SUNSET.--WINTER WORK.--MY DOG-TEAMS.--"MY BROTHER JOHN'S
GLACIER."--HUNTING.--PEAT BEDS.--ESQUIMAU GRAVES.--PUTREFACTION
AT LOW TEMPERATURES.--SONNTAG CLIMBS THE GLACIER.--HANS AND
PETER.--MY ESQUIMAU PEOPLE.--THE ESQUIMAU DOG.--SURVEYING THE
GLACIER.--THE SAILING-MASTER.--HIS BIRTHDAY DINNER.
My diary thus records the advent of winter:--
October 16th.
The fair-haired god of light reposes beneath the Southern Cross. His
pathway is no longer above the silent hills; but his golden locks
stream over the mountains, and day lingers as a lover departing from
the abode of his mistress. The cold-faced regent of the darkness treads
her majestic circle through the solemn night; and the soft-eyed stars
pale at her approach. Her silver tresses sweep the sea, and the wild
waves are stilled like a laughing face touched by the hand of death.
Although winter and darkness are slowly settling over us, yet we have
still nine hours of twilight daily, wherein to perform our out-door
duties. I have completed my arrangements for the health and comfort
of my little household, and have perfected my system of domestic
discipline and economy, and I feel sure that the wheels of the little
world which revolves around this ice-locked schooner will now move
on smoothly. This done, I am at liberty to seek greater freedom of
action than I have hitherto enjoyed. I have desired to make some short
journeys of exploration while the scrap of twilight yet remains to me,
and as soon as the men were free I set them to work preparing some
conveniences for camping out. I have been ready for several days, but
the weather has been unfavorable for any thing more than a few hours'
absence; and so our life runs on smoothly into the night.
[Sidenote: MY DOG-TEAMS.]
I had to-day a most exhilarating ride, and a very satisfactory day's
work. I drove up the Fiord in the morning, and have returned only a
short time since. This Fiord lies directly north of the harbor, and
it forms the termination of Hartstene Bay. It is about six miles deep
by from two to four wide. Jensen was my driver, and I have a superb
turn-out,--twelve dogs and a fine sledge. The animals are in most
excellent condition,--every one of them strong and healthy; and they
are very fleet. They whirl my Greenland sledge over the ice with
a celerity not calculated for weak nerves. I have actually ridden
behind them over six measured miles in twenty-eight minutes; and,
without stopping to blow the team, have returned over the track in
thirty-three. Sonntag and I had a race, and I beat him by four minutes.
I should like to have some of my friends of Saratoga and Point Breeze
up here, to show them a new style of speeding animals. Our racers do
not require any blanketing after the heats, nor sponging either. We
harness them each with a single trace, and these traces are of a length
to suit the fancy of the driver--the longer the better, for they are
then not so easily tangled, the draft of the outside dogs is more
direct, and, if the team comes upon thin ice, and breaks through, your
chances of escape from immersion are in proportion to their distance
from you. The traces are all of the same length, and hence the dogs
run side by side, and, when properly harnessed, their heads are in a
line. My traces are so measured that the shoulders of the dogs are just
twenty feet from the forward part of the runners.
The team is guided solely by the whip and voice. The strongest dogs are
placed on the outside, and the whole team is swayed to right and left
according as the whip falls on the snow to the one side or the other,
or as it touches the leading dogs, as it is sure to do if they do not
obey the gentle hint with sufficient alacrity. The voice aids the
whip, but in all emergencies the whip is the only real reliance. Your
control over the team is exactly in proportion to your skill in the
use of it. The lash is about four feet longer than the traces, and is
tipped with a "cracker" of hard sinew, with which a skilful driver can
draw blood if so inclined; and he can touch either one of his animals
on any particular spot that may suit his purpose. Jensen had to-day a
young refractory dog in the team, and, having had his patience quite
exhausted, he resolved upon extreme measures. "You see dat beast?" said
he. "I takes a piece out of his ear;"--and sure enough, crack went the
whip, the hard sinew wound round the tip of the ear and snipped it off
as nicely as with a knife.
This long lash, which is but a thin tapering strip of raw seal-hide, is
swung with a whip-stock only two and a half feet long. It is very light
and is consequently hard to handle. The peculiar turn of the wrist
necessary to get it rolled out to its destination is a most difficult
undertaking. It requires long and patient practice. I have persevered,
and my perseverance has been rewarded; and if I am obliged to turn
driver on emergency, I feel equal to the task; but I fervently hope
that the emergency may not arise which requires me to exhibit my skill.
