of niinuto plants of considorablo boauty aro aj,'gre-
f,'ated thoro iii a limited spaco than in tho Alpino climos of Europe where the same jjenera occur.
This is due to the feebleness of tho vegetation ; lor in the Swiss Alps the same plant frccjuently
usurp.s a large area, and drives out every other,— as the dark blue gentian, the violet-tinted pan.sy,
and the yellow and pink stone-crops. Jiut in tho far north, where vitality is weak and tho seeds
do not ripen, thirty different species, it has been observed, may be seen "crowded together in a
brilliant mass," no one being poweiful enough to overcome its companions. In these frozen cli-
mates j)lants may be said to live between tho air and tho earth, for they scarcely raise their heads
above the soil, and their roots, utiablo to penetrate it, creep along the surface. All the woody
plants — as the betula nava, the reticulated willow, andronieda tetragona, with a few bacciferous
shrubs — trail upon the ground, and never rise more than an inch or two above it. Tho Sulix
lunata, the giant of the Arctic forests, is about five inches in height ; while its stem, ten or twelve
feet long, lies hidden among tho mo.s8, and owes shelter, almost life, to its humble neighbour.

From Novaia Zomlaia wo pass to Spitzbergen, whose ilora contains about ninety-throo
species of Howering or phfonogamous plants, which, like those already mentioned, generally grow
in tufts or patches, as if for the sake of mutual protection. Tho delicate mosses which clothe tho
moist lowlands, and the hardy lichens which incrust tho rocks up to the remotest limits of vege-
tation, are very numerous. Some of the Spitzbergen plants aro found on tho Alps, at elevations
varying from 1)000 to 10,000 feet above the sea-level ; such as the Arenaria hijlora, tho Cerastium
(ill)inum, and tho Ranunculus glacialis. The only esculent plant is the GocMearia fenestrata,
which here loses its bitter principles, so nmch complained of by our Arctic explorers, and may be
eaten as a salad. Iceland moss and several grasses afford sustenance for the reindeer.

A very dift'orent description is given of Kamtschatka, to which we are once more brought in
tho course of our rapid survey. Its climate is nmch more temperate and uniform than that of
Siberia, and as the air is humid, the herbaceous vegetiition is extraordinarily luxuriant. Not
only along the banks of the rivers and lakes, but in the avenues and copses of the woodlands, tho
grass attains a height of fully twelve feet, while the size of some of the compositoe and umbelH-
feroj is really colos?"',!. For example, the Ileraclium dulce and tho Senecio cannahifolms frc-
(juently grow so tall aa to overtop a rider upon horseback. The pasturage is so rich that tho
grass generally yields three crops every summer. A species of lily, the dark purple Fritallaria
sarrana, is very abundant, and the inhabitants use its tubers instead of bread and meal. If the
fruits of the bread-fruit tree are pre-eminent among all others, as affording man a perfect substi-
tute for bread, the roots of the sarrana, which are very similar in taste, rank perhaps immediately
after them. The collection of these tubers in the meadows is an important summer occupation
of the women, and one which is rather troublesome, as the plant never grows gregariously, so
that each root has to be dug out separately with a knife. Fortunately the work of gathering the
tubers is nmch lightened by the activity of the Siberian field-vole, which excavates an ample

THE WOODED AND DESERT ZONES. 14.1

burrow, and stores it for winter proviHion with a largo supply of roots, chieHy those of the
sarrana.

To sum up : —

What may be called the Arctic eliuiate extends over nearly the whole of Danish Aniorioa,
the newly-acquired possessions of the United States, the original Hudson Bay Territory, and
Labrador, down to thiit unimportant watershed which separates from the tributaries of }[utlson
Bay the three great bnjsins of the St. Lawrence, the five great lakes, an<l the Mississijipi. This
line of watershed undulates between the 52nd and 49th parallels of latitude, from Belle Isle
Strait to the sources of the Saskatchewan, in the Rocky Mountains, where it inHects towards the
Pacific Ocean, skirting on the north the basin of the Columbia.

Thus bounded on the south, the Arctic lands of America, including the groups of islands
lying to the north and north-east, cannot occupy less than 560,000 square leagues. They exceed,
therefore, the supei-ficial area of the European lands, estimated at about 490,000 square
leagues.

We propose to divide these lands into two zones or regions, the wooded and the desert
zones : the former, in America, includes the basins of the Upper Mackenzie, the Churchill, the
Nelson, and the Severn.

In the wooded zone the thermometer does not rise above zero until the month of May.
Then, under the influence of a more genial temperature, the breath of life passes into the slum-
bering, inert vegetr .;ion. Then the reddish shoots of the willows, the poplars, and the birches
hang out their 'ong cottony cat) >8 ; a pleasant greenness spreads over copse and thicket ; the
dandelion, the I'urdock, and the saxifrages lift their heads in the shelter of the rocks ; the sweet-
brier fills the air with fragrance, and the gooseberry and the strawberry are put forth by a
kindly nature ; while me valleys bloom and the hill-sides are glad with the beauty of the thuja,
the larch, and the pine.

The boundary between the wooded zone and the barren would be shown by a line drawn
from the mouth of the Churchill in Hudson Bay to Mount St. Eliiu* on tlie Pacific coast,
traversing the southern shores of the Bear and the Slave Lakes. To tha north, this barren zone
touches on eternal snow, and includes the ice-bound coasts of the Parry Arcliipelago ; to tlie east
and the north-east, identity of climate and uniform character of soil bring within it the greatest
part of Labrador and all Greenland.

In Asia the isothermal line of 0° descends towards the 55th parallel of latitude, one lower
than in America, — though to the north of it some important towns are situated, as Tobolsk, lat.
58" 11'; Irkutsk, lat. 58° 16'; and Yakutsk, lat. 62°.

In Continental Europe, the only Arctic lands properly so called, and distinguished by an
Arctic flora, are Russian Lapland and the deeply-indented coast of Northern Russia. Far away
to the north, and separated from the continent by a narrow arm of the sea, lie the throe almost
contiguous islands known as Novaia Zemlaia (lat. 68° 50' to 76° N.). And still further north,
almost equidistant from the Old World and the New, lies the gloomy mountainous archipelago
of Spitzbergen (lat. 77° to 81°, and long. 10° to 24°).

We have now only to recapitulate the general characters of the Arctic flora, as they would

144 roKMH or ANIMAL LIFE.

pruHunt thuiiisolvus to a traveller lulvHticing from the wooded zone into the desert, and thenoe to
the bordtTH of tho Polar Sea.

On tho Houthom margin of tho wooded region, us in Sweden, RuHMiu, and Siberia, extend
ItnmenHe forentM, chiefly < f coniferoUH trees. As we move towards tho north those forests
dwindle into scattered woods and isolated coppices, composed chiefly of stunted poplars and
dwarf birches and willows. The sub-alpine myrtle, and a small creeping honeysuckle with
rounded leaves, are met with in favourable situations. Continuing our northerly progress, we
wholly leave behind the arborescent species; but the rocks and cliffs are bright with plants
belonging to tho fuinilies of the ranunculuceaa, saxifragaceae, cruciferae, and grauiinea;. To the
dwarf firs and pigmy willow.s suc(;(;od a few scattered shrubs — such as t^o gooseberry, tho straw-
berry, the raspberry, pseudo-mulberry {Jiubua chanicemorua) — indigenous to this region, and the
La|)l(ind olean<ler {li/iododendron laponicum).

Still advancing northward, wo find, at the extreme limits of the mainland, some drabas
(CrucifercB), potentilliis {liosacew), burweods and rushes (Cyperacew), and lastly a great abun-
dance of mosses and licheim. The commonest mosses are the Splechnum, which resembles small
umbels ; and, in moist places, the Sphagnum, or bog-moss, whose successive accumulations, from a
remote epoch, have formed, with the detritus of the Cyperacew, extensive areas of peat, which at
a future day will perhaps be utilized for fuel.

We come now tr> ihe forms of Animal Life which exist ancfer the conditions of

climate and veget- . , e been describing.

Foremost w place tho animal which, in the Arctic World, occupies much the same

position as the camei in tho Tropical, — the reindeer {Cer^vus turandus).

In size the reindeer resembles the English stag, but his form is less giaceful and more com-
pressed. He stands about four feet six inches in height. Long, slender, branching horns
embellish his head. Tho upper part of his body is of a brown colour, the under part is white ;
but as the animal advances in years his entire coat changes to a grayish-white, and, in not a
few cases, is pure white. The nether part of the neck, or dewlap, droops like a pendent beard.
The hoofs are large, long, and black ; and so are the secondary hoofs on the hind feet. The
latter, when the animal is running, make by their collision a curious clattering sound, wliich may
be heard at a considerable distance.

The reindeer anciently invaded Europe and Asia to a comparatively low latitude; and
Julius Csesar includes it among the animals of the great Hercynian forest. Even in our own
time large herds traverse the wooded heights of the southern prolongation of the Ouralian range.
Between the Volga and the Don they descend to the 46th parallel ; and they extend their
wanderings as far as the very foot of the Caucasus, on the banks of the Kouma. Still, the
proper habitat of the reindeer is that region of ice and snow bounded by the Arctic Circle, — or,
more exactly, by the isothermal line of 0° C.

Both the wild and the tame species change their feeding-gi'ouuds with the seasons. In
winter they come down into the plains and valleys; in summer they retire to the mountains,
where the wild herds gain the most elevated terraces, in order to escape the pertinacious attacks
of their insect-enemies. It is a fact worthy of note that every species of animal is infested by a
parasitical insect. The oestre so terrifies the reindeer that the mere appearance of one in the air

USEKULNESS OV THE UKINDEKK.

148

will infuriate a troop of a thonwind auimaJH. In thu moulting HoaMon these insects dupuHit their
eggs in the sicin of the unfortunate atiinial, and there the \&r\i!0 lodge and multiply ad injinituw,
incessantly renewing centres of suppuration.

To the natives of North America thu reindeer is invaluable. There is hardly a part of the
animal not made available for some useful purpose. Clothing made of its nkin is, according to
^ir J. Richardson, so impervious to cold, that, with th^ addition of a coverlet made of the »tiuxo
J terial, any one so protected may bivouac on the snow with safety in the most intense cold of
the Arctic night. The venison, when in high condition, huH several inches of fat on the haunches,
and is said to equal that of the fallow-deer in our English parks ; the tongue, and a portion of
the tripe, are reckoned most delicious morsels. Pemmican is made by pouring one-third part of

^m-iifji_

WILD REINDKKR.

fat over two-third parts of the pounded meat, and mixing fat and meat thoroughly together. The
Eskimos and Greenlanders consider the stomach, or paunch, with its contents, a special delicacy ;
and Captain Sir James Ross says that the contents form the only vegetable food ever tasted by
the natives of Boothia. For the reindeer is a herbivorous animal, and feeds upon the mosses
and grasses.

The reindeer is by no means a graceful animal ; its joints are large, and powerful in propor-
tion to its size ; the divided hoofs are very large, and as the animal is compelled to lift its feet
high when going over the snow, its gallop has none of tliat beautiful elastic spring which char-
acterizes the deer of our own islands, though its pace is " telling," and soon carries it ahead of
everything but the ag-winded, long-legged wolf.

The stags cast their antlers, and the does drop their young, in May or June, about the time
of the first thaw. The males and females are then very seldom found together ; the female deer
collecting in small herds with their young ; the little creatures, which seem all eyes, ears, and

140 HERBIVOROUS ANIMALS AND THEIR FOOD.

legs, taking alarm at any unaccustomed sound or the slightest appearance of danger. The
summer vegetation fattens the bucks and does amazingly, and the fawns thrive and develop ;
all three, says Osbom, having a comparative holiday, and getting into condition to face the trials
of the CO winter; while the wolf and the fox, their sworn enemies, are pursuing the infant

s(jaIiK ; ' bears, or attending to their own little domestic duties. But when the autumn frost
sets in, and hardens the ground, and the dense snow once more overspreads the dreary northern
h^rdscape, the wolves resume their attacks on the unfortunate deer.

For warmth or protection, and following the natural instincts of gregarious animals, they
now begin to collect together in large herds of bucks, does, and fawns, numbering as many as
sixty and seventy hea*l. The stags seem to undertake the discipline of these large companies, as
well as to be responsible for their safety.

Captain Mecham relates that, in October 1852, when crossing that part of Melville Island
which intervenes between Liddon Gulf and Winter Harbour, he fell in with as many as three
hundred head of deer ; and he adds that reindeer were always in sight, in herds varying from ten
to sixty in number. One of these herds, containing twenty males, he tried to stalk up to on the
7th of October, but failed in getting a shot at them ; for although the does, Avith the inherent
weakness of their sex, showed an excessive curiosity, and made one or two efforts to desert the
herd and exrraine the stranger, the stags would in nowise tolerate such conduct, but chastised
them smartly with their antlers, and kept the herd together and in motion by running rapidly
round and round, uttering at the same time a strange noise which seemed to alarm the herd, and
keep it flying from the suspected danger.

The coat of the reindeer in summer-time is remarkably thin, and adapted admirably in
colour to that of the snow-denuded soil ; but as winter approaches, it thickens, and gradually
resumes its snowy whiteness. Though not, strictly speaking, a/wr, it forms an admirable non-
conducting substance.

As winter, ' ruler of the inverted year," extends his sway over the Polar World, and food
grows scarce and indifferent, and has to be sought over larger areas, the herds break up into
companies of ten or twenty animals; the lich-ns, the reindeer moss already described {Cetraria
Islandica), and the sprouts of the creeping willow forming their principal food.

On this branch of our subject Admiral Sherard Osbom makes two suggestive remarks.

Arctic vegetation, he observes, has no time in the autumn to wither or decay — while in full
bloom, and before the juices have time to return into the parent root or be otherwise dissipated,
the "magic hand of the frost king" strikes them; and thus the wisdom of the Creator has
provided for the nourishment of his creatures a fresh and warmth-creating food, lying hid under
a mantle of snow, which the instinct of those Arctic animals teaches them to remove and reach
the stores so beneacently preserved beneath.

Moreover, most herbivorous animals have a slow system of digestion, even in a domestic
state ; ns, for instivnce, our cattle and sheep. This appears to be more conspicuously the case in
the musk-ox, the reindeer, and the Arctic hare, and is of great utility in lands where vegetation
is scanty and widespread, and the weather occasionally so severe as to compel these creatures, for
two or three days at a time, to think only of their safety by seeking shelter from the snow-storm-^
in deep ravines or under lofty cliffs. It appears in their case as if Nature extracted from their
food a greater quantity of nourishment than she does from that of animals in more southern

KEINDEER AND THE WOLVES. U7

latitudes ; or possibly, the food, by the mere act of reniaiiiinjj in the stomach or intestines, serves
to check the cravings of appetite, though no further nutriment should be extracted.

Most of the musk-oxen and deer shot in Captain M'Clintock's expedition, and especially the
musk-oxen, had their entrails distended with food apparently quite digested, while tlie surround-
ing country in many cases was absolutely barren and lifeless, — inducing the conclusion that these
creatures had been a long time collecting their supplies, as also that it had been a long time
swallowed, and necessitated the full activity of the vital principle to prevent the food from proving
a source of disease. This, indeed, was clearly proved in the case of the musk-oxen, which, if
shot, and left twelve hours without being disembowelled, grew tainted throughout with a strong
musky odour, rendering the flesh uneatable.

It may also be stated, as an illustration of the facility with which the reinaeer can winter in
high latitudos, that in Lapland, where they are used as beasts of draught, a daily sujjply of four
pounds of lichen {Ceiiomyce rangifenna) is considered ample for a working animal ; and on
dietaiy a reindeer will be in sufficiently good condition to go without food occasionally for two
or three days, and yet, to all appearance, not to be d stressed.

Thus, as regards its stores of food, and its provision against the severity of the Arctic winter,
the reindeer would seem to be suitably and amply endowed ; and its greatest trial is the incessant
rapacity of the wolves that follow its track throughout the winter season. As that season
advances, the unfortunate animal apparently resigns itself to an evil which it cannot avoid or
avert ; and the calm composure with which a small troop of these creatures will graze with an
entourage of half a dozen wolves is not less curious to the observer than philosophical on the
part of the reindeer I

" A herd of deer," says an eye-witness, " thus surrounded by the wolves, who were too great
cowards to rush in upon their prey, would be startled every now and then by the long-drawn
unearthly howl of the hungry brutes ; sometimes a frightened deer, horror-stricken at the abomi-
nable chant, dashes madly away from the herd, — away all, or a portion, of the wolfish fraternity
go after it. In many cases the scene may be briefly summed up with the old three-volume
denouement of — a riish, a shriek, a cranching of bones, and snarling of beasts of prey, and all is
over I for the wonderful powers of swallow and horrid voracity of an Arctic wolf nmst be seen
to b* understood ; no writer would peril his reputation for veracity by repeating what has been
seen on that head. But sometimes the frightened deer gains the open country, and goes
wonderful distances dogged by the persevering wolf, who assuredly has it, unless another herd is
met which admits the hunted deer into its ranks.

" Occasionally, whilst a herd of deer are grazing, one of them may happen to hit upon a spot
where the food is plentiful ; it naturally lingers there, while the herd is moving slowly on against
the wind. The wolves immediately mark the straggler, and stealthily crawl on, their object
being to cut him off from the herd ; that eflfected, there is a howl and a rush, which if the deer
does not evade by extraordinary exertions, his fate is instantly sealed."

Thes-j scenes are enacted throughout the long Arctic winter. When sight is rendered
useless, scent comes to the aid of the rapacious destroyer ; and we can well believe that many
an explorer, in the December darkness of the frozen wastes, has often wished his olfactory nerves
were as sensitively organized as those of the wolf. For although he can then hear the reindeer,
it is impossible to see them, except when they hurry across the dark but snowy landscape ; and

IM CUNNING OF THE ARCTIC WOLF.

many a bad shot has been made by a hungry seaman at a large pair of melancholy eyes which
peered out of the enveloping mist, because he could not tell, for the life of him, whether the
animal was distant two or twenty yards.

In the dreadful winter of 1852-53, the deer approached close to the exploring-ship Inves-
tigator, having quitted the land and traversed the belt of ice. It is difficult to say whether
this was done with a view of seeking the warmth which instinct, if not scent, told them radiated
from the Vtooels, — the vessels, compared with the temperature everywhere prevailing (namely,
9" 5' below freezing-point), being complete volcanoes of heat ; or whether it was for security against
their wolfish enemies. Probably, it was for the first-named reason ; inasmuch as it is recorded
that the foxes of Leopold Harbour, in 1848, soon became aware of the warmer atmosphere pro-
duced by the presence of Sir James Ross's squadron, and sagaciously burrowed and bred in the
embankments thrown up around the ships.

But, at length, winter and its sorrows pass away, and early in the new year a happier life
dawns on the much-tried reindeer. In February and March the seals begin to breed, and as the
attention of the wolves and other beasts of prey is then drawn to the helpless young, which are
truly "delicious morsels," the holidays of the reindeer may be said to commence. We may
remind the reader also that the Arctic hare and the lemming winter in the icy north, and yield
occasional meals to wolf and fox.

The spring returns, and as the sun rises above the horizon, the great herds gradually break
up and scatter abroad ; and the deer may then be seen in wandering groups of three or four, I'.ncil
once more the autumn-twilight deepens, and they reassemble in numerous companies.

As the reindeer is the camel of the Polar World, so the Arctic wolf may be said to occupy
the place of the tiger ; so daring is its courage, and so fierce its lust of blood. Assembling in
large packs, they are not afraid to haunt the immediate neighbourhood of man. In Captain
M'Cliutock's expedition, they gathered re -id the Investigator at such close quarters, that it was
unsafe for the crew to leave the ship, un.ess in companies, and well-armed ; and with their
melancholy howls they made night hideous. Five of them attempted to pounce on an Eskimo
dog which had long been the pet of the Investigator. One of these brutes is described as a
" perfect giant," standing nearly four feet high at the shoulder, and having a footmark as big as
a reindeer's.

Our English seamen planned many a clever scheme to entrap these wary creatures, but all
failed, while some of the encounters with them were unpleasantly close, and the risk very con-
siderable. One day, the boatswain, while out shooting, broke by a shot two of the legs of a fine
buck reindeer. Evening coming on, and he knowing the animal could not drag itself far,
ix,tumed to the ship. Next morning, he started at an early hour to secure his prize. What was
his disgust, when he arrived at the place, to find his booty in the possession of five large wolves
and several foxes ! Determined to have, at all events, a share, the boatswain advanced, shouting
with all his might, and hurling at the thieves every opprobrious phrase he could invent, yet
afraid to fire his single-barrelled gun at any one of them, for fear the rest should serve hi n as
they were serving the buck ; more particularly as they appeared inclined to show fight, and made
no sign of retreat until he was within four yards. Even then only four had the grace to move
away, sitting down a pistol-shot off, and howling most lamentably.

The boatswain picked up a leg of the deer, which had been dismembered, and then

DOMESTICITY OF THE WOLF. 149

grasped one end of the half-devoured carcass, while a large she-'^olt tugged against him at
the other.

It must be owned that this position was a disagreeable one, and had the howling of thi four
wolves brought others of their kind to the rescue, the consequences of this aflray between hungry
wolves and a no less hungry sailor might have proved serious. Fortunately, the interpreter, who
chanced likewise to be out shooting on a neighbouring hill, had his attention attracted by the
noise of the brutes, and made his appearance on the scene. He afterwards described it as the
strangest he had ever witnessed. So close were the boatswain and the carnivora in their struggle
for the meat, that he fancied the latter had actually attacked the former. On the arrival of this
reinforcement the wolves decamped, leaving the gallant boatswain with only twenty pounds
weight of meat, instead of the one hundred and twenty his prize must have originally weighed.

The identities between the Arctic dog and the Arctic wolf are so important that Dr. Kane
agrees with Mr. Broderip in assigning to these animals a family origin. The oblique position of
the wolf's eye is not uncommon among the Eskimo dogs. Dr. Kane had a slut, one of the tamest
and most aflectionate of his team, who had the long legs, the compact body, the drooping tail, and
the wild scared expression of the eye, which some naturalists have supposed to distinguish the
wolf alone. When domesticated early — and it is easy to domesticate him — the wolf follows and
loves you like a dog. " That they are fond of wandering proves nothing ; many of our pack will
stray for weeks," says Kane, " into the wilderness of ice ; yet they cannot be persuaded, when
they come i^ack, to inhabit the kennel we have built for them only a few hundred yards off.
They crouch around for the companionship of men." Both animals howl in unison alike ; and.
in most parts, their footprint is the same.

The musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) is one of the largest of the Polar ruminants. As its
zoological name indicates, it is an intermediary between the ox and the sheep. Smaller than the
former, larger than the latter, it reminds us of both in its shape and general appearance. It has
an obtuse nose ; horns broad at the base, covering the forehead and crown of the head, and curv-
ing downwards between the eye and ear until about the level of the mouth, where they turn
upwards ; the tail is short, and almost hidden by the thickness of the shaggy hair, which is
generally of a dark brown, and of two kinds, as with all the animals of the Polar Regions ; a long
hair, which on some parts of the body is thick and curled, and, underneath, a fine kind of soft,
ash-coloured wool ; the legs are short and thick, and furnished with narrow hoofs, like those of
the moose. The female is smaller than the male, and her horns are smaller. Her general colour
is black, except that the legs are whitish, and along the back runs an elevated ridge or mane of
dusky hair.

The musk-ox, us his name implies, throws out a strong odour of musk,— with which, indeed,
his very flesh is impregnated, so that the scent is communicated to the knife used in cutting up
the animal. Not the less is he regarded as a valuable booty by the Indians and the Eskimos,
who hunt him eagerly. He wanders in small troops over the rocky prairies which extend to the
north of the great lakes of North America. He is a fierce-tempered animal, and in defence of
his female will fight desperately.

His general habits resemble strongly those of the reindeer ; but his range appears to be prin-
cipally limited to Melville Island, Banks Land, and the large islands to the south-east of the latter.

'ISO

ABOUT THK MUSK-OX.

One of our Arctic explorers ilcHcribes the musk-oxen as all very wild in April, and as
generally seen in large herds from ten to seventy in number. In June they were stupidly tamo,
and seemed to be oppressed by their heavy coats of wool, which wore hanging loosely down their
shoulders and hind-quarters in large quantities ; the herds much smaller, and generally composed
of cows and calves.

Tlie heavy coat of wool with which the musk-oxen are provided, is a perfect protection
against any temperature. It consists of a long fine black hair, and in some cases white (for it is
not ascertained that these oxen change their colour during the winter), with a beautiful fine wool
or fur umlerneath, softer and richer than the finest alpaca wool, as well as much longer in the staple.
This mantle apjiarently touches the ground ; and the little creature looks, it is said, like a bale of

Mim4^

^:m^

-a-^S'v^i^-

;^"^//,yw

Till: MITRK-OX.

black wool, mounted on four short nervous goat-like legs, with two very bright eyes, an<l a pair
of sharp " wicked-shaped " horns peering out of one end of it.

They seem to be of very uncertain temper, sometimes standing stupidly glaring at their
assailants, whetting their horns against their fore legs ; at other times, they will rush furiously
against their hunters.

Captain Mecham discovered very great nunxbers of musk-oxen near the head of Hardy Bay,
Melville Island. On one plain he observed as many as seventy grazing within a circuit of two
miles ; on his approach, they divided into herds of about fifteen eachj headed by two or three
enormous bulls. Their manoeuvres, he says, were so quick and regular that they might be more
fittingly compared to squadrons of cavalry than anything else he could think of One herd
moved forward at a gallop, several times within rifle-shot, and formed in perfect line with bulls in
the van,' presenting a formidable array of horns. The laat time they advanced at a gallop until

AN ENCOUNTEU WITH A MUSK-OX. 1S1

within about sixty yards, when they formed in line, the bulls snortin}^ wildly, and tearing up the
snow. But as soon as Captain Mecham fired they wheeled round promptly, rejoined the main
body, and made off out of sight, only waiting occasionally for the wounded animal.

The following graphic account of an encounter with a musk-ox is given by Captain
M'Clintock :—

" We saw and shot two very large blflls — a well-timed supply, as the last of the venison was
used up ; we found them to be in better condition than any we had ever seen. I shall never for-
get the death-struggle of one of these noble bulls ; a Spanish bull-fight gives no idea of it. and
even the slaughter of the bear is tame in comparison. This animal was shot through the lungs,
and blood gushed from his nostrils upon the snow. As it stood fiercely watching us, prepared
yet unable to charge, its small but fixed glaring eyes were almost concealed by masses of shaggv
hair, and its whole frame was fearfully convulsed with agony ; the tremulous motion was com-
municated to its enormous covering of tangled wool and hair ; even the coarse thick mane socincd
to rise indignant, and slowly waved from side to side. It seemed as if the very fury of its passion
was pent up within it for one final and revenge'ful charge. There was no roaring ; the majestic
beast was dumb ; but the wild gleam of savage fire which shot from his eyes, and his menacing
attitude, were far more terrible than the most hideous bellow. We watched in silence, for time
was doing our work, nor did we venture to lower our guns until, his strength becoming exhausted,
he reeled and fell.

" I have never witnessed such an intensity of rage, nor imagined for one moment that such

I an apparently stupid brute, under any circumstances of pain and passion, could have presented

! such a tmly appalling spectacle. It is almost impossible to conceive a more terrific sight than

that which was presented to us in the dying moments of this matchless denizen of the northern

I wilds."

! It seems doubtful whether the wolf, which is naturally a most cowardly creature, can act on

the offensive against the musk-ox ; and most Arctic navigators seem of opinion that it attacks
only lame or sickly cattle.

I The activity of these oxen, and their goat-like power of climbing, is very remarkable, and

j much at variance with their clumsy appearance. They have been seen making their way, when

frightened, up the face of a cliff which defied all human efforts, and going down the precipitous
sides of ravines by alternately sliding upon their hams, or pitching and arresting their downward
course, as Sherard Osbom remarks, by the use of the magnificent shield of horn which spreads

^ across their foreheads, in a manner to excite the liveliest astonishment of the spectator.

The Arctic Fox {Canis lagopus) cannot compare with either of the preceding animals in
importance or interest, yet it figures very largely in the journals of our Arctic explorers. It is
smaller than the common European fox ; has a sharp nose, and short rounded ears, almost con-
cealed in its fur ; the legs are short, and the toes covered both above and below with a thick soft
fur ; the tail is shorter than that of the common fox, but more bushy. Its range is very exten-
sive, for it is found in the lands bordering on the Polar Sea in both continents. As winter
approaches, its coat of hair grows thick and ragged ; until at length it becomes as white as snow
—the change of colour taking place last on the ridge of the back and the tip of the tail. Its food

1st

WARINESS OP THE AROTIP FOX.

•f-ffh"' ''-

>:'.i*/«^f^^-=CC^

ARCTIC rOXES.

consista of various small quadrupeds,— such as the Arctic hare and the Itimming,— on all kinds of
water-fowl and their eggs, on the carcasses of fish, shell-fish, and the refuse of the young seals
killed and devoured by the Polar bear. In the track of the latter it seems to hunt systematically.

It swims with dexterity, and will
cross from island to island in
fsoarch of prey. Its fur is light
and warm, though not very durable,
and for the sake of this fur it is
pursued l)oth in Arctic Asia,
Greenland, and Hudson Bay. It
is a wary animal, however, and
not easily caught.

Dr. Hayes affords us an illus-
tration of this statement.

As he and a follower, named
Bonsall, on one occasion were ex-
ploring in Northumberland Island, they discovered a fox scampering away over the plain.
Bonsall gave chase, but could not arrive within shooting distance. Another was then heard
barking overhead at them. Dr. Hayes seized his gun, and climbing over some huge boulders
which filled the bottom of the gorge, endeavoured, by crawling behind a rock, to overtake or
approach the animal ; but it seemed to be aware of his intentions, and scampering away, led him
a wild chase across the plain. The astute Reynard first made off, so that his assailant "could
not cover him upon the cliff;" and when out of danger, perched upon a stone, and barked at
him in the most tantalizing manner. The doctor approached within long range. Immediately,
as he was about to bring his gun to his shoulder, it dropped behind the stone and fled to
another, where it set up the same rapid chatter, — a shrill " Huk ! huk ! huk ! " sounding like a
mixture of anger and defiance. Again Dr. Hayes tried to approach it, but with no better
success ; round and round it ran, until at length, weary of following it, Dr. Hayes fired. Some
of the shot probably touched it, for it screamed loudly ; but it fled with remarkable rapidity, and
finally baffled its pursuer.

As the flesh of the fox is by no means to be despised, and, indeed, ranks as a dainty in the
bill of fare of an Arctic navigator, a hot pursuit of it is often maintained, and traps are constructed
to ensure its capture. These are usually built on much the same principle as a rabbit-trap.
Selecting a smooth level rock, the trappers arrange some flat stones of about six inches thick, so
as to enclose on three sides an area of six inches by two feet and a half. Over this enclosure
other flat stones are laid ; and between the two used to close up one of the ends a peg is inserted,
so as to project about an inch within the trap.

To this peg, by means of a loop, is loosely hung a small piece of meat ; and to the same peg,
outside, is atUiched another loop made at the end of a cord, the cord being carried up through the
rear of the trap, and over the top to the front, where it is fastened round a thin flat flag of slate,
which moves freely up and down, being guided and held by a couple of large blocks placed one
on either side of the entrance.

The way in which this machinery works is very simple : —

TRAPPING A FOX.

158

A FOX TRAl'.

The fox enters under the slide or trap-door, advnnces to the rear, seizes the bait, and
attempts to back out. The bait, of course, is pulled from the peg, and with it the looj) hui>-
porting the door comes off. As soon as its support is removed down comes the door, and
Master Reynard is entrapped. Everything
now depends on the manner in which the
cracks have been closed up ; for if the animal
can thrust its little nose between a couple of
stones, it will assuredly effect its escape. Nor
is it less important that the enclosure should
not be sufficiently large to enable the fox to
turn round ; for in that case it generally con-
trives to loosen the door, and depart in infinite
glee.

The Arctic fox is described by Dr. Hayes
as the prettiest and most provoking of living
creatures. One which he unsuccessfully chased
for fully three hours was about the size of a
domestic cat, round and plump, white as the

snow, with a long pointed nose, and a trailing bushy tail, which seemed to be its particular pride.
It was quite evident that it enjoyed the perplexities of its hunters, as it leaped from rock to
rock, or circled round and about them, and showed the utmost indifference to the miseries of their
famished condition. It rolled and tossed about among the loose drifl, now springing into the
air, now bounding away, now stopping short, and now cocking its head to one side and elevating
one foot, as if listening, seeming all the time to be intent on exhibiting its " points " to its
enemies, for whom it did not care the value of the minutest part of its very pretty tail. Weary
and exhausted, Dr. Hayes abandoned the pursuit, and returned to his camp, followed by the
fox, though always at a safe distance ; and when they last caught sight of it, as they looked
back from the rocks above the hut, it was mounted on an elevation, uttering its shrill shurp cry,
in apparent mockery of their defeat.

Of the supposed relations between the bear and the fox. Dr. Kane remarks that he once
thought his observations had confirmed them. It is certain that they are frequently found
together ; the bear striding on ahead with his prey, the fox behind gathering in the crumbs
as they fall ; and Dr. Kane often saw the parasite licking at the traces of a wounded seal
which his champion had borne off over the snow. The story is that the two hunt in couples.
This may well be doubted, though it is clear that the inferior animal rejoices in his associa-
tion with the superior, at least for the profits, if not the sympathy it brings to him. " I
once wounded a bear," says Dr. Kane, " when I was out with Morton, and follov/ed him for
twelve miles over the ice. A miserable little fox travelled close behind his patron, and licked
up the blood wherever he lay dewn. The bear at last made the water ; and as we returned
from our fruitless chase, we saw the fox running at full speed along the edge of the thin ice as
if to rejoin him."

IM THK KAItK AND TIIK I.KMMINU.

A welcfjiiio addition to tho meajfru faro of the Arctic navii,'ator iH furiiiHhed by thu Arctic
Haro (Lcpuji (jlucialin), which, like the reindeer, collects in herds or troops as winter approaches.
Ah many iw two hundred have been seen at a time ; and at one of their favourite haunts — Cape
J)un(la«, Melville Island — mif^ht bo seen a complete highway, three yards broad, which the tread
of their numbers had beaten through the snow. In winter they seek their food and burrow for
prijtcction under tho snow-crust. Captain M'Clintock states that they are ubiquitous in the Polar
Regions, but that, of course, they are most numerous where the pasture is most abundant, as on
Hanks Land and Melville Island. The sportsmen of the two discovery ships. Resolute and Intrepid,
hliot one hundred and sixty-one hares in a twelvemonth on Melville Island ; their average weight,
when fit for the table, was seven pounds, and from ten to twelve pounds including skin and offal.

In the warm brief summer the hare takes refuge from the pursuit of beasts of prey under
large boulders, or in the steep face of rocky ravines. It is then found in groups of from twelve
to twenty. So delicate is their skin, that though the winter fur is of exceeding beauty and bril-
liant whiteness, it cannot be applied to any purpose of utility. They do not hibernate ; and our
explorers generally found them amongst the heavy hummocks of the floe-ice, as if they fled to that
rugged ground from the wolves or foxes.

In the range of the Altai, and extending even into Kamtschatka, we meet with the Alpine
Hare {Latjomys Alpinus); a small rodent, scarcely exceeding a guinea-pig in size, and measuring
in length nine inches only : it has a long head, with short, broad, and rounded ears. Its favourite
places of sojourn are among tho rocks and cataracts of wild wooded regions, where it forms
burrows beneath the rocks, or inhabits their fissures. When the sky is bright, and the sunshine
genial, they seldom leave their holes in the day-time ; but in dull weather they may be seen
bounding among the rocks, and making the echoes resound with their low whistle or bird-like
chirp. In tb ' autumn they make ready against winter need by collecting a large assortment of
the most nutritious herbs and grasses, which, after drying in the sun, they arrange in heaps of
various sizes, according to the number of animals engaged in the task ; and as these heaps are
often several feet in height and breadth, they may be easily distinguished even through the deep
snow, and frequently prove of great service to the Siberian sable-hunters, whose horses would
perish but for the supplies thus strangely aftbrded. Hence, wherever a Siberian or a Tartar tribe
is found, the Alpine haro possesses a distinctive name, — and, notwithstanding its diminutiveness,
is highly valued.

Another rodent which deserves to be remembered in these pages, is the Arctic or Hudson
Bay Lemming {Myodus lemmus), Wuich is found in Labrador, and on all the American mainland
washed by the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. It has been described as " a perfect diamond
edition of the guinea-pig." In habits it resembles the hare very closely, except that it is more
gregarious, and is generally found in large families. In summer it is of an ashy colour, with a
tawny tinge on the bock, a dusky streak along its middle, and a pale stripe on either side. It
has the repute of being exceedingly inoffensive ; and is tamed so easily that, when caught, it
becomes reconciled to its captivity in a day or two, and will soon show itself sensible of its master's
caresses. In winter it is perfectly white, — white as snow, from which it can be distinguished
only by the keen scent of the fox or the Eskimo dog.

ABOUT THE LEMMING. tW

About the end of May, or early in June, it leaves the land and seeks the floating ice ; for
what purpose does not seem as yet to bo accurately ,i i ortained. Is it due to an instinct of
migration, such as the Norwegian lemming so powerfully exhibits? It may be that the thaws
force them from the laud, or that, as the seamen say, " Them blessed little lemmings nmst be
arter salt I" They have often been fou!id steering of shore from the north coast of Melville
Island, leaving comparative plenty in their rear ; and, so far as could be made out, on a clear day,
from land of considerable height, there was nothing in the shape of terra Jirmti in the direction
they were taking. When thus exposed upon the open floe, owls, gulls, and foxes pick thom uf)
for food. Can it be that Providence occasions, or has ordained this exodus for the pur])ose of
feeding these creatures, and of thinning down the numbers of an animal which would otherwise
multiply exceedingly, and devour all the vegetation of a naturally barren region ?

From an Arctic journal it would appear that the lemmings are preyed upon by the Polar
bear We transcribe a graphic passage in further illustration of the habits of that remarkable
carnivore : —

" Seeing some drift-wood lying about," says a gallant navigator, " which it waa important
should be examined, I halted and encamped, dispersing the men along the beach to bring all
in they could find. Walking landward to obtain a view from a hill, I was startled to see
a she-bear and two cubs some distance inland. Watching them carefully, I was not a little
interested to see the mother applying her gigantic muscular power to turning over the
large blocks of sandstone which strewed the plain, and under which the unlucky lemmings
at this season take shelter. Directly the she-bear lifted the stones, which she did by sitting
upon her hams and pulling them towards her with her fore paws, the cubs rushed in and
seized their prey, tossing them up in the air in their wantonness. After repeating this
operation until the young fry must have made a very good meal, I was glad to witness the
bear's mode of suckling her young — a sight, I should think, rarely seen. Seated on her haunches,
with the backbone arched, so as to bring the breasts (which were situated between the shoulders)
as low as possible, the youngsters sucked away in a standing attitude. Anxious to secure this
family-party, we proceeded to bum all sorts of strong-smelling articles ; and at last she brought
her babes down, though very warily, and when more than one hundred yards ofl" turned away,
evidently suspicious."

In the sub-Arctic regions are found some of those animals which furnish commerce with
the costliest furs. They all belong, however, to the family Mustelida, represented in temperate
climes by the common weasel (Musteles).

The marten of North America is, in fact, the cousin-german of the weasel, and not less
ferocious in its habits. In the forests of fir and birch which it loves to frequent, it preys upon
the small rodents, the birds, and, if its appetite is very keen, upon the reptiles. It scales trees
as nimbly as the cat ; and its flexible body enables it to insinuate itself into the smallest
openings, where a cat could not pass, and into the burrows and hollows of the trees or rocks in
which its victims seek shelter. It is, however, a pretty animal, with vivacious ways, an astute
physiognomy, and a rich coat of fur.

In the wooded zone which borders on the desert region of the Polar World are found both
the Pine Marten {Miistela martea) and Pennant's Marten {Miistela Canadensis). The fur of

THK MARTEN AND THE 8AHLK.

tho fonnor w of a. vory Huperior (juality, and its skin forms a great article of commerce. It
l)urrowH in tho (,noun(i, and foods upon mice, rabbits, and partridges. Tho Canadian marten is
larger than tho preceding; longer and stronger. It lives in the woods, preferring damp places
to dry ; and climhs with a remarkable amount of ease and dexterity.

The Sable {Mustela zibelUnu) is much more highly esteemed for its fur than any other of
tho weasel trite. It has long whiskers, rounded ears, large feet (the soles of which are covered
with fur), white claws, and a long bushy tail. Tho general colour of tho fur is brown, more or
less brilliant, but the lower parts of the throat and neck are grayish.

A vivacious and nimble animal is the sable,
which dwells in the remotest recesses of the
forests, beneath the roots of trees, and in holes of
tho earth, and penetrates to the very borders of
tho realm of perpetual snow. Prodigious numbers
are killed in Siberia, during the months of
November, December, and January. The hunters
assemble in large companies, and make their way
down the great rivers in boats, carrying sufficient
supplies of provisions for a three months' absence.
On reaching the appointed place of rendezvous,
the different companies, each under tho direction
of a leader, fix upon their respective quarters,
erect huts of trees, and build up the snow around
them. In the neighbourhood of these they lay
their snares; and then, advancing another mile
or so, they set a further quantity ; and thus they
proceed, until they have covered a considerable
area of ground ; building huts in each locality,
and returning in due order to each set of snares to collect their prey. These snares are of
the simplest construction ; nothing more than small pits or cavities, loosely covered with rough
planks or branches of trees, and baited with fish or fiesh. When the game grows scarce, the
trappore follow the sable to their retreats by tracking their footprints over the fresh-fallen snow ;
place nets at their entrances ; and quietly wait, if it be for two or three days, until the animals
make their appearance.

The fur of the sable is distinguished from all other furs by this singular property : the hair
has no particular inclination, but may be laid down indiflerently in any direction whatever.

THE KBUINK ANU H.VIILK HAIITEN.

The genus Polecat {Mustela putarius) comprehends the smallest of all known carnivores, —
namely, tho weasel, tho ferret, and the ermine. The temperate countries of Europe possess a
variety of the latter species ; but the ermines of the remot« North yield the fullest and softest
fur. These animals, like many others in high latitudes, change the colour of their coat according
to the season. They have been adopted by poets, on account of the spotless whiteness of their
fur, as emblematic of purity ; but, in truth, they merit that honour only in the winter : in

i(i»i8WWWI"»!!f«l^i|P«I^PIWP"W»!pwi!Piippii|ppp

i^liPpPW"

i^fifrffi^imvmmm.m m

ABOUT THE WOLVERINE.

the summer their colour is a clear maroon. The tail, at all times, is of a beautiful brilliant
black.

Another carnivorous quadruped which haunts the northern forests is the Glutton {Gulo
Arcticus), or Wolverine ; it owes its former and more popular name to its extreme voracity.
But it is at least as remarkable for its strength and fierceness, inasmuch as it does not fear to
dispute their prey with the wolf and bear ; and for its cunning, since it baffles again and again
the most carefully devised stratagems of the hunter. Tt is a slow and somewhat unwieldy

THK GI.rTTON, OR WOLVERINE.

animal ; but it is determined and persevering, and will proceed at a steady pace for miles in
search of prey, stealing unawares upon hares, marmots, and birds ; and surprising even the
larger quadrupeds, such as the elk and the reindeer, when asleep.

The stories told of this remarkable animal's shrewdness, which far exceeds that commonly
attributed to the fox, would seem incredible, were they not confirmed by good authority. It is
in allusion to its extraordinary cunning that the Indians call it Kekioaharhess, or the " Evil
One." With an energy that never flags it hunts day and night for the trail of men, which,
when found, it follows up unerringly. On coming to a lake, where the track is generally drifted
over, it continues its steady gallop round the shores, to discover the point at which the track
re-enters the woods, when it again pursues it until it arrives at one of the wooden traps set for

\M ITS llKMAUKAni,K HAUAOITY.

the marten or the mink, thu ormino or tho muttk-rut. Cautiously avoiding the door, it effects
vi<>l(!iit untruncu at thu hack, and Hoizi'M thu Itait with impunity ; or, if thu trap contains an
animal, (hilars it out, and, with wanton maluvolunco, mauls it, and hidus it at aomu distance in thu
underwood or at tho top of somo lofty pine. If hard pressud by hunger, it duvours the victim.
Ami in tluH mamuir it dumoIiHhfs tho whole suries of traps; ho that when once a wolverine has
(HtahliHhcd itsulf on a trapping-walk, the hunter's only chance of success is to change his ground,
and huihl a fn^sh lot of traps, in thu hope of securing a few furs before tho new path is discovered
by his industrious enomy.

Some interusting paiticulars of tho habits and ways of the glutton are recorded by Lord
Afilton and J)r. Chuadio in their lively nan.itivi^ of an expedition from the Atlantic to tho
I'acific C' Tho North-Wust Passage by Land "). Tliuy tell us that it is never caught in the
ordinary pit-fall. Occasionally one is poisoned, or caught in a steel trap ; but so great is the
creature's strength, that many traps strong enough to liold securely a largo wolf will not retain
tho wolverine. When caught in this way, it does not, like the fox and the mink, proceed to
amputate thu limb, but, assisting to carry tlu^ trM|> with its mouth, hastens to reach a lake or
river, where its progress will bo unimpeded l)y trees or fallen wood. After travelling to a
sufficient distance to bo safe from pursuit for a time, it sets to work to extricate its imprisoned
lind), and very frequently succeeds in the attempt.

Occasionally the glutton is killed by a gun placed so as to bear on a bait, to which is
attached a string conmiunicating with the trigger. But a trapper assured Lord Milton and his
companion, tluit very often the animal had proved too cunning for him, first approaching tho
gun and gnawing in two the cord communicating with the trigger, and then securely devouring
the bait.

In one instance, when all the trapper's devices to beguile his enemy had been seen through,
and clearly foiled, he adopted the plan of placing the gun in a tree, with the muzzle pointing
vertically downwards upon the bait. This \va8 suspended from a brancli, at such a height that
the animal could not secure it without jumping ; and, moreover, it was completely screened by
the boughs. Now, the wolverine's curiosity almost equals its voracity. 1 1 shows a disposition
to investigate everything ; an old moccasin flung aside in tho bushes, or a knife lost in the snow,
must be ferreted out and examined, and any object suspended almost out of reach generally
proves irresistible as a temptation. In this instance, however, the caution of the glutton
exceeded its curiosity and restrained its hunger ; it climbed the tree, cut the fastenings of the
gun, which then tumbled to the ground, and, descending, it secured the bait with impunity.

Lord Milton's party were personal sufferers by, and witnesses to, the animal'c cunning. One
day, when setting out to visit their traps, they observed the footprints of a very large wolverine
wliich had followed their trail, and I^a Ronde, their trapper, at once exclaimed, " Cest fini,
monsieur; il a cass^ toutes n6tres dtrappes, vous allez voir;" and so it proved. As they came
to each in succession, they found it broken open at the back, and the bait taken ; and, where an
animal had been caught, it was carried off. Throughout the whole line every one had been
demolished ; and the tails were discovered of no fewer than ten martens, the bodies of which had
apparently been devoured by the hungry and astute wolverine.

With one more illustration we must be content, and turn to another branch of our subject,
though we do not suppose that our readers will weary of the relation of facts which throw so

"THK BITKIt lUT" 15*

vivid u light on tho ititclligonco, as dlHtinct from, ftnd Huperior to, tho instinct of nnirnaU. And,
certainly, tho manner in which tho glutton foils the ingenious stratagems of tho trapiiers must
bo ascribed to intelligence ratiier than to instinct. In the following anecdote we Miink it is
plainly shown that tho latter coulil not have sufficed to guard the animal against the machina-
tions of its persevering foes.

Dr. Cheadle, accompanied by an Indian boy, named Misquapasnayoo, started off for tho
woods, bent upon proving his superior acuteness to the wolverine. They found that tho latter
ha<l renewed his visits along the lino of traps, and broken all which had been reconstructed,
devouring tho animals found in them. Dr. Cheadle thereupon adopted a device which could not
fail, he thought, to catch his enemy in hi** own toils. All the broken traps were repaired and
8ot again, and poisoned baits substituted for tho ordinary ones in the traps ; not in every
instance, but hero and there along the line.

The forest was here of great extent, and seemed to stretch away to the frozen North with-
out let or hindrance, tho mass of timber being broken only by numerous lakes and swamps, or
clearances which had been caused by conflagrations. The traveller always .seeks the lakes ; not
only because they enable him to travel more rapidly, and penetrate further into the less hunted
regions, but also because the edges of the lakes, and the portages between them, are favourite
haunts of the fox, the fisher, and the mink. On one of these lakes a curious circuinstanco was
noted. The lake was about half a mile in length, and of nearly equal breadth, but of no great
depth. The water had seemingly frozen to the bottom, except at one end, whore a spring
bubbled up, and a hole of about a yard in diameter existed in the ice-crust, which was there oidy
a few inches thick. In this hole the water was crowded witii myriads of small fish, most of them
not much larger than a man's finger, and so closely packed that tuey could not move freely. < )n
thrusting in an arm, it seemed like plunging it into "a mass of thick stir-about." All around
tho snow had been trodden down hard and level by the feet of tho numerous animals attracted
to this Lenten banquet ; and tracks converged to it from every side. The footprints could be
recognized of the cross or silver fox, delicately impressed in the snow as he trotted daintily along
with light and airy tread ; the rough marks of the clumsier fisher ; the clear and sharply-defined
track of the nimble mink ; and the great '♦-oss trail of tho ubi(|uitous glutton. On the trees
around scores of crows were sleepily digesting their abundant meals.

When Dr. Cheadle and his companion turned homewards, they found that their enemy had
been in active pursuit. Along the ground they had traversed on the previous day, every trap
was already demolished, and all the baits were abstracted. Dr. Cheadle at first imagined that
ho had at last outwitted and destroyed his enemy ; but the Indian's keener eyes discovered each
of tho baits which had been poisoned, lying close at hand, bitten in two and rejected, while all
the others had disappeared. The baits, nevertheless, had beon very carefully prepared ; tho
strychnine being inserted into the centre of the meat by a small hole, and when frozen it was
impossible to distinguish them from the harmless ones by any peculiarity of appearance. It
seemed as if the animal suspected poison, and bit in two and tasted every morsel before swallow-
ing it. The baits had purposely been made very small, so that in the ordinary course they
would have been swallowed whole. That the same wolverine had followed up their path from
the first, they knew perfectly well, because it was one of unusually large size, as shown by its

tracks, which were readily distinguished from those of smaller animals.

I.i.'.

TiiK AncTic Biiina

The distribution of JJirds in tlio Polar Kei^ions, is n suhjoct on which it seoms desirable to
ollitr a few rcnmrks, so that our reiulers may bo able to form an accurate concei-tion of the
character and variety of the animal life peculiar to them.

Of the l)irds of Greenland and Iceland, it may be affinned that fully three-fourths of the
species, and a still larger proportion of individuals, are more or less aquatic, and many of the
remainder are only summer visitorF. The largest bird that ventures far north is the Aquila
ulbicilln, or fitshing-eagle, which buiMs its eyrie on the loftiest crags of the ocean-cliffs, and feeds
on salmon and trout. The Falco Islamlicns, or gyrfalcon, though a native of Iceland, is now
very rarely met with. The snowy owl inhabits the glaciers which fill the deep inland valleys
of Greenland, and Its range extendi as far southwards as the Orkneya Particular kinds of
grouse are confined to the high latitudes ; and more particularly the pt^irmigan, or white grouse.

ITARMIOAN.

which supplies a welcome suidition to the scanty bill of fare of the Arctic navigators. It is
found, even in the depths of winter, on Melville Island ; burrowing under the snow, perhaps, for
warmth, protection, and food. But it appears to bo most numerous in April, when it is found
in pairs ; in September it collects in coveys, sometimes of as many as fifteen or twenty birds,
preparatory to their southern migration.

Of the Cormthn, the only species which ventures beyond the Arctic Circle is the lloyston
crow, and th.it only in summer.

The raven, however, is found in all the wide Polar realm, and is larger, stronger, and more
voracious in tlie Arctic Islands ihan elsewhere. It drives the eider-ducks from their nests in
order to prey on their young or feast on theii eggs, aid it unites in flocks to expel intruding
birds from thtir abode.

DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 161

The Grallatores are more numerous than land-birds in the Arctic World. The snipo and the
golden plover arc only visitors ; but the oyster-catcher is a denizen of Iceland, where, building
its nest on the reedy banks of the streams, it wages war with the crow tribe. The lieron,
curlew, plover, and most of the other waders, ^.migrate ; sand-pipers and the water-ousel remain
"all the year round."

The Cygnus musiciis, or whistling swan, is specially famous for its migrations. It measures
five feet from the tip of the bill to the <nid of the tail, and eight feet across its noble extended
wings ; its plumage is white as snow, with a slight tinge of orange or yellow on the head. Some
of these swans winter in Iceland ; and in the long Arctic night their song, as they 'lass in flocks,
falls on the ear of the listener like the notes of a violin.

The distribution of animals is, of course, regulated by laws analogous to those which regu-
late the distribution of plants, insects, birds, and fishes. Each continent, and even different
portions of the same continent, are.ti "^ centres of zoological families, which have always existed
there, and nowhere else ; each group being almost always specifically different from all others.
As the Arctic World includes a district common to Europe, Asia, and America, with uniform
climatic conditions, the animals inhabiting the high latitudes of these continents are frequently
very similar and sometimes identical ; and, in fact, no genus of quadrupeds exists in the Arctic
regions that is not found in all three continents, though there are only twenty-seven species
common to all, and these mostly fur-bearing animals. The carnivores, as we have seen, are very
few in number, and of these the n;ost important is the Polar bear. Of the herbivores the
reindeer is the most valuable ; its southern limit in Europe is the Baltic Sea, in America the
latitud(3 of Quebec.

There are fully eight varieties of American dogs, several of which are natives of the far
North. The lacjopus, or isatis, a native of Spitzbergen and Greenland, extends over all the
Arctic regions of America and Asia, and is found in some of the Kurile Islands. Dogs are
employed to draw sledges in Newfoundland and Canada ; and the Eskimo dogs, used for this
purpose by the Arctic explorers, are famous for their strength, their docility, and power of
endurance. They were mute, until they learned to bark from European dogs on board the
discovery ships.

CHAPTER VT. , _

ICELANP AND THE ICELANDERS. '^^^

|UST within the Arctic region, but nearly on the limits of what geographers call the
Atlantic Ocean, lies an island which, since its colonization in the ninth century, has
not ceased to excite the interest of the explorer and the man of science.

Iceland — which measures about 300 miles at its greatest length, from cast to west, and
about 200 miles at its greatest breadth, from north to south — is situated in lat. G3° 23'-GG° 33' N.,
and long. 13' 'J2'-24° 35' W. ; at a distance of 600 miles from the nearest point of Norway, 250
from the Faroe Isles, 250 from Greenland, and above 500 miles from the northern extremity of
Scotland. As early as the eighth Christian century it was discovered by some European
emigrants ; though, indeed, the Landnana Book, one of the earliest of the island-records, asserts
that they found the memorials of a yet earlier settlement in various Christian relics, such as
wooden crosses, which appeared to be of Irish origin. At all events, the first really successful
attempt at colonization was made by Ingolf, a Norwegian, who planted himself and his followers
at Reykjavik in 874. In the following century a somewhat extensive immigration took place of
Norwegians who resented the changes of polity introduced by Harold Haarfager, and all the
habitable jjoints on the coast were occupied by about 950 a.d. Fifty years afterwards, though
not without much opposition, Christianity was legally established, and the bishoprics of Holar
and Skalholt were founded. The government assumed the character of an aristocratic republic,
with a po})ular assembly, called the Althing, meeting every summer in the valley of Thingvellir.
Commerce was encouraged, and the Icelanders early distinguished themselves by the boldness of
their maritime enterprise, and the extent of their ocean fisheries.

About the year 932 they discovered Greenland, and about 986 a portion of the North
American coast, which they called " Vineland." They did not confine their voyages to the north,
but sent their ships even as far south as the Mediterranean. From 1 1 50 to 1 250 is rightly con-
sidered the most flourishing period of Icelandic literature and commerce. After the conquest of
tlie island by Haeo VI. of Norway, much of the old si)irit seemed to die out. When Norway
was united to Denmark in 1380, Iceland was included in the bond, and it is still regarded as a
dependency of the latter kingdom. In 1540 it embraced the principles of Lutheran Protestant-
ism. Its population at one time numbered 100,000, but it gradually diminished until, in 1840,
it was reduced to 57,094 : but a slow increase has taken place of late years, and it now amounts
to about 70,000. The language spoken is the old Norse.

Iceland is a fifth part larger than Ireland, and its superficial area is estimated at 39,207

VOLCANOES OF ICELAND.

tea

square miles. Not more than 4000 miles, however, are habitable, all the rest being ice and lava ;
for the island seems to be little more than a mass of trachyte, snow-shrouded and frost-bound,
resting on a sea of fire. It consists of two vast parallel table-lands, the foundations of ranges of
lofty mountains, most of which are active volcanoes ; and these table-lands strike across the
centre of the island, from north-east to south-west, at a distance from one another of ninety to
one hundred miles. Their mountainous summits are not pyramidal, as is generally the case in
Europe, but rounded like domes, as in the Andes of South America. Their sides, however, are
broken up by precipitous masses of tufa and conglomerate, intersected by deep ravines of the
gloomiest character. They are covered with a thick shroud of ice and snow, but in their wombs
seethe the fiery elements which ever and anon break forth into terrible activity. The eastern

.VN ICKLANDIC LANDSCAPE.

table-land and its mountain range is the mo.'st extensive, and contains Oerafa, the culminating
point of Iceland. It is visible from a great distance at sea, like a white cloud suspended above
the island. Its height is 6426 feet, and it springs from a vast mountain-ma-ss ; no fewer than
3000 square miles being perpetually burdened with ice and snow, at an altitude varying from 3000
to 6000 feet.

