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THE 
 
 LAND OF DESOLATION: 
 
 BEING A PEESONAL NAEEATIVE OF 
 
 OBSERVATION AND ADVENTURE IN 
 
 GREENLAND. 
 
 By ISAAC I. HAYES, M.D., 
 
 goli> medalist of the royal geographical sooiett, london, and of the 
 
 bociete de geogbaphie, paris; honorary member .of the geographical 
 
 societies of berlin and of italy j author of " the open polar sea," 
 
 "an arctic boat journey," " oast away in the cold," eto. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 
 l872. 
 
'i)h. 
 
 A.\ \-bo%-s 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 Harper & Brothers, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
Persons Represented. 
 
 An Artist in search of the picturesque. 
 An Assistant given to caricature. 
 A Photographer, called "Colonel." 
 Another, who was "Major." 
 A Professor who made collections. 
 A Prince who enjoyed himself. 
 A great Hunter. 
 
 A roaring, tearing tar of a Captain. 
 A Mate with an inquiring turn of mind. 
 A Sagaman who made history. 
 A Parson. 
 
 The BeUe of a Ball in seal-skin pantaloons. 
 Other Ladies in the same condition. 
 Also a Boat's Crew. 
 Parliamentarians who smelled fishy. 
 Others equally agreeable. 
 The northernmost White Man and his family. 
 Numerous Governors. 
 Officers and Sailors unlimited. 
 A Haven. 
 An Antiquarian. 
 A Witch. 
 A Doctor. 
 
 Tu<o Enemies, called "Cook" and "Steward." 
 A Cabin-boy who woke up once. 
 Ladies from Denmark. 
 i^A great many other People. 
 Dogs, Polar Bears, and other Animals. 
 A Devil's Thumb. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages are a record of a visit to Green- 
 land, made in the summer of 1869, with a small party 
 of friends, in the steam-yacht of Mr. William Bradford, 
 whose widely-celebrated pictures of Arctic scenery have 
 received such deserved commendation ; for, whether we 
 consider the difficulties of the subject which that artist 
 has undertaken, or the unusual exposures and hazards 
 he has encountered, his success has been commensurate 
 with his zeal, talent, and unflagging energy. 
 
 Since Mr. Bradford was desirous only of obtaining ma- 
 terials for his easel, the voyage was a leisurely one, being 
 mostly near the coast, where halts were from time to 
 time made at such places as presented special attractions 
 to the painter. The summer was therefore devoted to 
 the - study of the picturesque rather than to the- scien- 
 tific; yet numerous opportunities were afforded in the 
 latter direction, especially with respect to observing the 
 formation of Greenland glaciers and icebergs — subjects 
 which have not hitherto received much attention. Fa- 
 cilities never before enjoyed by Americans were also 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 obtained for visiting the site of the colonies of the an- 
 cient Northmen, who occupied that country from the 
 tenth to the fifteenth centuries, and whose restless love 
 of adventure led them even so far from their native 
 homes as our own shores, at least five hundred years 
 before the renowned voyage of Columbus. 
 
 Our range of the Greenland coast was more than a 
 thousand miles, terminating a good way beyond the last 
 outpost of civilization on the globe, in ihe midst of the 
 much dreaded "ice-pack" of Melville Bay. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PA R T THE FIR 8 T. 
 
 ETJINS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. rAGE 
 Ice and Breakers 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Free from Danger 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 A hopeful Town in a hopeless Place 26 
 
 CHAPTER TV. 
 Eric the Red 39 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 "The Arctic Six" 45 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Up the Fiord in an Oomiak 51 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Ruins of Ericsfiord 62 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Northmen in Greenland 71 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Northmen in America 77 
 
 A2 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. PAGB 
 
 The Last Man 82 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A Disconsolate Lover 92 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Church at Julianashaab 98 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A Greenland Parliament 101 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 A Greenland Ball 112 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 PALACES OF NATUKE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Ice and Snow 125 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Glaciers and Icebergs 129 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Solitary Hut op Peter Motzfeldt 137 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Glacier ". 146 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Crossing the Glacier ,.., 153 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Speculations ,,,.., , , 166 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER VII. PAO]! 
 
 Measurements of Glaciers.*. 172 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Birth of an Iceberg 175 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A Narrow Escape .» 179 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Icebergs Critically Examined 186 
 
 e 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Man versus Mosquitoes 197 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A Picnic on the Glacier 201 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Bound for the Arctic Circle , 206 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 UNDEE THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Across the Arctic Circle 215 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Beyond Civilization 240 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Ice-Navigation 253 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Hunting by Steam 263 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. PAQE 
 
 Among the Ice-fields of Melville Bat 284 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Last White Man 294 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Fioed of Aukpadlartok 309 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Upernavik -. 318 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Disco Island 328 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Jacoeshatn 339 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A Week at Godhavn 348 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The "Panther" among the Icebergs Frontispiece. 
 
 View op Julianashaab 27 
 
 The Oomiak and Crew 46 
 
 View op the Old Norse Ruins 63 
 
 Ground-plan op Ruins 67 
 
 Concordia at the Picnic 93 
 
 A Greenland Parliament in Session 104 
 
 Concordia Dressed for the Ball 119 
 
 Front View of the Glacier.... 147 
 
 Crossing the Crevasse on an Ice-bridge 160 
 
 Map op the Glacier 162 
 
 The Glacier op Sermitsialik 167 
 
 Vertical Section op Glacier 170 
 
 The Krtolite Mine at Arsut Fiord 207 
 
 The Peak op Kresarsoak 221 
 
 Entering the Fiord 224 
 
 The Lumme of the Arctic Sea 226 
 
 Shooting Lumme 228 
 
 Esac 231 
 
 Esac's Hut 233 
 
 The Governor and Familt 238 
 
 View op Upernavik and Kresarsoak 241 
 
 Eider-ducks 246 
 
 The Polar Bear 254 
 
 Seals 256 
 
 The Devil's Thumb 261 
 
 The Panther after the Bears 268 
 
 The Captain after the Bear 278 
 
 Moored to a Floe in Melville Bat 287 
 
 The Iceberg Castle 291 
 
14 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 We steam away from the Midnight Sun 295 
 
 The most Northern House on the Globe 299 
 
 Jensen and his Family 303 
 
 An Arctic Witch 307 
 
 We go through an Iceberg to call on Philip 310 
 
 Philip, the Hunter, and his Sons 312 
 
 The Raven 317 
 
 Hans and his Family 322 
 
 The Great Auk 337 
 
 Iceberg in Jacobshavn Fiord 346 
 
' ' Oat upon time ! it will leave no more 
 Of the things to come than the things before ! 
 Out upon time ! who forever will leave 
 But enough of the past for the future to grieve 
 O'er that which hath been, and o'er that which must be; 
 What we have seen our sons shall see — 
 Remnants of things that have passed away, 
 Fragments of stone, reared by creatures of clay.'' v 
 
 Byron's Siege of Corinth. 
 
THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 RUINS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 ICE AND BREAKERS. 
 
 On a gloomy night in the month of July, 1585, the ship 
 Sunshine, of fifty tons, " fitted out," as the old chronicles 
 inform us, " by divers opulent merchants of London, for 
 the discovery of a north-west passage, came, in a thick and 
 heavy mist, to a place where there was a mighty roaring 
 as of waves dashing on a rocky shore." The captain of 
 this ship was brave old John Davis, who, when he had dis- 
 covered his perilous situation, put off in a boat, and thereby 
 discovered that his ship was " embayed in fields and hills 
 of ice, the crashing together of which made the fearful 
 sounds that he had heard." The ship drifted helplessly 
 through the night, and when the morning dawned, " the 
 people saw the tops of mountains white with snow, and of 
 a sugar-loaf shape, standing above the clouds ; while at 
 their base the land was deformed and rocky, and the shore 
 was everywhere beset with ice, which made such irksome 
 noise that the land was called ' The Land of Desolation.' " 
 
 On a gloomy night in the month of July, 1869, the ship 
 Panther, of three hundred and fifty tons, fitted out for a 
 
18 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 summer voyage by a party in pursuit of pleasure, came in 
 like manner, through a thick and heavy mist, to a place 
 where there was a mighty roaring as of waves dashing on 
 a rocky shore. The captain of this ship was John Bartlett, 
 who, when he had discovered his perilous situation, put off 
 in a boat, and returned with the knowledge that the Pan- 
 ther, like the Sunshine of old, was embayed in " fields and 
 hills of ice," the crashing together of which made the fearful 
 sounds that he had heard ; and then, when the morning 
 dawned, " the people saw the tops of mountains white with 
 snow, and of a sugar-loaf shape, standing'above the clouds ; 
 while at their base the land was deformed and rocky," and 
 the shore was everywhere beset with ice, which made such 
 " irksome noise," that the people knew their ship had drift- 
 ed to the self-same spot where the Sunshine had drifted 
 nearly three hundred years before, and that the land before 
 them was Davis's " Land of Desolation." 
 
 A mysterious land to them, and one around which clung 
 many marvellous associations. Its legends had been the 
 wonder of their boyhood ; its grandeur was now their ad- 
 miration. They had heard of it as a land of fable ; tradi- 
 tion had peopled it with dwarfs and giants; history re- 
 corded that a race of men once occupied it whose fleets of 
 ships traversed the waters in which their own vessel was 
 now so grievously beset, bearing merchandise to hamlets 
 of peace and plenty. Their eyes naturally sought a spot 
 whereon to locate the home of this ancient people ; but 
 nothing could they discover save sterile rocks and desert 
 wastes of ice. They saw dark cliffs which rose threatening- 
 ly above them abruptly from the sea, and beyond these 
 their eye wandered away into the interior, which the snows 
 of centuries had converted into a vast plain of desolate 
 whiteness. Returning from this limitless perspective, the 
 eye fell upon the troubled waters. There were no signs of 
 
ICE AND BREAKERS. 19 
 
 life anywhere : desolation frowned on every side. Yet the 
 spectacle was sublime ; and, as if to render that sublimity 
 the more complete, there was added soon an aspect of the 
 terrible. This came in the form of a gale of wind, which 
 speedily rose to a tempest. Rain, hail, and snow swept 
 down upon the ship, and every distant object was hidden 
 except when the storm-curtain was occasionally rent asun- 
 der, and a mountain peak was exposed, with the clouds 
 breaking against its sides. The creaking and groaning ice 
 was around them everywhere, and an occasional iceberg of 
 enormous magnitude broke through the gloom, and, while 
 moving on through the angry and troubled waters, re- 
 ceived with cold indifference the fierce lashings of the sea. 
 
20 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FREE FROM DANGER. 
 
 I was a passenger on board the Panther, and shared 
 with my companions the emotions which the Land of Des- 
 olation first inspired. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, there can be no more 
 comfortable situation on board a ship than that of passen- 
 ger. You are not expected to know any thing, and, if 
 wise, you will not want to know any thing. You are con- 
 tent to trust to the captain, who is presumed to be quite 
 competent to look to the safety of his ship, and therefore 
 to your own. So far as human ingenuity can possibly be 
 exercised to escape danger, his, you are sure, will be, and 
 you trust to him as to a superior being — at least you 
 know he has all the interest at stake that you have, and 
 something more ; for the handling of a ship in a storm is 
 like the manoeuvring of troops on the field of battle ; suc- 
 cess brings glory to the commander, and the acquisition 
 of it is perhaps all the more precious that it is not shared 
 with any body. 
 
 In our case there was a still further motive to confi- 
 dence. Our captain owned one half the ship, which was 
 a Newfoundland screw-steamer, and was built unusually 
 strong. Besides this, we had confidence in his judg- 
 ment, which was the next best thing to confidence in 
 his caution ; and then, to crown all, he was a thoroughly 
 good fellow. To quote the gentleman who devoted him- 
 self to the duties of sagaman for the cruise, " A roaring, 
 tearing, jolly tar was he, as ever boxed the compass on the 
 
FREE FROM DANGER. 21 
 
 sea." During the eight days occupied in coming over 
 from St. John's, we had all conceived a high opinion of his 
 qualities. He might be sometimes a little rash and ven- 
 turesome, but rashness, as every body kuows, is a safer 
 quality than timidity ; and we bore in recollection the old 
 saying, " Nothing venture, nothing have." We might, per- 
 haps, have found a little fault with him at first for having 
 run us in so close to the Land of Desolation without halt- 
 ing for daylight and better weather; but then we all 
 knew that to " heave to " was something which the cap- 
 tain had a great horror of, and he spoke of heaving to with 
 such constant disrespect that the people generally had 
 conceived the idea that it was a peculiarly terrible thing 
 to indulge in. It seemed, therefore, that we were all right, 
 and must necessarily escape shipwreck, even when the 
 peril appeared greatest — when, for instance, we found our- 
 selves threatened with an island rock on the one side and 
 an island of ice on the other, in a sea white with foam, and 
 breaking everywhere so wildly that the captain's trumpet- 
 voice could scarce be heard above the tumult. 
 
 The worst of it was, we did not know within fifty miles 
 of where we were. " There," said the captain, triumph- 
 antly, with his outspread hand upon the chart of Baffin's 
 Bay, covering at least ten thousand square miles of land 
 and sea, " There's where we are !" It was certain, at all 
 events, that we had drifted within a line of skerries, for 
 the waves broke on all sides, and where the rocks did not 
 keep us from going, the ice did. 
 
 We had made the land with the intention of seeking a 
 modern fishing-station of Danes and Esquimaux, which we 
 knew to lie somewhere on that part of the coast ; but 
 where we could not even guess. As well seek charity in 
 a bigot as hunt for a harbor in such weather, on a coast 
 where there are neither light-houses nor pilots. 
 
32 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Yet we knew that human beings might be started 
 somewhere if we only could free ourselves from our un- 
 comfortable predicament, and the storm only would hold 
 up. But it would not and did not until after we had, 
 without exactly knowing how it came about, at length 
 found ourselves in the open sea, and had given the Land 
 of Desolation a wide berth. 
 
 The weather clearing finally, the Panther was point- 
 ed for a promising opening in the belt of ice which beset 
 the shore ; and now, without much risk or difficulty, we 
 got behind a cluster of islands not far from the main-land 
 and a good way to the south of where we had been so 
 much troubled. 
 
 Here there was no ice at all, and we began to look up 
 the fishing-town. First of all the signal-gun was fired, 
 and the Panther whistled her loudest. This woke the 
 echoes, and startled some sea-gulls, but nothing more. 
 Then we crept cautiously along, passing island after isl- 
 and, the Panther whistling constantly and the guns firing 
 occasionally. 
 
 Presently we saw something dark moving upon the 
 water, which appeared to have the body of a beast, and 
 the head and shoulders of a man. It might be a marine 
 centaur ! who could tell ? In fact, we rather expected to 
 see some such monsters long before ; and if the sea had 
 been alive with them, we would not have been, I think, 
 much surprised. 
 
 " Hi ! hi !" was the first greeting of this strange-looking 
 creature, with a voice that sounded very human ; " Hi ! hi !" 
 and afterwards he shouted, " Me Julianashaab pilot !" an 
 announcement which greatly delighted us, even if the pilot 
 did come in such very questionable shape. 
 
 He was not long in arriving alongside, and then, after 
 getting the bight of a rope under each end of him, we 
 
FREE FROM DANGER S3 
 
 hauled him in on deck, whereupon the head and shoulders 
 speedily shook themselves out from the body, and our ma- 
 rine centaur stood forth with the proper complement of 
 legs to show his affinity to man. 
 
