The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-02
NeIImans Progress Beset With Notwithstanding For
Clear Highway.
adventures With Sea- Bears Glaciers and Mountans-A Terrible Ice Sur
ace-Labors and Experiences Of fonghIha Worst Ice
Year in the Spiizbergen Region

with the bad news that tho Ice was I'M
passabls ahead.
All through the evening tho wind con-
tinucd from the northwest, with "A heavy
fall Of snow and dropping barometer.
Meteorologist Alne predicts southerly
wind within "a hours and we hope he Is
prophet whom we shall have chance to
honor in this strange country, where, as
Dr. Mohun says, the climate is SO devil
ism that chickens won't live in it,"
A Mile an Hour.
JUNE l3.--We are still in pocket
Captain Pedersen, accompanied by the
sailor Boerylg, made long trip To tho
east today TO settle once for all the ques-
tion Of the practicability of the road to-
ward the Rep island. In four hours the
pair returned with the discouraging re-
port that the ice In that direction Is i'm
passable. The continued gales from the
northwest have crushed what was week
or two ago apparently good ice, with
smooth, level foes, into hopeless confu-
sion. 10 Is about all man can do to pick
his way through It at a rate OF mile an
hour with nothing TO carry but the bam-
boo stick with which he helps himself
along. or course 1t is out of the question
TO move our boats and sledges through
such ice
JUNE I4.-Wo decide 20 make for the
land. about 81 miles south and little
west There we can 1nd a better camping
place, driftwood for fuel and doubtless
both bear and reindeer for our pots. Be-
sides, In case the wind changes and the ice
moves out from the shore we shall avert
danger OF moving cut with it against our
will Three men are sent ahead to cut a
road; but, despite their best efforts, con-
tinued through several hours they are
able TO make but an indifferent path
through the rough pieces. II is frightfully
hard work for the men with the boats, and
even the sledges, for after rod or two of
good surface they must by main strength
and one, two, three pulls and pushes, an
inch or two at timo fight their way over
ragged lines Of hummooks where the ice
has broken under tho great pressure OF the
gale and piled up in all the confusion OF
rocks which have been distributed by an
earthquake. AS luck would have IL, whore
the ice was toughest the snow was deep
est, and either side of the bad spots there
might be open holes covered only by thin
crust Of soft snow. 1t was today as COM
mon TO see one Of our men crawling along
on his knees in the heavy snow, pushing
boat or sledge, as to behold one or more OF
them drawing their soaked legs out of the
cold water The work was trying both to
men and equipment, and we stopped early
in the afternoon and sent five men ashore
about / "a miles, after driftwood and
game, should they be lucky enough to get
any Of the latter We soon heard shots on
the beach and saw our mon running after
reindeer, of which there seemed tn be quito
a herd. Anxiously we awaited the return
of the hunters, with our anticipations OF
feast of rein meat raised to high pitch.
In an hour or two tho men arrived, Mr..
Dodge in the lead, proud of having killed
his first reindeer. Out Of a herd of five
rein the hunters shot three and brought a
brace of launches with them.
Mr.. Dodge was shrewd enough to shoot
the buck first, and the others refused to
run away until they were wounded, when
they gave the men lively chase before
they could be secured. The first shot was
fired at n distance of $50 yards. though II
the sportsmen had known it they could
have walked right up TO the poor little
animals and murdered them like sheep at
the shambles. The reindeer in this part of
Spitzbergen, which is rarely visited by the
Norwegian hunters have no fear Of man
because they know nothing of him. If ap-
wonder, apparently nonplused at the queer
animal with two legs which they for the
first time behold. BY killing the buck first
of all tho hunters frequently bag a whole
herd without stirring from their tracks.
There is tradition that all the Spitzber-
gen reindeer have Sits in their ears, the
presumption being that the parent stock
found its way hither from Lapland or ST.
IBERIA by means of the ice, and, those do
mestic animals having been marked by
their owners, nature then by some freak
pcrpotudtfng The incision. IT Is q very
pretty theory, but we did not discover any
slits in the ears of tho reindeers which our
men shot this evening.
Uses of tho Reindeer.
Our hunters had no sooner returned
with meat and flrewood than we all set TO
work 60 prepare the feast. There was un-
exampled Willingness to assist in the task.
Two men chopped wood, one superlntend-
cd the firomaking, ono fetched water, fair
ly fresh, from a pool under an iceberg, and
several others cut up the deer and peeled
the onions for the stew. In the pot we
put two cupfuls of desiccated potato, along
with couple OF dozen small onions, and
after half an hours boiling we bad the
and plenty OF it. Nor was this all. Two
mon were kept busy frying rein steaks in
butter, and no steak from swell silver grill
within the confines OF civilization ever
gave so much satisfaction TO its dovourers
as we took in these pieces Of fresh venl-
son. To pile delicacy upon delicacy, the
Norwcgians taught us how TO scrape the
sweet marrow from the boiled bones, and
Captain Petersen, who came back from
the shore late In the evening, accompanied
by several other men who had volunteered
for the pufpose, with three more deer,
brought TO the officers tent some boiled
tongues, which, with pepper and salt,
made n feast Sit for batter men and luckier
arctic travellers than we. These morsels
we ate while lying in our sleeping bags,
and thus We were reclining upon reindeer
oOuches, eating reindeer soup, steaks and
tongues, and whom we get up in the morn
Ing 10 will be to find ourselves covered like
snowilahes with white reindeer hair from
the bods. Some Of the men have rcnskin
boots aud coats, and for two weeks we
have been drinking more rein hair In the
I uN g.