The Princeton union., 1881-02-17

thick. To drink out OF pannikin,
without leaving the skin Of ones lips
attached to it, requires considerable ex-
perience and caution. The bottles Of
water carried in the mems pockets were
generally frozen after an hour or two
and after repeated trials it was found
that inside the trousers waistband was
the best place to carry them, and re:
tain their contents in fluid state.
Another officer has said that he found
the brandy congealed, though placed
next the skin. .
With reference to their sleeping ac-
commodation, Capt. McC Cintock said
"Lately our fur blankets and sleeping
bags have been rapidly getting more
filed with frost. The latter are quite
wet when thawed at night. Nor have we
been able to prevent their getting into
this state; the greatest care has been
taken to protect them from the snow !;
the mems clothes brushed before COM
ing into the tent. and the tent and the
foorcloth repeatedly brushed. It is
chiefly caused by the condensation of
vapor from our warm meals. and our
breath, which falls in minute frozen
particles. We have holes cut in the top
Of the tent to permit the escape of va.
por, but the temperature inside is always
low enough to condense it before it can
ascend so high. The quantity of moist
ure from ones breath is surprising; the
very small aperture we usually leave at
the mouth of our bags to breathe
through is coated with ice by the
morning. Some of the men wear leess
overall duck dress but even the inside
Of this is covered with frost after hard
days work in low temperatures and re-
quires to be well brushed off.
''As is usual for the first few days of
Journey, the men suffer much from
thirst. Beside pint of chocolate at
breakfast and half pint of tea at sup
per, they have their water bottles, which
hold two-thirds Of pint, filed three
times a day; but several Of these have
burst already, in consequence of the
water freezing within them, although
carried inside their outer garments.
Dr. Switzerland says: How water
could be kept from freezing in the tents
when the temperature was 81 deg. below
freezing point is best known to those
who made the attempt A tin flask,
half full, which the person who had the
cooking for the day took into his blanket
bag, and gutta-percha flask holding
two pints, which I took into my own
blanket-bag, and kept on the outside Of
my vest within two folds of woolen
cloth, became frozen quite hard, and it
was not without considerable difficulty
that we got the ice thawed out after
ward. I took the one that be-
longed to my tent into my armpit for
two or three successive nights before
the ice became all dissolved, the water
being always removed as it was pro-
duced."
In the morning, when aroused by him
whose turn it was to watch, all the mis-
cry Of Arctic travelling is then expe-
rienced. Who is there that has not
! some idea of this from what is occasion
| ally felt after nights watching or alb
stinence from rest The first dawn Of
morning seems even worse than the past
midnight. Judge, then, what it must
be there in solitary tent on the ice
foe, thousands of miles from home, and
often hundreds of miles away from then
other comrades.! To awaken in snckss
scene is truly wretched. A pannikin d
hot chocolate is generally the first thing
given. Then comes the frightfl agony
Of forcing the feet into boots often frozer
hard as iron, while all the time The
breath the ventilators for it tt
escape-comes down in shower of very
fine snow. But at last they are agar
ready, and once more away they g
across the wide foe. and, when near The
land, along the lonely shore. Sometime:
this sort of tent life is beguiled will
songs and occasional music and thu
companionable pipe is invariably sough
before sleep.
Among other contrivances to aid til,
travelling parties in their search, wa
that Of kites. In the expedition to whicl
I was attached, we took out several, th
gift of the late Mr. Benjamin Smith
whose son, Mr.. Leigh Smith, has latel,,
made such remarkable voyages and ex
plorations by Spitzbergen and Fran
Joseph Land.
| Another plan to give our missin!
friends some notice of the search 70
them, was that of using balloons. Th
gas being generated on board, a balloon
would be sent up with hundreds of print
ed colored satin or paper slips attaches
to slow match and these were des
tined to fall over certain space. Th
message printed on these slips certified
where relief could be found. But it
doubtful if ever one was seen, for, out c
many thousands sent up, I believe non
were ever come across again by any {
our travelling parties
Where the sledges are pulled by dogs
the labor to the men is of course muc]
less, though it requires driver to man
age these animals. Their performances
however, are very extraordinary. The
will go many hundreds of miles in con
secutive journeys, and only require OF
dlnary attention. With load of LOO
pounds, team of six dogs Will go a
fast as man can walk.
On the expedition in which the write
was engaged, searching parties mad
depots Of provisions, wherever suitable
en- route, SO as to pick them up on re
turn. But other depots were ais
formed by the ships crews for relief {
: a missing expedition. These depot
: were SO built up as to prevent bears c
other animals from getting at the stores