Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-01-07

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silk pocket handkerchief, neatly folded, the
color, aud pattern in remarkable state Of
preservation. The skull aud few other
bones only were found in aud about the grave.
They were carefully gathered together, with a
few pieces Of the cloth aud the other articles
90 bp brought away for int at where they
may hereafter rest uudi-tgrbod. Some time
after paper, in wtathor-bcatou and nearly
illcgiblc condition, was found iu pile Of
stones whore had stood the cairu seen 10y
Lieut.. llobsOu and lOolooah's wife. Itproy-
cd to be IL copy Of a record l,ft here by Capt
Crollor when r,trcatng with the crews Of The
II, bus and Terror to the Great Fish River
wa5 dated May 7, 1879, aud signed by Capt
McClutock
Some Of the details OF the sledgo journey
made by Lieut.. Sahwatka's men, and the
means r.sorl.d TO for sustaining life, are of
intense interest. few are here REPRODUCED
"lt is difficult matter to keep guns in work
ing order in the intensely cold weather we
were experiencing. At go aud 20 below zc-
ro, everything freezes. Even the iron and
wood are affected. Strong oal; aud hickory
will break almost like iciclos and when guns
were brought into the warmer temperature of
au lgluo to clean, they would gather moisture
which had TO be removed from every portion
Of the lock and working parts before again
AiA tAilH tAA' .blaAs ~ llA' WDu4l W. WNIlIlfsN
rs weapons. They must also be kept free
from oil or any kind Of grease, as all lubri-
cauts Of this sort will harden and prevent the
working OF the lock. II is matter of great
difficulty to get near enough to such wary
game AS the reindeer ia winter, whom the
hunters footsteps though the soles Of his
shoes are covered with fur, is carried on the
wind, and can be distinctly heard more than
"A mile away. have frequently heard the
cruucLluB OF the sled-ruuL,rs on the brittle
suow-a ringing sound, like striking bars of
stocl-a distance of over two miles The
country is filed with reindeer and on every
hillside their breath can be seen rising like
clouds Of steam. \ herd that was frightened
by the dog-, which were following the musk
OK tracks, scumpcrcd on in every direction
aud 1t looked rs If lot of locomotives had
been let loose over the country. the steam
coming from their lung, in great pu1s as they
ran, aud streaming along behind them When
the sledgos are moving during clear. cold
day, the position Of any one of IA IN is known
to the team, though they may be widely sep
arat,d. Sometimes for the advantage IN
hunting to be obtained thereby, orr igloos
have been separated by days march Of
about ten miles, aud at that distance the CON
densed breath Of the dogs and people could
be distinctly seen, and the position Of the
igloos located
The country began to swarm with wolves
now, rs well us with reindeer and We would
meet them daily. Often they would come
clos TO tho igloos, and one night Ioolooah
shot one of three that were eating with our
dogs the meat he had thrown out for food
They killed and ate four Of EqueesIks dogs.
and attacked him " hen he went out Of the
igioo 10 drive them oil. lie killed two of his
assaiiauts with his rifle, aud two others BY the
most ,rLal trtus ever devised. He set two
h, lly -sLArpuuld knife blades il the ice and
covered them with blood, which the wolves
licked, at the same time sliclng their tongues,
the cold keeping them from feeling the
wounds al the time, and their own warm
blood tempting them 10 continue until their
tongues were so scarilrd that death WAS III
eNtable lie also prepared some pills by
rolling mp long strips Of "hal,bone bound
with sln"w and hidden IN meat, which, freez-
ing, would hold together until II had passed
into the HuluiH, , lule-tiu,- when, the meat
having tLawed and H.. sIucw dgested the
wLalt bone would open out and produce an
agonzng death If anything were bad
enough treatment for wolves these devices of
Elu.' -Ik'- might bo 20 ciassod. Too!ooah
Wa, out hunting on IL, 23i OF February,
when pack OF about 20 wolves attacked him.
lie jumped upon blg rock, which was soon
beasts Oh with the butt Of his gun until h.
got sure shot when he killed one and
while the others fought over and devoured
the carcass, he made the best of the opportu-
nifty to grt back into camp. It was a most
fortunate escape, as he fully realized.
About five miles inland from Starvation
cove, the natives had found during the sum
mcr the skeleton of white man, which no
one had ever seen before. On the way down
Henry visited the place aud erected a mouu-
mcut over the remains. The pieces Of cloth
ing found indicate that the deceased was a
sailor, not an officer Narleyow led them to
place in the brauch Of the rvcr flowing TO
the westward of this island where he said a
rocky ridge froZr to the bottom, making
pocket which held fish. They dug four holes
within an area Of ten feet, and in one day
caught - Of the immense salmon for which
this river Is famous. lie cooked one for US,
which was the largest / ever saw. Joe meas
urcd the cross section of one he saw in the
native igloos below our camp, that measured
over one foot. asked him how much over
but he couldn't tell he said, as his pocket
measure was only foot long. The largest
number Of fish that are caught here are what
the natives call cow-e-sil-lk, and are pecu-
liar to these waters They are somethiuglike
very large herring, and the flesh much coarser
lhhl hhlllou OF lIOuk. All lut A0u mere art
quite fat the salmon especially. We bought
several bags Of salmon oil from the natives
which We used, so long as it lasted as a sub
stitute for reindeer tallow, which is all gone
now. The weather is intensely cold-G2 de-
grees Fahrenheit on the 10Th, the day the re-
mainder of our party joined US at this camp.
The rapids on Back river are all marked
by open water, and are recognizable at a long
distance by the column of black smoke aris-
ing from them like steam from "a boiling caul-
dron. The ice in the vicinity is dangerous to
travel upon there often being thin places
where the moving water has nearly but not
quite cut through, and not distinguishable
from the surrounding ice, which may be four
or five feet thick. The natives test il with a
knife or stick before going upon it, and know
from the sound whether or not it is safe to
travel upon. In some of the many open
water places that We found in our journey up
the river, we could walk boldly up to the very
edge and lie down and quench our thirst from
the rushing torrent, while in other places it
was not safe to 30 within several hundred
yards Of the edge.
1t was almost our daily experience now to
lose one or more dogs. They got plenty of
reindeer meat, but it was usually fed frozen,
aud it has but little nourishment in 1t in that
state for cold weather, when fat and warming
lOOu Is required. a htdl hhlu Iull Ol DluuDtI
each week would have saved many of our
dogs but we had none to spare for them, as
We were reduced to the point where We had
to save it exclusively for lighting the igloos at
night. We could not use it to warm our g-
loos or to cook with. Our meat had to be
eaten cold-that is, frozen so solid that it had
to be sawed and then cut into convenient
sized Jumps, which when first put into the
mouth were like stOnes-or cooked with moss
gathered from the hillsides and the snow beat
en- of with a stick. Meat will freeze in a
temperature a little below the freezing point
but it is then in Il very different condition
from the freezing it gets at from 30 to 20
below zero. Then every piece of meat you
put in your mouth has first to be breathed
upon to thaw the surface, or it will stick to
your tongue and the sides of your mouth and
lips like frosty iron. and with the same disa-
greeable results. The luxury of a cooked
meal could only be INDUCED in on the days
when We were living over in camp as to gath