 Section 91 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the Search for the Poles. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The World's Story, Volume 8. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and the Search for the Poles. Edited by Eva March, Tappan, Section 91. The Farewell of the Greenlanders from the Corn Hill Magazine. The time comes when we must leave and all is packing up and goodbye with Heron, Englander. Every day little deputations arrive to ask us to drink coffee before some hospitable threshold or to take some little farewell dinner. One of these kindly acts of hyperborean, though by no means frigid, hospitality seems worthy of being recorded in these notes, as being one of the last of the many acts of goodwill and warmheartedness received from a people whom I can scarcely hope ever to see again. Samuel was one of the most respectable of the mixed race of Greenlanders about our neighborhood, a skillful hunter, artificer, and maker of many curiosities for which he had found a customer in me. He insisted that I should Danish fashion take Cobbitt with him as I saw that the invitation was intended as a special mark of favor and that the refusal would be a mortal affront. I complied most gracefully, though I had drunk so much black coffee that day as to give me little hope of sleeping at night. His house was the ordinary turf mansion situated in a little valley and entered by the usual tunnel. The interior was in no way much different from the others, except that it boasted a greater variety of knick-knacks. A Dutch clock, a cupboard, and several glaring prints of the Emperor of the French is Empress and a fierce red-faced gentleman whom I had some difficulty in discovering to be intended for Albert Edward, Prince of Fales, Hervet of Cornval. I was here introduced to Samuel's wife and daughter, the latter with the softest brown eyes and auburn hair I ever saw, both of whom were busily manufacturing articles of household attire on the Brex or general platform which occupies one side of the house and serves the purposes of bed, table, and chair. The house is very warm and I am begged to take off my coat, following in this fashion the rest of the family, most of whom are in a state of semi-nudity. There are many other folks there, but they are of the commonality and beneath the tall louis' attention. I, however, notice them patronizingly and they grin from ear to ear by way of reply. While the rather lengthy operation of preparing the coffee goes on, the family produce their panattis to entertain me while the women examine the texture of my coat and scarlet shirt most knowingly. Samuel shows me his tools and how he uses them, his spears and harpoons and aloe knocks and the work box he made for his wife which does him much credit and some patterns for slippers painted in colors by his little boy, who was once one of my particular henchmen, but is now dead. He himself has just recovered from a long sickness and is very pale. He plays a tune on the fiddle and the younger members of his family who have been outgathering blueberries dance most joyfully to it. He has likewise an accordion. He apologizes for it being a little out of tune, but he had to open it to show the children where the sound came from. And then the wife who has been a handsome blue eyed woman in her day for they are of course all of a mixed breed with a woman's curiosity questions me in broken Danish and English and Eskimo all about my condition in life. If I'm married and how many children and so on and so on and all the gossips are delighted. They to my astonishment inquire if I do not come from Scotland and now my expressing astonishment at their knowledge of geography. Samuel produces an ancient map and points out the land of my nativity. All this is done leisurely as the cobbitt boils and as I sip it in the cleanest of cups. They pour in the soft unction of hyperborean flattery and assure me with an air which means even more than the words would seem to express. A flat iron lock to Luit. You are the good Englishman. All the Inuit Eskimo will miss you when you are gone and the little boys will have no one to throw skillings to them now. All of us will have sick hearts when you go away. Do all of which an ancient dame on the farther side of the Brex whom I had hitherto thought only a bundle of seal skins echoes in a voice as if it came out of a mattress. Yes, especially the Naviar Suic girls and the house echoes with laughter as the joke is apparently thought a good one. I grin like the rest as it is explained to me, though Samuel's daughter blushes crimson for she is apparently the butt of it. Be it known, however, that the daughter of Samuel bears a highly proper reputation in Etlumia and as I am told in a stage whisper at which she again blushes to be the spouse of Peter Zacharias Brood. When that young gentleman has finished his new kayak and Pastor Nielsen has time to unite them in the bonds of wedlock. After we have finished our coffee, we have blueberries and a glass of schnapps, which last is produced with the air of smuggled whiskey. And when we consider how dearly they all like this beverage, the extent of the favor may be imagined. When all is over and the autumn sun is getting low, I'm escorted to the door by the whole family with many goodbyes and hopes to see me again next year and take my departure homework. We have a long way yet to go before we meet the stout ship which is to take us to Denmark. We have to share some snowy nights, the hospitality of an Eskimo hut, but savory and very warm and to pass miserable days and nights. Inal, Indrairi, Akka, Jiroa. Snow is falling fast as we leave Greenland behind. We all have some little regrets at leaving it. One thinks of the Eider ducks and the reindeer, another of the glorious glaciers and icebergs like silver castles floating in the summer sunlight on an emerald sea. Everybody joins in one regret that the free and easy life, so novel and so wild, is at an end that behind lies life in its wildest aspect before us in its most civilized, but also most artificial form. In the section 91 this recording is in the public domain. Section 92 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the Poles. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Avae in September 2019. The World's Story Volume 8. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the Poles. Edited by Eva March Tappen. Section 92. What is an iceberg? By Dr. Isaac I. Hayes. Observe the little bit of ice that clinks in your tumbler at dinner time. Observe it closely and you will perceive how very small a part of it floats above the surface of the water. That part is about one-tenth, but it floats in fresh water. Change it to sea water and the part above would be one-eighth. Now this little bit of ice is an iceberg in miniature, an iceberg in every essential feature, except that it did not in all human probability come from Greenland. In form, in general transparency, in the play of light upon it, in its prismatic character, in the shape of its projecting tongues which lie beneath the surface of the waves, in the delicate mist which plays around it in the warm air, it is the very image on a small scale of those great monoliths of the Arctic frost which comes sailing down Baffins Bay with the polar current in all their state-league ranger and magnificence. It is difficult for the imagination to conceive of the great magnitude of some of these Greenland icebergs and yet they are but comparatively trifling pieces torn by the sea from glaciers. The iceberg is indeed as the pairing of a fingernail to the whole body when compared to the quantity of ice in the reservoir from which it came. Magnify the bit of ice in your tumbler until it becomes to your imagination half a mile in diameter each way and you have a mass that is far from uncommon. Add to this a mile, two miles of length and you have what may be sometimes seen. I have sailed alongside of an iceberg two miles and a quarter before coming to the end of it. Yet this is not greater in proportion to the entire Greenland accumulation than the little bit of ice in your tumbler is to the immense stores which the ice monopolists have in their storehouses when they stand ready to avow and do avow that the stock is nearly exhausted and that they propose to double their charges on you just when the hottest weather oppresses the city. The name iceberg signifies ice mountain and mountainous it truly is in size. Lift it out of the water and it becomes a mountain 500, 1000, 2000 or 3000 feet high. In dimensions it is as if the city of New York were turned adrift in the Atlantic or the Central Park were cut out and launched in the same place. And an iceberg of the dimensions of Central Park is far from unusual. In general outline of surface the resemblance is often equally good. It is undulating like the park and craggy and is crossed by ravines and dotted with lakes the waters of which are formed from the melting snows of the late winter which have fallen upon it and also of the ice itself after the snows have disappeared before the rays of the summer sun. In such a lake I have even once bathed although I am glad to say but once and that was in the days of other years when the youthful impulse was strong to say I have done it. A disease which I believe to be amenable to that treatment popularly known as sad experience. Skating on an iceberg lake is more satisfactory and sensible though it is just as well to give an iceberg as wide a berth as possible and have as little to do with it as you can at all times for it is liable to go to pieces though this rarely happens in winter when you are least expecting it. I have often climbed them however and with different motives sometimes to aid in watering the ship for the lakes upon them are of the best and purest water sometimes to obtain a distant view at other times for the mere purpose of curiosity and adventure. Ordinarily a slope may be found by which the ascent can be made without difficulty but sometimes spikes in the heels and a boat hook in the hand become necessary. Frequently however the sides are quite vertical all around and it cannot be scaled at all. On one occasion I measured an iceberg that presented on one of its sides a vertical wall that rose 315 feet above the level of the sea. Another one that I saw in the upper part of Baffins Bay and measured carefully I will describe minutely. The sea was quite smooth at a day calm so that I enjoyed a most excellent opportunity such a one as I never had before and probably shall never have again. This iceberg was not only remarkable for its size but for its great variety of feature. I rode all the way around it and measured it as carefully as possible. One of its sides was nearly straight and regular having the appearance of being recently broken from the glacier. When facing the sun it glistened marvelously. This side was 6500 feet long about a mile and a quarter. At one end it was 240 feet high rising separately from the sea. At the centre the height was less being only 160 feet at the other end it was 190. These measurements were made with as much accuracy as was attainable under the circumstances and are quite reliable within small limits. The log line and chronometer the one to measure distance the other to note time were of necessity the means of obtaining the length. For the height I dropped the chip at the base of the iceberg and then rowing out a hundred fathoms I had a tolerably good baseline for obtaining the altitude a pocket sextant giving me the necessary angles. Say that I made a mistake of 25 feet it is yet near enough for all practical purposes. It was big enough in all conscience anyway. In measuring my lengths I was not