MY CABIN.--SURVEYING.--CASTOR AND POLLUX.--CONCERNING
SCURVY.--DANGERS OF EATING COLD SNOW.--KNORR AND
STARR.--FROST-BITES.--HANS, PETER, AND JACOB AGAIN.--COAL
ACCOUNT.--THE FIRES.--COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.--THE HOUSE ON
DECK.--MILD WEATHER.--JENSEN.--MRS. HANS.--JOHN WILLIAMS, THE
COOK.--A CHEERFUL EVENING.
After a sound sleep had in some measure worn off the fatigues of the
journey on the glacier, I returned to my diary:--
October 28th.
[Sidenote: MY CABIN.]
I am not sorry to get back again into my cosy little cabin. I never
knew before what a snug home I have in the midst of this Arctic
wilderness. A few days on the ice and a few nights in a tent were
required to give me a proper appreciation of its comforts. Once I had
begun to regard it as a dingy, musty cell, fit only for a convict.
Now it is a real "weary man's rest," an oasis in a desert, a port in
a storm. The bright rays of the "fine-eyed Ull-Erin" were not a more
cheering guide to the love-bound Ossian than was the glimmer of this
cabin-lamp as I came in last night from the cold,--trudging across the
waste of snows.
The curtains which inclose what is my lounge by day and my bed by night
have taken on a brighter crimson. The wolf and bear skins which cover
the lounge and the floor, protecting my feet against the frost which
strikes up from below, are positively luxurious; the lamp, which I
thought burned with a sickly sort of flame, is a very Drummond light
compared with what it was; the clock, which used to annoy me with its
ceaseless ticking, now makes grateful music; the books, which are stuck
about in all available places, seem to be lost friends found again; and
the little pictures, which hang around wherever there is room, seem to
smile upon me with a sort of sympathetic cheerfulness. Rolls of maps,
unfinished sketches, scraps of paper, all sorts of books, including
stray volumes of the "Penny Cyclopædia" and Soyer's "Principles of
Cooking," drawing implements, barometer cases, copies of Admiralty
Blue Books, containing reports of the Arctic Search, track charts of
all those British worthies, from Ross to Rae, who have gone in search
of Sir John Franklin, litter the floor; and, instead of annoying me
with their presence, as they used to do, they seem to possess an air
of quiet and refreshing comfort. My little pocket-sextant and compass,
hanging on their particular peg, my rifle and gun and flask and pouch
on theirs, with my traveling kit between them, break the blank space
on the bulk-head before me, and seem to speak a language of their own.
My good and faithful friend Sonntag sits opposite to me at the table,
reading. I write nestling among my furs, with my journal in my lap; and
when I contrast this night with the night on the glacier summit, and
listen now to the fierce wind which howls over the deck and through the
rigging, and think how dark and gloomy every thing is outside and how
light and cheerful every thing is here below, I believe that I have as
much occasion to write myself down a thankful man, as I am very sure I
do, for once at least, a contented one.
Sonntag has given me a report of work done during my absence, and so
has McCormick. With Jensen I have had a talk about the hunt. I have
dined with the officers, and all goes "merry as a marriage bell." My
companions on the journey have recovered from their fatigue, and they
seem none the worse for the tramp, except such of them as have been
touched by the frost; and these look sorry enough. They get little
consolation from their shipmates.
[Sidenote: SURVEYING.]
I am much gratified to find that every thing has gone on so smoothly
while I was away. Sonntag has been twice to the glacier, and has
finished the survey and made some spirited sketches. He has also done
some valuable work on a base line, accurately measured upon the ice of
the outer bay. This base line is 9100 feet long, and his triangulations
give the following distances from the western point of Starr Island:--
To Cape Alexander, 8 nautical miles.
" " Isabella, 31 " "
" " Sabine, 42 " "
[Sidenote: CONCERNING SCURVY.]
My commands respecting the hunt have been carefully observed, and
numerous additions have been made to our rapidly accumulating stock
of fresh food. This gives me much gratification. My experience with
Dr. Kane has led me to believe that the scurvy, hitherto so often
fatal to Arctic travelers, may be readily avoided by the liberal use
of a fresh animal diet; and, although I have a fair supply of canned
meats and a good allowance of fresh vegetables, yet I do not wish to
depend wholly upon them; and, in order to make assurance doubly sure, I
have endeavored to spare no pains in securing whatever game is within
our reach. Accordingly I have always had a well-organized party of
hunters, who are exempt from other duty, and this system I propose
continuing. The result thus far has shown the correctness of my plan.