It is the very hardest kind of hard work. That merciless lash must be
going continually; and it must be merciless or it is of no avail. The
dogs are quick to detect the least weakness of the driver, and measure
him on the instant. If not thoroughly convinced that the soundness of
their skins is quite at his mercy, they go where they please. If they
see a fox crossing the ice, or come upon a bear track, or "wind" a
seal, or sight a bird, away they dash over snow-drifts and hummocks,
pricking up their short ears and curling up their long bushy tails for
a wild, wolfish race after the game. If the whip-lash goes out with a
fierce snap, the ears and the tails drop, and they go on about their
proper business; but woe be unto you if they get the control. I have
seen my own driver only to-day sorely put to his metal, and not until
he had brought a yell of pain from almost every dog in the team did he
conquer their obstinacy. They were running after a fox, and were taking
us toward what appeared to be unsafe ice. The wind was blowing hard,
and the lash was sometimes driven back into the driver's face,--hence
the difficulty. The whip, however, finally brought them to reason, and
in full view of the game, and within a few yards of the treacherous
ice, they came first down into a limping trot and then stopped, most
unwillingly. Of course this made them very cross, and a general
fight--fierce and angry--now followed, which was not quieted until the
driver had sailed in among them and knocked them to right and left with
his hard hickory whip-stock. I have had an adventure with the same
team, and know to my cost what an unruly set they are, and how hard
it is to get the mastery of them; but once mastered, like a spirited
horse, they are obedient enough; but also, like that noble animal, they
require now and then to have a very positive reminder as to whom the
obedience is owing.
[Illustration: AN ARCTIC TEAM.
(FROM A SKETCH BY DR. HAYES.)]
Wishing to try my hand, I set out to take a turn round the harbor.
The wind was blowing at my back, and when I had gone far enough, and
wanted to wheel round and return, the dogs were not so minded. There
is nothing they dislike so much as to face the wind; and, feeling very
fresh, they were evidently ready for some sport. Moreover, they may,
perhaps, have wanted to see what manner of man this new driver was.
They were very familiar with him personally, for he had petted them
often enough; but they had not before felt the strength of his arm.
After much difficulty I brought them at last up to the course, but I
could keep them there only by constant use of the lash; and since this
was three times out of four blown back into my face, it was evident
that I could not long hold out; besides, my face was freezing in the
wind. My arm, not used to such violent exercise, soon fell almost
paralyzed, and the whip-lash trailed behind me on the snow. The doors
were not slow to discover that something was wrong. They looked back
over their shoulders inquiringly, and, discovering that the lash was
not coming, they ventured to diverge gently to the right. Finding the
effort not resisted, they gained courage and increased their speed and
at length they wheeled short round, turned their tails to the wind, and
dashed off on their own course, as happy as a parcel of boys freed from
the restraints of the school-room, and with the wild rush of a dozen
wolves. And how they danced along and barked and rejoiced in their
short-lived liberty!
If the reader has ever chanced to drive a pair of unruly horses for a
few hours, and has had occasion to find rest for his aching arms on a
long, steep hill, he will understand the satisfaction which I took in
finding the power returning to mine. I could again use the whip, and
managed to turn the intractable team among a cluster of hummocks and
snow-drifts, which somewhat impeded their progress. Springing suddenly
off, I caught the upstander and capsized the sledge. The points of
the runners were driven deeply into the snow, and my runaways were
anchored. A vigorous application of my sinew-tipped lash soon convinced
them of the advantages of obedience, and when I turned up the sledge
and gave them the signal to start they trotted off in the meekest
manner possible, facing the wind without rebelling, and giving me no
further trouble. I think they will remember the lesson--and so shall I.
[Sidenote: ALIDA LAKE.]
But I set out to record my journey up the Fiord. Reaching the head of
it after a most exhilarating ride, we managed, with some difficulty,
to cross the tide-cracks, and scrambled over the ice-foot to the land.
Here we came upon a broad and picturesque valley, bounded on either
side by lofty cliffs--at its further end lay a glacier, with a pool
of water a mile long occupying the middle distance. This pool is fed
from the glacier and the hill-sides, down which pour the waters of the
melting snows of summer. The discharge from it into the sea is made
through a rugged gorge which bears evidence of being filled with a
gushing stream in the thaw season. Its banks are lined in places with
beds of turf, (dried and hardened layers of moss,) a sort of peat,
with which we can readily eke out our supply of fuel. A specimen of
it brought on board burns quite freely with the addition of a little
grease. This pool of water, in accordance with Sonntag's wish, bears
the name of Alida Lake.
The valley, which I have named "Chester," in remembrance of a spot
which I hope to see again, is two miles long by one broad, and is
covered in many places, especially along the borders of the lake, with
a fine sod of grass, from which the wind has driven the snow and made
the locality tempting to the deer. Several herds, amounting in the
aggregate to something like a hundred animals, were browsing upon the
dead grass of the late summer; and, forgetting for the time the object
of my journey, I could not resist the temptation to try my rifle upon
them. I was rewarded with two large fat bucks, while Jensen secured an
equal number.
