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From a painting by Albert Operti

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

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ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE ARCTIC CLUB

The White World

LIFE AND ADVENTURES WITHIN
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE PORTRAYED
BY FAMOUS LIVING EXPLORERS

Collected and Arranged for The Arctic Club
By RUDOLF KERSTING

NEW YORK

LEWIS, SCRIBNER & CO.

1902

Copyright, 1902, by

LEWIS. SCRIBNER & CO.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Zit £oxt> Qgaffttnore (preee

The Friedenwald Company
baltimore, md., u. s. a.

TO THE

MEMBERS OF THE ARCTIC CLUB

NOW IN THE FIELD

PREFACE

There have been many books written on the subject of
Arctic Exploration, chiefly historical works. But, in many
respects, we believe " The White World " will be found
by its readers to be something unique in Polar literature.
Twenty-two famous living explorers have given their per-
sonal experiences, and have described what interested
them most in the Far North, that great region of silence
and mystery. The articles are, so to speak, human docu-
ments, in which are embodied all the pathos, all the humor,
all the tragedy of the expeditions, which, with extra-
ordinary courage and amidst unparalleled sufferings, have
attempted to reach the North Pole. It is the universal
testimony of all who have been there, that the great glitter-
ing waste of ice and snow possesses a peculiar and inde-
scribable fascination. In the belief that the same fascina-
tion may exist for the reader of these experiences, as well
as the real actor in them, this book has been compiled and
is confidently offered to the public with a full belief in its
value and its entertaining qualities.

Acknowledgment is made to Albert Operti for the use of
original paintings and drawings, to A. P. Rogers and G.
W. Picknell for drawings, and to Hon. J. D. Dewell,
Prof. L. C. Stone, Rev. C. B. Carpenter, C. F. Wyckoff,
and F. B. Wright for photographs furnished.

CONTENTS

PAGE

AN ARCTIC RESCUE n

Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, U. S. N.

AFTER FIFTY YEARS 35

Amos Bonsall

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY . . -. .51

Major David L. Brainard, U. S. A.

POLAR HOSPITALS 79

Henry Biederbick

AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT ., 99

Francis Long

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO 109

Middleton Smith

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC EXPLORER . 131

Dr. Frederick A. Cook

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP 145

Hugh J. Lee

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON 161

Florence Leonard Lee

A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH 175

Walter Wellman

THREE FAREWELLS TO PEARY 189

Herbert L. Bridgman

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND . . 199
Prof. G. Frederick Wright

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS 219

Prof. William H. Brewer

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH . . . .231
Rudolf Kersting

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES . , . . .241
Dr. Tarleton H. Bean

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA 267

Henry Collins Walsh

AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE . . . .293

Albert Operti
ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 305

Andrew J. Stone
THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON 323

John B. Burnham
ESKIMO MUSIC . 333

Dr. Robert Stein

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING 357

Capt. Bradley S. Osbon

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION . . .369
Albert White Vorse

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PACE

Lost on the Ice-Cap Frontispiece

The Lookout 13

Portrait of Rear Admiral Schley, U. S. N. . . . 15

Rescue of Lieutenant Greely 25

Cape Sabine 29

Portrait of Amos Bonsall 38

Ice Locked 42

Doctor Kane and Party 47

Portrait of Major Brainard, U. S. A 54

Fort Conger 55

Farthest North 60

Sledging to Lockwood Island 67

Portrait of Henry Biederbick 82

Eskimo Summer Home 87

The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition 91

Portrait of Francis Long 102

Sea Lions 103

Portrait of Middleton Smith 112

Children of the White World 119

Off the Alaskan Coast 122

Portrait of Doctor F. A. Cook 134

An Eskimo Belle 138

Eskimo Posing Before the Camera 143

Portrait of Hugh J. Lee 148

Northward Bound ......... 149

Eskimo Attendants 152

An Ice Arch 157

Portrait of Florence L. Lee 162

Where the Honeymoon was Spent 165

Comforts in the Arctic 168

A Reverie 173

Portrait of Walter Wellman 178

The Midnight Sun 179

Portrait of H. L. Bridgman 192

Curiosity 193

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Portrait of Professor G. Frederick Wright . . 202

A Reminder of Home 206

Camp at Ikamiut 209

Sukkertoppen 211

A Family Group 215

Ancient Harbor of Lievely 218

Portrait of Professor W. H. Brewer 222

Portrait of Rudolf Kersting 234

Sea Birds 236

Crossing a Crevice 237

A Slip 238

Getting Breakfast 239

Portrait of Dr. Tarleton H. Bean 244

Oomiak, or Woman's Boat 250

Eskimo Chewing Skins 257

Portrait of Henry Collins Walsh 270

Juvenile Greenlanders 271

The Miranda Ramming the Iceberg 279

Eskimo at Play 285

Abandoning the Miranda 289

Portrait of Albert Operti 296

Making a Cast Under Difficulties 299

First Eskimo Bust 300

Highlanders 303

Portrait of Andrew J. Stone 308

In the Frozen North 317

On the Ice Trail 325

"The Love of Adventure" 327

"The Long Line of Men" 333

Portrait of Doctor Robert Stein 336

Portrait of Captain B. S. Osbon 360

"There She Blows" 364

Boating Amid Ice Floes 367

Portrait of Albert White Vorsk 372

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

REAR-ADMIRAL
WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY, U.S.N.

Winfield Scott Schley, Rear-Admiral U. S. N.,
was born near Frederick, Maryland, 1839; grad-
uated Annapolis, i860. In 1884 he was put in
command of the Relief Expedition to find and
rescue Lieutenant Greely and his party of over
a score of men, who had been for three years
in the Polar sea. At Cape Sabine Admiral
Schley found Greely and six survivors of the
party. For this rescue he was awarded a gold
watch and thanks of the legislature of his na-
tive state, and a gold medal from the Humane
Society of Massachusetts.

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

By Rear Admiral WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY, U. S. N.

HE FASCINATION of the Arctic regions, that
great white world, with its dazzling glitter of
ice and snow, is indescribable and well-nigh in-
explicable. And yet that this fascination exists
to an extraordinary degree is indisputable. No
one who has ever been there, either as an ex-
plorer or a rescuer, but has longed, with all the
keen desire of a lover to see his absent sweet-
heart, to return once more.
Many have returned, in fact the great majority, and those
who have been, from force of circumstances, unable to do
so, have constantly regretted this inability. All hardships,
all privations, are forgotten. Only the pleasurable incidents

i3

THE WHITE WORLD

are remembered. And one longs once again to experience
the thrill of expectation, the hope for and innate conviction
of, success, which has beaten high in the heart of every
Arctic explorer.

Is it the quest of the hitherto unattainable which possesses
this potent attraction, this more than ordinary magnetic
quality? It is possible. We all of us have known in our
lives the keen longing for that which was just beyond our
reach. There are few greater truths taught than that which
is presented to us by the fable of Tantalus.

If the first Polar explorer had successfully accomplished
his purpose and discovered the North Pole, would there
have been any further expeditions? This, in my opinion,
is more than doubtful. What reason would there be to
visit it again? There are no commercial, no social possi-
bilities in that great frozen North, nor, from its climatic
conditions, can there ever be.

And this brings us the ever-persistent question, which
demands an answer in regard to so many of the endeavors
and enterprises of humanity — Cui bono? What is the use of
it all? I have no desire to appear pessimistic, nor would I
dare, without supreme egotism, to answer the questions I
am putting. But these thoughts appeal to me strongly, as
they have to many others. Has all the suffering undergone,
all the loss of life involved, all the expenditure of money
made, been worth the while? Would the knowledge of the
exact position of the North Pole be a boon to humanity?
What real and vital difference does it make whether Green-
land is an island or not?

Even if these questions were answered authoritatively in
the negative, that wouldnot detract, from the splendid aims,
the marvellous endurance and the glorious heroism which
have ever been displayed in an eminent degree by Arctic
explorers. Failures, or comparative failures, seem to have
little or no effect, but only to stimulate to new efforts. In
spite of all, the search for the North Pole still goes on, and
probably will go on indefinitely. Peary, for instance, an
indefatigable explorer, has made expedition after expedi-
tion. Among his other achievements are the following:

First — The rounding of the northern limit of the Green-

REAR ADMIRAL WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY, U.S.N.

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

land archipelago, the most northerly known land in the
world, probably the most northerly land.

Second — The highest latitude yet obtained in the West-
ern hemisphere (83 degrees, 50 north).

Third — The determination of the origin of the so-called
Paleocrystic ice (floe berg).

Lieutenant Peary has declared: "I am after the Pole,
because it is the Pole; because it has a value as a test of
intelligence, persistence, endurance, determined will, and
perhaps courage, qualities characteristic of the highest type
of manhood; because I am confident that it can be reached,
and because I regard it as a great prize which it is peculiarly
fit and appropriate that an American should win."

Mr. Evelyn Baldwin, at the head of undoubtedly the most
superbly equipped expedition that ever started for the
North Pole, has said, echoing, in a manner, the words of
Peary :

" I do not want to see any but an American win the
honor of the discovery of the North Pole, when so many
of our brave countrymen have sacrificed their lives in the
effort to attain it. I think America is great enough and
progressive enough to have that distinction."

These two quotations are made particularly to emphasize
my previous statement as to the enthusiasm of Arctic ex-
plorers, an enthusiasm which knows no bounds. The mag-
nificent equipment of the more modern expeditions would
have seemed little short of miraculous in the days of
Greely. But science has advanced in all directions with
gigantic strides in the last decade or two, and has made
possible what seemed impossible when Greely set out on
his ill-fated expedition. Then, too, experience, dearly
bought as it has been, has taught a great deal. What to
take to the North, and, what is even more important, what
not to take, has been learned, and utilized.

And now to revert to the real object of this article, my
personal experience in the rescue of Greely.

It is now some eighteen years since I was appointed
commander of the fleet sent to the Far North to attempt to
find the survivors of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, or
as it was better known to the general public, the Greely

17

THE WHITE WORLD

Expedition — if, indeed, there were any survivors, which
at that time was a matter of the gravest doubt.

And yet, after all this long space of time, when I remem-
ber those days, and am called upon to p t my experience
into words, the memory of it all sets my pulses throbbing
again, and my heart swells once more, as it did then, at the
sense of responsibility imposed upon me and my associates.
Who, save those daring and valiant spirits that were my
companions on that memorable expedition, can understand,
or even faintly appreciate, the hopes and fears, the alternate
fits of elation and depression (the latter bravely encountered
and overcome) which it was our lot to meet with?

To go back to those days, which were of vast import to
all intimately concerned, no words can depict the excite-
ment throughout the country at the time, on the subject of
a new rescue expedition, and the anxiety prevalent as to the
fate of Greely and his companions. Nevertheless, there
were many who felt that to attempt a further rescue would
be a useless expenditure of life and money, and would
result in the verdict of " a lost cause."

It will be remembered that the Greely Expedition, to give
it its popular title, set out for the North in the summer of
1881. The work of the expedition was to be threefold:
First, exploration; second, the collection of specimens; and
third, the observations called for by the International Polar
Conference, held a short time before. The members of the
expedition comprised twenty-five persons, including two
Eskimos with Lieutenant Greely in command.

The instructions given were that a stay of two years was
to be made at Lady Franklin Bay, and it was promised that
a vessel should be sent to the station both in 1882 and 1883.
These vessels, it was stated, were to bring " supplies for and
such additions to the present party as are deemed needful."
If these vessels failed to reach Greely, caches were to be
established at designated points. Greely's party embarked
at St. John's on the Proteus in July, and left for Lady
Franklin Bay.

This was the beginning of an extremely exciting story,
full of the most dangerous undertakings, successful achieve-
ments and unparalleled sufferings. It was destined to
arouse the most intense interest and sympathy all over the

18

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

world, culminating only in the rescue and bringing back of
the few survivors.

In the beginning, the enterprise was wonderfully success-
ful. The Proteus reached the offing of Lady Franklin Bay
without a check of any sort, and after disembarking the
members of the expedition in August, she returned to St.
John's. This first success, however, led to very false im-
pressions. It was thought, and perhaps not unnaturally,
that the station could be reached easily and without danger.
The element of extraordinary good luck was not taken into
account, and it was forgotten that previous voyages had
been accomplished only with great risk and after encounter-
ing untold difficulties.

Two expeditions, as had been promised, had been sent
out for the relief of Greely, one in 1882 and one in 1883.
But neither, beyond the storing of provisions and clothing,
had met with any remarkable success. In fact, the latter of
the two was disastrous; the chief ship, the Proteus, which
originally carried the exploring party to the North, being
caught and sunk in an ice floe. The whole country, in
consequence, was in a ferment, and indeed the interest
excited throughout the world was phenomenal. Something
further must be done for Greely and his companions, and
that without delay. This was the general consensus of
opinion.

But, after a careful examination of expert testimony, the
Secretaries of the Army and Navy decided that it would be
folly to send out another expedition at that time of year.
In fact, it would have been worse than folly. It would
have been disastrous in the extreme, and those engaged in
the relief would undoubtedly have found themselves in as
bad straits as Greely. Preparations, however, went for-
ward with all due despatch to put affairs into operation the
following spring.

About the middle of February I was appointed com-
mander of the expedition. The appointment was made
thus early, as it was the purpose of the Navy Department
to connect one man with the enterprise, and to give him
ample time and opportunity to perfect his plans. There
was to be no possibility of casting responsibility upon the
Bureaus, because they forgot this or that detail. It was

19

THE WHITE WORLD

to be one man's business to call for everything that was
needed, and to see that he got it.

The Thetis and the Bear were purchased at Dundee
for the expedition. The English Government had gener-
ously offered the Alert to the Government of the United
States, an offer which was gladly and thankfully accepted.

I remember vividly the extreme care with which the
officers and men were selected. Every applicant was ex-
amined by a medical board, under instructions from the
Surgeon General, prescribing a standard of physique neces-
sary to withstand the exposures and hardships of the Arc-
tic. Many were rejected.

Especial attention was paid to the victualling of the ships,
this being a matter of the most vital importance. A fre-
quent change of diet, as had been found from previous
Arctic experiences, was essential. Tea and chocolate were
the chief stimulants. It is an odd fact, and one of consider-
able interest, that in the Arctic regions, the use of coffee
has injurious effects on many constitutions. Tea seems to
be the best stimulant. But there are times, particularly
after severe exposure, when the internal warmth can be
communicated only by the use of hot spirits.

The most careful inspection was also given to the cloth-
ing, which was made at the New York Navy Yard, the
officers and the men being fitted as they joined. Care had
been taken to see that on board each vessel, there should
be at least one officer who had had more or less Arctic
experience.

Our equipment was the best that pains or money could
obtain at that time. But, naturally, it was not comparable
with that of the later Peary and Wellman expeditions, and
especially with that of the superb Baldwin-Ziegler Expe-
dition. These were provided .with all sorts of aids and
facilities which were not dreamed of in our day.

To return to our own expedition. The fitting out was
by no means the only thing done to facilitate the objects
in view. The Navy Department had the most cordial
support and interest of the Secretary of War, and the two
Secretaries had many consultations on the various points
relating to the expedition. It was thought wise to take
subsidiary measures which might result beneficially. Re-

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

quests were made that the owners of sealing and whaling
vessels should instruct their captains to be on the lookout
for signs of Greely's party, as there was a bare possibility
that they might have drifted on an ice-floe to the southward.
Assurances were given that any service rendered would
be substantially recognized by the Government.

Later, Congress went even further than this, and directed
the Secretary of Navy to offer a reward of $25,000 for the
rescue of Greely or the discovery of his fate. His fate!
What was it to be? And what was his present condition,
and that of his comrades? Of course, all ideas in this
regard were purely problematical. And yet what eager
discussions, fraught with the most intense interest, took
place between myself and my colleagues at the time!

It must be remembered in this connection that little
encouragement was to be obtained from either the news-
papers or the public in general. The failures were too
fresh in people's minds to permit much hope of the new
expedition. And yet it was generally realized and ac-
knowledged that the Government was bound in duty to
continue in the endeavor to relieve Greely, while at the
same time it was feared, and these fears were freely ex-
pressed, that the expedition would be fruitless, and pos-
sibly, if not probably, would have a fatal termination.

This prevalent feeling, however, did not have any ma-
terial effect upon the officers of the expedition. In all our
discussions we were never willing to admit the possibility
that a general disaster had taken place, and all had perished.
We had no apprehension that catastrophe would come to
the new relief expedition itself, for we knew too well the
vast precautions which had been taken to prevent such an
occurrence. But we did not believe that we were to glide
on to success, without encountering many hardships and
obstacles.

Few of us knew much about ice navigation, save what
we had read of it, but we realized that this was a serious
undertaking to which everybody concerned must devote his
best efforts. It is a duty as well as a pleasure to chronicle
that each person connected with the expedition, whether
officer or man, felt that the object of this voyage was
something far and beyond the ordinary; and an earnestness

THE WHITE WORLD

of purpose was inspired which could not have been called
forth by any expedition which had simply exploring for
its purpose. All were determined to spare no pains, to
incur any exposure, to assume any required task, and to
be unremitting in watching for and seizing upon oppor-
tunities to advance, be it much or little, on the journey
toward Greely and his party.

Everything was now in readiness. The Bear set out
from New York the 24th of April, the Thetis the 1st of
May, and the Alert the 15th of May. On all sides were
given hearty expressions of the best wishes. The Secre-
tary of the Navy voiced the sentiments of the whole coun-
try when he telegraphed:

" I wish you and all your comrades good health, good
courage, and good luck. Goodbye."

At last the expedition was started in earnest.

Shall we be too late or shall we be in time? This was
the burning question of the hour, a question which only
Divine Providence could answer.

It is unnecessary here to describe in detail our journey
to the North. But there are some statements and incidents
that may prove interesting.

As has been said, there were but few of us who knew
much about Arctic navigation. But we had been warned
against placing too much reliance on the subject of experi-
ence, as applied to Arctic affairs. It is a fact that, in the
whole history of Arctic expeditions, renewed voyages under
the same commander have led to failures rather than to suc-
cesses. This was notably the case in the many expeditions
of Franklin, Parry, Barentz, Hudson, Hall, Kane, McClure,
and Back. Their failure to attain their aims was probably
due in some measure to a too rigid following of what they
had learned from experience, and had therefore laid down
as rules. I am quite well aware that this is a refutation
of the old and generally true maxim, " Experientia docet,"
but I am also convinced that what I have stated is correct,
so far as voyages in the Polar regions are concerned.

Another thing may be more or less surprising. In many
instances, we found our charts to be of little or no help. In
fact, on more than one occasion, our ships steamed over
places which on the chart were marked as land.

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

The greatest care was taken of the provisions. A supply
for sixty days, consisting of pemmican, beef, pork, tea,
sugar, hard biscuit, salt and pepper, as well as alcohol,
stoves, pots, pans, and two boxes of ammunition for the
fowling pieces and rifles, all carefully marked, were
stowed on deck beside the boats for which they were in-
tended. All this was regularly inspected every day to be
sure, that, if needed, nothing should be found to be spoiled.
In this connection, it should be said that it was recognized
from the beginning that, if Lieutenant Greely and his party
were ever found, they would probably be in a destitute con-
dition. Therefore, rations were carefully preserved ex-
clusively for them.

The " crow's nest," just as soon as we entered the regions
of ice, proved to be of inestimable assistance, and it was put
into frequent use. The crow's nest is a heavy barrel, with
the bottom fitted with a heavy hinge. This is attached to
the foremast or mainmast by stout iron bands, fitted tightly
about the mast, and is big enough to hold a man standing
upright. There is a seat in it, but, when in the ice pack,
there is little or no chance to sit down. Encircling the top
is an iron rod, which makes a rest for the telescope. At an
elevation of 120 or 130 feet, it gives a very broad lookout,
say a range of twelve or fifteen miles in clear weather. An
immense deal can be seen from here which could not be
seen from the deck, and the captain, to direct intelligently
the movements of his ship, is forced to remain here the
greater part of his time. An elaborate system of signals
connecting both with engine room and with helmsman is
arranged, which makes it as easy to direct the ship from
the crow's nest as from the bridge.

Wind and tide are naturally the two things which are
watched most closely. For, upon an accurate knowledge
of these, depends the ability to seize opportunities to
advance.

There are certain indications which are of the utmost im-
portance, namely, " water blinks " and * ice blinks." The
water blink is dark clouds or spots on the horizon. These
are caused by the mists which gather over open spaces of
water, and always mean that an advance can be made.
They are, therefore, eagerly looked for. On the contrary,

23

THE WHITE WORLD

the ice blink is distinguished by spans or bands of light
just above the horizon. These are the result of the reflec-
tion of an ice pack, and forebode much trouble ahead. The
crow's nest is certainly a wonderful help and instructor to
any commander of an Arctic expedition.

Torpedoes, to blow up the ice, were on the whole found
rather disappointing. Their action was chiefly local, and
no absolute reliance could be placed upon them. We car-
ried explosives both of gunpowder and of gun-cotton.
The former was found to be by far the more efficacious.
On one occasion, however, it must be said that torpedoes
proved to be of great service. This was when the Thetis
was off Cape Athol, attempting to gain the open water of
Wolstenholme Sound. In ramming her way through the
ice, she found herself stuck fast in a wedge. She could
move neither forward nor backward. The pressure of the
ice was not severe, but it simply would not yield. Torpe-
does of both gunpowder and gun-cotton were placed ahead
and on both sides of the ship, about ten or twelve yards
away. The explosion broke up the jam and permitted the
ship to continue on her way through the ice pack.

Our dogs were of great advantage to us, indeed indis-
pensable. We had taken eighteen Labrador dogs on board
at St. John's. In addition to these, at Godhavn we pur-
chased from the governor a team of seven trained Eskimo
dogs. The Labrador dog is as a rule much more satis-
factory and tractable than the Greenland one. He is a
water dog and can swim, while the other must be carried
from floe to floe. All the dogs have enormous appetites,
but the Eskimo refuses to work after eating, while the Lab-
rador dog is ready to buckle to at any time. They are all
extremely savage, being more like wolves than dogs. If a
man slips and falls upon the ice, they will leap upon him
at once.

Among the Eskimo dogs, there is always a king; that is
the one who, after repeated fights, has proved the strongest;
and when his kingship is once established, all the pack
yield to him and give him the most abject obedience. A
growl is his signal, and woe to him who does not at once
respond to it.

We had one peculiar specimen of a dog that we obtained

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

at Saunders Island. He was a very handsome animal, but
of an unusually surly disposition. He would have nothing
to do with the other dogs, and would not eat the same food
that was given to them. Any kindly attention shown him
was resented, but he never dared to bite. A dog that
would not eat or fight was an anomaly. He seemed to be
in a torpid condition. The only time that he aroused him-
self proved fatal to him. In attempting to walk on the
main rail, he fell overboard, and was drowned.

Some mention should certainly be made of the whalers,
who joined us in the early part of our quest. There was
a large number of them in the beginning, but none remained
to the end. Both officers and men were fine fellows, of
superb physique and of bright, cheery, and genial natures.
Their broad Scotch accent also had its attraction. They
were generous in their rivalry, and always ready to lend a
helping hand. They were not as well equipped as the re-
lief ships, and their one advantage was their experience, if
indeed this was an advantage. As I have previously stated,
it is a debatable question whether the importance of expe-
rience on such an expedition as we were engaged upon
may not be greatly overestimated.

The life of these whalers is an interesting one. They
begin their annual cruise in January or February. The
sealing captain takes the place of the whaling captain, who
remains on board, but, so to speak, as a passenger. A
tremendous number of seals is captured, the vessels being
loaded down with them. After the middle of April, when
the taking of young seals is forbidden by law, the ships
return to St. John's, discharge the sealing captain, and pre-
pare for the whaling cruise. It is their code of honor that
the stronger must help the weaker, and this has never been
known to be violated. Any captain who would abandon
another in the ice would probably be discharged, and cer-
tainly would receive the execrations of his countrymen.
A story is told that one captain who abandoned his con-
sort to her fate drowned himself, when in sight of the home
port, rather than meet the stormy reception which he knew
was in store for him.

While the whalers were with us, we were initiated into
the mysteries of a " Mollie." When the whalers are com-

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THE WHITE WORLD

pelled to remain motionless for some days in the ice, it is
the custom for the captains to gather together on board one
or another of the ships, and hold a sort of symposium, dis-
cussing the prospects of the season's catch. These assem-
blages are known as " Mollies." A bucket is hoisted at the
fore-royal masthead as a signal of what is to take place.
The meetings are most decidedly of a convivial nature, and,
during the conversation, large quantities of Scotch whiskey
and beer are consumed.

Once or twice the whalers, notably the Arctic and the
Wolf, through clever manoeuvring and fortunate circum-
stances, got to the front, and this was more or less annoy-
ing to the crews of the relief ships. For we were resolved
that the whalers must not come in first. Finally, however,
feeling that there was too much at stake in the summer's
catch of fish to follow what was at best only problematical,
the whalers turned back to the southward.

They bade us a cordial farewell, and most heartily wished
us Godspeed. I shall never forget the warm grasp of Cap-
tain Fairweather's hand, as he said in his mellow Scotch
accents:

" Gude bye, Captain. We may live without fesh, but
those poor fellows up there must have breed. God bless
you! It's no use for us to go further."

The Thetis and the Bear continued on their way. We
encountered many surprises, succeeding in pushing onward
when we expected failure, and being checked where we had
been confident of advancing. In many cases, we were
forced to come to a standstill, for it would have been sui-
cidal to attempt to go on. On more occasions than one
we received assistance from the Eskimos, whom we found
to be always obliging and ready to furnish us with any
information in their power. Further and further we pushed
on slowly northward. We found caches here and there,
and cairns were easily discoverable.

At Saunders Island there were perhaps fifty Eskimos who
came off in their sleds to the ship, but they could furnish us
with no information as to the party we were in search of.
We gave them pork and bread, as well as broken oars and
odd pieces of wood with which to mend their kayaks. The
latter they seemed to crave especially, together with nails

28

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

and bits of metal. Still, nothing in the way of food came
amiss to them. They would devour anything that was in
any sense of the word edible, no matter whether it was
cooked or raw.

Prom a painting by Albert Opertl

CAPE SABINE

Onward we went to Cape Parry, Northumberland, Cape
Alexander, McGary Island, and Littleton Island. We had
many encounters with the ice, but no mishap of any im-
portance overtook us. Off Cape York, the Bear had
parted her consort, and, therefore, on board the Thetis, we
had now two sources of anxiety.

It was very apparent that Greely had not reached Little-
ton Island. It was possible that he had remained at Lady
Franklin Bay, but it was probable that he had gone to the
south. This naturally we could determine in no manner.
The other cause of anxiety was soon removed, for the Bear,
to our great delight, came steaming up and joined us just
before we had decided to leave Littleton Island.

It was now determined to run over to Cape Sabine, ex-
amine the cairns there, establish a cache of four thousand
rations, and then immediately push on still further to the
north. We left a final record for Captain Coffin of the

29

THE WHITE WORLD

Alert on McGary Island, and proceeded to Payer Island.
Our passage was, fortunately, comparatively clear of ice,
and we had little or no difficulty in making our way. Payer
Harbor is an indentation on the coast, which is in part
enclosed by Brevoort, Stallknecht, and Payer Islands.
Brevoort Island is the largest of these, about two miles
south of Cape Sabine. The harbor was frozen over, and
we made fast to the northern edge of the ice. Exploration
parties, four in number, were at once sent out, to examine,
at one and the same time, all the depots in the neighbor-
hood.

After this examination had been satisfactorily accom-
plished, it was our intention to push on immediately into the
Kane Sea. We scarcely imagined that anything of im-
portance would be discovered by the exploring parties, and
those who remained on board ship were therefore engaged
in active preparations for the onward journey. The wind
was very high and was roaring with might and main.

Suddenly, above all the turmoil, was heard the sound of
cheering. At first we could not tell from what quarter the
sound proceeded. Another cheer came. This time it
sounded nearer and louder. All work was suspended; all
were eager, breathless with expectation as to what the next
moment might bring forth. What did this cheering por-
tend? Our ears were tingling, our lips apart with our
quick breathing, our hearts aflame. Oh, God grant that
it meant good news was the fervent, though unspoken,
prayer of us all!

Then a signal came. Ah, with what wildly throbbing
hearts we read it! It was from Ensign Harlow on Stall-
knecht Island.

" Have found Greely's records. Send five men."

The excitement! What words can depict it? And it in-
creased at every moment.

Before Harlow's request could be complied with, a man
was seen running across the ice. This was Yewell, who
told us, with panting breath, that a message from Greely
had been found in the cairn on Brevoort Island. Yewell
screamed out to the officers on deck, as he waved the papers
he carried, that Greely's party was at Cape Sabine and all
well.

30

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

Instantly everything was in commotion. Three long
whistle blasts from the Thetis summoned back all those
who had gone forth on the searching tours. It was deter-
mined at once to proceed with all despatch to the Cape.

First, however, the papers discovered were carefully gone
over, and, to our dismay, horror, even, we found that the
latest date borne by any of them was October 21, 1883, and
that at that time but forty days' complete rations were left
for the entire party to exist upon ! The conclusion, terrible
as it was, was inevitable. The whole party, or the vast
majority of them, must have perished, while waiting, watch-
ing, and praying for the relief which had not reached them.
The papers told a marvellous story of how Lockwood and
Brainard had reached the " Farthest North." But some-
how, at that moment, we cared but little about what had
been accomplished. Our one desire was to reach those
brave fellows and bring them relief from the untold suf-
ferings they must be undergoing.

A cutter, with Colwell in command, was directed to go
to the site of a cache indicated in the reports of Greely.
The ships were to follow.

The cutter went on to the northward, but, before it had
disappeared, I boarded the Bear, and soon the ship was
under way, following the cutter around the Cape. The
rest were to come after in the Thetis, which was to pick
up those of the exploring parties who had not yet re-
turned. The course which the cutter and the ships were
to make was about six miles. It was a most fortunate
matter that a southerly wind had driven the ice off shore
into the Kane Sea, thus leaving an open passage for the
vessels.

There are moments in our lives which are never forgot-
ten, and this was one of them in mine. How vividly it all
comes back to me, all the anxiety, all the forebodings, and
yet with hope behind it all, hope which was perhaps pre-
dominant. I stood on the bow of the Bear gazing forward
with eager, expectant eyes. The cutter was ploughing its
way forward just ahead of us. Ah, what would be the end?
That it was near I felt, I knew.

At times I was afraid of what we might be about to en-
counter, especially when I thought of the papers we had

3i

THE WHITE WORLD

just recovered. A chill would run through my veins, which
was by no means the result of the cold of the atmosphere.
It was a chill of apprehension.

What! Only forty days' rations left, and that was eight
months ago! What unspeakable agony of mind and body,
what untold sufferings must have been undergone since!
My heart ached as I pictured it. The ship seemed to
crawl. Moments appeared to be hours then. The anxiety,
coupled with dread, to know the truth, was torture. Still,
there was some inward voice which told me, in unmistak-
able accents, that we were not to be too late. This buoyed
me up through all the weary watching and waiting. I
knew instinctively, standing there, looking with strained
eyes over the frozen expanse before us, that our quest was
not to be fruitless.

As in a mirage, those poor, suffering fellows came up be-
fore me, and I prayed, as I have never prayed before or
since, that we might be in time. I am sure to-day, as I
revert back, that the good God heard that prayer.

It was late in the evening, and a storm was raging when
Colwell arrived at his aimed-for point, but it was still day-
light, although dull. Finally the boat reached the shore,
keen eyes watching for any sign of human life, but nothing
could be discovered. Then, as a point was rounded, all
hearts for a moment seemed to stand still.

On the top of the ridge, some fifty or sixty yards upward,
could plainly be distinguished the figure of a man. The
coxswain snatched up his boat-hook, with a flag attached
to it, and waved it wildly.

The man caught up a signal flag, and responded.

Then slowly and painfully he came down the steep in-
cline, falling once or twice, before he reached the water's
edge. He could only walk feebly and with the utmost
difficulty.

" Who of all are there left? " cried out Colwell.

" Seven left."

Seven out of twenty-five! Oh, the pity of it! Xo,
worse, the horror, the unspeakable horror of it!

The man was a ghastly object to look upon. Great hol-
lows indented his cheeks, and his beard and hair were strag-
gling and matted. What he wore was simply an apology

32

AN ARCTIC RESCUE

for clothing. He could scarcely speak in an intelligible
manner, all his utterances being thick and mumbling, his
lips twitching convulsively.

Colwell leaped out of the boat, and the man instinctively
pulled off his glove to give him his hand. Then briefly and
quickly the following colloquy took place.

" Where are they? " asked Colwell.

" In the tent," pointing over his shoulder, " across the
hill. The tent is down."

" Is Mr. Greely alive? "

" Yes, Greely's alive."

" Any other officers? "

" No." And then in an absent-minded manner, he re-
peated, " The tent is dOwn."

" Who are you?"

" Long."

Long was taken into the cutter, and Colwell, with some
of his companions, started toward the point indicated by
Long.

It was a desolate expanse of rocky ground they crossed
before they came up to the tent. A man of soldierly bear-
ing came out of the tent. It was Sergeant, now Major,
Brainard. He drew himself up and was about to salute,
when Colwell grasped his hand.

And then? Oh, the ghastliness of it all as Colwell looked
within the tent! Men dying of starvation, emaciated, suf-
fering the tortures of the damned, almost unable to move
or even to articulate. One raised his head a little, as Col-
well lifted the flap of the tent, and feebly put on a pair of
eyeglasses.

" Who are you?"

There was no response in words, nothing but a vacant
stare.

" Who are you? " came the question again.

Then one of the other men faintly answered:

" That's the Major — Major Greely."

Colwell crawled into the tent, and took Greely's hand.

" Greely, is this you? "

" Yes," came the reply, in wavering, broken accents.
" Yes — seven of us left — here we are, dying like men. Did
what I came to do — beat the best record."

33

THE WHITE WORLD

Then his voice stopped, and he collapsed in utter exhaus-
tion.

Besides Greely, there were in the tent two Sergeants,
Elison and Fredericks; Biederbick, the hospital steward;
and Private Connell, who with Brainard and Long were all
who remained of the original expedition.

The whole scene, as Colwell surveyed it, was one of
misery and squalor. How could it have been otherwise?
Suffering unparalleled had been undergone. Almost noth-
ing to sustain life was left. A few teaspoonfuls of brandy,
that was all, and they were dividing this when Colwell came
upon the scene. It was very plain that relief had only
arrived in the nick of time. Not one of the survivors could
probably have lived forty-eight hours longer.

The journey home was more or less uneventful. We
stopped at St. John's, where we were greeted most enthusi-
astically. The Alert joined us there. Finally, we reached
New York, where we were received by a most distinguished
company, including the Secretary of War, General Sheridan,
General Hancock, Commodore Fillebrown, and other offi-
cers of high rank.

Our mission was finished, the task that had been entrusted
to us was completed. We had met with success, but with
what a loss among those connected with the original Greely
Expedition! Nineteen had perished, and but six remained
to be brought home. Once more I say: Is the game of
Arctic exploration worth the candle?

Well, that is for others to determine, not for me.

But what no one can question is this: Officers and men,
both on the Greely and on the relief expedition, displayed
the utmost gallantry and devotion to duty. Their loyalty
to the purposes in view is beyond praise. All America
honored them at the time, and all America honors them
to-day.

M

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

AMOS BONSALL.

Amos Bonsall was born in Delaware Co., Pa.,
Jan., 1830. In 1853 accompanied Dr. Kane as
master's mate, U. S. N., on second Grinnell
Arctic Expedition in search of Sir John Frank-
lin, returning in 1855. Mr. Bonsall is the only
living member of the second Grinnell Expedi-
tion.

AMOS BONSALL

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

By AMOS BONSALL

N aimed-for point which apparently can-
not be touched! The inaccessible!
Such a point is preeminently the
North Pole. Yet there is an old adage
which has been proved true on more
occasions than one: " It is always the unexpected that hap-
pens." And it is not impossible that the unexpected re-
sults will be achieved some day by the strenuous and
untiring efforts of Arctic explorers. Advancing science
with its stupendous achievements, increasing each day, will
undoubtedly be the most potent factor in success, if success
is ever attained.

In this connection the question naturally arises: What
is the difference between Arctic exploration of the past,
and Arctic exploration of the present? Of the past, as the
only survivor of the famous Kane Expedition, of which
I shall give a short sketch, I feel competent to speak. As
to the present, I have taken a keen interest in, and have
followed closely, the movements of all Arctic explorers.

Our outfit, complete as we thought it was at the time,
was as nothing in comparison with those of the later expe-
ditions. How could it have been otherwise? What was
known then of the vast majority of appliances for sustain-
ing life, and aiding transportation from one point to an-
other, which are so clearly understood to-day? We were
then like undeveloped, uneducated children, as compared
with fully grown men in the plenitude of acquired knowl-
edge.

Compare for instance, the Kane Expedition with the
Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition, the most complete in every

39

THE WHITE WORLD

particular that has ever started for the North. We had
simply a sailing vessel, dependent for movement upon wind
and tide. Wind was our only propelling power. The
Baldwin expedition has three vessels, with all the advan-
tages that steam and every modern appliance can give.
The number of men taken is nearly three times that of
ours, and, beyond this, are scientists of all descriptions.
Skilled hunters are carried; men who have had experience
in the chase of walrus, seals, bears, etc., and by this means
a large amount of game should be secured. We suffered
greatly from a lack of fresh meat, and this led to the
scourge of scurvy, from which scarcely one of us was
exempt.

The use of dogs, too, is much better understood than
in our day, and this is the result of experience. Siberian
ponies, of which we knew nothing, are to be employed by
the Baldwin expedition. It is said that one of them is
capable of carrying as much dead weight as can be trans-
ported by a team of twenty dogs.

We had only boats of a build which now seems very
primitive, but the Baldwin expedition has gasolene launches
of the most modern and approved pattern, which ought to
prove of great service, especially in the narrow waterways,
where the ships cannot pass. Portable houses, which were
unknown in our day, will be most conducive to comfort.
They are constructed so that they can be erected or taken
down in an incredibly short time.

One enormous advantage that the Baldwin and other
modern expeditions have over ours is the ability to carry
food in a condensed form; for instance, tablets which con-
tain a large amount of nourishment and take up but little
room. This in itself is a great desideratum for the econo-
mization of space, which in the far north is a most serious
consideration.

So far as the obtaining of pictures is concerned, the
modern expeditions are incalculably in advance of ours.
Photography was then unknown, and we were limited to
the taking of daguerreotypes. But now the expeditions
are supplied with all the latest appliances for photographic
work. They have cameras especially manufactured for the
purpose, and fitted with films and plates adapted to the

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Arctic regions. Special artists also make paintings and
sketches. The results should and doubtless will be invalu-
able.

Again, we had no means whatever of conveying news
back to civilization, but the Baldwin expedition is gener-
ously supplied with such appliances. They have forty bal-
loons, which will be inflated with hydrogen gas, and over
six hundred buoys, which will be set adrift at intervals,
with news of the condition and progress of the party.
Such methods of communication were not thought of in
our time, and if they had been suggested to us we should
have considered them impossible of achievement. The
expeditions of Peary, who is now in the far north, have
also been admirably equipped, the funds for the purpose
having been raised by the personal exertions of this indom-
itable explorer, with very little outside assistance.

Enormous advance has also been made in ice-breaking
ships, built especially to force their way through the floes.
The "Advance ", Kane's ship, could not do that. Offen-
sive tactics are now being used instead of defensive ones,
and this will doubtless prove of great benefit. In this con-
nection, Admiral Makaroff, of the Russian Imperial Navy,
who in the ship " Ermack " has already penetrated far to
the north, through the polar ice, says:

'' I believe that the discovery of the Poles will depend
mainly upon the use of powerful ice-breaking vessels.
Dr. Nansen proved the utility of building a ship strong
enough to resist the ice, and of permitting it to be carried
along by the drifting ice current. Instead of a ship which
can only withstand the ice, I would attack the Polar waste
with a vessel strong enough to cut her way through any
ice in existence."

These ice crushers may be of immense advantage in
present and future expeditions. The idea of balloons, too,
is coming more and more into prominence, especially
through Andree's expedition, ill-fated though it may have
been. If an improvement comes in the construction of
balloons, as it undoubtedly will in the course of time, they
will in all probability, be productive of great results.

Xow to revert to my personal experiences with the fam-
ous expedition of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, of which I was

THE WHITE WORLD

a member, and which had a double object, the discovery of
the North Pole, and the rescue of Sir John Franklin. The
most intense interest was felt in regard to the fate of this
gallant man, an interest which extended in a large degree
to those who attempted his rescue.

As a young man, my admiration for Dr. Kane had been
greatly excited, and my interest in his experiences in
the Arctic regions was very keen. My elation may there-
fore be imagined, when I received from my ideal hero

From a painting by Albert Opertl
ICE LOCKED

a letter asking for an interview at his home, 1116 Girard
Street, Philadelphia. Of course I complied with his re-
quest, and called upon him. At the suggestion of his
uncle, George H. Thomas, he made a proposition to me
to accompany him on a projected exploring expedition
to the Arctic regions, and to become one of the officers of
the expedition. I was naturally very much flattered, and
eagerly accepted the invitation, with the proviso that my
mother should give her consent. This consent was not

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

easily obtained, but after much persuasion it was finally
given and I reported the fact to Dr. Kane.

I was then directed to take lessons in daguerreotyping,
in order that I might be put in charge of an outfit of that
kind, which it was intended should accompany the expe-
dition, for the purpose of getting plates of the scenes in
the Arctic regions. Most unfortunately, the results of
this work were lost on our return. The box containing
the daguerreotypes was put upon a sledge on the ice, and
was carried away, together with the whole collection of
Arctic birds, which had been prepared with great care for
the Academy of Natural Science. This was an irreparable
loss, and one that to this day I have never ceased to regret.

The expedition sailed from New York on the 31st of
May, 1853. There were some six officers, and the crew
consisted of eight sailors, besides the steward and cooks,
comprising in all a company of eighteen. The vessel was
the little brig " Advance," of one hundred and forty tons.
This had been donated by Henry Grinnell of the firm of
Grinnell, Minturn & Co., of New York.

We were ostensibly in search of Sir John Franklin and
his party. This expedition had gone to the region of
Lancaster Sound, to attempt the discovery of a northwest
passage, and nothing had been heard of it for two or three
years. It had, to all human knowledge, disappeared from
the world. Our plan was at that time considered a some-
what novel one. The intention was, instead of taking the
route which Franklin's expedition had adopted, to sail
directly north to the gates of Smith's Sound. This place
had been visited many years before by Captain Baffin, but
the passage had not been attempted by any later expedition.
We hoped that we could thereby discover a new sound to
the west, where Franklin it was thought, might possibly
be found.

At St. John's, we were received with great enthusiasm,
for knowledge of the fate of Franklin was most eagerly
desired. As we proceeded northward we found the
country so peculiar in its geological structure and its
scenery, as to make us feel that we were indeed out of the
before-known world. The people were so primitive in
their habits as to render all things utterly novel.

43

THE WHITE WORLD

Our curiosity was particularly excited by finding the
natives so expert with their kayaks or canoes. They
seemed to be able to go out on the high seas without
danger. In making the port of Upernavik, we were inter-
ested in seeing a kayaker come out from behind the bend
of the channel in which we were moving, to approach the
ship. The sea was comparatively heavy, and yet the man
had apparently no difficulty in making his way over the
tempestuous waters. When he reached the side of the
ship, we recognized how it was done. It was effected by
the arrangement of his outer clothing, which was made of
water-proof skin, and fastened by a drawing string around
the lips of the manhole, or opening in the kayak, through
which the man enters the lower part of his body, and then,
by tying a string around his wrists and the face openings
of the jumper-hood, very little water can enter or penetrate
his clothing.

Upernavik was a place of great interest, as it was at that
time, and I believe is to-day, the most northerly town in
which white people dwell. There were a few Danes in the
village, besides the officers appointed by the royal direc-
tory of Denmark. These latter took charge of the busi-
ness of purchasing oil and skins from the natives, and sel-
ling to them such articles as they needed — coal, stoves, and
goods of different kinds to be utilized in making their
summer dresses. The association with the Danish Govern-
ment redounded greatly to the advantage of the natives.

As we proceeded further north, the ice floes became
more and more numerous, and again and again we had to
halt because of obstructions and work our way back.
Occasionally we would find what appeared to be an ex-
cellent lead, only to discover that it ended in solid ice,
which was impassable for the ship. After passing Cape
York, however, and entering the north water, we were
not embarrassed by the floes, and the vessel proceeded in
open water, until we had crossed the parallel of seventy-
seven degrees, where we again encountered heavy obstruc-
tions of ice.

The season was waning, and we were growing more
and more anxious to enter the field of our labors north of
Smith's Sound. We passed rapidly the crimson cliffs of

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Beverly. These were romantically named by Sir John
Ross the " Red Snow and Crimson Cliffs." They are
made crimson, partly by the rich scarlet lichen, and partly
by a minute plant which grows upon melting snow, and
which is called proto carats nivalis. We passed on north-
ward encountering heavier ice than we had seen before.

Then came a battle of days and weeks in which we strug-
gled for movement, but were continually baffled by the
north winds and heavy floes, sometimes at great danger
to the ship. At length we were forced into a bay a hundred
miles northeast of Cape Alexander, where we were com-
pelled to seek harbor, because of the absolute impossibility
of moving the ship any farther to the north and east. Dr.
Kane named this place Rensselaer Bay, and it became the
fixed harbor of the ship from that time to the end. The
vessel was altered as much as possible into the semblance
of a house, and our mode of living was changed from sail-
ing to resting. And yet, after all, it was not entirely rest-
ing, for there were many parties sent out to establish depots
of provisions for the spring journeys which had been pro-
jected.

The first expedition of observation was made on foot,
as the ice was not strong enough to travel over in sledges,
and we had to depend on what is known as " ice foot."
This is the ice formed by the overflow of the tide, when
it is cold enough to freeze quickly, the level surface being
as high as high tide, and breaking down sharply to a point
as low as low tide. This forms a wall on the sea side. Of
course, this necessitated tortuous travel, as we were com-
pelled to follow the turnings of the shore.

A second expedition, which was placed in my charge,
was much more extended, for we went as far as the great
Glacier Humboldt, which was first discovered by the party,
and upon the south end of which we placed our most ex-
tended depot of provision. We found very soon that any
hope of reaching the land to the north of the glacier, in
the line we had contemplated, was impossible, and we
were greatly embarrassed by our inability to judge dist-
ances. The land we had in view seemed constantly to
recede. This is the same experience that was undergone
by the earliest navigators, when they sailed for days and

45

THE WHITE WORLD

days toward land which seemed to be visible to the eye,
and yet, as the ship advanced, appeared to be farther and
farther away. In face of this extraordinary circumstance,
we could readily understand the superstition of the sailors
of the early days.

Several of the expeditions were disastrous, resulting in
loss of life. Our work also, was greatly hampered by the
sickness and suffering of our members, only five or six
being fit to go out. We did not meet with any great suc-
cess, as we were only enabled to go one hundred miles
north, to 8i° 30' latitude. However, Kennedy Channel
was discovered to be comparatively open water, and, while
it was impossible to make a channel for the ship, it gave
us such information of the proper course to pursue that
it enabled Hall and Sir James Nares of England, to make
a much higher latitude; and the Greely Expedition, which
met with scarcely any obstruction, to establish itself at
latitude 820 50' (Fort Conger) with very little difficulty.
Our discovery was certainly of great value to later ex-
plorers.

Week after week, month after month, passed, but the
ice in Rensselaer Bay did not break up sufficiently to
enable us to escape with the vessel. Great efforts were
made to move the ship, but it could be done only for a few
hundred yards, and then we were hemmed in again. The
hope of escape passed from our minds.

After efforts were made by Dr. Kane to move south-
ward, he returned to the ship with the feeling that we
could not get out of the bay that year. He therefore gave
to any or all the right and privilege to make an effort to
reach Upernavik through the passage of Melville Bay, if
they desired to do so. Eight of the expedition, leaving
ten behind, started on that journey, but we encountered
such heavy ice that we made no progress. The " young "
ice formed over night heavy enough to render it impossi-
ble to break through with the boats, and we were com-
pelled to give it up. In the early part of December fol-
lowing, after an absence of four months, the party was
compelled to return to the ship. We were comparatively
free from scurvy, and thanked Providence that our lives
had been spared.

AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Thus we passed the second winter under the greatest
difficulties, and still hoping that in the coming spring, we
would be enabled to take the vessel out, and make the
journey home with all hands. It was a hard winter, and
as we had exhausted our supply of anti-scorbutics, the
scurvy was making heavy inroads. Those of us who had
been living on fresh foods were free from the scourge, but
when we returned to the ship we had frozen hands and
feet to take care of. Our straits can be appreciated, when
the fact is stated that in the month of February of that
year (1855), Dr. Kane and myself were the only two on
the ship who were able to go outside and work for the
welfare of others.

As early as possible further efforts were made to go
south with the whole party; the sledges were fixed, and the
boats mounted upon them, and the whole fleet started from
Rensselaer Bay, on May 20, to slide these boats over the
ice ninety miles to the open water. This laborious work
required several weeks for its accomplishment. The ice
became weak as the sun rose in power, and we were con-
stantly breaking through, having to discharge the cargoes
of the boats and extricate them from the ice, and move on,
only to find the same difficulty again, every few hundred
yards. In the course of time, however, we succeeded in
reaching the bay, and in the latter part of June we were
enabled to launch the boats in their natural element.

After more or less difficulty, we reached Upernavik on
the morning of August 6, 1855, just two years to a day,
from the time we had left the place on our upward voyage.
We were lodged in the oil-house where we were, according
to our ideas, very comfortable indeed, and prepared to wait
patiently for the arrival of a vessel in the harbor, which
should restore us to home and friends. About a week
later a ship came in and then, after she had discharged her
cargo and reloaded, we took passage on the bluff-bowed
vessel " Marianna."

At Godhaven, one hundred and fifty miles south — a
voyage which took us about three days to accomplish, ow-
ing to the slow speed of the vessel — we were surprised and
delighted to meet with United States ships which had been
sent out in search of us. They had been far to the north,

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but finding that we had departed, they retraced their way
and passed on to the south, hoping to overtake us before
we got out of the country. This they did, by coming into
the harbor of Godhaven about two days after our arrival,
where the ship was waiting for clearance papers in order
to set sail for Copenhagen. We took leave of our friends
and acquaintances among the Danes, with whom we had
had very pleasant and friendly relations, and transferred
our light luggage to the United States store-ship " Re-
lease," and prepared to depart for more congenial climes.

As an evidence of the clearness of the atmosphere, after
passing out of Upernavik, we could see the outline of the
mountains of Disko Island, one hundred and fifty miles
away, a distance in our own country which it would be
impossible for the eye to reach. We met with very cour-
teous treatment from the Danes and the Eskimo at God-
haven, and will always remember with pleasure the few
days we spent on the island.

On our arrival home, we were heralded with great joy by
the whole country, as it had been believed by our friends
and the greater number of the people that the whole expe-
dition had been lost; for we had been absent a whole year
longer than was anticipated.

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

MAJOR DAVID L. BRAINARD, U. S. A.

Major David L. Brainard, U. S. A., was born
in Norway, N. Y., Dec, 1856. In 1881 he joined
the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition under Lieu-
tenant A. W. Greely. With the late Lieutenant
Lockwood he reached 830 24', the farthest point
north ever reached by man up to that time.
Was one of the six survivors rescued with Lieu-
tenant Greely at Cape Sabine. Promoted for
gallantry rendered during expedition; received
Back Grant of Royal Geographical Society for
1885.

MAJOR DAVID L. BRAINARD, U. S. A.

FORT CONGER

Copyright by Rice

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

By Major DAVID L. BRAINARD, U. S. A.

jHE Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, or, as it has
been popularly termed, the Greely Expedition,"
was authorized by act of Congress approved
March 3, 1881, and to it belonged the honor
of having attained a point farther north than
ever before had been reached.

Considering the meager appropriation allowed
for this expedition, its limited equipment, and
the fact that all the members were without pre-
vious experience in work of this kind, the re-
sults achieved place it among the most successful, both
scientifically and geographically, of all modern Arctic efforts.

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Lieutenant (now General) Adolphus W. Greely, U. S.
Army, was assigned to the command of the expedition, and
with him were associated Lieutenant F. F. Kislingbury,
Eleventh U. S. Infantry, Lieutenant J. B. Lockwood,
Twenty-third U. S. Infantry, and Dr. Octave Pavy, together
with twenty-one enlisted men of the army — all of whom
had been selected with an eye to their fitness for the arduous
work of Arctic exploration, from among the troops stationed
at the military posts on the extreme Northwestern frontier.

The party rendezvoused at St. John's, Newfoundland,
and on July 7, 1881, steamed northward on the S. S.
" Proteus," reaching Godhaven, Greenland, July 16. At
Upernavik, two Eskimo — Jens Edward and Frederik Thor-
lip Christiansen — from Proven, were engaged as hunters
and dog drivers.

Leaving Upernavik on July 29, the "Proteus" pro-
ceeded northward, and on the 12th of August dropped
anchor in Discovery Harbor, Lady Franklin Bay, latitude
81 ° 44' N.; longitude 640 45' W. The stores were imme-
diately disembarked and the vessel was ordered back to
St. John's. In the meantime Lieutenant Greely had been
busy superintending the erection of the frame house that
we had brought with us, and by August 31, the work was
sufficiently advanced to permit us to occupy our new
quarters. Small hunting and exploring parties were then
dispatched in various directions for the purpose of ascer-
taining something of the conformation and resources of the
country, and, if possible, to obtain information concerning
the condition of the caches of provisions which had been
left by the Nares expedition of 1875. After much hard
labor, involving no little suffering, numerous musk-oxen
were killed, thus insuring us a supply of fresh meat for
many months, and several depots of provisions were placed
at points convenient for the work of exploration the fol-
lowing year. After this had been accomplished, the party
settled down to spend its first winter at Fort Conger, as our
station had been named by Lieutenant Greely, in honor of
Senator Conger, of Michigan.

The winter was passed pleasantly, the return of the sun
finding us busy with the details of field equipment for
spring traveling. During the long Arctic night, the pro-

56

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

posed exploration of the northwestern coast of Greenland
was the principal subject of discussion, and the chief ambi-
tion of each member of the party was to be chosen for this
important work. The experiences of Hall and Beaumont
were exhaustively considered during the tedious weeks of
waiting, and the mental depression and melancholia, which
seemed the inevitable accompaniments of this dreary period
in the Arctic regions were somewhat relieved by the ex-
pectation that the expedition was destined to accomplish
wonderful things.

During this time Lieutenant Greely formulated a com-
prehensive scheme of exploration covering three different
directions. To Lieutenant Lockwood was assigned the
northwest coast of Greenland, and that officer was directed
to assume complete charge of the field work, having all the
available resources of the expedition placed at his disposal,
including all the caches previously established.

In the months of February and March several pre-
liminary journeys were made in unprecedentedly cold
weather, thus giving the party an experience in the details
of field work which later proved invaluable to it. One of
the most important of these journeys was made by Lieu-
tenant Lockwood, Sergeant Jewell, Eskimo Frederik, and
myself, across Robeson Channel, to the " Gap " and to the
grave of the gallant Hall, at Thank God Harbor. Return-
ing, we crossed the peninsula, back of Polaris Promontory,
to Newman Bay, and thence home by way of Capes Sumner
and Beechey.

At last, all preparations being completed, Lieutenant
Lockwood organized his field force into two parties — the
main and the supporting. The former consisted of Lock-
wood, Jewell, and Frederik Christiansen, with a sledge and
team of eight dogs. The supporting party was composed
of ten men, commanded by myself, and was assigned
to Hudson Bay sledges dragged by hand as follows:
" Sledge Hayes," Sergeants Brainard, Ralston, and Private
Whisler; "Sledge Kane," Sergeant Linn and Corporal Eli-
son ; " Sledge Beaumont," Corporal Salor and Privates
Biederbick and Connell; " Sledge Hall," Privates Henry and
Frederick.

Our little house at Fort Conger had been a valiant home

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to us through the first Arctic night, and it was with genuine
regret that we turned from its cheery prospect to tempt the
mysteries of the frozen sea. We had already experienced
the desolation and nipping frost of Thank God Harbor
and Newman Bay, and we could not but regretfully com-
pare them to the more inviting field which we were to leave
behind.

The house was cozily hemmed in on the north, south and
west, by mountain peaks — the most conspicuous being the
Hogback, so named from the sloping tendency of its summit;
the coast to the westward for many miles consisted of inac-
cessible cliffs, with a height in many places of nearly two
thousand feet; and to the eastward the level monotony of
Robeson Channel was broken by the steep-ascending and
repellent mountains of the Greenland coast. Everything
that we were to leave, indeed, was pleasing and homelike;
everything before us was desolate, formidable, and un-
known.

At 6.30 P. M. April 3, 1882, as Lieutenant Lockwood's
second in command, I left Fort Conger with the supporting
party, under instructions from that officer to proceed to
the snow house at Cape Beechey, twenty-five miles distant,
where a depot of provisions had been established during
the preceding autumn, and there to prepare field rations
for transportation across Robeson Channel to the Green-
land coast.