A very considerable portion of the island is occupied by the large glaciers which descend
from the mountains, like frozen torrents, pushing forwaixl into the lowlands, and even to the
margin of the sea. These act as almost impassable barriers to communication between tho
various inhabited districts.

164

A CIRCLE OF ICE.

We liave spoken of the two ranges of table-lands as about ninety to one hundred miles apart.
The interspace forms a losv broad valley, whirh opens at either extremity on the sea— an awful
waste, a region of desolation, where man is utterly powerless ; where the elements of fire and
frost maintain a perpetual antagoni.sm ; where blade of grass is never seen, nor drop of water ;
where bird never wings its way, and no sign of life can be detected. It seems a realization of
Dante's "circle of ice" in the "Inferno." The surface consists of lava streams, fissured by
inimmerable crevices; of rocks piled on rocks; of dreary glaciers, relieved by low volcanic cones.
It is supposed that some remote portions of the inaccessible interior ai-e less barren, because
herds of reindeer have been seen feeding on the Iceland moss that fringes the bordora of this
dreary legion. But there is no reason to believe that it can ever be inhabited by man.

UOUNT lIKKt.A, FROM TUB VALLKV OK IIKVITA.

The extremities of the valleys, where they approach the ocean, are the principal theatres of
volcanic activity. At the southern end the best-known volcano is that of Hekla, wliich has
attiiined a sinister repute from the terrific character of its eruptions. Of these six-andtwenty
are recorded, tiie last having occurred in 1845-4G. One lasted for six yeare, spreading devasta-
tion over a country which hatl formerly been the seat of a prosperous colony, burying the fields
beneath a flood of lava, scorite, and ii-shes. During the eruption of September 2, 1845, to Apiil
184G, three new craters were formed, from which columns of fire sprang to the height of 14,000
feet. The lava accuumlated in formidable hills, and fragments of scoriaj and pumice-stone, weigh-
ing two hundredweight, were thrown to a distance of a league and a half ; while the ice and snow

EKUPTION OF THE SKAPTAR JOKUl.L. 105

which had lain on the mountain for centuries were iinuetied, and poured down into the phiins in
devastating torrents.

But the eruption of another of these terrible volcanoes, the Skaptiir Jokuli, which broke
out on tlie 8th of May 1783, and lasted until August, was of a still more awful character. At
that time the volcanic fire under Europe must have raged most violently, for a tremendous earth-
quake shattered a wide extent of Calabria in the same year, and a submarine volcano had flamed
fiercely for many weeks in the ocean, thirty miles from the south-west capo of Iceland.

Its fires ceased suddenly ; a series of earthquakes shook the island ; and then Skaptdr broke
forth into sudden and destructive activity.

For months the sun was hidden by dense clouds of vapour, and clouds of volcanic dust were
carried many hundreds of miles to sea, extending even to England and Holland. Sand and
ashes, raised to an enormous height in the atmosphere, spread in all directions, and overwhelmed
thousands of acres of fertile pasturage. The sulphurous exhalations blighted the grass of tho
field, and tainted the waters of river, lake, and sea, so that not only the herds and flocks perished,
but the fish died in their poisoned element

The quantity of matter ejected by the rent and shivered mountain was computed at fifty or
sixty thousand millions of cubic yards. The molten lava flowed in a stream which in some
places was twenty to thirty miles in breadth, and of enormous thickness ; a seething, hissing
torrent, which filled the beds of rivers, poured into tho sea nearly fifty miles from its points of
eruption, and destroyed the fishing on the coast. Some of the island-rivers were heated, it is
said, to ebullition ; others were dried up ; the condensed vapour " " in whirls of snow and storms
of rain. But dreadful as was the eruption itself, with its sublime but awful phenomena, far more
dreadful were its consequence.s. The country within its range was one wide ghastly desert, a
fire-blighted wilderness ; and, partly- from want of food, partly owing to the unwholesome con-
dition of the atmosphere, no fewer than 933G men,* 28,000 horses, ll,4Gl cattle, and 190,000
sheep, were swept away in the short space of two years. Even yet Iceland has scarcely recovered
from the blow.

At the northern end of the great central valley the focus of igneous phenomena is found in
a semicircle of volcanic heights which slope towards tho eastern shore of the Lake Myvatn. Two
of these are very formidable, — namely, Leirhnukr and Krabla on the north-east. After years of
inaction, they suddenly broke out with tremendous fury, pouring such a quantity of lava into the
Lake Myvatn, which measures twenty miles in circuit, that the water was in a state of ebullition
for many days. On the sides of Mount Krabla, and at the base of this group of mountains, are
situated various caldrons of boiling mineral pitch, the ruined craters of ancient volcanoes ; and
from their depths are thrown up jets of the molten matter, enveloped in clouds of steam, and
accompanied by loud explosions at regular intervals.

But the most singular phenomena in this singular country, where frost and fire are con-
tiimally disputing the preeminence, are the Gei/sivs, or eruptive boiling springs. These all occur
in the trachytic formation, are characterized by their high temperature, by holding siliceous
matter in solution, which they deposit in the form of siliceous sinter, and by evolving large
quantities of sulphuretted hydrogen gas.

Upwards of fifty geysirs have been counted in the space of a few acn-es at the southern end

* A more motlei-ate estiiiKite s.iys !3i>0 pei-scma

1C6

PHENOMENA OF THE GEYS1R.S.

of t J groat valley. Some are constant, sonio ijoriodieal, some stagnant, some only slightly
agitated. The grande.st and most celebrated are the Great Goysir and Strokkr, thirty-five miles
north-west IVoni liekla. These, at regular intervals, hurl into the air immense columns of

boiling water, to the height of one hundred feet, accom-
panied by clouds of steam and deafening noises. In the
case of the Great Geysir, the jet issues from a shaft about
seventy-five feet deej), and ten in diameter, whicli opens
into the centre of a shallow ba.sin, about one hundred and
fifty feet in circumference. The basin is alternately emptied
and filled : when filled, loud explosions are heard, tlie ground
([uivers, and the boiling water is forced upwards in gigantic
columns. Thus the basin is emptied, and the explosions
cease until it is refilled.

Messrs. Descloiseaux and Bunsen, who, according to
Mrs. Somerville, visited Iceland in ] 84G, found the tempera-
ture of the Great Geysir, at the depth of seventy-two feet,
to equal 260° 30' F. prior to a great eruption, reduced, after
the eruption, to 251° 30' F.; an interval of twenty -eight
hours passing in silence.

About one hundred and forty yards distant is the
Strokkr (from droka, to agitate), a circular well, forty-
four feet deep, with a tube eight feet wide at its mouth,
diminishing to little more than ten inches at a depth of
twenty-seven feet. The surface of the water is in constant
ebullition, while at the bottom the temperature exceeds
that of boiling water by about twenty-four degrees. It appears, from experiments made by
Donny, that water, l(>ng boiled, becomes more and more free from air, and that thus the
cohesion of the particles is so much increased, that when the heat is sufficiently increased to
overcome that cohesion, the production of steam is so considerable and so instantaneous as to
induce an explosion. In this circumstance M. Donny finds an explanation of the phenomena of
the Geysirs, which are in constant ebullition for many hours, until, being almost purified from
air, the intense internal or subterranean heat ovei'comes the cohesion of the particles, and thus
an explosion takes place.

Lord Dufferin describes an eruption which he witnessed on the occasion of his visit to the
Geysirs, but for which he waited three days. Like pilgrims round some ancient shrine, he says,
ho anil his friends kept patient watch ; but the Great Geysir scarcely deigned to vouchsafe the
slightest manifestation of its latent energies. Two or three times they heard a sound as of sub-
terranean cannonading, and once an eruption to the height of about ten feet occurred. On the
morning of the fourth day a cry from the guides made them start to their feet, and with one
common impulse rush towards the basin. The usual underground thunder had already com-
menced. A violent agitation was disturbing the centre of the pool. Suddenly a dome of water
lifted itself up to the height of eight or ten feet, then burst, and fell ; immediately after which a
shining liquid column, or rather a sheaf of columns, wreathed in robes of vapour, sprang into

THK OREAT OETSIR.

ACriON OF THE "8TR0KKU." 181

the air, and in a succession of jerking leaps, each higher than thi; liust, fluni,' their silvor crests
against the sky. For a few minutes tiie fountain held itu own, then all at ome a|)|)t'ared to lose
its ascending power. The unstable waters faltered, drooped, fell, " like a broken purpose," back
upon themaelvi's, and were immediately sucked down into the receasos of their pipe.

The spectiu lo was one uf great magnificence ; but no description can give an accurate idea of
its most striking features. The enormous wealth of water, its vitality, its hidden power, the illimit-
able breadth of sunlit vapour, rolling out in e.xhaustless profusion, — these combine to impress tlie
spectator with an almost painful sense of the stupendous energy of nature's slightest movements.

According to Captain Burton, the name of the Strokkr has been generally misinterpreted.
Dillon calls it the piston, or churning-staff ; Barrow, the " shaker : " it is simply the " hand-churn,"
whose upright shaft is worked up and down — the cliiirn-like column of water suggesting the
resemblance. This feature, perhaps the " New Geysir ' of Sir John Stanley and Henderson,
formerly erupted naturally, and had all the amiable eccentricity of youth : now it must be teased
or coaxed. Stanley gave it 130 feet of jet; Henderson, 50 to 80; Symington, 100 to 150 feet;
Bryson, "upwards of 100 ;" and Baring-Gould, "rather higher than the Geysir." Burton found
it lying 275 feet (Mackenzie, 131 yards) south of the Big Brother, of which it is a mean replica.
The outer diameter of the saucer is only 7 feet, the inner about 18 ; and it is too well drained by
its silex-floored channel ever to remain full. A funnel or inverted cone, it gives the popular idea
of a crater : the upper bore is 8 feet 4 inches to 9 feet, the depth 44 to 49, and about half-way
down it narrows to about 11 inches. The surface is an ugly area of spluttering and even boiling
water. A " fulminating dose " of turfs and stones brings on the usual tame display of " bou(juets
d'eau in sheaves, gerbes, lanceolations, and volutes," the highest rising at most 40 feet : travellers
give twelve minutes for the operation ; others see it "almost instantaneously." Burton waited nioie
than an hour. Bryson explains the action by organic matter causing violent ebullition, like the
mucus or albumen of eggs, which make the pot boil over, or like the vesicles in foam or custard
confining atmospheric oxygen. But a second experiment with stones only, and the want of sudden-
ness in the outburst, made Burton fall back upon the homely old theory — namely, that stoji])iiig
the narrow tube enables the water to overcome the pressure of the upper column.

A region resembling the Jeseri mountain-mass we have been describing stretches westward to
the extremity of the Snaefell Syssel ridge, terminating in the remarkable cone of Sniiefell Jtiknll.

The island coasts exhibit a singularly brcken outline, and the deep loclis or fiords, like those
of Norway, only less romantic, dip into the interior for many mile.-;, and throw off" numerous
branches. These fiords are wild and gloomy ; dark, still inlets, with precipices on either side,
a thousand feet in height, and the silence unbroken, save by the occasional wash of the waters, or
the scream of a solitary ocean-bird. Inland, however, they assume a gentler character : they end
in long narrow valleys, watered by pleasant streams, and bright with pasture. In these bits of
Arcadia the inhabitants have built their towns and villages.

In the valleys on the north coast, which are adorned by clumps of willow and juniper, the
soil is comparatively fertile ; but the most genial scenery is found on the east, where, in some
places, the birch-trees reach a height of twenty feet, and are of sufficient size to be used in house-
building. The fuel used by the Icelanders is the drift-wood which the Gulf Stream biings from
Mexico, the Carolinas, Virginia, and the River St. Lawrence.

168 DKHCKIPTION OF THINOVELLIK

In tho w>uth of tho JHltind the uiean touipuraturu is about .')9°; in tho centml districts, 3G°;
in tliu north it rarely rises above 32", or freezinsf-point. 'rhun<ler-storms, though rare in high
hititudus, are n(jt unconinion in Iceland ; a circumstance whicli is duo, no iloubt, to tiie atmos-
pheric disturbances caused by the volcanic phenoniena. Hurricanes are ire(|Uent, and the days
are few when tho island is free from sea-mists. At the nortliern end the sun is always above the
horizon in tho middle of summer, and under it in the middle of winter ; but absolute darkness
does not prevail.

One of the most interesting places in Iceland is Thingvellir, where of old the " Althing,"
or supreme pailiament, was wont to hold its annual assemblies, under the " Logmathurman," or
president of tho republic.

It is nothing more than a broad plain on the bank of tlie River Oxard, near the jjoint where
the swift waters, after forming a noble cascade, sweep into the Lake of Thingvallavatn. Only a
plain ; but the scenery around it is indescribably grand and solemn. On either side lies a barren
plateau, above whicii rises a range of snowy mountains, and frrni the plateaus the plain is cut
off by deep chasms, — that of Almannagja on the east, and the Hrafnagjd on the west. It
measures eight miles in breadth, and its surface is covered by a network of innumerable fissures
and crevices of great depth and breadth. At the foot of the plain lies a lake, about tiiirty miles
in circumference, in the cei '.re of which two small crater- islands, the result of some ancient
eruption, are situated. The mountains on its south bank have a romantic aspect, and that their
volcanic fires are not extinct is showii by the clouds of vapour evolved from the hot springs that
pour down their rugged sides. The actual meeting-place of the Althing was an irregular oval
area, about two hundred feet by fiftj', almost entirely surrounded by a crevice so broad and deep
as to be inipsussable, except where a narrow causeway connected it with the adjacent plain, and
permitted access to its interior. At one other point, indeed, the encircling chasm is so narn>w
that it may possibly be cleared at a leap ; and the story runs that one Flosi, when hotly pursued
liy his enemies, did in this way escape them ; but as falling an inch short would mean sure death
in the green waters below, the chasm may be regarded as a tolerably sure barrier against
intrudei-s.

The ancient capital of the island was Skalholt, where, in the eleventh century, was founded
the first school; an episcopal seat; the birthplace of a long line of Norse worthies, Islief the
chronicler, Gissur the linguist, and Finnur Jolmson the historian. But its glories have passed
away ; its noble cathedral has ceased t(i exist ; and three or four cottages alone perpetuate the
name of the once flourishing city.

The present capital is Reykjavik, to which, in 1797, wore transferred the united bishoi^rics
of Stoolum and Skalholt. It consists of a collection of wooden sheds, one story high, rising here
and there into a gable end of greater pretensions, extending along a tract of dreary lava, and
flanked at either end by a suburb of turf huts. On every side of it stretches a dreary lava-plain,
and the gloom of the scorched and ghastly landscape is unrelieved by tree or bush. The white
mountains are too distant to serve as a background to the buildings, but before the door of each
merchant's house, facing the sea, streams a bright little pennon ; and as the traveller paces the
silent streets, whose dust no carriage- wheel has ever desecrated, the rows of flower-pots peeping
out of tho windows, between white nmslin curtains, at once convince iiim that, notwithstanding

ABOUT KEYKJAVIK.

169

their unostentatious appoarance, within each dwelling reigr "the elegance and comfort of ii
woiuan-teuded home. "

The prosperity of lioykjavik is chiefly due to its excellent harbour, and to the fish-hunks in
its neighbourhood, which supply it with an important commercial staple. In the summer and
early autunm it is much visited by tourists, wiio start from thence to admire the won<Ier8 of
Hekla, Skaptilr, and the Geysirs ; but its busiest time is in July, when the annual fair draws
thither a crowd of fisher-folk and peasants. From a distance of forty and fifty leagues they come,
with long trains of pack-horses, their stock-fish slung loose across the animals' backs, and their
other wares packed closely in boxes or bags of reindeer-skin.

The Icelander is honest, temperate, hospitable, possessed with a fervent spirit of patriotism,
and strongly wedded to the ancient usages. He is also industrious ; and though his industry

IIAHBUL'H UF KEVKJAVIK.

is but scantily remunerated, he earns enough to satisfy bJs simple tiistes. In the interior his
chief dependence is on his cattle ; and as grass is the main produce of his farm, his anxiety during
the haymaking season is extreme. A bad crop would be almost ruin. He is, however, wofuUy
ignorant of agriculture as a science, does but little for the improvement of the soil, and employs
implements of the most primitive character. The process of haymaking in Iceland is thus
described : —

The best crops are gathered from the " tdn," a kind of home park or paddock, comprising
the lands contiguous to the farmstead — the only portion of his demesne to which the owner
gives any special attention, and on the improvement of which he bestows any labour. This
" tun " is enclosed within a wall oi" stone or turf, and averages an extent of two or three acres,
though sometimes it reaches to ten. Its surface is usually a series of closely-packed mounds,
like an overcrowded graveyard, with channels or water-runs between, about two feet deep.

J7U AN ICELANDKK'a UWKLLINO.

Hither overy person employod on thu funn, or whom the farmer can enfjage, resorts, with short
bhulud scythe and rake, and proceedH to cut down the coarse tliicit grass, and rnko it up into
little lieajis.

Afterwards the mowers hasten to clear the neighbouring hill-sides and undrained marshes.

This primitive haymaking, so unlike the systematic operation which bears that name in
P^ngland, is carried on throughout the twenty-four hours of the long summer day. The hay,
when .sufficiently dried, is made up into bundles, and tied with cords and thongs, and packed on
the back of ponies, which carry it to the clay-built stalls or sheds prepared for it. And a curious
sight it is to see a long string of hay-ladeu ponies returning home. Each pony's halter is made
fast to the tail of his predecessor ; and the little animals are so overshadowed and overwhelmed
by their burdens, that their hoofs and the connecting ropes alone are vi.sible, and they seem like
so many animated haycocks, feeling themselves sufficiently made up, and leisurely betaking
themselves to their resting-places.

During the protracted winter the Icelander, of course, can attend to no out-of-door labour,
and i>asses his time within his hut, which, in many parts of the island, is not much superior to
an Irish "cabin."

The lower part is built of rough stones up to a height of four feet, and between each
course a layer of turf is placed, which serves instead of mortar, and helps to keep out the cold.
The roof, made of any available wood, is covered with turf and sods On the southern side the
Ituilding is ornamented with doors and gable-ends, each of which is crowned by a weathercock.
Tiiose doors are the entrances to the dwelling-rooms and various offices, such as the cowshed,
.store-house, and smithy. The dwelling-rooms are connected by a long, dark, narrow passage, and
arc separated from each other by strong walls of tuif. As each apartment has its own roof, the
building is, in eflect, an aggregate of several low huts, which receive their light through small
windows in the front, or holes in the roof, covered with a piece of glass or skin. The floors are
of stamped earth; the fireplace is made of a few stones, rudely packed together, while the smoke
escapes through a hole in the roof, or through a cask or barrel, with the ends knocked out,
which acts as chimney.

In some parts of the island lava is used instead of stones, and instead of wood the rafters
are made of the ribs of whales. A horse's skull is the best seat provided for a visitor. Too
often the sane room serves as the dining, sitting, and sleeping place for the whole family, and
the beds are merely boxes filled with feathers or sea-weed. There are, however, a few houses of
a superior character, in which the arrangements are not much unlike those of a good old-fashioned
English farm-house ; the walls being wainscotted with deal, and the doors and staircase of the
same material. A few prints and photographs, some book-shelves, one or two little pictures,
decorate the sitting-room, and a neat iron stove, and massive chests of drawers, furnish it
sufficiently.

From the houses we turn to the churches. In Reykjavik the church is a stone building,
the only stone building in the town ; but this is exceptional :, most of the churches are not much
better than the houses. We will be content, therefore, with a visit to tLe Reikiavik sanctuary,
which is a neat and unpretending erection, capable of accommodating three or four hundred persons.
The Icelanders are not opposed to a "decent ritual/' and the Luthemn minister wears a black
gown with a ruff round his neck. The majority of the congregation, here as everywhere else.

CHIJU(J11ES AND ('LKIttJY IN ICKI-ANI). 171

consistB of women ; somo fow dressed in bonnots, and the re«t wearinjj the national black nilii
HkuU-cap, act jauntily on one aide of the luad, with a lonj,' black tassel drooping to the shoulder,
or else a quaint niitre-likc structure of white linen, almost as imposing as the heod-dress of a
Normandy peasant. The remainder of an Icelandic lady's costume, we may add, consists of a
black bodice, fastened in fiont with silver clasps, over which is drawn a cloth jacket, gay with
innumerable silver buttons; round the neck goes a stiff ruft" of velvet, embroidered with silver
lace ; and a silver belt, often beautifully chased, binds the long dark wadmal petticoat round the
waist. Sometimes the ornaments are of gold, instead of silver, and very costly.

Towards the end of the Lutheran service, the preacher descends from the pulpit, and attiring
himself in a splendid crimson velvet cope, turns his back to the congregation, and chants somo
liatin .sentences.

Though still retaining in their ceremonies, says a recent traveller, a few vestiges of the old
religion, though altars, candles, pictures, and crucifixes yet remain in many of their churches, the
Icelanders are stanch Protestants, and singularly devout, innocent, and pure-hearted. Crini(\
theft, debauchery, cruelty are unknown amongst them ; they have neither prison, gallows, soldiers,
nor i)olice ; and in the manner of their lives mingles something of a patriarchal simplicity, that
remi'uls one of the Old World princes, of whom it has been said, that they were " upright and
jierfeet, eschewing evil, and in their hearts no guile."

In the rural districts, if such a phrase can properly be applied to any part of Iceland, the
. hurch is scarcely distinguishable from any other building, except by the cross planted on its roof.
It measures, generally, from eight to ten feet in width, and from eighteen to twenty-four feet in
length ; but of this space about eight feet are devoted to the altai', which is divided oft" by a
wooden partition stretching across the church, just behind the pulpit. The conmiunion-table is
nothing more than a small wooden chest or cupboard, placed at the end of the building, between
two small square windows, each fonncd by a single common-sized pane of glass. Over the table
is suspended a sorry daub, on wood, intended to represent the Last Supper. The walls, which
are wainscotted, are about six feet high ; and stout beams of wood stretch from side to side. On
these are carelessly scattered a number of old Bibles, psalters, and loose leaves of soiled and anti-
quated manuscripts. The interior of the roof, the rafters of which rest on the walls, is also lined
with wood. Accommodation, in the shape of a few rough benches, is provided for a congregation
of thirty or forty souls.

Poor as arc the churches, the pastors are still poorer. The best benefice in the island is
worth not much more than £40 per annum; the average value is £10. The bishop himself does
not receive more than £200. The principal support of the clergy, therefore, is derived from their
glebe-land, eked out by the small fees charged for baptisms, marriages, and funerals.

Such being the case, the reader will not be surprised to learn that the Icelandic clergy live
miserably and work hard. They assist in the haymaking ; they hire themselves out as herdsmen ;
they act as the leaders of the caravans of pack-horses which carry the produce of the island to
the ports, and return loaded with domestic necessaries ; and they distinguish themselves as black-
smiths, OS veterinarians, and sheers of horses.

Dr. Henderson gives an interesting and graphic account of a visit he paid to one of these
" poor parsons," Jon Thorlaksson, who, while supporting himself by drudgery of this painful kind,
translated Milton's " Paradise Lost " and Pope's " Essay on Man " into Icelandic.

■HM

172 THAVKI-MNO IN ICKI-AND.

" Liko most of liiH brothrcn, at thin hwimom nf the yoar," sayH Dr. Ht^iulerson, " we fciiind him
in tliu inemliiw nM<iHtiti)^ hit* pooplo ut liitymiikiii<;. On hearing of our arrival lio niadu all tho
hasti' home which his age and infirmity would alU)W, and liidding us weleonjo to his lowly
alxtdo, ushercil us into tho humbii! apartment where ho translated my countrymen into Icelandic.
'I'hu dooi- WHS not (juite four feet in height, and tho room might he about eight feet in length by
MX in breadth. At tho inner end was the poet's bed ; and close to the door, over against a small
window, not exceeding two feet scjuare, was a table where ho committed to pai)or tho effusions of
his mu.se. ( )n my telling him that my countrymtni would not have forgiven me, nor could I
have forgiven myself, had I passed through this part of the island without paying him a visit, he
replied that the translation of Milton had yielded him many a pleasant hour, and often given him
occasion to think of England."

It is" true that this passage was written some fifty-five yoare ago, but tho condition of tho
clergy of Iceland has not much improved in tho interval.

Travelling in Iceland, oven under tho more favourable conditions brought about by a con-
stant influx of touri.sts, is not to bo achieved without difficulty and discomfort. Not only is tho
c^ountry destitute, ncce8.sarily, of inns and tho usual arrangements for tho convenience of travellers,
but nuieli, very much, depends upon the weather. With a bright sky overhead, it is possible to
regard as trivial and unworthy of notice tho small dvsagrcmetit.i which, in bad weather, develop
into very serious annoyances. The only mode of travelling is on horseback, for as theio are no
roads, carriages would bo useless ; while tho distances between tho various points of interest are
too great, the rivers too violent, and the swamps too extensive for pedestrian tours to bo under
taken. Even the most moderate-minded tourist requires a couple of riding-horses for himself, a
couple for his guide, and a couple of pack-horses ; and when a larger company travels, it expands
into a cavalciulo of from twenty to thirty horses, tied head to tail, which slowly pick their way
over rugged lava-bods or dangerous boggy ground.

It is one thing, as liord Dufferin remarks, to ride forty miles a day through the most singular
scenery in the world, when a glorious sun brings out every feature of tho landscape into startling
distinctness, transmuting the dull tormented earth into towers, domes, and pinnacles of shining
metal, and clothes each peak in a robe of many-coloured light, such as the " Debatable Mountains "
must have been in Bunyan's dream ; and another to plod over the same forty miles, wet to the
skin, seeing nothing but the dim gray bases of the hills, which rise you know not how, f,nd care
not whore. " If, in addition to this, you have to wait, as very often must bo tho case, for many
houis after your own arrival, wet, tired, hungry, until tho baggage-train, with tho tents and food,
shall have como up, with no alternative in tho meantime but to lie shivering inside a grass-roofed
house, or to share the quarters of some farmer's family, whose domestic arrangements resemble
in every particular those which Macaulay describes as prevailing among the Scottish Highlanders
a hundred years ago ; and if, finally, after vainly waiting for some days to see an eruption which
never takes place, you journey back to Reykjavik under the same melancholy conditions, it will
not .)e unnatural that, on returning to your native land, you should proclaim Iceland, with her
gcysir, to be a sham, a delusion, and a snare ! "

There are no bridges in Iceland ; no bridges, except, indeed, a few planks flung across the
Briianl, and a swing-bridge, or kldfe, which spans the JokUlsa ; and, as is still the case in some

KoKDINCi TIIK STKKA.MS. IJJ

purls of till) Si'()tti«h lEi^'lilaiuls, tlio tmvullor iiuint t'onl tho Htroanis, which arc always mjiid, and
HoinotiiiiDM iiKunvciiitiiitly i\w\}. Tliu j)aHHa^'(! of a rivor is, theiefon , a foiiiii(lal)le oiiK'rpriw, an
may bo iiiforicd IVoin tlie oxpurionct's of Mr. Hollaiul and otlior travollers.

Till) f^uidi! leads tlio way, and the caravan follow oltcdiiiitly in his wake, sti'nimin;^, oh b(«t
thoy can, tho swift impetuous toiTeiit. Often the IxiilinjUf water rises hij^h ajfainst the linrHo's
Hhouldom, and daslitis clouds of 8|nay in tho face of tho riders. The stream i.s ho furiously fat«t
that it is inipossiblo to follow the individual waves as thoy sweep by, and to look down at it
almost makes one dizzy. Now, if ever, is the time for a firm hand, a sure scat, and a steady eye :
not only is the current strong, but its bed is full of largo stones, which the horse cannot aio
through the dark waters ; and should ho fall, the torrent will carry you down to the sea, whose
white breakers aro plainly visible as they crawl along the resounding beach at a mile's distance.
Ilajipily, though hungry for prey, they will not be satisfied. Swimming woultl l)o of no use,
but an " Icelandic wator-horse" seldom blundera or makes a false stop. But another danger lies
in tho masses of ice swept down by, tho whirling waves, many of which aro sufficiently large to
t<ipplo over horso and rider.

How the horses are able to stand against such a stream is every traveller's wonder ; nor
would tlioy do so unless they were inured to tho enterprise from their very youth. Tho Icilanders
who live in the interior keep horses known for their qualities in fording difficult riverp, and never
venture to cro.ss a dangerous stream unless mounted on an experienced " water-horse."

The action of the Icelandic horses in crossing a swift river is very peculiar. They lean all
their weight against tho current, so as to oppose it as much as possible, and move onwards with
a characteristic side-step. This motion is not agreeable. It feels as if your horse were marking
time, like soldiers at drill, without gaining ground, and as the progress mode is really very slow,
the shore from which you started seemn to recede from you, while that to which you are bounil
does not seem to draw nearer."

In the midstream the roar of the waters is frequently so groat that tho travellers cannot
make their voices audible to one anothoi. There is the swirl of tho torrent, the soothing of the
spray, the crunching of the floating ice, the roll of stones and boulders against tho bottom, — and
all those sounds combine in one confused chaotic din. Up to this point, a diagonal line, rather
down stream, is cautiously followed ; but when the middle is reached, the horses' heads are turned
slightly towards the current, and after much eftbrt and many risks the opposite bank is reached
in safety.

Lord Dufferin says, with much truth, that the traveller in Iceland is constivntly reminded of
tho East. From tho earliest ages tho Icelanders have been a people dwelling in tents. In the
days of the ancient Althing, the legislators, during tho entire session, lay encamped in movable
booths around the place of council. There is something patriarchal in their domestic polity, and
tho very migration of their ancestors from Norway was a protest against the antagonistic principle
of feudalism. No Arab could be prouder of his high-mettled steed than tho Icelander of his little
stalwart, sure-footed pony : no Oriental could pay greater attention to tho duties of hospitality ;
while the solemn salutation exchanged between two companies of travellers, as they pass each
other in what is universally called " the desert," is not unworthy of the stately courtesy of the
gravest of Arabian sheikhs.

It is difficult to imagine anything more multifarious than the cargo which these caravans

174

I'RODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND.

import into the inland districts : deal boards, rope, kegs of brandy, sacks of rye or wheaten flour,
salt, 8onp. sugar, snuff, tobacco, coffee ; everything, in truth, which is necessary for domestic con-
sumption during the dreary winter season. In exchange for these commodities the Icelanders
give raw wool, knitted stockings, mittens, cured cod, fish-oil, whale-b'ubber, fox-skins, eider-
down, feathers, and Iceland moss. The exports of the island in wool amount to upwards of
1,200,000 lbs. of wool yearly, and 500,000 pairs of stockings and mittens.

ICBLAMP^RS FISHiy IIR rARWlIAL.

Iceland offers abundant sport to the enthusiast in fishing. The streams are well supplied
with salmon; while tlio .\t,.ghbouring seas abound in aeals, torsk, and herrings. The narwhal-
fishery is also cai. ,d on, and ha? its strange and exciting features. The implement used is
simply a three-pronged h.'.rpoon, like a trident, with which the fisherman strikes at the fa h as
they rise to the surface; a.j his dexterity and coolness arc so great that he seldom misses
his aim. . . . ,

NuiMC'ous works 'n English, have been written upon Iceland and the Icelanders; the mo.st
trust wor by are those by Dr. Henderson, Professor Foi'oOib, Holland, Chambers, Lord Dufferin,
and Capt."'n Richard ]^urton.* Tiie King of Denmark visited Iceland in 1874.

* Ciipt.iiu IJurtou iiL-ikes kuI li.-ivoc with some of tlie stiiUjuieuts of his predeccasora (see liis " Ultim.i Thiile "). Bui hia
criticisms must be taken cum grano salit. He writes iu too determined a spirit of depreciation.

CHAPTER Vll.

THE ESKIMOS.

|HE land of the Eskimos is of very wide extent. From Greenland and Labrador they
range over all the coasts of Arctic America to the extreme north-eastern point of Afia.
Several of the Eskimo tiibes are independent ; others acknowledge the rule of Groat
Britain, Denmark, Russia, and more recently of the United States. The whaler ineets with them
on the shores of Baffin Bay, and in the icy sea beyond Behring Sti aits ; the ex[)loror has tracked
them as far as Smith Sound, the highway to the Nortli Pole ; and while they descend as low as
the latitude of Vienna, they rove as far north as the 81st and 82nd parallels. They are tlic
aborigines of the deserts of ice and snow, the ancient masters of the Arctic \\'ilderness, and all
Polar America is their long-acknowledged domain. To a certain extent they are nomadic in
their habits ; compelled to migrate by the conditions of the climate in which they live, and
forced to seek their scanty sustenpnce in a new locality when thoy have exliausted the capa-
bilities of an^ chosen habitat. As Mr. Markham telli • us, traces of former inhabitants are found
throughout the gloomiest wastes of the Arctic regions, in sterile and silent tracts where now only
solitude prevails. These wilds, it is known, have been uninhabited for centuries ; yet tliey are
covered with memorials of wanderers or of sojourners of a bygone age. Here and there, in
Greenland, mi Boothia, on tlie American coast, where life is possible, the desc^iudants of former
nomads are still to be found.

Arctic discovery, as yet, has stopped short at about 82° on the west coa.jt, and 76° on the
east, of Greenland. These two points are about six hundi'cd miles apart. There liave been
inhabitants botli points, though tliey are separated by an uninhabitable interval fron.
settlements further south ; we may conclude, then, tha'^ the terra ^'^cognita further north is also
or has been inhabited. In 1818 i'.. was discovered tliat a small tribe of Eskimos inlialited the
bleak west coaf t of Greenlanii between 70° and 79° N. They could not penetrate to the south
on account of the glaciers of Melville Bay; tliey could not penet'ate to the north, l)ecause al!
progress in that direction is f rbidden by the great Humboldt glacier; while tlie liugc interit;r
o-lacier of the Sernik-sook pent hem in upon the narrow belt of the sea-coast. These so-called
" Arctic Higiilandcrs " luinil, abo't one hundred and forty .souls, and throughout the winter their
precarious livelihood depends on tiit feh they catch in the open pools and water-ways. Under
similai' conditions, it is probable tliat Eskimo tribes may be existing still further nortli ; ir if, as
geographers sujipose, an open sea really surrounds the Pole, and a warmer atmosphere prevails,

the conditions of their existence will necessarily be more favourable.

' 18

176

AT UPEUNAVIK.

Before we come to speak of the cliaracteristifs of tlie Eskimos, we must briefly notice the
Danish settlements in Greenland, which are gradually nttractinjif no inconsiderable number of
them within the hounds of civilization. These are dotted along the coast, like so many centres
of light and life ; but the most important, from a commercial point of view, are Upornavik,
Jacobuhav'n, and (iodhav'n.

Upernavik is the chief town of a district which extends from the 70th to the 74th degree of
north latitude, and enjoys the distinction of being the most northerly civilized region in the
world. Its northern boundary represents the furthest advance of civilization in its long warfare
against the Arctic climate.

The town of U])ernavik is situated on the summit of a mossy hill which slopes to the head
of a smalj but sheltered harbour. It contains a government-house, plastered with pitch and tar;
a shop or two ; lodging-houses for the Danish officials ; some timber huts, inhabited by Danes ;

e i»jiiunB

UPKRNAVIK, GREKNL.VND.

and a number of huts of stone and turf, intermingled with seal-skin tents, which accommodate
the natives. Its principal evidences of civilization are its neat little church and parsonage.

The inhabitants are chiefly occupied in fishing and hunting, and in the manufacture of suit-
able clothing for the protection of the human frame acTi'inst the winter cold. Keindcer, seal, and
dog skins are deftly converted into hoods, jackets, trousers, and boots. The last-named are
triumphs of ingenuity. They are made of seal-skin which has been hardened by alternate freezing
and thawing ; are sowed with sinew, and " crimped " and fitted to the foot with equal taste and
skill. Dr. Hayes informs us that the Greenland women, not exempt from the lo/e of finery
characteristic of their sex, trim their own boots in a pertectly "ol witching manner, and adopt
the gayest of coloure. Red boots, or white, trimmed with red, ite says, seemed most generally
worn, though there was no more limit to the variety than to the capriciousness of the fancy which
suggested it. And it would be difficult to imagine a more grotesque spectacle than is presented
by tlie crowd of red, and yellow, and white, and purple, uiv blue-legged women who crowd the
beach wlienever a strange ship enters the harbour.

DISCO ISLAND.

177

The population of Upernavik numbers now about two hundred and fifty souls ; cuni])risinq
some forty or fifty Danes, a larger number of half-breeds, the remainder beint^ native Green-
landers, — that is, Eskimos.

DISCO ISLAND, QREENLANIi.

In describing one Danish settlement we describe all, for they present exactly the same
characteristics, the diffei-ence between them being only a question of population.

Jacobshav'n and Godhav'n are situated on the island of Disco, which is separated from tlie

QODHAVN, UlSCO ISLAND, OItEKNt.AND.

west coast of Greenland by Wcygat Strait, and has bceii described as one of tlie most icniarkabl 3
localities in the Arctic Wcrld. The tradition runs that it was translated from a southern region
to its present position by a potent sorcerer ; and an enormous hole in the rock is pointed out aa

178

JACOBSHAV'N IN GREENLAND.

tliu j,'ully through wliich lie passed his rope. It is a lofty ishmd, and its coast is bolted round by
liigh traj) cliiis, of the most imposing aspect. Near its south-west extremity, in lat. G9° S., a low
rugged spur or tongue of granite projects into the sea for about a mile and a half, — a peninsula
at low water, and an island at high water, — and forms the snug little recess of Godhav'n, or
(Jood Harbour. To the north of the l)ay, in face of rocky cliffs, which rise perpendicularly
from the sea to a height of 2000 feet, lies the town of the same name, which our English
whalers know as Lievely, probably a corruption of the adjective lively; for the tiny colony is the
metropolis of Northern Greenland ; and since the beginning of the present century has been the
favourite rendezvous of the fishing Heets and expeditions of discovery.

Further to the nortli lies Jacobshav'n, which possesses a celebrity of its own as one of the
most ancient of the Moravian mission-stations in the north of Greenland. JJesides a church, it

IiANlslI .■SKTTl.KMKXT OK JAlOlllsllAV X, llKKKXI.ANIl.

boasts of a college for the education and trainnig of n.atives who desire to be of service to their
fellow-countrymen in the capacity of catechists or teachers. So great has been the industry, and
so well deserved is the influence of the missionaries, that it is difficult now to find an Eskimo
woman in this part of Greenland who cannot read and write. Prior to the Danish colonisation
iif Greenland, the language of the natives was exclusively oral. Only through the medium of
speech could they represent their simplest ideas ; and the picture-writing of the North American
Indians was beyond their skill. But the missionavies have raised the Eskimo tongue into the
111 Ilk of written languages. At Godthaab a printing-nress is in full operation, and has already
pniduced some very interesting historical narratives and Eskimo traditions.

As is the case with all the Greenland colonie.s, Jacol.-ihav'n owes its prosperity to the seal-
tlshing. Mor(>()vor, the Greenland, or " right " whale, in its ami'>al migrations southward, enters
the neighbouring waters during the montli of September, and fun.i.hes employment to the fish-
ing p ipuliition. ' ' '■' ''"'' ' ' ' ' "" i ' " "' - ' ■" •'•:';

III the neighbourhood of Jacobshav'n an enormous glacier, one of the offshoots of the great

CHAUACfKlUSTlfS OF TIIK K.SKIM08. It9

central mer de glace of Greenland, finds its way to the sea. Yot the tcniporaturo is said to l>t'
milder than at Godliav'n.

The following remarks apply, of course, to those Eskimos who still lead a nomadic life, and
have profited little or nothing by the Clu'lstian civilization of the Danisli settlements and
Moravian missions.

Among themselves the Eskimos are known as Inuits, or " men ;" the seamen of the Jludsoii
Bay ships have long been accustomed to call them Seijmos or Suckemos — names derived from the
cries of Seymo or Teijmo with which they hail the arrival of the traders ; while tlie old Norse-
men designated them, in allusion to their discordant shouts, or by way of expressing their infinite
contempt, Skraelingers, " screamers " or " wretches."

Tlie European feels impelled to pity the hard fate which condemns them to inhabit one of
the dreariest and most inhospitable regions of the globe, where only a few mosses and lichens, or
plants scarcely higher in the scale of creation, can maintain a struggling existence ; where land
animals and birds are few in number ; and where human life would l)e impossible but for the
provision which the ocean waters so abundantly supply. As they live in a great degree upon
lish and the cetaceans, they dwell almost always near the coast, and never penetrate inland to
any considerable distance.

In the east the Eskimos, for several centuries, have been subjected to the civihzing inthiences
of the English and the Dutch ; iii the west, they have long been under the iron rule of the Mus-
covite. Tn the north and the centre their interf-ourse with Europeans has always been casual and
inconsiderable. It will therefore be understood that the different branches of this wide-.spread
race must necessarily exhibit .some diversity of ch-ivacter, and that the .same description of man-
ners and mode of life will not in all points apply with equal accuracy to the savage and heathen
Eskimos of the extreme northern shores and islands, the Greek Catholic Alelits, the faithful
servants of the Hudson Bay Company, and the disciples of the Moravian Brethren in Ijabrador
or Greenland. Yet the differences are by no means important, and it may be doubted whether
any other race, living under sucli peculiar conditions, and extending over so vast an area, can
•show so few and such inconsiderable specific varieties. When one thinks of an Eskimo, one
natui'all; calls up a certain image to one's mind : that of a man of moderate stature or under
medium size, with a broad flat face, narrow tapering forehead, and narrow or more or Icod
oblique eyes ; and this image or type will be found to bo realized thiv ghout the length and
breadth of Eskimo America. The E.skimo, generally speaking, would .seem to have sprang from
a Mongol stock ; at all events, he can claim no kin.ship with the Red Indians, Haj)pily for
Europeans, if inferior to the latter in physical qualities, he is superior in generosity and amiability
ot disposition.

The Eskin.os are sometimes .spoken of as if they were dwarfs or Lilliputians, but sut'h is not
the case. Thiy are shorter than the averagtj Frenchman or Englishman, but individuals
measuring fr >m five feet ten inches to six feet have been found in Camden Bay. Dr. Kane
speaks of Eskimos in Smith Strait who were fully a foot taller than himself. It is true ^f the
females, however, that they are comparatively little.

The Eskimos are a stalwai t, broad-shouldered rai e, considerably stronger than any other
uf the races of North Ame-ica. In both sexes the hand and feet are small and wull-shajied.

18ft HOW TO DliKSS IN Till". AliCTIC! KKOIONS.

'riii'ir inuscluH art; stronj^ly dcvelopud, owing to coiiMtiuit uxurcise in liunting the sua! and the
waliuH. Tlioy aiu also i)owi,'rt"ul wroHth-rs, and on no uin'(|iml terms couKl eonipeto with tliu athletic
colfhritics of Devon and Cornwall. Their iihysiognoni}-, notwithstanding its lack of heauty, is
far from displeasing ; its expression is cheerful and good-tempered, and the long winter night
does not seem to sadden their spirits or oppress their energies. The females are well made, and
though not handsome, are scarcely to be stigmatized as ugly. Their teeth are very white and
regular ; and their complexion is warm, clear, and good. It is true that it cannot be seen to
advantage, owing to the layers of dirt by which it is obscured ; but it is not much darker tlian a
dark brunette, and as for the dirt — well, perhaps, it is preferable to cosmetics !

Even in the Arctic World, woman seems conscious of the influence of her charms, and man
seems willing to recognize it. They plait their blaek and glossy hair — these Eskimo beauties ! —
with much "care and taste ; and they tattoo their forehead, cheeks, and chin with a few curved
lines, which produce a not altogether unpleasant effect.

From Behiing Straits eastward, as far a« the river Mackenzie, the males pierce the lower
lip near each angle of the mouth, in order to suspend to it ornaments of blue or green quartz, or
of ivory, shaped like buttons. Some insert a small ivory quill or dentalium shell in the carti-
lage of the nose. They decorate themselves, moreover, witli strings of glass beads ; or when and
where these cannot be obtained, with strings of the teeth of the musk-ox, wolf, or fox ; hanging
them to the tail of the jacket, or twining them round the waist like a girdle.

The influence of climate upon dress is a subject which we commend to the notice of art-critics
and iBsthetic philosopher. Within the Arctic Circle the problem to be solved is, how to obtain
the greatest amount of protection for the person, without rendering the costume too heavy or
cumbrous ; and the Eskimos have succeeded in solving it satisfactorily. They can defy the
rigour of the Arctic winter, its extreme cold, its severest gales, and pursue their avocations in
the open air even in the dreariness of the early winter twilight, so cleverly adapted is their garb
to the conditions under which they live. Their boots, made of seal-skin, and lined with the
downy skins of birds, are thoroughly waterproof; their gloves are large, but defend the hands
from frost-bite : they wear two pair of breeches, made of reindeer or seal-skin, of which the under
|)aij' has the close, warm, stimulating hair close to the flesh ; and two jackets, of which the upper
one is provided with a large liood, completely enveloping the head and face, all but the eyes.
The women are similarly attireJ, except that their outer jacket is a little longer, and the hood, in
whi(!h they carry their children, considerably larger ; and that, in summer, they substitute for
the skin-jacket a water-tight shirt, or kamleibi, made of the entrails of the seal or walrus. They
sew their boots so tig}"tly as to render them impervious to moisture, and so neatly that they may
almost be included in the category of works of art. In Labrador the women carry their infants
in their boots, which have a long pointed flap in front for the purpose.

In a preceding chapter we have spoken incidentally of the Eskimo huts. These, like the
Eskimo dress, are admirably adapted to the circumstances of the country and the nature of the
climate. The materials us'^ ,re either frozen snow, earth, stones, or tlrift-wood. The snow-hut
is a dome-shaped edifice, constructed in the following manner : —

First, the buildei-s trace a circle on tin,' smooth level surface of the snow, and the snow
gathered within the area thus defired is cut into slabs, and used for building tho walls, leaving
the ice underneatii to serve as tlxe flooring.

AN KSKIMo HUT.

181

The crevices between the slabs, and any accidental fissures, are closed ii|> bv tbrowinyf ;i few
shovelfuls of loose snow over tiie buildiiij,'. Two men are generally I'Ugaj^ed in the work ; and
when the dome is completed, the one within cuts a low door, through which he creeps. As the
walls are not more than three or four inches thick, they admit a soft subdued light into the
interior, but a window of transparent ice is generally added. Not only the hut, but the furniture
inside it, is made of snow ; snow seats, snow tables, snow couches — the latter rendered comfort-
able by coverings of skins. To exclude the cold outer air, the entrance i.' ,)rotected by an ante
chamber and a porch ; and for the purposes of intercommunication, covered piussages are carried
from one hut to another.

Tlio rapidity with which these snow-huts are raised is quite surprising, and certainly attbrds
a vivid illustration of the old saying that "practice brings perfection."' C'aptain ^['Clintock for

fm*^^^f**if'

BUILDING AN ESKIMO IIUT.

a few nails hired four Eskimos to erect a hut for his ship's crew ; and though it wa.'s twenty-four
feet in circumference, and five and a half feet in height, it was erected in a single day.

Much ingenuity is frequently displayed in their construction.

Dr. Scoresby, in 1824, found some deserted huts on the east coast of Greenland, which
showed no little con.-^tructive skill on the part of their builders.

A horizontal tunnel, about liftoen foot in length, and so low that a person entering it wiw
compelled to crawl on his hands and knees, opened with one end to the south, while the other
end terminated in the interior of the hut. This rose but slightly above the surface of the earth,
and being generally overgrown with moss or grass, could scarcely be distinguished from the
neighbouring soil. It resembled, indeed, a large ant-hill, or tlie work of a manmioth mole I In
some cases the floor of the tunnel was on a level with tliat of the hut ; but more frequently it
slanted downward> and upwards, so that the colder, and consequently heavier, atmospheric air
was still more completely prevented from mixing too quickly with the warmer air within. The

182

TIIK KSKIMO AT SKA.

iitlicr arran(?oniorit» •.xhibitwi the same iiigomiity in providing against the inconveniences of a
rigorous cliuiatu.

From the huts of the EskiiiK)s we pass to their boats.

The kaijtik or baiilar is as good in its way as the light and swift canoe of the Polynesian
islanders. It consists of a narrow, long, and light wooden framework, covered water-tight with
seal-skin, with a central aperture for the body of the rower. Sometimes the frame is made of
seal or walrus bone. The Eskimo takes his seat in his buoyant craft, with legs outstretched,
and binds a sack — which is made from the intestines of the whale, or the skins of young seals —
so tightiv rouiiil his waist, that even in a rolling sea the boat remains water-tight. Dexterously
and rai>idly using his padille, with his .s|)ear or harpoon before him, and preserving his equili-
brium witli marvellous steadines.s, he darts over the waves like an arrow ; and even if upset.

TIIK KSKIMO KAYAK.

speedily rigiits himself and his buoyant skifl". The oomial; or woman's boat, consists in like
manner of a framework covered with seal-skins ; but it is large enough to accommodate ten or
twelve people, with b-^nches for the women who row or paddle. The ma-st supports a triangular
sail, made of the entrails of seals, and easily distended by the wind.

It tins been observed that a similar degree of inventive and executive skill is displayed by
the Eskimos in tlu spears and harpoons, their fishing and hunting implements. Their oars are
tastefully inlaid with walrus teeth; they have several kinds of spears or darts, i".?cording to the
character of the animal they intend to hunt ; and Uieir bows, with strings of seal-gut, are so
strong and elastic as to drive a six-foot arrow a really consideralde distance. The harpoons and
spears used in killing whales or seals have long shafts of wood or lione, and the bprbed point is

ESKIMOS AND liKD INDIANS.

IBS

80 constructed that, when loclj,'C(l in the hody of an animal, it remains imbedded, while the shiift
attached to it by a strinji; is loosened from the socket, and acts iw a buoy. Seal skins tilled with
air, like bladdera, arc also employed as buoys for the whale-spears, l)oinj^ stripped from the
animal with such address that all the natural apertures arc easily made air-ti;,dit.

Fish-hook8, knives, and spear or harpoon heads, the Eskimos make of the horns and bones of
the deer. In constructin<j their sledges, and rootinj,' their huts, they have recourse to the ribs of
the whale, when drift-wood is not available. Strips of seal-skin hide are a capital sub.stitute
for cordage, and cords for nets and bow-strings are manipulated from the sinews of musk-
oxen and deer.

TIIK KSKIMil OOMIAK.

A strange and deadly antagonism prevails between the Eskimos and the Red Indians. ( )ii
the part of the latter it would seem to originate in jealousy, for the Eskimos are superior in skill,
social habits, general intelligence, personal courage, and strength ; on the part of the latter, in
the necessity for self-defence and the provocations they have received from a sanguinary enemy.

Hence, the Indians inhabiting the borders of the Pobr World seek eveiy opportunity of
surprising and massacring the inoffensive Eskimos. Hearne relates that, in the course of his
expedition to the Coppermine River, the Indians who accompaiued him obtained information
that a party of Eskimos had raised their summer huts near the river-mouth. In spite of his
generous eft'orts, they resolved on destroying tlic peaceful settlomeit. Stealthily they made
their approach, and when the midnight sun touched the horizon, they swooped down, with

IRI AT ANATOAK.

a fiii^littul }ull, ijii tluir uiif'ortuiiatu viutiniH, not one of whom twapod. W'itli tliat lovo of
torturo which mudiiis iiihoreiit in tlio Rod Indian, they did their utuiottt to intunwify and prolont;
the ngouius of the BuftuiuiH ; and one aj^ed woman had ))otli her eyes torn out before Hho
received lier dcath-hlow. The wene where thin crufi HhiU]i^liter took place is known to tills
(lay a8 tin; " liluudy Kails."

Dr. Kane supi)lie8 Home iiiterestinj^ particulai«i of a party tA' Eskimos with whom he became
accpiainted ihirinjLj his memorable expedition. The intimacy began under unfavourable circum-
Htances, for three of the party had been detected in a scandalous theft, had attempted to carry
oft' their plunder, were |)urKUud, overtaken, and punished. Soon afterwards, Metek, the head
man or chief, arrived on the scene, and a treaty of peace wiw concluded.

On the part of the fnuit, or Eskimos, it ran as follows :—

" We promise that we will not steal. We promise we will bring you fresh meat. We pro-
mise we will sell or lend you dogs. We will keep you company whenever you want us, and
show you where to find the game."

On the part of the A'ablunah, or white men, it ran as follows :-

" We promise that we will not visit you with death or sorcery, nor do you any hurt or mis-
chief whatsoever. Wo will shoot for you on our hunts. You shall be made welcome aboard
ship. We will give you presents i^f needles, pins, two kinds of knife, a hoop, three bits of hard
wood, some fat, an awl, and some sewing-thread ; and we will trade with you of these and every-
thing else you want for walrus and seal meat of the tirst quality."

The treaty, says Dr. Kane, was not solemnised by an oath ; but it was never broken.

The Eskimo settlement at Anatoak, lat. 78° N.,on the shore of Smith Strait, near Cape
liiglefield, seems to merit description.

The hut or igloii was a single rude elliptical apartment, built not unskilfully of stone, the
outside lined with sods. At its further end, a rude platform, also of stone, was raised about a
foot above the entering ftoor. The roof was irregularly curved. It was composed of flat stones,
remarkably laige and heavy, arranged so as to overlap each other, but apparently without any
intelligent application of the principle of the arch. The height of this cave-like abode barely
|)eniiitted one to sit upright. Its length was eight feet, its breadth seven feet, and an expansion
of the tunnelled entrance made an appendage of perhiips two feet more.

The true winter-entrance is called the tos.mt. It is a walled tunnel, ten feet long, and so
narrow that a man can hardly crawl along it. It opens outside below the level of the igloe, into
which it leads by a gradual ascent.

Thus the reader will see that the hut at An.atoak was constructed on the same principles as
the huts discovered by Dr. Scoresby.

Time had done its w ork, says Dr. Kane, on the igloe of Anatoak, as among the palatial
structures of more southern deserts. The entire front of the dome had fallen in, closing up the
tossut, or tunnel, and forcing visitors and residents to enter at the solitary window above it.
The breach was wide enough to admit a sledge-teai.. ; but the Eskimos showed no anxiety to
close it up. Their clotlies (saturated with the freezing water of the Hoes, these men of iron
gathered round a Hre of hissing and flaring whaie's blubber, and steamed away in apjjarent com-
fort. The only departure from their usual routine was suggested probably b}' the open roof and

MANNKIIS ANn (ITMTOMH. 1S«

the blfakncBS of the ni;,'ht ; and therefore they refniined from Htrippinj,' theiuwdveH imktd Ik Ibrc
coming into the hut, iind hnngini,' up thiir (hii)i>iiig veHtmeiitH to dry, like a votive otfirin^ to
the ;^od of the Hea.

Their kitchen impleinenis were remarkable for .Hinipliiity. " A rude .saucci- shaped cup id
Heal-wkin, to gather and liold water in, was the solitary uteimil tluvt could hi; digniKed as t»l)le-
fumiture. A Hat stone, a fixture of the hut, supported by other stones just above the shouldi-r
blade of a walrus, — the stone slightly inclined, the cavity of the bone large enough to hold a
moss-wick and some blubber ; a scjuare block of snow was placed on tiie stone, and, as the liot
smoke circled round it, the seal-skin saucer caught the water tiiat dripped from the edge. Tiny
had no vessel for boiling; what they did not eat raw they baked upon a hot stone. A solitary
coil of walrus-line, fastened to a movable lance-head (noon-ghak), with the well-worn and wdl-
soaked clothes on their backs, completed the inventory of their ett'eets."

The Eskimos entertained Dr. Kan*, and his companions with a choral performance, singing
their rude, monotonous song of " Anina Ayah" till the unfortunate white men were almost mad-
dened by the discord. They improvised, moreover, a special chant in tlieir honou'-. which they
repeated with great gravity of utterance, invariably concluding with the sonorous and compli-
mentary refrain of "Nalegak! nalegak! ludegak-soak ! " — "Captain! captain! great captain!"
The chant ran as follows : —

gf^^^i^^^ig^plj

Am • iia • yah ! Am - na ■ yah ! Am • iia • yoli I Am • tin • yah I

In the early spring the Eskimos resume their hunting expeditions, and their snow-covered
huts are transformed into scenes of the liveliest activity. Stacks of jointed meat, chiefly walrus,
are piled upon the ice-foot ; the women stretch the hide for sole-leather, and the men collect a
store of hai-poon-lines for the winter. Tusky walrus heads stare at the spectacle from the snow-
bank, where they are stowed for their ivory ; the dogs are tethered to the ice ; and the children,
each one armed with the curved rib of some big walrus or seal, play ball and bat among tlie
snow-drifts.

The quantity of walrus meat which the Eskimos accumulate during a season of plenty should
certainly raise them above all risk of winter want ; but other causes than improvidence render
their supplies scanty. They are never idle ; they hunt incessantly without the loss of a day.
When the storms prevent the use of the sledge, they occupy themselves in stowing away the
spoils of previous hunts. For this purpose they 'ig a pit either on the mainland, or, which is
preferred, on an island inaccessible to foxes, and the jointed meat is stacked inside, and covered
with heavy stones.

The true explanation of the scarcity from wliich these people so frequently suffer is the
excessive consumption iu which they indulge during the summer season. J3y their ancient laws
all share in couuuou ; and since they migrate in numbers when their necessities press them, the
tax on each separate settlement is excessive. The quantity which the members of a family con-
sume seems excessive to a stranger ; yet it is not the result of inconsiderate gluttony, but due
to their peculiarities of life and organization. In active exercise, and under the influence of
exposure to a severe temperature, tha waste of carbon must be enormous.

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186 AN KSKIMO COIJPLK.

Wlieu indoors, and at rest, cn}^aj,a(l upon tlioir ivory harnoss-riiigs, fowl-nets, or other
liousohold j,'car, they eat, as many eat in more civilized lands, for mere animal enjoyment, and to
paHH away tlie time. But when enffngcd in the clmse, they take but one ir al a day, and that
not luitii tiie day's labour is ended. They go out upon the ice without breakfas^t, and seldom eat
anytliiiij,' until their return. Dr. Kane estimates the average ration of an E.skimo in a season
of plenty at eight to ten pounds of meat a day, with soup and water to the extent of half a
gallon. Such an allowance might almo.st have satisfied the appetite of Gargantua !

