The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-11-10

Lieut. Schwatlxa Tells Something
About Cold Weather.
s.cdgine Over the Brittle Ice-How the
Ice Conducts Sound for Miles
Bright Weather, but Oh,

E.cdeine Over the Brittle Ice-How the
Ice Conducts Sound for Miles
Bright Weather. but On.
80 Cold
II was in the arctic regions, not far
from Backs Great Fish River, when the
author was conducting homeward
sledge journey to Hudson's Bay in the
depth Of an arctic Winter-November
december, January. February. and
March. Severe weather-that is, intense
Iy cold-had set m just before Christ
mas, in 1879, the thermometer sinking
down to $50 and go below zero, and
never getting above CO. below, and we
were having very hard time with our
sledging along the river, our camps at
night almost in sight OF those we had
left in the morning. so close were they
together and SO slowly did we labor
along. Reindeer, on which we were
relying for our daily supply of food.
were not found near the river, and being
seen some 10 or 10 miles back from IL,
determined 10 leave its bed and strike
straight for home in Hudson's Bay.
We had been gone three or four days,
and as we assembled the higher levels the
thermometer commenced lowering. and
on the 3D. OF january. 1880. at o'clock
in the afternoon. reachedr71e below zero.
the coolest we experienced on our sledge
journey OF nearly year In length, and
the coolest ever encountered by white
men travelling out OF doors; for that day
we moved camp some 10 or 12 miles to
fho so,tl... "a ..,o - IT,. a. =. ..a.. ., "A -
all diagreeable. / must say, until long
toward the early night. when slight
zephyr, the merest kind OF motion OF the
wind that would hardly rufiie the leaves
on a tree, or even sufficient TO cool the
face on warm day, sprang up from the
southwark, and, slight and insignificant
as IL was, 1t cut TO the bono every part
OF the body that was exposed. and which
fortunately was only the face from the
eyebrows TO the chin and about half of
the cheeks We turned our backs to-
ward II as much as possible, and especial
ly after we had gotten into camp and
got 10 work building our snow houses
and digging through the thick ice of the
fakefor fresh water, and so lazily did
our breath that CONCEALED into minia-
ture clouds float away 10 the northward,
like the little light cirrus clouds OF q
Summer sky, that we knew well enough
how terribly cold il must be without
looking at the thermometer that stood
at ne below zero, Fahrenheit.
II ~ not so much the intensity OF the
cold, expressed in degrees on the Their
mometer that determines the disagree
ableness Of arctic Winter weather as il
is the force and relative direction of the
wind. have found il far pleasanter
with the thermometer at 500, e0e, or
even 100 below zero, Fahrenheit. with
little or no wind blowing at the time,
than 10 face rather stiff breeze when
the little tell-tale showed 500 warmer
temperature. Even an arctic acclimat-
ed white man facing good strong wind
mt 20e or as below zero is almost sure
70 freeze the nose and cheeks. and the
thermometer does not have TO sink over
~ or 90 TO induce the Esquimaus them
selves 10 keep within their snug snow
houses under the same circumstances,
unless want or famine demands their
presence in the storm. With plenty i'm
the larder for all the mouths, brute and