Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-16
ON AN ICE-FLOE.
rec Days Of Peril in
y the Arctic Seas.
IL OF THE POLAR REGIONS.
fhree Walrus Hunters AfiOat on
q Drifting Piece Of Ice-A
Bear in the Larder.

snail relaCe, Wr1CeS ErouoIlCk Oehi" ''N'
to the st. Louis Globe Democrat. is IL
North Hudson's bay, and the time
was late in February, 1879. had beer
among the natives of this region o.
the great bay-the Iwillik EsquimauS
since the fall before, getting ready
for sledge journey to King Williams
Land, in the Arctic ocean, which
these natives had said could best be
started in the early spring, and l had
therefore set the first week in April as
about the time of our departure.
One of the most necessary articles
of supply for such a sledge journey
was oil to cook our food, by the native
method, and give us light at night,
and seal and walrus in the bay were
the sources on which we depended for
this material. The contemplated
sledge trip was to be an overland one,
and until we stood on the shores OF
the Arctic Sea, probably month or
two after starting, no oilproducing an
imal could be met, and we therefore
urged our hired Esquimau to be
prompt in getting us a good supply.
Then there came in a superstition OF
these seal and walrus hunters that
they cannot catch these animals or
eat their flesh, until the reindeer
meat of the fall hunting season has
been disposed Of, and, as our venison
supply was large this particular au-
tuma it was we'll along in January
before the change was made. This
was followed by one OF those hyperbo-
rean hurricanes whose predominating
feature was persistency, and after
three weeks of boreal blowing was
over, and we were nearly starved in
our ice-palaces, we crawled out and
stared the situation in the face that it
was hardly two months until our de-
parture, with no oil on hand and little
likelihood of being able to purchase
any of the natives in their depleted
condition. NV own natives therefore
went to work with will to supply the
deficiency, working early and late
and taking many risks on the treach-
erous ice that they otherwise would
not have done. 1t was in taking one
too many of these risks that the ma
terial for my story was furnished me.
Ikqueesik and Nannook (The Ell
bow and the Polar Bear) were two as
faithful and trustworthy walrus hunt
ers as were to be found in the whole
Iwillik tribe of Esquimaux, and this
saying was no small compliment in
its line, for the name Iwillik means
walrus-eating Esquir@du from the
large number of ths-,e animals killed
by this tribe and which really formed
their main supply of food. Ikqueesik
was, in fact, over-anxious to see that
everything in general, and the walrus
oil in particular, would be ready for
the trip on time, for though an Iwillik
by adoption since he was a boy, he
was by birth a Netschilluk. band
that lived on the Polar Sea, and he
showed true patriotic desire to visit
his native land.
By the goth or 25th of February it
was quite evident that Ikqueesik's
unusual energy would be properly re-
warded if the weather only remained
good, but this was something in which
no reliance could be placed, although
my Netschilluk walrus hunter openly
avowed that good or bad weather he
was going to see that as far as oil was
concerned, we should have no delay
in starting.
Sure enough storm came tearing
down from the northwest that looked
as if it had come to stay for awhile /;
and, as good as his word, Ikqueesik
with Nannock, and IA or 15-year-old
brother of the former-Ahwanak by
name-sallied out in the fierce blast to
tackle any walrus that might be found
out enjoying such weather. Although
during these fierce off-shore winds the
walrusses generally 60 sailing out to
sea on the cakes of ice that break off
from the edge of the shore ice, our
two hunters were lucky lit finding an
old one that had found it convenient
to stay at home, and as part payment
for their exposure in such fearful
weather they found it easy to dispatch
the brute by taking advantage of the
din the wind was making. 10 cut
up his carcass was but the work of a
few moments, but short as it was, it
was long enough for the tide, then
rising rapidly, to lift the great field of
shore ice foot or so more and ele-
vate it clear of the reef, which SO
far had acted as a huge brake to
hold it to the land and with ripping,
roaring noise like the close volley of
musketry from battalion of men or
the crash of near thunderbolt cleav-
ing the air, they heard this field OF ice
on which they stood tearing loose
from the main shore, and by the time
thew reached the crack, 200 yards
away, it had become SO large that it
would have been a dangerous expert
ment to leap across, for in his perpet-
ually ice-laden waters the Esquimau
ia a stranger to the art of swimming.
They stood and looked at each other
for a minute, grinning sort OF sickly
smile that the Caucasian repeats when
he chases his silk beaver down a
muddy street on a windy day in "the
presence of large and appreciative
audience" They were adrift on one
of King Frost's men-of-war without
rudder, sail or compass, and worst OF
all they did not know how long they
had been drafted for. An inspection
revealed the craft to be about 400
yards long over all, about 200 yards
beam, with armor 6 to 8 feet thick,
carrying two guns with crew Of three
and provisioned for two or three
weeks, with one walrus weighing
nearly ton. should have added
that a sledge and three or. four dogs
were curled up abaft the main hatch,
the former of which might do for fuel
and the latter for food in case of an
emergency or too long cruise.
At first the trip was not a very
severe one, as long as they could feel
the protection of the coast, but the
further away they got the higher the
waves were swelling, and in the
course of two or three hours the sur
was dashing over the weather side
and flying in fine spray and frotf