 To see a pilot shed himself thus is not to increase one's 
 confidence in him. And then his looks were by no means 
 prepossessing. A broad face that was all cheeks, except 
 what was mouth, with the least speck of a nose, and noth- 
 ing to mention in the way of eyes, might be a curious 
 study for a naturalist,- but was hardly the sort of thing 
 one seems to stand in need of when he seeks a harbor along 
 a very ugly coast. And then his body was all covered 
 with hair, and was all wet, as if he had just risen from the 
 bottom of the sea. Besides, he smelt fishy. Yet this was 
 clearly the best we could do if we ever meant to get into 
 port, and, disregarding his unprepossessing appearance, the 
 captain called him aft and ordered him to point out Ju- 
 lianashaab. 
 
 "Eh, tyma!" he answered; and off he started for the 
 bridge, and off soon started the Panther under his direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Julianashaab we found to be no easy port to make, even 
 with a marine centaur for a pilot. The Panther was 
 twisted and turned about so much among the islands, and 
 our pilot spoke so strangely, and made so many strange 
 gestures, that he fairly turned the captain's head. The 
 captain would indeed hardly believe that we were going 
 anywhere at all, but were, on the contrary, whirling about 
 for the temporary amusement of this creature whom we 
 had fished up out of salt water. 
 
 The fact is, Julianashaab is some twenty miles from the 
 sea, on the bank of a very long and tortuous frith or fiord, 
 which is studded with islands. Difficult of access at all 
 times, it is peculiarly so in- July, for then the ice from the 
 
34 TBE LAND OF DEBOLATIOX. 
 
 Spitzbergen side of Greenland comes drifting down with 
 the great polar current, a branch of which sweeps around 
 Cape Farewell into Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, and 
 proceeds north for a while before it is deflected to the 
 westward to join the ice-incumbered stream that chills the 
 region of Labrador, and bathes the coast of America even 
 to the Floridas. Cape Farewell is in latitude 59° 49', and 
 Julianashaab lies some eighty miles to the north and west 
 of it; that is to say, in latitude 60° 44', or 5° 48' south of 
 the Arctic circle. It is not, therefore, much nearer the 
 North Pole than St. Petersburg, Russia, though in a very 
 different climate. 
 
 It was fortunate that we secured even this strange pilot 
 when we did, else we should have lain outside all the 
 night ; for there was a night, even although it was scarce 
 deserving the name. When one can plainly see to read 
 by the light of the sun as late as ten o'clock p.m., there is 
 not much of a night to boast of. There was a faint twi- 
 light even at midnight, and to this was added the light of 
 the moon, which threw its brightness on the summits of 
 the snow-clad mountains, and trailed its silvery splendors 
 away over the rippled waters of the fiord. 
 
 The scene as we passed on was most impressive. There 
 is indeed in a still arctic night, whether in the winter or 
 summer, a sublimity which one does not feel in a night 
 elsewhere. We passed through many groups of icebergs, 
 and in the moonlight their shapes, at all times full of 
 strange suggestions, were converted into objects of the 
 most fantastic description. The faces and forms of men 
 and beasts were fashioned there in the light and shadow 
 of the night, occasionally with wonderful distinctness. As 
 we passed on, we were sometimes in the cold shelter of a 
 cliff, while the icebergs before us glittered in a full blaze 
 of light, as if they were mammoth gems ; again we would 
 
FREE FROM DANGER. 25 
 
 pass so near a berg that it seemed but awaiting an oppor- 
 tunity to topple over upon and overwhelm us ; and all the 
 while no sounds disturbed the air but the monotonous pul- 
 sations of the steamer and the hollow gurgle of the waves 
 ■ of her making as they broke within the icy caves. 
 
 At length our pilot told us we were approaching our 
 destination, and as the light of day began to replace the 
 brightness of the moon, he whirled the Panther into a lit- 
 tle bight, and a few rude habitations, a flag-staff, and the 
 belfry of a little mission church, appeared before us on a 
 dark rocky hill-side. 
 
 " Julianashaab !" said our pilot, pointing to it with as 
 much pride and satisfaction as if he were overlooking the 
 finest city of the world. Poor man, he knew no better ! 
 He little dreamed how miserable was his lot to be only a 
 Julianashaaber, and dwell in peace ! For this was indeed 
 his home. He had gone down the fiord hunting seals 
 and to gather the eggs of wild fowl upon the islands, and 
 when he saw the Panther he had just begun his work. 
 
 Down went the anchor with its usual rush and rattle, 
 and immediately the rocks were alive with people, who, 
 aroused from their peaceful slumbers by the strange noise, 
 sallied forth as suddenly -as the witches from Kirk Allo- 
 way. Looking forward to a closer scrutiny of them when 
 the day had fully come, we sought our bunks, and, ex- 
 hausted with the excitement of the night and the con- 
 stant exposure of the past few days, we turned in to sleep 
 the sleep of weariness. 
 
 B 
 
26 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PLACE. 
 
 This " Land of Desolation," to which we had come, is 
 the Greenland of history and of the present time. All 
 the southern part of it, as far up as the sixty-first degree 
 of latitude, is called the " District of Julianashaab," and 
 the town of Julianashaab is its capital. This town is one 
 of the most flourishing in the whole country. It is, per- 
 haps, the most pleasantly situated of all of them, and, 
 standing in a region full of historic and legendary inter- 
 est, it presents a good type of Greenland life, past and 
 present, and it is well worth looking at. 
 
 Being the residence of the Governor of the " District," 
 something of additional importance is. attached to it on 
 that account. Country squires who come up to London ; 
 backwoodsmen casting their curious eyes about them in 
 Washington; children on a holiday excursion to a neigh- 
 boring village, are not seized- with greater wonder at 
 what they behold, than is the hunter from some remote 
 station of the Julianashaab District, when, after having 
 braved the dangers of flood and field, he finds himself ob- 
 serving the latest fashions, and learning how the world 
 moves generally in the town of Julianashaab. So much, 
 therefore, for its social and political importance. 
 
 They call it a colony, and its governor, or director, is the 
 colonibestyrere, which is to say, the steerer of it. There 
 are eleven other colonibestyreres in the country, one for 
 each of the other eleven "Districts," which extend north- 
 ward one above the other frbm_Julianashaab to the very 
 
A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PL AVE. 29 
 
 confines of the habitable globe. The northernmost is 
 Upernavik, beyond which there are no Christian people, or 
 people of any kind living on the earth, except a few skin- 
 clad savages. And, strange enough, this most northern 
 place of Christian occupation bears a name which signifies 
 "the summer place," derived from Upernak, or, as it 
 might be better spelt, Oopernak, the native Esquimaux 
 word for. summer. 
 
 Julianashaab, on the other. hand, expresses a compliment 
 to royalty. It was founded nearly a hundred years ago, 
 at which time a king sat on the' Danish throne who had 
 a queen named Juliana. So, in honor of her majesty, they 
 called this hopeful place the haab of Juliana, which is to 
 say, in English, Julia's Hope. I could but wonder if all the 
 expectations that the name bespeaks were ever realized ; for 
 if so, the founders of it must have been extremely modest. 
 I was especially impressed with this feeling when I land- 
 ed next morning, on a visit to the governor's house, and 
 was greeted there by the principal part of the population. 
 
 Not a soul of them had, I believe, ever gone to bed after 
 our arrival ; but, on the contrary, had remained as they 
 began — gazing at the Panther all the morning. When 
 they first saw signs of activity on board, they expressed 
 their delight in a very hilarious fashion ; calling to each 
 other, laughing, and running about from place to place, 
 singly and in flocks, in a manner to indicate a very lively 
 state of feeling. The little huts from which they emerged 
 were scarcely distinguishable from the rocks themselves, 
 and the people appeared to be, coming out of the earth, 
 and dropping into it again like prairie-dogs. Great was 
 the rush when I got in my boat and started for the land- 
 ing-place. Here they formed themselves in two lines, a 
 hundred or more of them — men, women, and children — 
 all talking or laughing, and all much delighted. Some . 
 
30 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 pointed with their fingers ; others remarked the singu- 
 lar performances of my tailor; others said, properly 
 enough, what an odd-looking thing a round-topped hat 
 was ; and they all stood their ground while I marched be- 
 tween the two files, not one of them willing to forego for 
 a moment the gratification of the passion of curiosity, 
 which it is pleasant to know that arctic frosts can no more 
 destroy than civilization unseat from its prying stool. 
 
 To see yourself gazed at by so many persons, even al- 
 though they may be half-savage, is an embarrassing cir- 
 cumstance ; and I should no doubt have felt bashful about 
 running the gauntlet of their eyes had not another sense 
 than that of sight claimed its legitimate right of prece- 
 dence, and with such remarkable energy, too, that all minor 
 emotions were impossible. Accordingly, I made my way 
 through the crowd without any delay whatever, and, in 
 fact, with a speed not at all calculated to give that oppor- 
 tunity for close examination which is always desirable to 
 a traveller. The fact is, like the pilot we had picked up, 
 they smelt fishy, and, had I not been most positively in- 
 formed otherwise, I should have written the inhabitants of 
 Julianashaab down as amphibious creatures of a fishy na- 
 ture. And it would have been no very unnatural mistake 
 either — not so bad, at least, as Sir John Mandeyille's imag- 
 ining boles of cotton to be woolly hens. 
 
 To explain all this, it is needful only to observe that, this 
 Hope of Juliana ' being nothing but a fishing-town, the 
 people are all fishermen, and therefore every thing smells 
 of fish exceedingly. The odor extended everywhere ; the 
 wharf and rocks were strewn with fish, and the air seemed 
 charged with fish that had evaporated. I became in a lit- 
 tle while saturated thoroughly ; so much so, indeed, that I 
 felt myself hardened sufficiently to approach and examine 
 the people more carefully than I had done at first. 
 
A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PLACE. 31 
 
 They proved to be of many shades of color, from the 
 tawny hue of the native Esquimaux (Greenlanders they 
 call them here), to the almost pure Caucasian complex- 
 ion, with transparent skin and rosy cheeks. Of this latter 
 class was one girl especially, who stood apart from the rest 
 as if she were superior to them, and yet could not wholly 
 restrain her curiosity. Her hair, which was auburn, was 
 very abundant, and had been arranged with much care. 
 A red silk handkerchief was tied about the forehead, and 
 ribbons without stint fluttered from the knob of hair which 
 stood up on the crown of her head. The labors of her toi- 
 let had evidently been performed with the greatest nicety. 
 Her boots were as red as her handkerchief and quite as 
 spotless ; her trowsers were of the choicest and most 
 shining sealskin, neatly ornamented with needle-work and 
 beads. Then her jacket, which was of some bright color 
 to match, looked very jaunty. It met the trowsers at the 
 hips, where it was trimmed with a broad band of eider- 
 down. About the neck there was a collar of the same 
 material, and the beads upon the breast and around the 
 wrists, where there was more eider-down, were quite daz- 
 zling. 
 
 Altogether she was very pretty. Her complexion was 
 a dark brunette, but very delicate. When I approached 
 to speak to her, she blushed and ran away, which was the 
 only fault I had to find with her. The little, savage, coy 
 coquette would not let me have a word with her, but got 
 behind a house, taking good care, however, to show her- 
 self from time to time around the corner, peeping there, 
 after the very simple and artless fashion of coquettes the 
 world over. She was not, however, allowed to remain 
 there undisturbed ; for following after me came a young 
 gentleman from the Panther, who immediately proceeded 
 to invest the house, stealing around in the rear of it. 
 
32 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 When he had fairly cornered her she did not seem at all 
 afraid, but spoke to him civilly enough ; and then from 
 that time forward, whatever might be my disposition to- 
 wards a better acquaintance with this lively maiden of 
 Julianashaabj.my chances were clearly gone forever; for 
 afterwards she smiled only on this young gentleman. It 
 is said (such was the influence of his engaging manners 
 and the delicacy of his flattery) that she gave him her red 
 boots at the very first interview. . 
 
 This young gentleman bore among his shipmates the 
 name of Prince ; but whether that name was natural to 
 him, or whether it was, as some asserted, on account of a 
 fancied resemblance to the Prince of Wales, or whether 
 on account of his being the prince of good-fellows (which 
 is more likely than all), is not important. Bat Prince he 
 was, and like a prince he behaved. Concordia was the 
 name, as afterwards appeared, of the coy damsel. I shall 
 hereafter have occasion to relate how the. Prince actually 
 (as was said) proposed to abandon the Panther that he 
 might make Concordia as happy a little princess as ever 
 was Cinderella. 
 
 Proceeding up the path after leaving the native popu- 
 lation, I encountered a man who was a full-blooded Dane 
 in appearance, and I should not have known otherwise had 
 he not told me afterwards that his mother had some native 
 blood in her veins. He had been born here in the infant 
 days of the colony, and when we fell into conversation 
 he expatiated upon its growth, and manifested much pride 
 in its prosperity. For a long while he had been the assist- 
 ant bestyrere ; but now he steers an island of his own, some 
 thirty miles away, and he is at present up on a visit, with 
 his family, to see the metropolitan sights. They had seen 
 the church, the parson, the governor and his wonderful 
 store-rooms, and now, to cap the climax, here had unex- 
 
A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PLACE. 38 
 
 pectedly come an OomeasoaJc (big boat) that could breathe, 
 and had feet to kick through the water with ! What a 
 journey up to town this had been, to be sure ! How envi- 
 ous this would make their fellow-villagers, when they got 
 home and told of all the wonders they had seen ! 
 
 The name of this man was Peter Motzfeldt, and a very 
 field of moss he was, if a ripe and fresh old age can be 
 called so. Seventy bleak arctic winters had passed above 
 his head, but not a single one had apparently gone into his 
 heart, or even scattered frost upon his coal-black hair. He 
 was as lively and elastic as if he were but twenty, which 
 was the time when he first took service with the Royal 
 Greenland Fishing Company, in whose employ he has been 
 ever since. He had never been to Denmark, and he did 
 not wish to go. It was all that he could do (naturally 
 enough) to look after his two-and-twenty children, two 
 boat-loads of which he had brought up with him to town. 
 
 This was the fiftieth anniversary of his employment by 
 the Company, and the Company, in recognition of his 
 faithfulness, had sent him a present, which was unfortu- 
 nately, he said, down at Kraksimeut, where he lived. I 
 thought he might have started with some of it on board 
 the boat, and was the further confirmed in that suspicion 
 when I ascertained that the present was an importation 
 from Santa Cruz, and that there was no such token of civ- 
 ilization anywhere in Julianashaab as a public bar-room. 
 
 He promised to call upon me in the Panther, and devote 
 himself to my service if I needed him. That I should need 
 him was most evident, for he was perfectly charged with 
 local knowledge, and besides that, had been with Captain 
 Graah in the exploration which the Danish Government 
 had ordered of this region in 1828-30. His name was 
 therefore familiar to me already, from Graah's narrative. 
 He went with me to the government-house, and there left 
 
 B2 
 
34 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 me to present myself before Colonibestyrere Kursch, who 
 I was glad to find (as I have usually found elsewhere with 
 educated Danes) spoke English fluently, and, gratified with 
 the welcome, I felt quite at home immediately, and began 
 already to entertain a high opinion of Julianashaab. If 
 my first introduction to the Land of Desolation had been 
 somewhat rough, my first intercourse with its people 
 (barring the fishy odor which they carried about with 
 them) was decidedly pleasant. 
 
 Mr. Kursch was kind enough to furnish me with some 
 charts of the coast, all drawn with that care and nicety for 
 which the Danish hydrographers are famous. Afterwards 
 we went together over to the house of the missionary, who 
 lived at the opposite end of the town. In going there, we 
 passed two store-houses, the Parliament-house (even here 
 they can not do without a Parliament), the doctor's house, 
 numerous turf-covered huts of the natives, a few of better 
 construction, where some half-breed families reside (includ- 
 ing the catechist, the assistant bestyrere, the blacksmith, 
 and the carpenter) ; then we crossed a narrow, dashing 
 stream upon a bridge, and were at the church and parsonage. 
 
