[Illustration: 1. ESQUIMAUX DOG-TEAM.]
THE POLAR WORLD:
A POPULAR DESCRIPTION OF
MAN AND NATURE
IN THE
ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC REGIONS OF THE GLOBE.
BY DR. G. HARTWIG,
AUTHOR OF
“THE SEA AND ITS LIVING WONDERS,” “THE HARMONIES OF NATURE,”
AND “THE TROPICAL WORLD.”
WITH ADDITIONAL CHAPTERS AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE
ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1869.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.
PREFACE.
The object of the following pages is to describe the Polar World in
its principal natural features, to point out the influence of its
long winter-night and fleeting summer on the development of vegetable
and animal existence, and finally to picture man waging the battle of
life against the dreadful climate of the high latitudes of our globe
either as the inhabitant of their gloomy solitudes, or as the bold
investigator of their mysteries.
The table of contents shows the great variety of interesting subjects
embraced within a comparatively narrow compass; and as my constant aim
has been to convey solid instruction under an entertaining form, I
venture to hope that the public will grant this new work the favorable
reception given to my previous writings.
G. HARTWIG.
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
I have made no alterations in the text of Dr. Hartwig’s book beyond
changing the orthography of a few geographical and ethnological terms
so that they shall conform to the mode of representation usual in our
maps and books of travel. For example, I substitute _Nova Zembla_
for “Novaya Zemla”, and _Samoïedes_ for “Samojedes.” Here and there
throughout the work I have added a sentence or a paragraph. The two
chapters on “Alaska” and “The Innuits” have been supplied by me; and
for them Dr. Hartwig is in no way responsible.
The Illustrations have been wholly selected and arranged by me. I found
at my disposal an immense number of illustrations which seemed to me
better to elucidate the text than those introduced by Dr. Hartwig.
In the List of Illustrations the names of the authors to whom I am
indebted are supplied. The following gives the names of the authors,
and the titles of the works from which the illustrations have been
taken:
ATKINSON, THOMAS WITLAM: “Travels in the Regions of the Upper Amoor;”
and “Oriental and Western Siberia.”
BROWNE, J. ROSS: “The Land of Thor.”
DUFFERIN, LORD: “Letters from High Latitudes.”
HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS: “Arctic Researches, and Life among the
Esquimaux.”
HARPER’S MAGAZINE: The Illustrations credited to this periodical have
been furnished during many years by more than a score of travellers
and voyagers. They are in every case authentic.
LAMONT, JAMES: “Seasons with the Sea-Horses; or, Sporting Adventures
in the Northern Seas.”
MILTON, VISCOUNT: “North-west Passage by Land.”
WHYMPER, FREDERICK: “Alaska, and British America.”
WOOD, REV. J. G.: “Natural History;” and “Homes without Hands.”
I trust that I have throughout wrought in the spirit of the author;
and that my labors will enhance the value of his admirable book.
A. H. G.
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER I.
THE ARCTIC LANDS.
The barren Grounds or Tundri.--Abundance of animal Life on the
Tundri in Summer.--Their Silence and Desolation in Winter.--
Protection afforded to Vegetation by the Snow.--Flower-growth
in the highest Latitudes.--Character of Tundra Vegetation.--
Southern Boundary-line of the barren Grounds.--Their Extent.--
The forest Zone.--Arctic Trees.--Slowness of their Growth.--
Monotony of the Northern Forests.--Mosquitoes.--The various
Causes which determine the Severity of an Arctic Climate.--
Insular and Continental Position.--Currents.--Winds.--
Extremes of Cold observed by Sir E. Belcher and Dr. Kane.--
How is Man able to support the Rigors of an Arctic Winter?--
Proofs of a milder Climate having once reigned in the Arctic
Regions.--Its Cause according to Dr. Oswald Heer.--Peculiar
Beauties of the Arctic Regions.--Sunset.--Long lunar
Nights.--The Aurora. 17
CHAPTER II.
ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS.
The Reindeer.--Structure of its Foot.--Clattering Noise when
walking.--Antlers.--Extraordinary olfactory Powers.--The
Icelandic Moss.--Present and Former Range of the Reindeer.--
Its invaluable Qualities as an Arctic domestic Animal.--
Revolts against Oppression.--Enemies of the Reindeer.--The
Wolf.--The Glutton or Wolverine.--Gad-flies.--The Elk or
Moose-deer.--The Musk-ox.--The Wild Sheep of the Rocky
Mountains.--The Siberian Argali.--The Arctic Fox.--Its
Burrows.--The Lemmings.--Their Migrations and Enemies.--
Arctic Anatidæ.--The Snow-bunting.--The Lapland Bunting.--
The Sea-eagle.--Drowned by a Dolphin. 34
CHAPTER III.
THE ARCTIC SEAS.
Dangers peculiar to the Arctic Sea.--Ice-fields.--Hummocks.--
Collision of Ice-fields.--Icebergs.--Their Origin.--Their
Size.--The Glaciers which give them Birth.--Their Beauty.--
Sometimes useful Auxiliaries to the Mariner.--Dangers of
anchoring to a Berg.--A crumbling Berg.--The Ice-blink.--
Fogs.--Transparency of the Atmosphere.--Phenomena of
Reflection and Refraction.--Causes which prevent the
Accumulation of Polar Ice.--Tides.--Currents.--Ice a bad
Conductor of Heat.--Wise Provisions of Nature. 45
CHAPTER IV.
ARCTIC MARINE ANIMALS.
Populousness of the Arctic Seas.--The Greenland Whale.--The
Fin Whales.--The Narwhal.--The Beluga, or White Dolphin.--
The Black Dolphin.--His wholesale Massacre on the Faeroe
Islands.--The Orc, or Grampus.--The Seals.--The Walrus.--
Its acute Smell.--History of a young Walrus.--Parental
Affection.--The Polar Bear.--His Sagacity.--Hibernation of
the She-bear.--Sea-birds. 59
CHAPTER V.
ICELAND.
Volcanic Origin of the Island.--The Klofa Jökul.--
Lava-streams.--The Burning Mountains of Krisuvik.--The
Mud-caldrons of Reykjahlid.--The Tungo-hver at Reykholt.--
The Great Geysir.--The Strokkr.--Crystal Pools.--The
Almanuagja.--The Surts-hellir.--Beautiful Ice-cave.--The
Gotha Foss.--The Detti Foss.--Climate.--Vegetation.--
Cattle.--Barbarous Mode of Sheep-sheering.--Reindeer.--
Polar Bears.--Birds.--The Eider-duck.--Videy.--Vigr.--
The Wild Swan.--The Raven.--The Jerfalcon.--The Giant auk,
or Geirfugl.--Fish.--Fishing Season.--The White Shark.--
Mineral Kingdom.--Sulphur.--Peat.--Drift-wood. 68
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF ICELAND.
Discovery of the Island by Naddodr in 861.--Gardar.--Floki of
the Ravens.--Ingolfr and Leif.--Ulfliot the Lawgiver.--The
Althing.--Thingvalla.--Introduction of Christianity into the
Island.--Frederick the Saxon and Thorwold the Traveller.--
Thangbrand.--Golden Age of Icelandic Literature.--Snorri
Sturleson.--The Island submits to Hakon, King of Norway, in
1254.--Long Series of Calamities.--Great Eruption of the
Skapta Jökul in 1783.--Commercial Monopoly.--Better Times in
Prospect. 89
CHAPTER VII.
THE ICELANDERS.
Skalholt.--Reykjavik.--The Fair.--The Peasant and the
Merchant.--A Clergyman in his Cups.--Hay-making.--The
Icelander’s Hut.--Churches.--Poverty of the Clergy.--Jon
Thorlaksen.--The Seminary of Reykjavik.--Beneficial Influence
of the Clergy.--Home Education.--The Icelander’s Winter’s
Evening.--Taste for Literature.--The Language.--The Public
Library at Reykjavik.--The Icelandic Literary Society.--
Icelandic Newspapers.--Longevity.--Leprosy.--Travelling in
Iceland.--Fording the Rivers.--Crossing of the Skeidara by
Mr. Holland.--A Night’s Bivouac. 98
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WESTMAN ISLANDS.
The Westmans.--Their extreme Difficulty of Access.--How they
became peopled.--Heimaey.--Kaufstathir and Ofanleyte.--
Sheep-hoisting.--Egg-gathering.--Dreadful Mortality among
the Children.--The Ginklofi.--Gentleman John.--The Algerine
Pirates.--Dreadful Sufferings of the Islanders. 114
CHAPTER IX.
