CHAPTER XII.
MY CABIN.—SURVEYING.—CASTOR AND POLLUX.—CONCERNING SCURVY.—DANGERS OF EATING COLD SNOW.—KNORR AND STARR.—FROST-BITES.—HANS, PETER, AND JACOB AGAIN.—COAL ACCOUNT.—THE FIRES.—COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.—THE HOUSE ON DECK.—MILD WEATHER.—JENSEN.—MRS. HANS.—JOHN WILLIAMS, THE COOK.—A CHEERFUL EVENING.
MY CABIN.—SURVEYING.—CASTOR AND POLLUX.—CONCERNING SCURVY.—DANGERS OF EATING COLD SNOW.—KNORR AND STARR.—FROST-BITES.—HANS, PETER, AND JACOB AGAIN.—COAL ACCOUNT.—THE FIRES.—COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.—THE HOUSE ON DECK.—MILD WEATHER.—JENSEN.—MRS. HANS.—JOHN WILLIAMS, THE COOK.—A CHEERFUL EVENING.
After a sound sleep had in some measure worn off the fatigues of the journey on the glacier, I returned to my diary:—
October 28th.
MY CABIN.
I am not sorry to get back again into my cosy little cabin. I never knew before what a snug home I have in the midst of this Arctic wilderness. A few days on the ice and a few nights in a tent were required to give me a proper appreciation of its comforts. Once I had begun to regard it as a dingy, musty cell, fit only for a convict. Now it is a real "weary man's rest," an oasis in a desert, a port in a storm. The bright rays of the "fine-eyed Ull-Erin" were not a more cheering guide to the love-bound Ossian than was the glimmer of this cabin-lamp as I came in last night from the cold,—trudging across the waste of snows.
The curtains which inclose what is my lounge by day and my bed by night have taken on a brighter crimson. The wolf and bear skins which cover the lounge and the floor, protecting my feet against the frost which strikes up from below, are positively luxurious;the lamp, which I thought burned with a sickly sort of flame, is a very Drummond light compared with what it was; the clock, which used to annoy me with its ceaseless ticking, now makes grateful music; the books, which are stuck about in all available places, seem to be lost friends found again; and the little pictures, which hang around wherever there is room, seem to smile upon me with a sort of sympathetic cheerfulness. Rolls of maps, unfinished sketches, scraps of paper, all sorts of books, including stray volumes of the "Penny Cyclopædia" and Soyer's "Principles of Cooking," drawing implements, barometer cases, copies of Admiralty Blue Books, containing reports of the Arctic Search, track charts of all those British worthies, from Ross to Rae, who have gone in search of Sir John Franklin, litter the floor; and, instead of annoying me with their presence, as they used to do, they seem to possess an air of quiet and refreshing comfort. My little pocket-sextant and compass, hanging on their particular peg, my rifle and gun and flask and pouch on theirs, with my traveling kit between them, break the blank space on the bulk-head before me, and seem to speak a language of their own. My good and faithful friend Sonntag sits opposite to me at the table, reading. I write nestling among my furs, with my journal in my lap; and when I contrast this night with the night on the glacier summit, and listen now to the fierce wind which howls over the deck and through the rigging, and think how dark and gloomy every thing is outside and how light and cheerful every thing is here below, I believe that I have as much occasion to write myself down a thankful man, as I am very sure I do, for once at least, a contented one.
Sonntag has given me a report of work done during my absence, and so has McCormick. With Jensen I have had a talk about the hunt. I have dined with the officers, and all goes "merry as a marriage bell." My companions on the journey have recovered from their fatigue, and they seem none the worse for the tramp, except such of them as have been touched by the frost; and these look sorry enough. They get little consolation from their shipmates.
SURVEYING.
I am much gratified to find that every thing has gone on so smoothly while I was away. Sonntag has been twice to the glacier, and has finished the survey and made some spirited sketches. He has also done some valuable work on a base line, accurately measured upon the ice of the outer bay. This base line is 9100 feet long, and his triangulations give the following distances from the western point of Starr Island:—
CONCERNING SCURVY.