 The church is quite a picturesque little building, con- 
 structed of wood (of course brought from Denmark), as 
 are indeed all the buildings put up by the Government. 
 The walls are double, and, the space between being made 
 quite air-tight by calking, the interior is easily warmed. 
 Indeed there is little suffering from cold at any time of 
 year in any of the buildings at Julianashaab. They need 
 no fire during three months of the summer, and for the 
 winter the home government sends them out a liberal 
 supply of coal. As a further protection, the houses (which 
 are but one story high) are all plastered over on the out- 
 side with pitch, which closes tightly every crack and cran- 
 ny, and protects them from the weather. 
 
A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PLACE. .35 
 
 If, the church had not been black, it would have been in 
 all- respects neat and tidy. Black though it was, it was a 
 pleasant sight to see this house of God here in the desert, 
 and by its very appearance giving proof unmistakable of 
 gQpdj earnest, Christian work. " Cleanliness before godli- 
 ness," was meant for men, but it will do for a church as 
 well. 
 
 The same neatness was observable at the pastor's house. 
 The little building was surrounded with a yard and gar- 
 den, which was inclosed with a white fence ; and in every 
 window of the house plants were growing in brightly- 
 painted pots, filling the rooms with their delicious per- 
 fume. 
 
 In the pastor I met with a great surprise. I had seen 
 him before in 1860-61 at TJpernavik, away up among the 
 polar frosts, almost a thousand miles beyond his present 
 residence. It seemed as if he could not quit Greenland ; 
 as if his heart and soul were in his missionary work, and 
 he would not give it up. He had been compelled to ask 
 for change of residence, for the Ppernavik winters had 
 been too much for him. I had scarcely crossed the thresh- 
 old, When I distinguished a pleasant smile and gentle 
 voice that had welcomed me before. " Can this be Mr. 
 Anthon ?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes ;" and the good pastor opened wide his eyes, 
 greatly astonished to see me there ; but, recovering him- 
 self presently, he addressed me by name, and then called his 
 wife and sister, and I could almost think myself back again 
 in the same neat parsonage where I had first met this in- 
 teresting family years before. A lovely girl and a bright- 
 eyed boy had been added to the group since then; but 
 now, as then, there was soon a bottle of wine upon the ta- 
 ble, fragrant coffee in the urn, some Danish fare soon fol- 
 lowed; and there was plenty of Danish heartiness all 
 
36 TUB LAND OF DBtSOLATION. 
 
 round. In the afternoon we strolled up the bank of a lit- 
 tle stream that runs beside the church and parsonage, and 
 came upon a broad valley, in the centre of which there is 
 a lake. Around the lake there were extensive pasture- 
 grounds, upon which were browsing a herd of cows and a 
 flock of goats. At this I was not a little surprised, for al- 
 though I knew that in former times cattle had been reared 
 here in great numbers, I had received the impression that 
 at the present time they would not thrive. Mr. Anthon 
 informed me that there was no difficulty in raising them, 
 except the very important one of forage for the winter, 
 for at Julianashaab the grass never grows high enough for 
 hay. Farther up the fiord, however, it is abundant ; but 
 since the hay must all be brought in boats, it was both a 
 tedious and expensive operation to gather it. Yet he 
 managed to keep three cows ; the governor had an equal 
 number ; the doctor had two ; others had each one ; and, 
 indeed, all the well-to-do people in the village — Danes, 
 half-breeds, and the better class of Greenlanders — had a 
 daily supply of milk the year round. 
 
 The lake abounds in trout, a few of which were caught, 
 and, when we returned for dinner,' Mrs. Anthon had them 
 for us on the table. She had, besides, some Greenland 
 beef, and Greenland milk and butter; some smoked Green- 
 land salmon too, and some Greenland venison; also some 
 radishes and lettuce from her garden : and now, when 
 these were, after a* while, comfortably settled in their 
 proper places with a glass of good old Santa Cruz punch, 
 and an old Dutch pipe was brought to keep it company, 
 and the governor and his assistant, and the doctor and 
 Motzfeldt had come in to join us, we fell into a lively talk 
 of Greenland and its legends ; and it was not until a new 
 day was breaking above the solemn hills around that I 
 found my way back to the Panther. For fear, however, 
 
A HOPEFUL TOWN IN A HOPELESS PLACE. 37 
 
 the reader should think we " made a night of it " at the 
 parsonage, I will remind him that the " break of day " 
 there, in the early part of July, is about two o'clock. 
 
 I have rarely passed a more pleasant evening or one 
 more profitable. Our conversation ran mostly upon 
 events of the past rather than of the present ; for Julian- 
 ashaab, although not without interest in itself, is doubly in- 
 teresting from its locality. It stands on historic ground. 
 Here was the spot that we were seeking when the Pan- 
 ther drove in among the " hills and fields of ice " upon 
 the Land of Desolation ; a spot which history had made 
 famous, and legend and tradition had been busy with; 
 where brave old Eric the Red had come nearly nine cen- 
 turies ago, and, with his followers, founded a sort of inde- 
 pendent state. 
 
 The fiord on the banks of which stands this modern 
 town of Julianashaab extends some forty miles beyond ; 
 but, while the modern town stands alone, in ancient days 
 hamlets were dotted beside it everywhere; thousands of 
 cattle once browsed where there are now but a few cows ; 
 and peace and plenty reigned here once among a Chris- 
 tian people, who, after maintaining themselves through 
 nearly five hundred years, undisturbed by the elements of 
 discord that afflicted the world elsewhere, became at 
 length extinct, and, while they passed away, left only a 
 few meagre records of their growth and progress, and 
 ruins of their decay. These ruins, I had learned, were 
 still to be seen at many points of the fiord, the walls of 
 some of the buildings being, even at this late period, in a 
 tolerable state of preservation. 
 
 To visit these ruins was, in fact, our principal object in 
 putting into' Julianashaab. Around them, indeed, centred 
 the principal interest of the voyage — at least, so far as 
 concerned myself; and I did not quit, therefore, the house 
 
38 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 of the good pastor until we had planned an expedition to 
 the place where the founder of this ancient people dwelt, 
 and the church wherein he worshipped, in those latter days 
 of his life when he had abandoned his war-god, Odin, for 
 the Prince of Peace. 
 
 I had hoped Peter Motzfeldt would offer to accompany 
 us, as he had visited some of the ruins forty years before 
 with Captain Graah ; but other engagements preventing 
 him, Mr. Anthon was good enough to undertake to be 
 our guide. 
 
ERIC THE BED. 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ERIC THE RED. 
 
 The fiord on the border of which stands the colony of 
 Julianashaab is now known as the fiord of Igalliko, mean- 
 ing, " the fiord of the deserted homes :" the deserted homes 
 being the desolate and long-abandoned ruins of the Norse 
 buildings which are scattered along its picturesque banks. 
 
 Its ancient name was Ericsfiord, so named by Red Eric, 
 in commemoration of his discovery, and for the perpetua- 
 tion of his fame — a sad commentary, truly, upon the in- 
 stability of human designs, that a name meant to recall 
 the memory of a great achievement should be replaced 
 by one expressive of decay and ruin. 
 
 This fiord is a grand inlet from the sea, and is from 
 two to five miles wide. To all appearances, it is a great 
 •river, flowing along majestically between its banks. It 
 does not, however, stand alone, for there are many others 
 in Greenland that much resemble it. It is one of a multi- 
 tude of similar inlets that give such peculiar character to 
 the Greenland coast. In fact, there is no other coast like 
 it, if we except that of Norway. But, unlike the fiords 
 of Norway, glaciers descend into nearly all of them. 
 These glaciers, by their steady growth, have changed the 
 aspect of the country greatly since the Northmen first 
 went there and gave it the name which it at present 
 bears. That it is a misnomer, need hardly be mentioned, 
 though the application of it came about in a very simple 
 way. Davis's "Land of Desolation" suits the country 
 much better than Eric's " Greenland." 
 
40 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 The name Ericsfiord, like that of Magellan's Strait, 
 Hispaniola, etc., commemorates a discovery. Perhaps I 
 should rather say, like that of America, it commemorates 
 a re-discovery ; for as America was known long before 
 Columbus's time, so also was Greenland before Eric's, if 
 we are to credit (and we have no reason to doubt them) 
 the ancient sagas of Iceland. According to these, one 
 Gunnibiorn landed in Greenland in the year 872. 
 
 Eric was a high-spirited son of a jarl of Jadar, in Nor- 
 way, who, opposing the encroachments of the king upon his 
 feudal rights, in common with his class, was forced to flee 
 the country. Escaping with his son, he established him- 
 self in Iceland, which was then being peopled by such ref- 
 ugees from tyranny and wrong, and a society was being 
 formed which, for love of liberty and the actual possession 
 of republican freedom, has never been excelled. These Ice- 
 landers were then, and they continued to be for centuries 
 afterwards, the most intellectual and refined people of the 
 north of -Europe ; and this is not surprising when- it is 
 remembered that the best blood of Norway and Denmark' 
 went to swell its population. In fact, Iceland gave litera-- 
 ture and laws to the whole of Scandinavia. The child was 
 wiser than the parent. Her writers first put in shape the 
 Norse mythology; and many of the most distinguished 
 families of Norway and Denmark are now proud to trace 
 their origin back to the old freedom-loving jarls and sea- 
 kings who founded a nation upon a rock which had been 
 forced up by terrestrial fires into an atmosphere so cold 
 and forbidding that the snows gathered upon its lofty sum- 
 mits, while volcanic heat wrestled in the bowels of its 
 mountains. 
 
 Eric received his surname of Red, or Rothe, from the 
 color of his hair; and his corresponding disposition 
 doubled the significance of the name when it was made to 
 
EBIC THE RED. 41 
 
 signify " he of the red hand," as well as of the red head. 
 The truth is, he was, according to all accounts, much 
 addicted to the then popular pastime of cutting people's 
 throats ; and for his last offense of this description he was 
 banished from Iceland for a space of three years. The 
 immediate offense was for killing a churlish knave who 
 would not return a borrowed door-post, which was always 
 a sacred object, and was preserved with pious care by the 
 Scandinavians. Perhaps if the borrowed article had been 
 a book instead of a door-post, as in the case of fighting St. 
 Colomba, the decree might have been different. 
 
 Being banished, where should Eric go ? He could not 
 return to Norway, and there was no place where he could 
 set bis foot with any safety. So he bethought him of the 
 legendary land of G-unnibiorn, for, according to the Iceland 
 Landnama, or Doomsday-book of Are the Wise, that was 
 the name of the man who had visited the land to the west 
 of Iceland. This land Eric would go in search of, and risk 
 his life and every thing upon the hazard. 
 
 He set sail from Bredifiord, in Iceland, some time during . 
 the summer of the year 983, in a small half-decked ship, and 
 in three days he sighted land. Not altogether liking the 
 looks of it, he coasted southward until he came to a turn- 
 ing-place, or Hvarf, now called Cape Farewell. Thence 
 he made his way northward to the present site of Julianas- 
 haab, where he passed the three years of his forced exile. 
 He liked the country well, as much as he had disliked it 
 before when he saw it from the other side. Upon the 
 meadow-lands beside the fiord immense herds of reindeer 
 were browsing on the luxurious grass ; sparrows chir- 
 ruped among the branches of the little trees. He thought 
 the place would do to settle in, and named it Greenland. 
 
 But to be precise, as it is always well to be, I quote 
 from an old Norse saga of the before-mentioned Are the 
 
43 TBB LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Wise — a saga written in Iceland about the year 1100, the 
 original of which was in existence up to 1651, and a copy 
 of which is still preserved in Copenhagen. Thus runs the 
 tale: 
 
 "The land which is called Greenland was discovered 
 and settled from Iceland. Eric the Red was the man 
 from Bredifiord who passed thither from hence [Iceland] 
 and took possession of that portion of the country now 
 called Ericsfiord. But the name he gave the whole coun- 
 try was Greenland. ' For,' quoth he, ' if the land have a 
 good name, it will cause many to come hither.' He first 
 colonized the land fourteen or fifteen winters before Chris- 
 tianity was introduced into Iceland, as was told by Thor- 
 kil Gelluson in Greenland, by one who had himself accom- 
 panied Eric thither." This Thorkil Gelluson was uncle to 
 Are the Wise, and the historian was pretty likely, there- 
 fore, to be accurate in his information. 
 
 Upon returning to Iceland, Eric was graciously re- 
 ceived ; and what with the fine name he had given to his 
 new country, and the fine promises he held out, he had no 
 trouble in obtaining all he asked for — that is, twenty-five 
 ships loaded with adventurous people, and all the appli- 
 ances for building up a colony. Thus provided, he set sail 
 in the year 985 ; but only fourteen of these ships ever 
 reached their destination. Some of the remaining eleven 
 were lost at sea; others were wrecked upon the east- 
 ern coast of Greenland ; others put back to Iceland in dis- 
 tress. 
 
 Eric was resolved to found a nation for himself, and 
 these fourteen cargoes of people gave him a suflicient nu- 
 cleus. He went far up his fiord and began a settlement. 
 A house was also built nearer to the sea — probably a look- 
 out-house ; for Eric expected other ships, and he, like a 
 prudent man that he was, would set a watch for them. 
 
ERIC THE BED. 43 
 
 The ruins of this house may still be seen, and are not five 
 minutes' walk from the pastor's house at Julianashaah. 
 
 According to his expectations, other ships arrived, bring, 
 ing cattle, sheep, and horses ; likewise his wife, and sons 
 and daughters. The settlement grew and prospered. Nor- 
 wegians, Danes, Icelanders, people from the Hebrides, from 
 the British Isles, from Ireland, and even from the south of 
 Europe, came there in ships to trade. Emigrants poured 
 in, new towns were built, new farms were cleared, and am- 
 bitious and adventurous men searched up and down the 
 coast for other fields whereon to display their enterprise. 
 How far north the most adventurous went we can not 
 certainly know ; but Rafn places one of their expeditions 
 in latitude 75°, a point to which the stoutest ships of mod- 
 ern times can not now go without encountering serious 
 risk. And all this was ventured, eight hundred years ago, 
 in half-decked ships and open boats. It is positively 
 known that one of their expeditions reached as far as 
 Upernavik, latitude 72° 50', a stone having been discov- 
 ered near there, in 1824, by Sir Edward Parry, bearing the 
 following inscription in Runic characters : 
 
 "Erling Sighvatson and Biorn Thordarson and 
 Eindrid Oddson on Saturday before As- 
 cension -week raised these marks 
 and cleared ground. 1135." 
 
 Think of "clearing ground" in Greenland up in latitude 
 72° 50' ! What kind of ground would now be found to 
 clear ? Naked wastes alone ; and the desert sands are not 
 more unproductive. But, as intimated already, the climate 
 has certainly changed during the seven hundred years 
 since this event happened ; in evidence of which, it is not 
 unimportant to observe that, in the old chronicles of the 
 voyages of those ancient Northmen, there is very little 
 
44 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 mention made of ice as a disturbing element in navigation. 
 And this brings us back to where we started — to the 
 growth of glaciers in the Greenland fiords. Prom these 
 glaciers come the icebergs, and a fiord which receives a 
 glacier is not habitable. 
 
 There was no glacier in Ericsfiord when Eric went 
 there, and there are none now, but it is surrounded by 
 them. The mountains are of such peculiar formation that 
 they keep back the frozen flood from Ericsfiord itself; and 
 thus it was that this spot of earth was and still is fit for 
 human life — an oasis in a desert, a patch of green in a wil- 
 derness of ice. But to this subject we shall have occasion 
 to refer hereafter more at length. 
 