so liable to error and in the same manner as before I found one end of the berg to be 1800 feet to cross. Here it terminated in a rounded bluff that was 120 feet high. Turning at the base of this rounded bluff I came upon a side wholly different from the one I had before measured. It had evidently been for a long time the front of the glacier perhaps for a period of 15 or 20 years or even more. It was everywhere irregular. In places it was cliff-like as was the other but for the most part it was worn into all sorts of irregular shapes. This had been done partly by the washings of the sea partly by the sun and partly by the streams of water which poured from the glacier while this iceberg was a part of it. There were bays in the side of it large enough to float the frigate. The panther might have gone in and turned around upon her heel without fear of striking. In another place there was a considerable bay with two ice-islands in it that were very peculiar. To this bay there were a Scoveness Island and Ellis Island to the Bay of New York and they had as firm a foundation but the bottom upon which they rested was ice. They were mere hammocks and the water on the berg was quite shawl. First we went in at least a hundred yards before we reached the shore of it all the while being really on the iceberg for the ice projected away out beneath us and as I looked over the side of the boat down through the clear bright water which we were shoaling constantly I thought I had never seen a more perfectly graduated tint than that from the deep water when we first came over the ice to the margin of the bay. It was as if we sailed through liquid emerald. I landed upon the shore of this bay and climbed the iceberg. It was not an easy climb even with the aid of steel spikes in my heels and a boat hook in my hand. In places the ascent was very steep and had I lost my footing I should have slid down at a fearful pace into the sea. Upon reaching the surface I found it to be rolling and much broken. There were two conspicuous hills upon it one of which was 290 the other 270 feet above the sea level at least this was the record of my barometer. Between these hills and among others less conspicuous I discovered a lake a quarter of a mile long its course was winding like the lake of Central Park which it resembled in size. I followed along its shore until I found the outlet and there through a narrow gorge the overflow of the lake was rushing over a crystal bed in a rapid torrent until coming at length to the side of the berg the pure cold stream leaped wildly down into the ocean roaring like a youthful Niagara and breaking into spray. On every side there were indeed streams most of them quite small so that the whole iceberg was shedding water on every side and the constant sound of innumerable cascades charmed the ear with their ceaseless roar. From the lake I wandered among the icy hills until I grew bewildered and I found my way back to the place of ascent not without embarrassment. The cause of this was partially explained the iceberg was revolving and as I steered my course back by the sun I naturally mistook the direction until I had discovered what was wrong when I began to look for the two hills first mentioned by which I recovered my bearings and was soon on the right track again. Upon climbing these ice hills I obtained a grand view the whole sea was studded with icebergs hundreds of them there must have been of every conceivable shape from the great wall-sided mast that looked like a floating huge castle to the colossal effigy of some winged monster floating upon the sea. Although on an iceberg I was not without life to keep me company a flock of kitty-wake gulls flew about my head and perching upon a hill set up their noisy chatter and one old burgamaster gull who had caught a fish came there to swallow it in peace but to his evident surprise and sad disgust he was suddenly pounced upon by the legendary Jaeger who had seemingly been hovering round for just such a chance and with an angry scream the burgamaster who had started off when he saw his enemy gave up his prize which the Jaeger quickly caught in mid-air. It was altogether a strange sensation afloated so great an elevation on an ice-mountain in the sea yet my footstool was warm and solid as the eternal hills circumstances permitted I should gladly have carried up my camp fixtures and remained there for a day or so watching the grand panorama of the hills and sea while the sun, like a golden wheel in the blue sky, rolled around me changing from hour to hour the aspect of every object within the range of vision now silvering an iceberg now coloring it while it floated sometimes in a sea of blue and again of green freezing with red the rugged cliffs of the fjord now throwing them in shadow as if they were the gloomy walls encompassing the abyss of Dante's giants now gilding the distant mountains now roving them in purple now silvering the far-off mir de glas then melting it into a sea of rubies or blending it with the blue skies for such scenes I have often witnessed in the Arctic seas though not from the summit of an iceberg but this camp on the iceberg was not possible so when I had found my way I descended from my lofty elevation to the boat and then pulling on around the berg completed my survey of it the scenery was much varied as we passed along at one time we were beneath a dismantled tower at another time a ruined spire then a deep cleft of blue or a dark cavern of green in which the slow-moving billows were caught and confined until, as if tired of their imprisonment their hollow voices came gurgling out like the loud breathing of some mighty monster of the deep exhausted with his efforts to move the mountain from his path the side along which we were now passing proved to be six thousand feet in length the end beyond was thirty five hundred thus in making the complete circuit of the iceberg we had pulled almost three and a half miles the altitude of the berg I averaged at one hundred and eighty feet above the sea level which would give a total average depth of fourteen hundred and forty feet or more than a quarter of a mile multiply these figures and we obtain local cubicle contents of twenty three billion eight hundred fifty million feet converge this into tons and all the carrying capacity of all the ships in the world are as nothing to it freight them all with ice-cut from it and an impression would hardly be made upon it it is only by such figuring that we can form anything like an adequate idea of the enormous magnitude of this huge vagrant of the Arctic seas its beauties are not defined so readily solid and mighty it is yet a subtle object the light plays through it as through the opal flashes of every color come from it here we see the emerald they are calcedony and again transparent quartz or sapphire the topaz or the ruby as the sun's rays dart through its sharp angles or the tintings of the clouds are reflected from its sides more than this I cannot say of the floating ice mountain words fail utterly in the description of such a mighty work of nature fail as completely as do the pigments of the painter who could paint or who describe the leap of Niagara or the roar that rises from the greater bits at best the effort of the artist gives but a vague idea of the truth the iceberg in its birth growth and immensity on the varying phases which it presents at different times the subtle quality of the light and color which play around it is utterly beyond the reach of art and who could paint or who describe its age nothing but actual observation will even so much as suggest the long period occupied in its formation close inspection will reveal an infinite number of lines of stratification which like the multiplied rings of the old forest oak marked the years of its increase and tell of the untold ages during which it was growing in the parent glacier but there is nothing in it or about it to fix the period when the hardened snowflakes which compose it were first dropped upon the Greenland hills nothing to show its steady growth through the recurring cycles of time end of section 92 section 93 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Abayi in September 2019 the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 93 escaping from a glacier by Dr. Isaac I Hayes during the absence of the captain and myself from the vessel the artists had not been idle they had landed near the glacier and with brush and camera had begun their work the day was warm the mercury rising to 68 degrees in the shade and the sun coming around to the south blazed upon the cold icy wall this must have produced some difference of temperature between the ice touched by the solar rays and that of the interior which was in all probability several degrees below the freezing point for towards noon there was an incessant crackling along the entire front of ice small pieces were split off with explosive violence and falling to the sea produced a fine effect as the spray and water spurted from the spot where they struck scarcely an instant passed without a disturbance occurring of this kind it was like a fuselade of artillery now and then a mass of considerable size would break loose producing an impression both upon the eye and ear that was very startling by one o'clock everybody had come on board to dinner and for a while we all stood on deck watching the spectacle and noting the changes that took place with interest it was observed among other curious phenomena that when the ice broke off the fractured surface was deep blue and that if any ice as sometimes happened came up from beneath the water it bore the same color but after a short exposure to the sun the surface changed and became almost pure white with the satin glitter before described our situation for a view could not have been better chosen and it is not likely that such an opportunity was ever enjoyed before by explorers since it is not probable that a vessel ever rode before at her anchor so near a glacier after dinner the work was to be resumed the photographers hastened ashore hoping to catch an instantaneous view of some tumbling fragment which if they could have done would certainly have exceeded in interest any other view they had secured the question of moving our anchorage was deferred to the captain who decided to go over to the other side when the artists had been put ashore with their tools steam was indeed already up the boat had reached ashore for this purpose and had shoved off for the ship leaving the artists on the beach and the order had been given by the captain to up anchor when loud reports were heard one after another in quick succession a number of large pieces had broken off and therefore disturbed the sea to such an extent that the vessel began to roll quite perceptibly and waves broke with considerable force upon the shore then without a moment's warning there was a report louder than any we had yet heard it was evident that some unusual event was about to happen and a feeling of alarm was generally experienced casting my eyes in the direction from which the sound proceeded the cause of it was at once explained the very center or extreme point of the glacier was in a state of apparent disintegration here the ice was peculiarly picturesque and we had never ceased to admire it and sketch and photograph it a perfect forest of gothic spires more or less symmetrical gave it the appearance of a vast cathedral fashioned by the hands of man the origin of these spires will be readily understood to be in consequence first of the formation of crevasses far up on the glacier and secondly by the spaces between them widening and sharpening and rounding off by the action of the sun as the glacier steadily