My commands respecting the hunt have been carefully observed, and numerous additions have been made to our rapidly accumulating stock of fresh food. This gives me much gratification. My experience with Dr. Kane has led me to believe that the scurvy, hitherto so often fatal to Arctic travelers, may be readily avoided by the liberal use of a fresh animal diet; and, although I have a fair supply of canned meats and a good allowance of fresh vegetables, yet I do not wish to depend wholly upon them; and, in order to make assurance doubly sure, I have endeavored to spare no pains in securing whatever game is within our reach. Accordingly I have always had awell-organized party of hunters, who are exempt from other duty, and this system I propose continuing. The result thus far has shown the correctness of my plan. A more healthy ship's company could not be desired. Not a single case of illness has yet occurred. I do not expect to have any scurvy in my party, and I am firmly impressed with the belief that at Port Foulke men might live indefinitely without being troubled with that "dread scourge of the Arctic Zone." I do not, however, wholly rely upon the hunters. The moral sentiments have much to do with health everywhere; and, with the best food in the world, unhappiness will make more than the heart sick. For my own part, I would rather take my chances against the scurvy with the herbs and the love, than with hatred and the stalled ox. Luckily my ship's company are as harmonious and happy as they are healthy, and the fault will be mine if they do not continue so.
Our game-list, according to Knorr, who keeps the tally, sums up as follows: Reindeer 74, foxes 21, hares 12, seals 1, eider-ducks 14, dovekies 8, auks 6, ptarmigan 1. This includes all that has been brought on board from the beginning. Besides these substantial contributions to our winter supplies, there are some twenty or thirty reindeer cached in various places, which are available whenever we choose to bring them in. The dogs are the largest consumers.
I find McCormick suffering with a sore throat and swelled tongue, resulting from eating snow. Leaving me at the glacier, he set out to return on board, and, growing thirsty by the way, without being aware of the evil consequences likely to result therefrom, commenced eating snow to quench it. The effect of thisindulgence was so to inflame the mucous membrane as, in the end, to render the thirst greater and greater the more the desire was indulged. Finally respiration became difficult and painful, and he arrived on board much exhausted. It is a good lesson for the ship's company,—a fact doubtless more consoling to me than to the sufferer.
October 29th.
CASTOR AND POLLUX.
I went out to-day with Mr. Sonntag to his base line, and made some further measurements. In that direction there are a couple of mammoth icebergs, which I have named "The Twins." They loom up grandly against the dark western sky. Castor carries his head 230 feet above the sea, and Pollux, though of smaller dimensions, is seventeen feet higher.
After our usual evening game of chess, we have talked over some further projects for the field. I propose a drive into the region of Humboldt Glacier, Sonntag one to Van Rensselaer Harbor. It is important that the meridian of this latter place should be connected with that of Port Foulke. I yield to Sonntag for the present, and he starts the day after to-morrow, weather permitting,—a proviso peculiarly necessary in this blustering place. There is very little light left to us, but the moon is full, and will probably serve to guide the party. There was not even the faintest streak of light to-day at three o'clock.
October 30th.
Sonntag is all ready to start. He will take two sledges, with Jensen and Hans for drivers. They are prepared for seven days' absence. I have allowed Sonntag to provide his own equipment, without interference. He has, I think, made it a little more cumbrousthan he should,—a little too much for personal comfort, that will be dead weight. Traveling in this region is governed by very rigorous laws, and very little latitude is allowed in the choice of one's outfit. There is probably no place in the world where the traveler is compelled to deny himself so completely those little articles of convenience which contribute so much to the personal satisfaction. On ship-board he may indulge his taste for luxury to the extent of his means; but when he takes to the ice-fields and the dog-sledge he must come down to hard fare and carry nothing but what is absolutely necessary to sustain life,—and this is simply meat, bread, and coffee, or tea if he prefers it. The snow must serve for his bed, and his only covering must be what is just sufficient to keep him from freezing. Fire he cannot have, except the needful lamp to cook his food, and if he should get cold he must warm himself by exercise. During my late journey to the glacier, I carried for fuel only three quarts of alcohol and the same quantity of oil, and this was not all used.
FROST-BITES.
I went this morning into the hold to look after my companions on the recent journey. They have all recovered from their little frost-bites except Christian, whose nose is as big as his fist and as red as a beet. He takes good-naturedly the jeers of his messmates. Knorr is, however, almost as badly off in the nasal region as Christian, but he has suffered no further misadventure. The nose is, indeed, a serious inconvenience to the Arctic traveler, for it insists upon exposing itself upon every occasion; and if you put it under a mask, it revenges itself by coaxing the moisture of the breath up beneath it, so that in an hour's time the intended protector becomes a worse enemy than thewind itself. The mask is, in a little while, but a lump of ice.
