Journey across Greenland.--Meeting Esquimaux.--Reaching the West
Coast.--Return to Civilization and Home.
When Nansen and his companions, after their perilous adventures
in the drift-ice, landed with flags flying on their boats on the
east waste of Greenland, the first thing they did was to give vent
to their feelings in a ringing hurrah--a sound which those wild and
barren crags had never re-echoed before. Their joy, indeed, on feeling
firm ground beneath their feet once more baffles description. In a
word, they conducted themselves like a pack of schoolboys, singing,
laughing, and playing all manner of pranks. The Lapps, however, did
not partake in the general merriment, but took themselves off up the
mountain-side, where they remained several hours.
But when their first ebullition of joy had somewhat subsided, Nansen
himself followed the example of the Lapps, and clambered up the slope
in order to get a good view over the landscape, leaving the others
to prepare the banquet they determined to indulge in that evening on
the sea-beach. And here he remained some little while, entranced with
the wondrous beauty of the scene. The sea and the ice stretched far
away to the east, shining like a belt of silver beneath him, while on
the west the mountain-tops were bathed in a flood of hazy sunshine,
and the inland ice, the "Sahara of the North," extended in a level
unbroken plain for miles and miles into the interior.
A snow bunting perched on a stone close by him, and chirped a welcome;
a mosquito came humming through the air to greet the stranger, and
settled on his hand. He would not disturb it; it was a welcome from
home. It wanted his blood, and he let it take its fill. To the south
the grand outline of Cape Tordenskjold rose up in the horizon, its
name and form recalling his country to his mind; and there arose in
his breast an earnest desire, a deep longing, to sacrifice anything
and everything for his beloved "Old Norway."
On rejoining his comrades, the feast was ready. It consisted of oatmeal
biscuits, Gruyere cheese, whortleberry jam, and chocolate; and there
is little doubt that these six adventurers "ate as one eats in the
springtime of youth." For it had been unanimously resolved that,
for this one day at least, they would enjoy themselves to the full;
on the morrow their daily fare would be, to eat little, sleep little,
and work as hard as possible. To-day, then, should be the first and
the last of such indulgence. Time was precious!
On the next day, therefore, they resumed their northward journey,
along the east coast, fighting their way day and night, inch by inch,
foot by foot, through the drift-ice; at times in peril, at others
in safety; past Cape Adelaer, past Cape Garde, ever forward in one
incessant, monotonous struggle. And now they approached the ill-omened
Puisortok, of which Esquimaux and European seafarers had many an evil
tale to tell. There, it was said, masses of ice would either shoot up
suddenly from beneath the surface of the water, and crush any vessel
that ventured near, or would fall down from the overhanging height,
and overwhelm it. There not a word must be spoken! there must be no
laughing, no eating, no smoking, if one would pass it in safety! Above
all, the fatal name of Puisortok must not pass the lips, else the
glacier would be angry, and certain destruction ensue.
Nansen, however, it may be said, did not observe these regulations,
and yet managed to pass it in safety. In his opinion there was nothing
very remarkable or terrible about it.
But something else took place at Puisortok that surprised him and
his companions.
On July 30, as they were preparing their midday meal, Nansen heard,
amid the shrill cries of the seabirds, a strange weird sound. What
it could be he could not conceive. It resembled the cry of a loon
more than anything else, and kept coming nearer and nearer. Through
his telescope, however, he discerned two dark specks among the
ice-floes, now close together, now a little apart, making straight
for them. They were human beings evidently--human beings in the midst
of that desert region of ice, which they had thought to be a barren,
uninhabited waste. Balto, too, watched their approach attentively,
with a half astonished, half uneasy look, for he believed them to be
supernatural beings.
On came the strangers, one of them bending forward in his kayak [30]
as if bowing in salutation; and, on coming alongside the rock, they
crawled out of their kayaks and stood before Nansen and his companions
with bare heads, dressed in jackets and trousers of seal-skin, smiling,
and making all manner of friendly gestures. They were Esquimaux, and
had glass beads in their jet-black hair. Their skin was of a chestnut
hue, and their movements, if not altogether graceful, were attractive.
