MIDWINTER.--THE NIGHT OF MONTHS.--BRILLIANCY OF THE
MOONLIGHT.--MILD TEMPERATURES.--REMARKABLE WEATHER.--A
SHOWER.--DEPTH OF SNOW.--SNOW CRYSTALS.--AN EPIDEMIC AMONG THE
DOGS.--SYMPTOMS OF THE DISORDER.--GREAT MORTALITY.--ONLY ONE
TEAM LEFT.--NEW PLANS.--SCHEMES FOR REACHING THE ESQUIMAUX IN
WHALE SOUND.
The reader who has followed my diary since we entered Port Foulke will
have noticed how gradually the daylight vanished, and with what slow
and measured step the darkness came upon us. As November approached its
close, the last glimmer of twilight disappeared. The stars shone at all
hours with equal brilliancy. From a summer which had no night we had
passed into a winter which had no day, through an autumn twilight. In
this strange ordering of Nature there is something awe-inspiring and
unreal.
We all knew from our school-boy days that, at the poles of the earth
there is but one day and one night in the year; but, when brought face
to face with the reality, it is hard to realize. And it is harder still
to get used to. If the constant sunshine of the summer disturbed our
life-long habits, the continual darkness of the winter did more. In
the one case the imagination was excited by the ever-present light,
inspiring action; in the other, a night of months threw a cloud over
the intellect and dwarfed the energies.
To this prolonged darkness the moon gives some relief. From its rising
to its setting it shines continually, circling around the horizon,
never setting until it has run its ten days' course of brightness. And
it shines with a brilliancy which one will hardly observe elsewhere.
The uniform whiteness of the landscape and the general clearness of
the atmosphere add to the illumination of its rays, and one may see
to read by its light with ease, and the natives often use it as they
do the sun, to guide their nomadic life and to lead them to their
hunting-grounds.
[Sidenote: MIDWINTER.]
The days and weeks of midwinter passed slowly away. Our experience up
to this period was in many respects remarkable. Although sheltered by
high lands, we were nevertheless exposed to severe and almost constant
northeast winds; and although shut up in polar darkness, and hemmed in
by polar ice, an open sea had thus far been within sight of us all the
time, and the angry waves were often a threatening terror. Many times
we had thought ourselves in danger of being cast adrift with the ice,
and carried out to sea in a helpless condition.
The temperature had been strangely mild, a circumstance at least in
part accounted for by the open water, and to this same cause was no
doubt due the great disturbance of the air, and the frequency of the
gales. I have mentioned in the last chapter a very remarkable rise in
the thermometer which occurred early in November; but a still greater
elevation of temperature followed a few weeks later, reaching as high
as 32°, and sinking back to 15° below zero almost as suddenly as it
had risen. In consequence of this extraordinary and unaccountable
event, the thaw was renewed, and our former discomfort arising from
the dampness on the deck and in our quarters was experienced in an
aggravated degree. During two days (November 28th and 29th) we could
use no other fire than what was necessary for the preparation of our
meals, and for melting our necessary supply of water. To add to our
astonishment, a heavy fall of snow was followed by a shower of rain,
a circumstance which I had not previously witnessed in this latitude
except in the months of July and August, and then scarcely more rain
fell than on the present occasion. The depth of snow precipitated
during this period was likewise remarkable,--the aggregate being 32
inches. In one single day 19 inches were deposited, greater by 5
inches than the entire accumulations of the winter of 1853-54 at Van
Rensselaer Harbor. The total amount of snow which had fallen up to
the first of December was 48 inches. Being so far north of the line
of maximum snows, I was the more surprised, as my former experience
appeared to have shown that the region of Smith's Sound was almost
wholly free from nubilous deposits.
[Sidenote: SNOW CRYSTALS.]
I was much interested at this warm period in observing how singularly
perfect and beautiful were the snow crystals; and it is a somewhat
singular circumstance that the perfect crystals are only exhibited when
the snow falls in a temperature comparatively mild. I have not observed
them when the thermometer ranged below zero. The snow is then quite dry
and hard, and does not exhibit those soft, thin, transparent flakes of
the warmer air. With the aid of a magnifying glass, I was enabled to
obtain very accurate sketches of a large number of them. Their form was
always hexagonal, but the rays were very various in their development,
although they all possessed the same radical foundation. The most
perfect and full suggested a diminutive fern leaf.
* * * * *
As we neared the climax of the winter the satisfactory progress of
events became disturbed by a series of misfortunes which largely
influenced the destinies of the expedition, and which, by disarranging
all of my plans, caused me grave embarrassments.
[Sidenote: AN EPIDEMIC AMONG THE DOGS.]
In a former chapter I have mentioned that a disease had been, for
several years, prevailing among the dogs of Southern Greenland, and
that a large proportion of these useful animals had fallen victims to
it. The cause of this disease had not been determined, but I was led
to believe, from what information I could obtain, that it was purely
of local origin, and that, therefore, when I had removed my teams from
the seat of its influence I would be freed from its dangers. Under this
impression I had consumed much time at the Danish-Esquimau settlements,
in picking up here and there a dog, until I had obtained thirty-six
animals. Up to the first of December they remained in perfect health;
and, being fed upon an abundant allowance of fresh meat, I had great
confidence that I should be able to carry them through to the spring,
and, when the period of my sledge explorations should arrive, that
I would have four strong and serviceable teams. My fears were for a
time somewhat excited by the information received from Hans, that the
Esquimaux of Whale Sound and vicinity, with whom he had been living,
were heavy losers by the death of a great number of their dogs, and
the description which he gave of this distemper corresponded with that
of Southern Greenland; but November being passed without any symptoms
of the malady having made its appearance in my splendid pack, I felt
hopeful that they would escape the visitation. The loss which Dr. Kane
had suffered by the death of his teams was fresh in my recollection;
but for this there appeared to be a sufficient cause. Being almost
wholly without fresh food of any kind, he was compelled to subsist his
teams upon salt meats, which, giving scurvy to his men, could hardly
be expected to act otherwise than injuriously upon the dogs, which had
always before been used to a fresh diet of seal meat.