Before our departure, Lieutenant Greely called the mem-
bers of the advance party together and delivered a short
but impressive address, in which he informed them of the
importance of the venture on which they were about to
embark, the dangers involved, the necessity of observing
all possible precautions, and of his earnest hope for the
successful termination of the enterprise. A hand-shaking
followed Lieutenant Greely's remarks, and the four sledges
of the supporting party moved toward the shore. Here we
found evidence that those of our comrades to be left
behind had arranged to give us a soldierly farewell. As
we climbed down the ice foot to the floe, three hearty
cheers rang out, followed by a tiger, and every flag and
every gun in the company were utilized to give appropriate
emphasis to the kindly feelings of the unlucky ones who
had not been designated to take the field.
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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

Lieutenant Lockwood reached Cape Beechey on the
morning of the 5th and that evening, soon after 8 o'clock,
both parties left the comfortable snow house and pushed
across the hummocky ice packs toward the Boat Camp of
the " Polaris " expedition, on the southern shore of New-
man Bay. The system of marching at night when the tem-
perature was lowest and sleeping during the day was adopted
from the start, thereby insuring the greater comfort to the
party.

There was no difficulty in traveling at night; for, after
the 9th we had the sun with us constantly night and day,
and while we were cheered and stimulated by its warm,
bright rays, the powerful reflection from the snow blistered
our faces and tortured our eyes. At first goggles with
tinted lenses were used as a protection, but later they were
discarded because they became a source of annoyance, ow-
ing to the necessity of having frequently to remove them,
in order to clear away the incrustation of frost which had
formed from the moisture of the breath. The most of
us were afflicted with snow blindness, and numerous were
the schemes to which we resorted to prevent this form of
suffering.

The journey across Robeson Channel was attended with
great hardships, for, with few exceptions, the men were
not inured to field work under the trying conditions en-
countered. The snow was deep and soft, the ice was rough,
and the narrow sledges were frequently overturned and
buried in the drifts. Thus our progress was slow and
laborious and at times almost disheartening. To add to
our discomfort, snow storms prevailed most of the time,
and for two days a violent gale stopped our advance and
confined us closely to our tents pitched on the ice. Several
cases of frost bite occurred, but fortunately they were not
serious. We learned from experience that the only safe
method of treating superficial frost bite was to apply the
warm hand briskly to the affected part, until the frost was
removed. Elison, however, rejected the approved method,
and by adhering to the old idea of using snow, lost every
vestige of skin from his somewhat prominent nose.

Our first camp after leaving Cape Beechey was made
under rather unhappy circumstances. The regulated scale

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of rations went into effect that morning with particularly
disagreeable results, not wholly unexpected, and which
tended to lower the social atmosphere quite to the zero
point. The allowance of alcohol for fuel was not nearly
sufficient to bring the chocolate to the boiling point, and
our stew of corned beef and broken hard bread was just
barely warm. The regulation pint of fluid was not at all
satisfactory, neither was it sufficient for the tired, chilled,
and hungry men, who had been laboring and perspiring
incessantly for several hours in a low temperature. Later,
however, when the cooks became more familiar with the
cooking apparatus, and knew better how to economize fuel
and time and make the most of their opportunities, the
allowance of alcohol was found to be ample. Strange as
it may appear, thirst was our greatest enemy and was more
dreaded than the cold. The work of hauling a heavily laden
sledge through rubble ice was so trying, even under the
most favorable conditions, that the traveler was kept con-
stantly bathed in a profuse perspiration, inducing a burning,
exasperating thirst, from which there was no escape, and
which could in no way be alleviated.

Our position on the floe in this place, a few miles from
shore, was exposed to the chilling blasts sweeping relent-
lessly down from the north; the temperature was about 500
below zero, and this unwelcome combination rendered sleep
almost an impossibility. To add to our discomfort the
sleeping-bags, which had become saturated with moisture
during the previous nights, through the melting of the
accumulated frost, and which while occupied were kept in
a pliable state by the warmth of our bodies, had become
frozen during the day to the rigidity of iron. In order
that they should occupy as little space as possible on the
sledges, they had been rolled up tightly on leaving camp,
and had frozen in that position. We were not able to get
into them at once, but were compelled, from necessity, to
thaw our way gradually in by sitting on the roll, and insert-
ing the feet under the outer edge. As the warmth of the
body was imparted to the frozen folds, they yielded slightly
to the pressure and the feet were pushed still farther in,
until in time the whole body found its way inside the pro-
tecting skin and the flap was pulled down over the end
in the vain effort to shut out the cold.
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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

The sleeping-bag is one of the most important articles
in the equipment of the Arctic explorer. It is made in
the form of an envelope opening from the end, is somewhat
narrow at the lowest part, the hair turned inward, and is
provided with a large flap which may be drawn over the
exposed end and secured with thongs. The best bag is
made of reindeer skin, but well-tanned dog, sheep, or buf-
falo skin may be used with good results. An outer enve-
lope of oil-tanned sealskin renders the bag impervious to
water and contributes much to the warmth and comfort of
the occupant. The majority of our bags were made of
buffalo skin, without the protecting outer covering, and
when spread ready to be occupied, with only a single rub-
ber blanket between them and the frozen snow, their ap-
pearance did not inspire confidence and they were never
inviting. Frequently two and sometimes three men occupy
the same bag. The obvious advantage of this arrangement
is that the sleepers keep each other warm; the disadvantage,
equally obvious, is the impracticability of individual action,
the close quarters rendering it impossible to change one's
position without the contemporaneous shifting of one's
companions. A sleeping-bag is indispensable, but it is
uninviting and uncomfortable at best, and certainly is not
conducive to pleasant dreams.

On the second morning Henry complained of rheumatic
pains and a sprained knee, and asserted that he could not
proceed further, so Lieutenant Lockwood ordered him to
return home. Connell discovered that one of his feet had
been frostbitten during the night, but with characteristic
pluck he determined to go on with the party and took his
place in the drag ropes. After painfully, hobbling along
for some time on his blistered foot, he reluctantly turned
back and joined Henry. This reduced the force of the
supporting party so materially, that Jewell was detached
from the dog sledge and sent to assist us.

At 7 A. M., April 10, we reached the Boat Camp which
Lieutenant Lockwood had designated as a supply depot.
The upturned boat and a few fragments of the tent aban-
doned by the " Polaris " party in 1872 were the only
evidence that the spot had ever before been visited by man.

During our stay at this camp our time was fully occupied

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in bringing up the provisions which we had previously
stored on the coast south of Cape Sumner, and in preparing
them for transportation, as well as in repairing the sledges,
which were much battered by their encounters with the
razor-like edges of rubble ice. From this camp Lieutenant
Lockwood made a flying trip back to Fort Conger for a
final consultation with Lieutenant Greely, and for the pur-
pose of exchanging the unserviceable runners of the dog
sledge for another and stronger pair. The defective venti-
lation of the snow house we constructed here resulted in
the illness of two of our men — Biederbick and Whisler,
and Lieutenant Lockwood directed that they return home
for proper treatment. Biederbick begged to be allowed
to accompany us northward, but the necessity of his im-
mediate return was obvious to all.

All preparations having been made, our northern
journey was resumed on the evening of April 16, the
men in the drag ropes each hauling from 150 to 220 pounds.
Crossing to the north side of Newman Bay, we cut short
the projection of land forming Cape Brevoort by traveling
overland through Rocky Gorge Creek and Lost River,
reaching the Great Polar Sea at Repulse Harbor. The
conditions of traveling across the divide were particularly
trying. Rocky Gorge Creek was, in places, extremely
narrow, rocky, and tortuous; the deep snow was covered
with a crust not quite strong enough to bear our weight,
and through this our feet and sledges broke at every step.
The snow was succeeded by patches of bare ground and
beds of gravel, over which the sledges could be dragged
only by standing pulls.

From Repulse Harbor, which place we left April 23,
we pushed northward along the winding coast, passing in
succession Drift Point. Black Horn Cliff, and Cape Stanton,
near which we found the small cache of rations left by
Lieutenant Beaumont, R. N., in 1876. This latter point
placed us farther north on the coast of Greenland than
Americans had ever before reached; thence on, past Hand
and Frankfield Bays, finally on April 27, reaching Cape
Bryant, the place selected by Lieutenant Lockwood from
which the supporting party was to turn back. Here, as at
many other points on the coast, traces of hare, lemming and
ptarmigan were found.

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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

During the 28th, we remained at Cape Bryant rearrang-
ing our load, and securing some rest for the final dash
northward. Ralston, Elison and I proceeded along the
coast of St. George Fiord to Cape Fulford, which we as-
cended. Looking out from our lofty position on this
promontory we obtained an excellent view of Cape May,
Dragon Point and Mounts Hooker, Coppinger and Far-
ragut, as well as of the fringe of stately snow-capped
mountains along the western shore of this fiord. Stephen-
son's and Beaumont's Islands and Cape Britannia, however,
could not be distinctly seen, owing to the hazy atmosphere
in that direction, but dark, shapeless masses, barely dis-
cernible, alone indicated to us the position of the lands
which we had resolved, if possible, to attain.

On the 29th, we built a large cairn in which surplus
provisions and all articles of our equipment, not absolutely
necessary for traveling, were stored for future use. In
accordance with Lieutenant Greely's wish, expressed before
our departure from Fort Conger, Lieutenant Lockwood
then detached me from the supporting party to accompany
him to the northward, and Sergeant Linn was directed to
conduct that party back to the Boat Camp and there await
our return.

Before taking leave of this party of men, I desire to
speak of the praiseworthy manner in which they performed
all their arduous duties, and of their intelligent efforts,
under all circumstances, to advance the interests of our
undertaking. They responded with alacrity and enthus-
iasm to all demands; they labored cheerfully and inces-
santly, and bore their sufferings with uncomplaining forti-
tude.

At 4.18 P. M. that day, Sergeant Linn and his party left
for the Boat Camp using the sledge " Hall " to transport
their provisions and effects. Half an hour later, Lock-
wood, the Eskimo dog driver, Frederik Christiansen and
myself started with the dog team and twenty-five days' pro-
visions, taking a course toward Cape May. The total
weight of our load, including sledge, was 783 pounds —
nearly ninetv-eight pounds to each dog.

The intelligence and usefulness of the Arctic dog surpasses
understanding, and of all these animals met with, " Riten-

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benk," the king dog of our team, was the most conspicu-
ous example. Large, with a mixed white, black, and
mouse colored coat, a tail which curled tightly over his
back, a broad intelligent head and a bright twinkling eye,
he was the embodiment of strength, courage and sagacity.
Ritenbenk was a wonderful fellow. By reason of his great
strength and highly superior intelligence, he had gained
the supremacy of the team. He was, therefore, the leader
in all the schemes for stealing our provisions.

One day when he had stolen a ptarmigan, which had
been placed for safety on the ridge pole of the tent, he lay
down, and, apparently with no qualms of conscience, began
in the most complacent manner to eat it. I rushed at him
with a spade, expecting to drive him from our anticipated
dinner, but he was far from being the coward I had pic-
tured him. He gave vent to a growl of defiance, and stood
immovable, his sturdy legs wide apart, and his great bold
eyes looking squarely into mine. Of course, I might have
crushed his skull with a blow, but my admiration for his
courage overcame me, and I threw away the spade, and
called him by his familiar name " Rit," whereupon he trotted
up and rubbed his head in the most confiding manner
against my knee.

Each pack of Greenland dogs has an acknowledged
leader, an absolute, autocratic king, who has won his way
to supremacy by fighting every other dog that dared to
enter the lists against him. Likewise each team has its
king, and this dog exercises undisputed sway over the
others, enforcing discipline and administering punishment
whenever in his judgment it is necessary; and it must be
admitted that the judgment of a king dog often appears to
an outsider to be biased.

When Ritenbenk joined Lieutenant Greely's pack at the
Greenland town, from which he was named, a huge dog,
known as u Disco King," was the ruling spirit among his
companions, which were confined in a huge wooden pen
located on the main deck of the " Proteus." The battle for
supremacy was fierce and prolonged, and Disco King,
divested of his royal authority, was ever afterward a broken-
hearted mean-spirited outcast, who lived a melancholy, re-
gretful life, apart from his former subjects. He had not

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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

recovered from his humiliation on the northern trip, though
several months had elapsed since his downfall, and he would
discourage the friendly approach of the members of our
party, or of his associates, with a churlish snarl which soon
gained him the appropriate name of " Howler." He never
engaged in Ritenbenk's midnight predatory raids on our
commissary department, but would frequently warn us of
the conspiracy on foot to rob our larder. For this, and
other reasons, he was not popular with his companions;

SLEDGING TO LOCKWOOD ISLAND

and Ritenbenk encouraged his subordinates in their con-
stant attacks upon his former enemy. " Howler's " only
vengeance was in tugging fiercely at his trace, whenever
the king and his people were inclined to move at a more
leisurely pace, and he was the last to cease exerting his
strength when the heavy sledge stuck in the snow. Poor
" Howler's " faithful and loyal service to us, terminated
abruptly about thirteen months later, when he succumbed
to hard work and short rations, only a few miles from Fort
Conger, as we were returning from our long trip across

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Grinnell Land to the Western Ocean. He was turned loose
to follow us to the station, but died from exhaustion while
struggling along in the deep snow to his home.

From day to day we grew to depend much on the superior
intelligence of Ritenbenk in passing our sledge over diffi-
cult places and in plowing our way through the deep snow,
now made soft by the rising temperature. When the driver
gave the signal for the team to start, Ritenbenk would jump
to his feet uttering his orders to his subordinates in quick,
sharp barks, at the same time pressing into his harness
with all his strength. Woe to the unfortunate dog that
did not respond with alacrity to his commands, for the
punishment was swift, sure, and effective. We watched
Ritenbenk with great solicitude, and one day when he was
sick and staggered along with drooping ears and tail, we
were all depressed. That night he was offered a place in
the tent protected from the storm, but, ill though he was,
he scorned such a resting place, preferring to share the
bed of snow with his fellows.

When we started out the traveling at first was very good,
but upon emerging from the fringe of shore hummocks, we
entered on a " domed " floe which was subsequently discov-
ered to be embayed ice. The dogs trotted rapidly along
over the undulating surface of this floe for a short time,
but soon deep snow was encountered which increased in
depth and softness as we advanced until our sledge finally
sank to its slats, whereupon the dogs sat down and refused
to work. By seizing the traces close to the sledge and
making " standing pulls," we succeeded in again placing
the sledge on firm crust, but it soon broke through as
before. The condition of the snow finally became so un-
favorable that Lieutenant Lockwood decided that it would
be economy of time and labor to advance half of the load
at a time, until there should be an improvement in the
traveling. He also changed the course from Cape May to
the direction of Cape Britannia, thus avoiding the deeper
snow which lies well up in the bavs near the land.

On the 2d of May. Lieutenant Lockwood informed Fred-
erik that if he would get his team and sledge to Cape
Britannia he would be rewarded with ioo kroner. Frederik
needed no other aim to stimulate his efforts, and voice and

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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

lash were used without stint to urge his dogs forward.
When near Cape May, we crossed a remarkable tidal crack
cleaving the otherwise solid floe of embayed ice, and en-
deavored to get a sounding, but found no bottom at 835
feet. At the place of crossing the crack was about four
feet wide, but in many places it was much wider and ex-
tended as far as we could see to the northwest in the general
direction of Beaumont Island, and to the southeast toward
Cape May.

Owing to the great difficulties experienced near Cape
May by Beaumont's sledge party in 1876, in consequence
of deep snow, we had not been sanguine of reaching farther
north than Cape May, but now we saw Cape Britannia in
our grasp and put forth every effort to reach it.

At 7.30 on the evening of May 4, we reached this cape,
and though much exhausted, dragged ourselves up the
ice foot to the land. But our enthusiasm soon overcame
our fatigue, for we realized that we had reached a point on
the coast of Greenland, higher than had ever before been
attained, and were at a place where the most northerly
land on the globe stretched out before us. Quickly pro-
ducing the flag of our country, and lashing it to the up-
standers of the sledge, the Arctic breezes saluted the Stars
and Stripes. Naturally, we felt an honest pride in our
achievement, accomplished not without much hard labor
and suffering, but mingled with this pride was a feeling
of awe that the unknown always inspires. Beyond us all
was new. What was it? Would we succeed in solving
its mysteries? These were the thoughts that came upper-
most in our minds.

Just above the ice foot we built a cairn in which we placed
rations for our return to Cape Bryant, such of our dead
weights as were not deemed absolutely essential, and a
record of our journey to that point. Lockwood and myself
then ascended the high rocky promontory forming the south-
western extremity of Cape Britannia and were about two
hours in reaching the summit, where the altitude as indi-
cated bv our barometer was about 2000 feet. Here we
obtained an extensive view in all directions, repaying us a
thousand times for our toilsome ascent. We saw that the
trend of the coast was to the northeast, a dark promontory

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fifteen miles away limiting the view in that direction. Be-
tween it and our position were three sharp, angular capes
of striking appearance and apparently separated by deep
fiords extending to the southeast.

In the interior, which was subsequently named by Lieu-
tenant Greely " Nares Land," could be seen to the extreme
range of our vision a confused mass of snow-covered peaks
towering high above our position on Britannia, and from
among this frozen chaos an occasional glacier of moderate
size struggling toward the sea. To the north and west
nothing but the polar pack was visible. At this time a
high wind, laden with the icy breath of countless winters,
came sweeping over us and cut short our observations.
Constructing a small cairn in which Lockwood deposited a
record, we then returned to the tent we had pitched on the
ice foot.

During our absence, Frederik had shot a ptarmigan, and
we found fresh traces of foxes, hares, and lemming. Indi-
cations that musk oxen had at one time visited these regions
were also observed. After obtaining a much-needed rest
we again set our faces toward the north and with buoyant
hearts advanced into the new regions.

In passing from one point to another along that unex-
plored coast, both Lockwood and myself felt an exhilaration
we had never before experienced. When rounding a cape
we were possessed with feverish impatience to see what was
beyond, and in our own excitement could hardly understand
Frederik's lack of enthusiasm. While he was an excellent
man in every respect, and thoroughly devoted to our in-
terests, he utterly failed to comprehend our object in trav-
eling about in those inhospitable regions, subjecting our-
selves to almost incredible hardships, when we could have
remained at home where there were warmth, shelter, and
an abundance of food.

As we pushed northward the temperature gradually rose,
owing to the advancing season, and when the highest point
was reached our thermometer registered +14. This high
temperature soon denuded the dark surface of the cliffs of
their winter's covering and the snow on the ice foot became
damp and soft, thus rendering traveling much more diffi-
cult; but on the other hand the absence of the keen cold

70

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

enabled us to sleep in our bags in comparative comfort
and the patient cook prepared his meals without frosting
his fingers while handling the metal equipment of his out-
fit. During these days we sighed with regret for our
snow-shoes which, to reduce our constant weight, had been
left behind at Cape Britannia.

When the hour for camping arrived, we selected the
deepest snow we could find, usually a heavy drift in the lee
of a floe-berg or other sheltered place, and here the tent
was pitched. A rubber cloth was spread for the floor of
the tent and on this the sleeping-bags were laid. The double
bag occupied by Lockwood and myself was placed on one
side of the tent and Frederik's single bag on the other.
Frederik in the meantime was chopping the pemmican for
the dogs while one of us stood, whip in hand, to guard him
from the ravenous brutes. When the food had been broken
into small pieces it was scattered on the ground and the
dogs came on with a rush — each snarling, grabbing and
gobbling with all his might, and in the frenzy of his greedi-
ness bolting pieces whole. In the twinkling of an eye the
feast disappeared and then Ritenbenk, provoked because he
had not secured sufficient to gratify his hunger, would
usually exercise his prerogative as ruler, and shake two or
three of the other dogs by way of expressing his disgust.
A few minutes later mournful howls would be heard from
the dogs which, having bolted the frozen food, were paying
the penalty of their indiscretion. The animals were fed only
once each day at the conclusion of the journey, it having
been found by experience that dogs work better when they
have their meal in anticipation than when they have it in
their stomachs. On the outward trip the allowance for each
dog was a pound and a quarter of pemmican each day and
on the return journey — the load being lighter — one pound
was given, and although at the meal hour the animals ap-
peared to be nearly famished, the quantity of food was
ample, for on our return from this trip, lasting sixty days,
the aggregate weight of the team was seven or eight pounds
more than when we started.

While the dogs were being attended to, the cook — who
was either Lockwood or myself — would search about for
a fresh floe-berg and chop sufficient ice to fill our cooking

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vessels, after which the alcohol lamp would be brought out,
placed on the floor between the sleeping-bags, and lighted.
The tent was tightly closed to keep out the wind and drift,
and while the cook was engaged with the meals the others
were preparing to retire to the depths of their respective
bags. The foot-gear worn during the day was removed,
dry stockings were substituted, and over these was drawn
a pair of warm dog-skin boots, the hair being turned in-
ward. When the meal was ready the others sat up in their
bags, receiving from the cook their portions in tin plates
and tin cups. The menu was simple, consisting of a stew
of some sort, hard bread, and tea or chocolate. Coffee was
considered objectionable, and was therefore never used by
us while on long sledge journeys. As a base for our stews
we had the choice of fresh musk ox beef; boiled, roast or
corned canned beef, bacon, sausage, pemmican, baked beans,
etc., which gave us a fair variety. The meal finished, the
cook prepared the food for breakfast and filled the cooking
vessels with ice, brought into the tent all food not in tins,
that it might not be stolen by the dogs while we were sleep-
ing, and then he was ready to join the others in their bags.
In the morning the cook got up first, and with chattering
teeth and much shivering cooked the breakfast and served
it to the others sitting up in their sleeping-bags. Dressing
hurriedly, the equipment was packed and securely lashed
on the sledge and we were ready for another day's march.

Frederik, the Eskimo dog-driver, was a faithful, con-
scientious and hard-working fellow, and from daily associa-
tion we grew very fond of him. He worked incessantly
during the march, urging on his tired team with voice and
whip, and at night slept soundly, undisturbed by the creak-
ing of the tent or the howling of the dogs. But we were
not happy in the companionship of this man, for he had a
snore, a deep bass, awful snore such as might rupture do-
mestic peace or move one to desperate deeds.

Having no journal to write, Frederik would fall asleep
immediately after the evening meal, and by the time Lock-
wood and myself had completed our record for the day and
were ready to slide down into our sleeping-bag, mournful
sounds would be issuing from the bag on the opposite side
of the tent. Of course under such circumstances sleep was

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FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

impossible, and finally, in self-defence, we were forced to
adopt a plan which contributed to our own comfort but
which had the effect of disturbing Frederik's rest. After
trying in vain to compose ourselves to sleep, one of us
would reach over and interrupt the objectionable snoring
by rousing Frederik from his slumbers and then ask him
in a tone affecting concern for his welfare whether he was
not cold and if it was possible for us to aid him in any way.
He always appeared touched and grateful at this solicitude
and never failed to reply that he was " all right." Before
he could resume his nocturnal music we would both be
sleeping soundly.

Just north of Cape
Frederick, at the margin
of the embayed ice, we
came upon a tidal crack
about ioo yards in width,
which, judging from ap-
pearances, had been open
all winter, and which
obliged us to keep on the
fast ice between it and the
shore.

The ice on the northern coast of Greenland did not
present the same characteristics as that met with farther
south. The large floes and floe-bergs of the so-called paleo-
crystic ice, frequently seen along the Grinnell Land coast
were rarely found north of Cape Britannia. It was evident
that the embayed ice in the deep fiords, especially in St.
George Fiord, was the birthplace of the domed paleocrystic
floes. It had all the external characteristic of the paleo-
crystic ice and was doubtless formed by the accretion of
snow which the summer's sun could not entirely melt.
These floes grow in thickness from year to year, and occa-
sionally a section is broken from the outer edge, drifts out
into the polar ocean, and becomes a floe-berg. This fast
ice extends from cape to cape, its outer limit being marked
by a fringe of rubble ice, piled high by the pressure of the
moving pack during the brief summer season.

We camped at the end of this march just north of Elison
Island. The next night the traveling was heavy and our

7.5

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progress slow. We saw a great many tracks of foxes, hares,
and lemming, and also some old tracks which Frederik
said were those of a bear. Frederik had the good fortune
to shoot a hare that evening — a valuable addition to our
scanty larder.

Rounding Black Cape, we pitched our tent on a point of
land of which it formed a part. Here we built a cairn in
which we left two days' provisions for ourselves and dogs
to be used on our return. Upon again resuming the march
our progress was greatly retarded during several days by
a severe storm which finally compelled us to camp for
sixty hours at Mary Murray Island — a loss of time we
could ill afford. To make good the time thus lost we were
forced to do one of two things — reduce our rations or
sacrifice one of our dogs. We wisely adopted the former
course.

On May 13, the storm abated and we prepared to resume
our advances. A rough reduction of observations obtained
here placed us in latitude 830 10/ N. The trend of the coast
was still to the northeast, our view terminating at a bold
promontory apparently some sixteen miles away.

Starting from Mary Murray Island we struggled on
through the deep snow to Hummock Cape, where we were
delayed by the immense masses of ice pushed up against
the abrupt face of the rocky headlands. We were com-
pelled to lower our sledge by ropes from the ice-foot to the
floe, where we found ourselves in a bewildering tangle of
rubble ice. In extricating ourselves from the intricacies of
this ice-pack, we had to cross the tidal track several times.
These crossings were attended with considerable danger,
and once we narrowly escaped engulfment by the breaking
of the thin ice at the margin of the crack.

On entering Weyprecht Inlet we had an excellent oppor-
tunity of observing the land on its northern side. Back
some distance from the inlet we saw a magnificent moun-
tain (Mount Schley) not less than 4000 feet high, standing
like a giant among a group of lesser peaks. From the outer
fringe of mountains the land sloped gradually toward the
ocean, terminating in a splendid headland (Cape Chris-
tiansen) at which our journey northward was to end. We
camped at the northern extremity of this cape, much ex-
hausted from our long tramp through the deep snow.
74

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

Owing to the fact that our supply of provisions was
nearly consumed, Lockwood reluctantly decided that we
would remain at this point only long enough to make a
satisfactory determination of our position and then turn
homeward. From our observation at Mary Murray Island
we knew that we had attained a higher northern latitude
than had ever before been reached, and that we stood on
land farther north than any that had been known or sup-
posed to exist. We unfurled the glorious Stars and Stripes
to the exhilarating northern breeze, with a feeling of ex-
altation impossible to describe. We shook each other's
hands from very joy, and even hugged the astonished
Eskimo, who wondered what it was all about.

We had struggled hard for many days through storm
and blinding drifts which gave us only momentary glimpses
of the outlines of the rugged coast along which we groped
our way, and we naturally felt elated over the satisfactory
issue of our endeavors. For three centuries our English
brothers, by dint of energy, unflinching perseverance, and
dauntless courage had held the supremacy of the farthest
north over all others, and we could hardlv realize that the
honor had now been transferred to our little party.

We received material assistance from the maps and
sketches made by Lieutenant Beaumont, R. N., of the
Greenland coast as far north as Cape Britannia, and these
sketches were the more appreciated, knowing as we did
the distressing circumstances under which they had been
prepared.

Soon after camping, the storm recommenced and we re-
tired to our tent to work up our notes and to obtain some
much-needed rest. The wind blew all night in fitful gusts,
threatening at times to tear our tent from its fastenings.
The next morning we were surprised at a visit from a snow-
bunting, which came fluttering about the tent in the driving
storm, uttering its cheerful chirp and then flying away to
the cliff above us.

During breakfast the wind subsided and snow began
falling in great flakes. Soon, however, the storm ceased,
the sky cleared, and the sun came out brightly, but unfor-
tunately too late for a meridian altitude.

Had we not been detained by the storm at Mary Murray

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Island, we could have gone twenty-five or thirty miles
farther up the coast, and more than likely settled for all
time the vexed question of the northern extremity of Green-
land, which has since been solved by the courage and per-
sistence of Lieutenant Peary. It was believed by some of
the best authorities on Arctic matters that from Cape Wash-
ington the coast would be found trending to the southeast,
in the direction Cape Bismarck, the most northerly known
land ever attained on the east coast of Greenland. The
settlement of this important question would have been a
fitting close to our discoveries.

We built a cairn on a narrow shelf directly under the
frowning face of the massive cape, which fronted the north.
It was constructed on a substantial and large scale, com-
mensurate with its importance, and in it were placed a
record of our journey and a minimum thermometer. A
small collection of rocks and vegetation was then made,
but it was difficult to obtain good samples, as they had to
be chopped with a hatchet from the frozen soil. The vege-
tation, consisting of lichens, grasses, and flowering plants,
was abundant considering the latitude. Numerous traces,
all recent, of foxes, lemming, hare, ptarmigan, and snow-
bunting were observed.

In my travels over the United States, and especially
through the unfrequented portion of the Rocky Mountains,
I had never found a spot so remote or inaccessible that it
had not previously been visited by the roadside artists who
had inscribed their gaudy advertisements of Plantation
Bitters or other nostrum on every conspicuous rock and
cliff. Here at last I found a place beyond their reach,
and it seemed almost lonesome not to be greeted by the
familiar notices; so taking a file from the sledge I walked
to the cliff and there wrote with the sharp steel point the
magic characters, " S. T. i860 X." When I informed
Lockwood of what I had done he laughingly said he was
convinced that I was in the employ of the firm and that I
expected to receive payment in bitters for mv work. He
suggested that an advertisement of soap would have pro-
duced a more substantial and useful dividend.

At 2 P. M., May 15, the last necessary observation was
obtained, and our position was found to be in latitude

76

FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY

830 24' N., longitude 400 46' W. We were exceedingly
fortunate in having such splendid weather for the astro-
nomical work. Failure to secure reliable observations for
the determination of position would have rendered the
result of the expedition vastly less satisfactory, for our
position could not have been accurately known until some
more fortunate future explorer should have found our cairn
and confirmed our discoveries.

Leaving Frederik in camp to prevent the half-famished
dogs from eating our equipment, Lockwood and myself
ascended to the top of the Cape to obtain a more extended
view of the country, and prompted by sentiment, to again
unfurl our flag over the new land. The summit, at an
estimated altitude of about 2600 feet, was a very narrow
plateau, extending back some distance and gradually slop-
ing upward to the high ground which terminated in Mount
Schley.

The scene was grand and impressive beyond description.
To the southwest arose the dark outlines of Mary Murray
Island and to its left and beyond, dimly showing, were two
of the capes we had rounded in coming up the coast. About
eight miles to the northeast a point of land (Cape Kane)
was visible, similar to the one on which we were standing,
with an intervening fiord, which probably communicates
with the one to the west, making of this land an island, to
which Lieutenant Greely subsequently gave the name of
Lockwood Island, in honor of its discoverer. Still another
point (Cape Washington), about fifteen miles away, pro-
jected farther to the north than the intermediate one — the
two being apparently separated by a fiord. In the distance,
looking past these two points, we saw a low, blue line,
stretching away to the northward, but owing to haze in
that direction it could not with safety be pronounced land,
though at first it gave us that impression. To our south
the coast was badly broken by entering fiords and the in-
terior was the embodiment of icy desolation — a confused
mass of snow-capped peaks.

Turning our gaze toward the nortJi, the Polar ocean, a
vast expanse of snow and broken ice lay before us in all its
gloomy solitude. Within our horizon of perhaps sixty
miles, no sign of land or open water could be seen. The

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ice appeared to be rubble, the absence of large paleocryslic
floes being particularly noticeable.

A fog rolled up from the northeast, interrupting our view
and warning us to descend. Hastily erecting a small cairn
in which Lockwood placed a tin case containing a record of
our journey and discoveries, we took a parting look and
quickly descended to camp.

Our work was now completed and we turned homeward,
reaching Fort Conger, June i, having been absent fifty-nine
days, during which we traveled nearly eleven hundred miles.

In closing this sketch I cannot refrain from touching
briefly on the character of Lieutenant Lockwood, the leader
to the " farthest north," and paying to his memory a tribute
of my love and admiration. He was a noble fellow, brave,
true, and steadfast and withal as gentle as a woman. His
work of exploration was performed unselfishly and without
hope of reward or favor, and his high aim is attested by
these words in his journal: " My great wish is to accomplish
something on the north coast of Greenland that will reflect
credit on the expedition and on myself."

How grandly was his wish fulfilled! By his incomparable
zeal and devotion to duty his brightest dreams of success
were more than realized, and his geographical work stands
as an imperishable monument to his memory.

7a

POLAR HOSPITALS

HENRY BIEDERBICK.

Henry Biederbick was born in Waldeck,
Germany, Jan., 1859. In 1881 he joined the
Lady Franklin Bay Arctic Expedition, under
Lieutenant Greely. Was appointed Hospital
Steward, and Assistant Naturalist of party. He
was one of the survivors rescued at Cape Sa-
bine by Admiral Schley in 1884.

HENRY BIEDERBICK

POLAR HOSPITALS

By HENRY BIEDERBICK

kURSING the sick is at all times a serious
problem, but has been brought to such
a perfection in our hospitals, and at
our homes also, when professional
nurses can be employed, that the pati-
ent suffers as little as possible. This
is entirely different, however, on an
Arctic Expedition, and I will give here a few instances
which occurred during our three years' sojourn in the
frozen North.

After landing in Lady Franklin Bay, in latitude 8i° 44'
north, longitude 64 ° 45' west, a house measuring 65 by 21
feet in the clear was at once constructed. It had double
walls, the two being about 15 inches apart, and was built
so as to give the greatest possible comfort. The interior
was divided into three rooms, one 16 by 21 feet for the
officers, another to be occupied by the other members of the
expedition, 40 by 21 feet, and the kitchen, situated between
the two, 14 by 8 feet, while the hallway alongside measured
7 by 8 feet. On the north and south sides, so-called lean-
tos were made from canvas and tar paper; these were used
for the storage of supplies, and also served as stopping
places when going out or coming in from the great outside
cold.

This house was our permanent place of abode for the first
two years of our Arctic stay, and I am glad to say the
health of the party was such that it was seldom a sick-bed
had to be used therein ; and that in the few instances when
we had a patient on hand, we were able to make him quite
comfortable, and attend to his every want.

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Our first patient was Private Henry, who, on a trip to
Cape Murchison, about twelve miles distant, on September
7 and 8, 1881, was so exhausted from exertion and cold,
that he had to be dragged home on the sledge. He soon
recovered after restoratives had been applied and rest given.

On the day following, a more serious case presented it-
self. Dr. Pavy, who had gone north overland with Ser-
geant Rice, towards Cape Henry, returned to the station
with the report that he had left Sergeant Rice about ten
miles north, suffering greatly from rheumatism. Four men
started at once with a sledge and an improvised stretcher,
to fetch Rice to the station; but after bringing him as far
as St. Patrick's Bay, they were too much exhausted to
carry him up the steep hill there, and more help had to be
sent for. We succeeded with hard labor in carrying Rice,
whose suffering was pitiful, to the plateau above, whence
we dragged him to the house on the sledge. Rice's lower
extremities were very much inflamed and swollen, as were
also his wrists and hands. We made him as comfortable
as possible, and succeeded in having him out of bed on the
tenth day.

After that, frostbites were the main affliction, I being
the one to suffer the most in this respect. Traveling over
the ice, hauling provisions northward for caches to be
used in our proposed effort to go north in the following
spring, we kept too close to the shore, and on November 7,
when an exceptionally high spring tide broke through the
crevices which divided the land from the ice, I got my
feet very wet, and as the temperature was about 40 below
zero, it did not take long for them to freeze. We camped
at once and changed foot gear, but my left foot was frozen
quite severely. Lieutenant Lockwood and Sergeant Brain-
ard alternately rubbed my feet until circulation was restored,
and then the pain commenced. I shall certainly never forget
that night, in which I shared with Lieutenant Lockwood a
single sleeping-bag, suffering all the tortures imaginable.
My comrades had to drag me to our home station on the
sledge, and arriving there, Dr. Pavy at first feared that it
would be necessary to amputate at least the large toe on
one foot; but it healed very nicely, although it was sore

84

POLAR HOSPITALS

almost through the whole of that winter in the Arctic.
Several of the others suffered from slight frostbites on
that same occasion, and many times did this occur after-
wards, but none was so serious as to cause the loss of even
a finger or a toe, except the sad case of poor Sergeant
Elison, of which I shall speak at length hereafter.

During our sojourn in the north two simple fractures
occurred; Sergeant Gardiner broke his left leg by slipping
on the ice and falling against some projecting point, while
endeavoring to read the tide-gauge. This occurred Novem-
ber 30, 1 88 1, but by Christmas of the same year he walked
round again, with the aid of a strong cane. On December
13, Sergeant Rice was unfortunate enough to break his
left shoulder bone, by falling against a sharp piece of
hummocky ice, while out in the dark, searching for our
little Eskimo Jens, who had in a moment of depression of
spirits taken it into his head to wander off in search of a
happier hunting ground. He was overtaken by Dr. Pavy
and a party about nine miles distant from the house.
Rice's shoulder mended rapidly and neither he nor Gar-
diner ever suffered thereafter in consequence of their in-
juries.

It is strange that in that extreme cold climate, no so-
called colds, such as catarrh or bronchitis, were ever
incurred by any of us. This is the more remarkable, if
one considers the rapid changes of temperature which we
met when going out of a comparatively warm room into
the outer air where it was sixty degrees below zero, or
even lower; or when coming in after spending a few hours
inhaling those icy blasts.

A few light cases of tonsilitis occurred, but they were
of so trifling a nature, that they hardly deserve mention.
Private Bender had suffered previously from an affection
of the lungs, and often complained of pains in his left
side, but recovered entirely, and did some good service
afterward.

The spirits of the party often became somewhat depressed
during those dreadful long Arctic nights. When the face
of old father Sol left us on the 16th of October, not to be
seen again until the 1st of March, there was a general
feeling of lassitude, loss of appetite and sleepiness in some

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instances, wakefulness in others, and anaemic condition
generally. Our commanding officer was unsparing in his
efforts to entertain, and the brighter members of the party
would at all times try to amuse and cheer the downcast
ones. With the return of the sun, all this was changed.
The appetite increased, cheerfulness of spirit took the place
of gloom, and the body became stronger as the mind grew
brighter.

During those dark days it was necessary to administer
tonics. Iron in its various forms was found to do the
most good. Besides the rheumatism of Rice, previously
spoken of, several other cases occurred, the pains in each
instance being very severe. Lieutenant Greely, Sergeant
Linn, Connell and Henry suffered at different times, but
the most serious attack was that experienced by myself,
and I have never recovered from it. On leaving Fort
Conger, July 9, 1883, I was able to hobble down to the
boat with the aid of a stout stick, but notwithstanding all
the discomforts suffered on our retreat, being wet to the
skin most of the time, sleeping either on the oars in the
boat, or on the ice itself, I improved daily, and after the
fourth day was able to work as hard as any of the others.

Although we had labored hard during the two years, and
suffered many discomforts, the worst was to come after
abandoning our home station, in order to meet, a ship,
which we thought must be somewhere south of us, trying to
reach us. It had been promised that one should be sent,
and the retreat was commenced by orders received at the
time of our start northward. We set out from Fort Conger
with a steam launch, three small boats and a little dingey,
taking all our records, the most valuable and necessary
instruments, about sixty days' provisions, and our sleeping-
bags. Each man was allowed eight pounds for his clothing
and personal belongings, the four officers having an extra
eight pounds each. At first we were towed by the launch
the greater part of the time, but we experienced several
dangerous nips, and had to be watchful, keeping away
from threatening floes. On several occasions we had to
throw our belongings on the ice and pull the boats up
after us to keep them from being crushed.

On August 26, we were beset in the ice, and on Sep-

86

POLAR HOSPITALS

tember 10, we abandoned the steam-launch and one of the
boats; on September 12, another boat was abandoned, and
we tried to reach Cape Sabine over the ice, carrying our
last boat on the sledge. The little dingey having been
previously cut up and used for fuel. But the next day a
strong wind broke up the ice, and we drifted into Smith
Sound on the floe upon which we were encamped. We

From a painting by Albert Operti
ESKIMO SUMMER HOME

were now on short rations, but supplemented this some-
what by the addition of seal meat and blubber from a few
seals which we were fortunate enough to kill. The water
obtained from the paleocrystic floe was very brackish, and
as our salt was all gone, we used seawater for stewing our
seal meat. This, together with the fatty seal-blubber,
caused a great deal of diarrhoea, and the little opium we
had taken along was fast nearing exhaustion.

We drifted about on this floe, sometimes north, some-
times south, until September 29, when a providential high

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wind blew us into Baird Inlet, where we were stranded
between two grounded icebergs. We ferried ourselves
across the lanes of open water to the nearest land, about
fifteen miles south of Cape Sabine. At this time we were
all in fair health, but very weak. Rice and our little Eskimo,
Jens, were sent to Cape Sabine to ascertain what was left
of the English cache, and also to see what records, if any,
had been left there by possible parties of succor, who
might have made a landing. They returned with the sad
tidings, that the Proteus, under command of Lieutenant
Garlington, had sunk on July 23, having been crushed by
the ice. The Lieutenant had left a record saying that all
hands were saved from the Proteus, that they would cross
over to Greenland and try to open communication, that the
S. S. Yantic was on her way to Littleton Island, but would
not enter the ice, and that a Swedish steamer would try to
reach Cape York. He would at once attempt to com-
municate therewith, and nothing in the power of man would
be left undone to send us succor. Unfortunately nothing
of the kind happened, and our starvation camp at Cape
Sabine was the consequence. Lieutenant Garlington had
left a cache of about five hundred rations of bread, some tea
and canned goods; there was also a cache of 240 rations
left by Mr. Beebe in 1882, and part of the 240 rations
cached by Sir George Nares in 1884, was still in good
condition. Lieutenant Greely decided it would be best
to move our few belongings near to these caches, and a
start was made at once.

We built a hut out of loose stones and ice, using water
as cement, which froze all parts solidly together. The
walls were about 3^2 feet high, the roof being formed by
our whale-boat; its length was 25 feet and width 17 feet.
Into this small hole our entire party crowded, spreading
our sleeping-bags on the floor with heads to the walls, and
feet toward the center, where a small passageway ran
through the length of the hut. This passage was used to
do our little bit of cooking, and for ingress and egress.

Our rations were cut down to the smallest possible allow-
ance that would sustain life, and as soon as the little lake
near which we were encamped froze solid to the bottom,
we were put on a short amount of fluid also, consisting of

POLAR HOSPITALS

two-thirds of a cupful of weak tea twice a day. The tea
ran out near the end of the winter, and we used to pick
up the leaves already used at the commencement of our
stay, and use them over again. Later still, we were glad
to get even a cupful of luke-warm water. Many of my
comrades suffered greatly from thirst, and in order to
supplement the scant allowance of water, we put finely
chopped ice into little rubber field bags, of which we
carried a number, placed them under our clothes, later near
to the skin, and the heat, of which there was so little, of
our emaciated bodies would melt a few drops of the pre-
cious fluid.

The sufferings we poor mortals endured during that
fearful Arctic winter — there is no spring — can hardly be
described; at least I am unable, and shall not attempt to
do so, but will try to convey, in a measure, a little concep-
tion of the only relief Dr. Pavy and myself were able to
give to our sick and helpless brethren. The insufficient
nourishment made itself felt not only in the body, but also
in the mind, and great were the efforts of Lieutenant
Greely and the stronger minded members of our little
party to divert the thoughts of the failing ones, and to
amuse them as much as possible. Of medicine we had
but little, and had we given some to every person asking
for it, we would not have had an iota left after the first two
weeks. We managed to get along, however, as best we
could, only wishing for some of the most necessary drugs,
such as strychnine and hyosciamus, to strengthen the
actions of the weak and depressed hearts, and for cathar-
tics, of which there was great need. Naturally, the small
quantities of food were partly responsible for our forlorn
condition. While lying in our sleeping-bags, constantly
tortured by a gnawing hunger, wounds and other affections
would heal very slowly. Gardiner suffered during all that
dark night from the effects of a felon, the affected finger
refusing to heal, although we used the few remedies at our
command as unsparingly in his case, as we could not later
in any other.

The most serious blow came to us in the early part of
Xovember, when a party of four men started out for Cape
Isabella to fetch the 144 lbs. of meat, cached there by the

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British Expedition under Sir George Nares, but which
was forced to return without accomplishing their errand.
They found the cache all right, and proceeded " home-
ward " therewith, but on the road Sergeant Elison became
so badly frostbitten, that they were forced to abandon the
meat on a large paleocrystic floe, put Elison into the sledge,
and bring him to our miserable quarters. The little party
came in very much exhausted, and the condition of Elison
was pitiable in the extreme. His face, hands and feet were
fearfully frozen, and his agony was heartrending. We did
everything in our power to alleviate his pains, and the com-
manding officer gave up his mattress — one of the two found
in the cache of the Proteus wreck and which were always
used by the sick — to make him more comfortable. I sat,
or rather cowered, night after night (when I say night I
mean the time corresponding to that part during which it
is night in temperate zones) watching and comforting the
poor fellow, and ministering to his wants to the best of
my poor ability. Dr. Pavy would relieve me during the
rest of the twenty-four hours, and every man in the com-
mand would at all times aid us in any little office required.
We had hopes at first, that some of the frozen parts
were only superficially bitten, but our illusions were soon
destroyed. Both feet slowly sloughed off at the ankle
joints, and his fingers dried up and became mummified. We
could entertain no thought of an operation, as any attempt
to amputate would have caused a loss of blood which, in
the weakened state of the patient, would have had serious
consequences. We were obliged, therefore, to confine our-
selves to keeping the wounds clean, and to effect that pur-
pose I dressed them daily. This was not an easy matter,
since water was such a very scarce commodity, and had to
be used most sparingly. At first I used a little borated
cotton and the few bandages we had taken along for
emergencies, together with the one pound can of carbo-
lated vaseline, and the little carbolic acid at my command.
All this was employed as judiciously as possible, but as
there were other small frostbites among my comrades, be-
sides several sore fingers which needed dressing, my supply
became exhausted very quickly. The commanding officer
then set apart all the lard, of which we had found a couple

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POLAR HOSPITALS

of cans in the wreck cache, for medicinal purposes. This
I mixed with the little salicylic acid which we had, and
with the mixture I attended to the injuries.

One of the serious questions confronting us was, how
to get the material to dress the wounds. We had found a
number of shirts in the clefts of the rocks near Cape Sabine,
left there by Lieutenant Garlington's party ; these shirts had
been wet and were frozen to a solid mass of ice. I beat off
the ice as much as possible, then placed them underneath
my clothes, and thus dried them for use. The aggravated
state of my rheumatic troubles to-day is probably a direct
result of this necessary action.

While in this precarious state, weakened in body and
mind with but a couple of hours each day when we could
afford the faintest excuse for light, by burning a little seal-
blubber in a lamp, improvised out of a tomato can, with
a piece of an old woolen sock or undershirt for a wick;
or by burning a candle manufactured out of stearine found
in the British cache, with a piece of old rope as wick,
there would occur discussions which seemed full of ani-
mosity, and which have since been described as " bicker-
ings " and " fights." I beg the reader to imagine himself
in a similar position, if such imagination is possible, and he
will readily understand that they were only outbursts of a
weakened, tortured mind. In reality every man of our
forsaken little party helped his weaker neighbor at all points,
where such aid was possible. The great efforts that were
made to improve our poor larder cannot be realized by the
world. Our hunters, Sergeant Long and the Eskimo,
aided later by Sergeant Frederick, certainly worked won-
ders, and had it not been for the providential appearance of
a bear, and its fortunate killing by Long, none of us would
have lived to tell the tale.

Our dear comrade Brainard worked incessantly for the
good of all, dividing the scanty food with equity, going out
during the coldest and stormiest weather to catch so-called
shrimps, in reality nothing but sea-lice, which helped greatly
to fill that aching void in our gnawing stomachs.

Rice, together with Frederick, made another effort to
secure that much-coveted meat from Cape Isabella, aban-
doned on the first attempt, but cruel fate carried away our

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faithful Rice, dooming him to perish from cold and exhaus-
tion. Good little Frederick covered his remains with snow
and ice, and alone made his way back through the dreary,
lightless ice-waste.

The stronger would always cheer and support the weak.
Dear, good Israel, although bodily very weak, would in-
variably have a cheery word for his neighbor, who might
be physically a little stronger, but over whose mind dark
forebodings of approaching end would cast a gloom. Lieu-
tenant Lockwood, proud of his achievement of having
reached the farthest north, would mournfully talk of his
loved ones at home, and for an hour at a time would recount
the good things to eat in our own " God's Country," as we
used to speak of it.

The first appearance of the grim visitor was on January
18, when Sergeant Cross, our engineer, died. Cross was
quite weak for some time, and showed some scorbutic signs,
the only really pronounced ones during our stay. Cross
was physically the weakest man among us, and having
used liquor and tobacco in rather large quantities during
the greater part of his life, his constitution was weakened.
This first death had naturally a somewhat depressing in-
fluence, but Lieutenant Greely made some judicious re-
marks and announced a slight increase in the ration, which
was, however, cut down again in a day or two, and one
man would try to show his neighbor how little he thought
of this sad affair, and point out the few chances of life we
still had. So by cheering one another, we were really in
a better state of mind that evening than before.

After this, although all were very weak, no death took
place until April 5, when Frederik J. Christiansen, one of
our faithful, hard-working Eskimo dog-drivers died of
starvation. After that we had four other deaths in rapid
succession, when the bear, sent so opportunely, gave us a
number of meals of fresh meat, and for a time stayed the
ravages hunger had created. It must not be imagined that
we set to feasting at once, since we only allowed ourselves
eight ounces of the bear meat per day, and for this the
very little other meat yet in our possession was withdrawn.
The fresh meat, however, with the consequent improvement
in the mind, renewed hope for game, and through that,

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POLAR HOSPITALS

worked wonders for a short time, when life again began to
ebb away, and the man with the scythe commenced anew
to reap his harvest.

Most of my comrades during those days of misery died
there, and the majority of them died supported by my own
weak arm, since in their last moment I would always, as
was my duty, try to ease them, and help them as much as
was in my poor power. A stronger will than ours decreed
that nineteen out of the twenty-five strong, healthy men,
who had dared everything in the interest of science, should
pay the cost with their lives, and that only six of us should
see the land of our love once more, kiss our dear ones,
and be greeted by a hearty welcome from our friends. We
returned, but no one of us the same healthy, vigorous
man he had been on leaving, all being more or less invalided.
Death, at most times so much dreaded, was really a friendly
visitor to some of the good men called away, since it
brought peace and release from all pain.

Our final days at Cape Sabine were spent in misery and
suffering. The last food had been consumed, and in our
necessity we were forced to eat our sealskin clothing and
boots. Fortunately, it was now continuous day, and warm
enough to get fresh water out of little pools, made by the
slowly melting snow. We also were able to crawl about
adjacent rocks, and gather lichens (tripe de roche), the
nutritive value of which may be questioned, but they aided
to fill up. As part of the ground was free from snow, we
could gather the roots of saxifrage, which we used for fuel,
and which would, by constantly blowing on them, give
quite a little heat, enough to singe the hair off our fur
clothing, and partly roast it so that it could be ground with
the teeth. It would also suffice to heat water to almost the
boiling point, and in this we would parboil parts of our
skin-boots, so as to permit of their mastication. All this
was very poor stuff on which to feed the sick, but since
it was all we had, we could do no better, and our good
Elison lived through it all, getting the lion's share to the
last. Although without feet, and practically without hands,
his face greatly disfigured by scars caused by frostbite, yet
he was otherwise physically the strongest. As it seemed
that he might survive us all, after our last pair of boots

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and our last pieces of fur had been divided, his share was
placed next to his sleeping-bag, and a spoon was fastened
to his right hand with strips of clothing, so that he might
prolong his life if possible. Strange to say, that, although
Elison had been, since the early part of November, prac-
tically lying on his back all the time (he was unable to
turn over alone), without a change of underclothing or a
wash, his body was yet clean and only during the last few
days did any signs of bed-sores appear.

The deaths from starvation seemed to be without suffer-
ing during the last moments, and all, save probably two,
lost consciousness, hours before breathing their last. The
death of Gardiner was especially touching, as he held in
his hands a little tin-type picture of his dear old mother, and
one of his young wife to whom he had been wedded only
shortly prior to joining the Expedition, and would fervently
gaze upon them. His last words were: " Mother, wife," as
if he were bidding them farewell. Lieutenant Kissling-
bury became unconscious one day about 9 A. M., but seemed
to awake from his lethargy about 3 P. M., when he asked
for water, and feeling his end to be near, he died singing
the Doxology. The last death to occur at our starvation
camp was that of Private Schneider, who died on June 18,
just four days before our rescue.

On June 20, a heavy wind sprang up and increased in
velocity on June 21 and June 22, keeping us in the tent.
To our misfortune the tent blew down on us in the small
hours of June 22, and we lay helplessly pinned under it,
patiently awaiting the end. In the evening our poor hearts
were gladdened, and our pulses forced to throb faster and
stronger again, by the sound of a steam whistle, faintly,
but distinctly heard in the distance. Brainard and Long
slept in an addition to the tent on its south side, and they
being able to move, went out to reconnoitre. Brainard
returned shortly, saying: "There is nothing to be seen; it
must have been the wind blowing over an empty tin can."

While discussing the pros and cons of a ship being near,
and while I was busying myself with Connell, who was
semi-conscious, we heard shouts from outside. In a few
seconds our rescuers, who had been gallantly led by that
hero of heroes, Commander, now Admiral, W. S. Schley,

POLAR HOSPITALS

were pulling at the tent, but, not being able to get in, a
knife did the work in an instant, and through the opening
thus made, Lieutenant J. C. Colwell, U. S. Navy, and
Captain J. W. Norman, the ice pilot, thrust forth their
hands. In one of these I spied a few biscuits, or hard-tack,
which I ravenously grasped, and passed on to my com-
rades, reaching for more; but Lieutenant Colwell was care-
ful and permitted us to have but little until the arrival of
the surgeons, Drs. Green and Ames, through whose skill
and combined efforts we were soon so far restored as to
permit of our removal to the vessels, U. S. S. " Thetis "
and " Bear," where we were most tenderly cared for, and
where we soon gathered new strength and fresh interest in
life.

Poor crippled Elison was still alive, and most tenderly
cared for, but as his feet and fingers had sloughed off by
nature's own work, the wounds became inflamed. As soon
as stronger food caused his blood to flow more rapidly
through his body, an amputation of the affected limbs had
to be resorted to, which was successfully accomplished; but
there was not enough strength left in him to withstand the
shock; he died, July 8, on board the " Bear," in Godhavn
Harbor, Disco Island, Greenland, after having patiently
suffered during eight months such torture as few persons
ever suffered before.

It was not until we had been for some little time aboard
the relief ships that we were sufficiently recovered to take
a real interest in the details which led to our timely res-
cue. I have frequently been asked the question as to
what our feelings were when we knew we were saved. I
do not believe that, at that moment, there was much feeling
in any one of us ; and this can be the more readily appreci-
ated when it is understood that perhaps forty-eight hours
longer would have been too late for the rescuing party to
find one man alive. We were dazed, stupefied, dying of
hunger and weakness, and, expecting only death, were
patiently awaiting its approach. The sudden and unex-
pected arrival of those who were to give life back to us
came as a flash of lightning from a clear sky. None of us
was enabled to realize the exact nature of events trans-
piring about us; we were too weary to feel or show emo-
tion, and the dread of death was long since passed.
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But when, having gained something of our strength
through tender care and proper nourishment, we realized
how opportune had been the coming of our rescuers, we
listened eagerly to the recital of the history of the relief
expedition, from its setting forth till its arrival at Cape
Sabine. We looked forward too, to our home coming,
and, in the joy which filled our hearts when we stepped
once more upon the land we loved, I think much of our
long period of suffering was forgotten.

oP

AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT

FRANCIS LONG.

Francis Long was born in Wurtemberg, Ger-
many, Jan., 1852. In 1881 joined the Lady
Franklin Bay Arctic Expedition under Lieuten-
ant Greely. Was appointed the hunter of the
expedition. Mr. Long was one of the sur-
vivors rescued at Cape Sabine in 1884. In 1901
was a member of the Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Ex-
pedition.

FRANCIS LONG

AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT

By FRANCIS LONG

CRIMPS, bacon and sealskin stew, all in
small quantities, had been our bill-of-fare
for nearly a month; then we found there
was not a full round of rations left.
More than half of the men in camp were
incapable of work, but that mattered little,
for there was scarcely more to do than one or two could
easily take care of. We were constantly drowsy from the
steady cold, but could take but little sleep at a time; two
hours was all. Sleep was sweet, but in that lay our greatest
danger, save when it was found that our supply of the
shrimps and fresh sealskin was exhausted; then starvation
as well as death from over-sleep stared us in the face. So
it was that we took turns in keeping guard, that one might
be always awake and arouse the others at the end of every

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two hours. When we saw almost certain death from
starvation ahead of us, it became the general thought that
perhaps, after all, it would be better to go to sleep together
and end it painlessly, unconscious of the bitter cold and
the gnawing pangs of hunger.

The camp was well stocked with guns, ammunition and
cooking utensils; I had always believed that the frozen
North abounded in certain game ; that there were fish in the
open water, and seals and polar bears in plenty. But I
had not reckoned rightly; had we been cast away on a raft
in mid-ocean we could scarcely have been more cut off
from all chance of obtaining fresh provision. There was
no game, though our rifles stood loaded; no fish, though
many weary hours we spent with lines dangling in the
water; no living thing save ourselves, only stretches of
ice and snow, the bitter cold and the solitude of the grave.

