OVER MELTING SNOWS.
We were now on the march from Cape Felix. Lieutenant Schwatka had kept
about a mile east of Frank and Henry, who walked along the coast, and I
about a mile and a half east of Lieutenant Schwatka. When about a mile
and a half above our old camp at Wall Bay, he found a cairn very
similar in construction to the one he found inland from Cape Felix. The
top had been taken down, but in the first course of stones, covered and
protected by those thrown from the top, he found a piece of paper with
a carefully drawn hand upon it, the index finger pointing at the time
in a southerly direction. The bottom part of the paper, on which rested
the stone that held it in place, had completely rotted off, so that if
there had ever been any writing upon it, that, too, had disappeared. He
called Frank to his assistance, and they spent several hours in
carefully examining the vicinity, without discovering anything else. It
would seem, however, that whatever memorandum or guide it was intended
for was only temporary, and was probably put there by some surveying or
hunting party from the ships.
We encamped on a point below Cape Maria Louisa, after our next march,
and after erecting the tent Owanork found a cache on the flats
containing a wooden canteen, barrel-shaped, marked on one side
NO. 3,
and on the other,
G. B.,
under the Queen's broad arrow. There were also the staves of another
canteen, a small keg, a tin powder can, several red cans marked
GOLDNER'S PATENT,
a narrow-bladed axe, several broken porter and wine bottles stamped
BRISTOL GLASS-WORKS.
and a few barrel staves. The cache was one evidently made by Netchillik
Inuits, who had found the things along the coast. In fact, one of those
we had interviewed mentioned having cached just such articles somewhere
along the coast, and had afterward forgotten the place. This is worthy
of consideration, as indicating that our search was sufficiently
comprehensive to have discovered anything that had been cached away by
the crews of the ships between Cape Felix and Collinson Inlet within
five or six miles of the coast.
The following day Lieutenant Schwatka and I took Toolooah with us
inland, and sent Frank and Henry down the coast toward Victory Point.
From the top of a high hill, about six miles south-east from camp, we
had an uninterrupted view for many miles in every direction, and swept
the entire field with a spy-glass--but saw nothing like a cache or
cairn. It was all a barren waste, with many ponds and lakes, some still
covered with ice, and others, being more shallow, were entirely clear,
as was the case with most of those near the coast. A few patches of
snow could be seen here and there on the hill-sides. We had to cross
one deep snowbank before reaching the crest of the hill, and upon our
descent came upon a depression in the snow, which Toolooah recognized
as a bear's igloo. A few patches of white wool near the entrance
confirmed his opinion. I crawled in as far as I could, to see in what
sort of a house the polar bear hibernated, and found it very much in
size and shape like those of the Inuits. The only difference, as far as
I could see, was that this was dug out of a snowbank, instead of being
built upon the surface and afterward buried by the drift.
The country over which we travelled this day was like all the rest we
had seen in King William Land--broken and jagged clay stone, with
intervening marshes. Little patches of brown and green moss, covered
with delicate purple flowerets, peep up occasionally from among the
piles of dry stones, though there is apparently no vestige of earth or
mould to sustain their delicate lives. These flowers appear as soon as
the snow melts from off the moss, and are most welcome to the eye of
the traveller in this desolate country. How glad we will be to see the
grass and trees of the temperate zone once more, after living so long
in this void! To-day, for the first, time I saw a few delicate little
daisies, and the sight of them carried me in imagination to the woods
and fields of New Jersey. I forgot the salt marshes and red "Jersey
mud;" but even the marshes there would look like flower-gardens after
the clay-stone deserts of King William Land.
[Illustration: CURIOUS FORMATION OF CLAY-STONE.]
We left Irving Bay on the 13th of July, after erecting a monument over
the grave of Lieutenant Irving, and marking a stone to indicate the
object of the cairn. We also buried a copy of the McClintock-Crozier
record, together with the record of our work to date, ten feet north of
the cairn, marking the fact on the tombstone. On our way back to
Franklin Point we buried the skull found on our way up, but found no
further bones until we reached Point Le Vesconte. We saw tenting
places, both of white men and natives, at different points along the
coast, and one cairn that had been torn down and contained nothing. We
found an empty grave on a hill where we encamped, about four miles
below this point, and a skull about a quarter of a mile distant from
it, evidently having been dragged there by wild beasts. The only things
found in the tomb were a large brass buckle and a percussion cap. Near
by were traces of native tenting places. In fact, wherever we found
graves we always found evidences that natives had encamped in the
vicinity, like vultures.
