THROUGH ICE AND SNOW
In the Arctic regions, far beyond the reach of railways, and where
even the sea is frozen during many months of the year, we find
strange conveyances and means of travel, for in those desolate
lands there are no roads. Even if a track is made it may, within a
few hours, be covered with drifting snow and entirely lost.
Horses and oxen cannot live in the bitter climate of the north,
so carriages, or any other wheeled conveyances, are useless.
Travellers, therefore, must needs adapt themselves to the
conditions of weather and country, and either invent new means of
locomotion or else borrow ideas from the original inhabitants of
those bleak, snow-clad lands.
The first Arctic explorers described their experiences in the Polar
regions, and life among the Esquimaux has changed very little since
those pioneer days when Frobisher and Sir Humphrey Gilbert set sail
in search of a new route to India and the East.
"They are a very strong people and warlike," the historian of
Frobisher's expedition wrote in 1577. "They go in coats made from
the skins of beasts. They travel in sledges drawn by dogs, and move
from place to place in quest of food."
The dogs seen then by the adventurous Englishmen and still used by
the natives are sturdy, rough-haired animals, rather like large
shaggy collies in appearance. They are very strong and hardy, and
are able to drag heavy loads for long distances. Esquimaux sledges
were often nearly twelve feet long and had runners made of the
jawbones of whales or of pieces of wood strongly lashed together.
[Illustration: ICE-BOAT.]
Arctic travellers soon found that if they wished to journey far
into the Polar regions they must needs adopt native customs, so
they bought sledges and either dragged them themselves or hired
guides and teams of dogs. It is no easy matter to drive one of
these Esquimaux sledges, for the dogs are harnessed in single file
and are only controlled by the voice of the driver or by the long
flexible whip which he carries. The speed at which a sledge can be
drawn depends very much on the condition of the snow, but if it is
hard and smooth forty or fifty miles can be covered in a single day.
[Illustration: REINDEER AND SLEDGE.]
After Sir John Franklin's expedition had disappeared in the
unknown Arctic world, many parties set out in search of him. The
leader of one of these, Captain Austin, tried a new means of
progression, and on one occasion attached sails and large kites to
his sledges. This experiment seems to have met with some success,
but we do not hear of it being attempted again, although ice-boats
are sailed as an amusement during the winter months on the frozen
lakes and rivers of Canada and the United States. Snow-shoes are
widely used in Canada during the winter. Hunters and trappers make
long journeys over the snow in search of fur or visiting their
traps.
[Illustration: EXPLORERS DRAGGING SLEDGE.]
Of late years explorers have turned their attention to the South
Pole, and in Antarctic regions not only dogs but small, hardy
ponies have been employed.
In Lapland, the most northern country of Europe, the natives keep
large herds of reindeer, and they use these animals to draw their
sledges, which are shaped like boats, being flat at the back and
with high-pointed prows. The reindeer are harnessed by leather
traces fastened to their collars, and the reins are tied to their
horns. The harness is hung with small bells which jingle merrily
as the sledge flies across the hard snow. Old writers say that
these animals were so swift that they could carry their masters
for two hundred miles in a single day. This, of course, is merely
a traveller's tale, but they can really go fifty or sixty miles in
twenty-four hours.
[Illustration: INDIAN TRAPPER ON SNOW-SHOES.]
Sledges are used in other European countries and especially in
Russia, where the winters are long and hard. The Russian sledges
are very picturesque, with their four horses harnessed abreast and
their drivers wearing great padded coats and fur gloves to protect
them from the intense cold. Sledging in Russia is, however, not
without its dangers, and there are many stories of travellers who
have been frozen to death, and of others who have been overtaken
and killed by wolves as they drove across the snow-covered plains
and through the forests.
A writer of fifty years ago tells us of an exciting experience
which he and a fellow-traveller had when journeying in the Volga
district after a heavy snowstorm.
It was early morning when they started, and the road was a very
lonely one. They had not gone far when six large wolves were seen,
and although these animals were frightened away by a handful of
burning hay being flung among them--for wolves cannot bear the
sight of fire--they soon returned. Others joined them, and before
long the sledge was tearing across the snow with a whole pack in
close pursuit. The horses were terrified and the position seemed a
hopeless one, but fortunately the travellers were armed, and when
they had managed to shoot four of the wolves the others dispersed.
Sledges are also used in Austria, Germany, and Holland, and in many
museums quaint old Dutch sledges can be seen, shaped like armchairs
and richly gilded and painted.
These dainty sleds were pushed, not drawn, and in them the
fair-haired Dutch maidens of former days were taken for merry
excursions by their brothers and boy friends along the smooth
highways of the frozen canals.
[Illustration: ENGLISH SLEDGE.]
In England the winters are very seldom cold enough for sledging to
be indulged in, but still it is not entirely unknown. An English
sledge is, as a rule, more lightly built than those of other
countries and is higher from the ground. It is drawn by one or more
horses and the harness is hung with little bells.
[Illustration: A HAPPY PARTY IN AUSTRALIA.]
We most of us think of Australia as a very warm, almost a
tropical land, and it is quite a surprise to learn that even our
cousins "Down Under" can sometimes enjoy real winter sports. Our
illustration, however, shows us that this is the case, for here we
see a picture of a sledge at Kosciusko, New South Wales, taken,
perhaps, on some cold June mid-winter day. Kosciusko is situated
in one of the mountainous districts of Australia, and there ice
and snow--as we see in the picture--are by no means unknown. This
sledge is low on the ground with two seats, one behind the other,
and it is drawn by a pair of sturdy ponies.