The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-06-24
sEvENTy-oNE BELOW ZERO.
Pceniiarities Of Persons and Things In ZEE.
treme Celd2S

AAV enSAtAuauotoE btOOu ut III tanren-
heit tho unclouded sky in the vicinity of
the sun, hanging low in the southern hori.
zon, assumed dull leaden hue, tinged near
the suns rim with o faint, brownish red,
not unlike the skies we see coarsely painted
on cheap Acknowledgements displayed for
sale in the third-rate picture shops. At
nighttime the stars glitter like diamonds
under the electric light, and fairly seem on
fire with their brilliant radiance. Should
you pour water-cold water taken from the
well dug through the ice of the lake near which
you are camped-upon the surface of the
ice, it greets you with an astonishing crack
ling poise like fire running through cedar
brush, or like a dozen punches of mimi
ture fire-crackers, and the ice that was so
clear before that you almost felt tmid
about putting your foot on il for fear that
it really was not there, now instantly turns
as white as marble and as hard to see
through as SO much snow caused by the
infinite number of little seams running in
every direction through 1t from the UNEQUAL
expansion. Many of the Esquimau children
amuse 'mselves trying this simple expert
mont uni the white spots on the clear ice
of the lake give it a most notified appear
ance.
vapor and steam seem to roll away from
everything of living nature, and the
sledge with its 10 or 10 dogs and its or
humans in harness looks like starting To-
connective enveloped in its escaping steam,
and leaves trail of vapor behind them re-
sembling the dust stirred up ON well-used
road by rolling wagon wheels. Should tho
party halt to rest in basin-like valley this
vapor rapidly collects as fog bank, and in
n little while becomes so dense as to obscure
the originators from person Mt q distance,
but really makes their whereabouts easily
determined by this very sign. Herds Of
musk oxen and reindeer make their posi-
tons visible by this means at quito long
distances-if the herds be large, four or five
miles away, and at from very favorable
heights oven three or four times this dis
lance, 80 the Esquimau hunters claim; so
far away, in fact, that it has been known to
take two days sledging to reach them but
my readers must bear in mind that day in
the arctic Winter is very short, often only
an hour or two long Even at these won
derful and extreme distances the most keen.
eyed hunters claim land these Esquimau
are never given to preueditated falsehood|
that they can tell whether the herd is one
OF musk oxen or reindeer by some varying
pecnlarities Of the vapors which did moi
clearly understand, and which l never tool
IN opportunity to practically apply.
Even the foot of a person walking along
as it is lifted from the ground leaves q little
puff of yapor to float away from the spot as
II the walker had stepped upon sponge
saturated with smoke, which was liberated
by the pressure, and this too, when there
are four thieknesses of heavy reindeer skin
between the bare foot and the snow under
meath.
SO scarce was the game through this part
Of the country, and so absolutely dependent
were we upon it for our daily supper of
food, that to increase our chances of secur-
ing it we separated into parties one and
Two days journey apart from each other,
although travelling the same trail, and
thus each space between camps was gone
over twice or three times, and our chances
of seeing reindeer or musk oxen increased
proportionally. Occasionally my sledge
would be in the rear, and before we started
in the morning ii would sometimes be use.
full to know if the party ahead had moved
on, and Toolooah, my sledge driver, would
l. III Al,
intensely cold and clear was almost sure To
be able to tell me, although the measured
sledge journey to the snow house that he
had discerned by its ascending yapors waA
often eight and ten miles, and probably
three-fourths as much in q straight line.
Whenever the sedge was travelling along,
its iced runners dragging over the fine grit
ty SHOWS would give forth clear musical
ring like the drawing of resined bow overa
tuning fork, well-known experiment in
acoustic lectures. Many of my readers who
live, or have lived, in countries where the
thermometer gets down to ze;o and 20' be-
low in the Winter have heard this sound
coming from the iron runners of the swift
gliding sleighs, and especially upon q cleai
quiet night with but single sleigh within
hearing Could you imagine the clear frosty
ring as much louder rs the whistle Of a
steamboat is above the whistle of man, or
certainly multiplied manifold times, you
could realize how the iced sledge runners
fairly sing with their polished surface drag
ging over the marble-like SHOWS Of the in
tense arctic cold. BY holding the ear near
to the snow this music Of the cold can be
heard couple of miles away, and at this
great distance sounds like the soft murmur.
ings Of an Eolian harp or distant ming.
lings of guitars.
Sometimes when breathing this extremely
cold air my tongue felt as il IL was freezing in
my mouth, but could readily rid myself
OF this uncomfortable feeling by breathing
through the nostrils for q minute or two.
Naturally you will ask "Why not breathe
through the nostrils all the time ?" as you have
30 often heard advocated. This bitter cold all
passing through the nostrils keeps up an ir.
ritation so that the consequent catarrh
makes IL desirable to use the mouth nearly
"i'obothoi III pfenlhihB' hso, INC hose 10
more liable to freeze when breathing
through it. These freezings of the nose and
cheeks are very common affairs, occurring
over dozen times day in very low tenn
peratures, and especially II there be any
wind blowing in the face. The Esquimaus
cure these slight frost bits by applying the
hand, warm from the reindeer mitlen, di-
rectly to the spot.--Lieut. Schoatka.
Tho Future of steel.
The iron nail is beginning to be displac-
cd by the steel nail, which can be made az