FROM DRONTHEIM TO THE NORTH CAPE.
Mild Climate of the Norwegian Coast.--Its Causes.--The
Norwegian Peasant.--Norwegian Constitution.--Romantic coast
Scenery.--Drontheim.--Greiffenfeld Holme and Väre.--The
Sea-eagle.--The Herring-fisheries.--The Lofoten Islands.--
The Cod-fisheries.--Wretched Condition of the Fishermen.--
Tromsö.--Altenfiord.--The Copper Mines.--Hammerfest the most
northern Town in the World.--The North Cape. 120
CHAPTER X.
SPITZBERGEN--BEAR ISLAND--JAN MEYEN.
The west Coast of Spitzbergen.--Ascension of a Mountain by
Dr. Scoresby.--His Excursion along the Coast.--A stranded
Whale.--Magdalena Bay.--Multitudes of Sea-birds.--
Animal Life.--Midnight Silence.--Glaciers.--A dangerous
Neighborhood.--Interior Plateau.--Flora of Spitzbergen.--
Its Similarity with that of the Alps above the Snow-line.--
Reindeer.--The hyperborean Ptarmigan.--Fishes.--Coal.--
Drift-wood.--Discovery of Spitzbergen by Barentz, Heemskerk,
and Ryp.--Brilliant Period of the Whale-fishery.--Coffins.--
Eight English Sailors winter in Spitzbergen, 1630.--Melancholy
Death of some Dutch Volunteers.--Russian Hunters.--Their Mode
of wintering in Spitzbergen.--Scharostin.--Walrus-ships from
Hammerfest and Tromsö.--Bear or Cherie Island.--Bennet.--
Enormous Slaughter of Walruses.--Mildness of its Climate.--
Mount Misery.--Adventurous Boat-voyage of some Norwegian
Sailors.--Jan Meyen.--Beerenberg. 131
CHAPTER XI.
NOVA ZEMBLA.
The Sea of Kara.--Loschkin.--Rosmysslow.--Lütke.--Krotow.--
Pachtussow.--Sails along the eastern Coast of the Southern
Island to Matoschkin Schar.--His second Voyage and Death.--
Meteorological Observations of Ziwolka.--The cold Summer of
Nova Zembla.--Von Baer’s scientific Voyage to Nova Zembla.--
His Adventures in Matoschkin Schar.--Storm in Kostin Schar.--
Sea Bath and votive Cross.--Botanical Observations.--A
natural Garden.--Solitude and Silence.--A Bird Bazar.--
Hunting Expeditions of the Russians to Nova Zembla. 147
CHAPTER XII.
THE LAPPS.
Their ancient History and Conversion to Christianity.--
Self-denial and Poverty of the Lapland Clergy.--Their singular
Mode of Preaching.--Gross Superstition of the Lapps.--The
Evil Spirit of the Woods.--The Lapland Witches.--Physical
Constitution of the Lapps.--Their Dress.--The Fjälllappars.--
Their Dwellings.--Store-houses.--Reindeer Pens.--Milking
the Reindeer.--Migration.--The Lapland Dog.--Skiders,
or Skates.--The Sledge, or Pulka.--Natural Beauties of
Lapland.--Attachment of the Lapps to their Country.--
Bear-hunting.--Wolf-hunting.--Mode of Living of the wealthy
Lapps.--How they kill the Reindeer.--Visiting the Fair.--
Mammon Worship.--Treasure-hiding.--“Tabak, or Braende.”--
Affectionate Disposition of the Lapps.--The Skogslapp.--The
Fisherlapp. 156
CHAPTER XIII.
MATTHIAS ALEXANDER CASTRÉN.
His Birthplace and first Studies.--Journey in Lapland, 1838.--
The Iwalojoki.--The Lake of Enara.--The Pastor of Utzjoki.--
From Rowaniémi to Kemi.--Second Voyage, 1841–44.--Storm on
the White Sea.--Return to Archangel.--The Tundras of the
European Samoïedes.--Mesen.--Universal Drunkenness.--Sledge
Journey to Pustosersk.--A Samoïede Teacher.--Tundra Storms.--
Abandoned and alone in the Wilderness.--Pustosersk.--Our
Traveller’s Persecutions at Ustsylmsk and Ishemsk.--The
Uusa.--Crossing the Ural.--Obdorsk.--Second Siberian
Journey, 1845–48.--Overflowing of the Obi.--Surgut.--
Krasnojarsk.--Agreeable Surprise.--Turuchansk.--Voyage down
the Jenissei.--Castrén’s Study at Plachina.--From Dudinka to
Tolstoi Noss.--Frozen Feet.--Return Voyage to the South.--
Frozen fast on the Jenissei.--Wonderful Preservation.--
Journey across the Chinese Frontiers, and to Transbaikalia.--
Return to Finland.--Professorship at Helsingfors.--Death of
Castrén, 1855. 168
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SAMOÏEDES.
Their Barbarism.--Num, or Jilibeambaertje.--Shamanism.--
Samoïede Idols.--Sjadæi.--Hahe.--The Tadebtsios, or
Spirits.--The Tadibes, or Sorcerers.--Their Dress.--Their
Invocations.--Their conjuring Tricks.--Reverence paid to the
Dead.--A Samoïede Oath.--Appearance of the Samoïedes.--Their
Dress.--A Samoïede Belle.--Character of the Samoïedes.--
Their decreasing Numbers.--Traditions of ancient Heroes. 179
CHAPTER XV.
THE OSTIAKS.
What is the Obi?--Inundations.--An Ostiak summer Yourt.--
Poverty of the Ostiak Fishermen.--A winter Yourt.--Attachment
of the Ostiaks to their ancient Customs.--An Ostiak Prince.--
Archery.--Appearance and Character of the Ostiaks.--The Fair
of Obdorsk. 185
CHAPTER XVI.
CONQUEST OF SIBERIA BY THE RUSSIANS--THEIR VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY
ALONG THE SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA.
Ivan the Terrible.--Strogonoff.--Yermak, the Robber and
Conqueror.--His Expeditions to Siberia.--Battle of Tobolsk.--
Yermak’s Death.--Progress of the Russians to Ochotsk.--Semen
Deshnew.--Condition of the Siberian Natives under the Russian
Yoke.--Voyages of Discovery in the Reign of the Empress
Anna.--Prontschischtschew.--Chariton and Demetrius Laptew.--
An Arctic Heroine.--Schalaurow.--Discoveries in the Sea of
Bering and in the Pacific Ocean.--The Lächow Islands.--Fossil
Ivory.--New Siberia.--The wooden Mountains.--The past Ages
of Siberia. 191
CHAPTER XVII.
SIBERIA--FUR-TRADE AND GOLD-DIGGINGS.
Siberia.--Its immense Extent and Capabilities.--The Exiles.--
Mentschikoff.--Dolgorouky.--Münich.--The Criminals.--
The free Siberian Peasant.--Extremes of Heat and Cold.--
Fur-bearing Animals.--The Sable.--The Ermine.--The Siberian
Weasel.--The Sea-otter.--The black Fox.--The Lynx.--The
Squirrel.--The varying Hare.--The Suslik.--Importance of the
Fur-trade for the Northern Provinces of the Russian Empire.--
The Gold-diggings of Eastern Siberia.--The Taiga.--Expenses
and Difficulties of searching Expeditions.--Costs of Produce,
and enormous Profits of successful Speculators.--Their
senseless Extravagance.--First Discovery of Gold in the Ural
Mountains.--Jakowlew and Demidow.--Nishne-Tagilsk. 204
CHAPTER XVIII.
MIDDENDORFF’S ADVENTURES IN TAIMURLAND.
For what Purpose was Middendorff’s Voyage to Taimurland
undertaken?--Difficulties and Obstacles.--Expedition down the
Taimur River to the Polar Sea.--Storm on Taimur Lake.--Loss
of the Boat.--Middendorff ill and alone in 75° N. Lat.--Saved
by a grateful Samoïede.--Climate and Vegetation of Taimurland.
220
CHAPTER XIX.
THE JAKUTS.
Their energetic Nationality.--Their Descent.--Their gloomy
Character.--Summer and Winter Dwellings.--The Jakut Horse.--
Incredible Powers of Endurance of the Jakuts.--Their
Sharpness of Vision.--Surprising local Memory.--Their manual
Dexterity.--Leather, Poniards, Carpets.--Jakut Gluttons.--
Superstitious Fear of the Mountain-spirit Ljeschei.--Offerings
of Horse-hair.--Improvised Songs.--The River Jakut. 228
CHAPTER XX.