On coming up to our travellers they began to ask questions in a strange
language, which, needless to say, was perfectly unintelligible. Nansen,
indeed, tried to talk to them in Esquimau from a conversation book
in that tongue he had with him, but it was perfectly useless. And
it was not till both parties had recourse to the language of signs
that Nansen was able to ascertain that they belonged to an Esquimau
encampment to the north of Puisortok.
These two Esquimaux were good-natured looking little beings; and
now they began to examine the equipments of the travellers, and
taste their food, with which they seemed beyond measure pleased,
expressing their admiration at all they saw by a long-drawn kind
of bovine bellow. Finally they took leave, and set off northward in
their kayaks which they managed with wonderful dexterity, and soon
disappeared from sight.
At six the same evening our travellers followed in the same
direction, and in a short time reached the Esquimau encampment at
Cape Bille. Long, however, before their eyes could detect any signs
of tents or of human beings, their sense of smell became aware of a
rank odor of train-oil, accompanied by a sound of voices; and they
presently saw numbers of Esquimaux standing on the sea-beach, and on
the rocks, earnestly watching the approach of the strangers.
It was a picturesque sight that presented itself to the eyes of
our travellers.
"All about the ledges of the rocks," writes Nansen, "stood long rows of
strangely wild, shaggy looking creatures, men, women and children--all
dressed in much the same scanty attire, staring and pointing at us,
and uttering the same cowlike sound we had heard in the forenoon. It
was just as if a whole herd of cows were lowing one against another,
as when the cowhouse door is opened in the morning to admit the
expected fodder."
They were all smiling,--a smile indeed, is the only welcoming salute of
the Esquimaux,--all eager to help Nansen and his companions ashore,
chattering away incessantly in their own tongue, like a saucepan
boiling and bubbling over with words, not one of which, alas, could
Nansen or his companions understand.
Presently Nansen was invited to enter one of their tents, in which
was an odor of such a remarkable nature, such a blending of several
ingredients, that a description thereof is impossible. It was the
smell, as it were, of a mixture of train-oil, human exhalations,
and the effluvium of fetid liquids all intimately mixed up together;
while men and women, lying on the floor round the fire, children
rolling about everywhere, dogs sniffing all around, helped to make
up a scene that was decidedly unique.
All of the occupants were of a brownish-greyish hue, due mostly
to the non-application of soap and water, and were swarming with
vermin. All of them were shiny with train-oil, plump, laughing,
chattering creatures--in a word, presenting a picture of primitive
social life, in all its original blessedness.
Nansen does not consider the Esquimaux, crosseyed and flat-featured
though they be, as by any means repulsive looking. The nose he
describes, in the case of children, "as a depression in the middle
of the face," the reverse ideal, indeed, of a European nose.
On the whole he considers their plump, rounded forms to have a genial
appearance about them, and that the seal is the Esquimau prototype.
The hospitality of these children of nature was boundless. They would
give away all they possessed, even to the shirt on their backs,
had they possessed such an article; and certainly showed extreme
gratitude when their liberality was reciprocated, evidently placing
a high value on empty biscuit-tins, for each time any of them got
one presented to him he would at once bellow forth his joy at the gift.
But what especially seemed to attract their interest was when Nansen
and his companions began to undress, before turning in for the night
into their sleeping-bags; while to watch them creep out of the same
the next morning afforded them no less interest. They entertained,
however, a great dread of the camera, for every time Nansen turned
its dark glass eye upon them, a regular stampede would take place.
Next day Nansen and the Esquimaux parted company, some of the latter
proceeding on their way to the south, others accompanying him on his
journey northward. The leavetaking between the Esquimaux was peculiar,
being celebrated by cramming their nostrils full of snuff from each
other's snuff-horns. Snuff indeed is the only benefit, or the reverse,
it seems the Esquimaux have derived from European civilization up
to date; and is such a favorite, one might say necessary, article
with them that they will go on a shopping expedition to the south to
procure it, a journey that often takes them four years to accomplish!
The journey northward was an extremely fatiguing one, for they
encountered such stormy weather that their boats more than once
narrowly escaped being nipped in the ice. As a set-off, however, to
this, the scenery proved to be magnificent,--the floating mountains of
ice resembling enchanted castles, and all nature was on a stupendous
scale. Finally they reached a harbor on Griffenfeldt's Island,
where they enjoyed the first hot meal they had had on their coasting
expedition, consisting of caraway soup. This meal of soup was a great
comfort to the weary and worn-out travellers. Here a striking but
silent testimony of that severe and pitiless climate presented itself
in the form of a number of skulls and human bones lying blanched and
scattered among the rocks, evidently the remains of Esquimaux who in
times long gone by had perished from starvation.
