Produced by N. Wolcott
THE FUR COUNTRY by Jules Verne [Redactor’s Note: The Fur
Country(Number V010 in the T&M numerical listing of Verne’s works) is
a translation of Le Pays de fourrures (1873) first published in England
by Sampson and Low and in the United States by James Osgood (1874). The
translation is by N. d’Anvers, a pseudonym for Mrs. Arthur Bell (d.
1933) who also translated other works of Jules Verne. Other translations
of this work are by Henry Frith (George Routledge, 1879) and Edward
Baxter (New Canada Press, 1987).
A listing of the illustrations in the original editions is provided
as well as a table of contents for each part. The illustrations are
assigned numbers which refer to the part of the book, chapter, and order
(a,b,c etc.) for use when an illustrated version is created.
This redaction is by N. Wolcott (nwolcott2@post.harvard.edu) who assumes
all responsibility for errors of omission or commission. ]
THE FUR COUNTRY or Seventy Degrees North Latitude Translated from the
French of Jules Verne
BY N. D’ANVERS
With One Hundred Illustrations
1874
TO MY NEPHEWS HERBERT, EDGAR, AND ROBERT
This Translation
is
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED,
N. D’ANVERS
Clapham, 1873
THE FUR COUNTRY. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I-01-a
“Mrs Joliffe served out slice after slice”
I-01-b
Lieutenant Hobson and Sergeant Long
I-01-c
“The Corporal, match in hand, awaited the order of his Captain”
I-02-a
The arrival of Thomas Black
I-02-b
A savant thawed
I-03-a
Thomas Black introduces himself
I-04-a
The start from Fort Reliancce
I-04-b
“Lieutenant Hobson and the Sergeant led the way,”
I-05-a
Corporal Joliffe proves his skill in driving,
I-05-b
The beginning of the thaw
I-05-c
The effects of the thaw
I-06-a
A wapiti duel
I-06-b
“To the icebergs! to the icebergs!”
I-06-c
“There were bears prowling in the pass”
I-07-a
The Hare Indians
I-08-a
A storm on the lake
I-08-b
“Hobson uttered a last despairing cry!”
I-08-c
Saved!
I-09-a
The mouth of the Coppermine River
I-09-b
“Thousands of birds were shot”
I-10-a
Traces of an encampment
I-11-a
The footprints of a dancer
I-11-b
A temporary encampment
I-12-a
“I promise you double pay”
I-12-b
The site of the fort
I-12-c
Collecting materials for the new factory
I-13-a
A hunting party
I-14-a
Sergeant Long and Madge fishing
I-14-a
“From this position they were able,” &c.
I-15-a
A Morse Hunt
I-16-a
Walrus Bay
I-16-b
Two shots
I-16-c
Rival claimants
I-17-a
“A new country was springing into being”
I-17-b
“A kind of fete was held”
I-18-a
“Mrs Barnett read aloud”
I-18-b
“The dogs rushed out” &c.
I-19-a
“The body was hauled up” &c.
I-19-b
Some living creatures came out of the hut
I-19-c
“She ran up to it” &c.
I-20-a
“It is more beautiful than an Aurora Borealis!”
I-21-a
“The bears were walking about on the roof”
I-21-b
“Mrs Barnett pressed the brave man’s hand”
I-21-b
“Mrs Barnett discharged the contents” &c.
I-21-d
“Mingled howls and screams were heard”
I-22-a
“Just look at our house now!”
I-22-b
“The ice burst” &c.
I-22-c
“Its waters were still sweet” &c.
I-23-a
“He might be seen standing motionless and silent”
I-23-b
“All might watch the progress of the phenomenon”
I-23-c
“Please, sir, it’s because of the pay”
I-23-d
“He shook his fist at the sun”
II-02-a
“I think not”
II-02-b
“The carpenter fixed upon the beach” &c.
II-02-c
“Thomas Black would not even join the exploring party”
II-03-a
“They breakfasted” &c.
II-03-b
“Numerous furred animals” &c.
II-04-a
“He was able to look closely at the steep wall” &c.
II-04-b
“Keep hold!”
II-04-c
“Corporal Joliffe was extremely fond of him”
II-05-a
“Thanks to the Corporal’s unwearying exertions”
II-05-b
“We are sinking gradually”
II-06-a
“Hobson remained crouching” &c.
II-060b
“The Lieutenant promised” &c.
II-07-a
“Not that way”
II-07-b
“Sergeant! Where are you?”
II-07-c
“We saw their fire; they will see ours!”
II-08-a
“Look, Madge, look!”
II-08-b
“The bear seized Kalumah by the clothes”
II-08-c
“It was the young Esquimaux girl Kalumah”
II-09-a
She murmured, ‘Mrs Barnett’
II-09-b
“The waves dashed over her kayak”
II-09-c
“She covered him with kisses”
II-10-a
“The Lieutenant tied round their necks”
II-10-b
“Hobson was in dismay”
II-11-a
“The wolves came within musket range”
II-11-b
“We knew it, sir!”
II-12-a
“It was a Polar bear”
II-12-b
“Two large waggon sledges were built”
II-13-a
“Some of the icebergs assumed extraordinary forms”
II-13-b
“We must pass somehow”
II-14-a
“Marbre flung his running noose skilfully,”
II-14-b
“Everybody started back”
II-15-a
“It was dashed upon the ice-field with a fearful crash”
II-15-b
“I think it is time to retrace our steps”
II-16-a
“It is a frost-rime”
II-16-b
“He took the altitude”
II-17-a
“When an unexpected noise”
II-17-b
“It was like an army of icebergs” &c.
II-18-a
“Poor things! poor things!”
II-18-b
“And a figure appeared” &c.
II-19-a
“Examining the state of the sea” &c.
II-19-b
“Mrs Barnett sobbed aloud”
II-20-a
“The lower framework was already floating”
II-20-b
“He escaped with a ducking”
II-21-a
“The embarkation of provisions, &c., had to be put off”
II-22-a
“He tightened them,” &c.
II-22-b
“Mrs Barnett turned and looked Madge full in the face”
II-23-a
“A beam . . . sunk deep into the earth” &c.
II-23-b
“The colonists, falling on their knees, returned thanks to God”
II-24-a
Kalumah and the bear
CONTENTS Part I I
A Soirée at Fort Reliance
II
The Hudson’s Bay Fur Company
III
A Savant Thawed
IV
A Factory
V
From Fort Reliance to Fort enterprise
VI
A Wapiti Duel
VII
The Arctic Circle
VIII
The Great Bear Lake
IX
A Storm on the Lake
X
A Retrospect
XI
Along the Coast
XII
The Midnight Sun
XIII
Fort Hope
XIV
Some Excursions
XV
Fifteen Miles from Cape Bathurst
XVI
Two Shots
XVII
The Approach of Winter
XVIII
The Polar Night
XIX
A Neighbourly Visit
XX
Mercury Freezes
XXI
The Large Polar Bears
XXII
Five Months More
XXIII
The Eclipse of the 18th June 1860
CHAPTER I. A SOIRÉE AT FORT RELIANCE. On the evening of the 17th March
1859, Captain Craventy gave a fête at Fort Reliance. Our readers must
not at once imagine a grand entertainment, such as a court ball, or a
musical soirée with a fine orchestra. Captain Craventy’s reception
was a very simple affair, yet he had spared no pains to give it éclat.
In fact, under the auspices of Corporal Joliffe, the large room on the
ground-floor was completely transformed. The rough walls, constructed of
roughly-hewn trunks of trees piled up horizontally, were still visible,
it is true, but their nakedness was disguised by arms and armour,
borrowed from the arsenal of the fort, and by an English tent at each
corner of the room. Two lamps suspended by chains, like chandeliers,
and provided with tin reflectors, relieved the gloomy appearance of the
blackened beams of the ceiling, and sufficiently illuminated the
misty atmosphere of the room. The narrow windows, some of them mere
loop-holes, were so encrusted with hoar-frost, that it was impossible
to look through them; but two or three pieces of red bunting, tastily
arranged about them, challenged the admiration of all who entered. The
floor, of rough joists of wood laid parallel with each other, had been
carefully swept by Corporal Joliffe. No sofas, chairs, or other modern
furniture, impeded the free circulation of the guests. Wooden benches
half fixed against the walls, huge blocks of wood cut with the axe,
and two tables with clumsy legs, were all the appliances of luxury
the saloon could boast of. But the partition wall, with a narrow door
leading into the next room, was decorated in a style alike costly and
picturesque. From the beams hung magnificent furs admirably arranged,
the equal of which could not be seen in the more favoured regions of
Regent Street or the Perspective-Newski. It seemed as if the whole fauna
of the ice-bound North were here represented by their finest skins. The
eye wandered from the furs of wolves, grey bears, polar bears, otters,
wolverenes, beavers, muskrats, water pole-cats, ermines, and silver
foxes; and above this display was an inscription in brilliantly-coloured
and artistically shaped cardboard—the motto of the world-famous
Hudson’s Bay Company—
“PROPELLE CUTUM.”
“Really, Corporal Joliffe, you have surpassed yourself !” said
Captain Craventy to his subordinate.
“I think I have, I think I have !” replied the Corporal; “but
honour to whom honour is due, Mrs Joliffe deserves part of your
commendation; she assisted me in everything.”
“A wonderful woman, Corporal.”
“Her equal is not to be found, Captain.”
An immense brick and earthenware stove occupied the centre of the
room, with a huge iron pipe passing from it through the ceiling,
and conducting the dense black smoke into the outer air. This stove
contained a roaring fire constantly fed with fresh shovelfuls of coal by
the stoker, an old soldier specially appointed to the service. Now and
then a gust of wind drove back a volume of smoke into the room, dimming
the brightness of the lamps, and adding fresh blackness to the beams of
the ceiling, whilst tongues of flame shot forth from the stove. But the
guests of Fort Reliance thought little of this slight inconvenience; the
stove warmed them, and they could not pay too dearly for its cheering
heat, so terribly cold was it outside in the cutting north wind.
The storm could be heard raging without, the snow fell fast, becoming
rapidly solid and coating the already frosted window panes with fresh
ice. The whistling wind made its way through the cranks and chinks of
the doors and windows, and occasionally the rattling noise drowned every
other sound. Presently an awful silence ensued. Nature seemed to be
taking breath; but suddenly the squall recommenced with terrific fury.
The house was shaken to its foundations, the planks cracked, the beams
groaned. A stranger less accustomed than the habitués of the fort to
the war of the elements, would have asked if the end of the world were
come.
But, with two exceptions, Captain Craventy’s guests troubled
themselves little about the weather, and if they had been outside
they would have felt no more fear than the stormy petrels disporting
themselves in the midst of the tempest. Two only of the assembled
company did not belong to the ordinary society of the neighbourhood,
two women, whom we shall introduce when we have enumerated Captain
Craventy’s other guests: these were, Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson,
Sergeant Long, Corporal Joliffe, and his bright active Canadian wife,
a certain Mac-Nab and his wife, both Scotch, John Rae, married to an
Indian woman of the country, and some sixty soldiers or employés of
the Hudson’s Bay Company. The neighbouring forts also furnished their
contingent of guests, for in these remote lands people look upon each
other as neighbours although their homes may be a hundred miles apart.
A good many employés or traders came from Fort Providence or Fort
Resolution, of the Great Slave Lake district, and even from Fort
Chippeway and Fort Liard further south. A rare break like this in the
monotony of their secluded lives, in these hyberborean regions, was
joyfully welcomed by all the exiles, and even a few Indian chiefs, about
a dozen, had accepted Captain Craventy’s invitation. They were not,
however, accompanied by their wives, the luckless squaws being still
looked upon as little better than slaves. The presence of these natives
is accounted for by the fact that they are in constant intercourse with
the traders, and supply the greater number of furs which pass through
the hands of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in exchange for other
commodities. They are mostly Chippeway Indians, well grown men with
hardy constitutions. Their complexions are of the peculiar reddish black
colour always ascribed in Europe to the evil spirits of fairyland.
They wear very picturesque cloaks of skins and mantles of fur, with a
head-dress of eagle’s feathers spread out like a lady’s fan, and
quivering with every motion of their thick black hair.
Such was the company to whom the Captain was doing the honours of Fort
Reliance. There was no dancing for want of music, but the “buffet”
admirably supplied the want of the hired musicians of the European
balls. On the table rose a pyramidal pudding made by Mrs Joliffe’s
own hands; it was an immense truncated cone, composed of flour, fat,
rein-deer venison, and musk beef. The eggs, milk, and citron prescribed
in recipe books were, it is true, wanting, but their absence was atoned
for by its huge proportions. Mrs Joliffe served out slice after slice
with liberal hands, yet there remained enough and to spare. Piles of
sandwiches also figured on the table, in which ship biscuits took the
place of thin slices of English bread and butter, and dainty morsels of
corned beef that of the ham and stuffed veal of the old world. The sharp
teeth of the Chippeway Indians made short work of the tough biscuits;
and for drink there was plenty of whisky and gin handed round in little
pewter pots, not to speak of a great bowl of punch which was to close
the entertainment, and of which the Indians talked long afterwards in
their wigwams.
Endless were the compliments paid to the Joliffes that evening, but they
deserved them; how zealously they waited on the guests, with what easy
grace they distributed the refreshments! They did not need prompting,
they anticipated the wishes of each one. The sandwiches were succeeded
by slices of the inexhaustible pudding, the pudding by glasses of gin or
whisky.
“No, thank you, Mr Joliffe.”
“You are too good, Corporal; but let me have time to breathe.”
“Mrs Joliffe, I assure you, I can eat no more.”
“Corporal Joliffe, I am at your mercy.”
“No more, Mrs Joliffe, no more, thank you!”
Such were the replies met with on every side by the zealous pair, but
their powers of persuasion were such that the most reluctant yielded in
the end. The quantities of food and drink consumed were really enormous.
The hubbub of conversation increased. The soldiery and employés became
excited. Here the talk was of hunting, there of trade. What plans were
laid for next season! The entire fauna of the Arctic regions would
scarcely supply game enough for these enterprising hunters. They already
saw bears, foxes, and musk oxen, falling beneath their bullets, and
pole-cats by hundreds caught in their traps. Their imagination pictured
the costly furs piled up in the magazines of the Company, which was this
year to realise hitherto unheard of profits. And whilst the spirits thus
freely circulated inflamed the imagination of the Europeans, the large
doses of Captain Craventy’s “fire-water” imbibed by the Indians
had an opposite effect. Too proud to show admiration, too cautious to
make promises, the taciturn chiefs listened gravely and silently to the
babel of voices around them.
The captain enjoying the hurly burly, and pleased to see the poor
people, brought back as it were to the civilised world, enjoying
themselves so thoroughly, was here, there, and everywhere, answering all
inquiries about the fête with the words
“Ask Joliffe, ask Joliffe !”
And they asked Joliffe, who had a gracious word for every body.
Some of those employed in the garrison and civil service of Fort
Reliance must here receive a few words of special notice, for they were
presently to go through experiences of a most terrible nature, which no
human perspicacity could possibly have foreseen. Amongst others we must
name Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson, Sergeant Long, Corporal and Mrs Joliffe,
and the two foreign women already alluded to, in whose honour Captain
Craventy’s fête was given.
Jaspar Hobson was a man of forty years of age. He was short and slight,
with little muscular power; but a force of will which carried him
successfully through all trials, and enabled him to rise superior to
adverse circumstances. He was “ a child of the Company.” His father,
Major Hobson, an Irishman from Dublin, who had now been dead for some
time, lived for many years at Fort Assiniboin with his wife. There
Jaspar Hobson was born. His childhood and youth were spent at the foot
of the Rocky Mountains. His father brought him up strictly, and he
became a man in self-control and courage whilst yet a boy in years.
Jaspar Hobson was no mere hunter, but a soldier, a brave and intelligent
officer. During the struggles in Oregon of the Hudson’s Bay Company
with the rival companies of the Union, he distinguished himself by his
zeal and intrepidity, and rapidly rose to the rank of lieutenant. His
well-known merit led to his appointment to the command of an expedition
to the north, the aim of which was to explore the northern shores of
the Great Bear Lake, and to found a fort on the confines of the American
continent. Jaspar Hobson was to set out on his journey early in April.
If the lieutenant was the type of a good officer, Sergeant Long was
that of a good soldier. He was a man of fifty years of age, with a
rough beard that looked as if it were made of cocoa-nut fibre.
Constitutionally brave, and disposed to obey rather than to command.
He had no ambition but to obey the orders he received never questioning
them, however strange they might appear, never reasoning for himself
when on duty for the Company-a true machine in uniform; but a perfect
machine, never wearing out; ever on the march, yet never showing signs
of fatigue. Perhaps Sergeant Long was rather hard upon his men, as he
was upon himself. He would not tolerate the slightest infraction
of discipline, and mercilessly ordered men into confinement for the
slightest neglect, whilst he himself had never been reprimanded. In a
word, he was a man born to obey, and this self-annihilation suited
his passive temperament. Men such as he are the materials of which a
formidable army is formed. They are the arms of the service, obeying a
single head. Is not this the only really powerful organisation? The two
types of fabulous mythology, Briareus with a hundred arms and Hydra
with a hundred heads, well represent the two kinds of armies; and in
a conflict between them, which would be victorious? Briareus without a
doubt !
We have already made acquaintance with Corporal Joliffe. He was the busy
bee of the party, but it was pleasant to hear him humming. He would have
made a better major-domo than a soldier; and he was himself aware of
this. So he called himself the “ Corporal in charge of details,” but
he would have lost himself a hundred times amongst these details, had
not little Mrs Joliffe guided him with a firm hand. So it came to pass,
that Corporal Joliffe obeyed his wife without owning it, doubtless
thinking to himself, like the philosopher Sancho, “a woman’s advice
is no such great thing, but he must be a fool who does not listen to
it.”
It is now time to say a few words of the two foreign women already
alluded to more than once. They were both about forty years old, and
one of them well deserved to take first rank amongst celebrated female
travellers. The name of Paulina Barnett, the rival of the Pfeiffers,
Tinnis, and Haimaires of Hull, has been several times honourably
mentioned at the meetings of the Royal Geographical Society. In her
journeys up the Brahmaputra, as far as the mountains of Thibet,
across an unknown corner of New Holland, from Swan Bay to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, Paulina Barnett had given proof of the qualities of a great
traveller. She had been a widow for fifteen years, and her passion for
travelling led her constantly to explore new lands. She was tall, and
her face, framed in long braids of hair, already touched with white, was
full of energy. She was near-sighted, and a double eye-glass rested upon
her long straight nose, with its mobile nostrils. We must confess that
her walk was somewhat masculine, and her whole appearance was suggestive
of moral power, rather than of female grace. She was an Englishwoman
from Yorkshire, possessed of some fortune, the greater part of which was
expended in adventurous expeditions, and some new scheme of exploration
had now brought her to Fort Reliance. Having crossed the equinoctial
regions, she was doubtless anxious to penetrate to the extreme limits of
the hyperborean. Her presence at the fort was an event. The governor of
the Company had given her a special letter of recommendation to Captain
Craventy, according to which the latter was to do all in his power to
forward the design of the celebrated traveller to reach the borders of
the Arctic Ocean. A grand enterprise! To follow in the steps of Hearne,
Mackenzie, Rae, Franklin, and others. What fatigues, what trials, what
dangers would have to be gone through in the conflict with the terrible
elements of the Polar climate! How could a woman dare to venture where
so many explorers have drawn back or perished? But the stranger now shut
up in Fort Reliance was no ordinary woman; she was Paulina Barnett, a
laureate of the Royal Society.
We must add that the celebrated traveller was accompanied by a servant
named Madge. This faithful creature was not merely a servant, but
a devoted and courageous friend, who lived only for her mistress. A
Scotchwoman of the old type, whom a Caleb might have married without
loss of dignity. Madge was about five years older than Mrs Barnett, and
was tall and strongly built. The two were on the most intimate terms;
Paulina looked upon Madge as an elder sister, and Madge treated Paulina
as her daughter.
It was in honour of Paulina Barnett that Captain Craventy was this
evening treating his employés and the Chippeway Indians. In fact,
the lady traveller was to join the expedition of Jaspar Hobson for the
exploration of the north. It was for Paulina Barnett that the large
saloon of the factory resounded with joyful hurrahs. And it was no
wonder that the stove consumed a hundredweight of coal on this memorable
evening, for the cold outside was twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit below
zero, and Fort Reliance is situated in 61° 47’ N. Lat., at least four
degrees from the Polar circle.
CHAPTER II. THE HUDSON’S BAY FUR COMPANY. “Captain Craventy?”
“Mrs Barnett?”
What do you think of your Lieutenant, Jaspar Hobson?”
“I think he is an officer who will go far.”
“What do you mean by the words, Will go far? Do you mean that he will
go beyond the Twenty-fourth parallel?”
Captain Craventy could not help smiling at Mrs Paulina Barnett’s
question. They were talking together near the stove, whilst the guests
were passing backwards and forwards between the eating and drinking
tables.
“Madam,” replied the Captain, “all that a man can do, will be done
by Jaspar Hobson. The Company has charged him to explore the north of
their possessions, and to establish a factory as near as possible to the
confines of the American continent, and he will establish it.”
“That is a great responsibility for Lieutenant Hobson !” said the
traveller.
“It is, madam, but Jaspar Hobson has never yet drawn back from a task
imposed upon him, however formidable it may have appeared.”
“I can quite believe it, Captain,” replied Mrs Barnett, “and we
shall now see the Lieutenant at work. But what induces the Company to
construct a fort on the shores of the Arctic Ocean?”
“They have a powerful motive, madam,” replied the Captain.
“I may add a double motive. At no very distant date, Russia will
probably cede her American possessions to the Government of the United
States. [*1] When this cession has taken place, the Company will find
access to the Pacific Ocean extremely difficult, unless the North-west
passage discovered by Mc’Clure be practicable. [*1 Captain
Craventy’s prophecy has since been realised.] Fresh explorations will
decide this, for the Admiralty is about to send a vessel which will
coast along the North American continent, from Behring Strait to
Coronation Gulf, on the eastern side of which the new-Art is to be
established. If the enterprise succeed, this point will become an
important factory, the centre of the northern fur trade. The transport
of furs across the Indian territories involves a vast expenditure of
time and money, whereas, if the new route be available, steamers will
take them from the new fort to the Pacific Ocean in a few days.”
“That would indeed be an important result of the enterprise, if this
North-west passage can really be used,” replied Mrs Paulina Barnett;
“but I think you spoke of a double motive.”
“I did, madam,” said the Captain, “and I alluded to a matter of
vital interest to the Company. But I must beg of you to allow me to
explain to you in a few words how the present state of things came
about, how it is in fact that the very source of the trade of this once
flourishing Company is in danger of destruction.”
The Captain then proceeded to give a brief sketch of the history of the
famous Hudson’s Bay Company.
In the earliest times men employed the skins and furs of animals as
clothing. The fur trade is therefore of very great antiquity. Luxury in
dress increased to such an extent, that sumptuary laws were enacted to
control too great extravagance, especially in furs, for which there
was a positive passion. Vair and the furs of Siberian squirrels were
prohibited at the middle of the 12th century.
In 1553 Russia founded several establishments in the northern steppes,
and England lost no time in following her example. The trade in
sables, ermines, and beavers, was carried on through the agency of the
Samoiedes; but during the reign of Elizabeth, a royal decree restricted
the use of costly furs to such an extent, that for several years this
branch of industry was completely paralysed.
On the 2nd May, 1670, a licence to trade in furs in the Hudson’s Bay
Territory was granted to the Company, which numbered several men of high
rank amongst its shareholders : the Duke of York, the Duke of Albemarle,
the Earl of Shaftesbury, &c. Its capital was then only £8420. Private
companies were formidable rivals to its success; and French agents,
making Canada their headquarters, ventured on hazardous but most
lucrative expeditions. The active competition of these bold hunters
threatened the very existence of the infant Company.
The conquest of Canada, however, somewhat lessened the danger of its
position. Three years after the taking of Quebec, 1776, the fur trade
received a new impulse. English traders became familiar with the
difficulties of trade of this kind; they learned the customs of the
country, the ways of the Indians and their system of exchange of goods,
but for all this the Company as yet made no profits whatever. Moreover,
towards 1784 some merchants of Montreal combined to explore the fur
country, and founded that powerful North-west Company, which soon became
the centre of the fur trade. In 1798 the new Company shipped furs to the
value of no less than £120,000, and the existence of the Hudson’s Bay
Company was again threatened.
We must add, that the North-west Company shrank from no act, however
iniquitous, if its interests were at stake. Its agents imposed on their
own employés, speculated on the misery of the Indians, robbed them
when they had themselves made them drunk, setting at defiance the Act
of Parliament forbidding the sale of spirituous liquors on Indian
territory; and consequently realising immense profits, in spite of the
competition of the various Russian and American companies which had
sprung up—the American Fur Company amongst others, founded in 1809,
with a capital of a million of dollars, which was carrying on operations
on the west of the Rocky Mountains.
The Hudson’s Bay Company was probably in greater danger of ruin than
any other; but in 1821, after much discussion, a treaty was made,
in accordance with which its old rival the North-west Company became
amalgamated with it, the two receiving the common title of “The
Hudson’s Bay Fur Company.”
Now the only rival of this important association is the American
St Louis Fur Company. The Hudson’s Bay Company has numerous
establishments scattered over a domain extending over 3,700,000 square
miles. Its principal factories are situated on James Bay, at the mouth
of the Severn, in the south, and towards the frontiers of Upper Canada,
on Lakes Athapeskow, Winnipeg, Superior, Methye, Buffalo, and near the
Colombia, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, and Assiniboin rivers, &c. Fort York,
commanding the course of the river Nelson, is the headquarters of the
Company, and contains its principal fur depôt. Moreover, in 1842 it
took a lease of all the Russian establishments in North America at an
annual rent of £40,000, so that it is now working on its own account
the vast tracts of country between the Mississippi and the Pacific
Ocean. It has sent out intrepid explorers in every direction: Hearne,
towards the Polar Sea, in 1770, to the discovery of the Coppermine
River; Franklin, in 1819 to 1822, along 5550 miles of the American
coast; Mackenzie, who, after having discovered the river to which he
gave his name, reached the shores of the Pacific at 52° 24’ N. Lat.
The following is a list of the quantities of skins and furs despatched
to Europe by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1833-34, which will give an
exact idea of the extent of its trade:—
Beavers . . . . . . . . . . . 1,074
Skins and young Beavers,. . 92,288
Musk Rats,. . . . . . . . . 694,092
Badgers,. . . . . . . . . . 1,069
Bears,. . . . . . . . . . . 7,451
Ermines,. . . . . . . . . . 491
Foxes, . . . . . . . . . . . 9,937
Lynxes, . . . . . . . . . . 14,255
Sables, . . . . . . . . . . 64,490
Polecats, . . . . . . . . . 25,100
Otters, . . . . . . . . . . 22,303
Racoons,. . . . . . . . . . 713
Swans, . . . . . . . . . . 7,918
Wolves, . . . . . . . . . . 8,484
Wolverines, . . . . . . . . 1,571
Such figures ought to bring in a large profit to the Hudson’s Bay
Company, but unfortunately they have not been maintained, and for the
last twenty years have been decreasing.
The cause of this decline was the subject of Captain Craventy’s
explanation to Mrs Paulina Barnett.
“Until 1839, madam,” said he, “the Company was in a flourishing
condition. In that year the number of furs exported was 2,350,000, but
since then the trade has gradually declined, and this number is now
reduced by one-half at least.”
“But what do you suppose is the cause of this extraordinary decrease
in the exportation of furs?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“The depopulation of the hunting territories, caused by the activity,
and, I must add, the want of foresight of the hunters. The game was
trapped and killed without mercy. These massacres were conducted in the
most reckless and short-sighted fashion. Even females with young and
their little ones did not escape. The consequence is, that the animals
whose fur is valuable have become extremely rare. The otter has almost
entirely disappeared, and is only to be found near the islands of the
North Pacific. Small colonies of beavers have taken refuge on the shores
of the most distant rivers. It is the same with many other animals,
compelled to flee before the invasion of the hunters. The traps, once
crowded with game, are now empty. The price of skins is rising just
when a great demand exists for furs. Hunters have gone away in disgust,
leaving none but the most intrepid and indefatigable, who now penetrate
to the very confines of the American continent.”
“Yes,” said Mrs Paulina Barnett, “the fact of the fur-bearing
animals having taken refuge beyond the polar circle, is a sufficient
explanation of the Company’s motive in founding a factory on the
borders of the Arctic Ocean.”
“Not only so, madam,” replied the Captain, “the Company is also
compelled to seek a more northern centre of operations, for an Act of
Parliament has lately greatly reduced its domain.”
“And the motive for this reduction?” inquired the traveller.
“A very important question of political economy was involved, madam;
one which could not fail greatly to interest the statesmen of
Great Britain. In a word, the interests of the Company and those of
civilisation are antagonistic. It is to the interest of the Company to
keep the territory belonging to it in a wild uncultivated condition.
Every attempt at clearing ground was pitilessly put a stop to, as
it drove away the wild animals, so that the monopoly enjoyed by the
Hudson’s Bay Company was detrimental to all agricultural enterprise.
All questions not immediately relating to their own particular trade,
were relentlessly put aside by the governors of the association. It was
this despotic, and, in a certain sense, immoral system, which provoked
the measures taken by Parliament, and, in 1837, a commission appointed
by the Colonial Secretary decided that it was necessary to annex to
Canada all the territories suitable for cultivation, such as the Red
River and Saskatchewan districts, and to leave to the Company only
that portion of its land which appeared to be incapable of future
civilisation. The next year the Company lost the western slopes of the
Rocky Mountains, which it held direct from the Colonial Office, and you
will now understand, madam, how the agents of the Company, having lost
their power over their old territories, are determined before giving up
their trade to try to work the little known countries of the north,
and so open a communication with the Pacific by means of the North-west
passage.”
Mrs Paulina Barnett was now well informed as to the ulterior projects of
the celebrated Company. Captain Craventy had given her a graphic sketch
of the situation, and it is probable he would have entered into further
details, had not an incident cut short his harangue.
Corporal Joliffe announced in a loud voice that, with Mrs Joliffe’s
assistance, he was about to mix the punch. This news was received as it
deserved. The bowl—or rather, the basin—was filled with the precious
liquid. It contained no less than ten pints of coarse rum. Sugar,
measured out by Mrs Joliffe, was piled up at the bottom, and on the top
floated slices of lemon shrivelled with age. Nothing remained to be
done but to light this alcoholic lake, and the Corporal, match in hand,
awaited the order of his Captain, as if he were about to spring a mine.
“All right, Joliffe !” at last said Captain Craventy.
The light was applied to the bowl, and in a moment the punch was in
flames, whilst the guests applauded and clapped their hands. Ten minutes
afterwards, full glasses of the delightful beverage were circulating
amongst the guests, fresh bidders for them coming forward in endless
succession, like speculators on the Stock Exchange.
“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! three cheers for Mrs Barnett! A cheer for the
Captain.”
In the midst of these joyful shouts cries were heard from outside.
Silence immediately fell upon the company assembled.
“Sergeant Long,” said the Captain, “go and see what is the
matter.”
And at his chief’s order, the Sergeant, leaving his glass unfinished,
left the room.
CHAPTER III. A SAVANT THAWED. Sergeant Long hastened to the narrow
passage from which opened the outer door of the fort, and heard the
cries redoubled, and combined with violent blows on the postern gate,
surrounded by high walls, which gave access to the court. The Sergeant
pushed open the door, and plunging into the snow, already a foot deep;
he waded through it, although half-blinded by the cutting sleet, and
nipped by the terrible cold.
“What the devil does any one want at this time of night?” exclaimed
the Sergeant to himself, as he mechanically removed the heavy bars of
the gate; “none but Esquimaux would dare to brave such a temperature
as this!”
“Open! open! open!” they shouted from without.
“I am opening,” replied Sergeant Long, who really seemed to be a
long time about it.
At last the door swung open, and the Sergeant was almost upset by
a sledge, drawn by six dogs, which dashed past him like a flash of
lightning. Worthy Sergeant Long only just escaped being crushed, but he
got up without a murmur, closed the gate, and returned to the house at
his ordinary pace, that is to say, at the rate of seventy-five strides a
minute.
But Captain Craventy, Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson, and Corporal Joliffe
were already outside, braving the intense cold, and staring at the
sledge, white with snow, which had just drawn up in front of them.
A man completely enveloped in furs now descended from it,
“Fort Reliance?;” he inquired.
“The same,” replied the Captain.
“Captain Craventy?”
“Behold him! Who are you?”
“A courier of the Company.”
“Are you alone?”
“No, I bring a traveller.”
“A traveller! And what does he want?”
“He is come to see the moon.”
At this reply, Captain Craventy said to himself the man must be a fool.
But there was no time to announce this opinion, for the courier had
taken an inert mass from the sledge, a kind of bag covered with snow,
and was about to carry it into the house, when the Captain inquired
“What is that bag?”
“It is my traveller,” replied the courier.
“Who is this traveller?”
“The astronomer, Thomas Black.”
“But he is frozen.”
“Well, he must be thawed.”
Thomas Black, carried by the Sergeant, the Corporal, and the courier,
now made his entrance into the house of the fort, and was taken to a
room on the first floor, the temperature of which was bearable, thanks
to a glowing stove. He was laid upon a bed, and the Captain took his
hand.
It was literally frozen. The wrappers and furred mantles, in which
Thomas Black was rolled up like a parcel requiring care, were removed,
and revealed a man of about fifty. He was short and stout, his hair
was already touched with grey, his beard was untrimmed, his eyes were
closed, and his lips pressed together as if glued to one another. If he
breathed at all, it was so slightly that the frost-work on the windows
would not have been affected by it. Joliffe undressed him, and turned
him rapidly on to his face and back again, with the words—
“Come, come, sir, when do you mean to return to consciousness?”
But the visitor who had arrived in so strange a manner showed no signs
of returning life, and Corporal Joliffe could think of no better means
to restore the lost vital heat than to give him a bath in the bowl of
hot punch.
Very happily for Thomas Black, however, Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson had
another idea.
“Snow, bring snow!” he cried.
There was plenty of it in the court of Fort Reliance; and whilst the
Sergeant went to fetch the snow, Joliffe removed all the astronomer’s
clothes. The body of the unfortunate man was covered with white
frost-bitten patches. It was urgently necessary to restore the
circulation of the blood in the affected portions. This result Jaspar
Hobson hoped to obtain by vigorous friction with the snow. We know that
this is the means generally employed in the polar countries to set going
afresh the circulation of the blood arrested by the intense cold, even
as the rivers are arrested in their courses by the icy touch of winter.
Sergeant Loin soon returned, and he and Joliffe gave the new arrival
such a rubbing as he had probably never before received. It was no
soft and agreeable friction, but a vigorous shampooing most lustily
performed, more like the scratching of a curry-comb than the caresses of
a human hand.
And during the operation the loquacious Corporal continued to exhort the
unconscious traveller.
“Come, come, sir. What do you mean by getting frozen like this. Now,
don’t be so obstinate !”
Probably it was obstinacy which kept Thomas Black from deigning to show
a sign of life. At the end of half an hour the rubbers began to despair,
and were about to discontinue their exhausting efforts, when the poor
man sighed several times.
“He lives; he is coming to !” cried Jaspar Hobson.
After having warmed the outside of his body, Corporal Joliffe hurried
to do the same for the inside, and hastily fetched a few glasses of
the punch. The traveller really felt much revived by them; the colour
returned to his cheeks, expression to his eyes, and words to his
lips, so that Captain Craventy began to hope that he should have an
explanation from Thomas Black himself of his strange arrival at the fort
in such a terrible condition.
At last the traveller, well covered with wraps, rose on his elbow, and
said in a voice still faint
“Fort Reliance?”
“The same,” replied the Captain.
“Captain Craventy?”
“He is before you, and is happy to bid you welcome. But may I inquire
what brings you to Fort Reliance?”
“He is come to see the moon,” replied the courier, who evidently
thought this a happy answer.
It satisfied Thomas Black too, for he bent his head in assent and
resumed—
“Lieutenant Hobson?”
“I am here,” replied the Lieutenant.
“You have not yet started?”
“Not. yet, sir.”
“Then,” replied Thomas Black, “I have only to thank you, and to go
to sleep until to-morrow morning.”
The Captain and his companions retired, leaving their strange visitor to
his repose. Half an hour later the fête was at an end, and the guests
had regained their respective homes, either in the different rooms of
the fort, or the scattered houses outside the enceinte.
The next day Thomas Black was rather better. His vigorous constitution
had thrown off the effects of the terrible chill he had had. Any one
else would have died from it; but he was not like other men.
And now who was this astronomer? Where did he come from? Why had he
undertaken this journey across the territories of the Company in the
depth of winter? What did the courier’s reply signify?— To see the
moon! The moon could be seen anywhere; there was no need to come to the
hyperborean regions to look at it!
Such were the thoughts which passed through Captain Craventy’s mind.
But the next day, after an hour’s talk with his new guest, he had
learned all he wished to know.
Thomas Black was an astronomer attached to the Greenwich Observatory, so
brilliantly presided over by Professor Airy. Mr Black was no theorist,
but a sagacious and intelligent observer; and in the twenty years
during which he had devoted himself to astronomy, he had rendered great
services to the science of ouranography. In private life he was a simple
nonentity; he existed only for astronomy; he lived in the heavens, not
upon the earth; and was a true descendant of the witty La Fontaine’s
savant who fell into a well. He could talk of nothing but stars and
constellations. He ought to have lived in a telescope. As an observer
be had not his rival; his patience was inexhaustible; he could watch for
months for a cosmical phenomenon. He had a specialty of his own, too; he
had studied luminous meteors and shooting stars, and his discoveries in
this branch of astronomical science were considerable. When ever minute
observations or exact measurements and definitions were required,
Thomas Black was chosen for the service; for his clearness of sight was
something remarkable. The power of observation is not given to everyone,
and it will not therefore be surprising that the Greenwich astronomer
should have been chosen for the mission we are about to describe, which
involved results so interesting for selenographic science.
We know that during a total eclipse of the sun the moon is surrounded by
a luminous corona. But what is the origin of this corona? Is it a real
substance? or is it only an effect of the diffraction of the sun’s
rays near the moon? This is a question which science has hitherto been
unable to answer.
As early as 1706 this luminous halo was scientifically described.
The corona was minutely examined during the total eclipse of 1715 by
Lonville and Halley, by Maraldi in 1724, by Antonio de’Ulloa in
1778, and by Bonditch and Ferrer in 1806; but their theories were so
contradictory that no definite conclusion could be arrived at. During
the total eclipse of 1842, learned men of all nations—Airy, Arago,
Keytal, Langier, Mauvais, Otto, Struve, Petit, Baily, &c.—endeavoured
to solve the mystery of the origin of the phenomenon; but in spite
of all their efforts, “the disagreement,” says Arago, “of the
observations taken in different places by skilful astronomers of one and
the same eclipse, have involved the question in fresh obscurity, so that
it is now impossible to come to any certain conclusion as to the cause
of the phenomenon.” Since this was written, other total eclipses have
been studied with no better results.
Yet the solution of the question is of such vast importance to
selenographic science that no price would be too great to pay for it.
