Fiskernaes and Esquimaux--The 'Fox' reaches Disco--Disco Fiord--Summer
scenery--Waigat Strait--Coaling from the mine--Purchasing Esquimaux
dogs--Heavy gale off Upernivik--Melville Bay--The middle ice--The
great glacier of Greenland--Reindeer cross the glacier.
{LICHTENFELS.}
_23rd July._--Sailed the day before yesterday for Godhaab. The fog was
thick, and wind strong and contrary, but the current being favorable we
found ourselves off the small out-station of Fiskernaes, when early this
morning our fore topmast was carried away; this accident induced me to
run in and anchor for the purpose of repairing the damage.
After passing within the outer islets, the Moravian settlement of
Lichtenfels came in view upon the right hand; it consists of a large,
sombre-looking wooden house, over which is a belfry, a smaller wooden
house, and about a dozen native huts, roofed with sods, and scarcely
distinguishable from the ground they stand on, even at a very short
distance. The land immediately behind is a barren rocky steep, now just
sufficiently denuded of snow to look desolate in the extreme. A strong
tide was setting out of the fiord, as we approached, and anchored in
the rocky little cove of Fiskernaes; here we were not only sheltered
from the wind, but the steep dark rocks within a ship's length on each
side of us, reflected a strong heat, whilst large mosquitoes lost no
time in paying us their annoying visits. This remote spot has been
visited by the Arctic voyagers, Captain Inglefield, R.N., and Dr. Kane,
U.S.N., and still more recently by Prince Napoleon. Dr. Kane's account
of his visit is full and very interesting. Cod-fishing was now in full
activity, and the few men not so employed had gone up the fiord to hunt
reindeer.
{FISKERNAES, AND ESQUIMAUX.}
The solitary dwelling-house belongs, of course, to the chief trader, and
is a model of cleanliness and order; built of wood, it exhibits all the
resources of the painter's art; the exterior is a dull red, the
window-frames are white, floors yellow, wooden partitions and low
ceilings pale blue. The lady of the house had resided here for about
eight years, and appeared to us to be, and acknowledged she was,
heartily tired of the solitude. She gave me coffee, and some seeds for
cultivation at our winter quarters; these were lettuce, spinach,
turnips, caraway and peas, the latter being the common kind used on
board ship; usually they have only produced leaves on this spot, but
once the young peas grew large enough for the table. I expressed a wish
to see the interior of an Esquimaux tent. Petersen pulled aside the thin
membrane of some animal, which hung across the doorway, and served to
exclude the wind, but admitted light, for, although past midnight, the
sun was up. Some seven or eight individuals lay within, closely packed
upon the ground; the heads of old and young, males and females, being
just visible above the common covering. Going to bed here, only means
lying down with your clothes on, upon a reindeer skin, wherever you can
find room, and pulling another fur-robe over you.
Fiskernaes appeared to be a sunny little nook, yet all the people we saw
there were suffering from colds and coughs, and many deaths had occurred
during the spring. The boys brought us handfuls of rough garnets, some
of them as large as walnuts, receiving with evident satisfaction
biscuits in exchange.
By next morning we were able to put to sea, and early on the day
following arrived off the large settlement of Godhaab; it is in the
"Gilbert Sound" of Davis, and appears in many old charts as Baal's
River. Almost adjoining Godhaab is the Moravian settlement of New
Herrnhut. Here it was that Hans Egede, the missionary father of
Greenland, established himself in 1721, and thus re-opened the
communication between Europe and Greenland, which had ceased upon the
extinction of its early Scandinavian settlers, in the 14th century.
{MORAVIAN MISSIONS.}
A few years after Egede's successful beginning the Moravian mission
still existing under the name of New Herrnhut was established. At
present the Moravians support four missions in Greenland; they are not
subject to the Danish authorities, but are not permitted in any way to
trade.
As we were about to enter the harbor, the Danish vessel--the sole object
of our visit--came out, so not a moment was lost in sending on board our
invalid and our letter-bag, and in landing our coasting pilot. This man
had brought us up from Frederickshaab for the very moderate sum of three
pounds; he was an Esquimaux, and, as the brother of poor Hans, Dr.
Kane's unhappy dog-driver, was received with favor amongst us, and soon
won our esteem by his quiet, obliging disposition, as also by his
ability in the discharge of his duty; he was so keen-sighted, and so
vigilant, it was quite a comfort to have him on board during the foggy
weather, for he could recognize, on the instant, every rock or point,
even when dimly looming through the mist. We were not long in
discovering that his absence was a loss to us.
