The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-10-17
WINTER IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.

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WINTER IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
In modern days it is thought to be
no very great undertaking to spend
winter in the arctic regions; but in
earlies times this was not so; every one
shrank from the dreadful climate, even
in summer, and feared the terrors OF
the sunless land. 1t is true that in old
times they did not possess all the adj
vantages afforded by modern science to
those who undertake arctic travel, but
still it seems strange that the Prospect
of such an undertaking should have
been regarded with such terror.
Certain Muscovy merchants, we read,
actually obtained a pardon for some
malefactors condemned 10 death, on
condition that they should remain a
year in Greenland. where ''all necessa-
ries of clothes and provisions were to
De provided, and ample payment made
/ for accomplishing the task. The
terms were accepted and the convicts
embarked; "but on viewing the place
of their Punishment they rejected the
offer; they preferred death to living
there"
In 1880, however, the feat was ac-
complished. against the will of him who
did it, under far less favorable con-
ditions. Captain Goodler, of the Salu-
tation, one of the vessels engaged in the
whale fishery, left the Foreland for
Green Harbor, in order to take in
twenty men who had been transferred
to one of the other vessels. Finding
himself near part of the coast famous
r A. Il a.. he
sent eight men ashore in a boat to hunt.
This was on the 18th of August. They
carried with them a couple of dogs, a
matchbox, two lances and a tinder-
box, and were so fortunate as to kill no
less than fourteen deer that very day.
As they were extremely tired, they re-
solved to rest on shore that night and
return to their ship the next day. But
the weather being hazy and much ice
arising between the sea and the land,
the vessel was forced to stand out to
sea, and they lost sight of her. 'Under
| these circumstances they decided to
| hunt along the shore to Green Harbor,
| where she was to pick up the twenty
| men. They killed eight deer more,
and, with their boat well laden with
provisions. arrived at the place to find
that the twenty men had been picked
up already and that their ship had de
parted.
The time for leaving Greenland being
| the 10th of August, they lost not 9
moment in pushing into-Dell- Sound
the place of general rendezvous, some
fifty miles away. But though they
threw their venison overheard. they
made but slow progress, and "beini
without a compass, and uncertain OF
the navigation, they reached the place
too late. The feet, having fair wind
had sailed away"
Their disappointment was very great
and the misery of being entirely de
serted was increased by the conviction
that they must winter in a cold. inhos
pitable and desolate region, withou
ANYTHING wherewith to make them
selves comfortable. If they had beer
mere sailors taken at random, instead
of picked men accustomed to hunting
all would have been over with them. A
DIR. Rae. the Arctic explorer, ono
pointed out to me, this is the real secre
of life or death in these regions. In hi
own marvellous expedition he had tn
Hudson Bay Company's men with him
who do not waste powder. These eigh
poor fellows, however, were not sensi
BILE of the advantage they possessed il
this respect, or, at all events, it com
forted them but little. They only re
membered stories of desertion, and no,
nine of their fellow-countrymen ha
been abandoned at that very place an
had come to q miserable end, thei
bodies having been found the mex
spring, miserably dis6gured by beast
of prev" They took counsel and IT
solved to winter at Bell Sound, where
hut had been built by the Dutch for tn
whalemen. 1t was, however, eight
feet long and fifty broad, so that it wa
necessary to build much smaller con
partment within it for themselves. The
were thus, it will be observed, well prC
. vided with fire-wood-an immense az
vantage in those regions. Even prC
visions were not wanting, though &
: first fresh meat was so scarce that the
confined themselves to one meal a day
On Wednesdays and Fridays they ha
only whale fritters, scraps of fat throw
away after the oil had been extracted
They mended their clothes, which wei
worn out, as well as they could wit
threads of rope-yarn and needles I
. whalebone.
On the I4th of October the sun san
to rise no more for months. and the
spirits sank with it. Nevertheless ''tf
> moon was in view all this time boi
pight and day, shining for the most pa
as it does during bright weather in E
gland. When it was obscured they use
an oil lamp with wicks made from rop
farn." AS the new year commence
she cold grew more intense; "bliste
you'd rise on the poor fellows flesh
slough they had been burned with fir
und iron stuck TO their fingers like bir
sime." At first they procured fresl
water from q spring beneath a cliff al
under thick ice; but from the 10th
January until the goth of May they hs
10 melt the snow for it with hot iron
During February no less than for
pears visited the hut, of which sew
Sere killed, and they trapped fiftyfoxe
Sn the Path of May the first deer W
leen, but their only remaining dog h,
grown so fat and lazy that it refused
hunt. On the next day, "being all b
sne, Thomas Ayers, collected togeth
Cor prayers in the smaller hut, they su
denly heard voices calling Heyr
which, not without surprise Gas one C;
yell imagine), Ayers answered, aft
che custom of seamen: 'Hor " The
visitors were from two Hull steame
?, lust arrived at Bell Sound, and mu,
,e sstonished they were at the sight of Il
. sight men "in rags and blackened WI
At amoke." On the other hand, they we
l. well entertained with venison, roast
four months ago, and cup of wate
= which on account of the novelty tn
accepted" The Greenland fleet 8
\ 4 Al. A.