A fresh opportunity was now about to occur to study the much-discussed
corona. A total eclipse of the sun—total, at least, for the extreme
north of America, for Spain and North Africa—was to take place on
July 18th, 1860. It was arranged between the astronomers of different
countries that simultaneous observations should be taken at the various
points of the zone where the eclipse would be total. Thomas Black was
chosen for the expedition to North America, and was now much in the same
situation as the English astronomers who were transported to Norway and
Sweden on the occasion of the eclipse of 1851.
It will readily be imagined that Thomas Black seized with avidity the
opportunity offered him of studying this luminous halo. He was also to
examine into the nature of the red prominences which appear on different
parts of the edge of the terrestrial satellite when the totality of the
eclipse has commenced; and should he be able satisfactorily to establish
their origin, he would be entitled to the applause of the learned men of
all Europe.
Thomas Black eagerly prepared for his journey. He obtained urgent
letters of recommendation to the principal agents of the Hudson’s
Bay Company. He ascertained that an expedition was to go to the extreme
north of the continent to found a new fort. It was an opportunity not
to be lost; so he set out, crossed the Atlantic, landed at New York,
traversed the lakes to the Red River settlement, and pressed on from
fort to fort in a sledge, under the escort of a courier of the Company;
in spite of the severity of the winter, braving all the dangers of a
journey across the Arctic regions, and arriving at Fort Reliance on the
19th March in the condition we have described.
Such was the explanation given by the astronomer to Captain Craventy. He
at once placed himself entirely at Mr Black’s service, but could not
refrain from inquiring why he had been in such a great hurry to arrive,
when the eclipse was not to take place until the following year, 1860?
“But, Captain,” replied the astronomer, “I heard that the Company
was sending an expedition along the northern coast of America, and I did
not wish to miss the departure of Lieutenant Hobson.”
“Mr Black,” replied the Captain, “if the Lieutenant had already
started, I should have felt it my duty to accompany you myself to the
shores of the Polar Sea.”
And with fresh assurances of his willingness to serve him, the Captain
again bade his new guest welcome to Fort Reliance.
CHAPTER IV. A FACTORY. One of the largest of the lakes beyond the 61st
parallel is that called the Great Slave Lake; it is two hundred and
fifty miles long by fifty across, and is situated exactly at 61° 25’
N. lat. and 114° W. long. The surrounding districts slope down to it,
and it completely fills a vast natural hollow. The position of the lake
in the very centre of the hunting districts. once swarming with game,
early attracted the attention of the Company. Numerous streams either
take their rise from it or flow into it-the Mackenzie, the Athabasca,
&c.; and several important forts have been constructed on its
shores—Fort Providence on the north, and Fort Resolution on the south.
Fort Reliance is situated on the north-east extremity, and is about
three hundred miles from the Chesterfield inlet, a long narrow estuary
formed by the waters of Hudson’s Bay.
The Great Slave Lake is dotted with little islands, the granite and
gneiss of which they are formed jutting up in several places. Its
northern banks are clothed with thick woods, shutting out the barren
frozen district beyond, not inaptly called the “Cursed Land.” The
southern regions, on the other band, are flat, without a rise of any
kind, and the soil is mostly calcareous. The large ruminants of the
polar districts—the buffaloes or bisons, the flesh of which forms
almost the only food of the Canadian and native hunters—seldom go
further north than the Great Slave Lake.
The trees on the northern shores of the lake form magnificent forests.
We need not be astonished at meeting with such fine vegetation in this
remote district. The Great Slave Lake is not really in a higher latitude
than Stockholm or Christiania. We have only to remember that the
isothermal lines, or belts of equal heat, along which heat is
distributed in equal quantities, do not follow the terrestrial
parallels, and that with the same latitude, America is ever so much
colder than Europe. In April the streets of New York are still white
with snow, yet the latitude of New York is nearly the same as that of
the Azores. The nature of a country, its position with regard to
the oceans, and even the conformation of its soil, all influence its
climate.
In summer Fort Reliance was surrounded with masses of verdure,
refreshing to the sight after the long dreary winter. Timber was
plentiful in these forests, which consisted almost entirely of poplar,
pine, and birch. The islets on the lake produced very fine willows. Game
was abundant in the underwood, even during the bad season. Further
south the hunters from the fort successfully pursued bisons, elks, and
Canadian porcupines, the flesh of which is excellent. The waters of the
Slave Lake were full of fish; trout in them attained to an immense size,
their weight often exceeding forty pounds. Pikes, voracious lobes, a
sort of charr or grayling called “ blue fish,” and countless legions
of tittamegs, the Coregonus of naturalists, disported themselves in the
water, so that the inhabitants of Fort Reliance were well supplied with
food. Nature provided for all their wants; and clothed in the skins of
foxes, martens, bears, and other Arctic animals, they were able to brave
the rigour of the winter.
The fort, properly so called, consisted of a wooden house with a
ground-floor and one upper storey. In it lived the commandant and his
officers. The barracks for the soldiers, the magazines of the Company,
and the offices where exchanges were made, surrounded this house.
A little chapel, which wanted nothing but a clergyman, and a
powder-magazine, completed the buildings of the settlement. The whole
was surrounded by palisades twenty-five feet high, defended by a
small bastion with a pointed roof at each of the four corners of the
parallelogram formed by the enceinte. The fort was thus protected from
surprise, a necessary precaution in the days when the Indians, instead
of being the purveyors of the Company, fought for the independence
of their native land, and when the agents and soldiers of rival
associations disputed the possession of the rich fur country.
At that time the Hudson’s Bay Company employed about a million men on
its territories. It held supreme authority over them, an authority which
could even inflict death. The governors of the factories could regulate
salaries, and arbitrarily fix the price of provisions and furs; and as
a result of this irresponsible power, they often realised a profit of no
less than three hundred per cent.
We shall see from the following table, taken from the “ Voyage of
Captain Robert Lade,” on what terms exchanges were formerly made with
those Indians who have since become the best hunters of the Company.
Beavers’ skins were then the currency employed in buying and selling.
The Indians paid—
For one gun,
10 beavers’ skins
“ half a pound of powder,
1 “
“ four pounds of shot,
1 “
“ one axe,
1 “
“ six knives,
1 “
“ one pound of glass beads,
1 “
“ one laced coat,
6 “
“ one coat not laced,
5 “
“ one laced female dress,
6 “
“ one pound of tobacco,
1 “
“ one box of powder,
1 “
“ one comb and one looking glass,
2 “
But a few years ago beaver-skins became so scarce that the currency had
to be changed. Bison-furs are now the medium of trade. When an Indian
presents himself at the fort, the agents of the Company give him as many
pieces of wood as he brings skins, and he exchanges these pieces of wood
for manufactured articles on the premises; and as the Company fix the
price of the articles they buy and sell, they cannot fail to realise
large profits.
Such was the mode of proceeding in Fort Reliance and other factories;
so that Mrs Paulina Barnett was able to watch the working of the system
during her stay, which extended until the 16th April. Many a long talk
did she have with Lieutenant Hobson, many were the projects they formed,
and firmly were they both determined to allow no obstacle to check their
advance. As for Thomas Black, he never opened his lips except when his
own special mission was discussed. He was wrapped up in the subject of
the luminous corona and red prominences of the moon; he lived but to
solve the problem, and in the end made Mrs Paulina Barnett nearly as
enthusiastic as himself. How eager the two were to cross the Arctic
Circle, and how far off the 18th July 1860 appeared to both, but
especially to the impatient Greenwich astronomer, can easily be
imagined.
The preparations for departure could not be commenced until the middle
of March, and a month passed before they were completed. In fact, it was
a formidable undertaking to organise such an expedition for crossing the
Polar regions. Everything had to betaken with them-food, clothes, tools,
arms, ammunition, and a nondescript collection of various requisites.
The troops, under the command of Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson, were one
chief and two subordinate officers, with ten soldiers, three of whom
took their wives with them. They were all picked men, chosen by Captain
Craventy on account of their energy and resolution. We append a list of
the whole party:—
1. Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson.
11. Sabine, soldier.
2. Sergeant Long.
12. Hope, do.
3. Corporal Joliffe.
13. Kellet, do.
4. Petersen, soldier
14. Mrs Rae
5. Belcher, do.
15. Mrs Joliffe.
6. Rae, do
16. Mrs Mac-Nab.
7. Marbre, do
17. Mrs Paulina Barnett.
8. Garry, do
18. Madge.
9. Pond, do
19. Thomas Black
10. Mac-Nab, do.
In all, nineteen persons to be transported several hundreds of miles
through a desert and imperfectly-known country.
With this project in view, however, the Company had collected everything
necessary for the expedition. A dozen sledges, with their teams of dogs,
were in readiness. These primitive vehicles consisted of strong but
light planks joined together by transverse bands. A piece of curved
wood, turning up at the end like a skate, was fixed beneath the sledge,
enabling it to cleave the snow without sinking deeply into it. Six swift
and intelligent dogs, yoked two and two, and controlled by the long
thong brandished by the driver, drew the sledges, and could go at a rate
of fifteen miles an hour.
The wardrobe of the travellers consisted of garments made of
reindeer-skins, lined throughout with thick furs. All wore linen next
the skin as a protection against the sudden changes of temperature
frequent in these latitudes. Each one, officer or soldier, male or
female, wore seal-skin boots sewn with twine, in the manufacture of
which the natives excel. These boots are absolutely impervious, and
are so flexible that they are admirably adapted for walking. Pine-wood
snow-shoes, two or three feet long, capable of supporting the weight of
a man on the most brittle snow, and enabling him to pass over it with
the rapidity of a skater on ice, can be fastened to the soles of the
seal-skin boots. Fur caps and deer-skin belts completed the costumes.
For arms, Lieutenant Hobson had the regulation musketoons provided by
the Company, pistols, ordnance sabres, and plenty of ammunition;
for tools : axes, saws, adzes, and other instruments required in
carpentering. Then there was the collection of all that would be needed
for setting up a factory in the remote district for which they were
bound : a stove; a smelting furnace, two airpumps for ventilation, an
India-rubber boat, only inflated when required, &c., &c.
The party might have relied for provisions on the hunters amongst them.
Some of the soldiers were skilful trackers of game, and there were
plenty of reindeer in the Polar regions. Whole tribes of Indians, or
Esquimaux, deprived of bread and all other nourishment, subsist entirely
on this venison, which is both abundant and palatable. But as delays and
difficulties had to be allowed for, a certain quantity of provisions was
taken with them. The flesh of the bison, elk, and deer, amassed in the
large battues on the south of the lake; corned beef, which will keep for
any length of time; and some Indian preparations, in which the flesh of
animals, ground to powder, retains its nutritive properties in a very
small bulk, requiring no cooking, and forming a very nourishing diet,
were amongst the stores provided in case of need.
Lieutenant Hobson likewise took several casks of rum and whisky; but
he was firmly resolved to economise these spirits, so injurious to the
health in cold latitudes, as much as possible. The Company had placed
at his disposal a little portable medicine-chest, containing formidable
quantities of lime-juice, lemons, and other simple remedies necessary
to check, or if possible to prevent, the scorbutic affections which take
such a terrible form in these regions.
All the men had been chosen with great care; none were too stout or
too thin, and all had for years been accustomed to the severity of
the climate, and could therefore more easily endure the fatigues of an
expedition to the Polar Sea. They were all brave, high-spirited fellows,
who had taken service of their own accord. Double pay had been promised
them during their stay at the confines of the American continent, should
they succeed in making a settlement beyond the seventieth parallel.
The sledge provided for Mrs Barnett and her faithful Madge was rather
more comfortable than the others. She did not wish to be treated better
than her travelling companions, but yielded to the urgent request of
Captain Craventy, who was but carrying out the wishes of the Company.
The vehicle which brought Thomas Black to Fort Reliance also
conveyed him and his scientific apparatus from it. A few astronomical
instruments, of which there were not many in those days-a telescope for
his selenographic observations, a sextant for taking the latitude, a
chronometer for determining the longitudes, a few maps, a few books,
were all stored away in this sledge, and Thomas Black relied upon his
faithful dogs to lose nothing by the way.
Of course the food for the various teams was not forgotten. There were
altogether no less than seventy-two dogs, quite a herd to provide for by
the way, and it was the business of the hunters to cater for them. These
strong intelligent animals were bought of the Chippeway Indians, who
know well how to train them for their arduous calling.
The little company was most skilfully organised. The zeal of Lieutenant
Jaspar Hobson was beyond all praise. Proud of his mission, and devoted
to his task; he neglected nothing which could insure success. Corporal
Joliffe, always a busybody, exerted himself without producing any very
tangible results; but his wife was most useful and devoted; and Mrs
Paulina Barnett had already struck up a great friendship with the brisk
little Canadian woman, whose fair hair and large soft eyes were so
pleasant to look at.
We need scarcely add that Captain Craventy did all in his power to
further the enterprise. The instructions he had received from the
Company showed what great importance they attached to the success of the
expedition, and the establishment of a new factory beyond the seventieth
parallel. We may therefore safely affirm that every human effort likely
to insure success which could be made was made; but who could tell what
insurmountable difficulties nature might place in the path of the brave
Lieutenant I who could tell what awaited him and his devoted little
band.
CHAPTER V. FROM FORT RELIANCE TO FORT ENTERPRISE. The first fine days
came at last. The green carpet of the hills began to appear here
and there where the snow had melted. A few migratory birds from the
south-such as swans, bald-headed eagles, &c.—passed through the warmer
air. The poplars, birches, and willows began to bud, and the redheaded
ducks, of which there are so many species in North America, to skim the
surface of the numerous pools formed by the melted snow. Guillemots,
puffins, and eider ducks sought colder latitudes; and little shrews
no bigger than a hazel-nut ventured from their holes, tracing strange
figures on the ground with their tiny-pointed tails. It was intoxicating
once more to breathe the fresh air of spring, and to bask in the
sunbeams. Nature awoke once more from her heavy sleep in the long winter
night, and smiled as she opened her eyes.
The renovation of creation in spring is perhaps more impressive in the
Arctic regions than in any other portion of the globe, on account of the
greater contrast with what has gone before.
The thaw was not, however, complete. The thermometer, it is true, marked
41° Fahrenheit above zero; but the mean temperature of the nights kept
the surface of the snowy plains solid—a good thing for the passage of
sledges, of which Jaspar Hobson meant to avail himself before the thaw
became complete.
The ice of the lake was still unbroken. During the last month several
successful hunting expeditions had been made across the vast smooth
plains, which were already frequented by game. Mrs Barnett was
astonished at the skill with which the men used their snow-shoes,
scudding along at the pace of a horse in full gallop. Following Captain
Craventy’s advice, the lady herself practised walking in these
contrivances, and she soon became very expert in sliding over the snow.
During the last few days several bands of Indians had arrived at the
fort to exchange the spoils of the winter chase for manufactured goods.
The season had been bad. There were a good many polecats and sables; but
the furs of beavers, otters, lynxes, ermines, and foxes were scarce. It
was therefore a wise step for the Company to endeavour to explore a new
country, where the wild animals had hitherto escaped the rapacity of
man.
On the morning of the 16th April Lieutenant Jaspar Hobson and his party
were ready to start. The route across the known districts, between the
Slave Lake and that of the Great Bear beyond the Arctic Circle, was
already determined. Jaspar Hobson was to make for Fort Confidence, on
the northern extremity of the latter lake; and he was to revictual at
Fort Enterprise, a station two hundred miles further to the north-west,
on the shores of the Snare Lake, By travelling at the rate of fifteen
miles a day the Lieutenant hoped to halt there about the beginning of
May.
From this point the expedition was to take the shortest route to Cape
Bathurst, on the North American coast. It was agreed that in a year
Captain Craventy should send a convoy with provisions to Cape Bathurst,
and that a detachment of the Lieutenant’s men was to go to meet this
convoy, to guide it to the spot where the new fort was to be erected.
This plan was a guarantee against any adverse circumstances, and left
a means of communication with their fellow-creatures open to the
Lieutenant and his voluntary companions in exile.
On the 16th April dogs and sledges were awaiting the travellers at the
postern gate. Captain Craventy called the men of the party together and
said a few kind words to them. He urged them above all things to stand
by one another in the perils they might be called upon to meet; reminded
them that the enterprise upon which they were about to enter required
self-denial and devotion, and that submission to their officers was
an indispensable condition of success. Cheers greeted the Captain’s
speech, the adieux were quickly made, and each one took his place in the
sledge assigned to him. Jaspar Hobson and Sergeant Long went first; then
Mrs Paulina Barnett and Madge, the latter dexterously wielding the long
Esquimaux whip, terminating in a stiff thong. Thomas Black and one of
the soldiers, the Canadian, Petersen, occupied the third sledge ;and
the others followed, Corporal and Mrs Joliffe bringing up the rear.
According to the orders of Lieutenant Hobson, each driver kept as nearly
as possible at the same distance from the preceding sledge, so as to
avoid all confusion—a necessary precaution, as a collision between two
sledges going at full speed, might have had disastrous results.
On leaving Fort Reliance, Jaspar Hobson at once directed his course
towards the north-west. The first thing to be done was to cross the
large river connecting Lakes Slave and Wolmsley, which was, however,
still frozen so hard as to be undistinguishable from the vast white
plains around. A uniform carpet of snow covered the whole country, and
the sledges, drawn by their swift teams, sped rapidly over the firm
smooth surface.
The weather was fine, but still very cold. The sun, scarce above the
horizon, described a lengthened curve; and its rays, reflected on
the snow, gave more light than heat. Fortunately not a breath of air
stirred, and this lessened the severity of the cold, although the rapid
pace of the sledges through the keen atmosphere must have been trying to
any one not inured to the rigour of a Polar climate.
“A good beginning,” said Jaspar Hobson to the Sergeant, who sat
motionless beside him as if rooted to his seat; “the journey has
commenced favourably. The sky is cloudless; the temperature propitious,
our equipages shoot along like express trains, and as long as this fine
weather lasts we shall get on capitally. What do you think, Sergeant
Long?”
“I agree with you, Lieutenant,” replied the Sergeant, who never
differed from his chief.
“Like myself, Sergeant, you are determined to push on as far north as
possible—are you not?” resumed Lieutenant Hobson.
“You have but to command to be obeyed, Lieutenant.”
“I know it, Sergeant; I know that with you to bear is to obey. Would
that all our men understood as you do the importance of our mission, and
would devote themselves body and soul to the interests of the Company!
Ah, Sergeant Long, I know if I gave you an impossible order— “
“Lieutenant, there is no such thing as an impossible order.”
“What? Suppose now I ordered you to go to the North Pole?”
“Lieutenant, I should go !”
“And to comeback!” added Jaspar Hobson with a smile.
“I should come back,” replied Sergeant Long simply.
During this colloquy between Lieutenant Hobson and his Sergeant a slight
ascent compelled the sledges to slacken speed, and Mrs Barnett and
Madge also exchanged a few sentences. These two intrepid women, in their
otter-skin caps and white bear-skin mantles, gazed in astonishment upon
the rugged scenery around them, and at the white outlines of the huge
glaciers standing out against the horizon. They had already left behind
them the hills of the northern banks of the Slave Lake, with their
summits crowned with the gaunt skeletons of trees. The vast plains
stretched before them in apparently endless succession. The rapid flight
and cries of a few birds of passage alone broke the monotony of the
scene. Now and then a troop of swans, with plumage so white that the
keenest sight could not distinguish them from the snow when they settled
on the ground, rose into view in the clear blue atmosphere and pursued
their journey to the north.
“What an extraordinary country !” exclaimed Mrs Paulina Barnett.
“What a difference between these Polar regions and the green prairies
of Australia! You remember, Madge, how we suffered from the heat on the
shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria—you remember the cloudless sky and
the parching sunbeams?”
My dear,” replied Madge, “I have not the gift of remembering like
you. You retain your impressions, I forget mine.”
“What, Madge !” cried Mrs Barnett, “you have forgotten the
tropical heat of India arid Australia? You have no recollection of
our agonies when water failed us in the desert, when the pitiless sun
scorched us to the bone, when even the night brought us no relief from
our sufferings !”
“No, Paulina,” replied Madge, wrapping her furs more closely round
her, “no, I remember nothing. How could I now recollect the sufferings
to which you allude—the heat, the agonies of thirst—when we are
surrounded on every side by ice, and I have but to stretch my arm out of
this sledge to pick up a handful of snow? You talk to me of heat, when
we are freezing beneath our bearskins; you recall the broiling rays of
the sun when its April beams cannot melt the icicles on our lips! No,
child, no, don’t try to persuade me it’s hot anywhere else; don’t
tell me I ever complained of being too warm, for I sha’n’t believe
you!”
Mrs Paulina Barnett could not help smiling.
“So, poor Madge,” she said, “you are very cold!”
“Yes, child, I am cold; but I rather like this climate. I’ve no
doubt it’s very healthy, and I think North America will agree with me.
It’s really a very fine country !”
“Yes, Madge; it is a fine country, and we have as yet seen none of
the wonders it contains. But wait until we reach the Arctic Ocean;
wait until the winter shuts us in with its gigantic icebergs and thick
covering of snow; wait till the northern storms break over us, and the
glories of the Aurora Borealis and of the splendid constellations of
the Polar skies are spread out above our heads; wait till we have lived
through the strange long six months’ night, and then indeed you will
understand the infinite variety, the infinite beauty, of our Creator’s
handiwork !”
Thus spoke Mrs Paulina Barnett, carried away by her vivid imagination.
She could see nothing but beauty in these deserted regions, with their
rigorous climate. Her enthusiasm got the better for the time of her
judgment. Her sympathy with nature enabled her to read the touching
poetry of the ice-bound north-the poetry embodied in the Sagas, and sung
by the bards of the time of Ossian. But Madge, more matter of fact
than her mistress, disguised from herself neither the dangers of an
expedition to the Arctic Ocean, nor the sufferings involved in wintering
only thirty degrees at the most from the North Pole.
And indeed the most robust had sometimes succumbed to the fatigues,
privations, and mental and bodily agonies endured in this severe
climate. Jaspar Hobson had not, it is true, to press on to the very
highest latitudes of the globe,; he had not to reach the pole itself,
or to follow in the steps of Parry, Ross, Mc’Clure, Kean, Morton,
and others. But after once crossing the Arctic Circle, there is little
variation in the temperature; it does not increase in coldness in
proportion to the elevation reached. Granted that Jaspar Hobson did not
think of going beyond the seventieth parallel, we must still remember
that Franklin and his unfortunate companions died of cold and hunger
before they had penetrated beyond 68° N. lat.
Very different was the talk in the sledge occupied by Mr and Mrs
Joliffe. Perhaps the gallant Corporal had too often drunk to the success
of the expedition on starting; for, strange to say, he was disputing
with his little wife. Yes, he was actually contradicting her, which
never happened except under extraordinary circumstances!
“No, Mrs Joliffe,” he was saying, “no, you have nothing to fear.
A sledge is not more difficult to guide than a pony-carriage, and the
devil take me if I can’t manage a team of dogs !”
“I don’t question your skill,” replied Mrs Joliffe; “I only ask
you not to go so fast. You are in front of the whole caravan now, and
I hear Lieutenant Hobson calling out to you to resume your proper place
behind.”
“Let him call, Mrs Joliffe, let him call.”
And the Corporal, urging on his dogs with a fresh cut of the whip,
dashed along at still greater speed.
“Take care, Joliffe,” repeated his little wife; “not so fast, we
are going down hill.”
“Down hill, Mrs Joliffe; you call that down hill? why, it’s up
hill!”
“I tell you we are going down!” repeated poor Mrs Joliffe.
“And I tell you we are going up; look how the dogs pull !”
Whoever was right, the dogs became uneasy. The ascent was, in fact,
pretty steep; the sledge dashed along at a reckless pace, and was
already considerably in advance of the rest of the party. Mr and Mrs
Joliffe bumped up and down every instant, the surface of the snow became
more and more uneven, and the pair, flung first to one side and then to
the other, knocked against each other and the sledge, and were horribly
bruised and shaken. But the Corporal would listen neither to the advice
of his wife nor to the shouts of Lieutenant Hobson. The latter, seeing
the danger of this reckless course, urged on his own animals, and the
rest of the caravan followed at a rapid pace.
But the Corporal became more and more excited-the speed of his equipage
delighted him. He shouted, he gesticulated, and flourished his long whip
like an accomplished sportsman.
“Wonderful things these whips!” he cried; “the Esquimaux wield
them with unrivalled skill !”
“But you are not an Esquimaux!” cried Mrs Joliffe, trying in vain to
arrest the arm of her imprudent husband.
“I have heard tell,” resumed the Corporal—” I’ve heard tell
that the Esquimaux can touch any dog they like in any part, that they
can even cut out a bit of one of their ears with the stiff thong at the
end of the whip. I am going to try.”
“Don’t try, don’t try, Joliffe !” screamed the poor little
woman, frightened out of her wits.
“Don’t be afraid, Mrs Joliffe, don’t be afraid; I know what I can
do. The fifth dog on the right is misbehaving himself;. I will correct
him a little!”
But Corporal Joliffe was evidently not yet enough of an Esquimaux to be
able to manage the whip with its thong four feet longer than the sledge;
for it unrolled with an ominous hiss, and rebounding, twisted itself
round Corporal Joliffe’s own neck, sending his fur cap into the air,
perhaps with one of his ears in it.
At this moment the dogs flung themselves on one side, the sledge was
overturned, and the pair were flung into the snow. Fortunately it was
thick and soft, so that they escaped unhurt. But what a disgrace for the
Corporal! how reproachfully his little wife looked at him, and how stern
was the reprimand of Lieutenant Hobson!
The sledge was picked up, but it was decided that henceforth the reins
of the dogs, like those of the household, were to be in the hands of
Mrs Joliffe. The crest-fallen Corporal was obliged to submit, and the
interrupted journey was resumed.
No incident worth mentioning occurred during the next fifteen days. The
weather continued favourable, the cold was not too severe, and on the
1st May the expedition arrived at Fort Enterprise.
:
CHAPTER VI. A WAPITI DUEL. Two hundred miles had been traversed since
the expedition left Fort Reliance. The travellers, taking advantage of
the long twilight, pressed on day and night, and were literally overcome
with fatigue when they reached Fort Enterprise, near the shores of Lake
Snare.
This fort was no more than a depôt of provisions, of little importance,
erected a few years before by the Hudson’s Bay Company. It served as a
resting-place for the men taking the convoys of furs from the Great Bear
Lake, some three hundred miles further to the north-west. About a dozen
soldiers formed the garrison. The fort consisted of a wooden house
surrounded by palisades. But few as were the comforts it offered,
Lieutenant Hobson’s companions gladly took refuge in it and rested
there for two days.
The gentle influence of the Arctic spring was beginning to be felt. Here
and there the snow had melted, and the temperature of the nights was no
longer below freezing point. A few delicate mosses and slender grasses
clothed the rugged ground with their soft verdure; and from between the
stones peeped the moist calices of tiny, almost colourless, flowers.
These faint signs of reawakening vegetation, after the long night of
winter, were refreshing to eyes weary of the monotonous whiteness of
the snow; and the scattered specimens of the Flora of the Arctic regions
were welcomed with delight.
Mrs Paulina Barnett and Jaspar Hobson availed themselves of this leisure
time to visit the shores of the little lake. They were both students and
enthusiastic lovers of nature. Together they wandered amongst the ice
masses, already beginning to break up, and the waterfalls created by
the action of the rays of the sun. The surface itself of Lake Snare
was still intact, not a crack denoted the approaching thaw; but it was
strewn with the ruins of mighty icebergs, which assumed all manner
of picturesque forms, and the beauty of which was heightened when the
light, diffracted by the sharp edges of the ice, touched them with all
manner of colours. One might have fancied that a rainbow, crushed in a
powerful hand, bad been flung upon the ground, its fragments crossing
each other as they fell.
“What a beautiful scene!” exclaimed Mrs Paulina Barnett. “These
prismatic effects vary at every change of our position. Does it not seem
as if we were bending over the opening of an immense kaleidoscope, or
are you already weary of a sight so new and interesting to me?”
“No, madam,” replied the Lieutenant; “although I was born and
bred on this continent, its beauties never pall upon me. But if your
enthusiasm is so great when you see this scenery with the sun shining
upon it, what will it be when you are privileged to behold the terrible
grandeur of the winter? To own the truth, I think the sun, so much
thought of in temperate latitudes, spoils my Arctic home.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, smiling at the Lieutenant’s last
remark; “for my part, I think the sun a capital travelling companion,
and I shall not be disposed to grumble at the warmth it gives even in
the Polar regions !”
“Ah, madam,” replied Jaspar Hobson, “I am one of those who think
it best to visit Russia in the winter, and the Sahara Desert in the
summer. You then see their peculiar characteristics to advantage. The
sun is a star of the torrid and temperate zones, and is out of place
thirty degrees from the North Pole. The true sky of this country is the
pure frigid sky of winter, bright with constellations, and sometimes
flushed with the glory of the Aurora Borealis. This land is the land of
the night, not of the day; and you have yet to make acquaintance with
the delights and marvels of the long Polar night.”
“Have you ever visited the temperate zones of Europe and America?”
inquired Mrs Barnett.
“Yes, madam; and I admired them as they deserved. But I returned home
with fresh love and enthusiasm for my native land. Cold is my element,
and no merit is due to me for braving it. It has no power over me; and,
like the Esquimaux. I can live for months together in a snow hut.”
“Really, Lieutenant Hobson, it is quite cheering to hear our dreaded
enemy spoken of in such terms. I hope to prove myself worthy to be your
companion, and wherever you venture, we will venture together.”
“I agree, madam, I agree; and may all the women and soldiers
accompanying me show themselves as resolute as you. If so, God helping
us, we shall indeed advance far.”
“You have nothing to complain of yet,” observed the lady. “Not a
single accident has occurred, the weather has been propitious, the cold
not too severe-everything has combined to aid us.”
“Yes, madam; but the sun which you admire so much will soon create
difficulties for us, and strew obstacles in our path.”
“What do you mean, Lieutenant Hobson?”
“I mean that the heat will soon have changed the aspect of the
country; that the melted ice will impede the sliding of the sledges;
that the ground will become rough and uneven; that our panting dogs will
no longer carry us along with the speed of an arrow; that the rivers and
lakes will resume their liquid state, and that we shall have to ford
or go round them. All these changes, madam, due to the influence of the
solar rays, will cause delays, fatigue, and dangers, the very least of
which will be the breaking of the brittle snow beneath our feet, or the
falling of the avalanches from the summits of the icebergs. For all this
we have to thank the gradual rise of the sun higher and higher above
the horizon. Bear this in mind, madam: of the four elements of the old
creation, only one is necessary to us here, the air; the other three,
fire, earth, and water, are de trop in the Arctic regions.”
Of course the Lieutenant was exaggerating, and Mrs Barnett could easily
have retorted with counter-arguments; but she liked to hear his raptures
in praise of his beloved country, and she felt that his enthusiasm was a
guarantee that he would shrink from no obstacle.
Yet Jaspar Hobson was right when he said the sun would cause
difficulties. This was seen when the party set out again on the 4th
May, three days later. The thermometer, even in the coldest part of the
night, marked more than 32° Fahrenheit. A complete thaw set in, the
vast white sheet of snow resolved itself into water. The irregularities
of the rocky soil caused constant jolting of the sledges, and the
passengers were roughly shaken. The roads were so heavy that the dogs
had to go at a slow trot, and the reins were therefore again entrusted
to the hands of the imprudent Corporal
Joliffe. Neither shouts nor flourishings of the whip had the slightest
effect on the jaded animals.
From time to time the travellers lightened the sledges by walking little
way. This mode of locomotion suited the hunters, who were now gradually
approaching the best districts for game in the whole of English America.
Mrs Paulina Barnett and Madge took a great interest in the chase, whilst
Thomas Black professed absolute indifference to all athletic exercise.
He had not come all this distance to hunt the polecat or the ermine, but
merely to look at the moon at the moment when her disc should cover
that of the sun. When the queen of the night rose above the horizon, the
impatient astronomer would gaze at her with eager eyes, and one day the
Lieutenant said to him
“It would be a bad look-out for you, Mr Black, if by any unlucky
chance the moon should fail to keep her appointment on the 16th July
1860.”
“Lieutenant Hobson,” gravely replied the astronomer, “if the moon
were guilty of such a breach of good manners, I should indeed have cause
to complain.”
The chief hunters of the expedition were the soldiers Marbre and Sabine,
both very expert at their business. Their skill was wonderful; and the
cleverest Indians would not have surpassed them in keenness of sight,
precision of aim, or manual address. They were alike trappers and
hunters, and were acquainted with all the nets and snares for taking
sables, otters, wolves, foxes, bears, &c. No artifice was unknown to
them, and Captain Craventy had shown his wisdom in choosing two such
intelligent men to accompany the little troop.
Whilst on the march however, Marbre and Sabine had no time for setting
traps. They could not separate from the others for more than an hour or
two at a time, and were obliged to be content with the game which passed
within range of their rifles. Still they were fortunate enough to kill
two of the large American ruminants, seldom met with in such elevated
latitudes.
On the morning of the 15th May the hunters asked permission to follow
some fresh traces they had found, and the Lieutenant not only granted
it, but himself accompanied them with Mrs Paulina Barnett, and they went
several miles out of their route towards the east.
The impressions were evidently the result of the passage of about
half-a-dozen large deer. There could be no mistake about it; Marbre
and Sabine were positive on that point, and could even have named the
species to which the animals belonged.
“You seem surprised to have met with traces of these animals here,
Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett.
“Well, madam,” replied Hobson, “this species is rarely seen beyond
57° N. lat. We generally hunt them at the south of the Slave Lake,
where they feed upon the shoots of willows and poplars, and certain wild
roses to which they are very partial.”
“I suppose these creatures, like those with valuable furs, have fled
from the districts scoured by the hunters.”
“I see no other explanation of their presence at 65° N. lat.,”
replied the Lieutenant-”that is, if the men are not mistaken as to the
origin of the footprints.”
“No, no, sir,” cried Sabine; “Marbre and I are not mistaken. These
traces were left by deer, the deer we hunters call red deer, and the
natives wapitis.”
“He is quite right,” added Marbre; “old trappers like us are
not to be taken in; besides, don’t you hear that peculiar whistling
sound?”
The party had now reached the foot of a little hill, and as the snow
had almost disappeared from its sides they were able to climb it,
and hastened to the summit, the peculiar whistling noticed by Marbre
becoming louder, mingled with cries resembling the braying of an ass,
and proving that the two hunters were not mistaken.
Once at the top of the hill, the adventurers looked eagerly towards the
east. The undulating plains were still white with snow, but its dazzling
surface was here and there relieved with patches of stunted light green
vegetation. A few gaunt shrubs stretched forth their bare and shrivelled
branches, and huge icebergs with precipitous sides stood out against the
grey background of the sky.
“Wapitis! wapitis!-there they are !” cried Sabine and Marbre at
once, pointing to a group of animals distinctly visible about a quarter
of a mile to the east.
“What are they doing?” asked Mrs Barnett.
“They are fighting, madam,” replied Hobson; “they always do when
the heat of the Polar sun inflames their blood-another deplorable result
of the action of the radiant orb of day !”
From where they stood the party could easily watch the group of wapitis.
They were fine specimens of the family of deer known under the various
names of stags with rounded antlers, American stags, roebucks, grey elks
and red elks, &c. These graceful creatures have slender legs and brown
skins with patches of red hair, the colour of which becomes darker in
the warmer season. The fierce males are easily distinguished from the
females by their fine white antlers, the latter being entirely without
these ornaments. These wapitis were once very numerous all over North
America, and the United States imported a great many; but clearings
were begun on every side, the forest trees fell beneath the axe of
the pioneer of civilisation, and the wapitis took refuge in the more
peaceful districts of Canada; but they were soon again disturbed, and
wandered to the shores of Hudson’s Bay. So that although the wapiti
thrives in a cold country, Lieutenant Hobson was right in saying that it
seldom penetrates beyond 57° N. latitude; and the specimens now found
had doubtless fled before the Chippeway Indians, who hunt them without
mercy.
The wapitis were so engrossed in their desperate struggle that they were
unconscious of the approach of the hunters; but they would probably
not have ceased fighting, had they been aware of it. Marbre and Sabine,
aware of their peculiarity in this respect, might therefore have
advanced fearlessly upon them, and have taken aim at leisure.
Lieutenant Hobson suggested that they should do so.
“Beg pardon, sir,” replied Marbre; “but let us spare our powder
and shot. These beasts are engaged in a war to the death, and we shall
arrive in plenty of time to pick up the vanquished.”
“Have these wapitis a commercial value?” asked Mrs Paulina Barnett.
“Yes, madam,” replied Hobson; “and their skin, which is not quite
so thick as that of the elk, properly so called makes very valuable
leather. By rubbing this skin with the fat and brains of the animal
itself, it is rendered flexible, and neither damp nor dryness injures
it. The Indians are therefore always eager to procure the skins of the
wapitis.”
“Does not the flesh make admirable venison?”
“Pretty good, madam; only pretty good. It is tough, and does not taste
very nice; the fat becomes hard directly it is taken from the fire, and
sticks to the teeth. It is certainly inferior as an article of food to
the flesh of other deer; but when meat is scarce we are glad enough to
eat it, and it supports life as well as anything else.”
Mrs Barnett and Lieutenant Hobson had been chatting together for some
minutes, when, with the exception of two, the wapitis suddenly ceased
fighting. Was their rage satiated?- or had they perceived the hunters,
and felt the approach of danger? Whatever the cause, all but two fine
creatures fled a towards the east With incredible speed; in a few
instants they were out of sight, and the swiftest horse could not have
caught them up.
Meanwhile, however, two magnificent specimens remained on the field
of battle. Heads down, antlers to antlers, hind legs stretched and
quivering, they butted at each other without a moment’s pause. Like
two wrestlers struggling for a prize which neither will yield, they
would not separate, but whirled round and round together on their front
legs as if riveted to one another. What implacable rage !” exclaimed
Mrs Barnett.
“Yes,” replied the Lieutenant; “the wapitis really are most
spiteful beasts. I have no doubt they are fighting out an old
quarrel.”
“Would not this be the time to approach them, when they are blinded
with rage?”
“There’s plenty of time, ma’am,” said Sabine; “they won’t
escape us now. They will not stir from where they are when we are three
steps from them, the rifles at our shoulders, and our fingers on the
triggers !”
Indeed? Yes, madam,” added Hobson, who had carefully examined the
wapitis after the hunter’s remark; “and whether at our hands or
from the teeth of wolves, those wapitis will meet death where they now
stand.”
“I don’t understand what you mean, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett.
“Well, go nearer, madam,” he replied; “don’t be afraid of
startling the animals; for, as our hunter says, they are no longer
capable of flight.”
The four now descended the hill, and in a few minutes gained the theatre
of the struggle. The wapitis had not moved. They were pushing at
each other like a couple of rams, and seemed to be inseparably glued
together.
In fact, in the heat of the combat the antlers of the two creatures had
become entangled together to such an extent that they could no longer
separate without breaking them. This often happens in the hunting
districts. It is not at all uncommon to find antlers thus connected
lying on the ground; the poor encumbered animals soon die of hunger, or
they become an easy prey to wild beasts.
Two bullets put an end to the fight between the wapitis; and Marbre
and Sabine taking immediate possession, carried off their skins to be
subsequently prepared, leaving their bleeding carcasses to be devoured
by wolves and bears.
