Milford chronicle., 1885-12-11
EXPLORERS IN A PLIGHT.
Unexpected Adventures in
Little-known Regions.
Dilemmas, Some Of them Ridiculous and
Others Dangerous,

keepirg ones wits about him in an
emergency.
Lieut.. Cheyne was an English officer
in one Of the Franklin search expedi-
tions. Early one spring he was sent
with a couple of sledgemen to examine
the condition of some provision depots
that had been laid down tie previous
fall. They took nothing with them
but tent and sleeping bags. rations
of pemmican and hard tack, and a
small supply Of tallow to be used as
fuel in thawing their pemmican and
boiling their tea One morning, after
they had Travelled about $50 miles
from the ship. Lieut.. Cheyne was
awakened by something pulling at the
corner Of the tent. lie lifted the tent
flap just in time to frighten big
white bear, and the animal was in full
retreat over the ice before Cheyne had
extricated himself from his sleeping
bag. The party had more serious work
on hand than bear hunting. and they
would have let the animal 90 if it had
not been suddenly discovered that his
bearship had torn open the tallow bag
and eaten every ounce of fuel Here
was a predicament The men were
five days journey from the ship, the
weather was terribly cold, and they
could not eat the solidly frozen pemmi-
can. 1t was necessary to get that tai
low back, and so Cheyne, shouting to
his comrades to follow, set out after
the bear. The chase was an exciting
and anxious one, but the animal was
at last overhauled and killed. No time
was lost in opening the creatures
stomach, and the men returned to
camp in triumph with all the tallow
of which the unfortunate brute had
robbed them.
During last winter the James broth
ers succeeded in exploring a part of |
Somauli, in East Africa, where sever |
al explorers had been killed. The re-
gion has remained almost wholly un-
known on account Of the hostility Of
the natives. The bravery Of the
Messrs. James's escort rapidly oozed
out as they advanced into the hostile
country. They refused once or twice
to go any further, and finally the
brothers hit upon this expedient for
infusing them with title courage.
A great noise in their own camp gen
orally has an inspiring effect on the
natives Of Africa. The Jameses had
their sentinels fire their guns at fre-
quent intervals during the night.
They report that this practice greatly
pleased and inspired their people, who
always felt more secure when firing
The young explorer, Thompson, two
years ago, was considerably nonpluss-
ed by lot of smart and suspicious
natives whom he encountered near
Mount Kenia in East Africa He had
a few tricks which he very impressive
ly performed when the inhabitants
were unfriendly, and it was necessary I
to exhibit his great power as a wizard {
to induce them to sell him food He
had two artificial teeth on a plate, and +
the feat that usually overcame all op-
position when everything else failed t
was to extract these teeth. These 4
Mount Kenia natives were very much +
pleased with this feat, but they said
hat if he could take out two teeth he h
could remove the others also, and they h
insisted upon seeing the entire show. r
Finally they not only refused to sell Il
lin food, but threatened to attack s
him unless he took his teeth out, and Il
le thought best to make a forced n
march one night to escape his too ex- n
lcting acquaintances. h
Mr.. Thompsons white comrade, n
Martin, had a more serious experience 4
With some suspicious natives, and per- T
laps it served him right. He was II
elling a crowd Of Wakwafi girls that r
Ie could do even more wonderful q
hings than the leader had shown se
hem. Holding out his hand he said ty
e could cut his fingers off and put N
hem on again. One of the girls sud n,
enly sprang forward, seized one Of i
he extended fingers and cut it to the w
one with native knife She had y,
lken Martin at his word, and was de- If
srm 2 to see the feat performed r.
DR.. Hayes stole a march on the -
squimaux who refused to take him "a
nd his comrades back to DR.. Kane in q,
NTH sound after the failure Of a,
attempt to return to Upernavik ho
small boats. Hayes and his men fully -
,pected to die of starvation unless the
squimaux, with their dog sledges,
sisted them to return north. The
squimaux declined to make the long lai
lrney in the growing darkness Of The L.a
inter One day two natives drove hu
} to DIR. Hayes's Int with a sledge no
ad Of walrus meat They were on wi
cir way home after a long journey, ist
ID they accepted the doctors invita- col
IN TO tarry a while Everybody ate An
artily Of the walrus meat, and then lar
g natives, overcome with fatigue, on
d down for a nap. Hayes and his Of