KNORR AND STARR.
My youthful secretary, by the way, bore up bravely on the tramp. I should not have taken him but for his constant and earnest appeals. There does not appear to be much of life in him, but he has pluck, and that is an excellent substitute; and thus far this quality has carried him through. My friends told me, before leaving home, that I was needlessly taking him to a very cold grave; but he does not appear inclined to fulfill their predictions, and seems likely to hold his own with the hardest-fisted sailor of the crew. He is but eighteen years old, and, except Starr, who is about the same age, is the youngest member of my party. Starr, too, is a plucky and useful boy. He got into the party against my intentions, but I am very far from sorry. Inspired with enthusiasm for Arctic adventure, he volunteered to go with me in any capacity; and, having no convenient room in the cabin, I told him that he could go in the forecastle, little dreaming that he would accept my offer; but, sure enough, he turned up the next day in sailor's rig. His bright beaver and shining broadcloth and polished pumps had given place to cap and red shirt and sea boots, and I went on board to find the metamorphosed boy of recent elegance manfully at work. Admiring his spirit, I promoted him on the spot, and sent him aft to the sailing-master,—the best I could do for him.
HANS, PETER, AND JACOB.
The rivalry between Hans and Peter waxes warmer. My sympathies go with the latter, of which I have to-day given substantial proof. Up to this time Hans has had charge of Sonntag's team, and has used it pretty much as he pleased; but he being absent this morning,and Jensen being off after some venison, I used Peter to drive me to the lower glacier, where I wished to make some sketches. It appears that this excited Hans' ire against poor Peter; which fact being duly reported by Jensen, I have taken the dogs from Hans and given them into Peter's exclusive charge. So one savage is pleased and the other is displeased; but we shall probably have no public exhibitions of his spleen, as I have read him a lecture upon the evil consequences arising from the display of ill-temper, which he will probably remember,—as likely, however, for evil as for good; for he is not of a forgiving disposition. Jensen tells me that "they have made friends," which probably means mischief.
Hans seems to retain the intelligence for which he was distinguished when in theAdvance. His character has undergone but little change, and his face expresses the same traits as formerly,—the same smooth, oily voice, the same cunning little eye, the same ugly disposition. I have very little faith in him; but Sonntag has taken him into his favor, and greatly prefers him to Jensen for a dog-driver.
Peter, on the other hand, is a quiet, unobtrusive fellow, and is always ready and willing to do any thing that is required of him, even by the sailors, with whom he is very popular; and, of course, as with good-nature everywhere, he is sometimes imposed upon. Jacob is Peter's brother, and he continues to be the butt of the forecastle. The men have made a bargain with him, and, according to all accounts, it works satisfactorily. He is to wash their dishes, and they in return are to give him all the crumbs that fall from their table. On these he is growing more and more fat, and he has now greater difficulty than ever in getting about. Thereis a beam in the fore-hold, only two feet and a half from the floor, which he can no longer climb over. His efforts to crawl under it have been not unaptly compared to those of a seal waddling over the ice about its breathing-hole. Mr. Wardle's fat boy was not more shapeless, and, like that plethoric individual, he chiefly divides his time between eating and sleeping. His cheeks are puffed out in a very ridiculous manner, and altogether he answers very well the description of Mirabeau's corpulent acquaintance, who seemed to have been created for no other purpose than to show to what extent the human skin is capable of being stretched without bursting. The executive officer tells me that he sent him the other day to the upper deck to dress a couple of reindeer; but, having proceeded far enough to expose a tempting morsel, he halted in his work, carved off a slice of the half-frozen flesh, and was found some time afterwards fast asleep between the two dead animals, with the last fragment of hisbonne bouchedangling from his lips.
November 1st.
The new month comes in stormy. The travelers were to have set out to-day, but a fierce gale detains them on board. The moon is now three days past full, and if they are delayed much longer they will scarcely have light enough for the journey.
McCormick and Dodge have set a bear-trap between the icebergs Castor and Pollux. It is a mammoth steel-trap, and is baited with venison and fastened with my best ice-anchor. I pity the poor beast that gets his foot in it.
COAL ACCOUNT.
THE HOUSE ON DECK.
COMFORT OF OUR QUARTERS.