CHAPTER VII. THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. The expedition continued to advance
towards the north-west; but the great inequalities of the ground made it
hard work for the dogs to get along, and the poor creatures, who could
hardly be held in when they started, were now quiet enough. Eight or ten
miles a day were as much as they could accomplish, although Lieutenant
Hobson urged them on to the utmost.
He was anxious to get to Fort Confidence, on the further side of the
Great Bear Lake, where he hoped to obtain some useful information. Had
the Indians frequenting the northern banks of the lake been able to
cross the districts on the shores of the sea? was the Arctic Ocean open
at this time of year? These were grave questions, the reply to which
would decide the fate of the new factory.
The country through which the little troop was now passing was
intersected by numerous streams, mostly tributaries of the two large
rivers, the Mackenzie and Coppermine, which flow from the south to the
north, and empty themselves into the Arctic Ocean. Lakes, lagoons, and
numerous pools are formed between these two principal arteries; and
as they were no longer frozen over, the sledges could not venture upon
them, and were compelled to go around them, which caused considerable
delay. Lieutenant Hobson was certainly right in saying that winter is
the time to visit the hyperborean regions, for they are then far easier
to traverse. Mrs Paulina Barnett had reason to own the justice of this
assertion than once.
This region, included in the “Cursed Land,” was, besides, completely
deserted, as are the greater portion of the districts of the extreme
north of America. It has been estimated that there is but one inhabitant
to every ten square miles. Besides the scattered natives, there are some
few thousand agents or soldiers of the different fur-trading companies;
but they mostly congregate in the southern districts and about the
various factories. No human footprints gladdened the eyes of the
travellers, the only traces on the sandy soil were those of ruminants
and rodents. Now and then a fierce polar bear was seen, and Mrs Paulina
Barnett expressed her surprise at not meeting more of these terrible
carnivorous beasts, of whose daily attacks on whalers and persons
shipwrecked in Baffin’s Bay and on the coasts of Greenland and
Spitzbergen she had read in the accounts of those who had wintered in
the Arctic regions.
“Wait for the winter, madam,” replied the Lieutenant; “wait till
the cold makes them hungry, and then you will perhaps see as many as you
care about !”
On the 23d May, after a long and fatiguing journey, the expedition at
last reached the Arctic Circle. We know that this latitude 23° 27’
57” from the North Pole, forms the mathematical limit beyond which
the rays of the sun do not penetrate in the winter, when the northern
districts of the globe are turned away from the orb of day. Here, then,
the travellers entered the true Arctic region, the northern Frigid Zone.
The latitude had been very carefully obtained by means of most accurate
instruments, which were handled with equal skill by the astronomer and
by Lieutenant Hobson. Mrs Barnett was present at the operation, and
had the satisfaction of hearing that she was at last about to cross the
Arctic Circle. It was with a feeling of just pride that she received the
intelligence.
“You have already passed through the two Torrid Zones in your previous
journeys,” said the Lieutenant, “and now you are on the verge of the
Arctic Circle. Few explorers have ventured into such totally different
regions. Some, so to speak, have a specialty for hot countries, and
choose Africa or Australia as the field for their investigations. Such
were Barth, Burton, Livingstone Speke, Douglas, Stuart, &c. Others, on
the contrary, have a passion for the Arctic regions, still so little
known. Mackenzie, Franklin, Penny, Kane, Parry, Rae, &c., preceded us on
our present journey; but we must congratulate you, Mrs Barnett, on being
a more cosmopolitan traveller than all of them.”
“I must see everything or at least try to see everything,
Lieutenant,” replied. Mrs Paulina; “and I think the dangers and
difficulties are about equal everywhere. Although we have not to dread
the fevers of the unhealthy torrid regions, or the attacks of the fierce
black races, in this Frigid Zone, the cold is a no less formidable
enemy; and I suspect that the white bears we are liable to meet with
here will give us quite as warm a reception as would the tigers of
Thibet or the lions of Africa. In Torrid and Frigid Zones alike there
are vast unexplored tracts which will long defy the efforts of the
boldest adventurers.”
“Yes, madam,” replied Jaspar Hobson; “but I think the hyperborean
regions will longer resist thorough exploration. The natives are
the chief obstacle in tropical regions, and I am well aware how many
travellers have fallen victims to savages. But civilisation will
necessarily subdue the wild races sooner or later; whereas in the Arctic
and Antarctic Zones it is not the inhabitants who arrest the progress of
the explorer, but Nature herself who repels those who approach her, and
paralyses their energies with the bitter cold !”
“You think, then, that the secrets of the most remote districts of
Africa and Australia will have been fathomed before the Frigid Zone has
been entirely examined?”
“Yes, madam,” replied the Lieutenant; “and I think my opinion is
founded on facts. The most intrepid discoverers of the Arctic regions
- Parry, Penny, Franklin, M’Clure, Dane, and Morton — did not get
beyond 83° north latitude, seven degrees from the pole — whereas
Australia has several times been crossed from south to north by the
bold Stuart; and even Africa, with all its terrors, was traversed by
Livingstone from the Bay of Loanga to the mouth of the Zambesi. We are,
therefore, nearer to geographical knowledge of the equatorial countries
than of the Polar districts.”
“Do you think that the Pole itself will ever be reached by man?”
inquired Mrs Paulina Barnett.
“Certainly,” replied Hobson, adding with a smile, “by man or
woman. But I think other means must be tried of reaching this point,
where all the meridians of the globe cross each other, than those
hitherto adopted by travellers. We hear of the open sea, of which
certain explorers are said to have caught a glimpse. But if such a sea,
free from ice, really exist, it is very difficult to get at, and no one
can say positively whether it extends to the North Pole. For my part, I
think an open sea would increase rather than lessen the difficulties of
explorers. As for me, I would rather count upon firm footing, whether on
ice or rock, all the way. Then I would organise successive expeditions,
establishing depôts of provisions and fuel nearer and nearer to the
Pole; and so, with plenty of time, plenty of money, and perhaps the
sacrifice of a good many lives, I should in the end solve the great
scientific problem. I should, I think, at last reach the hitherto
inaccessible goal !”
“I think you are right, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett; “and if
ever you try the experiment, I should not be afraid to join you, and
would gladly go to set up the Union Jack at the North Pole. But that is
not our present object.”
“Not our immediate object, madam,” replied Hobson; “but when once
the projects of the Company are realised, when the new fort has been
erected on the confines of the American continent, it may become the
natural starting-point of all expeditions to the north. Besides, should
the fur-yielding animals, too zealously hunted, take refuge at the Pole,
we should have to follow them.”
“Unless costly furs should go out of fashion,” replied Mrs Barnett.
“O madam,” cried the Lieutenant, “there will always be some pretty
woman whose wish for a sable muff or an ermine tippet must be gratified
!”
“I am afraid so,” said Mrs Barnett, laughing; “and probably the
first discoverer of the Pole will have been led thither in pursuit of a
sable or a silver fox.”
“That is my conviction,” replied Hobson. “ Such is human nature,
and greed of gain will always carry a man further than zeal for
science.”
“What! do you utter such sentiments?” exclaimed Mrs Barnett.
“Well, madam, what am I but an employé of the Hudson’s Bay Company?
and does the Company risk its capital and agents with any other hope
than an increase of profits?”
“Lieutenant Hobson,” said Mrs Barnett, “I think I know you well
enough to assert that on occasion you would be ready to devote body and
soul to science. If a purely geographical question called you to the
Pole, I feel sure you would not hesitate to go. But,” she added, with
a smile, “the solution of this great problem is still far distant. We
have but just reached the verge of the Arctic Circle, but I hope we may
cross it without any very great difficulty.”
“That I fear is doubtful,” said the Lieutenant, who had been
attentively examining the sky during their conversation. “The weather
has looked threatening for the last few days. Look at the uniformly grey
hue of the heavens. That mist will presently resolve itself into snow;
and if the wind should rise ever so little, we shall have to battle with
a fearful storm. I wish we were at the Great Bear Lake !”
“Do not let us lose any time, then,” said Mrs Barnett, rising;
“give the signal to start at once.”
The Lieutenant needed no urging. Had he been alone, or accompanied by a
few men as energetic as himself, he would have pressed on day and night;
but he was obliged to make allowance for the fatigue of others, although
he never spared himself. He therefore granted a few hours of rest to
his little party, and it was not until three in the afternoon that they
again set out.
Jaspar Hobson was not mistaken in prophesying a change in the weather.
It came very soon. During the afternoon of the same day the mist became
thicker, and assumed a yellowish and threatening hue. The Lieutenant,
although very uneasy, allowed none of his anxiety to appear, but had a
long consultation with Sergeant Long whilst the dogs of his sledge were
laboriously preparing to start.
Unfortunately, the district now to be traversed was very unsuitable
for sledges. The ground was very uneven; ravines were of frequent
occurrence; and masses of granite or half-thawed icebergs blocked up
the road, causing constant delay. The poor dogs did their best, but the
drivers’ whips no longer produced any effect upon them.
And so the Lieutenant and his men were often obliged to walk to rest the
exhausted animals, to push the sledges, or even sometimes to lift them
when the roughness of the ground threatened to upset them. The incessant
fatigue was, however, borne by all without a murmur. Thomas Black alone,
absorbed in his one idea, never got out of his sledge, and indeed be was
so corpulent that all exertion was disagreeable to him.
The nature of the soil changed from the moment of entering the Arctic
Circle. Some geological convulsion had evidently upheaved the enormous
blocks strewn upon the surface. The vegetation, too, was of a more
distinctive character. Wherever they were sheltered from the keen north
winds, the flanks of the hills were clothed not only with shrubs, but
with large trees, all of the same species — pines, willows, and firs
— proving by their presence that a certain amount of vegetative force
is retained even in the Frigid Zone. Jaspar Hobson hoped to find such
specimens of the Arctic Flora even on the verge of the Polar Sea; for
these trees would supply him with wood to build his fort, and fuel to
warm its inhabitants. The same thought passed through the minds of his
companions, and they could not help wondering at the contrast between
this comparatively fertile region, and the long white plains stretching
between the Great Slave Lake and Fort Enterprise.
At night the yellow mist became more opaque; the wind rose, the snow
began to fall in large flakes, and the ground was soon covered with a
thick white carpet. In less than an hour the snow was a foot deep, and
as it did not freeze but remained in a liquid state, the sledges could
only advance with extreme difficulty; the curved fronts stuck in the
soft substance, and the dogs were obliged to stop again and again.
Towards eight o’clock in the evening the wind became very boisterous.
The snow, driven before it, was flung upon the ground or whirled in the
air, forming one huge whirlpool. The dogs, beaten back by the squall
and blinded with snow, could advance no further. The party was then in
a narrow gorge between huge icebergs, over which the storm raged with
fearful fury. Pieces of ice, broken off by the hurricane, were hurled
into the pass; partial avalanches, any one of which could have crushed
the sledges and their inmates, added to its dangers, and to press
on became impossible. The Lieutenant no longer insisted, and after
consulting with Sergeant Long, gave the order to halt. It was now
necessary to find a shelter from the snow-drift; but this was no
difficult matter to men accustomed to Polar expeditions. Jaspar Hobson
and his men knew well what they had to do under the circumstances. It
was not the first time they had been surprised by a tempest some hundred
miles from the forts of the Company, without so much as an Esquimaux hut
or Indian hovel in which to lay their heads.
“To the icebergs! to the icebergs !” cried Jaspar Hobson.
Every one understood what he meant. Snow houses were to be hollowed
out of the frozen masses, or rather holes were to be dug, in which each
person could cower until the storm was over. Knives and hatchets were
soon at work on the brittle masses of ice, and in three-quarters of an
hour some ten dens had been scooped out large enough to contain two or
three persons each. The dogs were left to themselves, their own instinct
leading them to find sufficient shelter under the snow.
Before ten o’clock all the travellers were crouching in the snow
houses, in groups of two or three, each choosing congenial companions.
Mrs Barnett, Madge, and Lieutenant Hobson occupied one hut, Thomas Black
and Sergeant Long another, and so on. These retreats were warm, if not
comfortable; and the Esquimaux and Indians have no other refuge even in
the bitterest cold. The adventurers could therefore fearlessly await the
end of the storm as long as they took care not to let the openings of
their holes become blocked up with the snow, which they had to shovel
away every half hour. So violent was the storm that even the Lieutenant
and his soldiers could scarcely set foot outside. Fortunately, all were
provided with sufficient food, and were able to endure their beaver-like
existence without suffering from cold or hunger
For forty-eight hours the fury of the tempest continued to increase. The
wind roared in the narrow pass, and tore off the tops of the icebergs.
Loud reports, repeated twenty times by the echoes, gave notice of the
fall of avalanches, and Jaspar Hobson began to fear that his further
progress would be barred by the masses of debris accumulated between
the mountains. Other sounds mingled with these reports, which Lieutenant
Hobson knew too well, and he did not disguise from Mrs Barnett that
bears were prowling about the pass. But fortunately these terrible
animals were too much occupied with their own concerns to discover the
retreat of the travellers; neither the dogs nor the sledges, buried in
the snow, attracted their attention, and they passed on without doing
any harm.
The last night, that of the 25th or 26th May, was even more terrible. So
great was the fury of the hurricane that a general overthrow of
icebergs appeared imminent. A fearful death would then have awaited
the unfortunate travellers beneath the ruins of the broken masses. The
blocks of ice cracked with an awful noise, and certain oscillations gave
warning that breaches had been made threatening their solidity. However,
no great crash occurred, the huge mountains remained intact, and towards
the end of the night one of those sudden changes so frequent in the
Arctic regions took place; the tempest ceased suddenly beneath the
influence of intense cold, and with the first dawn of day peace was
restored.
CHAPTER VIII. THE GREAT BEAR LAKE. This sudden increase of cold was most
fortunate. Even in temperate climes there are generally three or four
bitter days in May; and they were most serviceable now in consolidating
the freshly-fallen snow, and making it practicable for sledges.
Lieutenant Hobson, therefore, lost no time in resuming his journey,
urging on the dogs to their utmost speed.
The route was, however, slightly changed. Instead of bearing due north,
the expedition advanced towards the west, following, so to speak, the
curve of the Arctic Circle. The Lieutenant was most anxious to reach
Fort Confidence, built on the northern extremity of the Great Bear Lake.
These few cold days were of the greatest service to him; he advanced
rapidly, no obstacle was encountered, and his little troop arrived at
the factory on the 30th May.
At this time Forts Confidence and Good Hope were the most advanced
posts of the Company in the north. Fort Confidence was a most important
position, built on the northern extremity of the lake, close to its
waters, which being frozen over in winter, and navigable in summer,
afforded easy access to Fort Franklin, on the southern shores, and
promoted the coming and going of the Indian hunters with their daily
spoils. Many were the hunting and fishing expeditions which started from
Forts Confidence and Good Hope, especially from the former. The Great
Bear Lake is quite a Mediterranean Sea, extending over several
degrees of latitude and longitude. Its shape is very irregular : two
promontories jut into it towards the centre, and the upper portion forms
a triangle; its appearance, as a whole, much resembling the extended
skin of a ruminant without the head.
Fort Confidence was built at the end of the “ right paw,” at least
two hundred miles from Coronation Gulf, one of the numerous estuaries
which irregularly indent the coast of North America. It was therefore
situated beyond the Arctic Circle, but three degrees south of the
seventieth parallel, north of which the Hudson’s Bay Company proposed
forming a new settlement.
Fort Confidence, as a whole, much resembled other factories further
south. It consisted of a house for the officers, barracks for the
soldiers, and magazines for the furs - all of wood, surrounded by
palisades. The captain in command was then absent. He had gone towards
the east on a hunting expedition with a few Indians and soldiers. The
last season had not been good, costly furs had been scarce; but to make
up for this the lake had supplied plenty of otter-skins. The stock of
them had, however, just been sent to the central factories in the south,
so that the magazines of Fort Confidence were empty on the arrival of
our party.
In the absence of the Captain a Sergeant did the honours of the fort to
Jaspar Hobson and his companions. This second officer, Felton by name
was a brother-in-law of Sergeant Long. He showed the greatest readiness
to assist the views of the Lieutenant, who being anxious to rest his
party, decided on remaining two or three days at Fort Confidence. In the
absence of the little garrison there was plenty of room, and dogs and
men were soon comfortably installed. The best room in the largest house
was of course given to Mrs Paulina Barnett, who was delighted with the
politeness of Sergeant Felton.
Jaspar Hobson’s first care was to ask Felton if any Indians from the
north were then beating the shores of the Great Bear Lake
“Yes, Lieutenant,” replied the Sergeant; “we have just received
notice of the encampment of a party of Hare Indians on the other
northern extremity of the lake.”
“How far from here?” inquired Hobson.
“About thirty miles,” replied Sergeant Felton. “Do you wish to
enter into communication with these Indians?”
“Yes,” said Hobson; they may be able to give me some valuable
information about the districts bordering on the Arctic Ocean, and
bounded by Cape Bathurst. Should the site be favourable, I propose
constructing our new fort somewhere about there.”
“Well, Lieutenant, nothing is easier than to go to the Hare
encampment.”
“Along the shores of the lake?”
“No, across it; it is now free from ice, and the wind is favourable.
We will place a cutter and a boatman at your service, and in a few hours
you will be in the Indian settlement.”
“Thank you, Sergeant; to-morrow, then.” Whenever you like,
Lieutenant.”
The start was fixed for the next morning; and when Mrs Paulina Barnett
heard of the plan, she begged the Lieutenant to allow her to accompany
him, which of course he readily did.
But now to tell how the rest of this first day was passed. Mrs Barnett,
Hobson, two or three soldiers, Madge, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Joliffe explored
the shores of the lake under the guidance of Felton. The neighbourhood
was by no means barren of vegetation; the hills, now free from snow,
were crowned by resinous trees of the Scotch pine species. These trees,
which attain a height of some forty feet, supply the inhabitants of the
forts with plenty of fuel through the long winter. Their thick trunks
and dark gloomy branches form a striking feature of the landscape; but
the regular clumps of equal height, sloping down to the very edge of the
water, are somewhat monotonous. Between the groups of trees the soil was
clothed with a sort of whitish weed, which perfumed the air with a sweet
thymy odour. Sergeant Felton informed his guests that this plant was
called the “ herb of incense “ on account of the fragrance it emits
when burnt.
Some hundred steps from the fort the party came to a little natural
harbour shut in by high granite rocks, which formed an admirable
protection from the heavy surf. Here was anchored the fleet of Fort
Confidence, consisting of a single fishing-boat—the very one which was
to take Mrs Barnett and Hobson to the Indian encampment the next day.
From this harbour an extensive view was obtained of the lake; its waters
slightly agitated by the wind, with its irregular shores broken by
jagged capes and intersected by creeks. The wooded heights beyond, with
here and there the rugged outline of a floating iceberg standing out
against the clear blue air, formed the background on the north; whilst
on the south a regular sea horizon, a circular line clearly cutting sky
and water, and at this moment glittering in the sunbeams, bounded the
sight.
The whole scene was rich in animal and vegetable life. The surface of
the water, the shores strewn with flints and blocks of granite, the
slopes with their tapestry of herbs, the tree-crowned hill-tops, were
all alike frequented by various specimens of the feathered tribe.
Several varieties of ducks, uttering their different cries and calls,
eider ducks, whistlers spotted redshanks, “old women,” those
loquacious birds whose beak is never closed, skimmed the surface of the
lake. Hundreds of puffins and guillemots with outspread wings darted
about in every direction, and beneath the trees strutted ospreys two
feet high-a kind of hawk with a grey body, blue beak and claws, and
orange-coloured eyes, which build their huge nests of marine plants in
the forked branches of trees. The hunter Sabine managed to bring down
a couple of these gigantic ospreys, which measured nearly six feet from
tip to tip of their wings, and were therefore magnificent specimens of
these migratory birds, who feed entirely on fish, and take refuge on
the shores of the Gulf of Mexico when winter sets in, only visiting the
higher latitudes of North America during the short summer.
But the most interesting event of the day was the capture of an otter,
the skin of which was worth several hundred roubles.
The furs of these valuable amphibious creatures were once much sought
after in China; and although the demand for them has considerably
decreased in the Celestial Empire, they still command very high prices
in the Russian market. Russian traders, ready to buy up sea-otter skins,
travel all along the coasts of New Cornwall as far as the Arctic Ocean;
and of course, thus hunted, the animal is becoming very rare. It has
taken refuge further and further north, and the trackers have now to
pursue it on the shores of the Kamtchatka Sea, and in the islands of the
Behring Archipelago.
“But,” added Sergeant Felton, after the preceding explanation,
“American inland otters are not to be despised, and those which
frequent the Great Bear Lake are worth from £50 to £60 each.”
The Sergeant was right; magnificent otters are found in these waters,
and he himself skilfully tracked and killed one in the presence of his
visitors which was scarcely inferior in value to those from Kamtchatka
itself. The creature measured three feet from the muzzle to the end of
its tail; it had webbed feet, short legs, and its fur, darker on the
upper than on the under part of its body, was long and silky.
“A good shot, Sergeant,” said Lieutenant Hobson, who with Mrs
Barnett had been attentively examining the magnificent fur of the dead
animal.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” replied Felton; “and if each day brought us
such a skin as that, we should have nothing to complain of. But much
time is wasted in watching these animals, who swim and dive with
marvellous rapidity. We generally hunt them at night, as they very
seldom venture from their homes in the trunks of trees or the holes of
rocks in the daytime, and even expert hunters find it very difficult to
discover their retreats.”
“And are these otters also becoming scarcer and scarcer?” inquired
Mrs Barnett.
“Yes, madam,” replied the Sergeant; “and when this species becomes
extinct, the profits of the Company will sensibly decline. All the
hunters try to obtain its fur, and the Americans in particular are
formidable rivals to us. Did you not meet any American agents on your
journey up, Lieutenant?”
“Not one,” replied Hobson. “Do they ever penetrate as far as
this?”
“Oh yes !” said the Sergeant; “and when you hear of their
approach, I advise you to be on your guard.”
“Are these agents, then, highway robbers?” asked Mrs Paulina
Barnett.
“No, madam,” replied the Sergeant; “but they are formidable
rivals, and when game is scarce, hunters often come to blows about it. I
daresay that if the Company’s attempt to establish a fort on the verge
of the Arctic Ocean be successful, its example will at once be followed
by these Americans, whom Heaven confound!”
“Bah!” exclaimed the Lieutenant; “the hunting districts are vast,
and there’s room beneath the sun for everybody. As for us, let’s
make a start to begin with. Let us press on as long as we have firm
ground beneath our feet, and God be with us!”
After a walk of three hours the visitors returned to Fort Confidence,
where a good meal of fish and fresh venison awaited them. Sergeant Long
did the honours of the table, and after a little pleasant conversation,
all retired to rest to forget their fatigues in a healthy and refreshing
sleep.
The next day, May 31st, Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson were on foot at
five A.M. The Lieutenant intended to devote this day to visiting the
Indian encampment, and obtaining as much useful information as possible.
He asked Thomas Black to go with him, but the astronomer preferred
to remain on terra firma. He wished to make a few astronomical
observations, and to determine exactly the latitude and longitude of
Fort Confidence; so that Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson had to cross the
lake alone, under the guidance of an old boatman named Norman, who had
long been in the Company’s service.
The two travellers were accompanied by Sergeant Long as far as the
little harbour, where they found old Norman ready to embark. Their
little vessel was but an open fishing-boat, six feet long, rigged like
a cutter, which one man could easily manage. The weather was beautiful,
and the slight breeze blowing from the north-east was favourable to the
crossing. Sergeant Felton took leave of his guests with many apologies
for being unable to accompany them in the absence of his chief. The boat
was let loose from its moorings, and tacking to starboard, shot across
the clear waters of the lake.
The little trip passed pleasantly enough. The taciturn old sailor sat
silent in the stern of the boat with the tiller tucked under his arm.
Mrs Barnett and Lieutenant Hobson, seated opposite to each other,
examined with interest the scenery spread out before them. The boat
skirted the northern shores of the lake at about three miles’
distance, following a rectilinear direction, so that the wooded heights
sloping gradually to the west were distinctly visible. From this side
the district north of the lake appeared perfectly flat, and the horizon
receded to a considerable distance. The whole of this coast contrasted
strongly with the sharp angle, at the extremity of which rose Fort
Confidence, framed in green pines. The flag of the Company was still
visible floating from the tower of the fort. The oblique rays of the sun
lit up the surface of the water, and striking on the floating icebergs,
seemed to convert them into molten silver of dazzling brightness. No
trace remained of the solid ice-mountains of the winter but these moving
relies, which the solar rays could scarcely dissolve, and which seemed,
as it were, to protest against the brilliant but not very powerful Polar
sun, now describing a diurnal arc of considerable length.
Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant, as was their custom, communicated to
each other the thoughts suggested by the strange scenes through which
they were passing. They laid up a store of pleasant recollections for
the future whilst the beat floated rapidly along upon the peaceful
waves.
The party started at six in the morning, and at nine they neared the
point on the northern bank at which they were to land. The Indian
encampment was situated at the north-west angle of the Great Bear Lake.
Before ten o’clock old Norman ran the boat aground on a low bank at
the foot of a cliff of moderate height. Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant
landed at once. Two or three Indians, with their chief, wearing gorgeous
plumes, hastened to meet them, and addressed them in fairly intelligible
English.
These Hare Indians, like the Copper and Beaver Indians, all belong to
the Chippeway race, and differ but little in customs and costumes
from their fellow-tribes. They are in constant communication with the
factories, and have become, so to speak, “Britainised” — at least
as much so as is possible for savages. They bring the spoils of the
chase to the forts, and there exchange them for the necessaries of life,
which they no longer provide for themselves. They are in the pay of the
Company, they live upon it, and it is not surprising that they have lost
all originality. To find a native race as yet uninfluenced by contact
with Europeans we must go to still higher latitudes, to the ice-bound
regions frequented by the Esquimaux, who, like the Greenlanders, are the
true children of Arctic lands.
Mrs Barnett and Jaspar Hobson accompanied the Indians to their camp,
about half a mile from the shore, and found some thirty natives there,
men, women, and children, who supported themselves by hunting and
fishing on the borders of the lake. These Indians had just come from the
northernmost districts of the American continent, and were able to
give the Lieutenant some valuable, although necessarily incomplete,
information on the actual state of the sea-coast near the seventieth
parallel. The Lieutenant heard with considerable satisfaction that a
party of Americans or Europeans had been seen on the confines of
the Polar Sea, and that it was open at this time of year. About Cape
Bathurst, properly so called, the point for which he intended to make,
the Hare Indians could tell him nothing. Their chief said, however,
that the district between the Great Bear Lake and Cape Bathurst was
very difficult to cross, being hilly and intersected by streams, at this
season of the year free from ice. He advised the Lieutenant to go down
the Coppermine river, from the north-east of the lake, which would take
him to the coast by the shortest route. Once at the Arctic Ocean, it
would be easy to skirt along its shores and to choose the best spot at
Which to halt.
Lieutenant Hobson thanked the Indian chief, and took leave after giving
him a few presents. Then accompanied by Mrs Barnett, he explored the
neighbourhood of the camp, not returning to the boat until nearly three
o’clock in the afternoon.
CHAPTER IX. A STORM ON THE LAKE. The old sailor was impatiently awaiting
the return of the travellers; for during the last hour the weather had
changed, and the appearance of the sky was calculated to render any one
accustomed to read the signs of the clouds uneasy. The sun was obscured
by a thick mist, the wind had fallen, but - an ominous moaning was heard
from the south of the lake. These symptoms of an approaching change
of temperature were developed with all the rapidity peculiar to these
elevated latitudes.
“Let us be off, sir! let us be off!” cried old Norman, looking
anxiously at the fog above his head. “ Let us start without losing an
instant. There are terrible signs in the air!”
“Indeed,” exclaimed the Lieutenant, “the appearance of the sky is
quite changed, and we never noticed it, Mrs Barnett!”
“Are you afraid of a storm?” inquired the lady of old Norman.
“Yes, madam,” replied the old sailor; “and the storms on the Great
Bear Lake are often terrible. The hurricane rages as if upon the open
Atlantic Ocean. This sudden fog bodes us no good; but the tempest may
hold back for three or four hours, and by that time we shall be at Fort
Confidence. Let us then start without a moment’s delay, for the boat
would not be safe near these rocks.”
The Lieutenant, feeling that the old man, accustomed as he was to
navigate these waters, was better able to judge than himself, decided to
follow his advice, and embarked at once with Mrs Barnett.
But just as they were pushing off, old Norman, as if possessed by some
sudden presentiment, murmured —
“Perhaps it would be better to wait.”
Lieutenant Hobson overheard these words, and looked inquiringly at the
old boatman, already seated at the helm. Had he been alone he would not
have hesitated to start, but as Mrs Barnett was with him caution was
necessary. The lady at once saw and understood his hesitation.
“Never mind about me, Lieutenant,” she said; “act as if I were not
present. Let us start immediately , as our brave guide suggests.”
“We are off, then,” cried Norman, letting go the moorings, “to the
fort by the shortest route.”
For about an hour the bark made little head. The sail, scarcely filled
by the fitful breeze, flapped against the mast. The fog became thicker.
The waves began to rise and the boat to rock considerably; for the
approaching hurricane affected the water sooner than the atmosphere
itself. The two travellers sat still and silent, whilst the old
sailor peered into the darkness with bloodshot eyes. Prepared for
all contingencies, he awaited the shock of the wind, ready to pay out
rapidly should the attack be very violent. The conflict of the elements
had not, however, as yet commenced; and all would have been well if they
bad been able to advance, but after an hour’s sail they were still
only about two hours’ distance from the Indian encampment. A few gusts
of wind from the shore drove them out of their course, and the dense fog
rendered it impossible for them to make out the coast-line. Should the
wind settle in the north it would probably go hard with the light boat,
which, unable to hold its own course, would be drifted out into the lake
no one knew where.
“We are scarcely advancing at all,” said the Lieutenant to old
Norman.
“No, sir,” replied Norman; “the wind is not strong enough to fill
the sail, and if it were, I fear it comes from the wrong quarter. If
so,” he added, pointing to the south, “we may see Fort Franklin
before Fort Confidence.”
“Well,” said Mrs Barnett cheerfully, “our trip will have been all
the more complete. This is a magnificent lake, well worth exploring from
north to south. I suppose, Norman, one might get back even from Fort
Franklin?”
“Yes, madam, if we ever reach it,” replied the old man. “But
tempests lasting fifteen days are by no means rare on this lake; and
if our bad luck should drive us to the south, it may be a month before
Lieutenant Hobson again sees Fort Confidence.”
“Let us be careful, then,” said the Lieutenant; “for such a delay,
would hinder our projects very much. Do the best you can under the
circumstances, and if you think it would be prudent, go back to the
north. I don’t suppose Mrs Barnett would mind a walk of twenty or
twenty-five miles.”
I should be glad enough to go back to the north, Lieutenant,” replied
Norman, “if it were still possible. But look, the wind seems likely
to settle against us. All I can attempt is to get to the cape on the
north-east, and if it doesn’t blow too hard, I hope to succeed.”
But at about half-past four the storm broke. The shrill whistling of the
wind was heard far above their heads, but the state of the atmosphere
prevented it from as yet descending upon the lake; this was, however,
only delayed for a brief space of time. The cries of frightened birds
flying through the fog mingled with the noise of the wind. Suddenly the
mist was torn open, and revealed low jagged masses of rain-cloud chased
towards the south. The fears of the old sailor were realised. The wind
blew from the north, and it was not long before the travellers learned
the meaning of a squall upon the lake.
“Look out!” cried old Norman, tightening sail so as to get his boat
ahead of the wind, whilst keeping her under control of the helm.
The squall came. It caught the boat upon the flank, and it was turned
over on its side; but recovering itself, it was flung upon the crest
of a wave. The billows surged as if upon an open sea. The waters of the
lake not being very deep, struck against the bottom and rebounded to an
immense height.
“Help! help!” cried old Norman, hurriedly struggling to haul down
his sail.
Mrs Barnett and Hobson endeavoured to come to his assistance, but
without success, for they knew noticing of the management of a boat.
Norman, unable to leave the helm, and the halliards being entangled at
the top of the mast, could not take in the sail. Every moment the boat
threatened to capsize, and heavy seas broke over its sides. The
sky became blacker and blacker, cold rain mingled with snow fell in
torrents, whilst the squall redoubled its fury, lashing the crests of
the waves into foam.
“Cut it! cut it!” screamed Norman above the roaring of the storm.
The Lieutenant, his cap blown away and his eyes blinded by the spray,
seized Norman’s knife and cut the halliard like a harp-string; but the
wet cordage no longer acted in the grooves of the pulleys, and the yard
remained attached to the top of the mast.
Norman, totally unable to make head against the wind, now resolved to
tack about for the south, dangerous as it would be to have the boat
before the wind, pursued by waves advancing at double its speed. Yes, to
tack, although this course would probably bring them all to the southern
shores of the lake, far away from their destination.
The Lieutenant and his brave companion were well aware of the danger
which threatened them. The frail boat could not long resist the blows
of the waves, it would either be crushed or capsized; the lives of those
within it were in the hands of God.
But neither yielded to despair; clinging to the sides of the boat, wet
to the skin, chilled to the bone by the cutting blast, they strove
to gaze through the thick mist and fog. All trace of the land had
disappeared, and so great was the obscurity that at a cable’s length
from the boat clouds and waves could not be distinguished from each
other. Now and then the two travellers looked inquiringly into old
Norman’s face, who, with teeth set and hands clutching the tiller;
tried to keep his boat as much as possible under wind.
But the violence of the squall became such that the boat could not long
maintain this course. The waves which struck its bow would soon have
inevitably crushed it; the front planks were already beginning to
separate, and when its whole weight was flung into the hollows of the
waves it seemed as if it could rise no more.
“We must tack, we must tack, whatever happens !” murmured the old
sailor.
And pushing the tiller and paying out sail, he turned the head of the
boat to the south. The sail, stretched to the utmost, brought the boat
round with giddy rapidity, and the immense waves, chased by the wind,
threatened to engulf the little bark. This was the great danger of
shifting with the wind right aft. The billows hurled themselves in rapid
succession upon the boat, which could not evade them. It filled rapidly,
and the water bad to be baled out without a moment’s pause, or it must
have foundered. As they got nearer and nearer to the middle of the lake
the waves became rougher. Nothing there broke the fury of the wind; no
clumps of trees, no hills, checked for a moment the headlong course of
the hurricane. Now and then momentary glimpses were obtained through the
fog of icebergs dancing like buoys upon the waves, and driven towards
the south of the lake.
It was half-past five. Neither Norman nor the Lieutenant had any idea of
where they were, or whither they were going. They had lost all control
over the boat, and were at the mercy of the winds and waves.
And now at about a hundred feet behind the boat a huge wave upreared its
foam-crowned crest, whilst in front a black whirlpool was formed by the
sudden sinking of the water. All surface agitation, crushed by the
wind, had disappeared around this awful gulf, which, growing deeper and
blacker every moment, drew the devoted little vessel towards its fatal
embrace. Ever nearer came the mighty wave, all lesser billows sinking
into insignificance before it. It gained upon the boat, another moment
and it would crush it to atoms. Norman, looking round, saw its approach;
and Mrs Barnett and the Lieutenant, with eyes fixed and staring, awaited
in fearful suspense the blow from which there was no escape. The wave
broke over them with the noise of thunder; it enveloped the stern of the
boat in foam, a fearful crash was heard, and a cry burst from the lips
of the Lieutenant and his companion, smothered beneath the liquid mass.
They thought that all was over, and that the boat had sunk; but no, it
rose once more, although more than half filled with water.
The Lieutenant uttered a cry of despair. Where was Norman? The poor old
sailor had disappeared !
Mrs Paulina Barnett looked inquiringly at Hobson.
“Norman!” he repeated, pointing to his empty place.
“Unhappy man !” murmured Mrs Barnett; and at the risk of being flung
from the boat rocking on the waves, the two started to their feet and
looked around them. But they could see and hear nothing. No cry for help
broke upon their ears. No dead body floated in the white foam. The old
sailor had met his death in the element he loved so well.
Mrs Barnett and Hobson sank back upon their seats. They were now alone,
and must see to their own safety; but neither of them knew anything of
the management of a boat, and even an experienced hand could scarcely
have controlled it now. They were at the mercy of the waves, and the
bark, with distended sail, swept along in mad career. What could the
Lieutenant do to check or direct its course?
What a terrible situation for our travellers, to be thus overtaken by a
tempest in a frail bark which they could not manage !
“We are lost!” said the Lieutenant.
“No, Lieutenant,” replied Mrs Barnett; “let us make another
effort. Heaven helps those who help themselves !”
Lieutenant Hobson now for the first time realised with how intrepid a
woman fate had thrown him.
The first thing to be done was to get rid of the water which weighed
down the boat. Another wave shipped would have filled it in a moment,
and it must have sunk at once. The vessel lightened, it would have a
better chance of rising on the waves; and the two set to work to bale
out the water. This was no easy task; for fresh waves constantly broke
over them, and the scoop could not be laid aside for an instant. Mrs
Barnett was indefatigable, and the Lieutenant, leaving the baling to
her, took the helm himself, and did the best he could to guide the boat
with the wind right aft.
To add to the danger, night, or rather darkness, for in these latitudes
night only lasts a few hours at this time of year, fell upon them.
Scarce a ray of light penetrated through the heavy clouds and fog. They
could not see two yards before them, and the boat must have been dashed
to pieces had it struck a floating iceberg. This danger was indeed
imminent, for the loose ice-masses advance with such rapidity that it is
impossible to get out of their way.
“You have no control over the helm?” said Mrs Barnett in a slight
lull of the storm.
No, madam he replied; “and you must prep are for the worst.”
“I am ready!” replied the courageous woman simply.
As she spoke a loud rippling sound was heard. The sail, torn away by the
wind, disappeared like a white cloud. The boat sped rapidly along for
a few instants, and then stopped suddenly, the waves buffeting it about
like an abandoned wreck. Mrs Barnett and Hobson, flung to the bottom of
the boat, bruised, shaken, and torn, felt that all was lost. Not a shred
of canvas was left to aid in navigating the craft; and what with the
spray, the snow, and the rain, they could scarcely see each other,
whilst the uproar drowned their voices. Expecting every moment to
perish, they remained for an hour in painful suspense, commending
themselves to God, who alone could save them.
Neither of them could have said how long they waited when they were
aroused by a violent shock.
The boat had just struck an enormous iceberg, a floating block with
rugged, slippery sides, to which it would be impossible to cling.
At this sudden blow, which could not have been parried, the bow of the
boat was split open, and the water poured into it in torrents.
“We are sinking! we are sinking !” cried Jasper Hobson.
He was right. The boat was settling down; the water had already reached
the seats.
“Madam, madam, I am here! I will not leave you!” added the
Lieutenant.
“No, no,” cried Mrs Barnett : “alone, you may save yourself;
together, we should perish. Leave me! leave me!”
“Never!” cried Hobson.
But he had scarcely pronounced this word when the boat, struck by
another wave, filled and sank.
Both were drawn under water by the eddy caused by the sudden settling
down of the boat, but in a few instants they rose to the surface.
Hobson was a strong swimmer, and struck out with one arm, supporting
his companion with the other. But it was evident that he could not long
sustain a conflict with the furious waves, and that he must perish with
her he wished to save.
