National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-01-31

limited means permitted. / wrapped
him up in my temiak,@ and remained on
the sledge amidst the drifting snow with
my unconscious friend in my arms until
7:45 p. M, when
POOR RICE PASSED AWAY.
"There was left alone with the dead
body of my poor loved friend, in an ice
bound region, out of the reach of human
aid. The death Of my companion, under
these circumstances, made deeper i'm
preston on my mind than any other ex-
perience of my whole life. AS L stood
there by the remains of poor Rice, COM
plete!y exhausted, shivering with the ex-
treme cold. unable to give him burial,
and hardly able to move, / realized fully
that my chances OF reaching Eskimo
Point seven miles away to the north,
were very small indeed, and how did 1t
can hardly understand. L felt more
like remaining there to perish by the
side of my dead companion than to make
another effort, but the sense of the duty
which | owed to my country and my
companions. and to my dead comrade, to
bear back the sad tidings of the disaster,
sustained me in that dark hour of trial
and impelled me TO make the effort. l
stopped and
hlbeEp DRAM hiNEp ihNL1
and left him there for the wild winds Of
the Arctic to sweep over his colder form.
| I travelled to the north for Eskimo Point,
and after seven hours of hard and weary
travelling reached il and the sleeping bag,
completely exhausted. / found the bag
frozen as tiff as piece of cord wood,
and as In my exhausted condition l was
unable to unroll It, l thought surely that l
would have TO perish there. As good for
| tune would have il, / found in my pocket
the small phial that still held few
drops OF aromatic spirits Of ammonia. /
swallowed this, and it revived me so
much that it enabled me to unroll and
got into the bag, where lay until morn
ing.
HAbout o'clock on the morning of
April 10 hustled out of the bag, and after
getting some warm food started back to
bury tho remains of my dead companion.
The morning was bright and | found
the travelling much easier than the night
before. Wfon | reached the gloomy spot
whore poor dead Rice lay, thinking that
there might be something ON his person
that should be preserved for his relatives.
| searched his clothing and found several
small articles, which l delivered to Maj.
Greedy on my return.
~ then began the difficult task of
DIGGING A GRAVE
for my dead comrade, which was accom-
plished after several hours of hard labor
had no pick OF shovel, only the AK, and
had TO remove the loose ice with my
hands; and here, on u paleocrystic foe,
laid away to eternal rest the remains OF
the comrade who was so dear to me-
There left my oOmrade in his icy grave
and determined to mako the strongest
endeavor to carry back TO tho others the
sad news,
"After few hours again reached
Eskimo Point, whore | camped for thC
night. Now, ii became a question Of
vital importance to me as to how | wa'
TO reach Camp Clay and my remaining
comrades. In my enfeebled condition
was unable to travel eight or nine mile'
on stretch for after the first three Of
four hours | would become weak aud bI
forced to travel so slow that ! wOult
freeze in my tracks. therefore resolved
to take tho alcohol which We had carried
for fuel, dilute it with water, and take {
small quantity Of it Whenever l laiI
down, so that
WOULD GO 10 SLEEP Al ONCE.
"The next morning broke camp abou
7 o'clock, packed up my traps aad, started
for Camp Clay, but after pulling ant
hauling and stumbling for about fou
hours got so tired thar had TO go int,
camp. turned my sIe1go upside dovr
and stretched the sleeping bag between
the runners, and took small drink o
the diluted alcohol. | was soon in tn
land Of dreams and after laying Their
for three or four hours, walked up com
II -TTTvr
u q a hooded sealskln Innuit upper garment
Ed,