[Sidenote: MY BROTHER JOHN'S GLACIER.]
The glacier was discovered by Dr. Kane in 1855, and, being subsequently
visited by his brother, who was an assistant surgeon in the United
States Expedition of Search under Captain Hartstene in 1855, was named
by the former, "My Brother John's Glacier." It has been christened
a shorter name by the crew, and is known as "Brother John." It has
frequently been seen from the hill-tops and bay by all of us, but not
visited until to-day. We reached home in time for dinner, weary enough
and very cold, for the temperature was several degrees below zero, and
the wind was blowing sharply.
During my absence McCormick has employed the crew in securing the
boats, one of which was blown ashore and its side stove in by the
violence of the gale, and in sawing out and unshipping the rudder.
Hans and Peter have been setting fox-traps and shooting rabbits. The
foxes, both the white and blue varieties, appear to be quite numerous,
and there are also many rabbits, or rather I should say hares. These
latter are covered with a long heavy pelt which is a pure white, and
are very large. One caught to-day weighed eight pounds.
October 17th.
[Sidenote: A SURVEYOR'S CHAIN.]
McCormick, who is general tinker and the very embodiment of ingenuity,
has been making for me a surveyor's chain out of some iron rods; and
a party, consisting of Sonntag, McCormick, Dodge, Radcliffe, and
Starr, have been surveying the bay and harbor with this chain and
the theodolite. They seem to have made quite a frolic of it, which,
considering the depressed state of the thermometer, is, I think, a
very commendable circumstance. Barnum and McDonald have been given
a holiday, and they went out with shot-guns after reindeer. They
report having seen forty-six, all of which they succeeded in badly
frightening, and they also started many foxes. Charley also had a
holiday, but, disdaining the huntsman's weapons, he started on a
"voyage of discovery," as he styled it. Strolling down into the
bay above Crystal Palace Cliffs,[4] he came upon an old Esquimau
settlement, and, finding a grave, robbed it of its bony contents, and
brought them to me wrapped up in his coat. It makes a very valuable
addition to my ethnological collection, and a glass of grog and the
promise of other holidays have secured the coöperation of Charley in
this branch of science. Charley, by the way, is one of my most reliable
men, and gives promise of great usefulness. Indeed, everybody in the
vessel seems desirous of adding to my collections; but this zeal has
to-day led me into a rather unpleasant embarrassment. Jensen, whose
long residence among the Esquimaux of Southern Greenland has brought
him to look upon that people as little better than the dogs which
drag their sledges, discovered a couple of graves and brought away
the two skin-robed mummies which they enclosed, thinking they would
make fine museum specimens; and in this surmise he was quite right;
but, unfortunately for the museum, Mrs. Hans was prowling about when
Jensen arrived on board, and, recognizing one of them by some article
of its fur clothing as a relative, she made a terrible ado, and could
not be quieted even by Jensen's assurance that I was a magician, and
would restore them to life when in my own country; so, when I learned
the circumstances, I thought it right, in respect to humanity if not
to science, to restore them to their stony graves, and had it done
accordingly.
[Footnote 4: Discovered and so named by Captain Inglefield, R. N., in
August, 1852.]
[Sidenote: ESQUIMAU GRAVES.]
The Esquimau graves appear to be numerous about the harbor, giving
evidence of quite an extensive settlement at no very remote period.
These graves are merely piles of stones arranged without respect to
direction, and in the size of the pile and its location nothing has
been consulted but the convenience of the living. The bodies are
sometimes barely hidden. Tombs of the dead, they are, too, the mournful
evidences of a fast dwindling race.
October 18th.
I have been well repaid for my course in re-interring the mummies; for
I have won the gratitude of my Esquimau people, and Hans has brought
me in their places two typical skulls which he found tossed among
the rocks. The little shrimps are also doing me good service. They
have prepared for me several skeletons of all varieties of the animals
which we have captured. I first have the bulk of the flesh removed
from the bones, then, placing them in a net, they are lowered into the
fire-hole, and these lively little scavengers of the sea immediately
light within the net, in immense swarms, and in a day or so I have a
skeleton more nicely cleaned than could be done by the most skillful of
human workmen.
[Sidenote: PUTREFACTION AT LOW TEMPERATURES.]
A party brought in to-day the carcass of a reindeer which I mortally
wounded yesterday, but was too much fatigued to follow. They found its
tracks, and, after pursuing them for about a mile, they came upon the
animal lying in the snow, dead. It is now discovered that putrefaction
has rendered it unfit for use, a circumstance which seems very singular
with the temperature at ten degrees below zero. A similar case is
mentioned by Dr. Kane as having occurred within his own observation,
and Jensen tells me that it is well known that such an event is not
uncommon at Upernavik. Indeed, when the Greenlanders capture a deer
they immediately eviscerate it. Puzzling as the phenomenon appears
at first sight, it seems to me, however, that it admits of ready
explanation. The dead animal is immediately frozen on the outside; and
there being thus formed a layer of non-conducting ice, as well as the
pores being closed, the warmth of the stomach is retained long enough
for decomposition to take place, and to generate gas which permeates
the tissues, and renders the flesh unfit for food; and this view of the
case would seem to be confirmed by the fact that decomposition occurs
more readily in the cold weather of midwinter than in the warmer
weather of midsummer.