A more healthy ship's company could not be desired. Not a single case
of illness has yet occurred. I do not expect to have any scurvy in my
party, and I am firmly impressed with the belief that at Port Foulke
men might live indefinitely without being troubled with that "dread
scourge of the Arctic Zone." I do not, however, wholly rely upon the
hunters. The moral sentiments have much to do with health everywhere;
and, with the best food in the world, unhappiness will make more than
the heart sick. For my own part, I would rather take my chances against
the scurvy with the herbs and the love, than with hatred and the
stalled ox. Luckily my ship's company are as harmonious and happy as
they are healthy, and the fault will be mine if they do not continue so.
Our game-list, according to Knorr, who keeps the tally, sums up as
follows: Reindeer 74, foxes 21, hares 12, seals 1, eider-ducks 14,
dovekies 8, auks 6, ptarmigan 1. This includes all that has been
brought on board from the beginning. Besides these substantial
contributions to our winter supplies, there are some twenty or thirty
reindeer cached in various places, which are available whenever we
choose to bring them in. The dogs are the largest consumers.
I find McCormick suffering with a sore throat and swelled tongue,
resulting from eating snow. Leaving me at the glacier, he set out to
return on board, and, growing thirsty by the way, without being aware
of the evil consequences likely to result therefrom, commenced eating
snow to quench it. The effect of this indulgence was so to inflame
the mucous membrane as, in the end, to render the thirst greater and
greater the more the desire was indulged. Finally respiration became
difficult and painful, and he arrived on board much exhausted. It is a
good lesson for the ship's company,--a fact doubtless more consoling to
me than to the sufferer.
October 29th.
[Sidenote: CASTOR AND POLLUX.]
I went out to-day with Mr. Sonntag to his base line, and made some
further measurements. In that direction there are a couple of mammoth
icebergs, which I have named "The Twins." They loom up grandly against
the dark western sky. Castor carries his head 230 feet above the sea,
and Pollux, though of smaller dimensions, is seventeen feet higher.
After our usual evening game of chess, we have talked over some further
projects for the field. I propose a drive into the region of Humboldt
Glacier, Sonntag one to Van Rensselaer Harbor. It is important that the
meridian of this latter place should be connected with that of Port
Foulke. I yield to Sonntag for the present, and he starts the day after
to-morrow, weather permitting,--a proviso peculiarly necessary in this
blustering place. There is very little light left to us, but the moon
is full, and will probably serve to guide the party. There was not even
the faintest streak of light to-day at three o'clock.
October 30th.
Sonntag is all ready to start. He will take two sledges, with Jensen
and Hans for drivers. They are prepared for seven days' absence. I have
allowed Sonntag to provide his own equipment, without interference. He
has, I think, made it a little more cumbrous than he should,--a little
too much for personal comfort, that will be dead weight. Traveling in
this region is governed by very rigorous laws, and very little latitude
is allowed in the choice of one's outfit. There is probably no place in
the world where the traveler is compelled to deny himself so completely
those little articles of convenience which contribute so much to the
personal satisfaction. On ship-board he may indulge his taste for
luxury to the extent of his means; but when he takes to the ice-fields
and the dog-sledge he must come down to hard fare and carry nothing but
what is absolutely necessary to sustain life,--and this is simply meat,
bread, and coffee, or tea if he prefers it. The snow must serve for his
bed, and his only covering must be what is just sufficient to keep him
from freezing. Fire he cannot have, except the needful lamp to cook
his food, and if he should get cold he must warm himself by exercise.
During my late journey to the glacier, I carried for fuel only three
quarts of alcohol and the same quantity of oil, and this was not all
used.
[Sidenote: FROST-BITES.]
I went this morning into the hold to look after my companions on the
recent journey. They have all recovered from their little frost-bites
except Christian, whose nose is as big as his fist and as red as a
beet. He takes good-naturedly the jeers of his messmates. Knorr is,
however, almost as badly off in the nasal region as Christian, but he
has suffered no further misadventure. The nose is, indeed, a serious
inconvenience to the Arctic traveler, for it insists upon exposing
itself upon every occasion; and if you put it under a mask, it revenges
itself by coaxing the moisture of the breath up beneath it, so that in
an hour's time the intended protector becomes a worse enemy than the
wind itself. The mask is, in a little while, but a lump of ice.
[Sidenote: KNORR AND STARR.]
My youthful secretary, by the way, bore up bravely on the tramp. I
should not have taken him but for his constant and earnest appeals.
