Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-11

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ST ;iE -
Hammerfest.
vessel. OF course. he would have been
obliged to sacrifice his steamer. But he has
done that, anyway. without the advantage
he would by the other course have OBJ
tanned Then. TOO. at the later season he
would have been in better position to
travel northward after taking to the ice
MIR. WeilInan is better equipped for a sledee
journey than any'of those who have gone
before him. Where he was at last reports
in the vicinity of the group of Seven Is
lands. the ice viii be nearly stationary. the
Islands serving as an anchorage. But when
he gets away from them a little TO the
north. the drift will carry him to the south
ana east faster than ne can travel north
ward The Ice at that season is a trcadmill
This was discovered by Parry in 1877. when
lie succeeded in reaching latitude 81 hut
could make no progress on the ice, in fact
losing ground ali the time. | sincerely hope
that may be mistaken in these Deductions:
but L predict thIt Mr.. Wellnfan has him
self ere this reached the same conclusions
Hazardous Navigation.
u nder the most favorable circuln stances
the navigation of arctic waters is extreme
~ hazardous Many times we were in
clear water today, only to be surrounded
by mountains of ice on the morrow on
one occasion we sighted a fleet of walrus
hunters in latitude 80 or 50. VINO appeared
from our point Of observation to be IN dam
ger OF being crushed by the ice. Com
Tlander Wadeigh started to rescue them
Offering TO tow them oct of danger Bat
the daring hunters declined the proffered
assistance and we steamed aWay Some
weeks later We came across a portion Of the
Norwegian vessels crew at Hammerfest
from them in
ten hours after We had left them the ice
had closed around them and crushed their
Meet to atoms, the hunters losing every
thing and barely escaping with their lives
Prof. Norienskjold, you will Remember.
lied up TO an ice anchor for a day in the
summer of 1878, and remained there in
the pack ice for more than one year New
discoveries are being made by each sue
cesslVe party of explorers. but IL is ex-
tremely doubtful to my mind whether the
value of these discoveries, either to science
or to commerce is really worth the sac
rifce they cost. This is an age of progress
ara there Is nothing the American people
dare not attempt. But, even though they
achieve all they desire In arctic explora-
tons. what will be the advantage? 1t ha $
already been conclUstvely demonstrate
That beyond certain degree of latitude no
human being can exist. Then, why sacri-
flee life In efforts to reach the unattaina-
BILE?
In an Ice Pocket.
An incident or the trip of the Alliance
will illustrate the extreme dangers of arc
tic navigation" continued Mr.. King, re-
hecttVeiy. 1--WE had left Spitzbergen for
home and were bearing away to the west
to reach the gulf stream and supposed we
were beyond the reach of danger from the
ice, when suddenly we found ourselves con-
fronted with a noun tain of glaciers higher
than the vessels masthead and miles in
length. Keeping a safe distance away to
n a hGtr rnff 4, u
south, and for several hours imagined
that we were in safety. Again the ice
doomed up on our bow, and again the
course of the Alliance was changed little
to the east. 1t suddenly dawned upon our
commander that We were in a pocket of
ice, and liable to be surrounded and forever
lost Orders were given to put on all
steam, the reserve boilers were brought into
use, and we made a desperate effort to save
ourselves and the ship from destruction
Keeping close to the ice. that we might
take advantage of the first opening which
might present itself, thus We steamed for
several hours. The opening was found
the Alliance passed out of the pocket and
none too soon; for even as we slipDed
through the opening, with crash which
would well nigh have aroused the dead from
their long sleep. the ice came togethe-
Had we been two minutes later this inter
view would never have taken place and the
world would even yet have been sending
out searching parties to find Comma nd ar
Wadleigh and the lost Alliance 1 shall
never forget the sensation which came over
me when first learned how near we came
to being swallowed up in an ice pocket"
Being pressed to relate something of his
experience and observations among the in
habitants Of the region of ice, Mr.. King
continued:
"Hammerfest, the last port before leaving
Europe for the north arctic seas is the
most nOrtherly town in Europe and when
/ have said that there is little more to saw
about it. The town stands on the edge Of
an enormous sheet Of water completely
landlOCked by three islands, and consists OF
a congregation of wooden houses plastered
up against steep mountain, some Of which.
being built on spteS. give the notion of
the place having slipped down off the hill
into the There is a population at pres
ent Of about LOO. and the principal busi-
ness Is fishing and fitting out fishing fleets.
The natives also produce milk, cream-not
bEtter-salad and bad p0ta toes, which. after
all. were what we were most interested in.
The LnpIandcrs.
The Laplanders are a peculiar and in
teresting people-pecUliar in their appear
ance and I'm their habits; interesting
I'm that we Americans always find interest
in everything strange with which we come
in cor tact or about which we hear. 1t was
in the streets of Hammerfest that 1 first
came upon one Of these people. TURNING
round the corner Of one Of the nl~built
houses. ] suddenly ran over q iirniuutiye
I little parsonage in a white wooden tunic
bOrdered with red and yellow stripes green
trousers, fastened round the ankles, and
reindeer boots curving up at the toes like
Turkish slippers. On her head-for not
vithstan1ing the trousers 10 turned out to
be O wOman-was perched a cOlored can
| fitting closely around the face and running
Up at the back into an overaTching peak
Of red cloth. Into this peak was crammed
1 afterward learned, a piece of hollow
wood weighing about a quarter of pornd
/ into which is fitted the wearers back hair
| so that perhaps, after all, there does exist
| a more convenient coiffurs than a Paris
| bonnet Hardly had taken off my hat and
] bowed thousand apologies for my unin.