The Portland daily press., 1891-05-09

steel point and ehisel. rubber Ice creepers.
snow shoes and skier, or snow skates. For
provisions they took tea, sugar, condensed
milk. hard bread. pemmlcan dried meat
pounded and mixed with fat and sometimes
with fruit, and compressed into cakes) cram
berry Jam, baked beans, LIeblg extract and
an experimental mixture Of meat, biscuit and
desslcated potatoes put up In cans. Their
clothing was not quite what IL should have
been. as they had been mlsled as to the
severity Of the cold. They had fur sleeping
bags, however, which enabled them TO roll
themselves up and 20 to sleep on the Ice
field.
The ice field. where It's edges reach the
salt water on the coast, Is fringed with gla-
ciers. To reach the plain 1t Is necessary TO
scale these glaciers, and this Peary and his
companion found one Of the hardest tasks OF
the trip. The ascent was steep. slippery
and interrupted by frequent glacial streams.
Once upon the Ice field (or "lce blink" as
they call 1t In those lands). they found the
surface consisting In general Of rolling hum
mocks. extending nearly north and south.
highest and steepest on their western slopes,
which ranged from 100 feet to $50 feet high.
The western faces Of the hummocks were
groOved and crevassed. and studded with
huge. shark-tooth pinnacles. In detail the
surface was. as rule, roughly granular In
texture. affording firm. sure footing, inter-
rupted here and there by crevasses, some
open and some covered with a snow arch
by patches OF soft, deep snow In the depres-
sions between the hummocks, and by
patches Of hard Ice cut by nearly parallel
furrows as II made by hinge plow. This Is
the description which Lieutenant Peary
QiVas Of the annqa ra n the faid
They found 1t best to travel In the night
and rest by day. The heavy winds that blow
across the wastes OF snow were much severer
by day than by night. Then Arctic travel
lers have found that the excessive brililaney
OF the reflection OF the sun on the snow fields
bringsson snow blindness. This alone COM
PEELED the explorer Parry. In his expedition
northward over the floating Ice from Spltz-
the sweep Of the wind seems to have deter
mined Peary TO travel by night. Speaking
of this wind, Peary says, 'the fierce east
wind made the temperature OF ten degrees
almost unbearable. Every BIT o. metal
stuck to our fingers or lips. and boiling tea
was cold almost before we could get IL to our
mouths. A can Of Of beans, which with tea
formed our supper, had TO be chopped In
halves with the hatchet aud its contents OK
tracted and eaten with the same imple-
After travelling all night they would lie
down TO sleep by day. At first they tried TO
sleep BY simply lying down on the Ice 6eld
glare Of light would Be so brilliant that they
could not sleep. So after that they would
build little rectangle OF snow, and stretch
Ing rubber blanket over II would go to
sleep In this improvised hut. Sometimes the
snow would be too hard for this, and they
would stretch q BLANKET over the sledges
and go TO sleep on the lee side OF them.
When severe snow storm was raging it
was not always pleasant. Peary has de,
night tramp against a steady southeast gale,
laden with snow. TOO tired and sleepy
| from our struggle with the storm to build a
house," he says. I'VE turned In behind our
| awoke we were completely showed under,
| and here we lay for As hours, with the wind
| and snow driving In one incessant, sullen
roar across the drifts above us crawling out
| cramp out Of our limbs. This proceeding
| we both regretted, as the tine sncw was
| driven into every fibre OF our clothes, and
| when we crawled down into our dens again
| 1t melted, turning our comparative comfort
into cold, wet misery. Sunday morning we
| crawled out during lull in the storm, and
| dug a shallow pit, covered 1t with rub
| Der blanket, excavated our sledges and bags,
/ placed the sledges on the blanket. threw cur
bags underneath and crawled after them. A
| pint Of hot tea each and square meal, made
| us feel as IL We were the proprietors OF a
/ palace, and though the storm ragged "a hours
longer. we were comparatively eomforta-
able"
Some Of the night marches were marvel
ously interesting. Speaking OF one night,
i Peary says: "A peculiar phenomenon no
tlced during this march was the apparent
sinking OF large areas OF snow at intervals
| ar muffied reports which rumbled away be-
, meath the crust In every direction, until they
died away: Just as II happens when one Is
skating upon freshly frozen lake In early
WI MinteT; The sky above ,s, was aawIess Vie blue
| moon opposite. and the plain on which we
| travelled spread with diamond dust. At
midnight the northern sky was a sea Of
crimson light. and the snow lay bathed in
The perlls Of the trip were almost entirely
/ confined TO the getting on and of Of the
plain Of Ice on the glaciers at its borders. ON
| coming back, Maigaard came near losing his
Ite oy tne eavIng In OF snow bridge over a
deep ehasm. Peary describes 1t as follows
I'VE had pushed the sledge across, as was
| our custom, till IL rested at each end on the
| opposite edges OF the ehasm, and I mad
Jumped across to pull at the same instant
sI INA. Malgaard pushed. Unfortunately he
trlpped as he sprang after, stepped heavily
upon the snow sarch; 1t gave way beneath
nlm, ana elinglng to the stern OF the sledge,
no sank into the crevasse, iwhlle the bow
snot into the air with jerk that nearly tore
from my grasp. For moment the sledge
mans life hanging on its qulvering form /;
then the bow descended. and Malgarha
head came upon the surface leveli the sledge
crept farther into the ice till the long arm OF
the lever was In my favor, and MalgaaLd.
pale, but smiling, swung himself upon the
Ice with careless 'Ayungilak' (all rightr
In returning TO the coast they made use OF
the heavy east winds to propel their sledges.
By fastening the two together they made a
catamaran. The rubber blanket was hoisted
as a sail, and a hatchet was fastened 70 q
This isa hoat thew made some very fast time:
Having had the experiences OF his Trip Of
1854 ijentenant Peary ought to know the
requirements OF such Journey @ as ne PI,S Pre-,
ktnn he conddenee Of success, and give To
him and his band their best wishes.