October 19th.
A lively party visited Chester Valley to-day. They started early
with two sledges--Sonntag, with Jensen on one, Knorr and Hans on the
other. Sonntag carried out the theodolite and chain to make a survey
of the glacier. The others, of course, took their rifles. They saw
numerous reindeer, but shot only three. One of these was a trophy of
Mr. Knorr's, and had like to have cost him dearly. The poor animal had
been badly wounded in the valley, and on three legs tried to climb the
steep hill. Knorr, following it, reached at length within twenty yards,
and brought it down with a well-directed shot; but the hunter and the
victim being, unfortunately for the former, in a line, the hunter was
carried off his legs, and the two together went tumbling over the rocks
in a manner which, to those below, looked rather alarming. Report does
not say how the boy extricated himself. It is lucky, however, that,
instead of broken bones, he has only a few bruises to show for his
adventure.
[Sidenote: SONNTAG CLIMBS THE GLACIER.]
Sonntag, too, had his story to tell. Reaching the glacier, he ascended
to its surface, after travelling two miles along the gorge made by
the glacier on the one side and the sloping mountain on the other.
The ascent was made by means of steps cut with a hatchet in the solid
ice. The glacier was found to be crossed in places by deep narrow
fissures, bridged with a crust of snow, and so completely covered as to
defy detection. Into one of these, fortunately a very narrow one, the
astronomer was precipitated by the giving way of the bridge, and it is
probable that he would have lost his life but for a barometer which he
carried in his hand, and which, crossing the crack, broke the fall.
The barometer was my best one, and is of course a hopeless wreck.
[Sidenote: SEAL-HUNTING.--ESQUIMAU VILLAGE.]
Carl and Christian, my two Danish recruits from Upernavik, have been
setting nets for seal. These nets are made in the Greenland fashion,
of seal-skin thongs, with large meshes. They are kept in a vertical
position under the ice by stones attached to their lower margin; and
the unsuspecting seal, swimming along in pursuit of a school of shrimps
for a meal, or seeking a crack or hole in the ice to catch a breath
of air, strikes it and becomes entangled in it, and is soon drowned.
Most of the winter seal-fishing of Greenland is done in this manner;
and it is in this that the dogs are most serviceable, in carrying the
hunter rapidly from place to place in his inspection of the nets, and
in taking home the captured animals upon the sledge. This species of
hunting is attended with much risk, as the hunter is obliged to run out
on the newly-formed ice. Jensen has enlivened many of my evenings with
descriptions of his adventures upon the ice-fields while looking after
his nets. On one occasion the ice broke up, and he was set adrift, and
would have been lost had not his crystal raft caught on a small island,
to which he escaped, and where he was forced to remain without shelter
until the frost built for him a bridge to the main land. The hardihood
and courage of these Greenland hunters is astonishing.
Although the wind has been blowing hard, I have strolled over to the
north side of the Fiord on a visit to the Esquimau village of Etah,
which is about four miles away in a northeasterly direction. The hut
there, as I had already surmised, was uninhabited, but bore evidence of
having been abandoned only a short time previous. This is the first
time that I have seen the place since the night I passed there in
December, 1854,--a night long to be remembered.
Near by the hut I discovered a splendid buck leisurely pawing away the
snow and turning up the dried grass and moss, of which he was making a
well-earned if not inviting meal. Approaching him on the leeward side,
I had no difficulty in coming within easy range; but I felt reluctant
to fire upon him. He was so intent upon his work, and seemed so little
to suspect that these solitudes, through which he had so long roamed
unmolested, contained an enemy, that I almost relented; and I did not
pull trigger until I had aimed a third time. But, notwithstanding this
irresolution, his splendid haunch now hangs in the rigging, and is set
apart for some future feast; and I have no doubt that I shall then eat
my share of him without once thinking that I had done a deed of cruelty.
October 20th.
[Sidenote: HANS AND PETER.]
[Sidenote: MY ESQUIMAU PEOPLE.]