When passing out to the north of the Kookornen Islands, the wind
suddenly failed, and at the same time a swell from to seaward reached
us; we therefore had considerable difficulty in towing the ship clear of
the rocks; for nearly half an hour our position was most critical.
{THE 'FOX' REACHES DISCO.}
_July 31st._--Anchored at Godhaven (or Lievely), in Disco, for a few
hours. I presented a letter from the Directors of the Royal Greenland
Commerce to the Inspector of North Greenland, Mr. Olrik, authorising him
to furnish us with any needful supplies. Our only wants were sledge-dogs
and a native to manage them. We soon obtained ten of the former, but
were advised to go into Disco Fiord, where many of the Esquimaux were
busy in taking and drying salmon-trout, and where some would most
probably be obtained.
I was much pleased with Mr. Olrik's kind reception of me, and soon found
him to be not only agreeable but well informed; born in Greenland, of
Danish parents, he is thoroughly conversant with the language and habits
of the Esquimaux, and has devoted much of his leisure time in collecting
rare specimens of the animal, vegetable, and mineral productions of the
country. I came away enriched by some fossils from the fossil forest of
Atanekerdluk, also with specimens of native coal.
It was here I met with the late commanders of the whalers 'Gipsy' and
'Undaunted,' of Peterhead, which had been crushed by the ice in Melville
Bay, five or six weeks previously; all the other whalers had returned
from the north, along the pack edge, and passed south of Disco. They
said that the ice in Melville Bay was all broken up, and that they
thought we should find but little difficulty at this late period in
passing through it into the North Water.
{DISCO FIORD.}
Leaving Godhaven in the afternoon with a native pilot, we found
ourselves some 10 or 12 miles up Disco Fiord at an early hour next
morning. After despatching the pilot to announce our arrival to his
countrymen at their fishing station, 7 or 8 miles further up, the Doctor
and I landed upon the north side to explore.
The scenery is charming, lofty hills of trap rock, with unusually rich
slopes (for the 70th parallel) descending to the fiord, and strewed with
boulders of gneiss and granite. We found the blue campanula holding a
conspicuous place amongst the wild flowers. I do not know a more
enticing spot in Greenland for a week's shooting, fishing, and yachting
than Disco Fiord; hares and ptarmigan may be found along the bases of
the hills; ducks are most abundant upon the fiord, and delicious
salmon-trout very plentiful in the rivers. Formerly Disco was famed for
the large size and abundance of its reindeer; but for some unexplained
reason they now confine themselves to the mainland.
At this season the natives of Godhaab resort here and enjoy the trout
fishery,--it is truly their season of harvest: the weather is pleasant,
food delicious and abundant, and the labor an agreeable pastime.
{AUG., 1857.}
{CHRISTIAN, THE DOG-DRIVER.}
Some kayaks soon came off to the ship, bringing salmon-trout, both fresh
and smoked.
A young Esquimaux, named Christian, volunteered his services as our
dog-driver, and was accepted; he is about 23 years of age, unmarried,
and an orphan. The men soon thoroughly washed and cropped him: soap and
scissors being novelties to an Esquimaux: they then rigged him in
sailor's clothes; he was evidently not at home in them, but was not the
less proud of his improved appearance, as reflected in the admiring
glances of his countrymen.
We now hastened away to the Waigat Strait to complete our coals. When
passing Godhaven, the pilot was launched off our deck in his little
kayak without stopping the ship! As a kayak is usually about 18 feet
long, 8 inches deep, and only 16 or 17 inches wide, it requires great
expertness to perform such a feat without the addition of a capsize.
_4th August._--Entered the Waigat yesterday morning, slowly steaming
through a sea of glass. Its surface was only rippled by the myriads of
eider-ducks which extended over it for several miles: most of them were
immature in plumage, and were probably the birds of last year.
After running about 24 miles, towards evening we approached a low range
of sandstone cliffs on the Disco shore, in which horizontal seams of
coal were seen. Here we anchored, and immediately commenced coaling. It
was fortunate we did so, for soon it began to blow hard; and ere noon
to-day we were obliged, for the safety of the ship, to leave our exposed
anchorage, having however secured eight or nine tons of tolerable coal.
Formerly these coal-seams were worked for the supply of the neighboring
settlements, but for several years past it has been found more
profitable and convenient to send out coals from Denmark, and thus
permit the natives to devote their whole time to the seal-fishery.
{COALING--WAIGAT SCENERY.}
The Waigat scenery is unusually grand; the strait varies from 3 to 5
leagues in width; on each side are mountains of 3000 feet in height. The
Disco side, upon which we landed, is composed of trap, sandstone
appearing only at the beach, and occasionally rising in cliffs to about
100 feet. Upon the moss-clad slopes many fragments of quartz and zeolite
were met with. The north end of Disco is almost a precipice to its
snow-capped summit, which is 4000 feet high.