])r. Hayes, in tiie course of his adventurous Arctic boat-journey, held much intercourse with
the Eskimos, and his impressions, on the whole, would seem to have been highly favourable.

His sketch of a couple whom he met in *^^he neighbourhood of the pjskimo colony of Nctlik
is very amusing.

He describes thorn a.s a most ?»ihumau-looking pair. Everything on and about them told of
the battle thoj' fought so gallantly and patiently with the elements. From head to foot they
were invested in a coat of ice and snow. Shapeless lumps of whiteness, they resembled the
snow-kings or statues which boys delight in making, except that they possessed the faculty of
motion. Their long, heavy fox-skin coats, reacliing nearly to the knees, and surmounted by a
liood, covering, like a round lump, all of the hciui but the face, the bear-skin pantaloons and boots
and mittens were saturated with snow. Their long, black hair, which fell from beneath their hoods
over their eyes and cheeks, their eyelashes, the few haira growing upon their chins, the rim of fur
around their faces, all glittered with white frost — the frozen moisture of their breath. Each
cariied in his right hand a whip, and in his left a lump of frozen meat and blubber. The meat
Ihey Hung down on the floor of Dr. Hayes' hut; then, without pausing for an invitation, they
thrust their whipstocks under the rafters, and divesting themselves of their mittens and outer
garments, hung them thereon. Underneath their frosty coats they wore a warm, close shirt of
bird-skins.

In the same bold explorer's narrative of his voyage of discovery in 18C0, two other Eskimos
figure very conspicuously • and one of these, named Hans, would stem to have been a verj'^ fair
typo of the Eskimo character. Hans, we may observe, had originally served in Dr. Kane's
expedition, and had then gained the confidence of Dr. Hayes ; so that when the latter undertook
his own memorabL voyage, he became anxious to secure the Eskimo's services.

When his ship had crossed Melville Bay, and lay in the grim shadows of Cape York, Dr.
Hayes bethought himself of the Eskimo hunter. He remembered to have heard that Hans had
fallen in love, and taken a wife, and repaired, with her at his side, to share the fortunes of the
wild Eskimos who inhabit the remote northern shores of Baffin Bay.

But Dr. Hayes felt confident that the hunter, having known something of the superior
comfort and hajipiness of the social life of civilization, would soon weary of his voluntary banish-
ment, and of the penury and hardships of the existence of the Eskimo nomads. He made up
his mind that Hans would return to Cape York, and there take up his residence, in the hope of
being picked up by some passing ship.

So Dr. Hayes stood close mshore, to find that his conjectures were completely realized. As
he sailed along the coast he discovered a group of human beings eagerly endeavouring by signs
and gestures to attract attention. Heaving the schooner to, he and his second in command, Mr.

DK. HAVES FALLS IN WITH HANS TIIK HUNTEB.

DIt. HAYKS, AND HANS THK HUNTKIi. 189

Sountag, went ashore in a boat, and there was Hans ! The Eskiiiiu recognizetl both nf thorn
immediately, and called them by nauic.

We may adopt the remainder of Dr. Hayes' interesting little e]»isodo, because it illustrates
the ingrained selfishness, or self-concentration, of the Fskimo character.

Hans had deteriorated greatly during his residence with the wild Eskimos, and he had .><unk
to their level of filthy ugliness. He was accompanied by his wife, who carried her tirst-born in
a hood i.pon her back ; his wife's brother, a ouick-eyed boy of twelve years ; and his wife's
mother, "an ancient dame with voluble and flippant tongue." They were all attired in the usual
Eskimo dress of skins ; objects of interest and curiosity, but not " things of be.iuty."

Hans led his visitors, over rough rocks and throti'^h deep drifts of snow, to iiis rude hut,
which stood on the cold hill-top, about two hundred feet above the sea-level. An excellent
position for a " look-out," but as inconvenient for a hunter as can well be imagined. Here he
had watched and waited for many a di-eary month ; surveying the sea day after day, in the faint
hope of discovering some European vessel. But none came , summer pa.ssed into winter, and
winter lengthened into summer; and still Hans watched and waited, yearning after his southern
home and the friends of his youth.

His tent — for it was rather a tent than a hut — was made of seal-skins, and its capacity was
scarcely sufficient to accommodate his little family.

Dr. Hayes asked him if he would accompany the expedition.

" Yes."

Would he take his wife and baby ?

"Yes."

Would he go without them ?

" Yes."

This last answer reveals the curious unimpressionableness of the Eskimo, who endures with
calmness, nay, even with indifference, those partings which try the heartstrings of the European.
It is, perhaps, a result of the con'^tant wai fare he maintains against an uncongenial and austere
Nature that he comes to regard himself as his first and chief, as almost his only concern. So
long af his wife and children surround liim, he shows no evident want of affection ; but he has no
objection to part from them, if the separation will prove to his individual interest.

As Dr. Hayes had no leisure to examine critically into the state of his mind, and as ho
cherished a conviction that the permanent separation of husband and wife was to bo regarded
as a painful event, he determined oa giving the Eskimo mother the benefit of this conventional
suspicion. Both husband and wife, therefore, were carried on board the schooner, as well tvs
their baby, their tent, and all their household goods. The bright-eyed boy and the ancient dame
cried to accompany them ; but Dr. Hayes had no further room, and waa compelloil to leave them
to the care of their tribe, who, about twenty in munber, had discovered the schooner, and with
a merry shout had come across the hill. After bestowing upon them some useful gifts, Dr.
Hayes returned to his vessel.

He adds that Hans was the only unconcerned person in the party. At a later period the
thought crossed his commander's mind that he would by no means have boon displeased hatl wife
and child been left to the charity of their savage kin : while Dr. Hayes hatl abundant reason,

190 ABOUT TilK KSKIMO DOGS.

durinj,' the course of the expedition, to wish that he liad left the selfish and indolent Eskimo to
liiijffi- in his seal-nkin tent anion<^ the hill.i and rocks of Cai>e York.

Tlie .same traveller describes the hunting ecjuipment of a party of Eskimos setting out in
pursuit of beai-s.

First, the dogs. These were j»icketed, each team separately, on a convenient area of level
ground; and on the approach of Dr. Hayes and his companions they sprang up from the knotted
heap, in which they liad been lying through the night, with a wild, fierce yell, which died away
into a low whine and impatient snarl. They evidently were hungry, and their masters seemed
desirous of feeding them ; for, going to their sledges, each one brought up a flat piece of some-
thing which looked singularly like plate-iron, but, upon examination, was found to be walrus-
hide, three-quarters of an inch thick, and frozen intensely hard. Throwing it upon the snow a
few feet in advance of their respective teams, they drew their knives from their capacious boots,
and attempted to cut up the skin ; but its hardness defied all their efforts, and Dr. Hayes had
to fetch hatchet and saw before the work of division could be completed.

During the few minutes thus occupied, the dogs had become almost frantic. They en-
deavoured to break loose ; pulling on tlieir traces, running back and springing forward, straining
and choking themselves until their eyes shot fire, and the foam flew from their mouths. The
sight of food had stimulated their wolfish jiassions, and they seemed ready to eat each other. Not
a moment pa-ssed that two or more of them were not flying at each other's throats, and, grappling
together, rolled, and tossed, and tumbled over the snow.

The Eskimos looked on apparently unconcerned, except when there ajjpeared a risk of one
of the dogs being injured, and then they secured a temporary calm by uttering an angry nasal
"Ay! Ay!"

When at length the food was thrown, the dogs uttered a greedy scream, which was followed
by a moment's silenci while the pieces were falling, then by a scuffle, and the hard, frozen
chunks had vanished. How they were swallowed, or how they were digested, was, to the
spectator, inexplicable I f^nough t^ say that " the jaws of darkness did devour them up," and
calm instantaneously succeeded to ibe storm.

The Eskimo dog is of mtdiuni sizo, and squarely built ; in fact, he is a reclaimed wolf, and
exhibits that variety of colour which, after a few generations, generally characterizes tame animals.
Gray, which is often seen, was probably at one time the predominating colour. Some of the dogs
are black, with white breasts; some are wholly wl'ite; others are reddi.sh or yellowish; but,
indeed, almost every shade may be seen amongst them. Their skin is covered witli a coarse, com-
pact fur, and is much valued by the natives for tlie purposes of clothing. In the form of the
animals the variety is considerable ; but the general characters would seem to be a pointed nose,
short ears, a cowardly, treacherous eye, and a hanging tail. But exceptions occasionally occur,
and one figiu-es in Dr. Hayes' narrative under the name of Toodlamik, or, more briefly, Toodla.

lie difl'ered from his kind in having a more compact he.ad, a less pointed nose, an eye denot-
ing aff'ection and reliance, and an erect, bold, fearless carriage. Dr. Hayes, however, expresses
some doubt as to his purity of blood. From the beginning to the end of the cruise he was master
of nil the dogs that were brought to the ship. In this connection it is worthy of remark, that in
every pack one dog invariably attains the mastership of the whole — a kind of major-generalship;

A CANINE ' CIIARACTEK."

101

and in each team, one who is master of his comrades, a general of brigade. Once master, always
master; but the post of honour is gained at the cost ci iiany a lame leg and ghtvatly wountl, and
is held only by doing daily battle against all comers. These could easily gain the ascendancy in
every case, but for their own petty jealousies, which often prevent their union for such a purpose.
If a combination, however, does happen to be brought about, and the leader is hopelessly beaten,
he is never worth anything afterward ; his spirit is completely prostrated, the poor follow pines
away, and dies at last of a broken heart.

ESKIMO DOGS.

Toodla, says Dr. Hayes, was a character in his way. He was a tyrant of no mean pretension.

Apparently he thought it his special duty to attack every dog, great or jmall, that was added to

the pack : if the animal was a large one, in order, probably, that he might at once be forced to

fenl that he had a master ; if a small one, in order that the others might hold him in the greater

awe. It was sometimes quite amusing to see him set otf in pursuit of a strange 'og, his head

erect, his tail curled gracefully over his back ; slowly and deliberately he went straight at his

mark, with the confident, defiant air of one who recognizes the power and importance of his office.

'I fl"

103

THE ESKIMO'S SLEDGE.

Leagues and conspiracies were not unfrefjuently iormed against him, induced, no doubt, by a
feeling' of despair ; but ho always Hueceedud in overthrowing them, — not, it is true, without
o<'casional assistance from " without ; " for the sailors, who petted him greatly, would sometimes
take his part when the struggle was manifestly unequal.

But we must leave the dogs, and turn to the sledge.

This was, in very tiuth, an ingenious specimen of native mechanical skill. It was made
wholly of bone and leather. The runners, which were square behind and rounded upward in
front, and about five feet long, seven inches high, and three-fourths of an inch thick, were slabs
of bone; not solid, but made up of a number of pieces of various shapes and sizes, dexterously
fitted ant'.' tightly lashed together. Some of these were not larger than one's two fingers; some
were three or four inches square : others were as large a,« one's hand, and tiiangular in shape ;
others, again, were several inches in length, and two or three in breadth. They all fitted into their
several places as exactly as the blocks of a Chinese puzzle. Near their margins ran rows of
little holes, and through these strings of seal-skin were inserted, by which the blocks were
fastened together, until the whole was as firm as a board.

The marvel of the thing is that all these pieces are flattened and cut into the required shape,
not with nicely contrived instruments and tools, but with stones. The labour must be inunense.
The grinding needed to muke a single runner must be the wcrlc of months. The construction of
an entirely new sledge would probably occupy the lifetime of a generation ; and hence a vehicle
of this kind becomes a family heirloom, and is handed down irom father to son, and son to grand-
son, and is constantly undergoing repair and restoration ; a new piece here, another there, until
as little remains of the original structure as of the sailor's old knife, when it had had a new bhule
and a new haniUe ! The origin of some of the Eskimo sledges is lost in the mists of a remote
antiquity.

The 1 nuers are usually shod with ivory from the tusk of the walrus. The said ivory had
likewise been ground flat, and its corners made square, with stones; and it was fastened to the
1 unuoi- by a string looped through two counter-sunk holes. The pieces of which it was composed
were numerous; but tbd surface was wonderfully uniform, and as smooth as glass.

The runners stood about fourteen inches apart, and were fastened together by bones, tightly
lashed to them ; the bones used being the femur of the bear, the antlers of the reindeer, and the
ribs of the narwhal. Two walras-ribs, lashed one to the after-end of each runner, served as
upstanders, and were braced by a piece of reindeer rntler, secured across the top.

Having thus disposed of the team and the sledge, we now come to the equipment.

First, one of the Eskimo hutiters spread a piece of seal-skin over the sledge, fastening it
securely by little strings attached to its margin. On this he placed a small piece of walrus-skin,
as a provision for the dogs ; a piece of blubber for fuel ; t^nd of meat for his own lunch. During
liis absence he would cook no food, but he would want water ; and therefore he carried his
kollul; or lamp — namely, a small stone dish ; a lump of mannek or dried moss, designed for tlie
wick ; and some willow-blossoms (na-owinals) for tinder. To ignite the tinder, he had a piece of
iron-stone and a small sharp Cragment of flint.

We may follow him on his route, and ascertain the use he makes of these appliances.

'I'lIK HUNTKU'S KcjUil'MKNT. IM

Wliuii lio f^rowH thir«ty, ho halts; scnvpea nwny the snow until liis lays Imii' tlio solid iro
beneath ; and painfully scoojw in it a small cavity. Next, he fetches a block of fivsh-water ico
from a ni "' 'ibouring berg, lights his lamp, and, using the blubber for fuel, proceeds to place tlio
block .>n tlio edge of the cavity. As it slowly thaws, the water trickles down into the hole ; an«l
when the Eskimo thinks the (juantity collected is sufficient to quench his thirst, he removes the
ruile apparatus, and, stooping down, drinks the soot-stained fluid. If ho feels hungry, he breaks
off a few chips from his lump of frozen walrus-beef, cuts a few slices from the blubber, and enjoys
his unsatisfactory meal. The inhabitant of the Arctic desert knows nothing of epicurean tastes :
and if he did, ho has no mcanb of gratifying them.

To return to the equipment. The hunter carried with him an extra pair of boots, another
of dog-skin stockings, and another of mittens, to bo used in case ho should be unfortunate
enough to get on thin ice, and the ice should break through.

The entire equipment being placed upon the sledge, he threw over them a piece of bear-skin,
which Avas doubled, so that, when opened, it would be large enough to wrap about his body and
protect it from the snow, if he wished to lie down and rest. Then ho drew forth a long line,
fastened an end of it through a hole in the fore part of one of tho runners, ran it across
diagonally to the opposite runner, passed it through a hole there, and so continued, to and fro,
from side to side, until ho reached the other end of the sledge. There he made fast the lino, and
thus the cargo was secured against all risk of loss from an upset. Next he hung to one
upstandor a coil of heavy line, and to the other a lighter coil, tying them fast with a small
string. The former was his harpoon-line for catching walrus ; the latter, for catching seal. His
harpoon staff v/aa made from the tusk of the narwhal ; measured five feet in length, and two
inches in diameter at one end, tapering to a point at the other.

All being ready, the team, consisting of seven dogs, was brought up. The harness was of a
very primitive description. It consisted of two doubled strips of bear-skin, one of which was
placed on either side of the animal's body, the two being fastened together on tho top of the neck
and at the breast, so as to form a collar. Thence they passed inside of the dog's fore legs and up
along his flanks to the tail, where the four ends meeting together were attached to a trace
eighteen feet in length.

The trace was connected with the sledge by a line four feet long, of which one end was
attached to each runner. And to the middle of the line a stout string was fastened, running
through bone rings at the ends of the traces, and secured by a slip-knot, easily untied — an
arrangement designed with the view of ensuring safety in bear-hunting. The bear is hotly pur-
sued until the sledge arrives within about fifty yards ; the hunter then leans forward and slips
the knot ; the dogs, set loose from the sledge, quickly bring the brute to bay. If tho knot gets
fouled, serious accidents are not unlikely to occur. The hunter vainly endeavours to extricate it,
and before he can draw his knife to cut it — supposing he is fortunate enough to have such an
instrument — man, a^^d dogs, and sledge are all among the bear's legs, in a huddled and tangled
heap, and at the mercy of the enraged monster.

The dogs were cold, and eager to start. In a moment they were yoked to the sledge ; the
hunter with his right hand threw out the coils of his long whip-lash, with his left he seized an
upstander, and propelling the sledge a few paces, he uttered at tho same moment the shrill

|9fi CIIAIIACTKI; (»K TIIK KfSKIMOS.

HtHiliii^{-ory, " Kii ! kii 1 -kii! ki; ! wliicli neiit tlio doj^.s in ii IhhiikI to tiioir [ilaccs, and away
Micy (IuhIiimI over tliu r\\iim>(\ '"i'- 'l'"' l'i"'te'' Hkilfully jfiiidud IiIh slodj^'o aiuonf? tlm hnnunockH,
modi lilt ih!,' tile iin|iftiiiwity of ]m team witli tho nasal "Ay I ay I" wliicli thuy peiCwtly undor-
Htiirid. < III niuliinj,' tlio HMiootli ici', Iw. droppofl upon tho hUhIj^o, allowed Iuh whip-lash to trail
after iiiin on tlit; snow, sliouti^d " Ka I ka I -ka ! ka I " to his Havago team, and disajipoared in as
wild a (gallop as over was taken hy the demon huntsman of German lejjend !

It does not appear tliat tiio Kskimos have maLfiHtratos or laws, yet the utmost good order
privails in thoir communities, and rpiarrels are rare. AViicn these do oeeur, one or other of the
dissatisfit.'d |)artie8 collects his little stole, and migrates to a different settlement. Tho constitu-
i ■*! tion (){' thefi" society is rightly descrilted as patriarchal, but tho ruler does not seem to bo elected :

he attains his post by proving his possession of superior strengtii, address, and courage. As soon
as his physical powers give way, or old age enfeebles his mind, he deposes himself, takes his seat
in the (loinidk, or woman's boat, and is relegated by common consent to female companionship.
Ijiki' all savage tribes, the E.skimos have their mystory-inen, or angekoks, who resort to the usual
deccjttions to acquire and retain supremacy, swallowing knives, resorting to ventriloquial artifices,
and conversing in a mysterious jargon, unintelligible to " the common herd." They profess to
liold inteiconrsc with certain [)otent .spirits, and to employ their agency in rewarding or punish-
ing their dupes; and oven tho influence of the Christian missionaries has hardly rooted out the
belief in the superstitions originated and fostered by these men.

Notwithstanding the hard conditions of their life, and tho dreariness of tho region which
they inhabit, the Eskimos are a cheerful people. They are keenly sensible of the charms of
music, though their own vocalization is inconceivably melancholy ; and they are partial to many
rude pastimes, mostly of a gymnastic character.

Their good nature has been praised by jnany travellers ; but they show the usual in-
humanity oi" the savage towards tho aged t d infirm. Weakness is no title to tho sympathy of
the Eskimr ; he respects strength, but he u.erly disregards and cruelly oppresses the feeble.
He is ungrateful towards his benefactors, and in his intercourse with .'■trangers his fidelity can be
relied upon only so long as he knows that any broach of faith will be severely punished. He
does not steal f'-om his own people, and "Tiglikpok," " ho is a thief," is a reproach among tho
Eskimos as among ourselves ; but no shame attaches to him if he robs the white man, though
the latter may have loaded him with favours.

If wo add that they di.splay a strong afl'ection for their children, and that the children are
singularly docile and obedient to their parents, we shall have said enough to assist the reader in
forming an accurate conception of tho characteristics of the inhabitants of the Eskimo Land.*

* Tlic iKMler will fiud some intenwtiuf; particulani in Dr. fiiiik's "Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo " (edit. 1875).

CHAPTER VIII.

LAPLAND AND TIIK LAPPS.

Ki||a|APLAND, or the Land of tlio Lapim, which the Lapps theinsolvcs call Sanicanda or
H ^3 Soinellacla, forms tho north and north-eastern portions of tlio Scandinavian peninsula,
'''"**^^ and is divided between Sweden and Russia. Norwc(,nan Lapland includes tho pro-
vinces of Norrland and Finmark ; Swedish, of North and South Bothtiia ; and Russian, of Kola
and Kemi. The last-named has an area of 11,300 square miles, with a population of 9000 ;
Swedish Lapland, an area of 50,600 square miles, with 4000 inhabitants ; and Norwegian, an
area of 20,500 square miles, with a population of 5000. We are hero referring to the number of
true Lapps ; in each division the population would be largely increased if we included Films,
Russians, Swedes, Norwegians.

Lapland, for nine months in the year, is bliglited by the rigour of a winter climate. Tho
summer months, when the sun docs not set for several weeks, are July and August ; and these
are preceded bj a brief spring, and followed by even a briefer autumn. Cereals do not thrive
higher than the sixty-si.^th parallel, with the exception of barley, which is cultivated a.s far
no"th as the seventieth. The greater part of the country comes within that wooded zone
which we described in an earlier chapter, and the forests, consisting of birch, pine, fir, and
alder, spread over a very extensive area. On the mosses and lichens which grow abundantly
in their shelter, are fed the immon o herds of reindeer which constitute the principal wealth of

the inhabitants.

Tho Lapps may almost be regarded as a nation of Lilliputians. Their men seldom exceed
five feet in height, while the majority are some inches below that very moderate sUture ; and
the women are even shorter. They are, however, a robust race, with muscular limbs, and
unusual girth of body, the circumference of their chest being nearly equal to their height. Their
complexion is dark, tawny, or copper-coloured ; their dark, piercing, deep-sunken eyes are set
very wide apart, so as to communicate a peculiar character to tho physiognomy. The wdd,
strange effect is further increased by the unkempt masses of dark, lank, straight hair which
droop on either side of the whiskerless, beardless face. The cheek-bones are prominent, like
those of a Celtic Highlander ; the nose is flat ; the raoti^h wide, with thin compressed lips. It
may be supposed that the Lapps, from these iuJications, are rot models of maaculine or feminine
beauty ; and Dr. Clarke asserts that, when aged, many of them, if exposed in a menagerie, might
be mistaken for ' long-lost transitional form intermediate between man and ape. And, cer-
tainly, there is something repulsive in the constant blinking of eyes rendered sore by the pungent

^ r

108 Ar.rONG THE LA ITS.

smoke of their huts, or the white glare of the snow, as well as in the expression of obstinacy and
low cunning which one reafls in every feature.

.A.n aristocrat iniglit be ]>r(iU(l of their small and finoiy-shaped hands ; but their arms, like
their logs, are di.sproportionately short, clumsy, and thick. Clumsy, we mean, in shape; cer-
tainly not in movement, for the extraordinary flexibility of their limbs is one of the traits by
which a Lapp i.s easily dist'iiguished.

Of the dress of the Lapps it is needless to say much. In winter it consists of bears' skins,
in which both male and female wrap themselves up, with the fur outward. In summer the men
wear a sort of tunic, tJie jmesk, made of coarse light-coloured woollen cloth, depending to the
knee, but bound about tlie waist with a belt or girdle. Their head-gear consists of a kind of fez,
made of wool, and adornt.J with a red worsted band round the rim, and a bright red tassel.
Their boots or shoes are cut from the raw skin of the reindeer, with the hair outwards, and they
are peaked in shape. They are thin, and they have no lining ; but the Lapp defends his feet
and ankles from the cold by stuffing the vacant space of the boot with the broad leaves of the
Carex vesicaria, or Cyperus grass, which he cuts in summer, rubs in his hands, and dries before
using. The female costume resemblo,s that of the males, but their girdles are gayer with rings
and chains.

The Lapps are a superstitious race. Like all the Norse tribes, they believe in witchcraft ;
and of old the Lapland witches had a reputation which extended to England, for being able
to ward off rain or disperse storms. The English seamen trading to Archangel frequently
visited their coast in order to buy a favourable wind.

Many of the Lapps claim the ability to foretell future events, and fall, or pretend to fall,
into a trance or ecstasy, during which they see visions, utter prophecies, and unlock the secrets
of those who trust to their divination. They also read the fortunes of inquiring dupes by means
of a cup of liquor, or by the vulgarest jargon of palmistry. Superatition is the daughter of
Ignorance. It is also the sister of Fear, for the superstitious are invariably prone to see
supernatural eigns and wonders in the appearances of the heavens, or to hear unearthly voices
borne upon tlie midnight wind, and in everything they cannot understand to imagine the
presence of some antagonistic power. As the American natives were panic-stricken at the
occurrence of an eclipse, so the liapps are filled with dread when the sky glows with the
coruscations of the aurora.

These superstitions prevail in spite of the exertions of priests and schoolmasters. They are
nourished in secret even when they are not openly proclaimed ; and the Lapp, after listening
de .'outly to the harangue of his pastor, will return home to offer homage to his saidas, or wooden
idols ; to cower at the name of Trolls, the evil spirit of the forest ; and to be deluded by the
artifices of any so-called witch or fortune-teller.

There are Lapps, and Lapps ; each, according to the region he inliabits, bearing his dis-
tinctive characteristics, and preserving his individual habits. Thus, there are tlie Fjiilllappars,
or Mountain Lapps ; the Skogslappars, or Wood Lapps ; and the Fisherlapps.

From the nature of the country the reader will expect, and will be right in expecting, that
the Fjalllappars form the most numerous section. They are the nomads of Lapland, and their
mode of life is entirely pastoral. As the Arabs with their flocks move from one oasis to another,
or the Tai-tars with their cattle, so the Lapps migrate from place to place, compelled by the

THE LAPP AND HIS HUT l»l»

necessity of finding sustenance for their herds of reindeer. The mosses and lichens on which
these animals feed are soon exhausted, and some time elapses before (he half-frozen soil replaces
them. The same cause operates to prevent the Lapps from assembling in large comnmnities.
Seldom more than three, four, or five families encamp in the same noighliourhooil.

It will not be supposed that the temporary abode of a nomad exhibits any architectural
completeness. Their tuguria, or huts, are of the rudest construction. They raise a conical frame-
work, composed of the flexible stems of trees, and this they cover with a coarse kind of canvas,
and in winter with the skins of reindeer and other animals. No doorway is required, and egress
and ingress are provided for by turning up a portion of the canvas at the bottom, so as to form a
triangular gap ; and the portion so turned up is let down again at night. In the centre of the
interior some large stones are piled together for r. fireplace, and a square opening in the roof
above carries off the smoke, and lets in the light and air — not to say rain, snow, and fog, when
these prevail.

The tent or hut we have described generally measures about six feet in diameter, and eighteen
to twenty in circumference. It does not exceed ten feet in height. There is no floor, but the
ground is covered with reindeer skins, and upon these the inhabitants sit or crouch by day, and
huddle themselves up at night. The household utensils, irii[ilements, and weapons are suspended
from the sides of the hut ; and the clothing of the family, no very extensive stock, i.s preserved
in a chest.

On a shelf or platform, raised liij/h above the reach of dogs and wolves, between two neigh
bouring trees, the Lapp keeps his store of dried reindeer flesh, and cheese, and curds ; for his diet
is as plain as his general habit of living. His herd of reindeer he puts up at night, or w 'len tliey
are required for milking, in a large enclosuie, about four hundred to five hundred feet in circuit,
formed by a barrier of posts and stumps of trees, supporting a row of horizontal poles. Against
the latter birch poles and branches of trees are placed diagonally, forming a kind of abattis, which
is found to be a sufficient security against the attacks of wolves.

It is said that the milking of a herd of reindeer affords a lively and picturesque spectacle.
Wlaen they have been driven within the area, and all the outlets closed, a Lapp, selecting a long
cord or thong, twists both ends round his left hand, and then in his right gathers the thong itself
in loose coils. Fixing on a reindeer, he flings the coils over its antlers. Sometimes the latter
offers no resistance ; but generally, on feeling the touch of the thong, it darts away, and its
pursuer, in order to secure it, is called upf>n for the most vigorous efforts. And the scene is
animated indeed, when half-a-dozen reindeer, pursued by as many Lapps, sweep round and round
the enclosure, until the former are finally overcome, or, as now and then happens, wrest the cord
from the hands of the discomfited Lapp, and leave him prostrate on the ground. When the
animal is secured, his master takes a dexterous hitch of the thong round his muzzle and head,
and then fastens him to the trunk of a prostrate tree. The operation of milking is performed by
both men and women.

As soon as the pasture in the neighbourhood is exhausted, the encampment is broken up,
and the little company migrate to some fresh station. The rude tuguria are dismantled in less
than half an hour, and paeked with all the household furniture on the backs of the reindeer, who,
by long training, are inured to serve as beasts of burden. On the journey they are bound
together, five and five, with leather thongs, and led by the women over the mounti.ins ; while the

too

SLKIKJINO AND SKATING.

riithur of thu family pioccdos the iniuch to select a suitable site for the new encampment, and his
sons or servants follow with the remainder of the herd.

As sprin^f vorf,'es upon summer, the Lapps abandon their mountain pastures, and move
towards tiio shore. No sooner do the reindeer scent the keen sea-air than, breaking loose from
all control, they da.sh headlong into the briny waves of the fiord, and drink long draughts of the
salt sea-water. The Lapps con.sider this sea-side migration essential to the health of their herds.
AVIun suninu'r reaches its meridian, and the snow melts, they return to the pleasant mountain-
solitudes, ascending higher and higher, according to the increase of temperature. Then, on the
.•i|ipn).uli of winter, they retire into the woods, where thiur great difficulty is to defend their herds
and tlieniselves from the attacks of the wolves. In this incessant warfare they derive much

-^'^^■»»--i**i"»'»«='^°*'

KEINDKEK IN LAI'LAND.

assistance from the courage of their dogs. These are about the size of a Scotch terrier, with long
shaggy hair, and a head bearing a curiously close resemblance to that of a lynx.

In the winter the Lapp accomplishes his journeys cither by sledging or skating.

Their skr.tes are not exactly things of beauty, but they answer their purpose admirably.
One is as long as the person who wears it ; the other is about a foot shorter. The feet of the
wearer are placed in the middle, and the skates, or skidas. fastened to them by thongs or withes.
They are maxle of fir-wood, and covered with the skins of reindeer, which check any backward
movement by acting like bristles against the snow. It is astonishing with what speed the Lapp,
thus equipped, can traverse the frozen ground. The most dexterous skater on the canals of
Holland could not outstrip him. He runs down the swiftest wild beasts ; and the exercise so
stimulates and warms his frame that, even in midwinter, when pursuing one of these lightning-
like courses, he can dispense with his garment of furs. When he wishes to stop, he makes use of

TllAVELLlNCi IN LAPI.AND.

801

a long pole, which is provided with a round ball of wood near tho end, to ])rovent it fVoni
sinking too deep into the snow.

He is no less expert as a sledger. His vehicle, or pnlka, is fasliioned like a boat, with a
convex bottom, so as to slip over the snow with all the jfreater ease ; the prow is sliarp and
pointed, but the hind part flat. Perhaps it may better be compared to a punt than a boat. At
all events, in this curious vehicle the Lapp is bound and swatlicd, like an infant in its cradle.
To preserve its equilibrium, he trusts to
the dexterity with which he moves his
body to and fro, and from side to side, as
may be needed ; and he guides it by
means of a stout pole. His steed, a
reindeer, is fastened to it by traces
attached to its collar, and connected with
the fore part of the sledge ; the reins are
twisted round its horns ; and all about
its trappings are hung a number of little
bells, in the tintinnabulation of which the
animal greatly delights. Thus accoutred,
it will perfonn a journey of fifty or sixty
miles a day ; sometimes travelling fifty
miles without pause, and with no other
refreshment than an occasional mouthful
of snow.

With wonderful accuracy the Lapp
will guide himself and his steed through
a seemingly labyrinthine wilderness, when

the usual signs and characters of the landscape are buried deep in snow. But his memor} is
tenacious, and a bhghted tree, or a projecting crag, or a clump of firs, affords him a snflHcient
indication of the correctness of his course. He frequently continues his rapid journey through-
out the night, when the moon invests the gleaming plains with a strange brilliancy, or the aurora
fills both earth and heaven with the reflection of its wondrous fires.

A French traveller, M. de Saint-Blaize, is of opinion that the Lapps, like all savage and
semi-civilized races, are rapidly diminishing in nundiers. Yet this diminution is hardly owing
to the conditions under which they live. Their life, to the civilized European, seems severe and
almost intolerable ; but though it is marked by privation and fatigue, it is not without its charms.
It is free and independent, and without anxiety. As for the privation and fatigue, the Lanp is
hardly conscious of them, because his capacity of endurance is great, and he is accustomed to them
from his earliest years. Temperate, active, and inured to exertion, his physical frame is wonder-
fully vigorous, and he knows nothing of the majority of maladies which afflict the dweller in cities.
One tenible disease, indeed, he does not escape, and this may have had much to do with their
decline, — the smallpox. Otherwise, they are a healthy as well as a hardy race. If during a
journey a Lapp woman gives birth to a child, she places the new-born in a frame of hollow
wood, in which a hole has been cut to receive the little one's head ; then slings this rude cradlb

Ti' WELLING IN LAFLANll.

202 TlIK I,/V1T HUNTKIJS.

Oil her back, and continues ber inarch. When she luilts, she suspends tlie infant and its cradle U) a
tree, the wirework witli which it is covered affording a sufficient protection against wild beasts.

ProfesHor Forbes, however, describes a more comfortable cradle, which is cut out of solid
wood, and covered witli leather, in flaps so arranged as to lace across the top with leathern
thongs ; the inside is lined with reindeer moss, and a pillow, also of reindeer moss, is provided
for the head of the infant, who fits the space so exactly that It cau .^tii neiclici hand nor foot

The Lapp is a bold hunter, and will encounter the bear single-handed. Like the Siberian,
he entertains a supei-stitious reverence for this powerful animal, which he regards as the wisest
and most acute of all the beasts of the field, and supposes o know and hear all that is said about
it; but as Its fur is valuable and its flesh well-favoured, ii does not refrain from pursuing it to
the death, though careful, so to speak, to kill it with the h'., t respect.

Early in winter the bear retires to a rocky cave, or a covert of branches, leaves, and moss,
and there remains, without food, and iu a state cf torpidity, until the spring recalls him to active
life. After the first snowfall, the Lapp hunters seek the forest, and search for traces of their
enemy. These being found, the spot is carefully marked, and after a few weeks they return,
arouse the slumbering brute, and stimulate it to an attack; for to shoot it while asleep, or, indetjd,
to use any weapon but a lance, is considered dishonourable.

Hogguer, whose narrative is quoted by Hartwig, accompanied a couple of Lapps, well armed
with axes and stout lances, on one of these dangerous expeditiona When about a hundred paces
from the bear's den, the party halted, and one of the Lapps advanced shouting, and his comrades
made all the din they could. He ventured within twenty paces of the cavern, and then threw
stones into it. For awhile all was quiet, and Hogguer began to think they had come upon an
empty den ; but suddenly an angry growl was heard.

The hunters now renewed and redoubled their clamour, until slowly, like an honest citizen
roused from his virtuous sleep by a company of roisterers the animal came forth from his lair.

At first he seemed indifferent and lethargic ; but, catching sight of his nearest enemy, he was
filled with rage, uttered a short but terrible roar, and rushed headlong upon him. The Lapp,
with his lance in rest, awaited the onset calmly, while the bear, coming to close quarters, reared
himself on his haunches, and struck at his antagonist with his fore paws.

To avoid these powerful strokes, the daring huntsman crouched, and then, with a sudden
s]iring, drove his lance, impelled by a sturdy arm, and guided by a sure eye, into the creature's
heart.

The victor escaped with only a slight wound on the hand, but the marks of the bear's teeth
were found deeply impressed on the iron spear-head.

According to an old custom, the wives of the hunters assemble in one of their huts, and as
soon as they hear them returning, raise a loud discordant chant in honour of the bear. When
the men, loaded with their booty of skin and flesh, draw near, it is considered necessary to
receive them with words of reproach and insult, and they are not allowed to enter through the
door ; thej are compelled, therefore, to obtain admission through a hole in the wall. But when
the animal's manes have been thus propitiated, the women are not less eager than the men to
make the most of its carcass ; and after the skin, fat, and flesh have been removed, they cut up
the body, and bury it with great ceremony, the head first, then the neck, next the fore paws,

INTEMPEKANCE OF THE LAPPS.

SOS

and so on, clown to the animal's " last," — its tail. This is done IVoni a wild belief that the bear
rises from the dead, and if it has been properly interred, will kindly allow itaelf to bo killtd a
second time by the same hunter !

The principal article of food of the Lapps is reindeer venison. This they boil, and it sup-
plies them both with meat and broth. In summer they vary their bill of fare with cheese and
reindeer milk ; and the rich eat a kind of bread or cake, baked upon hot iron plates or " girdles."
For luxuries they resort to brandy and tobacco ; and these are not less appreciated by the women
than by the men. As for the latter, they are never seen without a pipe, except at meals ; and
the first salutation which a Lapp addresses to a stranger is a demand for " tabak " or " braendi."
Dr. Clarke tells us that on paying a visit to one of their tents, he gave the father of the family
about a pint of brandy, and as he saw him place it behind his bed, near the margin of the tent, he
concluded it would be economically used. In a few minutes the daughter entered, and asked for
a dram, on the ground that she had lost her share while engaged upon domestic duties outside.
The o.u Lapp made no reply, but slily crept round the exterior of the tent until he came to
the place where the brandy was concealed. Then, thrusting in his arm, he drew forth the precious
bottle, and emptied its contents at a draught.

We find no great diftbrence of habits
existing betwetn the Mountain Lapp and
the Skogs or Forest Lapp, except that the
latter takes up fishing as a summer pursuit,
and devotes the winter months to his herds
and the chase. But in course of time his
herds demanding more attention than he
can give to them, he is transfonned into a
Fisher Lapp, who dwells always upon the
sea-coast, and is at once the filthiest and
least civilized of the race. He resembles
the Mountsiin Lapp in his love of tobacco
and brandy. He differs from him in never
migrating, and in wholly abandoning the
pastoral life.

A picture of what the artists call a Lap-
land "interior," of the domestic economy
of a Lapp hut, is painted for us by the
author of a recent book of travel, entitled
" Try Lapland."

After a long day's journey, in the neighbourhood of Lake Randejaur, weary and cold,
he and his companions came upon a small hut, and hiul visions of ol)taining a night's rest;
but a closer acquaintance with the hut convinced them that such a proceeding would bo
undesirable.

For, knocking at the door, and pulling up the latch, they entered, to see before them a
family scene I

FI8IIER t.APPS.

; \

201 A LAPP INTERIOl!.

In an inconcuivably dirty room stood a still dirtier beldame, making coffee. Her husband,
an old man of seventy, sat on one side ; while a hideous, deformed little Lapp, whether man or
woman thi;y could hardly tell, squatted on the flour on the other, in full costume, consisting <■>{
high-peaked blue cloth cap, and reindeer skin dress, ornamented with beads and spangle) Her
i'ace was Itrown as a berry, long lanky black hair streamed down her cheeks; and, staring at the
intrudere, she begged for "penge" (money). Two young men were snoring in one bed, and two
boys in another placed opposite to it, each being covered with a few reindeer-skins.

The entrance of the strangers aroused the sleepei-s to give one hasty look, and then they
snored again.

The lady of the house offered coffee ; and though everything looked so dirty as to create a
positive I'eeling of disgust, the travellers could not afford to be particular, and accepted her offer,
which put her in a perfect ecstasy of delight.

Quickly she scuttled off to the well for water, and, filling her kettle, set to work to roast
fresh coffee.

The old man got up and endeavoured to rouse the sleepers, when he understood that the
strangers were in immediate want of boats and rowers.

Leaving him to make the necessary preparations, they went out to take a look at the sur-
rounding .scenery ; and returning in a quarter of an hour, expected to find them preparing the
boats, which lay two or three hundred yards off. But, to their surprise, not the slightest change
had occurred in the position of the sleepers ; and, after drinking their coffee out of the one cup
the Lapps possessed, they grew impatient, and stormed at the young men, trying even to pull
them out of bed — but they would not budge.

" The father," says our authority, " who protested great love for the English, but turned out
the biggest rascal we had come across, was as anxious as we were that his sons should get up and
row us ; — but not a bit of it ! He told us that they had been out three days and three nights on
the Fells, and were thoroughly exhausted. What was to be done, we could not think. It was
getting serious ; we certainly could not sleep in this dreadful hole, and there was no other shelter
near.

" Money had no power : though I showed the almighty dollar to the weary slumberers, (they
had surely never been in America I ) they turned away with a grunt.

" Then, 0 happy thought, I recollected the brandy ; and bringing my keg to the bedside,
I tapped it, and offered them a glass if they would get up. This was quite another thing ; they
yawned, stretched their limbs, and stood upon the floor. Poor fellows ! we then saw how ill and
faggod the}'^ looked, though they were splendid specimens of the human race.

" Pouring a glass of the fiery compound down their throats, they put on their coats, and
followed us like sleepy dogs ; but in a few moments were rowing us like heroes."

All travellers agree in bearing witness to the passion of the Lapps for alcoholic liquors.
If we could .spare our apostles of temperance and advocates pf Good Templarism, which, alas ! wo
caimot afford to do, few better fieHs could be found for their admirable labours than Lapland.

Captain Hutchinson, however, has more pleasant experiences to relate, and more agreeable
" interiors " to sketch, than the preceding. Let us accompany liim, for instance, on a visit to the
island of Bjorkholm.

RACIAL OHAltACTERISTICS OK THE LAPPS. SOS

Tho settleiut'iit here is very sniall, consistinj^ ot" only two or three houses, ami a few barns
and sheds. The inhabitants, after the usual manner of the Lapps, support themselves by tisliini,'
in suminer, and by the reindeer in winter. Not a tree or shrub jjrows upon the islanil ; only
grass.

The hostess, on this occasion, was an active, good-natured little woman, not more than four
feet high, who flew to and fro with a really wonderful agility. At one moment she was mounttil
on the dresser, searching for forks and spoons ; at another, almost buried in a deep bo.\, diving
for sheets and table-cloth. Crockery was decidedly scarce ; and a china slop-basin, with a wreath
of prettily painted little flowers round the margin, had really a hard time of it.

It was first pre.sented to Captain Hutchinson and his party for tho purpose of washing tlitir
hands; at supper it appeared tilled with chocolate ; in the morning it reappeared as their joi;it
washing-basin.

However, the little Lapp entertained them right royally, with hot kippered salmon, pan-
cakes, dried reindeer, and eggs.

The beds were very comfortable, the mattresses of hay, with the whitest of sheets. And
tiiough the hostess and her family seemed very poor, relics of former grandeur were visible in the
silver spoons, teapot, goblet, and cream-jug.

A recent writer observes that the inferiority of the Lapp race is as conspicuous from the
mtellectual as from the physical point of view. This is evident from the most cursory glfinco at
their lives and manners. The Lapp is, on the whole, a simple, timid, regular, honest creature.
To his great defect we have already adverted, — that excessive partiality for strong liquors, which
would bo sufficient to bring about the annihilation of his race within a more or less limited period,
even if his days were not numbered from every other concurrent cause. He is essentially nomadic.
He is perfectly free and independent throughout the solitary wastes which extend from the North
Cape to the sixty-fourth degree of latitude ; he plants his tent where he pleases, generally close
to a v.ood or lake ; and he moves on when the moss all around it has been eaten up. Such a mode
of life is, of course, incompatible with the progress of Swedish, Norwegian, and even Finlandish
civili:.;ation, which, year by year, curtails the territory given up to the migration of the nomadic
Lapps.

There is about the life of the Lapps, in summer, says Count D'Almeida, a certain charm ol
independence, which might prove seductive to certain minds, weary of civilization and unwitting
of mosquitoes. But in winter, no being of any other race could with impunity endiue such
privations and sufferings as they undergo. They are compelled to keep a careful watch upon
their herds, which are in constant danger from the snow-storms and the wolves. In the hard
frosts, when the snow is upwards of three feet in depth, tuey are compelled to dig it up with
their axes, so as to obtain access for their reindeer to the moss, which constitutes their only food
in winter. Their vigorous .constitutions and their power of enduring privation and climatic
rigour, explain how it was that man, in the Glacial Age, though without any of the appliances
of civilization, could endure its tremendous severity. What the Lapps can bear in point of toil
and want is almost incredible. They suffer, and are strong, in a sense the poet never contem-
plated. It frequently happens that they are surprised by a snow-hurricane; they sleep on tlie
ground, covered with snow-flakes, which, on awaking, they simply shake off, and pursue their

,1^

306

THK LAPPS AND QUENE8.

way. In uii excesH of cold wliich would chill our blood, even if we were ruiiniujj at the top of
our speed, they will fall, in a fit of intoxication, on the ground, and lie there with impunity for
hours. It in said that in niid-wintor, women, suddenly seized with the pains of childbirth while
on the road, are delivered in tho snow, withtmt any ill result, either to them or their offspring.

But, as the same writer remarks, human strength cannot exceed certain limits. Tho Lapp
ages early in life, and dies young. When he attains an advanced age, his fate is still l. > lament-
able. It is said that if an old man falls sick while a tribe is accomplishing one of its customary
migrations, liis children frequently abandon him,— leaving him with some provisions at the foot
(if a tree, or on the bank of a stream, with the ter ibie prospect before him of dying of starvation,
or falling a prey to wild beasts. The Lapp is always poor even when he may bo called
rich ; for it is calculated that to maintain a family of four persons, a herd of fully four hundred
reindeer is necessary, representing a capital of about £160.

Tho Lapp dialect is described as resembling tho Finnish. When we remember that the
Lapps and tho Queues, or Finns, wear a similar costume, are distinguished by very similar cus-
toms, and that the two people call themselves by the same generic name, Suomi, we can under-
stand why soine travellers persist in regarding them as sprung from the same common stock.
But a careful investigation shows the absolute distinctness of the Lapps from the Finns, notwith-
standing this similarity of name and language — a similarity due, as in many other countries, to
the influences of conquest or colonization. Some ethnologists, and among them M. D'Omalins,
include the Finns among the white, or Cau'^asian race, and leave the Lapps among the inferior
branches of the great Mongol family. It seems certain that a greater difference exists between
the Quf^nes and the liapps of Northern Norway than between the Queues and the Scandinavians
of the same region.

Tho Qudnes have adapted themselves completely to sedentary and agricultural habits, while
the Lapps, as yet, have not made a single advance in the direction of raising themselves above a
pastoral and nomadic life. On the other hand, Finns constantly intermarry with the Swedes or
Norwegians ; while unions between Lapps and Scandinavians, or even between Lapps and Finns,
are regaided throughout the entire country as monstrous anomalies. Lastly : laying aside the
arguments founded upois the physical conformation of the Lapps and the Finns, an important
historical considcnition seems to prove their distinct co-existence from a periou far anterior to the
settlement of the Suiones and the Goths in the peninsula ; it is that in the Finnish mythology
we constantly meet with legends of battles between dwarfs and giants. It is impossible that these
can refer to the warfare between the Finns and the Scandinavians, for the latter were of the same
stature as the former ; and it is in comparison with the Lapps only that *.he Finns could relatively
be called giants.

We borrow from Count D'Alviella a few particulars relating to the stationary Lapps, who
inhabit the region of West Bothnia, or Westerbotten, a long, narrow strip of land dividing the
Gulf of Bothnia from Lapland proper. These Lapps seem to be the product of a mixture of
races in which the Scandinavian element predominates. They are of an ordinary stature, robust,
with regular features, light hair, and clear gray eyes.

The country in which they dwell has a strange, an original, but a monotonous character.

THE STATIONAKY LAI'l'S. 'in?

It is its monotony which wuarie.s the travellor, thouj^li iit tirst he will hu inipiosstd by its t'rosh,
yot severe beauty. The forests of birch and fir seem endless, and the great lakes in their depths
fatigue the eye with their wastes of cold, drear water. Occasionally, however, the traveller comes
upon a smiling plain, enamelled with myo.sotis, and brightened by a silver-shining, music-mur-
nuiring stream. Here and there the wood is thinner, and lean cows may be seen feeding among
the half-stripped stems. Next comes a clearing, where the forest has been swept away by fire ,
a clearing with fields of rye and barley ; a palisade enclosure, and a ^roup of chAlets, with a con>-
parativcly sj)aci()us and undilapidated building in the centre.

These ffdrds, as they ore called, closely resemble each other throughout the North. Neitl er
material nor space is begrudged to the West Bothnian architectH. Bjven the smallest farm
comprises three or four buildings, wiiich generally form a square on the four sides of an inner
court. These buildings — how unlike the wretched, filthy hut of the nomadic Lapp I — comprise
three living-rooms, kitchen, and stables ; and are divided from each other only by a partition of
horizontally-laid planks, the interstices being filled up by moss. The furniture is simple, con-
venient, suitable, and shining with cleanliness, like a Dutch kitchen. Around the hearth is hung
a series of brightly-coloured prints, representing either a Scriptural scene or events in the life of
an illustrious personage, — King Charles XV., or the bishop of the diocese, side by side with the
universal legendary figures,- Napoleon I. and Garibaldi. Close by stands the old hereditary
locker, in which the husband accumulates his money and the wife deposits her trinkets ; to the
wall is suspended a complete trophy of knives, pipes, belts with silver buckles, sledge-bells, and a
whip with a carved horn handle. The whole scene is one of order and the proprieties of family life.

All these dwellings, it may be added, do not wear the same aspect of prosperous neatness ;
but even where poverty is present, it is unaccompanied by that sullen gloom and melancholy
squalidness which, in other countries, is the painful indication and result of long-endured privation.
And here, we must also remember, poverty and famine are not always inseparable companions.
The shadow of hunger frequently darkens the rich man's door, and a man might perish for want
of food on a sack of gold. One winter, the wealtliiest members of the community were reduced
to the necessity of eating bread mode of bark mixed with moss.

Still, we see how wide a difference separates the stationary from the nomadic Lapp, and how
impossible it is for a wandering population to acquire or appreciate the coniforts of civilized life.
A pastoral race, in the present age of the world, is, and must be, a decaying, because a barbarous
race. If it touches the borders of civilization, it is only to become infected with its vices, and
thus to hasten its inevitable decay.

UHArTEIl IX.

TflK 8AMOJEI1KS AND OTIIKU TRIUE3 OK AUCTIO ASIA.

HFj Siiinojcdes are tho immediate noi'Mihours of the Lapps. Like them, they are
noiniulcs ; l)ut they are even less civilized, and iiave profited les.s by the arduous and
entliunia.stic labours of the Christian missionaries. They range over the forests and
stony tundras of Northern Russia and Western Siberia; driving their reindeer herds from the
banks of the Chatanga to the icy shores of tho White Sea, or hunting the wild beasts in the
dense woods which extend between tho Obi and the Yenisei.

They are sunk far deeper than the Lapps in a coarse and debasing superstition. It is true
that they believe in a supreme deity — Num, or Jilibeambaertje, who resides in the air, and, like
the Greek Zeus, sends down thunder and hghtning, rain and snow ; and they evince that latent
capacity for poetical feeling which is indicated even by the most barbarous tribes in their descrip-
tion of the rainbow as " the hem of his garment." They regard him, however, as so elevated
above the world of man, and so coldly indifferent to humanity, that it is useless to seek to propi-
tiate him cither by prayer or sacrifice ; and they have recourse, accordingly, to the inferior gods,
— who, as they believe, have the direction of human affairs, and are influenced by incantations,
vows, or special homage.

The chief of all the Samojede idols is still supposed to consecrate with its presence, as in the
days of the adventurous Barentz, the bleak and ice-bound island of Waigatz. It is a block of
stone, pointed at the summit, and bearing some rude resemblance to a human head, having been
fashioned after this likenek-s by a freak of nature. This has formed the model for the Samojede
sculptors, who have multiplied its effigy in wood and stone ; and the idols thus easily created
they call sjadmi, because they wear a human (or semi-human) countenance (sja). They attire
them in reindeer-skins, and embellish them with innumerable coloured rags. In addition to the
sjadmi, they adopt as idols any cu.nously contorted tree or irregularly shaped stone ; and the
household idol (Hahe) they carry abuut with them, carefully wrapped up, in a sledge reserved
for the purpose, the hahengaa One of the said penates is supposed to be the guardian of
wedded happiness, another of the fishery, a third of the health of his worshippers, a fourth of
their herds of reindeer. When his services are required, the Hahe is removed from his resting-
place, and erected in tiie tent or on the pastare-ground, in the wood or on the river's bank.
Then his mouth is s'neared with oil or blood, and before him is set a dish of flesh or fish, in
return for which repast it is expected that he will use his power on behalf of his entertainers.
His aid being no longer needed, he is returned to the bahengan.

Slil-KHSTITIONS OF TH K SAMOJEOKS.

SAMOJKDB HUTS (ly WAIOATZ ISLAND.

BosidoH tlicso ohlijriiis,' iloiticH, Mh; Siunojodo beliuvcH in tlio existoiico of an onlor of inviHil>Io
spiritH which iio <'allH Ta<M>t.Hio.i. Thoso aro over and ovoiywhoro around iiini. and IkiiI lathor
upon hia injury tlian bin
welfare. It beconius iin
portant, therefore, to |)ro-
pitiate thuni ; but this can
be done only throujjh the
interposition of a Tndibc,
or sorcerer ; who, on occa-
sion, stimulates himself into
a state of wild excitement,
like the frenzy of the Py-
thian or Deljihic priestess.
When his aid is invoked by
the credulous Samojede, hia
first care is to attire him-
self in full magician's
costume— a kind of shirt,
made of reindeer leather,
and hemmed with red cloth. Its seams are trimmed in like manner ; and the shoulders are also
decorated with red cloth ags, or epaulettes. A piece of red cloth is worn over the face as a
mask, and a plate oi polished metal gleams upon his breast.

Thus costumed, the Tadibe takes his drum of reindeer-ski: i, ornamented with brass rings,
and, attended by a neophyte, walks round and round with great stateliness, while invoking the
presence of the spirits by a discordant rattle. This gratlually increases in violence, and is
accompanied by the droning intonation of the words of enchantment. The spirits in due time
appear, and the Tadibe proceeds to consult them ; beating his drum more gently, and occasionally
pausing in his doleful chant, — which, however, the novice is careful not to interrupt, — to listen,
as is supposed, to the answers of the aerial divinities. At length the conversation ceases ; the
chant breaks into k fierce howl ; the drum rattles more and more loudly ; the Tadibe seems
under a supernatural influence ; his body quivers, and foam gathers on his lips. Then suddenly
the frenzy ceases, and the Tadibe utters the will of the Tadebtsios, and gives advice how a
straying reindeer may be recovered, or the disease of the Samojede worshipper relieved, or the
fisherman's labour rewarded with an abundant " harvest of the sea."

The office of the Tadibe is usually transmitted from father to son ; but occasionally some
individual, predisposed by nature to fits of excitement, and endowed with a vivid imagination, is
initiated into its mysteries. His morbid fancy is worked upon by long solitary self-communings
and protracted fasts and vigils, and his frame by the use ot' pernicious narcotics and stimulants,
until he persuades himself that he has been visited by the spirits. He is then received as a
Tadibe with many ceremonies, which take place at midnight, and he ia invested with the magic
drum. It will be seen, therefore, that the Tadibe, if he deceives others, partly deceives himself.
But he does not disdain to have recourse to the commonest tricks of the conjuror, with the view
of imposing upon his ignorant couniLrymen. Among these is the famous rope-trick, introduced

aio

CURIOUM fUSTO.M.M MK THK HAMoJKDEW.

into Kii;,'laii(l liy the Duvoiipurt Bi 'thorn, and muho lopoattul by mi iiuiriy luolbsHioiittl iiocro-
iiinrifiTH. With IiIh haiuiN and fwt raHteniul, ho nitM down on a iar|)<t of ivindt'tT-Hkin, niid, tho
lij,''its liciii),' |iiit nut, invok's tJir spiiitH to ronic to his assiMtanfo. Soon tliuir prcHonco in made
known l)_v stran<,'c tioiMfs ; Mi|iiiiTfIs Hccni to niHth>, snakcH to hiHH, and hwirH to fjrowl. At
Irn>,Hh tlio diHtuii)an<c ccaMCM, tho hj^litu are ro-kindled, and tho TaiUhc Htops forward \inbuiind ;
the HpcctatorM, of courHc, Iwliivinj,' that ho has hoon ansiHtod by tho TudobtmoH.

As IwirbaronH, miyn Dr. Ilartwig — to wlio.so pajj^os wo aro hero indebted- aw barbarous as
tho poor wrotchcM wlio Hubniit to his jjuidanoo, tho Tadibe w inoapablo of iniprovin;^ their moral
condition, an<l lia.s no wisli to (hi so. IJndor varioim nanien, — SvlmiiKdi.s anionjf tho Tnnfjusi,
Aiiijiiiiku atnctnj,' tho KHkinios, .]ff(liriiw-ni)'ii anionj» tho CrecH and Chepewyans, — wo find mniihir
niaf(ii'iaiin or inipoNtors aHHuniinij; a Hpiritna! dictatorsliip over all tho Arctic nations of tho Old
and tlio Now World, whor jvor their authority has not been broken by Christianity or Buddliisni ;
and this droary faitii still extends its influor'^e over at least half a million of souls, from the
White Sill to tho extremity fif Asia, and from tho Pacifie to Hudson Bay.

Tho Samojedos, like the Siberian tribes, offer up satnificea to the dead, and perform various
eeremonios in honour of their memory. Like tho North American Indians, they believe that
the desires and ])ursuits of tho departed continue to be tho same as.thoy were on earth; and
honco, that they nuiy not bo in want of weapons or inijiloments, they deposit in or about their
j^'ravos a slodj^'o, a spear, a eooking-pot, a knife, and an axe. At the funeral, and for several years
afterwards, the kinsmen sacrifice reindeer over the grave. When a prince dies, a Starschina, tho
owner, perhaps, of several herds of reindeer, his nearest relatives fashion an image, which is kept
in tho tont of the deceased, and to which as much respect is paid as was paid to the man himselt
in his lifetime. It occupies his usual seat at every meal ; every evening it is undressed, and laid

down in his bed. For three years these
honours are kept up, and then the image
is buried, from a belief that the body by
that time must have decayed, and lost all
recollection of the past. Only the souls
of the Tadibes, and of those who have
died a violent death, are privileged with
immortality, and hover about the air as
disembodied spirits.

