Washington sentinel., 1898-09-24
DAYS In the Arctic.

Grteeu and half tolerablY fine
kys-high gales. driving snow,
'sNhick mist, and often very low tenn
v beratures comprised the fare pro-
vided for us. On March 28, at our
camp near the entrance oI Crichton
Somarville Bay, we we're kept in
our tent by severe gale. | exam
ined the dogs soon after we turned
out Of our furs, and found them
buried in the snow, but apparently
all we'll. Three hours afterwards
/ found one dog frozen to death,
and its body as hard as a rock;
another dog was frozen fast in the
ice, and we had to hack it out with
a small pick to get it free. The
following day another OF our dogs
broke down, and we carried him
on our sledge in the endeavor to
keep him alive; but the poor little
beast, faithful and plucky to the
last, gradually froze to death. Tv o
or three days two more dogs ended
their days. We wrapped them up
in skins when we camped, and /
gave them nip of whisky each in
the hope of teviving them, but to
no avail. 1t was a sad time for us
thus to see our animals die one
after another, to say nothing OF the
loss oil dTaught power, which rem
'dered progress at all very difficult
AT that time, too, we could not
even guess at the length of the
Journey in front Of us. We had
set out to go round the western
land, and meant TO accomplish it.
The fluctuations IN temperature,
too, were very trying. Frequently
with the onset Of a southeast gale
it rose from 40 deg. below zero to
% deg. above within thirty-six
hours-altering our garments,
which previously had been frozen
as hard as sheets OF galvanized
iron, so that it took US hours to
get into them, to a state OF noisome
moistness, and everything inside
the tent would be in a condition Of
drip. Down again would 60 the
temperature, and the rockiness of
our clothes and equipm ent would
be increased. THIS addition of
moisture and ice in our clothes,
besides being inconvenient and
uncomfortable, greatly increased
our weights. To give an instance,
my militia (fur jumper, which on
leaving the hut weighed little
under ten pounds, on our return
scaled nearly thirty pounds. The
rises of temperature and conse-
Quent wet in the tent caused our
furs to rot, and the stencil made
thereby was absolutely indescrib-
able.
During our first sledge journey
OF last spring we were on several
occasions cut off by open sea water
OF course with masses Of floating
ice IN it, running right up to the
ice pre- ecipices which fringe the
coast, thus stopping all further ad-
vance on the sea ice, and obliging
us to search for a spot where, aided
by high snowdrifts, we could haul
our sledges by means of a purchase
up the face OF the glacier, and thus
enable us to climb up the steep in
cline OF the ice clad land. This
work entailed excessive labor,
hauling our sledgeS simply foot
by loot, as the FIVE remaining dogs
. stopped every eight or ten yards,
and could only be S arted again by
hauling up the sledges and by
shouting ourselves hoarse. The
whip is of little use when every
, muscle has to be strained to move
at all, and besides being repugnant
to any one fond Of Animals, tends
to discourage rather than to spur
them on, and DR.. Armitage seldom
used il. There is a popular pic
ture OF dog driving, of a man seated
on a sledge twirling a long whip
around his head, and careering
gaily along at the rate of ten or
twelve miles an hour, behind
team OF dogs. This, unfortunately,
is anything but trLe one. We
never thought OF riding upon a
sledge, but were more than con-
tented if it could be kept in motion
at a slow walk by the united efforts
Of the animals ant ourselves.
hauled in trace ahead ofthe dogs,
and led the way, while my COM
panion, by continuous shouting
and occasional use of the whip,
+ kept the dogs at their work, and
whenever the sledges stopped
which they did at the smallest OBJ
struction-by hauling and shout
,sing got them started again.
On more than one occasion we
nearly lost our pony down crevas-
= ses, when toiling over the high
glacier land. One day last spring
| was leading as usual with her,
and Mr.. Armitage was following
in my tracks with the dog team.
o On the even surface OF the snow
, there is nothing whatever to indi-
cate the yawning dark chasms,
hundreds Of feet in depth, which
Vie concealed around us by light
bridges OF snow, only few inches
in thickness. The snow covered
surface OF the glacier looks as firm
and stable as Piccadilly. not even
a slight depression in the snow
marks the hideous pitiall below,
and the inexperienced traveller
would probably tramp on with a
feeling OF perfect security. We,
however, had gone on glaciers
many times before. Suddenly,
without a moments warning,
Brownie" dropped Through the
snow crust With all four legs, and
hung suspended by light bridge
of snow Ovef a gaming abVss. the