The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1898-01-01

loo lGi-eea below zero
ole..i,e ~le-4 unirc iai three degrees
below the freeing point.
1t was i'll the arctic regions, not far
from Backs Great Fish liver, when
She author was conducting a homeward
sic Sc journey to Hudson 8 Bay in the
det,th of Al nrxt w,ntar-November.
Deem, et ahtatrT, february, and
March II he expsrianced It. Sc
YER. wea aE-taa. s, intensely cold
had set IN Just before Christmas in
1877 tie tie eter sinking down to
90 deg - aelow ere, and neye get
ting above degrees below, and we
We're .. D yety ari time with our
sl@iehft z IA .< H. river. our camps at
night III | i sight Of those We had
le t il IN mornnr, o close were they
tcget e asta SO slowly did W. labor
along. st deer. on which we were
relsi G for Il daily supply of food,
We're e 3az5tfear the river, and be-
ing Gen saae ten or ii teen miles back
from it, +, i 9 mined to leave its bed
au,t IL straight for home in Hud-
sou .aF.
NJ .l hecn gene two OF three DAYS,
am a, a9telsae. i q hi her levels.
tiln eth Ter commenced lowering.
IA q c tsse Il Of anuary, Iet o. at )
clock - afternoon, reached seven
tv-oae .sees below zero. the coolest
We experienced OF Or sledge Journey
OF neariy a year in length, and the cold
ct ere encountered by white men
travelling out Of doors for that dav we
py,ny-n.f - ~ = q 49,, 49, ~. 49, - -
to the south asfward. The day was
not at all iii a. able, / must say, un-
IT, long tuward tie drearv night, when
=. slight zephyr, the merest kind of mo-
ton of the leaves on a tree, or even
sufficient to cool the face on a warm
day, sprang up from the southwark,
and slight ard insight icant as it was,
It cut to the bone every rart of the
body that was exposed, and which for
~tanatelv was only the face from the
eyebrows to the chin and about half of
the cheeks. We turned our backs to-
ward it as mu. as possible, and es-
peHiallv after we had got into camp
and got to work building our snow
houses and digging through the thick
ice Of the lake tor fresh water, and SO
lazllF did orr breath that concealed
into miniature clouds float away to the
uorthward, Ike the little light c rus
clouds of q summer sky. that we knew
well enough how terribly cold it must
be without locking at the Thermometer
that stood at Il degrees below zero,
Fahrenheit.
1t Is not so much the intensity of the
cold, expressed in degrees on the Their
mometer, that determines the disagree
ahleness of arctic winter weather as it
Is the force and relative direction of
the wind. [ have found it far pleas
anter with the thermometer at 80, so.
or eve 70 degrees below zero, Fahren.
heit, with little or no wind blowing at
the time, than to face a rather stiff
breeze when the little tell-tale showed
% degrees warm temperature. Ever
an arctic acclimated white man facing
a good, strong wind, at 20 or % de-
grees below zero, is almost sure to find
the wind freeze the nose and cheeks,
and the thermometer does not have to
sink over 4 or 5 degrees to induce the
Esklmos themselves to keep within
their snug snow houses under the same
circumstances, unless want or famine
demands their presence in the storm
With plenty in the larder for all the
mouths, brute and human, none Of
them venture out in such weather.
Lieut.. chudtka.