_5th._--A pleasant fair wind carries us rapidly northward, passing many
icebergs. Our rigging is richly garnished with split codfish, which we
hoped would dry and keep; but a warm day in Disco Fiord, and much rain
with a southerly gale in the Waigat, have destroyed it for our own use.
It is however still valuable as food for our dogs. I am very anxious to
complete my stock of these our native auxiliaries, as without them we
cannot hope to explore all the lands which it is the object of our
voyage to search. We could only obtain ten at Godhaven, and require
twenty more.
{PURCHASING ESQUIMAUX DOGS.}
_6th._--By Petersen's intimate knowledge of the coast we were enabled to
run close in to the little settlement of Proven during the night, and
obtain a few dogs and dogs' food. This morning we reached the extreme
station of Upernivik, the last trace of civilization we shall meet with
for some time. It is in lat. 72-3/4° N. Here Petersen resided for twelve
of the eighteen years he has spent in Greenland, and his unlooked-for
re-appearance astonished and delighted the small community, more
especially Governor Fliescher and his household, who received us with a
most hearty welcome.
_7th._--Yesterday, when we hove to off Upernivik, the weather was very
bad and rapidly growing worse, therefore our stay was limited to a
couple of hours. The last letters for home were landed, fourteen dogs
and a quantity of seal's flesh for them embarked, and the ship's head
was turned seaward.
It was then blowing a southerly gale, with overcast murky sky, and a
heavy sea running. When four miles outside the outer island, breakers
were suddenly discovered ahead, only just in time to avoid the ledge of
sunken rocks upon which the sea was beating most violently. Many such
rocks lie at considerable distances beyond the islands which border this
coast, and greatly add to the dangers of its navigation. Being now
fairly at sea, and the ship under easy sail for the night, I went early
to bed in the hope of sleeping. I had been up all the previous night,
naturally anxious about the ship threading her way through so many
dangers, uncertain about being able to complete the number of our
sledge-dogs, and much occupied in closing my correspondence, to which
there would be an end for at least a year. All this over, the uncertain
future loomed ominously before me. The great responsibilities I had
undertaken seemed now and at once to fall with all their weight upon me.
A mental whirlpool was the consequence, which, backed by the material
storm, and the howling of the wretched dogs in concert on deck, together
with the tumbling about of every thing below, long kept sleep in
abeyance.
{HEAVY GALE OFF UPERNIVIK.}
One thought and feeling predominated: it was gratitude, deep and humble,
for the success which had hitherto attended us, and for some narrow
escapes which I must ever regard as Providential.
Yesterday's gale has given place to calm foggy weather. An occasional
iceberg is seen. The officers amuse themselves in trying new guns, and
shooting sea-birds for our dogs.
Governor Fliescher told me yesterday that for the last four weeks
southerly winds prevailed, and that only a fortnight ago his boat was
unable to reach the Loom Cliffs at Cape Shackleton, 50 miles north of
Upernivik, in consequence of the ice being pressed in against the land.
I fear these same winds have closed together the ice which occupies the
middle of Davis' Strait (hence called the middle ice), so that we shall
not be able to penetrate it. However, we are standing out to make the
attempt.
{PASSAGE THROUGH BAFFIN'S BAY.}
To the uninitiated it may be as well to observe that each winter the sea
called Baffin's Bay freezes over; in spring this vast body of ice breaks
up, and drifting southward in a mass--called the main-pack, or the
middle ice--obstructs the passage across from east to west.
The "North Passage" is made by sailing round the north end of this pack;
the "Middle Passage," by pushing through it; and the "Southern Passage,"
by passing round its southern extreme; but seasons do occur when none of
these routes are practicable.
It is very remarkable that southward of Disco northerly winds have
prevailed. They greatly impeded our progress up Davis' Strait, but we
cheered ourselves with the hope that they would effectually clear a path
for us across the northern part of Baffin's Bay.
_8th._--Last night we reached the edge of the middle ice, about 70 miles
to the west of Upernivik, and ran southward along its edge all night.
This morning, in thick fog, the ship was caught in its margin of loose
ice. The fog soon after cleared off, and we saw the clear sea about two
miles to the eastward, whilst all to the west was impenetrable
closely-packed floe-pieces. After steaming out of our predicament (a
matter which we could not accomplish under sail) we ran on to the
southward until evening, but found the pack edge still composed of light
ice very closely pressed together.