There does not appear to be much of life in him, but he has pluck,
and that is an excellent substitute; and thus far this quality has
carried him through. My friends told me, before leaving home, that I
was needlessly taking him to a very cold grave; but he does not appear
inclined to fulfill their predictions, and seems likely to hold his own
with the hardest-fisted sailor of the crew. He is but eighteen years
old, and, except Starr, who is about the same age, is the youngest
member of my party. Starr, too, is a plucky and useful boy. He got
into the party against my intentions, but I am very far from sorry.
Inspired with enthusiasm for Arctic adventure, he volunteered to go
with me in any capacity; and, having no convenient room in the cabin,
I told him that he could go in the forecastle, little dreaming that he
would accept my offer; but, sure enough, he turned up the next day in
sailor's rig. His bright beaver and shining broadcloth and polished
pumps had given place to cap and red shirt and sea boots, and I went
on board to find the metamorphosed boy of recent elegance manfully at
work. Admiring his spirit, I promoted him on the spot, and sent him aft
to the sailing-master,--the best I could do for him.
[Sidenote: HANS, PETER, AND JACOB.]
The rivalry between Hans and Peter waxes warmer. My sympathies go with
the latter, of which I have to-day given substantial proof. Up to this
time Hans has had charge of Sonntag's team, and has used it pretty much
as he pleased; but he being absent this morning, and Jensen being off
after some venison, I used Peter to drive me to the lower glacier,
where I wished to make some sketches. It appears that this excited
Hans' ire against poor Peter; which fact being duly reported by Jensen,
I have taken the dogs from Hans and given them into Peter's exclusive
charge. So one savage is pleased and the other is displeased; but we
shall probably have no public exhibitions of his spleen, as I have
read him a lecture upon the evil consequences arising from the display
of ill-temper, which he will probably remember,--as likely, however,
for evil as for good; for he is not of a forgiving disposition. Jensen
tells me that "they have made friends," which probably means mischief.
Hans seems to retain the intelligence for which he was distinguished
when in the _Advance_. His character has undergone but little change,
and his face expresses the same traits as formerly,--the same smooth,
oily voice, the same cunning little eye, the same ugly disposition.
I have very little faith in him; but Sonntag has taken him into his
favor, and greatly prefers him to Jensen for a dog-driver.
Peter, on the other hand, is a quiet, unobtrusive fellow, and is always
ready and willing to do any thing that is required of him, even by
the sailors, with whom he is very popular; and, of course, as with
good-nature everywhere, he is sometimes imposed upon. Jacob is Peter's
brother, and he continues to be the butt of the forecastle. The men
have made a bargain with him, and, according to all accounts, it works
satisfactorily. He is to wash their dishes, and they in return are
to give him all the crumbs that fall from their table. On these he
is growing more and more fat, and he has now greater difficulty than
ever in getting about. There is a beam in the fore-hold, only two
feet and a half from the floor, which he can no longer climb over. His
efforts to crawl under it have been not unaptly compared to those of a
seal waddling over the ice about its breathing-hole. Mr. Wardle's fat
boy was not more shapeless, and, like that plethoric individual, he
chiefly divides his time between eating and sleeping. His cheeks are
puffed out in a very ridiculous manner, and altogether he answers very
well the description of Mirabeau's corpulent acquaintance, who seemed
to have been created for no other purpose than to show to what extent
the human skin is capable of being stretched without bursting. The
executive officer tells me that he sent him the other day to the upper
deck to dress a couple of reindeer; but, having proceeded far enough to
expose a tempting morsel, he halted in his work, carved off a slice of
the half-frozen flesh, and was found some time afterwards fast asleep
between the two dead animals, with the last fragment of his _bonne
bouche_ dangling from his lips.
November 1st.
The new month comes in stormy. The travelers were to have set out
to-day, but a fierce gale detains them on board. The moon is now three
days past full, and if they are delayed much longer they will scarcely
have light enough for the journey.
McCormick and Dodge have set a bear-trap between the icebergs Castor
and Pollux. It is a mammoth steel-trap, and is baited with venison and
fastened with my best ice-anchor. I pity the poor beast that gets his
foot in it.
[Sidenote: COAL ACCOUNT.]
[Sidenote: THE HOUSE ON DECK.]
[Sidenote: COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.]
I have been overhauling our coal account, and have regulated the daily
consumption for the winter. We have thirty-four tons on board, and
have but two fires. Two and a half buckets full a day go to the galley
stove in the hold, and one and a half to the cabin; and with this
consumption of fuel the people live in comfort and cook their food and
melt from the ice an abundant supply of water. The ice, which is of
the clearest and purest kind, comes from a little berg which is frozen
up in the mouth of the harbor, about half a mile away. I have no stove
in my own cabin, all the heat which I require coming to me across the
companion-way through the slats of my door, from the officers' stove.