'THE ARCTIC SIX." 4g 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "THE ARCTIC SIX." 
 
 Eric named his first settlement Brattahlid. The next 
 he called Gardar ; another, the Norse name of which has 
 been lost, now bears the Esquimaux name of Krakortok, 
 which means, " the place of the white rocks." The rocks 
 are of the same metamorphic character as elsewhere in 
 that neighborhood, and only differ from them in having, 
 by one of Nature's freaks, bee"n made of lighter hue than 
 those of the region round about. 
 
 The fiord forks a short distance above Julianashaab, the 
 southern branch leading to Brattahlid and Gardar, the 
 northern, to Krakortok, which place it was our design to 
 visit first. 
 
 Mr. Anthon not only offered to be our pilot, as before 
 stated, but he likewise offered us his Greenland boat. We 
 had boats of our own, and good ones too ; but then what 
 so appropriate for a Greenland fiord as a Greenland boat ? 
 So, at least, said our pastor-pilot, and so we were all will- 
 ing to confess. But what was a Greenland boat ? 
 
 A Greenland boat is a curiosity in marine architecture. 
 Mr. Anthon took us down to look at the one he had offered 
 us. It was turned bottom up on a scaffolding, so that we 
 could stand under it and almost see through it, for it was 
 semi-transparent like a bladder. When I thumped it with 
 a stick, it rattled like a drum. 
 
 "There it is," said the pastor; "how do you like the 
 looks of it?" 
 
46 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 THE OOAtlAK AKli OREW. 
 
 " What ! that thing ?" exclaimed the captain, with ill- 
 concealed contempt ; " go to sea in a thing like that ?" 
 
 " Certainly," said the pastor ; " why not ?" 
 
 Then he called three or four people, who had it off the 
 scaffolding in a twinkling and down into the water, where 
 it floated like a balloon that had been set adrift by mis- 
 take upon the sea. 
 
 " It's a woman's boat,'' explained the pastor. 
 
 " Oh yes, I see," answered the professor ; " made by 
 women. Quite an interesting object." 
 
 It was certainly made with great cunning. It was 
 about thirty-six feet long, by six feet wide, and two and a 
 half deep. There was not a peg, or nail, or screw in it, so 
 far as we could see ; and, judging by the same method of 
 inspection, it was all leather. 
 
 The pastor asked again how we liked the looks of it, 
 now that it was in the water. 
 
 To confess the truth, it looked a little too balloonish to 
 suit any body's fancy. The captain broke into a laugh. 
 
" THE JMGTIC SIX." 47 
 
 The professor speculated upon the quantity of stones that 
 would be required to ballast it, measured by the ton ; our 
 sagaman began to institute comparisons between it and 
 the ancient Phoenician craft, contending that the latter 
 possessed decided advantages in a sea-way, which nobody 
 doubted for a moment. The photographers came running 
 along after it with their camera; the artists ran after it 
 with their pencils — particularly a young gentleman much 
 given to caricature (who, for short, bore the euphonious 
 name of Blob), and who in a twinkling sketched her 
 launched from an iceberg into an atmosphere of green 
 above a golden sea, sailing away like a kite, with our trader 
 for a bob. The trader was not there at first, but he came up 
 in time to make a liberal offer of pork and beans, or a note 
 of hand, in exchange for it — any thing of that description 
 would be so handy to have on board the JPanther — a boat 
 thirty-six feet long — handy as the door-plate in the Toodles 
 house. 
 
 Some one asked Mr. Anthon if he would not be good 
 enough " to have the thing shoved off, that we might get 
 a touch of its quality." 
 
 "Of course — by all means," replied the pastor. Then 
 he called the crew together. 
 
 " Now, shades of Harvard and Oxford defend us, what 
 a crew ! and what a rig !" exclaimed the Prince, breaking 
 into a laugh as the crew appeared. 
 
 And he was quite right. It was a strange rig for a 
 boat's crew, without any sort of doubt. Very long boots 
 that reached above the knees, of divers colors and pretty 
 shape, gave a trim and natty look to the pedal extremi- 
 ties. Then they wore seal-skin pantaloons, very short, be- 
 ginning where the boots left off and ending midway on 
 the hips, where they met a jacket bright of hue, and lined 
 with fawn -skin. This jacket was trimmed around the 
 
43 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 neck with black fur, beneath which peeped up a white 
 covering to the throat. The hair was drawn out of the 
 way, and tied with red ribbon on the top of the head ; and 
 altogether the costume was calculated to show off the 
 respective figures of the crew to the greatest possible 
 advantage. 
 
 Then the Prince laughed again when the pastor called 
 their names. " They're a jftlly lot," said he. 
 
 "Go along," said Mr. Anthon; "go along, Maria, and take 
 the others with you." 
 
 Maria proved to be stroke-oar, and she called, " Cathe- 
 rina, Christina, Dorothea, Nicholina, Concordia, here, come 
 along." 
 
 And off they all ran, chattering and giggling at an 
 amazing rate ; and they tumbled into the boat in a man- 
 ner that made the captain fairly frown to see such lack of 
 discipline. We were all much amused to see the gay and 
 lively manner in which they skipped over the thwarts to 
 their respective places, brimful of fun and mischief, and 
 altogether making quite a shocking exhibition for a boat's 
 crew, whose duties we are usually in the habit of seeing 
 performed in a very sober manner. But they quieted down 
 a little when a more sedate individual (who proved to be 
 the coxswain) — dressed in short boots and long seal-skin 
 pantaloons, and a cap instead of ribbons on the head — 
 came along, and, taking the steering-oar, gave the order to 
 " shove off." 
 
 The order was executed in handsome style, and the boat 
 shot out over the little harbor very swiftly, each of the 
 crew rising with the stroke of the oar ; and bending to 
 their work with a will, this singular-looking crew made 
 their boat fairly hum again. 
 
 " Fine oarsmen !" exclaimed somebody who had just 
 come up, and had not heard the roster called. 
 
"THE ARCTIC SIX." 49 
 
 "Oarsmen/" replied the pastor, laughing at somebody's 
 exceeding innocence. " Oarsmen ! why, dear me, they are 
 oarswowiew/" 
 
 "Oars what?" 
 
 " Oarswomen, to be sure." 
 
 " Oarswomen/ Man alive ! and do they always pull the 
 boat?" 
 
 " Always," replied the pastor ; " always. A man will 
 never pull an oar in a woman's boat. He would think it a 
 humiliation and disgrace. The most he will do is to take 
 the steering-oar, which is, indeed, quite legitimate busi- 
 ness for him. He has his own small boat, the handling 
 of which requires skill, while the woman's boat requires 
 none. A man steers the boat now ; the other six, who 
 pull the oars, are all of the other sex, and I could not wish 
 for a better crew." 
 
 Upon being asked what duties as a crew they usually 
 performed, he answered : 
 
 " They row me about from place to place, as my pas- 
 toral duties call me ; they gather hay for the cows, and 
 bring home the fish (principally capelin and cod) that the 
 fishermen catch and dry at distant places. Besides this, 
 they do any thing they are told to do, and do not hesitate 
 to expose themselves m any weather, unless it should 
 blow too hard for the safety of the boat." 
 
 "Has such a boat any particular name?" the captain 
 asked. 
 
 " We call it an oomiak, which signifies, simply, a wom- 
 an's boat; while the man's boat is called a kayak." 
 
 Here the Prince, who was growing somewhat impatient 
 over this long catechizing, broke in with a query as to 
 whether they pulled the oomiak to-morrow, in case we 
 should conclude to go in her? 
 
 " Certainly," replied the pastor. 
 
 C 
 
50 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 " Just that same precious crew ?" 
 
 "The same crew exactly." 
 
 " Including the bow-oar you call Concordia ?" 
 
 " Including her, of course. She is the life of the crew, 
 and I could never get along without Concordia." 
 
 "Nor I," replied the Prince. "The boat will do for 
 me. Sink or swim, survive or perish, I ship in that craft 
 for one. Pipe the dear creatures back." 
 
 So the pastor called to them to return, which they did 
 in splendid style ; and, every body agreeing with the 
 Prince, it was forthwith arranged that we should go in 
 the oomiak upon the morrow. 
 
 As the boat came in, the Prince proffered assistance, in 
 a very gallant manner, to the bow-oar, but the girl hur- 
 ried from the gunwale and ran, laughing, away. Nothing 
 daunted, however, he gave chase; but, fleet as a young 
 deer, she outstripped him and disappeared in the village, 
 where the Prince was observed afterwards to be wander- 
 ing around looking for her disconsolately. 
 
UP TSM FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 51 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 DP THE FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 
 
 The morning came fresh and sparkling as the eyes of 
 our fair oarswomen, who, singing to the music of their 
 splashing oars, came stealing over the still waters, bearing 
 the good pastor in his arctic gondola, while we were yet 
 at breakfast. 
 
 Their arrival alongside made a sensation. Such a boat, 
 propelled in such a fashion, was a sight new to sailors' 
 eyes ; and it did not seem easy for our people to reconcile 
 such uses and occupations for womankind with a sailor's 
 ideas of gallantry ; for a sailor is always quite willing for 
 a woman to be a princess, and as such he would always 
 like to look upon her, but he would never want her for a 
 cook. He could never be happy unless he could abuse 
 the cook, and he never would abuse a woman. But as for 
 pulling at an oar, why, what in the world should he ever 
 do, if he were not allowed to express his preferences as to 
 what might happen to the eyes of any one who disturbed 
 the stroke ? and he never would condemn a woman's eyes. 
 Clearly, a woman would not do to pull an oar. But they 
 were good to have a little pleasantry with, even if they 
 did not understand a word that was said to them. 
 
 The people all crowded their heads over the bulwarks 
 when the strange boat came up, and Welch addressed 
 himself thus to the stroke-oar, when he had made out her 
 peculiar style of costume : " Ah ! my beauty, from the cut 
 of your rig, it's a blood-relation of Brian O'Lin's that you 
 are ;" which created a good laugh at the girl's expense, 
 
52 TBS LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 without her, however, being at all aware of the cause of it. 
 Not getting any response from that quarter, he turned his 
 attention to the bow-oar. " And my bow-oar, honey, with 
 the red topknot : ah ! sure and she's a beauty. Say, my 
 darlin, you're the one I'd like to be shipmates with till the 
 boat sinks." 
 
 The bow-oar, more compliant than the stroke, nodded, 
 smiled graciously, and said, " Ab !" and a great deal more 
 which Welch did not understand. 
 
 " Ab ?" he repeated, inquiringly ; " and a pity it is that a 
 foreigner you are, for I'd like to have a bit of a chat with 
 you." 
 
 Somebody told Welch that ab meant yes. 
 
 " And you'll be shipmates with me ?" inquired the sailor, 
 with eagerness. 
 
 The bow-oar said " Ab !" again. 
 
 " Ah, then, and it's too willin' ye are, honey, entirely ; 
 and I'll not ship with you at all, at all. But you're a well- 
 rigged craft alow and aloft, for all that, and I'd like to 
 have the overhaulin' of you." 
 
 " You'll get overhauled yourself, and your hull scuttled, 
 and your top-gallant rigging scattered over the sea, if you 
 tackle that craft again," was the sharp reply which the 
 fireman received, to this very lively address. But it did 
 not come from the bow-oar. It was from the Prince, who 
 had just got out of bed, and, without pausing to comb his 
 hair, had rushed to the gangway, to behold in the bow- 
 oar the fair Concordia, and to discover that a sailor was 
 making advances to her. The Prince was quite indignant. 
 He soon, however, had Concordia on deck, when the oth- 
 ers followed, and then, conducting them all to the galley, 
 the Prince fed them bountifully. Meanwhile, preparation 
 was being made for the journey. Some of us, however, 
 embraced the opportunity to examine with more care than 
 
UP THE FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 53 
 
 we had been able to before the strange-looking boat in 
 which it was proposed to perform the journey. 
 
 We go down into it before the cargo is stowed, and Mr. 
 Anthon explains to us the method of its construction. It 
 is not at all likely that the reader of this book will ever 
 desire or have occasion to make such a boat for his own 
 use ; but it may perhaps not be uninteresting to him to 
 know how he might proceed, if he should so desire. Ac- 
 cording to the pastor, it would be something after this 
 fashion : 
 
 Tou will first obtain five round sticks of wood thirty- 
 six feet long, more or less, according to the length you 
 desire to make the boat. These must be as light as possi- 
 ble, and not over two inches in diameter. Since the coun- 
 try produces no wood, you will of course have to go to 
 the governor for the materials, which he keeps in his store- 
 house, replenishing the stock each year by shipments from 
 Denmark. But since you will not find a stick thirty-six 
 feet long, you will have to procure several, which you lash 
 together until you have obtained the requisite length. 
 Having done this, you place three of them on the ground 
 parallel with each other, the outer ones being six feet 
 apart. Then across them, at the middle, you lash, with 
 firm thongs of raw seal-hide, a piece of inch plank three 
 inches wide and six feet long. Then you bring the ends 
 of the three long sticks together, lashing them firmly. 
 Next you lash other pieces of board across at intervals of 
 two feet. Of course these are of different lengths. Thus 
 you have obtained the bottom of your oomiak. This done, 
 you proceed to erect the skeleton, fastening the stem and 
 stern posts firmly with lashings ; also the ribs. The ribs 
 in their place, you secure along the inside of them, at about 
 sixteen inches above the floor, a strip of plank. On this 
 you place the thwarts, the middle one being six feet long, 
 
54 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 the others shorter, as you approach either end. Ten 
 thwarts is the proper number. This completes the skele- 
 ton, all but the placing of the rails or gunwales, which 
 are the two remaining thirty-six feet sticks. These being 
 fastened with thongs to the ribs, and to the stem and 
 stern posts, your skeleton is finished, and it is exceedingly 
 light, strong, and elastic. But now, instead of covering 
 this novel sort of boat-skeleton with planking, you stretch 
 over it a coat of seal-hide (it can scarcely be called leath- 
 er). It has been, however, tanned and dried, and after- 
 wards thoroughly saturated with oil, until it is as imper- 
 vious to water as a plate of iron. A number of skins are 
 necessarily required, and these the women will sew to- 
 gether for you so firmly with sinew thread that not a 
 drop of water can find its way through the seams. This 
 skin coat, being cut and fashioned to fit the skeleton as 
 neatly as a slipper to the foot, is drawn on and firmly tied. 
 It is very soft when you draw it on, but when it dries it is 
 as tight and hard as a drum-head ; and when the skin be- 
 comes a little old, the light will come through it as through 
 parchment. When afloat in the oomiak, you can always 
 discover how much water you are drawing by looking 
 through the side of it. This is not a pleasant operation, 
 however, for a novice or a nervous person, since one can 
 hardly resist the impression that he is in a very treach- 
 erous sort of craft. 
 
 This light and elastic boat is propelled with short oars 
 having broad blades, which are tied to the gunwale, in- 
 stead of being thrust out through rowlocks. These oars 
 are shod with bone, to protect them from the ice. A sin- 
 gle mast is erected in the bow, upon which is run up a 
 square sail when the wind is fair. If the owner of the 
 boat is rich enough, he gets the material for his sail from 
 the governor ; but if not, he makes it out of seal-skins. 
 
UP THE FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 55 
 
 I have observed that he gets the wood from the gov- 
 ernor's stores : not all of it, however, for the obliging sea 
 brings him an occasional tree that has floated with the 
 ocean current from the forests of Siberia ; or a plank, per- 
 haps, that has fallen overboard from a passing vessel ; or 
 a spar or other portion of a wreck. Thus, before the 
 Danes came here, did the Esquimaux obtain all the wood 
 they used. From this source they also procured their 
 iron, in the shape of spikes, nails, bands, and bars, attach- 
 ed to these waifs of the sea. Thus do the ocean currents, 
 which carry heat and cold to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, scatter also blessings to mankind. 
 
