Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1909-12-10

man endurance to the limit of the
strain of every fiber and cell. The
hard work which followed. under al
occasional burst of burning sunbeams,
brought intense thirst.
Soup a Luxury.
Forcing the habit of the camel, we
managed to take enough water before
starting to keep sufficient liquid in the
veins for the days march, but 1t was
difficult to await the melting Of the ice
at camping time.
In two sittings-evening and morn
ing-each took an average Of three
quarts of water daily. This included
the tea and also the luxury Of an oc-
caslonal soup. There was water about
everywhere in heaps. but It was in
crystals. and before the thirst could
be quenched several ounces Of pre-
cious fuel. which had been carried
thousands of miles. must be used. And
necessary to us. ultimately became the
greatest bane TO comfort II escaped
through the pores of the skin. satu-
rated the boots. formed n band of ice
under the knee and 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 philoso-
phlcally. "From ice it comes. to ice
II 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 demarcation for the
fields. and 1t was quite impossible to
determine If we were on land or sea
walton. but the ice had the hard. wav-
ing surface of glacial ice. with only
superficial crevasses. The water OBJ
tanned 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 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 cheering prospect. A
plain of purple and blue ran in easy
undulations to the limits of vision
without the usual barriers of uplifted
blocks. Over it direct air line course
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 secure footing. The
loneliness. the monotony, the hardship
of steady. unrelieved travel We're now
keenly felt.
1t is not often that mans hOrsepow-
er 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 mental desert.
AS the eye opened at the end of an
lev sumber the fire was lighted little
by little, the stomach was filled with
LIQUIDS and solids, mostly cold-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 off 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 snow house. In this the eyes, no
longer able to wink, closed, but soon
the empty stomach complained, and 1t
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-
alton, nothing to arouse the soul from
its icy Enclosure.
To eat. TO sleep, to press one foot
ahead of the other. was our steady vo-
cation, like the horse to the cart,
but we had not his advantage of an
agreeable climate and a comfortable
stable at night.
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. 10 me there
was always the inspiration of antici-
patton of the outcome of ultimate sue
cess. but for my young savage COM