WRANGELL.
His distinguished Services as an Arctic Explorer.--From
Petersburg to Jakutsk in 1820.--Trade of Jakutsk.--From
Jakutsk to Nishne-Kolymsk.--The Badarany.--Dreadful Climate
of Nishne-Kolymsk.--Summer Plagues.--Vegetation.--Animal
Life.--Reindeer-hunting.--Famine.--Inundations.--The
Siberian Dog.--First Journeys over the Ice of the Polar Sea,
and Exploration of the Coast beyond Cape Shelagskoi in 1821.--
Dreadful Dangers and Hardships.--Matiuschkin’s Sledge-journey
over the Polar Sea in 1822.--Last Adventures on the Polar
Sea.--A Run for Life.--Return to St. Petersburg. 233
CHAPTER XXI.
THE TUNGUSI.
Their Relationship to the Mantchou.--Dreadful Condition of the
outcast Nomads.--Character of the Tungusi.--Their Outfit for
the Chase.--Bear-hunting.--Dwellings.--Diet.--A Night’s
Halt with Tungusi in the Forest.--Ochotsk. 244
CHAPTER XXII.
GEORGE WILLIAM STELLER.
His Birth.--Enters the Russian Service.--Scientific Journey
to Kamchatka.--Accompanies Bering on his second Voyage of
Discovery.--Lands on the Island of Kaiak.--Shameful Conduct
of Bering.--Shipwreck on Bering Island.--Bering’s Death.--
Return to Kamchatka.--Loss of Property.--Persecutions of the
Siberian Authorities.--Frozen to Death at Tjumen. 248
CHAPTER XXIII.
KAMCHATKA.
Climate.--Fertility.--Luxuriant Vegetation.--Fish.--
Sea-birds.--Kamchatkan Bird-catchers.--The Bay of Avatscha.--
Petropavlosk.--The Kamchatkans.--Their physical and moral
Qualities.--The _Fritillaria Sarrana_.--The Muchamor.--
Bears.--Dogs. 254
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE TCHUKTCHI.
The Land of the Tchuktchi.--Their independent Spirit and
commercial Enterprise.--Perpetual Migrations.--The Fair of
Ostrownoje.--Visit in a Tchuktch Polog.--Races.--Tchuktch
Bayaderes.--The Tennygk, or Reindeer Tchuktchi.--The Onkilon,
or Sedentary Tchuktchi.--Their Mode of Life. 262
CHAPTER XXV.
BERING SEA--THE RUSSIAN FUR COMPANY--THE ALEUTS.
Bering Sea.--Unalaska.--The Pribilow Islands.--St. Matthew.--
St. Laurence.--Bering’s Straits.--The Russian Fur Company.--
The Aleuts.--Their Character.--Their Skill and Intrepidity
in hunting the Sea-otter.--The Sea-bear.--Whale-chasing.--
Walrus-slaughter.--The Sea-lion. 268
CHAPTER XXVI.
ALASKA.
Purchase of Alaska by the United States.--The Russian American
Telegraph Scheme.--Whymper’s Trip up the Yukon.--Dogs.--
The Start.--Extempore Water-filter.--Snow-shoes.--The
Frozen Yukon.--Under-ground Houses.--Life at Nulato.--
Cold Weather.--Auroras.--Approach of Summer.--Breaking-up
of the Ice.--Fort Yukon.--Furs.--Descent of the Yukon.--
Value of Goods.--Arctic and Tropical Life.--Moose-hunting.--
Deer-corrals.--Lip Ornaments.--Canoes.--Four-post Coffin.--
The Kenaian Indians.--The Aleuts.--Value of Alaska. 277
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ESQUIMAUX.
Their wide Extension.--Climate of the Regions they inhabit.--
Their physical Appearance.--Their Dress.--Snow Huts.--The
Kayak, or the Baidar.--Hunting Apparatus and Weapons.--
Enmity between the Esquimaux and the Red Indian.--The
“Bloody Falls.”--Chase of the Reindeer.--Bird-catching.--
Whale-hunting.--Various Stratagems employed to catch the
Seal.--The “Keep-kuttuk.”--Bear-hunting.--Walrus-hunting.--
Awaklok and Myouk.--The Esquimaux Dog.--Games and Sports.--
Angekoks.--Moral Character.--Self-reliance.--Intelligence.--
Iligliuk.--Commercial Eagerness of the Esquimaux.--Their
Voracity.--Seasons of Distress. 290
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE FUR-TRADE OF THE HUDSON’S BAY TERRITORIES.
The Coureur des Bois.--The Voyageur.--The Birch-bark Canoe.--
The Canadian Fur-trade in the last Century.--The Hudson’s
Bay Company.--Bloody Feuds between the North-west Company
of Canada and the Hudson’s Bay Company.--Their Amalgamation
into a new Company in 1821.--Reconstruction of the Hudson’s
Bay Company in 1863.--Forts or Houses.--The Attihawmeg.--
Influence of the Company on its savage Dependents.--The Black
Bear, or Baribal.--The Brown Bear.--The Grizzly Bear.--The
Raccoon.--The American Glutton.--The Pine Marten.--The
Pekan, or Wood-shock.--The Chinga.--The Mink.--The Canadian
Fish-otter.--The Crossed Fox.--The Black or Silvery Fox.--
The Canadian Lynx, or Pishu.--The Ice-hare.--The Beaver.--
The Musquash. 304
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE CREE INDIANS, OR EYTHINYUWUK.
The various Tribes of the Crees.--Their Conquests and subsequent
Defeat.--Their Wars with the Blackfeet.--Their Character.--
Tattooing.--Their Dress.--Fondness for their Children.--The
Cree Cradle.--Vapor Baths.--Games.--Their religious Ideas.--
The Cree Tartarus and Elysium. 319
CHAPTER XXX.
THE TINNÉ INDIANS.
The various Tribes of the Tinné Indians.--The Dog-ribs.--
Clothing.--The Hare Indians.--Degraded State of the Women.--
Practical Socialists.--Character.--Cruelty to the Aged and
Infirm. 327
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE LOUCHEUX, OR KUTCHIN INDIANS.
The Countries they inhabit.--Their Appearance and Dress.--Their
Love of Finery.--Condition of the Women.--Strange Customs.--
Character.--Feuds with the Esquimaux.--Their suspicious and
timorous Lives.--Pounds for catching Reindeer.--Their Lodges.
331
CHAPTER XXXII.
ARCTIC VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY, FROM THE CABOTS TO BAFFIN.
First Scandinavian Discoverer of America.--The Cabots.--
Willoughby and Chancellor (1553–1554).--Stephen Burrough
(1556).--Frobisher (1576–1578).--Davis (1585–1587).--
Barentz, Cornelis, and Brant (1594).--Wintering of the Dutch
Navigators in Nova Zembla (1596–1597).--John Knight (1606).--
Murdered by the Esquimaux.--Henry Hudson (1607–1609).--Baffin
(1616). 335
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ARCTIC VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY, FROM BAFFIN TO M’CLINTOCK.
Buchan and Franklin.--Ross and Parry (1818).--Discovery of
Melville Island.--Winter Harbor (1819–1820).--Franklin’s
first land Journey.--Dreadful Sufferings.--Parry’s second
Voyage (1821–1823).--Iligliuk.--Lyon (1824).--Parry’s third
Voyage (1824).--Franklin’s second land Journey to the Shores
of the Polar Sea.--Beechey.--Parry’s sledge Journey towards
the Pole.--Sir John Ross’s second Journey.--Five Years in the
Arctic Ocean.--Back’s Discovery of Great Fish River.--Dease
and Simpson (1837–1839).--Franklin and Crozier’s last Voyage
(1845).--Searching Expeditions.--Richardson and Rae.--Sir
James Ross.--Austin.--Penny.--De Haven.--Franklin’s first
Winter-quarters discovered by Ommaney.--Kennedy and Bellot.--
Inglefield.--Sir E. Belcher.--Kellett.--M’Clure’s Discovery
of the North-west Passage.--Collinson.--Bellot’s Death.--
Dr. Rae learns the Death of the Crews of the “Erebus” and
“Terror.”--Sir Leopold M’Clintock. 344
CHAPTER XXXIV.
KANE AND HAYES.