After an incredible amount of toil, Nansen arrived at a small island
in the entrance of the Inugsuazmuit Fjord, and thence proceeded to
Skjoldungen where the water was more open. Here they encamped, and
were almost eaten up by mosquitoes.
On Aug. 6 they again set out on their way northward, meeting with
another encampment of Esquimaux, who were, however, so terrified at
the approach of the strangers, that they one and all bolted off to
the mountain, and it was not till Nansen presented them with an empty
tin box and some needles that they became reassured, after which they
accompanied the expedition for some little distance, and on parting
gave Nansen a quantity of dried seal's flesh.
The farther our travellers proceeded on their journey, the more
dissatisfied and uneasy did Balto and Ravna become. Accordingly one
day Nansen took the opportunity of giving Balto a good scolding,
who with tears and sobs gave vent to his complaints, "They had not
had food enough--coffee only three times during the whole journey;
and they had to work harder than any beast the whole livelong day,
and he would gladly give many thousands of kroner to be safe at home
once more."
There was indeed something in what Balto said. The fare had
unquestionably been somewhat scanty, and the work severe; and it was
evident that these children of nature, hardy though they were, could
not vie with civilized people when it became a question of endurance
for any length of time, and of risking life and taxing one's ability
to the utmost.
Finally, on Aug. 10, the expedition reached Umivik in a dense fog,
after a very difficult journey through the ice, and encamped for the
last time on the east coast of Greenland. Here they boiled coffee,
shot a kind of snipe, and lived like gentlemen, so that even Balto
and Ravna were quite satisfied. The former, indeed, began intoning
some prayers, as he had heard the priest in Finmarken do, in a very
masterly manner,--a pastime, by the way, he never indulged in except
he felt his life to be quite safe.
The next day, Aug. 11, rose gloriously bright. Far away among the
distant glaciers a rumbling sound as of cannon could be heard, while
snow-covered mountains towered high, overhead, on the other side
of which lay boundless tracts of inland ice. Nansen and Sverdrup
now made a reconnoitring expedition, and did not return till five
o'clock the next morning. It still required some days to overhaul
and get everything in complete order for their journey inland; and
it was not till nine o'clock in the evening of Aug. 16, after first
dragging up on land the boats, in which a few necessary articles of
food were stored, together with a brief account of the progress of
the expedition carefully packed in a tin box, that they commenced
their journey across the inland ice.
Nansen and Sverdrup led the way with the large sleigh, while the
others, each dragging a smaller one, followed in their wake. Thus these
six men, confident of solving the problem before them, with the firm
earth beneath their feet, commenced the ascent of the mountain-slope
which Nansen christened "Nordenskjoeld's Nunatak." [31]
Their work had now begun in real earnest--a work so severe and arduous
that it would require all the strength and powers of endurance they
possessed to accomplish it. The ice was full of fissures, and these
had either to be circumvented or crossed, a very difficult matter
with heavily laden sleighs. A covering of ice often lay over these
fissures, so that great caution was required. Hence their progress was
often very slow, each man being roped to his fellow; so that if one of
them should happen to disappear into one of these fathomless abysses,
his companion could haul him up. Such an occurrence happened more than
once; for Nansen as well as the others would every now and then fall
plump in up to the arms, dangling with his legs over empty space. But
it always turned out well; for powerful hands took hold of the rope,
and the practised gymnasts knew how to extricate themselves.
At first the ascent was very hard work, and it will readily be
understood that the six tired men were not sorry on the first night
of their journey to crawl into their sleeping-bags, after first
refreshing the inner man with cup after cup of hot tea.
Yet, notwithstanding all the fatigue they had undergone, there was so
much strength left in them that Dietrichson volunteered to go back and
fetch a piece of Gruyere cheese they had left behind when halting for
their midday meal. "It would be a nice little morning walk," he said,
"before turning in!" And he actually went--all for the sake of a
precious bit of cheese!