At this moment a strange sound attracted his attention. It was not the
cry of a frightened bird, but the shout of a human voice! By one supreme
effort Hobson raised himself above the waves and looked around him.
But he could distinguish nothing in the thick fog. And yet he again
beard cries, this time nearer to him. Some bold men were coming to his
succour! Alas! if it were so, they would arrive too late. Encumbered by
his clothes, the Lieutenant felt himself sinking with the unfortunate
lady, whose head he could scarcely keep above the water. With a last
despairing effort he uttered a heartrending cry and disappeared beneath
the waves.
It was, however, no mistake-he had heard voices. Three men, wandering
about by the lake, had seen the boat in danger, and put off to its
rescue. They were Esquimaux, the only men who could have hoped to
weather such a storm, for theirs are the only boats constructed to
escape destruction in these fearful tempests.
The Esquimaux boat or kayak is a long pirogue raised at each end, made
of a light framework of wood, covered with stretched seal-skins strongly
stitched with the sinews of the Walrus. In the upper part of the boat;
also covered with skins, is an opening in which the Esquimaux takes his
place, fastening his waterproof jacket to the back of his seat; so
that he is actually joined to his bark, which not a drop of water can
penetrate. This light, easily-managed kayak, floating as it does, on
the crests of the waves, can never be submerged; and if it be sometimes
capsized, a blow of the paddle rights it again directly; so that it
is able to live and make way in seas in which any other boat would
certainly be dashed to pieces.
The three Esquimaux, guided by the Lieutenant’s last despairing
cry, arrived at the scene of the wreck joints in time. Hobson and Mrs
Barnett, already half drowned, felt themselves drawn up by powerful
hands; but in the darkness they were unable to discover who were their
deliverers. One of the men took the Lieutenant and laid him across his
own boat, another did the sane for Mrs Barnett, and the three kayaks,
skilfully managed with the paddles, six feet long, sped rapidly over the
white foam.
Half an hour afterwards, the shipwrecked travellers were lying on the
sandy beach three miles above Fort Providence.
The old sailor alone was missing !
CHAPTER X. A RETROSPECT. It was about ten o’clock the same night when
Mrs Barnett and Lieutenant Hobson knocked at the postern gate of the
fort. Great was the joy on seeing them, for they had been given up for
lost; but this joy was turned to mourning at the news of the death
of Norman. The brave fellow had been beloved by all, and his loss
was sincerely mourned. The intrepid and devoted Esquimaux received
phlegmatically the earnest expressions of gratitude of those they had
saved, and coulot be persuaded to come to the fort. What they had done
seemed to them only natural, and these were not the first persons they
had rescued; so they quietly returned to their wild life of adventure on
the lake, where they hunted the otters and water-birds day and night.
For the next three nights the party rested. Hobson always intended to
set out on June 2d; and on that day, all having recovered from their
fatigues and the storm having abated, the order was given to start.
Sergeant Felton had done all in his power to make his guests comfortable
and to aid their enterprise; some of the jaded dogs were replaced by
fresh animals, and now the Lieutenant found all his sledges drawn up in
good order at the door of the enceinte, and awaiting the travellers.
The adieux were soon over. Each one thanked Sergeant Felton for his
hospitality, and Mrs Paulina Barnett was most profuse in her expressions
of gratitude. A hearty shake of the hand between the Sergeant and his
brother-in-law, Long, completed the leave-taking,
Each pair got into the sledge assigned to them; but this time Mrs
Barnett and the Lieutenant shared one vehicle, Madge and Sergeant Long
following them.
According to the advice of the Indian chief, Hobson determined to get to
the coast by the shortest route, and to take a north-easterly direction.
After consulting, his map, which merely gave a rough outline of the
configuration of the country, it seemed best to him to descend the
valley of the Coppermine, a large river which flows into Coronation
Gulf.
The distance between Fort Confidence and the mouth of this river is only
a degree and a half-that is to say, about eighty-five or ninety miles.
The deep hollow formed by the gulf is bounded on the north by Cape
Krusenstein, and from it the coast juts out towards the north-west,
ending in Cape Bathurst, which is above the seventieth parallel.
The Lieutenant, therefore, now changed the route he had hitherto
followed, directing his course to the east, so as to reach the river in
a few hours.
In the afternoon of the next day, June 3d, the river was gained. It was
now free from ice, and its clear and rapid waters flowed through a vast
valley, intersected by numerous but easily fordable streams. The
sledges advanced pretty rapidly, and as they went along, Hobson gave his
companion some account of the country through which they were passing. A
sincere friendship founded on mutual esteem, had sprung up between these
two. Mrs Paulina Barnett was an earnest student with a special gift for
discovery, and was therefore always glad to converse with travellers and
explorers. Hobson, who knew his beloved North America by heart, was able
to answer all her inquiries fully.
“About ninety years ago,” he said, “the territory through which
the Coppermine flows was unknown, and we are indebted for its discovery
to the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company. But as always happens in
scientific matters, in seeking one thing, another was found. Columbus
was trying to find Asia, and discovered America.”
“And what were the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company seeking? The
famous North-West Passage?”
“No, madam,” replied the young Lieutenant. “A century ago the
Company had no interest in the opening of a new route, which would have
been more valuable to its rivals than to it. It is even said that in
1741 a certain Christopher Middleton, sent to explore these latitudes,
was publicly charged with receiving a bribe of £500 from the Company
to say that there was not, and could not be, a sea passage between the
oceans.”
“That was not much to the credit of the celebrated Company,” said
Mrs Barnett.
“I do not defend it in the matter,” replied Hobson; “and its
interference was severely censured by Parliament in 1746, when a reward
of £20,000 was offered by the Government for the discovery of the
passage in question. In that year two intrepid explorers, William Moor
and Francis Smith, penetrated as far as Repulse Bay in the hope of
discovering the much-longed-for passage. But they were unsuccessful, and
returned to England after an absence of a year and a half.”
“But did not other captains follow in their steps, resolved to conquer
where they had failed?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“No, madam; and in spite of the large reward offered by Parliament, no
attempt was made to resume explorations in English America until thirty
years afterwards, when some agents of the Company took up the unfinished
task of Captains Moor and Smith.”
“The Company had then relinquished the narrow-minded egotistical
position it had taken up?”
“No, madam, not yet. Samuel Hearne, the agent, only went to
reconnoitre the position of a copper-mine which native miners had
reported. On November 6, 1769, this agent left Fort Prince of Wales,
on the river Churchill, near the western shores of Hudson’s Bay. He
pressed boldly on to the north-west; but the excessive cold and
the exhaustion of his provisions compelled him to return without
accomplishing anything. Fortunately he was not easily discouraged, and
on February 23d of the next year he set out again, this time taking some
Indians with him. Great hardships were endured in this second journey.
The fish and game on which Hearne had relied often failed him; and
he had once nothing to eat for seven days but wild fruit, bits of old
leather, and burnt bones. He was again compelled to return to the fort
a disappointed man. But he did not even yet despair, and started a third
time, December 7th, 1770; and after a struggle of nineteen months, he
discovered the Coppermine river, July 13th, 1772, the course of which
he followed to its mouth. According to his own account, he saw the open
sea, and in any case he was the first to penetrate to the northern coast
of America.”
“But the North-West Passage-that is to say, the direct communication
by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans—was not then
discovered?”
“Oh no, madam,” replied the Lieutenant; “and what countless
adventurous sailors have since gone to seek it! Phipps in 1773, James
Cook and Clerke in 1776 to 1779, Kotzebue in 1815 to 1818, Ross, Parry,
Franklin, and others have attempted this difficult task; but it was
reserved to M’Clure in our own day to pass from one ocean to the other
across the Polar Sea.”
“Well, Lieutenant, that was a geographical discovery of which we
English may well be proud. But do tell me if the Hudson’s Bay Company
did not adopt more generous views, and send out some other explorer
after the return of Hearne.”
“It did, madam; and it was thanks to it that Captain Franklin was able
to accomplish his voyage of 1819 to 1822 between the river discovered
by Hearne and Cape Turnagain. This expedition endured great fatigue and
hardships; provisions often completely failed, and two Canadians were
assassinated and eaten by their comrades. But in spite of all his
sufferings, Captain Franklin explored no less than five thousand
five hundred and fifty miles of the hitherto unknown coast of North
America!”
“He was indeed a man of energy,” added Mrs Barnett; “and he gave
proof of his great qualities in starting on a fresh Polar expedition
after all he had gone through.”
“Yes,” replied the Lieutenant; “and he met a terrible death in
the land his own intrepidity had discovered. It has now been proved,
however, that all his companions did not perish with him. Many are
doubtless still wandering about on the vast ice-fields. I cannot
think of their awful condition without a shudder. One day,” be added
earnestly, and with strange emotion—” one day I will search the
unknown lands where the dreadful catastrophe took place, and— “
“And,” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, pressing his hand, “I will accompany
you. Yes, this idea has occurred to me more than once, as it has to
you; and my heart beats high when I think that fellow countrymen of my
own-Englishmen-are awaiting succour.”
“Which will come too late for most of them, madam,” said the
Lieutenant; “but rest assured some will even yet be saved.”
“God grant it, Lieutenant!” replied Mrs Barnett; “and it appears
to me that the agents of the Company, living as they do close to the
coast, are better fitted than any one else to fulfil this duty of
humanity.”
“I agree with you, madam; they are, as they have often proved, inured
to the rigours of the Arctic climate. Was it not they who aided Captain
Back in his voyage in 1834, when he discovered King William’s Land,
where Franklin met his fate? Was it not two of us, Dease and Simpson,
who were sent by the Governor of Hudson’s Bay to explore the shores
of the Polar Sea in 1838, and whose courageous efforts first discovered
Victoria Land? It is my opinion that the future reserves for the
Hudson’s Bay Company the final conquest of the Arctic regions.
Gradually its factories are advancing further and further north,
following the retreat of the fur-yielding animals; and one day a fort
will be erected on the Pole itself, that mathematical point where meet
all the meridians of the globe.”
During this and the succeeding journeys Jaspar Hobson related his own
adventures since he entered the service of the Company his struggles
with the agents of rival associations, and his efforts to explore the
unknown districts of the north or west; and Mrs Barnett, on her side,
told of her travels in the tropics. She spoke of all she had done, and
of all she hoped still to accomplish; so that the long hours, lightened
by pleasant conversation, passed rapidly away.
Meanwhile the dogs advanced at full gallop towards the north. The
Coppermine valley widened sensibly as they neared the Arctic Ocean. The
hills on either side sank lower and lower, and only scattered clumps of
resinous trees broke the monotony of the landscape. A few blocks of ice,
drifted down by the river, still resisted the action of the sun; but
each day their number decreased, and a canoe, or even a good-sized
boat, might easily have descended the stream, the course of which was
unimpeded by any natural barrier or aggregation of rocks. The bed of the
Coppermine was both deep and wide; its waters were very clear, and
being fed by the melted snow, flowed on at a considerable pace, never,
however, forming dangerous rapids. Its course, at first very sinuous,
became gradually less and less winding, and at last stretched along in a
straight line for several miles. Its banks, composed of fine firm sand,
and clothed in part with short dry herbage, were wide and level, so that
the long train of sledges sped rapidly over them.
The expedition travelled day and night-if we can speak of the night,
when the sun, describing an almost horizontal circle, scarcely
disappeared at all. The true night only lasted two hours, and the dawn
succeeded the twilight almost immediately. The weather was fine; the sky
clear, although somewhat misty on the horizon; and everything combined
to favour the travellers.
For two days they kept along the river-banks without meeting with any
difficulties. They saw but few fur-bearing animals; but there were
plenty of birds, which might have been counted by thousands. The absence
of otters, sables, beavers, ermines, foxes, &c., did not trouble the
Lieutenant much, for he supposed that they had been driven further
north by over-zealous tracking; and indeed the marks of encampments,
extinguished fires, &c., told of the more or less recent passage of
native hunters. Hobson knew that he would have to penetrate a good deal
further north, and that part only of his journey would be accomplished
when he got to the mouth of the Coppermine river. He was therefore most
eager to reach the limit of Hearne’s exploration, and pressed on as
rapidly as possible.
Every one shared the Lieutenant’s impatience, and resolutely resisted
fatigue in order to reach the Arctic Ocean with the least possible
delay. They were drawn onwards by an indefinable attraction; the glory
of the unknown dazzled their sight. Probably real hardships would
commence when they did arrive at the much-desired coast. But no matter,
they longed to battle with difficulties, and to press straight onwards
to their aim. The district they were now traversing could have no direct
interest for them; the real exploration would only commence on the
shores of the Arctic Ocean. Each one, then, would gladly hail the
arrival in the elevated western districts for which they were bound, cut
across though they were by the seventieth parallel of north latitude.
On the 5th June, four days after leaving Fort Confidence the river
widened considerably. The western banks, curving slightly, ran almost
due north; whilst the eastern rounded off into the coastline, stretching
away as far as the eye could reach.
Lieutenant Hobson paused, and waving his hand to his companions, pointed
to the boundless ocean.
CHAPTER XI. ALONG THE COAST. Coronation Gulf, the large estuary dotted
with the islands forming the Duke of York Archipelago, which the party
had now reached, was a sheet of water with irregular banks, let in, as
it were, into the North American continent. At its western angle opened
the mouth of the Coppermine; and on the east a long narrow creek called
Bathurst Inlet ran into the mainland, from which stretched the jagged
broken coast with its pointed capes and rugged promontories, ending
in that confusion of straits, sounds, and channels which gives such a
strange appearance to the maps of North America. On the other side the
coast turned abruptly to the north beyond the mouth of the Coppermine
River, and ended in Cape Krusenstern.
After consulting with Sergeant Long, Lieutenant Hobson decided to give
his party a day’s rest here.
The exploration, properly so called, which was to enable the Lieutenant
to fix upon a suitable site for the establishment of a fort, was now
really about to begin. The Company had advised him to keep as much as
possible above the seventieth parallel, and on the shores of the Arctic
Ocean. To obey his orders Hobson was obliged to keep to the west; for on
the east—with the exception, perhaps, of the land of Boothia, crossed
by the seventieth parallel—the whole country belongs rather to the
Arctic Circle, and the geographical conformation of Boothia is as yet
but imperfectly known.
After carefully ascertaining the latitude and longitude, and verifying
his position by the map, the Lieutenant found that he was a hundred
miles below the seventieth degree. But beyond Cape Krusenstern, the
coast-line, running in a north-easterly direction, abruptly crosses the
seventieth parallel at a sharp angle near the one hundred and thirtieth
meridian, and at about the same elevation as Cape Bathurst, the spot
named as a rendezvous by Captain Craventy. He must therefore make for
that point, and should the site appear suitable the new fort would be
erected there.
“There,” said the Lieutenant to his subordinate, Long, “we shall
be in the position ordered by the Company. There the sea, open for a
great part of the year, will allow the vessels from Behring Strait to
come right up to the fort, bringing us fresh provisions and taking away
our commodities.”
“Not to mention,” added Sergeant Long, “that our men will be
entitled to double pay all the time they are beyond the seventieth
parallel.”
“Of course that is understood,” replied Hobson; “and I daresay
they will accept it without a murmur.”
“Well then, Lieutenant,” said Long simply, “we have now only to
start for Cape Bathurst.”
But as a day of rest had been promised, the start did not actually take
place until the next day, June 6th.
The second part of the journey would naturally be very different from
the first. The rules with regard to the sledges keeping their rank need
no longer be enforced, and each couple drove as it pleased them. Only
short distances were traversed at a time; halts were made at every angle
of the coast, and the party often walked. Lieutenant Hobson only urged
two things upon his companions not to go further than three miles from
the coast, and to rally their forces twice a day, at twelve o’clock
and in the evening. At night they all encamped in tents.
The weather continued very fine and the temperature moderate,
maintaining a mean height of 59° Fahrenheit above zero. Two or three
times sudden snowstorms came on; but they did not last long, and
exercised no sensible influence upon the temperature.
The whole of the American coast between Capes Krusenstern and Parry,
comprising an extent of more than two hundred and fifty miles, was
examined with the greatest care between the 6th and 20th of June.
Geographical observations were accurately taken, and Hobson, most
effectively aided by Thomas Black, was able to rectify certain errors
in previous marine surveys; whilst the primary object of the
expedition—the examination into the quality and quantity of the game
in the surrounding districts-was not neglected.
Were these lands well stocked with game? Could they count with certainty
not only on a good supply of furs, but also of meat? Would the resources
of the country provide a fort with provisions in the summer months at
least? Such were the grave questions which Lieutenant Hobson had to
solve, and which called for immediate attention. We give a summary of
the conclusions at which he arrived.
Game, properly so called, of the kind for which Corporal Joliffe amongst
others had a special predilection, was not abundant. There were plenty
of birds of the duck tribe; but only a few Polar hares, difficult of
approach, poorly represented the rodents of the north. There seemed,
however, to be a good many bears about. Marbre and Sabine had come upon
the fresh traces of several. Some were even seen and tracked; but, as a
rule, they kept at a respectful distance. In the winter, however, driven
by famine from higher latitudes, there would probably be more than
enough of these ravenous beasts prowling about the shores of the Arctic
Ocean.
“There is certainly no denying,” said Corporal Joliffe, “that
bear’s flesh is very good eating when once it’s in the larder; but
there is something very problematical about it beforehand, and it’s
always just possible that the hunters themselves may meet the fate they
intended for the bears!”
This was true enough. It was no use counting upon the bears to provision
their fort. Fortunately traces were presently found of herds of a far
more useful animal, the flesh of which is the principal food of the
Indians and Esquimaux. We allude to the reindeer; and Corporal Joliffe
announced with the greatest satisfaction that there were plenty of these
ruminants on this coast. The ground was covered with the lichen to which
they are so partial, and which they cleverly dig out from under the
snow.
There could be no mistake as to the footprints left by the reindeer, as,
like the camel, they have a small nail-like hoof with a convex surface.
Large herds, sometimes numbering several thousand animals, are seen
running wild in certain parts of America. Being easily domesticated,
they are employed to draw sledges; and they also supply the factories
with excellent milk, more nourishing than that of cows. Their dead
bodies are not less useful. Their thick skin provides clothes, their
hair makes very good thread, and their flesh is palatable; so that they
are really the most valuable animals to be found in these latitudes,
and Hobson, being assured of their presence, was relieved from half his
anxiety.
As he advanced he had also reason to be satisfied with regard to the
fur-bearing animals. By the little streams rose many beaver lodges
and musk-rat tunnels. Badgers, lynxes, ermines, wolverenes, sables,
polecats, &c., frequented these districts, hitherto undisturbed by
hunters. They had thus far come to no trace of the presence of man, and
the animals had chosen their refuge well. Footprints were also found of
the fine blue and silver foxes, which are becoming more and more rare,
and the fur of which is worth its weight in gold. Sabine and Mac-Nab
might many a time have shot a very valuable animal on this excursion,
but the Lieutenant had wisely forbidden all hunting of the kind. He did
not wish to alarm the animals before the approaching season-that is to
say, before the winter months, when their furs become thicker and
more beautiful. It was also desirable not to overload the sledges. The
hunters saw the force of his reasoning; but for all that, their fingers
itched when they came within shot-range of a sable or some valuable fox.
Their Lieutenant’s orders were, however, not to be disobeyed.
Polar bears and birds were, therefore, all that the hunters had to
practise upon in this second stage of their journey. The former,
however, not yet rendered bold by hunger, soon scampered off, and no
serious struggle with them ensued.
The poor birds suffered for the enforced immunity of the quadrupeds.
White-headed eagles, huge birds with a harsh screeching cry; fishing
hawks, which build their nests in dead trees and migrate to the Arctic
regions in the summer; snow buntings with pure white plumage, wild
geese, which afford the best food of all the Anseres tribe; ducks with
red heads and black breasts; ash-coloured crows, a kind of mocking jay
of extreme ugliness; eider ducks; scoters or black divers, &c. &c.,
whose mingled cries awake the echoes of the Arctic regions, fell victims
by hundreds to the unerring aim of Marbre and Sabine. These birds haunt
the high latitudes by millions, and it would be impossible to form an
accurate estimate of their number on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
Their flesh formed a very pleasant addition to the daily rations of
biscuit and corned beef, and we can understand that the hunters laid up
a good stock of them in the fifteen days during which they were debarred
from attacking more valuable game.
There would then be no lack of animal food; the magazines of the Company
would be well stocked with game, and its offices filled with furs
and traders; but something more was wanted to insure success to the
undertaking. Would it be possible to obtain a sufficient supply of
fuel to contend with the rigour of an Arctic winter at so elevated a
latitude?
Most fortunately the coast, was well wooded; the hills which sloped down
towards the sea were crowned with green trees, amongst which the pine
predominated. Some of the woods might even be called forests, and would
constitute an admirable reserve of timber for the fort. Here and there
Hobson noticed isolated groups of willows, poplars, dwarf birch-trees,
and numerous thickets of arbutus. At this time of the warm season
all these trees were covered with verdure, and were an unexpected and
refreshing sight to eyes so long accustomed to the rugged, barren polar
landscape. The ground at the foot of the hills was carpeted with a short
herbage devoured with avidity by the reindeer, and forming their only
sustenance in winter. On the whole, then, the Lieutenant had reason to
congratulate himself on having chosen the north-west of the American
continent for the foundation of a new settlement.
We have said that these territories, so rich in animals, were apparently
deserted by men. The travellers saw neither Esquimaux, who prefer the
districts round Hudson’s Bay, nor Indians, who seldom venture so far
beyond the Arctic Circle. And indeed in these remote latitudes hunters
may be overtaken by storms, or be suddenly surprised by winter, and cut
off from all communication with their fellow-creatures. We can easily
imagine that Lieutenant Hobson was by no means sorry not to meet any
rival explorers. What he wanted was an unoccupied country, a deserted
land, suitable as a refuge for the fur-bearing animals; and in this
matter he had the full sympathy of Mrs Barnett, who, as the guest of the
Company, naturally took a great interest in the success of its schemes.
Fancy, then, the disappointment of the Lieutenant, when on the morning
of the 20th June he came to an encampment but recently abandoned.
It was situated at the end of a narrow creek called Darnley Bay, of
which Cape Parry is the westernmost point. There at the foot of a little
hill were the stakes which had served to mark the limits of the camp,
and heaps of cinders, the extinct embers of the fires.
The whole party met at this encampment, and all understood how great a
disappointment it involved for Lieutenant Hobson.
“What a pity!” he exclaimed. “I would rather have met a whole
family of polar bears!”
“But I daresay the men who encamped here are already far off,” said
Mrs Barnett; “very likely they have returned to their usual hunting
grounds.”
“That is as it may be,” replied the Lieutenant. “If these be the
traces of Esquimaux, they are more likely to have gone on than to have
turned back; and if they be those of Indians, they are probably, like
ourselves, seeking a new hunting district; and in either case it will be
very unfortunate for us.”
“But,” said Mrs Barnett, “cannot we find out to what race the
travellers do belong? Can’t we ascertain if they be Esquimaux or
Indians from the south? I should think tribes of such a different
origin, and of such dissimilar customs, would not encamp in the same
manner.”
Mrs Barnett was right; they might possibly solve the mystery after a
thorough examination of the ground.
Jaspar Hobson and others set to work, carefully examining every trace,
every object left behind, every mark on the ground; but in vain, there
was nothing to guide them to a decided opinion. The bones of some
animals scattered about told them nothing, and the Lieutenant, much
annoyed, was about to abandon the useless search, when he heard an
exclamation from Mrs Joliffe, who had wandered a little way to the left.
All hurried towards the young Canadian, who remained fixed to the spot,
looking attentively at the ground before her.
As her companions came up she said—
“You are looking for traces, Lieutenant; well, here are some.”
And Mrs Joliffe pointed to a good many footprints clearly visible in the
firm clay.
These might reveal something; for the feet of the Indians and Esquimaux,
as well as their boots, are totally different from each other.
But what chiefly struck Lieutenant Hobson was the strange arrangement
of these impressions. They were evidently made by a human foot, a shod
foot; but, strange to say, the ball alone appeared to have touched the
ground! The marks were very numerous, close together, often crossing one
another, but confined to a very small circle.
Jaspar Hobson called the attention of the rest of the party to this
singular circumstance.
“These were not made by a person walking,” he said.
“Nor by a person jumping,” added Mrs Barnett; “for there is no
mark of a heel.”
“No,” said Mrs Joliffe; “these footprints were left by a
dancer.”
She was right, as further examination proved. They were the marks left
by a dancer, and a dancer engaged in some light and graceful exercise,
for they were neither clumsy nor deep.
But who could the light-hearted individual be who had been impelled to
dance in this sprightly fashion some degrees above the Arctic Circle?
“It was certainly not an Esquimaux,” said the Lieutenant.
“Nor an Indian,” cried Corporal Joliffe.
“No, it was a Frenchman,” said Sergeant Long quietly.
And all agreed that none but a Frenchman could have been capable of
dancing on such a spot.
CHAPTER XII. THE MIDNIGHT SUN. Sergeant Long’s assertion must appear
to have been founded on insufficient evidence. That there had been
dancing no one could deny, but that the dancer was a Frenchman, however
probable, could not be considered proved.
However, the Lieutenant shared the opinion of his subordinate, which did
not appear too positive to any of the party, who all agreed in feeling
sure that some travellers, with at least one compatriot of Vestris
amongst them, had recently encamped on this spot.
Of course Lieutenant Hobson was by no means pleased at this he was
afraid of having been preceded by rivals in the north-western districts
of English America; and secret as the Company had kept its scheme, it
had doubtless been divulged in the commercial centres of Canada and the
United States.
The Lieutenant resumed his interrupted march; but he was full of care
and anxiety, although he would not now have dreamed of retracing his
steps.
“Frenchmen are then sometimes met with in these high latitudes?” was
Mrs Barnett’s natural question after this incident.
“Yes, madam,” replied the Lieutenant; “or if not exactly
Frenchmen, the descendants of the masters of Canada when it belonged to
France, which comes to much the same thing. These men are in fact our
most formidable rivals.”
“But I thought,” resumed Mrs Barnett, “that after the absorption
by the Hudson’s Bay Company of the old North-West Company, that it had
no longer any rivals on the American continent.”
“Although there is no longer any important association for trading in
furs except our own, there are a good many perfectly independent private
companies, mostly American, which have retained French agents or their
descendants in their employ.”
“Are these agents then held in such high esteem?” asked Mrs Barnett.
“Yes, madam, and with good reason. During the ninety-four years of
French supremacy in Canada, French agents always proved themselves
superior to ours. We must be just even to our rivals.”
“Especially to our rivals,” added Mrs Barnett.
“Yes, especially. . . At that time French hunters, starting from
Montreal, their headquarters, pressed on to the north with greater
hardihood than any others. They lived for years with the Indian
tribes, sometimes intermarrying with them. The natives called them the
‘Canadian travellers,’ and were on the most intimate terms with
them. They were bold, clever fellows, expert at navigating streams,
light-hearted and merry, adapting themselves to circumstances with the
easy flexibility of their race, and always ready to sing or dance.”
“And do you suppose that hunting is the only object of the party whose
traces we have just discovered?”
“I don’t think any other hypotheses at all likely,” replied
Hobson. “They are sure to be seeking new hunting grounds. But as
we cannot possibly stop them, we must make haste to begin our own
operations, and compete boldly with all rivals.”
Lieutenant Hobson was now prepared for the competition he could not
prevent, and he urged on the march of his party as much as possible,
hoping that his rivals might not follow him beyond the seventieth
parallel.
The expedition now descended towards the south for some twenty miles, in
order the more easily to pass round Franklin Bay. The country was still
covered with verdure, and the quadrupeds and birds already enumerated
were as plentiful as ever; so that they could reasonably hope that
the whole of the north-western coasts of the American continent were
populated in the same manner.
The ocean which bathed these shores stretched away as far as the eye
could reach Recent atlases give no land beyond the north American
coast-line, and it is only the icebergs which impede the free navigation
of the open sea from Behring Strait to the Pole itself.
On the 4th July the travellers skirted round another deep bay called
Washburn Bay, and reached the furthest point of a little lake, until
then imperfectly known, covering but a small extent of territory,
scarcely two square miles-in fact it was rather a lagoon, or large pond
of sweet water, than a lake.
The sledges went on easily and rapidly, and the appearance of the
country was most encouraging to the explorers. It seemed that the
extremity of Cape Bathurst would be a most favourable site for the new
fort, as with this lagoon behind them, and the sea open for four or five
months in the warm season, and giving access to the great highway of
Behring Strait, before them, it would be easy for the exiles to lay in
fresh provisions and to export their commodities.
On the 5th June, about three o’clock in the afternoon, the party at
last halted at the extremity of Cape Bathurst. It remained to ascertain
the exact position of this cape, which the maps place above the
seventieth parallel. It was, however, impossible to rely upon the marine
surveys of the coast, as they had never yet been made with exactitude.
Jaspar Hobson decided to wait and ascertain the latitude and longitude.
“What prevents us from settling here?” asked Corporal Joliffe.
“You will own, Lieutenant, that it is a very inviting spot.”
“It will seem more inviting still if you get double pay here, my
worthy Corporal,” replied Hobson.
“No doubt,” said Joliffe; “and the orders of the Company must be
obeyed.”
“Then wait patiently till to-morrow,” added Hobson; “and if we
find that Cape Bathurst is really beyond 70° north latitude, we will
pitch our tent here.”
The site was indeed admirably suited for the foundation of a new
settlement. The wooded heights surrounding the lagoon would supply
plenty of pine, birch, and other woods for the construction of the
fort, and for stocking, it with’ fuel. The Lieutenant and some of his
companions went to the very edge of the cape, and found that towards the
west the coast-line formed a lengthened curve, beyond which icebergs
of a considerable height shut out the view. The water of the lagoon,
instead of being brackish as they expected from its close vicinity to
the sea, was perfectly sweet; but had it not been so, drinkable water
would not have failed the little colony, as a fresh and limpid stream
ran a few yards to the south-east of Cape Bathurst, and emptied itself
into the Arctic Ocean through a narrow inlet, which, protected by a
singular accumulation of sand and earth instead of by rocks, would have
afforded a refuge to several vessels from the winds of the offing, and
might be turned to account for the anchorage of the ships which it
was hoped would come to the new settlement from Behring Strait. Out of
compliment to the lady of the party, and much to her delight, Lieutenant
Hobson named the stream Paulina river, and the little harbour Port
Barnett.
By building the fort a little behind the actual cape, the principal
house and the magazines would be quite sheltered from the coldest
winds. The elevation of the cape would help to protect them from the
snow-drifts, which sometimes completely bury large buildings beneath
their heavy avalanches in a few hours. There was plenty of room between
the foot of the promontory and the bank of the lagoon for all the
constructions necessary to a fort. It could even be surrounded by
palisades, which would break the shock of the icebergs; and the cape
itself might be surrounded with a fortified redoubt, if the vicinity of
rivals should render such a purely defensive erection necessary; and the
Lieutenant, although with no idea of commencing anything of the kind
as yet, naturally rejoiced at having met with an easily defensible
position.
The weather remained fine, and it was quite warm enough. There was not a
cloud upon the sky; but, of course, the clear blue air of temperate
and torrid zones could not be expected here, and the atmosphere was
generally charged with a light mist. What would Cape Bathurst be like in
the long winter night of four months when the ice-mountains became fixed
and rigid, and the hoarse north wind swept down upon the icebergs in
all its fury? None of the party gave a thought to that time now; for
the weather was beautiful, the verdant landscape smiled, and the waves
sparkled in the sunbeams, whilst the temperature remained warm and
pleasant.
A provisional camp, the sledges forming its only material, was arranged
for the night on the banks of the lagoon; and towards evening Mrs
Barnett, the Lieutenant, Sergeant Long, and even Thomas Black, explored
the surrounding district in order to ascertain its resources. It
appeared to be in every respect suitable; and Hobson was eager for the
next day, that he might determine the exact situations, and find out if
it fulfilled the conditions imposed by the Company.
“Well, Lieutenant,” said the astronomer when the examination was
over, “this is really a charming spot, such as I should not have
imagined could have existed beyond the Arctic Circle.”
“Ah, Mr Black!” cried Hobson, “the finest countries in the world
are to be found here, and I am impatient to ascertain our latitude and
longitude.”
“Especially the latitude,” said the astronomer, whose eclipse was
never out of his thoughts; “and I expect your brave companions are as
eager as yourself. Double pay beyond the seventieth parallel!”
“But, Mr Black,” said Mrs Barnett, “do you not yourself take
an interest a purely scientific interest, in getting beyond that
parallel?”
“Of course, madam, of course I am anxious to get beyond it, but not
so terribly eager. According to our calculations, however, made with
absolute accuracy, the solar eclipse which I am ordered to watch will
only be total to an observer placed beyond the seventieth degree, and
on this account I share the Lieutenant’s impatience to determine the
position of Cape Bathurst.”
“But I understand, Mr Black,” said Mrs Barnett, “that this solar
eclipse will not take place until the 18th July 1860?”
“Yes, madam, on the 18th July 1860.”
“And it is now only the 15th June 1859! So that the phenomenon will
not be visible for more than a year!”
“I am quite aware of it, Mrs Barnett,” replied the astronomer;
“but if I had not started till next year I should have run a risk of
being too late.”
“You would, Mr Black,” said Hobson, “and you did well to start a
year beforehand. You are now quite sure not to miss your eclipse. I
own that our journey from Fort Reliance has been accomplished under
exceptionally favourable circumstances. We have had little fatigue and
few delays. To tell you the truth, I did not expect to get to this part
of the coast until the middle of August; and if the eclipse had been
expected this year, instead of next; you really might have been too
late. Moreover, we do not yet know if we are beyond the seventieth
parallel.”
“I do not in the least regret the journey I have taken in your
company, Lieutenant, and I shall patiently wait until next year for my
eclipse. The fair Phœbe, I fancy, is a sufficiently grand lady to be
waited for.”
The next day, July 6th, a little after noon, Hobson and the astronomer
made their preparations for taking the exact bearings of Cape Bathurst.
The sun shone clearly enough for them to take the outlines exactly. At
this season of the year, too, it had reached its maximum height above
the horizon; and consequently its culmination, on its transit across the
meridian, would facilitate the work of the two observers.
Already the night before, and the same morning, by raking different
altitudes, and by means of a calculation of right ascensions, the
Lieutenant and the astronomer had ascertained the longitude with great
accuracy. But it was about the latitude that Hobson was most anxious;
for what would the meridian of Cape Bathurst matter to him should it not
be situated beyond the seventieth parallel?
Noon approached. The men of the expedition gathered round the observers
with their sextants ready in their hands. The brave fellows awaited
the result of the observation with an impatience which will be readily
understood. It was now to be decided whether they had come to the end
of their journey, or whether they must search still further for a spot
fulfilling the conditions imposed by the Company.
Probably no good result would have followed upon further explorations,
According to the maps of North America-imperfect, it is true-the western
coast beyond Cape Bathurst sloped down below the seventieth parallel,
not again rising above it until it entered Russian America, where
the English had as yet no right to settle; so that Hobson had shown
considerable judgment in directing his course to Cape Bathurst after
a thorough examination of the maps of these northern regions. This
promontory is, in fact, the only one which juts out beyond the
seventieth parallel along the whole of the North American continent,
properly so called-that is to say, in English America. It remained to be
proved that it really occupied the position assigned to it in maps.
At this moment the sun was approaching the culminating-point of its
course, and the two observers pointed the telescopes of their sextants
upon it. By means of inclined mirrors attached to the instruments, the
sun ought apparently to go back to the horizon itself; and the moment
when it seemed to touch it with the lower side of its disc would be
precisely that at which it would occupy the highest point of the
diurnal arc, and consequently the exact moment when it would pass
the meridian-in other words, it would be noon at the place where the
observation was taken.
All watched in anxious silence.
“Noon!” cried Jaspar Hobson and the astronomer at once.
The telescopes were immediately lowered. The Lieutenant and Thomas
Black read on the graduated limbs the value of the angles they had just
obtained, and at once proceeded to note down their observations.
A few minutes afterwards, Lieutenant Hobson rose and said, addressing
his companions
“My friends, from this date, July 6th, I promise you double pay in the
name of the Hudson’s Bay Company!”
“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah for the Company!” shouted the worthy
companions of the Lieutenant with one voice.
Cape Bathurst and its immediate neighbourhood were in very truth above
the seventieth degree of north latitude.
We give the result of these simultaneous observations, which agreed to a
second.
Longitude, 127° 36’ 12” west of the meridian of Greenwich.
Latitude, 70° 44’ 37” north.
And that very evening these hardy pioneers, encamped so far from the
inhabited world, watched the mighty luminary of day touch the edges of
the western horizon without dipping beneath it.
For the first time they saw the shining of the midnight sun.
CHAPTER XIII. FORT HOPE. The site of the new fort was now finally
determined on. It would be impossible to find a better situation than on
the level ground behind Cape Bathurst, on the eastern bank of the lagoon
Hobson determined to commence the construction of the principal house at
once. Meanwhile all must accommodate themselves as best they could; and
the sledges were ingeniously utilised to form a provisional encampment.
His men being very skilful, the Lieutenant hoped to have the principal
house ready in a month. It was to be large enough to accommodate for a
time the nineteen persons of the party. Later, and before the excessive
cold set in, if there should be time, the barracks for the soldiers and
the magazines for the furs and skins were to be built. There was not
much chance of getting it all done before the end of September; and
after that date, the winter, with its first bitter frosts and long
nights, would arrest all further progress.
Of the ten soldiers chosen by Captain Craventy, two-Marbre and
Sabine-were skilful hunters; the other eight handled the hatchet with as
much address as the musket. Like sailors, they could turn their hands
to anything, and were now to be treated more like workmen than soldiers,
for they were to build a fort which there was as yet no enemy to attack.
Petersen, Belcher, Rae, Garry, Pond, Hope, and Kellet formed a body of
clever, zealous carpenters, under the able superintendence of Mac-Nab,
a Scotchman from Stirling, who had had considerable experience in the
building both of houses and boats. The men were well provided with
tools-hatchets, centre-bits, adzes, planes, hand-saws, mallets, hammers,
chisels, &c. &c. Rae was most skilful at blacksmith’s work, and with
the aid of a little portable forge he was able to make all the pins,
tenons, bolts, nails, screws, nuts, &e., required in carpentry. They had
no mason in the party; but none was wanted, as all the buildings of the
factories in the north are of wood. Fortunately there were plenty of
trees about Cape Bathurst, although as Hobson had already remarked
to Mrs Barnett, there was not a rock, a stone, not even a flint or a
pebble, to be seen. The shore was strewn with innumerable quantities of
bivalve shells broken by the surf, and with seaweed or zoophytes, mostly
sea-urchins and asteriadæ; but the soil consisted entirely of earth and
sand, without a morsel of silica or broken granite; and the cape itself
was but an accumulation of soft earth, the particles of which were
scarcely held together by the vegetation with which it was clothed.
In the afternoon of the same day, July 6th Hobson and Mac-Nab the
carpenter went to choose the site of the principal house on the plateau
at the foot of Cape Bathurst. From this point the view embraced the
lagoon and the western districts to a distance of ten or twelve miles.
