"I make this last broad assertion after carefully testing its truth. The natives of South Greenland prepare themselves for a long journey in the cold by a course of frozen seal. At Upernavik they do the same with the narwhal, which is thought more heat-making than the seal; while the bear, to use their own expression, is 'stronger travel than all.'
"In Smith's Sound, where the use of raw meat seems almost inevitable from the modes of living of the people, walrus holds the first rank. Certainly this pachyderm, whose finely-condensed tissue and delicately-permeating fat — oh! call it not blubber — assimilate it to the ox, is beyond all others, and is the very best fuel a man can swallow. It became our constant companion whenever we could get it; and a frozen liver upon our sledge was valued far above the same weight of pemmican. Now as I write, short of all meat, without an ounce of walrus for sick or sound, my thoughts recall the frost-tempered junks of this pachydermoid amphibion as the highest of longed-for luxuries.
"My plans for sledging, simple as I once thought them, and simple certainly as compared with those of the English parties, have completely changed. Give me an eight-pound reindeer-fur bag to sleep in, an Esquimaux lamp with a lump of moss, a sheet-iron snow-melter or a copper soup-pot, with a tin cylinder to slip over it and defend it from the wind, a good piece de resistance of raw walrus-beef ; and I want nothing more for a long journey, if the thermometer will keep itself as high as minus 30°. Give me a bear-skin bag and coffee to boot; and with the clothes on my back I am ready for minus 60°, — but no wind.
"The programme runs after this fashion. Keep the blood in motion, without loitering on the march: and for the halt, raise a snow-house ; or, if the snow lie scant or impracticable, ensconce yourself in a burrow or under the hospitable lee of an inclined hummock-slab. The outside fat of your walrus sustains your little moss fire: its frozen slices give you bread, its frozen blubber gives you butter, its scrag ends make the soup. The snow supplies you with water; and when you are ambitious of coffee there is a bagful stowed away in your boot. Spread out your bear bag, your only heavy movable; stuff your reindeer bag inside, hang your boots up outside, take a blade of bone, and scrape off all the ice from your furs. Now crawl in, the whole party of you, feet foremost; draw the top of your dormitory close, heading to leeward.
Fancy yourself in Sybaris ; and, if you are only tired enough, you may sleep — like St. Lawrence on his gridiron, or even a trifle better.
"January 16, Tuesday. — Again the strange phenomena of the southeast winds. The late changes of the barometer ushered them in, and all hands are astir with their novel influences. With minus 16° outside, our cabin ceiling distils dirty drops of water, our beds become doubly damp, and our stove oppressive. We are vastly more comfortable, and therefore more healthy, below hatches, when it is at — 60° on deck than when it rises above — 30°. The mean heat of our room since the return of the party is, as nearly as can be determined, +48°.
"The sick generally are about the same; but Wilson has symptoms showing themselves, that fill me with distress. The state of things on board begins to press upon me personally; but by sleeping day-hours I manage well enough. Hans, Ohlsen, and myself are the only three sound men of the organized company.
"January 17, Wednesday. — There is no evading it any longer: it has been evident for the past ten days that the 'present state of things cannot last.' We require meat, and cannot get along without it. Our sick have finished the ear's head, and are now eating the condemned abscessed liver of the animal, including some intestines that were not given to the dogs. We have about three days' allowance; thin chips of raw frozen meat, not exceeding four ounces in weight for each man per diem. Our poor fellows eat it with zest; but it is lamentably little.
"Although I was unsuccessful in my last attempt to reach the huts with the dogs, I am far from sure that with a proper equipment it could not be managed by walking. The thought weighs upon me. A foot-travel does not seem to have occurred to my comrades ; and at first sight the idea of making for a point seventy-five miles by the shortest line from our brig, with this awfully cold darkness on, is gloomy enough.
"But I propose walking at first only as far as the broken hut at Anoatok, (the * wind-loved spot,') and giving our poor dogs a chance of refreshing there. After this, Hans and myself will force them forward as far as we can, with nothing but our sleeping-gear, and spend the second night where-ever they happen to break down. After that, we can manage the rest of the journey without any luggage but our personal clothing.
"It seems hard to sacrifice the dogs, not to speak of the rest of the party; but the necessity is too palpable and urgent. As we are now, a very few deaths would break us up entirely. Still, the emergency would not move me if I did not feel, after careful, painful thought, that the thing can be accomplished. If by the blessing of the Great Ruler it should prove successful, the result will secure the safety of all hands. No one knows as yet of my intention except Hans himself. I am quietly preparing a special outfit, and will leave with the first return of moonlight.
"McGary, my relief, calls me: he has foraged out some raw cabbage and spiced it up with curry-powder, our only remaining pepper. This, with a piece of corn-bread, — no bad article either, — he wants me to share with him. True to my old-times habitude, I hasten to the cabbage, — cold roast-beef, Worcester sauce, a head of endive, and a bottle — not one drop less — of Preston ale (I never drink any other). McGary, 'bring on de beans!'
"January 18, Thursday, midnight. — ^Wind howling on deck, — a number nine gale, a warm southeaster directly from the land. The mean temperature of this wind is — 20°. Warm as this may seem, our experience has taught us to prefer — 40° with a calm to — 10° with a gale in the face.
"If we only had daylight, I should start as soon as the present wind subsides, counting on a three days' intermission of atmospheric disturbance. But we have no moon, and it is too dark to go tumbling about over the squeezed ice. I must wait.
"I alluded yesterday to my special equipment. Let me imagine myself explaining to the tea-table this evening's outfit, promise and purposes.
I. Itinerary. — From brig Advance, Rensselaer Harbor, to the Esquimaux huts of Etah Bay, following the line of ice-travel close along the coast: —
1. From brig to Ten-mile Ravine 10 miles
2. From Ten-mile Ravine to Basalt Camp... 6 "
3. From Basalt Camp to Helen River... 10 "
4. Helen's River to Devil's Jaws (off Godsend Island).. 9 "
5. Godsend Island to Anoatok and Hummock Pass .... 7 "
6. Hummock Pass to Refuge Inlet... 7 "
7. Refuge Inlet to Cape Hatherton... 8 "
8. Cape Hatherton to Second Hummock Pass... 12 "
9. Across Second Pass to south end of Littleton Island . . 8 "
10. South end of Littleton Island to Point Salvation .... 2 "
11. Point Salvation to Esquimaux huts... 12 "
Total travel in miles 91 miles.
II. Temperature, — Mean, about — 45°. Range — 40° to —60°.
III. Resources. — Five half-starved dogs; Hans Cristian, Dr. Kane, a light sledge, and outfit.