The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-10

northwest of Point Barrow, not very far
from where the jeanette was imprisoned
Fifty-sx of the crew of sixty-five aban-
doned the ship. Seventeen Of the fifty
six reached Point Barrow. The rest were
lost. The seventeen had been taken OIL
just before we were wrecked N.ne men
remained aboard the Nevarah IheS
argued that it was death to land ana
they might as well stay by their pro-
visions.
NOW, on October S. the Nevarch had
drifted northeast back of Point Barrow
In November she diifted toward the
Point until she was within eighteen miles
of u.s. We took the nine men Off and
were just starting to take the PROVISIONS
out Of her when the zee opeaed and the
pack started of. We had taken out only
a few sacks of -four.
TIMELY SUPPLIES.
I'm December the Nevarch was sighted
| TO the south of Point Barrow. In Feb
| ruary she came back and was pushed by
| the ice pack right up on the shore with
| in three miles Of US. We wrecked her
| and got out all of her supplies
IF the behavior of the Nevarch is any
! criterion. the jeanette, imagine would
never have gotten very far from the
| shore
Captain Porter's first Arctic eSper ence
was in 1880, when he was placed in COM
| mand OF the Newport. which was fitted
out by the Pacific Steam Whaling Com
| pany. and sent into the Arctic for the
| purpose of charting the coast from Point
| Barrow to Banks Barren Land, dis
| lance of about nine hundred miles by
| the coast. This feat was successfully
| performed, the Newport, as we'll as other
| vessels of this company's fleet, winterlns
| at Herschel S Island and Cape Parry
| The object of the company in chartnS
| the coast was TO find the best place tor
wintering, this corporation beng the first
| to have it's vessels spend the winter IN
| the Arctic. The advantage of this ar
| rangement is obvious, for it enabled the
| ships TO take advantage OF the season
before snlps could arrive from the out
SIDE and it saved the expense of winter
ing in San Francisco and of much steam
ing. The plan worked well and tor a
number of years the company had sew
eral vessels in those regions every win
ter There is but one there now. the
whaling industry having 1allen off to
almost nothing since so many substl-
| tutes have been invented for whale
| products.
AS a sort of side ISSUE While engaged
| in charting the coast, Captain Porter
| hunted for whales, and he came out OF
| the Arctic on this trip with a catch of
| twenty-one. A catch of four whales in a
| season pays the expenses OF steamer
| and all over this is profit. The value Of
| the catch may be imagined. particularly
| when it is stated that whalebone in its
| raw state was selling for $ a pound, the
| manufactured article going as high as
| s14 and SIS.
HIS FIRST WHALE.
| THE first whale l caught" said Cap
| tain Porter, was considerable above
| the average in size. We took 2,SS5 pounds
| of bone out Of his head. The thickest
| blubber was sixteen inches, about the
| color Of a peach We did not take the.
| oil-it does not pay now that nlinera! OF!
| has come into such general use-but we
| could have gotten probably 10 barrels.
| The limit is 2GD barrels, I believe"
| Captain Porter talked very interesting
| ly about the ha bits of these huge bow
| head whales and the way in which they
| are killed The whalers use dynamite
and other means we'll known. The ma
| tives, however, employ q slower but no
! less certain. method. 1t takes them some
| time to kill whale, but the end is al
| ways sure.
They attach fints to the head Of
| shafts" said Captain Porter. and to
| the end of thees shafts they tie huge
| inflated polk sacks. y seal is skinned
| whole-the hide is peeled Off him. SO to
| speak, and converted into q sack, which
is blown up until it is a huge affair.
and tied to the ends of the shafts OF the
stuck into q single whale and while they
cannot do much damage to the monster
themselves, the animal is worried to
death He is unable to go under the
water. for the sacks are like pontoons
and hold him up.
These Eskimos.' continued Captain
Porter. ARE wonderful people It is
hard for a white man, particularly
Yankee. to understand them They do
not know what wealth is and they care
nothing for it. They are, in their natural
state, absolutely contented, take no
thought of the morrow, and haven't
care on the faca Of the earth. They will
procure food one day and gorge them
selves with it, but never lay by a sup
ply for the morrow. On the morrow.
and the morrow after that, if need be.
they will go without food unless there
is an easy opportunity to obtain more.
But they do not suffer from hunger.
They can come nearer alternating than
any human beings I ever saw.
THE NATIVES.
Before they have become contami-
mated by the whites. they are kindly.
generous, good-tempered, gentle and
sober They rarely if ever fight or quar-
rel among themselves. Their wants are
few and confined chiefly to food. Their
ambitions are limited most exceedingly.
They have nothing to quarrel about. but
the Eskimos assimilate all Of the bad
qualities of the whites and few of the
good qualities They are fond Of Amer!-
can whskey-and who is not eh?-and
make an execrable article of their own
out Of flour and molasses. It is queer
how every race. no matter how low in
the human scale. manages to contrive an
intoxicating drink.
These Eskimos live on fat the year
round, but they take mighty kindly to
flour and other food of civilization. There
is a little root which they get when the
ground is bare and eat in quantities. /
was never able to learn what it was.
but I suppose they eat it as vegetable.
craving something Of the sort like we
white people. They have remarkable
powers of endurance, being. of course.
Injured to the rigors of the climate; but
I doubt not that if a white man will
climate himself. he can beat them even
at their own game We always do beat
the inferior races in everything when we
go about it the right way. Those chaps
however, think nothing OF cold. Indeed,
we got so used to it ourselves that we