 After some unavoidable delays (always occurring when 
 any body sets out anywhere and some other body is to go 
 with him), we finally got all our traps in the oomiak. 
 The photographers were aboard with their cameras, baths, 
 and plates; the artists with their sketch-books, stools, 
 and pencils; the surveyors with their sextants, barome- 
 ters, compasses, and tape-lines; the hunters with their 
 weapons, game-bags, and ammunition ; the steward with 
 his cooking fixtures, and substantial eatables and drinka- 
 bles ; " the -Arctic Six " were at their stations ; and "All 
 aboard !" was the signal to shove off. The fair oarswom- 
 en dipped their paddles, rising with the act, and coming 
 down with a good solid thud upon the thwart when the 
 paddles took the water. The light boat shot away from 
 the ship over the unruffled waters of the silvery-surfaced 
 fiord ; and at last we were off. 
 
 The day could not have been better chosen. The sky 
 was cloudless ; and the great mountains, by which we were 
 on every side surrounded, climbed up into a pearly atmos- 
 phere, and their crests of ice and snow blended softly with 
 the pure and lovely air. Every body was in the best pos- 
 sible spirits ; every thing was novel, from the boat and its 
 
56 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 strange crew to the strange shore past which we were 
 gliding, and which presented sometimes cliffs of immense 
 height, and sometimes slopes of green, above which the 
 atmosphere quivered in the sun's warm rays. 
 
 I could but contrast my situation with that of a few 
 days before, when I was sweltering in the summer heat of 
 New York. The atmosphere was soft like that of bud- 
 ding spring, though close to the Arctic Circle, and within 
 the region lighted by the midnight sun. 
 
 The scenery was everywhere grand and inspiring. The 
 shores, though destitute of human life, were yet rich in 
 historical association. As we passed along, it was hard to 
 realize that voices were not calling to us from the shore ; 
 and where miles of rich meadow-land stretched before us, 
 girdling the cliffs with green, the fancy, now catching the 
 lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep, would some- 
 times detect the shouts of herdsmen; while again we 
 seemed to hear, 
 
 "By distance mellowed, o'er the water's sweep," 
 
 the " song and oar " of some gay inhabitant of the fiord, 
 descendant of that brave band of men who, under the lead- 
 ership of sturdy Eric, had on these sloping plains, beneath 
 the ice-crowned hills and within the rampart of the ice- 
 girt isles, sought an asylum from their enemies. 
 
 But if the fancy discovered those evidences of life, as 
 it recalled the people who once were happy here in this 
 peaceful, pastoral scene, the eye failed to detect any such 
 tokens whatever. An occasional seal, that put up its half- 
 human head to peer at us, or a sparrow or butterfly, that 
 hovered about us when we neared the shore, or now and 
 then a flock of water-fowl, were the only living things 
 we saw. 
 
 The spirit of the scene was contagious. Even our na- 
 
UP TBE FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 57 
 
 tive crew were not wanting in the emotional feelings of 
 the hour. Encouraged by their pastor, they broke forth 
 in concert, and with rich melodious voices, timed to the 
 paddles' stroke, they sang an old Norse hymn : 
 
 "Oh, hear thou me, thou mighty Lord, 
 And this my cry, oh, heed ; 
 Oh, give me faith ; I trust thy word ; 
 Oh, help me in my need;" 
 
 and as the refrain was echoed back to us over the waters 
 from hill and dale, it struck the fancy more and more 
 that human voices came to us from the depths of those 
 solitudes. 
 
 Five hours of this pleasant experience brought us near 
 the end of the fiord, where the water is narrowed to about 
 two miles ; but long before this the solemnity of the day 
 had been at times broken by incidents very different from 
 those above described. In fact, there was a great deal of 
 liveliness mingled with the seriousness which every body 
 felt at times, perhaps in spite of himself. The Prince was, 
 as usual, at the bottom of the most of it. That young gen- 
 tleman had come out to enjoy himself, and have a good 
 time of it generally, and his disposition was not to be re- 
 strained by any of the ghosts of ancient Northmen who 
 might haunt the fiord. He attached himself to Concordia 
 as a matter of course. Speaking metaphorically, there can 
 be no doubt that he had had his eye upon that pantalooned 
 lady (now bow-oar) ever since he first discovered her peep- 
 ing around the corner of the house in Julianashaab. It 
 was not to be supposed, therefore, that he would on the 
 present occasion relax his visual energies, and his first pro- 
 cedure was to place himself beside her on the thwart, 
 where he carried his admiration so far as to insist upon 
 relieving the fair oarswoman of her oar, which resulted in 
 
 C2 
 
58 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 a great deal of sport between the parties immediately in- 
 terested, and filled the minds of the other damsels with 
 immense disgust — whether because no one offered them 
 the same gallant attentions, or whether because the bow- 
 oar was constantly interfering with the stroke, was not 
 discovered ; but I greatly suspect it was the latter rather 
 than the former. 
 
 Thus, with alternate gayety and solemnity, did we speed 
 on through the pleasant sunshine. In a general way we 
 might say that there was universal enjoyment in that 
 oomiak; but outside of it there was not altogether so 
 happy a condition of affairs. The lively proceedings of 
 Concordia and the Prince struck terror into one heart 
 which beat its troubled discord in the confinement of a 
 native kayak. The unhappy possessor of this discordant 
 heart was a half-breed, whose name was Marcus, and who, 
 although a half-savage, was yet wholly a Christian in the 
 matter of name and baptism. 
 
 This Marcus was a fine-looking fellow, with brown hair 
 and eyes, a frank open face, the complexion, though not 
 the features, leaning rather to the Esquimaux than the 
 Danish hue. The only trouble with him was — and this 
 appeared to distress him greatly — that he loved Concor- 
 dia. Judging from that distress, he must have loved her 
 desperately. 
 
 Marcus was a great favorite with the pastor, and he al- 
 ways accompanied him everywhere he went. His duty 
 was a simple one enough, but a very necessary one, as 
 boating is performed in the Greenland fiords. It was to 
 paddle along beside the oomiak in the capacity of courier, 
 if occasion made it necessary to use one ; or, in case of 
 need, to act as outrider — two functions which at once sug- 
 gest the dangers of oomiak navigation. Suppose, for in- 
 stance, Mr. Anthon is caught in a heavy blow, and is broad- 
 
UP TBS FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 59 
 
 side to the wind. His boat is liable to be blown over, ow- 
 ing to its lightness. Marcus is near at hand ; he pulls up 
 quickly alongside, seizes the gunwale of the boat, bears 
 his weight upon it, and prevents a catastrophe. Again, 
 the oomiak runs against a sharp piece of ice, which the 
 steersman has not seen in time to avoid ; a hole is cut in 
 the skin, and in rushes the water. The boat is headed for 
 the land, and the pastor and his ladies get ashore with 
 their lives. But where shall they go, or what shall they 
 do ? They are, perhaps, on an island, or, if not, they have 
 to scale a mountain and descend again before they can 
 reach a settlement. Marcus saves them this labor, and 
 very likely their lives, by flying away in his kayak and 
 bringing succor. 
 
 Twice during the day it seemed to me that we had 
 met with a fatal accident of this nature. The skin of the 
 boat was cut and the water entered, but the circumstance 
 caused no alarm. The cuts proved to be small, and one 
 woman only left her oar to repair them. This she did, 
 and very speedily, by thrusting into the cut a small piece 
 of blubber, which answered every purpose until we reached 
 a convenient landing-place, when the boat was drawn up 
 on the beach far enough for the woman to get at the hole 
 with the sinew-threaded needle, when a patch was quickly - 
 fastened over it, and the skin was as good as ever. 
 
 That Marcus was jealous of the Prince, any body could 
 see with half an eye. But a kayak is a most inconvenient 
 place for a jealous lover. It is only a little over a foot 
 wide, and does not weigh half as much as the man him- 
 self. If he meditates mischief to his rival, his own situa- 
 tion becomes a very dangerous one, since the least indis- 
 cretion in his movements, or the imprudent withdrawal of 
 his eyes from his frail boat, would very likely cause him 
 to find himself suddenly floating head down, with his 
 
60 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 bladder-like kayak inextricably fastened to his heels— a 
 position that would very speedily cure the most ardent 
 lover in the world of the highly ridiculous passion of jeal- 
 ousy. 
 
 Compromising, therefore, between the impulse of jeal- 
 ousy and the restraints of prudence, Marcus paddled close 
 to the forward part of our oomiak, where the Prince and 
 Concordia were seated, as if he would overhear their con- 
 versation, and so possess himself of some remark of the 
 fickle lady to treasure up against her, thus the more ef- 
 fectually to insure the destruction of his peace of mind — 
 a pastime, by-the-way, in which lovers are very apt to in- 
 dulge themselves. 
 
 If this was, however, his design, he unfortunately failed 
 in it, since there was no conversation audible. Like Hai- 
 dee, our heroine had long since discovered that her Don 
 did not understand a word she said. Yet, judging from 
 his liveliness of manner, the Prince must have learned 
 something agreeable to his feelings; and it was clear 
 enough that he was being instructed after a fashion quite 
 equal, if not superior, to the ordinary forms of speech, for 
 this fair lady of the oar 
 
 "Had recourse to nods, and signs, 
 And smiles, and sparkles of the speaking eye, 
 And read (the only book she could) the lines 
 Of his fair face," 
 
 which seemed to be quite enough to satisfy her capricious 
 fancy. 
 
 The time passed scarcely less pleasantly to the rest of 
 the party than to the Prince, although in a very different 
 manner. At least there was no lack of lively episodes, 
 and we all found ourselves much surprised when we dis- 
 covered that we were approaching the end of the fiord, 
 which had now assumed less the appearance of a river 
 
UP THE FIORD IN AN OOMIAK. 61 
 
 and more that of a lake. Before us the water was lost to 
 view by a great curve, from the middle of which there ap- 
 peared a fine valley stretching away to the base of the 
 Redkammen, one of the noblest mountains to the artist's 
 eye, and one of the boldest landmarks to the mariner in 
 all the country, conspicuous as Greenland is for its lofty 
 and commanding scenery. 
 
 And there Redkammen stood in its solitary grandeur, 
 away up in a streak of fleecy summer clouds, its white top 
 now melting with them into space, now standing out 
 against a sky of tenderest blue. Then came a cloak of 
 darker vapor, which, resting on the mountain's summit, 
 trailed away into the heavens, bridging the space which 
 divides the known from the vast unknown. 
 
63 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VTI. 
 
 THE RUINS OF ERICSFIOKD. 
 
 We were not long now in reaching our destination, 
 which was the foot of the extensive green slope on the 
 north side of the fiord. Above this slope, and from a 
 quarter to half a mile from the bank, the cliffs rise perpen- 
 dicularly to an altitude of fifteen hundred feet. To our 
 right, as we approached, rose a lofty range of hills, which 
 separates the two branches of the fiord. Beyond these 
 once flourished the colonies of Brattahlid and Gardar. 
 Behind and to the left of us lies the island of Aukpeit- 
 savik, which extends almost to Julianashaab. 
 
 Our first concern was to discover if the church which 
 we knew to have existed there was still standing. To our 
 great satisfaction, its walls were seen upon the green slope 
 long before we reached the land, although a cliff some 
 thirty feet high, which formed its background, prevented 
 us from observing it clearly until we had come almost to 
 the shore. 
 
 Upon landing, there was a great scramble, for the honor 
 of first entrance into the ruin. The scramble was over a 
 tangled growth of trailing junipers, crake-berry, whortle- 
 berry, and willow bushes, which grew in a rich grassy sod 
 that exhibited many plants in bloom, among which were 
 conspicuous the dandelion, butter-cup, bluebell, crow's-foot, 
 and cochlearia. 
 
 Leaving the party to their various occupations — the 
 artists to their several chosen tasks, the crew to get the 
 boat ashore and cook the dinner, the lovers to their jeal- 
 
THE RUINS OF ERICSFIORD. 65 
 
 ousies, and the maids to their coquetry, I set out with two 
 friendly assistants to make a complete survey of the 
 ground. 
 
 The hill-side upon which stood the ancient town of Kra- 
 kortok is much broken, but there are many level patches, 
 rich with vegetation, which seem to have been once culti- 
 vated, and even now appear like arable lands. Small 
 streams course through them, giving a fine supply of clear 
 fresh water. Beside these streams the angelica grows 
 to the height of three feet. The stem of this plant fur- 
 nishes the only native production of the soil that the 
 Esquimaux use for food, if we except the cochlearia or 
 scurvy grass,. which is but little valued, and is not nutri- 
 tious. It is said that the old Northmen cultivated barley 
 here, and no one would doubt that such a thing were pos- 
 sible. Even at the present time, if one might judge by 
 the day of our visit as typical of the season, barley might 
 grow and ripen readily. Yet Mr. Anthon informed me that 
 such days were liable to be followed by severe frosts, and 
 that in any case the season is too short for complete frui- 
 tion. There is, therefore, no attempt made in any part of 
 Greenland, not even here in Ericsfiord, to raise any thing 
 more than the ordinary garden vegetables — namely, such 
 of the crucifera as lettuce, radishes, and cabbage — all of 
 which flourish admirably as far up as the Arctic Circle. The 
 agricultural products of Greenland are not, therefore, to be 
 regarded as important in a commercial point of view, 
 though, with care, each inhabitant of Ericsfiord might be 
 well provided with every needful garden luxury. Pota- 
 toes would grow, I believe, if they would only take the 
 trouble to cultivate them properly. To perfect any of the 
 cereals would, however, be at present a hopeless under- 
 taking. 
 
 Yet the whole region about Krakortok bears evidence 
 
86 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 of former cultivation. Garden patches were in the neigh- 
 borhood of all the buildings. The church and two other 
 buildings were inclosed by a wall, the outlines of which I 
 had no difficulty in determining, and which, judging from 
 the mass of stones, must have been about five feet high. 
 
 The church interested me most. Its walls are still quite 
 perfect to from ten to eighteen feet altitude, and even 
 the form of the gable is yet preserved. The door-ways, 
 three in number, are not in the least disturbed by time ; 
 the windows are mostly entire, except on the north side, 
 and the arched window in the eastern end is nearly per- 
 fect. Beneath this window was the chancel, and the 
 church was constructed with singular exactness as to ori- 
 entation. This could scarcely be by accident, for the same 
 accuracy is to be observed in all the other sacred build- 
 ings that have been discovered in the neighborhood — the 
 walls standing within less than one degree of the meridian 
 line, and even this may have been an error of my instru- 
 ment which I had not the means of correcting, rather than 
 an error of the Northmen. They were evidently close 
 observers of the movements of the heavenly bodies, and 
 must have known the north with great exactness, and they 
 built. their church w.alls accordingly. These walls were 
 four and a half feet thick. The stones were flat, and no 
 cement appears to have been used other than blue clay. 
 
 In one angle of the church-yard there had been a build- 
 ing which I supposed to have been the almonry ; and in 
 another part was the house of the priest or bishop, the 
 walls of which are still perfect to the top of the door- way, 
 and one of the windows. 
 
 Outside the church wall, but not far removed from it, 
 there was a building evidently of much pretension. It 
 was divided into three compartments, and was sixty-four 
 by thirty-two feet. There was another still farther to the 
 
THE RUINS OF EBICSFIOBD. 69 
 
 westward, others to the east, and one on the natural ter- 
 race above the church. Altogether the cluster of build- 
 ings which composed the church estate — where dwelt the 
 officers who governed the country round about, and ad- 
 ministered in. this distant place, at what was then thought 
 to be " the farthest limit of the habitable globe," the or- 
 dinances of the pope at Rome — were nine in number : a 
 church, a tomb, an almonry, five dwellings, and one round 
 structure ; the walls of which latter building had, like 
 those of the church-yard, completely fallen, but the outline 
 of the foundation was preserved. The walls had been four 
 feet thick, and the diameter of the building in the clear 
 was forty -eight feet. It had but one door- way, whieh 
 opened towards the church. 
 
