Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-12-16


anything except their boat kayaks, guns
and ammunition. hansen contnues'
1--WE Immediately set TO work to shoot
walrus, the blubber Of which we intended
to use for firing. For two men. how
ever. the manipulation OF these huge AMI
mails was attended with considerable
toll We had at last to give up dragging
them up on land or onto the Ice, ana
our own expedient was TO lie on them in
the water while removing the hide ana
blubber, during which process we sue
ceeded In getting our only CLONES
thoroughly saturated with oil and dirt.
thus rendering them peculiarly unified
for protection against the winter cold ana
storms There was no scarcity OF bears.
and We shot them FOR our winter store or
food After having laid In temporary
supply. we set 10 work on our hut. whlcn
was built OF stone. earth. and moss Row
we were to roof Il seemed at first dinl-
cult problem TO solve. Fortunately, how
ever. we found a piece OF DRIFT timber
cast up on the shore This we used as tne
ridge piece OF the house. and stretched
walrus hides over it, weighted AT the
edges on both sides with large stones.
on the top of this we laid snow. 10
build a chimney was not easy, as we
had not the stone necessary. our only
expedient was therefore, 10 build II OF ice
and snow. which had to be renewed, now
ever. two or three times In the course OF
the winter
A DREAM OF MARBLE HALLS.
For cooking. lighting. and heating
we used warus blubber and bears rat
Bears flesh and fat was our only 1000
In the evening we fried IL In a large
aluminium frying-pan; I'm the morning
we boiled It, We made our bed ana
sleeping bag of bearskin. To keep
warmer we both slept in one bag and,
taken altogether, we were quite COM
Portable IN our low hut, OF which
great part lay below the level OF the
ground. and was, therefore, fairly Wen
protected from the violent winter storms
which continually ragged above II. ny
the help Of our lamps we succeeded III
keeping the temperature inside az ABOUT
freezing point. while on the walls II was
OF course. considerably lower. Ihese
were covered with thick coating OF
rime and ice. which. In the lamp-hght
Unmarried n beautiful marmOreal appear
ance 10 the walls Of the hut, SO that
I'm our happier moments we could cream
that we dweit I'm marble halls Inc nut
was about 10 feet long. feet broad anu
hiqh enough in some places 70 alloN
of our standing almost erect. out co"O'
was formed Of rough stones; We never
quite succeeded In getting even
tolerablv even, and our most important
business throughout the winter was
therefore. to bend the body into the
mos, vnrled positions I'm order 90 ais
cover the one in which the pressure OF
the stones was least felt.
HOW TINE PASSED.
I'VE had no work which could help 70
mako the time pass; we did little e4se
than sleep. eat, and then sleep AGAIN -
any one still holds the Old DelIel tll'-1
scuryy arises from want Of exercise tii'9
is a striking proof that such Is not Ihe
case. Strange TO say, our appetile5 CO"
timed unlmpaired the whole time. anu
We always consumed our bears flesh anu
our fat with the same Voracity' w NJ
the weather permitted we would take a'i
hours walk every day in the dark oulsl~
the hut. but often II was so stormy 1H'1
n was not expedient 20 put ones nose
bevoud the passage which leu 10 ouI
noiace Several days would often pass III
which we lay quite still, until at last
scarcity of ice to melt for drinking water
or of food. compelled US TO 90 out TO letch
ice or to drag in the carcass or leg OF d.
baar After November we were not VISIT
cd again bv bears until March, and our
only company IN the winter were mum
Der OF foxes, which constantly sat upon
the roof Of our hut. whence we couIu ho''
their perpetual gnawing at our frozen
hams. 1t made us often dream thuI We
,rera sitting comfortably at home listen
ing to the rats in the lott above, ana We
Nv no means grudged them little or an
orr abundance. These foxes were both OF
the white variety and Of the ValuaDle
dark-furred kind, and had we been so m
cIiued we could easily have laid by a good
store Of valuable furs. our supply or am
uunition. however, was not so large as
10 allow. I'm my opinion, OF our spending
7, unon them. for 10 seemed 10 me that
bears were the smallest game that could
give us any return for our cartridges.
.J-pon the whole, the winter passed IN
a manner beyond our expectation. Our
health was excellent, and If we had only
mad a few books, a little -four, and
little sugar. we were both agreed that we
could have lived like lords.
SPRING At LAST.
AT last came spring, with sunshine
and birds. How well / remember that
first evening. a few days before the sun
had appeared above the horizon, when
we suddenly saw a flock of little auks
(rotgeD sail past us along the mountains
10 the north. 1t was Ike the first greet
ing from life and spring Many follow
"a IN their train. and soon the noun
tains around us sWarmed with these III
lie summer visitors of the north, which
enllvened everything with their cheerful
t,yittering. A dark sky, which we had
had the whole winter, but especially now
IN the spring, in the south ana southwest
seemed TO imply that there must De
water I'm that direction, Of which II was
a reflection We had, therefore, every
hope of making a quick and easy voyage,
L.. IL 70.
" over open water, partly over drift
ice; and, as daylight had now returned
we busted ourselves in preparations for
this journey.
LIFE WITHOUT SOAP.
There was much, however, 20 be done
before we could set Off. Our clothes We're
so worn out and so saturated with fat
and dirt that they were anything but SUIT
able Tor a journey OF this kind. We there
fore made ourselves two entire new suits
ont of two blankets we had brought with
US. our underclothing We tried TO WASH
as best we could, but never before dld L
know what 1t was TO exist without soap.
IL was difficult enough 10 get ones per-
son clean, but this we managed TO GER
Tain extent by rubbing In bears blood
and fat. and then rubbing this or with
moss. But this process was not appllca-
bic to clothes. After trying every posi-
bic way. we found. in our despair, no
other expedient than 20 boil them as we
best could and then scrape them with
knife. IN this way We got so much on
them that they did 10 travel with, though
the thought of putting on clean clothes
when we once more got back 10 Norway
vas always in our minds as the greatest
endowment that life could bestow. We
had TO make a new sleeping-bag Of bear
skins. which we dried and prepared by
stretching them ont under the roof or our
hut. our good, precious silk tent. which
we had had during the whole Of the pre-
ceding years journey, had at last, during
the autumn storms, become so worn out
that / did not think il could be used any
4