approaches the sea at the base of these spires there were several pointed arches some of them almost perfect in form which still further strengthened the illusion that they might be of human and not of natural creation at the extreme point there was one spire that stood out quite detached almost from the water's edge to its summit this could not have been much less than 200 feet high I had passed very near this while crossing over in the boat and the front of it appeared to extend vertically down to the bottom in the clear green water for the muddy water of the southern side did not reach over so far I could trace it a long way into the sea I had little idea then how treacherous an object it was or I would not have ventured so near for I was not more than a boat's length from it the last and loudest report as above mentioned came from this wonderful spire which was sinking down it seemed indeed as if the foundations of the earth were giving way and that the spire was descending into the yawning depths below the effect was magnificent it did not topple over and fall headlong but went down bodily and in doing so crumbled into numberless pieces the process was not instantaneous but lasted for the space of at least a quarter of a minute it broke up as if it were composed of scales the fastenings of which had given way layer after layer until the very core was reached and there was nothing left of it but we could not witness this process of disintegration in detail after the first few moments for the whole glacier almost to its summit became enveloped in spray a semi-transparent cloud through which the crumbling of the ice could be faintly seen parts of admiration and astonishment burst from the ship's company the greatest danger would scarcely have been sufficient to withdraw the eye from the fascinating spectacle but when the summit of the spire began to sink away amidst the great white mass of foam and mist into which it finally disappeared the enthusiasm was unbounded by this time however other portions of the glacier were undergoing a similar transformation influenced no doubt by the shock which had been communicated by this first disruption other spires less perfect in their form disappeared in the same manner and great scales peeling from the glacier in various places fell into the sea with a prolonged crash and followed by a loud hissing and crackling sound then in the general confusion more particular reports were swallowed up in one universal roar which woke the echoes of the hills and spread consternation to the people on the panther's deck this consternation increased with every moment for the roar of the falling and crumbling ice was drowned in a peel compared to which the loudest thunder of the heavens would be but a feeble sound it seemed as if the foundations of the earth which had given way to admit the sinking ice were now rent asunder and the world seemed to tremble from the commencement of the crumbling to this moment the increase of sound was steady and uninterrupted it was like the wind which moaning through the trees before a storm elevates its voice with its multiplying strength and lays the forest low in the crash of the tempest the whole glacier about the place where these disturbances were occurring was enveloped in a cloud which rose up over the glacier as one sees the mist rising from the abyss below Niagara and receiving the rays of the sun hold the rainbow fluttering above the vortex while the fearful sound was peeling forth I saw a blue mass rising through the cloud at first slowly then with a bound and now from out the foam and mist a wave of vast proportions rolled away in a widening semi-circle I could watch the glacier no more the instinct of self-preservation drove me to seize the first firm object I could lay my hands upon and grasp it with all my strength the wave came down upon us with the speed of the wind the swell occasioned by an earthquake can alone compare with it in magnitude rolled beneath the panther lifted her upon its crest and swept her towards the rocks an instant more and I was flat upon the deck born down by the stroke of falling water the wave had broken on the abrupt shore and after touching the rocks with its crest a hundred feet above our heads had curled backward and striking the ship with terrific force had deluged the decks the second wave followed before the shock of the first had fairly seized and broke over us in like manner another and another came after in quick succession but each was smaller than the one preceding it the panther was driven within two fathoms of the shore but she did not strike thank heaven our anchor held or our ship would have been knocked to pieces but high and dry was the first great wave that rolled under us when it became evident that we were safe our thoughts naturally flew to our comrades on the shore to our great joy they too were safe but they had not had time to clamber up to steep aclivity before the first wave had buried them flinging themselves flat upon the ground when they discovered that escape was hopeless and clinging to each other and to the rocks they prevented themselves from being carried off or seriously hurt one had been lifted from his feet and hurled with much force against the rock but accepting a few bruises he was not injured and with much fervor thanked heaven that it was no worse he had indeed abundant cause had the party not been favoured by the rocks which were of such formation that they could readily spring up from ledge to ledge they must have all perished the wave before it reached them had expended much of its force if they had been upon the beach and received the full force of the blow they would inevitably have been killed outright or drowned in the undertow their implements, bottles, plates, everything were either gone or were a perfect wreck fortunately their cameras were upon the hillside and beyond the reach of the wave where they had used them in the morning the boat also was safe she had been hauled out some distance from the shore and by putting her head to the waves she rode in security the agitation of the sea continued for half an hour after the first wave broke upon us this was partly a prolongation of the first disturbance but proceeded mainly from the original cause still operating the iceberg had been born amidst the great confusion and as it was the rolling up of the vast mass which sent that first wave away in a widening semi-circle so it was the rocking tool and fro of the monster that continued the agitation of the sea for this newborn child of the arctic frosts seemed loath to come to rest in its watery cradle and what an azure gem it was glittering while it moved there in the bright sunshine like a mammoth lapis lazuli set in a sea of chased silver for the waters all around were but one mass of foam I measured this iceberg afterwards and found its height above the surface of the water to be 140 feet which supposing the same proportions to continue all the way down would give a total depth of 1120 feet since the proportion of ice below to that above is a 7 to 1 its circumference was almost a mile no wonder that its birth was attended with such fearful consequences the part which had been the top of the glacier had become the bottom of the iceberg the fragment when it broke off had performed an entire half revolution hence it was that no part of it was white but as the day wore on the delicate hue which it first showed vanished and before the berg finally disappeared down the fjord it wore the usual opaque white which distinguishes its older brothers who have drifted in Baffin's Bay for perhaps a score of years as may well be supposed we did not wait for another iceberg to catch us in such a defenseless situation our jolly captain was now quite content to own he held glaciers in profound respect and lost no time therefore in picking up his anchor then as soon as our bruised and thoroughly drenched artists were brought aboard the panther wheeled upon her heel and steamed over to the opposite side where at a more respectful distance anchorage was found which promised safety if the glacier should take upon itself once more to perform such fantastic freaks the one of which we had like to have been victims and we had no mind now for another such dangerous encounter end of section 93 quote no description can give an adequate idea of the intense rigor of the sixth month's winter in this part of the world stones crack with the noise of thunder in a crowded hut the breath of its occupants will fall in flakes of snow wine and spirits turn to ice the snow burns like caustic if iron touches the flesh it brings the skin away with it the soles of your stockings may be burnt off your feet before you feel the slightest warmth from the fire linen taking out of boiling water instantly stiffens to the consistency of a wooden board and heated stones will not prevent the sheets of the bed from freezing if these are the effects of the climate within an airtight fire-warmed crowded hut what must they be among the dark storm-lashed mountain peaks outside unquote in arctic exploration there is danger of freezing of starvation of death by a score of different accidents and yet there is a lure of the north so strong and so fascinating that those who have once felt it are rarely satisfied without making a second trial of its beauties and its perils end of section 94 this recording is in the public domain section 95 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland Greenland and the Search for the Poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by April 6090, California, United States of America the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Search for the Poles edited by Eva March-Tappen section 95, Spitzbergen, the island that belongs to no one by Lord Dufferin in the Icelandic sagas it is written that in 1194 land was discovered a four days sail to the northeast of Iceland this land was undoubtedly Spitzbergen the editor it was at one o'clock in the morning on the 6th of August 1856 that after having been 11 days at sea we came to an anchor in the silent haven of English Bay Spitzbergen and now how shall I give you an idea of the wonderful panorama in the midst of which we found ourselves I think perhaps its most striking feature was the stillness and deadness and impassibility of this new world ice and rock and water surrounded us not a sound of any kind interrupted the silence the sea did not break upon the shore no bird or any living thing was visible the midnight sun by this time muffled in a transparent mist shed an awful mysterious luster on glacier and mountain no atom of vegetation gave token of the earth's vitality and universal numbness and dumbness seems to pervade the solitude I suppose in scarcely any other part of the world is the appearance of deadness so strikingly exhibited on the stillest summer day in England there is always perceptible an undertone of life thrilling through the atmosphere and though no breeze should stir a single leaf yet in default of motion there is always a sense of growth but here not so much as a blade of grass was to be seen on the sides of the bald excirated hills primeval rocks and eternal ice constitute the landscape the anchorage where we had brought up is the best to be found with the exception perhaps of Magdalena Bay along the whole west coast of Spitzbergen indeed it is almost the only one where you are not liable to have the ice set in upon you at a moment's notice ice is sound, belt sound, horn sound the other harbors along the west coast are all liable to be set by drift ice during the course of a single night even though no vestige of it may have been in sight four and twenty hours before and many a good ship has been