I have observed for some days past decided symptoms of a rivalry
existing between my two Esquimau hunters, Hans and Peter, both of whom
are very serviceable to me. Peter is a very clever little fellow, and
withal honest; and he has quite taken my fancy. He is a thorough-bred
Esquimau, with very dark complexion, jet-black hair, which he cuts in
native fashion, square across his forehead; but he keeps himself clean
and neat, and is on all occasions very well behaved. Not only is he a
fine hunter, but he possesses great ingenuity, and has wonderful skill
with his fingers. I have before me several specimens of his handiwork
in the shape of salt-spoons, paper-cutters, and other little trinkets
which, with an old file, a knife, and a piece of sand-paper, he has
carved for me out of a walrus tusk. They are cut with great accuracy
and taste. He is always eager to serve my wishes in every thing; and
since I never allow zeal to go unrewarded, he is the richer by several
red-flannel shirts, and a suit of pilot-cloth clothes. Of course, Hans
is jealous. Indeed, it is impossible for me to exhibit any kindness of
this sort to any of my Esquimau people without making Hans unhappy. He
avoids showing his temper openly in my presence, but he gets sulky,
and does not hunt, or, if ordered out, he comes home without game. He
is a type of the worst phase of the Esquimau character. The Esquimaux
are indeed a very strange kind of people, and are an interesting study,
even more so than my dogs, although they are not so useful; and then
the dog can be controlled with a long whip and resolution, while the
human animal cannot be controlled with any thing. They might very
properly be called a negative people, in every thing except their
unreliability, which is entirely positive; and yet among themselves
they exhibit the semblance of virtuous conduct, at least in this: that
while in sickness or want or distress they never render voluntary
assistance to each other, yet they do not deny it; indeed, the active
exhibition of service is perhaps wholly unknown or unthought of amongst
them; but they do the next best thing--they never withhold it. From
the rude hut of the hardy inhabitant of these frozen deserts the
unfortunate hunter who has lost his team and has been unsuccessful in
the hunt, the unprotected family who have lost their head, even the
idle and thriftless, are never turned away; but they are never invited.
They may come, they may use what they find as if they were members of
the family, taking it as a matter of course; but if it were known
that they were starving, at a distance, there is no one who would ever
think of going to them with supplies. They are the most self-reliant
people in the world. It does not appear ever to occur to them to expect
assistance, and they never think of offering it.
The food and shelter which the needy are allowed to take is not a
charity bestowed; the aid which the hunter gives to the dogless man who
jumps upon his sledge for a lift on a journey is not a kindness. He
would drop him or give him the slip if occasion offered, even if in a
place from whence he could not reach his home. He would drive off and
leave him with the greatest unconcern, never so much as giving him a
thought. If he should change his abode, the family that had sought his
protection would not be invited to accompany him. They might come if
able, he could not and would not drive them away; indeed, his language
contains no word that would suit the act; but, if not able to travel,
they would be left to starve with as much unconcern as if they were
decrepit dogs which the hunt had rendered useless.
[Sidenote: ESQUIMAU TRAITS.]
They neither beg, borrow, nor steal. They do not make presents, and
they never rob each other; though this does not hold good of their
disposition toward the white man, for from him they make it a habit to
filch all they can.
I cannot imagine any living thing so utterly callous as they. Why, even
my Esquimau dogs exhibit more sympathetic interest in each other's
welfare. They at least hang together for a common object; sometimes
fighting, it is true, but they make friends again after the contest is
over. But these Esquimaux never fight, by any chance. They stealthily
harpoon a troublesome rival in the hunt, or an old decrepit man or
woman who are a burden; or a person who is supposed to be bewitched,
or a lazy fellow who has no dogs, and lives off his more industrious
neighbors. They even destroy their own offspring when there happen to
be too many of them brought into the world, or one should chance to be
born with some deformity which will make it incapable of self-support;
but they never meet in open combat; at least, such are the habits
of the tribes who have not yet been reached in some degree by the
influences of Christian civilization, or who have not had ingrafted
upon them some of the aggressive customs of the old Norsemen, who, from
the ninth to the fourteenth centuries, lived and fought in Southern
Greenland.
[Sidenote: ESQUIMAU TRAITS.]
With such traits of character they are naturally disinclined to be
amiable toward any one who is particularly fortunate, and it is not
surprising, therefore, that Hans should be envious of Peter. Even had
I given the latter no more clothing than was sufficient to cover his
nakedness, it would have been all the same. Had I crowded upon Hans
the best of every thing in the vessel, without respect to quantity or
usefulness, it would not be more than he covets. But the fellow is
especially jealous of my personal kind attentions to Peter, for he sees
in that the guaranty of still further gifts.
Hans, by the way, keeps up an establishment of his own; and, having
a piece of feminine humanity, he can claim the dignity of systematic
housekeeping. Within the house on the upper deck he has pitched
his Esquimau tent, and, with his wife and baby, half buried in
reindeer-skins, he lives the life of a true native. His wife bears the
name of Merkut, but is better known as Mrs. Hans. She is a little
chubby specimen of woman-kind, and, for an Esquimau, not ill-looking.
