Norwich bulletin., 1909-10-09
Could Brook No Delay.

| cemented walls of snow and wait for better weather was very great. But such delay forestalled certain starva- tion. Under fair conditions there was barely food enough to reach land, while even shore delays might easily jeopdardiZe our return. We could not, therefore, do otherwise than to force ourselves against the wind and drift with all possible speed. closing the eye to unavoidable suffering.
 With no alternative, we tried to per- suade ourselves that conditions might be worse.
 The eighty-seventh was crossed the eighty sixth was neared, but there came a time when both mind and body wearied of the whole problem of forced resolution.
 The hard work of igloo building was now a thing of the past-only one had been built since leaving the pole, and in it precious day was lost. while the atmospheric fury changed desolation. The little silk tent now housed us sufficiently from the icy airs. There were still fifty degrees of frost, but with hardened skins and in- sensible nerve filaments the torture was not so keenly felt.
 The steady diet of pemmican and tea and biscuits was now entirely sat isfactory. We longed for enough to give a real filling sense, but the ra- tion was slightly reduced rather than increased. The change in life from winter tC summer, which should take place at about this time of the year, was in our case marked only by a change in shelter, from the snow house to the tent, and our bed was moved from the soft snow shelf of the igloo to the hard wind-swept crust.
 TriviaIities Food for Thought.
 In my wakeful watches to get a peep of the sun at just the right mo- ment l was kept awake during much of the resting period, and for pastime my eyes wandered from snorting dogs to snoring men. During one of these idle moments there came a solution of the utility of the dogs tail, g. topic with which I had been at play for several days. It is quoted here at the rtsk of censure, because it is a typical phase of our lives which cannot be illustrated otherwise. Seeming trivial ities were seized upon as food for thought. Why has the dog tail at all? The bear, the musk OK, the cari- bou and the hare. each in his own way succeeds very well with but a dwarfed stub. Why does nature in the dog expend its best effort in growing the finest fur over a seemingly useless line of tail bones? The thing is dis tinctive, and one could hardly con- ceive of the creature without this &C., cessory, but nature in the Arctic does not often waste energy to display beauties and temperament. This tail must have an important use, otherwise it would soon fall under the knife of frost and time. Yes! It was imported into the Arctic by the wolf progenitor Of the dog from warmer lands, where it's swing served a useful purpose in fly time. A nose made to breathe warm air requires some protection in the Far North No animal feeis this shortcoming as much as man. The dog supplied the need with his tail. At the time when I made this discov- cry a cold wind charged with cut ting crystals brushed the pack. Each dog had his back arched to the wind and his face yelled with an effective curl of his tail. He was comfortably shielded from icy torment by an ap- peadage adapted to that very purpose.
 A Heavy Snowstorm.
 On May 6 we were stopped at a. m. by the coming of the gloom of an unusual gale. The wind had been steady and strong all night, but we did not heed it's threatening increase of force until too late. It came from the west as usual driving coarse snow with needle points The ice about was old and hummocky, offering a. difficult line Of march, but some shelter. In the strongest blasts we threw our selves over the sled behind hummocks and gathered new breath to force a few miles 'nore.
 Finally, when no longer able to force the dogs through the blinding drift, we sought the lee of an uplifted Nf tpa c-f.ff 111 found for a snow house and a few blocks were cut and set, but the wind swept them away like chips. The tent was tried, but 1t could not be made to stand in the rush of the roaring tumult. In sheer despair we creDt in to the tent without erecting the pole. Creeping into the bags, we then al- lowed the Tapping silk to be buried by the drifting snow. Soon the noise and discomfort of the storm were lost and we enjoyed the comfort of an icy grave. An efficient breathing hole was kept open and the wind was strong enough to sweep off the weight of a dangerous drift. A new lesson was thus learned in fighting the bat tie of life which was afterward use- ful.
 Several days of icy despair now fol- lowed each other in rapid succession. The wind did not rise to the full force of a storm. but it was too strong and too cold to travel. The food supply was noticeably decreasing. The daily advance was reduced. With such weather starvation seemed inevitable.
 Camp was moved nearly every day, but ambition sank to the lowest ebb To the atmospheric unrest was added the instability of broken ice and the depressing mystery of an unknown po- sition. For many days no observa- tions had been possible and our loca- ton could only be guessed at.
 The maddening struggle was daily forced, while the spirits were pressed to the verge of extinction. Now that the object of our trip had been &C., gone. At times 1t seemed as if our life's work had been accomplished, and to have lain down for the final sleep would have b cen easy, but the feeble fires of the homing passion kept the eye open.
 At the Eighty fourth Parallel.
 On May 24 the sky cleared long enough to give us a set of observa- tions We were on the eighty-fourth parallel near the ndnety-seventh mer- idian. The new lands were hidden be- hind a low mist. The ice was much crevas sed and drifted eastward. Many open spaces of water were noted in the west by patches of water sky.
 The pack was sufficiently active to give Us considerable anxiety, though pressure lines and open water did not at the time seriously impede our pro- gress.
 There remained on the sleds scarce ly food enough to reach our caches, unless we averaged fifteen miles daily. On the return from the pole to here we had onlu. saaR able to make twelve