The Samojedos are scattered — to the
number of about a thousand families — over
their wild and inhospitable region. Ethno-
logists generally consider them to have a
common origin with tho Finns of Europe. In
stature they are somewhat taller than the
Lappi;, and their colour is more of a tawny.
The marked features of their countenance
recall the Hindu type. The forehead is high,
the hair black, (he nose long, the mouth well-

A SAHOJEDK FAMILY.

■fMlil

THE OHTIAKM AND THEIR MANNERM 211

foniied ; out the sunken eye, veiled by « Iiciivy li<l, rx|H('Msts ii iiial and pcrtidi' .:•< nature. 'I'lio
manners i)f the SaniDJodea are brutal ; mid in cliaracter tliey r.'o tiereo and funnin^y. They are
uhepherdM, hunterH, traderH — and when (ipportunity wrves, rubbers. I/iki^ tiie nther Antio
peopli's, they clothe theinselveH in reindeer-skins. Tiiey shave oH' tin ! • hair, e.xcipt a tolerably
large tut't which they allow to flourish on the top of the head ; and they phiek out the beard
as fast as it jnrrows. 'I'lie women decorate their persons with a belt of gilded copper, and with
a profusion of glass beads and nietallic ornaments.

(?()ntinuing our progress eastward, we come to tht> Ostiaks, a people spreadim,' over the
northernmost parts of Siberia, from th ) ( hnal Mountains to Kamtschatka.

Some interesting particulars of tiieir habits and customs are recorded by Madame Kelinska,
a Polish lady whom the Russian Government condemned to a long exile in Siberia.

One day, when she wivs seeking a pathway through a wood, she foil in with a couple of
Ontia''s on the point of performing their devotions. These are of the simplest kind : the wor
shipper places himself before a tree (the larch, by preference) in the den.sest recess of the forest,
and indulges in a succession of extravagant gestures and contortions. As this form of worship
is prohibited by the Russian Government, the Ostiak can resort to it only in secret, lie professes,
indeed, to have accepted Christianity, but there is too nmch reason to fear that the majority of
the race are still attached to their heathen creed.

Nearly every Ostiak carries about his j)erson a rude imago of '>';e of the deities which he
adores under the name of SrIiaUan ; but this does not prevent him from wearing a small crucifix of
copper on his breast. The Scfiaitan is a rough imitation of the human figure, carved out of wood.
It is of different sizes, according to the various uses for which it is intended : if for carrying on
the person, it is a miniature doll ; but for decorating the Ostiak 's hut an image can be had on
larger seal'". It is always attired in seven pearl-embroidered che'uises, and suspended to tne
neck by a string of silver coins. The wooden deity occupies the place of honour in every hut,
— sometimes in company with an image of the Virgin Mary or some saint, — and before begimiing
a repast the Ostiaks are careful to offer it the daintiest morsels, smearing its lips with fish or raw
game ; this sacred duty performed, they finish their meal in contentment

The priests of the Ostiaks are called Scliamam ; their immense influence they employ to
promote their own personal interests, and maintain the meanest superstitions.

In summer the Ostiak fixes his residence on the banks of the Obi or one of its t-ibutaries.
It is generally square in form, with low stone walls, and a high pointed roof made of willow -
branches, and covered with pieces of bark. These having been softened by boiling, are sewn
together so as to form large mats or carpets, which are easily rolled up and carried I'rom place t(j
plivce. The hearth is in the centre ; it consists of a few stones sot round a cavity in the soil.
Here the Ostiak lives ; supporting nimself on fish, which he frequently eats without cooking — and
purchasing a few occasional lux' vies, such as tobacco and drink, with the .salmon and sturgeon
caught by his dexterity.

In winter he withdraws into the woods, to hunt the sable or the squirrel, or to pasture the
herds of reindeer which some of them possess. He builds his jurt on a small eminence near the
bank of a stream, but out of reach of its spring inundations. It is low, small, squalid : its walla
plastered with clay ; its window made of a thin sheet of ice.

913

HUNTING THK WHITE BEAR.

The Ostiaka are rjjnerally of mnall stature, dark-complexioned, and with black hair, like
the Samojedes ; but this is not invariably tlio case. They seem to belonij to the same family as
the Samojedes and Finns. They are honest, good-natured, inert, and extremely careless and
dirty in their habits; though it may be conceded that their huts are not filthier than the
" interiors" of the Icelandic fishermen. Their women are not much better treated than African
slaves, and are given in marriage to tlio highest bidder. The price necessarily Varies according
to the condition of the parent ; the daughter of a rich man sells for fifty reindeer, of a poor man
for half-a-dozen dried sturgeon and a handful of squirrel-skhis.

The Ostiaks and the Samojedes are great
liunters of the white bear. It is the same
with the Jakuts (or Yakouts), a people
dwelling near the Bouriats, and, like them,
approximating to the Mongol type. Their
object in the chase, however, is not always
to kill the animal, but to fake it alive.
Madame Felinska asserts that, one day,
she saw a considerable herd of bears con-
ducted to Bt5r^zov, like a herd of tame
oattle, and apjtarently quite as inoffensive.
She does not inform us, however, by what
means they had been reduced to such a
desirable state of subjection. Frecjuently
the Ostiaks and the Jakuts attack the white
bears body to body, without any other
weapon tlian a hatchet or long cutlass.
They require to strike their formidable
antagonist with immense vigour, and to
slay it at the first blow, or their own danger is extreme. Should the hunter miss his stroke,
his sole resource is to fling himself on the ground and lie motionless, until the bear, while
smelling his body and turning him over, incautiously offers himself again to his attack.

JAKDT HUNTER AND BEAR.

We now reach the peninsula of Kamtschatka. In area it is equal to Great Britain, and its
natural resources are abundant ; yet, owing to the ravages of small-pox, and excessive brandy-
drinking, its population does not exceed seven or eight thousand souls. Its climate is much
milder than that of the interior of Siberia, being favourably affected by the warm breezes from
the sea ; and though cereals do not flourish, its pasture-grounds are rich and ample, and its herba-
ceous vegetation is exceedingly abundant.

The fisheries of Kamtschatka enjoy a well-deserved reputation. In spring the salmon
ascend its rivera in such astonishingly numerous legions, that if you plunge a dart into the water
you will surely strike a fish ; and Steller asserts that the bears and dogs in this fortunate region
catch on the banks with their paws and mouths more fish than in less favoured countries the
most skilful anglers can ensnare by all the devices of piscatorial science. Hermann also refers to

ABOUT THE KAMTSCHATKANS.

213

the teeming myriads of the Kamtschatka waters. In a stream only six inches deep he saw
countless hosts of chackos (Slagocephalus), two or three feet in length, partly stranded on the
grassy banks, partly attempting to force a passage through the shallows.

The coasts of Kamtschatka swarm in like manner with aquatic birds, which roosu and breed
on every crag and ledge, in every niche and hollow, and at the slightest alarm rise from their
resting-places with a whirr of wings and a clamour of voices repeated by a thousand echoes.

The Kamtschatkans display in the pursuit of thesr^ birds and their eggs a skill and a daring
not inferior to the intrepid.cy and dexterity of the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles or the Hebrides.
Barefooted, and without even the aid of ropes, they venture to descend the most awful declivi-
ties, Avhich the foaming waters render inaccessible from below. On the left arm hangs a bxskot,
to be filled with eggs as they advance ; in the right hand they carry a short iron hook, \ ith
which to drag the birds from their rocky roosts. When a bird is caught, the fowler wrings its
neck, slings it to his girdle, and lowers himself still further down the rugged precipice.

The Kamtschatkans are of small stature, but strong-limbed and broad-shouldered. Their
cheek-bones are high, their jaws massive, broad and prominent, their eyes small and black, their
noses small, theii" lips very full. The
prevailing colour of the men is a dark
brown, sometimes approaching to tawny ;
the complexion of the women is fairer ;
and to preserve it from the sun, they
embeUish it with beai's guts, adhering to
the face by means of fish-Ume. Thr ^Iso
paint their cheeks a brilliant red with a
sea-weed.

Kamtschatka boasts of a very valu-
able domestic animal in its dog. Mr. Hill
is of opinion that he must be considered
indigenous to the country, whore he roves
wild upon the hills, and obtains his exist-
ence in exactly the same manner as the
wolf In his nature, both physically and in
respect to his temper and disposition, ho
seenio about equally to resemble that tame-
less animal and the mastiff; yet not alto-
gether in the suaie maruier that might be
supposed to arise from the cross breed of
the two species, but rather as possessing

some of the qualities of both, neither confounded nor modified, but distinctly marked, and
perhaps in equal perfection to the same qualities possessed severally by those animals. He
is about the size of the ordinary mastifl", and his colour is usually buff or silver-gray, with the
several darker or lighter shades of these colours as an invariable basis. In the form of his
body, too, he resembles the mastiff, but his head is more like that of the wolf

KAMTSiriATKANS.

Still more do

THK DOO OF KAMTSCHATKA.

we recoj^nize the wolfish character in the eye, which is cruel and furtive, as well as in his habits
and disposition. Like his fellow-rover, he sleeps more by day than by night, and he sees better
through the scanty light afforded by the stars or moon than in the full radiance of the sun : this
has given rise to the same vulgar error concerning his vision which, in Britain, prevails respect-
ing that of the cat, — that he can see in the dark.

If there be any exception, says Mr. I^ill, to the distinct manner in which the dog of
Kamtfschatka possesses the character and qualities of both the wolf and mastiff, it is in regard to
his voice, which is heard in loud cries and undistinguishable sounds, something between the
bark of the one and the howl of the other.

In all things connected with the labour in which he is engaged, the Kamtschatka dog dis-
plays a niore than ordinary intelligence. He is very eager to work, and obedient, like the canine
species generally, to one master only; but he gives no indications of that attachment which,
more or less, in all other species of the dog, enables man to sympathize with them, end some-
times even excites a degree of friendship which not every one of his own species is able to
inspire. Thus, every pack or team of dogs must always be driven by the same hand and guided
by the same voice, which the whip, and not caresses, has taught them to remember and obey.

With these qualities, the dog becomes in this country a very serviceable animal. Whatever,
indeed, our horses and bullocks perform for us here in Britain, if we except carrying us on their
hacks and ploughing our arable land, the dogs perform for the Kamtschatkans. There is not
much employment for them, however, in the summer ; and at that season they are allowed +o
range about and secure their food, which they usually find in the rivers, in the best way they
can. Some pains are at all times necessary to keep them in good temper and at peace with their
neighboura, whether canine or human. And therefore all Kamtschatkans who keep a team
near their houses are careful, when the snow is on the ground, to drive a number of stakes
into the earth, or poles set up in the same manner as the frame of a hut or wigwam ; and to
these the dogs are attached singly or in pairs. But when paired, whether at the stakes or in
harness, it is requisite that those yoked together should be not only of the same family, but
of the same litter, or at all events they should have been paired when they were puppies. It is
at no time safe to leave the greater part of them loose ; and the younger dogs are described as
the most dangerous in this way. They will not only at all times kill domestic fowls, — which the
Kamtschatkans, therefore, are unable to breed, — and dogs of the smaller species that may chance
to be brought to the pla e, but they have been known to destroy children. While they do not
work chey are tolerably fat, and have usually an allowance of half a dried salmon, or a portion
weighing about two pounds, a day ; but when they labour they are worse treated and more
stinted than the Siberian horses, and receive only half the quantity of food apportioned to them
when at rest ; yet they will, under this treatment, perform journeys of three or four weeks' dura-
tion with much less repose than the horses require. Nay, they will even, upon a journey of four
or five days' duration, work for fourteen or sixteen hours out of the twenty-four without tasting
any food whatsoever, and without appearing to suffer any diminution of strength ; and the univer-
sal opinion seems to be, that the less food they receive on this side of starvation, when travel-
ling, the better.

Five of these dogs will draw a sledge carrying three full-grown persons and sixty pounds
weight of luggage. When lightly loaded, such a sledge will travel from thirty to forty versts in

TKAVELLING AND TRAINING.

21ft

a day over bad roads and through the deep snow, m hile on even roads it will accomplish eighty
to one hundred and twenty. And herein lies the inestimable value of the Kaiutschatkan dogs,
for the horse would be useless in sledging : in the deep snow it would sink ; and it would be unable,
on account of its weight, to cross the rivers and streams which are covered only with a thin sheet
of ice.

A KAMTSCIIATKAN SI.KDCIE AND TKAM.

But travelling with dogs is by no means easy. Instead of the whip, the driver uscj a
crooked stick with iron rings, which, by their jingling, supply the leader of the tea? with the
necessary signals. If the dogs show symptoms of relaxing in their efforts, the stick is cast
among them to rouse them to greater speed ; and the driver dexterously picks it up again as liis
sledge shoots by. In a snowstorm they keep their master comfortably warm, and will lie round
about him quietly for hours. They are experienced weather- jjrophets too, for if, when rusting,
they dig holes in 'jhe snow, it is a certain sign of a storm.

The tra'.ning ^2 iLese dogs begins at a very early age. Soon after their birth they are
placed with their mother in a deep pit, so as to see neither man nor beast ; and after being
weaned, they are stHl condenmed to a touvl exclusion from "the madding crowd." A probation
of six months having expired, they are attached to a sledge with older dogs, and being extremely
shy, they run at their very fastest. On returning iionie they undergo another period of pit-life,
until they are considered perfectly trained, and capable of performing a long journey. They are
then allowed to enjoy their summer freedom. Such a u. ,de of training may render them docile
and obedient, but it renders them also gloomy, mistrustful, and ill-tempered.

Siberia, so far as the valley of the Lena is concerned, and even eastward to the Kolima and

319 ABOUT THE JAKU'm

westward to thu Yenisei, is inhabited by the bold and vigorous race of the Jakuts. Their
number is computed at about 200,000, and they inhabit the extensive but dreary province of
Jakutsk, with a chief town of the same name.

'I'ho Jakuts are to a great extent a pastoral people, but as they trade in horses and cattle,
and also carry on a brisk fur-trnde with the Russians, they have attained a far higher level of
civilization than is common among pastoral races. In summer they live in light conical tents
("urossy"), which are fixed upon polos, and covered with birch rind. These they pitch in the
open plains and valleys, and then devote themselves to gathering supplies of hay against the
coming winter. This is with them a very important labour, for their chief wealth is in their
herds of cattle, and to find a sufficient provision for them in the bleak climate of the Lena basin,
and on the borders of the Arctic World, is a task of groat difficulty. Often, indeed, the supply
fails before the return of spring, and the oxen must then be fed upon the young shoots and
saplings of the birch and willow.

When winter approaches, the Jakut removes from his tent into a warm, timber-built hut, or
jart, which assumes the form of a truncated pyramid, and has an exterior covering of turf and
clay. Its windows are made of thin sheets of ice ; which, as soon aa a thaw sets in, are replaced
by fish-bladders or paper steeped in oil. The floor is of earth, very rarely boarded, and generally
sunk two or three feet below the surface of the ground. The seats and sleeping-berths are
arranged along the sides ; the hearth, or tscheitoal, occupies the centre, and its smoke finds an
exit through an aperture in the roof Clothes and weapons are suspended from the walls, and
the general appearance of the interior is squalid and disorderly.

Near the jart are stalls for the cows ; but when the cold is very intense, they, like the Irish-
man's pigs, find accommodation indoors. As for the horses, they remain night and day in the
open air, though the weather may be so severe that even mercury freezes ; and they have no
other food than the decayed autumn grass, which they find under the snow.

The capacity of endurance which the Jakut horses exhibit is almost incredible. Like other
quadrupeds in the Arctic regions, they change their hair in summer. Traversing, month after
month, the dreary wilderness where the only vegetation is a scanty and half-rotten grass, they
still retain their strength and energy ; and notwithstanding the hard conditions of their lives,
they do not age so (juickly cs our own more carefully-tended steeds. To aim at improving the
Jakut horse would be, in the opinion of many travellers, to gild refined gold, and perfume " thrown
on the violet." He will continue a steady trot for hours, over roads of which no Englishman can
form an idea, and stop to take his rest with no other food but the bark of the larch and willow,
or a little hard grass, no covering protecting his foaming sides from the cold, and the tempera-
ture down at 40°.

As the horse, so the master. The Jakut is the very personification of hardiness. He seems
able to endure anything, and to attempt everything. On the longest winter-journey he carries
neither tents nor extra coverings with him, not even one of the large fur-dresses, such as the
Siberians generally use. He contents himself, in fact, with his usual dress ; in this he generally
sleeps in the open air : his bed, a hoise-rug stretched upon the snow ; his pillow, a wooden
satldle. With the same fur jacket which serves him by daytime as a dress, and which he pulls
off when he lies down for the night, he defends his back and shoulders, while the front part of
his body is turned towards the fire, almost without any covering. He then stops his nose and

CHARACTER OF THE JAKUTS. 217

ears with small pieces of skin, and covers his face so as to leave only a small aperture for
breathing ; these are all the precautions ho takes against tlie severest cold. Even in Siberia the
Jakuts are known as " iron men."

The horse to the Jakut is as valuable and as important aa the camel to the Arab or the
reindeer to the Lapp. It is not only his steed, which seems incapable of weariness, — his buast of
draught, patient under heavy loads, — but its skin provides him with articles of dress ; with its
hair he makes his fishing-nets ; boileil horse meat is his favourite food, and sour mare's milk, or
koumis, his principal beverage. By mixing this milk with rye flour, or the inner rind of the fir
or larch, he makes a thick porridge, whi h he flavours with berries, or dried fish, or rancid fat.

Before commerce had been diverted into the valley of the Amur, thousands of pack-liorses,
under the guidance of Jakuts, annually crossed the Stanowoi hills on the way to Ochotsk ; a
journey of terrible difiiculty, which might appal the stoutest nerves. But the Jakut endures the
extremes of cold and hunger with a wonderful equanimity. He fears neither the stormy winds,
the darkened heavens, the depth of the treacherous morass, nor the darkness and silence of the
forest. Nothing appals him but the unseen presence of " Ljeschei," the spirit of the mountain
and the forest. The traveller frequently comes upon a fir-crowned hillock, and from the branches
of one of the oldest firs sees suspended innunierable tufts of horse-hair. What does it mean ?
He needs not to inquire, for, lo I his Jakr' driver, dismounting from his steed, hastens to pluck
a few hairs from his horse's mane, and then, with much reverence, attaches them to the nearest
bough, in order to propitiate the terrible Ljeschei. Even Jakuts who have been baptized, and
are nominally enrolled among the Christian population, are guilty of this silly bit of superstition ;
while it is suspected, on good grounds, that they still cherish their belief in Schamani.Hin, and
their ancient dread of evil spirits. When we remember, however, the absurd beliefs and vulgar
enors still lingering in many parts of our own land, we ai'e unable to pass a very severe verdict
on the credulity of the Jakuts.

When on the road they beguile the tedium of the way by singing songs of the most doleful
character, corresponding to the habitual melancholy which they seem to have inherited from
their forefathers ; a melancholy suggested, probably, by the gloom of the landscape, the cliilling
aspect of the sky, the inclemency of the climate, and the prolonged battle in which their lives
are passed. Their songs, not the less, are songs worthy of a bold and intelligent people, and,
like the poetry of the Norsemen, are replete with images borrowed from nature. They constantly
describe in glowing language the lofty magnificence of the snow-crowned mountains, the starry
beauty of the night, the roll and rush of the river, the wail of the wind as it streams through a
forest of pines. The Jakut minstrels are mostly improvisatores ; and, to secure the favour of tlie
Ljeschei, they will extol the charms of the wilderness over which it rules, as if that wilderness
were a portion of Elysium.

The Jakut merchants are remarkable for their enterprise. Their capital is Jakutsk, on
the Lena, and thence they extend their operations in all directions. In the rigour of winter they
will lead their caravans to Ochotsk, or Kjachta, or Ostrownoje.

Yet the country they traverse is at all times a desert. The mean temperature of the year is
only -t-14°. In November the thermometer sinks to -40°, or 72° below freezing-point. The Yann,
at Nishni Kolymsk, freezes early in September ; and lower down, where the current is sluggish,

dl8

HUNTING THE KEINDEER.

hmded hoi-Hus cnti crosH its frozen surtace as early us the middle of August : yet the ice does not
niult l)eforo Juno. The sun ruiuniiis, it is true, about fifty-two days above the horizon ; but its
light, slirouded l)y almost continual mists, is attundeil by but little heat,— and its orb, compressod
by refraction into an elliptical form, may be examined by the naked eye without inconvenience.

As the climate, s<j the vegetation. Dwarfish willow-shrubs, stunted grass, moss, and a few
berry-lx-aring jilants compose the flora of the cheerless tundras. There is greater abundance and
more vsiriuty in the neighbouring and better sheltered valleys of the Aniuj ; the poplar, birch,
thyme, absinth, and low creeping cedar enliven their slopes ; but even in these places Nature is
most niggardly of her gifts. Such is not the case, however, with the fauna of Arctic Siberia.
The forests are tenanted by numbers of reindeer, elks, bears, foxes, sablcd, and gray squirrels ;
while in .the low grounds stone foxes make their burrows. With the return of spring come
immense flightf! of swans, geese, and ducks, which build their nests in the most sequestered
corners. The sea-coast is frequented by eagles, owls, and gulls ; the brushwood by the white
ptarmigan ; the brooks by hundreds of little snipes. Even the songs of the finch are not wanting
in .spring, nor is the thrush wholly silent in autumn.

Summing up the details recorded by Admiral Wrangell, a recent w)iter draws an impressive
picture of the mode of life of the people of this desolate waste, and observes : " All denotes that
here the limits of the habitable earth are passed ; and one asks with astonishment, What could
induce human beings to take up their abode in so comfortless a region ? "

The chief resource of the Sullaheris of the River Aniuj is, he says, the reindeer chase, — the
success of which mainly determines whether famine or some degree of plenty is to be their lot
during the coming winter. The passage of the reindeer takes place twice a year : in spring, when
the mosquito-swarms drive them to the sea-coast, where they feed on the moss of the tundra ;
and in autumn, when the increasing cold forces them to retire inland. The spring migration,
which begins about the middle of May, is not very profitable ; partly because the animals are
then in poor conditioti, and partly because it is more difficult to kill them as they dash across
the frozen rivers. The chief hunting takes place in August and September, when the herds,
each numbering several thousand deer, return to the forests. They invaiiably cross the river at
a particular spot, where a flat sandy bank enables them to land with comparative ease ; and here
they close up their ranks, a-s it were, under the guidance of the stalwart veterans of the herd.

After a brief pause of hesitation the herd plunge into the waters, and in a few minutes the
surface of the river seems alive with swimming reindeer. Now is the hunter's time ; and out
from his concealment in the reedy creek he darts in his little boat, wounding as many animals as
he can. While he and his comrades are thus engaged, they run some risk of being capsized in
the turmoil, for the bucks gallantly defend themselves with horns, and teeth, and hind legs,
while the roes usually attempt to spring with their fore feet upon the gunwale of the boat. If
the hunt«r should be overset, his sole chance of safety is to cling to a strong animal, which will
carry him securely across the stream. Such an accident, however, is of rare occurrence. A
good hunter will kill a hundred reindeer, or even more, in half an hour. Meantime, the other
boats seize the slaughtered animals, which become the property of their crews ; while those that
are merely wounded and swim ashore belong to the huntere, who, in the midst of the uproar,
when all their strength is tasked to the uttermost, so aim their strokes as only to wound severely

ABOUT THK TITNGUSI. 210

the larger aniiiialM. Tliu noise of the horna striking against each othur, tlio " incanuuiinod '
waters, the shouts of the hunters, the cries of pain, rage, and ahirui of the struggling animals, all
form a scene which, once seen, is not easily forgotton.

While the men f)f Kolymsk are thus engaged during thu hricf summer-time in hunting,
fishing, and hay-making, the women wander over the country, and climb the sides of the moun-
tains, for the purpose of gathering edible roots, aromati'; herbs, and various kinds of berries —
though the last do not ripen every year. The beiry-plucking season at Kolymsk, like the
vintage in France or Italy, is a season of mirth, a holiday interval in a hard and laborious life.
The young women and girls form large parties, and spend whole days and nights in tlic opon aii.
When the berries are collected, cold water is poured over them, anil tiiey are presurvetl in a
frozen state as an addicion to the scanty winter fare. We are told that " social parties" are not
unknown at Kolym.sk, and probably afford as much or as little entertainment there as in more
favoured and more civilized communities. The staple luxury is a deluge of weak tea — very
weak, for the aromatic leaves whioh cheer but not inebriate are s ery dear at Kolymsk ; and as
sugar is also a costly article, every guest takes a lump of candy in his mouth, lets the tea which
he sips flow by, and then replaces it upon the saucer. It «fould be considered a breach of cour-
tesy if he consumed the entire lump, which thus is made to do duty at more than one soiree.
Next to tea, but not less esteemed, the principal requisite for a Kolymsk entertainment i.s
brandy.

Another important Siberian people are the Tungusi, who spread from the basins of the
Upper, Middle, and Lower Tunguska to the western shores of the Sea of Ochotsk, and from the
Chinese frontiers and the Baikal to the Polar Ocean. Their number does not exceed thirty
thousand. According to their avocations, and the domestic animals which constitute their
wealth, they are known as the Reindeer, Horse, Dog, Forest, and River Tungusi. Those who
keep or rear horses and cattle are but a few ; the majority depend on the reindeer. The condi-
tion of all is deplorably wretched. The Tungusi has no resource but fishing or hunting. When
the rivers are frozen, he withdraws into the forest. Here his misery is so great and his need so
extreme that he frequently becomes a cannibal, and attacks the wives and children of his more
fortunate countrymen. In happier circumstances he is remarkable for the readiness of his wit,
the vivacity of his manner, and the blithesome carelessness of his disposition. It is asserted,
however, that he is both malignant and deceitful. He is vain ; and loves to decorate his person
with strings and ornaments of glass beads, from his small Tartar cap to the tips of his shoes.
When hunting the reindeer, or travelling through the forests, however, he puts on large water-
tight boots, or sari, well greased with fat ; and he carries, on these occasions, a small axe, a
kettle, a leathern wallet containing some dried fish, and a short gun, or a bow and a sling. He
is always accompanied by his faithful dog.

"With the assistance of his long and narrow snow-shoes, he flies over the dazzling
plain ; and protects his eyes, like the Jakut, with a net made of black horse-hair. He never
hesitates to attack the bear single-handed, and generally masters him. The nomad Tungusi
naturally requires a movable dwelling. His tent is covered with leather, or large pieces of
pliable bark, which are easily rolled up, and transported from place to place. Thejart of the
sedentary Tungusi resembles that of the Jakut, and is so small that it can be very quickly and

S9U AHOUT THE TCmiKTCHK.

thorouj,'l)ly wniiiioci by a fire kindlud on tho Htono hearth in the centre. In his food the Tungusi
is by no means dainty. One of his favourite dishes consitas of the contents of a reindeer's
stomach mixed with wild berries, and spreofl out in thin cakes on the rind of trees, to be dried
in the air or in tho sun. Those wlio have settled on the Wilnj and in tho neighbourhood
of Nertschinsk likewise consume large quantities of birch tea, which they boil with fat and
berries into a thick porridge ; and this unwholesome food adds, no doubt, to the yellowness of
their complexion."

We shall now, and lastly, take a glance at the Tchuktche (or Tuski), who inhabit the north-
eastern i)oint of Asia, with the ico-coverod waters of the Polar Sea on one side, and those of
Bchring Sea on tho other. Their land is but seldom visited ; all, however, who have ventured
thither agree in describing it as one of the most melancholy regions of the eai-th. The soil is
barren, and half-frozen, yielding no other vegetation than mosses and lichens, the vaccinium, and
tho dwarf birch and willow, — except in the low grounds, where the reedy marshes are frequented
in the summer by geese, and swans, and ducks, and wading-birds. The climate is so rigorous that
one wonders man can make up his mind to endure it. There is no summer earlier than the 20th
of July ; and on the 20th of August the shadow of winter comes upon the earth. Animal life,
however, if not vei-y varied, is abundant : walruses, sea-lions, and seals inhabit the coasts ; and tho
reindeer, the wolf, the argali, and the Arctic fox are found in the interior.

The Tchuktche are an enterprising people, and fond of independence. Unlike their neigh-
bours, the Koriaks, they have always maintained their freedom against the encroachments of
Russia. They are active and spirited traders. In skin-covered boats 'they cross Behring
Straits, and barter furs and walrus-teeth with the natives of America. In long caravans, their
sledges drawn by reindeer, they repair to the great fair of Ostrownoje, and carry on a vigorous
commerce with the Russian merchants. In their train follow sledges laden with supplies of
lichen and moss for the reindeer, as in their wanderings, however circuitous these may be, they
are compelled to traverse broad spaces of stony desert, where even these abstemious animals can
obtain no food. As their movements are regulated by the necessities of their herds, they
occupy five or six months in a journey which, m a straight line, would not exceed a thousand
versts in length ; they are almost always migrating from place to place, yet, as they invariably
I carry their dwellings with them, they never leave home. A caravan generally consists of fifty

or sixty families ; and as soon as one fair is at an end, they depart to make their preparations for
the next.

The great staple of the trade at Ostrownoje is tobacco. To secure a small supply of the
narcotic which forms the sole luxury of their dreary lives, the Eskimos of North America,
extending from the Icy Cape to Bristol Bay, send their articles of barter from hand to hand as
far as the Gwosdus Islands in Behring Strait, where the Tchuktche purchase them with tobacco
bought at Ostrownoje. Thus, in the icy regions of the extreme north, tobacco is the source and
support of considerable commerce ; and the narcotic weed which Raleigh and his contemporaries
introduced from America into Europe, and which from Europe made its way into Asia, is
exported from Asia for the use of American tribes.

The balance of trade, however, seems entirely against the latter. We are told that the
skins which a Tchuktche purchases of an Eskimo for half a pood (eighteen pounds) of tobacco-

A TCHUKTCH INTERlOl!. Ml

leaves, ho sells to the Russian for two poods (seventy-two pounds) ; and these skins, costing the
Russian about one hundred and sixty roubles, the latter sells at Jakutsk for two hundred and
sixty, and at St. Petersburg for upwards of five hundred roubles.

The furs sold at Ostrownoje are chioHy those of stone foxes, black and silver-gray foxes,
gluttons, lynxes, otters, beavers, and martens. Other products brought thither by the Tchuktcho
are bear-skins, walrus-teeth, and thongs, sledge-runners (made of whale ribs), and dresses of rein-
deer-skin. The Russians, besides tobacco, dispose of kettles, axes, knives, guns, tea, and sugar.

A visit to the family of a Tchuktche chief is thus described by one o{ Admiral Wrangell's
companions : —

We entered the outer tent, or namet, consisting of tanned reindeer-skins outstretched on a
slender framework. An opening at the top to give egress to the smoke, and a kettle on the
hearth in the centre, showed that antechamber and kitchen were here harmoniously *^lended into
one. But where might be the inmates ? Most probably in that large sack made of the finest
skins of reindeer calves, which occupied, near the kettle, the centre of the namet. To penetrate
into this "sanctum sanctorum" of the Tchuktch household, we raised the loose flap which served
as a door, crept on all fours through the opening, cautiously refastened the flap by tucking it
under the floor-skin, and found ourselves in the jwlog — that is, the reception or withdrawing-room.
A snug box, no doubt, for a cold climate, but rather low, as we were unable to stand upright in
it ; nor was it quite so well ventilated a« a sanitary commissioner would require, as it had posi-
tively no opening for light or air. A suffocating smoke met us on entering : we rubbed our
eyes ; and when they had at length got accustomed to the pungent atmosphere, we perceived, by
the gloomy light of a train-oil lamp, the worthy family sitting on the floor in a state of almost
complete nudity. Without being in the least embarrassed, Madame Leiitt and her daughter
received us in their primitive costume ; but to show us that the Tchuktche knew how to receive
company, and to do honour to their guests, they immediately inserted strings of glass beads in
their hair.

Their hospitality equalled their politeness ; for, instead of a cold reception, a hot dish
of boiled reindeer flesh, copiously irrigated with rancid train-oil by the experienced hand of
the mistress of the household, was soon after smoking before them. The culinary taste of the
Russians, however, could not appreciate this work of art, and the LeUtt family were left to do
justice to it unaided.

The Tchuktche are polygamous. Their women are regarded as slaves, but are not badly
treated. Most of the Tchuktche have been baptized, but they cling in secret to their heathen
creed, and own the power of the shamans, or necromancers. They form two great divisions : the
reindeer, or wandering Tchuktche, who call themselves Tennygk ; and the stationary Tchuktche,
or Oukilon, who exhibit affinities with the Eskimos, and subsist by hunting the whale, the
walrus, and the seal. The Oukilon are supposed to number 10,000, and the Tennygk
about 20,000.

■■■■MMHi

CHAPTER X.

HIHTORIOAL 8KKTCII OK AROTIO DISCOVERY.

UgroylN tho reign uf liuiiry VI 11., Dr. Robert Thorne declared that "if he had facultie to his
kI d3 ^'"' ^^^ ^"^^ thing he would understande, even to attempt, would be if our seas
IiMIltNI iiorthwardo be navigable to the Pole or no." And it is said that the king, at his
inHtigntion, " sent two fair ships, well-manned and victualled, having in them divers cunning
men, to seek strange regions ; and so they set forth out of the Thames, the 20th day of May,
in tho nineteenth year of his roign, which was tho year of our Lord 1527." Of the details of
this expedition, however, we have no record, except that one of the vessels was wrecked on the
coast of Newfoundland.

In 1536, a second Arctic voyage was undertaken by a London gentleman, named Hore,
accompanied by thirty members of the Inns of Law, and about the same number of adventurers
of a lower estate. They reached Newfoundland, which, according to some authorities, was dis-
covered by Sebastian Cabot in 1496, and here they suffered terrible distress; in the extremity
of their need being reduced to cannibalism. After the deaths of a great portion of the crew, the
survivors captured by surprise a French vessel which had arrived on the coast, and navigated
her in safety to Enifland.

But the true history of Arctic Discovery dates, as Mr. Markham observes, from the day when
the veteran navigator, Sebastian Cabot, explained to young Edward VI. the phenomena of the
variation of the needle. On the same day the aged sailor received a pension ; and immediately
afterwards three discovery-ships were fitted out by the Muscovy Company under his direction.
Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed to their command, with Richard Chancellor in the Edward
lionadventure as hi.« second. The latter, soon after quitting England, was separated from the
squadron, and sailing in a northerly direction, gained at last a spacious harbour on the Muscovy
coast. Sir Hugh's ship, and her companion, the Boiux Conjidentia, were cast away on a desolate
part of the Lapland coast, at the mouth of the river Arzina. They entered the river on Sep-
t<>mbcr 18, 1563, and remained there for a week ; and "seeing the year far spent, and also very
I evil weather, as frost, snow, and hail, as though it had been the deep of winter, they thought it

best to winter there." But as day followed day, and week followed week, in those grim solitudes
of ice and snow, the brave ad venturer perished one by one ; and many months afterwards their
bleached bones were discovered by some Russian fishermen.

In the spring of 1556, Stephen Burrough, afterwards chief pilot of England, fitted out the
" Search-thrift " pinnace, and sailed away for the remote north. He discovered the strait leading

FROBISHKH'S VOYAOEa 223

into tho sea of Kara, between Novaia Zonilaia and the iHlantI Wai^atz ; but ho uiado up hiu
mind to return, because, first, of the north winds, which blow continually; socond, " tho f,'rfat and
terrible abundance of ico which wo saw with our eyes ; " and third, bocauwo the nij^hts waxed
dark. Ho arrived at Ardiangol on September 1 1, wintered there, and returned to Kiijjland in
the following year.

Twenty years later, on a bright May morning, Queen Kliuibeth waveil a farewell to Martin
Frobisher and his gallant company, as thoy dropped down tlio Thames in two small barkH, tho
Gabriel and tho Michael, each of thirty tons, together with a pinnace of ten tons. Thoy gained
the shores of Friesland on the 11th of July; and sailing to the south-west, reached I^abrador.
Then, striking northward, they discovefed "a great gut, bay, or pnasage," which they named
Frobisher Strait (lat 63° 8' N.), and fell into the error of supposing that it connected the
Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. Here thoy came into contact with some EskimoH ; aii<l
Frobisher describes them as "strange infidels, whose like was never seen, read, nor heard
of before ; with long black hair, broad faces and flat noses, and tawny in colour, wearing seal-
skins, the women marked in the face with blue streaks down the cheeks, and round about
tho eyes."

Frobisher's discoveries produced so great an impression on the public mind, that in the
following year he was placed at the head of a larger expedition, in the hope that ho would
throw open to English enterprise the weuHh of "far Cathay." About the end jf May 1577,
he sailed from Gravesend with the Ayde of one hundred tons, the Gabriel of 'thirty, and the
Michael of thirty, carrying crews of ninety men in all, besides about thirty merchants, miners,
refiners, and artisans. He returned >n September with two hundred tons of what was supposed
to be gold ore, and met with a warm reception. It was considered almost certain that he had
fallen in with some portion of the Indian coast, and Queen Elizabeth, naming it Meta Incognita,
resolved to establish there a colony. For this purpose, Frobisher was dispatched with fifteen
well-equipped ships, three of which were to remain for a twelvemonth at the new settlement,
while the others, taking on board a cargo of the precious ore, were to return to England.

In the third week of June Frobisher arrived at Friesland, of which he took poissossion in the
queen's name. Steering for Frobisher Strait, he found its entrance blocked up with colossal
icebergs ; and the bark Dennis, which carried the wooden houses and stores for the colony, coming
in collision with one of these, unfortunately sank. Then, in a great storm, the fleet was scattered
far and wide, — some of the vessels drifting, out to sea, some being driven into the strait ; and
when most of them rejoined their admiral, it was found they had suffered so severely that no help
remained but to abandon the project of a colony. They collected fresh supplies of ore, however,
and then made their way back to England as best they could. Here they were met with the
unwelcome intelligence that the supposed gold ore contained no gold at all, and wa.s, in truth,
mere dross and refuse.

The dream of a northern passage to Cathay was not to be dissipated, however, by an

occasional misadventure. Even a man of the keen intellect of Sir Humphrey Gilbert felt -j'^r-

suaded that through the northern seas lay the shortest route to the treasures of the East ; and

having obtained from Queen Elizabeth a patent authorizing him to undertake north-western

discoveries, and to acquire possession of any lands not inhabited or colonized by Christian princes

or their subjects, he equipped, in 1583, with the help of his friends, a squadron of five small ships,

134

PKATll OK HIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.

Hiid Huileil from Knj^laiul full i>f brijjiit viBionH arul sanguino anticipationH. On board hiu fleet
wero HtnithH, uiid inr|toiit«!rH, and Hhipwri(,'htH, und iimHonH, and refinors, and " mineral men ; " not
to Hpcak (if one Stiiphun rarnifnio, a learned I luiigarian, who wuh Iwund to chronicle in Honoroua
Latin all •' trvniH and thing's wortliy of ronu'inliranco."

Sir liiiniiihrcy furnied a Hottluuieiit at Newfou dland ; and then, embarking on board the
.*vyium/, a littlo pinnaco of tun tona burden, and taking' with him the Golilen Iliml and the

Uditjht, he proceeded on a. voyage of exploration.
Unhappily, the Deliyht ran aahoro on the ahoalii
near Sable fjand, and all her crew except twelve
men, and all her stores, were lost. Tlie disaster
determined Sir Humphrey to return to England ;
and his companions implored him to embark on
board the Golden Hind, representing that the
S([uirrel was unfit for so long a voyage. " I will
not forsake," replied the chivalrous adventurer,
" the brave and free companions with whom I
have undergone so many storms and perils."
Soon after passing the Azores, they were over-
taken by a terrible tempest, in wliich the tiny
pinnace was tossed about by the waves like a
straw. The Golden Hind kept as near her as
the rolling billows permitted ; and her captain
has left on record that he could see Sir Hum-
l)hrey sitting calmly in the stern reading a book.
He was heard to exclaim — " Courage, my lads ;
we are as near Heaven by sea as by land ! "
Then night came on, with its shadows and its
silence, and next morning it was perceived that
the pinnace and her gallant freight had gone
to swell the sum of the irrecoverable treasures of the deep.

But neither Frobisher's mishap nor Sir Humphrey Gilbert's melancholy fate could check
tliat eunent of English enterprise which had set in for the North. There was an irresistible
attraction in these remote northern seas and distant mist-shrouded lands, with all their possibilities
of wealth and glory ; and Arctic Discovery had already begun to exercise on the mind of the
English people that singular fascination wliich the course of centuries has not weakened, which
endures even to the present day^ So, in 1585, Sir Adrian Gilbert and some other gentlemen of
DevontLire raised funds sufficient to fit out a couple of vessels — the Sunshine of fifty, and the
Moonshine of thirty -five tons — for the great work of discovery ; and they gave the command to a
veteran mariner and capable navigator. Captain John Davip « countryman, or county-man, of
their own. Towards the end of July he reached the west c juau of Greenland, and its cheerless
aspect induced him to christen it the " Land of Desolation." His intercourse with the Eskimos,
however, was of the friendliest character. Standing away to the north-west, he discovered and
crossed the strait which still bears his name ; and to the headland on its western coast he gave

V'^ifti^

THE LOSS OK TIIK "8<JUIBBEL.

IIUDBON'8 KlUHT VUYAdK. ttt

the name of Capo Walmnffhain. Hnviiij,' thus upt'iiLcl up, thoui^'h unwittiii)^ly, the (front lii),'hwny
to tlio I'olnr a, ho Hailod for Knjfhind, whoro ho arrived on tho 'JOth of Scptoinhor.

Ill hix socoiul voyaf,'i;, in 15H(!, whuii, in addition to tho Siinnhiiif and thi- Mooimhine, ho had
with liini tho .\firinaiil of on« hundred and twenty touH, and tho North Star pinnace of ton, lie
retraced hiu route of the previous year. Tlio Sunn/tine and tho North Star, 1 owover, he oni|)Ioyoil
in cruisint,' alonjj tho eaat coast of Clroonhmd ; and they am-ondod, it is said, as lii^'h as lat. 80' N.

Davis in his third voyajjo pushed further to the north, ro)u;hin>f as far iw tlio U)hl promon-
tory which ho named (Jape Sanderson. He also crossed the groat channel afterwards known as
Hudson Bay.

The next Englishman who ventured into tho frozen seas was one Captani VVaymouth, in
1602 ; but ho added nothing to the scanty information already acquired. An Knglishman, .lames
Hall, was tho chief pilot of an ox|iediti(m fitted out in lOOf) by the King of Denmark, wiiich
o.\plorod some portion of the (ireenland coast. Ho mado throe successive voyages; but while
e.\hibiting his own courage and resolution, he contributed nothing to the stores of geographical
knowledge.

Wo now arrive at a name which deservedly ranks among the foremost of Arctic explorers
that of Henry Hudson. He contributed more to our acquaintance with tho Polar seas than any
one who had preceded him, and few of his successors have surpassed him in the extent and
thoroughness of his researches.

He first appears, says Mr. Markham, fitting out a little cock-boat for tho Muscovy Company,
called the Hopewell (of eighty tons), to discover a passage by the North Pole. On the 1st of
May 1607 he sailed fro'u Greenwich. " When we consider the means
with which he was provided for the achievement of this great dis-
covery, we are astonished at the fearless audacity of the attempt.
Here was a crew of twelve men and a boy, in a wretched little
craft of eighty tons, coolly talking of sailing right across the Pole to
Japan, and actually making as careful and judicious a trial of tho
possibility of doing so as has ever been ofiected by the best equipped

modern expeditions Imagine this bold seaman sailing from

Gravesend, bound for the North Pole, in a craft about the size of one

of the smallest of modem collier brigs. We can form a good idea

of her general appearance, because three such vessels are delineated

on the chart drawn by Hudson himself. The Ilopeioell was more

like an old Surat buggalow than anything else that now sails the

seas, with high stem, and low pointed bow ; she had no head-sails

on her bowsprit, but, to make up for this, the foremast was stepped chock forward. There was a

cabin under the high and narrow poop, where Hudson and his little son were accommodated ;

and the crew were crowded forward."

Hudson first sighted land beyond the Arctic Circle in lat. 70°. It was the cold, grim coast
of East Greenland. Three degrees further north a chain of lofty peaks, all bare of snow, rose
upon the horizon, and Hudson's men noted that the temperature daily increased in mildness.
Steering to the north-east, the great navigator arrived oft' the shores of Spitzbergen. where some

BUir OF TIIK HEVENTKICNTII CKNTUIIY.

22fi

HIS IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES.

of his men landed and picked up various fragments of whalebone, horns of deer, walrus-teeth, and
relics of other animals. To the north-west point of Spitzbergen he gave the name which it still
bears— Hakluyt's Headland. At one time he found himself as far north as 81°; and it seems
probable that he discovered the Seven Islands : he remarked that the sea was in some places
green, in others blue ; and he says, " Our green sea we found to be freest from ice, and our azure-
blue sea to be our icy sea ; " an observation not confirmed by later navigators. The greenness
was [)r(jbably due to the presence of minute organisii'^.

Having completed a survey of
the west coast of Spitzbergen, he
resolved on sailing round the north
end of Greenland, which he sup-
posed to be an island, and return-
ing to England by Davis Strait.
With this view he again examined
the sea between Spitzbergen and
G I eenland, but from the strong ice-
blink along the northern horizon
felt convinced that there was no
passage in that direction. Af^er
sighting Spitzbergen, therefore, he
determined to return to England ;
tind on his homeward voyage dis-
covered an islai ' in lat. 71° N.,
which he n^med Hudson Sutchea,
and which has since been impro-
perly named Jan Mayen. The
Hopewell arrived in the Thames on
the 1 5th of September.

The results of this voyage, says
Mr. Markham, were very import-
ant, both in a geographical and a
commercial point of view. Hudson
had discovered a p- rtion of the east
coast of Greenland ; he had exa
mined the edge of the ice between
Greenland and Spitzbergen twice
— in June and in the end of July ;
and he had sailed to the northward of Spitzbergen until he was stopped by the ice, reaching
almost as iiigh a latitude as Scoresby in 1806, which wa? 81° 12' 42" N. Hudson's highest
latitude by observation was 80° 23', but he sailed for two more days in a north-easterly direction.
The practical consequence of his voyage was that hio account of the quantities of whales and sea-
horses in the Spitzbergen seas led to the establishment of a rich and prosperous fishery, which
continued to flourish for two centuries.

SCRNKllV ir JAN MATES.

BYLOT AND BAFFIN. 287

In the following year Hudson made a second voyage, in the hope of discovering a n'^.ih
eastern passage to China between Spitzbergen and Novaia Zemlaia. He exhibited liis charac-
teristic resolution, and forced his way to the very gate of the unknown region, which is still
closed against human enterprise by an impenetrable barrier of ice ; but all his eftbrts proved in
vain, and he returned to Gravesend on the 26th of August.

In 1610, in a vessel of fifty-five to» s, he once more entered the Polar sen-s, and gained the
extreme point of Labrador, which he named Cape Wolstenholm. Here burst upon him the view
of that magnificent sea which has since been associated with his name ; and there can be no doubt
that his enterprise would Lave anticipated the discoveries of later navigators, but for the mutiny
which broke out among his crew, and eventually led to his being sent adrift, with nine faithful
companions, in a small open boat. He was never again heard of.

The spirit of commercial enterprise and the love of maritime adventure were still strong
cuou,?;h in England to induce the equipment of further expeditions. In 1612 sai' Captain
Button, — Avbo discovered a stream, and named it Nelson River ; where, at a later date, the
Hudson Bay Company planted their first settlement. Here he wintered. In April 1613, on
the breaking up of the ice, he resumed his work of exploration, and discovered, in lat. 65°, an
island group, which he named Manuel, now known as Mansfield, Islands. Then he bore away
for England, arriving in the Thames yarly in September.

Robert Bylot and William Bafiin undertook a voyage in 1615. The latter had had some
previous experience of Arctic navigation, which he turned to advantage in 1616, when he
accompanied Bylot on a second expedition. Their ship, the Discovery, of fifty-five tons, reached
Cape Hope Sanderson, the furthest point attained by Davis, on the 30th of May ; and after
meeting with some obstruction from the ice, proceeded northw"rds to 72° 45', where she dropped
anchor for awhile among the Women's Islands. Baffin kept to the north until he found ice in
74° 15' N., and he then ascended Melville Bay, touching the head of the great basin now known
by his name, and sailing down its western coast. He prrived in Dover Roads on the 30th of
August, after a brilliantly successful voyage, which had opened up the principal north-west
channels into the Arctic Sea.

It is necessary here to interpolate a few remarks in explanation of the difficulties which
beset the Baffin Bay route of Arctic exploration. Geographers assert, and the assertion seems
confirmed by the experience of navigators, that a surface-current is constantly flowing down thi'j
bay, and carrying great fleets of icebergs and shoals of ice-floes into the Atlantic from its southern
channels — Lancaster, Jones, and Smith Sounds. Hence, at the head of the bay there exists a
considerable open and navigable expanse, which extends for some distance up Lancaster and
Smith Sounds during the summer and early winter, and is known as the " North Water." But
between this open expanse and Davis Strait lies an immense mass of ice, averaging from one
hundred and seventy *o ^wo hundred miles in width, and blocking up the centre of Baffin Bay, so
as to interrupt the approach to the north-west end. This is known as the " middle pack," and
consists of some ancient floe-pieces of great thickness, which may have been brought down from
a distant part of the Arctic seas; of a wide extent of ice accumulated during each winter, about
six or eight feet in thickness ; and of the grand and gigantic icebergs which are so characteristic

228 VOYAGE OF ROSS AND PARRY.

a foaturo of the Mulvillo Bay scenery. A very iarge quantity of this pack is destroyed in each
succeeding summer by the thaws, or by the swell and warm temperature of the Atlantic as the
ice drifts southward.

It is remarked of the Baffin Bay ice, that it is much lighter than that found in the Spitz-
bergen seas. The latter often occurc in single sheets, solid, transparent, and from twenty to
thirty, and even forty, feet in thickness. In Baffin Bay the average thickness of the floes does
not exceed five or six feet, and eight or ten feet is of very rare occurrence.

From Baffin's voyage, in 1616, until 1 8 1 7, no attempt was made to force this " middle pack "
and enter the North Water; but now the voyage is made every year, and three routes have
l>een opened up. The first is called the " North-about Passage," and lies along the Greenland
coast ; the- second, or " Middle Passage," only possible late in the season, is by entering the drift-
ice i'l the centre of the bay; and the third, or "Southern Passage," also only possible late in the
seafon, along the west side of Baffin Bay. Once in the North Water, whichever route be
attempted, all obstacles to an exploration of the unknown region may be considered at an end.
From Cape York to Smith Sound the sea is always navigable in the summer months.

It will thus be seen that the great highways to the Pole were discovered by William
Baffin.

Our limits compel us to pass over t'le voyages of Stephen Bennet (1603-1610), Jonas Poole
(1610-1613), and Captain Luke Fox (1631). In 1631 the merchants of Bristol despatched
Captain Thomas James, but he made no additions to the discoveries of his predecessors. And
then for nearly tw enturies England abandoned her efforts to open up a communication between
the Atlantic and the Pacific.

In 1818, however, the question of the existence of a North- West Passage once more occupied
the public mind ; and the British Government accordingly fitted out an exploring expedition, the
Isabella and the Alexander, under the command of Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry.

They sailed from England on the 1 8th of April, reached the southern edge of the Baffin Bay
ice on the 2nd of July, and, after a detention of thirty-eight days, reached the North Water on
August 8th. The capes on each side of the mouth of Smith Sound, Ross named after his two
ships ; and having accomplished this much, he affirmed that ho saw land against the horizon at a
distance of eight leagues, and then retraced his course, and sailed for England.

The British Government, however, refused to be discouraged by the failure of an expedition
which had obviously been conducted with an entire absence of vigour and enterprise. They
therefore equipped the Hecla and the Griper, and gave the command to Lieutenant Parry ; who
sailed from the Thames on the 5th of May 1819, and on the 15th of June sighted Cape Fare-
well. Striking northward, up Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, he found himself checked by the ice-
barrier in lat. 73° N. A man of dauntless resolution, he came to the determination of forcing a
passage at all hazards ; and in seven days, by the exercise of a strong will, great sagacity, and
first-rate seamanship, he succeeded in carrying his ships through the pack of ice, which measured
eighty miles in breadth.

Ho was then able to enter Sir James Lancaster Sound ; and up this noble inlet he pro-
ceeded with a fair wind, hopeful of entering the great Polar Sea. But after advancing a con-
siderable distance, he was once more met by the frozen powers of the North, and this time he
was forced to own himself vanquished. He accordingly returned towards the south, discovering

PARRY'S SECOND EXPEDITION.

329

Barrow Strait ; and, more to the westward, an inlet which has since figured conspicuously in
Arctic voyages — Wellington Channel. Bathurrt Island he also added to the map ; and afterwards
he came in sight of Melville Island. On the 4th of September he attained the meridian of
110° W. long., and thus became entitled to the Parliamentary grant of £5000. A convenient
harbour in the vicinity was named the " Bay of the Hecla and the Griper," and here Lieutenant
Parry resolved upon passing the winter.

In the following spring he resumed his adventurous course, and completed a very careful
survey of the shores of Baffin Sea ; after which he repaired to England, and reached the Thames
in safety, with his crews in good health, and his ships in excellent condition, about the middle of
November 1820.

THE ''hecla" and " TORT " WINTERINO AT WINTER ISLAND.

Having doi ' so much and so well, it was natural that Captain Parry should again be selected
for employment in the Arctic seas in the following year. He hoisted his flag in his old ship,
the Hecla, and was accompanied by the Fury ; both vessels being equipped in the most liberal
manner. He sailed from the Nore on the 8th of May 1821 ; he returned to the Shetland
Islands on the 10th of October 1823. In the interval, a period of seven-aiid-twenty months, he
discovered the Duke of York Bay, the numerous inlets which break up the northern coast-line
of the American continent, Winter Island, the islands of Anatoak and Ooght, the Strait of the
Fury and Hecla, Melville Peninsula, and Cockbum Island. During their winter sojourn on
Winter Island, the English crews were surprised by a visit from a party of Eskimos, whose
settlement Captain Parry visited in his turn. He found it an establishment of five huts, with
canoes, sledges, dogs, and above sixty men, women, and children, as regularly, and, to all appear-
ance, aa permanently fixed as if they had occupied the same spot the whole winter. "If the firet
view," says Parry, " of the exterior of this little village was such as to create astonishment, that

230

AN ESKIMO HUT.

Cooling was in uo small degree heightened on accepting the invitation soon given ua to enter these
extraordinary houses, in the construction of which we observed that not a single material was
used but snow and ice. After creeping through two low passages, having each its arched door-
way, wo came to a small circular apartment, of which the roof was a perfect arched dome. From
this three doorways, also arched, and of larger dimensions than the Oitward ones, led into as
many inhabited apaiiin :its — one on each side, and the other facing us as we entered. The
interior of these presoiiiod a scene no less novel than interesting : the women were seated on the
beds at the sides of the huts, each having her little fireplace or lamp, with all her domestic
utonsils about her. The children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs shrank past us in

dismay. The construction of this inhabited part
of the hut waa similar to that of the outer apart-
ment,— being a dome, formed by separate blocks
of snow laid with great regularity and no small
art, each being cut into the shape requisite to
form a substantial arch, from seven to eight feet
high in the centre, and ha\ing no support what-
ever but what this principle of building supplies.
Sufficient light was admitted into these curious
edifices by a circular window of ice, neatly fitted
into the roof of each apartment."

In 1824-25 Captain Parry undertook a third
voyage, but with less than his usual success.
The Fury was driven ashore by the pressure of
the pack-ice, and so damaged, that I'arry found
it needful to abandon her, and remove her crew
and stores to the Ilecla.

Sir John Parry's fourth and last expedition,
in 1827, was characterized by his bold attempt
to cross the icy sea in light boats and sledges ;
resorting to the former when his progress was
interrupted by pools of water, and to the latter
in traversing the unbroken surface of the ice-
fields. He was soon compelled, however, to
abandon the sledges, on account of the hum-
mocks and irregularities of the ice.
We agree with Mr. Cooley, that voluntarily to undertake the toil and brave the danger
of such an expedition, required a zeal little short of enthusiasm. When the travellers reached a
water-way, they were obliged to launch their boats and embark. On reaching the opposite side,
their boats were then to be dragged, frequently up steep and perilous cliflTs, their lading being firet
removed. By this laborious process, pei-severed in with little intermission, they contrived to
accomplish eight miles in five days. They travelled only during the night, by which means they
were less incommoded with snow-blindness ; they found the ice more firm and consistent ; and
had the great advantage of lying down to sleep during the warmer portion of the twenty-four

THE '• FURY " AUANDONKD BT PARRT— IBl.

AN OVERLAND EXPEDITION. SSI

hours. Shortly after sunset they took their breakfast ; then they laboured for a few hours before
taking their principal meal. A little after midnight, towards sunrise, they halted as if for the
night, smoked their pipes, looked over the icy desert in the direction in which the journey was
to be resumed ; and then, v/apping themselves in their furs, lay down to rest. Advancing as
far north as 82' 40', they were then compelled by the drifting of the snow-fields to retrace their
steps. They regained their ships on the 2l8t of August, and sailed for England.

We must now go back a few years. In May 1811), an overland expedition "'"s despatched
to ascertain the exact position of the Coppermine River, to descend it to its mou .d to explore
the coast of the Arctic Sea on either hand. The command was given to Lie..^nant Franklin,
who was accompanied by Dr. Jlichardson the naturalist, by Messrs. Hood and Back, two English
midshipmen, and two picked seamen. Tlio expedition was spread over a period of two years and
a half, and the narrative of what was accomplished and endured by its members reads like a
romance. They reached the mouth of the Coppermine, and then launched their little barks on
the chill waters of the Polar Sea. With much perseverance, and after encountering some serious
obstacles, they made their way along its shores in a westerly direction as far as Point Turnagain,
in lat. 68° 30' N. Between this headland on the east, and Cape Barrow on the west, opens a
deep gulf, stretching inland as far as the Arctic Circle. Franklin named it George the Fourth's
Coronation Gulf; and describes it as studded with numerous islands, and indented with sounds
affording excellent harbours, all of them supplied with small rivers of fresh water, abounding with
salmon, trout, and other fish.