Next day there was a pouring rain that wet them through. The work
of hauling the sleighs, however, kept them warm. But later in the
evening, it came down in such torrents that Nansen deemed it advisable
to pitch the tent, and here they remained, weather-bound, for three
whole days. And long days they were! But our travellers followed
the example of bruin in winter; that is, they lay under shelter the
greater part of the time, Nansen taking care that they should also
imitate bruin in another respect,--who sleeps sucking his paw,--by
giving them rations once a day only. "He who does no work shall have
little food," was his motto.
On the forenoon of the twentieth, however, the weather improved;
and our travellers again set out on their journey, having first
indulged in a good warm meal by way of recompense for their three
days' fasting. The ice at first was very difficult, so much so that
they had to retrace their steps, and, sitting on their sleighs,
slide down the mountain slope. But the going improved, as also did
the weather. "If it would only freeze a little," sighed Nansen. But
he was to get enough of frost before long.
On they tramped, under a broiling sun, over the slushy snow. As there
was no drinking-water to be had, they filled their flasks with snow,
carrying them in their breast-pockets for the heat of their bodies
to melt it.
On Aug. 22 there was a night frost; the snow was hard and in good
condition, but the surface so rough and full of lumps and frozen waves
of slush, that the ropes with which they dragged the sleighs cut and
chafed their shoulders. "It was just as if our shoulders were being
burnt," Balto said.
They now travelled mostly by night, for it was better going then, and
there was no sun to broil them; while the aurora borealis, bathing as
it were the whole of the frozen plain in a flood of silvery light,
inspired them with fresh courage. The surface of the ice over which
they travelled was as smooth and even as a lake newly frozen over. Even
Balto on such occasions would indulge in a few oaths, a thing he never
allowed himself except when he felt "master of the situation." He was
a Finn, you see, and perhaps had no other way of giving expression
to his feelings!
As they got into higher altitudes the cold at night became more
intense. Occasionally they were overtaken by a snowstorm, when they
had to encamp in order to avoid being frozen to death; while at times,
again, the going would become so heavy in the fine drifting snow that
they had to drag their sleighs one by one, three or four men at a time
to each sleigh, an operation involving such tremendous exertion that
Kristiansen, a man of few words, on one such occasion said to Nansen,
"What fools people must be to let themselves in for work like this!"
To give some idea of the intense cold they had to encounter it may
be stated that, at the highest altitude they reached,--9,272 feet
above the sea,--the temperature fell to below -49 deg. Fahrenheit, and
this, too, in the tent at night, the thermometer being under Nansen's
pillow. And all this toil and labor, be it remembered, went on from
Aug. 16 to the end of September, with sleighs weighing on an average
about two hundred and twenty pounds each, in drifting snow-dust,
worse than even the sandstorms of Sahara.
In order to lighten their labor, Nansen resolved to use sails on the
sleighs--a proceeding which Balto highly disapproved of: "Such mad
people he had never seen before, to want to sail over the snow! He
was a Lapp, he was, and there was nothing they could teach him on
land. It was the greatest nonsense he had ever heard of!"
Sails, however, were forthcoming, notwithstanding Balto's objections;
and they sat and stitched them with frozen fingers in the midst of
the snow. But it was astonishing what a help they proved to be; and
so they proceeded on their way, after slightly altering their course
in the direction of Godthaab. [32]
Thus, then, we see these solitary beings, looking like dark spots
moving on an infinite expanse of snow, wending their way ever onward,
Nansen and Sverdrup side by side, ski-staff and ice-axe in hand,
in front, earnestly gazing ahead as they dragged the heavy sleigh,
while close behind followed Dietrichson and Kristiansen, Balto and
Ravna bringing up the rear, each dragging a smaller sleigh. So it
went on for weeks; and though it tried their strength, and put their
powers of endurance to a most severe test, yet, if ever the thought
of "giving it up" arose in their minds, it was at once scouted by all
the party, the two Lapps excepted. One day Balto complained loudly to
Nansen. "When you asked us," he said, "in Christiania, what weight we
could drag, we told you we could manage one hundredweight each, but
now we have double that weight, and all I can say is, that, if we can
drag these loads over to the west coast, we are stronger than horses."
