The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-09-11
HIS SIX WEEKS ARTIC SPREE.
A Survivor Finds Something That Tastes
Natural Where He Least Expected 1t

A Survivor Finds Something That Tastes
Natural Where He Least Expected It
do you remember when a whole fleet
OF whalers was lost in the Arctic about
fourteen years ago." said James Han,
ma, one of the survivors OF the Eliza
beth. well, was up there in whal,
er the next season. and | came across
relics OF that big disaster in a very
strange and interesting way. A boat.
load of US went ashore at Point Barrow
for some purpose, and it sort of struck
me that I'd rather see little OF that
country than to 60 back to the ship just
then. So slowed myself away among
the rocks, and when my mates got
ready to pull back to the ship they
couldn't find me. | don't suppose they
cared much, because they didn't foo
away a great deal of time looking foI
me. After they left | struck out in,
land, and pretty soon | lit on a native
village.
''The Injuns were pretty decent chaps
and meant we'll. but they weren't fixed
for entertaining visitors in first-class
style. They couldn't speak English
and their lingo was Dutch to me, but
we agreed between us by signs that il
was about time to pipe all hands to the
galley, and they brought me two faith,
oms of jerked meat. 1t was biz
strong for my taste. Then they dug up
some blubber and other stuff that
would make good slush for mast, but
it didn't hit my fancy, and let on that
l wasn't very hungry after all.
''When it was time to turn in they
led lie into hut and showed me pile
OF furs that didn't look so ALFRED clean.
That was to be my bunk, and, after a
few months in the fo'castle, | wasn't
kicking about a little dirt and greese.
The hut was full Of women, and |
thought I'd sit up until they left. When
l got sleepy and yawned they told me
to turn in, but wanted to be polite and
wait until the ladies had gone home.
They didn't seem to be in a hurry, and
pretty soon they shucked off their buds
and rolled themselves up in their fur5.
| wasn't going to be outdone in polite
ness by lot of Injun ladies, and so |
just peeled off my clothes and went to
bed.
I'm the morning | got up feeling a
little rocky. My stomach was empty
and the air in the hut was thicker than
molasses. The thought OF that two
fathoms OF jerked meat made me sick,
and | began to think | had made a
blooming big mistake in my expedition.
One OF the head men poked his nose in
to the hGt and made signs that were
painfully like an invitation to have a
cocktail with him. / tumbled out OF
the rugs and got into my clothes, blush
ing like a rose. because the ladies were
looking at me, and the whole gang OF
stretch of sand beach.
81 wondered what blooming game was
I'D, not being able to see what was the
use of toddling out there before break
fast, but one of the men, who had a
walrus tusk in his hand, gave me a
bleary wink and began scraping away
the sand with his foot Two or three
inches below the surface he uncovered
the bung and part of the bilge of cask.
Then he thumped the cask with The
walrus tusk, Just as water front bar
keeper would handle bung-starter and
when the bung came out | thought |
smelled something natural.
Another chap stepped up with
yard of rubber hose, put one end in the
cask, and took big pull at the other
end Then he handed me the hose, and
| just filled my tank plumb to the
Plimsoli mark with genuine water front
whiskey, The whose tribe took whack
at it, and we all toddled back home
drunk and joyous.
81 concluded that my skipping from
the whaler was the biggest luck that
ever was, and wasn't in any hurry to
go aboard again. Talk about being cast
away on an island where bread grows
on trees and turtles Law eggs that roast
on the sand without fire! That's soIi-
tary confinement at hard labor alongside
of tumbling into an Iniun camp, where
all you've got to do is to kick a hole in
the sand and get blind drunk.
One day when the chief had a lucid
interval, having been too drunk or sick
early in The morning to take his regu-
lar beach cocktail, asked him where
he got the liquor, and he led me around
a point and showed me the charred
wrecks OF lot of vessels. l saw that
these were some of the whaling feet
that had been lost. When the ships
came ashore the natives started in to
strip them, and the first things they got
out were the liquor casks and the medi-
cine chest for sailors. But the natives
didn't know, and they pitched in and
drank up all the drugs and ate what
wasn't drinkable.-
Don,Iot;or