On the right, about four miles off, towered icebergs of a considerable
height. partly draped in mist; whilst on the left stretched apparently
boundless plains, vast steppes which it would be impossible to
distinguish from the frozen surface of the lagoon or from the sea itself
in the winter.
The spot chosen, Hobson and Mac-Nab set out the outer walls of the house
with the line. This outline formed a rectangle measuring sixty feet on
the larger side, and thirty on the smaller. The façade of the house
would therefore have a length of sixty feet it was to have a door and
three windows on the side of the promontory, where the inner court was
to be situated, and four windows on the side of the lagoon. The door was
to open at the left corner, instead of in the middle, of the back of
the house, for the sake of warmth. This arrangement would impede the
entrance of the outer air to the further rooms, and add considerably to
the comfort of the inmates of the fort.
According to the simple plan agreed upon by the Lieutenant and his
master-carpenter, there were to be four compartments in the house: the
first to be an antechamber with a double door to keep out the wind;
the second to serve as a kitchen, that the cooking which would generate
damp, might be all done quite away from the living-rooms; the third, a
large hall, where the daily meals were to be served in common; and the
fourth, to be divided into several cabins, like the state-rooms on board
ship.
The soldiers were to occupy the dining-hall provisionally, and a kind of
camp-bed was arranged for them at the end of the room. The Lieutenant,
Mrs Barnett, Thomas Black, Madge, Mrs Joliffe, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Mrs
Rae were to lodge in the cabins of the fourth compartment. They would
certainly be packed pretty closely; but it was only a temporary state
of things, and when the barracks were constructed, the principal house
would be reserved to the officer in command, his sergeant, Thomas Black,
Mrs Barnett, and her faithful Madge, who never left her. Then the fourth
compartment might perhaps be divided into three cabins, instead of four;
for to avoid corners as much as possible is a rule which should never be
forgotten by those who winter in high latitudes Nooks and corners
are, in fact, so many receptacles of ice. The partitions impede the
ventilation; and the moisture, generated in the air, freezes readily,
and makes the atmosphere of the rooms unhealthy causing grave maladies
to those who sleep in them.
On this account many navigators who have to winter in the midst of ice
have one large room in the centre of their vessel, which is shared by
officers and sailors in common. For obvious reasons, however, Hobson
could not adopt this plan.
From the preceding description we shall have seen that the future house
was to consist merely of a ground-floor. The roof was to be high, and
its sides to slope considerably, so that water could easily run off
them. The snow would, however, settle upon them; and when once they were
covered with it, the house would be, so to speak, hermetically closed,
and the inside temperature would be kept at the same mean height. Snow
is, in fact, a very bad conductor of beat: it prevents it from entering,
it is true; but, what is more important in an Arctic winter, it also
keeps it from getting out.
The carpenter was to build two chimneys-one above the kitchen, the other
in connection with the stove of the large dining-room, which was to heat
it and the compartment containing the cabins. The architectural
effect of the whole would certainly be poor; but the house would be as
comfortable as possible, and what more could any one desire?
Certainly an artist who had once seen it would not soon forget this
winter residence, set down in the gloomy Arctic twilight in the midst
of snow-drifts, half hidden by icicles, draped in white from roof to
foundation, its walls encrusted with snow, and the smoke from its fires
assuming strangely-contorted forms in the wind.
But now to tell of the actual construction of this house, as yet
existing only in imagination. This, of course, was the business of
Mac-Nab and his men; and while the carpenters were at work, the foraging
party to whom the commissariat was entrusted would not be idle. There
was plenty for every one to do.
The first step was to choose suitable timber, and a species of Scotch
fir was decided on, which grew conveniently upon the neighbouring hills,
and seemed altogether well adapted to the multifarious uses to which it
would be put. For in the rough and ready style of habitation which they
were planning, there could be no variety of material; and every part
of the house-outside and inside walls, flooring, ceiling, partitions,
rafters, ridges, framework, and tiling-would have to be contrived
of planks, beams, and timbers. As may readily be supposed, finished
workmanship was not necessary for such a description of building, and
Mac-Nab was able to proceed very rapidly without endangering the
safety of the building. About a hundred of these firs were chosen and
felled-they were neither barked nor squared-and formed so many timbers,
averaging some twenty feet in length. The axe and the chisel did not
touch them except at the ends, in order to form the tenons and mortises
by which they were to be secured to one another. Very few days sufficed
to complete this part of the work, and the timbers were brought down by
the dogs to the site fixed on for the principal building. To start with,
the site had been carefully levelled. The soil, a mixture of fine
earth and sand, had been beaten and consolidated with heavy blows. The
brushwood with which it was originally covered was burnt, and the thick
layer of ashes thus produced would prevent the damp from penetrating the
floors. A clean and dry foundation having been thus secured on which
to lay the first joists, upright posts were fixed at each corner of the
site, and at the extremities of the inside walls, to form the skeleton
of the building. The posts were sunk to a depth of some feet in the
ground, after their ends had been hardened in the fire; and were
slightly hollowed at each side to receive the crossbeams of the outer
wall, between which the openings for the doors and windows had been
arranged for. These posts were held together at the top by horizontal
beams well let into the mortises, and consolidating the whole building.
On these horizontal beams, which represented the architraves of the two
fronts, rested the high trusses of the roof, which overhung the walls
like the eaves of a chalet. Above this squared architrave were laid the
joists of the ceiling, and those of the floor upon the layer of ashes.
The timbers, both in the inside and outside walls, were only laid side
by side. To insure their being properly joined, Rae the blacksmith
drove strong iron bolts through them at intervals; and when even this
contrivance proved insufficient to close the interstices as hermetically
as was necessary, Mac-Nab had recourse to calking, a process which
seamen find invaluable in rendering vessels water-tight; only as a
substitute for tow he used a sort of dry moss, with which the eastern
side of the cape was covered, driving it into the crevices with
calking-irons and a hammer, filling up each hollow with layers of hot
tar, obtained without difficulty from the pine-trees, and thus making
the walls and boarding impervious to the rain and damp of the winter
season.
The door and windows in the two fronts were roughly but strongly built,
and the small panes of the latter glazed with isinglass, which, though
rough, yellow, and almost opaque, was yet the best substitute for glass
which the resources of the country afforded; and its imperfections
really mattered little, as the windows were sure to be always open in
fine weather; while during, the long night of the Arctic winter they
would be useless, and have to be kept closed and defended by heavy
shutters with strong bolts against the violence of the gales. Meanwhile
the house was being quickly fitted up inside. By means of a double door
between the outer and inner halls a too sudden change of temperature
was avoided, and the wind was prevented from blowing with unbroken force
into the rooms. The air-pumps, brought from Fort Reliance, were so fixed
as to let in fresh air whenever excessive cold prevented the opening of
doors or windows -one being made to eject the impure air from within,
the other to renew the supply; for the Lieutenant had given his whole
mind to this important matter.
The principal cooking utensil was a large iron furnace, which had been
brought piecemeal from Fort Reliance, and which the carpenter put up
without any difficulty. The chimneys for the kitchen and ball, however,
seemed likely to tax the ingenuity of the workmen to the utmost, as
no material within their reach was strong enough for the purpose, and
stone, as we have said before, was nowhere to be found in the country
around Cape Bathurst.
The difficulty appeared insurmountable, when the invincible Lieutenant
suggested that they should utilise the shells with which the shore was
strewed.
“Make chimneys of shells!” cried the carpenter.
“Yes, Mac-Nab,” replied Hobson; “we must collect the shells,
grind them, burn them, and make them into lime, then mould the lime into
bricks, and use them in the same way.”
“Let us try the shells, by all means,” replied the carpenter; and
so the idea was put in practice at once, and many tons collected of
calcareous shells identical with those found in the lowest stratum of
the Tertiary formations.
A furnace was constructed for the decomposition of the carbonate which
is so large an ingredient of these shells, and thus the lime required
was obtained in the space of a few hours. It would perhaps be too much
to say that the substance thus made was as entirely satisfactory as
if it had gone through all the usual processes; but it answered its
purpose, and strong conical chimneys soon adorned the roof, to the great
satisfaction of Mrs Paulina Barnett, who congratulated the originator of
the scheme warmly on its success, only adding laughingly, that she hoped
the chimneys would not smoke.
“Of course they will smoke, madam,” replied Hobson coolly; “all
chimneys do!”
All this was finished within a month, and on the 6th of August they were
to take possession of the new house.
While Mac-Nab and his men were working so hard, the foraging party,
with the Lieutenant at its head, had been exploring the environs of Cape
Bathurst, and satisfied themselves that there would be no difficulty in
supplying the Company’s demands for fur and feathers, so soon as they
could set about hunting in earnest. In the meantime they prepared the
way for future sport, contenting themselves for the present with the
capture of a few couples of reindeer, which they intended to domesticate
for the sake of their milk and their young. They were kept in a paddock
about fifty yards from the house, and entrusted to the care of Mac-Nabs
wife, an Indian woman, well qualified to take charge of them.
The care of the household fell to Mrs Paulina Barnett, and this good
woman, with Madge’s help, was invaluable in providing for all the
small wants, which would inevitably have escaped the notice of the men.
After scouring the country within a radius of several miles, the
Lieutenant notified, as the result of his observations, that the
territory on which they had established themselves, and to which he gave
the name of Victoria Land, was a large peninsula about one hundred and
fifty square miles in extent, with very clearly-defined boundaries,
connected with the American continent by an isthmus, extending from
the lower end of Washburn Bay on the east, as fair as the corresponding
slope on the opposite coast. The Lieutenant next proceeded to ascertain
what were the resources of the lake and river, and found great reason to
be satisfied with the result of his examination. The shallow waters of
the lake teemed with trout, pike, and other available fresh-water fish;
and the little river was a favourite resort of salmon and shoals of
white bait and smelts. The supply of sea-fish was not so good; and
though many a grampus and whale passed by in the offing, the latter
probably flying from the harpoons of the Behring Strait fishermen there
were no means of capturing them unless one by chance happened to get
stranded on the coast; nor would Hobson allow any of the seals
which abounded on the western shore to be taken until a satisfactory
conclusion should be arrived at as to how to use them to the best
advantage.
The colonists now considered themselves fairly installed stalled in
their new abode, and after due deliberation unanimously agreed to bestow
upon the settlement the name of Fort Good Hope.
Alas! the auspicious title was never to be inscribed upon a map. The
undertaking, begun so bravely and with such prospects of success, was
destined never to be carried out, and another disaster would have to be
added to the long list of failures in Arctic enterprise.
CHAPTER XIV. SOME EXCURSIONS. It did not take long to furnish the new
abode. A camp-bed was set up in the hall, and the carpenter Mac-Nab
constructed a most substantial table, around which were ranged fixed
benches. A few movable seats and two enormous presses completed the
furniture of this apartment. The inner room, which was also ready, was
divided by solid partitions into six dormitories, the two end ones
alone being lighted by windows looking to the front and back. The only
furniture was a bed and a table. Mrs Paulina Barnett and Madge were
installed in one which looked immediately out upon the lake. Hobson
offered the other with the window in it to Thomas Black, and the
astronomer took immediate possession of it. The Lieutenant’s own room
was a dark cell adjoining the hall, with no window but a bull’s eye
pierced through the partition. Mrs Joliffe, Mrs Mac-Nab, and Mrs Rae,
with their husbands, occupied the other dormitories. These good people
agreed so well together that it would have been a pity to separate them.
Moreover, an addition was expected shortly to the little colony; and
Mac-Nab had already gone so far as to secure the services of Mrs Barnett
as god-mother, an honour which gave the good woman much satisfaction.
The sledges had been entirely unloaded, and the bedding carried into
the different rooms. All utensils, stores, and provisions which were
not required for immediate use were stowed away in a garret, to which a
ladder gave access. The winter clothing-such as boots, overcoats, furs,
and skins-were also taken there, and protected from the damp in large
chests. As soon as these arrangements were completed, the Lieutenant
began to provide for the heating of the house.
Knowing that the most energetic measures were necessary to combat the
severity of the Arctic winter, and that during the weeks of intensest
cold there would be no possibility of leaving the house to forage for
supplies, he ordered a quantity of fuel to be brought from the wooded
hills in the neighbourhood, and took care to obtain a plentiful store of
oil from the seals which abounded on the shore.
In obedience to his orders, and under his directions, the house was
provided with a condensing apparatus which would receive the internal
moisture, and was so constructed that the ice which would form in it
could easily be removed.
This question of heating was a very serious one to the Lieutenant.
“I am a native of the Polar regions, madam,” he often said to Mrs
Barnett; “I have some experience in these matters, and I have read
over and over again books written by those who have wintered in these
latitudes. It is impossible to take too many precautions in preparing to
pass a winter in the Arctic regions, and nothing must be left to chance
where a single neglect may prove fatal to the enterprise.”
“Very true, Mr Hobson,” replied Mrs Barnett; “and you have
evidently made up your mind to conquer the cold; but there is the food
to be thought of too.”
“Yes, indeed; I have been thinking of that, and mean to make all
possible use of the produce of the country so as to economise our
stores. As soon as we can, we will make some foraging expeditions. We
need not think about the furs at present, for there will be plenty of
time during the winter to stock the Company’s depôts. Besides, the
furred animals have not got their winter clothing on yet, and the skins
would lose fifty per cent. of their value if taken now. Let us content
ourselves for the present with provisioning Fort Hope. Reindeer, elk,
- and any wapitis that may have ventured so far north are the only game
worth our notice just now; it will be no small undertaking to provide
food for twenty people and sixty dogs.”
The Lieutenant loved order, and determined to do everything in the most
methodical manner, feeling confident that if his companions would help
him to the utmost of their power, nothing need be wanting to the success
of the expedition.
The weather at this season was almost always fine, and might be expected
to continue so for five weeks longer, when the snow would begin to fall.
It was very important that the carpenters-should make all possible use
of the interval; and as soon as the principal house was finished, Hobson
set them to work to build an enormous kennel or shed in which to keep
the teams of dogs. This doghouse was built at the very foot of the
promontory, against the hill, and about forty yards to the right of
the house. Barracks for the accommodation of the men were to be built
opposite this kennel on the left, while the store and powder magazines
were to occupy the front of the enclosure.
Hobson determined with almost excessive prudence to have the Factory
enclosed before the winter set in. A strong fence of pointed stakes,
planted firmly in the ground, was set up as a protection against
the inroads of wild animals or the hostilities of the natives. The
Lieutenant had not forgotten an outrage which had been committed along
the coast at no great distance from Fort Hope, and he well knew how
essential it was to be safe from a coup de main. The factory was
therefore entirely encircled, and at each extremity of the lagoon
Mac-Nab undertook to erect a wooden sentry-box commanding the
coast-line, from which a watch could be kept without any danger. The
men worked indefatigably, and it seemed likely that everything would be
finished before the cold season set in.
In the meantime hunting parties were organised. The capture of seals
being put off for a more convenient season, the sportsmen prepared
to supply the fort with game, which might be dried and preserved for
consumption during the bad season.
Accordingly Marbre and Sabine, sometimes accompanied by the Lieutenant
and Sergeant Long, whose experience was invaluable, scoured the country
daily for miles round; and it was no uncommon sight to see Mrs Paulina
Barnett join them and step briskly along shouldering her gun bravely,
and never allowing herself to be outstripped by her companions.
Throughout the month of August these expeditions were continued with
great success, and the store of provisions increased rapidly. Marbre
and Sabine were skilled in all the artifices which sportsmen employ in
stalking their prey-particularly the reindeer, which are exceedingly
wary. How patiently they would face the wind lest the creature’s keen
sense of smell should warn it of their approach! and how cunningly they
lured it on to its destruction by displaying the magnificent antlers of
some former victim above the birch-bushes !
They found a useful alley (sic) in a certain little traitorous bird to
which the Indians have given the name of “monitor.” It is a kind of
daylight owl, about the size of a pigeon, and has earned its name by its
habit of calling the attention of hunters to their quarry, by uttering a
sharp note like the cry of a child.
When about fifty reindeer, or, to give them their Indian name,
“caribous,” had been brought down by the guns, the flesh was cut
into long strips for food, the skins being kept to be tanned and used
for shoe-leather.
Besides the caribous, there were also plenty of Polar hares, which
formed an agreeable addition to the larder. They were much less timorous
than the European species, and allowed themselves to be caught in great
numbers. They belong to the rodent family, and have long ears, brown
eyes, and a soft fur resembling swan’s down. They weigh from ten to
fifteen pounds each, and their flesh is excellent. Hundreds of them were
cared for winter use, and the remainder converted into excellent pies by
the skilful hands of Mrs Joliffe.
While making provision for future wants, the daily supplies were not
neglected. In addition to the Polar hares, which underwent every variety
of culinary treatment from Mrs Joliffe, and won for her compliments
innumerable from hunters and workmen alike, many waterfowl figured in
the bill of fare. Besides the ducks which abounded on the shores of the
lagoon, large flocks of grouse congregated round the clumps of stunted
willows. They belong, as their zoological name implies, to the partridge
family, and might be aptly described as white partridges with long
black-spotted feathers in the tail. The Indians call them willow-fowl;
but to a European sportsman they are neither more nor less than
blackcock (Tetrao tetrix). When roasted slightly before a quick clear
fire they proved delicious.
Then there were the supplies furnished by lake and stream. Sergeant
Long was a first-rate angler, and nothing could surpass the skill and
patience with which he whipped the water and cast his line. The faithful
Madge, another worthy disciple of Isaak Walton was perhaps his only
equal. Day after day the two sallied forth together rod in hand, to
spend the day in mute companionship by the river-side, whence they were
sure to return in triumph laden with some splendid specimens of the
salmon tribe.
But to return to our sportsmen; they soon found that their hunting
excursions were not to be free from peril. Hobson perceived with some
alarm that bears were very numerous in the neighbourhood and that
scarcely a day passed without one or more of them being sighted.
Sometimes these unwelcome visitors belonged to the family of brown
bears, so common throughout the whole “Cursed Land; “but now and
then a solitary specimen of the formidable Polar bear warned the hunters
what dangers they might have to encounter so soon as the first frost
should drive great numbers of these fearful animals to the neighbourhood
of Cape Bathurst. Every book of Arctic explorations is full of accounts
of the frequent perils to which travellers and whalers are exposed from
the ferocity of these animals.
Now and then, too, a distant pack of wolves was seen, which receded like
a wave at the approach of the hunters, or the sound of their bark
was heard as they followed the trail of a reindeer or wapiti. These
creatures were large grey wolves, about three feet high, with long
tails, whose fur becomes white in the winter. They abounded in this part
of the country, where food was plentiful; and frequented wooded spots,
where they lived in holes like foxes. During the temperate season,
when they could get as much as they wanted to eat, they were scarcely
dangerous, and fled with the characteristic cowardice of their race at
the first sign of pursuit; but when impelled by hunger, their numbers
rendered them very formidable; and from the fact of their lairs being
close at hand, they never left the country even in the depth of winter.
One day the sportsmen returned to Fort Hope, bringing with them an
unpleasant-looking animal, which neither Mrs Paulina Barnett nor the
astronomer, Thomas Black, had ever before seen. It was a carnivorous
creature of the plantigrada family, and greatly resembled the American
glutton, being strongly built, with short legs, and, like all animals of
the feline tribe, a very supple back; its eyes were small and horny, and
it was armed with curved claws and formidable jaws.
“What is this horrid creature?” inquired Mrs Paulina Barnett of
Sabine, who replied in his usual sententious manner—
“A Scotchman would call it a ‘quick-hatch,’ an Indian an
‘okelcoo-haw-gew,’ and a Canadian a ‘carcajou.”’
“And what do you call it?”
“A wolverene, ma’am,” returned Sabine, much delighted with the
elegant way in which he had rounded his sentence.
The wolverene, as this strange quadruped is called by zoologists, lives
in hollow trees or rocky caves, whence it issues at night and creates
great havoc amongst beavers, musk-rats, and other rodents, sometimes
fighting with a fox or a wolf for its spoils. Its chief characteristics
are great cunning, immense muscular power, and an acute sense of smell.
It is found in very high latitudes; and the short fur with which it is
clothed becomes almost black in the winter months, and forms a large
item in the Company’s exports.
During their excursions the settlers paid as much attention to the Flora
of the country as to its Fauna; but in those regions vegetation, has
necessarily a hard struggle for existence, as it must brave every season
of the year, whereas the animals are able to migrate to a warmer climate
during the winter.
The hills on the eastern side, of the lake were well covered with pine
and fir trees; and Jaspar also noticed the “tacamahac,” a species of
poplar which grows to a great height and shoots forth yellowish leaves
which turn green in the autumn. These trees and larches were, however,
few and sickly looking, as if they found the oblique rays of the sun
insufficient to make them thrive. The black fir, or Norway spruce fir,
throve better, especially when situated in ravines well sheltered
from the north wind. The young shoots of this tree are very
valuable, yielding a favourite beverage known in North America as “
spruce-beer.” A good crop of these branchlets was gathered in and
stored in the cellar of Fort Hope. There were also the dwarf birch,
a shrub about two feet high, native to very cold climates, and whole
thickets of cedars, which are so valuable for fuel.
Of vegetables which could be easily grown and used for food, this barren
land yielded but few; and Mrs Joliffe, who took a great interest in “
economic “ botany, only met with .two plants which were available in
cooking.
One of these, a bulb, very difficult to classify, because its leaves
fall off just at the flowering season, turned out to be a wild leek, and
yielded a good crop of onions, each about the size of an egg.
The other plant was that known throughout North America as “Labrador
tea;” it grew abundantly on the shores of the lagoon between the
clumps of willow and arbutus, and formed the principal food of the
Polar hares. Steeped in boiling water, and flavoured with a few drops of
brandy or gin, it formed an excellent beverage, and served to economise
the supply of China tea which the party had brought from Fort Reliance.
Knowing the scarcity of vegetables, Jaspar Hobson had plenty of
seeds with him, chiefly sorrel and scurvy-grass (Cochlearia), the
antiscorbutic properties of which are invaluable in these latitudes. In
choosing the site of the settlement, such care bad been taken to find
a spot sheltered from the keen blasts, which shrivel vegetation like a
fire, that there was every chance of these seeds yielding a good crop in
the ensuing season.
The dispensary of the new fort contained other antiscorbutics, in the
shape of casks of lemon and lime juice, both of which are absolutely
indispensable to an Arctic expedition. Still the greatest economy was
necessary with regard to the stores, as a long period of bad weather
might cut off the communication between Fort Hope and the southern
stations.
CHAPTER XV. FIFTEEN MILES FROM CAPE BATHURST. September had now
commenced, and as upon the most favourable calculation only three more
weeks would intervene before the bad season set in and interrupted the
labours of the explorers, the greatest haste was necessary in completing
the new buildings, and Mac-Nab and his workmen surpassed themselves
in industry. The dog-house was on the eve of being finished, and very
little remained to be done to the palisading which was, to encircle the
fort. An inner court had been constructed, in the shape of a half-moon,
fenced with tall pointed stakes, fifteen feet high, to which a postern
gave entrance. Jaspar Hobson favoured the system of an unbroken
enclosure with detached forts (a great improvement upon the tactics of
Vauban and Cormontaigne), and knew that to make his defence complete
the summit of Cape Bathurst, which was the key of the position, must be
fortified; until that could be done, however, he thought the palisading
would be a sufficient protection, at least against quadrupeds.
The next thing was to lay in a supply of oil and lights, and accordingly
an expedition was organised to a spot about fifteen miles distant where
seals were plentiful, Mrs Paulina Barnett being invited to accompany
the sportsmen, not indeed for the sake of watching the poor creatures
slaughtered, but to satisfy her curiosity with regard to the country
around Cape Bathurst, and to see some cliffs on that part of the
coast which were worthy of notice. The Lieutenant chose as his other
companions, Sergeant Long, and the soldiers Petersen, Hope, and Kellet,
and the party set off at eight o’clock in the morning in two sledges,
each drawn by six dogs, on which the bodies of the seals were to be
brought back. The weather was fine, but the fog which lay low along the
horizon veiled the rays of the sun, whose yellow disk was now beginning
to disappear for some hours during the night, a circumstance which
attracted the Lieutenant’s attention, for reasons which we will
explain.
That part of the shore to the west of Cape Bathurst rises but a few
inches above the level of the sea, and the tides are-or are said
to be-very high in the Arctic Ocean-many navigators, such as Parry,
Franklin, the two Rosses, M’Clure, and M’Clintock, having observed
that when the sun and moon were in conjunction the waters were sometimes
twenty-five feet above the ordinary level. How then was it to be
explained that the sea did not at high tide inundate Cape Bathurst,
which possessed no natural defences such as cliffs or downs? What
was it, in fact, which prevented the entire submersion of the whole
district, and the meeting of the waters of the lake with those of the
Arctic Ocean?
Jaspar Hobson could not refrain from remarking on this peculiarity to
Mrs Barnett, who replied somewhat hastily that she supposed that there
were-in spite of all that had been said to the contrary-no tides in the
Arctic Ocean.
“On the contrary, madam,” said Hobson, “all navigators agree that
the ebb and flow of Polar seas are very distinctly marked, and it
is impossible to believe that they can have been mistaken on such a
subject.”
“How is it, then,” inquired Mrs Barnett, “that this land is not
flooded when it is scarcely ten feet above the sea level at low tide?”
“That is just what puzzles me,” said Hobson; “for I have been
attentively watching the tides all through this month, and during that
time they have not varied more than a foot, and I feel certain, that
even during the September equinox, they will not rise more than a foot
and a half all along the shores of Cape Bathurst.”
“Can you not explain this phenomenon?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“Well, madam,” replied the Lieutenant, “two conclusions are open
to us, either of which I find it difficult to believe; such men as
Franklin, Parry, Ross, and others, are mistaken, and there are no tides
on this part of the American coast; or, as in the Mediterranean, to
which the waters of the Atlantic have not free ingress, the straits are
too narrow to be affected by the ocean currents.”
“The latter would appear to be the more reasonable hypothesis, Mr
Hobson.”
“It is not, however, thoroughly satisfactory,” said the Lieutenant,
“and I feel sure that if we could but find it, there is some simple
and natural explanation of the phenomenon.”
After a monotonous journey along a flat and sandy shore, the party
reached their destination, and, having unharnessed the teams, they were
left behind lest they should startle the seals.
At the first glance around them, all were equally struck with the
contrast between the appearance of this district and that of Cape
Bathurst.
Here the coast line was broken and fretted, showing manifest traces
of its igneous origin; whereas the site of the fort was of sedimentary
formation and aqueous origin. Stone, so conspicuously absent at the
cape, was here plentiful; the black sand and porous lava were strewn
with huge boulders deeply imbedded in the soil, and there were large
quantities of the aluminium, silica, and felspar pebbles peculiar to the
crystalline strata of one class of igneous rocks. Glittering Labrador
stones, and many other kinds of felspar, red, green, and blue, were
sprinkled on the unfrequented beach, with grey and yellow pummice-stone,
and lustrous variegated obsidian. Tall cliffs, rising some two hundred
feet above the sea, frowned down upon the bay; and the Lieutenant
resolved to climb them, and obtain a good view of the eastern side
of the country. For this there was plenty of time, as but few of the
creatures they had come to seek were as yet to be seen, and the proper
time for the attack would be when they assembled for the afternoon
siesta in which the. amphibious mammalia always indulge. The Lieutenant,
however, quickly discovered that the animals frequenting this coast were
not, as he had been led to suppose, true seals, although they belonged
to the Phocidæ family, but morses or walruses, sometimes called
sea-cows. They resemble the seals in general form, but the canine teeth
of the upper jaw curved down-wards are much more largely developed.
Following the coast line, which curved considerably, and to which they
gave the name of “ Walruses’ Bay,” the party soon reached the foot
of the cliff, and Petersen, Hope, and Kellet, took up their position
as sentinels on the little promontory, whilst Mrs Barnett, Hobson, and
Long, after promising not to lose sight of their comrades, and to be on
the look-out for their signal, proceeded to climb the cliff, the summit
of which they reached in about a quarter of an hour. From this position
they were able to survey the whole surrounding country; at their feet
lay the vast sea, stretching northwards as far as the eye .could
reach, its expanse so entirely unbroken by islands or icebergs that
the travellers came to the conclusion, that this portion of the Arctic
waters was navigable as far as Behring Straits, and that during the
summer season the North-West Passage to Cape Bathurst would, be open to
the Company’s ships. On the west, the aspect of the country explained
the presence of the volcanic débris on the shore; for at a distance
of about ten miles was a chain of granitic hills, of conical form, with
blunted crests, looking as if their summits had been cut off, and
with jagged tremulous outlines standing out against the sky. They bad
hitherto escaped the notice of our party, as they were concealed by the
cliffs on the Cape Bathurst side, and Jaspar Hobson examined them in
silence, but with great attention, before he proceeded to study the
eastern side, which consisted of a long strip of perfectly level
coast-line stretching away to Cape Bathurst. Any one provided with a
good field-glass would have been able to distinguish the fort of Good
Hope, and perhaps even the cloud of blue smoke, which was no doubt at
that very moment issuing from Mrs Joliffe’s kitchen chimney.
The country behind them seemed to possess two entirely distinct
characters; to the east and south the cape was bounded by a vast plain,
many hundreds of square miles in extent, while behind the cliff, from
“Walruses’ Bay” to the mountains mentioned above, the country had
undergone terrible convulsions, showing clearly that it owed its origin
to volcanic eruptions. The Lieutenant was much struck with this marked
contrast, and Sergeant Long asked him whether he thought the mountains
on the western horizon were volcanoes.
“Undoubtedly,” said Hobson; “all these pumice-stones and pebbles
have been discharged by them to this distance, and if we were to go two
or three miles farther, we should find ourselves treading upon nothing
but lava and ashes.”
“Do you suppose,” inquired the Sergeant, “that all these volcanoes
are still active?”
“That I cannot tell you yet.”
“But there is no smoke issuing from any of them,” added the
Sergeant.
“That proves nothing; your pipe is not always in your mouth, and it is
just the same with volcanoes, they are not always smoking.”
“I see,” said the Sergeant; “but it is a great puzzle to me how
volcanoes can exist at all. on Polar continents.”
“Well, there are not many of them !” said Mrs Barnett.
“No, madam,” replied Jaspar, “but they are not so very rare
either; they are to be found in Jan Mayen’s Land, the Aleutian Isles,
Kamtchatka, Russian America, and Iceland, as well as in the Antarctic
circle, in Tierra del Fuego, and Australasia. They are the chimneys of
the great furnace in the centre of the earth, where Nature makes her
chemical experiments, and it appears to me that the Creator of all
things has taken care to place these safety-valves wherever they were
most needed.”
“I suppose so,” replied the Sergeant; “and yet it does seem very
strange to find them in this icy climate.”
“Why should they not be here as well as anywhere else, Sergeant? I
should say that ventilation holes are likely to be more numerous at the
Poles than at the Equator !”
“Why so?” asked the Sergeant in much surprise.
“Because, if these safety-valves are forced open by the pressure
of subterranean gases, it will most likely be at the spots where the
surface of the earth is thinest, and as the globe is flattened at the
poles, it would appear natural that-but Kellet is making signs to us,”
added the Lieutenant, breaking off abruptly; “will you join us, Mrs
Barnett?”
“No, thank you. I will stay here until we return to the fort. I
don’t care to watch the walrus slaughtered!”
“Very well,” replied Hobson, “only don’t forget to join us in an
hour’s time, meanwhile you can enjoy the view.”
The beach was soon reached, and some hundred walrus had collected,
either waddling about on their clumsy webbed feet, or sleeping in family
groups. Some few of the larger males-creatures nearly four feet long,
clothed with very short reddish fur-kept guard over the herd.
Great caution was required in approaching these formidable looking
animals, and the hunters took advantage of every bit of cover afforded
by rocks and inequalities of the ground, so as to get within easy range
of them and cut off their retreat to the sea.
On land these creatures are clumsy and awkward, moving in jerks or with
creeping motions like huge caterpillars, but in water -their native
element—they are nimble and even graceful; indeed their strength is so
great, that they have been known to overturn the whalers in pursuit of
them.
As the hunters drew near the sentinels took alarm, and raising their
heads looked searchingly around them; but before they could warn their
companions of danger, Hobson and Kellet rushed upon them from one side,
the Sergeant, Petersen, and Hope from the other, and after lodging a
ball in each of their bodies, despatched them with their spears, whilst
the rest of the herd plunged into the sea.
The victory was an easy one; the five victims were very large and their
tusks, though slightly rough, of the best quality. They were chiefly
valuable, however, on account of the oil; of which-being in excellent
condition-they would yield a large quantity. The bodies were packed in
the sledges, and proved no light weight for the dogs.
It was now one o’clock, and Mrs Barnett having joined them, the party
set out on foot-the sledges being full-to return to the fort. There were
but ten miles to be traversed, but ten miles in a straight line is a
weary journey, proving the truth of the adage “It’s a long lane that
has no turning.” They beguiled the tediousness of the way by chatting
pleasantly, and Mrs Barnett was ready to join in the conversation, or to
listen with interest to the accounts the worthy soldiers gave of former
adventures; but in spite of the brave struggle against ennui they
advanced but slowly, and the poor dogs found it hard work to drag the
heavily-laden sledges over the rough ground. Had it been covered with
frozen snow the distance would have been accomplished in a couple of
hours.
The merciful Lieutenant often ordered a halt to give the teams
breathing-time, and the Sergeant remarked that it would be much more
convenient for the inhabitants of the fort, if the morses would settle a
little nearer Cape Bathurst.
“They could not find a suitable spot,” replied the Lieutenant, with
a melancholy shake of the head.
“Why not?” inquired Mrs Barnett with some surprise.
“Because they only congregate where the slope of the beach is gradual
enough to allow of their creeping up easily from the sea. Now Cape
Bathurst rises abruptly, like a perpendicular wall, from water three
hundred fathoms deep. It is probable that ages ago portion of the
continent was rent away in some violent volcanic convulsion, and flung
into the Arctic Ocean. Hence the absence of morses on the beach of our
cape.”
CHAPTER XVI. TWO SHOTS. The first half of September passed rapidly away.
Had Fort Hope been situated at the Pole itself, that is to say, twenty
degrees farther north, the polar night would have set in on the 21st of
that month But under the seventieth parallel the sun would be visible
above the horizon for another month. Nevertheless, the temperature was
already decidedly colder, the thermometer fell during the night to 31°
Fahrenheit; and thin coatings of ice appeared here and there, to be
dissolved again in the day-time.
But the settlers were able to await the coming of winter without alarm;
they had a more than sufficient store of provisions, their supply of
dried venison had largely increased, another score of morses had been
killed, the tame rein-deer were warmly and comfortably housed, and
a huge wooden shed behind the house was filled with fuel. In short,
everything was prepared for the Polar night.
And now all the wants of the inhabitants of the fort being provided
for, it was time to think of the interests of the Company. The Arctic
creatures had now assumed their winter furs, and were therefore of the
greatest value, and Hobson organised shooting parties for the remainder
of the fine weather, intending to set traps when the snow should prevent
further excursions.
They would have plenty to do to satisfy the requirements of the Company,
for so far north it was of no use to depend on the Indians, who are
generally the purveyors of the factories.
The first expedition was to the haunt of a family of beavers, long since
noted by the watchful Lieutenant, on a tributary of the stream already
referred to. It is true, the fur of the beaver is not now as valuable as
when it was used for hats, and fetched £16 per kilogramme (rather
more than 2 lb.); but it still commands a high price as the animal is
becoming very scarce, in consequence of the reckless way in which it has
been hunted.
When the party reached their destination, the Lieutenant called Mrs
Barnett’s attention to the great ingenuity displayed by beavers in the
construction of their submarine city. There were some hundred animals in
the little colony now to be invaded, and they lived together in pairs in
the “holes” or “vaults” they had hollowed out near the stream.
They had already commenced their preparations for the winter, and were
hard at work constructing their dams and laying up their piles of wood.
A dam of admirable structure had already been built across the stream,
which was deep and rapid enough not to freeze far below the surface,
even in the severest weather. This dam, which was convex towards the
current, consisted of a collection of upright stakes interlaced with
branches and roots, the whole being cemented together and rendered
watertight with the clayey mud of the river, previously pounded by the
animals’ feet. The beavers use their tails-which are large and flat,
with scales instead of hair at the root-for plastering over their
buildings and beating the clay into shape.
“The object of this dam,” said the Lieutenant to Mrs Barnett, “is
to secure to the beavers a sufficient depth of water at all seasons of
the year, and to enable the engineers of the tribe to build the round
huts called houses or lodges, the tops of which you can just see. They
are extremely solid structures, and the walls made of stick, clay,
roots, &c., are two feet thick., They can only be entered from below
the water, and their owners have therefore to dive when they go home-an
admirable arrangement for their protection. Each lodge contains two
stories; in the lower the winter stock of branches, bark, and roots,
is laid up, and the upper is the residence of the householder and his
family.”
“There is, however, not a beaver in sight,” said Mrs Barnett; “is
this a deserted village?”
“Oh no,” replied the Lieutenant, “the inhabitants are now all
asleep and resting; they only work in the night, and we mean to surprise
them in their holes.”
This was, in fact, easily done, and in an hour’s time about a hundred
of the ill-fated rodents had been captured, twenty of which were of very
great value, their fur being black, and therefore especially esteemed.
That of the others was also long, glossy, and silky, but of a reddish
hue mixed with chestnut brown. Beneath the long fur, the beavers have a
second coat of close short hair of a greyish-white colour.
The hunters returned to the fort much delighted with the result of
their expedition. The beavers’ skins were warehoused and labelled as
“parchments” or “young beavers,” according to their value.
Excursions of a similar kind were carried on throughout the month of
September, and during the first half of October, with equally happy
results.
A few badgers were taken, the skin being used as an ornament for the
collars of draught horses, and the hair for making brushes of every
variety. These carnivorous creatures belong to the bear family, and
the specimens obtained by Hobson were of the genus peculiar to North
America, sometimes called the Taxel badger.
Another animal of the rodent family, nearly as industrious as the
beaver, largely contributed to the stores of the Company. This was the
musk-rat or musquash. Its head and body are about a foot long and its
tail ten inches. Its fur is in considerable demand. These creatures,
like the rest of their family, multiply with extreme rapidity, and a
great number were easily unearthed.
In the pursuit of lynxes and wolverines or gluttons, fire-arms had to be
used. The lynx has all the suppleness and agility of the feline tribe
to which it belongs, and is formidable even to the rein-deer; Marbre and
Sabine were, however, well up to their work, and succeeded in killing
more than sixty of them. A few wolverines or gluttons were also
despatched, their fur is reddish-brown, and that of the lynx, light-red
with black spots; both are of considerable value.
Very few ermines or stoats were seen, and Jaspar Hobson ordered his men
to spare any which happened to cross their path until the winter, when
they should have assumed their beautiful snow-white coats with the
one black spot at the tip of the tail. At present the upper fur
was reddish-brown and the under yellowish white, so that, as Sabine
expressed it, it was desirable to let them “ ripen,” or, in other
words,-to wait for the cold to bleach them.
Their cousins, the polecats, however, which emit so disagreeable an
odour, fell victims in great numbers to the hunters, who either tracked
them to their homes in hollow trees, or shot them as they glided through
the branches.
