The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-02-11

thick. To drink out OF pannikin,
without leaving the skin of ones lips
attached to IL, 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 che found
the brandy CONCEALED, though placed
next the skin"
With reference to their sleeping nc
commodation, Capt. McClintock said
Lately our fur blankets and sleeping
bags have been rapidly getting moro
filed with frost. The latter are quite
wet when thawed ut 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. aud the tent and the
foorcloth repeatedly brushed. 1t 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 in side is always
low enough to condense it before 1t 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 loose
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 a 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"
DIR. Switzerland says: Glow 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 / took into my own
blanket-bag, and kept on the outside of
my vest within two folds of wooden
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
he there III IA solitary tent on the ice
aoe, thousands of miles from home, and
often hundreds of miles away from their
other comrades To awaken i'll such a
scene is truly wretched. A pannikin of
hot chocolate is generally the first thing
given. Then comes the frightful agony
of forcing the feet into boots often frozen
hard as iron, while all the time the
breath-desp:te the ventilators for it to
escape-comes down in n shower of very
fine snow. But at last they are again
ready, and once more away they go
across the wide foe. and, when near the
land, along the lonely shore. Sometimes
this sort of tent life is beguiled with
songs and occasional music and the
companionable pipe is invariably sought
before sleep.
Among other contrivances to aid the
travelling parties i'll their search, was
that of kites. In the expedition to which
| was attached, we took out several, the
gift of the late Mr. Benjamin Smith,
whose son, Mr.. Leigh Smith, has lately
made such remarkable voyages and ex-
plorations by Spitzbergen and Franz
Joseph Land.
Another plan to give our missing
friends some notice Of the search for
them, was that Of using balloons. The
gas being generated on board, balloon
would be sent up with hundreds of print
ed colored satin or paper slips attached
to a slow match and these were des-
tined to fall over a certain space. The
message printed on these slips certified
where relief could be found But it is
doubtful if ever one was seen, for, out of
many thousands sent up, believe none
were ever come across again by any OF
our travelling parties.
Where the sledges are pulled by dogs,
the labor to the men Is of course much
less, though it req lires driver to man.
age these animals. Their performances,
however, are very extraordinary. They
will go many hundreds of miles in con-
secutive journeys, and only require or
binary attention. With load of 1000
pounds, team Of six dogs will go as
fast Us a man can walk.
On the expedition in which the writer
was engaged, searching parties made
depots OF provisions, wherever suitable,
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