The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-11-01

necessary 10 us, ulIlHdCeiy DeCdIue tH6 greatest bane to comfort. It escaped through the pores of the skin, satu- rated the boots, formed a band of ice under the knee and a belt of frost about the waist, while the face was nearly always incased in a mask of icicles from the breath-a necessary part of our hard lot in life, and we learned to take the torture phiioso- phically. From ice it comes, to ice 1t goes," like the other elements of the body, when the good preacher pro- nounces the last words "from dust to dust"
 From the eighty-seventh to the eighty-eighth parallel we passed for two days over old ice without pressure lines or hummocks. There was no dis cernible line of demarcatien for the fields, and it was quite impossible to determine If we were on land or sea ice. The barometer indicated no ele- vation. but the ice had the hard, way ing surface of glacial ice, with only superficial crevasses. The water ob- tained from this was not salty, but all of the upper surface of the ice of the polar sea makes similar water The nautical observations did not seem to indicate a drift. but nevertheless the combined tabulations do not warrant the positive assertion of either land or sea for this area
 An Air Line Course.
 This ice gave a cheering prospect A plain of purple and blue ran in easy undulations to the limits of vision without the usual barriers of uplifted fxI mir ina was possible Progress, however, was quite as difficult as over the irregular pack. The snow was crusted with large crystals. An increased friction reduced the speed, while the surface, too hard for snowshoes, was also too weak to give a secure footing. The loneliness, the monotony, the hardship of steady, unrelieved travel were now keenly felt.
 It is not often that mans horsepow- CT is put to the test as ours was. We were compelled to develop working energy to the limit of animal capacity. Day after day we had pushed along at the same steady pace over plains of frost and through a mental desert As the eye opened at the end of an icy slumber the fire was lighted little by little. the stomach was filled with liquids and solids, mostly coid-enough to last for the day, for there could be no halt or waste of fuel for midday feeding. We next got into harness and paced oil the days pull under the lash of duty. We worked until stand ing became impossible-longer in light winds, shorter in strong winds, but al- ways until the feet became numb and heavy
 Then came the arduous task of build ing a snow house. In this the eyes, no longer able to wink, closed, but soon the empty stomach complained, and it was filled up again-not with things that pleased the palate, only hard fuel to feed the inner fires, while the ear sought the soft side of ice to dispel fatigue; no pleasure in mental recre- ation, nothing to arouse the soul from its icy inclosure.
 To eat to sleep, to press one foot ahead of the other, was our steady vo- cation, like the horse to the cart, l but we had not his advantage of an agreeable climate and a comfortable stable at night. a Where Madness Sits.
 Words and pictures cannot adequate ly describe the maddening influence of this sameness of polar glitter, com bined with bitter winds, extreme cold and an overworked body. To me there was always the inspiration of anticf- patton of the outcome of ultimate suc- cess, but for my young savage com panions it was a torment almost be yond endurance. Their weariness was made evident by a lax use of the whip and an indifferent urging of the dogs. They were however, brave and faith ful to the bitter end, seldom allowing selfish ambitions or uncontrollable passions seriously to interfere with the main effort of the expedition. On the morning of April 13 a strain of agitating torment reached a break ing point For days there had been a steady cutting wind from the west, which drove despair to its lowest reaches. The west again blackened to renew its soul despairing blast. The sun was screened with ugly yapors, ! and the path was as cheerless as the arctic night No torment could be worse than that never ceasing rush of icy air. Ahwe4 lah bent over his sled and refused to | move. His dogs turned and looked i'm l quiringly. I walked over and stood l by his side. Etukishuk came near and
 stood motionless, staring blankly at the
 southern skies. Large tears fell from | Ahwelah's eyes and piled a little frosk | of sadness in the blue of his own shad- l ow for several minutes. Not a word | was uttered, but knew that each felt that the time had come to free the fet-
 ters of human passions. Slowly Ahwe-
 Iah said, "Unne sinig pa-oo-ah-tonie
 i-o-doria ('It is well to die-beyond is
 impossi1le'0.
 Copyright, 1909, by the New YorB
 Herald Company, Registered in Can.
 ada in Accordance With Copyright Act. Copyright in Mexico Undea
 Laws of the Republic of Mexico All Rights Reserved.