Passing over Franklin's after-labours in the great cause of Arctic Discovery, labours which
secured him the well-merited reward of knighthood, we come to that last voyage, which helped,
as we shall see, to solve the problem of a North- West Passage, but was the cause of one of the
saddest chapters in the history of Maritime Enterprise.

It was in the spring of 1845 that Sir John Franklin, in command of the Erebus and the
Terror, with Captain Crozier, an experienced Arctic navigator, as his lieutenant, and at the head
of one hundred and thirty -seven picked seamen, brave, resolute, and hardy, once more sailed for
the Polar waters.

On the 8th of June he left the Orkneys, and a month later arrived in Baffin Bay. About
the end of July some whaling-ships in Melville Bay saw the Erebus and TeiTor contending
gallantly with the ice which impeded their progress to Lancaster Sound. On the evening of the
26th the ice opened up, and the two discovery-ships sailed away into the north-western seas.

Two years passed, and no news reached England of Franklin and his companions. As day
succeeded day, and week followed week, and still no tidings came, men grew anxious, and then
alarmed ; " expectation darkened into anxiety, anxiety into dread." At last, it was determined
to institute a search for the missing heroes. An expedition was sent out under Sir James R< » ;
another under Sir John Richardson ; but neither obtained any information. By many all I pe
was then abandoned ; and the fate of Franklin was regarded as one of those mysteries which the
historian in vain attempts to unravel. He and his men had perished ; of that there could be no
reasonable doubt. Yet a few were sanguine euough to believe that they had taken refuge among

232 SEARCHING FOR SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

the EHkimos, or were «lragji^ng out a weary existence in some remote wilderness, m expectation
of help from home. Franklin's brave and noble wife was one of those who, whatever they feared
or hoped, were, at all events, determined not to rest until some accurate information had been
gained. And round her gathered the most eminent scientific men of the day, whose influence
combined with the general sympathy of the people to encourage the Government in a further
effort.

it was in 1850 that the first clue to the position of the Erebus and Terror was secured in
Bcechey Island, through the accidental detention there of the searching expeditions of Captains
Austin and Penny.

They 'were bound for Melville Island, but on reaching the entrance of Wellington Channel
(August 1850), were met by such immense fields of ice sweeping down it and out of Barrow
Strait, that they were glad to seek shelter in a great bay at the eastern end of the channel, —
a bay almost bisected, as it were, by Beechey Island. On the 23rd, a boat from Captain
Ommaney's ship, the Assistance, happened to land on one of the extreme points of the bay ; and
the crew, in the course of their wanderings, were not a little surprised to discover traces of a
former visit from Europeans. Under the lofty cliff of Cape Riley they came upon the ground-
work of a tent, scraps of canvas and rope, a quantity of birds' bones and feathers, and a long-
handled rake which, apparently, had been jsed for collecting the rich rare weeds that cover the
bott<om of the Arctic waters.

That Europeans had been encamped there, was certain, but not a name or record associated
the remains with 1 mklin's expedition. News of the discovery, however, reached Captain
Penny, an Aberdeen seaman, who had been employed by the British Admiralty as leader. of a
separate expedition ; and in conjunction with Lieutenant de Haven, of the United States Navy,
who was in command of the expedition liberally equipped by Mr. Grinnell, of New York, he
resolved to examine the east coast of Wellington Channel with minute care, in the belief that
some memorials of Franklin would thus be discovered.

From a point called Cape Spenser, the Americans, on foot, pursued the trail of a sledge up
the east side of Wellington Channel, until, at one day's journey beyond Cape Innis, it suddenly
ceased, as if the party had there turned back again. A bottle and a piece of The Times news-
paper were the only relics which fell into the hands of the searchers. Meantime, Captain Penny
had anchored his ships under the western point of Beechey Island, and despatched a boat to take
up the clue at Cape Riley, and follow it to the eastward, in the event of the traces being those
of a party retreating from the ships, supposing them to have been ice-bound in the north-west, to
Baffin Bay. This boat-party eventually returned unsuccessful ; but, one afternoon, some men
belonging to the Lady Franklin asked leave, and obtained it, for the purpose of a ramble over
Beechey Island. They sauntered along towards the low projecting portion of the island which
extends northward, choosing a convenient spot to cross the huge ridges of ice which lay piled up
along the beach ; they were seen to mount the acclivity or backbone of the point. In a minute
afterwards their friends on board the ships (says Admiral Sherard Osbom) saw the party rush
simultaneously towards a dark object, round which they collected, with signs of great excitement.
Presently one ran hither, one thither. Feverish with anxiety, those on board knew immediately
that some fresh traces had been found, and a general sortie took place to Beechey Island. " Eh,

DISCOVERY OP RKMCS. SS8

air," said a gallant Scotch mariner, when relating the discovery — " eh, sir, my heart waw in my
mouth, and I didna ken I could rin so fast afore."

And what had been found ?

A cairn, of a pyramidal form, which had evidently been constructed with nmch care. The
base consisted of a series of preserved-meat tins, filled with gravel and sand ; and more tins were
so arranged as to taper gradually upwards to the .summit of the cairn, in which was planted the
fragment of a broken boarding-pike. To all appearance it had been purposely raised for the
reception of some documental record, yet nothing could be found in or about the spot, in spite of
the most persevering efforts. But presently looking along the northern slope of the island,
other strange objects caught the eye. Another rush of anxious excited beings, and they stood
before three graves ; and many of them brushed away the unwonted tear as they read upon their
humble tablets the words Erebus and TeiTor,

Captain Austin followed up Captain Penny in liis explorations of the Arctic wastes, but no
further information was obtained of Franklin's movements. It was impossible to determine
whether on his way home he had perished in Baffin Bay ; whether he had struck to the north-
west by Wellington Channel ; or whether he was haply imprisoned in Melville Island.

We have no space, nor is it necessary, to dwell on the records of the various searching expe-
ditions fitted out by the Government, or by Lady Franklin and her friends. It must be noted,
however, that one of these, led by Captain (afterwards Sir) Robert M'Clure, succeeded in accom-
plishing the enterprise in which Franklin perished, and, entering the Northern Ocean by Behring
Strait, actually forced its way, through snow and ice, into the Atlantic. The North-West
Passage, so long sought, waa thus discovered ; but the discovery, though interesting and valuable
from a geographical point of view, was followed by no commercial results. In truth, it proved
that the route along the north-west of the American Continent could never be practicable for
ordinary vessels.

It may be assorted that nearly all men had abandoned hope and expectation of ascertaining
any exact particulars of the fate of Franklin and his followers, when, towards the close of the
autumn of 1854, Dr. E«e, a well-known traveller and Arctic explorer, suddenly appeared in
England, bringing with him the most curious evidence of the disasters which had overwhelmed a
party that had evidently been travelling from the ice-bound Erebus and Terror towards the Great
Fish River. Dr. Rae had ascertained from some Eskimos with whom he had been travelling
that this party numbered forty persons, and that all had died of starvation four years prior to Dr.
Rae's visit. The unfortunate " white men " had been first seen on King V/illiam's Land ; later
in the same year their dead bodies had been observed near or about the mouth of the Great Fish
River (1850). Dr. Rae brought home numerous pieces of silver plate obtained from the Eskimos,
which were marked with the names of officers of the two ships. Lady Franklin waa encouraged
by this intelligence to urge upon the Government the propriety of despatching an expedition to
the points indicated by the Eskimos ; but the Gover iment contented themselves with applying
to the Hudson Bay Company. The result was an overland expedition in 1855 to the mouth of
the Great Fish River, by Mr. Anderson, one of the Company's chief officers. He had no boat
with him capable of reaching King William's Land, though it was only sixty miles distant from

234 VOYAGE OP M'CLTNTOCK.

the point ho attained, nor was he accomiiiinied by an EHkiuio interpreter. He ascertained, how-
ever, that only a portion of the officers and men of the Erebus and Terror had reached the Great
Fish River — some forty of them, very possibly, as Dr. Rae had been infi)rmed ; these forty, with
the three graves upon Beechoy Island, still leaving ninety-five persons unaccounted for.

Lady Franklin and her friends continued to press upon Government the need for further
inquiry ; but finding the responsible ministers unwilling to interfere in what they had come to
consider a hopeless enterprise, they contrived, with some help from the public, to purchase and
fit out a strongly-built screw-schooner, of which Captain M'Clintock volunteered to take the
command.

He sdiled froiu England in the summer of 1857 ; reached Melville Bay in safety, but was
then held fast by the Heating ice. The winter, however, came and went without any injury to
him and his gallant band ; and on the 27th of July 1858, the Fox stretched across to Lancaster
Sound. On the Hth of August she arrived at Beechey Island, and replenished her diminished
stores from the depAts left there by previous expeditions. Then she pushed to the westward,
past Cape Hotham and Griffith Island, southward through Sir Robert Peel Channel, and so
into Prince Regent Inlet. Having arrived oflf the eastern entrance of Bellot Strait, she found it
blocked up by a wall of ice, and from the 20th of August to the 6th of September she watched
for an opportunity of breaking through it. On the 6th she made the passage, but only to find
the other end obstructed by an impassable ice-barrier; and, after five fruitless attempts, her
captain brought her to anchor for the winter in Port Kennedy, on the northern side of the strait.

When the new year opened, M'Clintock resolved on undertaking sledge excursions in various
directions, with the view of obtaining some information of Franklin aud his expedition. In one
of tbom, at Cape Victoria, on the west coast of Boothia (lat. 69° 50' N., long. 96° W.), he ascer-
tained from the natives that, several years previously, a ship had been wrecked off the northern
shores of King William's Land ; that all her crew landed safely, and set off on a journey to the
Great Fish River, where they died. Again : in April, falling in with the same party of Eskimos,
they learned further, that besides the ship which hod sunk in deep water, another had been
driven ashore by the ice. Captain M'Clintock thereupon crossed to Montreal Island, trav iUed
round the estuary of the Great Fish River, and visited Point Ogle and Barrow Island. On May 7,
he fell in with an old Eskimo woman, who told him that many of the white men dropped by
the way as they made towards the Great Fish River ; that some were buried, and some were not
Proceeding in what he conceived to have been the route of the retreating crews, he discovered,
near Point Herschel, a bleached skeleton ; evidently that of one who had fallen behind the main
body, from weakness and fatigue, and had died where he had fallen.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Hobson, who had started with another sledging party, had made the
important discovery of a record, giving a brief account of the Franklin expedition up to the time
when the ships were lost. It was found within a cairn constructed on Point Victory, and it set
forth the following particulars : —

The Erebus and Terror spent their first winter at Beechey Island, in the spot discovered by
Penny and Austin's expedition ; but they had previously explored Wellington Channel as far as
73" N., and passed down again into Barrow Strait, between Comwallis and Bathurst Land. In
1846 the two ships seem to have sailed through Peel Channel, until caught in the ice off King

THE OAIRN ON POINT VICTORY.

William's Land, on the 12th of September. In May 1847, Lieutenant Graham Oore and Mr.
des Voeux landed, and erected a cairn a few miles south of Point Victory, and deposited in it a

DISCOVKRT or THE CAIRN COMTAININO IIB JOHN FRANKMN's PAFKR8.

document which stated that, on that day, all were well, with Sir J. Franklin in command.
Within a month, however, that illustrious navigator died (June 11), and thus was spared the

RELICS OK TlIK FRANKLIN EXPEDITION BRODQHT DACK TO KNQLAND.

terrible trials which afflicted his followers. The ice did not move, and the winter of 1847-'!rf
closed in upon them. It proved fatal to nine officers and fifteen men. On April 22, 1845, the

236

IJKUTKNANT IIOBSON'S DISCOVERIES.

two BhipH, whicli had boon iinpriiMned for upwards of nineteen months, were deserted, and the
ortifors and crews, one hundred and five in number, under the command of Captains Crozier and
FitzjainuM, started for the Great Fisli River.

At the cairn and all about it lay a great quantity of clothing and other articles, which the
surturerH had found from experience of three days to be a heavier weight than their enfoebled
strength was able to drag.

From this point to a spot about midway between Point Victory and Point Herschel nothing
of much im{)ortance was discovered, and the skeletons as well as relics were deeply embedded in
snow. At this midway station, however, the top of a piece of wood projecting out of the snow
was seen by Ijioutenant Hobson, and on digging round it a boat was discovered. It stood on a
very heavy sledge, and within it were a couple of skeletons. The one in the bottom of the stern

DISCOVER? OF ONK OK THE IIOATS OF THE t'RANKLIM EXrEUlTION.

sheets was covered with a great quantity of thrown-off clothing ; the other, in the bows, seemed
to have been that of some poor fellow who had crept there to look out, and in that position fallen
into his lost sleep. A coupK of guns, loaded and ready cocked, stood upright to hand, as if they
had been prepared for use against wild animals. Around this boat was another accumulation of
cast-off articles ; and it was the belief of M'Clintock that the party in charge of her were return-
ing to the ships, as if they discovered their strength unequal to the terrible journey before them.
It may be assumed, however, that the stronger portion of the crews still pushed on with another
boat, and that some reached Montreal Island and ascended the Great Fish River.

The point, says Sherard Osborn, at which the fatal imprisonment of the Erebus and Terror
in 1846 took place, was only ninety miles from the spot reached by Dease and Simpson in their
boats in 1 838-39, coming from the east. Ninety miles more of open water, and Franklin and
his gallant crew would have not only won the prize they sought, but reached their homes to

DR. HANK'S ADVENTUKEa HI

wear their well-earned honours. " It was not to be ho. Let us bow in humility and awe to the
inscrutable decrees of that Providence who ruled it otherwise. They were to discover the frrant
highway between the Pacific and the Atlantic. It was given them to win for their country a
discovery for which she had riukcd her sons and lavishly spent her wealth through many centuries;
but the^ were to die in accomplishing their last great earthly ta.sk : and, still more strange, but
for the energy and devotion of the wife of their chief and leader, it would in all probability never
have been known that they were indeed the First Diacoverera of the North- Weat Paaaaye.

We have thought it for the convenience of our readers to set before them an uninterrupted
narrative of the exertions made to ascertain the fate of Franklin and his companions by ICnglish
seamen under English influence; but we must now retuni to 1853, to chronicle the American
expedition under Dr. Kane — which did not, indeed, succeed in its primary object, but made sotne
remarkable additions to our knowledge of the Polar Kegions.

Dr. Elisha Kane sailed from, Boston in 1853, in command of the Advance, with a crew
of seventeen officers and men, to whom two Greenlanders wore subsequently added.

On the 7th of August he passed the two great headlands which guard the entrance of
Smith Sound, — Cape Isabella and Cape Alexander, discovered and named in the preceding year
by Captain Inglefield,— and after a voyage of equal difficulty and danger reached Rensselaer Bay
on the east coast of the sound, where he passed the winter. A few extracts from his diary will
show under what conditions, and in what circumstances, Kane and his followers passed the long
and dreary winter monthf : —

" October 28th. — Tlie moon has re hed her greatest northern declination of about 25° 35'.
She is a glorious olject; sweeping a.ound the heavens, at the lowest part of her curve, she
is still 14° above the horizon. For eight days she has been making her circuit with nearly
unvarying brightness, it '« one of those sparkling nights that bring back the memory of sleigh-
bells and songs, and glad communings of hearts in lands that are far away.

" November 7th. — The darkness is coming on with insidious steadiness, and its advances can
only be perceived by comparing one day with its fellow of some time back. We still read the
thermometer at noonday without a light, and the black masses of the hills are plain for about
five hours, with their glaring patches of snow ; but all the rest is darkness. The stars of the
sixth magnitude shine out at noonday. Except upon the island of Spitzbergen, which has the
advantages of an insular climate, and tempered by ocean-currents, no Christians have wintered
in so high a latitude as this. They are Russian sailors who mode the encounter there — men
inured to hardships and cold. Our darkness has ninety days to run before we shall get back
again even to the contested twilight of to-day. Altogether our winter will have been sunless
for one hundred and forty days.

" Decembei' 16th. — We have lost the last vestige of our mid-day twilight. We cannot see
print, and hardly paper; the fingers cannot be counted a foot from the eyes. Noonday and
midnight are alike ; and, except a vague glimmer in the sky that seems to define the hill outlines
to the south, we have nothing to tell us that this Arctic world of ours has a sun. I n the dark-
ness, and consequent inaction, it is almost in vain that we seek to create topics of thought, and,
by a forced excitement, to ward off the encroachments of disease."

But in due time the long Arctic night passed away, and the season came round for under-

ass

KAST COAST OK HMITW SOUND.

taking tho 8lu(lj,'o jouriioys which were tho main object of tho expedition. But Dr. Kano wm
then mot hy a now difficulty. Out of tho nine nplondid Newfoundland and thirty-five EHkimo
dd^^s which ho had orij^inally posHOHsed, only six had Hurvived a peculiar malady that had Hoizcd
them durinjj tho winter ; and thou,rh Honio froHh purchaseH were made from the EHkimos who
visited llonHsclatir Harbour early in April, bin moans of transport romainod wholly inadequate.

Kane, inoroovor, who thou},'li ntronj^ of heart was weak of body, hiul Huffered much from tho
rigour of tho climate, and wa« in a sadly feeble condition when, on tho 25th of April 1854, ho
Htartod on his northward journey. Ho found the Greenland coast, as he ivjcondod Kano Sea,
full of romantic surprises ; tho clifTs rising to a height of ten hundred and eleven hundred feet,
and presenting the boldest and most fantastic outlines. This character is conti"ued as far as the
(Jreat Htimboldt Glacier. Tho coast is indented by four great bays, all of them communicating
with deep gorges, which are watered by streams from the interior ice-fields. Tho mean height
of the table-land, till it roaches tho bed of tho Great Glacier, Dr. Kane estimated, in round
numbers, at 900 feet; its tallest sunmiit near tho water at 1300, and the rise of tho background
above tho general level at GOO more. Tho face of this stupendous ice-mass, as it defined tho
coast, was everywhere an abrupt and threatening precipice, only broken by clefts and deep
ravines, giving breadth and interest to its wild expression.

■jnmtia— , m^jmL: ■'-^'^' •^*'^® informs us that the most

picturesque portion of the coast occurs in
the neighbourhood of Dallas Bay. Hero
the red sandstones contrast very favour-
ably with the blank whiteness, and associate
the warm colours of more southern lands
with the cold tints of the Arctic scenery.
The seasons have acted on the different
layere of the cliff so as to give them all the
appearance of jointed masonry, and the
narrow stratum of greenstone at tho top
surmounts them with boldly-designed battle-
ments. To one of these " interesting freaks
of Nature" Kane gave the name of the
"Three Brother Turrets." The crumbled
ruin at the foot of the coast-wall led up,
like an artificial causeway, to a ravine that blazed at noonday with the glow of the southern
sun, when everywhere else the rock lay in blackest shadow. Just at the edge of this lane of
light rose the semblance of a castle, flanked with triple towers, completely isolated and defined.
These were the Three Turrets.

Still further to the north, a solitary cliff of greenstone, marked by the slaty limestone that
once encased it, sprang from a mass of broken sandstone, like the rough-hewn rampart of an
ancient city. At its northern extremity, on the brink of a deep ravine, wrought out among the
ruin, stood a solitary column, or minaret-tower, the pedestal of which was not less than 280 feet
in height, while the shaft was fully 480 feet. Dr. Kane associated this remarkable beacon with
the name of the poet Tennyson.

TUB "TimEB IIROTIIER TURKKTS."

KRNNKDY CHANNKL Ml

Dr. Kanu cuiitiiiuu«l his ndvancu, and on thu 4th of Miiy ii|i|iroiu'hc«l tiio (irent (SIncier.
This projrioss, howovor, was dearly oarnod. Owiiij^ to Uio oxcl'smIvi; cold and lal)our, iiiont of ills
party Hidlbred from painful proBtration , thrt'o wuro attacked with Hiiow-bliii<ln»H.s ; and all were
troubled with dropnical MSvellinjfH. {)i\' Cape Kent, whiK takiiii^ an obwrvation for latitude,
Kane hitnsolf vrwi seized with a sudden pain, and fainted. IUh linibH became ri^nd. lie was
Htrappoi ipon the sledge, and insisted that tiio march should bj continued. But, on the 5tli, ho
grew del. jus, and fainting every time that ho was taken from the tent to the sledgo, he suc-
cumbed entirely.

"My eomrodos," writes this heroic man, than whom no braver or mort; resolute spirit
ever ventured into the dreary Northern wilds, " would kindly persuade mo that, even had I con-
tinued sound, wo could not have proceeded on our journey. Tho snows wore very heavy, and
increasing as we went ; some of the drifts |)or{ectly impassable, and the level Hoes often four
feet deep in yielding snow. Tho scurvy had already broken out ameng the men, with syiii|>-
toms like my own; and Morton,, our strongest man, was beginning to give way. It is tlie
reverse of comfort to mo that they shared my wea'-ness. All that I should rememl)er with
pleasurable feeling is, that to five bravo men, themf' ives scarcely able to travel, I owe my pre-
servation."

They carried liim back to the brig at Rensselaer Harbour, and for several days he lay
fluctuating between life and death. As tho summer came on, however, his health slowly
improved ; and though unable to undertake any sledge excursions in person, he organized a series
of expeditions in which his stronger companions took part. Dr. Hayes crossed the strait in a
nor;,h-easterly direction, reached the opposite coast of Grinnell Land, where tho cliffs varied
from 1200 to 2000 feet in height, and surveyed it as far as Capo Fruaer, in lat. 79" 45'.

He returned on June Ist, and, a few days later, Morton departed to survey the Greenland
shore beyond the Humboldt Glacier. His journey was a difficult one, for the obstacles offered
by the ice hummocks were sometimes almost insurmountable, and tho ice-field was intersected
by chasms and water-lanes frequently four feet in width. After skirting the coast of what is
now known as Morris Bay, Morton's party came upon easier ground ; and presently a long low
country opened on the land-ice, a wide plain between largo headlands, with rolling hills through
it. A flock of brent goose came do tn this valley, with a wliirr of wings, and ducks were seen in
c-owds upon the open water. Eiders and dove-kies also made their appearance ; and tern were
very numerous, and exceedingly tamo, flying high overhead, their notes echoing from tlio
rocks, were largo white birds, which Morton supposed to be burgomasters. There were also
ivory gulls and mollemokes ; the fonner flying very high, and the latter winging tiieir way far
out to sea.

The channel (Kennedy Channel) was here unobstructed by ice, and its waves rolled freely

and noisily on the shore. Along its verdant margin Morton proceeded warily, and on the 2()th

of June, 1854, reached the striking headland of Cape Constitution, about 2000 feet In height.

Its base was washed by a tremendous surf, through which it was impossible to pass — the ne plus

ultra, as it seemed, of hum . enterprise. Climbing from rock to rock, he contrived to reach an

elevation of 300 feet ; from which he was able to trace the outline of the coast for fifty miles to

the north. In the distance rose a range of mountains, very lofty, and rounded at their summits.

To the north-west might be seen a bare peak, striated vertically with protruding ridges, and

340

I'UKrAltINO FOU WINTER,

MORTON ON THE SHORE or THE SUPPOSED POLAR OCEAN.

Boarinj^ to an altitude of between 2500 and 3000 feet. This peak, the most remote northern
land then known upon the globe, was named after the great pioneer of Arctic travel. Sir Edward
Parry.

The range (Victoria and Albert Mountains) with which it waa connected was much higher,
Morton thought, than any they had seen on the s'"- tLem or Greenland side of the bay. The
summits wore generally rounded, resembling a succession of sugar-loaves and stacked cannon-
balls declining blowly in the perspective.

All the sledge-parties were now once more aboard the brig, and the season of Arctic travel
had ended. The short summer was rapidly 'vearing away, and yet the ice remained a rigid and
impenetrable barrier. 1 1 was evident that the ship could not be liberated, and Kane found him-
self compelled to decide between two equally dismal alternatives, — the abandonment of the ship,
or another winter among the Polar snows. For himself, he resolved to remain ; but to those
who were willing to venture on the attempt to reach the Danish settlement at Upemavik, he
left the choice open. Out of the seventeen survivors ot the party, eight, like Dr. Kane, decided
to stand by the brig ; the othere, to push southward to Upemavik. These werr provided with
all the provi-sions and appliances that could be spared, and took their departu.e on Monday,
August 28th ; carrying with them a written assurance of a brother's welcome should they be
driven back — an assurance amply redeemed when severe trials had prepared them to share again
ttiti fortunes of their commander.

KANE'S WINTER QUARTERS.

241

Dr. Kane confronted the winter with equal sagacity and resolution. He had carefully
studied the Eskimo-s, and concluded that their form of habitation and peculiarities of diet, with-
out their unthrift and filth, were the safest thai, could be adojitcd. He turned the brig, there-
fore, into a kind of igloe, or hut. The quarter-deck was well padded with moss and tuif, and the
cabin below, a space some eighteen feet square, was inclosed and packed from floor to ceiling
with inner walls of the same material. The floor itself was carefully calked with plaster of
Paris and common psiste, and covered two inches deep with Manilla oakum and a canviw carpet.
The entrance was from the hold by a low, moss-lined tunnel, the tossut of the native luit«, with
as many doors and curtains to close it up as ingenuity could devise. This was their sitting-room,
dining-room, sleeping-room ; but there were only ten of them, and the closer the warmer.

DR. KANK PATINO A VISIT TO AN EHKIMO HUT AT KTAH.

While they were engaged in these defences against the enemy, they contrived to open up
a friendly intercourse with tlie Eskimos^ visiting them in their snow-huts at the settlements of
Etah and Anatoak, distant about thirty and seventy miles from the brig ; and, in return for
presents of needles, pins, and knives, they undertook to show the white strangers where game
was to be procured, as well as to furnish walrus and fresh seal meat. The assistance rendered
by the Eskimos was of the greatest value, and we may infer that, without it. Dr. Kane and
his followers must have succumbed to the hardships of that dreadful winter.

On the 12th of December, the party which had abandoned the ship suddenly reappeared,
finding it impossible to penetrate to the south. They had suffered severely ; were covered with
riiae and snow, and fainting with hunger. It was necessary to use much caution in conveying
them below ; for after an exposure of such fearful intensity and duration as they had undergone,
the warmth of the cabin would have prostrated them completely. They had journeyed three

943 DAYS IN WINTER.

hundred and fifty miles ; and tlieir last run from the bay near Etah, some seventy miles in a
right lino, was through the hummocks with the thermometer at —50°. "One by one," says
Kane, " they all came in and were housed. Poor fellows I as they threw open their Eskimo
garments by the stove, how they relished the scanty luxuries which we had to offer. The coffee,
and the meat-biscuit .soup, and the molasses, and the wheat-bread, even the salt pork, which our
scurvy forbade the •►^st of us to touch — how they relished it all ! For more than two months
they had lived on trozen seal and walrus meat."

We cannot dwell on the various little incidents which marked that sad and terrible winter,
but an extract or two from Dr. Kane's journal will show the reader how much the imprisoned
explorei-8 endured, and in what spirit they bore their trials : —

" Ihcenibcr 1, Friday. — I am writing at midnight. I have the watch from eight to two.
It is day in the moonlight cm deck, the thermometer getting up again to 36° below zero. As I
come down to the cabin — for so we still call this little moss-lined igloe of ours — every one is
a.sleep, snoring, gritting his teeth, or talking in his dreams. This is pathognomonic ; it tells of
Arctic winter, and its companion, scurvy. Tom Hickey, our good-humoured, blundering cabin-
boy, decorated with the dimities of cook, is in that little dirty cot on the starboard side ; the
rest are bedded in rows. Mr. Brooks and myself chock aft. Our bunks are close against the
frozen moss-wall, where we can take in the entire family at a glance. The apartment measures
twenty feet by eighteen ; its height six feet four inches at one place, but diversified elsewhere by
beams crossing at different distances from the floor. The avenue by which it is approached is
barely to be seen in the raoss-wall forward ; twenty feet of air-tight space make misty distance,
for the puff of outside temperature that came in with mc has filled our atmosphere with vesicles
of vapour. The avenue — Ben-Djerback is our poetic name for it — closes on the inside with a
door well-patched with flannel, from which, stooping upon all fours, you back down a descent of
four feet in twelve through a tunnel three feet \ ^, and two feet six inches biojd. Arrived at
the bottom, you straighten yourself, and a second door admits you into the dr^ik and soiTowing
hold, empty of stores, ard stripped to its naked ceiling for firewood. From this we grope our
way to the main hatch, und mount by a rude stairway of boxes into the open air."

" February 21, Wednesday. — To-day the crests of the north-east headland were gilded by
true sunshine, and all v ho were able ascended on deck to greet it. The sun rose above the
horinjr., though still scrt ened from our eyes by intervening hills. Although the powerful refrac-
tion of Polar latitudes heralds his direct appearance by brilliant light, this is as far removed
from the glorious tints of day as it is from the mere twilight. Nevertheless, for the past ten
days we liave been watching the growing warmth of our landscape, as it emerged from buried
shadow, through all the stages of distinctness of an India-ink wa.shing, step by step, into the
sharp, bold definition of our desolo^o harbour scene. We have marked every dash of colour
which the great Painter in his benevolence vouchsafed to us ; and now the empurpled blue,
clear, unmistakable, the spreading lake, the flickering yellow ; peering at all these, poor wretches !
everything seemed superlative lustre and unsurpassable glory. We had so grovelled in darkness,
that we ove'.-saw the light.

" Mr Wilson has caught cold, and relapsed. Mr. Ohlsen, after a suspicious day, startles
mo by an attack of partial epilepsy ; one of those strange, indescribable spells, fits, seizures.

WINTER EXPERIENCES. 348

whatever name the jargon gives them, which indicate deep disturbance. T conceal his case an
far as I can ; but it adds to my heavy pack of troubles to anticipate tlie gloc .y scenes (if epileptic
transport introduced into our one apartment. '

" February 28, Wednesday. — February closes: thank God for the lai)8e of its twenty-eight
days I Should the thirty-one of the coming March not drl^f us further dowinvard, we may hope
for a successful close to this dreary drama. By the 10th of April we should have seal ; and
when they come, if we remain to welcome them, we can call ourselves saved.

" But a fair review of our prospects tells me that I must look the lion in the face. The
scurvy is steadily gaining on us. I do my best to sustain the more desperate cases ; but lus fast
as I partially build up one, another is stricken down. The disease is perhajjs less malignant tlism
it was, but it is more diffused throughout our party. Except William Morton, who is disabled
by a frozen heel, not one of our eighteen is exempt. Of the six workera of our party, as I
counted them a month ago, two are unable to do out-door work, and the remaining four divide
the duties of the ship among them. Hans musters his remaining energies to conduct the liunt.
Petersen is his disheartened, moping assistant. The other two, Bonsall and myself, have all the
daily offices of household and hospital. We chop five large sacks of ice, cut six fothoms of eight-
inch hawser into junks of a foot each (for fuel), serve out the meat when wo have it, hack at the
molasses, and hew out with crowbar and axe the pork and dried apples, pass up the foul slops
and cleansings of our dormitory ; and, in a word, cook, scxdlionize, and attend the sick. Added
to this, for five nights running I have kept watch from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., catching cat-naps iis I
could in the day without changing my clothes, but carefully waking every hour to note ther-
mometers.

" Such is the condition in which February leaves us, with forty-one days more ahead of just
the same character in prospect as the twenty-eight which, thank God I are numbered now with the
past. It is saddening to think how much those twenty-eight days have impaired our capacities
of endurance. If Hans and myself can only hold on, we may work our way through. All rests
upon destiny, or the Power which controls it."

It is useless, however, to dwell longer on this raelaneholy record. Kane saw that to abandon
the brig was now the only resource : the ice held it fiist, there was no probability of its being
released, and a third winter in Rensselaer Bay would have been death to the whole party. As
soon, therefore, as the return of spring in some measure recruited the health of his followers, he
made the necessary preparations for departure ; and on the 20th of May the entire ship's com-
pany bade farewell to the Advaiice, and set out on their homeward route. With considerable
difficulty and arduous labour they hauled their boats across the rough, hummocky ice, and reached
the open sea. On the 17th of June they embarked, and steered for Upernavik, which port they
calculated upon reaching in fifty-six days. When they got fairly clear of the land, and in tiie
couwe of the great ice-drift southward, they found their boats so frail and leaky that they could
be kept afloat only by constant bailing ; a labour which told heavilj'^ on men already weakened
with disease and want. Starvation stared them in the face, when happily they fell in with and
captured a large seal, which they devoured voraciously ; and this opportune help recruited their
failing energies. Thenceforth they were in no lack of food, as seals were plentiful ; and early in

244 HAYES' SLEDGE JOURNEY.

August, after living for eighty-four days in the open air, they found themselves under the com-
fortable roofs of Upernavik, enjoying the hospitable welcome of the generous Danes.

Dr. Kane returned to New York on the 11th of October 1855, after an absence of thirty
months. His discoveries had been important, liis heroism worthy of the race from which he
sprung, !>:id none can deny that he had well merited the honours he received. Unfortunately,
a frame never very robust had been broken down by the trials of two Arctic winters ; and
this gallant e.\plorer puiisod away on the 16th of February 1857, in the thirty-seventh year of
his age.

In 18G0, Dr. Hayes, the companion of Dr. Kane, took the command of an expedition
intended -to complete the survey of Kennedy Channel, and to reach, if it were possible, the
North Pole. His schooner, the United States, was brought up for the winter at Port Foulke,
about twenty miles south of Rensselaer Harbour ; and early in the following April, Dr. Hayes
set out on a sledge and boat journey across the sound, and along the shores of Grinnell Land.

From the eloquent record of his adventures, which does so much credit to his literary skill,
" An Arctic Boat Journey," we have already quoted some stirring passages ; but the following
extract we may be allowed to repeat, on account of the clear light it throws upon the nature of
the difficulties Hayes encountered on his northward advance : —

" Tlio track," he says, " was rough, past description. I can compare it to nothing but a
promiccuous accunmlation of rocks closely packed together, and piled up over a vast plain in great
heaps and endless ridges, leaving scarcely a foot of level surface. The interstices between these
closely accumulated ice-masses are filled up, to some extent, with drifted snow. The reader will
easily imagine the rest. He will see the sledges winding through the tangled wilderness of
broken ice-tables, tlie men and dogs pulling and pushing up their respective loads. He will see
them clambering over the very summit of lofty ridges, through which there is no opening, and
again descending on the other side — the sledge often plunging over a precipice, sometimes cap-
sizing, and frequently breaking. Again he will see the party, baflfled in their attempt to cross
or find a pass, breaking a track with shovel and handspike ; or, again, unable even with these
appliances to accomplisli thoir end, they retreat to seek a better track : and they may bo lucky
enough to find a sort of gap or gateway, upon the winding and uneven surface of which they will
make a mile or so with comparative ease. The snow-drifts are :.ometimes a help and sometimes
a hindrance. Their surface is uniformly hard, but not always firm to the foot. The crust
frequently gives way, and in a most tiresome and provoking manner. It will not quite bear
the weight, and the foot sinks at the very moment when the other is lifted. But, worse than
this, the chasms between the hummocks are frequently bridged over with snow in such a manner
as to leave a considerable space at the bottom quite unfilled ; and at the very moment when all
looks promising, down sinks one man to his middle, another to the neck, another is buried out of
sight ; the sledge gives way, — and to extricate the whole from this unhappy predicament is
probably the labour of hours. It would be difficult to imagine any kind of labour more dis-
heartening, or which would sooner sap the energies of both men and animals."

After encountering difficulties like these, which wore out the strength ot most of his party,
Bo that they were compelled to return to the schooner, Dr. Hayes succeeded in crossing the

THE GERMAN AKCTIC EXPEDITION. 24:)

sound, and began his journey along the coast But the difficulties did not abatu, and made such
demands on the powers of endurance of the travellers, that the strongest among them broke
down, and had to be left behind in charge of another of the party. The resolute Hayes then
pushed on, accompanied by Kuorr, and on the 18th of May reached the margin of a deep jjuif.
where further progress was rendered impossible by the rotten ice and broad water-ways. From
this point, however, he could see, on the other side of the channel, and immediately opposite to
him, the lofty peak of Mount Parry, discovered in 1854 by the gallant Morton ; and more to the
north, a bold conspicuous headland, which he named Cape Union, the most northern known land
upon the globe. Beyond it, he thought he saw the open sea of the Pole, which, from Cape
Union, is not distant five hundred miles ; but the voyage of the Polaris, at a later date, has
shown that what he saw was only a land-locked bay.

On the 12th of July, the schooner was set free from the ice, but she proved to be too much
damaged to continue her dangerous voyage ; and satisfied with having proved that a direct and
not impracticable route to the Pole lies up Smith Sound and Kennedy Channel, Dr. Hayes
returned to Boston.

It is the opinion, however, of some geographers, though scarcely warranted by ascertained
facts, that the Pole may more easily be reached by what is known as the Spitzbergen route.
They argue that to the east of this snow-crowned archipelago the influence of the Gulf Stream
makes itself felt ; and they conclude that this great warm current possibly strikes as far as the
Pole itself. It is known that Parry, to the north of Spitzbergen, attained the latitude of 82' 45' ;
and it is recorded that a Hull whaler, the True-Love, in 1837, navigated an open sea in lat. 82°
30' N., and long. 15° E. ; so that she might probably have solved the problem and have gained
the Pole, had she continued on her northerly course.

Holding this belief, the illustrious German geographer. Dr. Petermann, succeeded in raising
funds for a German expedition in 1868; and the Germanta, a brig of eighty tons, under the
command of Captain Koldewey, sailed from Bergen on the 24th of May, for Shannon Island, in
lat. 75° 14' N., the furthest point on the Greenland coast reached by Sabine in 1823. She was
accompanied by the Hansa, Captain Hegemann ; and both ships were equipped in the most
careful manner, and liberally supplied with appliances and stores.

On the 9th of July the expedition was oft' the island of Jan Mayen, and at midnight on
that day was sailing direct to the northward. A heavj' fog came on, and the two ships,
even when sailing side by side, could hot see one another, and communication could bo main-
tained only by the use of the speaking-trumpet. Their crews might then conceive an idea of
that impenetrable chaos which, according to Pythias, terminated tlio world beyond Thulo, and
which is neither air, nor earth, nor sea. It is impossible to imagine anything more melancholy
than this gray, uniform, infinite veil or canopy ; ocean itself, far as the eye can reach, is gray
and gloomy.

For five successive days the weather remained in this condition, the fog alone varying in
intensity, and growing thicker and thicker. On the 14th a calm prevailed, and the Germania
lowered a boat to pick up drift-wood and hunt the sea-gulls. The ice-bli»k on the horizon
showed that the ships were drawing near the great ice-fields of the Polar Ocean ; and another sign
of their proximity was the appearance of the ivory gull {Lartis ebwneus), which never wanderw

246 THE "OERMANIA" AND THE " HAN8A."

far froui the ice. Occasionally the shipH fell in with a rorqual, or nord-caper, as the seamen call
it,- -a species t>f whale distini^uishud by tlie presence of a dorsal fin.

On the niorninj^ of tlie 15th of July a liffht breeze blew up from the south, and the two
ships sailed steadily on their north-western course through a sea covered with Hoating ice. An
accustoniod ear could already distinguish a distant murmur, which seemed to draw nearer and
yet nearer ; it was the swell of tiio sea breaking on the far-ott" ice-field. Nearer and yet nearer I
Kverybody gathered upon deck ; and, suddenly, as if in virtue of some spell, the mists cleared
away, and tlie adventurers saw before them, within a few hundred yards, the ice 1 It formed a
long line, like a clift'-wall of broken and rugged rocks, whose azure-tinted precipices glittered in
the sun, and rejjclled, unmoved, the rush of the foamy waves. The summit was covered with a
deep layer of blinding snow.

They gazed on the splendid panorama in silence. It was a solemn moment, and in every
mind new thoughts and new impressions were awakened, in which both hope and doubt were
blended.

The point where the Germania had struck the ice was lat. 74° 47' N. and long. 11° 50' K,
and the icy barrier stretched almost directly from north to south. The Hansa touched the ice
on the same day, but in lat. 74° 57' N., and long. 9° 41' E.

The two ships, which had separated in the fog, effected a union on the 18th, and the
Oei'mania taking the Hansa in tow, they made towards Sabine Island. After awhile, the
towing-rope was thrown oif, the Germania finding it necessary to extinguish her fires and
proceed under canvas. They then followed up, in a southerly direction, the great icy barrier,
seeking for an opening which might att'ord them a chance of steering westward.

On the 20th, the Geitnania found the ice so thick in the south-west that she adopted a
westerly course, and hoisted a signal for the captain of the Hansa to come on board to a confer-
ence. The latter, however, misinterpreted it, .and instead of reading the signal as "Come within
hail," read it as " Long stay a peak ; " crowded on all sail, and speedily disappeared in the fog,
which grew wonderfully intense before the Germania could follow her. Through this curious
error the two ships were separated, and for fourteen months the crew of the Germania remained
in ignorance of the fate of their comrades.

Before following the Germania on her voyage of discovery, we propose to see what befell
the Hansa among the Arctic ice.

Captain Hegemann had understood the signal of his senior officer to mean that the ships
were to push on as far as possible to the westward, and, as we have seen, he crowded on all sail.
But when the fog closed in, and he found himself out of sight of the Germania, he lay-to, in the
hope that the latter might rejoin him. Disappointed in this, he kept on his way, and on the
28th of July sighted the rocky and gloomy coast of East Greenland, from Cape Broer-Ruys to
Cajte .lames.

The weather continued fine. By the light of the midnight sun, which illuminated the
fantastic outlines of the bergs, the adventurers eng.aged in a narwhal-hunt. Nothing is more
extraordinary than the effect of the rays of the midnight sun penetrating into an ocean covered
with floating ice. The warm and cold tones strike against each other in all directions ; the sea
is orange, leaden-gray, or dark green ; the reefs of ice are tinged with a delicate rose-bloom ;

VOYAGE OF THE " HA NBA."

240

broad shadows spread over the snow, and the most varied effects of mirage are produced every-
where in the tranquil waters.

On the 9th of September, the Hansa found the channel of free water in which she had been

THE MfDKIOHT 9UX. ORKENLAMD.

navigating closed by a huge mass of ice, and to protect her against the drift of the floating bergs
she was moored to it with stout hawsers. A few days later, the ice was broken up by a gale of
wind from the north-east, and the hawsers snapped. The ice accumulating behind the ship

A BEAR AT ANCHOR.

raised it a foot and a half. On a contiguous sheet of ice, the explorers discovered a she-bear
with her cub, and a boat was despatched in pursuit. The couple soon caught sight of it, and
began to trot along the edge of the ice beside the boat, the mother grinding her teeth and

ENCOUNTER WITH POLAR BEARS.

liekinj,' her board. Hor enoriiius liiiided, and tired, and the bear tell in the snow, mortally
wounded. While tlie eub wa.s engaj^ed in tenderly lickinjj and caressing hor, several attempts
wore made to capture it with a la.s8o ; but it always contrived to extricate itself, and at last took
to flight, crying and nioiuiing bitterly. Though struck witli a bullet, it succeeded in elFeciting
it.s 08Cttj)e.

On the 12th they again saw a couple of bears coming from the east, and returning from the
sea towards the land. The mother fell a victim to their guns, but the cub was captured, and
chained to an anchor which they had driven into the ice. It ai)pcared exceedingly restless and
disturbed, but not the less did it greedily devour a slice of its mother's flesh which the sailors
threw to it. A snow wigwam was liastily constructed for its acconmiodation, and the floor covered
with a layer of shavings ; but the cub despised the.se luxuries of civilization, and preferred to
encamp on the snow, like a true inhabitant of the Polar Regions. A few days afterwards it
disaj>peared with its chain, which it had contrived to detach from the anchor ; and the weight

'■U

r ■■.1

^P4r: -^^^a^-^-^J- - : - -i^C . ^

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r-'—^ss^^s^ =-^^fe — ^

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1 •' •• 'i

R;'-^ --^-^ -^:s^ :_■::!

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SKATING — OFF THE COAST OF GREENLAND.

The Ilansa was now set fast in the ice, and no hope was entertained of her release until the
coming of the spring. Her crew amused themselves with skating, and, when the weather
permitted, with all kinds of gymnastic exercises. It became necessary, however, to consider

THIC " II ANSA " UK HOUND. 231

whiit propivratioiis hIiouUI ho iniulo for cncouiitoriiij^ thu Arctic winter, ono of the bittoroHt
enomios with which man is ciiilcd upon to contend. Tiio llaimi wiis Htronjjiy built, hut hor
commander feand Hho niij^ht not ho ahlo to onduro the inoro and rnoro J'roquent prcHsuro of tho
ice. \i first, it was proposed to cover the boats with sail-cloth and convert them into winter-
(juarters ; but it was felt that they would not aftbrd a suthcient protection af^ainst the rigour of
tho Polar climate, its furious winds, its excess of cold, its wild whirlwinds of snow. And there-
fore it was resolved to erect on tho ice-Hoo a suitable winter-hut, constructed of blocks of coal.
Bricks made of this material have the double advantage of absorbing humidity, and retlecting
tho heat which they receive. Water and snow would serve for mortar ; and a roof could be
made with the covering which protected the deck of the llansa from the snow.

The ground-plan of tho house was designed by Cajttain Hegemann ; it moaaured twenty
feet in length, and fourteen feet in width ; tho ridge of the roof was eight feet and a half, and
tho side walls four feet eight inche.^' in elevation. These walls were composed of a double row
of bricks nine inches wide up to .a height of two feet, after which a single row was used. They
were cemented in a peculiarly novel fashion. The joints and fissures were filled up with dry
snow, on which water was poured, and in ten minutes it hardened into a compact mass, fronj
which it would have been exceedingly difficult to extract a solitary brick. Tho roof consisted of
sails and mats, covered with a layer of snow. The door was two and a half feet wide, and
the floor was paved with slabs of coal. Into this house, which was completed in seven days,
provisions for two months wore carried, including four hundred pounds of bread, two dozen boxes
of preserved meat, a flitch of bacon, some coffee and brandy, besides a supply of firing-wood,
and some tons of coal.

On the 8th of October, after the completion of the house, a violent snowstorm broke out,
which would assuredly have rendered its construction impossible, and which, in five days, com-
pletely buried both the ship and the hut. Such immense piles of snow accunmlated on the deck
of the Ilansa, that it was with the greatest difficulty the seamen could reach their berths.

From the 5th to the 14th of October the drift of the current was so strong, that the ice-
bound ship was carried no fewer than seventy-two miles towards the south-south-east.

Meantime, the pressure of the ice continued to increase, and the Ilansa seemed held in the
tightening grasp of an invincible giant. Huge masses rose in front, and behind, and on botli
sides, and underneath, imtil she was raised seventeen feet higher than her original position.
Afiairs seemed so critical, that Captain Hegemann hastened to disembark the stores of clothing,
the scientific instmments, charts, log-book, and diaries. It was found that through the constant
strain on her timbers the ship had begun to leak badly, and on sounding, two feet of water were
found in the pumps. All hands to work I But after half an hour's vigorous exertions, the water
continued to rise, slowly but surely ; and the most careful search failed to indicate the locality
of the leak. It was painfully evident that the good ship could not be saved.

" Though much affected," says the chronicler of the expedition, " by this sad catastrophe, we
endured it with firmness. Res'gnation was indispensable. The coal hut, constructed on the
shifting ice-floe, was thenceforward our sole refuge in the long nights of an Arctic winter, and
waa destined, perhaps, to become our tomb.

" But we had not a minute to lose, and we set to work. At nine o'clock p.m. the snow-fall

Ml I-U8H OK TIIK "HANHA."

ccfuud ; tho Hky ;,'litt<ro(l with stiirH, tho moon illiiiiiinattKl with hf r rndiiuipo thi' iiiiinonHfl wildor-
nt'HH of m\ and tho layH i>f tiiu Aurora HuroaliH hurt) and thori) li>,'ht»!d up tiio finiiainont with
thoir C()h)nrod coruwationH. Tho frost w.is Hovore ; durinjf tlio iiij,'ht the therMiomotcr sank to
- 20" I!. < )iii! half tho crow contiiuiod to work at tho punipn ; tho otlior woh actively cnjfa>,'od in
diKcniharkini^ on tlio ieo tlio most nocoHnary articloa Thero could he no tliou^dit of Hlcop, for in
our friyhtful situation tlio mind wuh hosct hy tho numt ('onilirtinj,' apprdionHionH, What wouhl
hoiMJUio of us at tho vory outKot of a Hoawon .>hich thruatonod to ho oiu! of oxcoHxivo rigour ? In
vain wi! ondoavourod to iniaj^ino soino moans of saving oursolvos. It was not poHsihlo to think
BoriouHly of an attempt to gain the land. Perhaps wo might have succeeded, in the midst of the
greatest dangers, in reaching the coast hy opening up ;i way across tho ice-floes, hut wo had no
moans of tra«sj)orting thithtr our provisions; and it appeared, from the reports of Scoroshy, that
we coulil not count on finding any Eskimo cstablishnujiits, —so that our only prosj)ect then would
have been to die of hunger."

Tho sole resource ren)aiiiing to the oxjdorcrs was to drift to tho south on their moving ice-
floe, and confine themselves, meantime, to their coal imi. If their ice-raft proved of sufiicient
strength, thoy might hope to reach in tho spring tho I'^skimo settlement in tho south of Green-
land, or come to gain tho coiutt of Iceland by traversing its cincture of ice.

It was on the 22nd of October, in lat. 70" 50' N., and long. 21° W., that tho Ilanm sank
beneath the ice. Dr. Laubo writes : " Wo made ourselves as snug as possible, and, once our
little house was completely embanked with snow, we had not to complain of tho cold. Wo
enjoyed perfect health, and occupied the time with long walks and with our books, of which we
had many. We made a Christmas-tree of birch-twigs, and enibellished it with fragments of
wax taper."

To prevent attacks of disease, and to maintain tho cheerfulness of the men, the officers of
tho expedition stimidated them to every kind of active employment, and laid down strict rules
for the due division of the day.

At seven in tho morning, they were aroused by tho watch. They rose, attired themselves
in their warm thick woollen clothing, washed in water procured by melting snow, and then took
thoir morning cup of coffee, with a piece of hard bread. Various occupations succeeded : tho
construction of such useful utensils as proved to be necessary ; stitching sailcloth, mending
clothes, writing up the day's journal, and reading. When the weather permitted, astronomical
observations and calculations were not forgotten. At noon, all hands were summoned to dinner,
at which a good rich soup formed the principal dish ; and as they had an abundance of preserved
vegetables, the bill of fare was frequently changed. In the use of alcoholic liquors tho most
rigid economy was observed, and it was on Sunday only that each person received a glass of port.

The ice-floe on which their cabin stood was assiduously and carefully explored in all direc-
tions. 1 1 was about seven miles in circuit, and its average diameter measured nearly two miles.

The out-of-door amusements consisted chiefly of skating, and building up huge images of
snow — Egyptian sphynxes and the like.

The borders of the ice-floe, especially to the west and south-west, presented a curious aspect ;
the attrition and pressure of the floating ice had built up about it high glittering walls, upwards
of ten feet in elevation. The snow-crystals flashed and radiated in the sun like myriads of

TIIK lll'T OK TIIK CASTAWAYS. 5HS

diaiiKiiidH. Thu red ^linni uf iiiuriiiti^ and evening cnHt a Htran^^u omuruld tint on tho wliito
Kiirtiui! of tho liuulMca|M', Thf iiii^litn wcro nm]i,niiti('cnt. Tlir }^Ii)\viii|L^ firniaiiifnt, and tin; snow
wliii'li ruflucted its Iiistro, iirodurcd so intciiNi' ii liritr)itnt .sh, tluit it whh pDHsilili^ to wtid witlmut
tiiti^iui tliu fiiiCHt imndwritin^, and t(i diMtini^riiish runintc iil)joctK. 'I'lu' pliononifnon of thu Atiri>ra
BorcaliH wa« of constant occurrcncf, and on ono owuHion woa ho wondirfully luniinoUH that it
(lalcd tltu radianco of thu stars, and uverythin;; upon thu ico-tloo cast u shadow, a.s if it htul been
tiio Bun Hhininijf.

Near thu coal-cabin stood two hUiall Iiuts, onu of wiiich sorvi'd lor al)lutions, tliu otlnr
as a shed. Round this i.uclous of tliu little thipwrcckud colony wuro situatud at convenient points
tho pilus of wood for fuel, the boats, and the barrels of patent fuel and pork. To prevent
the wind and snow froni entering the dwelling-hut, a vestibule v/aa constructed, with a winding
entrance.

Tho greatest cold experienced was - 29'' 30' F., and this was in December. After Christmas
tho little settlement was visited by several severe storms, and their ice-raft drifted close along tlm
shore, sometimes within eight or nine miles, amidst nnich ice-crushing, — which so reduced it on
all sides, that by the 4th of January 1870 it did not measure more than one-eighth of its
original dimensions.

On tho Gth of January, when they had descended as far south as 66° 45' N. lat., the sun
reappeared, and was joyfully welcomed.

On the night of tho 15th of January, the colony was stricken by a sudden and terrible
alarm. The ice yawned asunder, immediately beneath tho hut. and its occupants had but just
time to take refuge in their boats. Here they lay in a miserable eondiiion, unable to clear out
the snow, and sheltered very imperfectly from the driving, furious tei _)ost. But on the 17th
tho gale moderated, and as soon a» tho weather permitted they set to work to reconstruct out of
tho ruins of the old hut a new but much smaller one. ft was not larg*" enough to accommodate
more than half tho colony ; and the other half took up their residence in the boats.

February was calm and fine, and the floe still continued to drift southward along the land.
Tho nights were gorgeous with auroral displays. Luminous sheaves expanded themselves on the
deep blue firmament like the folds of a fan, or the petals of a flower.

March was very snowy, and mostly dull. On the 4th, the ice-raft passed within twenty-five
miles of the glacier Kolberger-Heide. A day or two later, it nearly came into collision with a
large grounded iceberg. Tho portion ni;arest to the drifting colony formed an immense o\ er-
hanging mass ; its principal body had been wrought by the action of tho sun and the waves into
the most capricious forms, and seemed an aggregate of rocks and pinnacles, towers and gateways.
The castaways could have seized its projecting angles as they floated past. They thought their
destruction certain, but the fragments of ice which surrounded the raft served as " bufl'ers," and
saved it from a fatal collision.

On the 29th of March, they found themselves in the latitude of Nukarbik, tho island where
Graab, the explorer, wintered, from September 3rd, 1827, to April 5th, 1830. They had
cherished the hope that from this spot they might be able to take to their boats, and start for
Friedrichstal, a Moravian missionary station on the south coast of Greenland. However, the
ice was as yet too compact for any such venture to be attempted.

For four weeks they were detained in the bay of Nukarbik, only two or three miles from

9B4

DRIFTING ON THE lOE-RAFT.

tho ahorc, aixl yc^t uiiablo to roach it. Tlieir raft was caught in a kind of eddy, and BonietimeA
tacrked to the south, sometimes to tho north. The rising tide carried it towards the shore, the
el)i)in<( tide H(jated it out again to pea. During this detention thoy were visited by small troops
of birds, snow linnets and snow buntings. Tho seamen threw them a small quantity of oats,
wliich tliey greedily devoured. They were so tame that they allowed themselves to be caught
by tho hand.

SNOW LINNETS AND BUNTIN08 VISITINO THE CBEW OF THE " IIANSA."

From the end of March to the 17th of April, the voyagers continued their dreary vacillation
between Skieldunge Island and Cape Moltko ; a storm then drove them rapidly to the south.
Tlie co!v.st, with its bold littoral mountain-chain, its deep bays, its inlets, its islands, and its
romautii! headlands, offered a succession of novel and impressive scenes ; and specially imposing
was the great glacier of Puisortok, a mighty ice-river which skirts the shore for upwards of
thirty miles.

Early in May they had reached lat. 61° 12'.

On tlio 7th, some water-lanes opened for them a way to the shore ; and abandoning the ice-
raft, they took to tlieir boats, with the intention of progressing southward along the coast. At
first they met with consider-able difficulty, being frequently compelled to haul up the boats on an
ice-floe, and so pass the night, or wait until the wind was favo arable. As this necessitated a
continual utdoading and reloading of the boats, the work was very severe. At one time they

DRIFTING ON THE ICE-RAtT. 257

were detained for six days on the ice, owing to bad weather, violent jxalcs, and heavy snow-
showers. The temperature varied from + 2° during the day to - 5° R. during the niglit.

Their rations at this period wore thus distributed :-- In the morning, a cup of coifoe, with a
piece of dry bread. At noon, for dinner, soup and broth ; in the evening, a few mouthfiils of
cocoa, of course witliout milk and sugar.

They were compelled to observe the most rigid economy in the use of their pnivisions, lest,
before reaching any settlement, they should be reduced to the extremities of famine. Yet their
appetite was very keen ; a circumstance easily explained, for they were necessarily very sparing
in their allowance of meat and fat, which in the rigorous Arctic climate are indispensable as
nourishment.

As no change took place in the position of the masses of ice which surrounded them, they
resolved to drag their boats towards the island of Illiudlek, ahout three marine miles distant,
They began this enterprise on the evening of the 20th, making use of some stout cal>les which
they had manufactured during the winter, and harnessing thi mselves by means of a brace
passed across the shoulders. That evening they accomplished three hundred paces. Snow fill
heavily, and melted as fast as it fell, so that during their night-b.vouae they suffered much from
damp.

The next day they found before them such a labyrinth of blocks and fragments of ice, float-
ing ice-fields, and water-channels, that thev tvere constrained to give up the idea of hauling their
boats across it, and resolved to wait for the spring tide — which, they knew, would occur in a few
days. The delay was very wearisome. To beguile the time, some of the seamen set to work at
wood-carving, while the officers and scientific gentlemen manufactured the pieces for a game of
chess. Others prepared some fishing-lines, eighty fathoms long, in the hope of catching a desir-
able addition to their scanty bill of fare.