From this camp we marched, to our first camping place on Erebus Bay,
and from there had the most dismal day's work of the entire journey. In
order to pass Erebus Bay on the land, we had to go a long distance
inland to find a place where we could ford a wide and deep river that
empties into it. Throughout the entire length of the river, on both
sides, we had to wade through deep marshes, and at last crossed it
through a swift current, the water reaching to our waists. A dense fog
obscured the sun and hid the bay from view. It was impossible to
ascertain our direction, and we were compelled to follow all the
windings of the river and coast until the fog lifted. In the meantime
we had no idea where the sled was, and as Toolooah had been told that
we would make our usual ten miles' march, he might have gone that far
before looking for us, and we have still a tedious tramp before us
after reaching the bay. At last we heard the dogs, and finally saw the
sled, still at a great distance on the ice. The gale that had been
blowing all day long, and driving the damp, cold mist into our faces,
making it intensely cold and disagreeable, had subsided, and we
signalled Toolooah to join us.
[Illustration: CLAY-STONE MOUNDS.]
It was a joyful sight to see the sled once more alongside the shore,
for, few as were the comforts it contained, it was our only home, and
it meant the shelter and rest of our sleeping bags. We ate our dinner a
little after midnight, and soon forgot our troubles in sleep. While
Henry was cooking the last of our meat, he had occasion to leave the
fire a few moments, when the dogs, seeing an opportunity for a raid,
broke from their fastenings and poured down upon the culinary
department like an army of devouring fiends. We were all in bed at the
time except Henry; but Toolooah, well knowing the state of our larder,
slipped out under the end of the tent, stark naked, from his sleeping
bag, and poured such a shower of stones upon the dogs as to send them
away howling. Fortunately they got nothing but some blubber, of which
we have a good supply, and which is chiefly used to hasten the fire.
The next day the fog and gale recommenced with great fury; but as we
were entirely without food, Toolooah went hunting, and came in about
half-past nine in the evening with parts of three reindeer that he had
succeeded in killing; so we had a good warm meal about midnight, and
turned in out of the bitter cold. Though not in exactly the position to
be epicurean in our tastes, we could not fail to remark with great
satisfaction that the reindeer were getting fat, and the quality of the
meat improving thereby. A little later in the season they were
exceedingly fat, the tallow, or tud-noo, as the Inuits call it, lying
in great flakes, from half an inch to two and a half inches thick,
along the back and over the rump. This tallow has a most delicious
flavor, and is eaten with the meat, either cooked or raw. The
intestines are also incased in lace-work of tallow, which constitutes a
palatable dish. Indeed there is no part of any animal used for food but
what is eaten by the Esquimaux, and which we have partaken of with
great relish. The ribs of fat reindeer are also an especial delicacy. A
dish made of the contents of the paunch, mixed with seal oil, looks
like ice-cream, and is the Esquimau substitute for that confection. It
has none of the flavor, however, of ice-cream, but, as Lieutenant
Schwatka says, may be more likened to "locust sawdust and wild honey."
The first time I partook of this dainty I had unfortunately seen it in
course of preparation, which somewhat marred the relish with which I
might otherwise have eaten it. The confectioner was a toothless old
hag, who mixed the ingredients in a wooden dish dirtier than anything I
ever saw before, and filled with reindeer hairs, which, however, were
not conspicuous when well mingled with the half-churned grass and moss.
She extracted the oil from the blubber by crunching it between her old
gums, and spat it into the dish, stirring it with her fingers until the
entire mass became white, and of about the consistency of cottage
cheese. I ate some, merely to say I had eaten it, and not to offend my
entertainers, but I cannot say I enjoyed it.
We left camp at a quarter past one o'clock the following day, our
starting having to conform somewhat to the state of the tide, as at
high tide we cannot reach the ice. The sledging was simply awful, and
poor Toolooah was having a hard time of it and without a murmur or
discontented look. I expected he would urge us to abridge our search,
as there seemed to be imminent danger of the ice breaking up. But he
constantly told us to go on and search as much as we thought necessary,
and leave the sledging to him; he would do the best he could. It was a
pleasure to see him do it so cheerfully. There is something reassuring
even in the tone in which he addresses the dogs. Many a time we have
started to go through a place that seemed absolutely impassable until I
heard that cheery cry, "Why-ah-woo-ha-hu-ah!" and saw him bend his own
shoulder to the task. It seemed all right then. Even the dogs were more
hopeful, and pulled with renewed energy.
