The Press.
London, England, 1853-07-30 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Mr. Gurney ; but they do not add to the bio-
graphical illustrations we ahead/ possess of
the great ornament of the - Kirk.'

Ten Months oniony the Tents of the T.sski, with
Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in
Search of Sir John Franklin. By Lieutenant
W. H. Hooper, R.N. Loudon : Murray.
THE title of this work scarcely does justice to
its contents. Lieutenant Hooper, after his
winter spent in Behring's Straits, was selected
to proceed on a boat expedition to the east-
ward, anti traversing more than thirty degrees
of longitude, coasting the southern shore of
the Polar Sea, finally ascended Mackenzie's
River, and by that route reached the settle-
ments on Hudson's Bay. His whole expedi-
tion occupied nearly four years ; and the nar-
rative before us, though simply and in parts
diffusely written, is interesting from authen-
ticity, and from the novelty of the scenes de-
seribed.
It will be remembered that early in 181$
three separate expeditions set forth in search
of Franklin. One, under the command of Sir
James Ross, proceeded up Davis's Straits, fol-
lowing in the supposed track of the navigator ;
another, under Sir John Richardson, under-
took to explore the northern coasts of America
by land ; and the third, consisting of H.M.S.
Plover, directed its course to Behring's Straits
and the adjoining seas, concerning which less
is known than of any other accessible part of
the Arctic regions.
The Plover, leaving England in January, and
touching at the Sandwich Islands in August,
struck soundings in the straits October sth,
having taken more titan eight months to remit
her cruising-ground. Little or nothing could
be done at that season except to establish
friendly communications with the natives, and
ascertain their ignorance as to the fate of
Fntoklin's party. A ten months detention en-
sued, at the close of which, in July '49, our
author, with another officer, was detached on
his arduous boat-voyage. Fort Macpherson
(lat. tl7 deg., long. 135 deg.), a trading post es-
tablished by the Hudson's Bay Company, not
far from the Mackenzie River, received the tau
vigators in September ; whence, proceeding to
Fort Franklin, on the limit Bear Lake, they
wintered a second time among the Arctic
snows. An ineffectual attempt to survey the
coast eastward, along which they advanced no
farther than Cape Bathurst (long. 128 deg.), con-
sumed the brief anti dreary summer of 1850;
when driven southward by increasing cold and
scanty supplies, they once more endured the
confinement and privations of a winter in the
north-west, until released by the opening of the
rivers in June '5l. Their difficulties were now
over, and on the 7th September they lauded
in England, after an absence of three years
and eight months.
The most absolutely original, though to us
not the most interesting, part of this narrative
is that which relates to the Tuski tribes—s
race never before examined ut leisure, though
casually visited by preceding navigators. Cook
and Bellying touched on their coasts, but held
with them no long or habitual intercourse.
Wrangell, the Russian discoverer, saw only a
few individuals of the tribe; and except for the
casual detention of the Plover, in her first winter
quarters, it is probable that their habits would
have remained unknown to civilised explorers.
They appear to consist of two distinct races,
living together, yet differing widely in dress,
and occupations. The Tuski proper,
says Mr. Hooper, keep large herds of reindeer,
and live fur the most part on flesh. The other,
or immigrant roc:., subsists by fishing, in-
habits the coast only, dresses in seal skins, is
filthy in its habits, and altogether bears marks
of physical and moral inferiority. Here is the
portrait of the superior or abonginal tribe :
The Tuski Proper are mostly either tall or stunted in
their growth, few petsons appearing of a ntiddle stature.
I estimate the average height of the tall men to be about
4 it. In in.. while the more puny would probably not
exceed 15 ft. in. This differ...nee does not hold good as
regards their build ; all are large limbed, broad shouldered,
and of a robust full habit, possessing great strength,
powers of endurance, activity, and dexterity in their
employments. The women do not vary so much in
stature, and are tall in proportion to the men ; they also
are stout and strong, and display a notable perfonnanee of
their numerous duties.