On the 24th, the weather was splendid. The sun shone in a cloudless sky, and wherever- its
genial radiance fell the thermometer marked + 28° 5' R. This was an excellent opportunity for
drying their clothes, which, as well as their linen, had been thoroughly soaked innumerable time."*.
The coverings were removed from the boats, which, in the warm sunshine, exhaled great clouds
of vapour. The cook endeavoured to add to his stores of provisions ; but the seals churlishly
refused to make their appearance, the fish disdained to nibble at the fat-bt ite<l hooks, and the
stupid guillemots were cunning enough to escape the best directed shots.

M. Hildebrandt, with two seamen, made an attempt — in which they succeeded — to reach the
island of Illiudlek, which lay about three miles off, and is from 450 to 500 feet in height. They
found it a desert ; not a trace of vegetation ; its shores very steej), and at some points precipitous ;
its surface torn with crevasses and ravines. The only accessible part seemed on the north ; liut as
the evening was drawing in, thej' had no time for exploration, and made haste to return to tiie
boats.

The castaways now came to a resolution to seek a tem[)orary refuge on this desolate isle.
As the heat of the sun was sufficient to render their labour very painful, and they suffered umch
from the effects of the snow upon their eyes, they went to work at night, dragging their boats
forward with many a weary effort, and rested during the daytime. In this way they reached
the island on the 4th of June.

9fi8 VOYAGE OF THE "OERMANIA."

IJ rtre tlicy moored their boats in a small bay sheltered by a wall of rocks from the north
wind, which they named Hansa-Hafcn. Next day they shot two-and-twenty divers, which
[iroviddd them with a couple of good dinners. The supply was very valuable, as the stock of
provisions on hand would not last above a fortnight.

After a brief rest, the adventurers resumed their voyage, keeping close in-shore, and
struggling perseveringly amidst ice and stones — and further checked by an inaccifrate chart,
which led them into a deep fiord, instead of King Christian IV. Sound. On the 13th of June,
he T'ever, they arrived at the Moravian missionary station of Friedrichstal, where their country-
men received them with a hearty welcome. For two hundred days they had sojourned upon a
drifting ice-field, experiencing all the hardships of an Arctic winter, aggravated by an insuf-
ficiency of food.

They reached Julianshaab on the 2l8t of June ; embarked on board the Danish brig Con-
stance; and were landed at Copenhagen on the 1st of September.

We must now return to the Germania.

Captain Koldewey made several bold attempts to penetrate the pack-ice, but proved unsuc-
cessful in all until, on the Ist of August, he reached lat. 74°, where he contrived to effect a
passage ; and tliough much delayed by a succession of fogs and calms, he made his way to
Sabine Island, — and dropped anchor on its southern side, in lat. 74° 30' N., and long. 29° W.,
on the 5th of August.

On the 10th he again passed towards the north, keeping along the Gree'L-land shore until,
in lat. 75° 31' N., his advance was checked by a mass of closely-packed ice, which stretched from
the coast of the mainland out to Shannon Island, a long unbroken line of fourteen miles. It
presented a very formidable appearance, being edged in some places with a fringe of broken ice,
boulders, and blocks, rising in heaps and hummocks forty feet high.

The Germania remained in this position for several days. As nothing but ice was visible
to the northward, and no prospect opened up of further progress in that direction. Captain
j Koldewey moved his ship to the south side of the island on the IGth of August, and dropped

I anchor close to Cape Philip Broke.

i Eleven days were spent in a careful exploration of Shannon Island, during which time a

I musk-ox was shot, and close watch was kept from an elevated point on the ice lying to the north-

I ward. But as it continued solid and immovable, and the end of the season was at hand. Captain

! Koldewey returned northward, and brought his vessel to anchor on the south side of Pendulum

Island on the 27th of August.

When it became necessary to make preparations for facing the coming winter, Captain
Koldewey moved his ship on the 1 3tli of September into the little harbour he had occupied on
the 5th of August. Their subsequent experience showed it to be the only secure one between
the parallels of 74° and 77°. A few days later the ship was frozen in.

The firat sledging-party was despatched on the 14th of September, and remained out for
eight days. After reaching the mainland, they travelled for four days up a newly-discovered
fiord, finding many petrifactions and much lignite. They also saw large herds of musk-oxen.
Vegetation was abundant, but chiefly composed of species of Andromeda. In the course of this
excursion, our explorers had one or two adventures with bears. First, a female, with her two

i^sm

THE GERMAN RXPEDITION.

259

cubs, paid them a visit, but being received with some volleys of musketry, quickly beat a retreat
On another occasion, a daring intruder found his way into their tent His temerity, however,
cost him his life ; and the Germans banqueted gaily on the fat and flesh with which he incon
tinently supplied theia

A RABII INTRUDER.

When the winter preparations were completed. Captain Koldewey organized several shoot-
mg parties, who made good booty of reindeer and musk-oxen, and added most satisfactorily to
the provision-supplies ; no fewer than fifteen hundred pounds of good beef and venison attesting
the skill and good fortune of the hunters. But after the beginning of November, neither musk-
oxen, reindeer, nor bears were visible.

A second siedge journey was undertaken towards the end of October in a southerly
direction. The party discovered another fiord, and returned on the 4th of November. On the

3A0

AN AltCTIU C1IHISTMA8.

(ollowiiitr (lay tlio sun disappeared altoijc'tlicr, and tho droary Arctic nitfht of three months'
duration overtook them.

The close of the year was marked by a succession of violent ntorms, and the temperature
rose to 25' F. It soon fell ajrain to zero, however; but it was not until 1870 that it indicated tho
niaxiiMUm of cold experienced throughout the winter, — namely, 40" F. Of tlie December gales,
tlii^ mo.st furious broke out on the IGth, and lasted until the 20th. It set free the ice in the
harliour, and even to within three hundred yards of the ship; but fortunately she had been
anchored in the most sheltered part of the bay, and close to the shore, in only ten feet of water ;
otherwise the cruslied-up ice, moving with the currents, would probably have carried her away
to almost certain destruction.

The heroic little company, however, were nowise disheartened by the gloom and hardship of
their situation. From Captain Koldewey's account, they would seem to have spent a right merry
Christmas, after the hearty German fashion. They danced by starlight upon the ice ; they celc-

HEAR-nuNTINO — OREKNI.AND.

brated Christmas Eve with open doors, the temperature being 25'' F. ; with the evergreen Andro-
meda they made a famous Christmas-tree ; they decorated the cabin with flags, and spread out
upon their tables the gifts 'prepared for the occasion by kindly hands : each received his shave,
and each joined in and contributed to the general merriment.

Tiie Yule-tide festivities over, they made ready the equipments for their sledging expeditions
in the ensuing spring, — the object of the most important of these being to attain the highest
possible degi-ee of north latitude.

1 n February the sun returned, and with it tho bears ; and the daily excursions upon the
islatwl, undertaken by the scientific members of the expedition, were rendered dangerous by their
audacity. Every one was required to go armed, yet some accidents occurred. One of the
" scientists " was severely wounded in the head, and dragged upwards of four hundred paces
bofoio his comrades rescued him from the bear. After the lapse of a few weeks, however, he
recovered from his wounds.

mmi

TIIK "OKRMANIA" AMONci THK ICE.

361

On the 24th of Marcli, the fimt slcdfje-party left the whip, iiiid travollfd northwanl iiiilil, mi
the 15th of April, they reached 77' 1' N. lat. Then the wild northerly j,'ales compelled them to
retrace their steps. On their return they were fortunate cnoULfh to slioot sonitj iu-ar.-*, whoso
hluhber supplied tli in with fuel to warm their food; and tliu wind iiliinj,' the sails which tliey
had hoisted on their sledges, they progressed with such rapidity as to reach the ship on the
27th of April.

At the northernmost point attained by this party, — lat. 77° 1', — the bolt of land-ice which
skirted the shore seemed to the travellers to he four miles in width and several years old. They
speak of it as a " bulwark built for eternity." Out to seaward, the ice, which was very hum-
mocky, stretched in an unbroken expanse.

INTO A WATEK-OAP.

Two other slcdge-partics were sent out early in May : one of these was employed in making
geographical and scientific explorations of the neighbouring coast of Greenland ; the otlier in
attempting the measurement of an arc of the meridian. Their journeys were difficult enough
and troublesome enough, and made large demands on the energies of those who undertook
them. Crossing hummocks and rugged ice was \Veary work, and sometimes the whole party
plunged into deep drifts of snow. On one occasion, the sledge was precipitated into a water gap,
or crevasse ; and before it could be recovered and hauled up on the ice-fioe, they were compelled
to unload it, and remove each aiticlc, one by one. Then again they would have to make tlieir

363 VOYAGE OF THK "OKHMANIA."

way tlirou;,'h a storm of" pitiluHH violence ; the north wind driving the frozen snow into thcii
fiiccH with a fury that ahnost hhndod them. Up to their knees in the new snow, they pressed
forward with a do{/ped intrepidity ; enduring hardsliips and triumphing over obstacles of which
the "moo of gentlemen wlio stay at home at ease" can form no adequate conception.

The bears now increased in immbers and in boldness, as if they had determined to
besiege the small company now left on board the ship. The greatest caution was necessary
to j)rovent accndents ; and though several were shot, their death did not appear to terrify the
survivors.

Tlie thaw began about tlio middle of May, and towards the close of the month the sledge-
parties were forced to wade through the water which flooded the surface of the sea-ice.

In June, large portions of land-ice were continually breaking oft", and much oj)en water could
be descried in the south-east. But it was not until the 10th of July that the ice around the ship
broke up. Four days later, boating became practicable, and a voyage wns made to the Eskimo
village on Clavering Island. It ended in di.sappointment, — the village having been deserted,
and the huts having fallen into ruin.

On the 22nd of July, the Germania once more steamed to the northward, to renew the
attempt of tiio preceding year. Her boiler-tubes, however, leaked so seriou.sly, that it was evident
tlu! boiler would speedily fail altogether. After some delay it was temporarily'^ patclied up ; and
by following a narrow channel between the loose pack-ice and the firm ice-be!t of the coast, she
contrived to push forward to the north-east cape of Shannon Island, in lat. 75° 29' N. Here the
ice barrier showed itself compact, solid, and insuperable. The Germania, therefore, on the 30th
of July, made for the southward, and continued her explorations in that direction. The
"Mackenzie Inlet," which Captain Clavering discovered in 1823, was found to have disappeared;
its place being occupied by a low, flat plain, on which herds of reindeer were pasturing. So
unaccustomed were they to the sight of man, and so fearless of danger, that five of them were
speedily shot.

On the 6th of August, the Germania discovered and entered a broad, deep fiord in
lat. 73° 13'. It was perfectly free from ice; but a fleet of huge icebergs was sailing out of it
with the current. It was soon noticed that the farther they ascended this picturesque sea-arm,
the warmer became the temperature of the air and of the surface water. It threw off several
branches, and these wound in and out among lofty mountains. Their declivities were washed
by cascades, and their ravines filled with glaciers; so that the prospect thus unexpectedly opened
up of the interior of Greenland was singularly romantic and impressive.

Some of the adventurers ascended a mountain 7000 feet in height ; but even from this lofty
watch-tower no limit could be discerned to the western or principal arm of the fiord. In about
32° W. long, the mountain- range rose, it was ascertained, to an elevation of 14,000 feet. The
Germania penetrated for seventy-two miles into this remarkable inlet, and reached 2C° W. long. ;
but her boiler acting irregularly, and Captain Koldewey being apprehensive of the consequences
if it wholly failed, commenced his homeward voyage on the 17th of August. He re-entered the
pack-ice at the mouth of the fiord, and was occupied until the 24th in forcing his way through it,
— reaching the open, iceless sea in lat. 72° N. and long. 14" W.

The Germania, owing to the uselessness of her boiler, made the rest of her voyage under sail,
and arrived at Bremen in safety on the 11th of September, with all well on board. It is worth

TBI CREW or THE "oERMANIa" IN A SNOW-STORM.

MIORATIONS OF TMK KHKIMOS. 2fift

nuticc that, with tho excoptiitii of two accidental wouikIh, this intoroHtitu^ oX]HMiitiitii wiut nccoiii-
plished without any kind of sicknosH, — a circumstaiico which upeaks hi<,'hly for the forctliouf^ht
and carofuhiess of tlioso enj^ajjed in equippin<f and ponductin<( it.

We have been indebted fur our brief notice of tlie voyaj^e of the Ucnnanln to a paper liy
Captiiin Sir Leopold M'Clintock, who sums up its resultH in a condensed and iiitilli,i,'ilih! form ;
and to tho narratives by Captain Koldowey and his oflicern, translated by Mr. Mcrcier, ami
published under the direction of Mr. H. W. Bates.

Tho Greenland shore, undor the seventy-fifth parallel of latitude, is not the frozen desert
which it has hitherto been supposed to bo. It is frequented by large herds of reindeer, aa
many as fifty having been sighted at a time. Musk-oxen were by no means rare, but made
their appearance in troops of fifteen or sixteen ; while smaller animals, such as ermines and
lemmings, were also met with. Birds were not numerous ; shoals of walruses were noticed,
but no whales.

Geographically speaking, the voyage was valuable from the observations obtained in refer-
ence to a region which previously was almost unknown.

The absence of natives, and of all recent traces of them, is a remarkable fact. In 1 81!!),
Captain Graab found the northern Grcenlanders ranging as high as (54° 15' N. lat. ; but they
knew nothing of any human beings living further north; nor could they themselves travel in
that direction, the way being blocked up by huge impassable glaciers.

In 1822, when Scoresby partially explored tho Greenland coast between the parallels of
70° and 72° 30', he discovered many ruined habitations and graves, but no recent indications of
human beings.

In tho following year, Captain Clavering mot with a party of Eskimos in 74°; but neither
ho nor Scoresby found reindeer or musk-oxen ; and the fact ascertained by the (Jermduia that,
in 1869, these animals were numerous, and devoid of any fear of man, gives reason to suppose
that few, if any, of this isolated tribe of Eskimos are now in existence. Now, a« the musk-
oxen, and also the reindeer, seem to have wandered hither from the northward, we may con-
jecture that the natives followed the same route.

"If it be true," says M'Clintock, "that this migration of men and animals was effected
from west to east along the northern shore of Greenland, wo naturally assume that it does not
extend far towards the Pole; that, probably, its most northern po;nt is at the eastern outlet of
Kennedy Channel, and that it turns from thence sharply towards the east and north-east,—
the distance, in a straight line, to the most northern point reached by Koldewey, is not more
than six hundred miles. It is not less strange than sad to find that a peaceable and once
numerous tribe, inhabiting a coast-line of at least 7° of latitude in extent, has died out, or has
almost died out, whilst at the same time we find, by the diminution of the glaciers and increase
of animal life, that the terrible severity of the climate has undergone considerable modification
We feel this saddening interest with greater force when wo reflect that tho distance of
Clavering's village from the coast of Scotland is under one thousand miles 1 Thoy wore our
nearest neighbours of the New World."

Returning suddenly to the sixteenth century, we find the names of some Dutch seamen of
eminence inscribed in the record of early Arctic Discovery, and amongst these the most illustrious

166

A DVTvn KXI'KDITION.

Ih tlwit of Willimii niirontH. Wu rt'fur to him Iuth, l»orn\mo lio Ih connected with OiirlHon'H
voyiij^t! ill I8(ii), which wtnit ovor much tlio hiiiuo ^jrouiiil aw tluit which the Dutdi isxploior liad
Hiirvt^yod iit'iirly thrco huiulicd yciiiM Iwforo.

Tho inorchantH of AmHterdam liavinj^ fitted out a ship — tho Mevcurius, of one hundred tonn
— to atttitiipt a iiaHHajfo round tho northorn end of Novaia Zonilaia, the command wan yiven
to William HiirciitH ; wlio accordinf^ly sailed from tho Texel on the 4th of June If)!)!.

lie Hif,'lite(l N'ovaia Zemluia, in hit. 73° 25' N., on tho 4th of July, sailed alonp its pfiim
<^a\int coast, doiihled Cape Nassau on tho 10th, and struck the edt^o of tho northern ice on the
13th. For sovoral days ho skirted this formidable barrier, vainly seekiiif^ for an opening; and in
quest of a channel into tho further soa, he sailed porsoverinifly from Cape Nii.ssau to tl)o Orange
IhIiiiuIs. • 1 fe went over no fewer tliaii seventeen hundred miles of trroinid in his assiduous search,

MATKRIAI.S KllH TIIK IIOrSE.

and put his ship about onoand-eighty times. He discovered also the long line of coast between
the two points we have named, laying it down with an exactness which has been acknowledged
by later exjdorers. His men wearying of labour which seemed to yield no positive results,
Barents was under the necessity of returning home.

In 1596 the Amsterdammers fitted out another expedition, consisting of two strongly-built
ships, under Jacob van Heemskerch and Jan Cornelizoon Rijp, with Barents as pilot, though
really in command.

In thi'' voyage the adventurers kept away from the land, in order to avoid the pack-ice, and
sailing to the westward, discovered Bear Island on the 9th of June. Then they steered to the
northward, and hove in sight of Spitzbergen exactly ten days later. They supposed, however,
that it was only a part of Greenland, and were led to bear away to the north-west — a course which
was speedily arrested by the eternal icy barrier. Barents then coasted along the western side of

BARKNT8 AT NOVAIA ZKMLAFA.

ter

Sjdtzborjifen ; ami tho north-western hendlHud hoinj; friujuontcd hy nn iiniiU'MHo niitnher of binln,
ho called it Vo^'tisiuif^.

On tho iMt (if .Inly 1h' iif^iiin niiuUt Benr TkIiuuI, luid Ikto ho and T^ijp atfrocd to Hoparnlo.
Of thu latter wo know unly that ho was unHUccossful in an attonipt to lind an tiptiiint^ in tho ico
on tho oaHt of (Jroonland, and that ho roturnod to Holland in tho winio yoar. Of thi* fornior tho
narrativu in {minfully full and intoroHtint^.

Quittinj^ lit-nr iHland, ho reached Novaia Ziinlaia on tho 17th of July Hi^htinn; the coast
in hit. 74° 40' N. Kct pini,' alonj,' it witii charai'teristii' porsovoranco until tho 7th of AusjUMt, ho
passed Capo Comfort ; but only to iind himself once more face to face with tho dreary spectacle of
tho far-reachinj^ I'olar ice. Tt ho luMnmod and fenced him in on every Bide, that he was unable
to extricate hifl vessel from it ; and being ilriven into a bay, which he named ic<' Haven, " there

ATTACK ON A IIEAII.

they were forced, in «^roat cold, poverty, misery, and j^riefe, to stay all the winter." For the
heavy pack-ice drifting into the bay closed it up, and closed around the ship until she was hold
fast as in iron bonds.

Barents and his sixteen followers now prepared to encounter with a good heart the trials of
tha long Arctic v/inter-night. They displayed, in truth, a courage, a patience, and a good fellow-
ship which were heroic. Finding a large supply of drift-wood, they constructed, with the holj) of
planks from the poop and forecastle of the vessel, a sufficiently commodious house, into which thoy
removed all their stores and provisions. They fixed a chimney in tho centre of the roof ; a Dutch
clock was set up and duly struck the weary hours ; tho sleeping-berths were ranged along the
walls ; a wine-cask was converted into a bath. All these ingenious devices, however, availed
but little against the terrible feeling of depression which is induced by the continuance for so
many weeks of a blank and cheerless darkness.

KXPEDITION UNDER BARENTS.

The sun disappeared on the 4th of November, and the cold thereafter increased until it waa
almost intolerable. Their wine and beer were frozen, and lost all their stren<^th. By means of
i^rcat fires, by apjilyiiij,' boated stones to their feet, and oy wrappinj^ themselves up in double
fox-r.kin coats, they barely contrived tfi keep off the deadly cold. In searchinL( for drift-wood they
endured the sharpest j)ain, and often braved innninent danger. To add to tlieii troubles, they
had much ado to defend themselves against the bears, which made frequent assaults on their hut.
However, they contrived to slaughter some of the audacious animals, and their fat pi'ovided them
with oil for their lamjjs. When the sun disappeared the bears departed, and then the white
foxes came in great nundjcrs. They were much more welcome visitors, and being caught in
traps, set in the vicinity of the house, supplied the ice-bound voyagers with food and clothing.

When the 1' Ji of Docend)er arrived, they found some comfort in the reflection that half

SKTTISII KOX-TIUPS.

the dreary season of darkness had passed away, and that they could now count every day as
bringing them nearer to the joyful taring. They suffered much, but endured tneir sufferings
bravely; and celebrated Twelfth Night with a little ^ack, two pounds of me it, ar.d some merry
games. The gun ic- drew the prize, and became King of Novaia Zcmlaia, "which is at least
two hundred mile, long, and lyeth between two seas." .• ;. '

On the 27th ,.*" January every heart I'ejoiced, for the glowing disc of the sun reappeared
aj>. vo the horizon. Bui, it brought with it their old enemies the bears-, against whom they found
it nece"3ary lo exercise the greatest vigilance.

On the 22nd of February they again saw " mu?h open water in the sea, which in long time
they had not seene." Daring the whole month violent storms broke out, and the snow fell in
enormous qi- iti- ies. :

On the 12th of March a gale from th ; north-enst brou^dit back tlio ice, and the open water

■3 ■'*■

nKATII OF BAUKNTS.

369

disappeared ; the ice drivinjij in with much fury and a iniyhty noise, the pieces craHhiiii,' a<,'iunst
each other, " fearful to hear." Up to the 8th of May tlie ice was everywhere, and tiieir satl eyes
'ould look forth on no jjleasant or hopeful scene. Then it began to break up, and the fifaunt,
weary explorers prepared to tempt the sea on'>e more. They set to work t(j repaii- their two
boats, for their ship was so crippled and strained by the ice that she waa injured beyond their
ability to repair.

On the 14th of June they quitted the place of their long captivity ; Barents, bc'ure they set
out, drawing up in writing a list of their names, with a brief record of their oxpfc.icnces, and
depositing it in the wooden hut. He himself Wus so reduced with sickness, want, and anxiety
that he was unable to stand, and had to be carried into the boat. On the 1 (ith, the captain,
hailing from the other boat, inquired how the pilot fared. " Quite well, mate," Barents replied ;

" 1 still hope to n^ id '^efore we get to Wardhouse," — VVardhouse being an island on the coast
of Lapland. But lie died on the 19th' (or, as some authorities .say, on the i!Otli), to the great
grief of his comrades, who appreciated ';iis maiily character, and placea great reliance on his
experience and skill.

The adventurers met with many dithcultieis from the ice, — sometimes being carried out fur
from the ice-belt, and at others being compelled to haul the boats for long distances over the rough
surface of the Hoes to reach open wa',er. It has been well observed that there are niait" instances
on record of long ocean-voyages p formed in open boats, but that, i)erhaps, not one is of so
extraordinary a character as that whicii we are describing,- when two small and crazy craft
ventured to cross tho frozen seas for eleven hundred miles, continually cmiangered by huge Hoat-
ing ice-maases, threatened by bears, and exposed for forty days to the combined trials of sickness,
famine, cold, and fatigue. "^' P:: ^;r Tr^'r''"''~"~''"~~'"'"^^-TTT?t^r — • --t^-r^

270 CARLSEN AT NOVAIA ZKMLAIA.

At length they arrived at Kola, in Lapland, towards the end of August ; and, strangely
enough, were taken on board a Dutch vessel commanded by the very Cornelizoon Rijp who
had coniuiaiuled the sister discovery-ship in the previous year. They reached the Maas in safety
in October 1597.

No voyager appears to have sailed in the track of Barents, or, at all events, to have visited
the place where he wintered, until 1871. No on'j but he had rounded the north-east point of
bleak Novaia Zemlaia. In 18G9, however, and on the 16th of May, Captain Carlsen, a Nor
wegian of iinicli exi)erionce in tlie North Sea trade, sailed from Hamnierfest in a sloop of si y
tons, called tlio Solid. On the 7th of September he reached Ice Haven, and on the 9th
discovered a rude wooden house standing at the head of the bay. Its dimensions were 32 feet
by 20, and it was constructed of planks measuring from 14 to IG inches in breadth, and li inches
thick. These, it was evident, had belonged to a ship, and amongst them were several oak beams.
Heaps of bones of seal, bear, reindeer, and walrus, as well as several largo puncheons, were
collected round the hut. It was the winter-prison of Barents and his companions, and had never
been entered by human foot since they had abandoned it. The cooking-pans stood over the
fiieplace, the old clock hung against the wall ; there were the books, and implements, and tools,
and weapons which had been of so much service two hundred and seventy-eight years before.
It was an Arctic reproduction of the legend of the hundred year* sleep of the fairy princess.

Captain Carlsen gives the following list of articles found in the lone hut on tlie she re of
Novaia Zemlaia : —

Iron frame over the fireplace, with sliifting bar ; two ship cooking-pans of copper, found standing on tlie iron frame,
with the remains of a copper scoop ; copper bands, probably at one time fa-stcnod round pails ; bar of iron ; iron crowbar ;
one long and two small gun-barrels ; two bores or angora, each throe feet in length ; chisel, padlock, caidking-iron, three
gouges, and six files ; ])lato of zinc ; earthenware jar ; tanki, d, with zinc liil ; lower half of another tankar<l ; six fragments
of pepper-pots; tin meat-strainer; pair of boots; sword; fragments of old engravings, with Latin cou|)lets underneath
them ; three Dutch books ; a small piece of nietid ; nineteen cartridge cases, some still full of powder ; iron chest, with lid,
and intricate lock-work ; fragments of metal handle of same; grindstone; an eight-pound iron weight; small cannon-ball;
gun-lock, with hammer and llint ; clock, l>ell of clock, and striker ; rasp ; small auger ; snuiU narrow strips of copper
band ; two salt and popper jwls, about eight inches high ; two paira of compasses ; fragment of ii-ou-haudled knife ; three
spoons ; borer ; hone ; one wootlen, and one bronze tap ; two wooden stoppei-s for gun nuizzles ; two spear or ice poh? heads ;
four navigation instruments ; a fluto ; lock and key ; another lock ; sledge-hammer head ; clock weight ; twenty -six pewter
candlesticks and fragments, six in a complete state of imwervatiou ; pitcher of Ktruscan shape, beautifully engraved ; upper
half (if another pitclier ; wooden trencher, coloured red ; clock alarum ; three sc.des ; four nuvlallions, circular, about eight
inches in diameter, three of them mouuted in oak frames ; a string of buttons ; hilt of sword, and a foot of its bliule ;
liallienl head ; and two carved pieces of wood, one with the haft of a knife in it

On the 14th of September Captain Carlsen sailed from the Ice Haven, and kept along tlie
east coast of Novaia Zemlaia, encountering bail weatlier and contrary' winds, but succeetling in
his chief object, the circumnavigation of the island, which he accomplished on the 6th of Octobtf.
1 le returned to Hamnierfest early in November.

Our I'liioiiological suiiiniary now brings us to th6 Austrian Polar i}xi)e(iition of 1872. The
comiiiand was intrusted to Lieutenant Payer, an acconipiished seama.i who had served under
Captain Koldewey ; Carlseti was engaged as pilot ; and tlie steamer Teycthoff was carefully and
abuutlantly equippui! for the voyage. The plan laid down by 1 ieutenant Payer was well-con-
ceived ; namely, to round the north-ea.?tern point of Novaia Zenlaia. nod sail eastward 'intil he

VOYAGE OF THE "rOLARIS," 271

made the extreme north of ^'beria, where he proposed to winter. In tlio spring, travollini,'-
parties would be sent out on exploring journeys ; and the voyage, in summer, would be con-
tinued as far as Behring Strait.

The Tegethoff steamed ouh of Tromso Harbour on tht 13th of July ; first fell in with the
ice on the 25th, in hi. 74° 15' N. ; and on the 29th sighted the coast of Novai.i Zenilaia. Hero
she was caught in the pack ; but steam being got up, repeated charges were made at the enemy,
and she was carried bravely into an open water-way, about twenty miles wide, to the north of
the Matochkia Strait. On the 12th of August she was joined by the Ishijorn yaolit, with Count
Wilczck and some friends on board. The two ve.ssel.s anchored close to the shore, in lat. 70°
30' N., and on the 18th celebrated the Emperor of Austria's birthday. Daily excursions wore
made by sledge-parties to the adjoining islands, resulting in an accumulation of botanical and
geological specimens, besides slaughtered bears and foxes, and quantities of drift-wood. On the
23rd the vessels parted company, — the Tegethoff steaming to the northward, and the Ishi/iiru
endeavouring to push southward along the coast. On reaching the mouth of the Petchora,
Count Wilczck and his friends left her to proceed on the return voyage to Tromso, while they
ascended the Petchora in small boats to Perm, and returned to Vienna by way of Moscow.

The Tegetlioff sTpent the winters of 1872 and ' 873 in the Icy Sea, and made some discoveries
of interest. Tt returned in safety in the summer of 1874.

In 1871 an American expedition was fitted out under the command of Captain Charles
Francis Hall, who had already gained distinction by his explorations in the Polar regions and
his long residence among the Eskimos. Through the liberality of Mr. Grinnell, assisted by the
United States Government, he was provided with a stout and well-found steamer, the Polaris,
which sailed from Brooklyn on the 29th of June. She carried a crew of seventeen officors
and men, — Mr. Buddington being sailing and ice master, and Mr. Tyson assistant navigator, —
besides six adult Eskimos and two children ; and a scientific staff consisting of Dr. Emil Bessel,
Mr. Bryan, and Mr. Frederick Meyers.

A few days previoi 3 the sailing of the expedition, Mr. Grinnell presented Hall with the
historic flag which Lieut nant Wilkes, in 1838, had borne nearer to the South Pole than any
Amer can flag had been before, — which Lieutenar . De Haven, and afterwards Dr. Kane, and
lastly Dr. Hayes, had carried further north than any ot'er ensign. Captain Hall, ui receiving
it, expressed his conviction that, in the spring of 1872, "it would float over a new world, in
which the North Pole Star is the crowning jewel."

On the 3rd of July the Polaris entered the land-1 )cked harbour c "'. John's, Newfound-
land, where she remained a week while her machinery underwent some repairs. Then she
proceeded north to Holsteinberg, in Greenland ; but ff'.led m procuring a supply of coal or a
stock of reindeer furs, both of which were much d 3.'':aerated. On the 4th of August she iirrivod
at the Danish settlement of Godhavcn, and happily found the United States steamer Congress,
which had been despatched with extra stores and supplier Thence she steamed northward to
Upemavik, which was reached on the 18th. So far her progress seemed to have been peculiarly
Ibrtunate ; but already dissensions had broken ont among the officers, which augured ill for
the eventual success of the expedition. In his despatches home, however, Captain Hall made
no allusion to this disr^ouraging circumstance ; and hi.s biograjiher explains this silence by " his

m "THANK (JOD IIAHBOUIl."

idiosyncrasy, which enabled Iiiiu to sink uvLTythint,' else in the cue idea of pushing on to the
far north,"

Upornavik, with its little colony of Danish officials and Eskimo natives, was left behind on
the 21st of August, and the Polaris continued her adventurous course. Six days later, she
arrived at Kane's winter-quarters in 1853-55, and at the point where he abandoned his little
vessel, tlie Advance. Next day her crew found a iuige wall of ice in front of them, and doubled
round it by steering to the west-north-west. Then again putting their ve.ssel's head to the north-
ward, they made their way up Kennedy Channel, and gained the threshold of what Dr. Kane
had supposed to be the Open Polar Sea. They discovered, however, that it was bounded by
land on either side, with a vast expanse of ice stretching far beyond it. Careful observation
sjiowed that it was, in reality, a bai/, which Kane had mistaken for the open sea when its land-
boundaries were hidden by fog. It is about forty-five miles wide.

Thence they entered a channel similar to that of Kennedy, which measured about seventeen
miles in breadth, and was obstructed by heavy ice. Their progress now waa slow and difficult,
and many of the crew wore rueful countenances, as if they were going " to sail off the edge of the
world." A more serious obstacle was the timidity of Ca])taiii Buddington, who showed himself
oj)posed to pushing further northward. Hall, therefore, resolved to carry the steamer inshore,
land some of his stores, and prepare for wintering at this advanced point of " Ultima Thule."

At midnight, on the 4th of September, Captain Hall raised an American flag on this land,
the northGrnmo.st site on which any civilized flag had been planted. When it was waving in
the breeze, he proclaimed that he took possession of the surrounding region of snow and ice " in
the name of the Lord, and for the President of the United States." He then returned on board
the Polaris, and her anchor waa let go. The place was only a bend in the coast, and afforded
no protection as a harbour ; they therefore steamed through the open water, and searched further
to the southward ; but finding no more sheltered quarters, they returned to their former anchor-
age, and began to land provisions,— the wind moaning sadly, and the snow falling in heavy
showers.

On the 7th, they weighed anchor and steamed in nearer to the shore ; bringing the ship
round behind an iceberg, which lay aground in thirteen fathoms of water. This huge mass of
ice proved to be about 450 feet in length, 300 feet in breadth, and GO feet in height; lat 81°
38' N., long, or 45' W. The berg was named "Providence Berg," and the cove in which they
had established themselves, " Thank God Harbour." On surveying the surrounding country
they found nothing calculated to brighten the prosj:)ects of the coming winter. The coast-hills
rose from nine to thirteen hundred feet in height, ami were furrowed and scarred with great
cracks and fissures, which bore witness to the rough usage of frost and ice, wind and weather.
To the south lay a largo glacier, which swept round !■: a wide circuit, and fell into the bay
iiumediatoly north of thtir anchorage. Traces of Eskin.os were discernible here and there ;
circles of stones, indicating where they had pitched their teniis. The landscape was all of a dull
neutral tint, a kind of cold gray ; for, as yet, the winter snow had not clothed it with its mantle
of dazzling whiteness. For this, however, the adveutureis had n )t long to wait. A snow-storm
began on the 27th of September, and lasted i'or six-and tliirty hours.

On (li ' loth of October Captiiiii Jfall organized a sledging expedition, as a preliminary to
an extended journey in the spring. There were two sledges, each drawn by seven dogs; Captain

KONERA' or CAPTAIN MALI.

dmUi

DEATH OK OAVTAIN HALU 37R

Hall and Eskimo Joe in one sledge, and Mr. Chester and Eskimo Hans iu tlu; utlier. Tlioy
were absent until the 24th, but owing to the roughness of the ice had accomplished only fifty
miles, and had made no discovery.

Meantime, the crtw had been engaged in banking up the ice around the ship, in order to
protect it from collision with drifting ttoes ; the deck was partly roofed over, and covered with
canvas; and other preparations were made to resist the turriblo inclemency of an Antic winter.
These, however, were temporarily suspended by the sudden illness of Captain Uiiil. On the
Ist of November he was a little better, but on the 3rd his malady, whicli appears to hiuve been
a form of paralysis, took a turn for the worse ; and the end came so rapidly that tlio eagor-
hoarted, enthusiastic explorer, who had braved so many harsh experiences in the I'olar World,
"fell asleep" early on the morning of the 8th. A grave was immediately ])reparc(l for tlie
reception of his remains about half a mile inland ; a shallow grave, for the ground was frozen
so hard that it was scarcely possible to break it up, even with picks; and on the lltli, the
funeral took place. The time chosen was half-past eleven in the morning ; yet it was so dark
that Mr. Bryan read prayers by the light "of a lantern dimly burning. " All the siiip's company
were present. The coffin was hauled on a sledge, over which, by way of pall, was spread tlie
American flag with its stars and stripes. The captain and officers, Dr. Bessel, and Mr. Meyers,
followed as mourners ; and strange and picturesque must the melancholy procession have
appeared, as it wound its way through ice and snow, wliile a weird boreal light or gleam in the
air revealed the outlines of the distant hills, rising like a ramjiart on the edge of tlie snow-
covered plain, and flickered every now and then over the frozen expanse of the ice-bound bay.

Tiius, says Captain Tyson, thus ended poor Hall's ambitious projects ; thus wa.s stilled tlic
effervescing enthusiasm of his ardent nature. " Wise ho might not always have been, but liis
soul was in his work ; .and had he lived till spring, I think lie would have gone as far as mortal
man could go to accomplish his mission. But with his death, I fear that all hopes of further
progress will have to be abandoned." That Tyson was right in his conjecture, our narrative
will show.

Captain Buddington succeeded to the command, and one of his first meaaures was to dis-
continue the Sunday service, for reasons which he does not a( em t-i have explained, and we are
unable to imagine. So far as we can gather from the published records of the expedition, he
was a man unfitted to bear responsibility, — a man without enthusiasm in himself, and incajjable,
therefore, of stimulating it in others.' Nor could he secure the obedience of hia inferiors. Sea-
men are always prompt to detect the weakness of theii officers ; and the crew of the Polaris
soon assured themselves that their new cajitain was deficient both in courage and resolution.

However, the winter gradually clescu in upon the little ice-bound company of the Polaris,
and they were called upon to endure, with such patience as was at their command, the severities
of the long Arctic night. It was very dark, yet not totally dark. For an hour or two at noon
it was possible to wander a short distance from the snow-roofed vessel ; but, once away from
it, the gloom and silence of everything a>-ound settled down on the wanderer like a pall. There
were none of the usual sounds of Nature to relieve the deep oppression of the scene. " The
other evening," says Tyson, " I had wandered away from the ship, disgusted with the confusion
and noise, and longing for a mo. cent's quiet. Once beyoiul range of the men's voices, there was

SS?'*?'"'"

«7<

WINTKK HOUND.

absolutely no other Honnrl -hatevor. It was quite calm — no wind, no movement of any living
creature ; nothing but a leaden sky above, ice beneath tny feet, and silence every wl ere. It
hung I'ko a pah over everything. So painfully oppressive did it become at last, that I was
frequently tempted to shout aloud, to break the spell. At last I did ; but no response came,
not even an echo.

' Tlifi space wiia voiil ; there I atood,
And the sole xpectre was the Holitmle.' "

On the Ift of January 1 872, it is rocoidcd that eighty days had elapsed since the adven-
turers had seen the .sun. Tlio internal economy of the Polaris, meantime, was pitiably dis

,\N Aiil'TIC KNOW-STDllM.

organized. There wn no discipline, no order, no method. The men did what they pleased,
and i.'onsequently made night hideous by their prolonged carousals. The officers disagreed
among themselves, and tiie object of the expedition appeared to have been lost .sight of, or no
longer to e.'.cite any deep or permanent interest. It was even discussed as a proper and prob-
able course to abandon the proposed northward exploration, and, as soon as the ice broke up, to
make all haste back to Now York.

Early in February, thf* daylight began to gain ui)ou tlie night a little, and the Eskimos
hunted for seals, as they could be heard under the ice maki.ig their breathing-holes. Storms
were very frequent — storms which drove the snow afnr in dense, blinding clouds ; and false
moons and other atmosphe-ic phenomena attracted the attention of tlu curious observer. On

HLKIMihMulIUNKYa ITT

tlio 28th, aftor an absoncu of oiiu Imiulitd and tliiitytivo days, tlio sun rfapponii'd ; and nuvor
was royal ynust nioru uajfoily wulcoined l)y a loy.il [(ouplu. Its rays sfonicd to liiin;^ witli tlu'in
a proiniBO of now life. Mon's hearts f^rew li},diter in spito of themselves, and all felt as if thoy
hivd been relieved from a heavy and intt)lerabie burden. Not tiiat the teinjieraturo Bhowed any
perceptible (lifferenee. The thornionieter indicated ;}7 l)elo\v zer(j on the Ist of March I

Pa.ssin<^ over a couple of months whicii present no incidents of importance, wo tind tliat on
the 9th of May tiie monotonous diilno.ss of the e.vpedition was broken by a sledi^e-jotirnoy to
the north, undertaken by Captain Tyson, with Meyers, Joe, and JIaim as companions. 'I'hoy
were absent from the ship six days ; striking inland, in an east-north-east direction, to Newman
Hay, and thentre keepintf more to tiie north, until tliey reached lat. 8;i° !*'. Mr. Meyers surveyed
the shores of Newman Bay, and Captain 'Jyson en<lcavoured to secure .some i^ame. One day
they came on a large lierd of nuisk-o.veii. These animals act very curiously when an attack is
madi^ upon them. They form a circle, stern to stern, and await the a.ssault of their enemies.
The dogs surround them, and keep them at bay. Not unfrecpiently a dog gets to.sRed. Though
Joe and the caj>tain Hreil anrl reloaded as fast as tliey could, the poor brutes otFered no resist-
ance ; but when eight had fallen, the remainder took to flight. The slaughtered oxen were then
tlayed, and the best pieces cut up for conveyance to the ship.

These cattle develop their gieat size and weight on what might bo supposed to form a very
slender diet. Their food is the mosses and lichens which grow on the rocks; and to oI)tiiin it,
thoy must first .scrape away the snow witli their hoofs. At the first sign f)f danger, the calves
slielter themselves under their parents' body ; and theii' hair is so long as to atl'ord the young a
very complete and satisfactory screen. The musk-ox is an animal of considerable l)ulk. Several
of those shot by Tyson and the Eskimos weighed from 500 to 600 lbs. each. In proportion to
their size and weight, their legs are very short.

Early in June, Captain Buddington I'esolved to despatch a couple of boats, for the p\u*poso
of exploring the neighbouring coast, and di.scovering, if possible, an open water channel to the
north. One of these was placed under the conmiand of Mr. Chester ; the other, of Captain
Tyson. Mr. Chester's boat was nipped in an ice-floe, and crushed to pieces. The crew escaped
with difficulty, but the historical flag was lost. Captain Tyson pushed forward to Newman
Bay, where some eider-ducks, gulls, and dovekies were shot. Joined by Mr. Chester — who
had returned to the ship, and secured the safety-boat — he found his further progress arrested liy
that compact, insuperable field of ice which is the despair of Arctic navigators. All attempts
to get further to the imrth proved- in vain ; and orders to return having arrived from Captain
Buddington, there was nothing to be done but to rejoin the Polaris.

The summer passed away, and still the Pohms lay beset among the ice ; or, rather, drifted
slowly to the southward, along with the floe to which it was attached. No sledge-expeditions
were organized ; and Captain Buddington's sole concern was to watch for an opportunity of
gottir • out into the open channel, and returning to New York. Some slight progress south-
ward was occasionally made ; but towards the end of October it became evident that the
explorers would have to spend a second winter in their frozen captivit". They had been carried
beyond Ren.sselaer Harbour, where Dr. Kane wintered during 1853-55, and began the construc-
tion of a storehouse for provisions, in case the ship should be endangered by the drifting ice.

This dreaded catastrophe did indeed occur, on the night of the 15th. The pressure of the

878 ADKIFT ON TIIK ICK.

floe wiw troniondous, but tho Polaris buio it bravely, though j^roaiiiug and cruakiug iu every
thiiber. After awhilo, huwover, it was found that Hho had Hturted a leak aft, and that tho water
wan gaining on the puiiii^. Tho discovery seems to have startled Buddington out of all coolness
or reflottioii. He threw up his arras, and cried out to "throw everything on the ice." Ini-
uiudiiitfly all was chaos. The men seized whatever lay near to their hands, and threw it
overboard. A (juantity of stores had been previfjusly placed on tho deck, in anticipation of such
an event ; but these were now hurled on the (loo in indiscriminate confusion, and with consider-
able loss. Captain Tyson and some of the men got overboard, with tho view of arranging things
in, at least, a semblance of order ; but while ho was thus engaged, the ice commenced cracking.
Shortly afterwards it exploded under his feet, and broke in many jilaces ; the ship drove away
in the djirkness, and Tyson and his companions immediately lost sight of her.

It was a terrible night. The wind blew a hurricane, and the snow fell heavily in drifting,
whirling masses. " We did not know," says Tyson, " who was on the ice, or who was on the
ship ; " but seeing some musk-ox skins lying across a wide crack in the ice, he pulled them
towards him to save them — and behold, rolled up in one of them were two or three of the
children of Hans the Eskimo ! Some of the men were afloat on small pieces of ico, but by
nie«ins of the whale-boat these were rescued ; and when the gray light of morning dawned on the
scene, Tyson ascertained that eighteen persons, besides himself, were castaways. These were —
Mr. Meyers, meteorologist ; Heron, steward ; Jackson, cook ; six seamen ; Joe and Hans, the
Eskimos, and their wives and children.

The piece of the tloe on which they were cast was nearly circular, and about four miles in
circumference. It was not level, but full of hillocks, and of ponds or small lakes, which had
been formed by the molting of the ice during the short summer. The ice varied greatly in
thickness. Some of the mounds, or hills, were probably thirty feet thick ; the flat parts not
more than ten or fifteen. The surface was exceedingly rugged, and the hummocks were white

with uUOW. ,;

Tyson's first task was to inspect the stock of provisions that had been collected on the floe.
It consisted of fourteen cans of pemmican, eleven and a half bags of bread, one can of dried
apples, and fourteen hams ; and if the ship did not return for them, they might have to support
themselves upon this supply all through the dreary winter, or die of starvation. Fortunately,
they had a couple of boats ; and Tyson's second care was to load these, embark his little company,
and endeavour to reach the shore. In this attempt they were balked by the drifting ice ; and
before they could repeat it they caught sight of the Polaris. Immediately they ran up a rough
and ready signal ; but no one seemed to be keeping a look-out, and the castaways had the
mortification of seeing her drop away behind Littleton I sland, without undertaking any search
for her missing crew. ,?• --, - ■

Tyson therefore resolved to cross to the other side of the floe, and make for the land,
perhaps lower down than the Polaris was, so as to intercept her. Everything was thrown
away, except two or three days' jjrovisions, and the boats were got ready. But the men were
slow and reluctant ; oars were wanting ; a violent 5;ale arose ; and as night was coming on,
Tyson found himself compelled to abandon his inte-ition. On the followi?ig day, the ice again
broke ; and now the adventurers were drifting with one boat on one piece of ice, while the other

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Photographic

Sciences

Cbrporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

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THE BOAT KKOOVKUEI).

SSI

boat, a part of their provisions, and an extemporized luit of poles, remained on tiie main ]iart of
the original floa. The ice-raft whicii carried Tyson and his companions measured about 150
yards each way.

On the 2l8t, however, the boat and provisions were recovered. Joe, with the keen eye of
an Eskimo, caught sight of the bow of the l>oat, projecting from a fragment of the broken ii;c.
Folio ved by his faithful aily, Tyson went in search of it, leaping like a chamois hunter fron)
crag to crag. Six of the dogs had accon)panied him. These were harne.ssed to tlio boat, and
with the help of sturdy arms dragged it over the disrupted floe. The whole party then removed
to the large floe, where some snow-houses were speedily erected. They formed (piite aii cncain|i

ADIUFT ON THE ICE-FI.OE.

ment : one hut, or rather a sort of half-hut, for Mr. Meyers and Captain Tyson ; Joe's hut for
himself, his wife, and their adopted daughter ; a hut for the men ; a storehouse for provisions, and
a cook-house,— all united by arched galleries, built of consolidated snow, with one main entrance,
and smaller ones branching off to the several apartments or huts. Hans built his i</loe
separately, but close by. All were constructed after the Eskimo fashion— that is, the ground
being levelled oft", one half of the floor toward the end furthest from the entrance was slightly
raised above the other or front half. The raised part, as we have previously explained, serves as
parlour and bedroom ; the lower area, as workshop and kitchen. The walls and arched roof
were bui.o up of square blocks of hard snow, packed hard and close by the force of the wind, A
square of about eighteen inches of this compressed snow or ice served for window.

282

TAKING STOCK

This good v/ork done, Tyson took stock. Successive expeditions had gathered togetlier
nearly all tliat was on the ice when the Polaris drifted from them, and he found that their
stores included two boats — one of which, however, was being broken up tor fuel — and one
kayaik, a good suj ply of powder and -shot, eleven and a half bags of bread, fourteen cans of
pcraniioan, fourteen hams, ten dozer cans of meats and soups, one can of dried apples, and about
twenty pounds of chocolate and sugar mixed. The pemmican cases werf' Irrge, each weighing
forty-five pounds , the meats and soups were only one and two pound cans ; the hams wore
small ; tlio dried-apple can counted for twenty-two pounds. Evidently, when divided among
ninetoon'people, this supply could not last mar ^r weeks; and unless they reached the land, or

BrxOVERV OK THE BOAT BY CAPTAIN TTSON.

could catch seals, starvation seemed their probable ultimate fate. The allowance was reduced to
eleven ounces for each adult, and half that amount for the children, — rations painfully in-
adequate to the proper support of the human frame in a Polar region and during an Arctic
winter.

On the 23rd of Octobei" they lost sight of the sun. At this time they were about eight or
ten miles off-shore, and forty to fifty miles west of Northumberland Island, in lat. 77° 30' nearly.
The Eskimos were on the watch for seals day after day, but without success. In truth, it is not
easy to find the seal in winter, as they live principally under the ice, and can be seen cnly when
it cracks. A v/arm-blooded animal, it cannot always remain beneath the frozen surface without
breatiiing, and for this purpose they make air-holes through the ice and snow. These, however.

MISTAKEN FOR A PEAK.

are so small at the surface, not exceeding two and a half inches across, that they are not easily
distinguished, especially in the twilight-gloom uf an Arcti winter day.

The floe, o»- ice-raft, on which the ci ow of the Polaris had found shelter, continued to drift
slowly to the southward, impelled by wind and cur. ont. The weather was so sevt ; e that it was
worse than useless to ati ;mpt to reach the shore. The castaways therefore huddled themselves
together in their iyloes, or huts of snow, or took such diversion as hunting for fox or seal
afforded. Or when a gleam of fair weather afforded an opportunity, Tyson took a short drive
in his sledge, and explored as much as he dared of the ice lying towards the shore. On the
Ist of November an attempt was made to reach the land, the dogs being harnessed to the
sledge, and the boat loaded witli the most essential articles ; but the state of the ice rendered
all efforts of this kind fruitless.

One day, Joe and Hans, the Eskiiiios, went out in quest of game. In wandering through
the hummocks they lost one another, and Joe, after trying his luck alone, made his way back

lOLOEB CONSTRUCTKD IT TBE CABTAWATS.

towards the hut before night came on ; he fully anticipated to find that Hans had preceded him,
and was much alarmed when he heard that he had not returned. Accompanied by Robert,
he started in search of him. As they sped along through the rapidly-gathering darkness, they
saw what appeared to be a Polar bear approaching them ; loaded their pistols, and prepared to
give him a warm reception, when, fortunately, the creature throwing up his arms, and standing
erect, they perceived that it was their missing comrade. He had used both hands and feet in
climbing the rough hummocks, and his fur clothing being covered with snow, the deception was
tolerably complete.

On the 2 Ist of November, Captain Tyson writes in his diary : " We are living now on. as
little as the human frame can endure without succumbing ; some tremble with weakness when
they try to walk. Mr. Meyers suffers much from this cause ; he was not well when he came on
the ice, and the regimen here has not improved him. He lives with the men now ; they are
mostly Germans, and so is he, and the affinity of blood draws them together, I suppose. Since

284

SUFFEUINGS OF THK CASTAWAYS.

liu has liuustd with tho men, I have livod in tliu hut with Joe, Hannah, and Puney. Puney,
liuor (.Iiild, is often luin{,My ; indued, all the children often cry with hunger. We yive them all
that it is safe to use. I can do no more, however sorry I may feel for them."

But it is unnecessary to trace the misfortunes and sufferings of Captain Tyson's little com-
pany day by day. Their wretched cun<lition — adrift on a raft of ice, insufficiently clothed, insuffi-
ciently fed, poorly hou.sed, without any of the comfurts that generally make an Arctic expedition
endurable, buffeted by snow-storm and tempest, in constant apprehension lest their insecure raft
should break up — requiies no exaggeration of colouring to produce its full impression on the
reader. In January 1873, it was found that the provisions were diminishing with terrible
rapidity.; and this was due not so nuich to the regular daily consumption as to the secret pilfer-
ings of the crew, who were not controlled by any bunds of discipline, and yielded Captain Tyson
an imperfect and reluctant obedience. They were all Germans, except Heron, an Englishman,

MANS MISTAKEN FOR A HEAR.

and the cook, a man of colour, and their conduct was a disgrace to their nationality. • They
seem to have thought that their raft was carrying them swiftly towards Disco in Greenland,
where abundant supplies could easily be obtained ; but, in truth, they were drifting in the
direction of Labrador, and the safety of all demanded the sternest economy of their small stock
of provisions.

The cold was now excessive, —35° below zero at noon, and 37° at midnight. On the 13th,
it sank below 40°. On the following day, however, a strong westerly gale blew up ; the cold
became more moderate — the temperature rose to —14°. Under the influence of the gale, the ice
began to crack and grind and break up; the natives launched a kayack ; a seal was hunted
down, and the castaways feasted gloriouslj'. This, however, was but a transient i^ieam of good
fortune. On the 17th the glass again sank to 38", and no more seals were visible. The men
were now reduced to less than twelve ounces of food daily, which was not sufficient to furnish
internal warmth, or to strengthen the system against the terrible effects of the Arctic climate.

A HUNTING EXPEDITION.

The 1 9th was, to some extent, a, day of hope ; for, after an absence of eighty-three days,
tlie sun once more rose above the misty horizon. Kskimo Joe took mlvantaj^'e of tho biUHt of
daylight to undertake hunting expedition. About five mile.s from the hut J\o fouad open
water, and shot two seaU, but could land only one ; the young ice carried the other away. En-
couraged by the cheerful glow of the sun, he stayed out later than usual, and it was very dark
before he returned. A light of burning blubber was kindled to guide him to the hut. It shone
out upon tho gloom <tf the niglit like u pharos.

The 25th of January marked the one hundred and third day of the castaways' voyage on the

THE OUIDINQ LIOIIT.

ice-raft, and they severely felt the monotonous wretchedness of their existence. Tt wtis a beau-
tiful day, and perfectly calm ; but the thermometer indicated 40° below zero. At midnight the
heavens were illuminated with all the glories of a brilliant aurora. They seemed to be al)laze :
from tlie south-west to the north-east, from the horizon to the zenith, the magnetic fires shot
here and there, and wavered and undulated, like flame driven by a strong wind. At one time
the splendour was almost overjwwering, and the straining eye was fain to seek relief in darkness.
On the 1st of February a violent gale arose, blowing from the north-west, and the ice,
rolling and rocking beneath its influence, split up into great cracks and fissures which threat-
ened the safety of the castaways. Huge blocks fell off" from the floe ; and the vast bergs
which had hitherto accompanied, and partly sheltered it, moved rapidly before the wind.

S88

I'lCTUltE OF AN INTKfJlOR

Kvt;rytliinp acknowledijod tlio niijijht of tho stornj ; but as yet the adventurers had not been
iliHtuibwl, thou;,'li Hurroiiiidcd by mountains of ice heavy enough, if driven against tlieir
iin(!Hin|)incnt, to have crushod thoin to atoms. Thus far they had floated safely, but the
position was one to cause reflection : at some time or other the ice must break up, they knew ;
but whether they wouhl survive tho catastrophe was beyond conjecture. Tiiey could only
wait and hope.

Here is a picture of the interior of one of the igloes, or snow-huts : —

" Joe and Hannah are sitting in front of the lamp, playing checkers on an old piece ot

canvas, the squares being marked out with Tyson's pencil. They use buttons for men, as they
have nothing better. The natives easily learn any sort of game ; some of them can even play a
respectable game of chess ; and cards they understand aa well as the ' heathen Chinee.' Cards
go wherever sailors go, and the first lessons that the natives of any uncivilized country get are
usually from sailors.

" Little Puney, Joe and Hannah's adopted child, a li' Ae girl, is sitting wrapped in a
musk-ox skin ; every few minutes she says to her mother, ' I am so hungry !' The children often
cry with hunger. It makes one's heart ache, but they are obliged to bear it with the rest."

The gale continued on the 2nd, with blinding showers of snow — fine, penetrating, pungent.

LANTASTIC FOIJMS oK I(!KIlKltf!8.

Next day the weat'ner modcnitcd, mid tlio jjlass roHO to 15 liulow zero. Dark clouds lowori'd in
the horizon, provontini^ tho hind t'rnm htinu; seen, if iiny shon? wtirt' nt>ar. Hut tho rnpifl riHC in
the temperature, after ho stron^y a north-west >(ale, allowod Tynoii to hoju^ that tl>e wind had
mastered tho current, and was forcinjj thonj towardH the flrecnla".;! shore.

Though all around notliing was visible hut ice and icebergs, Mh' <ceno had a certaifi heanty
of ita own — a strange weird beauty, like that of a dream-jticture. When the sun shone on the
bergs, and lighted up their massive or fantastic forms, all the prisniatic; coloir of the raiid)ow
flashed through the "crystal pendants "or " projecting peaks." The interest of the scene was
enhanced by the variety of its forms. Every berg appeared to have had its individual history,
and its broken outline and furrowed surface bore witness to the experienci's it had undergone —
storm and rain, wind and water. Some rose u|) around the castaways like solid ramparts ; others
represented the spire uf a (Jothic cathedral, the pinnacle of a Turkish minart>t, the glittering

SUOOTINO MARWHAL.

walls of a palace : all were beautiful, yet terrible in their beauty, conveying a profouiul feeling of
might and destructive power.

On the 5th, and again on the 7th, a seal was caught, and the little <!onipany enjoyed a plen-
tiful meal. On the latter day a couple of narwhals were shot, but both sank before they could
be reached. These narwhals are sometimes called sea-unicorns, or monodons, in allusion U) the
long horn, six to eight feet in measurement— or, rather, the elongated tooth -which projects
from the upper jaw ; a formidable weapon, tapering "rom base to point, with a spiral twist from
left to right. Strange stories were told of these sea-unicorns by the early navigators ; but science
has made short work of legend and fable.