inextricably imprisoned in the very harbor to which she had fled for refuge this bay is completely landlocked being protected on its open side by Prince Charles Foreland a long island lying parallel with the mainland down towards either horn run two ranges of shinstose rocks about fifteen hundred feet high their sides almost precipitous and the topmost ridge as sharp as a knife and jagged as they saw the intervening space is entirely filled up by an enormous glacier which descending with one continuous incline from the head of a valley on the right and sweeping like a torrent round the roots of an isolated clump of hills in the center rolls at last into the sea the length of the glacier river from the spot where it apparently first originated could not have been less than thirty or thirty five miles or its greatest breadth less than nine or ten but so completely did it fill up the higher end of the valley that it was as much as you could do to distinguish the farther mountains peaking up over its surface the height of the precipice where it fell into the sea I should judge to have been about one hundred and twenty feet on the left a still more extraordinary sight presented itself a kind of baby glacier actually hung half suspended halfway on the hillside like a tear in the act of rolling down the furrowed cheek of the mountain I have tried to convey to you a notion of the following impetus impressed on the surface of the Jan Mayan ice rivers but in this case so unaccountable did it seem that the overhanging mass of ice should not continue to thunder down upon its course that one's natural impulse was to shrink from crossing the path along which a breath a sound might precipitate the suspended avalanche into the valley nothing is more dangerous than to approach these cliffs of ice every now and then huge masses detach themselves from the face of the crystal steep and topple over into the water and woe be to the unfortunate ship which might happen to be passing below Scorby himself actually witnessed a mass of ice the size of a cathedral thundered down into the sea from a height of four hundred feet frequently during our stay at Spitzbergen we ourselves observed specimens of these ice avalanches and scarcely an hour passed without the solemn silence of the bay being disturbed by the thunderous boom resulting from similar catastrophes occurring in adjacent valleys as soon as we had thoroughly taken in the strange features of the scene around us we all turned in for a night's rest I was dog-tired as much with anxiety as want of sleep for in continuing to push on to the northward in spite of the ice I naturally could not help feeling that if any accident occurred responsibility would rest with me and although I do not believe that we were at any time in any real danger yet from our inexperience in the peculiarities of Arctic navigation I think the coolest judgment would have been liable to occasional misgivings as to what might arise from possible contingencies now however all was right the result had justified our anticipations we had reached the so long for goal and as I stowed myself snugly away in the hollow of my cot I could not help heartily congratulating myself at for that night at all events there was no danger of the ship knocking a hole in her bottom against some hammock which the lookout had been too sleepy to observe and that Wilson could not come in the next morning and announce ice all around all around in a quarter of an hour afterwards all was still on board the phone and the lonely little ship lay floating on the glassy bosom of the sea apparently as inanimate as the landscape immediately after breakfast we pulled to the shore carrying in the gig with us the photographic apparatus tents, guns, ammunition and the goat poor old thing she had suffered dreadfully from seasickness and I thought a run ashore might do her good on the left hand side of the bay between the foot of the mountain and the sea there ran a low flat belt of black moss about half a mile broad and as this appeared the only point in the neighborhood likely to offer any attraction to reindeer it was on the side that I determined to land my chief reason for having run into English Bay rather than Magdalena Bay was because we had been told at Hammerfest that it was the more likely place of the two for deer and as we were sadly in want of fresh meat this advantage quite decided us in our choice as soon therefore as we had superintended the erection of the tent and said Wilson hard at work cleaning the glasses for the photographs we slung our rifles on our backs and set off in search of deer but in vain did I peer through my telescope across the dingy flat in front not a vestige of a horn was to be seen although in several places we came upon impressions of the track at last our confidence in the reports of their great plenty became considerably diminished still the walk was very refreshing after our confinement on board and although the thermometer was below freezing the cold only made the exercise more pleasant a little to the northward I observed lying on the seashore innumerable logs of driftwood this wood is floated all the way from America by the Gulf Stream and as I walked from one huge bowl to another I could not help wondering in what primeval forest each had grown what chance had originally cast them on the waters and piloted them to this desert shore mingled with the fringe of unhumed timber that lined the beach lay waves and strays of a more sinister kind pieces of broken spars in ore a boat's flagstaff and a few shattered fragments of some long lost vessels planking here and there too we would come upon skulls of walrus ribs and shoulder blades of bears brought possibly by the ice in winter turning again from the sea we resumed our search for deer but two or three hours more very stiff walking produced no better luck suddenly a cry from Fitz who had wandered a little to the right brought a seltzer skelter to the spot where he was standing but it was not a stag he called us to come and look upon half embedded in the black moss at his feet there lay a gray deal coffin falling almost to pieces with age though it was gone blown off probably by the wind and within were stretched the bleaching bones of a human skeleton a root cross at the head of the grave still stood partially upright and a half obliterated Dutch inscription preserved a record of the dead man's name and age van der Schelling Coleman Jacob Moore Obi 2 June 1758 A.E.T. 44 it was evidently some poor whaler of the last century to whom his companions had given the only burial possible in this frost-hardened earth which even the summer sun has no force to penetrate beyond a couple of inches and which will not afford to man the shallowest grave a bleak resting place where that hundred years slumber I thought as I gazed on the dead mariners remains on another part of the coast we found two other corpses yet more scantily supple-cord without so much as a cross to mark the resting place even in the palmy days of the whale fisheries it was the practice of the Dutch and English sailors to leave the wooden coffins in which they had placed their camarades remains exposed upon the shore and I have been told by an eyewitness that in Magdalena Bay there were to be seen even to this day the bodies of men who died upwards of 250 years ago in such complete preservation that when you pour hot water on the icy covering which encases them you can actually see the unchanged features of the dead through the transparent encrestation as soon as Fitz had gathered a few of the little flowering mosses that grew inside the coffin we proceeded on our way leaving poor Jacob Moore like his great namesake alone in his glory turning to the right we scrambled up the spur of one of the mountains on the eastern side of the plain and then dived down among the lateral valleys that run up between them although by this means we opened up quite a new system of hills and basins and gullies the general scenery did not change its characteristics all vegetation, if the black moth deserves such a name ceases when you ascend 20 feet above the level of the sea and the sides of the mountains become nothing but steep slopes of sheist split and crumbled into an even surface by the frost every step we took unfolded a fresh succession of these jagged spikes and breakneck aclivities in an undending variety of quaint configuration mountain climbing has never been a hobby of mine so I was not tempted to play the part of Excelsior on any of these hillsides but for those who love such exercise a fairer or a more dangerous opportunity of distinguishing themselves could not be imagined the supercargo or owner of the very first ducked ship that ever came to Spitzbergen broke his neck in attempting to climb a hill in Prince Charles's Foreland Prince very nearly lost several of his men under similar circumstances and when scores we succeeded in making the ascent of another hill near Horn Sound it was owing to his having taken the precaution of marking each upward step and chop that he was ever able to get down again during the whole period of our stay in Spitzbergen we had enjoyed unclouded sunshine the nights were even brighter than the days and afforded fits an opportunity of taking some photographing views by the light of a midnight sun the cold was never very intense though the thermometer remained below freezing but about four o'clock every evening the salt water bay in which the schooner lay was veneered over with the pellicle of ice one eighth of an inch in thickness and so elastic that even when the sea beneath was considerably agitated its surface remained unbroken the smooth brown waves taking the appearance of billows of oil if such is the effect produced by the slightest modification of the sun's power in the month of August you can imagine what must be the result of his total disappearance beneath the horizon the winter is in fact unendurable even in the height of summer the moisture inherent in the atmosphere is often frozen into innumerable particles so I newt as to assume the appearance of an impalpable mist occasionally persons have wintered on the island but unless the greatest precautions have been taken for their preservation the consequences have been almost invariably fatal about the same period as when the party of Dutch sailors were left at Jan Mayen a similar experiment was tried at Spitzbergen at the former place it was scurvy rather than cold which destroyed the poor wretches left there to fight it out with winter at Spitzbergen as well as could be gathered from their journal it appeared that they had perished from the intolerable severity of the climate and the contorted attitudes in which their bodies were found lying too plainly indicated the amount of agony they had suffered summer excursions to Spitzbergen by steamer are now arranged for the accommodation of tourists the editor end of section 95 this recording is in the public domain section 96 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Evermarch Tappan section 96 1500 miles of floating ice 1871 to 1872 by Hans Hendrik Hans Hendrik the author of the following narrative was a native Greenlander he became a member of four Arctic expeditions under Cain, Hayes, Hall and Nars respectively it was during the expedition under Hall that the events occurred which are here narrated before the Polaris had been at sea five months captain Hall died soon the ship was caught in the ice and so terribly shattered by a storm that all expected her to go to the bottom at the next split the only thing to do was to put as much of the stores as possible on the ice flow in the hope that it would hold together until its occupants could be rescued when 