Kane sails up Smith’s Sound in the “Advance” (1853).--
Winters in Rensselaer Bay.--Sledge Journey along the Coast
of Greenland.--The Three-brother Turrets.--Tennyson’s
Monument.--The Great Humboldt Glacier.--Dr. Hayes crosses
Kennedy Channel.--Morton’s Discovery of Washington Land.--
Mount Parry.--Kane resolves upon a second Wintering in
Rensselaer Bay.--Departure and Return of Part of the Crew.--
Sufferings of the Winter.--The Ship abandoned.--Boat Journey
to Upernavik.--Kane’s Death in the Havana (1857).--Dr.
Hayes’s Voyage in 1860.--He winters at Port Foulke.--Crosses
Kennedy Channel.--Reaches Cape Union, the most northern known
Land upon the Globe.--Koldewey.--Plans for future Voyages to
the North Pole. 365
CHAPTER XXXV.
NEWFOUNDLAND.
Its desolate Aspect.--Forests.--Marshes.--Barrens.--
Ponds.--Fur-bearing Animals.--Severity of Climate.--St.
John’s.--Discovery of Newfoundland by the Scandinavians.--
Sir Humphrey Gilbert.--Rivalry of the English and French.--
Importance of the Fisheries.--The Banks of Newfoundland.--
Mode of Fishing.--Throaters, Headers, Splitters, Salters, and
Packers.--Fogs and Storms.--Seal-catching. 376
CHAPTER XXXVI.
GREENLAND.
A mysterious Region.--Ancient Scandinavian Colonists.--Their
Decline and Fall.--Hans Egede.--His Trials and Success.--
Foundation of Godthaab.--Herrenhuth Missionaries.--
Lindenow.--The Scoresbys.--Clavering.--The Danish
Settlements in Greenland.--The Greenland Esquimaux.--
Seal-catching.--The White Dolphin.--The Narwhal.--
Shark-fishery.--Fiskernasset.--Birds.--Reindeer-hunting.--
Indigenous Plants.--Drift-wood.--Mineral Kingdom.--Mode of
Life of the Greenland Esquimaux.--The Danes in Greenland.--
Beautiful Scenery.--Ice Caves. 382
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN.
Comparative View of the Antarctic and Arctic Regions.--
Inferiority of Climate of the former.--Its Causes.--The
New Shetland Islands.--South Georgia.--The Peruvian
Stream.--Sea-birds.--The Giant Petrel.--The Albatross.--
The Penguin.--The Austral Whale.--The Hunchback.--The
Fin-back.--The Grampus.--Battle with a Whale.--The
Sea-elephant.--The Southern Sea-bear.--The Sea-leopard.--
Antarctic Fishes. 391
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ANTARCTIC VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY.
Cook’s Discoveries in the Antarctic Ocean.--Bellinghausen.--
Weddell.--Biscoe.--Balleny.--Dumont d’Urville.--Wilkes.--
Sir James Ross crosses the Antarctic Circle on New Year’s
Day, 1841.--Discovers Victoria Land.--Dangerous Landing on
Franklin Island.--An Eruption of Mount Erebus.--The Great Ice
Barrier.--Providential Escape.--Dreadful Gale.--Collision.--
Hazardous Passage between two Icebergs.--Termination of the
Voyage. 401
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN.
Description of the Strait.--Western Entrance.--Point
Dungeness.--The Narrows.--Saint Philip’s Bay.--Cape
Froward.--Grand Scenery.--Port Famine.--The Sedger River.--
Darwin’s Ascent of Mount Tarn.--The Bachelor River.--English
Reach.--Sea Reach.--South Desolation.--Harbor of Mercy.--
Williwaws.--Discovery of the Strait by Magellan (October 20,
1521).--Drake.--Sarmiento.--Cavendish.--Schouten and Le
Maire.--Byron.--Bougainville.--Wallis and Carteret.--King
and Fitzroy.--Settlement at Punta Arenas.--Increasing Passage
through the Strait.--A future Highway of Commerce. 408
CHAPTER XL.
PATAGONIA AND THE PATAGONIANS.
Difference of Climate between East and West Patagonia.--
Extraordinary Aridity of East Patagonia.--Zoology.--The
Guanaco.--The Tucutuco.--The Patagonian Agouti.--Vultures.--
The Turkey-buzzard.--The Carrancha.--The Chimango.--
Darwin’s Ostrich.--The Patagonians.--Exaggerated Accounts
of their Stature.--Their Physiognomy and Dress.--Religious
Ideas.--Superstitions.--Astronomical Knowledge.--Division
into Tribes.--The Tent, or Toldo.--Trading Routes.--The
great Cacique.--Introduction of the Horse.--Industry.--
Amusements.--Character. 417
CHAPTER XLI.
THE FUEGIANS.
Their miserable Condition.--Degradation of Body and Mind.--
Powers of Mimicry.--Notions of Barter.--Causes of their low
State of Cultivation.--Their Food.--Limpets.--_Cyttaria
Darwini._--Constant Migrations.--The Fuegian Wigwam.--
Weapons.--Their probable Origin.--Their Number, and various
Tribes.--Constant Feuds.--Cannibalism.--Language.--
Adventures of Fuegia Basket, Jemmy Button, and York Minster.--
Missionary Labors.--Captain Gardiner.--His lamentable End. 425
CHAPTER XLII.
CHARLES FRANCIS HALL AND THE INNUITS.
Hall’s Expedition.--His early Life.--His reading of Arctic
Adventure.--His Resolve.--His Arctic Outfit.--Sets sail on
the “George Henry.”--The Voyage.--Kudlago.--Holsteinborg,
Greenland.--Population of Greenland.--Sails for Davis’s
Strait.--Character of the Innuits.--Wreck of the “Rescue.”--
Ebierbing and Tookoolito.--Their Visit to England.--Hall’s
first Exploration.--European and Innuit Life in the Arctic
Regions.--Building an Igloo.--Almost Starved.--Fight for
Food with Dogs.--Ebierbing arrives with a Seal.--How he
caught it.--A Seal-feast.--The Innuits and Seals.--The
Polar Bear.--How he teaches the Innuits to catch Seals.--
At a Seal-hole.--Dogs as Seal-hunters.--Dogs and Bears.--
Dogs and Reindeers.--Innuits and Walruses.--More about
Igloos.--Innuit Implements.--Uses of the Reindeer.--
Innuit Improvidence.--A Deer-feast.--A frozen Delicacy.--
Whale-skin as Food.--Whale-gum.--How to eat Whale Ligament.--
Raw Meat.--The Dress of the Innuits.--A pretty Style.--
Religious Ideas of the Innuits.--Their kindly Character.--
Treatment of the Aged and Infirm.--A Woman abandoned to die.--
Hall’s Attempt to rescue her.--The Innuit Nomads, without any
form of Government.--Their Numbers diminishing.--A Sailor
wanders away.--Hall’s Search for him.--Finds him frozen to
death.--The Ship free from Ice.--Preparations to return.--
Reset in the Ice-pack.--Another Arctic Winter.--Breaking up
of the Ice.--Departure for Home.--Tookoolito and her Child
“Butterfly.”--Death of “Butterfly.”--Arrival at Home.--
Results of Hall’s Expedition.--Innuit Traditions.--Discovery
of Frobisher Relics.--Hall undertakes a second Expedition.--
His Statement of its Object and Prospects.--Last Tidings of
Hall. 433
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
1. Esquimaux Dog-team. HALL. 1
2. The Tundra of Siberia. ATKINSON. 17
3. Indian Summer Encampment, Alaska. WHYMPER. 18
4. Rocks and Ice. HALL. 20
5. Coast of Labrador. HARPER’S MAG. 21
6. Coast of Norway. BROWNE. 22
7. Arctic Forest. LAMONT. 23
8. Verge of Forest Region. HARPER’S MAG. 24
9. Forest Conflagration. WHYMPER. 26
10. Arctic Clothing. HARPER’S MAG. 29