The temperature in which I live ranges from 40° to 60°, and, among my
furs, I lounge through the hours that I do not spend out of doors as
snug and comfortable as I could wish to be. Something of my comfort
is, however, due to the excess of heat of the officers' quarters. The
temperature of their cabin runs sometimes to 75°, and is seldom lower
than 60°, and they are at times actually sweltering. Our quarters are
throughout free from dampness, and are well ventilated. A portion
of the main-hatch above the men's quarters is always open, and the
companion-scuttle is seldom closed. This ventilation being through the
house on deck, that apartment is kept at quite a comfortable degree of
warmth; and it is a very convenient medium between the lower deck and
the outer air. In this house such work is performed as cannot be done
below; and there, in the dim light of the signal-lamp, which hangs
suspended from the main-boom, one may see almost at any time a motley
group of men working or playing, as the case may be. Forward in one
corner stands Hans's tent, through the slits in which come the cheerful
glimmer of a lamp and the lullaby of an Esquimau mother, soothing to
sleep her "pretty one." On the opposite side is our butcher-shop, where
are piled up a lot of frozen reindeer, awaiting Marcus and Jacob,--the
butchers. Near by stands our portable forge and anvil, where McCormick
is forever blowing the hot embers and pounding at nobody knows what.
Dodge says "he is killing time." Under the window amidships stands the
carpenter's bench and the vice, where Christian, Jensen, Peter, and
Hans are always tinkering at some hunting or sledge implements,--while,
mingling promiscuously on the deck, the officers and men may be seen
smoking their pipes, and apparently intent only upon as little exertion
and as much amusement as the Arctic night will give them. A cheerful
light bursts up from below through the hatchways, bringing with it many
a cheerful laugh. Around the mainmast stands our gun-rack, and near
by is a neat arrangement of McCormick's where every man has a peg for
his fur coat, as we do not bring these things below, on account of the
great change of temperature producing dampness in them.
November 2d.
The barometer, which yesterday sank to 29.58, has been steadily rising
since, and stands now at 29.98, giving us thus a reasonable assurance
that the gale will come to an end by and by, and let the travelers off.
The gale has made wild work with the ice, breaking it up and driving it
out to the southwest until the open water is within two miles of the
schooner. The "twins" are right upon the margin of it, and, were they
not aground, would float away. One of Sonntag's base-line stations has
drifted off, and the bear-trap has followed after it, carrying away my
fine ice-anchor. Strange, the loose ice has all drifted out of sight,
and not a speck is to be seen upon the unhappy waters which roll and
tumble through the darkness around Cape Alexander.
The temperature during this gale has been, throughout, very mild.
Although the wind was northeast, it has not been below zero at any time.
November 3d.
[Sidenote: MR. JENSEN.]
The travelers are off at last, and at ten o'clock this evening they
disappoint me by not returning. Since it is evident that they have gone
around Cape Ohlsen, which I had some reason to doubt, I see no cause
why they should not reach their destination. They will have, however,
cracks which have been opened by the recent gales, and doubtless
heavily hummocked ice, to contend with; and I hardly know how Jensen
will get on with this sort of traveling. Bad enough for those who are
accustomed to it, it will be a sore trial to him. He is a splendid
whip, and drives his dogs superbly when the ice is reasonably smooth,
and the sledge glides glibly over it with the dogs at a gallop; but
this floundering through hummocks and deep snow-drifts, where the
sledge has to be lifted and is often capsized, where the dogs are
continually getting into a snarl,--their traces tangled, their tempers
ruffled, and a general fight resulting,--is a very different sort of
business, and is what he is not used to. To get through with it one
requires an almost superhuman stock of enduring patience; and if Jensen
returns from this journey with a good record, I shall have no fears for
him in the future. He is a very strong and able-bodied man, standing
six feet in his shoes, and is of powerful muscular build. The knowledge
acquired by some eight years' residence in Greenland, of hunting, and
of the Esquimau language, which he speaks like a native, and of the
English which he has picked up from the British whale-ships, makes him
one of the most useful members of my party.
[Sidenote: DOMESTIC FELICITY.]