I have been overhauling our coal account, and have regulated the daily consumption for the winter. Wehave thirty-four tons on board, and have but two fires. Two and a half buckets full a day go to the galley stove in the hold, and one and a half to the cabin; and with this consumption of fuel the people live in comfort and cook their food and melt from the ice an abundant supply of water. The ice, which is of the clearest and purest kind, comes from a little berg which is frozen up in the mouth of the harbor, about half a mile away. I have no stove in my own cabin, all the heat which I require coming to me across the companion-way through the slats of my door, from the officers' stove. The temperature in which I live ranges from 40° to 60°, and, among my furs, I lounge through the hours that I do not spend out of doors as snug and comfortable as I could wish to be. Something of my comfort is, however, due to the excess of heat of the officers' quarters. The temperature of their cabin runs sometimes to 75°, and is seldom lower than 60°, and they are at times actually sweltering. Our quarters are throughout free from dampness, and are well ventilated. A portion of the main-hatch above the men's quarters is always open, and the companion-scuttle is seldom closed. This ventilation being through the house on deck, that apartment is kept at quite a comfortable degree of warmth; and it is a very convenient medium between the lower deck and the outer air. In this house such work is performed as cannot be done below; and there, in the dim light of the signal-lamp, which hangs suspended from the main-boom, one may see almost at any time a motley group of men working or playing, as the case may be. Forward in one corner stands Hans's tent, through the slits in which come the cheerful glimmer of a lamp and the lullaby of an Esquimau mother, soothingto sleep her "pretty one." On the opposite side is our butcher-shop, where are piled up a lot of frozen reindeer, awaiting Marcus and Jacob,—the butchers. Near by stands our portable forge and anvil, where McCormick is forever blowing the hot embers and pounding at nobody knows what. Dodge says "he is killing time." Under the window amidships stands the carpenter's bench and the vice, where Christian, Jensen, Peter, and Hans are always tinkering at some hunting or sledge implements,—while, mingling promiscuously on the deck, the officers and men may be seen smoking their pipes, and apparently intent only upon as little exertion and as much amusement as the Arctic night will give them. A cheerful light bursts up from below through the hatchways, bringing with it many a cheerful laugh. Around the mainmast stands our gun-rack, and near by is a neat arrangement of McCormick's where every man has a peg for his fur coat, as we do not bring these things below, on account of the great change of temperature producing dampness in them.
November 2d.
The barometer, which yesterday sank to 29.58, has been steadily rising since, and stands now at 29.98, giving us thus a reasonable assurance that the gale will come to an end by and by, and let the travelers off. The gale has made wild work with the ice, breaking it up and driving it out to the southwest until the open water is within two miles of the schooner. The "twins" are right upon the margin of it, and, were they not aground, would float away. One of Sonntag's base-line stations has drifted off, and the bear-trap has followed after it, carrying away my fine ice-anchor. Strange, the loose ice has all drifted out ofsight, and not a speck is to be seen upon the unhappy waters which roll and tumble through the darkness around Cape Alexander.
The temperature during this gale has been, throughout, very mild. Although the wind was northeast, it has not been below zero at any time.
November 3d.
MR. JENSEN.
The travelers are off at last, and at ten o'clock this evening they disappoint me by not returning. Since it is evident that they have gone around Cape Ohlsen, which I had some reason to doubt, I see no cause why they should not reach their destination. They will have, however, cracks which have been opened by the recent gales, and doubtless heavily hummocked ice, to contend with; and I hardly know how Jensen will get on with this sort of traveling. Bad enough for those who are accustomed to it, it will be a sore trial to him. He is a splendid whip, and drives his dogs superbly when the ice is reasonably smooth, and the sledge glides glibly over it with the dogs at a gallop; but this floundering through hummocks and deep snow-drifts, where the sledge has to be lifted and is often capsized, where the dogs are continually getting into a snarl,—their traces tangled, their tempers ruffled, and a general fight resulting,—is a very different sort of business, and is what he is not used to. To get through with it one requires an almost superhuman stock of enduring patience; and if Jensen returns from this journey with a good record, I shall have no fears for him in the future. He is a very strong and able-bodied man, standing six feet in his shoes, and is of powerful muscular build. The knowledge acquired by some eight years' residence in Greenland, of hunting,and of the Esquimau language, which he speaks like a native, and of the English which he has picked up from the British whale-ships, makes him one of the most useful members of my party.
DOMESTIC FELICITY.