This was the situation, and sometimes we gave up to
despair — I perhaps, more keenly, for I was the hunter of
the camp, and while the others remained behind, hoping
against hope, I traveled back and forth over the ice, praying
that some live thing might come within reach of my gun.
Day after day I dragged myself homeward, but always with
the same answer to my companions' anxious looks:
" Nothing, not even a track in the snow! " And so, day after
day, until only twenty-four hours stood between us and
starvation.

That day, feeling that the task was useless, I had set
out with my gun across the ice and gone almost as far as
my strength would permit, when I chanced to come upon
a wide stretch of snow. More from force of habit than
through hope of being rewarded, I looked carefully across
the level field of white. Then my heart jumped so that I
thought it would tear loose from its fastenings; right in
front of me, showing as plainly as a map marked on the
palm of one's hand, were the tracks of a bear!

The sight of that broad imprint upon the snow gave me
new strength. I think I forgot how cold it was, that my
knees were ready to give way under me, and that my
fingers were so numb I could scarcely hold my rifle. If I
shot a bear we were saved from the terror which stared
us in the face; I could almost hear the cheers of my com-
rades and their fervent "Thank God!"
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AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT

It seemed that for hours I dragged myself over the ice
and snow, trembling through fear that the tracks might
disappear; then my strength left me and I knew that I
must return to the camp. What use to come upon the
bear when I could not raise my gun, or must lie down
with no one to wake me when the two hours had passed?

It was late in the afternoon when I got back to camp
and that time I had another answer to the questioning
looks. I had just gone over, for the tenth time, my story
of having discovered the tracks, when one of the men
exclaimed suddenly:

" Look! there is Brainard coming down Cemetery Ridge;
I didn't know it was in any of us to run so fast."

Sure enough, there was Brainard, who had gone to the
shrimping grounds, coming down the ridge as fast as his
weak legs would carry him; he fell once and rolled over
on the ice, but was up again and began shouting to us.
His voice was so weak we could not catch his words, and
when he reached the camp he was utterly exhausted.

"What is it, Sergeant? What have you seen?" asked
Lieutenant Greely.

"Bear! bear!" answered Brainard in a choking voice,
and made a feeble effort to rise. I was bending over him
by this time with my rifle already in my hand.

" Where, Sergeant; where is the bear? " I cried, my nerves
tingling and my body trembling with excitement.

"There!" answered Brainard, and he pointed to the
ridge. " He was close behind me ; he was following."

I was off toward the ridge in an instant. I had tracked
the bear during the greater part of the afternoon but with-
out success; now Bruin was walking right into camp and
I had no idea of neglecting so glorious an opportunity.

From the top of the ridge I could see nothing of the
bear. He had evidently been further behind than Brainard
thought and had not followed him to camp. He was some-
where out there on the glittering ice, perhaps hesitating
whether to examine us more closely, perhaps loping off
for new fields and forever beyond our reach.

I hastened down to the camp to find that some of the
men, the weakest of the party, were for arming themselves
and spreading over the icefield and among the icebergs.

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To this Lieutenant Greely was opposed; it would be the
height of folly. Some of the men could have gone no
further than the top of the ridge, and hardly one could hold
a rifle steady enough to hit the bear even if they came up
with him. Then the excited fellows turned to me; I was
the hunter of the party and I must get the bear.

It did not require the appealing looks of the famished
men about me to urge me to my utmost efforts. I resolved
to get the bear did I travel over the entire stretch of ice-
field; nothing should stop me but the open water or death
from sheer exhaustion. One thing was certain; the bear
was in our neighborhood, for Brainard had seen him, and
unless frightened he would not retreat too far from the
shrimping ground. My plan of action was quickly formed;
the surest, I thought, which promised success. Bidding
Jens, the Eskimo, follow me, I started up the ridge again,
for in that direction Brainard had seen the bear.

My hopes lent me strength, but my feet seemed like
lead as I climbed the steep ascent. I neared the top, with
the camp behind and my anxious companions looking after
me, every hope centered and fixed on the rifle I carried in
my hand. I slipped on the hard ground, recovered myself
and gained the summit of the ridge; three hundred yards
away, an ice-covered rock stood out against the horizon,
and from around a corner of this rock protruded a long
white nose — it was the Polar bear.

At the same instant the animal caught sight of me,
backed away and went lumbering over the ice in the direc-
tion of the open water.

" Jens," said I hastily, " take the course to the left and
go around the ridge; keep well to the west so as to head
her off from the water, I will take care of the east."

The faithful fellow understood the plan and set out at

once, while I crawled over the rocks and saw the bear a

long way off still on the run. Once or twice he looked

back and then, as though satisfied that he was pursued,

continued his flight. Keeping off to the right I made as

good time as possible, crawling, sliding up and down the

icy slopes, feverish with fear lest the bear reach the water

first. It seemed as though every possible obstruction lay

in my way and I could see the Eskimo was having as hard

a time of it.

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AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT

Looking back it seems incredible, but I actually went
ten miles in the circle followed to head off the bear. I
knew that when he got over his fright he would stop run-
ning, and it was of the most vital importance to keep well
out of sight. Of those ten miles little was covered on the
run; most of it was gained by crawling, two and a half
hours of stumbling, slipping, falling and struggling to one's
feet again. But it never entered my head to give up; I
had started out to get the bear and I thought of the dis-
appointed and soul-sick men who were awaiting my return.

Finally the long chase drew near an ending; I had
climbed a little hill and, having fallen, was struggling to
my feet, when looking ahead I saw bruin not a thousand
yard away. He was sitting on his haunches within thirty
yards of the open water.

We were not yet sure of him, but his back was toward
me and the Eskimo was approaching from the left. With
the utmost care we crawled forward over the ice, approach-
ing nearer and nearer to our prey. Suddenly, when we
had gone half the distance, the Eskimo raised his rifle and
fired; it was poor judgment, for the bear was still many
yards away and I doubt if the bullet touched him. I did
not wait to see; it was the last chance, and throwing cau-
tion to the winds I dashed recklessly forward straight at
the animal. He, in turn, got upon his legs, wheeled half-
around and seemed to hesitate whether to run, or to stand
and show fight.

Excitement gave me strength and I ran harder than
I had done for months; it took all my resolution to resist
firing while the bear was yet far off. He did not run,
only turned his head and blinked at me and continued
doing so until I came within about two hundred yards.
Then I stopped, threw off my cap, hurled my mittens upon
the ice, and took a long deliberate aim; T have shot at a
target and been less cool.

The echo of my shot went rolling over the ice-field; over
the barrel of the gun I saw the bear rise upon his haunches,
his fore paws tore the air, then with a great lurch he swayed
and went down, a furry heap of dirty white upon the ice.
Jens uttered a shout of triumph and ran forward, but I
took the precaution to put two more bullets into the beast's
head before laying aside mv rifle.
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It was half-past 8 o'clock, and the distance to camp was
three miles in a straight line.

" Jens," said I, a lump sticking in my throat, u we will go
home and tell the boys there are four hundred pounds of
meat waiting for them out here on the ice."

There was little sleep in camp that night and we did not
mind the cold so much.

" Extra rations ! " announced Lieutenant Greely, " there's
the meat and the scraps will make a splendid stew."

Extra rations, indeed, we had next day, and the bear meat
held out just long enough to keep us living until the res-
cuers found us; but without the bear we would have died
weeks before.

108

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

MIDDLETON SMITH.

Middleton Smith was born in Bainbridge,
Penn., March, 1847. Received the appointment
to the Point Barrow, Alaska, Expedition, as
naturalist and observer, and was absent at Point
Barrow, 1881 to 1883. He made collections in
natural history and ethnology for the United
States National Museum. Upon his return to
the States he assisted in editing the reports on
the proceedings of the Point Barrow and Lady
Franklin Bay Expeditions.

MIDDLETON SMITH

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

By MIDDLETON SMITH

|T Point Barrow, Alaska, the most northern
point of the American continent, are two
settlements of Eskimo, whose sphere of ex-
istence is confined, through superstitious
fear, within an area of several hundred square miles.
Very few, if any, ever journey so far south as the
Arctic Circle or beyond it. Probably they never saw
a white man before the Blossom's barge arrived at
Point Barrow, in 1826. Previous to 1881, they were for
the greater portion of each year completely isolated from
civilization. It was only when, during the summer, a
United States revenue marine cutter, or an Arctic whaling
vessel, reached the Point, that the Eskimo of these northern
Alaskan settlements would get a glimpse of civilized life.
But they had the " kablunah," or white man, continually
with them for two years from the fall of 1881, when the
United States Government established at Point Barrow a
permanent station, for the purpose of cooperating in the
work of circumpolar observation proposed by the Hamburg
International Polar Conference. During the occupancy of
the station by the expeditionary force, the most friendly
relations were established with these people, which made
it possible to obtain from them, through trade, a collection
of articles illustrating the arts and industries, and to study
their life and superstitions.

The population of these two Eskimo settlements was 180.
There were 54 families and about one-half as many " igloos,"
or permanent dwellings. At the Cape Smyth settlement,
where the station of observation was established, there

11.1

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were 45 men, 52 women, 2J boys, and 14 girls. From the
measurements and the weights of the adult Eskimo of the
two villages, it appears that the traditional estimates of
Eskimo stature and avoirdupois will need revision. The
tallest man was 5 feet 8}£ inches; the shortest, 4 feet 11
inches. The tallest woman was 5 feet 3 inches; the short-
est, 4 feet yi inch. The average height of the men was
5 feet 3 inches; of the women, 4 feet 11 inches; of both sexes,
5 feet 2 inches. The heaviest man weighed 204 pounds;
the lightest, 126 pounds. The heaviest woman weighed
172 pounds; the lightest, 100 pounds. The average weight
of the men was 153 pounds; of the women, 135 pounds; of
both sexes, 146 pounds. Of the men there were few under
5 feet 4 inches, the army regulation height, and very few
under 140 pounds. The majority of the women were over
5 feet in height and weighed 130 pounds or more.

These Eskimo differ also from the traditional Eskimo in
other respects. The lines of Bancroft in his " Native Races
of the Pacific States " representing the " dozing " Eskimo
" rubbing his eyes " and " crawling forth " when the long
arctic night is ended, have no application whatever to the
Eskimo of northern Alaska. It frequently happens that
there is no other time during the year in which these people
are so actively engaged in the struggle for existence as
during the arctic night. This is their principal " sealing
season," and the hardy Eskimo, instead of being found
asleep in his iglu, may be seen miles out upon the ocean
ice looking for " breathing holes," " ice cracks," and
" leads " or " lanes " of open water, where he may shoot
or spear the seal as they come up to the surface to breathe,
or may capture them in nets. If the sealing be good, it
makes no difference to the Eskimo whether the tempera-
ture is at zero or 50 degrees below, whether the wind is
merely a gentle breeze or is blowing a gale, so long as it is
an " on-shore " wind, so that there be no danger from the
breaking away of the ice on which he is staying; he stands
by his " sealery " and fishes his nets. The flesh of the
seal constitutes three-fourths of his food supply and the
blubber furnishes the principal means of illuminating his
iglus and of bartering for furs with the people of the
interior. Healthy, strong, and sinewy, therefore, as he is,

114

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

he must put forth extra strength and endurance in the
struggle against the rigors of frost during the winter seal-
ing season, for if he be foiled in his attempts at capture
and the " output " be small, he must suffer in consequence.
An Eskimo being asked whether his hands did not get
very cold and the night seem long while he was engaged
in fishing his nets for the capture of seal, replied, that if he
took a few seal his hands got very cold and it required a
long time for the star Arcturus to move from the northern
horizon, where it appears in the evening, to the southern
horizon, where it is seen in the morning; but if he took
many seal he did not mind the cold and Arcturus passed
too quickly to the south. It was a common occurrence
during the arctic night for these natives to come with badly
frost-bitten faces to our station from their sealing grounds,
where in the deceptive flush of success they had remained
too long, to receive at the hands of our surgeon a gratis
and grateful application of iodine to ease their pain and
prevent the frost-bitten sores from spreading. It is a mis-
take to ascribe to these Eskimo the quality of drowsiness,
sleepiness, or inactivity.

Unlike the people of tropical zones, where, Edenlike, the
sheltering tree drops food, and the little nourishment essen-
tial to life may be obtained by only stretching forth the
hand and plucking it, the Eskimo must maintain a continu-
ous struggle for the necessaries of life. At the close of the
winter sealing season, which is about coincident with the
end of the 72 days arctic night, they journey into the in-
terior for caribou and fish, and for about two months,
February and March, while engaged in the caribou chase
and in gill-net fishing through the river ice, they live in
snow houses, temporarily and rudely constructed for the
occasion.

Fishing gill-nets through holes cut in the river ice, from
six to eight feet in thickness, while strictly speaking it
cannot be considered commercial fishing, since with the
Eskimo it is done for home consumption only, yet cannot
by any possible construction be classed as pleasure fishing.
Hunting deer in this level country, wholly devoid of trees
and shrubbery, where the caribou can see his would-be
slayer when he is miles away, and can scent him equally far

115

THE WHITE WORLD

if he be to the windward of him, is no idle pastime. When
a caribou is finally sighted, after perhaps a long and tire-
some tramp, the Eskimo, in order to get within rifle range,
must run the caribou down. This may seem incredible,
but it is nevertheless true. When the caribou first sees the
hunter approach he starts up and runs a short distance and
then resumes his feeding by pawing the hard-crusted snow
off the moss which furnishes his sustenance; but seeing
the Eskimo in a dog-like trot still pursuing him, he again
starts up and runs a short distance and again resumes his
feeding. Each succeeding time that he starts and runs he
shows signs of increased uneasiness, and finally, in order
to find out what kind of a being his pursuer is, he will
swing around towards the leeward to take his scent. See-
ing the caribou veer from his course, the hunter will alter
his own course so as to head the deer off and keep to the
leeward of him, and in this way get within long rifle range
and open fire.

Fish and caribou, the luxuries of the Eskimo spring diet,
when taken under such conditions, are dearly earned and
ought to be cached and apportioned during the year in
homeopathic measure, as entrees to the regular diet of seal
meat. But arctic hunger is not cognizant of any future
want. As an illustration of the eating capacity of the
Eskimo, I would relate the following. Ten hunters with
their families or assistants, numbering all told 30 souls,
have been known to take during the short hunting season
200 caribou and 2000 pounds of fish. They were absent
from the coast on this hunting and fishing tour two and
one-half months. Upon their return to the coast an in-
ventory of what remained of the " output " showed but 30
caribou and 500 pounds of fish, and they had left nothing
cached in the interior. These 30 Eskimo, therefore, con-
sumed within two and one-half months 170 caribou, which
amounted, when dressed, to about 17,000 pounds, and 1500
pounds of fish, or a total of 18,500 pounds of meat. This
gives an average per man of 246^3 pounds per month, or
Sj pounds per day. This average may seem excessively
high and may tax one's credulity, but there must be taken
into account the facts that the diet was purely an animal
diet, that during these months about the coldest weather of

116

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

the year was experienced, that this party was almost en-
tirely without any artificial heat whatever, that the violence
of the exercise in the exciting chase produced ravenous
appetites and that their predominant thought was food.

It may be incidentally mentioned in this connection that
the personnel of the Point Barrow Expedition consumed
about one and one-half times as much food, and perhaps
three times as much water while in the arctic region as
would naturally satisfy their normal hunger and thirst
when in the States. And, had the sole object of the ex-
peditionary force been engaged in the chase under Eskimo
conditions, their average amount of food consumed would
no doubt have compared favorably with that given above
for each Eskimo.

After the return from the caribou chase the Eskimo be-
gin making preparations for whaling, and by the first of
May they are generally upon the ice looking for whales.
During the whaling season they live principally in their
boats, as their superstition interferes with the building of
ice-houses upon the ocean ice and forbids any sleeping,
heating or cooking outfit or even a change of clothing.
Any such comforts or emergency preparations on the part
of the Eskimo would greatly displease the whales and cause
them to pass into the Arctic Ocean far out from the Alaskan
coast. The stone spear, which requires considerably more
force to penetrate the whale's skin and is less sure of suc-
cess than the iron or steel spear, must be first used by
these people in striking a whale, simply because their fath-
ers and grandfathers before them used stone toggle har-
poons. Whales, which otherwise might be captured, are
lost to the Eskimo by his not using, through superstitious
fear, the steel harpoon. After they succeed in fastening to
a whale they can, without offending their forefathers, use
the modernized harpoon. It may be pertinent in connec-
tion with this subject to mention the fact, which is perhaps
not generally known, that the modern harpoon used by
our whalers to-day is fashioned after the style of the primi-
tive stone toggle harpoon of the Alaskan Eskimo. The
harpoon irons used by our whalers when they first went into
Bering's Sea and the Arctic Ocean would not hold, and
in consequence a large percentage of the whales that were

117

THE WHITE WORLD

chased, which otherwise might have been captured, escaped
their pursuers.

At the close of the whaling season, which is the first of
June, preparations are made for a journey along the coast
to the east of Point Barrow to meet and trade with the
natives of the interior of northern Alaska who, during the
summer time, come down the Meade and Colville rivers to
the coast.

Thus the life of the Point Barrow Eskimo is spent in one
continuous round of hunting, fishing and trading under
conditions at no time pleasant and frequently under the
most adverse circumstances; yet, strange as it may seem,
their perseverance never flags, their peaceful disposition
never gives way to ugliness, their good nature to anger, nor
does their overflowing mirthfulness ever forsake them.

The Eskimo of Point Barrow are the most cheerful and
mirth-loving of any people found on earth. They are never
morose, gloomy or dismal, as might be thought would be
a result of the rigors of their inhospitable climate and
surroundings. They are a good people. Serious family
quarrels, such as result in bodily injury, are of very rare
occurrence among them, and it may be questioned whether,
previous to the introduction of alcoholic liquor into this
region, such quarrels had occurred at all, for at least, sev-
eral generations. The taking of human life is resorted to
only on the very rare occasion when any one of them be-
comes dangerously insane, and then it is only after a gen-
eral council is called and a unanimity of opinion prevails,
that such a person is deprived of his life. Harmless in-
sanity is suffered by this people until natural death ends
the life of the Eskimo thus afflicted. Unjustifiable homi-
cide may possibly occur, but if such be the case, I think it
is safe to say that the number of instances will not average
one in a generation.

They never abuse, scold or punish their children of either
sex, and, on the other hand, the children are obedient to
their parents or guardians, and in their play, their work,
or their idle moments never quarrel among themselves.
The Eskimo ill-treat no one. The wife is shown the con-
sideration due to her sex so far as Eskimo superstition
will allow. During her period of confinement she must

118

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

occupy exclusively separate quarters. If this occurs in the
summer she will live in a tent, but if in the winter she will
have to move from the family iglu, in which the tempera-
ture is about 45 degrees Fahr., to a snow house, where
the temperature will necessarily be at about the freezing
point of fresh water, and her furniture will consist only of
caribou skins, a cup to heat water in, and a stone lamp.
She will receive frequent visits from her attendant and

CHILDREN OF THE WHITE WORLD

others who kindly administer to her wants, but for a time
no one is allowed to enter her snow palace. This custom
obtained with their hardy ancestors and must, therefore, be
sacredly observed to-day.

Aside, from the vices which these Eskimo have acquired
from civilized people, and the evils which result from some
of their manifold superstitions, they need no missionary or
reformer. Nothing is ascribed by them to the pleasure
or displeasure of an infinitely good being, but they attribute

THE WHITE WORLD

ill-luck, disaster, sickness and death to an evil spirit whose
presence they try to frighten away, or whose wrath they
endeavor to appease. Many of their superstitious rites and
practices are harmless in themselves. Some result in good;
others in disaster. The traditional Eskimo never washes
himself, but the Point Barrow Eskimo would expect great
disaster to befall him if, just before engaging in the caribou
chase, he did not wash from his person the scent, dirt, and
grease accumulated during the winter's sealing; or if, just
before going out on the ice in the following April to capture
whales, he did not wash off the scent of the caribou chase.

When a death occurs in the village the women are not
allowed, from sunset to sunrise, either to make or repair
garments or to do sewing of any kind, except in the most
urgent cases, when the work must be done while sitting
within circles inscribed by the point of a knife upon the
floor of the iglu.

A woman who during the winter has lost a child by
death is not allowed to go on the ocean ice during the
Eskimo whaling season, for if she were to go, the whales
would either not come at all or would pass in their run
to the north and east, far from the shore ice. This restric-
tion may deprive a family of a possible share in the season's
catch.

The umiaks, or large skin-boats, when prepared for
whaling are decorated with crow skins, eagle beaks and
claws, the skin of ermine, and little bags containing earth
from the grave of some old-time noted whaleman, for the
purpose of ornamentation and also as luck-charms. After
the umiaks are ready, all of the natives are restricted
from pounding on iron, chopping wood, or digging in the
earth, and all their movements must be made in a quiet
manner. The umiak must be launched from the ice, bow
first, otherwise it would be impossible to capture a whale
during the entire season.

A whale must be first struck, as heretofore observed,
with the stone toggle harpoon, and in consequence some
whales escape, which, if struck with the iron harpoon might
be captured. Each captured whale, before being cut up,
must have a few drops of fresh water from the tundra
poured on his head, and some magic words spoken to as-

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

sure future luck and success. The necessary fresh water
for this purpose is carried on the whaling expedition in
bags made from seal flippers. To prevent it from freezing,
these bags are placed between the outside and inner jack-
ets of the men above the belt, and near the small of the
back. Every seal taken on the ice, whether by spearing,
shooting, or netting, must be sprinkled with fresh water
before it is taken to the land. If a wife should happen to
see her husband coming across the ice with a seal from
the hunt, she would immediately run with a cup of fresh
water in order to pour it on the seal's nose, before it is
brought upon the land. After the seal is cut up and eaten,
its bones, no matter how hungry the dogs may be, even if
they are on the verge of starvation, must all be returned to
the sea, or ill-luck will surely follow.

When the Eskimo goes to the banks of the river in the
interior to hunt caribou and net fish he makes an offering
of a little tobacco to the " tunah," or spirit of the dead, for
good luck, and then sets his nets and awaits results. His
superstition will not permit his hunting the same day he
sets his nets, nor allow him to remove the fish from the net
the day he hunts. Upon such an occasion his wife only
can fish the net.

While I was stationed at Point Barrow, Captain Heren-
deen, interpreter and storekeeper of our expedition, once
made a three weeks' trip into the interior of the country,
for the purpose of hunting and fishing. When he returned
he told the incidents of his trip, one of which furnishes a
good illustration of the kindliness and loyalty so generously
exhibited by the Eskimo attendants. The captain had gone,
in the excitement of the deer chase, so far from his camping
ground that night overtook him many miles from his tent.
On account of the darkness and the level character of the
country it would have been folly for him to attempt to find
his way back, for the chances were that the more he would
walk, the farther he would stray away from the tent, or
else that he would describe a wanderer's circle about it.
He wisely concluded to wait for daylight, whereby he might
be safely guided tentward. The night was cold and windy
and he was obliged during the entire night to keep up a
brisk walk within a limited area, in order to avoid being

OFF THE ALASKAN COAST

frozen. The aurora, as in mockery of his sufferings from
the cold, danced in the heavens above him with undimin-
ished brilliancy for the greater part of the night, and
occasionally sent its crimson streamers to the zenith, form-
ing coronas, most beautiful to behold. Day finally dawned
and he began his homeward march, but he had not gone far
before he saw his Eskimo ally coming with a dog team in
search of him. The faithful Eskimo showed both intelli-
gence and forethought, for he brought with him blankets,
change of clothing, and food. He also showed more than
ordinary concern about the welfare of the " kab-lu-nah,"
for if any evil had befallen the captain, the Eskimo would
have been denounced by his own people as " a bad man."

While the following facts pertain especially to the Es-
kimo on the Siberian coast, yet I know from personal
observation that the kindly and self-sacrificing spirit shown
by these people pervades all the Eskimo of arctic Alaska.

Late in the year 1866, the ship Japan, Captain Barker
commanding, while trying to make her way out of the
Arctic Ocean, during a severe snow-storm and gale, was
driven ashore on the north side of Cape East. The officers
and crew were rescued by the coast Eskimo, who at once
distributed the shipwrecked persons among the villages

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

along the coast, and kindly shared with them, during the
long winter, their igloos, clothing, and food. As the sum-
mer of 1866 had been very unpropitious for the capture of
the walrus, and the ice during the winter of '65 and '66
was unfavorable to the taking of seal, the food-supply of
these people was unusually small, and to take care of and
feed a whole shipwrecked crew of 32 men, at a time when
they could scarcely obtain provisions sufficient for their
own families, was a very trying task and taxed their pa-
tience almost beyond human endurance. When probable
starvation stared them in the face, a council of the little
settlements was called to see whether they should endeavor
to keep these strangers through the winter or to simply
save their own people. It was decided in this council, that
as the strangers were thrown, by no fault of their own,
upon their shores and, as it were, placed under their care,
they should have an equal chance for life with themselves.
Captain Barker of the Japan testifies that the Eskimo
women in apportioning the food among his men frequently
shed tears on account of the smallness of the amount, and
often would increase the same by adding portions of their
own shares. And all through the long arctic winter, the
strangers who were so helpless and entirely dependent upon
these people for the food, clothing and shelter which should
enable them to survive the arctic frosts, were given the best
food that was to be had and the largest share. Those of
the crew who were assigned to distant villages also testify
to having been treated with the utmost kindness and con-
sideration. Captain Barker did not learn, until the plenty
of the following spring made further fear unnecessary, that
there had been any question among the Eskimo in regard
to their supporting him and his crew through the winter.

A few years previous to the loss of the Japan, the bark
South Seaman was wrecked, at almost the same place and
under similar circumstances, and her officers and crew were
rescued, sheltered, clothed and fed by the Cape East Es-
kimo. Could the men of the ill-fated " Jeannette Expedi-
tion," when they landed on the north Siberian shore have
reached an Eskimo settlement they would have had no
story of suffering from exposure, of starvation and of death,
such as was related by the few who actually did survive.

123

THE WHITE WORLD

The Eskimo are, generally speaking, an industrious peo-
ple, healthy and strong, harmless, kindhearted, very mirth-
ful and rather good-looking, the children being always
pretty and some of the maidens beautiful. Each man has
a wife and the couple are dependent upon their offspring
for support in their old age. They are not a very prolific
race and we see some aged couples childless. Such cou-
ples adopt parentless children and in extreme cases induce
parents who have many offspring to sell them a boy or two.
The parents' affection for their children is very great and
they are very kind to them. I never heard of a parent
striking or speaking a cross word to a child. The children
are allowed to do pretty much as they please, but whenever
they are told to do anything they do it at once, and take
as much interest in it as they do in their games. They
never quarrel among themselves, and while at play may be
heard their merry and hearty laughter. They are all merri-
ment and a scowl or frown never shows itself upon their
faces. With but few exceptions, the men treated their
wives, while we were among them, with the greatest con-
sideration.

Among the amusements of the Eskimo may be men-
tioned their public dances. Upon some of these occasions
they dress in white, and blacken their faces. Their skin
jackets and trousers are turned inside out and scraped and
whitened with chalk. A feather may adorn the hood of the
jacket. The dance is accompanied with monotonous croon-
ing and noises made on drums which may be likened to
our tambourines. Each and every dance has its special
object. The first one given during the winter of 1882 was
a sort of " surprise party " dance. They made presents to
one another. A couple took the floor and, after a short
dance to music, the ceremony of presenting some object
to the lady took place. Another couple went through with
the same performance, and was followed by another, and
so on until the presents were disposed of, and the ball
ended in a general dance. This dance furnished an occa-
sion for the natives to fulfil their promises made during the
year. They would feel very sorry if they could not fulfil
these promises. A few days before this dance took place, a
young native, U-gah-lu by name, came ,to our captain and

124

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

said he had promised to Miss Po-cas-si-nah some " pe-lah-
vah " (flour) and had not the wherewithal to redeem his
promise, and he pleaded with the captain to help him out of
his dilemma. He said he could not choose anything else
to take the place of flour since it is so highly prized as a
luxury. The boy got the flour and the girl was made the
recipient of it at the ball.

The object of the second dance during this winter was to
frighten off the Eskimo " devil." They firmly believe in
:he existence of this personage, and at night they always
carry a long knife to protect themselves against him. Some
of them claim to have seen the devil and describe him as a
winged man, very savage and horrible to behold. They
believe that by dancing and shouting around a fire and
pouring water upon it and firing rifles into the ashes the
devil will either be killed or badly wounded, and will pass
away with the smoke.

Their third dance had for its object the " blessing of the
sealing and whaling implements." During this dance all
the Eskimo boat-captaijjs had seats in the orchestra and a
select few did the drumming and talking. The dance came
in at the close of the exercise, but was of secondary im-
portance. Upon their return from the deer hunt they have
a dance, and also upon various other occasions.

For sickness they take no medicine, but the physicians
assemble in the sick chamber and beat their drums and
ab'-ba-bah' (howl) to the devil to go out of the sick person.
If in the course of a day or two the patient does not im-
prove under such treatment, a knife is used by the wise
doctors, and surgery is performed. Slight gashes are
made in the afflicted parts of the patient's body. If it be
a case of persistent headache, a cut from a quarter to one
inch in length is made in the head. If the pain be in the
back, a cut is made there. Other parts of the body receive
like treatment if the devil intrudes there. You might think
that some of these thrusts would prove fatal to the patient,
but through long practice these surgeons probably know
were to cut and where not to cut. These doctors charge
for their services. Their fees consist of whalebone, walrus
tusks, fox and deer skins, food, etc. Eskimo families, like
people in civilized lands, are made poor by having much

125

THE WHITE WORLD

sickness. The Eskimo word for paper is " muk-pa-rah',"
and there was a little thin doctor whom we christened
Muk'-pa-rati. By virtue of his paper thinness he was
reckoned a good doctor, for he could get into places where
larger men could not go, so that the " evil spirit " had a
hard time to conceal himself from this doctor. He was
very successful in driving out the devil from the innermost
recesses of the Eskimo heart, soul, and body. Whenever
our doctor made a professional call in the village, Dr.
Mukparah wanted to be consulted, and they used to go
together to heal the sick, our doctor administering the medi-
cine, and the other doing the howling and face-making.
Of course the latter made the patient well and, being the
native doctor, got such fees as he demanded.

These Eskimo doctors are employed at certain seasons
of the year to beat the drums and howl upon other occa-
sions than those of sickness. In the spring they ab-ba-bah'
for a southeast wind to drive off the pack ice and open the
water lanes, so that the whales can pass up near the coast.
During this ceremony the men sit in a semi-circle facing
the ocean, the middle man or magician beating a drum
and singing a monotonous chant addressed to a spirit, re-
questing him to make the desired wind blow. While this
incantation is in progress, as well as during the whaling
season, no pounding must be done in the village for fear of
frightening away the whales. In the fall of the year they
howl for the large ice to come from the north and bring
with it nan-nuk' (bears). If a vessel be nipped in the ice,
they howl for her to be crushed so they may enrich them-
selves with the ship's canvas and cargo. In the summer of
1882. when the steam whaling ship " North Star," Captain
L. C. Owen, was nipped abreast of Point Barrow, the
Eskimo doctors kept up a continuous howl for her to be
crushed. For three weeks they encamped upon the ice
near the ship, waiting for the crisis to come. Our signal
glasses were constantly pointed at her, and when we saw
her flag at half-mast and heard the natives shout we knew
the ship was in trouble. The ice pressure was too great
for her and, strongly as she was built, she was crushed in
and sank within three-quarters of an hour. We saw
through our glasses her every movement, the crew lowering

126

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

boats and heaving things upon the ice and finally leaping
for their lives. When the captain was done with her, he
allowed the natives to do as they saw fit with the vessel.
They then began operations by climbing aboard, running
aloft, cutting sails and ropes and heaving upon the ice
every thing that was movable. Canvas, the natives prize
very highly; it makes good summer tents for them and
they use it also to wrap their dead in. They will endanger
life and limb for the sake of getting canvas.

In their trading these natives practice considerable
trickery, and when detected they consider it more in the
nature of a good joke than a wilful falsehood. We bought
from them seal oil to burn in our lanterns. At first they
brought it to us in wooden vessels which we immediately
emptied and returned to them. One day a native brought
oil in discarded fruit cans and, seeing that we did not
empty them, they all began at once to bring the oil in
these cans. A lively trade sprang up and it was some
time before we discovered that we were buying cans only
half full of oil, the lower half containing solid ice.

In the fall of 1881 we were very much in need of fresh
meat. We made it known to the natives and, as we had,
a few weeks earlier, paid them well for a" portion of a deer,
they at once dressed a large dog (removing his skin, head,
feet, and tail) which had either died a natural death or
been killed on account of old age, and offered it for trade,
assuring us that it was freshly killed deer.

In the spring of 1882, we began to retrench in the use
of our coal, and we hired the natives to gather drift wood
for us. A brisk wood trade sprang up, but after the wood
pile got about six feet high it did not seem to increase,
although the same number of sled loads came every day,
and the same amount of tobacco and hardbread was paid
out. Their system of stealing the wood by night and
returning it by day for sale was continued for some time
before the discovery was made.

While helping us unload the schooner which brought
us additional supplies, a box fell upon the foot of a native
and pressed against his leg. He made a great fuss and said
" An-a-nan, an-a-niri-i " (it hurts, it hurts very much).
He limped and we helped him up the beach and paid him

127

THE WHITE WORLD

off, giving him an extra amount of hardbread and tobacco.
A long time afterward he told us that he was not hurt at
all but that he " chuck-a-looed " (lied) to us and said that
he thoroughly enjoyed deceiving the white man, or words
to that effect. We christened him " Chuck-a-loo."

As a general thing the Eskimo do not lie to one another,
or steal from one another. If they be away from home
and run short of provisions they will help themselves to
any meat cache which they may chance to find, just as
the graziers of cattle on the Western plains slay their
neighbor's fatted calf, if away from their own and in need
of food. During the first fall, when our quartermaster and
commissary stores were strewed along the beach, these
natives were very honest with us. They had then a fine
opportunity to steal, but, strange to say, not one article
was stolen. But as soon as our goods were housed and
a lock put upon the door it was not safe to leave anything
outside. We were annoyed at first by their petty thefts.
When we brought them to task and charged some one of
their number with stealing, he denied it, but intimated
that such and such a one was a bad man and that probably
he did the stealing. We found a bright, honest and truth-
ful boy and christened him " Pinkerton." Through him
we found out every thief in the village. Ez-e-ki-ah was
his name, but if he were called by that name he would not
respond, and if asked why he did not answer he would say
" Wung-a Ez-e-ki-ah pe-juk, wung-a at-kar Pinkerton "
(I am not Ez-e-ki-ah, my name is Pinkerton).

The Eskimo made very little effort to learn our language
but seemed anxious that we should learn theirs. They
wanted to speak to us and to be spoken to. They were
inquisitive, but showed neither surprise nor admiration
when we exhibited and explained white men's inventions.
They were intensely fond of looking at the illustrated
magazines and papers. They have very active minds,
learning readily and remembering everything which they
have seen or heard. When we asked them about anything
of which they had no knowledge, they would say " I tu,
wunga la nu gagah " ( don't know, I never heard). The
Eskimo have great difficulty in pronouncing English words
and perhaps this is the reason that they did not take an

SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO

interest in learning our language. Of course they wanted
to know the names of the men in our party, and they made
a desperate effort at pronouncing them. They could not
say " Ray," the name of our commanding officer, but by
prefixing the syllable ou, they said plainly " Ou-ray." To
some words they had to add a syllable, in order to pro-
nounce them. Smith they pronounced " See-miss-ee."
Herendeen they called E-tic and some few said Er-e-tic.
The name of Mr. Dark, our astronomer, they could not
pronounce. Their own word for night or darkness is tah.
We told them that dark and tah meant the same thing,
and Mr. Dark was afterward known among them as Tah.
Dr. Oldmixon's name they could not pronounce. He was
known as the " kabloonah doctor," which title they pro-
nounced very well, except that they always represent the
sound of d by that of t. They asked us a great many
questions about the " kab-lu-nah nu-na " (white man's
ground). We explained as well as we were able and
showed them a great many pictures
of objects for which they had no
names. If any four-legged animal of
which we showed the picture was as
large as a caribou, or even an ele-
phant, they called it " took-tu," their
name for caribou. Any kind of a
house which we showed they named
"ig-lu." Ships sailing through the
water they comprehended, having
seen them, but the railway steam
engine going over the "nu-na" (land)
they could not understand. They
said they would like very much to
see our land, and one of them said if
he were to go there he would have so
much to " tow-took " (see) that he could " see-nik pee-juk "
(sleep not). I asked the " mickanini " whom we had named
Pinkerton to leave his cold country and go home with me.
He looked up in my eyes and asked in an earnest tone
" E-lu-it nu-na kowkow am-a-dri-ni-ok-to? " When I an-
swered in the affirmative and told him that we had " much

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THE WHITE WORLD

food in our land " he said that he would go with me to my
home. But when the time of departure came, both he and
his comrade — for we had been commissioned by the United
States Government to select two natives who were to be
brought to the States and educated — drew back and could
not be induced to forsake the many charms of their ances-
tral home under the midnight sun.

130

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC
EXPLORER

DR. FREDERICK A. COOK.

Dr. Cook was born in Callicoon Depot, N. Y.,
June, 1865. Surgeon and Ethnologist to the
first Peary Expedition, 1891-92. Commander of
Expedition on Yacht " Zeta," 1S93. Organizer
and Commander of Expedition on S. S. " Mi-
randa," 1894. Surgeon, Anthropologist and
Photographer of the Belgian Antarctic Expedi-
tion, 1897-99. Surgeon to Peary Auxiliary Ex-
pedition, S. S. Erik, 1901. Author of " Through
the First Antarctic Night."

DOCTOR FREDERICK A. COOK

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC
EXPLORER

By DR. FREDERICK A. COOK

[EW of us ever have a long run over a hill of
happiness without stumbling upon sev-
eral ups and downs of misfortune, but we
soon forget this, and, altogether, life
seems easy enough to most of us who live
in temperate climes. It is not the same,
however, with the men who seek the
realms of the great frozen lands in the Arctic and Ant-
arctic. Their path is over a series of ups and downs, but
mostly ups. Their comfort, if they have any, is involved in
the effort to overcome the ever-present discomfort. The
men who aim to reach the pole are kicked about by giant
seas, are pounded by heavy storms, are brushed by freezing
drifts of snow, and yet they calmly resign themselves to
become the footballs of a hard fate because of a few pleas-
ures. An effort only partly crowned with success gives
such elation and joy that all the sufferings and discom-
forts are forgotten.

Herein lies the reason for the unfaltering law that he
who has once beheld the other-world conditions, and has
felt the charm of the white snowy silence of the frigid zones,
will ever long to return. If from any cause a polar ex-
plorer cannot return to the dream of his life he either com-
mits suicide, gets married, or dies an unnatural death in
some way.

Individuals differ very much in their impressions of the
degrees of comfort and discomfort which result from the
prosecution of the work of polar exploration. The

135

THE WHITE WORLD

pioneers of the old school who worked with inefficient
implements and almost perished, tell only tales of woe.
Those of the new school, profiting by the experience of
the men of old, and utilizing the more perfect modern
equipment, are enthusiastic about the pleasures of the work.
The fact is, that one can find both comfort and discomfort
to his heart's content while wandering over the wild wastes
of polar ice, but he seldom thinks of the comfort until he
has returned and passed beyond the reach of discomfort.

Soon after the announcement of each projected modern
expedition, there have poured in hundreds of applications
from young men, and from women not so young, to join in
the effort to explore the polar regions. It is curious that
so many should volunteer their services for so arduous a
task. Why is this pole-seeking so popular? Surely these
aspirants are not familiar with the real phases of the life of
the explorer. From beginning to end the work of an ex-
ploring party is hard; to endure hardships and to suffer are
the normal conditions. On such expeditions there are few
servants, and few men to do the drudgery of daily work.
Officers, as well as sailors, must mend their own hose, wash
their garments, cook, and fill the places of carpenters, shoe-
makers and what not. The work is like woman's work;
it is never done. People often ask, " What do you do to
pass the time?" One is never more busy, or more thor-
oughly occupied, than when performing the duties of a
well-organized expedition. There are thermometers and
barometers to read and record, astronomical and nautical
observations to be made, magnetic and auroral phenomena
to be noted, and clouds to be studied; then there is the
prosecution of the never-ending series of studies bearing
upon the fauna and flora of the region. This is the work
at headquarters, which must be continued every hour of
the night and day, throughout the year. Moreover, there
is the field work, the work of surveying and exploring the
unknown stretches of land and water which is the real test
of endurance.

Let us follow briefly the life of a sledge traveler. He
starts out for a determined poleward dash, taking with him
no money to buy necessities and comforts en route, no trunk
or little luxuries; nothing beside his bed and his tent,

136

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC EXPLORER

with fuel and provisions for three months or more. All
of this is in such shape that at any moment he is pre-
pared to carry his baggage on his back for miles. There
are no half-way inns, no houses, no shelter, and no bazaars
by the wayside. If he has forgotten or lost anything, it
cannot be replaced. He is far away from the familiar
world, far from the accustomed comforts of life, and as
completely isolated as if he was on the surface of the moon.
Day after day he plods along over desolate fields of rough
ice, pushing and pulling sledges, urging and whipping the
wolf dogs. He is always too tired to talk, frequently too
weary to eat, and often also too uncomfortable to sleep.
Still, he has resolved to make the effort of his life, and he
continues to press onward.

One day he advances five miles, the next twenty miles,
and again but a mile; and then a storm comes which causes
a halt of five days. As time goes on, the stock of provis-
ions decreases, the load becomes lighter, but he finds the dis-
tance covered all too small. Half rations are now served.
Heretofore the full ration would seem a starvation diet, but
now it is only half, and the character of this is such as to
make one's marrow shrink. Here is the day's gastronomic
comfort: For breakfast, two cups of tea, a few ship's bis-
cuits, hard and tough, a bit of pemmican, twenty years old,
which is made of equal quantities of dried meat and beef
tallow. No luncheon, except a soap-like cake of bacon-
fat, mixed with pulverized peas. For dinner, the break-
fast is repeated with an extra treat in the form of a large
drink of water, if the fuel supply will permit such a luxury.
Experience has proven that this is the most practicable
bill of fare, and it does not permit of much elaboration.
Except the tea, everything is taken cold, and to-day, when
I think of my chattering teeth and quivering muscles, while
trying to devour the straw-like pemmican,' I am doubly
glad of the comforts of home.

It is really remarkable to see how this scant polar diet
keeps up the physical powers, and it is even more remark-
able to see how a fat piece of frozen pemmican will change
a hungry man's mind. Hunger is as normal to the ex-
plorer as the shivers, and both complaints are treated by the
same remedy, food — for when the stomach is full the body

137

THE WHITE WORLD

is warm. When the day's journey is ended, the tongue
burns, the throat is parched, and there is an uncomfortable
pinching at the pit of the stomach. One feels like eating
a mountain and drinking a river, but the effect of pemmican
upon this condition is marvellous. It is too hard to eat
rapidly, so one nibbles away, shivers and dreams of better
times. The dry, uncooked bits of meat go down with a
snatch and some effort, and
one is very conscious of its
position in the stomach by a
heavy, full feeling, which is
always a joy to hungry mor-
tals. Long before the half-
pound lump, which is the
usual allowance, disappears, the
pangs of hunger are forgotten,
and then a desire for. a hot
cup of tea, to take away the
scratchy feeling, is all that is
necessary to make life again
worth living. The diet of a
sledge traveler is not so bad
when you have nothing else
within reach, but the gods
could not force a man to eat
it if he could get some-
thing else instead. One
takes to it as kindly
as a convict does to
prison diet.

It is not so bad
with the bed.
Among the inci-
dents of bed-going
are to be found the
happiest moments
of an explorer's
life. It is a pity that the North Pole cannot be reached
in a sleeping-bag, for therein lies the foundation of most
of the comforts of polar adventures. This is as it should
be, for when a man forces his powers of endurance

AN ESKIMO BELLE

138

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC EXPLORER

to their utmost, he must have proper rest, but this rest is
generally of short duration and is always carefully guarded.
Much depends upon the mood of the elements, the location
of the camp, the cut of your sleeping-bag, and also upon
your companions. If the wind blows hard it always car-
ries needle-like crystals of ice, and these drive down your
back with an unpleasurable ease. If the camp is pitched
in some nook, out of the wind, you are quickly buried
under the drift of snow. If the sleeping-bag is too thin or
too thick, if it is too long or too short, or if it has any one
of a dozen faults, it makes life a torture. Some prefer
a " one-man " bag, others a bag for three. Now, I like
a " three-man " bag, but I want to choose my bed-fellows
carefully, and I also want to select my position in the bag.
When three men are slipped into a bag, like fingers into a
glove, there is not much room for discussion. Such men
must not have bristles which can be rubbed the wrong way,
for there is nothing worse than sulphurous language in a
sleeping-bag. It doesn't matter how charming a man may
ordinarily be, he is another sort of a creature in a bag; and
then, too, men have such different ways when asleep.

" The chronicles of three men in a bag " would make an
excellent title for a story of exploring life, but I am not
going to write this story just now. To illustrate the com-
forts and discomforts, however, I must recount a part of
this experience. In field work one seldom has shelter
except a small tent or a snow-house, but usually, when the
weather is at all tolerable", the bag is spread out upon the
open field of ice. One man attends to the culinary busi-
ness; his duties are simple. After building a wall of snow
as a wind guard for the little blue-flame oil stove, he selects
some blocks of snow to be melted for tea. The tea is
several hours in preparation, and while this is being done,
the other two undress and slip into the bag. It is remark-
able how quickly men will jump out of their clothing in a
temperature of forty degrees below zero.

As the men quiver and shuffle and grunt in the bags to
overcome the chill of their cold air bath, the cook chops
off pieces of pemmican with an ax, and, with a package of
biscuits, he tosses it to them. For a half hour they punch
each other and munch the hard food, and then a reaction

139

THE WHITE WORLD

sets in — a sort of warm electric glow which raises the mind
to the seventh heaven of happiness. Ah! these are the
moments for which polar men will gladly shiver for weeks.
Then it is that they lie down and dream of happy homes,
sweethearts and friends far away. After a time, the lonely
mortal upon whom the lot has fallen to prepare the tea,
brings over a condensed-milk can full of steaming stuff.
It is feeble, but it is hot, and anything hot is a godsend.
Little things, like cups and saucers, knives, spoons and
table linen, do not trouble the explorer. Nor does he ever
think of washing dishes. The cook then kicks up some
bits of ice as a pillow, and stores the clothing under the
bag to keep it from being blown away, after which he drops
out of his garments, shivers, and pushes into the center
like a wedge between the other two. He has a distinct
advantage over the two first bag tenants, because he gets
the warmth of the others, who are by this time in a fever
heat of happiness. In a very short time all are sleeping the
sleep of the just in a lonely wilderness of ice, and then
what care they for the cruel outside world? There is no
noise except the metallic crackling of the snow under the
bag, the snore of the companions, and the steady blow of
the wind as is brushes the bag.

Their sleep is frequently disturbed by the " turning pro-
cess." The position of each bag tenant is like that of a
sardine in a box. The snow soon closes in around the bag
in such a manner that any unusual room is obliterated by
the pressure from without. To turn, then, is a task which
requires a unison of action. It is curiously easy, however,
to bring about simultaneous movement, even among sleep-
ing men. The signal is usually given by one of the side
men, who turns, bringing his elbows against the ribs of the
middle man. The middle man, in his first experience,
wakes up and rams his other companion a double blow.
The third man also wakes up, turns, and the process is over
until the next turning period. After a few nights, this
turning is done simultaneously by all hands without wak-
ing up.

It is the universal opinion' that polar explorers suffer
mostly by reason of the intense cold, and that success or
failure is due to the powers of enduring low temperatures,

T40

THE DAILY WORK OF AN ARCTIC EXPLORER

but this is far from the truth. True, there are snow and
ice everywhere in evidence. Snow falls during the summer
as well as during the winter. For this, however, we are
prepared; suitable garments so fit the body that one does
not really suffer much more from the effects of cold than
does a New Yorker in winter, and we avoid the life-redu-
cing heat of the home summers.

Still, I do not mean to infer that the cold is ever for-
gotten. The conditions are such that the absence of heat
is constantly brought to mind. When we start out from
our comfortable rooms at headquarters, we emerge from an
agreeable temperature of seventy degrees into an icy air
of minus forty degrees, which makes a difference of one
hundred and ten degrees of cold within ten seconds. This
causes the breath to come in jets of steam, and soon the
whiskers, the eyebrows, and every fragment of hair about
the face are covered with icicles and crystals of hoar frost;
beautiful little things, but they do not seem pretty at all
to the possessor, for he is constantly brushing them off,
pulling out bunches of hair and blowing out warm phrases.
One never learns the real trouble of the life of the frigid
zones until he has his face bejewelled with icicles.

Owing to the natural laws of radiation, the extremities
lose their heat first. The careless traveler, constantly suf-
fers from cold hands and feet, and even a careful adept
loses his fingers or toes with remarkable ease. We start
out on a mission, traveling over the icy waste of white
wilderness, and, for a time, all are happy, comfortable and
contented. After a few hours we become thirsty, but we
well know that there is nothing to quench our thirst, for,
though there is water everywhere, it is frozen. Later, we
become hungry, but we must delay satisfying the pangs
until our destination is reached.

We plod on and on, over the weary snows, until we find
a camping place. Then we pitch camp, but now one has
a stinging pain in his toes; after a while this vanishes and
is replaced by loss of sensation in a large part of the foot.

The boot is removed, and through the many thicknesses
of hose the foot feels like something foreign. One stock-
ing after another is cautiously taken off, but still there is a
woody touch to the foot. When the last stocking is stripped

141

THE WHITE WORLD

down, the foot is found white and glossy, like porcelain.
A more careful examination reveals the fact that one or
two toes are missing, and then the sock is shaken for the
missing bits before an effort is made to restore the circula-
tion of the icy tissues. But an explorer must learn to rise
above such little discomforts. He who cannot afford to
lose strips of his skin, or parts of his hands and feet, is
not worthy to be counted among the braves who seek the
pole.

No! it is not the cold which makes the life of frigid ex-
plorers hard; it is the hopelessness of the unimaginable
isolation from the accustomed walks of life. Perhaps it is
unbecoming to the supposed austerity of explorers to admit
that the withdrawal of the little home and social incidents
of life are the causes of the greatest discomforts, but this
is nevertheless the fact. One misses most the little touches
of romance which are unconsciously a part of our daily en-
tertainment. After being locked in the ice and forced to
endure its awful monotony for a few months, what would
one not give for a letter, or a word from home, from mother
or sisters, or other men's sisters? Ordinarily, men do not
know what it is that makes life enjoyable, but he who aims
to reach the North Pole will quickly learn that he suffers
not from the cold or hunger, but from the little nothings
of home and social life which are there far out of reach.

I might go on and recite a hundred other lessons which
go to make up the schooling and deprivation of the Pole
seekers, but I hasten to record the comforts. There are
few, but they exist to him who seeks them. For here is the
world nearest to its youthful character. The moving crust
of the earth with which we drift, the hardy, simple life, and
even the sky, all suggest a period of the earth in its infancy
long before the advent of man. It is this strange sim-
plicity, this other-world air of terrestrial youth, which
makes the polar regions so fascinating to nature-loving man.
Everything about us is new, yet old; every sight is simple,
yet clothed in mystery; every phenomenon like a shy
maiden, is attractive, but difficult of access. The haste
and hustle of the living world are far from the mental hori-
zon, and the mind is ready to examine new problems. It is
fortunate that one can, after a little experience, here open

142

ESKIMO POSING BEFORE THE CAMERA

the book of Nature and record the causes and effects of
nearly all phenomena, for then the mysterious halo which
surrounds everything polar disappears.

Each point of attraction which at first bewilders us by
its strangeness becomes a written page to be added to the
future annals of science. There are a hundred things
which, in this way, daily present new aspects and urge the
mind out of its lethargy of monotony into a state of fascina-
tion. Now we can see some peculiar strip on the sky, a
striking series of clouds, a rare fog effect, an unusual sun-
burst or an aurora; now it is something connected with the
sea, or with its burden, the ice. Perhaps the surface will
seem motionless, while at a little distance a small, blue-
ridged berg will bound and dance as if animated by some
strange submarine spirit; or perhaps one of the bergs, with
whose face we are familiar, will suddenly turn, offering a
new face and a curious color. Again a berg is seen with
black spots and discolored stratifications. What is the
origin of this? Is it the output of a volcano, or is it natural
glacial debris? We see the effects, but what are the
causes?

And so the questions run. Hardly have we learned one
lesson when another is brought to our notice. This time,
perhaps, it is some speck of life, curiously embedded in a

143

THE WHITE WORLD

wilderness of ice. What story has it to give? To what
family does it belong? We want to know its manner of
life, its food, something of its migration, and so on. There
is always a stimulus for an endless series of interesting
observations. These tempting studies are what lift the
spirits above the even plane of white monotony. It is this
fresh interest in the unknown which makes life tolerable.
We all like to ponder over the days of our youth; those of
an inquiring turn of mind love to reflect upon the youth-
ful days of the earth ; and looking at the polar world, as a
whole, it bears a close relation to what the earth must
have been when man first came to it. Life under such con-
ditions brings new joys in spite of the soul-despairing dis-
comforts.

T44

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

HUGH JOHNSON LEE.

Hugh Johnson Lee was born in Maiden,
Mass., Dec, 1871. In i8a2-'93-'94-'95 accompa-
nied Lieutenant R. E. Peary on his north
Greenland expedition and crossed the inland ice
to Independence Bay with him. In 1897 Mr.
Lee made his third Arctic Expedition, acting as
Lieutenant Peary's private secretary, Shortly
before sailing, Mr. Lee was married to Florence
A. Leonard, who accompanied him; their honey-
moon being spent within the Arctic Circle.

HUGH J. LEE

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

By HUGH J. LEE

•T WAS about February 20, 1894, just
a few days after the sun had come
back to us, and every one about the
lodge was delighted to think that all
had survived the terrible Arctic night.
A short time before, we had climbed
to the highest point of familiar Mount
Bartlett, the dark and towering cliff
which had stood, sentinel-like, above our lodge all through
the four months of darkness, and from its topmost point
we had looked off to the south, where just above the cliffs
of Tig-er-hom-iny on the south side of the gulf, we had
seen the upper rim of old Sol as he peeped up to take the
first glance into our little world. We had looked with joy
into each other's faces and had once again seen the sun
shining on them. To be sure it gave them a greenish tinge

149

THE WHITE WORLD

after the long period of darkness, but the mental strain had
passed, and we were content. The days were short, but
they were rapidly lengthening, and we knew that before
long we would have continuous daylight for an equal length
of time.

Plans for our proposed trip across the ice-cap were well-
nigh finished, and the only thing that remained to be done
before making our dash for the Pole was to lay in a supply
of food for our dogs. The energies of almost every mem-
ber of the party were required to provide sufficient meat
for that purpose, so that no one could be spared by Lieu-
tenant Peary to assist me in the work of going into the
interior to dig from the snow the provisions which had
been cached at a point about thirty-five miles from the
house, and at the top of the steepest slopes of the ice-cap.

Besides Lieutenant Peary, I was the only man of our
party who had visited the cache, and so was selected to
make the trip. The cache had not been visited for four
months, and we expected that the provisions left there
would be pretty well covered with snow, the accumulation
of the entire winter. My orders were to start from the
lodge Sunday afternoon for the moraine, where I was to
camp that night, and the next morning make my way to
the cache. On reaching it, my duty would be to dig the
provisions out of the snow and put up the two tons of pem-
mican in one hundred bags, so that they could be handled
easily on the journey across Greenland. When I had fin-
ished that work, I was to build several large snow-houses
which would form a shelter for the entire party while at
work loading sledges, etc., preparatory to making the start.

As I left the house Sunday afternoon, I had a first-class
dog team and was accompanied by two natives. We took
no oil stove with us, and very few provisions, as we had
left an oil stove and plenty of food in a snow-house at the
moraine, where we had camped frequently during the fall
campaign. The distance to the moraine was five miles, and
the path or trail of the autumn before was entirely obliter-
ated by the snow which had fallen during the winter. The
traveling, which was over steep rocks, covered in many
places with ice, was the roughest imaginable, and before
we reached our camping place we were more than three

150

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

thousand feet above the level of the sea. That moraine was
a barren spot, wind-swept and bleak in the extreme. One
of the peculiarities of the interior of Greenland is the con-
stantly blowing wind in the direction of the slope of the
land, save, of course, in the case of general storms. It
was this constant wind, which in the preceding October
had sent the snow from the interior sweeping across the
moraine like an avalanche, and had held our entire party at
bay in the snow-house for more than two weeks waiting for
a chance to get across and into the interior.

When I reached the former camping place on that Sun-
day afternoon, about 4 o'clock, it was already growing
dark, as the sun was not yet high enough to make the days
very long, and I could see no sign of the snow-house where
we had slept so often during the fall.

In its place was a smooth white mound of snow. The
summit of the moraine was bare, as no snow could remain
on its wind-swept crest, and the rocks and gravel of which it
was composed were heaped in little conical-shaped masses,
making it an easy matter for me to pick out the exact
location of the dug-out which had been covered by the big
snowdrift. Assisted by the two natives, I began digging
with my hunting knife, and soon reached the roof of the
house which was to provide our night's lodging.