11. Arctic Moonlight. HALL. 30
12. Aurora seen in Norway. HARPER’S MAG. 31
13. Aurora seen in Greenland. HALL. 32
14. Group of Reindeer. LAMONT. 35
15. Elks. WOOD. 39
16. The Musk-ox. WOOD. 40
17. Argali. ATKINSON. 41
18. The Snowy Owl. WOOD. 43
19. Bernide Goose. WOOD. 44
20. The Sea-eagle. WOOD. 44
21. Arctic Navigation. HARPER’S MAG. 45
22. Among Hummocks. HARPER’S MAG. 46
23. Drifting on the Ice. HARPER’S MAG. 47
24. Forms of Icebergs. HALL. 47
25. Gothic Icebergs. HALL. 48
26. Pinnacle Icebergs. HALL. 48
27. Icebergs aground. HALL. 49
28. Icebergs and Glacier, Frobisher Bay. HALL. 51
29. Glacier, Bute Inlet. WHYMPER. 52
30. Scaling an Iceberg. HALL. 53
31. An Arctic Channel. HALL. 56
32. Open Water. HALL. 57
33. Glacier Discharging. HALL. 58
34. The Whale. WOOD. 60
35. The Narwhal. WOOD. 61
36. Walruses on the Ice. LAMONT. 63
37. Home of the Polar Bear. WOOD. 66
38. The Gull. WOOD. 67
39. Lava-fields. BROWNE. 68
40. Effigy in Lava. BROWNE. 70
41. The Strokkr. BROWNE. 72
42. Entrance to the Almannagja. BROWNE. 73
43. The Almannagja. BROWNE. 74
44. The Hrafnagja. BROWNE. 75
45. The Tintron Rock. BROWNE. 75
46. Fall of the Oxeraa. BROWNE. 76
47. Icelandic Horses. BROWNE. 81
48. Shooting Reindeer. LAMONT. 82
49. The Eider-duck. WOOD. 83
50. The Jyrfalcon. WOOD. 85
51. The Giant Auk. WOOD. 86
52. Cathedral at Reykjavik. BROWNE. 89
53. Thingvalla, Lögberg and Almannagja. BROWNE. 92
54. Reykjavik, the Capital of Iceland. BROWNE. 98
55. Governor’s Residence, Reykjavik. BROWNE. 99
56. Icelandic Houses. BROWNE. 103
57. Church at Thingvalla. BROWNE. 105
58. The Pastor’s House, Thingvalla. BROWNE. 106
59. The Pastor of Thingvalla. BROWNE. 107
60. Bridge River, Iceland. BROWNE. 111
61. Icelandic Bog. BROWNE. 113
62. Coast of Iceland. BROWNE. 114
63. Westman Isles. BROWNE. 115
64. Home of Sea-birds. BROWNE. 117
65. Fishing in Norway. BROWNE. 120
66. Norwegian Farm. BROWNE. 122
67. Steaming along the Coast. BROWNE. 123
68. The Puffin. WOOD. 124
69. The Dovrefjeld. BROWNE. 127
70. Midnight Sun off Spitzbergen. DUFFERIN. 131
71. Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen. DUFFERIN. 134
72. Burial in Spitzbergen. DUFFERIN. 139
73. Arctic Fox. DUFFERIN. 140
74. Chase of the Walrus. LAMONT. 143
75. A glimpse of Jan Meyen’s Island. DUFFERIN. 145
76. A Samoïede Priest. ATKINSON. 179
77. Banks of the Irtysch. ATKINSON. 185
78. Group of Kirghis. ATKINSON. 188
79. View of Tagilsk. ATKINSON. 191
80. The Beach at Nicolayevsk. HARPER’S MAG. 196
81. On the Amoor. HARPER’S MAG. 197
82. Village on the Amoor. HARPER’S MAG. 198
83. Koriak Yourt. HARPER’S MAG. 199
84. Kamchatka Sables. HARPER’S MAG. 201
85. Tartar Encampment. ATKINSON. 204
86. Siberian Peasant. ATKINSON. 207
87. View of Irkutsk. HARPER’S MAG. 209
88. A Jakut Village. HARPER’S MAG. 229
89. Bering’s Monument at Petropavlosk. WHYMPER. 248
90. Church at Petropavlosk. WHYMPER. 254
91. View of Petropavlosk. HARPER’S MAG. 257
92. Dogs Fishing. HARPER’S MAG. 259
93. Dog-team. WHYMPER. 259
94. Dogs Towing Boat. HARPER’S MAG. 260
95. Frame-work of Tchuktchi House. WHYMPER. 262
96. Tchuktchi Canoe. HARPER’S MAG. 263
97. Tchuktchi Pipe. WHYMPER. 264
98. An Aleut. WHYMPER. 268
99. View of Sitka. WHYMPER. 270
100. A Baidar. HARPER’S MAG. 272
101. Fort St. Michael. WHYMPER. 277
102. The Frozen Yukon. WHYMPER. 279
103. Under-ground House. WHYMPER. 280
104. Fish-traps on the Yukon. WHYMPER. 281
105. Aurora at Nulato. WHYMPER. 282
106. Breaking up of the Ice. WHYMPER. 283
107. Fort Yukon. WHYMPER. 285
108. A Deer Corral. WHYMPER. 286
109. Lip Ornaments. HARPER’S MAG. 287
110. A Baidar. HARPER’S MAG. 288
111. Four-post Coffin. WHYMPER. 288
112. Tauana Indian. WHYMPER. 289
113. Winter Hut of Hunters. MILTON. 309
114. Fort Edmonton, North Saskatchewan. MILTON. 311
115. Trader’s Camp. HARPER’S MAG. 312
116. Swamp formed by deserted Beaver Dam. MILTON. 314
117. Hunting Bison in the Snow. HARPER’S MAG. 319
118. Herd of Bison. HARPER’S MAG. 320
119. Driving Bison over a Precipice. HARPER’S MAG. 321
120. Watching for Crees. MILTON. 322
121. A Cree Village. HARPER’S MAG. 324
122. The Albatross. WOOD. 396
123. Strait of Magellan. HARPER’S MAG. 405
124. A Highway of Commerce. HARPER’S MAG. 416
125. Patagonians. HARPER’S MAG. 417
126. Coast of Fuegia. HARPER’S MAG. 425
127. Fuegian Traders. HARPER’S MAG. 427
128. A Fuegian and his Food. HARPER’S MAG. 429
129. Starvation Beach. HARPER’S MAG. 432
130. Surveying in Greenland. HALL. 433
131. Hall and Companions, in Innuit Costume. HALL. 434
132. Kudlago. HALL. 436
133. Greenland Currency. HALL. 437
134. Woman and Child. (Drawn and Engraved by an HALL. 438
Innuit.)
135. Festival of the Birthday of the King of HALL. 439
Denmark.
136. Preparing Boot-soles. HALL. 440
137. Wreck of the Rescue. HALL. 441
138. The George Henry laid up for the Winter. HALL. 442
139. Storm-bound. HALL. 443
140. Innuit Stone Lamp. HALL. 444
141. Fighting for Food. HALL. 445
142. Through the Snow. HALL. 446
143. Waiting by a Seal-hole. HALL. 447
144. Looking for Seals. HALL. 448
145. Innuit Strategy to Capture a Seal. HALL. 449
146. Seal-hole and Igloo. HALL. 450
147. Waiting for a Blow. HALL. 450
148. Dog and Seal. HALL. 451
149. Spearing through the Snow. HALL. 452
150. Dogs and Bear. HALL. 453
151. Barbekark and the Reindeer. HALL. 454
152. Head of Reindeer. HALL. 454
153. Spearing the Walrus. HALL. 455
154. Innuit Igloos. HALL. 456
155. Walrus Skull and Tusks. HALL. 457
156. The Woman’s Knife. HALL. 457
157. Innuit Implements. HALL. 458
158. Finding the Dead. HALL. 461
159. Innuit Summer Village. HALL. 462
160. Returning to the Ship. HALL. 463
161. Over the Ice. HALL. 464
162. The Frozen Sailor. HALL. 465
163. Farewell of the Innuits. HALL. 467
THE POLAR WORLD.
[Illustration: 2. THE TUNDRA OF SIBERIA.]
CHAPTER I.
THE ARCTIC LANDS.
The barren Grounds or Tundri.--Abundance of animal Life on the
Tundri in Summer.--Their Silence and Desolation in Winter.--
Protection afforded to Vegetation by the Snow.--Flower-growth
in the highest Latitudes.--Character of Tundra Vegetation.--
Southern Boundary-line of the barren Grounds.--Their Extent.--
The forest Zone.--Arctic Trees.--Slowness of their Growth.--
Monotony of the Northern Forests.--Mosquitoes.--The various
Causes which determine the Severity of an Arctic Climate.--Insular
and Continental Position.--Currents.--Winds.--Extremes of
Cold observed by Sir E. Belcher and Dr. Kane.--How is Man able
to support the Rigors of an Arctic Winter?--Proofs of a milder
Climate having once reigned in the Arctic Regions.--Its Cause
according to Dr. Oswald Heer.--Peculiar Beauties of the Arctic
Regions.--Sunset.--Long lunar Nights.--The Aurora.