19% were on the ice a sudden split came and they were separated from the ship then the marvelous voyage of 1500 miles which is so graphically described by the Greenlander contrary to the expectation of all the men on the Polaris managed to keep her afloat and finally to bring her near the shore during the winters they succeeded in making two boats with timber from the vessel when summer had come they sailed away in these towards the south and were rescued by a whaler the editor after two days we stuck in the pack and were brought down with it towards the south while thus we were blocked my comrade and I caught seals every day and then began collecting unskinned seals at the same time while the ship rested immovable they put up a tent on the ice and filled it with bread when we were off a gale sprang up from the south it was a pitch dark night when the ice began moving northward and the flows were jammed and pushed over each other at last our ship began to crack terribly from their pressure I thought she would be crushed on perceiving this we brought our wives and children down upon the ice and hurried to fetch all our little luggage and remove the hull to a short distance from the ship then the ice broke up close to the vessel and her cables broke but in the awful darkness we could only just hear the voices on board and when the craft was going adrift we believed she was on the point of sinking here we were left ten men our wives and children on the tulux English or Americans making nineteen in all and having two boats no boat remaining with the ship when the others drifted from us we thought they had gone to the bottom while we ourselves were in the most miserable state of sadness and tears but especially I pitied my poor little wife and her children in the terrible snowstorm I began thinking have I searched for this myself brought this upon myself by traveling to the north but no we have a merciful providence to watch our us at length our children fell asleep while we covered them with ox hides in the frightful snowdrift at dawn our commander Tasta said he would make for the land with the men as soon as their meal was done they had cooked and got their breakfasts they set off towards an island called Piculek but before they could reach the shore they were stopped by new ice about this time we sighted the ship which was approaching us to our great joy they steamed on and I believed they would have observed us but suddenly they turned a heavy squall from the north coming on at the same time when our tuluk companions were going to make for the land they asked us to follow them but my comrade and I preferred to stay behind knowing they could not get to shore the cook also kept his company saying that he found it pitiful to abandon us those who tried to land returned after a while not having succeeded the north wind blew furiously and the heavy seas threw us towards the westland suddenly the ice on which we dwelled parted and we were separated from the tent which contained our store of bread when the ice touched the westland it stopped and packed together all round us here we made a snow hut my comrade went out sledging and how lucky he caught sight of the tent directly we started dragging a boat to fetch some bread at the tent we filled the boat with bread and drew it over to the camping place when we left our wives and children I was afraid a bear would devour them now I was consoled to see them unhurt and after our arrival we had a good meal since we left the ship this was the first time we ate sufficiently the following day we deliberated whether we should remove to the flow where stood the tent as it was very large and might serve us for an island during the winter we resolved to proceed and first brought with her one of the boats loaded with bread and luggage whereupon we filled the other in the same way my wife and daughter loaded the sledge with our little properties and pulled it my wife carrying the baby in her hood our son was 7 years of age our youngest daughter 4 and these poor things walked over the rough ice my wife and daughter pulling the sledge and I assisting those who dragged the boat a sad sight when they were going to be left behind I told my wife I should return to her when we had brought the boat to our new camping place I went back followed by one of the sailors and finding my little daughter Sophie Elizabeth very tired we placed her on the sledge and more men came to help us when we had finished our removal we turned the boat over I and my family going to sleep under it while the tulips were lodged in the tent and the westlanders made a snow hut for themselves the next day we built a snow hut in the middle of the ice flow fancy this was to be our settlement for the whole winter one day we rested then my comrade and I went out sledging towards the land on approaching it we fell in with new ice I remained to look for breathing holes while my comrade proceeded towards the shore I found some holes and heard the sound of breathing but as the ice was covered with snow I could not get at the seals which were scared by the noise my comrade had been on shore and told me he had seen footprints of hairs and foxes when we returned we made up our minds to remove to the land the following day we drove in another direction but without discovering anything next morning we tried to go shorewards but our island the ice flow began moving it drifted seawards consequently we turned back and now we continued to be carried off incessantly in a southern direction throughout the winter after some time we caught sight of land and by and by lost it again every day my dear comrade John and I went out hunting in this way once we succeeded in getting a seal what a joy when we had a meal of flesh and our lamps became supplied with blubber afterwards I again got a seal a small one I killed it at one shot wonderful indeed that we were so blessed with seals for our support and that we so continued the whole winter once when we were out shooting I fell through having both legs under water my comrade asked are though wet I answered no I did not get wet when we had tried shooting we returned but quite near to our encampment a strong northern gale suddenly overtook us and made both of us lose our way the snow drifted terribly as I was tired with walking I stopped looking up towards the sky I perceived many stars thereupon I proceeded but came to a broad crack and then going back I fell in with the open sea now I thought my last day was come I considered the miserable position of my dear wife and children on a piece of ice in mid ocean then I pronounced my prayer jesus lead me by the hand while I am here below forsake me not if thou dost not abide with me I shall fall but near to thee I am safe when I had finished these wards I ascended a heap of ice blocks and discovered a star rising a little above the surface of the ice but it was my comrade who had lighted a torch and pointed it all around from the highest part of the uneven ice I went down in the direction of what I saw but on my road I again fell in with a fissure turned and went on but again discovered something like a light I moved forward examining it but was again stopped by the break while here some people were heard approaching and when they came close they shouted are thou hands? I answered yes whereupon they said we had nearly fired at thee believing it was a bear I answered never more I had reason to be thankful to anybody than to you I was quite unable to make out whether I had to go when we came home I found my wife and children had been most sorrowful but I sank the merciful providence on high while we drifted in this way throughout the winter my comrade and I frequently got a seal our lamps were never out for want of oil when sometimes our supply was almost consumed one of us used to catch just before Christmas each of us took a seal Christmas during duel we finished all the provisions we had except the bread but we were consoled by knowing that daylight was near when the sun reappeared we fell in with a great many black guillemots of course we also availed ourselves of them as we were well off for guns I had four myself namely three rifles and one double-barrowed fouling piece with plenty of shot these articles I and my comrade John had taken care to provide ourselves with when we left the ship at first we only threw them down upon ice then we brought them some distance from the ship we could therefore afford to shoot guillemots although the sun again shone no land could be seen and it was truly appalling to think that our to-look companions and our wives and children probably starve however we were taken care of by providence and the whole winter were supplied with seals while still we lived on our island of ice we fell in with bladder nose and saddle-back seals and they gave us a good supply of food as we advanced far south we had a heavy swell and in a pitch dark night the flow our refuge split in two at length the whole of it was broken up all around our snow-huts when we rose in the morning and I went outside the sea had gone down and the ice upon which stood our house had dwindled down to a little round peace wonderful there must be an all-merciful father some days after when we had gone to sleep we heard a gun fired I went out and saw that a bear had been hit and had fallen and comrade exclaimed we have got a big bear how cheerful we shall know how bears flash when we came still farther south the ice appeared more dispersed and at last we made up our minds to go in search of land although none at all was in sight at the same time we again met the heavy swell we started in the boat which was heavily laden for some days we pushed on pretty well when the seas came rolling they looked as if they were going to swallow us up for which reason at intervals we landed on ice flows at length we made out land again we rested upon a piece of ice during the night a heavy sea came on we slept with our children in the boat while the others used the tent as the sea rose still higher it began washing over our place of sojourn they were obliged to remove the tent placing it upon the top of an ice hillock where upon all of us had to keep hold of the boat the children were placed in it the women assisted us when the sea began to move the boat we all kept hold of the gun whales the breakers looked as if they could engulf us we exerted ourselves to the utmost each time when the sea began lifting us whereas when it retired we pushed the boat to remove it to windward because there was a danger of our being washed down into the sea to leeward we did not stop until we had brought the skiff close to the edge of the ice but now the sea reached the tent which was placed on the hillock to be sure it was awful whenever the waves washed over us we were in water up to the waist while at the same time we clung to the gun whale and all the while one heard nothing but exclamations now use all your strength towards morning the sea had abated and when it grew light we discovered that some smaller flows were less exposed to the swell I spoke with my comrade about removing to one of these and our commander Tarsda agreed we put the boat into the water loaded it and went to a smaller ice flow which we found much better as it was not washed over as the sea grew calmer we pushed on seals were plentiful we had no want of meat and we used to take our rest on the flows one night it happened that the ice which served us for our camping place parted between the boat on which I slept and the tent I jumped out to the other side while that piece on which the boat was placed moved off quickly with Mr. Mage who was seated in the boat and waited from it by the water our master asked the sailors to make