My hopeful anticipations were, however, not realized. One day early
in December Jensen reported to me that one of the finest animals had
been attacked with the disease, and recommended that it should be
shot, to prevent the disease spreading; and this was accordingly done.
A few hours afterwards another one was seized in the same manner.
The symptoms were at first those of great restlessness. The animal
ran several times around the ship, first one way and then the other,
with a vague uncertainty in its gait, and with an alternate raising
and lowering of the head and tail, every movement indicative of great
nervous excitement. After a while it started off toward the mouth of
the harbor, barking all the while and seeming to be in mortal dread
of some imaginary object from which it was endeavoring to fly. In
a little while it came back, still more excited than before. These
symptoms rapidly increased in violence, the eyes became bloodshot,
froth ran from the mouth, and the dog became possessed of an apparently
uncontrollable desire to snap at every thing which came in its way.
The disease ran its course in a few hours. Weakness and prostration
followed the excitement, and the poor animal staggered around the
vessel, apparently unable to see its way, and finally fell over in a
fit. After struggling for a little while in the snow, consciousness
returned, and it got again upon its feet. Another fit followed soon
afterward; and then they came one after another in rapid succession,
until finally its misery was relieved by death, which occurred in less
than twenty-four hours from the incipience of the attack. Meanwhile I
had watched it closely, hoping to discover some clew to the cause, and
to establish a cure. But I could obtain no light whatever. Dissection
revealed nothing. There was no apparent inflammation either of the
brain, the nerve centres, the spinal cord, or the nerves themselves;
and I was wholly at a loss to understand the strange phenomenon. That
it was not hydrophobia was shown by the fact that the animal rather
desired than shunned water. Many of the symptoms attending that disease
were, however, manifested; but it did not, like hydrophobia, appear to
be communicated by the bite; for those dogs which happened to be bitten
were not more speedily attacked than the others.
[Sidenote: GREAT MORTALITY OF DOGS.]
This case had scarcely reached its fatal termination before another
was reported, and it was relieved of its misery by a bullet. Seven
died during four days, and I saw with consternation my fine teams
melting away and my hopes endangered; and while this was in progress I
could only look on and wonder and experiment, but could never stop the
contagion nor arrest the evil.
Among the first dogs attacked was a superb beast that I have before
named. He was the best draught animal of my best team, the second
leader,--Karsuk. I have never seen such expression of ferocity and mad
strength exhibited by any living creature, as he manifested two hours
after the first symptoms were observed. Thinking that confinement might
do good, and desiring to see if the disease would not wear itself out,
I had him caught and put into a large box on the deck; but this seemed
rather to aggravate than to soothe the violence of the symptoms. He
tore the boards with indescribable fierceness, and, getting his teeth
into a crack, ripped off splinter after splinter until he had made a
hole almost large enough for his head, when I ordered him to be shot.
At this moment his eyes were like balls of fire; he had broken off one
of his tusks, and his mouth was spouting blood. Soon afterward another
fine animal, which seemed to be perfectly well a few moments before,
suddenly sprang up, dashed off with a wild yell, wheeled round the
harbor, returned to the vessel, and there fell struggling in a fit. I
had him tied, but he tore himself loose, and, fearful for the other
dogs, he too was killed. Three others died the same day, and the deaths
during the first two weeks of December were eighteen. This, with the
losses before sustained, left me with only twelve animals. One week
later these were reduced to nine.
[Sidenote: ONLY ONE TEAM LEFT.]
The serious nature of this disaster will perhaps not at first be
apparent to the reader. It will be remembered, however, that my plans
of exploration for the coming spring were mainly based upon dogs as a
means of transportation across the ice; and now that my teams were so
much reduced (and it seemed, indeed, likely that they would all die) it
became very evident that, unless I should be able to supply the loss,
all of my plans would be rendered abortive.
My anxiety was fully shared by Mr. Sonntag. Having failed in all of
our efforts to arrest the fatal tendency of the malady, we could only
occupy ourselves with devising ways and means for remedying, in some
degree, the evil, or to arrange new plans in conformity with our
changed circumstances.
[Sidenote: PLANS FOR OBTAINING DOGS.]
The first expedient which suggested itself was to open communication
with the Esquimaux of Whale Sound, and, in the event of this being
accomplished, it was fair to suppose that some animals might be
obtained from them. If we could succeed in bringing the tribe to the
vessel, we might readily accomplish our wish; for, during the period
that their dogs would be in our service, we could, if necessity
required it, furnish them all with food, either from our stores or from
the hunt.
Hans was consulted concerning the Esquimaux, and from him we learned
that there was a family living on Northumberland Island, several
families on the south side of Whale Sound, and possibly one or more
on the north side. Northumberland Island was about a hundred miles
distant as we would be obliged to travel in order to reach it, and the
south side of the Sound about one hundred and fifty. That we should
communicate with these people at the earliest practicable moment was
a matter of the first importance. If a sufficient number of the dogs
should remain alive when the moon came in December, it was arranged
that Sonntag should make the journey at that period, taking a single
sledge, and Hans for a driver. If the dogs should all die, then I
intended to go down on foot as soon as possible, and do my best to
bring all of the Esquimaux to Port Foulke and Etah, use their dogs
while we needed them, and feed and clothe the people in the interval.
Meanwhile, however, we could only wait through the mid-December
darkness, and hope that the month would end more auspiciously than it
had begun.