Thereat of skull and eounteuance are, as far as my very
limited knowledge of the subject extends, pure Mongolian ;
faces broad, round, and Mat; high cheek bones; nose
broad, dat. and almost bridgeleas, in many instances au
deeply sunken iu the tit face, that a ruler would meetly he
*crow the cheeks without touching it; ryes placed in a
slightly oblique position ; lips large and heavy, displaying
much of the animal; ears small and delicate : bands and
feet also iery small but tither thick ; hair jet black.
coarse and straight; whisker* or heard but seldom
existing, and then only in a few straggling hairs which are
plucked out with a knife; the whole exprviititott of COUlite•
mwu'r is NIMObt identical with Chincae—a point which
forcibly struck me at first sight. Their limbs an' of
splendid museular development ; wrists and ankles very
tine, but neck generally short and thick ; compiezi 111 l ovary.
ing from a light olive to I, deeper hue, but very dark tints
only occasionally seen. The men generally clip the hair
On the crown of the head, leai tug only a circlet about
three inches broad around it ; the women let the hair
gntw with the excepti 111 l of that on the forehead, which is
cut and combed down to the eyebrows. The faces of the
women are tattooed on the chin iu diverging lines:
men only make a permanent wark on the lice for an act
Of prowess or success, such as killing a bear, capturing a
whale. fir., and Ichstbl) also, in war time, for the death of
MI enemy.
•

The eount ry appears barren anti desolate in
the extreme. vegetation exists only in the
lowest and most united forms, volcanic hills
cross and reeross one another in confused
ridges, but only one live volcano was heard of,
and sour seen, by the expedition. The natives
inhabit huts or tents, of walrus-skin. sonic-
times of large size, but generally not exceed-
ing ten or twelve feet in diameter. These
habitations. by Mr. Hooper's description, are
somewhat less dirty than those of the Esqui-
maux, though ventilation is little cared for,
and men and dogs lodge under the saute roof.
Nothing in the nature of a government was
observed ; yet even here, as in all communities,
savage or civilised, some gradations of social
rank seem to he recognised. Polygamy is
allowed, but. from difficulty of subsistence,
limited in practice to the wealthy, All savages
are thievish : the Tuski, however, gave little
trouble, and no single quarrel or instance of
violent. conduct occurred between them and
the ships company. Some even manifested
gratitude and disinterested attachment for
acts of kindness shown them. A few have
visited the Russian settlements on the 'Wynn'
—an occasional access to semi-civilisation
which does not Kevin to have produced any
effect on the Mass of their countrymen. Front
the Russians they have apparently learnt no-
thing, except, perhaps, a barbarously-distorted
imitation of their music. The religious cere-
monies of the Tuski were few, and apparently
simple ; though to our travellers incompre-
hensible. Besides reindeer, their chief do-
mestic are dogs, which they use
cruelly, starving and heating them with-
out mercy. The endurance of heat and
cold shown by some of the tribe astonished
Mr. Hooper: they thought nothing of passing
from an outdoor temperature Of —29 to the
interior of as hut heated to +lOO. They are
hardy and robust, and live long.
We shall not t'ollow Mr. Hooper through the
record of his adventures by sea and land in
the Hudson's Bay country. Even Arctic
explorers are not called upon to sutler greater
hardships than those which often full to the
lot of the company's traders. Abate among
Indians, sometimes for months at a tine,
liable to the severest privations kola cold and
want of food, their lives always at the mercy
of the half-tamed savages who surround them,
their time spent in hunting or selling furs, or
during the long winter months in dreary and
solitary idleness, they form a corps for hardi•
hood and endurance probably unmatched in
the world. It is well known that the great
majority of these men are Scotch, and that a
large proportion come fromthe Orkney
Islands. liere is a story of hardship endured,
which but for Mr. Hooper aecidentally hear-
ing and noting it dimwit would doubtless have
gained uu publicity aw. been forgotten in a
few yearn. IVe nre 1)1111)01(11 to abridge, but
give the substance faithfully.
Mr. U., a servant of the company, was sent
to ti small trading post situated on a branch
of the Mackenzie. lie arrived in spring—
passed the summer without inconvenience,
though now and then short of provisions—Willi
unexpectedly joined by another Englishman,
which put the party on half-rations—shared
his stock with the new-comer, who left hint W
find subsistence elsewhere—maintained his