Onward, however, they went, in spite of the cold, which at times was
so intense that their beards froze fast to their jerseys, facing
blinding snowstorms that well-nigh made old Ravna desperate. The
only bright moments they enjoyed were when sleeping or at their
meals. The sleeping-bags, indeed, were a paradise; their meals,
ideals of perfect bliss.
Unfortunately, Nansen had not taken a sufficient supply of fatty
food with him, and to such an extent did the craving for fat go,
that Sverdrup one day seriously suggested that they should eat
boot-grease--a compound of boiled grease and old linseed oil! Their
great luxury was to eat raw butter, and smoke a pipe after it. First
they would smoke the fragrant weed pure and simple; when that was
done, the tobacco ash, followed by the oil as long as it would burn;
and when this was all exhausted, they would smoke tarred yarn,
or anything else that was a bit tasty! Nansen, who neither smoked
nor chewed, would content himself with a chip of wood, or a sliver
off one of the "truger" (snowshoes). "It tasted good," he said,
"and kept his mouth moist."
Finally, on Sept. 14, they had reached their highest altitude, and
now began to descend toward the coast, keeping a sharp lookout for
"land ahead." But none was yet to be seen, and one day Ravna's patience
completely gave way. With sobs and moans he said to Nansen,--
"I'm an old Fjeld-Lapp, and a silly old fool! I'm sure we shall never
get to the coast!"
"Yes," was the curt answer, "it's quite true! Ravna is a silly
old fool!"
One day, however, shortly afterward, while they were at dinner,
they heard the twittering of a bird close by. It was a snow-bunting,
bringing them a greeting from the west coast, and their hearts grew
warm within them at the welcome sound.
On the next day, with sails set, they proceeded onward down the
sloping ground, but with only partial success. Nansen was standing
behind the large sleigh to steady it, while Sverdrup steered from
the front. Merrily flew the bark; but, unfortunately, Nansen stumbled
and fell, and had hard work to regain his legs, and harder work still
to gather up sundry articles that had fallen off the sleigh, such as
boxes of pemmican, fur jackets, and ice-axes. Meanwhile Sverdrup and
the ship had almost disappeared from view, and all that Nansen could
see of it was a dark, square speck, far ahead across the ice. Sverdrup
had been sitting all the while in front, thinking what an admirable
passage they were making, and was not a little astonished, on looking
behind, to find that he was the only passenger on board. Matters,
however, went on better after this; and in the afternoon, as they were
sailing their best and fastest, the joyful cry of "Land ahead!" rang
through the air. The west coast was in sight! After several days'
hard work across fissures and over uneven ice, the coast itself was
finally reached. But Godthaab was a long, long way off still, and to
reach it by land was sheer impossibility.
The joy of our travellers on once more feeling firm ground beneath
their feet, and of getting real water to drink, was indescribable. They
swallowed quart after quart, till they could drink no more. The Lapps,
as usual took themselves off to the fjeld to testify their joy.
That evening was the most delightful one they had experienced for
weeks, one never to be forgotten in after years, when, with their
tent pitched, and a blazing fire of wood, they sat beside it, Sverdrup
smoking a pipe of moss in lieu of tobacco, and Nansen lying on his back
on the grass, which shed a strange and delightful perfume all around.
But how was Godthaab to be reached? By land it was
impossible! Therefore the journey must be made by sea! But there was
no boat! A boat, then, must be built. And Sverdrup and Nansen were the
men to solve the problem. They set to work, and by evening the boat
was finished. Its dimensions were eight feet five inches in length,
four feet eight inches in breadth, and it was made of willows and
sail-cloth. The oars were of bamboo and willow branches, across the
blades of which canvas was stretched. The thwarts were made from
bamboo, and the foot of one of their scientific instruments which,
by the way, chafed them terribly, and were very uncomfortable seats.
All preparations being now made, Nansen and Sverdrup set off on
their adventurous journey. The first day it was terribly hard work,
for the water was too shallow to admit of rowing. On the second day,
however, they put out to sea. Here they had at times to encounter
severe weather, fearing every moment lest their frail bark should be
swamped or capsized. At night they would sleep on the naked shore
beneath the open sky. From morning till night struggling away with
their oars, living on hot soup and the sea-birds they shot, which were
ravenously devoured without much labor being devoted to cooking the
same. Finally they reached their destination, meeting with a hearty
welcome, accompanied by a salute from cannon fired off in their honor,
when once it was ascertained who the new arrivals were.