Martens, properly so-called, were hunted with great zeal. Their fur is
in considerable demand, although not so valuable as that of the sable,
which becomes a dark lustrous brown in the winter. The latter did not,
however, come in the way of our hunters, as it only frequents the north
of Europe and Asia as far as Kamtchatka, and is chiefly hunted by the
inhabitants of Siberia. They had to be content with the polecats and
pine-martens, called “ Canada- martens,” which frequent the shores
of the Arctic Ocean.
All the weasels and martens are very difficult to catch; they wriggle
their long supple bodies through the smallest apertures with great ease,
and thus elude their pursuers. In the winter, however, they are easily
taken in traps, and Marbre and Sabine looked forward to make up for lost
time then, when, said they, “there shall be plenty of their furs in
the Company’s stores.”
We have now only to mention the Arctic or blue and silver foxes, to
complete the list of animals which swelled the profits of the Hudson’s
Bay Company.
The furs of these foxes are esteemed in the Russian and English markets
above all others, and that of the blue fox is the most valuable of all.
This pretty creature has a black muzzle, and the fur is not as one would
suppose blue, but whitish-brown; its great price-six times that of any
other kind-arises from its superior softness, thickness, and length. A
cloak belonging to the Emperor of Russia, composed entirely of fur from
the neck of the blue fox (the fur from the neck is considered better
than that from any other part), was shown at the London Exhibition of
1851, and valued at £3400 sterling.
Several of these foxes were sighted at Cape Bathurst, but all escaped
the hunters; whilst only about a dozen silver foxes fell into their
hands. The fur of the latter-of a lustrous black dotted with white-is
much sought after in England and Russia, although it does not command so
high a price as that of the foxes mentioned above.
One of the silver foxes captured was a splendid creature, with a
coal-black fur tipped with white at the extreme end of the tail, and
with a dash of the some on the forehead. The circumstances attending its
death deserve relation in detail, as they proved that Hobson was right
in the precautions he had taken
On the morning of the 24th September, two sledges conveyed Mrs Barnett,
the Lieutenant, Sergeant Long. Marbre, and Sabine, to Walruses’ Bay.
Some traces of foxes had been noticed the evening before, amongst some
rocks clothed with scanty herbage and the direction taken by the animals
was very clearly indicated. The hunters followed up the trail of a large
animal, and were rewarded by bringing down a very fine silver fox.
Several other animals of the same species were sighted, and the hunters
divided into two parties-Marbre and Sabine going after one foe, and
Mrs Barnett, Hobson, and the Sergeant, trying to cut off the retreat of
another fine animal hiding behind some rocks.
Great caution and some artifice was necessary to deal with this crafty
animal, which took care not to expose itself to a shot. The pursuit
lasted for half-an-hour without success; but at last the poor creature,
with the sea on one side and its three enemies on the other, had
recourse in its desperation to a flying leap, thinking thus to escape
with its life. But Hobson was too quick for it; and as it bounded by
like a flash of lightning, it was struck by a shot, and to every one’s
surprise, the report of the Lieutenant’s gun was succeeded by that of
another, and a second ball entered the body of the fox, which fell to
the ground mortally wounded.
“Hurrah! hurrah !” cried Hobson, “it is mine!”
“And mine!” said another voice, and a stranger stept forward and
placed his foot upon the fox just as the Lieutenant was about to raise
it.
Hobson drew back in astonishment. He thought the second ball had been
fired by the Sergeant, and found himself face to face with a stranger
whose gun was still smoking.
The rivals gazed at each other in silence.
The rest of the party now approached, and the stranger was quickly
joined by twelve comrades, four of whom were like himself “ Canadian
travellers,” and eight Chippeway Indians.
The leader was a tall man-a fine specimen of his class-those Canadian
trappers described in the romances of Washington Irving, whose
competition Hobson had dreaded with such good reason. He wore the
traditional costume ascribed to his fellow-hunters by the great American
writer; a blanket loosely arranged about his person, a striped cotton
shirt, wide cloth trousers, leather gaiters, deerskin mocassins, and a
sash of checked woollen stuff round the waist, from which were suspended
his knife, tobacco-pouch, pipe, and a few useful tools.
Hobson was right. The man before him was a Frenchman, or at least a
descendant of the French Canadians, perhaps an agent of the American
Company come to act as a spy on the settlers in the fort. The other four
Canadians wore a costume resembling that of their leader, but of coarser
materials.
The Frenchman bowed politely to Mrs Barnett, and the Lieutenant was the
first to break the silence, during which he had not removed his eyes
from his rival’s face.
“This fox is mine, sir,” he said quietly.
“It is if you killed it !” replied the other in good English, but
with a slightly foreign accent.
“Excuse me, sir,” replied Hobson rather sharply, “it is mine in
any case.”
The stranger smiled. scornfully at this lofty reply, so exactly what
be expected from an agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which claims
supremacy over all the northern districts, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.
“Do you mean to say,” he said at last, gracefully toying with his
gun, “that you consider the Hudson’s Bay Company mistress of the
whole of North America?”
“Of course I do,” said Hobson; “and if, as I imagine, you belong
to an American company—
“To the St Louis Fur Company,” replied the stranger with a bow.
“I think,” added the Lieutenant, “that you will find it difficult
to show the grants entitling you to any privileges here.”
“Grants! privileges !” cried the Canadian scornfully, “old world
terms which are out of place in America !”
“You are not now on American but on English ground,” replied the
Lieutenant proudly.
“This is no time for such a discussion,” said the hunter rather
warmly. “We all know the old claims made by the English in general,
and the Hudson’s Bay Company in particular, to these hunting grounds;
but I expect coming events will soon alter this state of things, and
America will be America from the Straits of Magellan to the North Pole
!”
“I do not agree with you,” replied Hobson dryly.
“Well, sir, however that may be,” said the Canadian, “let us
suffer this international question to remain in abeyance for the
present. Whatever rights the Company may arrogate to itself, it is very
clear that in the extreme north of the continent, and especially on the
coast, the territory belongs to whoever occupies it. You have founded a
factory on Cape Bathurst, therefore we will respect your domain, and
you on your side will avoid ours, when the St Louis fur-traders have
established their projected fort at another point on the northern shore
of America.”
The Lieutenant frowned at this speech, for he well knew what
complications would arise in the future when the Hudson’s Bay Company
would be compelled to struggle for supremacy with powerful rivals, and
that quarrelling and even bloodshed would ensue; he could not, however,
but acknowledge that this was not the time to begin the discussion, and
he was not sorry when the hunter, whose manners, to tell the truth, were
very polite, placed the dispute on another footing.
“As for this present matter,” said the Canadian, “it is of minor
importance, and we must settle it according to the rules of the
chase. Our guns are of different calibre, and our balls can be easily
distinguished; let the fox belong to whichever of us really killed
it.”
The proposition was a fair one, and the body of the victim was examined
accordingly. One ball had entered at the side, the other at the heart;
and the latter was from the gun of the Canadian.
“The fox is your property, sir,” said Jaspar Hobson, vainly
endeavouring to conceal his chagrin at seeing this valuable spoil fall
into the enemy’s hands.
The Canadian took it, but instead of throwing it over his shoulder and
carrying it off, he turned to Mrs Barnett, and said “ Ladies are
fond of beautiful furs, and although, perhaps, if they knew better what
dangers and difficulties have to be surmounted in order to obtain them,
they might not care so much about them, they are not likely to refuse
to wear them on that account, and I hope, madam, you will favour me by
accepting this one in remembrance of our meeting.”
Mrs Barnett hesitated for a moment, but the gift was offered with
so much courtesy and kindliness of manner, that it would have seemed
churlish to refuse, and she therefore accepted it with many thanks.
This little ceremony over, the stranger again bowed politely, and,
followed by his comrades, quickly disappeared behind the rocks, whilst
the Lieutenant and his party returned to Fort Good Hope. Hobson was very
silent and thoughtful all the way; for he could not but feel that the
existence of a rival company would greatly compromise the success of his
undertaking, and lead to many future difficulties.
CHAPTER XVII. THE APPROACH OF WINTER. It was the 21st of September. The
sun was then passing through the autumnal equinox, that is to say, the
day and night were of equal length all over the world. These successive
alternations of light and darkness were hailed with delight by the
inhabitants of the fort. It is easier to sleep in the absence of the
sun, and darkness refreshes and strengthens the eyes, weary with the
unchanging brightness of several months of daylight.
We know that during the equinox the tides are generally at their
greatest height; we have high water or flood, for the sun and moon
being in conjunction, their double influence is brought to bear upon the
waters. It was, therefore, necessary to note carefully the approaching
tide at Cape Bathurst. Jaspar Hobson had made bench marks some days
before, so as to estimate exactly the amount of vertical displacement of
the waters between high and low tide; he found, however, that in spite
of all the reports of previous observers, the combined solar and lunar
influence was hardly felt in this part of the Arctic Ocean. There
was scarcely any tide at all, and the statements of navigators on the
subject were contradicted.
“There is certainly something unnatural here !” said Lieutenant
Hobson to himself.
He did not in fact know what to think, but other cares soon occupied
his mind, and he did not long endeavour to get to the rights of this
singular peculiarity.
On the 29th September the state of the atmosphere changed considerably.
The thermometer fell to 41° Fahrenheit, and the sky became covered with
clouds which were soon converted into heavy rain. The bad season was
approaching.
Before the ground should be covered with snow, Mrs Joliffe was busy
sowing the seeds of Cochlearia (scurvy grass) and sorrel, in the hope
that as they were very hardy, and would be well protected from the
rigour of the winter by the snow itself, they would come up in the
spring. Her garden, consisting of several acres hidden behind the cliff
of the cape, had been prepared beforehand, and it was sown during the
last days of September.
Hobson made his companions assume their winter garments before the
great cold set in, and all were soon suitably clothed in the linen under
vests, deerskin cloaks, sealskin pantaloons, fur bonnets, and waterproof
boots with which they were provided. We may also say that the rooms were
suitably dressed; the wooden walls were hung with skins, in order to
prevent the formation upon them of coats of ice in sudden falls of
temperature. About this time, Rae set up his condensers for collecting
the vapour suspended in the air, which were to be emptied twice a week.
The heat of the stove was regulated according to the variations of the
external temperature, so as to keep the thermometer of the rooms at 50°
Fahrenheit. The house would soon be covered with thick snow, which would
prevent any waste of the internal warmth, and by this combination of
natural and artificial protections they hoped to be able successfully to
contend with their two most formidable enemies, cold and damp.
On the 2nd October the thermometer fell still lower, and the first snow
storm came on; there was but little wind, and there were therefore none
of those violent whirlpools of snow called drifts, but a vast white
carpet of uniform thickness soon clothed the cape, the enceinte of fort,
and the coast. The waters of the lake and sea, not yet petrified by
the icy hand of winter, were of a dull, gloomy, greyish hue, and on the
northern horizon the first icebergs stood out against the misty sky. The
blockade had not yet commenced, but nature was collecting her materials,
soon to be cemented by the cold into an impenetrable barrier.
The “ young ice “ was rapidly forming on the liquid surfaces of sea
and lake. The lagoon was the first to freeze over; large whitish-grey
patches appeared here and there, signs of a hard frost setting in,
favoured by the calmness of the atmosphere. and after a night during
which the thermometer had remained at 15° Fahrenheit, the surface
of the lake was smooth and firm enough to satisfy the most fastidious
skaters of the Serpentine. On the verge of the horizon, the sky assumed
that peculiar appearance which whalers call ice-blink, and which is the
result of the glare of light reflected obliquely from the surface of
the ice against the opposite atmosphere. Vast tracts of the ocean became
gradually solidified, the ice-fields, formed by the accumulation of
icicles, became welded to the coast, presenting a surface broken and
distorted by the action of the waves, and contrasting strongly with the
smooth mirror of the lake. Here and there floated these long pieces,
scarcely cemented together at the edges, known as “ drift ice,” and
the “ hummocks,” or protuberances caused by the squeezing of one
piece against another, were also of frequent occurrence.
In a few days the aspect of Cape Bathurst and the surrounding districts
was completely changed. Mrs Barnett’s delight and enthusiasm knew no
bounds; everything was new to her, and she would have thought no fatigue
or suffering too great to be endured for the sake of witnessing such a
spectacle. She could imagine nothing more sublime than this invasion of
winter with all its mighty forces, this conquest of the northern regions
by the cold. All trace of the distinctive features of the country had
disappeared; the land was metamorphosed, a new country was springing
into being before her admiring eyes, a country gifted with a grand and
touching beauty. Details were lost, only the large outlines were given,
scarcely marked out against the misty sky. One transformation scene
followed another with magic rapidity. The ocean, which but lately lifted
up its mighty waves, was hushed and still; the verdant soil of various
hues was replaced by a carpet of dazzling whiteness; the woods of trees
of different kinds were converted into groups of gaunt skeletons draped
in hoar-frost; the radiant orb of day had become a pale disc, languidly
running its allotted course in the thick fog, and visible but for a few
hours a day, whilst the sea horizon, no longer clearly cut against the
sky, was hidden by an endless chain of ice-bergs, broken into countless
rugged forms, and building up that impenetrable ice-wall, which Nature
has set up between the Pole and the bold explorers who endeavour to
reach it.
We can well understand to how many discussions and conversations the
altered appearance of the country gave rise. Thomas Black was the only
one who remained indifferent to the sublime beauty of the scene. But
what could one expect of an astronomer so wrapped up in his one idea,
that he might be said to be present in the little colony in the body,
but absent in spirit? He lived in the contemplation of the heavenly
bodies, passing from the examination of one constellation to that of
another, roving in imagination through the vast realms of space, peopled
by countless radiant orbs, and fuming with rage when fogs or clouds
hid the objects of his devotion from his sight. Hobson consoled him
by promising him fine cold nights admirably suited to astronomical
observations, when he could watch the beautiful Aurora Borealis, the
lunar halos, and other phenomena of Polar countries worthy even of his
admiration.
The cold was not at this time too intense; there was no wind, and it
is the wind which makes the cold so sharp and biting. Hunting was
vigorously carried on for some days. The magazines became stocked with
new furs, and fresh stores of provisions were laid up. Partridges and
ptarmigans on their way to the south passed over the fort in great
numbers, and supplied fresh and wholesome meat. Polar or Arctic hares
were plentiful, and had already assumed their white winter robes. About
a hundred of these rodents formed a valuable addition to the reserves of
the colony.
There were also large flocks of the whistling swan or hooper, one of the
finest species of North America. The hunters killed several couples of
them, handsome birds, four or five feet in entire length, with white
plumage, touched with copper colour on the head and upper part of neck.
They were on their way to a more hospitable zone, where they could find
the aquatic plants and insects they required for food, and they sped
through the air at a rapid pace, for it is as much their native element
as water. Trumpeter swans, with a cry like the shrill tone of a clarion,
which are about the same size as the hoopers, but have black feet and
beaks, also passed in great numbers, but neither Marbre nor Sabine were
fortunate enough to bring down any of them. However, they shouted out
“au revoir” in significant tones, for they knew that they would
return with the first breezes of spring and that they could then be
easily caught. Their skin, plumage, and down, are all of great value,
and they are therefore eagerly hunted. In some favourable years tens of
thousands of them have been exported, fetching half a guinea a piece.
During these excursions, which only lasted for a few hours, and were
often interrupted by bad weather, packs of wolves were often met with.
There was no need to go far to find them, for, rendered bold by hunger,
they already ventured close to the factory. Their scent is very keen,
and they were attracted by the smell from the kitchen. During the
night they could be heard howling in a threatening manner. Although
not dangerous individually, these carnivorous beasts are formidable in
packs, and the hunters therefore took care to be well armed when they
went beyond the enceinte of the fort.
The bears were still more aggressive. Not a day passed without several
of these animals being seen. At night they would come close up to the
enclosure, and sane were even wounded with shot, but got off, staining
the snow with their blood, so that up to October 10th not one had left
its warm and valuable fur in the hands of the hunters. Hobson would not
have them molested, rightly judging that with such formidable creatures
it was best to remain on the defensive, and it was not improbable that,
urged on by hunger, they might attack Fort Hope before very long. Then
the little colony could defend itself, and provision its stores at the
same time.
For a few days the weather continued dry and cold, the surface of the
snow was firm and suitable for walking, so that a few excursions were
made without difficulty along the coast on the south of the fort. The
Lieutenant was anxious to ascertain if the agents of the St Louis Fur
Company had left the country. No traces were, however, found of their
return march, and it was therefore concluded that they had gone down to
some southern fort to pass the winter by another route.
The few fine days were soon over, and in the first week of November the
wind veered round to the south, making the temperature warmer, it is
true, but also bringing heavy snow-storms. The ground was soon covered
with a soft cushion several feet thick, which had to be cleared away
round the house every day, whilst a lane was made through it to the
postern, the shed, and the stable of the dogs and rein-deer. Excursions
became more and more rare, and it was impossible to walk without
snow-shoes.
When the snow has become hardened by frost, it easily sustains the
weight of a man; but when it is soft and yielding, and the unfortunate
pedestrian sinks into it up to his knees, the snow-shoes used by Indians
are invaluable.
Lieutenant Hobson and his companions were quite accustomed to walk in
them, and could glide about over the snow as rapidly as skaters on ice;
Mrs Barnett had early practised wearing them, and was quite as expert in
their use as the rest of the party. The frozen lake as well as the coast
was scoured by these indefatigable explorers, who were even able to
advance several miles from the shore on the solid surface of the ocean
now covered with ice several feet thick. It was, however, very tiring
work, for the ice-fields were rugged and uneven, strewn with piled-up
ridges of ice and hummocks which had to be turned. Further out a chain
of icebergs, some five hundred feet high, barred their progress. These
mighty icebergs, broken into fantastic and picturesque forms, were a
truly magnificent spectacle. Here they looked like the whitened ruins of
a town with curtains battered in, and monuments and columns overthrown;
there like some volcanic land torn and convulsed by earthquakes and
eruptions; a confusion of glaciers and glittering ice-peaks with snowy
ramparts and buttresses, valleys, and crevasses, mountains and hillocks,
tossed and distorted like the famous Alps of Switzerland. A few
scattered birds, petrels, guillemots, and puffins, lingering behind
their fellows, still enlivened the vast solitude with their piercing
cries; huge white bears roamed about amongst the hummocks, their
dazzling coats scarcely distinguishable from the shining ice-truly there
was enough to interest and excite our adventurous lady traveller, and
even Madge, the faithful Madge, shared the enthusiasm of her mistress.
How far, how very far, were both from the tropic zones of India or
Australia!
The frozen ocean was firm enough to have allowed of the passage of a
park of artillery, or the erection of a monument, and many were the
excursions on its surface until the sudden lowering of the temperature
rendered all exertion so exhausting that they had to be discontinued.
The pedestrians were out of breath after taking a few steps, and the
dazzling whiteness of the glittering snow could not be endured by
the naked eye; indeed, the reverberation or flickering glare of the
undulatory reflection of the light from the surface of the snow, has
been known to cause several cases of blindness amongst the Esquimaux.
A singular phenomenon due to the refraction of rays of light was now
observed: distances, depths, and heights lost their true proportions,
five or six yards of ice looked like two, and many were the falls and
ludicrous results of this optical illusion.
On October 14th the thermometer marked 3° Fahrenheit below zero, a
severe temperature to endure, especially when the north wind blows
strongly. The air seemed to be made of needles, and those who ventured
out of the house were in great danger of being frost-bitten, when death
or mortification would ensue if the suspended circulation of the blood
were not restored by immediate friction with snow. Garry, Belcher, Hope,
and other members of the little community were attacked by frost-bite,
but the parts affected being rubbed in time they escaped without serious
injury.
It will readily be understood that all manual labour had now become
impossible. The days were extremely short, the sun was only above
the horizon for a few hours and the actual winter, implying entire
confinement within doors, was about to commence. The last Arctic birds
forsook the gloomy shores of the Polar Sea, only a few pairs of those
speckled quails remained which the Indians appropriately call “ winter
birds,” because they wait in the Arctic regions until the commencement
of the Polar night, but they too were soon to take their departure.
Lieutenant Hobson, therefore, urged on the setting of the traps
and snares which were to remain in different parts of Cape Bathurst
throughout the winter.
These traps consisted merely of rough joists supported on a square,
formed of three pieces of wood so balanced as to fall on the least
touch--in fact, the same sort of trap as that used for snaring birds
in fields on a large scale. The end of the horizontal piece of wood was
baited with venison, and every animal of a moderate height, a fox or a
marten, for instance, which touched it with its paw, could not fail
to be crushed. Such were the traps set in the winter over a space of
several miles by the famous hunters whose adventurous life has been so
poetically described by Cooper. Some thirty of these snares were set
round Fort Hope, and were to be visited at pretty frequent intervals.
On the 12th November a new member was born to the little colony. Mrs
Mac-Nab was safely confined of a fine healthy boy, of whom the head
carpenter was extremely proud. Mrs Barnett stood god-mother to the
child, which received the name of Michael Hope. The ceremony of baptism
was performed with considerable solemnity, and a kind of fête was held
in honour of the little creature which had just come into the world
beyond the 70th degree N. Lat.
A few days afterwards, on November .20th, the sun sunk below the horizon
not to appear again for two months. The Polar night had commenced!
CHAPTER XVIII. THE POLAR NIGHT. The long night was ushered in by a
violent storm. The cold was perhaps a little less severe, but the
air was very damp, and, in spite of every precaution, the humidity
penetrated into the house, and the condensers, which were emptied every
morning, contained several pounds of ice.
Outside drifts whirled past like waterspouts-the snow seemed no longer
to fall horizontally but vertically. The Lieutenant was obliged to
insist upon the door being kept shut, for had it been opened the
passages would immediately have become blocked up. The explorers were
literally prisoners.
The window shutters were hermetically closed, and the lamps were kept
burning through the long hours of the sleepless night.
But although darkness reigned without, the noise of the tempest replaced
the silence usually so complete in these high latitudes. The roaring of
the wind between the house and the cliff never ceased for a moment, the
house trembled to its foundations, and had it not been for the solidity
of its construction, must have succumbed to the violence of the
hurricane. Fortunately the accumulation of snow round the walls broke
the force of the squall, and Mac-Nabs only fear was for the chimneys,
which were liable to be blown over. However, they remained firm,
although they had constantly to be freed from the snow which blocked up
the openings.
In the midst of the whistling of the wind, loud reports were heard, of
which Mrs Barnett could not conjecture the cause. It was the falling
of icebergs in the offing. The echoes caught up the sounds, which were
rolled along like the reverberations of thunder. The ground shook as the
ice-fields split open, crushed by the falling of these mighty mountains,
and none but those thoroughly inured to the horrors of these wild
rugged climates could witness these strange phenomena without a shudder.
Lieutenant Hobson and his companions were accustomed to all these
things, and Mrs Barnett and Madge were gradually becoming so, and were,
besides, not altogether unfamiliar with those terrible winds which move
at the rate of forty miles an hour, and overturn twenty-four pounders.
Here, however, the darkness and the snow aggravated the dread might of
the storm; that which was not crushed was buried and smothered, and,
probably twelve hours after the commencement of the tempest, house,
kennel, shed, and enceinte would have disappeared beneath a bed of snow
of uniform thickness.
The time was not wasted during this long imprisonment. All these good
people agreed together perfectly, and neither ill-humour nor ennui
marred the contentment of the little party shut up in such a narrow
space. They were used to life under similar conditions at Forts
Enterprise and Reliance, and there was nothing to excite Mrs Barnett’s
surprise in their ready accommodation of themselves to circumstances.
Part of the day was occupied with work, part with reading and games.
Garments had to be made and mended, arms to be kept bright and in good
repair, boots to be manufactured, and the daily journal to be issued in
which Lieutenant Hobson recorded the slightest events of this northern
wintering-the weather, the temperature, the direction of the wind, the
appearance of meteors so frequent in the Polar regions, &c., &c. Then
the house had to be kept in order, the rooms must be swept, and the
stores of furs must be visited every day to see if they were free from
damp; the fires and stoves, too, required constant superintendence,
and perpetual vigilance was necessary to prevent the accumulation of
particles of moisture in the corners.
To each one was assigned a task, the duty of each one was laid down in
rules fixed up in the large room, so that without being overworked, the
occupants of the fort were never without something to do. Thomas Black
screwed and unscrewed his instruments, and looked over his astronomical
calculations, remaining almost always shut up in his cabin, fretting
and fuming at the storm which prevented him from making nocturnal
observations. The three married women had also plenty to see to : Mrs
Mac-Nab busied herself with her baby who got on wonderfully, whilst Mrs
Joliffe, assisted by Mrs Rae, and with the Corporal always at her heels,
presided in the kitchen.
When work was done the entire party assembled in the large room,
spending the whole of Sunday together. Reading was the chief amusement.
The Bible and some books of travels were the whole library of the fort;
but they were all the good folks required. Mrs Barnett generally read
aloud, and her audience listened with delight. The Bible and accounts
of adventures received a fresh charm when read out in her clear earnest
voice; her gestures were so expressive that imaginary persons seemed
to live when she spoke of them, and all were glad when she took up the
book. She was, in fact, the life and soul of the little community, eager
alike to give and receive instruction; she combined the charm and grace
of a woman with the energy of a man, and she consequently became the
idol of the rough soldiers, who would have willingly laid down their
lives in her service. Mrs Barnett shared everything with her companions,
never holding herself aloof or remaining shut up in her cabin, but
working zealously amongst the others, drawing out the most reticent by
her intelligent questions and warm sympathy. Good humour and good health
prevailed throughout the little community, and neither bands nor tongues
were idle.
The storm, however, showed no signs of abating. The party had now been
confined to the house for three days, and the snow-drifts were as wild
and furious as ever. Lieutenant Hobson began to get anxious. It was
becoming imperatively necessary to renew the air of the rooms, which
was too much charged with carbonic acid. The light of the lamps began to
pale in the unhealthy atmosphere, and the air-pumps would not act, the
pipes being choked up with ice; they were not, in fact, intended to
be used when the house was buried in snow. It was necessary to take
counsel; the Lieutenant and Sergeant Long put their heads together, and
it was decided on November 23d that, as the wind beat with rather less
violence on the front of the house, one of the windows at the end of the
passage on that side should be opened.
This was no light matter. It was easy enough to open the window from
inside, but the shutter outside was encrusted over with thick lumps of
ice, and resisted every effort to move it. It had to be taken off its
hinges, and the hard mass of snow was then attacked with pickaxe and
shovel; it was at least ten feet thick, and it was not until a kind of
channel bad been scooped out that the outer air was admitted.
Hobson, the Sergeant, several soldiers, and Mrs Barnett herself ventured
to creep through this tunnel or channel, but not without considerable
difficulty, for the wind rushed in with fearful fury.
What a scene was presented by Cape Bathurst and the surrounding plain.
It was mid-day, and but a few faint twilight rays glimmered upon
the southern horizon. The cold was not so intense as one would have
supposed, and the thermometer marked only 15° Fahrenheit above zero;
but the snow-drifts whirled along with terrific force, and all would
inevitably have been thrown to the ground, had not the snow in which
they were standing up to their waists helped to sustain them against
the gusts of wind. Everything around them was white, the walls of the
enceinte, and the whole of the house even to the roof were completely
covered over, and nothing but a few blue wreaths of smoke would have
betrayed the existence of a human habitation to a stranger.
Under the circumstances the “ promenade “ was soon over; but Mrs
Barnett bad made good use of her time, and would never forget the awful
beauty of the Polar regions in a snow-storm, a beauty upon which few
women had been privileged to look.
A few moments sufficed to renew the atmosphere of the house, and all
unhealthy vapours were quickly dispersed by the introduction of a pure
and refreshing current of air.
The Lieutenant and his companions hurried in, and the window was again
closed; but after that the snow before it was removed every day for the
sake of ventilation.
The entire week passed in a similar manner; fortunately the rein-deer
and dogs had plenty of food, so that there was no need to visit them.
The eight days during which the occupants of the fort were imprisoned so
closely, could not fail to be somewhat irksome to strong men, soldiers
and hunters, accustomed to plenty of exercise in the open air; and we
must own that listening to reading aloud gradually lost its charm, and
even cribbage became uninteresting. The last thought at night was a hope
that the tempest might have ceased in the morning, a hope disappointed
every day. Fresh snow constantly accumulated upon the windows, the wind
roared, the icebergs burst with a crash like thunder, the smoke was
forced back into the rooms, and there were no signs of a diminution of
the fury of the storm.
At last, however, on the 28th November the Aneroid barometer in the
large room gave notice of an approaching change in the state of the
atmosphere. It rose rapidly, whilst the thermometer outside fell almost
suddenly to less than four degrees below zero. These were symptoms which
could not be mistaken, and on the 29th November the silence all around
the fort told that the tempest had ceased.
Every one was eager to get out, tine confinement had lasted long enough.
The door could not be opened, and all had to get through the window, and
clear away the fresh accumulation of snow; this time, however, it was no
soft mass they had to remove, but compact blocks of ice, which required
pick-axes to break them up.
It took about half-an-hour to clear a passage, and then every one in the
fort, except Mrs Mac-Nab, who was not yet up, hastened into the interior
court, glad once more to be able to walk about.
The cold was still intense, but the wind having gone down it was
possible to endure it, although great care was necessary to escape
serious consequences on leaving the heated rooms for the open air,
the difference between the temperature inside and outside being some
fifty-four degrees.
It was eight o’clock in the morning. Myriads of brilliant
constellations studded the sky, and at the zenith shone the Pole star.
Although in both hemispheres there are in reality but 5000 fixed
stars visible to the naked eye, their number appeared to the observers
incalculable. Exclamations of admiration burst involuntarily from the
lips of the delighted astronomer as he gazed into the cloudless heavens,
once more undimmed by mists or vapours. Never had a more beautiful sky
been spread out before the eyes of an astronomer.
Whilst Thomas Black was raving in ecstasy, dead to all terrestrial
matters, his companions had wandered as far as the enceinte. The snow
was as hard as a rock, And so slippery that there were a good many
tumbles, but no serious injuries.
It is needless to state that the court of the fort was completely filled
up. The roof of the house alone appeared above the white mass, the
surface of which had been worn smooth by the action of the wind; of the
palisade nothing was visible but the top of the stakes, and the least
nimble of the wild animals they dreaded could easily have climbed over
them. But what was to be done? It was no use to think of clearing away a
mass of frozen snow ten feet thick, extending over so large an extent of
ground. All they could attempt would be to dig away the ice inside the
enceinte, so as to form a kind of moat, the counterscarp of which would
protect the palisade. But alas the winter was only beginning, and a
fresh tempest might at any time fill in the ditch a few hours.
Whilst the Lieutenant was examining the works, which could no more
protect his fort than a single sunbeam could melt the solid layer of
snow,-Mrs Joliffe suddenly exclaimed:
“And our dogs! our reindeer!”
It was indeed time to think about the poor animals. The dog house and
stable being lower than the house were probably entirely covered, and
the supply of air had perhaps been completely cut off. Some hurried to
the dog-house, others to the reindeer stable, and all fears were quickly
dispelled. The wall of ice, which connected the northern corner of the
house with the cliff, had partly protected the two buildings, and the
snow round them was not more than four feet thick, so that the apertures
left in the walls had not been closed up. The animals were all well, and
when the door was opened, the dogs rushed out barking with delight.
The cold was so intense, that after an hour’s walk every one began to
think of the glowing stove in the large room at home. There was nothing
left to be done outside, the traps buried beneath ten feet of snow could
not be visited, so all returned to the house, the window, was closed,
and the party sat down to the dinner awaiting them with sharpened
appetites.
We can readily imagine that the conversation turned on the intensity
of the cold, which had so rapidly converted the soft snow into a solid
mass. It was no light matter, and might to a certain extent compromise
the safety of the little colony.
“But, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett, “can we not count upon a few
days’ thaw-will not all this snow be rapidly converted into water?”
“Oh no, madam,” replied Hobson, “a thaw at this time of year
is not at all likely. Indeed I expect the thermometer will fall still
lower, and it is very much to be regretted that we were unable to remove
the snow when it was soft.”
What, you think the temperature likely to become much colder?”
“I do most certainly, madam, 4° below zero-what is that at this
latitude?”
“What would it be if we were at the Pole itself?”
“The Pole, madam, is probably not the coldest point of the globe,
for most navigators agree that the sea is there open. From certain
peculiarities of its geographical position it would appear that a
certain spot on the shores of North Georgia, 95° longitude and 78°
latitude, has the coldest mean temperature in the world: 2° below zero
all the year round. It is, therefore, called the ‘pole of cold.’ “
“But,” said Mrs Barnett, “we are more than 8° further south than
that famous point.”
“Well, I don’t suppose we shall suffer as much at Cape Bathurst as
we might have done in North Georgia. I only tell you of the ‘pole of
cold,’ that you may not confound it with the Pole properly so-called
when the lowness of the temperature is discussed. Great cold has besides
been experienced on other points of the globe. The difference is, that
the low temperature is not there maintained.”
“To what places do you allude?” inquired Mrs Barnett; “I assure
you I take the greatest interest in this matter of degrees of cold.”
“As far as I can remember, madam,” replied the Lieutenant, Arctic
explorers state that at Melville Island the temperature fell to 61°
below zero, and at Port Felix to 65°.”
“But Melville Island and Port Felix are some degrees farther north
latitude than Cape Bathurst, are they not?”
“Yes, madam, but in a certain sense we may say that their latitude
proves nothing. A combination of different atmospheric conditions is
requisite to produce intense cold. Local and other causes largely modify
climate. If I remember rightly in 1845 . . . Sergeant Long, you were at
Fort Reliance at that date?
“Yes, sir,” replied Long.
“Well, was it not in January of that year that the cold was so
excessive?”
“Yes it was, I remember only too well that the thermometer marked 70°
below zero.”
“What!” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, “at Fort Reliance, on the Great
Slave Lake?”
“Yes, madam,” replied the Lieutenant, “and that was at 65° north
latitude only, which is the same parallel as that of Christiania and St
Petersburg.”
“Then we must be prepared for everything.”
“Yes, indeed, we must when we winter in Arctic countries.”
During the 29th and 30th November, the cold did not decrease, and it
was necessary to keep up huge fires to prevent the freezing in all the
corners of the house of the moisture in the atmosphere. Fortunately
there was plenty of fuel, and it was not spared. A mean temperature of
52° Fahrenheit was maintained indoors in spite of the intensity of the
cold without.
Thomas Black was so anxious to take stellar observations, now that the
sky was so clear, that he braved the rigour of the outside temperature,
hoping to be able to examine some of the magnificent constellations
twinkling on the zenith. But he was compelled to desist-his instruments
“burnt” his hands! ”Burnt“ is the only word to express the
sensation produced by touching a metallic body subjected to the
influence of intense cold. Exactly similar results are produced by
the sudden introduction of heat into an animate body, and the sudden
withdrawal of the same from it, as the astronomer found to his cost when
he left the skin of his fingers on his instruments. He had to give up
taking observations.
However, the heavens made him the best amends in their power by
displaying the most beautiful and indescribable phenomena of a lunar
halo and an Aurora Borealis.
The lunar halo was a white corona with a pale red edge encircling the
moon. This luminous meteor was about forty-five degrees in diameter, and
was the result of the diffraction of the lunar rays through the small
prismatic ice-crystals floating in the atmosphere. The queen of the
night shone with renewed splendour and heightened beauty from the centre
of the luminous ring, the colour and consistency of which resembled the
milky transparent lunar rainbows which have been so often described by
astronomers.
Fifteen hours later the heavens were lit up by a magnificent Aurora
Borealis, the arch of which extended over more than a hundred
geographical degrees. The vertex of this arch was situated in the
magnetic meridian, and, as is often the case, the rays darted by
the luminous meteor were of all the colours of the rainbow, red
predominating. Here and there. the stars seemed to be floating in blood.
Glowing lines of throbbing colour spread from the dark segment on the
horizon, some of them passing the zenith and quenching the light of the
moon in their electric waves, which oscillated and trembled as if swept
by a current of air.
No description could give an adequate idea of the glory which flushed
the northern sky, converting it into a vast dome of fire, but after
the magnificent spectacle had been enjoyed for about half an hour, it
suddenly disappeared-not fading gradually away after concentration of
its rays, or a diminution of its splendour, but dying abruptly, as if an
invisible hand had cut off the supply of electricity which gave it life.
It was time it was over, for the sake of Thomas Black, for in another
five minutes he would have been frozen where he stood !
CHAPTER XIX. A NEIGHBOURLY VISIT. On the 2nd December; the intensity of
the cold decreased. The phenomena of the lunar halo and Aurora Borealis
were symptoms which a meteorologist would have been at no loss to
interpret. They implied the existence of a certain quantity of watery
vapour in the atmosphere, and the barometer fell slightly, whilst the
thermometer rose to 15° above zero.
Although this temperature would have seemed very cold to the inhabitants
of a temperate zone, it was easily endured by the colonists. The absence
of wind made a great difference, and Hobson having noticed that the
upper layers of snow were becoming softer, ordered his men to clear
it away from the outer approaches of the enceinte. Mac-Nab and his
subordinates set to work zealously, and completed their task in a few
days. The traps were now uncovered and re-set. A good many footprints
showed that there were plenty of furred animals about the cape, and as
they could not get any other food, it was probable that the bait in the
snares would soon attract them. In accordance with the advice of Marbre
the hunter, a reindeer trap was constructed in the Esquimaux style. A
trench was dug twelve feet deep, and of a uniform width of ten feet. A
see-saw plank, which would rebound when lowered, was laid across it.
A bait of herbs was placed at one end of the plank, and any animal
venturing to take them, was inevitably flung to the bottom of the pit,
and the plank immediately returning to its former position, would allow
of the trapping of another animal in the same manner. Once in, there was
no getting out. The only difficulty Marbre had to contend with in making
his trap, was the extreme hardness of the ground to be dug out, but both
he and the Lieutenant were not a little surprised at finding beneath
some five feet of earth and sand a bed of snow, as hard as a rock, which
appeared to be very thick.
After closely examining the geological structure of the ground, Hobson
observed:
“This part of the coast must have been subjected to intense cold for
a considerable length of time a great many years ago. Probably the
ice rests on a bed of granite, and the earth and sand upon it have
accumulated gradually.”
“Well, sir, our trap won’t be any the worse for that, the reindeer
will find a slippery wall, which it will be impossible for them to
climb.”
Marbre was right, as the event proved.
On the 5th September, he and Sabine were on their way to the trench,
when they heard loud growls. They stood still and listened.
“It’s no reindeer making that noise, “said Marbre, “I know well
enough what creature has fallen into our pit.”
“A bear?” replied Sabine.
“Yes,” said Marbre, whose eyes glistened with delight.
“Well,” remarked Sabine, “we won’t grumble at that, bears’
steaks are as good as reindeers’, and we get the fur in! Come
along.”
The two hunters were armed. They quickly slipped balls into their
guns, which were already loaded with lead, and hurried to the trap.
The see-saw plank had swung back into its place, but the bait had
disappeared, having probably been dragged down, into the trench. The
growls became louder and fiercer, and looking down the hunters saw that
it was indeed a bear they had taken. A huge mass was huddled together
in one corner of the pit, looking in the gloom like a pile of white fur
with two glittering eyes. The sides of the trench had been ploughed up
by the creature’s sharp claws, and had they been made of earth instead
of ice, it would certainly have managed to scramble out, but it could
get no hold on the slippery surface, and it had only managed to enlarge
its prison, not to escape from it.