We found the coast on the south side of Erebus Bay cut into long,
narrow points, separated by deep inlets, that made the work of
searching much greater. All along the shore at the bottom of the
inlets, we found pieces of navy blue cloth, which seemed to have been
washed up by high tides. Quantities of driftwood also were seen; but we
already had as much on the sled as, in the present condition of the
ice, we could carry. At the bottom of one of the deepest inlets or
bays, the men found the wreck of a ship's boat strewn along the beach,
together with pieces of cloth, iron, canvas, and human bones. We
gathered together portions of four skeletons, a number of buttons, some
fish lines, copper and iron bolts and rivets, the drag rope of a sled,
some sheet-lead, some shot, bullets, and wire cartridges, pieces of
clothing, broken medicine bottles, the charger of a powder-flask, an
iron lantern, and a quantity of miscellaneous articles that would
naturally form part of the outfit of such an expedition. The bones were
prepared for burial, and the relics gathered together in a pile, from
which to select a few to take away with us. The prow and stern-post of
the boat were in good condition, and a few clinkered boards still hung
together, which measured twenty-eight feet and six inches to where they
were broken off at each end, showing it to have been a very large boat.
We spent several hours here, gathering together the various articles,
in a thick fog and strong north-west wind that came down across the
heavy ice-fields of Victoria Strait and Melville Sound, and was
intensely cold. We then went to the next point south of us at eleven
o'clock, and for four long weary hours walked up and down waiting for
the sled to come up, while new ice was rapidly forming in the margin of
the salt water as the tide went down. When Toolooah at last arrived, we
found he had been compelled to abandon the stoves and firewood as it
was impossible to handle so heavy a sled during the present wretched
condition of the ice. It was after four o'clock when we got to bed, our
blankets and sleeping bags all wet, as it was impossible to keep them
out of the water that everywhere covers the ice.
The next day we remained in camp to bury the remains found at the boat
place, and during the evening I went hunting with Toolooah, who killed
two fine bucks. We got back to camp, tired and sleepy, at half-past two
in the morning The sky was clear and the sunset supreme. It was nothing
unusual for one from the temperate zone to see a magnificent sunset,
but to see a grand combination of sunset and sunrise in one continuous
representation was glorious beyond description. The next day Toolooah
returned to the island off the mouth of the little bay, and brought on
the things he had abandoned there; while we searched the vicinity with
the hope of finding the second boat place, which the natives mentioned
as being about a quarter of a mile from the one seen by McClintock. If
this is the boat seen by him, it is certainly a long way from the
position represented on the maps. We found no trace of a second boat
place anywhere in the neighborhood, though we made an extensive search
for it. We found a deep inlet entering near Point Little, too wide and
deep to cross.
At a quarter past five the next morning, Lieutenant Schwatka and I
started on our search along the coast, leaving the men to assist
Toolooah in loading the sled and making a selection of what to abandon,
if anything had to be left, and to follow later. We had not got more
than a mile on our way when we heard a gun fired from camp, and,
turning around, saw Frank running after us. We waited for him, and were
surprised to hear that the tide, instead of falling, was actually
rising, and that it would be impossible to load the sled. We therefore
had to return to camp. In the meantime it commenced raining, and when
we reached the tent we found the water nearly up to the door, though it
was the hour for low tide. About two hours afterward Lieutenant
Schwatka went outside the hut, and almost immediately called for his
glasses, saying he thought the ice was breaking up. We all went out and
saw the ice coming in from the Straits, and piling up in great masses.
Already the sled was crowded high up in the air, and one of the stoves
occupied a lofty position poised on the pinnacle of a hummock Toolooah
at once got upon a loose cake of ice, and pulled himself out to the
edge of the floe and brought the sled and stove down to where, when the
ice came in closer, they could be pulled ashore, and were thus rescued
from then imminent peril.
[Illustration: THE BREAKING UP OF THE ICE.]
It was now quite evident that our sledging was over for the season, and
we were stuck here with all our heavy stuff. All day long we could hear
the booming of the ice in the distance, as the great fields were torn
asunder, and we felt thankful that Toolooah had not already got started
when the break came, or he would have been in great danger. At any rate
we might have lost our sled, together with the dogs and all our
baggage, which would have been a sad affair for us. We determined to
cross the land to Terror Bay, and from there send down to Gladman
Point, or that vicinity, all that the dogs and men could carry, while
Lieutenant Schwatka and I waited for their return, and in the meantime
searched the coast back from Terror Bay to the inlet near Point Little.
Terror Bay was reached on the 3d of August, after a tedious journey
across the narrow neck of land that separates it from Erebus Bay. Our
camps were not far apart, as everything had to be carried upon our
backs or upon the dogs. It was necessary to make two, and often three,
trips between camps before everything was brought up, consequently only
two of the Franklin stoves were brought along. The largest and heaviest
of these Henry took in charge, and carried all the way overstrapped to
his back like a knapsack. Toolooah brought the empty sled over, with
all the dogs after removing the bone shoes from the runners.
[Illustration: THE MARCH SOUTHWARD.]