Nansen's first inquiry was about a ship for Denmark, and he learned,
to his great disappointment, that the last vessel for the season had
sailed from Godthaab two months before, and that the nearest ship,
the Fox, was lying at Ivitgut, three hundred miles off.
It was a terrible blow in the midst of their joy. Home had, as it
were, at one stroke receded many hundreds of miles away; and here
they would have to pass a whole winter and spring, while dear ones at
home would think they had perished, and would be mourning for their
supposed loss all those weary months.
But this must never be! The Fox must be got at, and friends at home
must at all events get letters by her.
After a great deal of trouble Nansen at length found an Esquimau who
agreed to set off in his kayak bearing two letters. One was from
Nansen to Gamel, who had equipped the expedition; the other from
Sverdrup to his father.
This having been arranged, and boats having been sent off to fetch
their comrades from Ameralikfjord, Nansen and Sverdrup plunged into
all the joys and delights of civilized life to which they had so long
been strangers. Now they were able to indulge in the luxury of soap
and water for the first time since the commencement of their journey
across the ice. To change their clothes, to sleep in proper beds,
to eat civilized food with knives and forks on earthenware plates,
to smoke, to converse with educated beings, was to them the summum
bonum of enjoyment, and they felt themselves to be in clover.
Notwithstanding all these, Nansen did not seem altogether
himself. He was in a dreamy state, thinking perhaps of nights spent
in sleeping-bags up on the inland ice, or dreaming of that memorable
evening in the Ameralikfjord, of the hard struggles they had undergone
on the boundless plains of snow. These things flashed across him,
excluding from his mind the conviction that he had rendered his
name famous.
At last, on Oct. 12, the other members of the expedition joined
them, and these six men, who had risked their lives in that perilous
adventure, were once more assembled together.
His object had been attained, and the name of Fridtjof Nansen would
soon be known the whole world over!
That same autumn the Fox brought to Norway tidings of the success
of the expedition, and a few hours after her arrival the telegraph
announced throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world,
in few but significant words, "Fridtjof Nansen has crossed over the
inland ice of Greenland."
And the Norwegian nation, which had refused to grant the venturesome
young man 5,000 kroner ($1,350), now raised her head, and called
Fridtjof Nansen one of her best sons. And when one day in April,
after having spent a long winter in Greenland, he went on board the
Hvidbjoern [33] on his homeward journey, preparations were being made
in the capital for a festival such as a king receives when he visits
his subjects.
It was May 30: the spring sun was shining with all its brilliancy
over Norway. The Christiania fjord was teeming with yachts and small
sailing-boats. A light breeze played over the ruffled surface of the
water, while the perfume of the budding trees on its banks shed a
sweet fragrance all around. As for the town, it literally swarmed with
human beings. The quays, the fortress, the very roofs of the houses,
were densely packed with eager crowds, all of them intently gazing
seaward. Presently a shout of welcome heard faintly in the distance
announced his approach, gradually increasing in volume as he came
nearer, till it merged into one continuous roar, while thousands of
flags were waving overhead.
Eagerly the crowds pressed forward to catch the first glimpse of his
form, and when they did recognize him, their hurrahs burst forth like
a storm, and were caught up in the streets, answered from the windows,
from the tops of houses; and when they ceased for a moment from the
sheer exhaustion of those who uttered them, they were soon renewed
with redoubled vigor. And when finally Nansen had disembarked and
had entered a carriage, the police could no longer keep the people
under control. As if with one accord they dashed forward, and taking
out the horses, harnessed themselves in their place, and dragged him
through the streets of the city in triumph.
Yes, the Norwegian people had taken possession of Fridtjof Nansen!
But up at a window there stood the old housekeeper from Store Froeen,
waving her white apron, while tears of joy trickled down her face. She
it was who had bound up his bleeding head when years ago he had fallen
and cut it on the ice; she it was to whom he had often gone when in
some childish scrape. He remembered her in his hour of triumph. And
as she was laughing and crying by turns, and waving her apron, he
dashed up the steps and gave her a loving embrace.
For was she not part and parcel of his home?