During the winter the constantly blowing wind had
sifted snow through the cracks in the walls of the house
until the interior was a solid mass of hard snow. It was
8 o'clock when at last we reached the canvas which covered
the floor of the snow domicile, and using this to patch up
the big hole in the top of the house, we made ourselves com-
fortable, and after a hearty meal all three went to sleep
wrapped up warmly in reindeer skins.

In the morning I found that during the night I had, in
my sleep, broken my pocket compass, and the thought of
going into the interior without a compass being prepos-
terous, I started back to the lodge to replace my loss, leav-
ing the two natives with instructions to put the snow-
house in good condition for a future camping place. Had
I returned to the moraine at once after getting the instru-
ment, much trouble might have been avoided, but Lieuten-
ant Peary invited me to remain to dinner at the house, as

151

THE WHITE WORLD

he said I would not be able to start from the moraine into
the interior before the next morning.

After dinner I left for the snow-house again, and when
I had almost reached it I met the two natives, who said that
after having repaired the house they had become frightened
at the continuous wind and the loneliness of the ice-cap
which was the abode of the " Kah-koy-ah," or devil, and
had wanted to get away from
his influence by returning to
the coast. The natives are
very superstitious about the
ice-cap, and never go into the
interior unless led there by
some white man.

I laughed at them and told
them to come back with me,
as I was not afraid of the
devil, and I would protect
them from him. They replied
that before they had left the
moraine they had untied the
dogs, so that the devil could
not get them, and they were
scattered all over the side of
the mountain. It would be
useless to go back as there
were no dogs with which
to make the trip into the
interior.
I never have been able to determine whether this action
was taken to free the dogs from the influence of the devil,
or in order that the Eskimo might have a good excuse for
not returning to the moraine with me, knowing full well
that they must meet me on their way home.

A sight of one of the dogs up on the mountain side
showed me their story was true. I knew that they would
find their way back to the lodge, but it was impossible
to catch them at this time, so I went back and reported
to Lieutenant Peary. The suggestion was made that I take
two other natives and a new team of dogs, and go back to
the moraine later in the evening, after the moon had risen,

ESKIMO ATTENDANTS

152

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

so that I could be ready to start on to the ice-cap early
Tuesday morning. This plan was carried out, and as I
left the lodge that night the lieutenant handed me a knap-
sack, saying:

" Here is a present from Mrs. Peary. You can leave
the knapsack at the moraine."

Reaching the remodeled snow-house without incident, I
opened the knapsack and found that it contained a cherry
pie. This pie formed my lunch on the following day, when
it was frozen so hard that in order to eat it I had to chop
it into small mouthfuls with a hachet. Tuesday was a fine
cold day, the temperature being about forty-five degrees
below zero. During the short day I covered about twenty
miles, taking a northeast course from the moraine. The
variation of the compass at that point was ninety-six de-
grees west, so that in order to travel northeast, the course
was southeast half south.

All day we journeyed without seeing any of the frequent
guide-posts which had marked the course during the fall
campaign, and the natives seemed to doubt that the com-
pass would guide us to our destination. During the aft-
ernoon there were frequent appearances of the peculiar
mirage effect so often noticed on the ice-cap, and this had
given the Eskimo the idea that the devil was following us.
As night came on, and there was nothing except the com-
pass to show that we were on the right track, the natives
began to grumble and wanted to turn back. I knew that
we had come at least twenty miles, and we ought to be
pretty close to the tent which we had left standing nearly
ten miles this side of the cache. Chilled through with the
biting wind, having traveled but slowly, as the dogs were
unable to go fast with the heavy sledge, and threatened with
a strike, as my Eskimo were liable to leave me at any
moment, I decided to camp for the night.

I told the natives that if it were only light enough, we
could see the tetit from our present position. They did
not believe me, but by promising them I would let them go
home in the morning, should my statement prove untrue,
I persuaded them to stay with me over night. We made
a snow house in which we slept comfortably. My calcula-
tions proved correct, and in the morning we saw the top

i53

THE WHITE WORLD

of the tent not more than half a mile away, and a little to
the left of our course. Breaking camp we started for the
tent, and in a short time had it folded up in our sled and
were marching on again. The natives were awe-stricken
when they saw how that tiny compass had guided us over
all those miles of trackless snow; they assured me that
they would remain with me as long as I might wish, pro-
viding always there was plenty of food in the outfit.

I had no more trouble with them, but the elements were
against the successful completion of my task. Soon after
the tent had been struck, and we had started for the cache
again, a great white cloud enveloped us. This prevented
all progress, as any one who has been in a similar position
well knows. One cannot take half a dozen steps in a
straight line, and, as it is impossible to carry a compass
steady enough to keep one direction by depending on it
alone, one might just as well be without that instrument.

I cannot describe, in any adequate manner, the sensa-
tion of being on the ice-cap and enveloped in one of those
clouds. One can feel the surface beneath his feet, but he
cannot see it. He can perceive no horizon, as the earth
and sky are both of one color. The foot tracks in the
snow, even, are invisible, and one feels as if he were sus-
pended in gray space. The only thing to do was to camp
and wait for clear weather.

The next morning was Thursday, and, as I knew that I
was within two or three miles of the cache, I thought that
it would be a good plan to locate the store* of provisions
exactly, before moving camp, especially as the last mile
or so of my journey the day before had been made while
in the cloud, and I knew that I was a little off my course.
The two natives and I started to find the cache.

It was not so easy a task as I had expected, however, and
I found that it was noon before I had located it. Thinking
that either one or more of my assistants might have been
more fortunate, I retraced my steps to the tent only to be
disappointed. Exasperated at finding the entire forenoon
wasted in fruitless search, I started out to look for the
cache again, not even going into the tent to get a lunch.
An hour or so later, the cloud once more enveloped me,
and I tried to retrace my steps to the tent. It soon began

iS4

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

to snow hard, and as it was impossible for me to see my
tracks, I feared that I might be lost. Night came on
rapidly, and I walked for a long time in the direction in
which I thought the tent to be, at last realizing that I was
really lost, and the more I wandered about in search of
the tent, the farther away from it I might be going.

I saw that it would be impossible for me to reach the
tent that night. I made up my mind that the best thing
for me to do was to remain where I was until morning,
and I began to experiment on what I could do to keep
my feet from freezing, for I knew that even though the
temperature was between forty and fifty degrees below
zero, my clothing was warm enough with the exception of
my moccasins, which were moist with the perspiration of
the long day's tramp. I took my big fur mittens and
tucked them on my toes, and pulling my hands through the
sleeves of my fur coat, Eskimo fashion, folded my arms
across my breast, and with the empty sleeve across my
face to protect it from the driving storm, lay down in the
snow, but not to sleep. It took me but a short time to
realize that sleeping meant freezing, and soon I arose,
having decided that the only way to pass the night alive
was by keeping in motion.

I had often read of the experiences of travelers lost in
snow storms, and supposed that, like them, if I kept in
motion I would travel in a circle, rinding myself in the
same vicinity in the morning. I acted in accordance with
this plan, and all through the long dark night plodded on,
not daring to stop to rest for fear of freezing, for I was
chilled through with the biting wind and exhausted by the
ever-drifting snow blown in my face, no matter in which
direction I turned.

After a most tedious night, and just as the morning
gray began to show in the south, suddenly and without
warning the surface gave way beneath my feet, and I felt
myself falling. Involuntarily I threw myself backward,
and found myself hanging by the middle of my back with
my feet dangling in space. The ominous sound of frozen
pieces of snow and ice, rattling down into the depths be-
low, warned me that I was hanging on the edge of one of
those dangerous crevasses. Making a supreme effort, I

i55

THE WHITE WORLD

pulled myself back onto the solid ice, where for a time I
was afraid to move, for fear of falling into the big ice
cavern, which was covered with snow, and which I could
not see, except in the one spot where I had broken through
the crust which concealed it.

The snow had stopped falling and it was rapidly growing
lighter, making it possible for me to see the outline of the
edge of the crevasse, which was about an inch lower than
the surface of the ice-cap. I started to follow it, still
trembling from my fright, but at last gained confidence as
the day advanced, and I continued along the edge for per-
haps two miles, when I found a place where it was narrow
enough to jump.

I could see the whole of Inglefield Gulf spread out before
me with all its indentations, including Bowdoin Bay, where
the lodge was located. I knew that I was a good many
miles from my camp of the day before, and after my wan-
derings of the night in the snow storm, it was useless for
me to attempt to find the tent. Although I had my com-
pass with me, I did not know the course to follow, for I
had paid no attention to the way I had come. From where
I stood making these observations, there was a glacier that
appeared from my position to be what we called the East
glacier, which comes down into the bay on the eastern shore,
four or five miles from the house. The distance did not
appear great, and thinking that by following its course
down to the bay, I could reach home in about two hours, I
started with a vigor which I had not supposed possible
after the twenty-four hours of continual tramping, fasting
and battling against the storm.

The journey down the surface of that glacier was about
the roughest tramp of all my five years' experience in
Greenland, and I had not traveled very far from its source
before I discovered that it was not the East glacier, but
instead the Hubbard glacier, which reaches the shore of
the gulf at Koin-a-soon-ny, about twenty-two miles from
the house. Still, I knew that the best way to avoid getting
lost again was to follow it to the sea, for I was familiar
with the entire coast, and knew that as soon as I could
reach the gulf, I would have smooth traveling and the
chance of falling in with some natives from whom I could

156

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

get food and secure a sled and dog team for the homeward
journey. It appeared to me that I would be able to reach
the shore in a short time, but the rough traveling made the
journey a very tedious one. The surface of the glacier
was covered with well-nigh impassable crevasses, and I
had become so tired that it mattered little if I fell into
one of them, so pushed along recklessly. Several times
I stepped into the crust of snow which concealed the

AN ICE ARCH

crevasses, repeating my experience of the early morning,
but I was no longer frightened, for I had reached such a
state that I did not care what happened.

It was long after noon before I reached a place where
it was possible for me to leave the glacier. I had thought
that by traveling on the land instead of the ice, I might
find an easier road. I followed the bed of the stream
which flows beside the glacier in the summer time and
found but little improvement in the walking, the course of
the stream being strewn with huge boulders, which were
almost as difficult to travel over as the rough, hummocky
ice on the glacier. There was no danger of falling into
crevasses, however, and I knew that if I followed the
glacier to its end without leaving its surface, it would be
impossible for me to get off from it, as its face is per-
pendicular and about eighty feet high.

The bed of the stream was in one place blocked by a
large mass of ice which had fallen away from the side of
the glacier, and was banked up against the steep mountain

157

THE WHITE WORLD

side. I tried to get around the obstruction by climbing
up the mountain, but this was impossible on account of
its steepness. As the glacier was broken at that point,
I found that I could climb back upon it, and I did so,
trusting to good fortune to find a place on the other side
of the broken mass of ice, where I could get down into the
valley again. I traveled some little distance on the top
of the glacier and was rapidly approaching its terminus
without finding such a place.

At last I decided that the only thing for me to do was
to make an attempt to climb down, and, as the night was
coming on fast, and it would mean sure death for me to
remain there after dark, I started to follow the course of a
small crevasse, which ran crosswise of the glacier. The
crevasse was only three or four inches wide and by getting
hold of its icy edge with my hands, I began my descent.
On account of the shape of the glacier's side, I could not
see what my landing place was to be. The crevasse gradu-
ally narrowed until it was not large enough for me to get
my fingers into, but I had descended so far, and down
such a steep grade, that, even if I had not been exhausted,
I could not climb back again.

I could not see how far I was from the bottom, but gave
up all hope, and after hanging in my perilous position
for a time, decided that I might as well end the agony, and
so released my hold and went flying down the side of the
glacier. Luckily I landed in the deep snow which had
drifted into the ravine at the foot of the glacier, and in
a few moments I was on my feet again and covering the
short space which remained between me and the shore.

It was quite dark as I walked out upon the sea ice,
though not too dark for me to see that I would have to
make a wide detour around the face of the glacier, as the
icebergs pushed out from its face had broken up the ice
for several miles. I was over twenty miles from home,
with the prospect of walking all night before I could get
anything to eat, unless I could fall in with some wandering
Eskimo, and the chance of doing so was small, as the lodge
was nearer than the nearest native village. My pathway
over the surface of the gulf was smooth and it was easy
for me to find my way, as all I had to do was to follow

158

LOST ON THE ICE-CAP

the shore right up to the. house. Such a walk in the dark
would have been but a small thing had it not been for my
thirty-six hours of continual tramping and my long fast.
I found it necessary to stop frequently to rest, though every
time I sat down I could hardly rise again, for I was very
sore and lame.

How I ever covered those twenty miles, I have never
been able to explain. I was familiar with all the landmarks
along the shore, but I did not remember passing any of
them except Cape Milne, where I stopped to rest and to
congratulate myself on having finished half the journey.

At last I reached the ice foot in front of the lodge, and
while I was climbing over the rough ice to the land, one
of the ever-wakeful natives spied me, and in a glad voice,
cried out "Lee tig-er-ka-shu! Lee tig-er-ka-shu!" (Lee
has returned). He rushed into the house ahead of me to
acquaint the members of the party with the news, and I
followed him. I well remember the sound made by the
frozen snow on my fur coat as it grazed on the sides of
the passageway leading to the dining-room in our com-
fortable little house.

In the doorway I met old Dr. Vincent, who had been
my companion on the night watch all through the long
winter, and who was that night standing watch alone in
my absence. He put his arms around me and kissed me
while the tears ran down his cheeks.

To return to the two Eskimo who were with me on the
ice-cap; they became alarmed when I did not get back to
the tent, and when the snow storm came on they began to
cry out in order to guide me to the tent, for they knew
that I could not find it in any other way. The roaring
of the storm or my distance from the camp prevented me
from hearing them, or my suffering would have been
avoided. I had in the tent a box of Roman candles to be
used as signals later, when the main party was to join
me at the big supply station for which T had started. The
two natives had seen the queer looking sticks and had
asked me what they were. I had explained to them that
they were to be used as signals and had even taken one
of them in my hand and shown them where to light it.

Poad-loo-nah, one of the two, told me afterward that

i59

THE WHITE WORLD

when it became dark Thursday night, he thought of the
Roman candles and, getting out one of them, lighted it.
He said he was frightened when it began to hiss, and the
sparks to fly, but at the same time he was afraid to let go
for fear of getting shot with it, and so held it until all the
balls were discharged. After the first one, he ceased to
be alarmed, for he saw that there was no danger and he
shot off the whole box full of them during the evening.

Friday morning, alarmed at my prolonged absence, and
fearing that harm had come to me, they started back to
the house, which they reached late that night. They gave
the alarm, telling of my long absence from the tent, and
the boys were afraid that, alone in a storm on the ice-cap
without shelter of any kind, I had perished. Lieutenant
Peary, ever thoughtful for his men, had ordered breakfast
served at four o'clock in the morning for a party that was
to start out in search of me. It was just four o'clock when
I reached the house, and the doctor was about to call the
men for breakfast, when my return made it unnecessary.

After a day in bed, I was as good as new again, and
four or five days later I went with the entire party into the
interior.

160

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

FLORENCE LEONARD LEE

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

By FLORENCE LEONARD LEE

O one who has never penetrated that mysterious
realm of ice and snow, a bridal trip to Greenland
does not sound alluring. Indeed some of the
^L remarks we heard from our home friends led us to
think there were those who did not envy us, who,
in fact, even doubted our possession of well-bal-
anced minds. Many times I heard repeated the old
adage, " They who know nothing, fear nothing."
This may have applied to me, but not to my fiance, and
when through the kindness of that " Hero of the North,"
Lieutenant Peary, the chance to go to the Arctic Regions
was offered, we quickly made our preparations, and were
married July 6, 1897. Before that day was ended, those
who had cavilled joined with us in great longing for a
breath of the frigid zone. The heat was so intense that
we momentarily expected to see the organist topple over,
wilted like a tallow dip. Even the rice thrown at us on
our departure appeared to me to be partially cooked.

After spending the intervening time in Boston with
relatives, we sailed from that harbor, July 19, on the
unpretentious whaling ship, " Hope." On board were
Lieutenant Peary's party, a number of scientists, students
and professors, Albert Operti, the artist, a most delightful
traveling companion, who could joke even when seasick-
ness had him in its clutches, and who rose superior to
every inconvenience or disturbing element on shipboard;
Arthur Moore, whose handsome face and youthful ardor
for adventure won him a place in our favor; his friend,
Lansing Baldwin, whose violin woke strange sweet echoes
on that Arctic Sea; J. D. Figgins, taxidermist, and Dr.

163

THE WHITE WORLD

Sohon, champion cribbage player. It was never dull with
such a party on board, even though we were enveloped in
fog half the time. Here I witnessed my first game of
cricket. Cricket, with the ball tied to the mast, has its
charms of novelty, but also its drawbacks. A run started
on a deck constantly changing from horizontal to nearly
vertical does not always end as the runner would have it;
neither is cricket interesting when the ball is slipped from
its moorings and is dancing on the waves. We found auc-
tions entertaining, with the auctioneer, a college man of
wide experience, who sold articles stealthily taken from
his room back to their owner — usually Professor Stein.

The voyage up to a certain time was probably identical
with others. But we soon left civilization behind. One
morning, hearing a commotion on deck, I hurried up the
companionway and found all gazing at a large iceberg.
From that time familiar sights passed from me and I looked
" upon a world unknown." We were heading for Baffin's
Land to leave Jensen who had a whaling station there, and
a party of students who intended to remain for hunting
and fishing. Baffin's Land! Nightmare of Loneliness!
Acme of Desolation! Barrenness! Dreariness! Rockiness!

When the ship anchored, Mr. Jensen was disappointed
to find none of the natives on shore to welcome him. Soon,
however, after firing several bomb guns to call them if
near, he was rejoiced to see a sail appear upon the horizon.
It proved to belong to a boat containing one man, three
women, five children, several dogs and puppies, and a
number of highly perfumed skins. These were the first
Eskimo I had ever seen, and they were certainly a strange
looking people.

We remained on shore most of that day and part of the
next, while the supplies for Jensen's five years' stay were
unloaded, together with those of the sportsmen, and here
I had the novel experience of coasting down hill in August.
It was a fine long slope covered with hard snow, and after
watching Mr. Lee slide a few times, I looked around to see
that no one was in sight, gathered my skirts around me, sat
down and slid, sans sled. I enjoyed it so much' that I
repeated it several times. When we returned to the sta-
tion, some of the gentlemen asked me if I enjoyed my

164

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

coasting. I was embarrassed to think that I had been
caught in the act, but was solaced when I recalled the fact
that two of our dignified professors had been sliding the
same way.

These Eskimo were queer looking figures with their com-
bination of English and Eskimo dress. The women had
upper garments of fur, one wearing a red skirt, the other a
light blue. One was the proud mother of a cunning little
baby, apparently about two months old. This little thing,
when taken out of the hood
on the mother's back, in
which it was carried, was
seen to be clad only in a
hood and short coat of fur,
leaving the lower limbs
absolutely bare. This was
all right as long as it was
in the hood nestling against
the mother's warm body,
but when taken out to be
fed, it had rather cold
comfort. The mother was
as delighted with the notice
taken of her little one as
any English mother would
be.

Finally we left the shore and proceeded on our way.
Our next stop was to be Godhaven, where my husband
and I were to remain, while the ship went farther north
for the great meteorite. I was disappointed because we
had to punch through no ice pack such as Mr. Lee had
described to me, the water being singularly open this year.
We steamed into the picturesque harbor of Godhaven on
the morning of August 7. Already our ship had been
boarded by a swarm of natives with a miscellaneous assort-
ment of articles to " trucky." Through intermarriage with
the Danes, these Eskimo have lost many of the character-
istics of their race, such as the broad, flat noses, swarthy
skins, black hair, and stunted forms. Many are fair, and
some of the women are even comely.

Mr. Peary and my husband went ashore to make arrange-

WHERE THE HONEYMOON WAS SPENT

165

THE WHITE WORLD

ments for our accommodation, which proved to be very
agreeable to me. We had expected to have rooms at the
home of the Inspector, Herr Anderson, but his family were
in Denmark, so that he could not receive us, but he placed
a small hut, more pretentious than the others, at our dis-
posal. It had formerly belonged to the wife of a Danish
governor and was perfectly neat. I waited with impatience
while our provisions were placed in the boat that was to
carry us ashore, and at last all was ready, and we rapidly
approached the landing.

After a sight of Baffin's Land, Godhaven seemed a para-
dise with its fifteen or sixteen comfortable frame huts,
covered with turf, which was sprinkled with tiny white
flowers. At the water's edge, a group of women, making
a brilliant and strange picture with their red, blue or yellow
boots, ornamented fur trousers, calico jackets of brightest
hues, and many-colored bead collars, awaited us.

It was not long before our goods were housed, as the
natives lent willing though curious hands. My hat, a mod-
est affair, suitable to my needs, I laid aside on entering the
house, and it was soon surrounded by an admiring group
of women, who exclaimed " bene-suse " (fine) many times,
over the pink roses. I imagine they thought them growing
there, unwatered.

In a short time we said farewell to our shipmates who
had proved such pleasant company, and saw the " Hope "
pass from our sight around the distant cape. We then
turned our minds to the task of house-settling in the little
cottage that was to be our home for a month. This cottage
was more commodious than those of the natives, boasting
three rooms instead of one, though the exterior was cov-
ered with turf like all the others. The large front room
had two good-sized windows, facing south and west. The
walls were painted light blue, the ceiling pale yellow, and
it was altogether a very pleasant living room. The other
rooms were smaller, but comfortable; one we used as a
kitchen, the other as a store-room for our provisions. The
little furniture we had was lent us by the Governor, Carl
Harries, a young Dane who, with Inspector Anderson,
Assistant Governor Fleisher and his wife, all did their best to
make our stay pleasant. They were Danes, but could speak

166

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

English to some extent. I had been in my new home but
a short time, when I was unceremoniously driven out,
for the vast clouds of smoke that came from our kitchen
stove when Mr. Lee started the fire rivaled that of the
smokestack of the " Hope." Two of the natives were
soon at work cleaning out the chimney and I reentered
and prepared our first meal, the principal item of which
was some fine fish, just out of water. These were obtained
from the natives, as were all our fish and birds while there,
in exchange for a few ship's biscuits brought with us for
trading.

We never had to go to market; the market came to us,
in the shape of a string of natives bearing things to
" trucky " — ivory paper-knives, bracelets, crochet hooks,
knitting needles, brooches, sealskin bags, kamiks, fish,
birds, miniature kayaks, and everything else they could
think of. They always opened the outer door and stood
shuffling and sniffing until I called them in. One day I
heard the door open softly, and although I called " mane "
many times, no one came, so I went out to see who had
entered. I found a tiny boy holding a big fish in either
hand. He did not make a motion or utter a word, but
simply looked up with a sidelong inquiring glance at me.
I called Mr. Lee, who immediately took the queer little
fellow outside to take his photograph, and then gave him
several biscuits for his fish. One fellow, more like the
northern Eskimo, with a shock of black hair standing out
all over his head, whom we called the foot-ball player, was
always bringing us some worthless thing, and trying to
make a deal. One day he brought a red sealskin bag,
which had spots of mould on it. My husband said to him:
" What's that for?" " Truckey," he answered. " Trucky,
decidedly trucky; a fossil, isn't it? You save fossil? " " Eh
eh " said the Eskimo, " me save fossil."

They are unwilling to own that they don't understand.
He evidently liked the word. " No," said Mr. Lee, " we
don't want it, it's no good." No good meant nothing to
him, so Mr. Lee said ajungningilak." The native looked
hurt, but finally took his leave.

When we went for a walk, everything that met my eye
was new and unfamiliar. The ground, a mass of rocks,

167

THE WHITE WORLD

with here and there little patches of turf, sometimes scat-
tered with flowers, the strangely clad people who all greeted
us with a smile, the small grass-grown huts, the wide sweep
of landscape without a single tree, the numberless icebergs
dotting the water everywhere; all were sources of wonder
to me. Here I lived for a month and grew to love the
land and the kindly people.

Prominent among the recollections of this life, the form
of Nicholas stands out. Nicholas was our man-of-all-work.
When I found he was to be our servant, I told Mr. Lee
that I couldn't endure his presence. Tall, awkward, flat-
faced, snub-nosed, and asthmatic, he was not attractive.
One could hear him coming some way off, for he breathed
like a porpoise. Soon, however, he proved himself so
valuable to us that my dislike for him wore off. He under-
stood a few English words, and used them on every occa-
sion. If he wished to

COMFORTS IN THE ARCTIC ^ ys f^ water he

would ask "me ketch
um pail?" to chop
kindling, "me ketch
um wood?" or to
build the fire, "me
ketch um stove ?"

Recept-ioi\Haill, ^

0ov(lQir ar£ Kifcherv.

Everything was "ketch um" until I lay down at night to
dream of Nicholas chasing vainly the things he wanted to

168

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

catch. My little maid was a pretty, neat, little girl of about
ten years of age, with fair hair and skin, and one eye cast
heavenwards. She did exactly as she was told, and though
many chances were offered, never took a thing which was
not given her. She was called Elizabeth, as all the Eskimo
here have assumed English names. We grew to be very
fond of her.

We often had invitations to " afternoon coffee " from
the natives, and although our first acceptance was given
rather doubtfully, I soon learned to like their black coffee
from Denmark; but as to their manner of preparing it or
the cleanliness of their dishes, I just schooled myself to
think of something else. In the evenings there were dances,
and these were enjoyed very much. Every one of the
people could dance, and Daniel and some others did very
well in a dance much like the so-called " Buck and Wing."
The children from three years up participated in this, and
were all more or less proficient in it. Even our little friend
of the fish, whose length and breadth were almost equal,
strove fiercely to keep up with the others.

The house to which we went oftenest was Daniel's. He
was a jolly, short, dark man, who had been so much on
whaling ships that he could speak better English than any
of the others. His wife was the best looking woman on
the island. Their house, a fair sample of all, was divided
into two parts, with separate entrances, which were so low
that I never failed to bump my head on entering. Each
part consisted of one large or fair-sized room, across one
end of which was a platform about two feet from the floor
and five feet broad. On this platform' were several big
bags of feathers used for beds. During the day, these
beds were placed flat against the walls, looking like enor-
mous sofa pillows, and the platform served for seats.
Around the other sides at intervals were benches, under
one of which always stood a keg of ice water. The walls
were often ornamented with colored pictures or prints, and
in nearly every house hung a small three-shelved rack, on
which was displayed the entire stock of dishes, consisting
of a few cups and saucers. In the middle of the room
stood a stove, a plain round-bodied affair, with one cover at
the top. Their fuel was some dried mossy stuff. The floor

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was clean, being kept so with sand. In this one room
lived, perhaps, three families, men, women, and children,
eight or nine in all.

One of our pleasantest recollections is of our trip to
Bluefields to obtain speciments of the Nordenskjold iron.
We went in a whaleboat with a crew of six Eskimo, and
camped out at night in our tent to wait for the tide to be
favorable. On the way the crew shot a good many birds,
which we cooked for supper. The Eskimo felt the cold
that night, their old skin tupic was so thin, but we were
in a new canvas tent with an oil stove burning. How those
people did admire that oil stove, it was so " assuit " (quick)
— almost as much as the women admired a large pink satin
muffler that I wore. I imagine I could have bought the
island with it had I consented to trade. After obtaining
several good speciments, we were returning home, when
I felt cold for the first time since leaving the ship, and Mr.
Lee made me put on his fur coat. When we got near
enough to be seen, the natives all began shouting to the
crew. It seems, they thought from the hood and coat I
wore, that I must be a Cape York Eskimo, and the crew
kept up the joke. The natives are always ready to laugh,
and have a great deal of humor. As we drew nearer, I
stood up and waved my hand. Upon recognizing me, they
laughed with glee over their mistake.

Another pleasant trip was a climb up the mountain to the
ice-cap. We started early one morning, carrying just as
little provision as possible, and wearing our kamiks; while
I wore for the first and only time a bloomer costume, the
only comfortable dress for such climbing. The mountain
was 2600 feet high, and the ascent most difficult on account
of the soft moss on its slope that gives no foothold. At
noon we were half-way up, so we rested and lunched in
a little rocky glen by a waterfall. I was pretty nearly
exhausted then, and, when about three-quarters of the way
up, declared I could not go another step either up or down.
After resting for a while, though Mr. Lee urged me to
return, I was bound to reach the top, as Mrs. Peary had
done several years before, and started on again slowly, Mr.
Lee carefully picking the way. Soon I got my second wind,
and easily gained the top, and stood on the ice-cap. Sud-

170

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

denly, a report like that of a cannon startled us, and we
looked just in time to see a massive berg, out at sea break
apart in the middle, tremble and topple over, a large plat-
form of ice rising from under the water, while the mighty
mass above, with a noise like that of a giant groaning,
slowly sank upon its side.

After visiting the cairn built by Lieutenant Peary on his
first trip north, we started down. The descent was much
easier, of course, but some of the places were so steep that
the only thing to do was to simply sit down and slide.
Mr. Lee would go first, and, landing safely at the bottom of
the grade, would stand ready to catch me, should I be
unable to stop. There were patches of vegetation on which
we found many berries growing similar to our huckleber-
ries, of which I paused to eat so often that Mr. Lee felt
doubtful about our reaching home that night; so he set
his course with a view to keeping away from them. He
had carried his rifle part way up the mountain, and arranged
with Nicholas to bring the boat across the harbor when he
heard three rifle shots. This would save us going over-
land about a mile. But before we reached the place where
the rifle had been left, we saw the boat coming; the whole
tribe, it seems, had been watching for us.

Hardly a day went by that we did not row on the harbor
in Herr Anderson's small boat. One day we were just
outside the harbor, taking photos of icebergs, when a whale
came so near our boat, one could almost have hit it with
a stone. I proposed getting out of the way, but my hus-
band and Nicholas assured me that there was no dan-
ger and that it was but a little whale, though an animal
the length of a small house didn't look so very tiny to
me, nor so harmless either. It interested me to watch
it spout, and observe how great a distance it could go
with one stroke of its tail. In this case distance certainly
lent enchantment to the view.

One day, just as we had finished our lunch, a short, dark
little Eskimo woman appeared at our door and told us she
was very tired, having come overland from Disco fiord, a
place about forty miles away. We invited her in, and gave
her some hot coffee, cold tongue, cheese and biscuit, which
she ate with relish. She spoke English very well, and in

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the course of conversation, we discovered that she was the
famous Augustina^ who, twenty-five years before, with the
unfortunate party from the wrecked Polaris of Hall's ex-
pedition, had drifted on the floe ice for a whole winter. She
was the mother of the child born on that drifting ice, who
is now living on Disco Island, under the name of Charlie
Polaris. We were much interested in Augustina, and in
her account of her trip to the United States, where she
had been taken when rescued from the ice floe by Captain
Bartlett, an uncle of our own captain.

Before we came away, we had two snow storms, but the
flakes melted as soon as they touched the rocks. Also the
nights were growing dark, so that we no longer had to
darken the windows so that I could sleep. People at home
seem to think the weather in Greenland just the same all
the year round, and when they saw a picture of me sitting
on the rocks and crocheting, they couldn't understand how
I could do it. I do not know whether I should enjoy a
winter there or not, but little Marie seemed to have weath-
ered it remarkably well. Dear little snow baby! How we
all loved her, no wonder the Eskimo women came from all
around to see her and give her presents.

One thing gave me quite a surprise. That was to find
a small church at Godhaven. Here we attended service on
Sunday, and must have shocked the natives, as we sat
together, not having noticed upon entering that the women
were on one side and the men on the other. The school-
master was preacher as well, and as near as we could make
out, the service was much like the Lutheran. Space will
not suffice to tell all I would like to about the different
Eskimos and our intercourse with them. Others have
told of the country and the dogs whose howling at night
is like so many wolves. The two dogs who lived next to
us were soon fast friends of mine, courting my company
for benefits received. At first they were afraid, though not
so much as I, but soon would come to the door and poke
their noses in to wait for food.

I never saw anything more amusing than a little incident
that happened one day, showing how the natives feel about
throwing away anything eatable. About twenty of the
women and children were out on the rocks drinking coffee

172

AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON

and gossiping — at least so I supposed — and they had given
me a particular invitation to be present. I thought I would
give them a little treat, so I carried out a pail of lemonade,
which they drank with keen relish. When it was gone I
gave the lemons remaining in the pail a toss, when presto,
each piece was clutched from the ground as if it had been
worked by a spring. I do not remember ever seeing these
people show a dislike for
anything we gave them in
the line of food, but im-
agine they may have suf-
fered somewhat from its
variety.

At length the time for
the ship to return drew
near, and we told the
natives we would give
twenty biscuits to the one
who first announced it to
be in sight. Early on the
morning of September 5,
Daniel rushed in out of
breath crying "oomiaksua"
(the ship). Yes, it was
true, and before long appeared old Keshu, the Cape York Eski-
mo, who was so fond of "Lee," and had been watching for him
ever since the ship had started back, and such a jabbering
took place that I couldn't tell which was Eskimo and which
American.

When he found that Mr. Lee had a " koona " (wife), he
seemed to take it as a great joke, but told him he approved
of me because I didn't shrink from shaking hands.

Soon we received calls from the different members of the
ship's party, and in a short time were back on the " Hope,"
bound for home. It almost seemed to me that I was
leaving home, I had enjoyed it all so much. On the return
trip we were greatly entertained by the interest which the
six Eskimo exhibited as they drew near civilization; all
except Ahtungua, who was so sick all the way. The poor
things were horribly frightened when we were enveloped
in a very dense fog, and the fog whistle blew every few

A REVERIE

173

THE WHITE WORLD

minutes. When it was understood by Nookta that we were
in some danger, he began to pray. " O, Father Spirit, send
the fog away," as they told me that his jargon meant. It
was rather surprising, to say the least, when shortly after-
ward, the fog suddenly lifted.

All things come to an end, and so did our delightful
honeymoon. Like all other Arctic travelers, we feel drawn
by the magnet of the north, and long to visit again that land
of snow.

174

A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

WALTER WELLMAN.

Walter Wellman, journalist and explorer, was
born in Mentor, Ohio, Nov. 3, 1858. Led an
expedition " The first Dash for the Pole " in
1894; in 1898-99 commanded an expedition in
search of the North Pole, and reached Lat. 820
N., by way of Franz Joseph Land, and discov-
ered many new islands.

WALTER WELLMAN

THE MIDNIGHT SUN

A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

By WALTER WELL-MAN

^NE OF the most extraordinary tragedies
known to the history of Arctic explora-
tion fell among- the experiences of the
Wellman Polar Expedition of 1898-9. The
story of this tragedy has been told, in part,
in many languages. But I purpose here
to tell it all. It is a story weird, uncanny,
pathetic; yet it carries the saving grace of rare human
courage, of unexampled fortitude, of inspiring character-
stamina. The hero of the tale is a humble Xorwegian
sailor. Paul Bjoervig is his name. I know him well, as
I should, having bunked and messed and worked with him
many days and nights, having slept in the same bag with
him, .having seen him in danger and distress, but never
knowing him to show the white feather.

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THE WHITE WORLD

My first acquaintance with Bjoervig was when he be-
came a member of my first Arctic expedition, a summer
trip to the coast of the Northeast Land of Spitzbergen.
In that journey we had no great cold to contend with. In
fact, our troubles and dangers arose from too much heat.
Day after day and mile after mile we floundered about in
broken, drifting ice. Every half hour one of us was down
in the sea to his middle. We waded, we wallowed, we
sozzled in the icy water. We knew not what it was to be
dry, day or night. Amid all these trials and tribulations
Bjoervig was the most adventurous spirit. If there was a
bit of dangerous work to do, he was sure to be the first to
plunge in. If some one must dive into the sea to rescue a
sledge or a piece of luggage, he was the one to dive.
He appeared to enjoy it. If ever man loved the Arctic,
Bjoervig did. He sang and laughed at his work. If he
went down into a porridge, half ice and half salt water,
and was pulled out by the hair of his head, he came up with
a joke about the ice-cream freezer. When he was not at
work he was telling stories. He was the wit, the humorist,
the unfailing optimist, the dare-devil of the party. A true
Viking of the ice-country was Paul Bjoervig.

One day three men were out bear-hunting on an island.
Two of them had rifles, one didn't. The last was Bjoervig.
They found a bear, wounded him, and chased him to the
top of a glacier. There Bruin stood at bay. One of the
hunters went to the left, another to the right. Bjoervig
laboriously mounted the ice-pile to scare the beast down
where the others might get a shot. But one of the hunters,
becoming impatient, started to climb up also. On the way
he lost his footing and fell, sliding forty or fifty feet into
a pocket of soft snow. At that moment, unfortunately,
Bjoervig frightened the bear. Leaving the summit of the
ice-heap, the beast slipped and slid straight toward the
helpless man who was floundering up to his arm-pits be-
low. Apparently the man's life was not worth a half-
kroner. In a few seconds the bear would be upon him;
would claw him to pieces; bite his head off; chew him into
bits. The brute was wounded, furious, desperate.

Paul Bjoervig saw what he had to do. He did not hesi-
tate. He followed the bear. From his perch at the sum-

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A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

mit he threw himself down the precipitous slope. He
rolled, fell, slipped, caromed, straight toward the big white
beast. An ice-bear, mind you, is the antithesis of a good
many men. At a distance from danger he is an arrant
coward; in close quarters, when cornered, or hungry, or
desperate, he fights like a Bengal tiger. Paul knew all
this. There was nothing about the tribe he did not know.
He had no weapon but an oaken ski-stav, a mere cane.
But he made straight for this bear, just the same. Down
the hillock-slope he came, bumping and leaping, and yell-
ing at the top of his voice. His cries, the commotion
which he raised, the vision the bear saw of a man flying
down at him, frightened the beast half out of his wits;
diverted his attention from the imperiled hunter to the bold
pursuer.

This was what Bjoervig was working for. The bear dug
his mighty claws into the ice and stopped and looked at
Paul; but Paul couldn't stop. The slope was too steep,
his momentum too great. Now he was thirty feet from
the white fellow, now twenty. He dug his hands into the
crust of the snow; he tried to thrust his ski-stav deep into
the surface. It was in vain. Now he was almost upon
the bear; the beast crouched to spring at him. Another
second, and it would all be over. Crack! The rifle speaks;
the man down below has had time to recover his equili-
brium; the bear tumbles over, growling fiercely. Another
shot, and the brute is done for. Paul and the bear roll
down together.

" You saved my life," says the man with the gun, when
Bjoervig has picked himself up.

" No, no," responds Paul, whipping the snow out of his
hair, " you saved mine."

Of course I took Bjoervig with me when I sailed on the
second Wellman Expedition in 1898. This was a more
serious undertaking. It involved wintering in the far
north, and a sledge journey at the height of the cold
season. Leaving Tromso, Norway, late in June, in the
Arctic steamer Frithjof, we took our Siberian dogs aboard
at Archangel, Russia, and then forced our way through the
drift ice to Franz Josef Land. After vain efforts to get
farther north with our ship, we established headquarters at

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Cape Tegetthoff, Lat. 8o° 4', and prepared to pass the
winter there. But the North Pole was our objective, and
to facilitate progress toward it when the time should come
for the supreme effort, which would be the following spring,
we established an outpost about the 81 st parallel. As
this outpost afterward became the scene -of the extraordi-
nary tragedy of which I am writing, and as the question
has been often asked why it was established, what good
purpose it was designed to serve, a word or two of explan-
ation should here be entered.

The aim of every Pole-seeker is to get his base as far
north as possible; that is, to assemble his supplies and his
outfit of all sorts as near to the Pole as he can get them.
The state of the ice was such that we could not force our
ship more than a few miles beyond the 80th parallel. But
before the winter set in we endeavored to push an outpost
as far to the north as we could. The economy of the out-
post was that all the surplus supplies assembled there
could be used by the Pole-seeking party the following
spring. If able to find so many hundred pounds of food
at the outpost, they would be saved the labor and time of
dragging that much from the base. Travel in the Arctic
region is more a matter of weight than of distance. If one
could go to the Pole and back without carrying food or
other baggage, the Pole would have been reached many
years ago. But everything must be carried — food for
men and dogs, tents, sleeping-bags, extra clothing, guns
and ammunition, scientific instruments, fuel for melting ice
into drinking and cooking water, a boat of some sort for
use in case of meeting open water or crossing channels in
the ice. Nothing except ice can be had on the way — no
game or food or fuel of any sort. Enough must be car-
ried for the outward journey and for the return trip.
Thus the weights at starting are sure to be pretty heavy,
pare them down to the lowest possible limit though one
does. The heavier you are loaded the slower will be your
progress; hence the advantage of having some of your
supplies advanced a distance along the road. If it were
possible to have depots at various points on the way to
the top of the earth, that would be ideal. Frequently every
Arctic man is asked: "Why don't you use two or three

182

A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

years in establishing depots, one beyond the other, and
then when you have placed supplies all along the road
make your journey up and back, pushing from one out-
post to the other?" The answer is very simple: So far
as the land goes this is just what every Pole-seeker tries
to do. But it is useless to establish depots upon the sea-
ice beyond the land, for the conclusive reason that they
could never be found again, except by rare good luck.
Even in winter the ice-sheet is never at rest. It is con-
stantly drifting to and fro, with a general movement in that
region, as was shown by the voyage of the Fram, toward
the west. If one left a depot upon the ice he could never
be sure the ice had not opened there during his absence
and destroyed it. On returning from their sledge journey,
Nansen and Johansen made no effort to find the Fram
again, though they were at no time more than 115 miles
from the ship, and on their southward march, with a
dreadful and doubtful prospect before them, they must
have passed within 30 or 35 miles of her at farthest.

Our winter headquarters were established at Cape Teget-
thoff, and there the main party passed the winter. From
this point a party was sent out in August to establish the
advance station. The principle involved in this plan was
precisely the same as that employed by Lieutenant Peary,
who passed the winter at his headquarters at Etah or Cape
Sabine, but used as an outpost or depot Fort Conger,
Greely's old house, 200 miles to the north. The party
sent out to establish our outpost stopped at Cape Hellerj
there they built a hut of rocks. A few pieces of driftwood
served for the ridge-pole. The hides of walrus, killed
in the water pools of Austria sound, near by, formed the
roof. In this hut were accumulated about a ton of stores
for use the following spring — sledges, boats, and other arti-
cles needed on sledge journeys. Forty dogs were there
also, and for their sustenance during the winter the flesh of
fifteen walruses was cut up in small squares and stored in
a bin built of snow blocks. To protect the hut from the
winter's storms high walls of snow were built, and these
made the premises look so much like an old-fashioned
fortification that Mr. E. P>. Baldwin, leader of this party,
named the place Fort McKinley.

183

THE WHITE WORLD

As soon as everything was made snug for the winter
Mr. Baldwin, pursuant to his instructions, asked for vol-
unteers to remain at the hut through the winter to guard
the supplies and care for the dogs. All five of the Nor-
wegian members of the party offered their services, and
great was the disappointment of the three who were not
chosen. The two men assigned to the task were Paul
Bjoervig and Bernt Bentzen, of Tromso, Arctic sailors,
neighbors, and warm friends. Together they had often
talked of the pleasure it would be to pass a winter in the
Arctics in a little hut well stocked with food and tobacco,
and this was to be the realization of their dream.

Their enthusiasm was not due to inexperience. Paul
Bjoervig was a veteran Arctic sailor and traveler, as we
have seen. Bernt Bentzen had been a member of Dr.
Nansen's crew aboard the Fram on that famous drift-
voyage through the polar seas. Both men were happy and
well when their comrades left them and started for our
headquarters at Cape Tegetthoff, just at the beginning of
winter. It is a coincidence that but a few miles to the
westward of this hut is the spot where Nansen and Johan-
sen passed the winter of 1895-96 in a similar structure, built
out of such materials as could be found upon the ground.

On February 18 we set out from the winter quarters
on our way toward the Pole. There were four of us, Emil
and Olaf Ellefsen, Daniel Johansen, and the writer. My
American comrades were ill and unable to go. We had
started very early, earlier than any other party had every
set out in high latitudes. The sun had not yet risen, and
the days were short and dark. Why did we start so early?
Because the season of travel in the Arctic is a limited one,
being restricted to the no or 115 days which elapse be-
tween the coming of dawn and the warmer weather of early
summer. The winter is too dark for travel; in the summer
the surface of the ice which covers the polar sea is much
broken up, the snow is soft and " sticky," and pockets in
the ice are filled with sludge and water. It is anything
but a pleasant task to crawl out of your snug winter hut, in
the dim dawn-light, and take to the field, living in a tent,
working like a plow-horse, and trying to sleep in a bag
half-filled with ice in a temperature of 50 below zero. Had

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A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

we waited a month or so the weather would have been
better, the light brighter; but we needed every day we
could get, every hour, and so we broke all records by set-
ting out before the first glimpse of the sun was to be had
at the 8oth parallel.

Fort McKinley was our first goal. There we were to
take on more sledges and dogs, and increase our load of
provisions. How had our men there passed the winter
of their exile? Was all well with them? These were im-
portant questions, for upon the dogs and stores at the
outpost we depended for an increase of our sledging
strength in the race against time and distance to the north.
Bjoervig and Bentzen had been promised that we would
raise their siege in February, and eager were we all to
keep our word. The storms delayed us, and at one or two
camps the wind blew so hard that pitching our tent was
out of the question, and we had to be content with pegging
down its corners and crawling under — any place to escape
the fury of the icy blasts. When better weather came we
made hard marches, and in the afternoon of the 27th we
had the satisfaction of seeing the ridge behind the Fort
loom up in the white distance.

Soon the dogs at the Fort set up a shout of welcome to
their approaching brethren, and the latter, just to show
what they could do when they had a personal object in
view, started off at a rapid run, dragging sleighs, men and
all after them, although hitherto they had crawled at a
snail's pace and had made progress at all only when helped
by their drivers. At the foot of the hill the men stopped
and held the excited teams that I might walk on before and
be the first to greet the two exiles. But aside from an
overturned boat, half buried in the snow, a collection of
empty biscuit and provision tins and a group of dogs
chained to the top of a bank of ice, I could see nothing
whatever resembling a human habitation. " The hut is
just before you, sir, right behind the dogs," said Emil
Ellefsen, who had been here before.

There is not an atom of superstition in my mental com-
position. I never had a presentiment or anything of that
sort. But it is the plain truth that as I picked my way up
the rough snow-bank and through an array of long-haired

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THE WHITE WORLD

dogs, all howling and leaping and straining at their leashes,
I knew something had gone wrong at the hut.

That instant a rough human figure emerged from the
mouth of a tunnel leading down into the snow-bank. The
man held a rifle in his hand. He was dressed in furs. His
face was as black as a stoker's.

" Bjoervig, how are you? "

" I am well, sir, but — but poor Bentzen is dead."

We stood silent for a moment, hands grasped, and look-
ing into each other's eyes. A tear trickled down upon
Bjoervig's black cheek and froze there. Then his coun-
trymen came up, and when he told them the news these
simple-hearted fellows were as dumb as I had been. It
was Bjoervig who did the talking. We only listened and
watched him, being but dimly conscious of the true nature
of the tragedy within whose shadow we stood. Bjoervig
talked and laughed and cried by turns. But he did not
forget his hospitality. He was both a man and a Norse-
man.

" Come in, sir, come in and have some hot coffee. You
must be tired from your journey."

He dived down into the mouth of the tunnel, pulling me
after him. First we entered a cavern in the snow where a
mother dog lay nursing a hairy, squeaking little brood.
Hardy puppies these, opening their eyes and gulping milk
in a temperature 70 degrees below freezing. The mother
dog licked Bjoervig's hand and growled at me. Now we
went down on our hands and knees and crawled through
an opening in the rock wall of the hut. A bear-skin was
hung there for a door. Once inside I tried to stand erect
and bumped my head against the frost with which the
ceiling was covered. It was so dark in there I could see
nothing at all, and Bjoervig led me to a seat.

" Sit down, sir, sit down and rest yourself, and I'll have
the coffee ready in a moment."

At one side of the hut, in a niche in the rocky wall, a
bit of fire was smouldering. Bjoervig put on a few pieces
of dried driftwood and a big hunk of walrus blubber and
the flames burst out. Very cheerful and bright the fire
looked, but not a particle of heat did we get from it. What
was not used in boiling the coffee went up the chimney.

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A TRAGEDY OF THE FAR NORTH

Three feet from the flames the rocks were white with a
thick coat of hoar-frost, and the walls and roof glittered
like a bed of diamonds. It was a strange little den, and to
me it seemed colder than out of doors. The brilliant fire
was but mockery. Fairly well illuminated was the end
of the hut where we sat, but beyond was a gloomy recess
from which the light of the flames was cut off by a pier of
rocks which served as a support for the roof. There was
no window.

Bjoervig told me about Bentzen. The poor fellow had
been taken ill early in November. All through that month
and December he had been unable to get out of the house,
and most of the time he spent lying in his bag. Occasion-
ally he was delirious. Death came the day after New
Year. Paul paused, and for lack of something else to say
I asked him where he had buried the body.

" I have not buried him, sir," was the reply, " He lies in
there," pointing to the dark end of the hut.

" Why did you not bury him, Paul? "

" Because, sir, I promised him I wouldn't."

I shall never forget that moment. At first the words
just uttered did not appear to mean very much — only that
a dead man had not been buried. Gradually the full pro-
portions of the tragedy dawned upon my consciousness.
This man with the soot-blackened face had been com-
pelled to pass two months of the Arctic night in this
cavern with no other companion than the body of his
friend. I lit a little oil-lamp and made my way into the
dark end of the hut On the floor at my feet lay a one-
man sleeping-bag of reindeer skin, empty, with a blanket
tumbled over it, and showing signs of occupancy the
night before. Just beyond, within arm's reach, lay a sim-
ilar bag. This one was occupied. The flap at the top had
been pulled carefully over the face of the sleeper within.
Bag and contents were frozen as hard as a rock.

There, side by side, the quick and the dead had slept
for eight weeks!

As I looked at this weird scene amid the shadows under
the scintillating roof of hoar-frost, and thought of the long
days that were as black as night and the long nights that
were no blacker than the days, that this thing had been so,

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THE WHITE WORLD

and of the ordeal it is for any one of us when compelled at
home to sit even for a single night with companions in a
brilliantly lighted apartment by the side of a dead friend,
and then of this living man who had lain there absolutely
alone by the side of the dead through days, nights, weeks
and months of silent vigil, I marvelled that Paul Bjoervig
was still sane.

But he was sane. He was wholly rational. Now and
then his voice trembled, or a tear coursed down his black
cheek. The long strain upon his courage, his stamina, his
sanity, was at an end. So great was the relief that he
alternately laughed and cried; and then told stories, and
cracked jokes, trying to be his old self again. But in the
end his emotions overcame him, and to get away from our
curious though sympathetic gaze he would go out and
take a walk by himself. We kept watch of him, fearful
lest his reason might give way. But the hero of these
two months of supreme trial was not made of the stuff that
surrenders. He pulled himself together as fast as he
could. That night, poking my head out of my sleeping
bag, I saw Paul sitting by the fire — the bright, delusive fire
that could have no effect upon the 40 below temperature in
the hut — smoking his pipe. Thus he must have sat night
after night during that dreadful vigil. So hard is it to
shake off habits!

On the following day Paul helped us drag out the body
of Bernt Bentzen and carefully bury it in a hole which the
wind had hollowed out. It was a bitter day. 45 below
zero, and a fierce blast blowing down from the glaciers.
But the most industrious man of us all. after the little
funeral ceremony was over, was Paul. For hours he was
busy chinking up all the openings in the walls around the
rude tomb.

" I promised him the bears and foxes shouldn't get him,"
he explained.

They never did. To this day that lover of the great
white world sleeps in his tomb amid the eternal rocks and
snows of Cape Heller.

188

THREE FAREWELLS TO PEARY

HERBERT LAWRENCE BRIDGMAN.

Herbert Lawrence Bridgman was born in Am-
herst, Mass., May, 1844. In 1894 made, a voy-
age to the Far North in the " Falcon," as a
member of the Peary Auxiliary Expedition.
He undertook a second and third Arctic Voy-
age, as commander of Peary relief expeditions,
in 1899 and 1901.

HERBERT L. BRIDGMAN

THREE FAREWELLS TO PEARY

By H. L. BRIDGMAN

HREE times it has been my fortune to bid
farewell to Peary as he turned his face
to the North. Undaunted, untiring, yield-
ing family and friends to home and coun-
try, the fearless explorer, faithful to duty
and ideals, looked his grim, silent antago-
nists again eye to eye, and renewed the
struggle between man and nature — in sim-
plest terms, the unending duel between
mind and matter.

The first parting was on Tuesday, August 28, 1894.
All the bright morning, the Falcon was plowing its way
steadily northward, reversing its course of the day before,
with the white west coast of Greenland fifteen or twenty
miles to the east, and the sharp and regular outlines of
Conical Rock almost dead ahead. The massive ice cat-

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aract of the Petowik glacier grew steadily nearer and
clearer on our port bow. We had cleared all the loose
floating ice through which the boat could not pass, and
about 10 o'clock it was evident that the final moment was
close at hand. " Mat " was busy getting everything to
rights in the whaleboat, a handsome, stately craft. Fuel
supplies, instruments, and all being in readiness, she was
lowered into the water. Lieutenant and Mrs. Peary were
alone in the Falcon cabin, and here was their farewell.

All our flags were again sent aloft, the stars and stripes,
the auxiliary blue and white burgee, and the Falcon's
owners' signal; and we all tried to be as gay and brave
as possible. Hardly had the ship stopped her engines
before Lieutenant Peary, in a full sealskin suit with hooded
coat, came on deck, and rapidly giving every member of
his own returning party, of the auxiliary, and the officers
of the ship, a cordial grasp of the hand, with a personal
" good-by," and imprinting a farewell paternal kiss upon
the rosy unconscious cheek of his little daughter in her
nurse's arms, he was over the rail, in the boat, and
straightening out the natives at the oars.

" Mat " had the tiller and as the boat gathered way, and
swung clear of the Falcon, all of us on board lined up on
the rail and gave the gallant leader and his crew three of
the most rousing cheers of our lives, to which he answered
in clear and hearty terms, " Thank you ! A safe voyage
home and success to all!"

The Falcon's rusty old gun again spoke its loudest fare-
well; the whistle gave three blasts; the helm went hard
over; the engine went full speed ahead, and we parted
company, one for home, friends and country; the other for
solitude, danger and duty.

As vision failed and lineaments became indistinct, our
last view was of the tall, erect, fur-clad explorer, stand-
ing amidships, and again, by the signal code bidding us
good-by and good fortune, as his prow was pointed north-
ward and poleward. Half an hour later we saw a white
speck on the dark expanse of waters, telling us that the
boat had set her sails to the favoring breeze, and that all
was goine well with her gallant party.

Etah, like other and older summer resorts, had in 1899

194

THREE FAREWELLS TO PEARY

a short season and a merry one, and like them, closed it
in a blaze of glory. Not even its great naval review,
when the stars and stripes of America, the red ensign of
Great Britain, and the white crosses of Norway, were
simultaneously displayed in its little harbor — an event
never seen on sea or land before — could match in spon-
taneous, popular enthusiasm, the departure of the Diana
for home on Monday morning, August 28. In the lan-
guage of the effete South, we should say we left shortly
after midnight; in the more correct language of Etah,
where there is neither noon nor midnight, we departed
soon after the sun had crossed the lower meridian.

Hardly had Monday begun when the Diana's lines were
cast off from the rocks, a natural pier along which she
was moored with 70 feet of water under her keel, and riding
at 40 fathoms of anchor chain, and the steamer slowly
swung off into her course, heading westerly and outward,
down the bay. On the summit of the rocky knoll, under
the flag of his country, bareheaded, and in the familiar blue
flannel field suit, stood Peary with his two companions
and his faithful native allies, while strewn all along the
cliffs in wild confusion, were the hundreds of packages,
many tons of provisions which we had worked hard to
land the day before, looking as if a first-class freight wreck
on a trunk line had just occurred. All the Diana's flags,
the stars and stripes at the fore, were flying; over Peary's
little red caboose and on several of his tents the same flags
were displayed, and as the propeller turned and we began
to move, everybody cheered again. First, the quarter-
deck winding up with a tiger; next the men on the fore-
castle deck; then the hoarse whistle of the Diana woke
the echoes far up the fiord, and answering from the shore
came the response, American and Eskimo voices uniting
in good hearty soul-stirring tones. Then the Princeton
rifles took it up, and volley after volley pierced the air to
be answered in like manner but in less volume from the
shore, for ammunition to those who stay is not the burden
to those who go, and as we steamed steadily along down
the harbor to Sunrise Point, we watched the forms on
the shore grow dim in the dusky dawn and mingle indis-
tinguishably with the sombre and rocky background. Then

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the red light boxes, left over from some political outburst
in our land of the free and home of the brave, were
brought on deck and opened, the Diana made her final
exit from Etah with all the peculiar and mysterious glories,
so far at least as color was concerned, of the classic and
time-honored transformation scene. It was all easy and
natural enough, and best of all, genuine. We had re-
solved doubt and fear, had found Peary and his company
well, fortune was auspicious, and we were leaving them
thoroughly " well fixed " in body and in mind for the winter
and the great attempt of the spring. Why should we not
let the world know it; to Peary and to one other at least
of the company, the pleasure and significance of the occa-
sion were intensified by the parting on the deck of the
Falcon. Then was the grim resolution, if not of despair,
at least of the never-say-die, American pluck.