A glance at a map of the Arctic regions shows us that many of the
rivers belonging to the three continents--Europe, Asia, America--
discharge their waters into the Polar Ocean or its tributary bays.
The territories drained by these streams, some of which (such as the
Mackenzie, the Yukon, the Lena, the Yenisei, and the Obi) rank among
the giant rivers of the earth, form, along with the islands within
or near the Arctic circle, the vast region over which the frost-king
reigns supreme.
Man styles himself the lord of the earth, and may with some justice lay
claim to the title in more genial lands where, armed with the plough,
he compels the soil to yield him a variety of fruits; but in those
desolate tracts which are winter-bound during the greater part of the
year, he is generally a mere wanderer over its surface--a hunter, a
fisherman, or a herdsman--and but few small settlements, separated from
each other by immense deserts, give proof of his having made some weak
attempts to establish a footing.
It is difficult to determine with precision the limits of the Arctic
lands, since many countries situated as low as latitude 60° or even
50°, such as South Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, Kamchatka, or the
country about Lake Baikal, have in their climate and productions
a decidedly Arctic character, while others of a far more northern
position, such as the coast of Norway, enjoy even in winter a
remarkably mild temperature. But they are naturally divided into two
principal and well-marked zones--that of the forests, and that of the
treeless wastes.
[Illustration: 3. INDIAN SUMMER ENCAMPMENT, ALASKA.]
The latter, comprising the islands within the Arctic Circle, form
a belt, more or less broad, bounded by the continental shores of
the North Polar seas, and gradually merging toward the south into
the forest-region, which encircles them with a garland of evergreen
coniferæ. This treeless zone bears the name of the “barren grounds,”
or the “barrens,” in North America, and of “tundri” in Siberia and
European Russia. Its want of trees is caused not so much by its high
northern latitude as by the cold sea-winds which sweep unchecked over
the islands or the flat coast-lands of the Polar Ocean, and for miles
and miles compel even the hardiest plant to crouch before the blast and
creep along the ground.
Nothing can be more melancholy than the aspect of the boundless
morasses or arid wastes of the tundri. Dingy mosses and gray lichens
form the chief vegetation, and a few scanty grasses or dwarfish
flowers that may have found a refuge in some more sheltered spot are
unable to relieve the dull monotony of the scene.
In winter, when animal life has mostly retreated to the south or sought
a refuge in burrows or in caves, an awful silence, interrupted only
by the hooting of a snow-owl or the yelping of a fox, reigns over
their vast expanse; but in spring, when the brown earth reappears from
under the melted snow and the swamps begin to thaw, enormous flights
of wild birds appear upon the scene and enliven it for a few months.
An admirable instinct leads their winged legions from distant climes
to the Arctic wildernesses, where in the morasses or lakes, on the
banks of the rivers, on the flat strands, or along the fish-teeming
coasts, they find an abundance of food, and where at the same time
they can with greater security build their nests and rear their
young. Some remain on the skirts of the forest-region; others, flying
farther northward, lay their eggs upon the naked tundra. Eagles and
hawks follow the traces of the natatorial and strand birds; troops of
ptarmigans roam among the stunted bushes; and when the sun shines, the
finch or the snow-bunting warbles his merry note.
While thus the warmth of summer attracts hosts of migratory birds to
the Arctic wildernesses, shoals of salmon and sturgeons enter the
rivers in obedience to the instinct that forces them to quit the seas
and to swim stream upward, for the purpose of depositing their spawn in
the tranquil sweet waters of the stream or lake. About this time also
the reindeer leaves the forests to feed on the herbs and lichens of the
tundra, and to seek along the shores fanned by the cooled sea-breeze
some protection against the attacks of the stinging flies that rise in
myriads from the swamps. Thus during several months the tundra presents
an animated scene, in which man also plays his part. The birds of the
air, the fishes of the water, the beasts of the earth, are all obliged
to pay their tribute to his various wants, to appease his hunger, to
clothe his body, or to gratify his greed of gain.
But as soon as the first frosts of September announce the approach of
winter, all animals, with but few exceptions, hasten to leave a region
where the sources of life must soon fail. The geese, ducks, and swans
return in dense flocks to the south; the strand-birds seek in some
lower latitude a softer soil which allows their sharp beak to seize
a burrowing prey; the water-fowl forsake the bays and channels that
will soon be blocked up with ice; the reindeer once more return to the
forest, and in a short time nothing is left that can induce man to
prolong his stay in the treeless plain. Soon a thick mantle of snow
covers the hardened earth, the frozen lake, the ice-bound river, and
conceals them all--seven, eight, nine months long--under its monotonous
pall, except where the furious north-east wind sweeps it away and lays
bare the naked rock.
This snow, which after it has once fallen persists until the long
summer’s day has effectually thawed it, protects in an admirable
manner the vegetation of the higher latitudes against the cold of the
long winter season. For snow is so bad a conductor of heat, that in
mid-winter in the high latitude of 78° 50° (Rensselaer Bay), while the
surface temperature was as low as -30°, Kane found at two feet deep a
temperature of -8°, at four feet +2°, and at eight feet +26°, or no
more than six degrees below the freezing-point of water. Thus covered
by a warm crystal snow-mantle, the northern plants pass the long winter
in a comparatively mild temperature, high enough to maintain their
life, while, without, icy blasts--capable of converting mercury into a
solid body--howl over the naked wilderness; and as the first snow-falls
are more cellular and less condensed than the nearly impalpable powder
of winter, Kane justly observes that no “eider-down in the cradle of
an infant is tucked in more kindly than the sleeping-dress of winter
about the feeble plant-life of the Arctic zone.” Thanks to this
protection, and to the influence of a sun which for months circles
above the horizon, and in favorable localities calls forth the powers
of vegetation in an incredibly short time, even Washington, Grinnell
Land, and Spitzbergen are able to boast of flowers. Morton plucked a
crucifer at Cape Constitution (80° 45’ N. lat.), and, on the banks
of Mary Minturn River (78° 52’), Kane came across a flower-growth
which, though drearily Arctic in its type, was rich in variety and
coloring. Amid festuca and other tufted grasses twinkled the purple
lychnis and the white star of the chickweed; and, not without its
pleasing associations, he recognized a solitary hesperis--the Arctic
representative of the wall-flowers of home.
[Illustration: 4. ROCKS AND ICE.]
Next to the lichens and mosses, which form the chief vegetation of
the treeless zone, the cruciferæ, the grasses, the saxifragas, the
caryophyllæ, and the compositæ are the families of plants most largely
represented, in the barren grounds or tundri. Though vegetation becomes
more and more uniform on advancing to the north, yet the number of
individual plants does not decrease. When the soil is moderately dry,
the surface is covered by a dense carpet of lichens (_Corniculariæ_),
mixed in damper spots with Icelandic moss. In more tenacious soils,
other plants flourish, not however to the exclusion of lichens, except
in tracts of meadow ground, which occur in sheltered situations, or in
the alluvial inundated flats where tall reed-grasses or dwarf willows
frequently grow as closely as they can stand.
[Illustration: 5. COAST OF LABRADOR.]
It may easily be supposed that the boundary-line which separates the
tundri from the forest zone is both indistinct and irregular. In some
parts where the cold sea-winds have a wider range, the barren grounds
encroach considerably upon the limits of the forests; in others, where
the configuration of the land prevents their action, the woods advance
farther to the north.
[Illustration: 6. COAST OF NORWAY.]
Thus the barren grounds attain their most southerly limit in Labrador,
where they descend to latitude 57°, and this is sufficiently explained
by the position of that bleak peninsula, bounded on three sides by
icy seas, and washed by cold currents from the north. On the opposite
coasts of Hudson’s Bay they begin about 60°, and thence gradually rise
toward the mouth of the Mackenzie, where the forests advance as high
as 68°, or even still farther to the north along the low banks of that
river. From the Mackenzie the barrens again descend until they reach
Bering’s Sea in 65° N. On the opposite or Asiatic shore, in the land
of the Tchuktchi, they begin again more to the south, in 63°, thence
continually rise as far as the Lena, where Anjou found trees in 71° N.,
and then fall again toward the Obi, where the forests do not even reach
the Arctic circle. From the Obi the tundri retreat farther and farther
to the north, until finally, on the coasts of Norway, in latitude 70°,
they terminate with the land itself.
