Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-02-05
which the sea-worms had perforated If in

/ the awful Arctic seas. The wild duck
and the white fox have the island to
themselves, and beyond it lies the true
| commencement of the west ice the surge
| of the heavy sea breaking upon the outer
| edge of the huge floating masses, and the
| illimitable distance laden with heavy
| blocks interspersed with fiat snow. Surely
here is the end of all things, and no ship
can ever get beyond this beautiful barrier
this spray-Sprinkled diadem on the brow
of the awful Ice King, shining with al
most unbearable luster of rubies, dia-
monds, emeralds and sapphires; and the
laundering sound OF the disrupted masses
which stTew the sea is the warning of dis
missal. They heed neither, but sail to-
ward the densest part, through fringe of
broken ice in a heaving sea. forcing the
schooner at full speed, and charging the
most likely place for an entrance, as the
surge rises and falls with awful fury.
They get through, for they have men on
board who are accustomed to deal with
ice, to hit it carefully and turn it gently
from its way; and the wonderful opera
ton succeeds, the schooner stands out to
sea in broad channel, with ice walls on
either side, and the first terrific barrier
lies between them and all life that is less
than Arctic.
At first it is little difficult to grow ac-
custOmed to the absence of darkness, then
the perpetual light becomes pleasant; but
there must always be some confusion
about time, especially when occupation
is either severe toll or strong excitement,
when danger is never absent for long, and
every object is absolutely strange and
novel. To drift off into the indistinguish-
able fog on an ice layer, when in pursuit
of family Of seals, wariest and most tan
taliZing of creatures, is only an incident,
and then the sailors begin to recall dis
NAL precedents The whaling boats are
in requisitiOn and the shoals of whales
multiply, as the schooner sails northward
under the never-setting sun, amid a scene
OF silent desolation and frequently muffied
IN dense fog; awfully insignificant,
alien, and alone. Suddenly they are
beset with ice" and find themselves con-
templating an aspect of nature such as
the painter might imagine, or the poet,
with his lying license, might invent, or
the Imagination of a sleeper could fancy
in dreams of night" A great storm is
blowing over the unfrozen sea far away,
but the schooner, fastened to a bit of ice,
whose two projecting tongues keep off
the pressure Of the outer ice, which has
closed them up within 200 yards, lies in
deep calm. A boat is lowered, and The
men sit in dead silence in it, Watching
tor the narwhal, which are blowing near,
and throwing up little jets of vapor from
the blowholes on either side of the head.
The harpooner is ready, the tubs and the
line are prepared but the narwhal is
difficult game; he goes at tremendous
speed and his range of vision is wide:
co hot h. t. ii ~
ice with his spotted hide and his
polished horn, he is trophy of the first
class. Great hOrdes of this curious MAN.
NAL travel through the Arctic seas, tusk to
tusk and tail to tail. like a regiment of
cavalry, thousands strong, and their play
in great ice-encircled water-wastes is
wonderful to see, as their dappled sides
curve close to the surface, and the fitting
swords are thrust above the waves in their
reckless lunges; or they suddenly skim
along the surface, curve their backs, and
plunge headlong down, following the
vagaries Of some chosen leader. When
crew of the schooner had killed the first
narwhal, they made a vast fireplace out of
his remains, the openings between the
ribs serving for a crate, packed in with
wood and oakum and set fire to the mate
rails in order thai the OdOrous fumes
might attract any bears that might be in
the neighbOrhOod. But neither narwhal
nor bear causes such excitement as the
real right whale" the tremendous giant
of the seas, with the likeness of a mans |
head and face in the roof of his mouth |
whose coming is waited for in speeches. |
expectation, whose capture is the hardest |
work that men can do, whose value re-
pays for all the labor and all the risk even !
men who have no eyes for beauty and no |
sense for the sublimity of the scene. They |
are sailing on a silver sea, in the wonder |
full Arctic sunlight, which is unlike light |
in any other region, in the still, intoxica
ting air which fills their veins with life
and thrills them with a strange happiness
past iridescent caves rising out OF the
pure water, they can see far back into
them where the upper edges are festOoned
with dazzling ornament like a network
of lace composed of fine gems, the fringe
CLEANS in the prismatic light with every
motion of the waves and the fairy halls
are filled with awful sound. What mar
velous constant beauty and life, where
man is only brief accident.
A few days more and a herd of wal
ruses is reported (some of the individuals
which compose it look, in the drawing OF
them, like very fat, elderly men, lying on
their stomachs placidly and happily
drunk;) so, with terrible interludes OF
danger, when the schooner was driven
helplessly into the foes, and with con-
slant endurance of extreme fatigue, they
came to Spitzbergen and found magniti-
cent reindeer, the nOblest Of the Arctic
creatures. These are extremely difficult
to stalk through the ice ravines and snow
valleys for, though they have no knowl-
edge of man and his numbering propen-
sites, their keen scent warns them that
something strange is near. And they love
each other, poor, faithful beasts! with a
love stronger than fear or the instinct of
selfpreservation. ''Mr. Leigh Smith, sail
ing in Benlopen Straits in 1871, shot
large stag, but could not get near its COM
panion; as they were a long way from the
ship, he had the head and horns removed
and brought along with him to his
schooner. They saw the survivor go to
the headless remains, and then follow the
party to the ship AS it fingered on the
shore, a man quietly landed from the
boat and shot it." Over the grand beauty
Of the still transparent water of Kings
Bay; the enormous mountains, every foot
of their frontage occupied by sea bird,
until numbers fail to give any notion Of
their myriads; and the great glacier
which occupies the upper part of the har-
Dor, and fills the mind with awe-the
marvellous Arctic light is shining, and
gloriies all that it Eliminates. But where
the grandeur and the beauty are greatest,
there the solitude is most appalling, and
no where on the earth does man feel his
weakness and insipnificance so much as