While at our first camp overland, Toolooah had returned to the coast
with the dogs to bring up some firewood, and, not expecting to see any
reindeer, had left his gun in camp. But near the coast he came upon a
she-bear with her half-grown cub. Nothing daunted, he drove the old
bear off into the sea with stones, and killed the cub with a handleless
snow-knife. Henry and Frank, with all the Inuits, left us on the 6th of
August to reach the rest of our party, whom they expected to find
somewhere east of Gladman point. Frank and Henry remained there and
Toolooah returned with the dogs, and moved what we could to the same
point.
Lieutenant Schwatka and I were then left alone to provide for ourselves
until Toolooah's return, which was on the 1st of September. We kept
half of the double tent, and one of the dogs to help us when we moved
camp, and to carry our meat. Reindeer were plentiful, and we killed
eight, which kept us well supplied with food. We could have killed many
more had it been necessary. This was altogether the pleasantest part of
our experience in the Arctic. During the time we were alone we searched
the neighboring coast as far west as Cape Crozier, but found only one
skeleton. The tent place spoken of by Ahlangyah and others--and which
we confidently expected to find without much trouble, marked by
quantities of human bones and clothing scattered far around, as at the
company places at Irving Bay and Cape Felix, and the boat place on
Erebus Bay--could not be found, though Lieutenant Schwatka passed over
the spot that the natives spoke of as the site. This was a great
disappointment to us, and seemed unaccountable until we subsequently
learned from them that it was so close to the water that all traces of
it had disappeared. When we again met the natives we saw one man who
had been there not a great while ago, and said there was nothing to be
seen where he previously saw many skeletons and other indications of
the white men's hospital tent.
In the division of labor at our lonely camps the searching devolved
chiefly upon Lieutenant Schwatka and the cooking and hunting upon me,
though he also killed several reindeer, and I occasionally assisted in
the searching. Our diet was exclusively reindeer meat, eaten either raw
or cooked, and, as the animals were very fat, there was nothing to
complain of in that respect. The quantity that we ate was simply
astonishing; in fact, we found it easier to adapt ourselves to that
phase of Inuit life than any other.
Our greatest discomfort arose from the lack of sufficient shoes and
stockings. It requires women always to keep you comfortable in that
respect. Natives never go anywhere without their women. Our shoes were
completely worn, beyond possibility of repair, and the hair was
entirely worn off our stockings. The consequence was that walking was
torture. I could generally manage to patch up my shoes so that I could
start out hunting when necessary, well knowing they would last only for
a short distance, but trusting to my ambition in the chase to keep me
going, and the necessity of the case to get me back to the tent.
Most of the time we were confined to the tent by storms and fog, and
only a few days were fit for the prosecution of our work.
Unfortunately, the only thermometer we brought from Cape Herschel was
lost, with other articles, from the sled in an ice crack near Wall Bay,
while on our trip to Cape Felix, so we could keep no record of the
temperature. I noticed, however, that there was scarcely a night when
there was not a thin sheet of ice formed near the margin of the ponds.
On the night of the 28th it froze to the depth of about three-quarters
of an inch, and the next night about an inch and a half. It was
sufficiently cold at any time, when the wind blew, to remind us that we
were in the frigid zone. Our experience at this place was of interest
in showing that white men can take care of themselves in this country,
independently of the natives; but at the same time the presence and
assistance of natives add much to the traveller's comfort.
Several days before Toolooah's return we were anxiously looking for
him, as he was to bring in shoes and stockings, and the time was
rapidly passing in which we could complete our search. We had already
finished what was required toward the west, and as far east as was
feasible from this camp. We had therefore made up our minds to move
slowly eastward on the 1st of September, if he did not get back on the
last day of August. A fierce gale, with snow, kept us in camp on that
day; but the returning party, consisting of Toolooah's family with
Equeesik, Mitcolelee and Frank, came in notwithstanding the storm, so
great was their anxiety concerning our safety and comfort. It is
needless to say that we were glad to see them, and when we heard
Toolooah shout from the other side of the hill on which our tent was
pitched, it seemed the pleasantest sound I ever heard. The Inuits had
never known white men to live alone in their country as we had, and
were afraid we were very hungry; but we relieved their anxiety in that
respect by giving them a hearty meal of cooked meat.
We learned from them that the Inuits were all on the main-land, in the
neighborhood of Thunder Cove, and that Joe had been, and still was,
very sick with rheumatism. Henry remained there with them, and
prosecuted the search of Starvation Cove, building a monument over the
remains found there, and depositing a record that Lieutenant Schwatka
had sent to him for that purpose. Before he got there, however, Joe and
a party of Netchilliks had been searching the spot, and in a pile of
stones found a small pewter medal, commemorative of the launch of the
steamer 'Great Britain', in 1843, and among the seaweed some
pieces of blanket and a skull. This was all that could be seen at this
memorable spot.