The Erik on the last Wednesday of August, 1901, was
laboring around the unnamed point, guarding the northern
side of Herschel Bay, on the east side of Smith Sound, and
about ten miles south of Peary's headquarters at Payer
Harbor. In every direction seaward, only impenetrable
ice could be seen, and but a narrow channel of water like a
canal, not enough with which to handle the ship with any
degree of safety, was available. Four days before, Peary
had said to me, " There is evidently an undercurrent of
feeling on the ship that you are to remain for the winter;
that the Erik cannot free herself from the ice, and that it
will be impossible to go home. But I want to assure you
that there is not one chance in a hundred of this ; under no
circumstances will we take any avoidable risk; we will
stand by and work along the shore as far as possible, when
if we find that we cannot reach Payer Harbor, we will then
land our Eskimo, dogs, meats and supplies, in a safe and
accessible camp, and I will do the rest myself."

Herschel Bay shaped like a horsehoe, and, perhaps, a
couple of miles in depth, and half that in breadth, is admir-
ably adapted for Peary's purpose, and it was doubly gratify-
ing and significant that upon his first reconnoissance on
the southeastern point, where he decided to make his
camp, he found evidence of former settlement, showing
clearly that the place had been, in the old time, inhabited.

196

- THREE FAREWELLS TO PEARY

No sooner had Peary selected the site for his camp than
there were bustle and activity on board the Erik. Not so
much that we were eager to get rid of our leader, but that
it was imperative on every account that the favorable con-
ditions should be improved, and that we should land all
our stores and supplies before the ice could, by a change
of wind, come in and drive us out. Every man and boat
was set at work, and in two hours or less the tents were
up, the natives were on shore, and the beginning of a
booming town of the mining variety was visible; all the
dogs and all the meat were landed on the opposite shore,
and before we " turned in " that night, the greater part of
the work of debarkation was completed. Next morning
Mrs. Peary and Miss Peary visited the new encampment,
and the remaining articles of equipment and stores were
taken over in the boat, so that by the time dinner was
announced, practically everything was ready for the final
departure.

Lowering the boat, first went the natives, the gallant
fellows who had stood faithfully by their leader in many
arduous marches and weary campaigning, obeying him
with implicit fidelity; then the ever-faithful " Mat," who
handled the natives with a tact and skill which amounted
almost to genius, and then Peary himself, after the last
good-by and hand-grasp with every one of us, who bade
him Godspeed. It was not strange at all, that when little
Marie said in broken accents to the loyal steward, " Good-
by Charlie, take good care of my father," that some of us
found a sudden attraction in the main truck, where our
stars and stripes were flying, and that we all of us realized
that this was one of the moments which may be historic.
Mrs. Peary, on the quarter deck, bade her husband fare-
well, and then with the same self-possession and confidence
which are a part of his nature, Peary himself went over the
side and into the boat, amid our cheers and the volley of
our rifles.

In a few minutes came the inevitable transition from
the sublime to the commonplace. Mr. Peary, in the hurry,
had left his mittens, and down from the bridge came a
member of the party with them in his hands. Quickly
lowering the boat, I jumped into it, and was rowed across

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a half mile or so to the camp. Peary seeing us, came
down to the edge of the ice-foot, and there, handing him
the mittens, I received again the final hand-grasp; as
strong, as confident, and as loyal as ever, and pledging
again hope, faith and success. Returning to the Erik,
Peary called me back. " Keep your flags up," said he,
"until you are clear of the ice; we will see you through
our glasses, and when we can no longer make out your
flags, then we shall know that you are safely on the way
home." Peary's injunction was obeyed, our flags were
flying until 6 o'clock the next morning, when to my great
satisfaction Capt. " Sam " announced, " We are clear of
the ice, sir."

iq8

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF
GREENLAND

PROFESSOR G. FREDERICK WRIGHT.

Professor G. Frederick Wright, of Oberlin
College, was born at Whitehall, N. Y., January,
1838. Explored the Muir Glacier in Alaska,
1886. Was member of the Greenland Expedi-
tion in S. S. Miranda, 1894, to study glacial for-
mations in the Far North. Professor Wright
has been an extensive traveler in all parts of the
world and a voluminous writer upon scientific
subjects.

PROFESSOR G. FREDERICK WRIGHT

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF
GREENLAND

By G. FREDERICK WRIGHT

N THE 7th of August, 1894, the steamer
" Miranda," with a company of tourists
under charge of Dr. F. A. Cook, put into
the harbor of Sukkertoppen, on the west
coast of Greenland, and was cordially
greeted both by the two cultivated fami-
lies who represented the Danish govern-
ment in that district, and by the three or
four hundred Eskimo who were clustered in the village
on the rocky shores. It was designed that we should
remain in the place but two days, while some slight repairs
were made to the steamer, but these two days were suffi-
cient to allow our party to make a most interesting trip
in boats forty or fifty miles up the Isortok Fiord, which
penetrates the pasture grounds of the few remaining rein-
deer that have survived the introduction of firearms into
Greenland. The excursion was doubly interesting from
the fact that two or three glaciers enter the fiord through
tributary valleys leading down from the main Greenland
icefield, which stretches for an indefinite distance to the
northeast, and which we were subsequently to visit.

We were back at Sukkertoppen on the 9th, ready to
start for the far north. As is well known, the " Miranda "
was not a fortunate ship. On our way up we had run
into an iceberg in the Straits of Belle Isle, which stove a
great hole in her iron plates above the water line; but
fortunately the sea was calm, and we were near St. Charles
Harbor in Labrador, where we put in for temporary relief,

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and then returned to St. John's, Newfoundland, for per-
manent repairs. Nothing daunted, however, we had set
out again for the Greenland shores, and, after much trouble
in getting through the floe ice, had attained our present
position, though two weeks belated. Nevertheless, we
now ventured out to see what we could in the time left at
our disposal.

But ill fortune still attended us. A dangerous reef
stretches nearly across the mouth of the harbor of Sukker-
toppen. The depth of water over this is such that ordi-
nary vessels can in calm weather sail freely across it. But
the " Miranda " was not an ordinary vessel, and the sea
was not calm when we started out. Moreover, our native
pilot had left us before the critical point was reached. We
turned north a little too soon, and the swells which lifted
us and let us down dropped us three times upon the rocks,
and then carried us over into deep water. It was a bust-
ling time on deck until we were calmed by the ship car-
penter, who, after measuring the water in the hold, in-
formed us that there was no immediate danger. But our
captain decided that discretion was the better part of valor,
and returned immediately to the anchoring-place in Suk-
kertoppen. Here it was found that the injuries were such
as to render the " Miranda " unseaworthy, and it suddenly
dawned upon us that we were shipwrecked on the coast of
Greenland under conditions which rendered escape con-
siderably doubtful. For there was a large company of us —
ninety-three in all, counting the crew — with provisions
only sufficient to last us two months; while the Greenland
colonies are so small that the addition of such a party as
ours for the winter would be sure to exhaust their means
of subsistence, and produce a general famine.

However, we all put on a bold face, and made every
preparation that was possible to relieve the anxiety of our
friends at home, while we left no stone unturned to extri-
cate ourselves from our hazardous position. The first
thing we all did was to sit down and write letters home.
These we dispatched by some swift kayaks (the long,
pointed skin-boat of the Eskimo) which hastened south-
ward three hundred miles to Ivigtut, from which vessels
were going to start in two or three days for Copenhagen.

204

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

The faithfulness of our Greenland messengers was attested
by the arrival of these letters, bringing cheerful words to
our wives and sweethearts, a month or two after we, our-
selves, had put in a safe appearance.

News came to us at Sukkertoppen that there was a
Gloucester fishing schooner off the banks of Holstenberg,
about a hundred miles to the north. The assistance of
this schooner seemed to open the only prospect of escape;
so a boat, under the charge of Dr. Cook, was sent imme-
diately to work its way along the coast, and endeavor to
find the vessel, and to secure the good offices of its captain
and crew. As we could not hope to get relief short of
ten days or two weeks, a party of seven or eight imme-
diately prepared to make an excursion thirty miles north-
ward to the glaciers, which come into the head of Ikamiut
Fiord, almost exactly upon the Arctic Circle. It is to
some of the experiences of this excursion that the atten-
tion of the reader is more specifically invited.

The expedition started in the middle of the afternoon.
One large boat and two dories were required to carry us
and our equipment, while three kayakcrs accompanied us
for our protection and assistance. The swells which came
in from the southwest were long and high until we
reached the lee of a line of islands, in which our guides
were careful to keep us as much as possible. In due time
great glaciers began to look down upon us from the moun-
tain heights to the east; but they paused in their course
long before reaching the water level. A broad opening
to the ocean displayed itself between the islands of Sukker-
toppen and Sermersut, and permitted the swells from two
directions to toss us upon their capricious crests. A hard
pull now across the mouth of Ikamiut Fiord brought us
late at night, but still amid the splendor of the arctic
twilight, to the settlement on the point of the promontory
at the northern side of the fiord, where it joins the open
channel east of the large island of Sermersut. To our
unpracticed eyes there were no signs of human habitation
near; but on rounding a low projection of rocks our ears
were greeted with the indescribable jargon of a strange dia-
lect proceeding from the throats of twenty-five or thirty
Eskimo, young and old, who had crawled out from the

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most miserable-looking human habitations that it is possi-
ble to imagine. They were, however, friendly voices, and
we did not scorn the help rendered us in unloading our
boats and hauling them to a place of safety, nor the
advice given us as to the most suitable camping-place.

In the morning we took more careful note of our situa-
tion, and of the condition of the people who were to be
our neighbors. Across the channel, at a distance of about
three miles, rose the picturesque eastern face of Sermersut
Island to a height of something over four thousand feet,
showing clearly the westerly dip of the strata, and con-
cealing the vast ice fields which cover the northwestern
slope of the island. Amid the fogs and rains and snows of
the next two weeks this mountain outline was destined to
fix itself in our memories in innumerable aspects which
could never be forgotten. The interest of the scene was
enhanced by the squalor of the igloos of the Eskimo in
the foreground. Of these there were only three, occupied
by twenty-five people. They consisted simply of walls of
stone and turf about twenty feet square and three and a
half feet high, covered over with a slightly conical turf
roof, through which, in one or two of the cases, a stove-
pipe protruded, for use on the occasion when a fire was
built in the sheet-iron cylinder which served for a stove
inside ; but the turf used for fuel is usually so wet that much
of the time a fire is entirely out of the question.

The squalid condition of the igloos, or huts, was partly
due to a flood which had swept over the village in the
spring. How a flood could have risen in such a situation
it was difficult for us to see, but the fact had to be ac-
cepted, for the ruins of an igloo in which two or three of
the inmates were drowned was a mute but constant witness
to the sad event, and the vivid memories of the poor sur-
vivors enabled them to make us understand the story, even
when told in an unknown language, so expressive were
their gestures and pantomimes.

In August a small stream of pure water from the melting
masses of snow which still lingered in the low, rockv
mountain rising above the settlement on the east, rushed
merrily down past the place, furnishing an unfailing supply
for summer use. But it seems that when the deep snows

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

were rapidly melting in the spring this channel had become
so clogged with masses of snow and ice that the water
deserted its natural bed, and in a manner which seemed
incredible rushed directly across the neck of the low penin-
sula to the side opposite from that of the natural depres-
sion. The possibility of so destructive a flood in such a
situation gave us an idea of the accumulation of snow in
the winter which we could not otherwise have obtained.
It would seem that during most of the winter the snow is
so deep that the igloos entirely disappear beneath it. The
entrances to them must then have looked still more like
burrows than in the summer.

CAMP AT IKAMIUT

Notwithstanding this forbidding exterior of the village,
we found the inhabitants the best of neighbors, faithfully
practicing both the outward observances and the morali-
ties of the Christian religion which had been taught them
by their Danish protectors. One of their number acted as
catechist, and conducted regular Sunday services in the

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largest of the igloos; and all of the adults could read and
write, though their outward garb was the traditional one
which had characterized the people from the earliest times.

On Saturday the weather was unpropitious. The wind
blew hard, and the air was full of fog and drizzly rain. We
were able to do little but sit in our tent and cultivate the
acquaintance of our strange but kindly and well-disposed
neighbors. They were curious to see everything we had,
and to know both what it was and what is was for. It must
be confessed also that we were equally curious to learn
everything about them. In token of their good will, the
women and children brought us an abundant supply of
moss and crowberry vines with which to carpet our tent
and to disguise the hardness of our rocky floor.

Sunday morning came, and it was still cold and rainy.
While we were eating our breakfast and shivering over our
coal-oil stove in the tent, a man of mild appearance and
diminutive stature came to the door with a hymn-book and
a Bible in his hands, and pointed to them to indicate, as
we surmised, that there was to be a religious service some-
where in the settlement. But he did not linger long, and
so silently disappeared that we did not see where he went,
and hence were at a loss to know where the service was
to be held, for the settlement was squalid in the extreme,
and no one of the three igloos seemed better than the
others.

But on going down to our boats we heard singing in one
of the huts. Stooping down before the low door and push-
ing it open, and crawling through a long, narrow passage-
way to the assembly room on our hands and knees, we
were welcomed by motions into the most interesting
church service I ever attended or expect ever to attend.
To our eyes the room in itself was dreary beyond descrip-
tion. The low walls of stone and turf were reeking with
moisture, while water distilled freely from the sod roof in
various places, and, as one walked along the passageways,
spurted up from the crevices between the loose stones
with which the floor was covered. The only dry place was
the shelf, elevated about a foot, on the north side of the
room, which for the regular inmates was their sleeping
place by night and their lounging place by day. A cylin-

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

drical, sheet-iron stove near the door was now cold and
lifeless, because the creeping vines and peat were so wet
that it was impossible to kindle a fire. A lamp of seal oil,
freshly distilled from raw blubber, was burning in the other

SUKKERTOPPEN, GREENLAND

end of the room, being the special property and care of
the oldest woman of the household. In no place could one
stand erect.

Yet here was gathered the whole community for Sab-
bath morning worship. Of course, I could not understand
the words of their hymn, but the tune was a grand Ger-
man choral which I had heard two years before in the
cathedral at Cologne. All united in the singing, main-
taining perfectly the slow, dignified, and effective move-
ment. Then followed a sermon from the little man, who
proved to be the catechist living in the place. This was
delivered in the Eskimo language, and with eloquence
and effect, though from the lowness of the room the
speaker was compelled to remain in a sitting posture.
The only intelligible words to me in either the sermon or
the prayers were the amens, in which all joined. Finally
the service was closed with another hymn sung to an
equally impressive German choral.

THE WHITE WORLD

Monday and several of the following days were bright
and clear, enabling us successfully to carry out our plans
of making botanical and zoological collections, and to
explore the little-known icefields at the head of the fiord.

The fiord which we planned to explore extends eight
miles inland from the point on which we were encamped,
and is from two to three miles wide, though from the
clearness of the atmosphere it was difficult to make either
of these distances seem half so great. The solemn gran-
deur of the scenery exceeded anything which it had been
our privilege elsewhere to behold. The mountains arose
on either side to a height of something more than four
thousand feet, which, indeed, is not so high as may be
found in many other parts of the world; but the interest
is not exhausted in the consideration of any single feature
of the scene. Opposite to the entrance of the fiord was
the picturesque outline of the peaks capping the island of
Sermersut, which alone separated us from the waters of
the ocean, while at the head of the fiord a broad projec-
tion from the inland ice sheet came down on both sides
of a high mountain peak to the water's level and broke
off into icebergs, which were slowly floating outward to-
ward the sea.

Nothing could be more striking than the contrast be-
tween the opposite sides of the fiord. The flanks of the
mountains on the south side, facing the north, were deeply
covered with snow fields and furrowed with glaciers.
Above the snow fields a series of sharp, needle-like peaks
projected just enough to give savage variety to the scene.
On this flank the local glaciers presented an object-lesson
most perfect of its kind. A series of glaciers approached
the water level at the base of the mountain to distances
approximately proportionate to that separating them from
the ice front at the head of the fiord. Near the entrance
was one coming down to within about one thousand feet
of the water level. Farther east was one reaching to
within about five hundred feet of the level. Farther east
still, another came to within about three hundred feet;
while still beyond, and within about half a mile of the
main projection of the ice front, was one extending to the
water's edge, and sending off miniature icebergs to aid in
cumbering the waters of the fiord.

i

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

About two-thirds of the distance up the fiord there was
a favorite haunt of various kinds of birds. At the time
of our visit kittiwakes were there in countless numbers.
The perpendicular precipices, for a mile or more in length
and more than a thousand feet in height, were completely
covered with their nests wherever there was a crag upon
which they could be built. Indeed, the face of the cliffs was
white with these birds as they struggled with each other
to secure places for temporary rest, while the neighboring
waters were covered with those who were seeking for food
or were enjoying the luxury of a cold bath. The firing of
our guns would be the signal for the whole colony to rise
into the air, when it would seem as if a cloud had suddenly
cut us off from the sunlight, while the sound of their
strange voices, the note of which is suggested in their
name, filled the air and completed a scene that cannot be
equaled in interest outside of Greenland.

The day upon the glacier was exhilarating in the ex-
treme. After clambering over the crevasses and pinnacles
of ice which obstructed our course for the first half mile,
we saw a clear way before us between two medial moraines
which came down from a high nunatak, or crest of rock,
in the distance. While crossing one of these moraines,
picking our way between its vast piles of stones, the two
Eskimo who had accompanied us thus far began to lose
courage, and in the true native style attempted to disguise
their real state of mind by calling attention to their boots,
saying that they were " no good," every once in a while
uttering this ejaculation and pointing to their upturned
soles with a despondent look. Of course we humored
them, and permitted them to sit down with some of our
superfluous luggage to guard. Here they remained all
day long, apparently not having stirred from their tracks
until we hailed them on our return.

We followed up the vast glacier to the nunatak, which
proved to be fully seven miles back from the front and
to about equally divide the vast ice streams which poured
down on either side of it. The total width of the glacier
at this point we estimated to be six or seven miles, and at
the base of the nunatak we were not far from two thousand
feet above sea level. Eastward there was nothing but the

213

THE WHITE WORLD

horizon to obstruct our view. We were looking out
upon the same snow fields which had greeted our vision
from Isortok Fiord two weeks before, only now we were
on the field itself. Then we had viewed it from the side,
at right angles to our present vision. The imagination
now came in, with its subtle power, to intensify the inter-
est of the occasion. With the mind's eye there was nothing
to hinder our looking across the whole vast waste of per-
petual snow stretching to the east coast of Greenland.
This was verily a part of the inland ice.

Nor was the interest of the backward glance much less
impressive. The glacier at the head of Ikamiut Fiord was
only half of what was within our vision. The mountain
upon the south side, whose hanging glaciers had so en-
chanted our vision from our camping-place, divided the
glacier we were exploring into two nearly equal portions.
One half was pouring into the fiord on the south, through
whose long vista we could distinctly see the distant islands
in the bay of Sukkertoppen. At various distances along
this fiord icebergs glittered in the light of the declining
sun, showing that the ice front at the head of that fiord
was similar to that in the one which we had more particu-
larly examined.

As before remarked, these glaciers on the south side
were all of them thicker near the base of the mountain
than at their higher levels. Indeed, they seemed to run
down like cold tar and to thicken at the base as a stiff
semi-fluid would under the action of gravity. Usually the
more rapid melting at the lower levels causes the glacier
to thin out near the foot, but here the temperature in the
shade is so near the freezing point that the ice melts
about as fast near the upper portions of the glaciers as
it does at the base.

Another phenomenon illustrating the nature of the
movement going on in great glaciers was seen here to
special advantage. Where the great ice sheet abutted
against the mountain which divided its front into two
portions, it was pushed up by the momentum of the move-
ment so as to be two or three hundred feet higher at the
base of the mountain than it was a mile away. Indeed,
a half mile or so back there was a distinct depression

214

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

in the glacier, with the ice higher all around it. It was
just such a depression as is made where a current of water
is obstructed by some obstacle; the current pushes a con-
siderable distance up the obstruction, and then breaks
over the sides to go around it; but ice, being much less
fluid than water, moves off
in larger swells and more
gradual curves.

But even an Arctic after-
noon has its close. With
regret we sought our boats
and set out on the return, to
go again through the mag-
nificent panorama of the
morning. The day had been
one never to be forgotten.
With the pure air making
everything clear within the
range of vision; with the
consciousness that we were
treading where other human
feet had probably never trod,
and were looking on scenes
that few, if any, others would
ever see; amid a solitude
that was unbroken by living objects except here and
there a passing bird or a wary fox, whose tracks sur-
prised us on the newly fallen snow; with gurgling streams
of purest water from the melting ice all about us, hasten-
ing in channels of deepest blue to plunge at last with
deafening roar into some mvsterious moulin — the senses
were overburdened with material for the imagination to
seize upon and work up into pictures of scientific form
and poetic fancy. We tried in vain to answer the ques-
tion which involuntarily arose, Why is there so much
waste of beauty and grandeur beyond the reach of ordinary
mortals?

One of the most interesting results of our various ex-
cursions was the evidence collected showing that even the
Greenland glaciers are smaller than thev once were.
Greenland, too, has had its glacial period, when the whole

H Aw ma mm. .

A FAMILY GROUP

215

THE WHITE WORLD

border as well as the interior was covered with glacial ice.
Everywhere on the mountain sides there were remnants
of glacial deposits and of glacial scratching and polishing,
which bore evidence that formerly all the channels open-
ing out to the sea had been full to the top with moving
glacial ice. Whether the volume of ice was sufficient to
entirely fill Davis Strait and join Greenland to North
America is more than any one can tell. But that the whole
mountainous western border was enveloped with the ice
mass, and that icebergs, far more numerous than those
which now incumber the North Atlantic, were poured
forth from the fiords of Southern Greenland as well as
from the northern portion of the vast island, is rendered
certain.

Soon after returning to Sukkertoppen, we were cheered
by the appearance of the white sails of the splendid fish-
ing yacht " Rigel," from Gloucester, Massachusetts, under
charge of Captain Dixon, one of the noblest specimens
of humanity that ever lived. By rare good fortune the
party we had sent north had succeeded in finding him,
and he with all his crew had heartily hastened to our
relief. Thinking it was still possible for the "Miranda" to
steam across Davis Strait to the coast of Labrador, it
was resolved to place all the excursionists upon the
" Rigel," and to let the " Miranda " take us in tow.

The " Rigel " was a fast sailing yacht, about one hun-
dred feet in length and of one hundred tons burden. It
was already half full of fish, but these were spread over
the bottom of the middle hold and covered with salt, over
which a tarpaulin was laid. There were fifty-one excur-
sionists to find room in the craft, in company with the
eighteen members of the crew, making sixty-nine in all.
With such crowded quarters, of course we were not able
to take anything with us but the barest necessities of
clothing; every superfluous moving thing belonging to the
boat was cast overboard. Those who were assigned to
the middle hold were packed together like sardines in a
box, it being scarcely possible for one to turn over with-
out the whole companv doing the same.

It was a beautiful bright morning when we set out upon
our homeward voyage. Our hospitable Danish friends

2T6

WRECKED ON THE COAST OF GREENLAND

came out upon the harbor in small boats, while the Eskimo
gathered in clusters on all the surrounding- rocky promi-
nences, a trained company of them saluting us with fire-
works as, just at the point of departure, the Star-spangled
Banner was hoisted upon the " Rigel," and the whole com-
pany joined in singing: —

" My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty."

With the tears rolling down the face of Captain Dixon
as well as of many others, the steamer started on its ad-
venturous trip.

For twelve hours the sea was smooth and everything
went well; the "Rigel" following the "Miranda" at the
end of a cable several hundred feet long, and it was re-
ported that we had gone ninety-six miles. Twenty-four
hours more passed without special incident and without
any occasion to communicate with the crew on the " Mi-
randa." We had then gone one hundred and ninety-two
miles farther, making two hundred and eighty-eight miles
in all. But heavy swells were rolling in upon us as the
effect of a storm to the south, and at midnight the sign of
distress was run up from the steamer. Our captain
shouted for all the crew to come on deck, and the others
to stay below; but we did not all of us obey. The scene
for the next few hours is the memory of a lifetime.

We were informed from the " Miranda " that the leak
in the bottom had become unmanageable, so that she
must be abandoned in a short time, and we were requested
to come up nearer to her. But this our captain refused to
do lest we should all be pulled down together. A man
was stationed with an ax to cut the hawser in case of
immediate danger, and we all lay rolling upon the mighty
swells till we could get the crew from the " Miranda "
safely on board. After two or three hours of hard strug-
gling with the elements, a boatload came almost within
reach of the " Rigel," but was repeatedly carried away from
us by the angry waves. At last, however, one after an-
other were all taken on board, the cable connecting the
two vessels was cut loose, and the " Miranda." with the
lights all burning, the smoke and steam coming out of

217

THE WHITE WORLD

her funnel, and her rudder lashed to one side, was left
to steam away from us in the mist and darkness, finally
to become a derelict on the face of the deep and to seek
her unknown fate; while we escaped from the scene as
fast as the wind would carry us.

There were now ninety-two men upon this little craft,
with a limited amount of water and provisions, to make
our way to some port from which we could reach home.
When we lined up on deck, we filled it from stem to stern,
and were happier in the loss of all our possessions than we
had been at any previous time of our eventful trip, since
hope now so strongly overtopped all other emotions.
After two weeks of such close companionship, during
which we sailed past some of the most majestic ice-
bergs that float upon the ocean, and encountered many
other scenes of great interest along the coast of Labrador,
we reached the harbor of Sidney, and telegraphed to our
homes the news of our safety. Not a hair of our heads
had been injured, and we all came home wiser if poorer
men, while the interest in our experiences has been so
increased with the lapse of time that they are among the
most cherished memories of our lives.

ANCIENT HARBOR OF LIEVELY, DISKO, GREENLAND

2l8

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

PROFESSOR WILLIAM H. BREWER.

Prof. Wm. H. Brewer, of Yale University, was
born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., September, 1828.
He was a member of Expedition on S. S. " Mi-
randa," 1894. Harriman Alaska Expedition,
1899. Study of Arctic phenomena in general.

PROF. W. H. BREWER

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

By Professor WILLIAM H. BREWER

[SPECTS which life assumes in the Arctic
regions are a delight to the traveler.
Its abundance is a surprise alike to the
unscientific summer visitor and to the
naturalist, while its variety seems to be
illogical and contrary to what we should
expect of nature. Vegetation grows large
and abundant only in warmer climates and warmer waters;
and as animal life is dependent on the vegetable kingdom
for food, directly or indirectly, we might naturally expect
the living things to be very different from what they actu-
ally are in the Arctic regions.

In warm climates, individual plants are very much larger
than anything of the animal kind found there. Even the
elephant is small compared with some of the majestic
trees which shelter it. In the cold regions there are no
trees, the woody shrubs may be stunted to a finger's length
in height, yet the musk-ox thrives on the scanty herbage,
and the white bear, among the largest of the bear kind,
frequents the shores or seeks its food upon the ice-floes.
None of the greater sea-weeds flourishes there, yet the
ponderous walrus and more gigantic whale sport amid
those icy waters.

In sunny nooks among the rocks, in Greenland, Alaska,
and Siberia alike, there is a profusion of small plants,
warmed into life in the long days of the short summer,
the beauty of whose flowers delight the beholder. Gor-
geous colors abound, and often the large size and bril-
liancy of the flowers seem out of all proportion to the
size of the stems which support them. I have found some
of the same species near the perpetual snows on mountain
summits of the Sierra Nevada of California and on the

223

THE WHITE WORLD

high peaks of the Rocky mountains, but the Alpine speci-
mens are of more robust habit, their stems are coarser,
and their whole appearance less delicate, less succuleni
and smooth, than those of their Arctic relatives. Then,
too, they have more down or other characteristics which
probably protect them from the fiercer sun and drier air
of those elevated regions. Beautiful as are Alpine flowers,
they lack the brilliancy and delicacy of those whose bloom
brightens the desolation of the Arctic.

Then, too, the cold waters abound in the smaller forms of
animal life. There are creatures that burrow in the slimy
mud in the shallows. Some of the Alaskan marine worms
are of great length and of brilliant colors; and there are
small crustaceans in infinite numbers, and of many kinds,
which furnish food for fish and bird and beast. Sea-fowl
often hover in cloud-like flocks over the water, pursuing
this small prey.

The whales are always of special interest. To the child
and schoolboy no other tales about the savage world have
a greater fascination than stories about whales. The ad-
ventures incurred in hunting the whale form a precious
portion of the literature for youth, and few of us ever get
entirely over the liking for it.

We saw numerous whales on the Harriman Alaskan
Expedition, and of several species, but no such large indi-
viduals as we saw in the Greenland seas on the " Last
Cruise of the Miranda." On our way home, in the Bering
Sea, north of the Aleutian Islands, we saw an extensive
school of whales. Speaking as a landsman, a " herd " of
whales would seem like a better term. It extended for
miles apparently to the northern horizon; the whales were
not close together, but seemed to go in pairs, apparently
feeding rather than playing, and most of them traveling
in the same direction, blowing as they came to the surface,
and showing often an enormous extent of back before
diving again. There must have been two score or more
of them, but not often were more than three or four in
actual sight at once. Six was the largest number I saw
blowing at the same instant. Great flocks of screaming
sea-birds swept over the same waters, for that was their
pasture also.

224

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

The whale fisheries of the Bering Sea and the Arctic
Ocean beyond, are the most extensive of any that have
been pursued of late years, and the most dangerous. We
met a fleet of whalers at Port Clarence, just below Bering
Strait, waiting the retreat of the ice of the Arctic Ocean
from the American coast. Then they would penetrate
eastward, where the business is the most profitable, but is
attended with peculiar dangers. In Baffin Bay the whalers
fear being frozen in; here the greatest danger is of a very
different kind. The great Arctic ice-pack retreats north-
ward in summer, it returns as the season advances, and is
driven against the American coast, and woe to the vessel
that does not escape to the west of Point Barrow, or get
behind the shelter of a friendly island. The story of
crushed vessels and of heroic adventures, along that coast
is an exciting one.

We sometimes see white bears and small Arctic animals
temporarily in our zoological gardens, but those who would
see the whale and the walrus must visit them at their own
homes; it will be some time before they will call upon us,
put up at our aquaria, and receive visitors there.

Sea lions and fur seals abound along the coast of Alaska
and its islands. The former are found at places along
the coast as far south as Southern California, but the
great shore resorts of the fur seal are Pribyloff Islands in
the Bering Sea, where they resort in herds of hundreds of
thousands, and where they furnish the most fascinating
exhibition of wild animal life to be found on the globe.

They spend most of their lives at sea and come to these
islands in summer to rear their young, to shed their coats,
and to have a social summer outing. The Pribyloff Islands
are so much of the time hidden by fogs, that they were not
discovered for years after being looked for by the early
Russian hunters, who saw the seals passing every summer,
into the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean. The rook-
eries extend along the shore at intervals for miles. The
animals begin to arrive in May, the males first, where the
larger and stronger ones take possession of some particular
place on the shores, preferably where there is an abundance
of rocks. They fight with each other until the victors
have established a title to a homestead. They are zealous

225

THE WHITE WORLD

polygamists, and the females, arriving in June, are gathered
into these respective families. The larger harems contain
twenty or thirty females, but smaller ones are the most
numerous. Over each harem an old male presides, perched
on some rock in the midst of his family where he can have
them all under his eye and watch the approach of encroach-
ing rivals. All of the males by no means succeed in being
polygamists, but the patriarch with a single wife is as
zealous in guarding his small family as if he were the
wealthy owner of a dozen. The poorer individual with but
one or two wives is usually to be found crowded as far
away from the water as possible by his more successful
rivals. He is, however, an interesting creature, for what he
lacks in wealth of family, he makes up in his demonstra-
tions of zeal in its defence.

We visited the rookeries on St. Paul Island early in
July. Although the herds are very much smaller than for-
merly they seemed immense, and thousands together were
wriggling about their respective locations, or sporting in
the adjacent waters. On the shore they are as closely
associated as a flock of sheep in a pasture, stretching along
the beach by thousands — denser here, sparser there.

The males are four or five times as large, in weight, as
the females. They are six or seven feet long and weigh
four hundred pounds, more or less. We call these animals
popularly " seals," but they are very unlike the true seals
or hair seals, some species of which are found in the same
waters, and of which still other kind occur in great numbers
about the North Atlantic coast, especially of Greenland and
along the coast of Labrador. The fur seals are unlike them
in looks and motions, and eminently unlike them in be-
havior during that portion of their lives which is spent out
of the water.

Prompted by their natural instincts, these herds are
organized into communities which seem to be governed
by rules, almost as well defined and as strictly followed
as the laws which govern savage communities of man-
kind. We are told that the time of their coming and
going, the preempting and defence of claims, the guarding
of the family, the breaking of the camps and disorganiza-
tion of the community before leaving, the time and order

226

LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

of leaving, go on with almost the regularity of clockwork.
All this seems so wonderful, that the animal has been
accredited with a much higher order of intelligence than
it, probably, actually possesses. They come in order and
in season, and there is but little more disorder in their
going. When they leave, they move southward and go
through the various passes between the Aleutian Islands,
into the broader Pacific Ocean; some of them travel down
the Asiatic side; some are seen farther out to sea and still
others near the American coast. They certainly go as
far southward as the latitude of California, then return by
somewhat different routes. Such a voyage could never
be done by mere intelligence. But what wonderful instincts
guide them? After a trip of a thousand, sometimes over
two thousand miles they return to their fog-veiled islands
as surely as if the track had been planned on chart
and the creatures guided by compass. And they arrive at
just the right time; the males first, to locate the home, the
females later. The young are born within a few days after
landing and are reared on the shore, for the young seals
cannot swim until two or three months old. When they
have grown large enough to take care of themselves, have
learned how to swim well, and can fish for themselves, they
start with their parents on their long voyage southward.
All this goes on with the precision of an army under orders.

But what a fascinating sight they present when on shore!
Sailors in port are not more frolicsome or in more fighting
mood. When we come too near, the male who is most
interested in the intrusion, advances and barks and growls
ominously, opens his big mouth which is much like that of
a large St. Bernard dog in shape but much larger in size,
and studded with rows of sharp, glistening, white teeth,
and says as plainly as animals can say, " Stop " — " Don't
come any nearer " — " Be off " — "I don't want you here."
You instinctively retreat a few steps, he stops his demon-
strations as much as to say, "That'll do at present," oc-
casionally barking to let you know that he means what
he says.

They have the least fear of man of any other large wild
animal. We cannot call them " wild " in the most popular
sense of the word. They will fearlessly allow one to come

227

THE WHITE WORLD

to within a few feet of them before they will actively resent
a closer approach.

Thus guarding his family, the patriarch is an impressive
beast. He is awkward in his progress, which is a sort
of compound motion made up of hitching and crawling,
the head erect and attention alert. The eyes are large,
dark blue, and peculiarly expressive; now glistening with
ferocity, as he warns you not to come too close to his
harem. You retreat a few steps, and the next moment
the same eyes beam on you with a mild serenity, so genial
in expression that you slowly and cautiously again advance,
perhaps camera in hand, to get a closer snapshot. While
adjusting your focus, suddenly comes the warning voice,
and he advances a foot or two ; the eyes glitter again, their
expression heightened by the wide open mouth and gleam-
ing teeth; then you retreat again and peace is declared,
but the snapshot has been lost.

The charm of the scene is indescribable. Happening at
a specially favorable place for observation, I stayed there
by the hour, although there were not more than a thousand
or two seals near me. Half a mile farther on they were
very much more numerous, tempting me to proceed and
see them in still greater numbers, but I spent most of my
time while on shore watching the community at this one
spot, with shorter visits to some still more limited groups.

The scene where the families are crowded closer together
is always an animated one. Some are playing, some sleep-
ing, the males on guard alert; every few minutes turning
to some near neighbor who may be watching his own
harem, growling and barking defiance with much opening
of the mouth. But most of this seems after all to be
merely " bluff; " the actual fighting has been accomplished,
rights are already established, and the camp has settled
down to family life. These manifestations are perhaps
only intended to mean, " Now, keep away," or " I've my
eye on you!"

The voice is very unlike that of the common seal, or
hair seal, but not nearly so impressive as that of the sea
lion, which is the nearest relative of the fur seal. The
sea lion's voice has the lowest pitch in tone of any animal
sound with which I am acquainted. Years ago I was

. LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS

familiar with it as heard in various places on the Californian
coast, from the rocks of St. George on the northern border,
southward to near Point Conception. Especially when it
broke the stillness of night was it impressive. More than
once, sleeping on the ground, in my blanket near shore,
I have been awakened by that deep guttural note, and
have listened to that loud but low-pitched voice mingled
with the sounds of the winds and breakers. I think it the
most impressive of the sounds of the night I have ever
heard in the loneliness incident to exploration near a
rocky shore. The scream of the panther in a mountain
forest may be more startling but is much less impressive.

Some of the Harriman party visited a great rookery of
sea lions on the volcanic islands of Bogoslov, near the
Aleutians. I did not go there, but I had seen enough of
sea lions years before to appreciate the enthusiastic com-
ments of one of the party who did go. " It is the sight of
a lifetime; nothing else in the world like it!"

A few days after leaving the Pribyloff Islands, the Harri-
man Expedition anchored in Plover Bay, in Northeastern
Siberia, near Bering Strait. A low and narrow sandspit
extends into the bay from the foot of the steep and pictur-
esque bluffs on one side. On the outer end of the spit is
a small Eskimo village. It was evident that there had been
a village here for a very long time and apparently it had
once been very populous.

The people of this tribe are unlike any other Eskimo
I have ever seen. They differ from the Alaskan Eskimo
whom we visited the next day, on the other side of the
strait, less than two hundred miles distant, and are very
unlike the Eskimo of Greenland and of Northern Labrador.
They are somewhat larger than the Alaskan tribe, and
very much larger than the Greenland and Hudson Bay
Eskimo; and they have a very different type of counte-
nance. The men are well formed, some of them extremely
so. This is due to the admixture with the Chuckchee
blood of North Eastern Siberia. The men have the crown
shaved, as do the Chuckchees, the tonsure encircled
by a rather broad strip of very stiff and not very long
hair. The countenances are very unlike the Greenland
Eskimo. The nose is not so small and is straighter, the

229

THE WHITE WORLD

eyes appear less inclined. The people are more robust in
every way, have apparently more intellectual capacity, and
with probably more natural strength of character and more
barbarous instincts. They were no cleaner than their
Greenland relatives. They were clother in skins, mostly
reindeer, and they live on the product of the sea. The
bones of whales were scattered about in great abundance
and were used for a variety of purposes. Whale's skulls
were numerous. Some of them, half burried in the soil,
weather-worn and moss covered, looked as if they might
have been there for centuries.

But little drift-wood comes to this desolate coast and
whalebones are turned to a variety of uses as a substitute
for wood. Whale ribs constitute the posts and other sup-
ports of the Eskimo homes, more crooked ribs made a
fireplace to hang the pot; the vertebrae are used in many
ways. I noticed a shoulder blade used as a door for a
summer tent, while another was used for a sort of table.

In winter they live in large houses made by erecting
posts of the larger and straighter whale ribs, filled in be-
tween with rods making the wall, the whole covered with a
roof of walrus hide. In summer, when the floor of these
become too wet and muddy, they live in tents made of
walrus hide.

These simple people are very friendly and were evidenly
pleased to see us. Mr. Harriman distributed presents
among them. The tobacco was very highly appreciated,
and there was apparently some regret that it was not
accompanied with whiskey. I was much amused at the
look of wonder of one of the women as she opened the
package given her and saw a gay necklace, strung with
large glass pearls. She seemed not to know what it was.

The dress of the men, women and children is very like
that of the eastern Eskimo. The women carry the smaller
children on the back within the ample garment. The head
usually protrudes, but sometimes no head is seen: a motion
like that of a cat in a bag suggests what is there.

The Asiatic Eskimo, like their neighbors in Alaska, are
wasting away, because of the visits of civilized people, and
the close of the century will probably find them extinct as
a people, now that gold hunters as well as whalers visit
the Arctic coast.

230

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH

RUDOLF KERSTING.

Rudolf Kersting was born in Hanau, Ger-
many, 1856. Photographer to Greenland Ex-
pedition on S. S. " Miranda," under command
of Dr. F. A. Cook, 1894. Alaska, 1891.

RUDOLF KERSTING

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH

By RUDOLF KERSTING

•KAMIUT is the most properly named place on
earth, " a place without shelter," and still we had
pitched our camp on this place, for want of a
better one. I was detailed to go to the interior
of Greenland with several prominent professors
of geology, myself to do photographing, while
these scientific men would examine the ice and
land formations. Rowing twenty miles toward
Ikamiut, not a place was visible along the precipi-
tately rising walls of basaltic rock bordering the
fiords, where a landing could be made. Eskimo guides
in their skin kayaks, darting all about us, picked up dozens
of fine ducks which were shot along the route. Three or
four little stone houses covered with sod, and a population
of about eight Eskimo, constituted the settlement of Ika-
miut. I could not understand why people would live in
them, until I learned that it was a first class place for
catching codfish. These people caught codfish all summer,
and dried them for winter use. It was a filthy, ill-smelling
place; much fog and rain, bringing despair to a photog-
rapher. Everything was wet and at the same time it
was never dark enough to change photographic plates, even
in the middle of the night.

Clear weather was promised for the next day and every-
thing was made ready for our expedition, the purpose of
which was to ascend a glacier at the head of the fiord.
My camera was of large size, and I had very compact plates
eight by ten inches. A military knapsack carrying nine
double plate holders, and a tripod was supported by straps
on each shoulder. These holders had to be reloaded, and
for that purpose no white light is permissible. Inside of
our tent, with dark blankets, we arranged a place where

235

THE WHITE WORLD

I could lie on my stomach and with difficulty manage this
job, nearly suffocating for want of air and melting with
perspiration.

Then crawling with my partners into the sleeping-bag,
I found the icewater melting from a glacier above, the
result of a previous rain, filtering
into our tent, and before morning
we were soaking wet. I got out
about S o'clock and walked twenty
steps to the waters edge. There,
under the direction of a fat Eskimo
girl, with only a seal-skin line and
a hook without bait, I pulled out
half a dozen large rock-cod, rang-
ing from two to four pounds each.
Half an hour after catching the
fish, we had them fried and eaten.
A four-mile row brought us to
the foot and side of the glacier,
though not without considerable
trouble, for the Eskimo are super-
stitious and are afraid to go near
glaciers ; they never think of going
upon them alone. It is in a certain
sense dangerous, for large bergs
breaking off make no little com-
motion and may easily upset a boat.
The roaring of cracking, breaking,
sea birds pushing masses of ice, millions of

tons, sounds like that of thunder and
of battle. Our enthusiastic professors with nothing but alpen
stocks and note-books, started at once to climb upward on the
smoothest side and I, after making several exposures of the
front view, followed in their tracks. I saw no geological
problems, but a beauty of form and color which almost
paid me for all the trouble of coming to Greenland. The
blue sky, the white snow, the dark waters, and the colors
of ice, ranging from lightest blue-green to darkest shades,
all was exquisite.

Fissures and crevasses made ascent difficult, and soon I
was hot and uncomfortable, slippery, deceiving ice, holes

236

1

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH

and rivulets, stayed my progress, narrow passages which
the others had passed I sat upon and crossed on hands and
knees, looking downward a hundred feet or more into bot-
tomless pits on my left and right. Nothing but ice all
around, save here and there a strip of gravel and large
boulders, lateral moraines, one or two mountain peaks
showing above the ice — all these features were photo-
graphed; not, as one would think, under adverse circttm-

CROSSING A CREVICE

stances, but on the contrary, under a clear blue sky, a
brilliant sun playing upon the wonderful waste of ice,
making beautiful reflections and refractions of the rays of
light.

No dust of any kind is in the atmosphere; it is pure,
clear air. It is easy to make good pictures under these
conditions, if you study your light. The great difficulty
is near the seashore, where with ordinary plates or films,
proper exposure is next to an impossibility.

The rocks are of a color which, like the color of grass,
will absorb rays of light, while the water, the ice, the sky,

237

THE WHITE WORLD

and the snow will reflect them. Therefore, in exposing
for light objects, the dark ones will be under-exposed; and
vice versa, exposing for the darker objects, the sky, ice,
and snow will be so much exposed that they will melt into
an opaque mass on the negative. To be certain at all, one
should have a good dark room, and develop some plates
daily to enable him to keep in touch with the quality of light.
Films work better than plates, the thinness of the cellu-
loid gives less halation and more color values, but the only
proper outfit for Arctic photography is composed of iso-
or orthochromatic plates to be used in conjunction with
color screens of various density. To be prepared for all
conditions of work in the Arctic regions a number of lenses
from the shortest wide angle to a telephoto attachment are
indispensable.

One of the professors, older than the rest, had fallen
behind the advance guard, and joined me. We sat down

upon a projecting piece of
ice, ate our luncheon and
drank some of the clearest
and finest ice-water imag-
inable. I spoke of the sur-
passing beauty, the fine
color scheme, of the sur-
roundings. He, in all
probability, paid not the
least attention to that, but
gave the water on the
glacier, the hole in the ice,
and other things, their
proper scientific names, and
was happy in his way.

According to his aneroid
barometer, we had climbed
upward of 3100 feet, and
estimated that we had
walked about five miles
A SLIP upon the eternal inland ice,

which covers all of Green-
land. Large nails on the soles of our shoes helped
us along considerably, but did not always prevent a

238

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH

slip and a fall. As I could not carry an alpenstock, I
had to be extremely careful on account of my camera and
plates. But in spite of my precautions, I came near losing
all of them, and myself as well.

The smooth sides of this par-
ticular glacier had a descent of
about three hundred feet, at an
angle of nearly forty-five degrees,
with a running brook two feet deep
at the bottom. Rocks and moraine
debris formed slight projections
where they had lodged on the ice.
Upon these we often stepped to get
a better foothold, but not always
with good results. Jumping over
a narrow crevasse about two feet
wide, I tried to catch a foothold on
one of these projections, but it was
only a thin covering of earth with
slippery ice below.

The impetus of my jump gave
me a good start and nothing could
stop me from sliding down three
hundred feet, with a prospective
ice-water bath at the bottom. With
photographic plates on my back,
tripod in one hand and camera in
the other, there was nothing to do
but to slide down on the seat of my unmentionables. Rag-
ged and sharp pointed pieces of ice and stone soon reduced
my pantaloons to shreds.

Xearer and nearer I came to the water. I closed my
eyes, and with a sudden jerk my feet caught securely
against a projecting piece of ice on the brink of the stream.
The revulsion of feeling was so sudden that I lay still for
several minutes; then I crept along the edge to a spot where
moraine deposits of large rocks allowed me to jump from
one to another. Crossing to the other side and getting
my photographic stuff together, I made my way to our
landing place and put everything into the boat. There I
found a piece of string to tie up the parts of my torn
garments which had suffered most.
239

GETTING BREAKFAST

THE WHITE WORLD

Rowing to the camp late at night, a sudden storm broke
over us, darkening the sky so that we could not see a
hundred feet. A wind swept up the fiord, such as can
only be found in those regions; progress was very slow,
with uncertainty of direction. Finally we saw a light
ahead and recognized the point in the rear of which was
cur tent. The thoughtful Eskimo guide and his assistants,
anticipating our dilemma, had worked their hazardous way
over rugged cliffs to the fiord, and taking the powder out
of their cartridges, had burned it as a signal that we were
near home, and to guide us on our way. The night was
a most cheerless one, with constant rain, the water running
under our sleeping-bags.

The next day I had to unload my photographic plates;
everything was wet and muddv, I could find no place for
my work except the entrance of an Eskimo hut, an extension
used as store-room and kitchen three feet high, with stone
wall on three sides, filled with mud and moss, and without
a covering. I put oars and Eskimo harpoons on the top,
spread our blankets over them, and so made a fairly good
dark room. I could just get into it and work by kneeling
in the filthv mud.

Half a dozen of the plates I had taken the day before
were broken, and with the pieces I made valuable presents
to my interested Eskimo friends and spectators, who stood
closely around, watching the white man's magic with
keenest interest.

240

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

DR. TARLETON HOFFMAN BEAN.

Dr. Tarleton H. Bean was born in Bainbridge,
Penn., October, 1846. He was a member of
Coast Survey party in schooner Yukon, which
made collections and observations in the Pa-
cific Arctic, 1880. Revisited Alaska, 1880

DR. TARLETON H. BEAN

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

By DR. TARLETON H. BEAN

Wednesday, August ii, 1880

ORE of this exasperating Asiatic fog this
morning, and enough of the delectable
swell to remind us that this world is not
wholly a garden of roses. Up to break-
fast time we had made comparatively little
headway toward Plover Bay, owing to
light wind and strong head sea. This

same light wind and head sea continued all the way and

we did not reach our anchorage in Port Providence,

Plover Bay, Siberia, until 10 P. M.

Near the entrance of Plover Bay we met the cutter

Corwin coming out from a coaling trip. She bore toward

[In 1880 the writer was sent to Alaska by Professor Spencer F. Baird,
to collect natural history materials for the United States National
Museum. By permission of the Superintendent of the United States
Coast Survey, and at the invitation of Dr. W. H. Dall, who com-
manded the expedition, I joined the party in the schooner "Yukon,"
and made the long voyage from San Francisco to Wainwright Inlet
and return. During the cruise we collected avast amount of valuable
articles and information which have been utilized in various publica-
tions. Among the collections which concerned me most were
seventy-seven species of birds, eighty-four species of fishes, and one
hundred and ten species of lichens, which became the subjects of
papers in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum,
volumes IV, V, and VII, and in Section I of the Fisheries and
Fishery Industries of the United States. The spoon-billed sandpiper
was the most valuable bird secured, and the specimen brought by the
"Yukon" was the first in any American museum. Two other
species ofbirds were collected for the first time in Alaska. One new
species of lichens was obtained, and many of the fishes proved to be
unknown to science.

The above extracts from my journal cover the voyage from
Port Providence, Plover Bay, Siberia, to Wainwright Inlet and
return.]

245

THE WHITE WORLD

us and Captain Hooper came on board. From him we
learned that nearly all the natives of St. Lawrence Island
died from starvation last winter; that he had been within
20 miles of Herald Island and could go no farther on
account of the ice; that he could not reach Point Barrow
nor beyond Icy Cape for the same reason; that he had seen
Nelson at St. Michaels and found him well; he had heard
nothing of the missing whalers or of the Jeannette; the
whaling fleet now in the Arctic is doing well, having from
four to ten whales each.

The bluffs about the Plover Bay region are variously
colored — gray, purple, yellowish red, and in the ravines
there is still considerable snow. Small streams come down
the hillsides in various places. Clouds hang along the
summits as if to hide the desolation. Flocks of murres.
mormons, guillemots and other birds fly landward and
seaward. Gulls and fulmars hover over or rest upon the
water.

There are numerous pinnacles off the headlands and
jagged nubs along the ridges, yet the hill tops are usually
rounded and the visible faces are much broken up by frost.
A small settlement is near the west head (entrance to
Plover Bay), and we saw a few natives come down toward
the water.

As we worked in, a bidarra containing eight men from
the settlement at Port Providence came alongside and
some of the natives came on board. None of them are
tall. I should estimate the tallest as not over 5 feet 6
inches. Their teeth are small and short, worn down by
much chewing. Their color is nearly like that of the
Chinese. Most of them shave a part of the head, leaving
a naked space and a hairy rim. One had two concenfric
naked spaces. Thev wear deerskin parkas, as a rule, with
bear-skin collars. Hair seal pantaloons and boots or moc-
casins of seal are worn. Belts and a few beads and bone
ornaments are in use. Thev employ single paddles. They
talk some English and a little of several other languages.

Thursday, August 12
At 10.45 Capt. Herendeen and I left the " Yukon " in a
bidarra for the head of Plover Bay, taking the seine along.

246

A NATURALISTS ADVENTURES

We hoped to find reindeer and mountain goat. There
were three men, one woman and three boys to paddle for
us. We took shotguns, rifles and cooking outfit. The
day was fine; I found the sun uncomfortably warm in the
afternoon. The hills are high, usually rounded, though
there are some very broken and jagged edges. Valleys
are frequent; in them the soil is wet and there is vegetation
but not much grass. Flowers are abundant and very
pretty. Willow-wort is one of the common species.
Lichens on the rocks are wonderfully fine and exceedingly
plentiful.

Near the head of the bay we saw some salmon — prob-
ably little humpback, for I know that species to be here —
and we tried to seine them but without success. We
caught, however, sculpin, sand launce, blenny, and capelin.
We saw a great many eiders, females and young. There
were geese at the head, but we could not get near enough
even for a rifle shot. Seal were very abundant. We
stopped to see a party of natives who were encamped for
seal and reindeer hunting. The men were well armed
with Henry and other good rifles.

The boy sitting beside me had his quid of tobacco tem-
porarily stowed away behind the flap of his ear. Nearly
all of the party wore the deerskin parkas and hair seal
pantaloons. Some had sealskin boots. When we seined,
Sam stripped off everything but his pantaloons and boots
and waded in. Sam is a shrewd boy. He said to the
captain the other day: "You give me bread. You give
him now! Bimeby too many bummer come."

The old man, too, the famous sealer, is very knowing.
He seems to understand the reindeer, bear, seal, and other
creatures that he meets and must have been successful.
His way of telling the nature of the bears particularly is
very funny: " Black bear, he hungry, he come man! You
hit him knife, he no go!" [Imitates growling and fight-
ing.] "White bear, he smell man, no come; hungry, he
come; you hit him knife once, he go, all same man! "

I saw the north star far higher in the heavens than ever
before. The trip back to the ship was pleasant, the boat
moving smoothly under the regular and easy stroke of the
native boatmen.

217

THE WHITE WORLD

Friday, August 13

In the morning natives brought alongside trout and
salmon. I tried to make a trade for the salmon but the
wretch haggled so long about it that I gave up in disgust.

Captain Herendeen went seining and caught young scul-
pin, two species of blennies, and young capelin. After
lunch he and I went to the spit for birds. We got two
species of snipe, wagtails and longspurs, and I killed three
marmots and picked up a recently killed ermine. The
wagtails were exceedingly hard to approach and the long-
spurs hung around the huts so closely that one could
scarcely get them; then when they did fly away they were
hard to overtake, staying only a few seconds in one place.
Mr. Dall secured from a native a perfect specimen of
banded seal.

I saw one of the gill nets for seal lying on the beach.
It is made of seal skin, with stones for sinkers and seal
flippers for floats. They are set off from the beach and of
course are sunk to the bottom, standing up for the seal to
run into as they swim along near shore in search of food.

With a bidarra of natives to-day was a little girl, the child
of some white man by a native woman. The poor, pretty
little thing was white and has no appearance whatever like
the rest.

These people are inveterate beggars and exasperating
traders. If you go near a hut you are importuned for
tobacco and many other things that they think you may
have. Cleanliness is unknown among them. The eye is
not pleased and the nostril is offended; yet the natives are
far better and they look better than some of the Indians, for
example. When whales ran up into this bay the village
was large and thriving; now it has dwindled to two canoe-
loads. Whalebone frames are here in large numbers.
Blubber houses are numerous, but everything has gone to
ruin. An illustration of the cheek of these begerars oc-
curred to-day; one said to Captain Herendeen: "Me see
two fish! You give me tobacco! "

Saturday, August 14
Went to the spit again in the forenoon and shot a snipe,
a plover, a gull, a wagtail, a longspur, and an ermine

248

A NATURALIST'S ADVEN1URES

which the natives were trying to kill with stones, men,
women and children engaging in the sport. Captain Her-
endeen shot several marmots with his rifle. We had them
for dinner and they were very good. The wagtail that I
shot to-day was evidently adult and much better than those
I killed yesterday.

At i.io P. M. we got anchor and left Port Providence
for Bering Strait. I saw red snow abreast our anchorage
before leaving. The sea is smooth now.

Sunday, August 15

Calm all day but no swell until after tea; clear and
pleasant. Great flocks of phalaropes have been near us
off Cape Tchaplin or Indian Point. Captain Herendeen
shot a dozen of them. Seal, humpback and finback whales
were common. Rodgers' fulmar is abundant.

A bidarra load of natives came off from Indian Point in
the morning and loafed around until the middle of the
afternoon. One of them, the chief, had a nicely made
pipe of wood, inlaid with lead and having a lead rim; brass
chains, and various charms attached to it. He first put
into the pipe, which was of very small caliber, a little wad
of reindeer hair, to prevent the tobacco from being drawn
through the stem, then put in a very little black tobacco
and inhaled the smoke, retained it in the lungs a short
time, and slowly exhaled it. This was done just once and
the quantity of tobacco used was very small. This chief
had a parka of tame reindeer, a very pretty piebald skin.
One of the men had a doubled string of small white beads
in each ear. Hair seal pantaloons and sealskin boots were
general. These fellows are tall and athletic in appearance,
with something of the Indian in their countenances, though
less repulsive. They call themselves " Innuit."

Monday, August 16
Twilight lasts until very late and there are but a few
hours of night, for we are now not far south of the Arctic
Circle.

