The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1855-10-18
NUMBER 160.
Spring 10 draw nigh, spreparaticns were made
for sledging.
.a@ EXPLORATIONS OF THE ICE.

lOF SIeQSluS.
= EXPLORATIONS OF THE ICE.
As early as the middle of March party
was sent out for the purpose of reaching the
west shore The cold was intense, and the
great obstacle was the hammocks that obstruct-
ed the progress Of travellers.
Later in the spring, when the weather be-
came warmer; another party started, which
was led on by Or. Kane. They started with
dogs and sledges They crossed the sound
and returned safely. i'i rs '@a'
Another party was sent out to a large gla-
cier of. eighty miles inextent.si The extremity
of this glacier was the most noftherly limit of
the field of search. Beyond this glacier the
land altered its trend, it having trended from
the vicinity of Stafford's head abuto east near
er east than north. Beyond this it trended
again 30 the north, and when the whole bay
was frozen up, from short distance north of :
this glacier was discovered channel of open
water running north and south. In and along
this stream were innumerable cetacia and
birds. Sa.s
The principal food of the travellers over the
ice was procured by the rife; it consisted al
most exclusively of the pemmican.
With reference to the channel above describ-
ed it is for those conversant with geographical
theories and principles to. determine whether
water beyond, or whether it is merely one of
those tide streams which sometimes break the
frozen surface Of a northern estuary, known to
the Danes as a race. Whatever this is, one
thing is certain if it be the basis of a line of
coasts presenting mething interchangeable
something fixed, whether it be the water or
ice on which to travel-that feature alone
makes this apparently the most eligible road to
the North pole, and it is an aspiration ofAmeri-
can navigators that the American flag will not
only be borne triumphantly along this road,
but that it may some day be planted onthe
ipoint know to tradition as the pole; that in
fact the North pole shall one Gay become the
| flagstaff of their country's banner.
EARLY in the spring the New-F Foundland
dogs were exceedingly useful in carrying bur-
dens; they were indeed invaluable for short
excursions; six of them would draw burden
varying from five hundred to eight hundred
pounds, at a dog trot Of four miles an hour.
They would travel thirty miles day for several
days in succession. These dogs however were
not adapted to this climate, and the first Win
ter only two of them survived. Most of them
died in conyulsions apparently suffering from
Ilock-ja Fl si.l lssF7 90 sssz25 eli1
INHABITANTS OF THE REGION. g
In the month of March theparty was visited
by some Esquimaux, of whose existence to that
region DR.. Kane was not before aware. They
came in sledges drawn by fine large dogs, evi-
Identity of a very superisr breed; these degs
would make journey OF sixty miles day for
several weeks, carrying asingle man, and in
some instances two men behind them. The
sledges were curiously formed; some were
made of hundred of pieces of bone lashed to-
lgether with strings made ofthe oisook, alarge
seal A. few ofthem were made ofwood. There
can scarcely be people less dependent upon
the assistance ofciyilized men that these Esqui-
maux. To be sure they have their pieces Of
iron in their harpoons, but even their lances
are formed of the sharpened horns of the uni-5
corn. r....-r ~,
| In many respect these people present the low
lest form of humanity. Their notions of religion
are exceedingly crude, and resemble that de-
lscribed by Parry in his VOYAGES as belongingto
the Labrador Esquimaux. They are grossly FL
thy in their habits, and indulge in considerable
looseness of life, especially in the intercourses
the sexes. They have marriage rules and
regulations which are very singular and appar-
emily are derived from various traditions. In
this they also resemble the Esquimaux describ-
ed by Parry They are utterly regardless of all
honor except in very few instances in which
cases they appeared to be anxious to obtain ar
tcles of useful value. They are incorrigible
thieves, revoltingly filthy in their persons and
habitations, and live as much on raw as on
cooked flesh, which they eat voraciously.-
What chance they haveof Heaven is a question
for theologians; they appear to be happy and
good natured in their way, but it seems they
are gradually dying out. They have no
kyacks.
Their principal supports the wairus the
bear, and the ank "a small bird which swarms
in the Artic regions); occasionally they catch
seals, unicorns and sometimes even, though
rarely, white whales. All their fishing has
to be carried on in the cracks Of the ice They
have silky suspicion ofa beard, which dis
tingushes them from the Labrador Esquimaux,
and they are generally smaller, though there
are among them some remarkably fine speci-
mems of savages. The race seems to be decay
ing and disappearing; it is supposed that there
are not more than hundred Of them from
Cape York to Littleton Island, some five orsix
hundred miles.
CONCLUDED TOMORROW