Under the circumstances the capture was easy. Two balls carefully aimed
put an end to the bear’s life, and the next thing to do was to get it
out of the pit. The two hunters returned to the fort for reinforcements,
and ten of the soldiers, provided with ropes, returned with them. It was
not without considerable difficulty that the body was hauled up. It was
a huge creature, six feet long, weighing six hundred pounds, and must
have possessed immense strength. It belonged to the sub-order of white
bears, and had the flattened head, long neck, short and slightly
curved claws, narrow muzzle, and smooth white fur characteristic of the
species. The edible portions of this valuable animal were confided to
Mrs Joliffe, and by her carefully prepared for the table.
The next week the traps were in full activity. Some twenty martens were
taken, in all the beauty of their winter clothing, but only two or three
foxes. These cunning creatures divined the snare laid for them, and
scratching up the ground near the trap, they often managed to run off
with the bait without being caught. This made Sabine beside himself
with rage "for,” he said, “such a subterfuge was unworthy of a
respectable fox.”
About the 10th December, the wind having veered round to the south-west,
the snow again began to fall, but not in thick flakes, or in large
quantities. The wind being high, however, the cold was severely felt,
and it was necessary to settle in-doors again, and resume domestic
occupations. Hobson distributed lime lozenges and lime juice to every
one as a precaution against the scorbutic affections, which damp cold
produces. No symptoms of scurvy had fortunately as yet appeared amongst
the occupants of the fort, thanks to the sanitary precautions taken.
The winter solstice was now approaching, when the darkness of the Polar
night would be most profound, as the sun would be at the lowest maximum
point below the horizon of the northern hemisphere. At midnight the
southern edges of the long white plains were touched with a faint
glimmer of twilight, that was all, and it would be impossible to imagine
anything more melancholy than the gloomy stillness and darkness of the
vast expanse.
Hobson felt more secure from the attacks of wild beasts, now that
the approaches to the enceinte had been cleared of snow, which was a
fortunate circumstance, as ominous growlings were heard, the nature of
which no one could mistake.
There was no fear of visits from Indian hunters or Canadians at this
time of year, but an incident occurred proving that these districts were
not altogether depopulated even in the winter, and which was quite an
episode in the long dreary dark months. Some human beings still lingered
on the coast hunting morses and camping under the snow. They belonged
to the race of Esquimaux, "or eaters of raw flesh,” which is scattered
over the continent of North America, from Baffin’s Bay to Behring
Strait, seldom, however, advancing farther south than the Great Slave
Lake.
On the morning of the 14th December, or rather nine hours before midday,
Sergeant Long, on his return from an excursion along the coast, ended
his report to the Lieutenant by saying, that if his eyes had not
deceived him, a tribe of nomads were encamped about four miles from the
fort, near a little cape jutting out from the coast.
“What do you suppose these nomads are?” inquired Hobson.
“Either men or morses,” replied the Sergeant. “There’s no
medium!”
The brave Sergeant would have been considerably surprised if any one had
told him that some naturalists admit the existence of the “ medium,”
the idea of which he scouted; and certain savants have with some humour
classed the Esquimaux as an “ intermediate species “ between roan
and the sea-cow.
Lieutenant Hobson, Mrs Barnett, Madge, and a few others at once went
to ascertain the truth of the report. Well wrapt up, and on their guard
against a sudden chill, their feet cased in furred boots, and guns and
hatchets in their hands, they issued from the postern, and made their
way over the frozen snow along the coast, strewn with masses of ice.
The moon, already in the last quarter, shed a few faint rays through the
mists which shrouded the ice-fields. After marching for about an hour,
the Lieutenant began to think that the Sergeant had been mistaken, and
that what he had seen were morses, who had returned to their native
element through the holes in the ice which they always keep open.
But Long, pointing to a grey wreath of smoke curling out of a conical
protuberance on the ice-field some hundred steps off, contented himself
with observing quietly—
“The morses are smoking, then !”
As he spoke some living creatures came out of the but dragging
themselves along the snow. They were Esquimaux, but whether male or
female none but a native could have said, for their costumes were all
exactly alike.
Indeed, without in the least sharing the opinion of the naturalist
quoted above, any one might have taken the rough shaggy figures for
seals or some other amphibious animals. There were six of them-four
full-grown, and two children. Although very short, they were
broad-chested and muscular. They had the flat noses, long eye-lashes,
large mouths, thick lips, long black coarse hair, and beardless chins of
their race. Their costume consisted of a round coat made of the skin of
the walrus, a hood, boots, trousers, and mittens of the same material.
They gazed at the Europeans in silence.
“Does any one understand Esquimaux?” inquired the Lieutenant.
No one was acquainted with that idiom, and every one started when a
voice immediately exclaimed in English, “Welcome! welcome !”
It was an Esquimaux, and, as they learned later, a woman, who,
approaching Mrs Barnett, held out her hand.
The lady, much surprised, replied in a few words, which the native
girl readily understood, and the whole family was invited to follow the
Europeans to the fort.
The Esquimaux looked searchingly at the strangers, and after a few
moments’ hesitation they accompanied the Lieutenant, keeping close
together, however:
Arrived at the enceinte, the native woman, seeing the house, of the
existence of which she had had no idea, exclaimed—
“House! snow-house!”
She asked if it were made of snow, which was a natural question enough,
for the house was all but hidden beneath the white mass which covered
the ground. She was made to understand that it was built of wood; she
then turned and said a few words to her companions, who made signs of
acquiescence, and they all passed through the postern, and were taken to
the large room in the chief building.
They removed their hoods, and it became possible to distinguish sexes.
There were two men, about forty or fifty years old, with yellowish-red
complexions, sharp teeth, and projecting cheek-bones, which gave them
something of the appearance of carnivorous animals; two women, still
young whose matted hair was adorned with the teeth and claws of Polar
bears; and two children, about five or six years old, poor little
creatures with intelligent faces, who looked about them with wide
wondering eyes.
“I believe the Esquimaux are always hungry,” said Hobson, “so I
don’t suppose our guests would object to a slice of venison.”
In obedience to the Lieutenant’s order, Joliffe brought some
reindeer-venison, which the poor creatures devoured with greedy avidity;
but the young woman who had answered in English behaved with greater
refinement, and watched Mrs Barnett and the women of the fort without
once removing her eyes from them. Presently noticing the baby in Mrs
Mac-Nabs arms; she rose and ran up to it, speaking to it in a soft
voice, and caressing it tenderly.
Indeed if not exactly superior, the young girl was certainly more
civilised than her companions, which was especially noticeable when,
being attacked by a slight fit of coughing, she put her hand before her
mouth in the manner enjoined by the first rules of civilised society.
This significant gesture did not escape any one, and Mrs Barnett, who
chatted for some time with the Esquimaux woman, learned from her in a
few short sentences that she had been for a year in the service of the
Danish governor of Upper Navik, whose wife was English, and that she had
left Greenland to follow her family to the hunting grounds. The two men
were her brothers; the other woman was her sister-in-law, married to one
of the men, and mother of the two children. They were all returning
from Melbourne Island, on the eastern coast of English America, and were
making for Point Barrow, on the western coast of Russian America, the
home of their tribe, and- were considerably astonished to find a factory
established on Cape Bathurst. Indeed the two men shook their heads when
they spoke of it. Did they disapprove of the construction of a fort
at this particular point of the coast? Did they think the situation
ill-chosen? In spite of all his endeavours, Hobson could get no
satisfactory reply to these questions, or rather he could not understand
the answers he received.
The name of the young girl was Kalumah, and she seemed to have taken
a great fancy to Mrs Barnett. But sociable as she was, she appeared to
feel no regret at having left the governor of Upper Navik, and to be
sincerely attached to her relations.
After refreshing themselves with the reindeer-venison, and drinking
half-a-pint of rum, in which the children had their share, the Esquimaux
took leave of their hosts; but before saying goodbye, the young girl
invited Mrs Barnett to visit their snow-hut, and the lady promised to do
so the next day, weather permitting.
The next day was fine, and accompanied by Madge, Lieutenant Hobson, and
a few soldiers, well armed in case any bears should be prowling about,
Mrs Barnett set out for “ Cape Esquimaux,” as they had named the
spot where the little colony had encamped.
Kalumah hastened forward to meet her friend of yesterday, and pointed
to the but with an, air of pride. It was a large cone of snow, with an
opening in the summit, through which the smoke from the fire inside
made its way. These snow-houses, called igloos in the language of the
Esquimaux, are constructed with great rapidity, and are admirably suited
to the climate. In them their owners can endure a temperature 40°
below zero, without fires, and without suffering much. In the summer
the Esquimaux encamp in tents made of seal and reindeer skins, which are
called tupics.
It was no easy matter to get into this hut. The only opening was a hole
close to the ground, and it was necessary to creep through a kind of
passage three or four feet long, which is about the thickness of the
walls of these snow-houses. But a traveller by profession, a laureate of
the Royal Society, could not hesitate, and Mrs Paulina Barnett did not
hesitate! Followed by Madge, she bravely entered the narrow tunnel in
imitation of her guide. Lieutenant Hobson and his men dispensed with
paying their respects inside.
And Mrs Barnett soon discovered that the chief difficulty was not
getting into the but, but remaining in it when there. The room was
heated by a fire, on which the bones of morses were burning; and the air
was full of the smell of the fetid oil of a lamp, of greasy garments,
and the flesh of the amphibious animals which form the chief article of
an Esquimaux’s diet. It was suffocating and sickening! Madge could not
stand it, and hurried out at once, but Mrs Barnett, rather than hurt the
feelings of the young native, showed superhuman courage, and extended
her visit over five long minutes!-five centuries! The two children and
their mother were at home, but the men had gone to hunt morses four or
five miles from their camp.
Once out of the hut, Mrs Barnett drew a long sigh of relief, and the
colour returned to her blanched cheeks.
“Well, madam,” inquired the Lieutenant, “what do you think of
Esquimaux houses?”
“The ventilation leaves something to be desired !” she replied
simply.
The interesting native family remained encamped near Cape Esquimaux for
eight days. The men passed twelve hours out of every twenty-four hunting
morses. With a patience which none but sportsmen could understand, they
would watch for the amphibious animals near the holes through which
they come up to the surface of the ice-field to breathe. When the morse
appears, a rope with a running noose is flung round its body a little
below the head, and it is dragged on to the ice-field, often with
considerable difficulty, and killed with hatchets. It is really more
like fishing than hunting. It is considered a great treat to drink
the warm blood of the walrus, and the Esquimaux often indulge in it to
excess.
Kalumah came to the fort every day in spite of the severity of the
weather. She was never tired of going through the different rooms, and
watching Mrs Joliffe at her cooking or sewing. She asked the English
name of everything, and talked for hours together with Mrs Barnett, if
the term “talking” can be applied to an exchange of words after
long deliberation on both sides. When Mrs Barnett read aloud, Kalumah
listened with great attention, although she probably understood nothing
of what she heard.
The young native girl had a sweet voice, and sometimes sang some strange
melancholy rhythmical songs with a peculiar metre, and, if we may so
express it, a frosty ring about them, peculiarly characteristic of their
origin.
Mrs Barnett had the patience to translate one of these Greenland sagas,
which was sung to a sad air, interspersed with long pauses, and filled
with strange intervals, which produced an indescribable effect. We give
an English rendering of Mrs Barnett’s translation, which may give a
faint idea of this strange hyperborean poetry.
GREENLAND SONG Dark Is the sky, The sun sinks wearily; My trembling
heart, with sorrow filled, Aches drearily ! My sweet child at my songs
is smiling still, While at his tender heart the icicles lie chill. Child
of my dreams I Thy love doth cheer me; The cruel biting frost I brave
But to be near thee! Ah me, Ah me, could these hot tears of mine But
melt the icicles around that heart of thine! Could we once more Meet
heart to heart, Thy little hands close clasped in mine, No more to part.
Then on thy chill heart rays from heaven above Should fall, and softly
melt it with the warmth of love! On the 20th December the Esquimaux
family came to take leave of the occupants of the fort. Kalumah was
sorry to part with Mrs Barnett, who would gladly have retained her in
her service, but the young native could not be persuaded to leave her
own people; she promised, however, to return to Fort Hope in the summer.
Her farewell was touching. She presented Mrs Barnett with a copper
ring, and received in exchange a necklace of black beads, which
she immediately put on. Hobson gave the poor people a good stock of
provisions, which they packed in their sledge; and after a few words of
grateful acknowledgment from Kalumah, the whole party set out towards
the west, quickly disappearing in the thick fogs on the shore.
CHAPTER XX. MERCURY FREEZES. A few days of dry calm weather favoured the
operations of the hunters, but they did not venture far from the fort;
the abundance of game rendered it unnecessary to do so, and Lieutenant
Hobson could justly congratulate himself on having chosen so favourable
a situation for the new settlement. A great number of furred animals of
all kinds were taken in the traps, and Sabine and Marbre killed a good
many Polar hares. Some twenty starving wolves were shot. Hunger rendered
the latter animals aggressive, and bands of them gathered about the
fort, filling the air with hoarse howls, and amongst the “ hummocks
“ on the ice-fields sometimes prowled huge bears, whose movements were
watched with great interest.
On the 25th December all excursions had again to be given up. The wind
veered suddenly to the north, and the cold became exceedingly severe.
It was impossible to remain out of doors without being frost-bitten. The
Fahrenheit thermometer fell to 18° below zero, and the gale roared like
a volley of musketry. Hobson took care to provide the animals with food
enough to last several weeks.
Christmas Day, the day of home-gatherings so dear to the heart of all
Englishmen, was kept with due solemnity. The colonists returned thanks
to God for preserving them through so many perils; and the workmen,
who had a holiday in honour of the day, afterwards assembled with their
masters and the ladies round a well-filled board, on which figured two
huge Christmas puddings.
In the evening a huge bowl of punch flamed in the centre of the table;
the lamps were put out, and for a time the room was lighted only by
the livid flames of the spirit, the familiar objects assuming strange
fantastic forms. The spirits of the soldiers rose as they watched the
flickering illumination, and their excitement was not lessened after
imbibing some of the burning liquid.
But now the flames began to pale; bluish tongues still fitfully licked
the plump sides of the national pudding for a few minutes, and then died
away.
Strange to say, although the lamps had not been relit, the room did
not become dark on the extinction of the flames. A bright red light was
streaming through the window, which had passed unnoticed in the previous
illumination.
The revellers started to their feet, and looked at each other in
astonishment.
“A fire !” cried several.
But unless the house itself were burning, there could not be a fire
anywhere near Cape Bathurst.
The Lieutenant rushed to the window, and at once understood the cause of
the phenomenon. It was an eruption.
Indeed, above the western cliffs beyond Walruses’ Bay the horizon
was on fire. The summits of the igneous hills, some miles from Cape
Bathurst, could not be seen; but the sheaf of flame shot up to a
considerable height, lighting up the whole country in a weird, unearthly
manner.
“It is more beautiful than the Aurora Borealis!” exclaimed Mrs
Barnett.
Thomas Black indignantly protested against this assertion. A terrestrial
phenomenon more beautiful than a meteor! But no one was disposed to
argue with him about it, for all hurried out, in spite of the bitter
gale and biting cold, to watch the glorious spectacle of the flashing
sheaf of flames standing out against the black background of the night
sky.
Had not the mouths and ears of the party been cased in furs, they would
have been able to hear the rumbling noise of the eruption, and to tell
each other of the impressions made upon them by this magnificent sight;
but, as it was, they could neither speak nor hear. They might well be
content, however, with gazing upon such a glorious scene-a scene which
once looked upon could never be forgotten. The glowing sheets of
flames contrasted alike with the gloomy darkness of the heavens and the
dazzling whiteness of the far-stretching carpet of snow, and produced
effects of light and shade which no pen or pencil could adequately
portray. The throbbing reverberations spread beyond the zenith,
gradually quenching the light of all the stars. The white ground became
dashed with golden tints, the hummocks on the ice-field and the huge
icebergs in the background reflecting the glimmering colours like
so many glowing mirrors. The rays of light, striking on the edges or
surfaces of the ice, became bent and diffracted; the angles and varying
inclinations on which they fell fretting them into fringes of colour,
and reflecting them back with changed and heightened beauty. It was like
a fairy scene in which ice and snow combined to add éclat to a mêlee
of rays in which luminous waves rushed upon each other, breaking into
coloured ripples.
But the excessive cold soon drove the admiring spectators back to their
warm dwelling, and many a nose paid dearly for the feast enjoyed by the
eyes.
During the following days the cold became doubly severe. The mercurial
thermometer was of course no longer of any use for marking degrees, and
an alcohol thermometer had to be used. On the night of the 28th to the
29th December the column fell to 32° below zero.
The stoves were piled up with fuel, but the temperature in the
house could not be maintained above 20° degrees. The bedrooms were
exceedingly cold, and ten feet from the stove, in the large room, its
heat could not be felt at all. The little baby had the warmest corner,
and its cradle was rocked in turn by those who came to the fire. Opening
doors or windows was strictly forbidden, as the vapour in the rooms
would immediately have been converted into snow, and in the passage the
breathing of the inmates already produced that result. Every now and
then dull reports were heard, which startled those unaccustomed to
living in such high latitudes. They were caused by the cracking of the
trunks of trees, of which the walls were composed under the influence of
the intense cold. The stock of rum and gin stowed away in the garret had
to be brought down into the sitting-room, as the alcohol was freezing
and sinking to the bottom of the bottles. The spruce-beer made from a
decoction of young fir-branchlets burst the barrels in which it was kept
as it froze, whilst all solid bodies resisted the introduction of
heat as if they were petrified. Wood burnt very slowly, and Hobson was
obliged to sacrifice some of the walrus-oil to quicken its combustion.
Fortunately the chimneys drew well, so that there was no disagreeable
smell inside, although for a long distance outside the air was
impregnated with the fetid odour of the smoke from Fort Hope, which a
casual observer might therefore have pronounced an unhealthy building.
One symptom we must notice was the great thirst from which every one
suffered. To relieve it, different liquids had to be melted at the fire,
for it- would have been dangerous to eat ice. Another effect of the cold
was intense drowsiness, which Hobson earnestly entreated his companions
to resist. Some appeared unable to do so; but Mrs Barnett was invaluable
in setting an example of constant activity: always brave, she kept
herself awake, and encouraged others by her kindness, brightness, and
sympathy. Sometimes she read aloud accounts of travels, or sang some old
familiar English song, in the chorus of which all joined. These joyous
strains roused up the sleepers whether they would or no, and their
voices soon swelled the chorus. The long days of imprisonment passed
wearily by, and the Lieutenant, consulting the outside thermometer
through the windows, announced that the cold was still on the increase.
On the 31st December, the mercury was all frozen hard in the cistern of
the instrument, so that the temperature was 44° below freezing point.
The next day, 1st January 1860, Lieutenant Hobson wished Mrs Barnett a
happy new year, and complimented her on the courage and good temper with
which she endured the miseries of this northern winter. The astronomer
was not forgotten in the universal interchange of good wishes amongst
the members of the little colony; but his only thought on entering
another year was, that it was the beginning of that in which the great
eclipse was to take place. Fortunately the general health still remained
good, and any symptoms of scurvy were promptly checked by the use of
lime-juice and lime-lozenges.
It would not do, however, to rejoice too soon. The winter had still to
last three months. The sun would doubtless reappear above the horizon in
due time; but there was no reason to think that the cold had reached its
maximum intensity, especially as in most northern countries February is
the month during which the temperature falls lowest. However that might
be, there was no decrease in the severity of the weather during
the first days of the new year, and on the 8th January the alcohol
thermometer placed outside the window of the passage marked 66° below
zero. A few degrees more and the minimum temperature at Fort Reliance in
1835 would be reached!
Jaspar Hobson grew more and more uneasy at the continued severity of the
cold. He began to fear that the furred animals would have to seek a less
rigorous climate further south, which would of course thwart all his
plans for hunting in the early spring. Moreover, he sometimes heard
subterranean rumblings, which were evidently connected with the volcanic
eruption. The western horizon still glowed with the reflection of the
burning lava, and it was evident that some great convulsion was going
on in the bowels of the earth. Might not the close vicinity of an active
volcano be dangerous to the new fort ? Such was the question which the
subterranean rumblings forced upon the mind of the Lieutenant, but he
kept his vague apprehensions to himself.
Of course under these circumstances no one dreamt of leaving the house.
The animals were well provided for, and being accustomed to long fasts
in the winter, required no attention from their masters, so that there
really was no necessity for any exposure out of doors. It was difficult
enough to endure the inside temperature, even with the help of a
plentiful combustion of wood and oil; for, in spite of every precaution,
damp crept into the ill-ventilated rooms, and layers of ice, increasing
in thickness every day, were formed upon the beams. The condensers were
choked up, and one of them burst from the pressure of the ice.
Lieutenant Hobson did not spare his fuel; he was, in fact, rather lavish
of it in his anxiety to raise the temperature, which, when the fires got
low-as of course sometimes happened-fell to 15° Fahrenheit. The men on
guard, who relieved each other every hour, had strict orders to keep up
the fires, and great was the dismay of the Lieutenant when Sergeant Long
said to him one day—
“We shall be out of wood soon !”
“Out of wood !” exclaimed Hobson.
“I mean our stock is getting low, and we must lay in fresh stores
soon. Of course I know, though, that it will be at the risk of his life
that any one goes out in this cold !”
“Yes,” replied Hobson. “It was a mistake not to build the wooden
shed close to the house, and to make no direct communication with it. I
see that now it is too late. I ought not to have forgotten that we
were going to winter beyond the seventieth parallel. But what’s done
can’t be undone. How long will the wood last?”
“There is enough to feed the furnace and stove for another two or
three days,” replied the Sergeant.
“Let us hope by that time that the severity of the cold may have
decreased, and that we may venture across the court of the fort without
danger.”
“I doubt it, sir,” replied Long, shaking his head. “The atmosphere
is very clear, the wind is still in the north, and I shall not be
surprised if this temperature is maintained. for another fifteen
days-until the new moon, in fact.”
“Well, my brave fellow,” said the Lieutenant, “we won’t die of
cold if we can help it, and the day we have to brave the outside air “
“We will brave it, sir,” said Long.
Hobson pressed his subordinate’s hand, well knowing the poor
fellow’s devotion.
We might fancy that Hobson and the Sergeant were exaggerating when they
alluded to fatal results from sudden exposure to the open air, but they
spoke from experience, gained from long residence in the rigorous Polar
regions. They had seen strong men fall fainting on the ice under similar
circumstances; their breath failed them, and they were taken up in a
state of suffocation. Incredible as such facts may appear, they have
been of frequent occurrence amongst those who have wintered in the
extreme north. In their journey along the shores of Hudson’s Bay in
1746, Moor and Smith saw many incidents of this kind,-some of their
companions were killed, struck down by the cold, and there can be no
doubt that sudden death may result from braving a temperature in which
mercury freezes.
Such was the distressing state of things at Fort Hope, when a new danger
arose to aggravate the sufferings of the colonists.
CHAPTER XXI. THE LARGE POLAR BEARS. The only one of the four windows
through which it was possible to look into the court of the fort was
that opening at the end of the entrance passage. The outside shutters
had not been closed; but before it could be seen through it had to
be washed with boiling water, as the panes were covered with a thick
coating of ice. This was done several times a day by the Lieutenant’s
orders, when the districts surrounding the fort were carefully examined,
and the state of the sky, and of the alcohol thermometer placed outside,
were accurately noted.
On the 6th January, towards eleven o’clock in the morning, Kellet,
whose turn it was to look out, suddenly called the Sergeant, and
pointed to some moving masses indistinctly visible in the gloom. Long,
approaching the window observed quietly—
“They are bears!”
In fact half-a-dozen of these formidable animals had succeeded in
getting over the palisades, and, attracted by the smoke from the
chimneys, were advancing upon the house.
On hearing of the approach of the bears, Hobson at once ordered
the window of the passage to be barricaded inside; it was the only
unprotected opening in the house, and when it was secured it appeared
impossible for the bears to effect an entrance. The window was,
therefore, quickly closed up with bars, which the carpenter Mac-Nab
wedged firmly in, leaving a narrow slit through which to watch the
movements of the unwelcome visitors.
“Now,” observed the head carpenter, “these gentlemen can’t get
in without our permission, and we have time to hold a council of war.”
“Well, Lieutenant,” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, “nothing has been
wanting to our northern winter! After the cold come the bears.”
“Not after,” replied the Lieutenant, “but, which is a serious
matter, with the cold, and a cold ago intense that we cannot venture
outside! I really don’t know how we shall get rid .of these tiresome
brutes.”
“I suppose they will soon get tired of prowling about,” said the
lady, “and return as they came.”
Hobson shook his head as if he had his doubts.
“You don’t know these animals, madam. They are famished with hunger,
and will not go until we make them!”
“Are you anxious, then?”
“Yes and no,” replied the Lieutenant. “I don’t think the bears
will get in; but neither do I see how we can get out, should it become
necessary for us to do so.”
With these words Hobson turned to the window, and Mrs Barnett joined the
other women, who had gathered round the Sergeant, and were listening to
what he had to say about the bears. He spoke like a man well up in
his subject, for he had had many an encounter with these formidable
carnivorous creatures, which are often met with even towards the south,
where, however, they can be safely attacked, whilst here the siege would
be a regular blockade, for the cold would quite prevent any attempt at a
sortie.
Throughout the whole day the movements of the bears were attentively
watched. Every now and then one of them would lay his great head against
the window-pane and an ominous growl was heard.
The Lieutenant and the Sergeant took counsel together, and it was agreed
that if their enemies showed no sign of beating a retreat, they would
drill a few loopholes in the walls of the house, and fire at them. But
it was decided to put off this desperate measure for a day or two, as
it was desirable to avoid giving access to the outer air; the inside
temperature being already far too low. The walrus oil to be burnt was
frozen so hard that it had to be broken up with hatchets.
The day passed without any incident. The bears went and came, prowling
round the house, but attempting no direct attack. Watch was kept all
night, and at four o’clock in the morning they seemed to have left the
court-at any rate, they were nowhere to be seen.
But about seven o’clock Marbre went up to the loft to fetch some
provisions, and on his return announced that the bears were walking
about on the roof.
Hobson, the Sergeant, Mac-Nab, and two or three soldiers seized their
arms, and rushed to the ladder in the passage, which. communicated with
the loft by a trap-door. The cold was, however, so intense in the loft
that the men could not hold the barrels of their guns, and their breath
froze as it left their lips and floated about them as snow.
Marbre was right; the bears were all on the roof, and the sound of
their feet and their growls could be distinctly heard. Their great claws
caught in the laths of the roof beneath the ice, and there was some
danger that they might have sufficient strength to tear away the
woodwork.
The Lieutenant and his men, becoming giddy and faint from the intense
cold, were soon obliged to go down, and Hobson announced the state of
affairs in as hopeful a tone as he could assume.
“The bears,” he said, “are now upon the roof. We ourselves have
nothing to fear, as they can’t get into our rooms; but they may force
an entrance to the loft, and devour the furs stowed away there. Now
these furs belong to the Company, and it is our duty to preserve them
from injury I ask you then, my friends, to aid me in removing them to a
place of safety.”
All eagerly volunteered, and relieving each other in parties of two or
three, for none could have supported the intense severity of the cold
for long at a time, they managed to carry all the furs into the large
room in about an hour.
Whilst the work was proceeding, the bears continued their efforts to get
in, and tried to lift up the rafters of .the roof. In some places the
laths became broken by their weight, and poor Mac-Nab was in despair; he
had not reckoned upon such a contingency when he constructed the roof,
and expected to see it give way every moment.
The day passed, however, without any change in the situation. The bears
did not get in; but a no less formidable enemy, the cold, gradually
penetrated into every room. The fires in the stoves burnt low; the fuel
in reserve was almost exhausted; and before twelve o’clock, the last
piece of wood would be burnt, and the genial warmth of the stove would
no longer cheer the unhappy colonists.
Death would then await them-death in its most fearful form, from cold.
The poor creatures, huddled together round the stove, felt that their
own vital heat must soon become exhausted, but not a word of complaint
passed their lips. The women bore their sufferings with the greatest
heroism, and Mrs Mac-Nab pressed her baby convulsively to her ice-cold
breast. Some of the soldiers slept, or rather were wrapped in a heavy
torpor, which could scarcely be called sleep.
At three o’clock in the morning Hobson consulted the thermometer
hanging in the large room, about ten feet from the stove.
It marked 4° Fahrenheit below zero.
The Lieutenant pressed his hand to his forehead, and looked mournfully
at his silent companions without a word. His half-condensed breath
shrouded his face in a white cloud, and he was standing rooted to the
spot when a hand was laid upon his shoulder. He started, and looked
round to see Mrs Barnett beside him.
“Something must be done, Lieutenant Hobson !” exclaimed the
energetic woman; “we cannot die like this without an effort to save
ourselves !”
“Yes,” replied the Lieutenant, feeling revived by the moral courage
of his companion--” yes, something must be done !” and he called
together Long, Mac-Nab, and Rae the blacksmith, as the bravest men in
his party. All, together with Mrs Barnett, hastened to the window,
and having washed the panes with boiling water, they consulted the
thermometer outside.
“Seventy-two degrees !” cried Hobson. “My friends, two courses
only are open to us, we can risk our lives to get a fresh supply of
fuel, or we can burn the benches, beds, partition walls, and everything
in the house to feed our stoves for a few days longer. A desperate
alternative, for the cold may last for some time yet; there is no sign
of a change in the weather.”
“Let us risk our lives to get fuel !” said Sergeant Long.
All agreed that it would be the best course, and without another word
each one set to work to prepare for the emergency.
The following were the precautions taken to save the lives of those who
were about to risk themselves for the sake of the general good :—
The shed in which the wood was stored was about fifty steps on the left,
behind, the principal house. It was decided that one of the men should
try and run to the shed. He was to take one rope wound round his body,
and to carry another in his hand, one end of which was to be held by
one of his comrades. Once at the shed, he was to load one of the sledges
there with fuel, and tie one rope to the front, and the other to the
back of the vehicle, so that it could be dragged backwards and forwards
between the house and the shed without much danger. A tug violently
shaking one or the other cord would be the signal that the sledge was
filled with fuel at the shed, or unloaded at the house.
A very clever plan, certainly; but two things might defeat it. The
door of the shed might be so blocked up with ice that it would be very
difficult to open it, or the bears might come down from the roof and
prowl about the court. Two risks to be run !
Long, Mac-Nab, and Rae, all three volunteered for the perilous service;
but the Sergeant reminded the other two that they were married, and
insisted upon being the first to venture.
When the Lieutenant expressed a wish to go himself, Mrs Barnett said
earnestly, “You are our chief; you have no right to expose yourself.
Let Sergeant Long go.”
Hobson could not but realise that his office imposed caution, and being
called upon to decide which of his companions should go, be chose the
Sergeant. Mrs Barnett pressed the brave man’s hand with ill-concealed
emotion; and the rest of the colonists, asleep or stupefied, knew
nothing of the attempt about to be made to save their lives.
Two long ropes were got ready. The Sergeant wound one round his body
above the warm furs, worth some thousand pounds sterling, in which
he was encased, and tied the other to his belt, on which he hung a
tinder-box and a loaded revolver. Just before starting he swallowed down
half a glass of rum, as he said, “to insure a good load of wood.”
Hobson, Rae, and Mac-Nab accompanied the brave fellow through the
kitchen, where the fire had just gone out, and into the passage. Rae
climbed up to the trap-door of the loft, and peeping through it, made
sure that the bears were still on the roof. The moment for action had
arrived.
One door of the passage was open, and in spite of the thick furs in
which they were wrapped, all felt chilled to the very marrow of their
bones; and when the second door was pushed open, they recoiled for an
instant, panting for breath, whilst the moisture held in suspension in
the air of the passage covered the walls and the floor with fine snow.
The weather outside was extremely dry, and the stars shone with
extraordinary brilliancy. Sergeant Long rushed out without a moment’s
hesitation, dragging the cord behind him, one end of which was held by
his companions; the outer door was pushed to, and Hobson, Mae-Nab, and
Rae went back to the passage and closed the second door, behind which
they waited. If Long did not return in a few minutes, they might
conclude that his enterprise had succeeded, and that, safe in the shed,
he was loading the first train with fuel. Ten minutes at the most ought
to suffice for this operation, if he had been able to get the door open.
When the Sergeant was fairly off, Hobson and Mac-Nab walked together
towards the end of the passage.
Meanwhile Rae had been watching the bears and the loft. It was so dark
that all hoped Long’s movements would escape the notice of the hungry
animals.
Ten minutes elapsed, and the three watchers went back to the narrow
space between the two doors, waiting for the signal to be given to drag
in the sledge.
Five minutes more. The cord remained motionless in their hands! Their
anxiety can be imagined. It was a quarter of an hour since the Sergeant
had started, plenty of time for all he had to do, and he had given no
signal.
Hobson waited a few minutes longer, and then tightening his hold of the
end of the rope, he made a sign to his companions to pull with him. If
the load of wood were not quite ready, the Sergeant could easily stop it
from being dragged away.
The rope was pulled vigorously. A heavy object seemed to slide along the
snow. In a few moments it reached the outer door.
It was the body of the Sergeant, with the rope round his waist. Poor
Long had never reached the shed. He had fallen fainting to the ground,
and after twenty minutes’ exposure to such a temperature there was
little hope that he would revive.
A cry of grief and despair burst from the lips of Mac-Nab and Rae. They
lifted their unhappy comrade from the ground, and carried him into the
passage; but as the Lieutenant was closing the outer door, something
pushed violently against it, and a horrible growl was heard.
“Help!” cried Hobson.
Mac-Nab and Rae rushed to their officer’s assistance; but Mrs Barnett
had been beforehand with them and was struggling with all her strength
to help Hobson to close the door. In vain; the monstrous brute, throwing
the whole weight of its body against it, would force its way into the
passage in another moment.
Mrs Barnett, whose presence of mind did not forsake her now, seized one
of the pistols in the Lieutenant’s belt, and waiting quietly until
the animal shoved its head between the door and the wall, discharged the
contents into its open mouth.
The bear fell backwards, mortally wounded no doubt, and the door was
shut and securely fastened.
The body of the Sergeant was then carried into the large room. But,
alas! the fire was dying out. How was it possible to restore the vital
heat with no means of obtaining warmth?
“I will go—I will go and fetch some wood !” cried the blacksmith
Rae.
“Yes, Rae, we will go together!” exclaimed Mrs Barnett, whose
courage was unabated.
“No, my friends, no!” cried Hobson; “you would fall victims to
the cold, or the bears, or both. Let us burn all there is to burn in the
house, and leave the rest to God !”
And the poor half-frozen settlers rose and laid about them with their
hatchets like madmen. Benches, tables, and partition walls were thrown
down, broken up, crushed to pieces, and piled up in the stove of the
large room and kitchen furnace. Very soon good fires were burning, on
which a few drops of walrus-oil were poured, so that the temperature of
the rooms quickly rose a dozen degrees.
Every effort was made to restore the Sergeant. He was rubbed with warm
rum, and gradually the circulation of his blood was restored. The white
blotches with which parts of his body were covered began to disappear;
but he had suffered dreadfully, and several hours elapsed before he
could articulate a word. He was laid in a warm bed, and Mrs Barnett and
Madge watched by him until the next morning.
Meanwhile Hobson, Mac-Nab, and Rae consulted bow best to escape from
their terrible situation. It was impossible to shut their eyes to the
fact that in two days this fresh supply of fuel would be exhausted, and
then, if the cold continued, what would become of them all? The new moon
had risen forty-eight hours ago, and there was no sign of a change in
the weather! The north wind still swept the face of the country with its
icy breath; the barometer remained at “ fine dry weather; “and there
was not a vapour to be seen above the endless succession of ice-fields.
There was reason to fear that the intense cold would last a long time
yet, but what was to be done? Would it do to try once more to get to
the wood-shed, when the bears had been roused by the shot, and rendered
doubly dangerous? Would it be possible to attack these dreadful
creatures in the open air I No, it would be madness, and certain death
for all!
Fortunately the temperature of the rooms had now become more bearable,
and in the morning Mrs Joliffe served up a breakfast of hot meat and
tea. Hot grog was served out, and the brave Sergeant was able to take
his share. The heat from the stoves warmed the bodies and reanimated the
drooping courage of the poor colonists, who were now ready to attack
the bears at a word from Hobson. But the Lieutenant, thinking the forces
unequally matched, would not risk the attempt; and it appeared likely
that the day would pass without any incident worthy of note, when at
about three o’clock in the afternoon a great noise was heard on the
top of the house.
“There they are!” cried two or three soldiers, hastily arming
themselves with hatchets and pistols.
It was evident that the bears had torn away one of the rafters of the
roof, and got into the loft.
“Let every one remain where he is!” cried the Lieutenant. “Rae,
the trap !”
The blacksmith rushed into the passage, scaled the ladder, and shut and
securely fastened the trap-door.
A dreadful noise was now heard-growling, stamping of feet, and tearing
of claws. It was doubtful whether the danger of the anxious listeners
was increased, or the reverse. Some were of opinion that if all the
bears were in the loft, it would be easier to attack them. They would be
less formidable in a narrow space, and there would not be the same
risk of suffocation from cold. Of course a conflict with such fierce
creatures must still. be very perilous, but it no longer appeared so
desperate as before.
It was now debated whether it would be better to go and attack the
besiegers, or to remain on the defensive. Only one soldier could get
through the narrow trap-door at a time, and this made Hobson hesitate,
and finally resolve to wait. The Sergeant and others, whose bravery none
could doubt, agreed that he was in the right, and it might be possible
that some new incident would occur to modify the situation. It was
almost impossible for the bears to break through the beams of the
ceiling, as they had the rafters of the roof, so that there was little
fear that they would get on to the ground-floor.
The day passed by in anxious expectation, and at night no one could
sleep for the uproar made by the furious beasts.
The next day, about nine o’clock, a fresh complication compelled
Hobson to take active steps.
He knew that the pipes of the stove and kitchen furnace ran all along
the loft, and being made of lime-bricks but imperfectly cemented
together, they could not resist great pressure for any length of time.
Now some of the bears scratched at the masonry, whilst others leant
against the pipes for the sake of the warmth from the stove; so that
the bricks began to give way, and soon the stoves and furnace ceased to
draw.
This really was an irreparable misfortune, which would have disheartened
less energetic men. But things were not yet at their worst. Whilst the
fire became lower and lower, a thick, nauseous, acrid smoke filled the
house; the pipes were broken, and the smoke soon became so thick that
the lamps went out. Hobson now saw that he must leave the house if he
wished to escape suffocation, but to leave the house would be to perish
with cold. At this fresh misfortune some of the women screamed; and
Hobson, seizing a hatchet, shouted in a loud voice
“To the bears! to the bears, my friends !”
It was the forlorn-hope. These terrible creatures must be destroyed. All
rushed into the passage and made for the ladder, Hobson leading the
way. The trap-door was opened, and a few shots were fired into the black
whirlpool of smoke. Mingled howls and screams were heard, and blood
began to flow on both sides; but the fearful conflict was waged in
profound darkness.
In the midst of the mêlée a terrible rumbling sound suddenly drowned
the tumult, the ground became violently agitated, and the house rocked
as if it were being torn up from its foundations. The beams of the walls
separated, and through the openings Hobson and his companions saw the
terrified bears rushing away into the darkness, howling with rage and
fright.