In truth she is, I will not say the prettiest, but the least ugly
thorough-breed that I have seen. Her complexion is unusually fair, so
much so that a flush of red is visible on her cheeks when she can be
induced to use a little soap and water to remove the thick plaster of
oily soot which covers it. This, however, rarely happens; and as for
undergoing another such soaking and scrubbing as the sailors gave her
on the way up from Cape York, she cannot be induced to think of it.
[Sidenote: HANS AND HIS FAMILY.]
The baby is a lively specimen of unwashed humanity. It is about ten
months old, and rejoices in the name of Pingasuk--"The Pretty One."
It appears to take as naturally to the cold as ducklings to water,
and may be seen almost any day crawling through the open slit of the
tent, and then out over the deck, quite innocent of clothing; and its
mother, equally regardless of temperature or what, in civilized phrase
and conventional usage we designate as modesty, does not hesitate to
wander about in the same exposed manner. The temperature, however, of
the house is never very low, mostly above freezing.
[Sidenote: MARCUS AND JACOB.]
My other two Esquimau hunters, Marcus and Jacob, are lodgers with the
Hans family. They are a pair of droll fellows, very different from Hans
and Peter. Marcus will not work, and Jacob has grown like the Prince of
Denmark, "fat and scant of breath," and cannot. As for hunters, they
are that only in name. They have been tried at every thing for which
it was thought possible that they could be of any use and it is now
agreed on all sides that they can only be serviceable in amusing the
crew and in cutting up our game; and these things they do well and
cheerfully, for out of these pursuits grows an endless opportunity to
feed; and as for feeding, I have never seen man nor beast that could
rival them, especially Jacob. The stacks of meat that this boy disposes
of seem quite fabulous; and it matters not to him whether it is boiled
or raw. The cook declares that "he can eat heself in three meals,"
meaning, of course, his own weight; but I need hardly say that this is
an exaggeration. The steward quotes Shakespeare, and thinks that he
has hit the boy very hard when he proclaims him to be a savage "of an
unbounded stomach." The sailors tease him about his likeness to the
animals which he so ruthlessly devours. A pair of antlers are growing
from his forehead, rabbit's hair is sprouting on his distended abdomen,
and birds' feathers are appearing on his back; his arms and legs are
shortening into flippers, his teeth are lengthening into tusks, and
they mean to get a cask of walrus blubber out of him before the spring;
all of which he takes good-naturedly; but there is a roguish leer in
his eye, and if I mistake not he will yet be even with his tormentors.
So much for my Esquimau subjects.
October 21st.
I have had another lively race to the glacier, and have had a day of
useful work. Hans drove Sonntag, and Jensen was, as usual, my "whip."
We took Carl and Peter along to help us with our surveying; and,
although there were three persons and some instruments on each sledge,
yet this did not much interfere with our progress. We were at the foot
of the glacier in forty minutes.
The dogs are getting a little toned down with use, and I have directed
that their rations shall not be quite as heavy as they were. They are
lively enough still, but not so hard to keep in hand.
[Sidenote: HABITS OF DOGS.]
My teams greatly interest me, and no proprietor of a stud of horses
ever took greater satisfaction in the occupants of his stables than I
do in those of my kennels. Mine, however, are not housed very grandly,
said kennels being nothing more than certain walls of hard snow built
up alongside the vessel, into which the teams, however, rarely chose
to go, preferring the open ice-plain, where they sleep, wound up in a
knot like worms in a fish-basket, and are often almost buried out of
sight by the drifting snow. It is only when the temperature is very
low and the wind unusually fierce that they seek the protection of the
snow-walls.
These dogs are singular animals, and are a curious study. They have
their leader and their sub-leaders--the rulers and the ruled--like
any other community desiring good government. The governed get what
rights they can, and the governors bully them continually in order
that they may enjoy security against rebellion, and live in peace.
And a community of dogs is really organized on the basis of correct
principles. As an illustration,--my teams are under the control of a
big aggressive brute, who sports a dirty red uniform with snuff-colored
facings, and has sharp teeth. He possesses immense strength, and his
every movement shows that he is perfectly conscious of it. In the
twinkling of an eye he can trounce any dog in the whole herd; and he
seems to possess the faculty of destroying conspiracies, cabals, and
all evil designings against his stern rule. None of the other dogs like
him, but they cannot help themselves; they are afraid to turn against
him, for when they do so there is no end to the chastisements which
they receive. Now Oosisoak (for that is his name) has a rival, a huge,
burly fellow with black uniform and white collar. This dog is called
Karsuk, which expresses the complexion of his coat. He is larger than
Oosisoak, but not so active nor so intelligent. Occasionally he has a
set-to with his master; but he always comes off second best, and his
unfortunate followers are afterwards flogged in detail by the merciless
red-coat. The place of Oosisoak, when harnessed to the sledge, is on
the left of the line, and that of Karsuk on the right.