 To call this circular building a tower, in the sense of its 
 application to the famous round towers of Ireland, would 
 be a great stretch of the imagination. There is, however, 
 a strange coincidence in the circumstance of proximity to 
 a church. N~ear all the church edifices that have been dis- 
 covered in Greenland a structure similar to this one at 
 Krakortok has been found. None of them are, however, 
 so large: its walls could not have been more than seven or 
 eight feet high. Its uses are unknown. Possibly it may 
 have been a work of military defense, perhaps a baptis- 
 tery ; there is nothing, however, except its shape, to indi- 
 cate that it was not a cow-house. 
 
 After completing my survey of this church estate, I 
 visited other parts of the fiord. The buildings have been 
 very numerous hereabout, but all except the-church and 
 bishop's house are now levelled with the earth, and so 
 overgrown with willow, juniper, and birch that even their 
 outline is scarcely distinguishable. 
 
 What a wonderful change ! what a sad wreck of human- 
 ity ! Here people, weary with war, had come to cultivate 
 
70 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 the arts of peace ; here they had built strong and comfort- 
 able dwellings ; here they had reared herds of cattle and 
 flocks of sheep upon pastures of limitless extent; here 
 they had worshipped God according to the dictates of 
 their consciences ; and now where are they ? nothing left 
 but this " ruined trace." A single inscription on a tomb- 
 stone, carved in Runic characters, is all the record that re- 
 mains besides the crumbled walls. This inscription reads : 
 
 "Vigdis, daughter of M * * *, rests here. May God 
 rejoice her soul." 
 
 And may God rejoice the souls of all of those worthies 
 of the olden time ! 
 
 I could not fail to experience a feeling of sadness as I 
 stood beside the tombs of a people now utterly extinct. It 
 seemed as if voices from the past were speaking to me 
 from out the crumbling church, from the almonry where 
 the priest dispensed his alms, from the holy-water stoup, 
 from the tomb-stones bearing the sacred emblems of our 
 Christian faith ; from everywhere, indeed, there was a si- 
 lent whispering that here a Christian people once dwelt in 
 peace, and from temples dedicated to Almighty God arose 
 their anthems of praise above the glittering crests of 
 snow. That they should ever have come here seems, how- 
 ever, more strange than that they should have perished as 
 they did. 
 
 Note. — The ruins of Krakortok, shown on page 67, were visited by Cap- 
 tain Graah in 1828, as the cap-stone over the church door-way (west end) 
 will testify for many a day. This cap-stone is 12 feet 7 inches long by 2 
 feet 2 inches wide, and averages 8 inches thick. It bears this inscription 
 — G. M. G. M. & V. MDCCCXVIII— initial letters, standing for Graah, 
 Mathiesen, Gram, Motzfeldt, and Vahl, the visiting party. — See Graah's 
 Narrative, p. 38. 
 
THE NORTHMEN IN GREENLAND. 71 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE NORTHMEN IN GREENLAND. 
 
 These Northmen were certainly a very wonderful peo- 
 ple, and they did very wonderful things ; but of all their 
 enterprises the most singular would seem to be their com- 
 ing to Greenland, where they were without the lines of 
 conquest which were so attractive to their brothers and 
 ancestors ; for they were kindred of the Northman Rollo, 
 son of Rognvald, jarl of Maere, and king of the Orkneys, 
 who ravaged the banks of the Seine, and played buffoon 
 with the King of France ; the same with those Danes 
 who, in Anglo-Saxon times, conquered the half of En- 
 gland : descendants they were of the same Cimbri who 
 threatened Rome in the days of Marius, and of the Scyth- 
 ian soldiers of conquered Mithridates, who, under Odin, 
 migrated from the borders of the Euxine Sea to the north 
 of Europe, whence their posterity descended within a thou- 
 sand years by the Mediterranean, and flourished their bat- 
 tle-axes in the streets of Constantinople; fellows they 
 were of all the sea-kings, and vikings, and " barbarians " 
 of the North, whose god of war was their former general, 
 and who, scorning a peaceful death, sought for Odin's 
 " bath of blood " whenever and wherever they could find 
 it. In Greenland they appear like a fragment thrown off 
 from a revolving wheel by centrifugal force. And here 
 they seem to have lost the traditional ferocity of their 
 race, though not its adventurous spirit. Sailing westward, 
 they discovered America, which was the crowning glory 
 of their career. Sailing eastward, they saw the light of 
 
72 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Christianity which was breaking in the North, and its bless- 
 ings followed them to their distant homes. 
 
 These two voyages to the west and east symbolize the 
 character of this wonderful race. Love of change made 
 their conversion to Christianity easy; love of adventure 
 made all enterprises of discovery seem trifling hazards, 
 and gave them the world to roam in. To their achieve- 
 ments in the Western hemisphere the influence of the 
 Christian religion was, no doubt, very powerful. It wean- 
 ed them from Europe and its perpetual wars, and while it 
 did not destroy, it turned their enterprise into a new chan- 
 nel, and one more consistent with the new faith. 
 
 The introduction of Christianity into Greenland was ac- 
 complished by Lief, son of Red Eric ; and it was the same 
 man who discovered America — two grand achievements 
 which rank Lief Ericson as one of the heroes of history. 
 With respect to the former event, an old 'Icelandic saga 
 thus briefly records the fact : 
 
 "When fourteen winters were passed from the time 
 that Eric the Red set forth to Greenland, his son Lief sail- 
 ed from thence to Norway, and came thither in the autumn 
 that King Olaf Tryggvason arrived in the North from 
 Helgaland. Lief brought up his ship at Nidaros [Dron- 
 theim], and went straightway to the king. Olaf declared 
 unto him the true faith, as was his custom unto all hea- 
 thens who came before him; and it was not hard for the 
 king to persuade Lief thereto, and he was baptized, and 
 with him all his crew." 
 
 Nor was it hard for King Olaf to " persuade " his sub- 
 jects generally "thereto." His Christianity was very 
 new and rather muscular, and under the persuasive influ- 
 ence of the sword this royal missionary made more prose- 
 lytes than ever were made before in the same space of 
 time by all the monks and missionaries put together. 
 
THE NORTHMEN IN GREENLAND. 73 
 
 When Lief came back to Greenland with a new religion 
 and a priest to boot, his father Eric was much incensed, 
 and declared the act pregnant with mischief; but after a 
 while he was prevailed upon to acknowledge the new re- 
 ligion, and at the same time to give his wife Tbjodhilda, 
 who had proved a more ready subject for conversion, leave 
 to build a church. Thus runs the saga : 
 
 " Lief straightway began to declare the universal faith 
 throughout, the land ; and he laid before the people the 
 message of King Olaf, and detailed unto them how much 
 grandeur and great nobleness there was attached to the 
 new belief. Eric was slow to determine to leave his an- 
 cient faith, but Tbjodhilda, his wife, was quickly persuaded 
 thereto, and she built a kirk, which was called ' Tbjodhil- 
 da's Kirk.' And from the time she received the faith she 
 separated from her husband, which did sorely grieve him." 
 
 And this appears to have been the last, and (as the se- 
 quel shows) was the most potent argument for his conver- 
 sion. To get his wife back, he turned Christian, and or- 
 dered the pagan rites to be discontinued, and the pagan 
 images of Thor, and Odin, and the rest of them, to be 
 broken up and burned. 
 
 Whether this first Greenland church of Thjodhilda's was 
 built at Brattahlid, or Gardar, or Krakortok, can not now 
 be positively said ; but we might, perhaps, find some rea- 
 son to conclude it was the latter, from the fact that an old 
 man named Grima, as the saga states, who lived then at 
 Brattahlid, made complaint, " I get but seldom to the 
 church to hear the words of learned clerks, for it is a long 
 journey thereto." 
 
 This much, however, we do know, that the church — 
 wherever it was situated — was begun in the year 1002, 
 and was known far and wide by the name of its pious 
 lady - founder. Several churches and three monasteries 
 
 D 
 
74 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 were built afterwards. One of these latter was near a 
 boiling spring, the waters from which, being carried 
 through the building in pipes, gave a pleasant warmth to 
 the good monks who occupied it, and they needed no other 
 heat the year round. 
 
 The Christian population of Greenland became, in course 
 of time, so numerous that it was necessary for the Bishop 
 of Iceland to come over there frequently to administer the 
 duties of that part of his see ; for the diocese, of Gardar, 
 as it was called, was from the first attached to the See of 
 Iceland. 
 
 A hundred years thus passed away, and both in spiritual 
 and temporal matters the Northmen in Greenland were 
 getting along finely. Their intercourse with Europe was 
 regular, and their export trade, especially in beef, was 
 considerable. Indeed, Greenland beef was for a long time 
 highly prized in Norway, and there was no greater luxury 
 to " set before the king." The people were almost wholly 
 independent of the Icelandic government. Under a sys- 
 tem of their own devising, which appears to have perfect- 
 ly satisfied their necessities, they lived quite unmolested 
 by the outside world, and, undisturbed by wars and ru- 
 mors of wars, the descendants of Eric the Red were as 
 happy as any people need wish to be. 
 
 They lacked only one thing to complete their scheme of 
 perfect independence : they needed a bishop of their own, 
 which would cut them loose from Iceland altogether ; and, 
 in truth, the Icelanders were such a liberty-loving people 
 that they were in no wise disposed to dispute their claims. 
 But a bishop they could not have without the sanction of 
 the powers that ruled in Norway ; for the pope would not 
 appoint so high an officer for any of the regions directly 
 or indirectly subject to the control of Norway except 
 upon the nomination of the king, after consultation with 
 
TEE NORTHMEN IN GREENLAND. 75 
 
 bis spiritual advisers. Numerous petitions were accord- 
 ingly sent over to the king, in order to secure his good 
 offices. For a time these efforts were attended with but 
 partial success, since a temporary bishop only was vouch- 
 safed them in the person of Eric (not the Red), who went 
 to Greenland in the year 1120, and, without remaining long, 
 returned home, having, however, visited Vinland in the in- 
 terval — this Vinland being the America which Columbus 
 thought to be a part of Asia some four centuries later. 
 
 Finding they did not get a bishop of their own accord- 
 ing to their deserts (as they estimated them), they grew 
 indignant, and one of their chief men, named Sokke, de- 
 clared that they must and would have one. Their person- 
 al honor and the national pride demanded it ; and, indeed, 
 the Christian faith itself was not in safety otherwise. Ac- 
 cordingly, under the advice of Sokke, a large present of 
 walrus ivory and valuable furs was voted to the King of 
 Norway ; and Einer, son of Sokke, was commissioned to 
 carry the petition and the present. 
 
 The result proved that the inhabitants of Ericsfiord 
 were wise in their day and generation; for whether 
 through the earnestness of their appeals, or the value of 
 their gifts, or through the persuasiveness of the ambassa- 
 dor, or through all combined, they obtained, in the year 
 1126, Bishop Arnold, who forthwith founded his Episcopal 
 See at Gardar, and there erected a cathedral, which was 
 built in the form of a cross. 
 
 Arnold seems to have been a most excellent and pious 
 leader of these struggling Christians. Zealous as the fa- 
 mous monk of Iona, without the impulsiveness of that 
 great apostle of Scotland, he bound his charge together in 
 the bonds of Christian love, and gave unity and happiness 
 to a prosperous people. He died in the year 1152, and 
 thenceforth, until 1409, the See of Gardar, which he had 
 
76 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 founded, was regularly maintained. According to Baron 
 Halberg, in his history of Denmark, seventeen successive 
 bishops administered the ordinances of the Church in 
 Greenland, the list terminating with Andreas, who was 
 consecrated in 1406. The see and Andreas expired to- 
 gether ; and the last account we have of either was made 
 in 1409, when it is recorded that he officiated at a mar- 
 riage, from the issue of which men now living are proud 
 to trace their ancestry. This was his last official act," so 
 far as we have record. 
 
 But the people did not then wholly disappear, even if 
 the official see ceased to exist. To the causes which led 
 to their final overthrow we shall have occasion to refer 
 presently. 
 
THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 
 
 To complete the account of the Northmen who dwelt 
 upon the banks of Ericsfiord, it is necessary to trace some 
 of their voyages to the West. 
 
 Lief, the son of Eric, was a man of restless disposition. 
 Not content with Greenland, he had visited Europe, and 
 had there studied in the very practical school which the 
 Northmen took good care always to have in operation — 
 the art of war. Dissatisfied with paganism, he accepted 
 the Christian faith, as we have seen, and carried it to his 
 own country. Afterwards, wearied with the enforced mo- 
 notony of his life at Ericsfiord, he determined to discover 
 new lands for himself, as his father had done before him, 
 and also, like his father, he sought them in the West. He 
 set sail in the year 1001, soon after his return from Nor- 
 way. Crossing what we now call Davis's Strait, he first 
 sighted Labrador. Not liking the looks of it, any more 
 than his father had liked the first sight he had of the east 
 coast of Greenland, he sailed south until he came to New- 
 foundland, where he landed. Thence he proceeded on his 
 voyage, discovering Nova Scotia ; and finally he arrived at 
 a place which he called Wonderstrand, where he wintered. 
 This was probably the peninsula now called Cape Cod, in 
 Massachusetts. Thence he returned to Brattahlid, in 
 Ericsfiord, and ever afterwards bore the name of Lief the 
 Lucky. 
 
 His brother Thorwald followed after him the next year, 
 and the new land was called Vinland ( Vinland hin goda), 
 
78 THE ZAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 from the great quantities of wild grapes they found there, 
 and of which they made wine. Thorwald was set upon 
 and killed by savages, whom they called Skraellings, from 
 their diminutive stature. 
 
 A third brother, Thorstein, went in search of Thorwald's 
 body the next year, and died without finding it. Then, 
 after this further disaster, Lief, who had now succeeded 
 Red Eric, his father, in the government of the colonies of 
 Ericsfiord, resolved no longer to pursue the enterprise. 
 No settlement had been made, and no profit had yet ac- 
 crued to the daring men who had undertaken it. The na- 
 tives were very numerous and hostile, and the people could 
 only live in a fortified camp. 
 
 Nothing more would, in all probability, have been at- 
 tempted, had not a rich Iceland merchant come to Brat- 
 tahlid, named Thorfin Karlsefne, and surnamed the Hope- 
 ful. This was in 1006. While at Brattahlid, he was the 
 guest of Lief, with whom he spent the winter. There was 
 much feasting, especially at Yule-time, and some love-mak- 
 ing besides, for Thorfin married Gudrid, widow of Thor- 
 stein, before spring came. They spoke much about Vin- 
 land, and finally they resolved on a voyage thither. Ac- 
 cordingly they got together a company of one hundred 
 and sixty, of whom five were women, Gudrid being one. 
 " Then," according to the saga, " they made an agreement 
 with Karlsefne that each should have equal share they 
 made of gain. They had with them all kinds of cattle, 
 intending to settle in Vinland." 
 
 They sailed on their voyage in the spring, and came to 
 Wonderstrand, where Lief had erected houses. These they 
 found ; but not liking the place, they proceeded to Mount 
 Hope Bay, in Rhode Island. But the natives came out of 
 the woods, and troubled them so much that they had no 
 peace. Finally a great battle was fought, in which many 
 
THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. TO 
 
 of the natives were killed, as were also several of the 
 whites. Some of the latter fell into the hands of their 
 enemies, and were called before a council of the tribe, as 
 they supposed, to hear the judgment of death pronounced 
 upon them. To their great surprise, they found the coun- 
 cil presided over by a man as white as themselves, and 
 who addressed them in their own language. He wore a 
 long beard, which was very gray, but in other respects he 
 was dressed like the others. Through the instrumentality 
 of this man, who appeared to be their chief, the whites 
 were liberated on condition of their leaving the country, 
 which they did, after having lived there three years. 
 
