Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-24

cooking vessels taken down, jackets
were taken off and some reindeer skins were
brought and spread out The elder brothers lit
their pipes and the younger one lay down to sleep.
A place at the side OF the tent was pointed out TO
me- apparently Motifs own sleeping berth. One OF
the lamps was extinguished and one by one We lay
down TO rest During the night the girl cried sew
eral times and every occasion one OF the brothers
went and attended to her. At A. NJ. | woke the
party up and reminded them of our journey. They
all immediately rose 1t took good while to DRESS
as the boots had to be very carefully attended to.
No meal was forthcoming, but all seemed yery pleas
ant when / gave something from nv own store,
which consisted of bread and some of Wickstrom's
beafsteaks Directly after breakfast, four dogs
harpessed to the sedge and Motif and set out for
Nasskai | driving and Motif running beside the
sleige At Irgunnuk, Tschustschi village situated
one English mile east of Katinup, made a short
stav to try and hire dogs but failed procure
any, We proceeded along the shore and at 10 A. NJ
reached Nasskaj. Here we found good many of the
former inhabitants OF Ptlekaj, who had removed
their tents To this village. 1t consisted of 10
tents In all the tents, here as well at katinup
and Ireunnuk there was found plenty Of seal-blub-
Der stored up and outside could be portions OF
seals and entire seals heaped up and covered with
snow At Nasskaj went out hunting, accompanied
by a native We came upon eight hares, but could
not manage to get within shot of them. A red fox
was seen running past but also out OF gunshOt. At
2 P NJ returned to Irgunnuk and there procured
another sedge with 10 dogs and returned in it TO the
ship
To Reindeer Tschuktschis' camp, near the Taffel-
berg, southwest OF Pitlekaj, is thus described by
him:
On the 18th March, 1872 went, accompanied by
DR.. Kjelman, in sledge with five men, including
native as guide, to ercampment near Taffe!berg
with the object of trying to get some fresh rein
deer meat. The expedition was supplied with two
days provisions a tent mattresses, etc. The Rem
deer Tschuktschis were fallen i'll within eleven
/ ,-l.t,. a., ,..l,s
he,e two tents of which one was uninhabted. The
| other was occupied by the native ROtchetlen, his
| young wife, and another young couple, who, as
| understood, on a visit, their own home beng
| i'll lIgunnuk. The tents considerably smaller
than those were accustomed to see on the coast.
Round the tents were number OF sledges, piled
one upon another These sledges are distinguished
from the ordinary dog sledges by being larger and
| broader. The feet were clumsy and hewn out OF
thick timber. Our proposal to purchase reindeer
was declined at once, although we offered in eX-
change rum, tobacco, bread, and even gun.
The reason given for the refusal that at this
! time of year the reindeer are too lean to be
slaughtered. On hight about half mile from us
we saw about fifty reindeer browsing
IN THE TENT.
In the afternoon Kjelman and were invited into
the inside OF the tent, where passed an hour in
| the sleeping apartment. At our appearance inside
the lamp was lighted. 1t was fill ed with seal oil,
| sphagnum being used as wick. The hostess strove
/
pleasant as possible. She rolled up reindeer skins
into pillows and cleared space for us, that we
might be able to stretch cut at full length and en-
| Joy comfortable rest. In the outer tent supper
was got ready by the other women ; it consisted OF
boiled seal flesh. We kindly invited partake
of their meal, but we had no relish for seal meat
we declined. on the plea that we had just had our
dinner. They themselves took their meal with their
bodies inside the inner tent, but their heads under
the skin curtain in the outer tent, where the food
was. After they had finished supper they drew
their heads within the curtain and then undressed.
The hostess let her jacket fall down over her shoul-
ders barring the upper part o. her Inquire Tue rein
deer skin boots taken off, turned inside out,
and then hung up to the tent covering over the
| lamp, that they might get dry during the night.
| The women were RECALLED by us with sugar, which,
owing to their total ignorance of the subject they
| at first tasted somewhat suspiciousy, but which
| they soon found to be very much to their liking.