[Sidenote: THE LEADER OF THE PACK.]
There is another powerful animal which we call Erebus, who governs
Sonntag's team as Oosisoak governs mine, and he can whip Karsuk, but
he never has a bout with my leader except at his peril and that of his
followers. And thus they go along, fighting to preserve the peace, and
chawing each other up to maintain the balance of power; and this is all
to my advantage; for if the present relations of things were disturbed,
my community of dogs would be in a state of anarchy. Oosisoak would go
into exile, and would die of laziness and a broken heart, and great and
bloody would be the feuds between the rival interests, led by Karsuk
and Erebus, before it was decided which is the better team.
[Sidenote: THE QUEEN OF THE KENNEL.]
Oosisoak has other traits befitting greatness. He has sentiment. He has
chosen one to share the glory of his reign, to console his sorrows,
and to lick his wounds when fresh from the bloody field. Oosisoak has
a queen; and this object of his affection, this idol of his heart, is
never absent from his side. She runs beside him in the team, and she
fights for him harder than any one of his male subjects. In return
for this devotion he allows her to do pretty much as she pleases. She
may steal the bone out of his mouth, and he gives it up to her with a
sentimental grimace that is quite instructive. But it happens sometimes
that he is himself hungry, and he trots after her, and when he thinks
that she has got her share he growls significantly; whereupon she
drops the bone without even a murmur. If the old fellow happens to be
particularly cross when a reindeer is thrown to the pack, he gets upon
it with his forefeet, begins to gnaw away at the flank, growling a
wolfish growl all the while, and no dog dare come near until he has had
his fill except Queen Arkadik, (for by that name is she known,) nor can
she approach except in one direction. She must come alongside of him,
and crawl between his fore-legs and eat lovingly from the spot where he
is eating.
So much for my dogs. I shall doubtless have more to say about them
hereafter, but there is only a small scrap of the evening left, and I
must go back to "My Brother John's Glacier."
Halting our teams near the glacier front, we proceeded to prepare
ourselves for ascending to its surface. Its face, looking down the
valley, exhibits a somewhat convex lateral line, and is about a mile
in extent, and a hundred feet high. It presents the same fractured
surfaces of the iceberg, the same lines of vertical decay caused by the
waters trickling from it in the summer,--the same occasional horizontal
lines, which, though not well marked, seemed to conform to the curve
of the valley in which the glacier rests. The slope backward from this
mural face is quite abrupt for several hundred feet, after which the
ascent becomes gradual, decreasing to six degrees, where it finally
blends with the _mer de glace_ which appears to cover the land to the
eastward.
At the foot of the glacier front there is a pile of broken fragments
which have been detached from time to time. Some of them are very
large--solid lumps of clear crystal ice many feet in diameter. One such
mass, with an immense shower of smaller pieces, cracked off while we
were looking at it, and came crashing down into the plain below.
The surface of the glacier curves gently upward from side to side.
It does not blend with the slope of the mountain, but, breaking off
abruptly, forms, as I have before observed, a deep gorge between the
land and the ice. This gorge is interrupted in places by immense
boulders which have fallen from the cliffs, or by equally large masses
of ice which have broken from the glacier. Sometimes, however, these
interruptions are of a different character, when the ice, moving bodily
forward, has pushed the rocks up the hill-side in a confused wave.
[Sidenote: CLIMBING THE GLACIER.]
The traveling along this winding gorge was laborious, especially as
the snow-crusts sometimes gave way and let one's legs down between the
sharp stones, or equally sharp ice; but a couple of miles brought us
to a place where we could mount by using our axe in cutting steps, as
Sonntag had done before.
We were now fairly on the glacier's back, and moved cautiously toward
its centre, fearful at every step that a fissure might open under our
feet, and let us down between its hard ribs. But no such accident
happened, and we reached our destination, where the surface was
perfectly smooth--an inclined plain of clear, transparent ice.
[Sidenote: SURVEYING THE GLACIER.]
Our object in this journey was chiefly to determine whether the glacier
had movement; and for this purpose we followed the very simple and
efficient plan of Professor Agassiz in his Alpine surveys. First we
placed two stakes in the axis of the glacier, and carefully measured
the distance between them; then we planted two other stakes nearly
midway between these and the sides of the glacier; and then we set the
theodolite over each of these stakes in succession, and connected them
by angles with each other and with fixed objects on the mountain-side.
These angles will be repeated next spring, and I shall by this means
know whether the glacier is moving down the valley, and at what rate.