a boat raft out of a piece of ice and try to reach it but they refused we never had felt so distressed as at this moment when we had lost our boat at last I said to my comrade however we must try to get at it each of us then formed an umyard look literally a bad boat a piece of ice and in this way we passed to other fragment as now we were three men we could manage to put the boat into the water but when on doing so it sank forward Mr. Mage fell into the sea my comrade jumped into the boat at the same moment and pulled him up I being unable to follow remained standing on the ice when they had taken me along with them we proceeded towards the others but meanwhile the ice had screwed together and we stood still we three men alone then holed up the boat at this time night fell and our companions who had been in the sea and now was lying in the boat was like to freeze to death I said to my comrade that if he remained so he would really die if he could walk about it would be better I had witnessed such a case before when I had spoken thus with my eyes saying that if he remained he would perish the first time he rose he tumbled down but after having walked for a long time he recovered at daybreak we discovered our friends close by and the ice joined together when first they had examined the road they came to us and assisted us to drag the boat over to them when we had started from this place we were soon stopped by the pack and no live thing was to be seen we began to be in need of provisions we had no seal flesh left and the next day our small stalk of bread was to be shared out in the night I had just fallen asleep as I was to have my turn of the watch when I was vacant by hearing people speaking about the bear rising up I saw a bear walking towards us I said to the others that they must lie down near the boat they were carrying seals while my comrade and I went towards the bear who alternately sank and reappeared behind the ice hillocks we waited until he came close up to us whereupon my comrade gave him a shot and I finished him off thereupon the others joined us to drag him to the boat how wonderfully did providence bring us through the winter and give us supplies at length we were off the remotest part of the west land whether the ice had brought us since last year we left the ship in the far north we were now near the country of the tulux without having suffered any real misfortune before we had finished the last of our bear's flesh the field opened and we began catching seals and sighted land and when we proceeded towards it we fell in with the ship once in the afternoon while still making for the land we discovered a vessel steaming northwards we tried to follow it but night fell and we stopped at the ice at the same time there rose a dense mist during the night we showed two lights near the boat making them pretty large that people on board might observe us after midnight I went to sleep when the others had risen towards morning I was awakened by hearing them talking about ship and when I got up I saw it emerging from the fog I directly set off in my kayak and when I came to them they questioned me who are you I answered north pole and mutpolaris bebelis peoples then furthermore they asked how do you do I answered captain ul died whereupon they said where's the ship I answered last year we left it on hearing this they said to me just follow a little alongside the ship we will soon stop her when we had come up to my companions they laid too to take them on board I was the first who set foot on deck then followed the others and when all had come on board it was as if we were ashore the master of the ship and the crew all together were exceedingly kind to us and pitied us who had spent the whole winter with our little children on a piece of ice they gave us tobacco and pipes and before all a good meal their master from mere kindness was like a kinsman to us end of section 96 section 97 of Norway, Sweden Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by April 6,090 California, United States of America the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 97 how to build a snow hut by Rold Amundsen in order to obtain a correct idea as to how a hut should be built in the most approved style we will pay a visit to the master builder Atiklera he is standing just below the summit of the ridge beckoning to Nalungia to intimate that he has found a suitable spot and that she is to bring him his snow shovel a glance at the site he has selected shows that Atiklera is a practical man as well as a man of taste the position is well sheltered to the northeast and west and the crest of the ridge at the back will prove a barrier to the biting north wind towards the south the prospect is open and will have the full benefit of the sunshine close by there is a small lake or pond which will supply the most delicious drinking water for the family the country hereabouts consists mainly of spacious plains and beautiful lakes meanwhile Nalungia has arrived with the snow shovel this is made of a wooden board which Atiklera has obtained by barter from tribes dwelling farther south as there is no wood in a chili nor does the smallest piece of driftwood ever find its way to these latitudes the shovel is made in a very workman like manner and excellently suited for its purpose as long as the snow is loose for hard snow of course our iron spades would be preferable it is strengthened at the lower end with reindeer bone now the first thing Atiklera does is to shovel away the upper loose layer of snow in the circumference within which he had planned to erect his hut he does so with a true eye as the large number of huts he has built in his lifetime has given him good practice then he draws out the knife which has hitherto been suspended by a loop on the bone peg at the back of his anorak it is quite a monster knife for anyone who had not seen it before the blade is as large as that of an ordinary good-sized butcher's knife and is made of iron which has also come from the south the handle is about a foot long and is of wood or bone taking the handle with both hands he commenced to cut out his ice blocks for building the hut these are cut out to a size about 18 inches wide 24 inches long and 4 inches thick if cut out in this way the building's site itself will yield sufficient material for the whole construction it is a pleasure to see how a good builder cuts each block so that it just fits where he sets it Atiklura is a veritable prodigy at this work not one of his blocks ever breaks in pieces although he appears to cut them out without any particular care just a cut here and there then a kick that is operated from the mass of snow all the blocks from Atiklura's hand are so exactly equal in size that they look as if they had been accurately measured the hut is built up in spirals in the form of a haycock or beehive so that one layer of blocks rests on the previous one and extends a little further inward in joining the blocks the sides must be fitted to each other so that the walls are perfectly tight the builder's skill can be engaged by the tightness of the hut but even with Atiklura's skill it is impossible to avoid some few small chinks here and there it is Nolungia's task to fill up these chinks for this purpose she works the shoveled up loose snow until it is as fine as grated sugar for it is only when it is in this state that it can be used for making the joints tight it is thrown up against the blocks placed in position and fills in every little hole in crevice the walls of the hut rise quickly as the blocks are cut out the ground is cleared downwards and as they are set into their places they serve to increase the height of the walls of the cleared site Atiklura looks as if he had been standing on his head in a flower tub he is covered with snow all over his clothes, hair and beard are white as chalk to prevent the snow from getting into the sleeves of the anorak building the roof of such a snow hut is a very complicated affair to the uninitiated many a snow block did I get on my head when I assayed this work the snow blocks have to be set back gradually inward and when the work is nearing completion the last blocks would appear to be literally suspended in the air without any base or support the last block or keystone which closes the roof in the center is quite small and in most cases triangular to fix it in its position from the outside it must first be juggled out through the hole which it is eventually to fill this looks impossible but the eskimo achieves the impossible with one hand he raises his block to the outside through the hole at the top and while holding it he cuts it into the shape of a wedge with a knife he holds in the other and when he lowers it into the hole it fits it as if it had been molded for the purpose Nellungia aided by Ereira has perseveringly plastered over the outside of the hut with fine snow so that it simply looks like a snow heap the outlines of the blocks are now quite concealed under the snow but the hut is perfectly tight as the fine snow works itself in wherever there is the slightest hole or crevice the master builder himself is not yet visible he is still busy in the interior of the hut where he is now completely built in at last his long-bladed knife protrudes from the wall of snow and with a rapid movement he cuts a hole just large enough for him to creep through I'm surprised to see how high up the wall he cuts the hole as in all the huts I have hitherto seen this entrance hole was quite down to the floor now Nellungia creeps in through the aperture and I follow her to see what she is going to do in the way of further internal arrangements I'm at once enlightened as to why the aperture is made so high up Atticlera has cut it on a level with the sleeping berth to expedite the work of moving in he has constructed the sleeping berth as follows he has first divided the hut by a row of snow blocks into two compartments of which the inner one is twice as large as the outer he throws all the loose refuse snow lying in the hut into the inner compartment until it reaches the level of the row of blocks and there you have the bedstead quite ready at the opposite end of the hut there is another small erection made of two blocks set on edge and a third laid across them like a table slab now commences the moving in through the aperture above the sleeping berth from topsy-turvy upon the sleeping place next comes all the furniture a drawing grid, water bucket, cooking pot blubber lamp, provisions blubber, meat and fish and lastly the women's personal belongings which I dare not specify more fully now it looks as if all were over and Mrs. Nalungia casts an inquiring look at me as much as to say are you going to creep out I have no idea what is about to happen but my curiosity prompts me to remain thinking that anything much worse than I had seen before was hardly likely to occur but I certainly was a little taken aback when the hole over the sleeping berth was suddenly blocked up again from outside and I was alone with one lady in a closed up hut however as Nalungia did not seem to mind it in the least why should I trouble disregarding me she set to work with they will the heavy blubber lamp was first raised on a table near the wall opposite the sleeping berth this lamp is made of a kind of stone they obtained from the Utkohikcheliik Eskimo it is carved in the form of a crescent and it is heavy and clumsy it is placed upon three pieces of bone inserted in the snow slab so that the inner edge of the crescent is turned towards the interior of the hut while the outer edge is towards the wall the blubber bag is now brought out and a piece of frozen blubber taken from it this is beaten with a specially