Day after day, tht history of our navigators was the same ; no stirring romance, but harsh
reality : — -wind and snov, snow and wind — a wind which almost froze the life-blood of those
exposed to it, and snow which fell so fast and thick as to wrap the scene in the gloom of desola-

2n2

DKiniNG SOUTHWARD.

tion. Siill, the ico-rArt driftuJ .southward ; .slowly but surely drifted throui^h the darkness of the
night and the twiii<,dit obscurity of the day ; while the little company it carried suffered much
from iiitreasing weakness, though better provided with food than formerly, owing to the frequent
i-apturc of narwhal and seal. Occasionally the mists cleared oft', and the sun streamed out in
meridian sphMidouv, lighting up every feature of the " ite-scape "— mjvy we coin the word? —
aroi'nd them. But, too frequently, " snow and blow, blow and snow," wa.s, as Tyson renuirks,
" the order of the day."

Hope lives eternal in the human brea.st ; and though it had sunk very low in the hearts of
our adventurers, it suddenly rekindled on the 19th of February, when they caught sight of the
west coast, at no greater distance than thirty-eight or forty miles. Its flame was kept alive on
the 2l8t by the discovery that tin thermometer had risen to 3° above zero. Next day it had risen
to 20", or within 12" of freezing-point; and men inured to the rigour of an Arctic winter spoke

DIIAGUIXO TIIK OOOJOOK (.SEE IWOE J96).

of such weather with cheeriness as " very comfortable." The cloud upon the prospect now was
the want of food, for the game had begun to fail. The hunters went forth every morning, bat
returned empty-handed. 1'he feebleness of the party increased in an alarming degree. It took
several men to carry a light Eskimo kayack, which for an ordinary man is not even a burden.
What was to be done ? The only chance of life seemed to lie in reaching the shore ; but how
were these gaunt, frail skeletons to convey their boat across the rugged ice until they reached
the open water ?

They decided, however, on making the attempt, in the hope of reaching a place called
Siiaumen, a little to the north of Cape Mercy, m lat 65° N., where game, and sometimes
Eskimos, were to bo found. In spite of all their efforts, they were foiled by a succession of
blinding, lashing, beating snow-storms. The mercury sank again to 24° below zero, and their
[losition grew desperate. They were reduced to one meal — and such a meal ! — per diem. Great
was their joy on the 28th when the hunters brought in thirty-seven dovekies, or two apiece.

BREAK UP OF THE FLOE.

S95

They were cooked without delay, and eaten up to the last morsel, except tho feathers. Greater
still was their joy on the 2nd (of March), when Eskimo Joo shot a monster oo<yi)ok (a lartjo
kind of seal), the largest they had ever seen— such a monster tliat it took all liand.s to draj( ita
carcass to the huts. Peter danced and sunjj in the exuberance of his delight, and everybody
felt that for a time they were saved from starvation. On measurement, this glorious oogjodk
proved to be seven feet nine inches in length, or fully nine feet including the tail.

The ice-raft was now apj)roaching Cumberland Gulf, and Tyson calculated that tliey Iiad
reached lat. 65° N. They drifted more and more rapidly ; and if they did not die of famine, — if
the ice did not break up too suddenly, — there was a probability of their reaching the whaling

rmsT SKiiiT OF A wn.\i,K.

ground, and falling in with some friendly ship. The gales, however, were frequent and severe ;
the thermometer continued very low — 32° to 34° below zero ; and tlie sutterings of tlie whole
company were intense. Even the Eskimos were sorely afflicted ; though w itiiout these bold and
patient hunters, the white men must certainly have perished.

On the 7th of March there were indications of the breaking up of the floe. It cracked and
snapped beneath them, with a sound like that of distant thunder. So far as the surface wa« con-
cerned, however, no signs of fracture were visible ; the eye, straining in every direction, saw
nothing but an unbroken expanse of ice. And thus it continued until the 12th, when, during a
terrible storm, the threatened catastrophe took place, the ice-raft being shattered suddenly into

hundreds of pieces, on one of which, not more that one hundred yards by seventy-five, the

s««

ADVKNTUUE WITH A DEAU.

adventurers found themselves adrift ! Oh, what a night of dread anxiety they passed, expecting
every moment that this j iece too would give way, and plunge them into ruin! But it held
together ; and when the wind abated, and the nnow ceased ti) fall, and the wild hurtling of the
broken ice was hushed, they could look around them, and realize their position. The condition
of the ice had undergone an absolute change ; the " Hoes " were driven up into a " pack," and
hugt! blocks, of all shapes and sizes, were heaped up and jammed together in inextricable
confusion.

Noting that cm the 21st of March seven seals replenished the empty larder of our adven-
turera, and tlrnt on the 26th wllilI<^s were visible for the first time, — a welcome sign, as indicating

FACE TO F.VCE WITH A I'OLAB UEAll.

their approach to the fishing-grounds, — we pass on to the 29th, which was marked by a curious
incident. Shortly after dark, Tyson heard a noise outside his hut ; he had just taken off his boots,
preparing for rest ; Joe, too, was on the point of retiring, but thinking the ice was breaking up,
he went out to view the " situation." In a few seconds he hastily returned, pallid and frightened,
and exclaiming, " There is a Vjar close to my kayack ! " The kayack lay within ten feet of the
entrance to the hut. Both Joe and Tyson's rifles were outside ; Joe's within the kayack, and
Tyson's lying close to it ; but Joe had his pistol in the hut. The captain put on his boots, and
then both crept cautiously out Seal-skins and lumps of blubber were lying about in all direc-
tions ; and Biuin, having dragged some of these about thirty feet from the kayack, was banquet-
ing at his ease. Joe crept into the sailora' hut to alarm them. Meantime Tyson crawled

REACHING THE PACK-ICE.

299

stealthily to his rifle, but in taking it knocked down a shot-gun standing by. The bear h(?ard it,
but Tyson's rifle already covered him ; he growled ; Tyson pulled the trigger, but the gun would
not go off" ; a second, and a third time — it did not go ; but Tyson did, for the bear now rushed
full upon him. Retiring to the hut, he put another cartridge in, and then again crept out into
the open, taking up a position where he co\dd see the animal, although the night was dark. The
bear, too, saw his assailant, and faced towards him ; but this time the rifle-ball went straight to
its mark ; the bear ran about two rods, and fell dead.

The victim was a "sea-bear," Ursus maritimus, and supplied the company on the ice-raft
with a welcome change of diet.

OS no.VRD THE BOAT.

As the piece of ice was gradually wearing away, tlie adventurers of the Polaris resolved
on an effort to regain the main pack, which would necessarily be safer. With their sleeping-
gear, tent, and a supply of shot and powder, they embarked on board the boat, and stood to
the westward ; and on the 4th of April, after a succession of rough experiences, reached
the "pack." Here they were not much better off", for a violent gale blowing from the north-
east, the ice began to break off" in huge fragments ; and soon the area at the command of
the navigators was so small, that they were compelled to reload the boat, and prepare for a
hurried departure. The wind, however, subsided, the pack closed up, and things returned to
their normal condition.

On the 18th of April the castaways were somewhat reinvigorated by the capture of a seal.

|00

CAUGHT IN A 8T0KM.

which J 00 brought a«hore in his kayack, and by tho appearance of land to the south-wost. But
in thiu wild Arctic region the weather in spring is subject to surprising changes, and on
tlic 20th another gale began to blow. Such was its fury that it drove a heavy swell of sea

IIIIKAKINU Ur OF TUB ILK.

lUToss tile ico-rnft, which washed away every article that was loose. Billow after billow followed
with evt'i-incrcasing violence ; and tent, and skins, and nearly all the bed-gear, were swept intc

JOB C.VrTt'RES A SEAL.

the boiling waters. Only a few articles were saved, which, along with the women and children,
had been stowed in the boat. To save the boat tasked the energies of all the party, who had to
hold on to it, with might and main, to prevent it from being carried out to sea. All through the

mtmm

■3hu

A NIOHT OK KKAI!.

103

dreadful ui^ht tin* men wit*; on thu watch a^aiiiHt tluH crowning' diMi.stor>; all throUj^'h tliu dn-ary
night, from !) p.m. until 7 a.m., straining ovory nurve, calling into pliiy every rocourco of energy.
Ever and anon, one of the treinondouH hillowH would phnv^'u downward, luul lift the l)nat hodily,
and the men with it, and carry it and tliem forward on the ice, alnumt to tlic (.ppositi' cdgr of
the Heating raft ; several times the boat heeled ,'artly (jvur, and wiih liauled l';i«k oidy by ilio
more than human strength which the crow derived from a knowledge of their position. The boat
gone, all was lost I Terrible was the work ; had the waters been smooth, the task would not have
been easy; but they were filled with loose ice, which rolled about in blocks of all sliapcs und
sizes, and with almost every wave these came toppling and rolling and diiving forward like an

' HULL OF WATKllH.

avalanche, and fell about the heads and limbs of the men as they clung desperately to the boat.

But God mercifully supplied them with the strength they needed ; and so, labouring to the

uttermost, they waited and watched for the day. For twelve houi-s scarcely a sound was uttered

except the crying of the children, and Tyson's stern command to "Hold on," or " Bear down,"

with the responsive " Ay, ay, sir " of the men.

Day dawned at last, with a dull gray light over the restless sea, and Tyson saw with in

describable thankfulness a large raft of ice floating within reach. He determined to make for it,

though the men hesitated to launch the boat into such a "hell of waters." But it was done;

the women and children were first got on board, and then all the men embarked in safety. By

dint of hard pulling, they gained the ice, landed, refreshed themselves with a morsel of food,

S04

TAK1N{» TO THK BOAT.

and thou, o-- thiH now ice-ruft, luid down to ruMt. Tho following niorninj? found tlicin " Bafe and
Hoiind," alitor all thoir trialH, with tho oxce|ition of a few bruiHoa and contuwiuns.

On tho U^iid of Ajiiil unotliur hiar wan killi-d ; itn<l juHt ii. tiuif, for tho wholo party were
without a uiorHfl of food. Thin lawtid thorn for thrio or four days ; and thon, on tho 2r)th, a8
.starvation ont-o inoro starod thoni in tho face, thoy rosolvod on a doHporato effort to luako tho
land. What oIho woro they to do { The rain foil in torrontH ; the wind blow a hurricar" ; the
ico-raft waa conHtantly wasting' away ; they had no proviMions. True, the boat was frail and
leaky, and tho hoj> ran liif,'h ; but as the ico would not much lonj^er aftbrd them oven a footing,
a docision was forced upon thoiu.

So in their crippled, ovorloadod boat thoy set out, the wind blowing a gale, and a tremon-
tlous Hoa running, full of small knife-like blades of ice. After eight hours* labour at tho oars,
( hoy came to a piece of floe, and encamped upon it for the night. At daylight on tho 28th they

DRAOOINU THK UO,\T ON TO A ri,OB.

again launched their boat ; and after much weary work in threading their way through a fleet of
icel)ergs, they got into comparatively open water.

At half-past four, a joyful sight ! — a steamer right ahead, and bearing north of them. The
castaways hoisted their colours, and pulled towards her. She was a sealer, going south-west, and
making her way through the floating ice. The hearts of the castaways beat with joy at the
prospect of speedy relief; but, alas, they were doomed t<j disappointment I She did not see the
miserable little company in the overloaded boat ; and it was impossible for them to overtake her.
Night gathered over the sea, and she disappeared.

Reaching a suitable piece of floe, they boarded it, and again encamped for the night, under
a sky which wa« clear and calm, and shone with the glory of stars. The sea, too, was tranquil,
and, notwithstanding their disappointment, they felt more hopeful than before ; it was evident
thoy had '•cached the borders of civilization, and might rely upon obtaining help. With seals'
blubber they kindled beacon-fires on the ze ; and divided their men into two watches.

OLIKOINO TO THE BOAT (SEE PAOE »(»),

HESCUED HY THK "TlORESa." 307

Tho next day they sighted another steamer, launched their boat, and pulled lustily towards
her. In vain : she did not see them, and after a couple of hours' hard work they were hemmed
in by the ice, and could make no progress. They landed on a floe, and hoisted their colours ;
collected and loaded all their rifles and pistols, and filled the echoes with the ringing report of
three simultaneous volleys. They heard three shots in reply, and — glorious si^'.it I — saw the
steamer directing her course towards them. They shouted with all their might ; but in tho keen
air their voices seemed to p?ss away soundlessly. Presently the steamer changed her course,
tacking south, then north, then west, as if she were vainly cndeavo . ring to force a passage through
the accumulated ice. Yet there seemed no insuperable obstacle in her path. The fugitives fired
again, and again ; but she came no nearer, and late in the afteri.oon steamed away to the south-
west.

At sunset they descried land in the same direction, about thirty-five miles distant.

On the following day, the 30th of April, Tyson was lying in the boat, his watch having just
ended, when the look-out raised a sudden shout : " There's a steamer ! there's a steamer ! " As
if fresh life had been poured into his veins, Tyson sprang to his feet, ordered all the guns to be
fired, joined his companions in a loud simultaneous cry, and raised their colours to the head of
the boat's mast. Hans leaped into his kayack, and was despatched to intercept the ship, if pos-
sible, as there was some danger of losing sight of her in the fog which prevailed ; but, happily,
she bore down towards them. Hans paddled on, and in his broken English shouted, " American
steamer." He was not understood by those on board, but they kept their course, and in a few
minutes lay alongside of the ice-isle which sheltered Tyson and his company. Oh, what three
loud, hearty, joyful cheers acknowledged their deliverance 1 These w 2re immediately returned
by the cr. of the steamer, which proved to be the sealer Tigress, of Conception Bay, New-
foundland.

Wo quote from Captain Tyson's simply-worded narrative : —

"Two or three of their small seal-boats were instantly 'owered. We, however, now that
relief was certain, threw everything from our own boat, and in a minute's time she was in the
water ; while the boats of the Tigress came on, and the crews got on our bit of ice, and peeped
curiously into the dirty pans we had used over the oil-fires. We had been making soup out of
the blood and entrails of the last little seal which Hans had shot. They soon saw enough to
convince them that we were in sore need. No words were required to make that plain.

" Taking the women and nhildren in their boats, wo tumbled into our own, and were soon
alongside of the Tigress. We left &11 we had behind, and our all was simply a few battered
smoky tin pans and the debris of our last seal. It had already become offal in our eyes, though
we had often been glad enougli to get such fare.

" On stepping on boa. i, I was at once surrounded by a curious lot of people — I mean men
filled with curii,sity to know our story, and all asking questions of me and the men. I told them
who I was, find where we were from. But when they asked me, ' How long have you been on
the ice?' and I answered, 'Since the 15th of last October,' they were so astonished that they
fairly looked blank with wonder.

" One of the party, looking at me with open-eyed surprise, exclaimed, —

" ' And was you on it night and day t '

" The peculiar expression of the tone, with the absurdity of the question, was too much for

Jos IN SEARCH OF THE " POLARIS. "

my politenesH. I laughed in spite of myself, and my long unexercised risibles thrilled with an
unwonted sensation."

Tyson and his party were picked up in lat. 53" 35' N.; a fact which will give the reader
some idea of the wonderful voyage they had accomplished on their various ice-rafts.

They were trea.od with thoughtful kindness on board the Tigress, w..ich on the 7th of M
turned her heat! towards Newfoundland. On the following day she put into Concep* on Ba,
where the Americans landed, and remained until the 12th. They then started for St. John's;
and the news of their remarkable experiences having preceded them, found themselves on their
arrival the objects of a very general and lively curiosity. After a short stay, they were conveyed
to Wa.shington on board the United States steamship Frolic. And here ends their strange,
eventful history.

We must now return to the Polaris.

When she drifted away in the darkness of that stormy night, she had on board fourteen
persons : CaptJiin Buddington, Dr. Emil Bepsel, Messrs. Bryan and Chester, and ten officers and
seamen. What had become of them and their vessel ? Such was the natural question which
arose on the safe arrival at Washington of Tyson and his companions ; and the American Govern-
ment quickly came to the determination of organizing a relieving party to seek for and bring
back the survivors and remains, if any, of the Polaris expedition. The steamship Juniata was
immediately despatched to form a dep6t of supplies on the coast of Greenland in advance. She
reached Upernavik on the 31st of July, and there brought into use her steam-launch, the Little
Juniata ; which, manned by a gallant crew, pushed forward into the icy waters of Melville Bay,
but without coming upon any traces of the missing explorers. Meantime, the American Govern-
ment purchased the Tigress, and fitted her up for a thorough cruise in the Arctic seas. With
Captain Greer in command, and Mr. Tyson as acting-lieutenant, and a crew of eleven officers
and forty-two men, "all told," the Tigress set sail on the evening of July 14th, and dropped
anchor at St. John's on the morning of the 23rd.

On the 11th of August we find her at Upernavik, where she took on board a supply of coal
from the Juniata. She then proceeded northward, falling in with the heavy pack-ice near Cape
York. The 14th saw her ofi" the Eskimo settlement of Netlik. She was now approaching
Northumberland Island, in the neighbourhood of which, or of Littleton Island, it was supposed
the Polaris had parted from the ice-floe. Captain Greer carefully examined Northumberland
Island, but without success. He then made for Littleton Island ; and a boat was lowered to go
on shore, carrying Lieutenant White, Captain Tyson, and other officers. What was their sur-
prise, as they approached, to discover some human figures and a couple of tents on the mainland,
near Littleton Island. The figures proved to be Eskimos ; and through the agency of Eskimo
Joe, who was on board the Tigress, it was soon ascertained that Captain Buddington had deserted
the Polaris on the day after her separation from the floe ; that ho and his companions had erected
a house on the mainland, and wintered therein ; had fitted it up with sleeping-berths for fourteen
men, the full number, and furnished it with stove, table, chairs, and other articles removed from
the abandoned ship ; that during the winter the party had built and equipped a couple of sailing-
boats ; and that " about the time when the ducks begin to hatch " they had departed for the south.

SAVBDl

BUDDINOTON AND HIS CHEW. 311

The Eskimo chief, or leader, added that Captain Buddington had uiadc him a present of
the Folatis ; but that the gift proved of no effect, for in a violent gale she broke loose from the
ice, drifted out into the channel, and foundered.

Further search brought the crew of the Tigress to the winter-camp of the Polaris crew.
It was situated in lat. 78" 23' N., and long. 73° 4C W. Some manuscripts were found there, with
the log-book, the medical stores, and remains of instruments ; and these, with whatever else that
seemed of intrinsic value, having been removed on board the Tigreiss, the expedition bore away
to the southward, and on the 16th of October reached St. John's, Newfoundland, where they
received the w Icome intelligence of the rescue of the Polaris party under the circumstances wo
shall now relate.

We return to the eventful night of the 15th of October 1872. During the tremendous
gale that then raged along the Arctic coast, the bow-hawser of the Polaris snapped like a
" pack-thread," the anchors slipped, and the ship drifted away into the darknes.s. The wind
for': ^d her in a north-easterly direction; and next morning those on board found her "a little
north of Litt'eton Island, in Smith Sound, having been exactly abreast of Sutherland Island
during a portion of +he night."

As she waf .eaking rapidly the pumps were set to work ; and the fires with much difficulty
being lighted, the ship was got to obey her helm. It was then found that the following officers
and men remained on board : — Captain Buddington ; Mr. Chester, chief mate ; William Merton,
second mate ; Emil Schuman, chief engineer ; Odell, assistant-engineer ; Campbell and Booth,
firemen ; Coffin, carpenter ; Sieman, Hobby, Hays, and Manch, seamen ; Dr. Emil Bessel,
meteorologist ; and Mr. Bryan, astronomer and chaplain.

A look-out was kept, it is said, for the nineteen who were missing, but no signs of them
being discovered, Captain Buddington came to the comfortable conclusion that they had saved
themselves in the boats. Doubting the feasibility of carrying the Polaris to the southward, he
determined to abandon her, and winter on shore. With this view she was run in as near land
as possible, and finally grounded in Kane's Life-boat Cove, lat. 78° 23' 30" N., and long. 73°
21' W. Here, on the 17th of October, Captain Buddington prepared to establish a winter-
camp ; and the next few days were occupied in removing from the stranded vessel all the food
and fuel, and such articles as could conduce to the comfort and sustenance of the party through
the ensuing winter.

With spars, bulk-heads, and canvas brought from the Polaris a commodious house was
erected, measuring twenty-two feet in length, and fourteen feet in width. It was thoroughly
water-tight ; warmed inside by a stove ; and banked outside with masses of compact snow. In
the interior th3 sides were lined with fourteen sleeping-berths. A table and chairs and lamjis
added to the general comfort ; so that our explorers were prepared to brave a Polar winter
under more favourable conditions than those experienced by most Arctic navigators.

In the course of a few days a party of native Eskimos, with five sledges, made their
appearance, and their friendly labours were found of no little value. They considered them-
selves amply repaid by a few presents of knives, needles, and the like, and after a short stay
returned to their settlement at Etah. However, others soon took their place ; and event\ially

818 . COMFORTABLK WINTER-QUARTERS.

two or three familieH built their igloes in the neighbourhood of the American camp. The
EHkimo women made themselves very useful by making and repairing clothing, and rendering
other feminine courtesies ; while the men, when game became plentiful, supplied the little
settlement with a welcome abundance of fresh meat. Nor was this the only advantage derived
from the presence of the Eskimos ; on the contrary, it had an excellent effect on the morale of
the men, who did not feel that utter isolation, that sense of being cut off from human companion-
ship, and separated from the rest of the rid, which is one of the severest trials of wintering
in the Arctic regions. The heavy pressi e of the long, dark Polar night was wonderfully
lightened by the kindly attentions and mirthful society of the Eskimos.

It is probable that some of the Polaiis cre\t' never spent a happier winter. There was no
want of food, no suffering from cold ; their quarters were warm, cheerful, and well-lighted.
Time did not hang heavily on their hands ; for when the house-work was done, when the fires
were replenished, the lamps trimmed, and the day's provisions cooked, they amused themselves
with reading or writing, or played at chess, draughts, and cards. It is true they had no com-
munication with the world witliout, and no intelligence could reach them from friends or kinsmen ;
but, sxirgit amari aliqutd — in the cup of human happiness a bitter drop is always found !

When the worst of the winter was past, they began, under the direction of the carpenter,
to construct a couple of boats, with the view of returning homeward as soon as the ice broke up.
Each was twenty-five feet long, square fore and aft, and five feet beam ; capable, that is, of
carrying seven men, with provisions for about two months, in which time they might reasonably
calculate on reaching the civilized settlements. It was the end of May before the condition of
the ice enabled them to set out. Then they broke up their camp, rewarded their Eskimo friends,
carried on board stores and provisions ; and, finally, early on the morning of the 1st of June
they bade farewell to their winter-home, and sailed out into the waters of Smith Sound.

Their voyage was unmarked by any disastrous incident, and presents a strange contrast to
the dangerous experiences of Tyson and his companions. Wherever they landed, they obtained
an abundant supply of aquatic birds, seal, and other game. They were all in good health, well-
fed, well-clothed. Their boats were sound and strong. The winter had long passed away, and
the glorious summer sun poured its full radiance on the calm surface of the Arctic sea. Sailing
pleasantly along, they touched at Hakluyt Island, and subsequently landed on the west shore
of Northumberland Island. The pack-ice detained them there until the 10th. They then
entered a water-way toward Cape Parry, but were subsequently forced back by the ice to the
place whence they had started. On the 1 2th the channel was clearer. They set sail again ;
crossed the southern part of Murchison Sound ; doubled Cape Parry ; and halted for rest and
refreshment on Blackwood Point, near Fitz Clarence Rock. Thence they made, in due
succession, for Wolstenholme Island, and Cape York, — names which recall the adventures of
the earlier explorers.

Their course now assumed a more difficult character, as they had come face to face with
the ice of Melville Bay, — that great expanse of Arctic waters which is surrounded by glacier-
loaded shores, and has always been a favourite " whaling-ground." Here they encountered some
difficulty with the "pack;" the "leads," or water-ways, curiously intersecting one another, and
striking far into the ice, and so closing up that it was often necessary to haul their boats across
a kind of promontory, or tongue, from one lead to another. Their troubles, however, were of

ON BOAKD THK "KAVEN8CRAUJ." 317

brief duration. On the twentieth day after leaving Life-boat Cove, they slKhte*! a steamer,
beset in the ice, at a distance of thirty or thirty-five miles from Cape York. She could not
come to them, it was true, but they could go to her ; and this they prepared to do. They had not
traversed half the distance, however, before they met p. body of eighteen men from the ship ; for
they too had been seen, and recognized as white men, and relief immediately desjiatohcd. The
friendly vessel proved to be the Kavenscraiy of Dundee, Captain Allen, lying in lat. 75° 38' N.,
and long. 65° 35' W.

It waa now found, according to the narrative of the expedition, that the relief did not come
much too soon, for the boats had been considerably injured by contact \^ itli the rough hummocky
ice. And the fatigue of hauling them over such a surface may be inferred from the fact that it
took the Polans crew, with their eighteen relief-men from the liavenscraig, six hours to reach
the latter vessel. The difficulty was increased by a deep slushy snow, which lay thick upon the
ice, and which was not only heavy and disagreeable to the wayfarer, but exceedingly dangerous,
as more than one found by sinking into the pitfalls it treacherously concealed.

But they reached the Ravenscraig a,t midnight, and received a hearty welcome from Captain
Allen, who Wiis able also to communicate the grateful intelligence that their comrades, the little
company sent adrift on the ice-raft, were all in safety.

It has been well said that the Polaris expedition proved curiously prolific of startling and
exciting incidents. From the time when Captain Bartlett of the Tigress rescued the " exhausted
waifs " of the ice-floe, until the last scene in this romantic drama was enacted, the public mind
had been kept in a condition of continual expectancy by the progress of events connected with
the story of these Arctic explorers. The lamentable death of Captain Hall, — the long voyage on
the ice-floe through the gloom of the Polar night, — the return of the nineteen castaways after so
many hair-breadth escapes and wonderful adventures, — the departure of the Tigress, — the dis-
covery of Buddington's winter-camp, — and now the rescue of him and his crew by the Dundee
whaler, formed a series of surprising and exciting events, which, if not of epical interest, would
certainly seem to furnish matter for a poet's song. Even the early annals of Arctic exploration,
with their narratives of the achievements and sufferings of Hudson, Davis, Barentz, present no
incidents of a more remarkable character. As men dwelt upon them, they came to acknowledge
that the " age of romance " was not ended yet.

On the 18th of September 1873, the Arctic whaling-steamer arrived at Dundee with eleven
of the Polans survivors, who had been transferred to her from the Ravenscraig, as the latter wa."
not homeward bound. Three others reached America in the Intrepid ; and thus the expedition
of the Polaris terminated without any loss of life, if we except the unfortunate death of her
enthusiastic commander, Captain Hall.

It added nothing, it is true, to our geographical knowledge of the Arctic World ; and yet it was
not without some useful results. The Polaris, at all events, approached nearer to the North Pole
than any one of her predecessors ; and men of science were thenceforth justified in asserting that
the hope of complete success was no longer chimerical. The distance to the pole from the point
reached by the Polaris was comparatively so trivial, as to afford good reason for believing that it
would not long baffle human resolution and enterprise. Then, again, it was established as a fact
beyond doubt that Europeans could securely winter in a latitude of 81° 38'; that a ship well built

iH THK BRITISH EXPEDITION.

and well equipped might push northward as far us 82° 1 6'; and that no induperablo obstacles to
its further advance could then be detected. It was also shown that the temperature, even in
lat. 82°, was not of a nature to overcome the energy and enthusiasm of men accustomed to life
and adventure in the Arctic World. These data, so conclusively established by experience, con-
stituted a source of great encouragement to future navigators, and permit the conclusion that the
Polai-is expedition, with all its disasters and mismanagement, helped forward the great work of
discovering the North Pole.

" Wo now know," says Mr. Markham, '' that the American vessel commanded by Captain
Hall passed up the strait, in one working season, for a direct distance of two hundred and fifty
miles, without a check of any kind, reaching lat 82° 16' N. ; and that at her furthest point the
sea was still navigable, with a water-sky to the northward."

The Polaris, however, was nothing better than a river-steamer of small power, ill adapted
for encountering the perils of Arctic navigation, — with a crew, all told, of thirty men, women,
and children, including eight Eskimos. If she could accomplish such a voyage without difficulty,
and could attain so high a latitude, it was reasonable to anticipate th, a properly equipped
English expedition, under equally favourable circumstances, would do, not only as much, but
much more, and carry the British flag into the waters of the circumpolar sea, if such existed.
With this view, the Admiralty fitted out the Alert and the Discovery, under Captains Nares
and Stephenson. Every precaution that icience could suggest was adopted to ensure the com-
pleteness of their equipment; and the itro ships, accompanied as far as Disco by H.M.S. Valm'ous
as a tender, left England on the 29th May 1875.

The British Expedition, consisting of the Alert and the Discovery, did not succeed in all it
was intended to accomplish ; and yet it can hardly be spoken of as a failure. It did not reach
that conventional point of geographers, the North Pole, but it penetrated within four hundred
miles of it ; and it ascertained the exact nature of the obstacles which render access impossible,
except under conditions not at present in existence. We agree with a thoughtful writer in the
Spectator that this was a most important service rendered both to Science and the State. We
now know that by the Smith Sound route a ship may attain to within 450 mile^ of the Pole ;
and that, afterwards, a journey about as long as from London to Edinburgh must be undertaken,
in a rigorous climate, with the thermometer 50° below zero, over ice packed up into hillocks and
hummocks which render sledge-travelling almost impracticable, or practicable only by hewing
out a path with the pickaxe at the rate of a mile and a half a day. And further : the work
would have to be begun and completed in four months, or, from lack of light and warmth, it
could not be done at all. These are serious difficulties, and whether it is worth while for men to
encounter them, where the gain would be problematical, we need not here inquire. Before any
attempt can be made, some provision must be discovered for protecting those who make it
against the excessive cold, and for a surer and swifter mode of conveyance than the sledge
affords. The journalist to whom we have referred speculates that science may furnish future
expeditions with undreamt-of resources, — with portable light and heat, for instance, from the
newly-discovered mines at Disco ; preventives against scurvy ; electric lights ; supplies of dyna-
mite for blowing up the ice ; and a traction-engine to traverse the road thus constructed ; but, in

PANQEllS AND DIFFICULTIE8. 31ft

the meantime, these appliances are not ut uur command. We must be content with tlio measure
of success achieved by Captain Nares and his galhmt followers.

And these well detserve the gratitude of all who think the fame and honour of a nation are
precious possessions. They have shown clearly that the " race " has not degoneratud ; that
Englishmen can do and suffer now as they did and suflered in the old time. Tliey diH|tliiyod a
courage and a fortitude of truly heroic proportions. And the exi)criences of Arctic v()yaj,'ing arc
always of a nature to require the highest courage and the sternest fortitude. 'Yhv long Arctic
night is in itself ,s severe a test of true manhood as can well be devised. The miner works
under conditions far less laborious than those to which the Arctic explorer submits, for he
enjoys an alternation of light and darkness; his underground toil lasts but for n few hours at a
time. Yet we know that it tries a man's manly qualities sorely ! What, then, must it be to
keep brave and cheerful and true throughout a prolonged night of one hundred and forty-two
days — that apparently endless darkness, almost the darkn^w of a sunless world ?

We know, too, that continuous work, without relaxation, for month after month, will break
down the nerves and shatter the intellect of the strongest. Yet we read that the men of the
Alert toiled like slaves, on one occasion, for seventy-two days, in cold so extreme that the reader
can form no conception of its severity, and with the dread constantly hanging over them of that
terrible and most depressing disease, scurvy. Owing to their inability to procure any fresh
game, as most former expeditions had done, each of the extended sledge-parties, when at their
farthest distance from any help, was attacked by it. The return-journeys were, therefore, a
prolonged homeward struggle of men who grew weaker at every step, the available force to
draw the sledge continually decreasing, and the weight to be dragged as steadily increasing, as,
one after another, the men stricken down had to be carried by their enfeebled comrades.

It has been well said that in such exploits as these there is a sustained heroism which we
cannot fully appreciate, because we cannot fully realize the terrible character of the sacrifices
involved. But it is comparatively easy for us to understand, and therefore to admire, the
courage of Lieutenant Parr, when he started alone on a journey of thirty-five miles, with no
other guide for his adventurous steps than the frech track of a wandering wolf over the ice and
snow, in order to carry help and comfort to his failing comrades. It is easy to understand, and
therefore to admire, the devotion of Mr. Egerton and Lieutenant Rawson, when, at the immi-
nent risk of their own lives, they nursed Petersen, the interpreter, while travelling from the
Alert to the Discovei'y, with the temperature 40° below zero. Petersen, who had accompanied
them with the dog-sledge, fell ill ; and with a noble unselfishness they succeeded in retaining
heat in the poor fellow's body by alternately lying one at a time alongside of him, while the
other by exercise was recovering his own vital warmth. We can also acknowledge and admire
the constancy of Captain Nares, who, in that horrible climate, lived thirty-six days in the
" crow's-nest," while his ship laboured among the grinding, shivering, crushing ice, until exhaus-
tion overcame him. And we can acknowledge and admire the bravery and faithfulness of the
men of the sledge-parties who, for days and weeks, drew the sledges and their comrades, with
gloom above and around them, ice and snow everywhere bounding the prospect, and in a
temperature which seemed to freeze the blood and benumb the heart.

What a tale, says a writer in the Tivnes, what a tale of unrequited suffering it is ! Surely
not " unrequited ; " for those who suffered, suffered at the call of duty, and have been rewarded

31fl HEROIC 8UFFERIN0S.

by thti approval of their cuuntryinon, and by the consciuuHness of having done something groat,
of not Imvinjjf lived in vain, " How lightly do all talk of glory ; how little do they know what
it means ! The little army had to cut its way through the iue-burriers, dragging heavily-laden
Hl«;dgeH, and going to and fro, the whole force being often required for each sledge, content to
make a mile and a quaiier a day, in pursuit of an object still four hundred miles off, through
increasing difficulties, and with barely five months, or one hundred and fifty days, wherein to go
and return. The labour is a dreadful reality ; the scheme itself a nightmare, the phantasy of a
disordered brain. Even the smaller and subsidiary expedition for planting u dep6t last autumn
cost three amputations. The cold was beyond all former experience for intensity and length,
and the physical effect of a long winter spent in the ships under such conditions is particularized
OS one reason why the men were less able to endure cold, labour, and the want of proper food.
Every one of the expeditions, whatever +he direction, came back in the saddest plight, — some
dragging the rest, and in one case only reaching the ship through the heroism of an officer
pushing on many miles alone to announce ^is returning comrades, and to procure the aid by
which alone they were saved from destruction. These are episodes, but they are the matter
which redeems the story and makes its truest value. They tell us what Englishmen will do on
occasions beyond our feeble homo apprehensions, \('hen once they have accepted a call, and are
in duty bound."

At the time we write no elaborate • .^rd of the expedition has been published, and the
materials of the following sketch are collected therefore from various narratives which have
appeared in the daily journals. We shall begin by endeavouring to place before the reader,
with the assistance of Mr. Clements R. Markham, a rapid summary of what the expedition
accomplished. And then we shall describe its more interesting incidents.

The object of Captain Nares and his followers was to discover and explore as considerable a
portion of the unknown area in the Polar Regions as ws" possible with reference to the moans
at their disposal, and to the positions the vessels succeeded in reaching as starting-points. The
theories about open Polar basins and navigable waters which once obtained have long been dis-
carded by practical Arctic geographera A coast-lire, however, is needful as a means of progress
to " the threshold of work ; " and it is needful, too, in order to secure the desired results of
Arctic discovery in the various departments of scientific inquiry.

The expedition, then, in the first place, had to force its way through the ice-encumbered
channel which connects Baffin Bay with the Polar Ocean ; a channel which successively bears
the names of Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin, and Robeson Strait.
Smith Sound opens out of Baffin Bay between Capes Alexander and Isabella. The Alert and
the Discovei-y passed these famous headlands and entered the Sound on July 29, 1875; and
from that date until September 1, when the Alert crossed the Threshold of the Unknown
Region, they fought one continuous battle with the ice. The Polmis, it is true, had made a
rapid passage on the occasion of its memorable voyage ; but the circumstances were exceptional.
Generally the Sound is blocked up by heavy floes, with winding waters caused by the action of
wind and tide. With great difficulty our two ships forced the barrier ; but their success was due
in no small measure to the skill and vigilance of Captain Nares, who allowed himself no rest

THE WINTER WORK. Stf

uutil they were out of danger. At length, after many Iniirbreadth eHcupea, ami many hihorioiw
nights and days, and much energy and devotion on the part of the otticers, and equal tourajje and
industry on the part of the men, the expedition reached the north shore of Laily Franklin Inlet,
and found a safe, commodious harbour in hit. 81 41' N. Here the Dincovrri/ took up htr winter
quarters, as had previously been arranged ; and the Alfit, after a brief interval of repose, con-
tinued lier northward progress.

This she was enabled to do through the opportune opening up of a water-lane between the
shore and the ice. Bravely she dashed ahead, rounded Cape Union, so named by the men of
the Polans expedition, and entered the open Polar Ocean. Then, in hit. 82° 20' N., the white
ensign was hoisted on board a British man-of-war in a latitude furthtir north than the nhip of
any nation had reached before. Soon afterwards the solid masses of the Polar pack-ice began to
close around the adventurous vessel ; and on the 3rd of September 1875, the Alert was fust lixeil
in her winter quarters, on the ice-bound shore of tlie inhospitable Polar Sea in lat 82° 27' N.

This, says Mr. Markham,* WuS the first grand success ; and it assured the eventual comple-
tion of the work. For, owing to the admirable seamanship of Captain Nares, and to the zeal
and devotion of the officers and crew, the Alert had been carried across the Threshold, and was
toithin the Unknown Region. A point of departure was thus obtained, which rendered certain
the achievement of complete success ; inasmuch as in whatever direction the sledge-parties
travelled, valuable discoveries could not fail to be the result.

The autumnal excursions, during which dep6ts of provisions were established for use in the
work of the coming spring, were not performed without a very considerable amount of suH'ering.
Lieutenant May and two seamen were so severely frost-bitten, that, to save their lives, amputa-
tion was found necessary.

As will be seen from the latitude given, the ships wintered further north than any ships
had ever previously wintered. The cold exceeded anything previously registered, and darkness
extended over a dreary period. The winter, however, was not spent idly : observatories were
erected, and a mass of valuable scientific data industriously accumulated.

" But the crowning glories of this ever-memorable campaign were," as Mr. Markham
exclaims, " achieved during the spring." Tliree main sledge-expeditions were organized : one,
under Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr, instructed to keep due north, as far as
possible, into the newly-discovered Polar Ocean ; another, under Lieutenant Aldrich, to explore
the American coast, westward ; and the third, under Lieutenant Beaumont of the Discovery, to
survey the north coast of Greenland, facing eastward. Each party consisted of two sledges ;
and the six, with their gallant crews, set out on the 3rd of Ajjril 1876, determined to vindicate
and maintain the reputation of British seamen. They separated at Cape Joseph Henry ; and
before they again met, this was what they achieved : —

Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr pushed northward as far as lat. 83° 20' 20" N. ;
being the most northerly point which any explorers have attained. They may therefore be
fairly and justly regarded as " the Champions " of Arctic Discove' y, until some successors, more
fortunate than they, shall surpass their glorious feat

Lieutenant Aldrich struck westward ; rounded Cape Colombia in lat. 83 7' N. ; and
explored 220 miles of the American coast-line, previously not laid down on any map.

* The Academy, November 4, MG, p. 463.

mmmmmmm

SIB WHAT WAH ACOOMri-ISIIKD

Lii'utviiniit Becuiuuitt cruMttcd Kohenun iStruit, and Hurveyud the iiurthurn coast of Ureen-
land for about Hovonty niilew.

" I II ordor," it in miii\, " that tliuHe three main purtioM might do their work HUcceHsfull y,
every houI in t)u( two Mhi|m wan lu'tivoly emjiloyed. The dopAt and leliovinjj partioH did moHt
anltiouN work, and the oH.jors vied with eacli other in proraotinjj the objects of the expedition,
whilo tlio most jjerffct harmony and unanimity prevailed. Captain Feildeii and Mr. Hart were
unpocially active in making natural luMtory collections ; and LieutenantH (jifiiird, Archer,
; |i| liawHon, ?i|;erton, and (Jonybearo did admirable work in exploring and kecpin^^ open communi-

cations." When the Hlpd^'e-partie8 returned to the ships. Captain Nares found that they had
Huttbred terribly ; but he also found that their success had been complete. They had solved a
geot^raphical problem ; no open sea surrounded the Polo, ns so many sanjjuine spirits had antici-
pated. The way northward was over a waste of ice — of ice broken up into hummocks and
ponderous masses. And with the appliances they possessed further progress was impossible ;
the expedition had reached its iie plus ultra.

The work was done, and Captain Nares perceived that nothing more could be gained, whilo
valuable lives might be lost by remaining longer in the Polar Ocean. He decided upon return-
ing to England, with the following rich results to show as the reward of an heroic enterprise : —

First, the expedition had discovered a great Polar Ocean, a knowledge of which cannot fail
to prove of exceeding value to the hydrographer. Next, the shores of this ocean had been
explored along fifty degrees of longitude, and important collections formed of specimens of the
Arctic fauna, flora, and geology. The channel connecting the Polar Ocean with Smith Sound
had also been carefully surveyed, and an accurate delineation effected of either shore. Geologi-
cal discoveries of high value had also been made ; as, for example, that of the former existence
of an evergreen forest in lat. 82° 44' N., — a fact significant of vast climatic changes. And,
lastly, interesting observations in meteorology, magnetism, tidal and electric phenomena, and
spectrum analysis had been carefully recorded. The expedition of 1875-7G must, therefore, in
view of these results, be classed among the most successful which ever adventured into Arctic
waters ; though it failed, like its predecessors, to gain the North Pole.

The Alert and the Discovery left the shores of England in May 1875. After a voyage of
five weeks' duration they arrived at Lievely, the port of Disco Island, on the west coast of
Greenland. This small settlement numbers about ninety-six inhabitants, Danes and Eskimos,
— generally speaking, a mixed raee. The Danish In.spector of North Greenland resides here,
and he received the expedition with a salute from three brass cannon planted in front of his
house. There is a well-conducted school, attended by nbout sixteen children; and a small
church, where the schoolmaster reads the Lutheran service on Sundays, — the priest coming
over from Upernavik occasionally, to perform marriages, christenings, and other religious
services.

The Alert having taken o'. "j(.i.''d thirty Eskimo dogs and a driver, the expedition left
Disco at one o'clock on July 16th, and next morning reached Kiltenbunto, about thirty miles
further north.

Kiltenbunto is a little island in the Strait of Weigattet, between Disco and the mainland.
Here the Discovery took on board thirty dogs; and shooting-parties from both ships made a

WINTER QUAItTKIlS. 319

(loHccnt on II " luoinory," or " Itinl hiizaiir," IVwiuoriti'd liy (^uilU'inotH, kittiwiikt-M. mid otliir (mcmii
birdH. Two or three dii.VH lator tlio oxpudition iirrivxd nt a Htittlfmciit imiiifd Piovtn. whcif it
was joined by the Eskimo doj^-drivor, Ilium ( ;iuintiiin, the attondnnt of Kiinc, HaycH, and
Hall, in their Hoviral oxpeditiohH, At I'rovea the atlvoiituronj rei-oived and annwered tlieir
ituit lotterB from " homo."

Strikinjf northward throuf^li Baffin Bay, thoy reached Capo York on tin- -Jfjlli of .luly,
and met with a company of the miHnamcd Arctic J£ii,'ldandorH, who traverKed the ico-HoeH in
their dop-BleilguH, and soon fraternized with the Hoamon, A narwhal havinjf Ihsuii harpoomd,
a quantity of the skin and hlublior was given to thiso KskimoH. Mr. Hodmtn, the clmplain m
tlio DUcooerij, duscribos them as cxcoediiiKly ^I'l't-'dy and barbarous, eatinj,' wfiatovi-r fell in
their way, but living chiuHy upon seals. Thoy were lu-t ho far advanced in civili/Jition as to be
able to construct kayacks, and apparently they had never before seen Europeans. They wore
trousera of bear-skin, and an upper garment of seal-skin.

Proceeding northward by Dr. K line's ('rinison Cliffs, they soon reached that brave ex
plorer's celebrated winter (|uarters. Port Ft>ulke, and took advantage of a day's <lelay to visit
the Brother John Glacier. They found Dr. Kane's journal, but no relics; shot a reindeer,
and a largo number of birds.

Between Melville Bay and the entrance to Smith Sound no ice was met with ; but on the
30th of July the " pack " was sighted, off Cape Sabine, in lat. 78' 41' N. Here, at Port Payer,
the ships were fast held by the ice for several days. An attempt to proceed further north-
ward was made to the west of the islands in Hayes Sound; but the water-way not leading in
the right direction, the ships returned. On the 6th of August they made a fresh start, and
thenceforward maintained an uninterrupted struggle with the ice. The Alert led the way, with
(Japtain Nares in her " crow's-nest," anxiously looking out for practicable channels. At Ca])o
Frazer the huge solid mass again delayed them. Then they succeeded in crossing Kennedy
Channel to the east side, and taking shelter in Petermann Fiord — so named after the great
German geographer. After a few days they again pushed nortiiward; and on the 25th of
August, after many narrow escapes from being crushed in the ice, a well-sheltered harbour re-
ceived them, on the west side of Hall Basin, north of Lady Franklin Sound, in lat. 81' 44' N.
This was at once selected as the winter quarters of the Discovei'y. Her sister-ship, continuing her
course, rounded the north-east point of Grant Land; but instead of falling in with a continuous
coast-line, stretching one hundred miles further towards the north, as all had anticipated, found
herself on the border of what was evidently a very extensive sea, with impenetrable ice on every
side. As no harbour could be found, the ship was secured as far north as pos,s" le, inside a
kind of embankmrnt of grounded ice close to the land. There she passed tht winter; and
during the eleven months of her detention no navigable water-way, through which she could
move further to the north, presented itself.

Far from meeting with the " great Polar Sea " dreamed of by Kane and Hayes, our ad-
venturers discovered hat the ice-barrier before them was unusually thick and solid. It looked
as if composed of floating icebergs which had gradually been jammed and welded together.
Henceforth it will be known on our maps as the Palseocrystic Sea, or Sea of Ancient Ice; and
a stranded mass of ice disrupted from an ice-floe is to be termed a floeberg.

Ordinary ice does not exceed ten feet in thickness; but in the Polar Sea, generation after
_^'-^ 22

320 STORY OF THE "DISCOVERY."

generation, layer has been superimposed on layer, until the whole mass measures from eighty
feet to one hundred and twenty feet; it floats with its surface nowhere less than fifteen feet above
the water-line. It was tJ^'s wonderful thickness which prevented the Alert from driving ashore.
Owing to its great depth of flotation, sixty feet to one hundred feet, the mass grounded on
coming into shallow water, and formed a breakwater within which the ship was comparatively
secure. " When two pieces of ordinary ice are driven one against the other, and the edges
broken up, the crushed {'.eces are raised by the pressure into a high, long, wall-like hedge of
ice. When two of the ancient floes of the Polar Sea meet, the intermediate lighter broken-up
ice which may happen to be floating about between them alone suffers; it is pressed up between
the two closing masses to a great height, producing a chaotic wilderness of angular blocks of all
shapes and sizes, varying in height up to fifty feet above water, and frequently covering an area
upwards uf a mile in diameter.

We must now return to the Discovery. As soon as she had taken up her winter quarters,
her crew began to unload her, landing the boats, stores, and spare spars, and otherwise preparing
for the winter. The first day ashorf they shot a herd of eleven musk-oxen. A few days after-
wards the sea was frozen all round the ship, so that they could freely move to and fro about the
ice. A week later they saw a large number of musk-oxen, and shot about forty —thus laying in
a considerable supply of provisions.

;i Their winter port, which was surrounded by snow-clad hills, about two thousand feet high,

j! they christened Discovery Harbour.

As soon as the sea was completely frozen over, the sledging-parties were organized and duly
despatched ; but as the autumn was rapidly pas«iin_^ very little could be done in this direction.
The usual preparations on the part of Arctic explorers were then made for "hybernating."
Houses were built ; also a magnetic observatory and a theatre of ice — recalling the glittering
ediiloo constructed by Catherine II. of Russia on the Neva, and celebrated by Cowper in the
well-known lines, —

" No forest fell
Wlien tbou wouIJat Ijuild, uo quarry sent its stores
To enrich thy walls ; but thou didst hew the floods,
Aud make thy marble of the glassy wave."

A smithy was erected on the llth of November, being the first the Arctic ice had ever
borne. Its roof was made of coal-bags, cemented w"»h ice. The ship's stoker reigned supreme
in it as blacksmith ; and when we consider the accessories, — the ice, the snow, the darkness, —
we must admit that his blazing forge must have made a curious picture. The chaplain tells us,
humorously, that the smith adorned the interior wall with a good many holes, as each time
that his iron wanted cooling he simply thrust it into the ice I

As for the theatre, which, as we know, has always been a favourite source of amusement
with Arctic explorers when winter-bound, it was sixty feet long and twenty-seven feet broad ;
and, in honour of the Princess of Wales, was named "The Alexandra." Her birthday was
selected as the day of opening — December Ist ; and the opening piece was a popular farce —
"My Turn Next." As sailors i, .e generally adepts at dramatic personations, we may conceive
that the piece " went well," and that the different actors received the applause they merited. It

'ii

WINTER AMUSEMENTS. SSI

is recorded that foremost among them was the engineer, Mr. Mi '.f , who appears to have been,
emphatically, the Folar Star. Several of the men sung songs ; and recitations, old and new, were
occasionally introduced ; the result of the whole being to divert the minds and keep up the
spirits of the ship's company during the long, long Arctic night.

The Fifth of November and its time-honoured associations were not forgotten. A huge
bonfire blazed on the ice ; a " Guy Fawkes " was manufactured and dressed in the most approved
fashion ; and the silence of the frozen solitudes was broken by the sounds of a grand display of
fireworks and the cheering of the spectators.

A fine level promenade had been constructed on the ice, about a mile in length, by sweeping
away the snow ; and this served as a daily exercise ground. A skating-rink was also constructed.
A free hole in the ice, for the sa)'e of better ventilation, was carefully kept up. Whenever it
closed, through a process of gradual congelation, the ice-saws were set in motion to open it up
again, or it was blasted with gunpowder. The dogs lived on the ice-floe all the winter. It must
not be thought that the cold was uniform day after day. P ably it is not the loiv temperature
so much as the varutble temperature that makes an Arctic winter so very trying to the European.
In a few hours the change would be no less than 60°. The cold reached its height — or depth —
in winter, when the thermometer marked 70i° below zero ; the greatest cold ever experienced
by any Polar expedition. It is difficult for the human frame to bear up against this exce.48 of
rigour, eveii with the help of good fires, good food, and good clothing. Not only the physical
but the mental faculties are debilitated and depressed.

Our ice-bound seamen, however, managed to keep Christmas merrily. Early on the day so
dear to Christian memories "the waits" went their usual rounds, — a sergeant of marines, the
chief boatswain's mates, and three other volunteers, — singing Christmas carols, and making " a
special stay outside the captain's cabv " In the forenoon prayers were said on the lower deck ;
after which the captain and officers vi.sited the men's mess, tasting the Christmas pudding, and
examining the tasteful decorations which had been improvised. Then the gifts which, in
anticipation of the diy, had been sent out by kindly English hearts, were distributed by the
captain, — to each gift the name of the recipient havmg been previously attached. This was an
aflPecting scene ; and hearty, though not without a touch of pathos in them, were the cheers given
as the distribution took place ; a distribution recalling so many "old familiar faces," and all the
sweet associations and gentle thoughts of home 1 Cheers were also raised for the captain and
men of the far-away Alert. Next, a choir was formed, and echo resounded with the strains of
" O the Roast Beef of Old England I " of which, no doubt, many of the singers entertained a
very affectionate remembrance. The men dined at twelve and the officers at five, and the day
seems in every respect to have been most successful as a festival.

A few particulars of the " situation " may here be given in the chaplain's own words : —
" We had brought fish, beef, and mutton from England," he says, " all of which we hung uj)
— one of the masts, and it was soon as hard as a brick, and perfectly preserved. We had
also brought some sheep from England with us, and they were killed from time to time.
When we arrived in Discovery Bay, as we called it, six of them were alive ; but on being
landed they were worried by the dogs, and had to be slaughtered. During the winter the
men had to fetch ice from a berg about half a mile distant from the ship, in order to melt it
for fresh water."

•^-mwrntrnm

322 GOING A-SLEDOINO.

At last the long A.rctic niglit camo to an end. It was with emotions of hope and gratitude
and joy that the explorers welcomed the first rays of the returning sun on the laut day of
February. For four months they had lived in obscurity and gloom, with the exception of such
relic'i as the stars and the moon had occasionally afforded. On the day of the sun's return to the
Polar World, it was known that it would rise at about twelve o'clock, and everybody ascended
the hills for the purpose of hailing the glorious spectacle. The mists and fogs, however, baffled
their expectations ; and though they felt its influence, they did not see it for some days after it
had mounted above the horizon.

News was brought from the Alert by two officers and two n)en towards the end of March.
They had accomplished the journey with the thermometer at 40° below zero, and had occupied
six days in making it. The officers were Lieutenant Rawson and Mr. Egerton, who had started
at first in company with Petersen, the interpreter, but had been compelled to return with him,
as already narrated, because he was severely frost-bitten. Directly they returned to the
Discovery, preparations were made for sending out the sledge-parties. Two officers and three
men, with a dog-sledge, started across Robeson Channel to Hall's Rest, the winter quarters of
the Polarit, to report on the stores left by the American vessel, which the United States Govern-
ment had plp.ced at the disposal of the British expedition. They reappeared on the fifth day,
with the inf jrmation that they had found biscuit, pemmican, preserved meat, molasses, and other
articles. They had lived in a wooden observatory that they found erected there. Captain
Hall's grave was in excellent preservation ; and they set up a head-board, with an inscription on
it, to mark its situation.

Lieutenant Beaumont and Mr. Coppinger, the surgeon, each with an eight-man sledge —
or, rather, with seven men besides themselves — started for the Alert, in quest of the other sledge
which had wintered with that vessel ; their design being to cross Robeson Channel, and explore
the North Greenland coast. In this journey, owing to the "hummocky" character of the ice,
they spent twelve days.

Two days later, a third party, consisting of a twelve-man sledge and an eight-man sledge,
with two officers, proceeded to survey the shores of Lady Franklin Sound. The captain accom-
panied them in the eight-man sledge, and was absent about a week ; but the twelve-man sledge,
which had gone merely to carry stores and provisions for the other, did not return for a fort-
night, the sledge having been damaged, and one of the marines severely frost-bitten in the heel.
The other sledge, after an absence of about four weeks, returned in safety, — having discovered
that Lady Franklin Strait, as the Americans call it, was a sound or fiord about sixty miles long.
They had fallen in with some musk-oxen, which were too wild to be got at ; and had seen three
or four glaciers, and hills three thousand feet in height.

About June the warm summer began to assert itself, and in the rays of the sun their ice-
houses melted away, like the baseless fabric of a vision. So the sledging-party last spoken of
adventured across the ice to Polaris Bay, taking with them a life-boat as a precaution (for the
ice might at any time have broken up), and a supply of provisions for the use of the North
Greenland expedition. This work done, they returned to the ship, leaving behind them two
officers and three men, who pushed up Petermann Fiord for about eight miles, until arrested by
the impenetrable barrier of a huge glacier.

On returning from their explorations they found that Lieutenant Newsome, with four men,

"HALL'S HOSPITAL." 323

of whom one had dieil of scurvy on the way, had accidentally Hejiaratod from the North (.Jreen-
land party, and reached Petermann Fiord on the 3rd of June. All were Heriou.sly ill of scurvy,
except Mr. Rawson and a marine. Under Dr. Coppinger's skill and care, however, they
recovered. As soon as possible, the doctor, with Mr. Newsonie and the Eskimos, started in a
dog-sledge to gather some information about the other membei-s of the North Greenland party.
In a day or two they fell in with them ; and not too soon, for all were thoroughly exhausted.
They had abandoned everything, and when the doctor arrived were without food. Four of
them, who were accommodated on the sledge, were broken down with scurvy, and two others
had been attacked slightly. What was to be done in this critical position of aftairs ? At first
it was thought advisable to remain on the spot for a while, and see if the Eskimos could shoot a
seal. But a day's experience showed that this plan would not answer ; and they then resolved
to carry the two worst invalids on the dog-sledge to Hall's Rest. This was accomplished, and
the poor fellows seemed to grow better when nourished by seal-soup and proper food ; but on
the following morning one of them sank and died. The life of the other hung for some time in
the balance. The whole company were now invalided ; and Hall's Rest might fitly have been
termed Hall's Hospital.

A few days — weary, melancholy days — having elapsed, an officer, with a couple of men,
was sent across to the ship to report the serious condition of affairs. As it was the end of June,
the ice had broken up in many places, and the traject of the strait was not accomplished without
difficulty, and frequent immersions in the water. No sooner did Captain Stephenson learn how
the party were situated, than he set out, with seven men, to carry a supply of medicines, pro
visions, and various comforts. They had with them a boat and a sledge on a four-wheeled car,
and in this they crossed the land to the margin of the sea, a distance of about six miles. Some-
times the boat was called into requisition to carry themselves and the sledge from floe to floe.
With half of the men they returned in a few days, leaving the rest in charge of Lieutenant
Beaumont and Dr. Coppinger, until they had made more progress towards recovery.

Early in August an officer arrived from the Alei-t, to report that she had moved southward,
and was only about ten miles distant ; and that Captain Nares, considering the main objects of
the expedition secured, had decided on returning to England. About the same time returned
the North Greenland party, their provisions having failed them. A few days later, and,
having made her way through the broken ice, the Alert joined the Discover>j in Discovery Bay.
Mr. Beaumont's party next arrived ; and both vessels prepared for the homeward voyage.
They left Discovery Bay, as we shall see, on the 28th of August.

Let us now return to the Alert, which we left embedded in the ice of the North Polar
Ocean.

