Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-03-01

than at 10 degrees above, because it viii
soon be over. Ihayc felt the cold at home
as keenly as at any time in Lapland. And
DR.. Kane said to me, that on his landing
here on raw chilly day in October, he
felt the cold more dsagrhesbly than at any
time during the two winters on the arctic
sea. There is this difference however -
you are obliged to be continually on your
| guard for when the cold pierces through
two thicknesses of fur and then takes hold
of YOUR hands and feet, it is not thing to
be trifed with. It is the atmosphere of
death which is inhaled then. Take off
Your mittens and you seem to feel the cold
crushing your hand together ike vice
If the fingers get numb, do not imagine
that they will become warm by-and-by,
but pound them, bruise then-do ANYTHING
to keep them III motion. If you feel drow-
sy, remember there is no difference be-
tween sleep and death, and hire a man to
punch you and bang you rather than give
way to it. 1t is not the actual physical
sensation Of cold from which you suffer.
Your suffering on the other hand is men
tai. Il is the knowledge that the cold is
aggressive in its character, and must be
continuously resisted. You must be con-
tinualiy on the lookout for its approach,
as against an enemy dete. mined on your
death. There is once circumstance, how
ever. connected with a very low tempera-
ture, which is exceedingly disagreeable-
In fact it is one of TIE great diseomforts
of an arctic winter. 1t is the existence of
moisture deposited from your breath in the
form of ice the moment it leaves YOUR
mouth It forms solid mass as hard as
granite. The hair and eyebrows are as
white as snow the eye-lashes at last be-
come so solid with the particles of ice, that
you can only keep them from freezing fast
together by winking rapidly. Sometimes
the moisture in which the eye-balls move
threatens also to CONCEAL. These are dis
comforts which it is important to guard
against. The horse you drive, although
black as raven, becomes snow white in
fifteen minutes Every man you meet
seems to be prematurely old. and as YOU
travel along the road you imagine, from
the hoary locks you meet, that you are see
ing the Oldest inhaJitants.
On entering house, the outer air rush
ing along with you, and Immediately con-
gealing the moisture Of the inner an, sur
rounds you as if by magic with thick roll
ing clouds Of yapor, which almost hide you
from the view Of the persons within,
EFFECTS OF INTENSE. COLD ON MAN.
But there is still a degree of cold be-
yond all that, which have not described
1t is when there is strong wind blowing
from the North at temperature of forty
or fifty degrees below zero, The sensa-
| ton with which YOU endure it I can only
characterize as a continual struggle for life.
Then you not only feel the cold, but you
actually see it, The air is hazy with the
floating particles Of frozen moisture The
sky is like a vault of solid steel, so hard
and pale does it appear. And the wind is
t Ike blast out of shat fabulous frozen hill
Of the old Scandinavians, The touch of it
on the face is like cutting with an exceed
ingly duh and jagged knife. I endured
| this weather during two days of travel in
an open sleigh but very fortunately it was
blowing on my back. OF would have been
| obliged to give up the battle, Every man
| met who was travelling against the wind,
had face already frozen or just in the act
of freezing These purple faces surround
ed with rings of ice did not seem to belong
to human beings. DR.. Kane described to
me his sensations upon being exposed two
| days to violent storm at a temperature
forty seven degrees below zero. Although
the. physical effect was not particularly
painful, yet the mental effect was such as
to make him and lis men delirious for
some days af erwards. The physical ef-
feet of an extremely low tempera ure-pcr-
/ haps the lowest which the human frame is
capable of .eeliHG-is a sort Of slow, Lene-
trating deadly chill, rather than an acute
and painful sensation. But after the bat
tie is over, on entering warm room,
then a painful sensation commences. |
experienced a curious counterpart of this
on the African desert. During the warm
hours Of the day, with the air like the
blast Of furnace. | did not suffer any
feeling of intense heat; but after sunset
when the temperature fell rapidly, then |
began to burn and glow through and tbro'
like live coal. It would seem from that
that the absorption Of either heat or cold
in the body is much less sensi5ly felt than
the giving out Of it again.
USEFULNESS AND PECULIARIT1Es OF THE
REINDEER.
! The greater part of Lapland is high
barren table land. Along the western
coast Of Norway the land is marshy, and
the mosquitoes are worse than on Fire
/ Island A more bleak, dismal region can
hardly be imagined than these Arctic re-
gions, Human life would be impossible
but for the reindeer. What the camel is
to Arabia. the reindeer is TO Lapland.- :
Most of the REINDEER are not much larger
/ than Newfoundland dog The hoof is
divided into foar or FIVE compartments, so
that it covers a large space when the AMI
nal puts it down. but when be lifts Ii up
the parts come together. This prevents
his sinking in the snow and be is enabled
to move rapidly, while the horse would
find it almost impossible to move at all
With small muscular frame he has inI-
/ mense powers Of endurance From him the
Lap gets his clothing, his tent, his thread
and needles, (the thread from the slnews
and the needle from the bone) his meat,
milk, butter, cheese. buttons, kni.e hand