Tuesday, August 17
We have made but little progress to-day owing to light
wind, not fair, and choppy sea. Considerable floating ice

249

THE WHITE WORLD

was seen in Mechigme Bay, some of a beautiful green
color. Few birds were around us to-day besides Rodgers'
fulmar. Some small auks were occasionally seen.

OOMIAK, OR WOMAN'S BOAT

Wednesday, August 18

In the morning we were a short distance south of the
Diomede Islands, tacking back and forth and making little
northing. At 1.15 P. M. we were about five miles to the
westward of Cape Prince of Wales, and could see the
huts of the natives but did not care to call in.

Saw a small part of a rainbow arch in the evening. East
Cape could be plainly seen. Fairway Rock showed its full
height after we left it astern. There was snow on Rat-
manoff. Krusenstern Island looks like a mountain chop-
ped off. As we ran abreast of the Diomedes we struck a
warm current, and again at 6.15 P. M.; we found the tem-
perature of the water to be 51 °. The air, too, was com-
fortable. One could be on deck without an overcoat.

Sandhill cranes were seen flying towards America.
Rodgers' fulmar is our commonest companion; and a
murre, apparently the same as the one we saw in Cook's
Inlet, and from there all along, is also frequently near us.
Puffins are with us occasionally and phalaropes were seen
to-day. We have not seen a whale since we left Indian
Point. At 10 P. M. we must be not far from the Arctic
Circle.

250

A NATURALIST S ADVENTURES

Thursday, August 19

At supper time we were in latitude 66° 45' N.; longitude
1660 35' W. Here we saw great numbers of swimming
medusae, and frequently under them were small fishes, of
which we caught a great many with a dip-net, and found
them to be polar cod. There was a great variety of forms
among the jelly-fishes, some of them very pretty. A
dredge haul was made immediately after supper, and some
good shells, ophiurans, crustaceans, etc., were taken on
the sandy bottom.

The temperature is quite moderate; one does not need
an overcoat. The water is still comparatively warm; tem-
perature 490 at midnight.

Friday, August 20

At 2.45 P. M. we were abreast of Point Hope, and at
8.36 P. M. we anchored at Cape Lisburne, in seven fathoms,
sticky bottom. At noon to-day we were still in the warm
current, temperature 51 °.

The settlement at Point Hope showed no signs of life,
the natives being off fishing. There were plenty of frames
for caches, etc., and at various points along the low shore
were large conical piles of drift wood. The dwellings are
underground. There is no harbor at Cape Lisburne and
but a small settlement. The cape is a lofty bluff, backed
by high hills, the highest 849 feet, down which " woollies "
came as we were standing in. The full moon came in
sight as we rounded the cape. The sun sets at 8.20 and
rises at 3.55.

Pinnacled edges are found on the hills similar to those
of the Plover Bay region. Stratified rocks are exposed
in the cliffs. Murres, Rodgers' fulmar, kittiwakes, and
mormons are the common birds seen to-day. The air here
at 9 P. M., 460; water, 47 J/20.

Saturday, August 21
Went ashore early with Baker and Noyes, to collect
birds, etc. The day was for the most part very pleasant,
and in the afternoon the sun's rays were powerful, so much
so, that two Eskimo boys stripped down to the waist.
These people, like the Plover Bay folk, were hatless.

251

THE WHITE WORLD

I think the Cape Lisburne Eskimo would have worried
even Job into vigorous speech, as they certainly did me.
Beg, beg, beg! without end — tobacco, shot, powder, caps,
matches; they were never tired of importuning us for these
staples, and when they shot they never hit a bird. They
are bad shots, except at very short range — about the length
of a gun barrel.

They wear labrcts — one had a pair of stopples of Worces-
tershire Sauce bottles! They live in semi-subterranean
huts; use bidarms; have for the most part the cheapest
kind of muzzle-loading guns, though one had a Winchester
repeating rifle; their spear points are partly bone and
partly copper or other metal; their parkas are of reindeer
skin with hoods. Their curiosity is unbounded and they
torment whites as much as children would a good-natured
kitten. It was necessary to have an eye on each pocket
to protect its contents. One neighborly fellow wanted to
see my cap, which he immediately clapped on to his dirty
pate, much to my disgust.

Notwithstanding the extreme annoyance endured from
these " untutored " minds, I made a good day's work,
securing fifteen birds, a marmot, fossils, lichens, flint chips,
etc. The birds seem to be blue gull, another gull, kitti-
wake, wagtail, dunlin, longspur and stone chat. The mar-
mot is quite common. I saw a good many cormorants, a
few eider, guillemots without end, and some mormons,
also a raven which I shot at. We tried two seine hauls
and took six species of fish — all small: salmon, sculpin,
polar cod, blenny, sea poacher, and capelin. We saw no
large fish.

At 7.45 P. M. we got under way for the northward. The
fossils here seem to be carboniferous; there were many
fossil corals. The long plateau fronting our anchorage
is comparatively level, the soil rather springy, traversed
by numerous rills, though easy to walk over.

This seems like sailing in a mill-pond, and the air at
9 P. M. was 500. The moonlight is fine. Reindeer are
found near this cape.

Sunday, August 22
After breakfast the anchor was let down, about ten miles
to the eastward of Cape Lisburne, there being no wind.

252

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

Cormorants were rather common to-day. I heard a raven,
too, away off on one of the hills. I collected two long-
spurs and some lichens, a couple of wooden implements
and an imperfect skull of a young walrus.

I saw a burial frame on slightly elevated ground. There
were four stumps, root ends up and the other ends im-
bedded in the ground, furnishing the necessary crotches
for supporting the cross and lengthwise pieces. They
were about two and a half feet long above ground.

On these stumps were two cross pieces, which sup-
ported two sticks ten feet long, and between these outer
long sticks were eight other smaller round sticks which
formed the immediate rest of the corpse. There were a
foot board and a head board — each one inch thick, about
two feet long, and four inches wide. The head board was
supplemented by a head stick — part of a stump, about
three feet long, and one foot in diameter at its widest part.
At each end were seven or eight round sticks, from four
to six feet long, placed obliquely in the ground and leaning
inward toward the body at the top. On each side were
eighteen or twenty round limbs of three to six inches
diameter, placed obliquely and crossing one another at
the top; these sticks were from 8 to 14 feet long. One
additional stick on each side about the middle was oblique,
but did not meet its fellow at the top.

The corpse rested on two deer skins placed hair side
to hair side, and was apparently covered with a deer skin.
It occupied a space of about three feet eight inches long
by fourteen inches wide, and lay on its back with the feet
drawn up and the knees in contact. The arms were
straight along. The head was towards Cape Lisburne and
the feet to the east; the head was slightly higher than the
feet. This case was of course open to animals and birds,
and the foxes, marmots and birds had left their traces.
All the wood in the structure was driftwood.

A good-sized stream debouches here and a long tidal
lagoon is near it. Eskimo camps have been pitched here.
A very good sled was lying on the ground, the runners
bone shod. There are many flowers and myriads of
lichens. One of the men claimed to have seen a reindeer.
Brant have just begun to migrate southward — we have

253

THE WHITE WORLD

seen a great many pass to-day. It is warm enough on
deck at 10.30 P. M. without an overcoat, and the twilight
still lasts.

Monday, August 23

Woke up to find a strong nor'easter blowing and the
" Yukon " lurching uncomfortably. The sea is short and
choppy; the vessel down to double reefed fore and main,
and laboring slowly along. Every loose thing on board
has revealed itself by dropping with a clatter.

Tuesday, August 24

During last night the wind shifted, and the sea soon
became so smooth that one could work with comfort.
The country is mainly low and flat in the vicinity of Point
Lay and for many miles to the southward. Seal have been
abundant; birds very scarce, only an occasional murre
and one gull. The sea has been smooth as a mill-pond
nearly all day and wind exceedingly light. It has been
just comfortably warm, too, 49 ° at 8 P. M. and 480 at
10.30 P. M. The water is quite shoal here and generally
in the Arctic, 32 fathoms being the deepest sounding on
my chart — so that while an ugly sea rises quickly it also
subsides quickly with a change of wind and does not make
life miserable for days and days after a storm, as is the
case in the deep sea.

Wednesday, August 25

Anchored about breakfast time not far from Icy Cape.
Very early this morning we passed the whaler " Dawn "
of San Francisco. She had six whales. Captain Hickmot
said he saw the " Corwin " about a week ago; he had four-
teen whales. All are doing well. Whales have been very
plenty all around us. The carcass which the " Dawn " had
lately finished cutting in was near our anchorage.

Ashore I collected some shells and other invertebrates,
skulls of polar bear and walrus, a stickleback, a golden
plover, one dunlin, four phalaropes, a stone-chat, besides
one black brant, which last was very abundant on the
brackish lagoons of the spit.

254

A NATURALISTS ADVENTURES

Eskimo have been here recently; quantities of broken
skulls of walrus and other animals lie around. Great
pieces of whalebones are imbedded in the ground in many
places. Lichens are abundant and some on the rocks are
very pretty. We found a number of implements, princi-
pally of wood. Heaps of burned bones are frequent. The
Eskimo burn the bones to appease the spirit dwelling in
the animal, fearing a failure in future hunting if this mark
of respect be withheld.

As far as the eye can see here, the country is low and
flat. A great lagoon lies between the spit and the main-
land, in many places so shoal that a whaleboat cannot go
through at low tide. Drinking water is found by digging
a few feet.

Thursday, August 26

We have seen the packed ice often to-day and lots of
whales. We went aboard the whaling barque " Hunter "
of New Bedford, Captain Fisher, and saw them cutting
in a 100-barrel " bowhead." Secured some of the black
skin, blubber and whiskers, which appendage is very little
known in connection with whales and scarcely referred to
in any of the books. The " Hunter " had eleven whales,
and her boats were in chase of another before we left. Met
the " Corwin " a little after 7 o'clock and soon afterward
anchored near Point Belcher. Very soon two bidarras of
natives were on board. Captain Herendeen traded for
some reindeer meat. The men have most astonishing
labrets, and do not seem to beg as the Cape Lisburne
fellows did.

Wounded a jaeger as we passed the " Hunter " but it
fluttered away before we got it. The species was abund-
ant around the ship and there were a few gulls.

Friday, August 27

The natives here do not beg, and it is easy to trade with
them. Some of the labrets worn seem to have been made
of glass beads set in stone or bone — the largest I saw was
perhaps one and one-fourth inches in diameter. The
jaeger and snowy owl are common. Longspur and stone-
chat are more plentiful than anywhere else so far as ob-
served by me. Phalaropes are here in large flocks. Eider

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are not plentiful. We had whale steak and reindeer for
breakfast, and eider for dinner.

Saturday, August 28

Left Point Belcher about 9 A. M. for the southward,
with a fair wind which has held all day. Yesterday the
steam whaler " Mary and Helen " passed close to and
hailed the " Yukon " — she had twenty-two whales. The
" Alaska " was in sight to the northward and westward.
Temperature of the air in the morning 400 F.

Sunday, August 29

The fine breeze continued fair, and carried us rapidly on
our way past Cape Beaufort, Cape Lisburne, and on be-
yond Point Hope and Cape Thompson, which we nassed
before dark. Fulmars and murres are now more abundant.
Air in the evening 460 F. and water warmer. Off Cape
Lisburne we saw the " woollies " coming down in force.
In the midnight twilight the high hills beyond Cape
Thompson are clearly defined against the glowing sky,
while the major part of the sky is overcast.

Monday, August 30

To-day we have been gradually running in toward
Escholtz Bay, with rather too much light wind. Passed
Cape Krusenstern about 5.30 P. M. We saw a couple
of tents and a larger settlement a few miles farther to the
east. We have had exceptionally fine weather and smooth
sailing all the way from Pt. Belcher; quite a delightful
experience has our Arctic navigation been as a whole.

The face of the country is generally made up of high
hills with some intervening valleys and long stretches of
very low land adjoining the sound in many places. Cape
Krusenstern is a low point, hard to see even a few miles
away. Air 46 ° at 11.30 P. M.

Tuesday, August 31

About 6.30 A. M. we anchored near Chamisso Island,
Escholtz Bay. Salmon berries, whortleberries, service

256

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

ESKIMO CHEWING SKINS

berries, and a kind which is not edible are all abundant.
The island is covered with grass, alder, and willow, and
there is a dwarf birch. There are some little rills of toler-
ably good water. The land rises gradually inland and
from the ends of the island, so that
a very regular curve is shown from
our anchorage. There are many
hummocks which greatly impede
walking. There are some cliffs in
a rather tumble-down condition,
with occasional deep cuts between,
and small stretches of sand beach.
On this island is a cairn and an
astronomical station which has
been visited by the " Blossom,"
the "Plover" and other vessels.

A bidarra of Eskimo came
aboard after supper to trade. I
gave some shot and caps for a

mink skin and a few caps for a dried hoikoh salmon.
Captain Herendeen got some dried smelt for me. In the
seine to-day, the great sculpin was taken and another young
sculpin was dredged.

Wednesday, September i
Got under way about 9.30 A. M. and at 10.15 anchored
on the east side of Choris Peninsula. Captain Herendeen
saw geese, stone-chats, and a sandhill crane. It was too
rainy when he was ashore to find small birds.

Thursday, September 2

Early in the morning Dall, Baker and I sailed in the
longboat nearly to Elephant Point and walked the rest of
the way. This point is distinguished as the locality where
Kotzebue found remains of the fossil elephant, ox, and
other mammals. It was afterward visited by some of the
English exploring ships and furnished the materials for
the volume relating to these animals in the " Voyage of
the Herald."

The clay bluffs in which the bones are found extend
about two miles east and west. They are backed by still

257

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higher bluffs, and these again by a gradual slope upward
to a height of about two hundred and fifty feet or more,
after which comes a slight decline followed by a still higher
slope. The bluffs are composed of ice, in some places fifty
feet thick, loose light soil, and tough blue clay in various
proportions. On the high grounds solid ice was found
about a foot below the surface; little pools of very good
ice water were numerous. Service berries, salmon berries,
and blueberries were abundant. Frozen peat was found
immediately covering the ice. Lichens are very abundant
and there are some flowers. Numerous ravines are well
wooded with alder, willow, birch, etc. Grouse were seen
in the undergrowth. Traces of wolves and bear were
frequent. We found trees as much as seven feet high
and three inches in diameter growing freely where there
was little more than a foot of soil covering the solid ice.

The smell of these ice cliffs resembles that of a stable
or something worse. Mr. Dall boxed some of the richest
of the odoriferous substances. We found a good many
valuable bones. Beluga skulls were also found on the
beach. I saw geese, eider, a fine raven, and many gulls.
Shot two widgeons, a white-winged gull, a turnstone, and
a very pretty hawk. Found plenty of small sticklebacks in
the brackish lagoons near Elephant Point.

Friday, September 3

Early in the morning we left Choris Peninsula with a
fair wind, and ran along as far as Cape Espenberg and a
little beyond, when the wind fluctuated and died away.
Air at 10.30 P. M. 41 °. The coast in the vicinity of Cape
Espenberg is low and apparently lumpy.

Saturday, September 4

Air at 8 P. M. 41^°. Some rain and disagreeable sea in
the forenoon. Murres and Rodgers' fulmar abundant.
The water is quite phosphorescent to-night, and as we
plunge through it, impelled by a ten-knot breeze, wide
swaths of pale glowing light are on either hand and be-
hind us.

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A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

Sunday, September 5

Early in the morning we were near East Cape, which we
could not approach closely on account of the ice; neither
was the bight near it accessible for the same reason.
Although there was a strong breeze, the day was mostly
clear and Mr. Dall was able to make a complete thermal
section of Bering Strait from off East Cape to near Cape
Prince of Wales. After this was done we put in for Port
Clarence and anchored outside of the spit. The strong
breeze and high sea made things pretty lively for us nearly
all day. From Cape Prince of Wales along to Port Clar-
ence the coast is marked by rounded hills alternating with
plateaus, some of them of considerable length. From our
sailing track the country looks rather barren and we ex-
perienced again the " woollies " so common off the high
hills of this northern coast.

A " sun dog " was seen in the evening.

Monday, September 6

This morning we ran beyond the spit which ends in
Point Spencer and nearly into Grantley Harbor, but by
8 A. M. we were at anchor near the village on the spit.
The spit is long, narrow and curved. Where I crossed
it I should estimate the width at three-quarters of a mile.
It is level, offers good walking, and is well watered by fresh
lagoons around which birds collect. It has no trees except
the very scrubby dwarf willows, but has a few flowers and
many lichens, some of which are exquisitely pretty. The
water of the lagoons is very good; there are many stickle-
backs in it. The lagoons are all very shallow. What be-
comes of these fish in winter?

I shot four phalaropes, a dunlin, longspurs, a stone-chat,
and a burgomaster gull. I saw also a wagtail and a small
wren, which I could not get. Picked up some sponges and
other invertebrates on the beach and a couple of walrus
skulls; also a human cranium over on the west side of the
spit. Found some small fresh water shells near one of the
lagoons. Collected a fine lot of lichens.

The glaucous-winged gull was abundant, with kitti-
wakes ; mormons were observed, and a few eider. Captain

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Herendeen shot some oldwives and brought back from the
village a dried " vachna," two trout skins, and some stickle-
backs. Mr. Bailey made seven seine hauls and took sand
launce, rock trout, sea poacher, sculpin, and two species
of flounder. A native told us- that
fish were plentiful on the east side of
the bay.

Tuesday, September 7

Owing to the strong breeze blow-
ing all day no one went ashore; it
was cold, too, the air being 41 ° in the
evening.

Wednesday, September 8

The wind moderated and we had a
fairly good day for collecting, except-
ing a little rain. Went ashore after
breakfast to shoot birds, but found
very few. Shot two longspurs; saw
one wagtail but could not get close
enough. Traded five pieces of tobacco
for a white-fox and some ethnologica. In the afternoon
traded caps, needles, and tobacco, for a lot of ethnologica,
brought by King's Island Eskimo. These people are not
at all troublesome and are easy to barter with. They
showed a marked liking for tobacco and caps, and the
women for needles.

I secured specimens of Dolly Varden trout, whitefish,
smelt, and herring early in the morning and of " vachna "
cod in the afternoon by trade. We obtained some very
good stone implements and labrets, fishing lines, sinkers,
hooks, ivory implements and ornaments, tools, etc. The
fishing lines are very ingeniously arranged to lure
fish. The natives are shrewd traders, quick to see an
opportunity, and tenacious in holding on to it. They had
oil in seal skin bags; sometimes they fill the bag partly
with water and pour oil on top, to cheat the buyer. They
care little for American clothing, jewelry, etc., but want
things of real value for their own purposes.

260

A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

One drilled a hole and a half in an unfinished sinker for
me with a steel drill, using no bow and mouthpiece because
he had traded them away. The bills of the razor-billed
auk, being red and having appendages which when dry have
the appearance of an imperfect salmon egg, are used on
the fishing lines as a lure, and ivory or bone imitations of
fish are similarly used.

Thursday, September 9

The King's Island people came aboard again this morn-
ing and brought a few ethnologica. We got under way
for the Diomedes, and before night we were abreast of
Cape York. The coast in that vicinity is mainly low — flat
bluffs backed by high hills. Some of the hills are clustered
in curious parallel cones. The country looks quite barren.
There is a little snow on the high peaks. Before we left
Port Clarence an Eskimo brought aboard eight eider which
he had speared.

Friday, September 10

Reached Big Diomede or Ratmanoff Island at 7 A. M.
Several bidarras containing Eskimo come out to trade.
Captain Herendeen bought a great lot of little auks and
Mr. Baker brought off six young ones from the island.

There is no good landing; there are large and small
bowlders on the shore just as at Little Koniushi Island.
The granite cliffs rise steep and high, and the top is flat.
There is a village on the north or northwest shore; the
observing station was on the southeast. Several flowering
plants were collected, a chickweed among them.

Captain Herendeen traded for some walrus tusks, blue,
white, and cross foxes. We got three lance heads. The
people are not troublesome; they are dirty and shabbily
clad, and hungry for tobacco and " cow-cow " (food), but
quiet and orderly enough. Their bidarras are very well
made. Reindeer skins (white) they hold at a high figure.
I offered one of tl em a pair of pantaloons or a coat for
one, but he wanted a whole suit. They have few labrets
and none of them good. They are of medium height, not
so tall as the whites; light copper color or swarthy, very
much like the Plover Bay people. They asked first for
tobacco, next for " lum." Guns and ammunition are their
choice.

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Saturday, September ii
During last night, floating ice delayed us a good deal.
We passed Indian Point before lunch and at noon spoke
the " Progress," of New Bedford. She had seventeen
whales. At 10 P. M. we were near Plover Bay. A whaler
is at anchor a little to the eastward of the bay, trying out.
A long narrow shaft of gold ascended from the sun at
sunset and the sky was lovely.

Sunday, September 12

We anchored in Port Providence, Plover Bay, a short
time before lunch. The wind was very light but the day
was superlatively good. Not a cloud obscured the sun.
Baker and Noyes went ashore at once and had a perfect
working afternoon.

Captain Jerningham, of the barque ** Tropic Bird," came
aboard and took lunch with us. He has been in the Arctic
twenty or more seasons and saw nothing to equal this
before. He was within ten miles of Herald Island early
in the season and others have since been within three miles,
but nothing has been heard of the missing whalers or the
" Jeannette." The impression among whalers is, that the
missing men will never be heard from.

The water of the bay approaching Port Providence is
fairly brown by reflection from " whalefood " beneath its
surface, and the watermelon or cucumber smell is very
strong. Collected two ravens, two Buffon's jaegers, a gol-
den plover, a longspur, three marmots, some lichens and
ethnologica on the spit. Saw no wagtails, but heard one
away up on the high hillside. Climbed up after it, but
could not see it. I found, however, two piles of reindeer
antlers, heaped up and partly covered with bowlders, and
a fragment of a human skull.

The moon as it sank over the flat, narrow head of the
spit to-night, was reflected with very little distortion in
the almost perfectly still water of Port Providence; thou-
sands of stars were reflected, also. The shadows of the
high hills made a perfect image in the waters all round as
far as one could see in Plover Bay and the lights of the
whalers shone out bright and clear. Low voices could be
heard from the vessels in conversation. A lovelier picture
I have seldom seen.

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A NATURALIST'S ADVENTURES

Monday, September 13

Went ashore early in the morning with Baker. Walked
to the southern end of the spit and followed along the cliffs
to the first pinnacle in search of birds. Saw a few ducks
but could not get a shot. There was thin ice on the
shallow lagoons of the spit, and a heavy frost. The sun
rose clear over the hills, but was obscured in a few minutes
and remained so all day. It was pretty cold unless one
kept constantly in motion.

There are hardly any land birds except ravens. I saw
one wagtail flying toward the point of the spit. Shot a
cormorant, which fell some distance out on the water — too
far to get it. I killed one golden plover and a marmot;
picked up a lot of skulls of dogs, a couple of jaws of walrus
teeth, and some old ethnologica. Among the ethnologica
added to the collection to-day were two bailing or drinking
cups made of horn of the mountain sheep.

Tuesday, September 14

About lunch time I went ashore on the point hoping to
find snipe or some other desiderata. There were none to
be seen. I walked down to the head of the spit where the
gulls congregate. The gulls left when they saw me, but
the ravens held their ground and did not seem to fear me
as long as I sat still and made no sudden movement. They
would fly quite close to my head, and look at me with
apparent curiosity, uttering now and then a hoarse cry or
call to some other raven flying near at hand, hopping
forward a step or two, then pulling off a piece of moss from
the stones and jumping slightly into the air, sometimes
taking a good-sized stone in the beak, perhaps to see if any
food might be concealed under it. Occasionally one would
find a morsel and another would try to take it out of his
bill, the lucky one seeming to hold it out temptingly, but
firmly, to tantalize his covetous neighbor. In starting to
fly they would strike the ground with their feet two or
three times to gain an impetus.

Leaving the ravens to their antics, I walked up the hill-
side to an old burial place where I found a broken skull of
a fox and a pretty good Eskimo cranium. Here I saw the

263

THE WHITE WORLD

moss-lined rock cairns in which human bodies were once
partially cremated. Few bones were to be seen and the
place had evidently not been used lately.

After dinner, Dall, Baker, Noyes and I went to see the
steam whaler, " Mary and Helen." Captain Owens was
full of information about whales and it did one good to
hear him talk. He repeated an amusing expression of
Captain Jerningham: " Prepared to die, but not quite
ready." The captain says that when a whale is struck all
the whales for miles round will know it, and put out.
One of Owens's men, named Green, killed seventeen of
the whales taken on this voyage; he is one of the best
whalemen in the business. " The Lolita " went ashore on
St. Lawrence Island. A party of the crew came over in a
whaleboat. As soon as the Indian Point men heard of it
they started for the wreck. The remainder of the " Lol-
ita " crew are still on St. Lawrence Island. Captain
Owens and Mr. Reynolds wore kid jackets which they
bought in the straits of Magellan from a German — and
capital things thev are for wind and cold.

The largest oil casks we saw hold fourteen barrels.
Captain Owens told us he had seen a polar bear killing
large walrus by biting through their skulls, swimming
carefully under cover of ice cakes, keeping to leeward of
the walrus until close enough for a spring, stopping occa-
sionally to raise himself carefully and peep, to see whether
the game continued unsuspecting.

Wednesday, September 15

Mr. Baker and Captain Herendeen walked through the
divide to Moore Lake, and found the greatest elevation
reached 800 feet. The hills on either side of the divide,
they estimate at near 2000 feet. They saw no birds, nor
any living thing except ravens. They brought back a few
old ethnologica picked up in a deserted village at the lake,
a few lichens, and a spider.

Thursday, September 16

Captain Owens called shortly before lunch and spent
part of the afternoon. He brought some of his journals

264

A NATURALISTS ADVENTURES

of whaling voyages and told us of many adventures and
sights. He has twice seen a whale suckle its young.
Once a whale which yielded 40 barrels of oil was seen in
the act of sucking; the mother was turned on her side and
back, and the young one was athwartships. At this time,
the mother, the male and the young, were all caught, and
the three made two hundred and fifty barrels of oil.

Captain Owens also told how he once had a lance struck
through a polar bear; the line fouled and the headway of
his boat was such that the bear was suddenly jerked along-
side and quite close to the captain. The bear immediately
struck at the boat and carried away the ribbon. The
captain fired a big cartridge at him, but missed several
times. They finally managed to get the line clear, and
then easily kept out of the way of the bear, which soon
weakened from its wound and was at last killed by a ball.

The captain told us, too, of an encounter with a fighting
sperm whale which came for the boat with his jaws open
and thrashing from side to side. An iron was driven into
his case when he immediately closed his mouth and then
shoved the boat a long way ahead of him. Another iron
was driven into his mouth which caused him to turn on
his side, and a third iron was put into his life.

Captain Fisher told us when we were aboard the
" Hunter " of a polar bear in Hudson Bay which came for
his boat and was stopped at the bow by a lance driven into
his vitals. Said Captain Fisher: "The head of a whale-
boat is a hard thing to face."

Captain Gilley, of the " Julia A. Long," said that walrus
are plentiful on the beach of Hall Island. You can shoot
the walrus on the beach while the bears are up on the cliff
watching for a chance to kill walrus; you turn round and
shoot the bear and he rolls down the cliff.

Captain Owens says that walrus are as much as six feet
long before the tusks come through much. He has seen
female walrus clasp their young in their flippers, to protect
them from bears.

Friday, September 17
Early in the morning the steamer " Mary and Helen "
took us in tow and carried us well out of the bay, after

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which she stood across for St. Lawrence Island, to rescue
the shipwrecked men of the " Lolita." When the " Mary
and Helen " left us, the schooner " Julia A. Long- " was
standing out of Marcus Bay, bound also for the wreck.

266

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

HENRY COLLINS WALSH.

Henry Collins Walsh was born of American
parents in Florence, Italy, Nov., 1863. Has
been an extensive traveler in various parts of the
world. He accompanied Dr. F. A. Cook's Arc-
tic Expedition of 1894 as historian, and em-
bodied his experiences in a book. Journalist,
editor and war correspondent.

HENRY COLLINS WALSH

JUVENILE GREENLANDERS

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

By HENRY COLLINS WALSH

R. F. A. Cook's Arctic Expedition of
1894 had no serious design upon the
North Pole itself, its main objects
being to study the Greenland glacier
system; to map out and explore a
part of the unknown coast of Mel-
ville Bay, and to photograph, sketch
and study the Eskimo, as well as the
animal and vegetable life to be found in the northern reg-
ions. But, as shall be herein recorded, a perverse fate in-
terfered sadly with its more serious objects; and as the
majority of the members of this numerically powerful ex-
pedition had joined it rather for the sake of sport and the
gaining of a novel experience, than from any desire of
assiduously devoting themselves to Arctic work, it may
not inaptly be termed an Arctic excursion.

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THE WHITE WORLD

The members of the expedition were detained for some
days in New York because the ship in which they were to
sail was belated, and arrived in port behind the scheduled
time.

The Miranda was the name of this vessel, a name sug-
gestive of hidden reefs and tempests. She was a vessel
with a past, and that past was not entirely to her credit.
She was built for the Red Cross Line in 1884, and had
hardly been put into service between New York, Halifax
and St. John's, when she ran on the rocks off Point Judith.
Later, she struck on rocks in Hell Gate and sank, but was
raised at considerable cost. She soon afterwards collided
with an iron steamer, and later with a schooner, and it was
she who towed the famous Leary's raft from Nova Scotia
in 1887. The raft pulled the fastenings out of the Miranda,
went to pieces, and became a serious disturber of traffic.
The ship lost something of her good name and all her
passenger trade after these trifling accidents, and was
finally rented out as a freight steamer. She seemed indeed
to take more kindly to freight than lo passengers, for she
behaved herself fairly well until she took us all on board;
she had been merely restraining her passion for collisions,
and holding in abeyance her singular penchant for rocks,
until a fitting opportunity presented itself for a full display
of her powers.

The expedition finally started from Pier 6, North River,
on the afternoon of July 7. Quite a large concourse of
people had collected on the pier to see the Arctic argonauts
start on their fateful voyage, and we all tried to look like
the Arctic heroes we had read about, and cast glances as
cold and as haughty as possible upon the spectators.

Many enthusiastic friends had crowded upon the ship,
and when the jangling signal had been given for all who
were not going to brave the dangers of the north to go
on shore, the pause that came before the actual start gave
an opportunity to a stout man on the wharf to let off a
few mild jokes at our expense. He persisted in looking
upon the expedition from a humorous standpoint, and was
aided and abetted in his point of view by a Fourth of July
jag which had not yet entirely deserted him.

272

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

• " What in the name of Hades do you want to go to the
North Pole for anyway, when ice is only two dollars a
ton in New York?" he shouted.

Little did he know how dearly ice would cost us later,
off the coast of Labrador. When the start was actually
made, and the Miranda, instead of backing out as was in-
tended, headed directly for the dock, hitting against two
or three small craft on her way, this man's delight knew
no bounds.

" Are you going to hunt polar bears in Wall Street?"
he queried in high glee. Something unlooked for had
happened. The signal wires running into the engineer's
room, which had just been renewed, had been unaccountably
crossed, and the engineer had received the reverse signal
from the one intended.

It looked for a mniute as if the small craft were doomed
to destruction by being jammed against the dock, but
after considerable bellowing and shouting and not a little
swearing, matters were rectified, and the Miranda backed
out, and started on her career, amid cheers, wavings and
confused shoutings of farewell from the shore.

We had not long been out when I had a protracted
conversation with the captain of the ship. Conversations
with the captain were generally protracted because he stut-
tered terribly. He informed me after several attempts that
we would have no luck upon this voyage.

I asked him to explain his gloomy foreboding.

" Ss-ss-ss-sky pilots," he remarked, indicating with a
gesture two reverend gentlemen who accompanied the
expedition. I knew of this superstition among sailors and
did not endeavor to combat it. Argument amounts to
nothing when opposed to superstition.

It took a little time for the members of the expedition
to get acquainted with each other, for there were fifty-two
members all told, and they represented a large variety of
professions and characters. There were doctors of divinity
and doctors of medicine, college professors and students —
Harvard, Yale and Oberlin Colleges being particularly
well represented — business men, sportsmen and explorers,
an artist, photographer, and a couple of " d — d literarv fel-
lows."

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THE WHITE WORLD

" How well this crowd seems to get along," remarked
a man opposite me at the breakfast table, " in spite of the
fact that before leaving New York scarcely one man in
the crowd knew another."

" Well," said an Englishman upon my right, with the
slow deliberation of his race and the air of a man who
had given the subject careful con-
sideration, " well, but we are a very
superior crowd, you know."

There was no dissent from this
J|fc^^ opinion.

H^. Late in the afternoon of July n,

we steamed into the beautiful har-
bor of Sydney, Cape Breton Island,
one of the finest in the world. Here
we remained long enough to take in
the town and its surroundings, as
well as a supply of coal and pro-
visions. The inhabitants of Sydney
appeared to have no faith in an iron
ship as an Arctic navigator. They
declared it would be smashed by the
ice. One ancient oracle, a prophet
of wind and ice, was appealed to
for his opinion. He shook his head, gave a significant
look, and said solemnly that he did not like to express his
opinion in our presence. Had he doomed us to certain
death, he could not have thrown a deeper gloom over the
assembled company

At St. John's, Newfoundland, our next stopping place,
we once more gave occasion for dire prophetic utter-
ances. It was therefore a considerable relief when Dr.
Cook returned from a pilgrimage to the shore, bringing
with him a veteran ice pilot who had been with Peary, and
who was regarded as an authority upon Arctic navigation.
His services were secured for the trip, and he proved to be
a sort of Bunsby who so won the confidence of Captain
Cuttle. His oracular manner and the significant nods
that accompanied his Delphic utterances seemed to cheer
the drooping spirits of those who had harkened to too
many forebodings, and so in high feather and with large
hopes, we steamed out of the harbor into the open sea.
274

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

On the following day we encountered a seemingly un-
ending procession of icebergs, of all sizes and shapes;
some of them assumed most exquisite contours, and I
shall never forget the striking beauty of one large mass
of ice that slowly passed us. In shape it resembled the
ruins of a vast cathedral, from which a stately tower rose
and glittered and gleamed in the sun. It seemed as if
some great Arctic Michael Angelo must have spent his
life in giving shape and beauty to so grand a pile. An
iceberg at a convenient distance is a magnificent sight
that adds a real charm to the vast expanse of sea; but
distance lends enchantment to the view, as we shortly
discovered.

The next day it was foggy, very foggy, and the white
curtain that fell about the ship seemed to be growing
heavier and heavier. Just after breakfast, a number of us
were on deck, when suddenly the signal to reverse the
engine was given, and simultaneously through the dense
fog an immese mass of ice loomed directly ahead of us
and in a moment we had struck it full and square.

The iron prow of the ship ran right into the berg for
fully seven feet, and the ice crumbling and breaking from
the shock fell in a great mass upon the forward deck.
The reverse action of the propeller then began to draw us
away from the ice, and the Miranda backed and careened
to one side. There was an uncomfortable moment of
suspense, and then the vessel righted itself.

It was quickly ascertained that, notwithstanding the
severity of the shock, the damage that had been done was
not sufficiently serious to endanger the ship. We had
fortunately struck a projecting portion of the berg above
our water-line, so that the blow came upon the upper star-
board bow-plates; three of these were stove in, the hole
running upward about fifteen feet above the water line.
It was a great piece of luck that we did not strike the
great mass of ice below the water, which forms the greater
part of an iceberg. It was the projecting ice above that
saved us from tearing out the bottom of the ship by strik-
ing the vast mass below; had we hit upon this, my readers
would have been spared this narrative.

We were off the coast of Labrador, and it was decided to

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put in to the harbor of Cape Charles for repairs, and then
continue the journey northward.

Slowly we steamed into the not very inviting harbor of
Cape Charles on that bleak coast. High, barren hills rose
all around us, destitute of vegetation, except that here and
there kindly mosses covered their nakedness.

It did not take us long to form the acquaintance of the
entire population of Cape Charles, because this population
consists of only a half dozen families, augmented some-
what in the fishing season by a few fishermen from New-
foundland. Very simple, very monotonous and very dull
is the life of a Labrador fisherman; he fishes, he sleeps and
he eats, and that tells about the whole story.

We were a sort of godsend to the inhabitants, for they
had never seen so large a ship before, and we were as
popular as a circus in a rural community. The men
brought their wives and children to have a look at the
wonders of the boat, and to see the live sheep on board,
natural curiosities which had never before been seen in
that place, and which were much admired.

One old fellow was very much struck with the water
cooler; he regarded it as the most remarkable piece of
mechanism that he had ever seen, and never tired of stand-
ing by it, in open-mouthed admiration, to witness the
extraordinary spectacle of water being drawn from it. The
favorite Labrador drink is made from a mixture of spruce
beer and rum. Spruce beer is a very popular drink in
Labrador, and every well regulated family keeps a supply
on hand; rum is also popular, but rarer.

After spending a few days at Cape Charles it was ascer-
tained that the proper repairs could not be made there,
and as it was deemed unsafe to proceed northward in the
crippled condition of the ship, it was decided to return to
St. John's in order that the vessel might be properly
tinkered. Our second arrival at that city by the sea
created no little excitement, especially after the news of
the collision with an iceberg had circulated through the
town; and the prophets joyfully gathered about us, and
reminded us of their warnings. The realization of a dire
prophecy is the greatest happiness that can come to the
heart of a prophet.

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The Miranda lay at the great dry dock at St. John's, and
night and day the hammers played merrily upon her. In
about a week she was ready to start northward again. But
it was a question as to whether we could proceed with
any degree of safety, and we were obliged, much to our
disappointment, to give up all thoughts of entering Melville
Bay, both on account of the delay we had experienced, and
the danger of getting nipped by pack-ice, for all the authori-
ties agreed that in such a contingency the Miranda would
be crushed like an egg-shell. After considerable delibera-
tion and consultation it was decided that it would be safe
for us to proceed to the southern coast of Greenland. Not-
withstanding the opinion of authorities, however, the peo-
ple in general looked upon us as little less than crazy for
attempting to go on at all, after our unfortunate experience.
A small party of excursionists were skirting about the
suburbs of St. John's one morning, when they came across
the lunatic asylum, and thought they would like to inspect
it. They rang the bell, and the door was opened by an
attendant, who said that visitors were not admitted upon
that day.

" We come from the Miranda," said one of the party,
starting to explain.

The door was then opened wide.

" Walk right in," responded the attendant, " and make
yourselves at home."

On July 28 the long suffering Miranda received her
final hammering and a start was made for South Greenland.
For three days and nights we bowled along, and then a fog
thick and dense fell around us. For days we drifted about
without anybody knowing exactly where we were, for no
accurate observations could be taken. Sometimes the fog
would lift, to reveal that we were surrounded by floe ice
and icebergs. We coasted along this ice in fog and rain
attempting to find a passage through it. The long
stretches of ice, the huge icebergs towering like mountains
above, and the roaring of the waves dashing against the
ice-floe, combined to make a scene both impressive and
awful.

We caught our first sight of the Greenland coast on
the morning of August 3. The lofty peaks of Mount

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Nautsarsorfike and Mount Kunguat could be discerned,
and were perhaps seventy miles distant. There was much
floe ice between us and the land, and also to the westward,
the ice seeming to form a continuous line along the hori-
zon. Then the fog closed all about us again, and the
ship was obliged to lie to with the ice all around it. To
the westward there was a continuous roar as of waves
beating upon a rocky shore, but it was the roar of the ice-
pack.

Finally the fog lifted and disclosed an alarming state
of affairs, for the floe was closing in upon the ship. West
of us was a line of pack ice like a wall, only about half
a mile away, while to the east was another ice wall. The
Miranda fled in a southeasterly direction, and beat a most
interesting retreat through shapes and forms of ice of all
varieties and colors. Slowly the ship picked its way
through the ice-belt and at last we left the dangerous pack
behind. Then the fog fell again, and for days we drifted
about, making little progress.

On the morning of August 7 we again sighted land,
and the ship was headed for the shore, blowing its whistle
to attract attention should there prove to be a settlement
along the coast. For an hour or so we lay to, blowing
fierce blasts from the whistle and firing the ship's cannon.
After a time two little specks were made out and before
long shaped themselves into Eskimo kayaks. Soon a large
boat hove in sight and made directly for the ship. It con-
tained several Eskimo who came on board and piloted our
vessel into a snug little harbor surrounded by islands.
Here was the Eskimo settlement of Sukkertoppen (Sugar
Loaf), presided over by a Danish governor. On a hill we
saw a staff flying the Danish flag, and collected about it a
crowd of Eskimo, men and women, who were apparently
in a great state of excitement, and looking down at us with
every evidence of curiosity and interest. As soon as the
ship dropped anchor, boats were lowered and we were
soon on shore. Here the entire population, about four
hundred souls, had gathered just in front of the governor's
house, and received us with every expression of simple-
minded wonder and delight.

After paying our respects to Governor Bistrup and his

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

family, we scattered over the settlement and had great
sport with the natives, who followed us about with the
keenest interest, and were particularly desirous of securing
tobacco. It was not long before the commercial spirit dis-
played itself on both sides, and many of our party went back
to the ship to gather material for trading which they had
brought with them. They returned bearing bags of every
description filled with knicknacks and old clothes. The
place looked as if it were being overrun with Hebrew
pedlars, and the scene was comical in the extreme. Some
stood upon rocks, surrounded by an excited crowd of
Eskimo, and peddled their goods to the highest bidder,
the Eskimo giving in exchange fur garments, kamics, and

THE MIRANDA RAMMING THE ICEBERG

all sorts of apparel of Eskimo manufacture, besides dolls
dressed in Eskimo furs and little model kayaks. Others
of our party made a regular house to house, igloo to igloo,
canvass, and had great times dickering with the residents

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thereof ; for bargaining- had to be carried on by signs not
always rightly interpreted. Such a babel of tongues as
arose, such shouts of laughter, had probably never before
been heard in Sukkertoppen.

Ribbons appeared to make the most popular appeal to
the Eskimo women, and they went like hot cakes. A man
with a sufficient supply of ribbons could soon have owned
the town. All the women wore ribbons in their hair,
which was tied up in a top-knot. These ribbons were
worn not only for ornament, but also to designate the lady's
condition. Maids wore red, married women blue, widows
black, and those who were neither maid, wife nor widow,
green. Some of the widows wore black and red ribbons
interlaced, a sort of quick or the dead colors, which indi-
cated a willingness to marry again.

It chanced that a young theological student had brought
with him a great roll of green ribbon, and when he saw
how popular ribbons were, he produced his roll and un-
wound it before a lot of maidens and their mothers. The
hilarity that he occasioned embarrassed him, and when he
attempted to hand his ribbons for examination to any of
the girls the manner in which they ran laughing from
him filled him with astonishment and embarrassed him all
the more. When an ethnologist of the expedition, learned
in Eskimo lore, explained to him the significance of the
wearing of the green, he immediately retired in confusion
to the Miranda, where he could blush unseen.

Of all the members of the expedition none gave the
natives such amusement as did our English representa-
tive. Clad in a yellow oil-skin suit, and with his eye-glass
in his ocular,, he solemnly paraded about the settlement
ogling the girls with a stony British stare. His absolute
lack of any sense of humor, or of the incongruity of his
make up, rendered his appearance all the more comical.

He was with a party of us who visited a glacier up one
of the fiords, about thirty miles away. When we arrived
at the foot of the glacier, we were quite worn with our
exertions. There was a bright sun and the day was warm
for Greenland. When we disembarked, the Englishman
declared he must have a bath, and disrobing, jumped
into the shallow water. Its icy coldness caused him to

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

jump out again with a howl. Then a dense throng- of
mosquitoes and black flies settled upon him, for these are
wonderfully numerous along the banks of Greenland's
fiords, and rise in perfect swarms. When this happened,
there arose still louder howls as our English friend made
a grab for his garments, and for a time rushed in agony
along the strip of rock beach, wildly flapping at his tor-
mentors with his undergarments. He was the entomolo-
gist of the party, and probably at no time in his life had
he collected so large a number of specimens about him.

In climbing a glacier, " peaks on peaks " arise, and none
of us was able to reach the top, for our time was too
limited; but at an altitude of about twenty-five hundred
feet we enjoyed a magnificent view of numerous islands
and fiords that lay below, of the mainland of Greenland,
and of the great ocean beyond. Twice we crossed spurs
of the glacier. Our feet sank deep in the soft and melting
snow, for the sun was so hot that we stripped ourselves of
coats as we ascended. The moss that covered the rocks
was green and beautiful, and scattered about this moss in
rich profusion were great numbers of wild flowers, gor-
geous in their hues. That evening we started back for
the ship and after a hard pull reached the Miranda in the
early morning. A few hours later the vessel started again
northward. Thoroughly tired I was sleeping heavily in
a top bunk, while below me was my English friend, also
overcome by his exertions. I was awakened by the
noise of the moving ship, and from out my port-hole
could see quite a fleet of kavaks racing along, and keeping
pace with the steamer. A high sea was running and the little
boats would sometimes be hidden from sight in the trough,
then rise in an instant on the crest of a wave, down which
they would shoot again like a toboggan. Gradually the
kayaks were distanced one by one, and still feeling stiff, I
lay down in my bunk again and dropped to sleep.

I was awakened a second time, by a tremendous crash;
it seemed as if the whole ship was being torn to pieces, and
to a terrible ripping sound was added the din of breaking
glass and china. We had struck with fearful force upon
some sunken reefs, and men, furniture, and everything
loose about the ship were thrown about in the wildest

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confusion. I was pitched in a heap upon the floor of the
cabin, and, as I arose, my English friend who was in the
act of dressing himself drawled out " Oh, I beg your par-
don, Walsh, I've got your breeches on, you know!" I
could not help laughing though I thought my last hour had
come. I donned whatever came to hand and hastily we
climbed on deck. The ship jarred and grated and bumped,
but finally aided by the high sea got clear of the reefs.
Whether it was about to sink or not nobody knew.

On deck there was a scene of wild confusion. Many
were rushing about with life preservers, some were work-
ing at the boats to get them lowered, and others were
bringing their .most valuable possessions up from their
cabins. Our German photographer appeared with his
hands full of pipes and bags of tobacco, and called out:

" Save your tobacco, boys, the ship's sinking." In the
excitement of the moment all sorts of odd things were
seized. I saw one man in a night shirt with a gun in one
hand and a life preserver in the other; another had the
ship's cat pressed against his bosom. A member with
very white gills rushed up to a distinguished professor,
"Are we going down, Professor," he asked, "Are we going
down?"

" Well, if you do go down," philosophically remarked
the professor, " you will go down in exceedingly good
company."

Our whistles were kept blowing continually, and the
solitary cannon was fired off at rapid intervals as we turned
back and made for Sukkertoppen. It was discovered that
the aft ballast tank was full of water, but as our pumps
appeared able to keep the leakage from gaining on us
rapidly, there was apparently no immediate danger. Es-
kimo pilots reached us and by eleven o'clock we were
safely anchored in the harbor of Sukkertoppen, and the
Miranda was tied with cables to ring-bolts in the rocks.
Here a careful examination as to the damage was made,
and though this could not be fully ascertained, it was dis-
covered that whatever hole the rocks had made was just
beneath the ballast-tank. This tank extended the whole
width of the ship, and lay beneath the engine room and
stoke-hole. It had filled with water and the pumps could

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THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

make no impression upon it. It was fortunate that the
force of the blows had been sustained by this portion of
the ship, for had the rocks gored anywhere else the vessel
would have gone to the bottom at once. The top of the
ballast-tank acted as a false bottom and kept us afloat,
but this was thin and coated with rust, liable to burst at
any minute if subjected to a rough sea. Hence the captain
decided that it would be unsafe to venture forth in the
Miranda, and the problem of how we were to get home
stared us in the face.

We were stranded in Greenland with provisions already
running low, and the settlement could not afford us any,
as it had a bare sufficiency for itself. There was no
chance of getting away before the following Spring, unless
we could secure a vessel. We learned from the Eskimo
that there were two or three American fishing schooners
at the fishing banks off Holsteinberg, about a hundred
and fifty miles away. This offered a chance of getting
back to civilization, and under the command of Dr. Cook
a relief party started for Holsteinborg in an open sailboat
which Governor Bistrup placed at the disposal of the party.
A Dane and five picked Eskimo were taken along to act
as pilots and couriers. On the same day two other parties
started away from the ship, one to explore the Similik
glacier, and one to hunt and fish up the Isortok fiord, and
thus to attempt an addition to the slender store of pro-
visions. Of the latter party I was a member. We took
along with us Clark, one of the waiters, and five Eskimo
as guides and to assist in propelling the boats, of which we
had two, well loaded with tents, provisions, guns, etc.

As we were proceeding on our way, we met a large
boatful of Eskimo men and women, returning from a fish-
ing trip. We stopped and exchanged greetings, also a
couple of plugs of tobacco and a mouth organ for some
very fine salmon. The Eskimo went on their way re-
joicing, sending forth a concourse of sweet sounds from
the mouth organ. They probably thought us a very simple
sort of folk to part with so rare and wonderful an instru-
ment for just a mess of fish. In the evening we reached an
island near the mouth of Isortok fiord, and here we pitched
our tents to rest and sleep.

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The next day it was raining very hard and the Eskimo
told us by means of signs that we could not proceed.
They are positive weather prophets and they understand
their own climate pretty well. They would listen to no
arguments, but dove into a little cavern wherein they had
made their quarters, the mouth of which they had covered
with a sail. It was evidently a favorite resort for Eskimo
outing parties, for it was full of fish bones and refuse of
all kinds, and had a most abominable odor; this seemed
to make our natives feel at home. The Eskimo must
delight in odors, he carries such powerful ones about with
him. We were forced to the windward of our guides,
otherwise they would have been intolerable.

It rained and rained and rained. The night that followed
was the worst I ever spent. Our tent had been injudi-
ciously pitched on a side hill, and a small waterfall perco-
lated through the mossy floor, which now resembled a wet
sponge. We could make no fire because there was noth-
ing to burn, and the night was very cold. We had a
little oil stove which we kept going until it burned out, but
this did not help matters much. The tent's roof was so
wet that great drops continually fell upon our upturned
faces, as we. lay huddled together in the middle of the
camp, and I could push my boot down in the wet moss
and hear the water gurgle. There was not much sleep
that night for anybody. We fell to talking about com-
fortable waterproof beds in order to divert our minds.

" Did you ever sleep in two empty flour barrels? " re-
marked Clark, whose experiences appeared to have been
varied.

" No," replied a voice, " I'll admit that I have been in-
toxicated, but I have never been that bad." Nevertheless
Clark went on to describe how good and dry a couch
could be made of two empty barrels, and the idea of any
kind of dry couch was comforting.

For three days we were cooped up by this storm, and
then the glad sunlight broke and wooed us back to rejoice
in life again. We pulled about thirty miles up the fiord
before we went into camp upon a mossy plateau on the
banks of a narrow stream. All around us great mountains
rose, and near by a huge glacier coursed downward to the

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

sea. For several mornings we got up at five o'clock, and
each taking an Eskimo guide went his way to hunt the
reindeer which are said to inhabit these regions. But not
a deer was sighted. Though we got no deer, we caught

ESKIMO AT PLAY

quantities of salmon and salmon trout in the stream that
ran by our camp, which was simply teeming with fish.
But I must refrain from mention of the large numbers of
fish we captured; people in our own well-fished regions
would never believe the exploits that I could tell; suffice
it to say that when we started back for the Miranda we
carried to our comrades two hundred pounds of salmon.
When we reached the ship we found that the glacier
party had returned, but Dr. Cook and his party had not
yet been heard from. The glacier explorers had been
caught in the same storm that overtook us, and had much
the same experience, being confined to their camp by the
fury of the elements. When the storm abated, they had
explored and measured several glaciers in the vicinity of
the camp, which was pitched close by a little Eskimo settle-
ment. In front of the camp ran a brook, in which the
explorers performed their ablutions. The Eskimo would
gather to watch them go through these strange perform-
ances. The process of brushing the teeth filled them with
unbounded wonder, and when one of the party removed

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a set of artificial teeth and washed it, there was a terrified
stampede, and he became an object of superstitious awe
and veneration. Surely a man who could remove his
teeth could remove mountains.

On the morning following our return to the ship, a great
cheer arose which brought all hands on deck. A small
schooner was seen making for our harbor, and surrounded
by great numbers of kayaks. It was not long before Dr.
Cook and his party came rowing over to the Miranda, and
they were received with great enthusiasm, as can well be
imagined. The schooner they had secured was the Rigel,
commanded by Captain George W. Dixon, of Gloucester,
Massachusetts. The staunch little vessel had been found
fishing for halibut off the coast of Holsteinborg, and had
abandoned the fishing grounds to come over and rescue us
from the cold hospitality of Greenland.

As soon as agreements had been drawn up between the
captains of the Miranda and the Rigel, preparations were
made for the reception of the steamer's passengers on board
the schooner. Four bunks in the after cabin were re-
served for the elderly members of the Miranda expedition,
and a place in the after hold, used mainly as a store room
for fish and salt was selected as a bunking place for the
rest of us. A space was cleared about twenty feet long,
fifteen feet wide, and four feet high; and through a door
which communicated with the cabin we crawled to our pen;
not very commodious or sweet-smelling quarters, but it
was the best that could be done.

It was cold, misty and drizzling the next morning when
we made a start for home. Canvas had been spread over
the salt and fish in the after hold, and over this we put our
berth mattresses side by side. We fitted in as tightly as
sardines. On account of the limited space we could bring
only a few necessaries into the little vessel, which was but
ninety-seven feet long, and of one hundred and seven tons
burden. To ensure against separation in case of fog or in
the darkness, it was decided that the steamer should tow
the schooner, so the two were connected with a cable line,
and a system of signals was arranged in order that the
vessels could communicate in case of need or accident. It
was hoped that the Miranda could make the run to St.

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

John's in safety, or, at any rate, that she could be run in
somewhere on the Labrador coast. As we got under way
the American flag was hoisted on our main mast and was
greeted with loud cheers. The Miranda being an Eng-
lish ship, sailing under an English charter, flew of course
the British colors. We removed our hats and sang the
" Star Spangled Banner " and " My Country 'tis of Thee."
It was an inspiring scene.

Near us, in a large boat, rowed by Eskimo, was the good
Governor Bistrup and his family, to whom we were in-
debted for many courtesies. We gave them cheer upon
cheer, which they and their Eskimo rowers returned. All
about us the little kayaks darted until the rowers waved
us a last good-bye. On shore a solid phalanx of Eskimo
was drawn up firing salute upon salute. Slowly the
Miranda turned out of the harbor into the open sea; the
mists fell about us and the shores of Greenland were
hidden from our sight.

The rain came down steadily with a dreary patter, patter
on the deck, and continued to fall for four never-to-be-
forgotten days. There was no shelter to seek on deck of
any kind; it was cold, wet and disagreeable, while below
the air was so foul and close that it made most of us sea-
sick, so that we alternated between the devil and the deep
sea with a vengeance. To add to the miseries of the situa-
tion the hatchway which supplied light and air to the after
hold had to be shut down on account of the rough weather,
for the waves were washing over the decks. At night the
combined and generous odor of fish and bilge water, the
extremely close quarters, and the groans, to say nothing
of other noises of the seasick ones, made us feel as if we
had descended into a veritable inferno. But " adaptation
to environment," says Spencer, " is the law of life," and in
accordance with this kindly law, we gradually grew accus-
tomed to our surroundings, and our sense of smell became
dulled, even to bilge water.

On our second day out, we encountered many swells,
and fears began to be entertained for the Miranda. When
night fell, a red lierht gleamed from the steamer's deck, in-
dicating that trouble was anticipated. At midnight three
shrieks came from the steamer's whistle in rapid succes-

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sion. This was the signal that she was in distress. The
Miranda slackened her speed, and as the two vessels drew
close together, Captain Farrell, of the Miranda, warned
Captain Dixon to be in readiness, for the steamer was in
a sinking condition; the rusty top of the ballast tank had
gone to pieces. From the deck of the Rigel we could
dimly see the preparations going on aboard the Miranda
in case she should suddenly founder. Our captain had
urged Captain Farrel to drop into the boats with his crew,
and abandon the ship. This meant to himself the loss of
salvage, but the only thought of this big-hearted captain
was for the safety of his fellow-men upon the doomed ship.

As the grey dawn began to streak the sky, the first boat-
load of the Miranda's crew came rowing over to the Rigel,
whose little dories were also put into the rescue service.
When the last boat load had reached the schooner, the
Miranda was abandoned to her fate. Her lights were still
burning, her rudder had been lashed to one side, and so
with steam on she vanished in the mist and fog, and was
lost to sight forever. With the ship the members of the
expedition lost all their belongings, except the very few
necessities they had brought with them on the schooner.
These losses embraced valuable ethnological and botanical
collections, a great number of guns and scientific instru-
ments, and various collections of photographs of Arctic
scenes and people, and quantities of stuffed Arctic birds,
seals, skins, etc. However, the saving of our own skins
was a matter for rejoicing, and the losses were cheerfully
accepted by all hands.

With the Miranda's crew, there were now ninety-three
souls on board the little schooner, which was but ninety-
seven feet long. Fogs, head winds, high seas, and ice-
bergs combined to render the journey dangerous and slow,
as well as uncertain. Provisions ran low, so we shot gulls,
and reveled in seagull stews. When feasible, we added
to our store by running in at two or three settlements
along the Labrador coast.