Hence we see that the treeless zone of Europe, Asia, and America
occupies a space larger than the whole of Europe. Even the African
Sahara, or the Pampas of South America, are inferior in extent to the
Siberian tundri. But the possession of a few hundred square miles of
fruitful territory on the south-western frontiers of his vast empire
would be of greater value to the Czar than that of those boundless
wastes, which are tenanted only by a few wretched pastoral tribes, or
some equally wretched fishermen.
[Illustration: 7. ARCTIC FOREST.]
The Arctic forest-regions are of a still greater extent than the vast
treeless plains which they encircle. When we consider that they form an
almost continuous belt, stretching through three parts of the world,
in a breadth of from 15° to 20°, even the woods of the Amazon, which
cover a surface fifteen times greater than that of the United Kingdom,
shrink into comparative insignificance. Unlike the tropical forests,
which are characterized by an immense variety of trees, these northern
woods are almost entirely composed of coniferæ, and one single kind of
fir or pine often covers an immense extent of ground. The European and
Asiatic species differ, however, from those which grow in America.
[Illustration: 8. VERGE OF FOREST REGION.]
Thus in the Russian empire and Scandinavia we find the Scotch fir
(_Pinus sylvestris_), the Siberian fir and larch (_Abies sibirica_,
_Larix sibirica_), the _Picea obovata_, and the _Pinus cembra_; while
in the Hudson’s Bay territories the woods principally consist of the
white and black spruce (_Abies alba and nigra_), the Canadian larch
(_Larix canadensis_), and the gray pine (_Pinus banksiana_). In both
continents birch-trees grow farther to the north than the coniferæ,
and the dwarf willows form dense thickets on the shores of every river
and lake. Various species of the service-tree, the ash, and the elder
are also met with in the Arctic forests; and both under the shelter of
the woods and beyond their limits, nature, as if to compensate for the
want of fruit-trees, produces in favorable localities an abundance of
bilberries, bogberries, cranberries, etc. (_Empetrum_, _Vaccinium_),
whose fruit is a great boon to man and beast. When congealed by the
autumnal frosts, the berries frequently remain hanging on the bushes
until the snow melts in the following June, and are then a considerable
resource to the flocks of water-fowl migrating to their northern
breeding-places, or to the bear awakening from his winter sleep.
Another distinctive character of the forests of the high latitudes is
their apparent youth, so that generally the traveller would hardly
suppose them to be more than fifty years, or at most a century old.
Their juvenile appearance increases on advancing northward, until
suddenly their decrepit age is revealed by the thick bushes of lichens
which clothe or hang down from their shrivelled boughs. Farther to
the south, large trees are found scattered here and there, but not
so numerous as to modify the general appearance of the forest, and
even these are mere dwarfs when compared with the gigantic firs of
more temperate climates. This phenomenon is sufficiently explained by
the shortness of the summer, which, though able to bring forth new
shoots, does not last long enough for the formation of wood. Hence the
growth of trees becomes slower and slower on advancing to the north;
so that on the banks of the Great Bear Lake, for instance, 400 years
are necessary for the formation of a trunk not thicker than a man’s
waist. Toward the confines of the tundra, the woods are reduced to
stunted stems, covered with blighted buds that have been unable to
develop themselves into branches, and which prove by their numbers how
frequently and how vainly they have striven against the wind, until
finally the last remnants of arboreal vegetation, vanquished by the
blasts of winter, seek refuge under a carpet of lichens and mosses,
from which their annual shoots hardly venture to peep forth.
A third peculiarity which distinguishes the forests of the north from
those of the tropical world is what may be called their harmless
character. There the traveller finds none of those noxious plants
whose juices contain a deadly poison, and even thorns and prickles
are of rare occurrence. No venomous snake glides through the thicket;
no crocodile lurks in the swamp; and the northern beasts of prey--the
bear, the lynx, the wolf--are far less dangerous and blood-thirsty than
the large felidæ of the torrid zone.
The comparatively small number of animals living in the Arctic forests
corresponds with the monotony of their vegetation. Here we should
seek in vain for that immense variety of insects, or those troops of
gaudy birds which in the Brazilian woods excite the admiration, and
not unfrequently cause the despair of the wanderer; here we should in
vain expect to hear the clamorous voices that resound in the tropical
thickets. No noisy monkeys or quarrelsome parrots settle on the
branches of the trees; no shrill cicadæ or melancholy goat-suckers
interrupt the solemn stillness of the night; the howl of the hungry
wolf, or the hoarse screech of some solitary bird of prey, are almost
the only sounds that ever disturb the repose of these awful solitudes.
When the tropical hurricane sweeps over the virgin forests, it awakens
a thousand voices of alarm; but the Arctic storm, however furiously it
may blow, scarcely calls forth an echo from the dismal shades of the
pine-woods of the north.
In one respect only the forests and swamps of the northern regions vie
in abundance of animal life with those of the equatorial zone, for the
legions of gnats which the short polar summer calls forth from the
Arctic morasses are a no less intolerable plague than the mosquitoes of
the tropical marshes.
[Illustration: 9. FOREST CONFLAGRATION.]
Though agriculture encroaches but little upon the Arctic woods, yet
the agency of man is gradually working a change in their aspect. Large
tracts of forest are continually wasted by extensive fires, kindled
accidentally or intentionally, which spread with rapidity over a wide
extent of country, and continue to burn until they are extinguished by
a heavy rain. Sooner or later a new growth of timber springs up, but
the soil, being generally enriched and saturated with alkali, now no
longer brings forth its aboriginal firs, but gives birth to a thicket
of beeches (_Betula alba_) in Asia, or of aspens in America.
The line of perpetual snow may naturally be expected to descend
lower and lower on advancing to the pole, and hence many mountainous
regions or elevated plateaux, such as the interior of Spitzbergen,
of Greenland, of Nova Zembla, etc., which in a more temperate clime
would be verdant with woods or meadows, are here covered with vast
fields of ice, from which frequently glaciers descend down to the verge
of the sea. But even in the highest northern latitudes, no land has
yet been found covered as far as the water’s edge with eternal snow,
or where winter has entirely subdued the powers of vegetation. The
reindeer of Spitzbergen find near 80° N. lichens or grasses to feed
upon; in favorable seasons the snow melts by the end of June on the
plains of Melville Island, and numerous lemmings, requiring vegetable
food for their subsistence, inhabit the deserts of New Siberia. As
far as man has reached to the north, vegetation, when fostered by a
sheltered situation and the refraction of solar heat from the rocks,
has everywhere been found to rise to a considerable altitude above the
level of the sea; and should there be land at the North Pole, there
is every reason to believe that it is destitute neither of animal
nor vegetable life. It would be equally erroneous to suppose that
the cold of winter invariably increases as we near the pole, as the
temperature of a land is influenced by many other causes besides its
latitude. Even in the most northern regions hitherto visited by man,
the influence of the sea, particularly when favored by warm currents,
is found to mitigate the severity of the winter, while at the same
time it diminishes the warmth of summer. On the other hand, the large
continental tracts of Asia or America that shelve toward the pole have
a more intense winter cold and a far greater summer’s heat than many
coast-lands or islands situated far nearer to the pole. Thus, to cite
but a few examples, the western shores of Nova Zembla, fronting a wide
expanse of sea, have an average winter temperature of only -4°, and a
mean summer temperature but little above the freezing-point of water
(+36½°), while Jakutsk, situated in the heart of Siberia, and 20°
nearer to the Equator, has a winter of -36° 6’, and a summer of +66° 6’.
The influence of the winds is likewise of considerable importance
in determining the greater or lesser severity of an Arctic climate.
Thus the northerly winds which prevail in Baffin’s Bay and Davis’s
Straits during the summer months, and fill the straits of the American
north-eastern Archipelago with ice, are probably the main cause of
the abnormal depression of temperature in that quarter; while, on the
contrary, the southerly winds that prevail during summer in the valley
of the Mackenzie tend greatly to extend the forest of that favored
region nearly down to the shores of the Arctic Sea. Even in the depth
of a Siberian winter, a sudden change of wind is able to raise the
thermometer from a mercury-congealing cold to a temperature above the
freezing-point of water, and a warm wind has been known to cause rain
to fall in Spitzbergen in the month of January.