 This proved to be a most unfortunate speculation for 
 the rich Iceland merchant. Its only value to him was, 
 that his wife, while there, bore him a son, whom he called 
 Snorre, and from whom was descended a line of men fa- 
 mous in Iceland history. 
 
 This strange man whom they found at the head of the 
 Skraellings proved to be Biorn Asbrandson, a native of 
 Bredifiord, in Iceland, and who had once been a famous 
 viking, or sea-rover, and had drifted to America, no one 
 knew how. Doubtless it was even before Lief's time. 
 He had left Iceland, and was never heard of until Karl- 
 sefhe returned, when, from certain articles which this chief 
 of the savages gave him, with directions how to dispose 
 of them, and from a message which was to be delivered 
 to Biorn's former sweetheart, the identity was established. 
 The man himself would give no explanation of who he 
 was, or how he came there. Biorn was therefore proba- 
 bly the first white man to land on the shores of America, 
 if we may except some Irish monks and others whose 
 adventurous enterprises originated the idea of a " white 
 man's land " far away across the sea. 
 
 Humboldt, in his Cosmos, basing his observations on 
 
80 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Rafn's "Antiquitates Americance," declares that Biorn un- 
 dertook the voyage to the southward from Greenland in 
 986, the year following Eric's colonization of Ericsfiord. 
 There is, however, a discrepancy between his statement 
 and those of others concerning the course of Lief, " who," 
 as Humboldt says, " first* saw land one degree south of 
 Boston, at the island of Nantucket, then Nova Scotia, and 
 lastly Newfoundland, which was subsequently called Libia 
 Helluland, but never ' Vinland.' The gulf which divides 
 Newfoundland from the mouth of the great river St. Law- 
 rence was called by the Northmen, who had settled in 
 Iceland and Greenland, Markland's Gulf." Nova Scotia 
 was called Markland. 
 
 The Eric family did not, however, altogether abandon 
 the idea of reaping some profit from America, even with 
 the death of Thorstein, for a sister named Freydis went to 
 Vinland in 1011, and for some time lived in the same place 
 where her brothers had lived before. More unfortunate 
 than their predecessors, they fell not only to fighting the 
 natives, but each other, being instigated thereto by Frey- 
 dis, who caused a great number of the party to be treach- 
 erously murdered in order that she might get control and 
 reap all the profit ; yet no good came of it after all. 
 
 Other expeditions followed some years later ; but, so far 
 as we know, there were no actual settlements made by 
 these Northmen in America. Yet Bishop Eric went to Vin- 
 land in 1121, during his Greenland mission (which would 
 make it appear as if people were there to visit), in his min- 
 isterial capacity. Occasional voyages were, however, made 
 to the country, at least as far as Nova Scotia. As late 
 as 134V, we have written accounts of Greenlanders going 
 from Ericsfiord 'to Markland to cut timber. 
 
 It will be seen by the foregoing that history presents 
 quite a number of candidates for being the first discov- 
 
THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. 81 
 
 erers of America. "Who knows what influence these ad- 
 venturous voyages of the Northmen may have had upon 
 the discovery of America by Columbus ? That great nav- 
 igator is stated to have visited Iceland in 1477 ; and may 
 he not then haveVheard of this land of the grape and vine 
 to the westward ? and may not the tales of the Icelanders 
 have encouraged his western aspirations, which are said to 
 have originated as far back as 1470? This supposition 
 would not, however, detract from the great merit of Co- 
 lumbus; for the idea of crossing the Atlantic, and of reach- 
 ing Asia by the west, was not original with Columbus, 
 nor even with his generation. The glory was not in the 
 conception, but in the execution. It has been said that 
 the name America is " a monument of man's ingratitude ;" 
 but this is hardly true, since the name Columbus gave to 
 his own discoveries was, as we all know, West Indies, in 
 the full belief* that he was within reach of the rich treas- 
 ures of the Orient; and even after Columbus's death, and 
 after the conquests of Cortez, Mexico was marked down 
 upon the maps of the period as a part of China, and, in- 
 deed, the capital city of the Montezumas was shown to be 
 only a few days' journey overland from the mouths of the 
 Ganges. It was not until Balboa had waded into the wa- 
 ters of the Pacific Ocean, and had thus taken possession of 
 the newly-discovered sea, that the idea of a new world, or 
 new continent, having been discovered began to enter into 
 the minds of men. The belief of Marco Polo, who looked 
 out over the ocean eastward from China, and the belief of 
 the ambitious Genoese navigator, who looked westward 
 from the shores of Spain, was the same, and it was shared 
 by every body : this belief being that the Atlantic Ocean 
 extended from Asia to Europe ; and what we now call 
 America was nowhere at all in their imaginations. 
 
 D2 
 
82 • THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LAST MAN. 
 
 The final destruction of the Northmen in Greenland is 
 a matter of melancholy interest. Exactly when it came 
 about we can not know. We have seen that the bishop's 
 see was abandoned in 1409. Prior to that time, however, 
 we have accounts of the desperate straits to which the 
 people were reduced. In 1383 we find the following cu- 
 rious entry in the Icelandic annals : 
 
 "A ship came from Greenland to Norway which had 
 lain in the former country six years, and certain men re- 
 turned by this vessel who had escaped from the wreck of 
 Thorlast's ship. This ship brought the news of Bishop 
 Alf 's death from Greenland, which had taken place there 
 six years before." 
 
 Of the causes which led to this state of affairs we are 
 not, however, left wholly to conjecture. First came a 
 royal decree (for by this time Greenland had passed over, 
 along with Iceland, from a state of independence into the 
 possession of the King of Norway) laying a prohibition on 
 the foreign trade, and creating Greenland a monopoly of 
 the crown. This was a dreadful blow, and the shipping 
 was practically at an end. Trade must, indeed, have been 
 sadly languishing when six years were required to obtain 
 a return cargo. But "misfortunes never come singly." 
 In 1418 a hostile fleet made a descent_upon the coast, and, 
 after laying waste the buildings, carried off what plunder 
 and as many captives as they could. "With respect to this 
 latter event, and the generally poor condition to which 
 
THE LAST MAN. 83 
 
 the colonies were reduced, we find the following appeal of 
 Pope Nicholas the Fifth,' written to the Bishop of Iceland 
 in the year 1448: 
 
 "In regard," says the pope's letter, "to my beloved 
 children born in and inhabiting the island of Greenland, 
 which is said to be situated at the farthest limits of the 
 great ocean, north of the kingdom of Norway, and in the 
 Sea of Trondheim — their pitiable complaints have reached 
 our ears, and awakened our compassion ; hearing that they 
 have, for a period of near six hundred years, maintained, 
 in firm and inviolate subjection to the authority and ordi- 
 nances of the apostolic chair, the Christian faith established 
 among them by the preaching of their renowned teacher, 
 King Olaf, and have, actuated by a pious zeal for the in- 
 terests of religion, erected many churches, and, among oth- 
 ers, a cathedral, in that island, where religious service was 
 diligently performed until about thirty years ago, when 
 some heathen foreigners from the neighboring coast came 
 against them with a fleet, fell upon them furiously, laid 
 waste the country and its holy buildings with fire and 
 sword, sparing nothing throughout the whole island of 
 Greenland but the small parishes said to be situated a long 
 way off, and which they were prevented from reaching by 
 the mountains and precipices intervening, and carrying 
 away into captivity the wretched inhabitants of both sexes, 
 particularly such of them as were considered to be strong 
 of body and able to endure the labors of perpetual slavery." 
 
 Furthermore, the letter states that some of those who 
 were carried away captive have returned, but that the or- 
 ganization of the colonies is destroyed, and the worship 
 of God is given up because there are no priests or bishops ;. 
 and finally, the Bishop of Iceland is enjoined to send to 
 Greenland "some fit and proper person for their bishop, if 
 the distance between you and them permit." 
 
SI TME LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 But the distance did not permit. At least, there is no 
 evidence of any action having been taken, so that this is 
 the last we know of ancient Greenland, and from that time 
 " the lost colonies " passed into tradition. 
 
 Who the raiders were who thus gave rise to the neces- 
 sity which existed for the pope's earnest interference we 
 are not positively informed, but about this time the sava- 
 ges attacked the colonists, as we know from the sagas of 
 Ivar Bere. Previous to this, however, they had appeared 
 upon the coast. This was about the middle of the four- 
 teenth century. 
 
 In a former chapter I have alluded to the progress of 
 the Northmen up the Greenland coast, and have mention- 
 ed their occupation of an island near Upernavik. But no 
 important settlements were effected farther in that direc- 
 tion than those which were founded upon the banks of 
 what is now Baal's River, where stands the modern colony 
 of Godthaab — a deep fiord, alike in character with that of 
 Ericsfiord. Here there was a considerable population, the 
 colonies being distinguished by the name of West Buygd ; 
 while those about Ericsfiord and to the south, towards 
 Cape Farewell, were called the East Buygd, meaning the 
 western and eastern inhabited places. 
 
 In the year 1349 intelligence was brought to Ericsfiord 
 from the West Buygd that a descent had been made upon 
 them by the Skraellings. An expedition was immediately 
 fitted out for their defense and succor, and was placed in 
 charge of Ivar Bere (the same who left a written account 
 of his Greenland experiences), who was secretary to the 
 bishop, and lay superintendent of Gardar. He found, 
 however, on arriving there, not a human being left, but 
 merely a few cattle, which he brought away with him. 
 Nor did he discover any enemies. Having accomplished 
 their murderous and plundering design, the savages had 
 
THE LAST MAN. 85 
 
 retreated with the fruits of their raid, and for a time were 
 not again heard from. But at length they learned of the 
 still greater wealth of the white men lower down the 
 coast, and there they began to show themselves — at first 
 in small bands, but finally in great numbers, until they 
 overran the habitable parts of the country ; and, driving 
 the Northmen from place to place, at length wiped them 
 out as completely here as they had formerly done in the 
 West Buygd. The churches were pillaged and burned, 
 and 'the monasteries of St. Olaf, St. Michael, and St. Thom- 
 as were levelled with the earth. 
 
 A peculiar interest attaches to the church at Krakortok 
 from the circumstance that here the Northmen made their 
 last stand, and, under the leadership of a man named Un- 
 gitok, for some years maintained an obstinate and success- 
 ful resistance. At this time great numbers of the sava- 
 ges were collected upon the island of Aukpeitsavik (about 
 midway between Krakortok and Julianashaab), under the 
 lead of their chief, Krassippe. 
 
 These savages, or Skraellings, were the Esquimaux of 
 the present time. Originally they appear to have been 
 warlike and aggressive. At present they are an inoffen- 
 sive, harmless people — a change entirely due to the influ- 
 ence of the Danish missionaries and the Moravian Breth- 
 ren, who have been among them during the past hundred 
 and. fifty years. 
 
 Whence they came, we can of course only conjecture, 
 since they had formerly no written language of any kind, 
 and possessed only vague traditions of having come from 
 the West. That they crossed from Asia by Behring's 
 Straits, and then wandered eastward along the coasts of 
 Arctic America, until, in course of time, they reached 
 Greenland, there can be no reasonable doubt. Of the pe- 
 riod of their original migration we can not, of course, have 
 
86 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ground for even a rational speculation. This is, how- 
 ever, wholly unimportant to our present purpose, which 
 concerns only their appearance in Greenland — an event 
 which, as we have seen, happened in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury. Could it be that these same savages were identical 
 with those of similar character which Lief and his succes- 
 sors, three centuries before, had found on the shores of Mas- 
 sachusetts, and who were there in sufficient numbers to 
 prevent the Northmen from occupying the country ? I 
 think it very probable ; and their appearance in Greenland 
 is, perhaps, due to the fact that the tribes now known as 
 Indians (who first appeared upon the eastern slope of the 
 Alleghanies about that time) drove them from their south- 
 ern hunting-grounds, and forced them to seek safety in 
 the inhospitable North, compelling them to reside upon 
 the sea-shore, because the land produced but little game, 
 while the sea everywhere abounded in fish. Hence their 
 name, derived from the Indian word Esquimatlik, applied 
 to them in derision, and signifying " eaters of fish." 
 
 In what manner they crossed Baffin's Bay is left in 
 doubt. It would not have been impossible for them to 
 do so in their skin boats. Possibly, however, they went 
 higher up, and crossed over on the ice of Smith's Sound. 
 Some tribes still exist in that neighborhood ; and to show 
 their insatiable love of wandering, I may mention that I 
 have found evidences of their presence upon - the shores of 
 Grinnell's Land as far north as latitude 81°. It has been 
 conjectured that they came over in fleets of boats, crossing 
 the narrowest part of Davis's Strait, which is less than two 
 hundred miles wide, from land to land. It may be that 
 they were not less influenced by a motive of revenge for 
 the wrongs of their ancestors than fleeing from the In- 
 dians who possessed their lands, for they had been sadly 
 ill-used in Massachusetts by the Northmen when they 
 
THE LAST MAN. 87 
 
 first came there. These Northmen had killed and tor- 
 tured a great many of them in very wantonness, before 
 actual hostilities began. There might seem to be, there- 
 fore, in the destruction of the Northmen by these Skrael- 
 lings something of retributive justice. 
 
 This destruction went on, as we have seen, until the 
 remnant of the race was brought to bay and driven to 
 defend themselves at Krakortok. But they could neither 
 be dislodged nor completely destroyed until stratagem 
 was brought to bear; and the device to which these sava- 
 ges resorted in order to accomplish their purpose deserves 
 to rank with the famous wooden horse of Troy. 
 
 This did not, however, happen until after a most despe- 
 rate attempt had been made by Ungitok to get free from 
 the clutches of his brutal adversaries. He managed, with 
 a large party of his followers, to get over to the island, 
 and in the dead of night he surprised them in their huts, 
 and, with the loss of only one man, destroyed the entire 
 party, putting men, women, and children to the sword. 
 It was a fearful massacre, and a dreadful revenge ; but it 
 only further imbittered the savages against the whites, 
 and caused them to redouble their efforts. One man es- 
 caped the general slaughter, and carried with him the 
 memory of their burning huts and bleeding wives and 
 children. Two there were at first, and, unhappily for the 
 whites, one of those men was the chief, Krassippe ; while 
 the second was his brother. These TJngitok pursued upon 
 the ice (the attack was made in winter), with several men 
 following after; but Ungitok outstripped them all, and, 
 overtaking the brother, ran him through the body, and 
 then cutting off the right arm of his fallen enemy he bran- 
 dished it in the air, shouting at the same time to Kras- 
 sippe (who by this time had reached the shore), intimating 
 to him, in an obliging manner, that if he ever wanted 
 
88 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 an arm he would know where to come for it. Krassippe 
 was now beyond pursuit, so Ungitok returned, well pleased 
 with the trophy he had cut from his victim. 
 