On the night of September 2, we encountered a severe
gale, and for several hours we were obliged to lay to under
a triple reefed foresail and forestay sail. The hatchways
were closed tight, and to add to our discomfort, the stove

THE UNFORTUNATE MIRANDA

in the cabin just in front of our sleeping pen began to pour
out volumes of smoke that almost choked us. One wise
individual suggested that salt be thrown on the fire to put
it out. The suggestion was acted upon and several shovel-
fuls of salt were thrust into the stove with such excellent
effect that we were nearly suffocated by chlorine gas and
the dense volume of smoke that now issued forth and settled
all over us. Every one gasped for breath and hurled in-
vectives at the head of the unfortunate man who had sug-
gested this method of putting out a fire. Had he been
turned, like Lot's wife, into a pillar of salt, I think we
should have all rejoiced; it would have been a punishment
to fit the crime.

However, the nuisance gradually abated, and although
the odor abided with us all night and fought with fish and
bilge water for supremacy, yet being now hardened, we
were enabled to snatch some sleep despite the gale and
the closeness of the quarters. A small party near me, hud-
dled together in sitting postures, kept me wide awake
for a while by an earnest discussion of the effect of salt
upon fire, as if it had not been sufficiently demonstrated.
One man in particular advanced his arguments in an almost
continuous stream. His extraordinary volubility had a
certain fascination about it, and I could not choose but
hear. At length in a dreamy state, I gave myself up to
the purely sensuous enjoyment of watching his jaws wag,
and so fell asleep.

We were now nearing Sydney, Cape Breton, and we be-
gan to pass fishing schooners whose occupants eyed our
swarming vessel with amazement. We must have resem-
bled a pirate crew with numberless captives. At length,
after a memorable voyage of fifteen days, we entered once
more the fine harbor of Sydney. It was a wild, unshaved,
unkept party of men that rushed upon Sydney's shore that
day, but a most hilarious and joyous one. A dinner at the
Sydney Hotel was arranged for all hands in the evening,
and it was a motley and hungry gang that marched through
Sydney to a haven of rest and plenty. Many of the party
were decked out in yellow oil-skins which had seen much
service, so that from a distance they looked not unlike a
flock of dirty canary birds. Others were arrayed in a

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variety of weather-beaten garments that had not been
changed since the day of farewell to Sukkertoppen.

The next morning the members of the expedition took
a small steamer for Halifax, and from there went on to New
York on board the steamer Portia, a sister ship to the
Miranda. Even here ill-luck attended them, for a fog
descended, and in the fog the steamer ran into a schooner
and completely cut it in two. The captain of the schooner,
the steward, and two sailors were lost with the ship; only
the mate being rescued by a lifeboat from the steamer.
Since that time the Portia herself has met her fate, for
later, she ran upon rocks and sank off the coast of Nova
Scotia. And so these sister ships, named after Shake-
speare's heroines, have both suffered a sea change in much
the same manner. Perchance elective affinity has brought
them together far down amid the mighty procession of
wrecks in the deep waters of the North Atlantic.

We were nearing home and a few of us were sitting
upon the deck of the Portia looking out upon the wrinkled
sea. Suddenly it struck me that it would be a pity that
so many good fellows already bound together by the ties
of common experiences should lose trace of each other
when the busy swarming land should be reached. I there-
fore suggested that we should organize a club as a link
to join all the members of Dr. Cook's Arctic expedition
and keep them from entirely losing track of each other.
The suggestion was accepted, and that afternoon, in the
smoking-room of the Portia the Arctic club was formed,
which it was agreed should assemble at an annual dinner
sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day.

From such meetings, confined at first to members of
Dr. Cook's expedition, has grown the Arctic Club of to-day,
which now embraces in its membership every prominent
polar explorer in the United States. It has become a rep-
resentative club, the only one of its kind in existence; and
now about its board men who have made their names
famous in Arctic work are wont to gather, and over the
walnuts and wine, recount their strange and exciting experi-
ences in the great " White World."

AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE

ALBERT OPERTI.

Albert Operti was born in Turin, Italy, March,
1852. Historical Arctic painter; member of
Peary's Arctic Expeditions, 1896 and 1897.
Made first casts of North Greenland Eskimos.
Paintings, Farthest North obtained by Officers
of U. S. Army; Rescue of Greely; Finding of
De Long by Melville, " Farewell." Second
Grinnell Expedition.

ALBERT OPERTI

AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE

By ALBERT OPERTI

F THE reader imagine himself writing letters
seated in an express wagon which is being
driven rapidly over a rubble-stone roadway,
on a cold, snowy, blowy day in February,
then he may gain some idea of the conditions
under which the work of taking plaster casts
of the Eskimo was effected during the trip
North with the Peary expedition of 1896.
Without studio facilities, with few tools, and
with every inconvenience possible to encounter, the work
was successfully performed. A few casts were made in
semi-comfort, on board and ashore, but at all other times
under great difficulties.

The necessary outfit consisted of five barrels of fine qual-
ity plaster of Paris, three gallons of vaseline, two hundred
pounds of modeling clay, some salt, and a few iron pails.
These were especially packed and shipped from New York
to be put on board the steam sealer " Hope," at Sidney,
Cape Breton. My personal outfit for this work was made
up of a bundle of quill toothpicks, cotton batting, a ball
of twine, tissue paper, tape measure, calipers, and a few
modeling tools. The plaster of Paris was stowed in the
hold near the boiler to prevent moisture — which reached
it, nevertheless.

I found from experience that vaseline was more con-
venient in the oil state. In the original form it would
freeze hard and required constant heating over the boiler,
to the detriment of the work.

Upon reaching Cape York, the Eskimo came over the
ice to the ship, fog preventing our going close to the

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shore. About twenty of them were looked over and se-
lected as models and subjects. Coffee and ship-biscuits
were served to them to gain their confidence. These Es-
kimo were allowed to remain on board to make fur cloth-
ing, be measured, painted, photographed and cast. Care-
ful and accurate measurements were made and recorded on
blanks brought for the purpose. Most of them were short
of stature, both men and women, with very small feet and
hands, short arms and legs; they were rather long waisted
and broad shouldered. Many had well shaped figures and
limbs. The faces of some of the young people were good
looking, despite the dirt.

Some of the men, women and children were housed be-
tween decks. A tent was triced up, with a couple of oil
stoves to warm the interior, and my work began. The
fog had lifted, the " Hope " was headed up the coast for
Whale Sound, the wind began to blow, and the ice became
thicker. We had to punch our way through to gain time.

The " Hope " would thump into a mass and rise, slide
back some yards to get headway, then push forward again ;
the great ice masses grinding and crunching along her
sides. We would rock from side to side, sometimes upset-
ting articles which were not secured. Fearful squalls of
snow would come down the mountain side and sweep over
the decks, causing everything to rattle and shake. The
captain, up in the crow's nest, the mate, in the foretop,
and the boatswain, on the bridge, were passing the word,
"Port!" or "Starboard!" to the man at the wheel, thus
picking out the soft spots through the ice floes.

I took sketches with half frozen fingers, for it is fearfully
cold there when the wind blows, even in summer. Mean-
while a couple of the crew were fishing for my plaster.
It appeared, damp to the core. But there was no time
to lose, so pail after pail was carried to the engine room
to dry.

Bang! We struck a mass of ice as the ship rocked to
one side. I clutched my pails filled with plaster. The bar-
rel tried to go over the side, but a quick lashing to the
ship's pump saved it. My model was in waiting for me
during all this.

Each man had his own affairs to look after. I had to

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AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE

get along as best I could and act as my own assistant.
Once in a while I would get a chance, and approach
Lieutenant Peary, who, with the captain, had all he could
do to see ahead, to ask him to come and speak to one
of my subjects regarding disrobing.

At first they were not inclined to allow themselves to be
thus used. Indeed, I was fearful of results, but the prom-
ise of presents very soon conquered their objections.
After several hours of the greatest excitement, some dirt

MAKING A CAST UNDER DIFFICULTIES

was scraped and washed off, a small stick with a little
piece of canvas tied on the end being used to rub over the
flesh. The use of soft soap and warm water from the

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boiler, which in less than ten minutes became cold, then
a scrubbing, and my subject was ready for oiling. The
odor was anything but pleasant. Matt Hensen came to my
rescue, helping to clean and rub. Mr. Figgins, our taxi-
.dermist, and Mr. Lee also assisted at times.

My casting sometimes was
performed in the hold, by the
light of several candles. A
couple of hatch covers were laid
side by side over one of the
coal bins, as a floor. The model
was placed on his back and told
to lie still.

Getting clay into shape and
mixing plaster, when my sur-
roundings were unstable and
threatening to fall apart every
moment, were not quite to my
taste. Referring to my field
notes, I find that one eye was
constantly on the ship's side,
f.rst eskimo bust expecting to see the crunching

ice come through. The terrible
grinding along the sides would make every one of us start.
At times my mould would split in pieces.

After a few were cast I had little trouble so far as my
subjects were concerned. They were willing to have hands,
feet and faces cast. I selected one Eskimo, a bright, quick-
witted fellow named Keshu, to carry water for me. He
was always jolly and smiling, quick to repeat words, and
already knew considerable. A very good cast of his face
was made, also of his son Mene, a smart little fellow, who,
with five other Eskimo, was brought to the United States
on board the " Hope." Four of these died; one returned
with Lieutenant Peary; Mene has become Americanized,
and is now living with an American family.

Some of the old Eskimo came in for their share, and
full figures of male and female were secured. At Meteorite
Island, while working on the meteorite which was brought
to the United States, the tent was pitched on shore, and a
standing figure cast, which almost went to destruction.

300

. AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE

We could only remain a certain length of time, for fear
of being frozen in for the whole winter, as the ice was
making fast. The wind almost blew the tent down during
our preparations. It was impossible to keep the oil stoves
lighted, rain and snow fell, and uncertain light made work-
ing most difficult. Yet here was my chance; the Eskimo,
shivering despite the blankets wrapped around him, was
standing in position. My plan was to get as much of
him at one casting as possible, for it was the last chance
of the season. A thick wall of clay was built around
him. Mr. Figgins and myself painted him all over with
vaseline. Pail after pail of plaster was mixed and poured
over the shivering body; the dust from the barrel as the
plaster was shoveled out filled the tent and made us look
like millers. I believe the chattering Eskimo was prom-
ised a gun to stand this dose.

Five pails had been mixed and we had to hurry. It was
like feeding torpedo boilers. Slowly the white fluid rose
around the Eskimo. Our backs ached; perspiration
dripped from our brows and froze. Outside the gale was
furious, for the wind had risen and we were having bad
weather. The work on the meteorite occupied all the
attention of every one else. I saw that I should need
more help ere the plaster reached the shoulders. In went
pail after pail. I was trying to speak Eskimo words,
English — anything to keep the model quiet. Figgins also
tried Eskimo. I called for some one to give me a hand,
but no one heard. Suddenly I saw Figgins throw his arms
around the lower part of the figure, as the beautiful plaster
began to ooze out. I frantically threw myself around it
also and hugged on the other side. Meanwhile the Eskimo
commenced shouting something, which brought some of
the tribe to the tent. They poked their heads through
the tent flap, giggled, laughed, and kept on laughing.

At this moment I felt that unless I got help, the whole
thing would fall apart. I shouted "Help!" twice, then
"Bear a hand, quick!" This brought five of the sailors
and Captain Bartlett, who on the instant burst out laugh-
ing to see Figgins, who was six feet tall, and myself, four
feet four inches, spread out like eagles on the ground
with our arms around the mass of man, clay and plaster.

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THE WHITE WORLD

I sputtered out to them to grab the thing and hold it
together. All, of one accord, did so. I got up to think
a moment and then laughed myself. The sight was the
funniest I ever saw, but I had to save my mould. Slowly
each man drew away, the plaster getting the " set." After
a few moment's rest, we had to cut the " husky " out of
his crust. For the next hour and a half it was hammer,
split, and wedge. Piece after piece came off, till finally
the native was liberated, more dead than alive. He was
wrapped in blankets and carried to the galley fire, where
hot brandy and coffee were given him. Two of the natives
rubbed him with canvas to restore warmth.

I returned to look after the wreck. I believe I worked
harder during those three hours than I ever did in my
life before. Figgins had a backache for three days. After
this, word had evidently traveled through the tribe to look
out for opixnah, which is the Eskimo name for white owl.

Taking the cast of the face, the most difficult work of
all, gave me much trouble, as the subject had to lie on his
back, allow a quill to be stuffed up each nostril with cotton
batting, and tissue paper over the eyes and mouth, while
the skin was well oiled, clay built around the head, and
plaster poured over all. The heat from the plaster as it
hardened often blistered the skin, and just as the " set "
was reached, the fellow would blow up, and away would
go the mask, cracked and broken. I would save these
pieces and try again, until I secured many good masks.
All of these were then packed in sawdust, boxed up and
stowed away, to be worked over some day for the Museum
of Natural History in New York. I had thus the honor
to be the first professional artist to take casts of the Arctic
Highlanders over the Arctic Circle.

My outfit for art work on these voyages to the Arctic was
at first elaborate; subsequently very simple. A good sup-
ply of colors in oil, water, pastels and crayon, academy
boards, sketch books, easels and all the usual tools of a well-
appointed studio were placed on board; but with few ex-
ceptions I might have saved much expense, which, on my
return, I charged up to " experience." For instance, my
sketching umbrella, stool and many other things with which
I had carefully provided myself, were never used.

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AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE

The expedition was not a sketching tour, and I soon
found I had to seize the opportunities for this work as
they presented themselves. The bewildering beauties of
sunrise, day and sunset, as we sailed northward, called for
the simple materials at hand at all times; neither could the
ship be stopped to allow of a sketch
or painting, so my work must be
made with rapidity. In storm, wind,
rain and snow, rough and smooth
seas, at all times, pallet and brush
worked constantly; in all tempera-
tures, uncomfortable positions and
situations I lost nothing, for I con-
sidered the great event in my life
had come; to paint at the very heels
of the Polar explorer, on his field of
action, when the stern reality at-
tending a journey to the Far North
was an ever-present fact.

My working outfit during the
voyage was simple; a box, some-
thing like a knapsack, provided with
grooves in which half a dozen acad-
emy boards were fitted, an extra
groove to receive a pallet charged
with colors, some painting rags and
a handful of brushes. With this out-
fit some four hundred sketches in all were made. On my
second trip north, having learned by experience, I pro-
vided myself with a box furnished with a cloth flap to
keep out rain and snow and which could be fastened upon
my shoulders.

As the expedition steamed toward the scene of great
Arctic tragedies and mysteries the desire that nothing
should escape pencil or brush kept me on deck often eigh-
teen or twenty hours out of the twenty-four. And what
a world I found myself passing through; icebergs, great
towering hills of glittering crystal ; the rugged and beautiful
coast of Labrador, beautiful atmospheric effects: all were
captured in color; and all around me the photographers of
the party were busy. Then, as we pushed farther north,

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HIGHLANDERS

THE WHITE WORLD

what emotions stirred me as we stood upon the threshold
of the land which had witnessed so much suffering; the land
of Doctor Kane, Hayes, Captain Hall, Greely and others.
To pick up relics of bygone days, to mentally review, as I
worked, the narratives of those, daring explorers, to feel
the same cold breath of the ice-bound world that had locked
them in; many a time have the tears dimmed my eyes and
frozen upon my cheeks at the recollection of the men who
had starved in that Polar land, as I painted the barren
rocks, the scene of their suffering, in that great region of
awful solitude.

Visiting Port Fanke, where Doctor Hayes wintered in
company with Lieutenant Peary, the grave of Professor
Tonntag impressed me deeply. It had been disturbed, pos-
sibly by bears, for a skull and a few bones were all that
remained. That great mind, astronomer of the expedition,
had passed away in the midst of his beautiful work in the
Far North and was buried there alone; yet not alone — a
few other graves are scattered over the Arctic Circle:
at Cape Sabine, where nineteen men ended their suffering
and toil. Nor do I forget Lifeboat Cove, where the Polaris
was wrecked and nineteen of her crew went adrift on a
field of ice, to live one hundred and ninety-six days, until
rescued by the U. S. S. Tigress off Labrador.

Surrounded by these scenes I worked incessantly, for
time and the ice did not permit a long stop in our journey-
ings. Nor is the difficulty of reaching these places appre-
ciated by those who have never tried it, neither the trials
of one who undertakes in the Arctic regions the work I had
in hand. These regions are replete in color, form and never-
ending variety; animal and bird life and the Eskimos were
another source of food for the painter's brush. I returned,
as it were, with a new set of brains and the fascination still
holds me to revisit that northern land, did health permit.
For perfect health is one of the first requisites for a journey
to the Arctic, whether it be for work or pleasure. Pleasure,
indeed, there is if one chooses the proper season. I would
advise my brethren in art, and sisters also, to visit the
Danish Eskimo settlements of Greenland during the sum-
mer months ; they will find beauties there of which we never
dream in our more temperate zone.

304

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

ANDREW JACKSON STONE.

Andrew J. Stone was born in Missouri, 1859.
Has traveled over almost all parts of Arctic
and Sub-Arctic America. Sledged the extreme
Arctic coast throughout an entire winter. Is
making special study of animal-life of the Far
North.

ANDREW JACKSON STONE

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

By ANDREW J. STONE

HEN one glances at a chart of the vast
region of country that stretches away
to the north of the United States and
Canada, washed by the waters of Hud-
son Bay on the east, Bering Sea on
the west, and the great Arctic Ocean
on the north, he has before him an
Arctic wilderness so great as to cause
every section of the Arctics, where exhaustive research has
been conducted, to seem small in comparison. Yet this
expanse has been avoided and neglected by almost all
explorers, naturalists and scientists, while in many places
along the shore of Greenland, Spitzbergen and Franz
Josef Land the stones have been turned over many
times in the hope of finding something new and of interest
to science. Just why this is so is hardly clear, unless it
be that most men fear to trust themselves very far from
the ships or base of food supplies. Certain it is that when
one enters the heart of this great wilderness, he is further
from civilization in time of travel and further from any
real base of supplies than the traveler in any other part
of the Arctics, and I might add that the difficulties of
travel are almost or quite as great.

Arctic and sub-Arctic America is rich in its animal and
plant life. There is material which is of a hundred times
greater importance to either the scientific or commercial
world than that of the more barren islands farther north.

Its zoological, botanical, geological and mineralogical
wealth is unquestionably great, to an extent that is not to
be compared with that of Greenland and other northern
regions. The influence of this will be strongly felt in the
commercial world and many branches of science are bound

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THE WHITE WORLD

to reap an abundant harvest of rare and beautiful things.
Within the radius of this same region is the location of
the magnetic pole, and meteorolgical work finds the great-
est incentive in latitudes Jo° to 740.

A desire to know what this great unknown north con-
tains has for a long time appealed to me, and for seven
years I have traveled it almost constantly — traversing
its length and breadth, following all of its greatest rivers,
climbing its mountain ranges, skirting its most distant
shores, and penetrating its most inaccessible recesses, and
facing every climatic condition known to it, at every time
of the year, devoting myself to its animal life with a deter-
mination to make known its character and make possible
its classification. Just how well I have succeeded may be
best appreciated by the very complimentary tribute paid
me by Dr. J. A. Allen, of the American Museum of Natural
History, of New York City, in a recent talk before a
representative body of men interested in such work. Dr.
Allen said, " Mr. Stone undoubtedly has a better knowl-
edge of the large mammals of Arctic and sub-Arctic
America than any other man living."

When I commenced this work I realized that I was set-
ting for myself a task so difficult that it was characterized
by most of those best informed as all but impossible. I
knew that I must suffer many deprivations, hunger, cold,
and fatigue, and besides all this if I were to succeed I
must work, work, work. There was no end of work,
and as I never had many white companions, and often
for months I did not have any one with me but the native
people, I can look back and appreciate that the sole sup-
port of my health and the one thing that kept my spirits
alive, was my work. All tfiese years of travel in such
wild and trackless regions were not lacking in adventure
and in situations that at times were really dramatic.

Should I live for a thousand years, my experiences on
the Liard River, in the spring of 1898, would remain fresh
in my memory, to the slightest detail. To make my situa-
tion there best understood, I reached a point on the Liard
River October 20, 1897, at a point just below Cranberry
Rapids, a small fur-trading place, where I wintered.
Thence to a point below Hell Gate Canyon, on the Liard,

310

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles, was a con-
tinuous series of rapids and waterfalls impossible by boat.

During the winter, with the help of several men, I
freighted the bulk of my baggage and supplies, almost
a ton of stuff, on the ice, with dogs, to a point below
Hell Gate Canyon, where I constructed a strong log
cache and stored everything very carefully, to await my
coming in the spring, when I would return to build a boat,
in which to follow the Liard to the Mackenzie after the
ice had gone out. To my very great surprise, when I
reached a point about one mile below Hell Gate Canyon,
I found two white men in camp, who said they proposed
to remain there for the winter and then to return to the
Mackenzie. They represented to me that their food sup-
ply was a little short and that they had no guns nor am-
munition, and prevailed on me to supply this need. It
was finally agreed that I was to send them a gun and
ammunition and a few other small items in consideration
for which they were to help me build a boat in the spring
and aid me to transport my supplies down the Liard to
the Mackenzie.

During the winter I had an opportunity to learn some-
thing of the native people who inhabited the country in
the neighborhood where my supplies were cached. The
fur trader with whom I lived was familiar with all their
doings for years and gave me accounts in detail of many
of their atrocities, among them the murder of two trusted
employes of the Hudson Bay Company who were traveling
through the country, and of two French Canadian trap-
pers who had gone there to trap for furs. The natives
around Hell Gate Canyon were not a regular tribe, but
were a lot of renegades from neighboring tribes banded
together, after having committed such offenses among
their own people as to make it necessary for them to find
a new hunting ground.

During my winter's stay on the Liard River many ac-
counts of bloodthirsty and savage deeds came to my notice.
A few Indians lived near our little trading post, and reports
of all incidents of importance occurring among neigh-
boring tribes or people came to them and from them to
the trader, who communicated them to me. One story

3"

THE WHITE WORLD

concerned an Indian hunter and his wife, in camp some
thirty miles from any of their people. Game grew scarce,
and starvation threatened them. The woman was in deli-
cate health and unable to travel. The man resolved to
save his own life by fleeing to his
people, but being unwilling to
leave his wife to die, he shot her.
Another family was in a similar
situation; the husband in this case
did not have the heart to kill his
wife, so he left her without fuel,
food or blankets, to die by star-
vation and freezing.

The two families that lived near
us during the winter were Kaskas,
and although they were not a part
of this renegade band that lived in
the mountains near Hell Gate,
yet they received and dispensed the news with perfect
confidence, as they had never even heard of law or offi-
cers of the law. While the morals of these two families
might be, and evidently were, far superior to that of the
renegades, yet a short sketch of their self-imposed laws
may make my story more appreciable. One of the families
consisted of Iron, his invalid wife, a little girl, and a boy
slave. The other was composed of Powder and his wife.
Powder was a sliamen, or Indian doctor.

The first I ever saw of Iron was one dreadfully stormy
night in October. All day a fearful snow storm had
raged and my helpers and I had worked with a will in
moving our supplies around Cranberry Rapids. We had
only just completed this laborious task when night came
upon us, and in the storm and darkness we groped our
way while making camp, gathering firewood, and prepar-
ing for the night. At last we had a large canvas spread,
under which we placed a bed of pine boughs, and soon
a huge log fire in front gave cheer and life to the scene.
Not a bite of food had been tasted since morning, and a
rousing hot supper was prepared. When all was ready,
my entire party seated themselves on the pine boughs
underneath the canvas, and in the warmth reflected by the

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ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

great log fire we were soon in the midst of an enjoyable
feast.

Suddenly there appeared from out the darkness on the
opposite side of the fire two figures. One was a tall
man, slightly bent, with sharp features and keenness of
eye, carrying a rifle. He wore snowshoes and was com-
fortably clothed for a northern Indian. The other was
a boy, about twelve years of age, with long, ragged hair,
clothed in a few filthy rags, and wearing a most pitiful
look of hunger, misery, and degradation. Both were wet
with the falling snow, and Mr. Simpson, the fur trader,
whose companionship and aid it was my good fortune to
have, invited them under shelter.

This was the first time I ever saw Iron. He came
around, and seated himself in a comfortable position, and
accepted a plate of food. But in spite of Mr. Simpson's
insisting upon it, the boy remained out in the storm on
the other side of the fire, leaning against a tree and gaz-
ing at us with a look of wonder and fear. He was finally,
however, induced to accept a plate of food that was passed
over to him, and he devoured it rapidly, still leaning
against the tree.

I asked Mr. Simpson why the boy would not come
around, and he said he did not know. Then I said he must
be a slave and afraid Iron would punish him if he came
under shelter; and Mr. Simpson said that was the case.

The only shelter the boy had from the storm that night
was a part of an old blanket about one yard square.
Later in the winter, when the thermometer was ranging
between 45 ° and 500 below zero, I found this boy living
alone in the woods, without other shelter than the small
square of blanket. He slept at night by a little open fire,
turning over and over in order to prevent any part of
his body from freezing.

A little later in the winter, Powder, the sluimcn, told Iron
that the boy was a witch, and that Mrs. Iron would never
regain her health until the witch was destroyed. The news
came to me one day that Iron and Powder and the boy
had gone hunting, and four days later Iron and Powder
returned without the boy. A hole had been cut through
the thick covering of ice on a neighboring lake, a stone

3M

THE WHITE WORLD

tied to the boy's neck, and the boy-witch or evil spirit
had gone to the long, long home, whence slave boys and
witches never return. These were fair examples of the
better class of Indians, or Indians belonging to the regu-
lar tribes that surrounded us, and from this description
may be had a fair conception of what the renegades at
Hell Gate were like.

Winter passed, the first of April came, and I decided
to travel once more to Hell Gate, where my stores were
cached, and superintend the building of my boat, as the
river ice would go out about a month later. There were
yet two sled loads of stuff to go, and the only available
help was Powder and his wife and dogs. So with this
interesting Christian couple, who knew nothing worse
than murder, I was to make my final trip of one hundred
and twenty-five miles over the ice with dog sleds to my
cache below Hell Gate, where I expected to find the two
white men in camp, waiting to help me in building the boat.

Skipping entirely every incident of the trip, I was horri-
fied, on turning a bend in the river about two miles above
my cache, to find camps of the renegade Hell Gate Indians.
Powder became very much excited, and as the Indians
came running down from their camps he stopped his sled
and indulged in a " powwow " of considerable length. I
could not understand a single word, but I knew by their
manner and gestures that much of the conversation was
concerning myself. All in all, the situation was not pleas-
ing, for I knew what these Indians were. I had been
repeatedly warned by whites and Indians never to be
caught alone among them, and I thought a meaner lot of
murderous faces I had never seen. I was full of misgiv-
ings, and from there almost to the cache I found a
continuous string of camps, all occupied by this band of
renegades. On reaching the cache I found it yet intact,
but the two white men had disappeared with all their
belongings, and there was every indication that they had
abandoned the camp weeks previous.

My dilemma was apparent at a glance. I was in a trap,
and there was no help for it. When I left the little fur-
trading place to go down the river, my only helper and
friend, Mr. Simpson, went away, going up the river, and

3H

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

we were now separated by at least two hundred and fifty
miles of country difficult to travel.

My situation seemed perilous. Powder was actually
frightened for his own life, for he knew the Hell Gate
Indians and feared them, and he begged me to return with
him that night. The situation had confronted me so sud-
denly that I scarcely knew what I could do, or what action
to take, but I replied to him that my property was in that
cache and that I should not desert it. That night a number
of Indians surrounded us and plied me with many ques-
tions, only a part of which I was able to interpret.

My cache stood in the centre of a clearing on the river
bank of about one hundred yards in extent. Near the
cache were two pine trees. The snow had disappeared in
the opening, leaving the ground bare, and after getting
rid of the last of my callers, I prepared to sleep under-
neath these trees in the open, and did not erect any tent
or shelter of any kind, or put up anything that would form
a screen, behind which the devils of Hell Gate could ap-
proach me. I did not sleep much that night, though I
was very tired, having run about fifty miles the day before,
and I was up early the following morning. Breakfast was
soon finished, and in spite of all my protestations, Powder
and Mrs. Powder took their departure for the country of
the Kaskas. Murderer though I was aware that he was,
I knew him, after all. He was a companion in a way; he
did not belong to the renegade band, and I greatly re-
gretted to see him go. As I stood alone on the river bank
that frosty April morning and watched him, with his wife
and dogs, disappear around the bend of the river more
than a mile away, a feeling of loneliness came over me
unlike anything I had ever before experienced, and I could
almost have forgiven him the murder of the boy, had he
only remained with me.

I was alone at Hell Gate, in the heart of the greatest
wilderness on the American continent; all my supplies and
equipage were awaiting some form of transportation to
regions further north; I was surrounded by the entire
band of red devils that constituted this renegade band,
about seventy-five people.

It was really hard for me to think. But the first thought

3i5

THE WHITE WORLD

was that I was glad that my friends knew nothing of my
true situation, for they could not have reached me short
of one year, if at all. My knowledge of these Indians,
their customs and their superstitious beliefs, was here of
great help to me, and was undoubtedly the one thing that
saved my life.

I knew they would not break my cache themselves, for in
their belief, were they to do so, the evil spirit would get
them. It was a fortunate circumstance that I chanced to
have some food in my sled, and I decided to make this last
as long as possible. During the day I had many curious
visitors, all anxious to see my guns, knives, and camp
outfit, and to learn what I had stored in the cache.

The day was one of nervous expectation, and I thought
it would never end. I learned that a young man was ac-
tually dying with consumption in camp about half a mile
up the river. This to me was a special source of anxiety,
for the reason that should he die while I was there, his
people would claim that his death was due to my presence
and that my life must be taken in turn. But one thing
could have averted this, and that would have been by the
payment of a certain amount of blankets, guns, tea, to-
bacco, and such like merchandise to the friends of the
deceased as a recompense for the young man's life, and
this in my case would have meant no less than the end of
my expedition, and my escaping, if possible, to civilization.

Long days and longer, restless, sleepless nights passed,
one after another, and every day I was harassed by those
red devils in every sort of way. They wanted my guns
and ammunition, they even coveted my camera and the
very blankets I slept in, and they threatened violence to
me if I did not open the cache and show them what I
had and divide with them. Every night I slept in the
same place in the open — when I slept at all — and I kept
Zilla, the only dog and only companion I had, chained at
the back of my bed, with three loaded rifles and extra
ammunition in front of me.

Ten days had passed, during which time I had been
on guard from early morning till late at night, using every
precaution, every particle of diplomacy that I could com-
mand in order to prevent serious friction. I had not

316

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

during all this time given any of them a bite of food or
submitted to a single one of their demands in any way,
for I knew perfectly well that should I show any indica-
tion of weakening, they would take advantage of it. Should

IN THE FROZEN NORTH

I give them an ounce they would want a pound, and once
they secured a part, they would have all; and should they
succeed in getting possession of my property they would
then murder me as a precaution against any possible
trouble. My only safety was in maintaining a fearless and
independent attitude, and in avoiding everything that
would give any chance for trouble.

One morning, while I was making coffee for my break-
fast, an Indian, a powerful looking fellow, and the one
who had been the most persistent and troublesome, came
up and asked me for the balance of the package of coffee,
all the coffee I possessed. On my refusal, he remarked:
" Mica delate cultus," meaning that I was everything that
was low and bad. For the first time my temper got the
best of my judgment and I made for him with a club. He
was too quick for me, however, and beat a rapid retreat.
The following night I remained awake, for the redskins
had kept to themselves all day, and I felt sure, after what
had happened that morning, that they were only waiting

3i7

THE WHITE WORLD

for night to come that they might make a combined attack.
The night was uneventful, however, other than being a
sleepless one, and the following morning, while I was mak-
ing my breakfast, I saw this fellow with his family and
dogs moving down river. Pretty soon there passed an-
other, and then another, and all day long they kept mov-
ing by. What a relief, and how proud I was, for I knew
I had defeated their purpose. In twenty-four hours the
only Indians remaining in my neighborhood were the one
family with the consumptive son. I then, of my own ac-
cord, carried them rice and dried fruit, and such other
things as I could spare.

The story of my experiences at Hell Gate would fill a
volume and I cannot begin to relate them in this article,
but there is one incident that occurred during the time
I was surrounded by the Indians that I cannot omit. As
I have already mentioned, the snow had disappeared in
the clearing, but in the timber encircling the clearing in
the rear, the snow was yet of considerable depth and
crusted on the top. I was awakened one night by the
growling of Zilla, and the character of his growl told me
at once that something was wrong. I sat up in my blankets
and put my hand on his head to calm him. At the same
time I heard footsteps breaking through the crust on the
snow in the edge of the woods back of the clearing, only
about fifty yards away. Tramp, tramp, tramp ! There they
were at last, the suspense would soon be ended, and I
drew up one of my rifles and cocked it carefully, that I
might not make anv noise. I was not excited, I was not
even nervous, for I had thought of and expected this thing
too long to feel anv new fear of trouble now. Rather the
reverse, I was glad; I felt the long strain I had been under
was to be ended, and anything, even death, was preferable
to such suspense. The one thing I thought of was killing
Indians, and I sat revolving over and over in my mind
the possibilities of satisfying this desire. I could have
taken a position behind the trees, but I feared to move
lest I might be seen.

Tramp, tramp, tramp! The footsteps continued to en-
circle my position, keeping in the edge of the timber, a
regular, even, cautious step, but always breaking through

3i8

ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

the crust on top of the snow. Zilla listened attentively,
but never growled after I once patted him on the head.
He knew I wanted him to be calm. Evidently the fellow
was trying to get me between himself and the sky line,
for the night was clear, but fortunately there was no moon.

On around the edge of the timber continued the foot-
steps. I was chilled through and through, and I was grow-
ing impatient. The footsteps neared the edge of the tim-
ber on the river bank and then all was silent. I waited
for some time, but could not hear a sound. I could not
stand it any longer; the fellow might be crawling toward
me on the bare ground in the clearing. I proposed to let
him know I was awake and bring him to his feet. I hal-
looed, there was no response of any kind, no rustle of foot-
steps or shifting of position. There was no rush of the
enemy from any point. I knew not what to make of it.
I waited for some time and still not a sound. I was puz-
zled ; I tried to persuade myself that I had been dreaming,
and I finally lay down in my blankets, almost frozen.

It was just getting warm and comfortable, when Zilla
growled once more and I sat up in my blankets again.
Sure enough, there was the footstep again, and this time
it was coming directlv toward me, the man evidently keep-
ing the largest tree between himself and me. One advan-
tage I had, my position was such that I knew on which
side of the tree he must appear; my rifle was directed
to a point where I thought it would do the most good, and
my finger was on the trigger. The footsteps were now
very near; they were just behind the tree. The moment
of action had come ; I was full of expectation and actually
dead to every sense of fear. There was no escape, no
alternative, but to meet conditions as they arose. An im-
mense white Indian dog stepped from behind the tree.
For a moment I was almost paralyzed, so great was the
surprise, but gradually the true situation came to me.
There was a piece of moose meat hanging in the tree above
my head, and this strange dog had smelled it and had
been trying to find some place of approach whereby he
might get near enough to secure it. And it was his tread
and not that of a man that I had heard. But the noise
created by its breaking through the crust on the snow

3i9

THE WHITE WORLD

was exactly the same that would have been caused by
the tread of a man.

After the Indians left me, I took one of my rifles and
Zilla, and went down the river prospecting for a place
suitable for building a boat. I found a very desirable
place on the river bank, at the edge of a large forest,
about five miles farther down stream. I could not live
so far from my work, so I decided to move my supplies
down to this place. I hooked Zilla to the sled, and at the
end of three days I had moved everything, set up my
tent and put my new camp in order. I had never built
a boat, or helped to build one, in my life. I had no lumber
with which to make it, and no way of cutting lumber, for
I had no one to help me run a saw. I had seen the natives
use large skin boats, but I had no skins and nothing large
enough could be made from birch bark, even though I
could manipulate the bark. Canvas must be the only
solution of the problem, and I at once went through my
outfit to see what I could find. I discovered two pieces,
somewhat worn, that I thought would be large enough if
sewed together.

I decided to make a boat twenty-four feet long, five and
one-half feet beam and twenty-one inches deep amidships.
I set to work cutting tall, slender young pines, which I
hewed and planed and bent to shape, a work that required
a good many days and taxed my skill to its greatest effort.
After many days of toil, from early morning till late at
night, the perspiration often streaming from me as I have
seen it do from a man in the harvest field, the frame was
made complete, and I was so pleased with it that I photo-
graphed it.

I then went into the woods and found two tall, straight
pines — one of them measuring fifty-five and the other fifty-
seven inches in circumference. I cut them down and took
the bark from each in a single piece to the height of twenty-
five feet. I dragged these over and covered the frame of
the boat with them completely, leaving the smooth inner
bark out. I then stretched the canvas over this perfectly
tight and made it fast, after which I went into the woods
and gathered a large quantity of spruce gum from the
trees. I melted bacon into grease, and, mixing the gum

320

. ARCTIC FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

and the grease, I heated them over the fire until they ran
together, forming a pitch with which I painted the canvas,
using a stick with a rag wound around one end for a brush.
I dressed out my oars from green spruce, and the boat
was finished.

Getting under the boat I knocked out the props with
an ax, and then I began an effort to move it down over
the river bank. It evidently weighed about eight hundred
pounds, and mv first two. or three attempts to move it
failed. But improving my position, I at last felt it go
forward about an inch, and then again, and little by little
I worked it forward, endwise, down the bank and upon a
sand beach at the edge of the stream. Once on the smooth
level sand it came down all around me, of course, and I
began to realize that it might be difficult to get from under
it. I could raise one side, but when I attempted to get
out, my purchase was taken from me, and down came the
boat across me, and I could get no farther. I only gained
my freedom by scratching a hole in the sand underneath
the gunwale, sufficiently large to admit of my crawling
out, just as a dog might have done.

Once on the outside, I rolled the boat over in such a
manner that it struck the water right side up, a rather
undignified launching for such a stately craft. But it sat
on the water nicely and was now ready for its valuable
cargo.

In spite of hard work, my feeling of loneliness while
building my boat was beyond the conception of any one
who has never been cut off from the world. Zilla was
some company, and after each day's work was done, or
dusk would put a stop to it, he and I would go for a run
on the beach, and he enjoyed this quite as much as myself.
But most of the time he, too, seemed very lonely. Much
of the time I could eat but little of the food I prepared, and
when the heavy ice broke on the great river and began to
move, its constant grinding and pounding and booming
created such an awful noise for five days that I could not
sleep.

As the last of the ice was going, I had everything ready
and followed. I prepared a life raft with some some rubber
bags, so that in case my boat struck a snag and sank, I

321

THE WHITE WORLD

might have some chance of saving my life. I manned it
among floating ice and logs and through rapids, and was
swept by strong currents past ugly snags; strong side
winds sometimes drove me on shore ; but in spite of all my
discouragements, two days after leaving Hell Gate, Zilla
and I landed at Fort Liard, a little Hudson Bay trading
place, one hundred and fifty miles below, without acci-
dent or the loss of an ounce of my outfit.

Zilla, the most faithful animal I ever knew — though
only an Indian dog — died the following winter, on Christ-
mas eve, just to the west of the mouth of the Mackenzie,
on the Arctic coast. He was sick, his feet had been frozen
and were very much swollen, his coat of hair was not heavy
enough for those regions, and he had worked and suffered
until his heart was broken. I buried him Christmas morn-
ing in a snowy grave, and as I turned away the tears came
to my eyes. I felt that I was leaving behind one of the
dearest and most faithful of friends, and I shall never for-
get my only companion at Hell Gate.

322

THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON

JOHN BIRD BURNHAM.

John Bird Burnham was born in New Castle,
Delaware, 1869. In 1897 went to Klondike,
shooting White Horse rapids in twelve-foot
canvas canoe. Also made adventurous trips
over the ice. Has hunted and killed all varie-
ties of North American game.

ON THE ICE TRAIL

THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON

By JOHN B. BURNHAM

HE exodus of four hundred miners from Daw-
son City to the coast over the ice in the
winter of 1897-98 is one of the most pic-
turesque features in the whole graphic his-
tory of the Klondike. A midwinter journey
of six hundred miles in a country where
minus temperatures of sixty and seventy degrees are
recorded is hard enough at best, but when supplies have
to be carried for this distance the difficulties are vastly
increased. Many of the men carried their food on sleds,
which they drew themselves, and some even packed it on
their backs, and at night slept without stoves or tents on

THE WHITE WORLD

the snowy shores of the Yukon, or on the ice of the river
itself. The stamina and will power of these men are
almost beyond belief.

John Peche, the Canadian government messenger, who
late in December was the first man in from the outside
world after the river closed, remarking on the fact, said:
" You Americans are hard men to kill. Coming down
the river I met over three hundred men on their way out,
and most of them were from the States and knew nothing
of the cold that is cold, or how to take care of themselves
right. Yet they acted as if they were on a picnic, and as
if the devil were really dead. They didn't seem to mind
little inconveniences like frozen feet and cheeks, and hands
with the nails coming off and blistered with the frost.
They're reckless devils, and a more cheeky set I never met.
With the pants burnt off their legs and the faces on them
like brown parchment from the fire and frost, they had the
gall to give me advice about the country, to tell me how
many pairs of moccasins I'd need for the trip, and the like,
when I was born on a snow drift and got my growth under
the midnight sun. You Americans would storm Hades
if you thought the heat had melted out any gold down
there; and you'd put up so good a bluff and are so nervy,
I'll be bound you'd get some of the stuff if there was anv
there."

Just above " Five Fingers," on our trip to the coast in
January, 1898, I saw some ravens tearing at an object
which on closer inspection proved to be the ribs and upper
portion of a man's body. There were many gruesome asso-
ciations on that journey in the dead of the Sub-Arctic
winter. Tottering out of the blue-grey haze of snow and
frost-laden spruces, came from time to time starving men,
almost as emaciated as the plague victims in India, with the
light of an insane fear in their eyes, whom bitter experience
had taught that it was better to risk death by stealing food
rather than to risk refusal by begging for it.

At Fort Selkirk, in December, two half-crazed men came
into our cabin and without a word seized upon a loaf of
bread and some prunes, which was all the prepared food in
sight, and began eating ravenously, like beasts that ex-
pected to be driven away. When they had finished they

326

THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON

left without asking for more or saying a word of thanks
for what they had taken. The men had black spots on
their cheeks, where the flesh was frozen into the bone and
would never grow again.

'.*>..

THE LOVE OF ADVENTURE "

Other men froze their feet; it was always both feet. Of
the eight men in this condition whom I saw on the journey
out, there was no exception. Willie Birne, who was only
sixteen and small for his age, walked for five days over
the ice with his feet frozen at right angles with his legs,
and though he suffered, he did not know the worst until
a hole was worn in his moccasin and one of his great toes
broke off. He had never been in a warm place during this
time.

At the very end of the journey a poor fellow with frozen
feet lay beside the trail waiting for a dog team to carry
him to the lower levels of Chilcoot. A packer who hap-
pened along asked him the circumstances of the accident,
remarking that he could not understand why the sufferer

327

THE WHITE WORLD

had not known of his danger and taken precautions to
save his feet before it was too late. At that very moment
the questioner's own feet were frozen beyond hope of
recovery.

I asked this man how it happened that he did not know
his own condition. He said that shortly after leaving his
tent that morning his feet had been very painful. He was
wearing lumberman's socks and rubbers. He had stamped
his feet, and presently the pain grew less and he imagined
the circulation had been restored, when as a matter of
fact the relief came from the total loss of sensation incident
to freezing.

The pioneers of the ice trail fared the worst. Some left
Dawson at the middle of October, weeks before the river
closed. The mush ice which ran in endless stream past
the log city gorged temporarily, and, supposing it had
stopped for the winter, these men lashed their loads on
their sleds and started. The Yukon almost immediately
opened again, and they were caught in a trap. In the dark
canon-like valley marked on the maps as the Upper Ram-
parts, sledges were lost or broken and tents and blankets
were thrown away. With packs strapped on their backs,
the refugees struggled on, following the narrow rim of
shore ice when not compelled to scale the almost vertical
barriers of basalt rock.

Supplies gave out, and after five weeks of travel the first
of the parties had only gotten as far as Fort Selkirk, four
hundred miles from food and safety. They were tantalized
by the sight of rafts laden with beef and mutton for the
Dawson market, aground and abandoned on bars in mid-
channel, a feast for the ravens, but separated from them
by a gulf as impassable as that upon which Dives gazed;
and but for the chance flotsam picked up at the river's
edge from wrecked boats, and Indians at the Nordenskiold,
these men of the vanguard would certainly have starved.
As it was, they were reduced to the last extremity: and,
insufficiently protected from the weather, they suffered the
Eskimo's hell of slow death by freezing.

The old-timers in Dawson said the trip to the coast was
an impossible task for hand-sledgers, and " a gamble " for
the men with dog teams. They cited the case of George

328

THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON

Williams, the first man attempting the trip, who in 1886
went out on a desperate mission to secure aid for the
miners in the forty-mile stampede, and perished of hunger
and cold. The old-timers argued that no man could drag
on his sled food sufficient to last for the six-hundred-mile
struggle over the jam of broken ice that gorged the river.

The pioneers left a tortuous trail which above the Pelly
crossed and recrossed the river, on an average of once in
every mile. They could not take the shortest course from
point to point, because of open water and other obstacles
which later did not exist. The men who came after them
followed in their footsteps, partly because they could not be
sure that the detours were not still necessary, and partly
because it is easier to follow than to originate. The open
places had alternated from side to side of the river. The
trail wound like a snake's track, and the weary pilgrims
who followed it at times traveled two miles east or west
for every mile they gained in the direction of their homes.
There was little or no attempt afterward to better the trail.
On catching up one evening with a party which had trav-
eled ahead of us all day, I asked one of the men why he
had not gone back a few rods on the trail after a particu-
larly aggravating detour and made a cut-off which would
have saved a mile of unnecessary walking.

" For the same reason, partner," said the man, with a
smile that showed how sure he felt of his ground, " that
you neglected to do it. Why didn't you think of all the
sore-footed chaps that are following after you on the trail? "

The chief rush of travel occurred late in November and
the early part of December. All classes were represented,
from the Jew peddler to the millionaire mine-owner.
Some, " gee-pole " in hand, dragged heavily loaded sleds,
while others trotted along behind well-broken dog teams
and had their hired men do the work of making and break-
ing camp. Others traveled by " Siwash Express," which
carried passengers at the rate of a dollar a mile; only the
passenger was not actually carried, but walked or trotted
beside the sled, fully content that he had secured the trans-
portation of food for himself for thirty days, and his blank-
ets, at any figure short of a king's ransom.

THE WHITE WORLD

Large parties were the rule at this time; the night was
divided into watches, and in each mess one kept awake all
the time to tend the little sheet-iron stove that warmed the
tent. Only those who traveled without stoves or tents

THE LONG LINE OF MEN"

knew to the full the biting severity of the cold of the long
Arctic night. These men regarded their better-equipped
companions in much the same spirit that the tramp sitting
beside the railroad looks at the traveler in the Pullman.
Yet some of them, before the journey was over, had be-
come so enamored of the very hardships that they would
not have changed for a berth with a dog team.

When the weather was not exceptionally severe, these
men passed the night behind brush wind-breaks, with no
fire, wrapped in icy board-like blankets, and perhaps buried
in the snow for greater warmth. When, however, their
evening camp-fires sent up a volume of pure white steam
into the starry air, instead of the usual column of blue
smoke, they knew that if they rolled in their blankets that

330

THE ICE TRAIL ON THE YUKON

night without fire, it might be for a perpetual sleep; and
to avoid death by the cold some men built double camp-
fires, one on either side, and crouched between them during
the hours of darkness. It is wonderful how much cold a
man may accustom himself to endure. I have a vivid
recollection of a night of grim emergency passed lying out
in the snow, with only one thickness of blankets over and
one below, when the thermometer hung on a nearby tree
registered forty degrees below zero.

At the height of travel, the long line of men journeying
over the ice trail was a gaily caparisoned procession, and
not at all suggestive of the desperate race with famine and
cold. The men who knew to a certainty that their pro-
visions would not last to the coast, and who had no idea
what they would do when the food gave out, wore carnival
colored " parkies " of yellow and white, or white and blue,
or tawny fox skins and the darker and richer furs. Even
the projecting hoods and the grim face masks when seen
at a little distance carried out the masquerade deception
and seemed fitting accompaniments to the domino-shaped
gowns, but a closer inspection of the faces, deep set behind
their fringe of ice formed by the congealed breath, showed
hard lines and little suggestion of mirth.

And yet the men were far from conquered and despond-
ent. Once in a while, it is true, some poor frozen fellow
came along, half-crazed with fear, presenting a pitiful and
depressing spectacle; but with the majority the hardships
and dangers brought uppermost the masterful spirit char-
acteristic of the true pioneer.

The Klondikers who passed the Pelly in 1897 were
nearly all from the States. Half of the men who regis-
tered at Fort Selkirk left homes on the Pacific coast.
Many were sons of California " Forty-niners." These men
will subdue Alaska and their sons will push on further to
Siberia or to the mountains of the moon.

Of the victims of the ice trail little is known. Camps
have been found with silent blanketed forms lying just as
they had taken their positions months before, and the
ravens that infested the river all winter were surfeited at
other points than Dalton's abattoirs.

The Yukon runs so swiftly that it would remain open all

33 1

THE WHITE WORLD

winter were it not for the fact of the floating ice cakes
gorging at Bering Sea and jamming and backing up
from the mouth to the head waters.

In 1897, the river stopped at Dawson, November 7, at
Fort Selkirk, November 17, and at the Little Salmon,
November 28. The jam backed up stream at the rate of
about twenty miles a day, and to form it, cakes of ice
eighteen inches thick were piled on top of each other, ris-
ing in places in hummocks ten or a dozen feet in height,
like the paleocrystic ice of the polar sea. Not only was
the surface terribly rough as a whole, but the detail of the
ice masses also presented a collection of points and ex-
crescences that bruised and blistered men's feet and made
extra wrappings a necessity.

The snow was marvelously light and fine and dry, and
back in the woods it never crusted, but rested as softly as
sifted wood ashes. Still, out on the river it was packed
by the wind till it would support the weight of a fox or a
dog, but not that of a man or a sled. In midwinter, when
the rush of travel had passed, breaking trail was terribly
fatiguing work. There are two poles of greatest cold, one
in Siberia and the other in the northern part of the North
American Continent, and on the Yukon, as early as No-
vember, the temperature reached a lower point than any
experienced by Nansen in his three years on the polar ice.

All is changed in the Yukon, and there is comparative
comfort along the ice trail at present. The stern necessi-
ties and perils are gone, but the pioneer spirit still marches
on, and the scene has only been transformed to the Koyu-
kuk and the Kuskokwim and a host of unmapped streams
lacing the Arctic waste.

Here the fruit farmer from Puget Sound and the Arizona
miner, the Cambridge college man and the Texas ranger,
shoulder to shoulder, or back to back, with Viking spirit,
are waging the same lusty struggle. It is the love of ad-
venture, old as humanity, that influences these men, and
this, after all, rather than the greed for riches, which has
been given the prominence, is the significant feature of the
Klondike.

332

ESKIMO MUSIC

DR. ROBERT STEIN.

Robert Stein was born in Reugersdorf Sile-
sia, Germany, Jan., 1857. Investigated ancient
Eskimo dwellings and graves at Wilcox Head,
West Greenland, in 1897, in connection with
Lieutenant Peary's North Greenland Expedi-
tion. Leader of Stein's Expedition in Elles-
mereland, 1899-1901.

DR. ROBERT STEIN

ESKIMO MUSIC

By DR. ROBERT STEIN

NE of the items of knowledge which our
teachers, some thirty years ago, were care-
ful to impress on our plastic youthful
minds was, that mankind was divided into
three classes — civilized, barbarous and sav-
age. The division seemed entirely satis-
factory, and we never doubted our ability to assign any
human being to one of these three classes the moment
we laid eyes on him. The savage was supposed to care
for nothing but eating and sleeping, the civilized man
cared for something besides eating and sleeping, and the
barbarian was midway between these. Too bad that so
simple an arrangement should ever need revision! Since
then, however, facts have become known in regard to
savages, barbarians, and civilized men, too, which tend
to obliterate the lines of division that seemed so clear
cut.

To-day these terms continue to be used from mere force
of habit, just as naturalists continue to talk about species
and genera, when they know very well that there is not and
cannot be any sharp dividing line between any two species.
We now know that there is hardly a feature in civilized life
that is not present, at least in a rudimentary form, among
the so-called savages, while, on the other hand, we have
come to the conclusion that there are hosts of human
beings able to read and write and to count to a million,
having the ballot, using the telephone and holding their
possessions between thumb and forefinger in a bankbook,
who nevertheless are not civilized at all, but merely domes-
ticated, and who, if an epidemic were to carry off all the
real active brains of civilization, would instantly relapse into
the Stone Age, if they did not die of starvation.

337

THE WHITE WORLD

That there could not be any human beings who think of
nothing but eating and sleeping, might have been evident
from the first, for the higher animals have got beyond that
stage. All that was needed was to listen to the song of a
canary bird. Were there any representatives of the Pithe-
canthropus of Java still in existence, we should doubtless
find them using some kind of decoration, having some
traditions in set form (the beginning of literature) and some
regularly recurring intonations or rhythms repeated for the
sake of pleasing the ear (the beginning of music). In point
of fact the lowest human beings now in existence represent
an immense advance over the earliest that might claim
the name human. Nine times, most likely, has nature
wiped the lower races off the earth to make room for some
improved breed, the inferior ones being either exterminated
or absorbed as the superior ones spread by virtue of their
slightly better brains. And thus it will probably go on
indefinitely, and it may be that we have no business to try
to stop it.

A glance at the coat of the Smith Sound Eskimo suffices
to show that we are dealing with a race which does care
for something besides eating and sleeping. Two-thirds of
the seams on this coat are solely for the sake of ornamenta-
tion: the sagloreneng on the man's back, the igia down his
throat, the nunga across his head, the tunaka on the
woman's back, the manuka under her chin, the crsi below
the breasts, the tungawing around the lower border — all
decidedly handsome patterns, even to the civilized eye.
Their tools, houses and tents all bear the same imprint of
long development.

I am not aware that any record has yet been made of
their music, except their choral song, the commonest of all,
which inevitably attracts the notice of any one who stays
with them more than a day or two. The Eskimos of Danish
Greenland, indeed, are known to possess a keen musical
ear and admirable voices, but the songs they now. sing
are said to be all of Danish origin. The first mention of a
song among the tribe to the north of Cape York occurs
in the report of Sir John Ross, who discovered them in
1818:

" We then tried to discover if they had among them any

338

ESKIMO MUSIC

amusements, such as music or dancing, and, after some
difficulty, succeeded in persuading two of the strangers,
who, we were made to understand, were nephews of Ervik,
to give us a specimen of their dancing. One of them
accordingly began immediately to distort his face, and turn
up his eyes so exactly resembling the appearance of a
person in a fit of epilepsy, that we were convinced this
accident had happened, and I was about to call for assist-
ance from the surgeon. I was, however, soon undeceived,
as he immediately proceeded to execute, in succession, a
variety of extraordinary gestures and attitudes, accom-
panied by the most hideous distortions of countenance.
Like the similar amusements of very different climates,
these contained the indecent allusions which are well known
to form an essential feature in the dances of many nations,
in other respects far advanced in civilization. The body
was generally in a stooping posture and the hands resting
on the knees. After a few minutes the performer began
to sing ' Amnah ajah/ and in a very short time the second
performer, who had been looking at the other in silence,
began, as if inspired, to distort his face, and imitate the
indelicate attitudes of the first, and soon after to sing as
chorus, " Hejaw, hejaw." After this had continued with
increasing energy for ten minutes, the tune was suddenly
changed to a shrill note, in which the words " Weehee, we-
hee," were uttered with great rapidity. They then ap-
proached each other, by slipping their feet forward, grin-
ning, and in great agitation, until their noses touched, when
a savage laugh ended this extraordinary performance."

Kane, who visited the tribe in 1853-55, describes a similar
song:

" They sang ' Amna Ayah ' for us, their rude monoton-
ous song, till our ears cracked with the discord; and im-
provised a special eulogistic chant, which they repeated over

Am - na - yah, Am - na - yah, Am - na - yah, Am - na - yah.

and over again with laughable gravity of utterance, sub-
siding always into the refrain of " Nalegak! nalegak! na-
legak-soak!" ("Captain! captain! great captain!")
339

THE WHITE WORLD

Wishing to hear this song from aboriginal lips, I sang it
as best I could from memory to four young men, Sipsu,
Uzaka, Piwatu and Aweta, who visited our station, Fort
Magnesia, on January 26, 1900. Sipsu, the liveliest among
them, on being asked to repeat it, at once looked around
for a small board and a stick. These secured, he arranged
the party in two pairs, himself and Aweta in front, Piwatu
and Uzaka behind them. Taking the board in his left
hand he struck it from below with the stick (held in the
right hand) thus:

s J* j f J J * *

J etc.