made club of musk ox bone until it is quite soft now she produces from one of her repositories a little tuft of moss which she carefully soaks with seal oil, ug I remember with horror those mysterious light pastils and then she sets to work to get a light by rubbing pieces of wood together the pastil soon sends out the most dazzling rays the flash blubber is put into the lamp and a wick of moss is laid along the hole of the straight inner edge this is sprinkled with seal oil and ignited by means of the burning tuft of moss the whole wick is now ablaze and a brilliant flame lights up the roomy hut I ask myself what in the world she wants with this brilliant flame as she has now finished arranging the hut and I am almost on the point of upgrading her for this waste of precious oil but I refrain as I remember that an eskimo never does anything without good reason in fact it soon becomes apparent that here too my judgment is premature gradually an oppressive heat spreads from the mighty flame and now I understand that her object is to cause the newly built hut to settle well down at the joints as the result of the heat thus produced the snow blocks gradually close up till they may be said to form one single continuous wall while this is going on nalungia makes good use of her time and gets the sleeping berth into proper order the waterproof kayak skins are laid next to the snow these have been taken from the kayaks in the autumn and will keep the moisture of the snow away from the reindeer skins neatly arranged over them and the sleeping berth looks quite cozy again she turns her attention to the lamp and trims the wick this has to be done frequently the saucepan is then filled with snow and suspended over the flame by two cords secured to two bones fastened into the wall the family may want refreshment after this job the drying grid made of reindeer bone strung over with a network of sinew thread is now fixed up over the saucepan but not too near the fire the skins will not bear too much heat finally the anauda a small round thick wooden stick with a handle used for beating the snow off the clothes is by way of a finishing touch driven into the wall everything is now ready and none too soon for at this moment a tiglura is calling from outside asking if he may come in milangia casts a last critical look around the walls and tells him to wait a little he goes off muttering something milangia looks as though she meant to pay him out for his courtesy by keeping him waiting a little longer and it is quite another half hour he calls him in then an opening is made through the wall right down to the floor large enough for a man to creep through and a tiglura's head appears through it a moment later he is inside the hut he takes off his soaking wet gloves then throws them towards his wife who turns them inside out and hangs them on the drying grid then she takes his coat shakes it and well beats it with the anauda for it is important to remove very little grain to prevent its melting and wetting the coat which is then rolled up and thrown on the bed the outer trousers are then treated in the same way and placed with the coat next to the anaura a tiglura stands there in his undergarb this does not sound exactly kamilfo according to our ideas but it calls for no comment among the eskimo he now walks up to the sleeping place and sits down not as we might do on the edge but will back so that he can rest his legs now the foot gear must be removed and this is not a very simple matter as an eskimosque foot gear consists of five different articles outermost are the low reindeer skin shoes made with the hairy side inwards for a amount of a tiglura's high descent these are half sold with seal skin on the bottom of the sole there are some perceptible ridges which on closer inspection prove to be strips of skin sewed on to prevent the foot from slipping next come the kymics which at this time of year are exclusively of reindeer skin there are two pairs of these the outer are made of the hide from the reindeer's leg which is short-haired and very strong they are made with the hairy side inwards and reach up to the knee where they are laced up with a thong underneath these is another pair exactly of the same length and appearance but with the hairy side outwards these are made out of the hide of a one year old reindeer from the abdomen as the skin there is very fine and soft between these two pairs of kymics the eskimo wears a pair of short reindeer skin socks with the hairy side outward and lastly another pair of socks next to the skin with the hairy side inwards so that all together the feet have five different coverings when I first saw this I thought that after all we were rather more hardy than the eskimo as we only used three articles but on my first laying tour I realized that it was not simply for protection against cold that the eskimo used all these articles but to a great extent to protect the feet against the hard snow and ice on which they are always walking with my triple foot gear I became so foot sore that I could scarcely walk like the gloves all the foot gear must be put on the grid to dry the inconvenience of skin clothing is that unless kept well aired they are very apt to absorb and retain any moisture the nechili eskimo did not know of sedge grass they put loose reindeer hair into their boots and take it out at night this was better than nothing but not nearly as good as our grass when a tieflura has removed his wet foot gear he puts on a pair of dry kymics and a pair of low seal skin shoes cameleet gun corresponding to our slippers in winter these are used inside the hut only but during the transition period between winter and spring they are worn outside as far as the care of the outer man is concerned a tieflura is now ready and is therefore at liberty to think of the needs of the inner man and these are not trivial after the trying days work a fine salmon is surfed up and all the members of the family part take freely frozen though it is it seems to be highly relished and very shortly there's nothing left but the clean strip gelatin the saucepan now full of fresh clean water a few hundreds of reindeer hairs of course are not looked upon as impurities is emptied and refilled with snow and suspended again over the fire water is the only drink than a chilly eskimo no no half and half of any kind is to be had there they now announce that there is no more room in their stomachs for either salmon or water and the meal is finished now time to turn in the lungea prepares the bed for the night arranging the beautiful soft skins at tieflura closes up the entrance securely with a block of snow slips in under the large family bed rug and their disrobes unlike the Greenland Eskimo these people of either sex never disrobe in the presence of strangers except in the greatest emergency the guests of the families assigned a place at one side of the hut little knee and area have turned in long ago and the birth nearest the fireplace is reserved for the lungea she extinguishes the light and arranges her toilet in the dark the large skin bed rogues are there only covering at night vigorous snoring soon announces that they are asleep end of section 97 this recording is in the public domain section 98 of Norway, Sweden Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles read for LibriVox.org by Thomas Peter The Northwest Passage by Sir John Everett Millay English painter 1829 to 1896 painting page 500 in 18 it might be done and England should do it the search for the Northwest Passage follows from the wish to find a short way to China and with this search the names of many celebrated navigators are connected among these are John Davis William Baffin John Ross William E. Perry Sir John Franklin and many others in 1854 Sir Robert McClure sailed partly through the passage but was obliged to abandon his ship in Mercy Bay and join another expedition by long the first complete voyage to the Northwest Passage was made by a rolled Amundsen in 1902 to 1906 in the accompanying picture a weather beaten sea captain sits in a great armchair listening to the stories of search for the Northwest Passage read to him by his daughter through the open windows of the sea on the table behind him is his glass of grog and a telescope leaning against the table legs are the log books of former voyages one of the pictures on the wall represents Admiral Nelson the other a ship in an ice flow at the right is a table where on a flowers and the gloves of the young girl but almost concealed by the national flag and a map of the polar regions the captain's hands are clenched in the eagerness of his longing and on one of them his daughter has laid her hand as if to detain him from the quest the model for the sea captain was Trelawney the friend of a Byron and Shelley end of section 98 this recording is in the public domain section 99 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the world's story volume 8 Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the poles edited by Eva March Tappen section 99 paying a call in the northwest passage, 1906 by Rold Amundsen to some perhaps it may occur that we could very well have done this on our way under canvas and that it was unnecessary to stop and retard our voyage on that account this may be so but it must not be forgotten that our position was not quite an ordinary one bearing in mind our running aground at Meti Island we had quite decided not to risk a recurrence of that experience if we could possibly avoid it we would rather sacrifice a few hours than jeopardize our vessel in these very hazardous waters with a ragged stone bottom and shallow water under her keel an unsafe compass and a small crew we were so to speak standing on the threshold of our goal attempted unsuccessfully by so many before us and taking this into consideration it was an easy task to restrain our impatience along as speedily as possible and out of our difficulties at the first sign of daybreak we were at it again we were compelled to keep southwards to avoid the shoals between the mainland and Douglas Island the water was now getting deeper finding eventually that we had got far enough to the south we turned off to the west shaping our course towards the point where we expected to find an opening it was an exciting time fortunately the deep water continued we found nowhere less than seven fathoms we neared the mainland without trouble and found the passage all right at 3pm we passed Liston and Sutton Islands and stood off into Dolphin and Union Strait my relief at having thus got clear of the last difficult hole the first west passage was indescribable I cannot deny that I had felt very nervous during the last few days the thought that here in these troublesome waters we were running the risk of spoiling the hole of our so far successful enterprise was anything but pleasant but it was always present to my mind the whole responsibility for crew and vessel rested on me I could not get rid of the possibility of returning home with the task unperformed the thought was anything but cheering my hours of rest and sleep were principally spent during this time in brooding over such thoughts and they were not very conducive to sleep all our precautions and everybody's attention notwithstanding any moment might have some surprise in store for us I could not eat at every meal time I felt a devouring hunger but I was unable to swallow my food when finally we got out of our scrapes and I regained my usual calm I had a most rapacious hunger to satisfy and I would rather not mention what I managed to dispose of we could now discontinue the laborious watches of 18 hours a day and revert to the normal arrangement of six hour watches barring