The men have been busy sewing up seal-skins into coats, pantaloons, and boots, to complete their winter wardrobe. They have tried very hard to get Mrs. Hans to do this work for them, but the indolent creature persistently refuses to sew a stitch. She is the most obstinate of her sex; feels perfectly independent of every thing and of everybody; pouts fiercely when she is not pleased, and gets the sulks about once a fortnight, when she declares most positively that she will abandon Hans and the white men forever, and go back to her own people. She once tried the experiment, and started off at a rapid rate, with her baby on her back, towards Cape Alexander. There had evidently been a domestic spat. Hans came out of his tent as if nothing had happened, and stood at the window leisurely smoking his pipe, and watching her in the most unconcerned manner in the world. As she tripped off south I called his attention to her.
"Yes—me see."
"Where is she going, Hans?"
"She no go. She come back—all right."
"But she will freeze, Hans?"
"She no freeze. She come back by by,—you see."
And he went on smoking his pipe with a quiet chuckle which told how well he understood the whims of his beloved. Two hours afterward she came back, sure enough, very meek and very cold, for the wind was blowing in her face.
The day being Saturday, the sailors are busy by turns at the wash-tub, to have a clean turn-out forSunday, on which day, even in this remote corner of the world, everybody puts on his best, and at Sunday morning muster my people present a very neat and creditable appearance. The gray uniform which I have adopted as a dress-suit is always worn on that occasion, both by officers and men. Each officer has a sailor for a "washerwoman," and I have mine; and Knorr has just brought me in the most encouraging accounts of his skill, and as a proof of it I found on my table, when I came in out of the moonlight from a tramp to the open water, (where I had been making some observations for temperature,) a well-starched and neatly ironed cambric handkerchief, sprinkled with cologne.
A CHEERFUL DAY.
The day, for some reason or other, seems to have been peculiarly bright and cheerful to everybody, and the cheerfulness runs on into the evening. I fancy that our old cook was in a more than usually good humor, and doubtless this has had something to do with it. For my own part, I must acknowledge the power of his artistic skill as affecting the moral sentiments. My walk to the open water was both cold and fatiguing. Desiring to get out as far as I could, I sprang over the loose ice-tables, and reached an iceberg near "The Twins," which I mounted; and, after digging a hole into it, found that it had a temperature only 8° lower than the temperature of the water that floated it, which was 29°. I scrambled back to the fast ice as quickly as I could, for the tide and wind, which was strong from the land, looked very much as if they intended to carry the raft out to sea.
JOHN WILLIAMS, THE COOK.
To come back to the cook,—I was in a condition upon my return to do ample justice to a fillet of venison,garnished with currant-jelly, which was awaiting me, and upon the preparation of which the cook had evidently exhausted all his skill; and afterward Knorr made for me, with my alcohol furnace, a cup of aromatic Mocha.
And so one may find pleasure even where Bacchus and Cupid deign not to come. True, this is the region into which Apollo voluntarily wandered after the decree of Olympus made him an exile, and where the Hellenic poets dreamed of men living to an incredible age, in the enjoyment of all possible felicity; but, to say the truth, I question the wisdom of the banished god, as tradition makes no mention of a schooner, and I find that in this "Residence of Boreas" one must look out for himself pretty sharply,—poets to the contrary, notwithstanding.
The cook brought me the dinner himself. "I tinks de Commander likes dis," said he, "coming from de cold."
"Yes, cook, it is really superb. Now, what can I do for you?"
"Tank you, sar! I tinks if de Commander would only be so kind as to give me a clean shirt, I shall be very tankful. He see dis one be very dirty, and I gets no time to vash him."
"Certainly, cook, you shall have two."
"Tank you, sar!"—and he bends himself half double, meaning it for a bow, and goes back well pleased to his stove and his coppers.
Our cook is quite a character. He is much the oldest man on board, and is the most singular mixture of adverse moral qualities that I have ever chanced to meet. He makes it his boast that he has never been off the ship's deck since leaving Boston. "Vat shouldI go ashore for?" said he, one day, to some of the officers who were reciting to him the wonders of the land. "Me go ashore! De land be very good place to grow de vegetables, but it no place to be. I never goes ashore ven I can help it, and please my Hebenly Fader I never vill."
A CHEERFUL EVENING.
I have passed an hour of the evening very pleasantly with the officers in their cabin, have had my usual game of chess with Knorr, and now, having done with this journal for the day, I will coil myself up in my nest of furs and read in Marco Polo of those parts of the world where people live without an effort, know not the use of bear-skins, and die of fever. After all, one's lines might fall in less pleasant places than in the midst of an Arctic winter.
Group of Reindeer