After the first few taps he began to sway from side to side,
with body bent forward and eyes closed, and to sing ap-
proximately as follows:

Ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya

ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya

ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya

-*»—*— I ' 1 — " r ' -f — I 1 — ,-ry l*

ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya

m

r+4-

^ IJJJ J JIJJJ 'J,' I

ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya

PPf¥P

*»— l ' 1 — ■-* " — w— 1 1 — ' v w *—i 1 — ' r ' v l 1-

ha-ya ya ya ya ha ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya y

340

ESKIMO MUSIC

ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya

ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya

*¥ — * — h« — I u 1 ' ^^~t-

ha - ya ya ya ya ha-ya ya ya ya ya ya ya we we.

The others accompanied in unison, but with lower voices.
At the end, Sipsu's partner, Aweta, leaned over to Sipsu,
and, holding a short stick vertically between the fingers of
his two hands, close to Sipsu's head, described a circle with
the upper end of the stick, while both shouted " We! we! "
in a pitch several notes higher than the last of the song,
and ending in a burst of laughter. Sipsu and Aweta then
changed places, the latter took the board and became leader.
Next Piwatu and Uzaka took their turns, and the perform-
ance might have continued indefinitely if something (I
think it was the call to dinner) had not stopped it.

What we saw and heard was only a partial exhibit. In
the real performance no board is used, but a drum, called
kedlaun, about a foot long and five or six inches wide.
Over a rim (katitgzvia) of walrus rib cut thin, boiled and
bent into an ellipse, is stretched a drumskin (isia) made of
the membrane (mapsa) surrounding the spleen of the wal-
rus, or in default of this, of seal intestine sewed together.
The handle (pabhid) is made of bone or ivory. Along the
outer edge of the rim is a groove (kitarota) in which rests
a thin sealskin line (isidiuta) holding the drumskin tight.
Above this groove, all along the circumference, a number
of hemispherical pits (imihsauscr'ii'ia) are scooped out,
which, the natives suppose, either strengthen or clarify the
sound. The drumstick (katua) is made of walrus rib. This
is the only musical instrument in use in that tribe so far as
I know. It is quite effective as an accompaniment to the
song.

When sung in chorus by six or eight voices this song
is decidedly impressive. The sight of the leader swaying

34i

THE WHITE WORLD .

to and fro, flinging his long black hair sideways at each
movement, his eyes closed and his face tense with excite-
ment, of course greatly adds to the effect. The way the
singers manage to keep exact time without a division of
the melody into measures of equal length is astonishing.
Of course, a similar phenomenon may be observed in the
Gregorian chant of the Catholic churches. Sipsu explained
to us that in the regular performance each one has to take
the leading part a definite number of times. These num-
bers are the same for the two men in each pair, but differ
with the different pairs. So far as I could judge, all sing
the same air at one performance, though when they sing
alone there are almost as many variations of it as there
are individuals, each one having his own, which seems to
be recognized as his property. When a great number of
them get together the performance continues for hours,
until the exigencies of business put an end to pleasure. In
the movements of the leaders I could never detect any-
thing of the nature spoken of by Ross. This song is the
natives' great refuge from ennui. When stormbound in a
snow hut, with nothing to do, or when whittling away at a
whip or a bit of ivory, they invariably begin crooning
" Haya ya ya ya " to themselves in a low tone, keeping it
up for hours.

Evidently this song is quite different from that recorded
by Kane, yet the correctness of the latter is not to be
doubted, in view of the close agreement of the words with
those recorded by Ross. I repeated Kane's version to
many natives, but none recognized it, except Utuniahsoa, a
man of about sixty, who said that he had heard it in his
youth, but that it had been forgotten for many years.

I had thus settled down in the belief that the natives had
only one song, when one day at Cape York, sitting in my
tent, while two young men, Publa and Igia, were sitting
outside, I heard the latter softly humming a tune. Think-
ing it a white man's air, such as I had heard many natives
humming (" Ta-ra-ra Boom Dee-ay!" "Kitty, Kitty, Ki'
Me O," " A Hot Time," etc.), I asked him to repeat it.
He did so with great alacrity, but on being asked from
what white man he had learned it, he replied, " Kabluna
naga, Inuin kisene " (" White men not, Eskimos rather "),
adding that it was the song of the kopainu (snow-bunting).
342

ESKIMO MUSIC
Kopainu.

< Snow bunting.) From Igia, Cape York.

!l i ii ' Hli ' ' >=,==l

Ai - taktung-mi - u - su - gon, ai - taktung-mi-u - su -gdn.

Tauh-soa te-le - se tauh-soa te-le - se kok-tar-lu - ta kemengma-ti-gon.
Man 'dog

Here was a revelation! Having written down air and
words, I repeated the song, to the great astonishment of
the young men, who expressed the belief that I must be
an Eskimo. I asked the meaning of the words, but with
the exception of the word aitakto, which he said meant " to
open one's mouth," he declared that he did not know,
that the Eskimos did not talk that way now, but that it
was the language of their ancestors. Seeing my interest
in the matter, he presently went through his entire reper-
toire, and thus I obtained the songs of the burgomaster
(glaucous) gull, raven, hare, fox, long tailed jaeger (boats-
wain gull) and gerfalcon. Meantime Publa sat a dumb
spectator, and, on being urged to sing, replied, " Nadluiga "
( I don't know ") : I found out afterward that there are
great differences among individuals in regard to musical
gifts, though there is probably none without a musical ear.
Igia was one of the most songful spirits in the tribe, and,
with his nearly white complexion and unusually regular
features, would make a very appropriate figure as the bard
of a nation. Unfortunately, he verified the common ex-
perience that the cult of the muses is not conducive to
worldly prosperity. A desperate attack of rheumatism
had reduced him to a skeleton; the clothes he wore, a
small broken sledge and a little wooden box containing a
few trifles obtained from the white men, constituted the
sum of his worldly possessions. Like most young bards,
he was perpetually sighing for connubial bliss, but in his
destitute condition had very little chance of attaining his
desire. I am glad to add that I was able, on parting, to
give him enough wood to build the frame of a kayak, while

343

THE WHITE WORLD

the loan of my gun had enabled him to get enough seal-
skins to form the cover, so that he is now at least thirty
percent richer and perhaps need not become the Keats of
his tribe.

When the other Eskimos found that songs were in de-
mand, they, too, came forward with contributions, and
pretty soon I had exhausted the repertoire of the Cape
York colony. At any rate, though I repeatedly went over
the remaining list of animals known to them (bear, walrus,
seal, muskox, ptarmigan, etc.), in each case they replied,
" He has no song." However, having returned to our
station, Fort Magnesia, near Cape Sabine, and there meet-
ing a number of other Eskimos, I found that their musical
treasures were more extensive. Though not all the natives
were able to sing all the songs, they all recognized them.
It was a common diversion for me to stand before a group
of them, sing a song out of my notebook and then ask them
what it was. Not one of them ever failed to name the
animal to which the song was attributed. They told me
repeatedly that this was the first time a white man had
taken notice of their songs, and been able to repeat them.
Awia (or Niwikengwa) wanted to see my tongue, thinking
there must be something peculiar about it to enable me to
sing like them. She asked whether my mother had not
been an Eskimo.

My authorities at Cape York, besides Igia, were Angu-
tibluahsu, a stalwart man of thirty; Igiengwa, his stepson,
a very bright boy of fourteen; Publa's sister, Kuyaping, a
timid girl of fourteen; Atuhsu, a woman of perhaps seventy.
At Fort Magnesia my authorities were Awia (Niwikengwa),
a very intelligent woman of about forty, wife of Akoma-
dingwa; her son, Angudlu, a man of about twenty-five, one
of the bravest and most persevering hunters of the tribe;
her daughter, Akatengwa, a girl of eleven, who promises to
surpass her mother in intelligence, though not in industry;
Kawiengwa, a rather reticent fellow of about eighteen;
Utuniahsoa, a famous bear hunter and traveller of about
sixty, and his daughter, Anarwi, wife of Aseyu, a couple
so intelligent and well mannered that nature actually seems
to have been cruel in endowing them with such brains and
then thrusting them into a corner of the globe where they
have so little use for them.

344

ESKIMO MUSIC

The additional songs I obtained not by direct question-
ing but by accidentally overhearing them and then making
them repeat. I would note down the first phrase, and ask
them to sing again. They would start from the beginning,
and when they had finished the next phrase I would stop
them and write down some four or six additional notes.
To start in the middle was generally beyond their power.
For this reason I was never able to record the long choral
song " Haya ya ya " completely, for having to go back to
the beginning after every four or six or eight notes written
down, they got confused and ran off into protean varia-
tions. This song, for that matter, has already been re-
corded by means of the graphophone.

All the songs, except the choral one, were sung in a
curiously low tone, inaudible thirty feet away. If I sang
Ihem louder than that, they would tell me, " That is not the
way the Eskimo sing." It will be readily understood that
the ordinary musical notation does not give a perfectly life-
like picture of such music. In some cases, indeed, it is
accurate enough; in others, the notes indicate merely the
culminating points of a wave line. This, of course, is true
of nearly all singing unmodified by technical training. The
Eskimo songs were actually easier to imitate and record
than those of some of the Newfoundland sailors on board
the Windward. The " gout du terroir " cannot be con-
veyed by conventional symbols. The airs have here been
divided into bars, where the measure was conspicuous; in
other cases no bars are used, although some kind of meas-
ure was distinctly noticeable.

The results of two years' collection were thirty-eight
songs. It is probable that the number might be at least
doubled under more favorable circumstances. For this
purpose, one would have to reside near one of their villages
continuously for at least two years, and question every indi-
vidual in the tribe, especially the old people. As before
noted, the words of the songs belong mostly to an archaic
language, so that the Eskimo themselves are generally un-
able to understand them. Such meanings as could be made
out are noted beneath the original.

345

THE WHITE WORLD

Kopainu.

(Snow buntiDg.)

From Igyengwa, Cape York.

Tauh - soa ke-me - pa - ti - gon, kok-tar - lu - ta ke - me - pa

Man 'dog

U - g6n

te ye ye te ye ye te ya ye.

Kopainu,

(Snow bunting.)

From Atuhsu, Cape York.

Wi - a wi - a wi - a na- pe-ting ma - eo pin- ga-nin- gi - ta

an - ga - nin - gi - ta so kah-sung- mi wi - a wi - a.

Akpadliahsu.

( Dovekie.)

From Igia, Cape York.

E£^^=Efm^

I - keng-ma - na nau - ya - tu ay - a ye.

glaucous gull

Akpadliahsu,

(Dovekie.)

*t^M=i^^m

From Kawiengwa.

mz&^

I nu - i - to pin-gi-na-ni ta-ku-do-to ki-tong-a - to.
see 'child

346

ESKIMO MUSIC
Akpadlia.

(Young dovekie.)

Awia's version.

kitongang wa - li.
•child

no - ri - mime-sung i - dla.

^^ig^^=j=^s=££a

nauyah-sui-ni - dla.
glaucous gull

Akpadlia,

(Young dovekie )

Anarwl's version.

hay - a.

nau - ya - tu - so ma - fia hay - a.
glaucous gull this

ki ton -gah-pangma ke - e - soh-pangma ang ni-giuh-pangma.
child weep

Akpadlia.

(Young dovekie.) Adingnedlu'a version.

I - mer - ma - na hay - a.
water this

nau - ya - tu - so
glaucous gull

ma - fia hay - a
this

347

THE WHITE WORLD

Tudlua,

( Raven.) From Igia, Cape York.

Ay - e i-me-ka ay- e i-me-ka hi-a hi-a bi-a ya ya ai.

Tudlua,

( Raven.)

From Kawlengwa.

Au - dla ap - ta ak - ta - ni - die - ma ma -
go away also ill -

f=s=SlJgfeB^-

^^^

mangi - die - ma
smelling

1 - a ye 1

ye ya krung.
(croak)

Nauya,

(Glaucous gulk) From Igia, Cape York.

■J ■*-

I - zi - ke ke - ta - rak - tun
feet

zi ke ke - ta -

rak -.tun

auk - pi - lang payung ta ya ya ye.
red

Kihsawiahsu,

(Ger falcon.) From Igia, Cape York.

ESKIMO MUSIC
Tsungn,

(Long tailed Jaeger gull.)

From Igia, Cape York.

Angna sidlang-na ang - na ya ang-na sidlang-na ya
far outdoors

ang-na sidlang-na ang-na ang - na su - na - su - ki - a.

certainly

Slow and rasping.

Akiseng,

(Ptarmigan.)
Quick.

From Utuniahsoa.

To - kang - u - ya

a - pe - ro pa - pe - ro pa - pe - ro.
Toryenya,

(Fox.)

From Igia, Cape York.

ma - ti - ge ming-ne - der ma-ti - ge au-rih-sangwa ya ye

Ukadleng,

(Hare.)

From Igia, Cape York.

■f— r p

=cr~ii — 3=5 —

W fr —U—
A - wang

- a pi

— *-
- si

— U—
- wang

-ap

— £-

- ta

ke-mang- ap - ta

• m

- p=

=jF=

3BI=I

^S=

» ^ j P s —

kuh - 1
'river

—+ P-

- li - ma -

-1-
ne

— V—
i -

-U
la -

li

* f * 1*- p

ma - ne mah - eok - to

5 * P P f ^gZH

5-5^6-

-* — * — I

*

£ »

Z

-* —

-i* — «■■- — £— *— !^—

ne i - kar - ah-soar - na - ga i - kar - pahpu - gon.

349

THE WHITE WORLD
Nanu,

From Utuniahsoa.

kok-pun - ga sa - kok-pun - ga sa - kok - pun - ga.
Nanu,

(Bear.)

From Utuniahsoa.

Ah -sau - ti - ka makwa a - raih-sung - ah - pu.
arm-bones these many

From Igyengwa, Cape York.

Ka-no a-ma-nu-na sin -ga-zu - pi- u ka-no a-ma-nu-na
"how

sin -ga-zu- pi - u ka-no a-ma-nu-na sin-ga-zu- pi - u.

From Atuhsu, Cupe York.

Ay - a ya ya ay - a ya ya ay - a ta-sengwa ay - a ta-sengwa.

now

ESKIMO MUSIC

From Kuyaping, Cape York.

Gle - ku gle - ku gle - ku gle - ku ku - ke yin-ga - yu.

From Akatengwa.

S e I Cr r f -Tf-f-r\

— — * **«* — * — w= — * — *~ j

Na - ni ya na - ni ya na - ni ya na - ni ya na - ni

Pi

t*=i

?if»JJJ = elr f^.tl^J J|

ya na-ni ya n&-ni ya na-ui ya na-ni luhsai-wa-te su-na ya ai.

what?

From Akatengwa.

F4^

Kuy-audlih-soa ke-taudlihsoa adi - tarlu adlo-kena-dlo a- ko - e.

From Akatengwa.

I - ma - zuk - suh - soa i - nung - ning ne - ka -

GreakSpearman (spirit) Eskimos eats

dlih - sa ha 8 - hoe ha 8 - hoe ha H - hoe.

From Akatengwa.

na - nun - ga - die.
351

THE WHITE WORLD

From Utuniahsoa.
Sung by Idlengwa, an old man, many years ago.

Ka-no 7a ya ka-no ya ya ka-no ya ya ka-no ya ya.

From Akatengwa.
Sung by Apidla, son of Amangwa.

Ar-weng ke - po - ka tu - nu-dling ti - kau - dli - ah
whale ". * back

an - ir - nedlung ki - u - ti - dlu - song i - me - mi se - di
pain teeth in water is present

se - di se - di se - di tu - dlu - kan me - kong.
raven feather

From Akatengwa.

Sung by Apidla, son of Amangwa.

ya yah - sa ya ya ya ke- me -mi -sun i - di-blunga

ESKIMO MUSIC
Child cries to mother.

From Anarwi.

From Angudlu.
Brought from Baffin Land some thirty years ago.

i - glu - i - nang ay - o - me- ke - ta ay - a - yau me- ke -

pau-te-ke-ta ka-ya-ke-ta kingu - e-tye kin-gu-se-ke se-ke.
oar skin boat shrimp

Words indistinguishable.

From Angutibluahsu, Cape York.

sgggtesgfesggn

From Atuhsu, Cape York.

THE WHITE WORLD

From Akatengwa, who learned it from Alekasingwa.
1 time, then repeat No. I.

No. 2.

From Akatengwa.
Used in counting— atauseng, mahlu, pingazun, sisamen, tadlimen, etc
12 3 4 5

From Akatengwa.
Words improvised, air probably traditional.

Audlakto te u - mi-ah-so - a...
Away goes the ship

a-wa-ni a-wa-ni
over there

From Akatengwa.
Air probably traditional. Words an imitation of a well-known English
exclamation.

ko - te - mi ko - te - mi.

The value of the letters in the spelling here adopted is
the same as in German, with the following exceptions.
W sounds nearly as in English; s is always surd (as in
miss) but represents a sound made by thrusting the tip
of the tongue down and forward and arching its back
against the hard palate; z is the same sound but sonant
(that is, bearing the same relation to Eskimo s that Eng-
lish z does to English s); k is pronounced farther back
than k; g is like Dutch g; h 'like German ch; r is the Par-

354

ESKIMO MUSIC

isian r grasseye; e is like German a, French e; ng at the
end of words is almost inaudible, being identical with the
French n in on. A very peculiar sound is that of f. In
pronouncing the English r, the tip of the tongue is put
close against the hard palate; for German r the position is
a little more forward. If you fix the anterior edge of the
tongue against the lower incisors, and, with the tongue
quite lax, try to pronounce r (either English or German),
the result will be the Eskimo f. Vowels with dash over
them are long (a e 1 T o u) ; vowels with curve over them
are short (a e £ if o u). Consonants with dash over or
under them (m ii t) are sustained, like Italian double con-
sonants, as in dotto, Giovanni, there being a perceptible
pause between the " onset " and " offset " of the conso-
nant.

It is not to be supposed that these airs resemble the
voices of the animals to which they are attributed. This
is not at all the case. The snow bunting's real song, for
example, is as follows:

The raven, besides his ordinary croak, has a rather
musical call, which, according to the Eskimos, he uses only
in the pairing season:

Krung ! krung !

The second note especially has a remarkably pleasant
metallic ring, dying away gradually like the sound of a
tuning fork. The boy Akeo imitated it to perfection.

The words of the songs, so far as could be learned, are
intended to express the sentiments which the animals may
be supposed to entertain in accordance with the vicissi-
tudes of their lives. Thus, the snow bunting's song, I was
told, is the bird's lament at the snares which the Eskimo
children set for him. The dovekie, in its songs, seems to
be greatly exercised about the nauya or glaucous (burgo-
master) gull, and with very good reason, as that fierce

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creature spends the summer in swallowing dovekies, old
and young.

It is difficult to describe my astonishment on finding
that this little tribe of supposed " savages," often (though
quite erroneously) classed among the lowest of mankind,
living only 770 to 980 miles from the Pole (further north
than any other human beings), actually possess two lan-
guages, one for every-day use, the other, an archaic one,
for the " higher life " of poetry and music! It is altogether
probable that the use of this archaic language is much
more extensive than I was able to ascertain, extending, no
doubt, to their religious incantations, which sometimes last
an hour. Could these be carefully studied, what a mine of
information they might disclose in regard to the mental
life and perhaps also the history of this most interesting
tribe! Apparently the archaic language does not differ so
greatly from the current speech but that it might be readily
interpreted, with the aid, perhaps, of other Eskimo dialects.
For my part I could hardly wish for a pleasanter occupa-
tion.

A famous poet declares his intention to sing the songs
of his native land

"Till thy conquerors themselves, as they rivet thy chains,
Shall pause at the song of their captive and weep."

Whether the Eskimo songs here recorded will have the
physiological effect of stimulating the activity of the
lachrymal glands it would be difficult to say; but no one
can help feeling more kindly toward these remote cousins
of ours on learning that in the most forbidding circum-
stances imaginable, amid their daily struggle to escape the
clutch of famine, the first moment of leisure finds them
bursting into melody. To any one desirous of lightening
their lot, it will be an added pleasure to know that any
increase of leisure which may be procured for them is
likely to result in an increased cultivation of the " higher
life." This sort of hobby would not be very expensive.
The annual cost of many a single household, nay of a
single span of horses, in the United States, is greater than
would suffice to place the entire tribe of 250 human beings
in comfort such as they have never known.

356

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING

CAPTAIN BRADLEY S. OSBON.

Bradley S. Osbon was born in Rye, N. Y.,
Aug., 1828. Has made two voyages to the Arc-
tic Ocean and served in a whaler in extended
trip to Antarctic. Has served in the United
States (under Farragut) Chinese, Argentine,
Mexican navies. Received many decorations
for gallantry.

CAPTAIN BRADLEY S. OSBON

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING

Bv CAPTAIN BRADLEY S. OSBON

• —

^tf U"E had spent nearly a month at Hobart Town, in

\^\g Van Diemen's Land " recruiting" ship," that is,

H taking in water, wood and provisions, and giv-

^B ing the boys a chance to stretch their legs,

d I after being confined on shipboard for nearly

JP six months. Then we weighed anchor for the

^al^^K Antarctic Ocean, which was reported to be

alive with a new species of whale, expecting to

return to port in perhaps less than three months, " chock

a block " with oil and bone, to refit for our homeward

voyage. From master to cook, no one on board had ever

been in these waters, and but little was known of them by

navigators or geographers. Certainly the whalemen were

as ignorant of the ground to be covered as a Fijian is of

an ice trust. But in those days it was the whalemen who

were the explorers, the missionaries, the civilizers of the

Pacific Ocean islands, and the hydrographers of the almost

unknown seas.

The " Junior " was almost a new ship, having been en-
tirely rebuilt before starting on this voyage, and was as
stout as live oak, locust treenails, and copper bolts could
make her. She was provisioned for a four years' cruise,
and was commanded by a splendid navigator and kind-
hearted gentleman; with three excellent mates, four good
boat steerers, a cooper, a carpenter, a blacksmith, and as
sturdy a crew as ever hoisted a topsail or manned a whale-
boat. In fact, if ever any ship with its crew was fitted for
such a cruise it was the " Junior."

It was not long after we left Van Diemen's Land, and
pointed our prow southward, that we fell in with the
proverbial Antarctic weather, and the conflicting currents

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with which those waters abound. The farther south we
penetrated, the worse these conditions became. Baffling
winds prevailed, followed by severe gales, fast and furious.
Sleet, snow, rain and hail came from all quarters of the
compass, and the sun scarcely deigned to show its face
for days at a time. The weather was penetratingly cold,
the sea confused, and we began to realize that no one could
tell just where we were. Dead reckoning was indeed a
broken reed to lean upon. Soundings were of no use, as
we had no charts upon which to plot our position. So far
as worry was concerned, my impression is, those in the
after end of the boat had the worst of it, as we in the fore-
castle were not responsible for the safety of the ship, nor
cognizant of the danger threatening it and our precious
lives. After we had been out from the land a month, per-
haps, we began to see whales, but they were the common,
useless, much-despised " sulphur bottoms," large in size,
and swift in their movements, but paying no attention to
our presence in their cruising grounds. Still, we steered
clear of them, lest at some time we might provoke them to
give us a slap with their ponderous flukes, which they
could wield with a tremendous power, sufficient to crush
our frail craft as if it were an egg-shell. It was tantalizing
to see anything of the species whale, and not be able to
lower away and secure it. Day after day passed with
these big fish tempting us, until at last our captain resolved
to attempt to kill one of the fellows. His boat was pre-
pared by putting in two extra tubs of whale line, making
four tubs in all, and with a picked boats' crew, the main
topsail was laid to the mast, and the boat lowered away.
All hands gathered at the starboard waist rail to see the
sport, for we knew that a "sulphur bottom" was just the
fish to furnish it. There was no trouble in approaching the
monster, which was at least one hundred and twenty-five
feet long and he lay almost motionless on the surface of the
water.

The boat steerer stood up, and just as the boat got within
three or four fathoms of the whale, he drove both irons
chock-home in the fish. The whale quivered, and then giving
a start, threw up his flukes and took a header for the bottom
— if there was any bottom of the ocean at that spot. We had

362

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING

peaked our oars and had faced forward to grab the line
and check him. That line went out quicker than a wink.
It was buz-z-z-z-z around the logger head which was smok-
ing like a tar pot on fire, and before we could realize what
had happened, the four tubs of whale line, 600 fathoms, or
3600 feet, had disappeared forever. The " old man " stood
paralyzed at the outgo, and at last, recovering himself,
said: " Damn the whale, go ahead." I have often won-
dered if Farragut did not hear of that saying and sub-
stitute the word " torpedo " for whale in his memorable
utterance at Mobile Bay. The old man grieved over the
loss of that whale line, and out of spite one day, we lowered
a boat and stole a calf whale from its mother's side, killed
and hoisted it bodily on board ship. We tried it out, the
net products being five barrels of sulphur bottom whale
oil, which we burned in our lamps, and a nice mess of whale
meat.

That ended our whaling in the Antarctic, but not our
miseries. For nearly four months we battled with storm,
field-floe and berg ice, having many narrow escapes, and
when we finally emerged from the frigidity, mingled with
the fogs, which caused much suffering, it was unanimously
resolved that we never would spend another summer in the
Antarctic Ocean.

We had spent a summer in the Antarctic, and were full
of yarns to spin to our fleet-mates whom we had met on
our passage north, over the sperm whale grounds of the
Pacific Ocean and among the groups of islands which dot
its chart, little dreaming that we were actually pointing
our prow for the Arctic Ocean; but it was to come to pass.
We fell in with a ship one day, the crew of which brought
us the news of the discovery of the celebrated bowhead
whale of the 40's. No sooner had we learned the details
than we spread sail to reach the Bering Sea gates to the
North Pole, and enter the domains of the new whale, said
to " stow down " anywhere from three hundred to five hun-
dred barrels. Night and day we carried sail like an India-
man, to reach the goal, and, with a speedy ship, we turned
up at the Fox Islands in May.

As soon as the ice permitted, we entered the precincts
where we were to realize our hopes for a " full ship " of oil

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and bone. The whales were of very large size ; one that we
captured stewing down three hundred and sixty-five bar-
rels, and furnishing over three thousand pounds of bone.
We captured over three thousand barrels of oil with its
proportion of whalebone, and had all sorts of experiences
with Eskimo, bears, seals, fishes and birds, on water and
on land. We had fine weather, ran no special risks, and
enjoyed ourselves heartily; but all the
same, I should not select that region
for a steady summer resort.

I was a party to a bathing adven-
ture, the recital of which may be inter-
esting. We had lowered all four
boats in pursuit of three whales which
were circulating near the ship. My
boat inopportunely got in the way of a
bull whale and he " spanked " the boat
into smithereens with his huge tail.
Tom Cole and myself, each with an
oar in hand, went over the port gun-
whale into the sea, while the rest of the
crew went off on the other side, and,
fortunately, were quickly rescued by
the other boats. Poor Tom and I
were within the charmed circle, made
by the three whales, for they were
swimming around in a ring, into which
not one of the boats dared to go, lest
it should be " spanked." We were
both good swimmers; besides we had
two oars to support us, so we had
no fear of drowning. The crews of
the three boats were far more exer-
cised for our safety than we were.
We supposed the whales would soon
get tired of their ring work and move
off, or have a fight, or do something
to release us from our watery prison —
but no, they kept it up, never mind-
'there she blows" ing us a bit.

364

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING

We were the recipients of many words of encouragement
from our shipmates, who stood ready to rescue us as soon
as the whales gave them an opportunity. Finally, we both
felt that some chewing tobacco would be a comfort, and
we hailed the outsiders for a supply; in a minute the air
was full of bits of the weed in plug form, of which we
secured several samples. As Tom was a colored boy with
curly hair, I was obliged to carry our supply tied up in
my flowing locks to keep it out of the wet.

After our lunch of tobacco, we quietly rested on our
oars. When we had been nearly three hours in the water,
the two bull whales resolved to have a " scrap," and as they
broke the circle, the second mate's boat rushed in, picked
us up, and started with us for the ship. We were com-
fortable while in the water, but half-frozen when we were
in the boat. After a good rubbing down, a drink of hot
brandy, and a night's sleep, Tom and I were none the
worse for our bath in the Arctic Ocean.

The following year found me again in the Arctic Ocean
on board of the brig " Swallow," in the capacity of super-
cargo and ice pilot. I subsequently learned that this vessel
bore a history, and from all I could ascertain, she had been
an opium smuggler, and it was vaguely hinted that she
was no better than a pirate, should opportunity present
itself to the captain. All the same, she was a smart,
swift craft, carrying a crew of about fifty men, and mount-
ing eight guns in broadside, and a pivot gun amidship.
She was well handled, and was a match for any vessel of
her tons and guns. We had only one little " event " on the
way north, when the vessel was enriched with some $20,000
in Mexican silver dollars, four or five hundred pounds of
opium, and a good many thousand Manila cigars. If there
are any Chinamen living who participated in this event I
will leave them to tell the story.

However, without any extraordinary happenings, the
" Swallow " entered the Arctic Ocean early in June, and
endeavored, as far as possible, to keep out of sight of the
whalemen, who were now flocking to these waters; and as
they were busy, they took no pains to go in quest of us.
My previous visit had brought me in touch with some of
the natives, and it was not long before they understood

365

THE WHITE WORLD

the " Swallow " was not in those waters to catch whales,
but to buy furs and walrus ivory, a trade that was con-
trolled and watched over by Russian authorities, who at
times had one or two cruisers in those waters, to prevent
poachers and traders from carrying off these valuable goods.
We made considerable headway in our trading, but in the
hope of getting a valuable lot of furs that we had sent
some natives to secure, we held on too long and were
nipped by the ice, and despite all our efforts to get out, we
were obliged to spend the winter in the Arctic.

After the captain found that we were destined to pass
several months in our icy house, he seemed to lose all his
snap, and from the closest mouthed man of all on board,
to me especially, he became as a child in my hands, a"nd
in my capacity as ice pilot, I virtually took command of
the vessel. After sending down the light spars and lower-
ing the top masts, I directed nearly all the provisions to be
taken on shore and safely stored, so that in the event of the
vessel being crushed by ice, we might have food until the
whaling fleet came early next summer.

Fortunately, our anchorage was near the spot where the
whaleship " Richmond," of Cold Spring, New York, had
been wrecked the year before, so that her timbers gave us
ample firewood for the winter. We lived a quiet, unevent-
ful life during this term of our imprisonment, with about
a dozen natives in our company. Occasionally we had
fresh bear meat, some fish, and upon the whole fared well.

It was toward the end of May that with the spars all
" a taunto," the remainder of the provisions on board, and
a valuable lot of furs and several tons of walrus tusks in
the hold, we bade farewell to our dusky friends, and headed
the little brig to the southward.

We were very fortunate in getting through the ice with-
out many delays and were speeding south with a favoring
breeze, when the lookout sang out " Sail Ho! " which was
a rarity that brought every one to the deck.

It was not long before we made her out to be a bark-
rigged Russian cruiser, a trifle larger in tonnage than the
brig. As soon as he discovered us, he clapped on all
drawing canvas and stood for us. We were soon given to
understand by our captain that the Russian could not have

366

PERILS OF POLAR WHALING

our cargo without a fight, and the magazine was opened
and guns were double shotted. Cutlasses and pistols were
served out, and everything gotten ready for trouble.

Whether our captain feared the Russian could overpower
him or not, I never knew, but all at once the orders were
given to set the studding sails, and as the brig paid off to

BOATING AMID ICE FLOES

a quartering wind, up went the kites, and she soon was
bowling off ii knots. The cruiser opened fire on us with
bow guns but the shot fell wide of us. We shifted one of
our broadside guns aft, and returned the fire, but with as
little effect as had that of our pursuer.

The Russian spread every available stitch of canvas but
we were dropping him rapidly astern. The race continued
on the same course until about 8 o'clock that night, when
we took in all light sails and hauled the brig up to the wind,
standing to the westward, until about daylight, when we
shaped our course to pass out behind the islands and into
neutral waters.

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THE WHITE WORLD

We saw no more of the Russian, although we kept up a
vigilant watch for him, believing that he would attempt to
capture us wherever he found us. A few weeks after
leaving our winter quarters in the Arctic, we arrived at
Honolulu, where I was paid off and left the " Swallow."

She sailed from there for Hongkong, which was her
trading headquarters, but no tidings were ever received
from her. She probably was lost on some uncharted rock,
or went down in a storm. With her ended my polar
voyages, but the memory of them is ever cherished as the
most valued of a long sea life — one full of adventures and
full of pleasures.

AMERICA'S

FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

ALBERT WHITE VORSE.

Albert White Vorse was born in Littleton,
Mass., Aug., 1866. In the summer of 1892 Mr.
Vorse accompanied the Peary Relief Expedi-
tion to Greenland, as correspondent of the press.
Is the writer of many short stories, dealing with
the Arctic regions. Editor, critic and literary
adviser.

ALBERT WHITE VORSE

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

Bv ALBERT WHITE VORSE

Y THE present generation of grandfath-
ers the first important exploring expe-
dition sent forth by the United States is
clearly remembered. In their prime it
was a public scandal, and to every loyal
American, the great Wilkes-Ross con-
troversy which followed it, was a pri-
vate issue. Hints of the controversy have descended to
sons and grandsons; so also have records setting forth the
fine achievements of the expedition; but the story of its
organization is stowed away in the obscure memory cells
of men far beyond their youth, and buried in the dusk of
libraries. For the sake of the illustration it affords of
the bearing of petty jealousies upon great enterprises, this
story is perhaps worthy to be pieced together.

The expedition was organized in the days when there
was still the fascination of mystery about ocean voyages.
The maps of continents still showed blank spaces. The
chart of the South Sea was not dotted with islands. Mer-
chant ships sailed under instructions, not only to trade in
known lands, but also to discover new ones. Governments
still dispatched fleets to rove about the ocean, merely to
satisfy the white man's curiosity concerning the world
upon which he lived. This was little more than half a
century ago. One of the objects of the United States Ex-
ploring Expedition which sailed in 1838, was to determine
accurately the longitude of Rio de Janeiro.

With the enthusiasm of discovery, the citizens of the
United States were highly charged. Following in the
course of Captain Edmund Fanning — he of " Fanning' s
Voyages," a popular book in the time when narratives of
sea travel were sought out by other readers than school

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boys — a fleet of vessels from Nantucket, New Bedford,
New York, and other American seaports, cruised to the
whaling grounds south of Cape Horn, or took seals at
Massafuero Island, carried the furs to China, bartered for
China goods, and brought home cargoes that made owners
rub their hands with pleasure. Fifty thousand dollars was
not an uncommon profit for such a voyage, and in those
days fifty thousand dollars was a good, sound bit of capital.

The South Sea industry prospered. In the second de-
cade of this century, 132,000 tons of shipping and 10,000
men were occupied in this profitable trade. Nor was the
object of these seamen altogether commercial. The spirit
of exploration, pure and simple, was held in higher esteem
than it is to-day. Captain Fanning could urge his fellow-
citizens to attempt that " laudable enterprise " the dis-
covery of the South Pole, so that " other nations might
not snatch the credit and honor away from our own,"
without fear of reading in his newspaper, the question,
" What is the discovery of the South Pole worth? "

Voyages to the ice-fields and among the unknown rocks
of the Antarctic were dangerous, particularly in ships that
to-day would be deemed hardly fit for the deep seas.
Many of the craft of the sealers displaced but forty or fifty
tons. Several such vessels came to grief upon strange
reefs, and in the first decade of the century there arose a
sentiment that the United States ought to look to the
interests of its southern trade. It was almost twenty years
before the South Sea merchants, influential as they were,
could bring Congress to take this view of the matter, but
at length, in 1828, the General Assembly of New York, the
mayor and prominent citizens of Charleston, South Caro-
lina, the governor and prominent citizens of North Caro-
lina, the House of Delegates of Maryland, and many pri-
vate persons sent to Washington memorials, praying for
a small expedition that should chart the sealing and whal-
ing regions of the South, make known new opportunities
for trade, discover new lands, and add to the glory of the
United States.

Congress responded at once; not by sending out the
expedition, but by asking naval authorities whether there
really was need for it. Not until May 14, 1836, did it pass
the bill, instructing the President to dispatch a sloop-of-

374

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

war and such other vessels as he might deem needful,
appropriating $150,000 for expenses, and authorizing the
Executive to make use of an equivalent amount, in addition,
drawn from means under the control of the Navy Depart-
ment. The intention was that this expedition should weigh
anchor in the fall; but, unfortunately for this plan, the com-
mand was offered Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones, and
his acceptance involved a series of the most extraordinary
contentions and delays that ever marred the success of a
scientific enterprise.

For two years the preparation of the ships hitched
along, while all concerned in equipping them wrangled,
and the public laughed. Only the merest outline of the
matter can be given here, but whosoever desires to spend
an entertaining day over interesting literature, is recom-
mended to the letters that appeared in 1837 and 1838 in
the " New York Courier," the " Army and Navy Chronicle
and Scientific Repository," and particularly in a certain
report, No. 147, among the executive documents of the
Twenty-fifth Congress. This document consists mainly of
letters. There were giant letter-writers in those days, and
naval officers aired their grievances in public with an
elaborateness of diction as well as a freedom of speech that
is surprising to the reader in this epoch of reserve.

Captain ap Catesby Jones was a particularly fine navi-
gator of the pen. His letters are full of flowing periods.
They are also full of italics. In his time, italics were not
quite out of fashion, and his underscoring may have ap-
peared natural; nowadays his letters seem fairly to
scream. Captain Jones was apparently a fine type of the
old time sea-dog; an honest, peppery, narrow, headstrong
man, with the dignity of the United States Navy, and of
the office of post-captain therein heavy upon him; and to
his sense of the consideration due to his rank are to be
attributed many of the delays in the equipment.

The first delay arose from his conception of the scope
of the expedition, which was grander than the conception
of Congress. Instead of a sloop-of-war, a brig, and a
schooner, he requested a second-class frigate, two barques
or brigs, a store-ship and a schooner. The administration
fell in with his plans, but the vessels were not at hand;

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THE WHITE WORLD

they would have to be built. Nor was the appropriation
large enough to provide a fleet that would cost, in a three
years' voyage, more than a million dollars. Congress had
adjourned. Additional funds could not be procured until
it should meet the next year.

The Secretary of the Navy, however, decided to take
chances that an ex post facto appropriation would be made,
and authorized Captain Jones to go ahead upon the new
plan. Organization began briskly. The " Macedonian,"
the third frigate of that name, was upon the stocks, almost
finished. Work on her was hastened. A store-ship also
was on the stocks, and the construction of the other vessels
was ordered. The Secretary of the Navy wrote to colleges
and scientific institutions, requesting advice as to the num-
ber and character of observers that would be desirable.
Lieutenant Charles Wilkes was sent abroad to buy scien-
tific instruments. Captain Jones set to work recruiting his
six hundred and three men. At this epoch the navy was
sending out two other fleets, and seamen were hard to
find; but Captain Jones promised that if he should be per-
mitted to enlist crews himself, he would soon fill out the
complement, and, though this was irregular, the captain
was allowed to have his own way. President Jackson had
expressed particular interest in the enterprise, and the
Secretary of the Navy was not disposed to strain at matters
of form, if only the equipment could be pushed.

The Secretary of the Navy was Hon. Mahlon Dickerson
of New Jersey. His portrait in the National Gallery is
one of those over which the reader pauses for a second
glance. The forehead and eyes suggest a certain power
of discrimination; the compressed mouth shows self-con-
trol, and a curl of the lips indicates a dry sense of humor.
The Hon. Mahlon Dickerson must have needed all these
qualities. For not alone did he have to deal with the
endless matters that legitimately arose in connection with
the equipment — offers (at government prices) of supplies
from voters who had supported the Democratic party, and
looked for recognition; applications for billets with the
scientific staff, including a few from the supporters of Mr.
Shegogue, who desired to be appointed official portrait
painter and draftsman to the expedition; protests from

376

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

Captain Fanning and other seafaring men that Captain
Jones's barques were being constructed upon absurd
models — not only did he have these letters to answer, but
he had also to deal with the humors of the commander of
the expedition.

The first of these humors was a source of some delay,
and a great deal of public gossip. It was developed in the
last month of 1836, when the vessels had been launched,
and were waiting for their complement — enlistment, alas,
was not proceeding as rapidly as Captain Jones had hoped.
The officers were yet to be named. From the beginning,
before Captain Jones himself had been put in command,
Mr. Dickerson had intended that Lieutenant Alexander
Slidell, the well-known author of the " Life of Decatur "
and of other works, should have a vessel, and should write
the history of the enterprise; and that Lieutenant Charles
Wilkes, who had made excellent astronomical observa-
tions, should have another vessel. Slidell afterwards
changed his name to Mackenzie, and to-day is better known
as the commander of the Somers during the mutiny than as
a writer. Mr. Dickerson had consulted these officers upon
the subject, and of course rumors of his intention had got
abroad; and perhaps this is a good place to note that every
word of news concerning this expedition did get abroad.

The rumor came to the ears of Captain Jones, and ap-
parently excited him greatly, for his letters came thick and
fast. He began with criticisms of Slidell and Wilkes, as
"inferior officers," but presently betrayed his inner thought.
Slidell had been consulted with regard to the plans of the
expedition " zvhilc all was silence," exclaimed Captain Jones,
" towards me. What," he went on to ask, " What ought to
have been my mortification to find myself called as a com-
mander, to carry into effect the plans or views of my
juniors, who are to hold conspicuous stations nominally under
me, who if they are mortal men will surely view me as a
rival. One of them is to be historian by authority, to give
his own version of my acts and doings! If belles-lettres
attainments are paramount to all other qualifications in Com-
manders for the Exploring Expedition, why not draw on the
nation's best resources in that line? Why pass by Irving,
Cooper, Paulding? "

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Mr. Dickerson contented himself with pointing out that
none of these gentlemen had asked for the job. Mean-
while, Lieutenant Slidell was protesting that the affair
put him in a very mortifying position, for he had told
all of his friends that he was sure of an appointment. He
asked for the charges against him, and the Secretary of
the Navy gave him several of Captain Jones's letters, with
permission to publish them in the public press, and to
reply to them. The affair caused a great stir. Slidell's
many friends supported him eagerly. Washington Irving
wrote to the President, urging that his gifted young ac-
quaintance should be appointed. The President himself
officially recommended Wilkes and Slidell for commands.
In spite of all the opposition, Captain Jones had his way.
The Secretary of the Navy, seeing that no harmony could
exist between the commander and these subordinates, de-
clined to appoint Wilkes and Slidell, and, as he said rather
pettishly, " from this time forth ceased to look out for
officers of scientific attainments for the expedition."

This little scandal had the serious effect of making
naval officers shy of the expedition, and in the succeeding
spring occurred a second public squabble which enhanced
their shyness. The parties to this affair were Captain
Jones and Lieutenant Tattnall, an officer who had been
expressly chosen by the captain to command the barque
" Pioneer."

In January, 1837, Lieutenant Tattnall took his vessel to
Mexico for a trial cruise. When he returned, on March 30,
Captain Jones was paying a visit to another vessel, and
during the absence of his superior, the commander of the
" Pioneer " let out sad stories of his craft. She pitched in
a seaway — even in a tide-up — so violently as to " endanger
her masts," and so to deaden her way as to cause her
to drift bodily to leeward." In those eighty days she
had pitched out of her three jib-booms, a foretopgallant-
mast, and a mizzentopmast. Moreover, Lieutenant Tatt-
nall was not confident that in a double-reefed topsail
breeze she could claw off a lee shore.

This news greeted Captain Jones at the landing. " Great
God," exclaimed an excited relative, " What an account
they give of the ' Pioneer! ' "

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AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

It must have hurt the captain sorely, for the barques
had been constructed under his own supervision and ac-
cording to his own idea, amid impertinent criticisms from
the merchant marine. He was not a man tamely to admit
that his vessel could be clumsy. He called for Lieutenant
Tattnall's official report, which confirmed the rumors; but
instead of accepting- it, he grimly hustled his brood of
ducklings to sea. He kept them there eight days, during
which time the weather was pleasant, and returned with
the report that the vessels were good vessels, and that
he had never seen a craft better able to claw off a lee
shore than the " Pioneer." He caused this report to be
published in the papers. Before he went to sea, he had
talked over the matter with the Rev. Walter Colton, whom
he had recommended for appointment as chaplain of the
expedition. The interview occurred in a public place, and
Lieutenant Tattnall heard of it. Tattnall was a sensitive
man, and, as well as Captain Jones, had noble phrases
at his command. He wrote to his commander as follows:

" I learn now, with astonishment and mortification, that
you have openly expressed opinions in regard to the ' Pio-
neer ' at direct variance with mine, in respect to facts, so
much indeed as to make it hazardous to my reputation
to retain the command of a vessel which you deem so
highly as to have openly declared that you would sooner
be in her in a lee shore than in almost any vessel you
know, and of which my opinion is, that she could not in a
trifling head sea, claw off a lee shore in a double-reefed
topsail breeze. You, and the country, likewise, would of
course expect service to be performed by me, which, if
my opinion prove correct, I could not perform.

" That this experimental cruise was made in conse-
quence of opinions expressed by me is universally known
to the navy, as it is also to every citizen in this borough.
Why, sir (I respectfully, but in a mortified spirit, ask you),
why, if your judgment had detected and condemned the
policy of mine, was it thought necessary to blazon it
through the land, so as to make my position, already
painful, more so?

" I am thus rebuked through the public prints, while at
the same time I am deprived of the privilege (as this is

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a professional matter) of reiterating and vindicating my
opinions. That any intention existed of wounding my
feelings by this publication, I most perfectly disbelieve,
but I cannot help thinking that at least a thoughtlessness
and indifference has been shown by it towards me and my
position, which is humiliating.

" On all sides, surprise is expressed to me, both by
officers and citizens, that such a publication should have
been made, and there seems to be but one opinion (as far
as I can learn) of the dilemma in which it places me, and
the duty which it enjoins upon me.

" I learn also, with great regret, that, previous to your
experimental cruise, at the public table of a hotel of this
city, on an occasion when you were taking a glass of wine
with Chaplain Colton, that clergyman had the impertinence
and little self-respect to remark of me to you, that I was
'hyp'd in regard to my vessel, and that instead of rebuk-
ing him, you replied to this effect; ' Yes, he is very much
prejudiced.' "

So Lieutenant Tattnall resigned. Everyone in the navy,
and indeed most persons out of it, knew the details of
this affair; and the difficulty of obtaining officers increased.
Before the end of 1837, twenty-three officers of various
ranks — among them David P. Porter, passed midship-
man— had declined to go with the expedition. The gos-
sip was increased when, instead of taking his vessels to
the South, Captain Jones ordered them back upon the
stocks, for alteration. At this period the delays of the
enterprise were still matters of public disapproval; they
had not reached the humorous stage. The people ex-
pected the expedition to get under way at any time.

Nevertheless, during the summer of 1837 but little was
accomplished. The eighteen members of the scientific
corps were put on salaries and the seamen were recruited.
A board of commodores examined the vessels, and re-
ported that with alterations they would do, but recom-
mended that the complement should be reduced. At this,
however, Captain Jones protested, and again had his own
way. He discovered that the schooner was unfit for the
work, and upon authorization from Mr. Dickerson, bought
another for $8000, and spent as much more in fitting her up.

3&>

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

When the ships were reported ready for sea, a new
cause of delay arose. The cooking galleys which had
been purchased at Captain Jones's request turned out
failures. He demanded new galleys that would burn an-
thracite coal, and more than a month passed before these
were finished.

At last, on September 26, Mr. Dickerson ordered Cap-
tain Jones to sail as soon as he was ready. On October
12, he did sail — to New York, where supplies were to be
taken aboard. The scientific corps reported to Captain
Jones for consultation about instruments, furniture, etc.,
and the necessary stowage room for them. On November
10, new sailing orders were given to Captain Jones, but
the vessels still needed repairs. During this new period
of inaction, discontent arose among the crews. For many
of the men, the time of enlistment had expired; and they
were not eager to rejoin. Captain Jones recommended
that they should be transferred to the regular service,
whereby each man who should reenlist would receive a
bounty of fifty dollars. This plan filled out the comple-
ment; but one night a hundred and fifty men, who were
on shore leave, deserted, and that caused another delay.

It was a time of discouragement for Captain Jones.
Moreover, he was at odds with everyone. The delay and
the wrangling had tried the tempers of all concerned.
Everyone was ready to take offense, and Captain Jones, who
was not only harassed but also actually ill with an affection
of the lungs, was ready to give up the whole enterprise.
He insinuated — at least a letter of his was interpreted as
an insinuation — that Lieutenant Wilkes was keeping back
from the expedition some of the instruments he had
bought. He wrangled again with the Secretary of the
Navy. Even the Rev. Walter Colton, for whose appoint-
ment Jones himself had asked, proved false. He was ready
to take the position of historiographer. Captain Jones
protested. " It is true," he wrote, " that the varied scenes
of wild nature which may fall under our observation would
be the finest sources for the vivid imagination of a Scott,
a Byron, an Irving or a Cooper, from which to draw
sketches or tales of romance for the gay and light reader,
but of little value to the philosopher or the naturalist.

381

THE WHITE WORLD

The scientific corps would never submit to having their
work sent to the world in the fancy dress of romance,
or as light lore adapted only to the center-table or draw-
ing-room lounge." But the protest was in vain. The ap-
pointment of the Rev. Walter Colton as historiographer
was confirmed.

A routine order from Mr. Dickerson, to the effect that
the commander of the expedition should summon two or
more of his subordinates to " certify and before his face
to seal up and then deliver into his hands all journals,
reports, records, collections, etc., made by those under
his command," exhausted the patience of Captain Jones.

" Since by the paragraphs alluded to," he wrote, " the
Secretary of the Navy not only questions my honor, but
impugns my honesty, only two courses are left; to abandon
all pretense of self-respect or to resign."

He did resign, pleading ill health. Four other post-cap-
tains refused the command. The existence of the expedi-
tion was in peril. The country had upon its hands five
ships, termed in the public press " old waddlers." They
were imperfectly equipped, but the scientific corps, despite
the consultation with Captain Jones, had provided for so
many instruments that room for them aboard could not
be found. It was the time when specie payments had
been suspended, and money was hard to get. Claims of
all kinds were coming to the Secretary of the Navy. Cer-
tain members of the scientific corps were complaining
because their salaries did not run back to the dates of
their appointments. The Rev. Walter Colton, too, re-
quested back pay, because his preparation for the expedi-
tion had prevented the publication of his little work on
the Lights and Shadows of Italy, for which he was to
have received a thousand dollars.

The wits made fun of the enterprise in the papers, and
a hard-headed member of the House of Representatives
offered a resolution that the expedition should be aban-
doned, that a shed should be erected in the yard of the
Secretary of the Navy, and that the members of the scien-
tific corps should be quartered therein, and set to catch-
ing flies.

In this emergency, however, when the expedition seemed

AMERICA'S FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

lost, national pride was aroused, and the energy and self-
abnegation of the naval officers, and the rapidity with
which they pulled order out of this chaos, cannot suffi-
ciently be admired. Lieutenant Wilkes was willing to
undertake the command, and (so strong was the general
feeling that for the national honor the expedition must
not be allowed to fail) his superior officer, Lieutenant
Hudson, consented to serve under him as commander of
a vessel. The " old waddlers " were discarded, and a new
fleet was formed of craft already in commission — the
sloops-of-war " Vincennes " and " Porpoise," the brig
" Peacock," and at the last moment, two pilot-boats pur-
chased by the government in New York — the " Flying-
Fish " and the "Sea-Gull." The scientific staff was cut
down to six, and the extra instruments were put ashore.
In the latter part of July, 1838, the President did credit
to the expedition by visiting Wilkes on board the " Vin-
cennes." On the 17th of August the ships sailed away.

But the troubles of this unlucky enterprise were not
yet over. Wilkes, who had been modest enough during
the controversy over the command of the vessels, turned
haughty at sea. Moreover, there was an unruly element
in his crew. Friction between himself and his officers be-
gan early in the voyage, and continued to the end; and
when the expedition was over, the commander was brought
to court-martial under as entertaining a series of charges
as ever appeared in a government document One of the
charges set forth that the commander assumed a dignity
to which he was not entitled.

" He mounted the blue broad pennant on the ' Vin-
cennes,' " says the charge, " after the manner of a captain
commanding a squadron. He wore a coat with four but-
tons on each cuff, four buttons down each pocket fold,
four buttons under each pocket flap." He also assumed
two epaulets, instead of one, and thus arrogated to him-
self the insignia of captain. Another charge was oppres-
sion of his officers. He had refused to promote Assist-
ant-surgeon Charles F. B. Gillou to the rank and pay
of surgeon. At Honolulu, Gillou reminded him " in re-
spectful terms " that he had joined the expedition under
the expectation of an increase of salary, whereupon, in

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THE WHITE WORLD

the words of the charge, " the said Lieutenant Charles
Wilkes did tell the said Assistant-surgeon Gillou, in a
loud and angry tone, ' I deny the fact, I deny the fact, sir,
positively. I never said any such thing,' at the same time
rising from his chair and advancing toward the said Assist-
ant-surgeon Gillou, shaking at him his finger and hand
in an insulting manner; — the said Lieutenant Charles
Wilkes, having approached the said Assistant-surgeon
Gillou, and continuing his violent gesticulation, the said
Lieutenant Charles Wilkes exclaimed in a threatening
tone, 'Leave the presence, sir! Leave the presence!'"
The assistant-surgeon left the presence, and Wilkes
climbed to an upper piazza and shouted to his officer,
ordering him to return to his ship, at the same time
" threatening him with his finger in this public place in
a foreign land." To this indignity Wilkes added the exas-
peration of a refusal to forward to the Secretary of the
Navy, Assistant-surgeon Gillou's report of the interview.

Another charge was cruelty to the natives in the Pacific
seas. On the Island of Malolo the inhabitants had killed
a certain Lieutenant Underwood, and Wilkes had retali-
ated by storming the principal town. The charge cites
the fact that natives were put to death, and goes on to
state that " after a large deputation from the reduced in-
habitants of the aforesaid Island of Malolo had, crouching
down before the said Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, crawled
upon their elbows and knees toward his feet, and groaned
forth their repentant submission, grappling up the earth
and throwing it on their heads and shoulders, the afore-
said Lieutenant Charles Wilkes did order them to bring
or drive down their hogs to supply the brig " Porpoise,"
and to carry water to fill the tanks of said vessel, and to
yield up to him arms and other property, thereby leaving
them, with their wives and children, exposed to the mur-
derous hate and anthropophagian appetites of their
cannibal neighbors."

Wilkes replied to the charge of cruelty by pointing out
that if he were to be tried at all for shooting natives, he
must be tried for murder; he could not be accused of a
lesser crime. The court-martial reprimanded him, how-
ever, for cruelty to his men; he had caused twenty-five of

384

AMERICAS FIRST POLAR EXPEDITION

them to be given twenty-four lashes apiece, during the
three years.

So the expedition ended as it had begun — in a public
scandal. Its bright deeds have outlived most of the scan-
dal. It restrained, somewhat, the anthrophagian tendency
in the South Seas, at least in so far as that tendency was
directed toward the American missionary, and in those
days the risk of being eaten incurred by missionaries in
that region was something more than a comic-paper joke.
It accomplished valuable scientific works, the results of
which were finally published by the Government, the
draftsmen brought home the South Seas races, in a series
of plates, which are to-day interesting, if somewhat quaint.
The collections of the horticulturist and the botanist fur-
nished materials for a work by Asa Grey. The philologist
produced a book on Ethnography. The conchologist wrote
on Zoophytes. The charts of the hydrographers are, even
now, the standards for many harbors in the Pacific. But on
their Antarctic charts, running around the Antarctic circle,
between the ninetieth and the one hundred and sixty-fifth
degrees of east longitude, there is a wavy line called Wilkes
Land. It is laid down upon the maps of all nations, but
upon the official charts of one nation — England — it appears
only by courtesy, and recent addresses upon Antarctic
discovery, delivered by the most eminent English geo-
graphers, include statements to the effect that Wilkes's
reports of an Antarctic continent need to be verified. It is
hardly necessary to present here the reasons for this incredu-
lity. They are set forth in Wilkes's narrative of the ex-
pedition in five volumes. The main contention of these
geographers is that the commander of the English expedi-
tion which followed Wilkes into the Antarctic regions,
Captain James Clarke Ross, sailed over a point where
Wilkes had indicated land upon his chart. At that point
no land was visible; what proof is there, ask the geog-
raphers, that the rest of the chart is reliable? There is,
moreover, something beside the absence of that particular
coast to serve as a pretext for doubt. One of the
charges in the court-martial of Wilkes — a charge entitled
" Scandalous Conduct Tending to the Destruction of Good
Morals " — cited that " the said Lieutenant Charles Wilkes

3«5

THE WHITE WORLD

in his report Xo. 63 to the Secretary of the Navy, dated
March II, 1840, did utter a deliberate and wilful falsehood
in the following words, to-wit: 'On the morning of the
nineteenth of January, we saw land to the southward and
eastward,' * * * well knowing that land to the southward
and eastward was not seen on that date as asserted by him."
There was brought forth plenty of evidence to prove,
at least to the satisfaction of Americans, that land was
seen by the expedition, and yet, in view of the careless-
ness of Wilkes in laying down upon a chart territory which,
as he confesses, he had not actually perceived, and in
view of conflicting statements concerning this land pre-
sented by his own officers, and once more in view of the
ludicrous spectacle that the whole expedition must have
presented to the world, can it be denied that anyone who
desired to find an excuse for treating the enterprise lightly
would not have far to look?

386

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