The men have been busy sewing up seal-skins into coats, pantaloons, and
boots, to complete their winter wardrobe. They have tried very hard
to get Mrs. Hans to do this work for them, but the indolent creature
persistently refuses to sew a stitch. She is the most obstinate of
her sex; feels perfectly independent of every thing and of everybody;
pouts fiercely when she is not pleased, and gets the sulks about once
a fortnight, when she declares most positively that she will abandon
Hans and the white men forever, and go back to her own people. She once
tried the experiment, and started off at a rapid rate, with her baby on
her back, towards Cape Alexander. There had evidently been a domestic
spat. Hans came out of his tent as if nothing had happened, and stood
at the window leisurely smoking his pipe, and watching her in the most
unconcerned manner in the world. As she tripped off south I called his
attention to her.
"Yes--me see."
"Where is she going, Hans?"
"She no go. She come back--all right."
"But she will freeze, Hans?"
"She no freeze. She come back by by,--you see."
And he went on smoking his pipe with a quiet chuckle which told how
well he understood the whims of his beloved. Two hours afterward she
came back, sure enough, very meek and very cold, for the wind was
blowing in her face.
The day being Saturday, the sailors are busy by turns at the wash-tub,
to have a clean turn-out for Sunday, on which day, even in this remote
corner of the world, everybody puts on his best, and at Sunday morning
muster my people present a very neat and creditable appearance. The
gray uniform which I have adopted as a dress-suit is always worn on
that occasion, both by officers and men. Each officer has a sailor for
a "washerwoman," and I have mine; and Knorr has just brought me in the
most encouraging accounts of his skill, and as a proof of it I found on
my table, when I came in out of the moonlight from a tramp to the open
water, (where I had been making some observations for temperature,) a
well-starched and neatly ironed cambric handkerchief, sprinkled with
cologne.
[Sidenote: A CHEERFUL DAY.]
The day, for some reason or other, seems to have been peculiarly
bright and cheerful to everybody, and the cheerfulness runs on into
the evening. I fancy that our old cook was in a more than usually
good humor, and doubtless this has had something to do with it. For
my own part, I must acknowledge the power of his artistic skill as
affecting the moral sentiments. My walk to the open water was both
cold and fatiguing. Desiring to get out as far as I could, I sprang
over the loose ice-tables, and reached an iceberg near "The Twins,"
which I mounted; and, after digging a hole into it, found that it had
a temperature only 8° lower than the temperature of the water that
floated it, which was 29°. I scrambled back to the fast ice as quickly
as I could, for the tide and wind, which was strong from the land,
looked very much as if they intended to carry the raft out to sea.
[Sidenote: JOHN WILLIAMS, THE COOK.]
To come back to the cook,--I was in a condition upon my return to do
ample justice to a fillet of venison, garnished with currant-jelly,
which was awaiting me, and upon the preparation of which the cook had
evidently exhausted all his skill; and afterward Knorr made for me,
with my alcohol furnace, a cup of aromatic Mocha.
And so one may find pleasure even where Bacchus and Cupid deign not to
come. True, this is the region into which Apollo voluntarily wandered
after the decree of Olympus made him an exile, and where the Hellenic
poets dreamed of men living to an incredible age, in the enjoyment of
all possible felicity; but, to say the truth, I question the wisdom of
the banished god, as tradition makes no mention of a schooner, and I
find that in this "Residence of Boreas" one must look out for himself
pretty sharply,--poets to the contrary, notwithstanding.
The cook brought me the dinner himself. "I tinks de Commander likes
dis," said he, "coming from de cold."
"Yes, cook, it is really superb. Now, what can I do for you?"
"Tank you, sar! I tinks if de Commander would only be so kind as to
give me a clean shirt, I shall be very tankful. He see dis one be very
dirty, and I gets no time to vash him."
"Certainly, cook, you shall have two."
"Tank you, sar!"--and he bends himself half double, meaning it for a
bow, and goes back well pleased to his stove and his coppers.
Our cook is quite a character. He is much the oldest man on board, and
is the most singular mixture of adverse moral qualities that I have
ever chanced to meet. He makes it his boast that he has never been off
the ship's deck since leaving Boston. "Vat should I go ashore for?"
said he, one day, to some of the officers who were reciting to him the
wonders of the land. "Me go ashore! De land be very good place to grow
de vegetables, but it no place to be. I never goes ashore ven I can
help it, and please my Hebenly Fader I never vill."
[Sidenote: A CHEERFUL EVENING.]
I have passed an hour of the evening very pleasantly with the officers
in their cabin, have had my usual game of chess with Knorr, and now,
having done with this journal for the day, I will coil myself up in my
nest of furs and read in Marco Polo of those parts of the world where
people live without an effort, know not the use of bear-skins, and die
of fever. After all, one's lines might fall in less pleasant places
than in the midst of an Arctic winter.
[Illustration]