Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-10-11

ing the hunt, and forcing all of us to
flee for our lives. Otuntok, the native
who was with me, had a team of ten fine
dogs, and with these we managed just to
keep in advance of the storm and of the
crushing, crashing, heaving, grinding
pack, tossing into mountains and cleft
into ravines behind us. until we found
ourselves on the western side of Baffin S
BaE, in a region which recognIzed to
be not far from Cape Clarence, where
the whalemen sometimes go for birds
and their eggs. A happy inspiration
seized me. FOtuntok,' said 1 this is
the way to the happy hunting-grounds
of the north, of which / have told you.
No greenland glaciers here. Let us got
He hesitated, tremhled, and consented.
We had a great store of wolves flesh;
we fed and rested the dogs, caught birds
and eggs. and then started anew on the
great, unknown quest towards the i'm
possible North, going as nigh as we
could make the course due northwest,
straight to the polei The land we were
in was all unknown to us; no white
men had ever penetrated days jour-
ney inland, nor had any of Otuntok's
people ever before crossed over to it that
he was aware of; yet it was evidently
the right way, and the only way to
reach the open Polar Sea, snpposing il
to exist. Z Etfllk -
SCI need not repeat to you the reason
1 had for believing in the existence OF
this sea, and its practicability as route
to the pole. You will find them in
many books. But / felt sure that if
such a sea existed north of Greenland,
north of Nova Zembla, north of New
fSiberia and Spitzbergen. it must bound
the land 1 had reached also (what is
called Grinnell Land OF Kane's and De
Haven's maps) at distance of not over
twenty days clever sledge journey. T
! expected to find, in the higher latitude
/ was seeking, a miher climate as we
approached the deep uncongealable sea,
and consequently, an increased amount
of the means of subsistence. expected
to find an Inhabited region, for knew
that BOothia was peopled from the
north; a great variety of birds, and,
when water was once reached, abun-
dance of walrus, seals, fish, etc. On the
shores of this sea thought it likely the
great Kuro Siwo channel, that flows
from the tropics and Japan by Behring's
Straits, would have stranded much tim
ber and fragments of wreck, out of
which might make a raft to navigate
| towards the pole. More than all,
| knew that there were no icebergs in
any waters west of Baffin's Bay, and, if
no icebergs, then no glaciers sufficiently
| stupendous to keep us from reaching the
north.
| "We set out, Otuntok and /. 1t was
a frightful journey; may never have
to take such another. Tne coast rose
| abruptly into mountainous cliffs, split
| by frost into cracks and ravines of every
shape. We followed the ice-foot, for a
day before we could find ford by
which to penetrate this barrier. A gla-
eier hung down into the head of this
ford at an angle of forty-five degrees; it
seemed smooth anu we followed it up,
up into the heart of the mountains. 1t
look us three days to cross the fretted
| granite ridge where spire of ieicle and
peak of denuded rock stood together
side by side like the teeth of a comb. To
/ the west and northward as far as eye
could reach, we beheld table-land
1 spread out, desert of snow and ice.
| slOping with a gentle decline to the
nOrth-a gaunt, inclined plain, out of
which rose occasional rocks of black
lava, from which the wind had blown
the snow. Eastward, Baffin's Bay Law
like chased piece of silver-snow and
ice, foe, hummock, and pinnacled berg
strangely intermingled; beyond, the
dim, bleak shores of Greenland, from
which we had come, with Cape Dudley
Digges highest, and the outline of coast
far up Davis's straits. Otuntok gave q
J look homeward, howled a sort Of pite-
Gus refrain that the dogs responded tc
most piaintively, and then sturdily fol-
lowed me down the glaciered terrace:
towards the plain.
sit was land Of famine and misery
a trackless region of loneliness and des
olatiOn, the grave and burial-place ot
nature, over which i'm the breath of a
damp, cruel northerly wind, brooded a
sky thick as pea-soup, and a sinking
made the spirits grow faint and limp a.
wetted linen. Otuntok whimpered lik,
a sick child, the dogs would not trave
fast, and yelped, snarled, fought. anG
dropped their tails like the most low
spirited cubs that ever had Fremont
tiOns of hydrophobia. We saw not
living thing besides ourselves for nin
, long dreary days and nights that VI
. pursued this frightful way. Not
beast, not bird crossed our path not
gnat nor mosquito came to cheer us witt
: home-like buzzing sound; not vestig
!, of lichen, not sprig of any greer
! thing nor of anythingsthat had eve
:. been green was encountered We saw
Z no tracks nor any sign of life whatever
u AL was waste, desolate waste; aban
doned forever of nature and of Coz
E alike. / would have turned back, a
Otuntok repeatedly begged me, but 70
: that resOlute impulsion that held me to
4 wards the north. Nine days and night
over the trackless snow, among th
: black boulders of lava. Luckily for u
! the travelling was good, the surfac
level, the snow hard frozen still eXcep
where the fogs had softened its SUI
% face. Nine days and nights and the
l. the famine threatened us. We had bu
flesh enough for one day more. W
!, slept wearily on the ninth night, as W
u called our hours OF rest, fed our dog
we'll in the morning, and then, saving
!, few pounds of walrus liver for ourselve.
u sprang into the lightened sledge an
ls whipped the dogs up to their uttermos
y speed. The damp wind blew dampe
Is still from the north, the fogs thickenet
the snow was softer and more difficu
n- to cross, yet still we pressed on. Sue
D. denly, no snow, and the dogs halte
a and refused to go farther over what VI
of could see in the dim darkness and tt
IN fog was green, quaking morass "
m had come upon, out of which beyond IL
I'd through the mist, came perplexity (
n strange voices of we knew not wha
n We turned back to a higher place whe
re it was day, and there under fros1
In riven boulder we securely fastened tt
~ tiTcu, hungry uOXs, anu when Lney na
's howled themselves to sleep we la
he awake and listened to the indescribab
a sounds that came with weird gibberins
in to us out of the driving mists like ii
he drear wailing of hyperboreah ghos
r. stranded upon the midnight shores
ee Styx. Some hours later, when Otunto
as had fairly cried himself to sleep, l wi
8, aware of change in the wind whie
ne blew now from the southwest, shal
he and freezing. 1 did not care, so
he drove away the crrel fog. Then
nd dropped asleep, aud when l awake
he again, with chorus of yells in my ear
l found it was already clear, day brea
ny ing into its long Arctic dawn, and Otu
all tok and the dogs engaged in hand-t
ny hand fight with monstrous he-bea
to Before could get to the spot with N
ret harpOOn and hatchet, the brave Esqu
ut natx had thrust his lance sheer throus
20 the beasts heart, and the savage dog
lid bounding in, had tlirottled him rs
cir lay, and were satisfying their hung
n by sucking the warm spouting bloc
3 While Otuntok skinned the animal al
III fed the dogs, l looked about me wi
to wonder. The fog was gone, and rig
IA before u.s. slot,inr northward was