Weekly Trinity journal., 1857-02-14

An Adventure in the Arctic Regions.

The readers of Kaue's narrative of his recent
Arctic expedition could hardly have failed to
read the following passage with almost breath
less int, rest so completely were the lives of Kane
and his men dependant upon the sequel. They
were upon short allowance of food, and were
almost famishlng, with still long journey be-
fore them
Things grew worse and worse with us; the old
difficulty of breathing came back again, and our
feet swelled to such an extent that we were oblig
ed To cut open our canvas boots. But the symp.
tom which gave me most uneasiness was our ina
bility to sleep. A form of low fever which hung
by us when at work had been kept down by the
thoroughness of our daily rest all my hopes Of
escape were in the refreshing influences of the
halt
1t must be remembered that we were now In the
open bay, in the full line of the great ice drift OF
the Atlantic, and in boats so frail aud unseawor-
thy as TO require constant bailing to keep them
afoat.
1t was at this crisis of our fortunes that we saw
n large seal hoating--as is the custom of those
animals-on small patch of ice, and seemingly
asleep 1t was an aSsuf (scal,) and SO large that
ut first mstook it for 'palras. Signal was
made for the Hope to follow astcrn, aud trem-
bling with anxiety, We prepared to crawl down
upon him.
Petersen, with the large English rifle was sta
toned in the bow, and stockings were drawn over
the oars as munlers As we nearcd the animal.
our excitement became so intense that our men
could hardly keep stroke. had set of signals
for such occasions, which spared us the noise of
the voice and when about three hundred yards
off, the We're taken In. and we moved on in
deep silence with a single skull astcrr.
He was not asleep, for he reared his head when
we were almost within rifle shot and to this day
| can remember the hard, care-worn, almost des-
pairing expression of the mems thin faces as they
saw him move their lives depended on his cap.
turC
depressed my hand ncrvonsly, as signal for
Peterson to fire McGray hung upon his oar, and
the boat slowly but nosclessly saggng ahead
seemed to me within certain range Looking at
Peterson, saw that the poor fellow was pnrayz
ed hy his anxiety, trying vainly for rest for his
gun against the cutwutpr Of the boat. The seal
rose on his forc-Ilippers. gazcd at us u moment
with frightened curiosity, and coilcd himself for
a plunge At that instant. simultaneously with
the crack Of eur rifle, he relaxed his long length
on the ice, and at the very brink OF the water
his head ttll helpless to one side
would have ordered another shot, but no dis.
cipine could have controlled the men, With a
wild yell, each vociferatng according to his own
impulse, they urged the boat upon the foes. A
crowd Of hands seized the seal and bore him up
to safer ice The men ecm d half crazy | had
not realized how much we were reduced hy abso-
lute famine. They ran over the foe, crying and
laughing and brandishlng their knives. 1t was
not five minutes before every man was sucking
his bloody fingers, or mouthing long strips OF raw
bluhher
Not an ounce Of this seal was lost The intcs-
tines found their way into the soup kettles with
out any Observance of the preliminary home pro-
ceSses The cartagnous parts Of the fore # ip-
pers were cut OF in the melee and passed round
to be chewed upon and even the liver, warm aud
raw as il was. babe fair to be eaten before il had
seen the pot. That night on the large halting-
foe to which, in contempt Of the dangers Of
drifting. we happy men had hauled our boats two
entire panks OF the Red Eric were devoted to n
grand cooking fire, and we enjoyed raw aud
savage feast