Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-12-16
SCHWATKA'S SEARCH.


No more interesting tale OF Arctic ex-
ploration has been written than the ac-
count OF Lieut.. Schwatka's sledging
party in search of the records Of the
Franklin expedition, and described in a
most graphic manner by Mr.. Glider, the
second in command. The important
feature of this expedition lies in the fact
that the five members composing it were
left for two years in the Arctic regions
without any depot from which to draw
supplies, and were therefore compelled
to live like the natives of the frozen land
and adopt their manners and customs,
or their lives would speedily have paid
the forfeit of their daring ventures.
During eighteen months the party of
four white men and one Eskimo" per-
formed sledge journey OF $3.50 miles,
during which their courage, energy. ell
durance and perseverance were severely
tested. In its main purpose the expeli-
ton was a failure. 1t did not find the
Franklin records, but it did ascertain
definitely that they had been destroyed,
found the remains OF many Of Franklin's
crew, and brought home for burial the
bones of Lieut.. Irving, an officer of the
Terror. In geographical results the ex-
petition accomplished oil that WINS to
have been expected of it.
During their journey Mr.. Glider says
"We ate quantities Of reindeer tallow
with our meat, probably about half our
daily fool. Breakfast is eaten raw and
frozen, but we generally have warm
meal i'll the evening. Fuel is hard to
obtain, and consists entirely of a vine
like moss. Reindeer tallow is also used
for light. = Eating such guam
titles of tallow is great benefit in this
climate, and we can easily see the effect
of it in ihe comfort with which we meet
the cold. = January proved
the coolest month of our experience,
with the mean thermometer of-53. 2
deg, lowest-71 deg, ard the highest
% deg. Fahrenheit. y Our meat
had to be eaten cold-that is, frozen 80
solid that it had to be sawed, and then
broken into convenient sized Jumps,
which, when first put into the mouth,
We're like stones. The country
began toswarm with wolves now. Equee-
six killed two by the most internal traps
rvtr devised. He set two keenly sharp
ened knive-blades in the ice, AMI COW
cred them with blood, which the wolves
licked, at the same time slicing their
tongues, the cold keeping them from
feeling the wounds at the time, and
their own warm blood tempting them to
continue until their tongues were so
scar;fied that death was inevitable. He
also prepared some pills by rolling up
long strips of whalebone, bound with
sinew and hidden in meat, which, freez.
ing, would hold together until it had
passed into the animal'sntestines, when,
the meat having thawed and the sinew
digested, the whalebone would open out
and produce an agonizing DEATH"
Mr.. Glider thus sums up the results
Of the expeditions: 1--WE had Travelled
lin one Year, 2,8l9 geographical, or
3,25l statute miles, most of which was
entirely over upexplored territory. =
Our sledge journey stands con-
spicuous as the only one ever made
through the entire course Of an Arctic
winter, and one regarded by the natives
as exceptionally cold. y The
party successfully withstood the lowest
temperature ever experienced by white
men in the field, it is the first
! in which the white men voluntarily lived
exclusively upon the same fare as their
Esquimauq assistants. y - The ex.
petition was the first to make summer
search over the route Of the lost ere W.
of the Erebus and Terror, and, while SC
doing, buried the remains OF every mem
Der of that fated party above ground.