The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-25


 detected about the igloo, and a peep through the eye port gave no cause for the disturbance. It was concluded that the ice was cracking from the sudden change of temperature in quite the usual harmless manner, and we turned over to prolong the bag com forts.
 Then there came a series of thun- dering noises, with whicb the ice quiv- cred. Ahwelah arose and said that the house was breaking. I turned to rise and sank into a newly formed crevasse, which up to that moment was bridged by snow. A man in a bag is . helpless creature, and with water be- low and tumbling blocks of snow from above pressing one deeper and deeper the case was far from humorous at temperature of 4S below.
 Still, the boys laughed heartily. Their hands, however, were quickly occu- pied, Ahwelah grabbNd my bag and rolled me over on snow of doubtful security. They then slipped into furs with electric quickness and tossed the things out on safe ice.
 In the extreme cold the water froze in sheets about the bag, and when the ice was beaten of the reindeer skin was, to my pleasure, found quite dry. A few moments more of sleep and we might all have found a resting place in the chilling deep. That experience kept US ever watchful for the dangers of the spreading ice in all calms after storms
 The ice about was much disturbed, and numerous black lines of water opened on every side, from which oozed jets of frosty steam. The great difference between the temperature of the sea and that of the air made a contrast of 76 degrees, and the open spots of ice water appeared to be bofl- ing.
 Anxious to move along away from the troubled angle of ice, the usual breakfast was simplified. Melting some snow, we poured down the fey liquid as an eye opener and then began at the half pound powder of pemmican, but with cold fingers, blue lips and no possible shelter the stuff was unusual ly hard :.
 To warm up the sleds were prepared. and under the lash the dogs jumped into harness with bound. The penn mican, somewhat reduced with the ax, was ground under the molars as we went along. The teeth were thus kept from chattering. and the stomach was fired with durable fuel.
 As we advanced the ice improved to some extent, and with little search safe crossing was found over all of the new crevices, though a strong west erly wind carried a piercing cold Good progress was made, but we were not allowed to forget at any time that we were invading the forbidden do- mains of polar environment.
 The Bitter Cold.
 In starting before the end of the ice fields in the long northward march we had first accustomed our eyes to a frigid darkness and then to perpetu- al glitter with shivers This proved to be the coldest season of the year. We should have been hardened to all kinds of arctic torment, but man only gains that advantage when the pulse ceases to beat
 Far from land, far from other life, there was nothing to arouse a warm ing spirit. Along the land there had been ca]ms and gales and an inspiring contrast, even in the dark days and nights, but here the frigid world was felt at its worst. The wind, which, came persistently from the west-now, strong, now feeble, but always sharp inflicted a pain to which we never be- came accustomed.
 The kind of torture most felt in this wind and humid air of an arctic pack was a picturesque mask of ice about the face. Eve.y bit of exhaied mois- ture condensed and froze either to the facial hair or to the line of fox tails about the hood. It made a comical caricature of us.
 The frequent turns in this course brought both sides to the wind and arranged a line of icicles from every hair offering a convenient nucleus These lines of crystal offered a pleas Ing dash of light and color as we looked at each other, but they did not afford much amusement to the indi- vidual exhibiting them. Such hairs as had not been pulled from the lips and the chin were first weighted, and then the wind carried the breath to the long, hair with which we protected our heads and left a mass of dangling frost
 An Icy Coating.
 Accumulated moisture from the eyes coated the eyelashes and brows. The humidity escaping about the forehead left a crescent of snow above, while that escaping under the chin, combined with falling breath, made semicircle of ice. The most uncomfortable icicles, however. were those that had formed, on the coarse hair within the nostrils.F It is to free the face of this kind of decoration that the Eskimos pull the facial hair out by the roots; hence the real poverty of mustaches and boards. Copyright, 1909, by the New York
 Herald Company, Registered in Can.
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