The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-02


rived 1t an unnamed and little known is
land lying between the mainland of north
H east Spitzbergen and the Rep island and
|! are looking for reasonably smooth high
N! Way 10 the north. All sorts OF experiences
md adventures have we had with Ice and
N sea and bear and mountains and glaciers.
N We are not finding any Improvement in
,4-fhe road. la fact, the surface gets worse
(. and worse as we advance. and our expert
nncod Norwegians say they never saw such
On unfayorable ice year in the Spitzbergen
n xcgion. The story Of tkc past fortnight's
!',ilabors and adventures will be found in the
H'{ollowing extracts from our daily journal
The Fat Of the Land.
June 10.-Again we are reyeling In bear
h meat, and young, delicious bear at that.
4 Last evening we saw cub approaching
camp, his keen nostrils having been at
M tracted, no doubt by the SAVIOR OF our
"A soup. Now and then he sat down upon
his launches, lifting his nose as high in
the air as he could get it and moving his
thoad to and fro to get the scent. Occa-
hionally he shifted danger and retreated at
rapid gait, but our hunters knew better
n thar, to pursue and frighten him. They
simply hid themselves behind big pieces OF
acc confident that bruins fatal curiosity
would master his fears and induce him TO
'adyance nearer and nearer To them. Such
|t,proyed to be the case, and in short time
DE came within gunshot and met the usual
,fate OF bear who indulge too much curios-
ATTY as TO the cause of the odors which they
detect in the vicinity of our camp cookery.
NJ After breakfast half of our party walked
tashore, three or four miles distant, after
81 game and driftwood. We saw plenty Of
4fraces of reindeer and much moss, but
no reins We killed a Number of elder
tducks, however, the birds sitting quietly
'<'on the cliffs TO be killed, and as soon us
|Ethreo or four had fallen others accommo-
|datingly took their places.
N Plenty Of driftwoed from the Siberian
xxlvers was found on the gravel beach. 1t
81 was interesting 10 watch our men split up
@ the logs. Norwegian workmen, with an
American ak, working Siberian trees up
5'lnto firewood. Besides the AK the men
used small stones for wedges, and also
Epiece Of a rein's antler, which proved in
Eoredibly tough and useful for the purpose.
/ After seven mile walk, part of it through
b deep snow and rough ice, with parts of
n logs of wood upon their shoulders, it may
n easily be Imagined that the men had appe-
n tites III to cope with tho two large buckets
ri OF bear soup which awaited us on our ar
M rival at camp, with some delicious steaks
"A {or the officers.
3T For supper we enjoyed duck soup,
which proved very good. With bear and
N duck ia our pot we are realizing the truth
i<O Of Captain Pedersen's remark that "you
"A can always live in the arctics If you have
gun" Not only did we enjoy bear
N steaks, bear brains and duck soup bHt the
D birds themselves, after the broth had been
n drawn off, proved most delicious, fully as
X good as canyasback at So per pair, and
we wero so glad to get them that no re-
& Grets for the absence of the customary cold
bottle troubled our minds as we sat under
the awnings and picked the bones.
81 JUNE 11.--During the night we had all
of our young and delicious bear boiled up
K by the watch to take with us in case we
n move today. AS luck would have It, just
os this bear disappeared in thep pot another
&one walked up to camp, inlpelled by that
Natal curiosity which all ice bear appear 10
Npossess, and was promptly shot for his
I, ,pains. He was big fellow and not as
good eating as tho other one. The young
bear was just right, both for steaks and
otcw. There is no need of going hungry
K IN this country, for two more bear were
seen near camp just after breakfast, and
%having more meat than we can eat and
&Carry with us we did not even take the
1rouble to 90 after them. At s this
tmorning we gave orders TO move at |
( o'clock for the Outger Reps island 13
miles away Three men were sent for
driftwood 20 cook our dinner with and TO
&prepare some more bear stew, while three
more were sent ahead TO blaze out the
txoute and cut a road through the rough
Fplaces. This important work was put in
charge of Professor French, who has "A fine
ilaculty for picking out the best roads
1-thrJuYh rough 1cG All hands seem glad
f>to get into action again. We may as well
be at work as 60 sit idle, waiting for the
Favorable winds that may never come.
q IL was 2:30 in the afternoon before we
started on our journey The road was very
bad. Tho same ice shat we had found com
paratively smooth and good travelling
vvbile on a prospecting tour last evening
had been so much screwed by pressure un-
Z der the strong northerly wind during the
might and forenoon that we could find
View traces OF the road which the men had
cut in the morning. This shows the per-
versity OF ice in thearctlos You can never
tell what it is going to do, except that In
our case IL wonid be pretty safe To predict
that 1t will always do what II is not want
ed 70 do. We struggled along till So'clock
and by Tint hour had made perhaps a mile
of cnsting, with all hands working TO the
limit OF their strength. Then we campCd
on nro which Captain Petersen warrant
ed snic from ice pressure and went TO bed.
U JrNE IA little after midnight wo
: were reused by the voice OF the watchman
1calling out that the foe on which wo had
\ coinpcd was being broken up by the heavy
Dec from tho north. For the second time
1n our Journey we had 20 crawl out in the
q high cold wind and literally take up our
4 'bcds and walk. In half an hour we were
Q settled down nrain In q safer place
D VIC continued our efforts all day over
3 frichtful road. which constantly grcw
<orso. In many places we found IL ncces-
oafy 10 chcpa way through the difficult
pjaces and % double up our crews. Not
= only WAS tho road full Ok difficulties re-
:, cuiring nll our strength ali the time to
"A move thc boats, bus the weather was the
4 ~orft We have yet cncountercd-a high
= Wind with driving SNOW and much hu
y 1iiGlfy IN the air To add &c our discom
k/Xrr4 f.fnrly s.rf4s. tnrr "a tho storIv kr