{MELVILLE BAY.}
Having now closely examined it for an extent of 40 miles, I was
satisfied that we could not force a passage through it across Baffin's
Bay, as is frequently done in ordinary seasons; therefore, taking
advantage of a fair wind, we steered to the northward, in order to seek
an opening in that direction.
_12th._--We are in Melville Bay; made fast this afternoon to an iceberg,
which lies aground in 58 fathoms water, about 2 miles from Browne's
Islands, and between them and the great glacier which here takes the
place of the coast-line.
{THE MIDDLE ICE.}
We have got thus far without any difficulty, sailing along the edge of
the middle ice; but here we find it pressing in against Browne's
Islands, and covering the whole bay to the northward, quite in the steep
face of the glacier. This is evidently the result of long-continued
southerly winds; but as the ice is very much broken up, we may expect
it to move off rapidly before the autumnal northerly winds now due, and
these winds invariably remove the previous season's ice. All that we
know of Melville Bay navigation in August, is derived from the
experience of Government and private searching expeditions during eight
or nine seasons. My own three previous transits across it were made in
this month. The whalers either get through in June or July, or give up
the attempt as being too late for their fishing. It frequently happens
that they get round the south end of the middle ice, between latitudes
66° and 69° N., and up the west coast of Baffin's Bay late in the
season; but we have no accounts of these voyages, nor should I be
justified, at this late period of the season, in abandoning the prospect
before me, in order to attempt a route which, even if successful, would
lengthen our voyage to Barrow Strait by 700 or 800 miles. We have
already passed what is usually the most difficult and dangerous part of
the Melville Bay transit.
There is much to excite intense admiration and wonder around us; one
cannot at once appreciate the grandeur of this mighty glacier, extending
unbroken for 40 or 50 miles. Its sea-cliffs, about 5 or 6 miles from us,
appear comparatively low, yet the icebergs detached from it are of the
loftiest description. Here, on the spot, it does not seem incorrect to
compare the icebergs to mere chippings off its edge, and the floe-ice
to the thinnest shavings.
{GREATER GLACIER OF GREENLAND.}
The far-off outline of glacier, seen against the eastern sky, has a
faint tinge of yellow; it is almost horizontal, and of unknown distance
and elevation.
There is an unusual dearth of birds and seals; everything around us is
painfully still, excepting when an occasional iceberg splits off from
the parent glacier; then we hear a rumbling crash like distant thunder,
and the wave occasioned by the launch reaches us in six or seven
minutes, and makes the ship roll lazily for a similar period. I cannot
imagine that within the whole compass of nature's varied aspects, there
is presented to the human eye a scene so well adapted for promoting deep
and serious reflection, for lifting the thoughts from trivial things of
every day life to others of the highest import.
The glacier serves to remind one at once of Time and of Eternity--of
time, since we see portions of it break off to drift and melt away; and
of eternity, since its downward march is so extremely slow, and its
augmentations behind so regular, that no change in its appearance is
perceptible from age to age. If even the untaught savages of luxuriant
tropical regions regard the earth merely as a temporary abode, surely
all who gaze upon this ice-overwhelmed region, this wide expanse of
"terrestrial wreck," must be similarly assured that here "we have no
abiding place."
{GREAT GLACIER OF GREENLAND.}
During daytime the strong glare is very distressing, hence the subdued
light of midnight, when the sun just skims along the northern horizon,
is much the most agreeable part of the twenty-four hours; the
temperature varies between 30° and 40° of Fahrenheit.
The drift-ice of various descriptions about us is constantly in motion
under the influence of mysterious surface and under currents (according
to their relative depths of floatation), which whirl them about in every
possible direction.
To the S.E. are two small islands, almost enveloped in the glacier, and
far within it an occasional mountain-peak protrudes from beneath.
{REINDEER CROSS THE GLACIER.}
From observing closely the variations in the glacier surface, I think we
may safely infer that where it lies unbroken and smooth, the supporting
land is level; and where much crevassed, the land beneath is uneven. The
crevassed parts are of course impassable, but, by following the windings
of the smooth surface, I think the interior could be reached. Some
attempts to cross the glacier in South Greenland have failed, yet, by
studying its character and attending to this remark, I think places
might be found where an attempt would succeed. Mr. Petersen tells me
that the Esquimaux of Upernivik are unable to account for occasional
disappearances and reappearances of immense herds of reindeer, except
by assuming that they migrate at intervals to feeding-grounds beyond the
glacier, the surface of which he also says is smooth enough in many
places even for dog-sledges to travel upon. As there is much uninhabited
land, both to the northward and southward of Upernivik, I do not see the
necessity for this supposition. The habits of the Esquimaux confine them
almost exclusively to the islands and sea-coasts.