CHAPTER XXII. FIVE MONTHS MORE. A violent earthquake had shaken Cape
Bathurst. Such convulsions were probably frequent in this volcanic
region, and the connection between them and eruptions was once more
demonstrated.
Hobson well understood the significance of what had occurred, and waited
in anxious suspense. He knew that the earth might open and swallow up
the little colony; but only one shock was felt, and that was rather a
rebound than a vertical upheaval, which made the house lean over towards
the lake, and burst open its walls. Immediately after this one shock,
the ground again became firm and motionless.
The house, although damaged, was still habitable; the breaches in the
walls were quickly repaired, and the pipes of the chimneys were patched
together again somehow
Fortunately the wounds the soldiers had received in their struggle with
the bears were slight, and merely required dressing.
Two miserable days ensued, during which the woodwork of the beds and the
planks of the partition walls were burnt, and the most pressing repairs
executed by Mac-Nab and his men. The piles, well driven into the earth,
had not yielded; but it was evident that the earthquake had caused a
sinking of the level of the coast on which the fort was built, which
might seriously compromise the safety of the building. Hobson was most
anxious to ascertain the extent of the alteration of elevation, but the
pitiless cold prevented him from venturing outside.
But at last there were symptoms of an approaching change in the weather.
The stars shone with rather less brilliancy, and on the 11th January
the barometer fell slightly; hazy vapours floated in the air, the
condensation of which would raise the temperature; and on the 12th
January the wind veered to the south-west, and snow fell at irregular
intervals.
The thermometer outside suddenly rose to 15° above zero, and to the
frozen colonists it was like the beginning of spring.
At eleven o’clock the same morning all were out of doors. They were
like a band of captives unexpectedly set free. They were, however,
absolutely forbidden to go beyond the enceinte of the fort, in case of
awkward meetings.
The sun had not yet reappeared above the horizon, but it approached it
nearly enough to produce a long twilight, during which objects could be
distinctly seen to a distance of two miles; and Hobson’s first thought
was to ascertain what difference the earthquake had produced in the
appearance of the surrounding districts.
Certain changes had been effected. The crest of the promontory of Cape
Bathurst had been broken off, and large pieces of the cliff had been
flung upon the beach. The whole mass of the cape seemed to have been
bent towards the lake, altering the elevation of the plateau on
which the fort was built. The soil on the west appeared to have been
depressed, whilst that on the east had been elevated. One of the results
of this change of level would unfortunately be, that when the thaw set
in, the waters of the lake and of Paulina river, in obedience to the
law, requiring liquids to maintain their level, would inundate a portion
of the western coast. The stream would probably scoop out another bed,
and the natural harbour at its mouth would be destroyed. The hills on
the eastern bank seemed to be considerably depressed, but the cliffs on
the west were too far off for any accurate observations to be made. The
important alteration produced by the earthquake may, in fact, be summed
up in a very few words : the horizontal character of the ground was
replaced by a slope from east to west.
“Well, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett, laughing, “you were good
enough to give my name to the port and river, and now there will be
neither Paulina river nor Port Barnett. I must say I have been hardly
used.”
“Well, madam,” replied Hobson, “although the river is gone, the
lake remains, and we will call it Lake Barnett. I hope that it at least
will remain true to you.”
Mr and Mrs Joliffe, on leaving the house, had hurried, one to the
doghouse, the other to the reindeer-stable. The dogs had not suffered
much from their lone, confinement, and rushed into the court barking
with delight. One reindeer had died, but the others, though thin,
appeared to be in good health.
“Well, madam,” said the Lieutenant, “we have got through our
troubles better than we could have expected.”
“I never despaired,” replied the lady. “The miseries of an Arctic
-winter would not conquer men like you and your companions.”
“To own the truth, madam,” replied Hobson, “I never experienced
such intense cold before, in all the years I have spent in the north;
and if it had lasted many days longer we should all have been lost.”
“The earthquake came in the nick of time then, not only to drive away
the bears, but also to modify the extremity of the cold?”
“Perhaps so, madam. All natural phenomena influence each other to a
certain extent. But the volcanic structure of the soil makes me rather
uneasy. I cannot but regret the close vicinity of this active volcano.
If the lava from it cannot reach us, the earthquakes connected with it
can. Just look at our house now!”
“Oh, all that can be put right when the fine weather comes, and
you will make it all the stronger for the painful experience you have
gained.”
“Of course we shall, but meanwhile I am afraid you won’t find it
very comfortable.”
“Are you speaking to me, Lieutenant? to an old traveller like me? I
shall imagine myself one of the crew of a small vessel, and now that it
does not pitch and toss, I shall have no fear of being sea-sick.”
“What you say does not surprise me,” replied Hobson; “we all know
your grandeur of character, your moral courage and imperturbable good
temper. You have done much to help us all to bear our troubles, and I
thank you in my own name and that of my men.”
“You flatter me, Lieutenant; you flatter me.”
“No, no; I only say what every one thinks. But may I ask you one
question. You know that next June, Captain Craventy is to send us a
convoy with provisions, which will take back our furs to Fort Reliance.
I suppose our friend Thomas Black, after having seen his eclipse, will
return with the Captain’s men. Do you mean to accompany him?”
“Do you mean to send me back?” asked the lady with a smile.
“O madam !”—
“Well, my superior officer,” replied Mrs Barnett, extending her
hand to the Lieutenant, “I shall ask you to allow me to spend another
winter at Fort Hope. Next year one of the Company’s ships will
probably anchor off Cape Bathurst, and I shall return in it. Having come
overland, I should like to go back by Behring Strait.”
The Lieutenant was delighted with his companion’s decision. The two
had become sincerely attached to each other, and had many tastes and
qualities in common. The hour of separation could not fail to be painful
to both; and who could tell what further trials awaited `the colonists,
in which their combine, influence might sustain the courage of the rest?
On the 20th January the sun at last reappeared, and the Polar night was
at an end. It only remained above the horizon for a few minutes, and
was greeted with joyous hurrahs by the settlers. From this date the days
gradually increased in length.
Throughout the month of February, and until the 15th March, there were
abrupt transitions from fine to bad weather. The fine days were so cold
that the hunters could not go out; and in the bad weather snowstorms
kept them in. It was only between whiles that any outdoor work could
be done; and long excursions were out of the question. There was no
necessity for them, however, as the traps were in full activity. In the
latter end of the winter, martens, foxes, ermines, wolverines, and
other valuable animals were taken in large numbers, and the trappers had
plenty to do.
In March an excursion was ventured on as far as Walruses’ Bay and it
was noticed that the earthquake had considerably altered the form of the
cliffs, which were much depressed; whilst the igneous hills beyond,
with their summits wrapped in mist, seemed to look larger and more
threatening than ever.
About the 20th March the hunters sighted the first swans migrating from
the south, and uttering shrill cries as they flew. A few snow buntings
and winter hawks were also seen. But the ground was still covered with
thick layers of frozen snow, and the sun was powerless to melt the hard
surface of the lake and sea.
The breaking up of the frost did not commence until early in April. The
ice burst with a noise like the discharge of artillery.
Sudden changes took place in the appearance of the icebergs broken by
collisions, undermined by the action of the water once more set free,
huge masses rolled over with an awful crash, in consequence of the
displacement of their centre of gravity, causing fractures and fissures
in the ice-fields which greatly accelerated their breaking up.
At this time the mean temperature was 32° above zero, so that the
upper layer of ice on the beach rapidly dissolved, whilst the chain of
icebergs, drifted along by the currents of the Polar Sea, gradually drew
back and became lost in the fogs on the horizon. On the 15th April the
sea was open, and a vessel from the Pacific Ocean coming through Behring
Strait, could certainly have skirted along the American coast, and have
anchored off Cape Bathurst.
Whilst the ice was disappearing from the ocean, Lake Barnett was also
laying aside its slippery armour, much to the delight of the thousands
of ducks and other water-fowl which began to teem upon its banks. As
Hobson had foreseen, however, the level of the lake was affected by the
slope of the soil. That part of the beach which stretched away from the
enceinte of the fort, and was bounded on the east by wooded hills, had
increased considerably in extent; and Hobson estimated that the waters
of the lake had receded five hundred paces on the eastern bank. As a
natural consequence, the water on the western side had risen, and if not
held back by some natural barrier, would inundate the country.
On the whole, it was fortunate that the slope was from east to west; for
had it been from west to east, the factory must have been submerged.
The little river dried up as soon as the thaw set free its waters. It
might almost be said to have run back to its source, so abrupt was the
slope of its bed from north to south.
“We have now to erase a river from the map of the Arctic regions,”
observed Hobson to his Sergeant. “It would have been embarrassing if
we had been dependent on the truant for drinkable water. Fortunately
we have still Lake Barnett, and I don’t suppose our thirsty men will
drain it quite dry.”
“Yes, we’ve got the lake,” replied the Sergeant; “but do you
think its waters have remained sweet?”
Hobson started and looked at his subordinate with knitted brows. It had
not occurred to him that a fissure in the ground might have established
a communication between the lake and the sea! Should it be so, ruin must
ensue, and the factory would inevitably have to be abandoned after all.
The Lieutenant and Hobson rushed to the lake and found their fears
groundless. Its waters were still sweet.
Early in May the snow had disappeared in several places, and a scanty
vegetation clothed the soil. Tiny mosses and slender grasses timidly
pushed up their stems above the ground, and the sorrel and cochlearia
seeds which Mrs Joliffe had planted began to sprout. The carpet of snow
had protected them through the bitter winter; but they had still to be
saved from the beaks of birds and the teeth of rodents. This arduous
and important task was confided to the worthy Corporal, who acquitted
himself of it with the zeal and devotion of a scarecrow in a kitchen
garden.
The long days had now returned, and hunting was resumed.
Hobson was anxious to have a good stock of furs for the agents from Fort
Reliance to take charge of when they arrived, as they would do in a
few weeks. Marbre, Sabine, and the others, therefore, commenced the
campaign. Their excursions were neither long nor fatiguing : they never
went further than two miles from Cape Bathurst, for they had never
before been in a district so well stocked with game; and they were both
surprised and delighted. Martens, reindeer, hares, caribous, foxes, and
ermines passed close to their guns.
One thing, however, excited some regret in the minds of the colonists,
not a trace was to be seen of their old enemies the bears; and it
seemed as if they had taken all their relations with them. Perhaps
the earthquake had frightened them away, for they have a very delicate
nervous organisation, if such an expression can be applied to a mere
quadruped. It was a pity they were gone, for vengeance could not be
wreaked upon them.
The month of May was very wet. Rain and snow succeeded each other.
The mean temperature was only 41° above zero. Fogs were of frequent
occurrence, and so thick that it would often have been imprudent to
go any distance from the fort. Petersen and Kellet once caused their
companions grave anxiety by disappearing for forty-eight hours. They had
lost their way, and turned to the south when they thought they were near
to Walruses’ Bay. They came back exhausted and half dead with hunger.
June came at last, and with it really fine warm weather. The colonists
were able to leave off their winter clothing. They worked zealously at
repairing the house, the foundations of which had to be propped up; and
Hobson also ordered the construction of a large magazine at the southern
corner of the court. The quantity of game justified the expenditure
of time and labour involved : the number of furs collected was already
considerable, and it was necessary to have some place set aside in which
to keep them.
The Lieutenant now expected every day the arrival of the detachment to
be sent by Captain Craventy. A good many things were still required for
the new settlement. The stores were getting low; and if the party had
left the fort in the beginning of May, they ought to reach Cape Bathurst
towards the middle of June. It will be remembered that the Captain and
his Lieutenant had fixed upon the cape as the spot of rendezvous, and
Hobson having constructed his fort on it, there was no fear of the
reinforcements failing to find him.
From the 15th June the districts surrounding the cape were carefully
watched. The British flag waved from the summit of the cliff, and could
be seen at a considerable distance. It was probable that the convoy
would follow the Lieutenant’s example, and skirt along the coast from
Coronation Gulf. If not exactly the shortest, it was the surest route,
at a time when, the sea being free from ice, the coast-line could be
easily followed.
When the month of June passed without the arrival of the expected party,
Hobson began to feel rather uneasy, especially as the country again
became wrapped in fogs. He began to fear that the agents might lose
their way, and often talked the matter over with Mrs Barnett, Mac-Nab,
and Rae.
Thomas Black made no attempt to conceal his uneasiness, for he was
anxious to return with the party from Fort Reliance as soon as he had
seen his eclipse; and should anything keep them back from coming, he
would have to resign himself to another winter, a prospect which did not
please him at all; and in reply to his eager questions, Hobson could say
little to reassure him.
The 4th July dawned. No news! Some men sent to the southeast to
reconnoitre, returned, bringing no tidings.
Either the agents had never started, or they had lost their way. The
latter hypothesis was unfortunately the more probable. Hobson knew
Captain Craventy, and felt confident that he had sent off the convoy at
the time named.
His increasing anxiety will therefore be readily understood. The fine
season was rapidly passing away. Another two months and the Arctic
winter, with its bitter winds, its whirlpools of snow, and its long
nights, would again set in.
Hobson, as we well know, was not a man to yield to misfortune without a
struggle. Something must be done, and with the ready concurrence of the
astronomer the following plan was decided on.
It was now the 5th July. In another fortnight-July 18th-the solar
eclipse was to take place, and after that Thomas Black would be free to
leave Fort Hope. It was therefore agreed that if by that time the agents
had not arrived, a convoy of a few men and four or five sledges should
leave the factory, and make for the Great Slave Lake, taking with them
some of the most valuable furs; and if no accident befell them, they
might hope to arrive at Fort Reliance in six weeks at the latest-that is
to say, towards the end of August.
This matter settled, Thomas Black shrank back into his shell, and
became once more the man of one idea, awaiting the moment when the moon,
passing between the orb of day and “himself,” should totally eclipse
the disc of the sun.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE ECLIPSE OF THE 18TH JULY 1860. The mists did not
disperse. The sun shone feebly through thick curtains of fog, and the
astronomer began to have a great dread lest the eclipse should not be
visible after all. Sometimes the fog was so dense that the summit of the
cape could not be seen from the court of the fort.
Hobson got more and more uneasy. He had no longer any doubt that
the convoy had gone astray in the strange land; moreover, vague
apprehensions and sad forebodings increased his depression. He could not
look into the future with any confidence—why, he would have found it
impossible to explain. Everything apparently combined to reassure him.
In spite of the great rigour of the winter, his little colony was in
excellent health. No quarrels had arisen amongst the colonists, and
their zeal and enthusiasm was still unabated. The surrounding districts
were well stocked with game, the harvest of furs had surpassed his
expectations, and the Company might well be satisfied with the result
of the enterprise. Even if no fresh supply of provisions arrived, the
resources of the country were such that the prospect of a second winter
need awake no misgivings. Why, then, was Lieutenant Hobson losing hope
and confidence?
He and Mrs Barnett had many a talk on the subject; and the latter did
all she could to raise the drooping spirits of the commanding officer,
urging upon him all the considerations enumerated above; and one day
walking with him along the beach, she pleaded the cause of Cape Bathurst
and the factory, built at the cost of-so much suffering, with more than
usual eloquence.
“Yes, yes, madam, you are right,” replied Hobson; “but we
can’t help our presentiments. I am no visionary. Twenty times in my
soldier’s life I have been in critical circumstances, and have never
lost presence of mind for one instant; and now for the first time in my
life I am uneasy about the future. If I had to face a positive danger, I
should have no fear; but a vague uncertain peril of which I have only a
presentiment “
“What danger do you mean?” inquired Mrs Barnett; “a danger from
men, from animals, or the elements?”
“Of animals I have no dread whatever, madam; it is for them to tremble
before the hunters of Cape Bathurst, nor do I fear men; these districts
are frequented by none but Esquimaux, and the Indians seldom venture so
far north.”
“Besides, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett, “the Canadians, whose
arrival you so much feared in the fine season, have never appeared.”
“I am very sorry for it, madam.”
“What! you regret the absence of the rivals who are so evidently
hostile to your Company?”
“Madam, I am both glad and sorry that they have not come; that will
of course puzzle you. But observe that the expected convoy from Fort
Reliance has not arrived. It is the same with. the agents of the St
Louis Fur Company; they might have come, and they have not done so. Not
a single Esquimaux has visited this part of the coast during the summer
either”—
“And what do you conclude from all this?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“I conclude that it is not so easy to get to Cape Bathurst or to Fort
Hope as we could wish.”
The lady looked into the Lieutenant’s anxious face, struck with the
melancholy and significant intonation of the word easy.
“Lieutenant Hobson,” she said earnestly, “if you fear neither
men nor animals, I must conclude that your anxiety has reference to the
elements.”
“Madam,” he replied, “I do not know if my spirit be broken, or if
my presentiments blind me, but there seems to me to be something uncanny
about this district. If I had known it better I should not have
settled down in it. I have already called your attention to certain
peculiarities, which to me appear inexplicable; the total absence of
stones everywhere, and the clear-cut line of the coast. I can’t make
out about the primitive formation of this end of the continent. I
know that the vicinity of a volcano may cause some phenomena; but you
remember what I said to you on the subject of the tides?”
“Oh yes, perfectly.”
“Where the sea ought according to the observations of explorers in
these latitudes, to have risen fifteen or twenty feet, it has scarcely
risen one !”
“Yes; but that you accounted for by the irregular distribution of land
and the narrowness of the straits.”
“I tried to account for it, that is all,” replied Hobson; “but the
day before yesterday I noticed a still more extraordinary phenomenon,
which I cannot even try to explain, and I doubt if the greatest savants
could do so either.”
Mrs Barnett looked inquiringly at Hobson.
“What has happened?” she exclaimed.
“Well, the day before yesterday, madam, when the moon was full, and
according to the almanac the tide ought to have been very high, the sea
did not even rise one foot, as it did before-it did not rise at all.”
“Perhaps you may be mistaken observed Mrs Barnett.
“I am not mistaken. I saw it with my own eyes. The day before
yesterday, July 4th, there was positively no tide on the coast of Cape
Bathurst.”
“And what do you conclude from that?” inquired Mrs Barnett.
“I conclude madam,” replied the Lieutenant, “either that the laws
of nature are changed, or that this district is very peculiarly situated
. . . or rather . . . I conclude nothing . . . I explain nothing . . . I
am puzzled. . . I do not understand it; and therefore . . . therefore I
am anxious.”
Mrs Barnett asked no more questions. Evidently the total absence of
tides was as unnatural and inexplicable as would be the absence of the
sun from the meridian at noon. Unless the earthquake had so modified the
conformation of the coast of the Arctic regions as to account for it-but
no, such an idea could not be entertained by any one accustomed to note
terrestrial phenomena.
As for supposing that the Lieutenant could be mistaken in his
observations, that was impossible; and that very day he and Mrs Barnett,
by means of beach-marks made on the beach, ascertained beyond all doubt
that whereas a year before the sea rose a foot, there was now no tide
whatever.
The matter was kept a profound secret, as Hobson was unwilling to render
his companions anxious. But he might often be seen standing motionless
and silent upon the summit of the cape, gazing across the sea, which was
now open, and stretched away as far as the eye could reach.
During the month of July hunting the furred animals was discontinued, as
the martens, foxes, and others had already lost their winter beauty.
No game was brought down but that required for food, such as caribous,
Polar hares, &c., which, strange to say, instead of being scared away by
the guns, continued to multiply near the fort. Mrs Barnett did not fail
to note this peculiar, and, as the event proved, significant fact.
No change had taken place in the situation on the 15th July. No news
from Fort Reliance. The expected convoy did not arrive, and Hobson
resolved to execute his project of sending to Captain Craventy, as
Captain Craventy did not come to him.
Of course none but Sergeant Long could be appointed to the command of
the little troop, although the faithful fellow would rather not have
been separated from his Lieutenant. A considerable time must necessarily
elapse before he could get back to Fort Hope. He would have to pass the
winter at Fort Reliance, and return the next summer. Eight months
at least! It is true either Mac-Nab or Rae could have taken the
Sergeant’s place; but then they were married, and the one being a
master carpenter, and the other the only blacksmith, the colonists could
not well have dispensed with their services.
Such were the grounds on which the Lieutenant chose Long, and the
Sergeant submitted with military obedience. The four soldiers elected
to accompany him were Belcher, Pond, Petersen, and Kellet, who declared
their readiness to start.
Four sledges and their teams of dogs were told off for the service. They
were to take a good stock of provisions, and the most valuable of the
furs. Foxes, ermines, martens, swans, lynxes, musk-rats, gluttons, &c.,
all contributed to the precious convoy. The start was fixed for the
morning of the 19th July, the day after the eclipse. Of course Thomas
Black was to accompany the Sergeant, and one sledge was to convoy his
precious person and instruments.
The worthy savant endured agonies of suspense in the few days preceding
the phenomenon which he awaited with so much impatience. He might well
be anxious; for one day it was fine and another wet, now mists obscured
the sun, or thick fogs hid it all together; and the wind veered to every
point of the horizon with provoking fickleness and uncertainty. What
if during the few moments of the eclipse the queen of the night and the
great orb of day should be wrapped in an opaque cloud at the critical
moment, so that he, the astronomer, Thomas Black, come so far to watch
the phenomenon, should be unable to see the luminous corona or the red
prominences! How terrible would be the disappointment! How many dangers,
how much suffering, how much fatigue, would have been gone through in
vain !
“To have come so far to see the moon, and not to see it!” he cried
in a comically piteous tone.
No, he could not face the thought and early of an evening he would climb
to the summit of the cape and gaze into the heavens. The fair Phoebe
was nowhere to be seen; for it being three days before new moon, she was
accompanying the sun in his daily course, and her light was quenched in
his beams.
Many a time did Thomas Black relieve his over-burdened heart by pouring
out his troubles to Mrs Barnett. The good lady felt sincerely sorry
for him, and one day, anxious to reassure him, she told him that the
barometer showed a certain tendency to rise, and reminded him that they
were in the fine season.
The fine season !” cried the poor astronomer” shrugging his
shoulders. “Who can speak of a fine season in such a country as
this?”
“Well, but, Mr Black,” said Mrs Barnett, “suppose, for the sake
of argument, that you miss this eclipse by any unlucky chance, I suppose
there will be another some day. The eclipse of July 18th will not be the
last of this century.”
“No, madam, no,” returned Black; “there will be five more total
eclipses of the sun before 1900. One on the 31st December 1861, which
will be total for the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Sahara
Desert; a second on the 22d December 1870, total for the Azores, the
south of Spain, Algeria, Sicily, and Turkey; a third on the 19th August
1887, total for the north-east of Germany, the south of Russia, and
Central Asia; a fourth on the 9th April 1896, visible in Greenland,
Lapland, and Siberia; and lastly, a fifth on the 28th May 1900, which
will be total for the United States, Spain, Algeria, and
Egypt.”
“Well, Mr Black,” resumed Mrs Barnett, “if you lose the eclipse of
the 18th July 1860, you can console yourself by looking forward to that
of the 31st December 1861. It will only be seventeen months !”
“I can console myself, madam,” said the astronomer gravely, “by
looking forward to that of 1896. I shall have to wait not seventeen
months but thirty-six years !”
“May I ask why?”
“Because of all the eclipses, it alone-that of 9th August 1896-will
be total for places in high latitudes, such as Lapland, Siberia, or
Greenland.”
“But what is the special interest of an observation taken in these
elevated latitudes?”
“What special interest?” cried Thomas Black; why, a scientific
interest of the highest importance. Eclipses have very rarely been
watched near the Pole, where the sun, being very little above the
horizon, is considerably increased in size. The disc of the moon which
is to intervene between us and the sun is subject to a similar apparent
extension, and therefore it may be that the red prominences and the
luminous corona can be more thoroughly examined This, madam, is why
I have travelled all this distance to watch the eclipse above the
seventieth parallel. A similar opportunity will not occur until 1896,
and who can tell if I shall be alive then?”
To this burst of enthusiasm there was no reply to be made; and the
astronomer’s anxiety and depression increased, for the inconstant
weather seemed more and more disposed to play him some ill-natured
trick.
It was very fine on the 16th July, but the next day it was cloudy and
misty and Thomas Black became really ill. The feverish state he had been
in for so long seemed likely to result in a serious illness. Mrs Barnett
and Hobson tried in vain to soothe him, and Sergeant Long and the others
could not understand how it was possible to be so unhappy for love of
the moon.”
At last the great day-the 18th July-dawned. According to the
calculations of astronomers, the total eclipse was to last four minutes
thirty-seven seconds-that is to say, from forty-three minutes fifteen
seconds past eleven to forty-seven minutes fifty-seven seconds past
eleven A.M.
“What do I ask? what do I ask?” moaned the astronomer, tearing his
hair. “Only one little corner of the sky free from clouds! only the
small space in which the eclipse is to take place ! And for how long?
For four short minutes! After that, let it snow, let it thunder, let the
elements break loose in fury, I should care no more for it all than a
snail for a chronometer.”
It is not to be denied that Thomas Black had some grounds for his
fears. It really seemed likely that observations would be impossible. At
daybreak the horizon was shrouded in mists Heavy clouds were coming up
from the south, and covering the very portion of the sky in which the
eclipse was to take place. But doubtless the patron saint of astronomers
had pity on poor Black, for towards eight o’clock a slight wind arose
and swept the mists and clouds from the sky, leaving it bright and
clear!
A cry of gratitude burst from the lips of the astronomer, and his heart
beat high with newly-awakened hope. The sun shone brightly, and the
moon, so soon to darken it, was as yet invisible in its glorious beams.
Thomas Black’s instruments were already carefully placed on the
promontory, and having pointed them towards the southern horizon, he
awaited the event with calmness restored, and the coolness necessary for
taking his observation. What was there left to fear?
Nothing, unless it was that the sky might fall upon his head! At nine
o’clock there was not a cloud, not a vapour left upon the sky from the
zenith to the horizon. Never were circumstances more favourable to an
astronomical observation.
The whole party were anxious to take part in the observation, and all
gathered round the astronomer on Cape Bathurst. Gradually the sun rose
above the horizon, describing an extended arc above the vast plain
stretching away to the south. No one spoke, but awaited the eclipse in
solemn silence.
Towards half-past nine the eclipse commenced The disc of the moon
seemed to graze that of the sun. But the moon’s shadow was not to
fall completely on the earth, hiding the sun, until between forty three
minutes past eleven and forty-seven minutes fifty-seven seconds past
eleven. That was the time fixed in the almanacs, and every one knows
that no error can creep into them, established, verified, and controlled
as they are by the scientific men of all the observatories in the world.
The astronomer had brought a good many glasses with him, and he
distributed them amongst his companions, that all might watch the
progress of the phenomenon without injury to the eyes.
The brown disc of the moon gradually advanced, and terrestrial objects
began to assume a peculiar orange hue, whilst the atmosphere on tire
zenith completely changed colour. At a quarter-past ten half the disc
of the sun was darkened, and a few dogs which happened to be at liberty
showed signs of uneasiness and howled piteously. The wild ducks,
thinking night had come, began to utter sleepy calls -and to seek their
nests, and the mothers gathered their little ones under their wings. The
hush of eventide fell upon all animated nature.
At eleven o’clock two-thirds of the sun were covered, and all
terrestrial objects became a kind of vinous red. A gloomy twilight set
in, to be succeeded during the four minutes of totality by absolute
darkness. A few planets, amongst t others Mercury and Venus, began
to appear, and some constellations—Caplet, [symbol] and [symbol] of
Taurus, and [symbol] of Orion. The darkness deepened every moment.
Thomas Black remained motionless with his eye glued to the glass of
his instrument, eagerly watching the progress of the phenomenon. At
forty-three minutes past eleven the discs of the two luminaries ought
to be exactly opposite to each other, that of the moon completely hiding
that of the sun.
“Forty-three minutes past eleven,” announced Hobson, who was
attentively watching the minute hand of his chronometer.
Thomas Black remained motionless, stooping over his instrument. Half a
minute passed, and then the astronomer [astonomer] drew himself up,
with eyes distended and eager. Once more he bent over the telescope, and
cried in a choked voice—
“She is going! she is going! The moon, the moon is going! She is
disappearing, running away !”
True enough the disc of the moon was gliding away from that of the sun
without having completely covered it !
The astronomer had fallen backwards, completely overcome. The four
minutes were past. The luminous corona had not appeared !
“What is the matter?” inquired Hobson.
“The matter is,” screamed the poor astronomer, “that the eclipse
was not total-not total for this portion of the globe! Do you hear? It
was not to-t-a-1! I say not to-t-a-l! !”
“Then your almanacs are incorrect.”
“Incorrect! Don’t tell that to me, if you please, Lieutenant Hobson
!”
“But what then?” said Hobson, suddenly changing countenance.
“Why,” said Black, “we are not after all on the seventieth
parallel !”
“Only fancy !” cried Mrs Barnett.
“We can soon prove it,” said the astronomer whose eyes flashed with
rage and disappointment. “The sun will pass the meridian in a few
minutes. . . . My sextant-quick . . . make haste !”
One of the soldiers rushed to the house and fetched the instrument
required.
The astronomer pointed it upon the sun; he watched the orb of day pass
the meridian, and rapidly noted down a few calculations.
“What was the situation of Cape Bathurst a year ago when we took the
latitude?” he inquired.
“Seventy degrees, forty-four minutes, and thirty-seven seconds,”
replied Hobson.
“Well, sir, it is now seventy-three degrees, seven minutes, and twenty
seconds! You see we are not under the seventieth parallel !
“Or rather we are no longer there !” muttered Hobson.
A sudden light had broken in upon his mind, all the phenomena hitherto
so inexplicable were now explained.
Cape Bathurst had drifted three degrees farther north since the arrival
of the Lieutenant and his companions !
End of Part I PART II CONTENTS. I.
A Floating Fort
II.
Where Are We?
III.
A Tour Of The Island
IV.
A Night Encampment
V.
From July 25th To August 20th
VI.
Ten Days Of Tempest
VII.
A Fire And A Cry
VIII.
Mrs. Paulina Barnett’s Excursion
IX.
Kalumah’s Adventures
X.
The Kamtchatka Current
XI.
A Communication From Lieutenant Hobson
XII.
A Chance To Be Tried
XIII.
Across The Ice-Field
XIV.
The Winter Months
XV.
A Last Exploring Expedition
XVI.
The Break-Up Of The Ice
XVII.
The Avalanche
XVIII.
All At Work
XIX.
Behring Sea
XX.
In The Offing
XXI.
The Island Becomes An Isle
XXII.
The Four Following Days
XXIII.
On A Piece Of Ice
XXIV.
Conclusion
CHAPTER I. A FLOATING FORT. And so Fort Hope, founded by Lieutenant
Hobson on the borders of the Polar Sea, had drifted! Was the courageous
agent of the Company to blame for this? No; any one might have been
deceived as he had been. No human prevision could have foreseen such a
calamity. He meant to build upon a rock, and he had not even built upon
sand. The peninsula of Victoria, which the best maps of English America
join to the American continent, had been torn suddenly away from it.
This peninsula was in fact nothing but an immense piece of ice, five
hundred square miles in extent, converted by successive deposits of sand
and earth into apparently solid ground well clothed with vegetation.
Connected with the mainland for thousands of centuries, the earthquake
of the 8th of January had dragged it away from its moorings, and it was
now a floating island, at the mercy of the winds and waves, and had been
carried along the Arctic Ocean by powerful currents for the last three
months!
Yes, Fort Hope was built upon ice! Hobson at once understood the
mysterious change in their latitude. The isthmus—that is to say,
the neck of land which connected the peninsula of Victoria with
the mainland—had been snapped in two by a subterranean convulsion
connected with the eruption of the volcano some months before. As long
as the northern winter continued, the frozen sea maintained things as
they were; but when the thaw came, when the ice fields, melted beneath
the rays of the sun, and the huge icebergs, driven out into the offing,
drew back to the farthest limits of the horizon—when the sea at last
became open, the whole peninsula drifted away, with its woods, its
cliffs, its promontories, its inland lagoon, and its coast-line, under
the influence of a current about which nothing was known. For months
this drifting had been going on unnoticed by the colonists, who even
when hunting did not go far from Fort Hope. Beach-marks, if they had
been made, would have been useless; for heavy mists obscured everything
at a short distance, the ground remained apparently firm and motionless,
and there was, in short, nothing to hint to the Lieutenant and his men
that they had become islanders. The position of the new island with
regard to the rising and setting of the sun was the same as before. Had
the cardinal points changed their position, had the island turned round,
the Lieutenant, the astronomer, or Mrs Barnett, would certainly have
noticed and understood the change; but in its course the island had thus
far followed a parallel of latitude, and its motion, though rapid, had
been imperceptible.
Although Hobson had no doubt of the moral and physical courage and
determination of his companions, he determined not to acquaint them
with the truth. It would be time enough to tell them of their altered
position when it had been thoroughly studied. Fortunately the good
fellows, soldiers or workmen, took little notice of the astronomical
observations, and not being able to see the consequences involved, they
did not trouble themselves about the change of latitude just announced.
The Lieutenant determined to conceal his anxiety, and seeing no remedy
for the misfortune, mastered his emotion by a strong effort, and tried
to console Thomas Black, who was lamenting his disappointment and
tearing his hair.
The astronomer had no doubt about the misfortune of which he was the
victim. Not having, like the Lieutenant, noticed the peculiarities
of the district, he did not look beyond the one fact in which he was
interested: on the day fixed, at the time named, the moon had not
completely eclipsed the sun. And what could he conclude but that, to the
disgrace of observatories, the almanacs were false, and that the long
desired eclipse, his own eclipse, Thomas Black’s, which he had come
so far and through so many dangers to see, had not been “total” for
this particular district under the seventieth parallel! No, no, it was
impossible to believe it; he could not face the terrible certainty, and
he was overwhelmed with disappointment. He was soon to learn the truth,
however.
Meanwhile Hobson let his men imagine that the failure of the eclipse
could only interest himself and the astronomer, and they returned to
their ordinary occupations; but as they were leaving, Corporal Joliffe
stopped suddenly and said, touching his cap—
“May I ask you one question, sir?”
“Of course, Corporal; say on,” replied the Lieutenant, who wondered
what was coming.
But Joliffe hesitated, and his little wife nudged his elbow.
“Well, Lieutenant,” resumed the Corporal, “it’s just about
the seventieth degree of latitude—if we are not where we thought we
were.”
The Lieutenant frowned.
“Well,” he replied evasively, “we made a mistake in our reckoning,
... our first observation was wrong; ... but what does that concern
you?”
“Please, sir, it’s because of the pay,” replied Joliffe with
a scowl. “You know well enough that the Company promised us double
pay.”
Hobson drew a sigh of relief. It will be remembered that the men had
been promised higher pay if they succeeded in settling on or above the
seventieth degree north latitude, and Joliffe, who always had an eye to
the main chance, had looked upon the whole matter from a monetary point
of view, and was afraid the bounty would be withheld.
“You needn’t be afraid,” said Hobson with a smile; “and you can
tell your brave comrades that our mistake, which is really inexplicable,
will not in the least prejudice your interests. We are not below, but
above the seventieth parallel, and so you will get your double pay.”
“Thank you, sir, thank you,” replied Joliffe with a beaming face.
“It isn’t that we think much about money, but that the money sticks
to us.”
And with this sage remark the men drew off, little dreaming what a
strange and fearful change had taken place in the position of the
country.
Sergeant Long was about to follow the others when Hobson stopped him
with the words—
“Remain here, Sergeant Long.”
The subordinate officer turned on his heel and waited for the Lieutenant
to address him.
All had now left the cape except Mrs Barnett, Madge, Thomas Black, and
the two officers.
Since the eclipse Mrs Barnett had not uttered a word. She looked
inquiringly at Hobson, who tried to avoid meeting her eyes.
For some time not another word was spoken. All involuntarily turned
towards the south, where the broken isthmus was situated; but from their
position they could only see the sea horizon on the north. Had Cape
Bathurst been situated a few hundred feet more above the level of the
ocean, they would have been able at a glance to ascertain the limits of
their island home.
All were deeply moved at the sight of Fort Hope and all its occupants
borne away from all solid ground, and floating at the mercy of winds and
waves.
“Then, Lieutenant,” said Mrs Barnett at last, “all the strange
phenomena you observed are now explained!”
“Yes, madam,” he replied, “everything is explained. The peninsula
of Victoria, now an island, which we thought firm ground with an
immovable foundation, is nothing more than a vast sheet of ice welded
for centuries to the American continent. Gradually the wind has strewn
it with earth and sand, and scattered over them the seeds from which
have sprung the trees and mosses with which it is clothed. Rain-water
filled the lagoon, and produced the little river; vegetation transformed
the appearance of the ground; but beneath the lake, beneath the soil
of earth and sand—in a word, beneath our feet is a foundation of ice,
which floats upon the water by reason of its being specifically lighter
than it. Yes, it is a sheet of ice which bears us up, and is carrying us
away, and this is why we have not found a single flint or stone upon its
surface. This is why its shores are perpendicular, this is why we found
ice ten feet below the surface when we dug the reindeer pit—this, in
short, is why the tide was not noticeable on the peninsula, which rose
and sank with the ebb and flow of the waves!”
“Everything is indeed explained,” said Mrs Barnett, “and your
presentiments did not deceive you; but can you explain why the tides,
which do not affect us at all now, were to a slight extent perceptible
on our arrival?”
“Simply because, madam, on our arrival the peninsula was still
connected by means of its flexible isthmus with the American continent.
It offered a certain resistance to the current, and on its northern
shores the tide rose two feet beyond low-water mark, instead of the
twenty we reasonably expected. But from the moment when the earthquake
broke the connecting link, from the moment when the peninsula became an
island free from all control, it rose and sank with the ebb and flow of
the tide; and, as we noticed together at full moon a few days ago, no
sensible difference was produced on our shores.”
In spite of his despair, Thomas Black listened attentively to
Hobson’s explanations, and could not but see the reasonableness of his
deductions, but he was furious at such a rare, unexpected, and, as he
said, “ridiculous” phenomenon occurring just so as to make him
miss the eclipse, and he said not a word, but maintained a gloomy, even
haughty silence.
“Poor Mr Black,” said Mrs Barnett, “it must be owned that an
astronomer was never more hardly used than you since the world began!”
“In any case, however,” said Hobson, turning to her, “we have
neither of us anything to reproach ourselves with. No one can find
fault with us. Nature alone is to blame. The earthquake cut off our
communication with the mainland, and converted our peninsula into a
floating island, and this explains why the furred and other animals
imprisoned like ourselves, have become so numerous round the fort!”
“This, too, is why the rivals you so much dreaded have not visited us,
Lieutenant!” exclaimed Madge.
“And this,” added the Sergeant, “accounts for the non-arrival of
the convoy sent to Cape Bathurst by Captain Craventy.”
“And this is why,” said Mrs. Barnett, looking at the Lieutenant,
“I must give up all hope of returning to Europe this year at least!”
The tone of voice in which the lady made this last remark showed that
she resigned herself to her fate more readily than could have been
expected. She seemed suddenly to have made up her mind to make the best
of the situation, which would no doubt give her an opportunity of making
a great many interesting observations. And after all, what good would
grumbling have done? Recriminations were worse than useless. They could
not have altered their position, or have checked the course of the
wandering island, and there was no means of reuniting it to a continent.
No; God alone could decide the future of Fort Hope. They must bow to His
will.