On this, as on every other occasion when we have attempted to do
any thing requiring carefulness and deliberation, the wind came to
embarrass us. The temperature alone gives us little concern. Although
it may be any number of degrees below zero, we do not mind it, for we
have become accustomed to it; but the wind is a serious inconvenience,
especially when our occupations, as in the present instance, do
not admit of active exercise. It is rather cold work handling the
instrument; but the tangent screws have been covered with buckskin, and
we thus save our fingers from being "burnt," as our little freezings
are quite significantly called.
I purpose making a still further exploration of this glacier to-morrow,
and will defer until then any further description of it.
During my absence the hunters have not been idle. Barnum has killed six
deer; Jensen shot two and Hans nine; but the great event has been the
sailing-master's birthday dinner; and I returned on board finding all
hands eagerly awaiting my arrival to sit down to a sumptuous banquet.
[Sidenote: A SOCIAL RULE.]
I have inaugurated the rule that all birthdays shall be celebrated in
this manner; and, when his birthday comes round, each individual is at
liberty to call for the very best that my lockers and the steward's
store-room can furnish; and in this I take credit for some wisdom. I
know by experience what the dark cloud is under which we are slowly
drifting, and I know that my ingenuity will be fully taxed to pass
through it with a cheerful household; and I know still further, that,
whether men live under the Pole Star or under the Equator, they can be
made happy if they can be made full; and furthermore, at some hour of
the day, be it twelve or be it six, all men must "dine;" for are they
not
"----a carnivorous production,
Requiring meals,--at least one meal a day?
They cannot live, like woodcock, upon suction;
But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey."
And hence they take kindly to venison and such like things, and they
remember with satisfaction the advice of St. Paul to the gentle
Timothy, to "use a little wine for the stomach's sake."
McCormick was not only the subject to be honored on this occasion, but
to do honor to himself. He has actually cooked his own dinner, and has
done it well. My sailing-master is a very extraordinary person, and
there seems to be no end to his accomplishments. Possessing a bright
intellect, a good education, and a perfect magazine of nervous energy,
he has, while knocking about the world, picked up a smattering of
almost every thing known under the sun, from astronomy to cooking, and
from seamanship to gold-digging. And he is something of a philosopher,
for he declares that he will have all the comfort he can get when off
duty, while he does not seem to regard any sort of exposure, and is
quite careless of himself, when on duty; and besides, he appears to
possess that highly useful faculty of being able to do for himself
any thing that he may require to be done by others. He can handle a
marline-spike as well as a sextant, and can play sailor, carpenter,
blacksmith, cook, or gentleman with equal facility. So much for the
man; now for his feast.
[Sidenote: THE SAILING-MASTER]
A day or so ago I found lying on my cabin-table a neat little missive
which politely set forth, that "Mr. McCormick presents the compliments
of the officers' mess to the Commander, and requests the honor of his
company to dinner in their cabin, on the 21st instant, at six o'clock."
And I have answered the summons, and have got back again into my own
den overwhelmed with astonishment at the skill of my sailing-master
in that art, the cultivation of which has made Lucullus immortal and
Soyer famous, and highly gratified to see both officers and men so
well pleased. The bill of fare, "with some original illustrations by
Radcliffe," set forth a very tempting invitation to a hungry man,
and its provisions were generally fulfilled. There was a capital
soup--_jardinière_--nicely flavored, a boiled salmon wrapped in the
daintiest of napkins, a roast haunch of venison weighing thirty pounds,
and a brace of roast eider-ducks, with currant-jelly and apple-sauce,
and a good variety of fresh vegetables; and after this a huge
plum-pudding, imported from Boston, which came in with the flames of
_Otard_ flickering all around its rotund lusciousness; and then there
was mince-pie and blanc-mange and nuts and raisins and olives and
Yankee cheese and Boston crackers and coffee and cigars, and I don't
know what else besides. There were a couple of carefully-treasured
bottles of Moselle produced from the little receptacle under my bunk,
and some madeira and sherry from the same place.
[Sidenote: A BIRTHDAY DINNER.]
The only dish that was purely local in its character was a _mayonnaise_
of frozen venison (raw) thinly sliced and dressed in the open air. It
was very crisp, but its merits were not duly appreciated. The "Bill"
wound up thus:--"Music on the fiddle by Knorr. Song, 'We won't go home
till mornin',' by the mess. Original 'yarns' always in order, but 'Joe
Millers' forbidden on penalty of clearing out the 'fire-hole' for the
balance of the night."
I left the party two hours ago in unrestrained enjoyment of the
evening. And right good use do they appear to be making of the
occasion. The whole ship's company seem to be like Tam O'Shanter,--
"O'er a' the ills o' life victorious,"
without, however, so far as I can discover, any thing of the cause
which led to that renowned individual's satisfactory state of mind.
The sailors are following up their feast with a lively dance, into
which they have forced Marcus and Jacob; while the officers, like
true-born Americans, are making speeches. At this moment I hear some
one proposing the health of "The Great Polar Bear."
[Illustration]