Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-26

| ber for they were countless. Though the
population of Norway is now only 3OoO.oOO
or 1000, 900. this will soon be the most pop
| ulouS country the face Of the globe,
Judging from the appearance of the still
| waters surrounding our isle of dogs. Over
here the children, boys and girls alike, be-
| gin to row boats before they are able to
dress themselves in the morning or butter
| their cwn bread at breakfast. Their par
ents do not seem to have any fear OF their
drowning, and on inquiry we learn, on
what appears to be trustworthy authority.
that in all Norway. with its thousands Of
miles of coast and fiords, the number OF
your gsters seeking the eternal shore by
the salt water route is not as great as the
| list of victims claimed by some OF our mill
ponds in America. Obviously the sons OF
| the Vikings Of old were not born to be
drowned. nor the daughters either There
are children galore, but how refreshing to
see hcrdes of bairnies poor, but polite ana
| every little man and woman doff1ng hat or
lcourtesying to the stranger!
1t finally became necessary to employ po-
lieemen to guard our canine possessions, not
that there was danger of theft, but that
| the curious people insisted upon landing
| upon the island, and the authorities object
ed strenuousiy to contact between our pets
ard the population, human or animal. A
number of men were arrested and nned In
court for persisting in setting foot upon the
dog domain after being warned away.
Dog Ashore.
Despite all our precautions one of our
hounds broke his chain and swan to the
mainland. For hours he wandered about at
his own sweet will. Such dog hunt as we
cid have! All hands Of US tramped the
mountains till we were ready to drop, and
then We hired posse of lusty youths, Of
fering a reward of 10 kroners for the animal
alive and kroners for his skin, not that
we care1 so much for one solitary dog-we
have brought more than We need, in pro-
vision for all contingencieS-but We feared
II even one Of our contraband CANNES was
permitted to roam at large the authorities
would take fright and order us to kill the
whole pack or to put then. aboard ship and
out to sea before We were ready so to do
Luckily the truant brute was found and
banishel to our St. Helena, though not
without giving the authorities such a fright
that they had no end of telegraphing to and
from the capital at Christiania. That same
spirit of generosity and forbearance which
has characterized the people of Norway
since our arrival must have actuated the
officials, for We had no further trouble with
them, and our fears proved to have been
groundless.
A Question of Ownership.
But for q week there were rumors Of dogs
and escapes galore. Every cur seen wander
ing disconsolate about the streets was taken
up and held as one Of the expedition dogs.
In all such cases We lost no time in getting
the vagrant upon our island. II there was
any probability of his being ours. our usual
test of ownership was to hold quiet con-
versation with the tramp in French. and II
he understood and kept up his end Of the
parley vous all right-he was ours. II he
shook his head instead of his tall when We
asked him II he would IKE to go back to
his mother in Liege. he was Morse and none
Of our meat. In one or two cases we SNUG
gied dogs upon the island which afterwaId
turned out to be town dogs. and thus We
were placed in an embarrassing, position.
To claim the pup as ours was to acknowl-
edge that our guard was not vigflant. and
that we were in a fair way to introduce
rabies into peaceful Norway, thus renewing
the danger of friction with the police cffi-
Gals. ON the other hand. TO admit that the
dog was not ours, but had been kidnapped.
was sure to lead to other complications,
such as the necessity of paying whatever
extravagant price the owner might set upon
his dog, for. of course. II was impossible to
return to his home an animal that had
passed a night with our suspected and out
lawed pack, or every man for fifty Nor
wegian miles around-and a Norwegian mile
Is something fearful and wonderful to
travel, being equal to about six of our miles
every man in all this region who had ever
lost a pup would come to our pound and
pretend to find him there, knowing right
well we should have to stop his mouth with
one or two of the queer little square-toed
five-kroner notes which the honest and in
dustrious people of the country work SO
hard for.
OF the two evils we chose neither We
were never quite sure when a dog found his
way to our little isle whether he was ours
or not. We mugwumped between the two
parties. We would try to ascertain next
day. Next day our dog expert was Ill with
a bad cold and couldn't get over. Please
call again. And in the end We kept the
stray, merely for the protection Of the re-
mainder OF the dogs in Norway, and are
now ready to leave the town with more mo-
tive power than We had when We came
vr to v,Sf th.& IT,. .lg.l--
cannot be managed without stealing dogs,
but we are sure 1t isn't our fault.
On the Dog Island.
II any one who visited our isle Of dogs
came there with doubts as to the draft
strength Of the beasts. he must have gone
away with those doubts dispelled. The ami
mails are Quartered all over the island,
which is two or three acres in extent, but
at the feeding hour they come together as
If they had been fired out of guns. They
bring their boxes with them, heavy though
these appendages are. When one of these
animals digs his hind claws into the ground
shows his teeth and lunges forward, some
thing has to give way. Despite their saw
age appetites and their great strength, they
are affectionate enough and like nothing
better than to climb upon the person of a
visitor and spoil his Sunday collar. or 10
fondle nice, clean pair Of cuffs with q red
moist tongue.
encouragement Tor the Expedition.
Kind as they are to us. the Norwegians
are true to their idol, and their idol in arc
tic work. rightly enough. is the gallant Dr.
Nansen. The popularity OF Nansen Is very
great among his own countrymen. and there
is here the strongest kind Of conviction that
he will reach the pole in his good ship, the
Fran. Some of the Norwegian explorers
Intimate friends have paid US the compli-
ment Of wishing that we were in Jericho or
America. or some other place. for, in their
opinion, We are dangerous competitors of
their favorite in the race for the pole,
There were even a few of the partisans
of Nansen who would have deprived us of
the right to import our equipment duty
free, and who would have been exceeding
ly glad to have kept our draft hounds out
of the country at the point of the bayonet
But the manly and progressive people and
officials would not listen to such counsel
which DR.. Nansen himself would doubtless
have been the first to cry down were he at
home. The vast majority of Norwegians
echo the sentiments which the writer ex-
pressed in an interview in a Norwegian
newspaper, with a transposition to suit
their own tastes, that If an American can
rot have the honor of winning the pole
then may it be Norwegian. And in the
case Of our little party the honors IL any
| there are to be, must reeds be divided for
we are Americans and Norwegians to-
gether.
| We find much encouragement here in
the general opinion Of the arctic sailors