The voyages of Kane and Belcher have made us acquainted with the lowest
temperatures ever felt by man. On Feb. 5, 1854, while the former was
wintering in Smith’s Sound (78° 37’ N. lat.), the mean of his best
spirit-thermometer showed the unexampled temperature of -68° or 100°
below the freezing-point of water. Then chloric ether became solid,
and carefully prepared chloroform exhibited a granular pellicle on
its surface. The exhalations from the skin invested the exposed or
partially clad parts with a wreath of vapor. The air had a perceptible
pungency upon inspiration, and every one, as it were involuntarily,
breathed guardedly with compressed lips. About the same time
(February 9 and 10, 1854), Sir E. Belcher experienced a cold of -55°
in Wellington Channel (75° 31’ N.), and the still lower temperature
of -62° on January 13, 1853, in Northumberland Sound (76° 52’ N.).
Whymper, on December 6, 1866, experienced -58° at Nulatto, Alaska (64°
42’ N.).
Whether the temperature of the air descends still lower on advancing
toward the pole, or whether these extreme degrees of cold are not
sometimes surpassed in those mountainous regions of the north which,
though seen, have never yet been explored, is of course an undecided
question: so much is certain, that the observations hitherto made
during the winter of the Arctic regions have been limited to too short
a time, and are too few in number, to enable us to determine with any
degree of certainty those points where the greatest cold prevails. All
we know is, that beyond the Arctic Circle, and eight or ten degrees
farther to the south in the interior of the continents of Asia and
America, the average temperature of the winter generally ranges from
-20° to -30°, or even lower, and for a great part of the year is able
to convert mercury into a solid body.
It may well be asked how man is able to bear the excessively low
temperature of an Arctic winter, which must appear truly appalling to
an inhabitant of the temperate zone. A thick fur clothing; a hut small
and low, where the warmth of a fire, or simply of a train-oil lamp, is
husbanded in a narrow space, and, above all, the wonderful power of the
human constitution to accommodate itself to every change of climate, go
far to counteract the rigor of the cold.
After a very few days the body develops an increasing warmth as the
thermometer descends; for the air being condensed by the cold, the
lungs inhale at every breath a greater quantity of oxygen, which of
course accelerates the internal process of combustion, while at the
same time an increasing appetite, gratified with a copious supply of
animal food, of flesh and fat, enriches the blood and enables it to
circulate more vigorously. Thus not only the hardy native of the north,
but even the healthy traveller soon gets accustomed to bear without
injury the rigors of an Arctic winter.
“The mysterious compensations,” says Kane, “by which we adapt ourselves
to climate are more striking here than in the tropics. In the Polar
zone the assault is immediate and sudden, and, unlike the insidious
fatality of hot countries, produces its results rapidly. It requires
hardly a single winter to tell who are to be the heat-making and
acclimatized men. Petersen, for instance, who has resided for two years
at Upernavik, seldom enters a room with a fire. Another of our party,
George Riley, with a vigorous constitution, established habits of free
exposure, and active cheerful temperament, has so inured himself to the
cold, that he sleeps on our sledge journeys without a blanket or any
other covering than his walking suit, while the outside temperature is
-30°.”
[Illustration: 10. ARCTIC CLOTHING.]
There are many proofs that a milder climate once reigned in the
northern regions of the globe. Fossil pieces of wood, petrified acorns
and fir-cones have been found in the interior of Banks’s Land by
M’Clure’s sledging-parties. At Anakerdluk, in North Greenland (70° N.),
a large forest lies buried on a mountain surrounded by glaciers, 1080
feet above the level of the sea. Not only the trunks and branches, but
even the leaves, fruit-cones, and seeds have been preserved in the
soil, and enable the botanist to determine the species of the plants
to which they belong. They show that, besides firs and sequoias, oaks,
plantains, elms, magnolias, and even laurels, indicating a climate such
as that of Lausanne or Geneva, flourished during the miocene period
in a country where now even the willow is compelled to creep along
the ground. During the same epoch of the earth’s history Spitzbergen
was likewise covered with stately forests. The same poplars and the
same swamp-cypress (_Taxodium dubium_) which then flourished in North
Greenland have been found in a fossilized state at Bell Sound (76° N.)
by the Swedish naturalists, who also discovered a plantain and a linden
as high as 78° and 79° in King’s Bay--a proof that in those times the
climate of Spitzbergen can not have been colder than that which now
reigns in Southern Sweden and Norway, eighteen degrees nearer to the
line.
We know that at present the fir, the poplar, and the beech grow fifteen
degrees farther to the north than the plantain--and the miocene period
no doubt exhibited the same proportion. Thus the poplars and firs which
then grew in Spitzbergen along with plantains and lindens must have
ranged as far as the pole itself, supposing that point to be dry land.
In the miocene times the Arctic zone evidently presented a very
different aspect from that which it wears at present. Now, during the
greater part of the year, an immense glacial desert, which through its
floating bergs and drift-ice depresses the temperature of countries
situated far to the south, it then consisted of verdant lands covered
with luxuriant forests and bathed by an open sea.
What may have been the cause of these amazing changes of climate? The
readiest answer seems to be--a different distribution of sea and land;
but there is no reason to believe that in the miocene times there was
less land in the Arctic zone than at present, nor can any possible
combination of water and dry land be imagined sufficient to account for
the growth of laurels in Greenland or of plantains in Spitzbergen. Dr.
Oswald Heer is inclined to seek for an explanation of the phenomenon,
not in mere local terrestrial changes, but in a difference of the
earth’s position in the heavens.
[Illustration: 11. ARCTIC MOONLIGHT.]
We now know that our sun, with his attendant planets and satellites,
performs a vast circle, embracing perhaps hundreds of thousands of
years, round another star, and that we are constantly entering new
regions of space untravelled by our earth before. We come from the
unknown, and plunge into the unknown; but so much is certain, that our
solar system rolls at present through a space but thinly peopled with
stars, and there is no reason to doubt that it may once have wandered
through one of those celestial provinces where, as the telescope shows
us, constellations are far more densely clustered. But, as every star
is a blazing sun, the greater or lesser number of these heavenly bodies
must evidently have a proportionate influence upon the temperature
of space; and thus we may suppose that during the miocene period our
earth, being at that time in a _populous_ sidereal region, enjoyed the
benefit of a higher temperature, which clothed even its poles with
verdure. In the course of ages the sun conducted his herd of planets
into more solitary and colder regions, which caused the warm miocene
times to be followed by the glacial period, during which the Swiss
flat lands bore an Arctic character, and finally the sun emerged into
a space of an intermediate character, which determines the present
condition of the climates of our globe.
[Illustration: 12. AURORA SEEN IN NORWAY.]
Though Nature generally wears a more stern and forbidding aspect on
advancing toward the pole, yet the high latitudes have many beauties of
their own. Nothing can exceed the magnificence of an Arctic sunset,
clothing the snow-clad mountains and the skies with all the glories of
color, or be more serenely beautiful than the clear star-light night,
illumined by the brilliant moon, which for days continually circles
around the horizon, never setting until she has run her long course
of brightness. The uniform whiteness of the landscape and the general
transparency of the atmosphere add to the lustre of her beams, which
serve the natives to guide their nomadic life, and to lead them to
their hunting-grounds.
[Illustration: 13. AURORA SEEN IN GREENLAND.]
But of all the magnificent spectacles that relieve the monotonous
gloom of the Arctic winter, there is none to equal the magical beauty
of the Aurora. Night covers the snow-clad earth; the stars glimmer
feebly through the haze which so frequently dims their brilliancy in
the high latitudes, when suddenly a broad and clear bow of light spans
the horizon in the direction where it is traversed by the magnetic
meridian. This bow sometimes remains for several hours, heaving or
waving to and fro, before it sends forth streams of light ascending
to the zenith. Sometimes these flashes proceed from the bow of light
alone; at others they simultaneously shoot forth from many opposite
parts of the horizon, and form a vast sea of fire whose brilliant waves
are continually changing their position. Finally they all unite in a
magnificent crown or copula of light, with the appearance of which the
phenomenon attains its highest degree of splendor. The brilliancy of
the streams, which are commonly red at their base, green in the middle,
and light yellow toward the zenith, increases, while at the same time
they dart with greater vivacity through the skies. The colors are
wonderfully transparent, the red approaching to a clear blood-red, the
green to a pale emerald tint. On turning from the flaming firmament to
the earth, this also is seen to glow with a magical light. The dark
sea, black as jet, forms a striking contrast to the white snow-plain or
the distant ice-mountain; all the outlines tremble as if they belonged
to the unreal world of dreams. The imposing silence of the night
heightens the charms of the magnificent spectacle.
But gradually the crown fades, the bow of light dissolves, the streams
become shorter, less frequent, and less vivid; and finally the gloom of
winter once more descends upon the northern desert.