a few small interruptions in the shape of fog and contrary wind we made fair progress westwards we did not sight clerk island at all although the weather was clear and it should have been well within the range of vision its existence would therefore seem somewhat doubtful we encountered small lots of ice now and then which reminded us that we were in the Arctic regions we prepared for eventualities on August 26 at 4pm we sighted a high land to windward the air was very misty and as according to our reckoning we should be abreast of Cape Perry I thought this was what we saw during the early morning the air became clearer and I knew then that this land was not Cape Perry on the mainland of America and I thought that this land would be the best place for us to be to be sure but my misgivings on this head were appeased when told later by American whalers of the ludicrous mistakes they often made in these waters there is probably a lot of iron in the mountains here and the compass therefore becomes utterly distracted then there are strong currents and the united influence of these factors may confuse the most conscientious navigator even more than it did when we mistook Nelson Head for Cape Perry we were of course wholly unacquainted with the condition of things when we had found our bearings we continued our voyage at full speed having a fair wind as well as the current right behind us at 8am my watch was finished and I turned in when I had been asleep some time I became conscious of a rushing to and fro on deck clearly there was something the matter and I felt a bit annoyed that they should go on like that for the matter of a bear or a seal it must be something of that kind shortly but then Leutnant Hansen came rushing down into the cabin uncalled out the weather memorable worlds vessel inside sir he bolted again immediately and I was alone the northwest passage had been accomplished my dream from childhood this very moment it was fulfilled I had a peculiar sensation in my throat I was somewhat overworked and tired and I suppose it was weakness in my part but I could feel tears coming to my eyes vessel in sight the words are magical my home and those dear to me there once appeared to me as if stretching out their hands vessel in sight I dressed myself in no time when ready I stopped a moment before Nansen's portrait on my wall it seemed as if the picture had come to life as if he winked at me nodding just what I thought my boy I nodded back smiling at happy and went on deck it was a wonderfully fine day the breeze had weird ground somewhat to the east and with the wind above an all sail set we made excellent headway it seemed as if the Gyoa understood that the hardest part of the struggle was over she seemed so wonderfully light in her movements Nansen head was a long way off to the north the flat topped promontory looked grand in the morning sunshine melting in the white snow and throwing dark blue shadows into the parallel fissures of the mountainside a heavy bright swell rocked the vessel pleasantly and the air was mild and soft all this was observed in a moment but it did not arrest our attention for long the only objects between sky and sea that possessed any interest for us then were the two moth heads on the horizon all hands had come on deck and all glasses were levelled at the approaching vessel all faces were raised in smiles not much was said one of the telescopes was lowered I wonder and it was raised again another one lowered the telescope and also remarked, I wonder on the appearance of the unknown vessel we hoisted our Norwegian flag it glided slowly up under the gaff every eye watching it the words were whispered to the flag it seemed as if everybody wanted to caress it it had become a bit worn and ragged but it bore its wounds with honour I wonder what he'll think when he sees it he'll think it is a vulnerable old flag perhaps he's an American I shouldn't be surprised if he were an Englishman yes he will see by the flag what we are oh yes he will see we are boys the vessels were approaching each other very rapidly there up goes the American flag sang out the watchman he had the long telescope which had been placed on deck this proved to be correct and we could now all see the stars and stripes under the vessel's gaff they had seen and recognised our flag by now that was certain dense steam was issuing from the vessel's side evidently they had a motor the same as we had and were advancing rapidly it was time now to tidy ourselves a little in preparation for the first meeting four of us were to go and board the ship the other three had to remain on the gyoa and look after our vessel our best clothes were hurriedly got out we dressed ourselves according to our individual taste some preferred Eskimo costumes and others our Norwegian and Russian one found that seal skin boots looked best for the occasion others preferred ordinary sea boots we also cleared up on deck as well as we could the American could certainly scan our deck in every detail from his crow's nest through his telescope and we wanted to make as decent an impression as possible we were now so near each other that the whole ship was visible from our deck it was a small two-masted schooner painted black she had a powerful motor and the foam at her bow was spurting high she also carried sail we got the boats clear who too and lowered the dory the most sea worthy of them it was certainly not much to look at and the commander had no easy stearnsheets with a flag to sit on but the boat was in the style of the vessel to which it belonged we were not on a pleasure trip the American had stopped his engine and was waiting for us with two men at the oars we were soon alongside of him a line was thrown down to us I caught it and was again linked with civilization it did not however make its appearance in any great glory the Charles Hanson of San Francisco did not seem to be rigged out in a very luxurious manner a ladder by the by the sea the ship was deep in the water we took hold of the chain whales and crawled on board our first impression was most peculiar every available space on deck was occupied to such an extent that it was nearly impossible to get along Eskimo women in red dresses and negroes in the most variegated costumes were mingling together just as in a land of fable an elderly man with a white beard advanced towards me on the quarter deck he was newly shaven and nicely dressed evidently the master of the ship Aryu captain Amundsen was his first remark I was quite surprised to hear that we were known so far away and answered in the affirmative owning that I was the man is this the first vessel you have met the old man asked and when I admitted it was so his countenance brightened up we shook hands long and heartily I am exceedingly pleased to be the first one to welcome you on getting through the north-west passage we were then most courageously invited down below to his cabin there was not much room though slightly more than on board of our own vessel the gyua captain James McKenna the master of the Charles Hansen was a man of medium height he lived on between 50 and 60 years of age that he was an old arctic trader was evident from his looks the deep wrinkles and copper-coloured face told plainly of cold unmerky weather his personality was jovial and agreeable he asked if I wanted anything in which case he was ready to help us to the best of his ability the only thing we missed so far was news from home apparently he had none that is to say he had some old newspapers but old, yes to you to us they are certainly absolutely fresh he brought out a bundle and by a wonderful coincidence my eye first alighted upon a headline which made me stare war between Norway and Sweden I swallowed the article in hot haste but it gave only a moderate amount of information and McKenna had left home long ago and could give no more particulars we sought further information all over the ship but no one knew any more about it this uncertainty was more unsettling than our previous ignorance but it could not be helped we had to put aside our anxiety and wait after a very good dinner Leighton Hansen and I began culling as much information as possible regarding the navigation ahead of us McKenna was the senior of the American whalers and knew the North American coast better than anyone else what we prized particularly was the set of American charts for the continuation of our voyage they were of a more recent date than ours and contained many new items with marginal notes and indications of courses by the old experienced captain they were a real treasure to us they were somewhat worn and tattered and we therefore packed them up most carefully then about the condition of the ice did he think we could continue in a westerly direction without hindrance he told us that when Invard bound he had been hampered by ice near Herschel island but that at the present late period of the season we were hardly likely to meet any obstacles of consequence we should in any case reach Herschel island quite easily he was certain of this and as he was himself going to winter on that island it might happen that we should meet again before going into winter quarters he intended making a trip as far as Banksland to look for whales so far he had been unlucky and got none his motor was very powerful and he would probably catch us up on his return voyage to Herschel island in addition he gave us every possible information about the waters ahead of us it was pleasant to hear that the bottom along the whole coast westwards was even and that we could navigate safely by the lead we had not been spoiled by safe navigation so we looked upon the remainder of our voyage as a mere pleasure trip the breeze kept up well and as I considered I could not afford to lose more of it we said goodbye to our memorable host after a visit of two hours duration when leaving he made us a present of a bag of potatoes and another of onions as it was a long time since we tasted such luxuries we gratefully accepted the gifts we were awaited on board with eager expectation for the present we agreed to look with great distrust on the reported war between the two united kingdoms the potatoes and onions became the center of joy most of us being fond of these vegetables we then dipped our flag set all sail and continued our voyage McKenna proceeded eastwards to try his luck end of section 99 this recording is in the public domain section 100 of Norway, Sweden, Denmark Iceland, Greenland and the search for the polls the search for the polls part 2 the North Pole historical note the first Arctic explorer of whom history makes mention was one Pythias a Greek who about 325 BC sailed as far as northern Norway another early explorer was Otar or Other a Norwegian sea captain who told King Alfred of England of a voyage into the white sea about 870 nearly 4 centuries ago a deep interest was felt in the far north for one thing it was hoped that good fishing grounds might be found another reason was that several nations were eager to find either a northwest passage or a northeast passage to Asia after better ways of reaching Asia than by a polar route had been discovered the interest continued and one nation after another took up the search in 1818 a reward of $100,000 was offered by England for making the northwest passage and $25,000 for reaching the pole it is said that since 1800 578 expeditions have been sent into the north and our knowledge of the Arctic regions has steadily increased in 1875 Nordenskold managed to slip through the northeast passage the northwest passage was made in 1906 by Rold Amundsen and in 1909 the long sought pole was reached by Admiral Peary end of section 100 this recording is in the public domain