AS our hosts seemed to be getting sleepy, we said
90 d-night and went to our own tent, where it was
anything but warm, there being all through the
night about 81 (FahrenheiO Of frost. After
passing almost sleepless night we got up
at 7:30 o'clock next morning. When came out
of the hut all the reindeer drawn up in close
marching order. At the head of the troop went
AN OLD BUCK,
With great horns. He came up to his master, who
| had gone to meet the herd, and wished him good
morning by pushing his nose against his masters
hands. The other reindeer meanwhile stood in or
! DERBY rows, like man Of-wars crew in divisions.
The owner next went and greeted each OF the deer,
who put their between his hands to be strOked
He, ON his part, took each deer by the horns au1
examined it most carefully. When the inspection
was over, at given signal from the master all the
| herd turned right around and returned IN close
marching order with the old buck at their head, to
the previous days pasturage The whole affair
made very pleasant impression upon US. 1t was
not the cruel stern savage exercising his superiority
| in rough and barbarous fashion the animals,
but it the good master, who regarded his inferi-
ors with affection and had kind word for each one
| of them. He himself I stalwart young fellow,
| of intelligent appearance and with an agile hand
some figure, His clothes, of a remarkably good cut
and unusually beautiful reindeer skin, fitted close
| to his supple form and gave us the opportunity OF
seeing his handsome and elegant shape, which
showed to great advantage whenever he moved.
Our renewed offer TO purchase reindeer being again
| declined, we struck our tent and got back to the
] ship on the afternoon of the 18th of March
| on our way out we had seen four foxes and some
ravens. In one place we found several holes of lem
mngs dug through the snow in a santlng direction
towards the ground. Most Of them had been
SCI atched up by the foxes. The descent to one OF
these lemming holes being uninjured, we measured
it and found it to be inch and half in diameter.
During both days we had snow and thick and foggy
weather, so that could only see short distance
before us but we never lost way, ewing to the
good eyes and sagacity Of our native guide.
With the exception OF some purchases from the
natives, we did not succeed in obtaining much game,
from encroachng on the natives stock Of seal meat.
We had therefore to depend almost entirely on our
own provisions.
THE COLD,
1t is to be noticed not extreme as that which
has been encountered in the course Of some Arctic
winters, such, for instance, as those passed in the
Franklin archipelago in the coolest regions OF the
Siberian mainland On the other hand, the weather
at the winter quarters OF the Vega was unusually
stormy, and We have gone day after day, and night
after night, the distance of about mile, which
separated the ship from the observatory on shore,
through hard gale, with frost OF 30 to 46 cent?
grade In calm weather a cold OF 40 to so
centigrade is scarcely troublesome but even
with a slight breeze a frost of, for in
stance, IS, is absolutely dangerous to those
who walk against the wind and incautiously expose
portions OF their faces, hands, waits to the cold
atmosphere. Without speaking of more serious con-
sequences, frost-bites occur which, unless they are
thawed in time by rubbing with the hands or with
melted snow, may easily assume very serious char
acter Most of those who have for the first time ex-
perienced winter temperature in high ATTITUDES,
or less frost-bitten when the cold set in
several times SO much so that large frost blisters
half inch in diameter and filled with serum, rose
up but fortunately no serious disaster of this kind
occurred There not single case of frost bitten
feet This was due to the excellent description of
shoes that were used. They were made of sailcloth
with leather soles. Inside of them the bottom was
filed in with kind of grass (care1 ussicaria) The
foot itself clothed in two pairs of stock
ings having at the bottom sole of felt. All who
tried them unanimous in the opinion that these
shoes leave nothing to be desired Even for long
walks through wet snow they are superior leather
Shoes The latter, for one thing, get heavy and
saturated with water, and it is difficult to dry them
in the open air in the of single night The
canvass shoes and the hay inside them on the con-
trary readily get dry in one night. Even when wet,
they are light and the ventilation allowed by the hay
keeps them sound.
FIGHTING THE COLD.
To protect the hands used gauntlets of sealskin
and chamois leather, lined with sheepskin and
edged with some long haired fur for the wrists
When It in use they were carried by ribbon that
uant round the neck And in addition for working