Her crew made shift to spend a tolerably merry winter, availing themselves of the usual
resources of Arctic explorers under similar conditions. The day's order was much as follows : —
At 6.45 A.M. the commander was called, and all hands were piped up on deck ; and the ham-
mocks having been previously stowed away and the decks cleansed, everybody sat down, with
vigorous appetite, to breakfast. The steerage and lower deck were afterwards cleared up, and
scon after 9 a.m. the men were told off" for their respective daily duties. At 10 a.m. another
general parade of the crew was summoned, and, as a preventive against scurvy, the day's dose of

S94

THE "ROYAL ARCTIC THEATRE."

liinu juice wa« adiuiiiistureil. Tbon the crew went to quarters ; the usual careful inspection took
place ; and the chaplain read prayers. At one o'clock the deck was cleared, and " dinner
smoked upon the board." On days when the darkness was not too intense the crew turned out
to work upon the ice, or took their turn at walking exercise and aniusemenbS. They were thus
occupied until supper, which was served at about five o'clock ; and followed by evening school,
the duties of which proved equally agreeable to the officers who taught and the men who learned.
Soon after nine the officers in charge inspected the ship to see that all was quiet for the night.
At ten out went the lights of the chief petty officers, and at eleven tho^e of the wardroom.

This daily routine was freely interrupted on festival occasions. Guy Fawkes' Day was
celebrated as hilariously as by the men of the Discovery ; and it is a curious illustration of the
strength of old English traditions, that the merry-making customs of the Fifth of November
should be tlius closely observed by both the ice-bound vessels. Due honours were also paid to
Father Christmas ; nor was New-Year's Day forgotten. Dramatic talent existed among the
men of the Alert in sufficient force to provide a regular dramatic company. The " Royal Arctic
Theatre " was erected in Funnel Row, and entertainments given weekly. The programmes of
the " Thursday Pops," as they were commonly called, were thrown oft" at a printing-press estab-
lished in Trap Lane by Messrs. Giffard and Simmons ; and from one of these we gather that the
Royal Arctic Theatre opened for the season " under the distinguished patronage of Captain
Narjs, the membera of the Arctic Expedition, and all the nobility and gentry of the neighbour-
hood," on the I8th of November 1875. The orchestra consisted of one eminent pianist. Signer
Aldrichi (Lieutenant Aldrich) ; and the scenic artist was Dr. Moss. The performances com-
menced at 7.30; and "sledges" might be ordered at nine o'clock. They were by no means
wholly dramatic. The bill of fare included scientific and historical lectures, readings and recita-
tions, songs and in/itrumental music, ranging from grave to gay, from lively to severe ; and now
and then, to draw a bumper house, some such attraction as feats of legerdemain by " the real
Wizard of the North, on his way to the Hyperborean Regions ; " acrobatic feats by " the
Bounding Brothers of the Frigid Zone ; " or the vocal performances of the " Pale-o'-Christy
Minstrels," who " never sing in London." The plays produced were an original burlesque
(tperetta, "The Vulgar Little Boy; or. Weeping Bill" (founded on Barham's popular "Misad-
ventures at Margate"), written expressly by the ship's chaplain, the Rev. W. H. Pullen, author
of the well-known political squib, " Dame Europa's School ; " " Aladdin ; or. The Wonderful
Scamp;" "Boots at the Swan;" and "The Area Belle." The last and grand night was
March 2nd, 1 876, — when Captain Nares lectured on " The Palaeocrystic Sea, and Sledging
Experiences ; " and after a variety of songs and readings, the company and audience sang a
grand choral strain, "The Palaeocrystic Chorus," which we borrow from the pages of the
Graphic : —

" Not very long ago,

Ou the six-foot floe
Of the Palneocrystic Sea,

Two shipe did ride

'Mid the crushing of the tide,
Th"; Alfrt nud the DUcovery.

" Tlie sun never shone
Their gallant crews upon
For a hundred and forty-two days ;

A OHAND CHORUS. 3M

But no (larkueiw ami no litiinniocku
Tlicir merry hearts ooulii Hiiiiimox,
So tliey let to work ami actcil playn.

" There wan music and song

To help the hoiira along,
Brought forth from the good ship's store ;

And each man did liis beat

To amuse and cheer the rest,
And 'nobody can't do more.'

" Here's a health to Marco Po'- ■

May he reach his northerr i !

And advance the ilag of En- ,o realms uuknowii ;

May the C/iallenffer be th^.e

All coui'ses bold to dare,
And Victoria be victorioim in the Frozen Zone.

" May our I'oppie be in sight

With her colours streaming bright ;
And the BvUdog tug on merrily from strand to strand ;

And the Alexandra brave

.See our banner proudly wave,
O'er the highest cliH's and snnmiits of the northernmost land.

" Here's a health to Hercnies,

Whom the autumn blast did freeze,
And all onr gallant fellows by the frost laid low.

Just wait a little longer,

Till they get a trifle stronger,
And they'll never pull the woi-se for having lost a Uio,

" Here's a health with three times three

To the brave Diaroeeri/,
And our merry, merry guests so truly welcome hero ;

And a brimming bumper vet

To our gallant little pet,
The lively Clements Muriham with its bold charioteer.

" Here's a health to all true blue.

To the officei-s and crew.
Who man this exiredition neat and handy oh !

And may they ever prove,

Both in Sledging and in Love,
That the tars of old Britannia are the dandy oh ! "

In explanation of some passages in the foregoing spirited effusion, we may statu that the
six sledges belonging to the Alert were named respectively, Marco Polo, Victoria, Challemjer,
Foppie, Bulldog, and Alexandra. " Hercules " appears to have been the nickname of one of the
strong men of the ship.

The Alert wintered so far north, that its officers and men failed to meet with some of the
usual accessories of a Polar expedition. There were no Polar bears ; no Eskimos ; even auroral
displays were infrequent. On the other hand, the darkness is described as not having been
particularly dense. The reflection of the snow, and the keen " ight of stars," considerably
mitigated the "deep obscure;" and once in every fourteen dayt the splendour of the moon
illuminated the weird outlines of the monotonous Arctic scenery.

Some sledging was done in the autumn, though spring is the season when it can best be
undertaken. The Alert was no sooner made all snug in her winter quarters, than sledging-parties

SS6 MORE SLEDGING.

carried provisions and boats along the shore both northward and westward, ready for use by
expeditions in the following spring ; the depAt being planted within a mile of the farthest
northern position hitherto attained by civilized man. After a terrible journey of twenty days'
duration, the travellers returned on the 14th of October, just two days after the disappearance c?'
the sun. The snow fell heavily, and, by protecting the sloppy ice from the intense frost, rendered
travelling difficult. The men's shoes got thoroughly wot ; hence several were frost-bitten, and
one officer and two men, on their return, were compelled to undergo amputation. Beneath the
cliffs lay great dense, deep snow-wreaths, and in many places a road had to be excavated to the
depth of six feet. The men sunk to their waists. The sledge was often completely buried. It
needed all Lieutenant Rawson's resolution and patience to bring back his little company in safety.
The main .sledging-party, under Commander Markham, with Lieutenants Parr and May,
and twenty-five men, left the Alert on the 25th of September, for the purpose of establishing a
dep6t at Cape Joseph Henry. They advanced three miles beyond Sir Edward Parry's northern-
most point, and, from a mountain 2000 feet high, sighted land towards the west-north-west, as
far as lat. 83° 7' N., but saw none to the northward.

With the return of the sun on the 29th of February, Captain Nares began his preparations
for the spring sledging-expeditions, organizing two main detachments : one, bound northward,
under Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr, with fifteen men, supported by Dr. Moss and
Mr. White, with two seven-man sledges ; and another, bound westward, consisting of two seven-
man sledges, led by Lieutenants Aldrich and Giffard.

On the 12th of March, Lieutenant Rawson and Mr. Egerton, as already narrated, started
off to open up communication with the Discovery, but were compelled to return by the illness of
Petersen, whom they nursed on the way with womanlike tenderness and devotion. In the
following week, accompanied by Simmons, of the Alert, and Regan, of the Discovery, they
resumed their adventurous track across the hummocky ice, with the temperature 40° below zero,
enduring much, but pushing forward undauntedly. When their comrades of the Discovery
condoled with them on account of frost-bitten cheeks, and noses, and fingers, it was with the
frank, blithe heroism of the true British seaman that Lieutenant Rawson replied, — "Well, at
lesist we feel that the cheers from Southsea beach have been fairly earned."

The sledging-expeditions began in earnest in the first week of April, only a few men being
left on board each ship. Captain Stephenson, of the Discovery, paid a visit to the Alert, and
also crossed Hall's Basin twice to Greenland. Captain Nares, with Captain Feilden, was not
less energetic ; and for a considerable area round the two ships all was activity and motion.
When at Polaris Bay, Captain Stephenson, in memory of the gallant and unfortunate Hall,
hoisted the American ensign, and erected a brass tablet above the explorer's lonely grave. It
bears the following inscription : —

" Sacred to the memory of Captain C. F. Hall, of the U.S. ship Polaris, who sacrificed hic
life in the advancement of science on November 8, 1871. This tablet has been erected by the
British Polar Expedition of 1875, who, following in his footsteps, have profited by his
experience."

It may be noted here, in ilhistration of the labour attendant on the equipment of an Arctic

THE NOHTIIEliN SLEDGE-PARTY. 3liV

sledgo-paity, and tho despatch of provisioiifi tor tlieir susteiianeu, that, in order to support the
expeditions on the north coast of Greenland and in Poteriuann Fiord, " Robeson Cliannol was
crossed eleven times from the position of the Alert Ut a dep6t established north of Cape Brevoort,
and Hall's Basin eleven times between Discovery Bay and Polaris Bay ; making a total of
twenty-two sledge-parties crossing the straits, including the transporting of two boats. The main
dep6t at Cape Joseph Henry, for the support of the northern and western divisions, thirty-seven
miles from the Alei-t, was visited by sixteen different sledges."

Our travellers did not fail to examine the various cairns erected by the seamen of tlie
Polaris. At one place a box chronometer was found to be in excellent order, though it had
undergone the test of four Arctic winters. And some wheat, which the Polaris had l)rought out
in order to ascertain the effect upon it of exposure to extreme cold, was successfully cultivated
under a glass shade by Dr. Ninnis — almost as interesting an experiment in its way hh the sowing
and successful harvesting of Mummy wheat, the grains found in ancient Egyptian sepulchres.

The British expedition had advanced so far north that it was beyond the life-limit of boars,
birds, and even seals ; and the sledging-parties, unable therefore to obtain any fresii game, were
severely attacked by scurvy. This fell disease invariably broke out when its victims were
farthest from any assistance. The journeys back to the ships were consequently undertaken, as
we have already pointed out, by men whose strength decreased daily ; and the burden became
all the greater as man after man was smitten down, and, to save his life, placed upon the sledge.
Great was the alarm on board the Alert, when, towards the close of the 8th of June, Lieutenant
Parr suddenly presented himself. He was alone. Where were his comrades ? What calamity
liad befallen them ? He soon explained that he had undertaken a journey of thirty-five miles,
toiling for twenty-two hours through mist and drift and snow, and guided only by the fresh track
of a stray wolf, to convey the news of the prostrated condition of the members of the northern
expedition. Preparations were immediately made for hastening to their assistance. With the
iielp of the officers, who all volunteered to drag the sledges, Captain Nares was able by
midnight to start with two strong relief-parties — Messrs. Egerton, Conybeare, Wootton, and
White, the officers who could best be spared from the ship, taking their places at the drag-ropes ;
and Lieutenant May and Dr. Moss pushing forward with a supply of medicines in the dog-sledge.

Such was the alacrity and energy of the two latter, that they contrived to reach Commander
Markham's encampment within fifty houra of the departure of Lieutenant Parr ; though, unfor-
tunately, not in time to save the life of one of the marines, who but a few hours before had
expired and been buried in the floe. On the remainder of the stricken company, their arrival,
however, had a most beneficial influence ; and when, early the next day, Captain Nares came uj)
to their relief, their courage and resolution, which had never deserted them, were quickened to
the utmost, and even the invalids threw off that dread depression an attack of scurvy invariably
produces. On the morning of the 1 4th all were once more safe on board the ship, and offering
ap their heartfelt thanksgiving to God.

Captain Nares furnis'ies some particulars which illustrate very vividly the terrible
experiences of the adventirous sledge-])arty, and also the ravages which scurvy never fails to
commit. He says that of the seventeen officers and men who originally left the A/rrl, only five
— namely, three officers and two men— were able to drag the sledges alongside. Three others —
heroes as true as any of those whom Homer has made famous ! — manfully kept on their feet to

S38 TflK ANCIENT POLAU ICE.

tliu lust, eiiduriiip the extrcino of pain and fatigue rather than, by riding on the sludges, increase
the burden their weakened companions had tc drag. They were just able to crawl on board
ship without assistance. The remaining > ight had struggled gallantly, but the disease had
jtroved too much for them, and they were carried on the sledges. Out of the whole number,
only two officers escaped the ravages of scurvy. After due rest and medical attention, the chief
tar|)entor'8 mate returned to his duty, and three others recovered so as to be able to wait on
their sick comrades ; but Jollifte, a petty officer, who had nobly borne up against the disease
while actively (unployed, when his legs became cramped from resting on board proved to be one
of the most lingering cases.

Surely the nation will never begrudge the cost of expeditions which give such occasion for
tlie display of the most generous unselfishness and the noblest devotion 1

These sledge-journoys wore performed in the face of tremendous difficulties. Beyond the
mere coast-belt, there was little smooth ice ; the tolerably level floes or fields, usually about six
feet above the neighbouring ice, seldom measured a mile across. Their surfaces were thickly
covered with rounded blue-topped ice-humps, averaging twenty feet high ; which lay sometimes
in ranges, and sometimes a hundred to two hundred yards apart, the intervening spaces being
filled with wind-driven snow, and the whole resembling a gusty ocean suddenly stiffened into
rest.* Between these floes, like an embankment of rude formation, extended a vast pile of the
wreck and refuse of previous summers' broken-up pack-ice, regelated during the winter into one
rugged and confused mass of angular blocks of various heights up to forty and fifty feet, and
of every imaginable variety of configuration, like the disrupted lava at the mouth of a crater.
These were interspersed with a continuous series of " steep-sided snow-drifts," which stretched
downwards from the highest summit of the ice-chaos until lost in the general level at a distance
of about one hundred yards. It may be conceived that it was not easy to find a passage for the
sledges through these labyrinths of ice and snow. The snow-slopes were by no means an assist-
ance, for the winter-winds coming chiefly from the west, and the course of the sledges being due
north, they had to be encountered almost at right angles. Consequently, the journey was an
incessant struggle with ever-recurring obstacles ; as fast as one had been conquered, another
presented itself. The pickaxes were in constant requisition, eicher to cut a way through the
packed-up ice, or out of the perpendicular side of the high floes. Instead of a steady advance,
the whole party were frequently detained half a day by the necessity of facing the sledge and
hauling it forward a few feet at a time. These considerations will enable the reader to judge
how great must have been the " pluck," persistence, and energy which could accomplish a
journey of seventy miles in such exceptional circumstances.

Captain Nares observes — and his eulogium will be endorsed by the reader — that no two
officers could have accomplished this laborious entei-prise with greater ability or courage than
Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr. And it is but just that the services of Rawlings
and Lawrence, the captains of the two sledges, should be put on record. In addition to their
general cheerfulness and good-humour, — qualities which always help to lighten difficult work, —
to their care and skill were due the safe return of the sledges, on which the lives of all depended
— safe, uninjured, and in as serviceable a state as when they left the ship, notwithstanding the
terrible character of the road they had travelled. To such men as these, and to the bravo,

* " Hera lat the billowa stiffen and have tvet."— Colkkidoe.

NO ROAD TO TICK I'OLK 3:>'J

patient, rosoluto uledgocrows generally, wo owe tlio tribute of our praise. However Mevt-re
their privations, they never complained. During this memorable journey to penetrate to tlie
north over the rugged Polar Oceanic ice, a journey in which tlie "pluck" and detenniniitiou of
the British seaman were most conspicuously displayed, day after day, against obstacles which
might well have been regarded as insurmountable, the two officers and their brave followers
succeeded in advancing the Union Jack to latitude 83' 20' 26" N.,— or within four Immlred miles
of the North Polo.

In order to attain this advanced post, the present boundary-mark of geograpliicul research
in that direction, the total distance travelled was two hundred and seventy-six miles on the
outward, and two hundred and forty-five miles on the liomeward journey, though the fartiiest
direct distance from the ship did not exceed v venty-three miles. The result of labour so
colossal and sufferings so severe would seem to be, that we must consider a long journey over
the Polar pack-ice, with sledge and boat, to be impracticable at any season of the year. As the
sledges were necessarily advanced each stage singly, we are able to calculate the exact rate of
progression which may be expected, if it should be thought desirable to push forward with light
sledges, without any additional means of returning later in the season in the event of a
disruption of ice in the rear. The maximum attained by Commander Markhara was two and
three-quarter miles a day ; the mean rate being one mile and a quarter.

The outbreak of scurvy rendered Captain Nures very anxious as to the welfare of
Lieutenant Aldrich's company on their return from the westward ; and the more so, when it
was found that the cairn erected over his dep6t of provisions, thirty miles to the north-west,
remained untouched on the day appointed for his arrival there. Lieutenant May, with the dog-
sledge, and three robust men, were therefore sent to meet him. On the 20th of June the two
parties met at the depdt, and signalled the welcome fact to Captain Nares. It was fortunate
that Lieutenant Aldrich returned v hen he did, for on the following day a rapid thaw set in,
with the wind from the southwi"rd, and the snow-valleys were rendered impassable for sledges
for the rest of the season. His party, like Commander Markham's, were stricken with scurvy,
four of them lying helpless on the dog-sledge ; and Lieutenant May's arrival proved most
opportune.

Having now assembled all his company on board the Alert, Captain Nares was called upon
to decide whether it was possible to carry the work of exploration further, or whether the
expedition should return to England. Owing to the absence of any land with a northward
trend, and the innavigable character of the Polar pack-ice, he- concluded that on neither side of
Smith Sound could any ship advance further northward than the Alert had done ; and also, that
from no secure position in Smith Sound was it possible for sledges to advance nearer to the
Pole. If the expedition remained in the vicinity for another season, the exploration of the
shores of Grant Land might be pursued to the south-west, and of Greenland to the north-east,
but not more than fifty miles beyond the points already attained. In the weakened condition
of the crew, and for so small an additional gain, Captain Nares decided that it would be
unwise to risk another winter. As soon as the ice broke up, " Ho for merry England! "

A regular thaw did not set in until the last week of June. Water flowed in the ravines on

810 ' AMUNC TIIK It'K.

the Int of July. After that date tho tlmvv gradually extended, and increaMed in rapidity ; and
on till! ii3rd a Htronj^ Houth-west wind «lrovo tho pack a mile away from tho shore. On the 2Gth
a cairn was erected on the shore, and a record of tho work of the expedition deposited in it ; and
on tho Slst, a passage having been cleared through tho winter-barrier of icebergs, the Alert, with
a strong south-west wind filling her canvas, pushed out into Robeson Channel on her homeward
voyage. After a run of two miles along-shore, through a fairly open way between the pack-ice
and what Dr. Kane calls " the ice-foot," nlie was checked in her course by a heavy floe one and
a half mile in diatnoter, which almost touched the land ; and no other shelter being available, dhe
lay up in a small cove or creek, among a group of icebergs that had gone ashore in the shal . ws.

The obstruijtive floe showed signs of movement early on the morning of August Ist; and
soon afterwards wont away to the northward at tho rate of a mile and a half an hour, grinding
along the ice-foot somewhat alarmingly as it advanced towards the ship. Steam being up,
however, the Alert cast off" her moorings, and succeeded in edging between the land and the floe;
while the latter swung round in-shore with a violent jerk, close to the position which the ship
had previously occupied.

Wo may note here the dift'eronco which Captain Nares insists upon between an ordinary
floe, such as is commonly met with in Arctic waters, and the ancient Polar Sea ice. The
former seldom exceeds six feet in thickness, and breaks into fragments against an obstruction, or
may be charged by a steam-ship ; but the latter, being some eighty or one hundred feet thick,
lifts all impediments out of its course, — or, so to speak, throws them disdainfully away.
" Such was the case on this occasion : the Polar floe, which," says Captain Nares, " we only
escaped by a few yards, on nipping against the heavy breastwork of isolated floebergs lining
tho coast, some of them forty feet high and many thousand tons in weight, which had lately
formed our protection from the smaller ice-pieces, tilted them over one after another, and forced
them higher up the land-slope, like a giant at play, without receiving the slightest harm itself
— ^not a piece breaking away. It was most providential that, by its twisting round, the Alert
was enabled to escape out of the trap in which she was enclosed."

The shore here presented a formidable line of ice-cliff, from twenty to forty feet in height,
striking down into clear blue water ten to twenty fathoms deep. The Alert kept onward, so
close to the cliff" that the boats hung at her quarter frequently touched it, until again brought to
a stop near Cape Union by the accumulation of the pack. Her captain, however, was able here
to secure her abreast of a large stream, the current of which had undermined the ice-cliflf for
8' Jie fifty yards, and floated it off" to sea, leaving a kind of cove or harbour where the ship could
bo laid alongside the beach in such a manner that, if the pack struck her, it could only force her
on shore. The retuler of Arctic voyages will remember that a somewhat similar position was
once occupied by Sir Edward Parry's ship, under somewhat similar circumstances.

When the tide had turned, and began to flow southward, it broke up the ice all around
Cape Union, and formed a narrow water-way, which offered Captain Nares a chance of escape.
Steam was got up immediately, but, owing to unavoidable delay in shipping the rudder, the ice
closed in before the ship could be carried round. Her last stage was worse than her first ; for
she was now cut oft' from her safe little port, and no better shelter was available than a slight
liollow or break in the ice-cliff'. Here, however, she was brouglit-to, with the ice-blocks swirling
past her at a distance of twenty yards. At low water Captain Nares cast off) and bored some

ICl-nOOND. 331

way into tho pack, ro that tho Alert inif^ht drift round tiio iiipo with tho Houthorn tide. At
about a quarter of a milo from tho land, sho drove alonj^ witli tho ico ; an<l wliun thi- tide
Mluekoiicd, Hteainud out of tho pack before it Iw^an to sot to the nortlisvtird. Then, keeping ilnse
in to tho ico-foot, Hho kopt Hloviy on her eourno to tlie nouthward, tho wator way broaden inj,' us
she approached Lincohi Bay, which was crossed witiiout (hthculty. When within Hve miIIch of
Cape ik'uchoy, the tide turned ; but after a short dohiy a channel opened, allowing,' the slii|) to
round the cape. At this point tho ico-diff ends, and tiio land slopes K^^'O^'y to tho shoitj whidi
is p<-otected by a barrier of Hoebermrs, similar to, but smaller than, those which lino the slioro of
the Polar Sea. Here tho ship was made fast in three fathoms water, witliin twonty yards of
the shore, about a milo to tho south of tho cape.

We dwell on these y)articulars in order tiiat our readers may form some idea of tlie <litH-
culties of Arctic voyaging. The words, " She forced her way through tho ice," attbrd no concej)-
tion whatever of the obstacles that have to be overcome, and the dangers that have to be
avoided, by a ship navigating in the midst of pack-ico and ice-Hoes ; or of tho skill and vigilance
and patience on tho part of ofHcers and men, by which only can the enterprise bo brought to a
successful issue.

We are told that on August tho 4th snow-squalls blew liom tho south-wi'st As the ice
had closed in around the ship, holding it in a vice, tho sportsmen of the party landed, and visited
some neighbouring lakes in search of game. They found a number of wild geeso, and killed
fifty-seven, which supplied a welcome addition to the ordinary hill of fare. Mr. Kgerton and a
seaman were sint off to the Discovery, then about twenty miles distant, with orders for her to
prepare for th ^lomeward voyage. We have already related how they reached the ship in safety.

While the Alert was thus imprisoned, the huge pack-ice in the offing was carried up and
down the strait by the tidal movement, the wind having the eft'ect of increasing the velocity of
the current and the duration of its flow both northward and southward. The ice generally was
of a lighter character than that in the Polar Sea ; but many heavy Polar floes were driven
southward by the gale, and set into liady Franklin Sound and Archer Fiord rather than down
Kennedy Channel. Lady Franklin Sound, indeed, seems to be the receptacle of all the heavy
ice that comes south through Robeson Channel ; retaining it until tho prevailing westerly winds
carry it once more to the northward, and empty the Sound, previous to its being refilled on tlio
return of the northerly gales. It is only, says Captain Nares, in seasons when northerly winds
occur more frequently than westerly ones, that any considerable quantities of the huge Polar ico
are drifted into Smith Sound and Baffin Bay.

The gale of the 6th of August was very violeni The tide rushing southward, drove a
succession of heavy floe-pieces against the small bergs that protected the ship, and capsized one
of them completely. It was firmly aground when struck by the point of a large floe ; but such
was the force of the collision that it was reared erect in the air to its full height of at least .sixty
feet above water, when, turning a complete somersault, like a practised gymnast, it came down
on its back with a shock that shattered it into pieces, and raised a wave sufficient to roll the shij)
considerably. Into the gap thus caused moved the ice, until at last it nipped the Alert, though
not dangerously.

That same evening Lieutenant Rawson and two seamen arrived from the Discovery, with
news of the ill-fortune that had overtaken the Greenland sledge-party.

tM THi;: TWO nmva.

It soon bocnine apparent t}iat thuni wax no cliancu uf ruluasin^^ tliu ice-buund Hhip except by
cutting down tin; lu-avy tlo« that hulu hur priMoner ; anil accortlin^^ly all hantlH woro not to work.
Aftur throe days' toil, ho much of thu Hoc was hewn away that at hi^li water it tloatod and Hot
the ship free ; at the saino time the main pack moved oH', and the Alert uteaiued onward, rejoin-
m^ her consort, the Discovery, on the 1 1th of Auj^ust.

All the invalids on board the Alert woro now removed to the Discovery, and Captain Naros
remained at the entrance to the harbour, prei)arod to CiOhh to Polaris Bay, as soon as the ice
permitted, U) relieve Lioiiteiiant Beaumont As before stated, however, he arrived on the 14th,
and relieved the commander of the ex[)edition of a serious anxiety. Both vessels were now
reiwly to start, but the state of the ico detained them until the 20th, when, a " lead " offorin}^
throufi;h the pack, away they steamed, and arrived close to Cape Lawrence without encounterinjf
any serious obstacle. Here their old enemy, the ice, again opposed them ; and Captain Nares
found only the famous " three courses " of a well-known statesman open to him : either to return
nortli, to drive ahead into the pack, or make fast the ships to some of the grounded floebergs.
This Iiwt expedient was adopted, and in a. land-locked inner basin the Alert and the Duwoveri/
were accordingly secured. But, unfortunately, at the fall of high water a piece of ice pressed
ogainst t' ^lert, and at the same time its protecting Hoeberg drove ashore. Result : the Alert
was nr -ward, but with deep water under the stern. And before she could be released,

t^ /iallen fourteen feet, so that the ship lay over at an angle of 22°, with fore-foot and

.jsed as far aft as the fore-channels. Nothing could be done until the tide rose. Then
ii.. jbip was lightened, and afterwards hauled oft" without having undergone any damage.

A passage again opened on the 22nd of August, and 'he two ships steamed as far southward
as Cape CoUinson, with no other troubles than dense snow-storms, mists, and strong head-winds.
But off' the cape, the Alert having to back to escape a nip, she fouled the Discovery for a moment;
the latter escaping, however, with nothing worse than the loss of a boat's davit.

The ice gradually breaking up before a strong south-west wind, the two ships crosstd Scoresby
Bay, which was perfectly clear, but rolled with a heavy sea. As they approached Cape Frazer,
they were buffeted by a terrible gale, and put in to Maury Bay, anchoring among a quantity of
grounded ice. Three days were spent in arduous efforts to double Cape Frazer, — one of the hetes
noires of Arctic navigators, because it is the meeting-point of the flood-tides, north and south,
one from the Polar Ocean and the other from tlie Atlantic, — and Cape Hayes, the boundary-
mark of the channel. Then the voyagers, with glad hearts, passed into Smith Sound ; and
hugging the shore as closely as was safe, arrived on the 29th at Prince Imperial Island, in
Dobbin Bay, " every one heartily thankful to be out of the pack, clear of the straggling icebergs,
and for the ships to be secured to fixed ice once more."

The temperature now sunk again below freezing-point The brief Arctic summe^- was over,
and day and night the young sea-ice formed continuously. The mists that had hitherto accom-
panied the ships cleared away before a brisk northerly wind, and revealed a magnificent pano-
rama of lofty mountains, white with shrouds of snow, and deep valleys filled with colossal
glaciers. One of these stretched downwards to the shore, and threw off great icebergs which
floated or stranded in Dobbin Bay. It was named after the Empress Eugenie, who had taken a
lively personal interest in the expedition.

ARRIVAL AT DISCO. 3S3

CroHsinf^ Dohbin Bay on the let of Soptuiulxir, the voyaf^era came within a quarter of a
mile uf a depAt of proviHiunn cHtahliHhed near Capo IlawkH in the previouH autumn, and huo>
coeded in removinji^ a portion. A day or two later (Japtain Nnrex landed on Wasliin^'ton Ixlaiid,
and vimted a cairn whicii lie had raixetl tiiure on the \'2tU of Au^'U^tt IBiif). liu visited, also,
two old cairiiH erected by former explororH ; the lichenu with which they were ^ray provi-d that
they were of earlier date than Dr. HayuH* exjjudition.

On tlie 3rd of September, by dint of steaminf.^ anbiduously, the Hhips rammed tiieir vay
through a lane of water to the westward of Capo Hawks, which was inconveniently til)stnuted
by loose pieces of old ice. After roundinj^ the cape, says the captain, the piu-k l)y driftinj^ away
fron the land had left unfrozen water and iiumeroiw detached small Hoes, wliidi forced tliem to
make a very serpentine course, and occasionally to |)ass within thirty yanls of the low ice foot on
the shore, fortunately always findinj^ deep water. In this way they reached AUman Bay, half
way b'jtween Capo Hawks and Franklin Pierce Bay. Meeting hero with a bolt of new ice, the
Discovery was sent ahead ; and under full steam she forced a canal throuj^h the ice, which was
from one to three inches thick, From the lofty hills in the interior a huge glacier leads down
to Allma.'i Bay ; and it is s aoticeablo fact tiiat always in the neighbourhood of a glacier-stream
the water was found nearly frosh, and of the temperature of 32°.

On the 7th our homeward-bound ships reached Norman Lockyer Island, on the margin of
Princess Marie Bay. The season was now far advanced, and as the slightest mistake might
have led to the vessels being ice-bound for the winter, the two captains awcended to the liigiitst
point of the island to obtain some idea of the prospect before them. They were much relieved
by seeing a large area of open water some twenty miles distant, which they conjectured would
extend to the mouth of Smith Sound. No time was lost in getting under way ; and the sliip"
crossed two-thirds of the distance before they fell in with ice. By charging it under full steam,
they cleared the obstacle, and then, through an open-water channel, ran on to Cajie Sabine.

On the 9th of September they arrived ofi' Cape Isabella, where they found a small packet
of letters and newspapers which had been left at the depAc by the Pandora. The weather was
now calm, and the wind favourable. Sail was hoisted, therefore, as the supply of coal began to
run short, and on the evening of the I2th the expedition reached Bardin Bay. During the 13th
and the 7 4th they worked southward into Wolstenholm Sound; and thence, with a south-
easterly wind, crossed to Cape Byam Martin, which they reached on the 1 6th. Two days later
they entered the well-known waters of Melville Bay ; on the 25th they arrived at Disco, where,
and afterwards at Egedesminde, they obtained some small supplies of coal.

Egedesminde was left behind on the 2nd of October, and on the 4th the two ships recrossed
the Arctic Circle — exactly fifteen months from the time of crossing it on the outward voyage.
Experiencing adverse winds, they made but slow progress to the southward ; and as the weather
became warmer and damper, a few of the men suffered from rheumatism and catarrhs. During
a heavy gale on the 19th, the two ships separated; but Loth, aa we have seen, reached the
ah'^res of England in safety, where their gallant oflBcers and crews met with the hearty welcome
so thoroughly merited by their courage, perseverance, and heroic industry.

Some notes on the general results obtained by the expedition in zoology, botany, and geo-
logy, have appeared in the Academy. The two naturalists under whose care these departments

334 RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION.

were placed, — ('a|>tiiin Feilden, in the Alert, and Mr. p[ait, in the Discover/, — worked with
luiHaf^giiij^ enerf,'y and no Hmall success.

Of nianiinalH, the species found fartliest nortli wore the Arctic fox, the wolf, the ermine,
the Polar hare, the lemming, and the musk-ox,— all of which wore seen on the shores of the great
Polar Basin or I'alseocrystic Sea. No cetaceans were sighted north of Payer Harbour, near
Cape Sabine ; a fact which renders all the more serious the gradual process of extermination of
the Greenland (or right) whale in more southern latitudes. 'Che only seal found beyond Cape
Union, in lat. 82" 15' N., was the little ringed seal or " floe-rat" {Phoca hispida).

So far as the land extended, bird life prevailed ; the species being the snowy owl, the snow-
bunting, and the ptarmigan. Full collections were made of all the birds frequenting Smith
Sound ; and our naturalists had the satisfaction of discovering the long-sought-for breeding-
haunts of the knott and sanderling.*

Few species of marine fish were obtained, but "an interesting small salmonoid" was met
with in fresh-water lakes as far north as lat. 82° 35'. A fine collection of marine invertebrates
was secured by dredging and trawling ; and the character of the sea-bottom from Baffin Bay
up to hi>. 83° 19' N. Nvas accurately ascertained by a series of careful soundings.

In the department of botany our naturalists were rewarded by the discovery of between
twenty and thirty species of phanerogamic plants between the parallels of 82° and 83°. Much
richer and more varied results were obtained in the cryptogamic flora.

Geologically, the facts arrived at were of the utmost value. " The whole west coast of
Smith Sound, from Cape Isabella to Cape Union, has been fully surveyed and mapped, and
large collections have been made both of fossils and rock-specimens ; while the sledge-parties
which explored the shore of the Polar Basin, both to east and west, brought back sufficient
material to determine the geological character of the country. Silurian limestones, richly fossili-
ferous, were the prevailing rocks along Smith Sound. Miocene deposits, including a twenty-foot
seam of coal, were found as far north as lat. 81° 44'. From the shales and sandstones of this
formation a beautiful series of leaf-impressions were collected, illustrating the characteristic flora
of the epoch, and presenting a remarkable demonstration of the existence of a temperate climate
within five hundred miles of the present Pole at a comparatively recent geological time. Not
les3 important are the indications of great recent changes in the elevation of the land afforded by
the discovery of thick post-pliocene deposits, lying at a considerable elevation above the sea-
level, and containing fossils similar to the existing marine fauna. Lastly, very interesting and
suggestive observations have been made on glaciation and ice-action in general."

This, of course, is but a summary, and a very brief and condensed one, of researches which
have evidently been of the highest importance. And it might almost be said of th'i late expedi-
tion, that even had its geographical discoveries been less valuable, its scientific results would
ij ■ iiavo entitled it to a foremost place in the annals of Arctic. Enterprise.

Our record of Arctic expeditions will fitly close with a sketch of the cruise of the Pandora,
a screw-yacht commanded by Captain Allen Young, which left England in the summer of 187G,
in order to open up communications with the Admiralty expedition.

' 'I'lie scarcity of nninial life in tlie remote Xnrtii in shuwu by the ftinall quantity of game Hliot liy tlie tiiiortsmen of the expedition after reach-
ing winter qnartent :--8ix miuk-oxen, twenty hares, seventy geese, twi-nty-ftix ducks, ten ptarmigan, and three foxea.

•9

CRUISE OF THE "PANDOIJA." 335

Captain Young left Upemavik on the eveninc of tlie 19th of July, and stood away to the
northward — in bad weather, and with the wind bloiving a gale. Through vast fieldH of ice he
threaded his way, sometimes under sail, sometimes under steam, until, on the morning of the
24th, he found his ship completely surrounded, in lat. 75° 10' N.

No time was lost in endeavouring to effect an escape by charging the ice at full speed, —
again and again returning to the onset ; and a slow but steady progress was being made, when
the field in wliich they were held fast, drifting before the gale, " collic'.;d " with a group of
grounded bergs, and exposed the little vessel to such severe pressure, that preparations wore
made for abandoning her. Provisions, ammunition, camping and travelling gear, all were made
ready, and the boats were lowered as far as possible at the davits. Meantime, heavy charges of
gunpowder were used to blast the ice where it pressed the ship most severely ; and the borgs
taking a different direction, the Pandora began to recover herself, and before night settled down
nearly to her usual level. In the darkness of the night, with the wind howling, and the snow
and sleet driving in heavy showers, she moved ahead with the pack ; and in this way continued
her progress until the 27th, when the weather cleared, and Captain Young discovered that he
had advanced right into the heart of Melville Bay, with no water in sight. Full in view were
Capes Walker and Melville, the Peaked Hill, and huge glacier-streams embedded in tiie inter-
vening valleys. All around was one vast monotonous sheet of rugged ice. It was not until the
29th that the Pandora, after many hairbreadth escapes, got into open water, in lat. 75" 50' N.,
and long. 64° 55' W. While thus imprisoned in the grasp of the floe, the explorers killed only
one Polar bear, four seals, and a few little auks.

In a clear sea they now stood away to the westward, passing Capes Dudley, Digges, anil
Athol, and other headlands familiar in the records of Arctic adventure. At noon on the 31st,
when off Wolstenholm Island, another gale overtook them, increasing rapidly to almost hurri-
cane fury. This was an unpleasant experience ; for the deck was washed by heavy seas, and it
was with the greatest difficulty they avoided coming into collision with the icebergs which
drifted rapidly through the snow and spray.

Reaching Cary Island, they landed to examine Captain Nares' dep6t of ^)rovisions, and
found it in good preservation. The cairn had not been visited since Young's call at the island
on the 10th of September in the previous year. Afterwards they made for Sutherland Island,
where they found a record of the American explorer. Captain Hartstene, dated August 10,
1855. It is with a curious feeling that, in these regions of almost perpetual winter, the voyager
comes upon such faint memorials of men who, like him, have dared all the perils of icefloes and
icebergs, and adventured into seas far beyond the track of ordinary commercial enterprise.

On Littleton Island, a record of the expedition was found. The document was dated July
28, 1875, and signed by Captain Nares; and it indicated the course about to be taken by tiie
ships under his orders. Owing to the ice-encumbored condition of the straits, however, Captain
Young could not follow it up ; and instead of crossing to Cape Isabella, he resolved to examine
the coast in Hartstene Bay, in order to seek a harbour for the relief-ship which the Admiralty
had intended to send out in 1877, in case of the non-return of the Polar Expedition. This was
found on the 4th of August, not far from the Eskimo settlement of Etah, and named after tiie
Pandora. It would seem to offer every advantage as winter quarters for Arctic discovery-
ships ; the surrounding hills are " dotted with Arctic hares, appearing like snow-balls on the

mmmmmmmmmimmimmmmmmmmmmmMiiim

.m TWKLVK HUUllS KXl'KHIKNOE.

luxurious ve},'ot4itioii. " The little auk breeds in thousands on the cliffs, eider fowl and guillemots
haunt the waters, and the adjacent valleys and pastures are frequented by reindeer.

Captain Young next nir.de for Cape Isabella, which he reached on the Gth of August.
Watchful eyes soon discovered a large cairn on the summit of this headland. A boat was
lowered, and the contents of the cairn soon obtained, while despatches and letters for Captain
Nares' expedition were left in their stead. Then the Pandora steamed to the northward ; but,
owing to the adverse winds and the accumulated ice, could make no way, and was forced back
to Cape Isaljella. Another attempt was made to the eastward, and for several days the gallant
little ship crossed and recrossed the straits, through the pack, always beset with ice, and
fn^quently enshrouded in impenetrable fogs. No fewer than three times was she compelled to
take shelter in Pandora Harbour. On the 19th she was driven back to the northward of
Littleton Island, and Captain Young and some of his officers took the opportunity of visiting
tlio Polaris camp. Nothing remained of the house erected by Captain Buddington except a
few broken boards. The rocks were strewn with pieces of metal, fragments of clothing, and
other waifs and strays. The cache in which the retreating party had deposited their books and
instruments was also examined ; but the only relics were a brass bowl of a seven-inch compass,
a tin tube, and |)arts of a telescope. Some cases and casks, containing records for the use of
Captain Nares, were securely placed among the rocks on the western point of the island ; and
Captain Young then returned to Cape Isabell.o.

Finding nothing here of any interest, and convinced that no travelling or boat party had
reached that po.sition from the Polar ships, the Pandora bore away to the northward under
canvas. " It was very dark and thick," says Captain Young, " but sufficiently clear to enable
us to avoid the heavy ice. By nine a.m. we were up to Lecomte Island, when we were stopped
by a fog until eleven o'clock, when I could see from aloft that the main pack extended across
the straits intt) Kosse Bay. We were in a lake of land water, with close-packed and heavy ice
all round, from so\ith to north, and again closing on the land from the eastward. Our only
chance of moving seemed to be through a narrow lead or slack place, running first to the east-
north-east, and then again apparently towards the east coast. We entered the pack, and
succeeded by five p.m. in again escaping into the land water in Hartstene Bay." Such are the
experiences of twelve hours in the ice-clogged waters of the North ! But we need not delay
the retuler with these minute particulars, notwithstanding their interest as illustrative of the
nature of the struggle waged with so much persistency of purpose by the Arctic explorer. The
sea was now covered everywhere with ice and bergs. Storms were of frequent occurrence ; and
the wiiiil and wave beaten Pandora was forced back into Baffin Bay.

Here, on the 28th of August, her captain could see that the solid ice had filled the straits
and the head of the bay right across to Cape Alexandei". The way north being thus obstructed.
Captain Young resolved on proceeding towards Upernavik, in North Greenland, hoping to find
that the last ship had not already sailed for Denmark, and in that case to send an officer home
with despatches, while the Pandora returned to Smith Strait.

On the 29th she was oflf Hakluyt Island, and steered for Bardin Bay in Whale Sound.
On entering the bay, a summer tent could be seen, and some Eskimos, with their dogs, running
to and fro, evidently with the view of attracting the attention of the visitors. Captivin Young
accordingly landed, with some of his officers, and accompanied by Christian, his Eskimo

KSKIMO TRKASURKS. ;);I7

interpreter. The natives met them with the utmost confidence and fearlessness, assistiii'j to
haul their boat up on the shore. They were ten in number, and all members of one family.
Food appeared to be plentiful with them, but they were jtrofuse in their thanks for some walrus
flesh given by Captiiin Younj^. Their maimers wore frank and communicative, and they
showed considerable vivacity, rejoicing over the results of a very good hunting soa.son. Neither
European ships nor white men had they seen for years; but they said that an old man, who,
with his family, inhabited Northumberland Island, told of two ships wliich had passed to the
northward "last summer." How lonely must be the life led by these poor savages! Never
gladdened by the sight of a sail; but, year after year, shut up in their frozen .solitudes, and
without atiy other object or purpose before them than to obtain just enough food to avoid a
premitture and miserable death!

Among their treasures Captain Young observed a ship's bucket, half the top of a mahogany
table, the paddle of a Greenlander's kayack, much ice-worn, and a piece of packing-case marked
" Lime juice — Leith ;" all of which, they said, had drifted into the bay at different times from
the southward. These people seemed to Captain Young of a kind and simple disposition, while
they were evidently robust and healthy. All that they had — and it was little enough — they
freely pressed upon their visitor; and when asked what present they would like, their chief
selected only some gimlets and a fifteen-foot ash oar. The latter, he said, would split up into
spear-shafts; the former he wanted for boring bone and ivory. Captain Young, however, gave
them several other useful articles; accepting in return some narwhal horns, specimens of their
pot-stone cooking-kettles, and of the iron pyrites which they used for striking fire. An exchange
of dogs also took place ; five of the dogs belonging to the Pandora being given for three of the
finest bear-hunting and tame dogs of the Eskimos.

At Upernavik, the Pandora, after a stormy and dangerous passage, arrived on the evening
of September the 7th, but found that the last ship had sailed for Europe. As there were no
means, therefore, of communicating with England, and as, without such communication, Capti\in
Young did not feel authorized to winter in the North, a supply of fresh water was taken on
board, and the ship steered for home. From the 15th to the 21st she tarried at Goodhav'n, in
Disco Island. In Davis Strait she encountered large quantities of heavy Spitzbergen drift-ice,
and weathered a severe south-ea.sterly gale. On the Kith of October, in lat. 54° 38' N., and
long, ii" 30' W., she sighted the Arctic ships. Alert and Discovery, and hastened to communi-
cate with them. They kept together until the 19th. On the following day, the Pandora
was buffeted by another hurricane; but the rest of her voyage was accomplished in safety, and
was marked by no incidents of importance.

Here, for the present, terminates the record of 13ritish enterprise and adventure in the
Arctic World. It is difficult to believe, however, that the nation will rest until the " heart of
the mystery has b<3en plucked out," the Secret finally mastered, and the British flag hoisted on
that remote point which is conventionally known as the Noeth Pole.

uHiitW

INDEX.

■

AqABVIUR IIUII0ARID8, 139.

Ai(iii«Hi7., ('x|H-rinionU of, 110.

Alt'i'toriii jiihatn, V\7.

Ak'txfh jjlacier, ♦be, ik'Hi'rilHMl, 47.

All,'"], "r MfcluHftH }Uiu\, :».

/Vrutic Ilitjlilandcni, 12.

Arctic night, llic, chnrncteriatics of, 32-34, 93-

'.)3.
Arctic region, extent of, 13, 14.
Atmonpheric plienoniena, 31.
Aiik, the, descrilicil, 97, «8.
Aunira liiircaliM, the, phcnonicnii of, 27 ; tlieory

of, '!!l.

BaI'I'IN, (liHcoveries of, 227.

HarentM, mlventnrcH of, 2fi0-269.

IlarreiiH, the, re^nn of, de8cribc<l, 10.

lU'iir, INplnr, natural history of the, 8.')-!)3 ;
hunting nealu, H(i ; voracity of, 88 ; affec-
tion for itH young, 88, 89.

Heechey, C*aptivin, (pioted, 4.^, 46, 65.

Jiell, iiuotod, 78.

liellot. Lieutenant, ijuoted, 123.

liennet, Stei)hcn, voyage of, 228.

Ilerkeley, quoted, 140.

lUrdrt, niigratiouH of, 11.

IJoiites, constellation of, 40.

I'reiner, Freilcrili i, ({noted, l.'tS.

BrewHterV, Sir David, ex]>eriment with ixdar-
ined light, 111.

Knddington, (*aptain, adventurvs of, 308-311.

Hurrough, Stephen, voyage of, 222, 223.

Button, C*aptain, voyage of, 227.

Bylot, Kobcrt, voyage of, 227.

(.'AnitsKN, ( 'aptain, voyage of, 270.
Cla^lcmia riingiferina, 137.
Clarke, Dr., quote. 1, 20,S.
Clavering, Captain, referretl to, 12.
Cochlearia, or scurvy-grasH, uses of, 139.
Coleridge, quoted, 09.
Contttellations, northern, list of, 37.
(\K)ley, Mr., quoted, 230.
Corvidffi, the, natural history of, 100.
(.Vyj>toganiim8 plants of the north, 141, 142.
Crystallization, process of, 108.
Cygnus musicuii, 161.

U'Aliikiua, Count, quoted, 205, 206.
Davis, Captain John, voyages of, 224, 225w

Dolphins, the, natural history of, 82, 83.
Ik/rttthta^ the, narrow escafio of, 55.
DulTerin, liOrd, quoted, 106, 107, 172.

ElUEIl DDCKB, the, natural history of, 103 ; in

Iceland, 104.
Kskinio dog, the, description of, 190.
Eskimo, the, hunting the walrus, 68, 69 ; hut

of, 76.
Kskimo kayak descriljed, 182.
Kskiino scaMiunt, an, described, 77, 78.
Eskimo sledge, the, de))cril>ed, 192-196.
Eskimos, the, iMundaries of, 175 ; character,

manners, customs, and clothing, 170-196.

Faix;on, the, natural history of, lliO.

Faraday, ingenious experiment of, 111.

Felinska, Madame, quoted, 211.

Fish in the Arctic seas, 106.

Flora of the Arctic lands, 19.

Fox, Luke, voyage of, 228.

Fox, the Arctic, natural history of, 161-153.

FoX'trap, a, described, 152.

Franklin, Sir *T., overland journey of, 231 ; last

expedition of, 231 ; relics of, discovered,

233, 235, 236.
Fritallaria sarrana, the, properties of, 142, 143.
Frobisher, Sir Martin, voyage of, 223.
Frobisher Strait discovered, 22^t.

nALE, an Arctic, described, 70.

G&rds of Lapland, described, 207.

Otrmania, the, expedition of, 245-20.5.

Geysere, the, phenomena of, 16.5-167.

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, death of, 224.

Glacier-ice, |>eculiarities of, 112.

Glacier in Smith Strait, 124, 127 ; of Sermiat-
sialik, 128, 129.

Glaciers, characteristics of, 47 ; motion of, 113-
115 ; phenomena connected with, 115-118 ;
of the Arctic regions, 118-133; of Spits-
bergen, 120, 123.

Godhav'n, 107.

Grampus, the, natural history of, 83, 84.

Greenland, scenery on the coast of, 22.

Guillemot, the, described, 96, 97.

Gull, the, describe<l, IKt.

Hail, Captain, expedition and death of, 271,
272.

Uatua, the, voyage and loss of, 245-251.

Ifans the HunU'r, 180-189, 284.

Hare, the Arctic, 154.

Hartwig, Dr., quoted, 15.

Hayes, Dr., quoted, 23, ,T6, 43, 49, 50, 59, 87,

95, 96, 124, 12.5, 127, 128, 138, 152, 163,

186, 191, 192, 244 ; Arctic exiHidition of,

244, 24.5.
Heame, quoted, 183.
Uetia, the, and the Furji, danger of, 56.
Hegemann, Captain, 245.
Hekla, eruption of, 104.
Henderson, Dr., quotcil, 172.
Hill, Mr., quote<l, 213, 214.
Holison, Lieutenant, discovers Franklin relics,

234-236.
Holland, Mr., quoted, 173.
Hore, Mr., voyage of, 222.
Hudson, Henry, discoveries of, 225-228.
Humlwldt Glacier, description of, 131-134, 238.
Hutchinson, Captain, quoted, 205.

Icebergs, their dimensions, 41 ; their magnifi-
cent appearance, 42, 43 ; danger to naviga-
tion from, 44, 123; breaking up of, 49;
range of, 60, 51 ; in Baffin Bay, 124.

Ice-fields, extent and character of, 54, 56, 57.

Ice-Howers, characteristics of, 108.

Iceland, dimensions of, 162 ; history of, 162 ;
volcanoes of, 163; dreary landscajies of,
164 ; geysers of, 166, 167 ; houses and
churches of, 170 ; travelling in, 172; horse*
of, 173.

Iceland moss, uses of, 138, 139.

Jacobshav'h, 168.

Jakut merchants, the, enterprise of, 217.

Jakuts, the, as bear-hunters, 212; manners and

customs of, 216, 217.
James, Captain Thomas, voyage of, 228.
Joe the Eskimo, with Captain Tyson, 278,

a tqq.

Kahtschatka, fisheries of, 212; the dog of,

214, 215.
Kamtschatkans, the, characteristics of, 213, 214.
Kane, Dr., quoted, 16, 32, 33, 34, 42, 68, 73, 74,

88, 91, 92, 131-134, 149, 153, 184, 186, 237,

239, 242, 243 ; Arctic explorations of, 237-

244.

INDKX.

3;i9

Knota, the, habits of, 11, 12.
Koldewuy, Captain, refurreil to, 12 ; voyage of,
245.

Lauofub, tlie, 161.

Lamont, Mr., iiuotix), 00, 62,

Lapland, diviaionH and extent of, 197 ; clinmto

of, 197 ; inhaliitanta of, 197 ; the relndeiT

tn, 200 ; Hled|,'iiiK in, 201 ; an interior in,

20), 20,").
Lapp dialect, the, 206.
Lapp huntont, the, boldness nf, 202.
Lapiie, the, dress, manners, and custonis of,

198.
Lapiw, the Monntain, (^Itarneter of, 199, 2(M>.
Lapps of West Bothnia, 206, 207.
I.ttube, Dr., qnoted, 2.52.
fiemmlng, the Arctic, IM.

iMACMii.t.AN, Dr., quoted, 1.15, 130, 137, HI.
Markhani, C, quotcil, 10, 175, 225, 226, 273.
Marten, the, 155.

Martins, M. Charles, quoted, 119. 120, 121.
M'f Ilintock, Captain Sir Uodericlc, (pioted, 148,

161, 181, 265 ; voyage of, 231.
M'Cluru, Sir Ilobert, qiioto<l, 81 ; discovers

North-west PaasaKc, Za.
Mechani, ('aptain, quoted, 146, 150.
Mcr de Olate of Cireonland, 127, 128.
Mer^janser, the natural history of, 99.
Milton, Lord, aud Dr. Clieudle, ipioted, 158-

160.
Moonliijbt iu tlie I'olar World, 26,
Moraines, deHeriI)cd, 115.
Moravian mission-stations in Urcenland, 179.
Mosses in the Arctic re^ona, 139.
Musk-ox, the, natural liistory of, 149, 1.50.
Miistclidie family, the, in the .\rctio regions,

155.

Nareh, Captain, expedition of, 314, el si/ii.
Nanvlial, the, natural history of, 82.
Newfoundland colonized, 224.
North- West Viissage, utility of, 9.
Novaia /emhvia, temperature of, 21.

Ohdohn, Admiral Shcrard, quoted, 44, 81, S4,

85, 87, 146, 151, 2.32, 2:!6, 237.
Ostiaks, the, manners and customs of, 211, 212,
Ostrownoje, trade at, 220.
Oxyria, the, uses of, 141.

Pack-IOI, deaciiption of, 53.

Parry, Captain, ipioted, 44, 46, 86, ■£VI j voy-

ages of, 228, 229, 230.
Payer, ' 'vutenant, voyage of, 270, 271.
Penny, Captain, voyage of, 232 -234.
^'ha^nogamouH plants of the north, 141.
Phocida), the.— See Skal.
Plant-life of Spitztiergtn, 142; of KamtschaS

ka, 142, 14:i.
PlcIaiU, the, 39.

Polarit, the, voyage of, 271-313.
Polecat, the, in the Arctic regions, Ififl, 157.
Pole-Star, the, i>osition of, 36.
Poole, Jonas, voyage of, 228.
Putlin, the, natural history of, 99.

QuKNKa, or Finns, the, 20IS.

Rak, Dr., finds relics of Franklin, 23.3.
lied snow, phenomenon of, explained, i;r>.
liefraction, phenomena of, 31.
ll«gelation, wliat it is. 111.
Reikiavik, description of, 168, 169.
Reindeer, the, natural history of, 144 ; useful

nessof, 145 j food of, 146 ; ami wolves, 147 ;

in Silieria, 218, 219.
Reindeer mosH, 137.
Rendu, Bishop, quoted, 114.
Richardson, Sir J., quoted, 14i>.
Itock-hair, 137.
Rorqual, the, 80.
Ross, Sir James, quoted, Iiri
Rosa, Sir John, voyages of, 228, 231.

Sabink, Sir Kdward, quoted, 10.

Sable, the, natural history of, 1.56.

Samojedes, the, superstitions of, 20S, '2(19 ; man-
ners and customs of, 210, 211.

Schaltan, an Ostiak idol, 211.

Scoresby, Dr., quoteil, 44, 106, 186.

Seal, the, natural history of, 71-73; Hesh of,
73, 74 ; different genera of, 75.

Serraiatsialik, glacier of, 127, 128.

Shepherd, Mr., quote<l, 101.

Skaptii Jokid, eruption of, 165.

Smew, the, natur.tl hiatory of, 100,

Smith Sound, route by, 228.

Snow, formation of, 108.

Snow-cryatala, described, \ifX

Snow-line, lindt of, 20.

Somerville, Mrs., quoted, :i0, 107.

Souther, quoted, 136.
Sporiilesmtum lepraria, 140.
Spring iu the Arctic regioiu, 34.
Starakis, the, deacrilied, 98.
Stephenson, Captain, of the iJuciiiiij/, 314.
Sununer in the Arctic rcgi<ms, 30.
Swan, the wild, natural history of, lOS ; the
whistling, 161.

Tadebthioh, or Samojede (lemons, 209.

Tadibe, the Samojede priest, 209.

Tchuktche, the, manneni and customs of, 220.

Temperature of Arctic winter, Xi,

Tennyson, (pioted, 10.5.

Thingvalla, the, iu Irelauil, 168.

Thome, Dr. RoWrt, Anglic exploration pro-

jiosed by, 222.
Tripe do rwhe, 137, 138.
Tundras, the stony, deacribcd, 15, 16.
Timguai, the, cluiracteriatics of, 219, 220.
TyndiUl, Professor, quoted, 47, 43, 108. IIRI

111, 112, 113, 11.5, 117, lis.
Tyson, Captain, narrativts of, 278-308.

Unknowm Region, extent of, 10.
Upernavik, described, 176.
Ursa Major, constellation of, 3<i; description
of, 37, 38.

WAKiA'ra, island of, 208.

Walrus, the, natural bislory of, 63 ; courage
of, 64 ; gradual decay of, 67.

Walnis-hunt, a. described, IW, 69.

Walrus-hunting, how carried on, 60; proceeds
of, 62.

Ware, cpiotwl, 37, 38.

Whale, the, natural hiatory of, 78 ; character-
istics of the (ireenlaud, 79, 80; the Razor-
backed, 80.

Whalebone, what it is, described, 79.

Whale-fishery of the Kskinios, 81.

Whirlwinds of the north, 31.

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, loss <,f, 222.

Wolf, the Arctic, natural history of, 1 18.

Wolverine, the, cunning of, 1.57 ; ani.ii.itcs of,
168-160.

Wooded zone of the Arctic regions, 143.

Wrangel, Admiral von, (luoted, 20, 81, 218, 221.

Yakutsk, temiwrature of, 2t'i.

Young, Captain, cnusc of, in the I'nndura, 'Xi\.

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