 After this. Krassippe neither rested by night nor day 
 until he had compassed the destruction of Ungitok and 
 his band. In a fair fight every Northman was good for 
 at least half a dozen savages, and, notwithstanding the 
 destruction they had spread elsewhere, the people of Kra- 
 kortok held them personally in the greatest contempt. 
 But Krassippe was nevertheless, by numbers and strategy, 
 to get the best of them at last. He constructed an im- 
 mense raft of boats, over which he erected a low and 
 irregular scaffolding. This he covered with tanned and 
 bleached seal-skins, so that when afloat the structure 
 looked like an iceberg. This he filled with armed men, 
 and turned it adrift upon the fiord, allowing it to float 
 down with the tide towards Krakortok among some pieces 
 of ice. When it floated too fast, the people threw over- 
 board stones, with lines attached to them. These, by re- 
 tarding the progress of the raft, enabled them to keep in 
 company with the icebergs. Ungitok and his people saw 
 the raft ; but so much did it appear like the ice alongside 
 of it, that they never once suspected its character, and the 
 armed men drifted around into a bight almost at the rear 
 of the town. Kunning the raft ashore, they then rushed 
 up and made for the church by an unfrequented route, 
 which was left unguarded, except close to the town. The 
 sentinel was killed, and the church was surrounded before 
 a single person escaped from it. Then it was fired, and 
 all who were not burned or smothered with smoke met 
 death, as they rushed out, on the points of their enemies' 
 spears. Not a soul escaped except Ungitok and his son, 
 who was but a small boy. With him Ungitok fled to the 
 mountains, and there hid for a time in a cave, where at 
 
TUB LAST MAN. 89 
 
 length he was discovered through the indefatigable exer- 
 tions of Krassippe. The hiding chieftain was surrounded, 
 and, discovering that his case was hopeless, he threw his 
 son into the lake to prevent his falling into the hands of 
 the savages, who would be sure to torture him, and then 
 prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible. In the end 
 he was overpowered and borne down. While yet sensible, 
 Krassippe completed his revenge by cutting off his right 
 arm, and, flourishing it before the expiring chieftain, he 
 exclaimed, " Thou didst tell me where to come for an arm 
 if I should want one. I have come for it." 
 
 Thus perished the last man of his race ; and since that 
 day the Esquimaux, whom their defeated rivals had so 
 contemptuously called Skraellings, have held possession of 
 the country undisturbed. They have, however, very evi- 
 dently decreased in numbers, and where there were once 
 tens of thousands, there are only thousands now. For 
 a long period of time they remained the sole occupants 
 of the country, and nothing was known of them save 
 vague and exaggerated accounts brought by occasional 
 ships — such as those of Davis, Baffin, and Frobisher, who 
 touched at Greenland on their way to the discovery of a 
 north-west passage. In later times, however, the Danish 
 Government (to which Greenland as well as Iceland had 
 become subject) made numerous efforts to recover the 
 " lost colonies," with the hope of sustaining the trade and 
 fisheries. Admiral Lindenau reached the coast in 1605, 
 and carried off some of the savages. Afterwards Captain 
 Hall, an Englishman in the employ of Denmark, took away 
 four others, and shot what more he could, as if by way 
 of amusement. Another, who was not veiled in ocean 
 currents, did not get near the land at all ; but, becoming 
 frightened at being able to make no progress, he declared 
 that there was a huge magnet in the sea holding his 
 
yO THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ship, which so alarmed him that he returned home. About 
 half a dozen enterprises followed, the last in 16*70, with- 
 out any further result than the killing of a few more of the 
 savages. Then the " lost colonies " were given up alto- 
 gether, until that excellent missionary, Hans Egede, went 
 there in 1*721, and established himself in Baal's River, near 
 where the West Buygd had flourished. Here he founded 
 the colony of Godthaab. Then came the Moravians ; and 
 from that time to the present the re-establishment of col- 
 onies, and the civilizing and Christianizing of the natives, 
 has gone steadily on. But nowhere did Egede or his fol- 
 lowers find any traces of the race that had dwelt there in 
 ancient times, save those evidences of their decay which I 
 have described. Egede travelled very extensively ; and 
 others coming after him have described all we shall proba- 
 bly ever know of this Land of Desolation as it was in the 
 days of Red Eric. Among the most important discoveries 
 were those of Captain Graah,of the Danish navy, who vis- 
 ited both coasts in oomiaks during the years between 1828 
 and 1832 ; and after him Dr. Henry Rink. 
 
 I will close this historical account of Greenland with a 
 paragraph from the Dublin JReview of twenty years ago, 
 which has not less interest at the present time than then. 
 " Few people," observes the JReview, " imagine the extent 
 of these ancient Greenland colonies. At best, it seems 
 to most persons some sort of Arctic fable, and they are 
 hardly prepared to learn that of this Greenland nation con- 
 temporary records, histories, papal briefs, and grants of 
 land yet exist. So complete was the destruction of the 
 colonies, and so absolutely were they lost to the rest of 
 the world, that for centuries Europe was in doubt respect- 
 ing their fate, and, up to a very recent period, was igno- 
 rant of their geographical position. To the Catholic they 
 must be doubly interesting when he learns that here, as in 
 
THE LAST MAN. 91 
 
 his own land, the traces of his faith — of that faith which 
 is everywhere the same — are yet distinctly to be found; 
 that the sacred temples of his worship may still be identi- 
 fied ; nay, that in at least one instance the church itself, 
 with its burial-ground, its aumbries, its holy-water stoup, 
 and its tomb-stones, bearing the sacred emblems of the 
 Catholic belief, and the pious petitions for the prayers of 
 the surviving faithful, still remain to attest that here once 
 dwelt a people who were our brethren in the Church of 
 God. It was not, as in our own land, that these churches, 
 these fair establishments of the true faith, were ruined by 
 the lust and avarice of a tyrant. No change of religion 
 marked the history of the Church of Greenland ; the col- 
 onies had been lost before the fearful religious calamities 
 of the sixteenth century. How or when they were swept 
 away we scarcely know, save from a few scattered no- 
 tices, and from the traditions of wandering Esquimaux — a 
 heathen people that burst in upon the old colonists of 
 Greenland, and laid desolate their sanctuaries and their 
 homes, ' till not one man was left alive.' " 
 
92 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A DISCONSOLATE LOVEE. 
 
 To resume the thread of our narrative. Taking it up 
 where it was dropped some chapters back, I must first 
 recall the day and the situation. 
 
 Our lunch was spread under the ample shelter of a tent, 
 which screened us from the rays of the sun, and formed 
 a no bad substitute for the protecting trees under which 
 our picnics are enjoyed in other lands. There seemed to 
 be but one drawback to complete enjoyment. The noon- 
 day heat rose above 70°, and started great quantities of 
 small flies and musquitoes. From these pestiferous in- 
 sects we thought we surely had escaped when we came to 
 Greenland. But no ! this was not to be. They attacked 
 us in perfect clouds during the afternoon, and before I had 
 quite completed my survey most of the party had betaken 
 themselves to the oomiak, and hauled out into the middle 
 of the fiord to escape their assaults. But the day was 
 then well spent, and the pleasure-seekers had by this 
 time enough of sport to satisfy them. All had enjoyed 
 the day, Marcus alone excepted. That youth could never 
 restrain his mortification at the havoc he at heart believed 
 the Prince was making with his matrimonial prospects. 
 For that young gentleman persistently devoted himself to 
 the lively Concordia, despite the heat and musquitoes, 
 while she, in grateful appreciation of his attentions, wove 
 wreaths of wild flowers for his cap, sung for him in irre- 
 proachable Esquimaux, and performed other coquettish 
 acts of that kind with which recognized lovers are not 
 unfrequently tantalized in other places than Greenland. 
 
DISCONSOLATE LOVEB. 
 
 93 
 
 Whether Marcus would sensibly have staid at home, 
 had he not been ordered to go by the pastor, I can not 
 pretend to say ; but having gone, he was certainly deserv- 
 
 QOtfOOBDIA AT THE FIONIU. 
 
 ing (or at least he evidently thought so, like any other 
 lover would have done) of better treatment from his in- 
 amorata; and, to look at him, you would have thought 
 
94 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 so too, for he was really a fine-looking fellow — at least for 
 a half-breed. The stolid mask of the Esquimaux did not 
 suit his frank, open face at all, and it was quite impossible 
 for him to show himself at ease when he was not. Wheth- 
 er the Prince discovered the disturbed state of his feelings 
 is not certain, but it is certain that he did not treat the 
 matter with much attention. He never allowed Marcus 
 to approach the object of his devotion to speak with her 
 except once, and then Marcus was overheard to reproach 
 her with flirting with the American — an opinion which 
 was very generally entertained. The lively young lady 
 of the seal-skin pantaloons grew indignant, declaring very 
 pointedly that it was none of his business what she did 
 with the American. Quite taken aback, the young man 
 began to remonstrate with her, evidently under the im- 
 pression that the Prince had already installed himself 
 deep in the affections which, until this most unhappy day, 
 he thought he had. possessed all to himself. Then he be- 
 gan to institute comparisons between . himself and the 
 Prince. "Look at him," exclaimed, the much-injured lov- 
 er, " with his pockets full of beads and jewelry ! Look at 
 him there, with his pop-gun of a rifle ! Do you imagine 
 he could shoot a seal ? No, never ! And if he did, could he 
 get it home? No! Can he go in the fleet kayak? Can 
 he climb the cliffs of the kittiwake, or gather the eggs of 
 the lumme? Can he dart the spear at the eider-duck? 
 Can he scale the mountain-sides in pursuit of the rein- 
 deer ? ' Look at his pale face, and answer me !" and by 
 this time fairly boiling over with rage and vexation as 
 he recounted the Prince's negative qualifications, he ex- 
 claimed, " No ! he can do none of these things. He is 
 good for nothing !" Then he straightened himself and 
 said, with great self-complacency, "Look at me !" 
 
 " I don't want to," said the girl ; " I won't !" which ter- 
 
A DISCONSOLATE LOVER. 95 
 
 minated the colloquy, for the Prince himself came up at 
 that very moment, and, addressing himself to the indig- 
 nant lover, desired to know if his mother was intimately 
 acquainted with his whereabouts — an inquiry which might 
 have resulted in serious consequences had the lover under- 
 stood even so much as a word of it. Without wasting 
 much time, however, upon the injured youth, the Prince 
 called for the music (the boy who steered our oomiak had 
 brought up a cracked fiddle), and then, seizing Concordia 
 by the waist, he whirled her through the old Norseman's 
 grave-yard in a fantastic waltz that must have made the 
 very bones of the dead heroes fairly rattle again. Could 
 those ancient priests, with the bishops at their head, have 
 arisen then and there, they would doubtless have anathe- 
 matized the whole party on the spot ; for others were not 
 slow to follow, and the dance did not wind up until they 
 had gone through with several hornpipes and Greenland 
 reels of a kind, I dare avow, never dreamed of by Terpsich- 
 ore. Meanwhile Marcus, leaning against the old church 
 wall, looked on in a most disconsolate and defiant man- 
 ner, with his fists thrust far down into his pockets, as if 
 that were the only safe place for them. 
 
 Whatever may have been Marcus's recollections of the 
 day, certainly all the rest of the party had a thoroughly 
 good time of it. The day, however, lost something of its 
 romantic character when the shades of evening began to 
 trail over us, and the sun going down behind the distant 
 glacier-crowned hills left the chilliness of evening to suc- 
 ceed the warmth of noon, as fatigue succeeded to the fresh- 
 ness of the morning. 
 
 When, therefore, we had completed our survey of the 
 spot, .we were a much more orderly party than we had 
 been previously; and, when once more afloat in our oomiak, 
 we went about from place to place in the fiord, visiting 
 
96 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 other ruins, with a solemnity more befitting explorers. 
 The jealous Marcus had not now so much cause of com- 
 plaint against the Prince, yet he did not recover his liveli- 
 ness of disposition. He paddled along at his post of duty, 
 looking neither to the right nor to the left, saying never a 
 word, but evidently thinking very hard. 
 
 As he appeared to be of a very simple and gentle 
 nature, I could but sympathize with him in his present 
 trouble. There could be no doubt that he looked upon 
 his hopes of happiness as forever gone. He had discov- 
 ered his lady-love to be mercenaiy — her mind carried 
 away by the Prince's lavish expenditure of beads, ribbons, 
 and jewelry ; and all this for a young foreigner with a fair 
 face, who could neither shoot a seal, nor go in a kayak, 
 nor cast a spear ! It was altogether most unaccountable. 
 He seemed to be all the time, and naturally enough, com- 
 paring himself with his rival, to the great disparagement, 
 of course, of the said rival, else be would not have been a 
 lover, and with great wonderment as to what she possibly 
 could see to admire in the other man. That Concordia 
 meant to run off to America, Marcus evidently did not 
 have a doubt, and his face seemed to indicate at times 
 that he was capable of any deed of desperation in order 
 to prevent so dire a catastrophe. Should he spear him, 
 or put a bullet through him, or any thing. of that sort? 
 Especially did his countenance assume a malignant ex- 
 pression when, upon the homeward journey, the coquette 
 would break out with her favorite song, the chorus of 
 which was, " Tesseinowah, tesseinowah," repeated over 
 and over again. At this the Prince always manifested 
 great delight, while Marcus grew correspondingly gloomy. 
 
 When we had at length reached Julianashaab, and had 
 thanked the good pastor, to whom we were so much in- 
 debted, and had said "good-night" to our oarswomen, I 
 
A DISCONSOLATE LOVES. 97 
 
 took the unhappy Marcus aside to condole with him. 
 " Are you not," said I, " son of the head man of Bun- 
 getak?" 
 
 " Ah," said Marcus, and I thought a glow of satisfaction 
 overspread his features at being reminded of his superior 
 parentage. 
 
 " Concordia is very pretty," I continued. 
 
 " Ab !" said Marcus again, his countenance falling at the 
 recollection of his previous hopes and present discomfiture. 
 
 I asked him, " Do you know what pretty girls do in my 
 country ?" 
 
 "Na-mik" (no), he answered, his countenance falling 
 still more at the further mention of the pretty girl that he 
 had lost. 
 
 " When the pretty girl has the chance, she always mar- 
 ries the son of the head man," said I. 
 
 Then his countenance assumed a joyous expression, and 
 he went his way with a smile, which said plainly that, if 
 he thought it was not much to be Marcus, it was good to 
 be the son of the head man of Bungetak. 
 
 E 
 
THM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 THE CHURCH AT JULIANASHAAB. 
 
 The day following our return from 'Krakortok being 
 Sunday, I gladly availed myself of Mr. Anthon's invitation 
 to attend service at his little church. 
 
 Julianashaab is not at any time a particularly lively 
 place, but there is sufficient activity during six days of 
 the week to make the silence of the seventh very marked. 
 Solemnly silent it was to me, as I landed on the beach, 
 and then, beside the stream which flows through the town, 
 made my way towards the temple dedicated to God among 
 the majestic hills. The people, savage and civilized alike, 
 had rested from their labors — the fishermen from their 
 lines and nets ; the hunters from their search after game 
 in the valleys ; the sound of the cooper's hammer, and the 
 ring of the blacksmith's anvil were no longer heard ; even 
 the voices of the inhabitants seemed to be hushed, as if 
 awed by the presence of that divinely ordained day which, 
 it is commanded, shall be remembered and kept holy. 
 
 It was delightfully calm ; the sun gave a pleasant au- 
 tumnal warmth to the atmosphere ; and altogether it was 
 one of those peaceful Sunday mornings which one enjoys 
 so much at home in the country, when the mind instinct- 
 ively dwells upon the wonders of nature, and the very 
 soul goes out to the great universal Father whose dwell- 
 ing-place is everywhere, and whose presence is nowhere 
 felt more strongly than amidst the solemn grandeur of the 
 cloud-piercing hills. 
 
 As I approached the church, the only sounds that greet- 
 
THE CUOMCS AT JULIANASHAAB. 99 
 
 ed me were those made by the tumbling waters of the 
 brook until I came very near, when the sweet music of an 
 organ rose above the voice of the glad stream. It was a 
 most agreeable surprise ; for I had hardly expected to find 
 here in Greenland any such artificial means of inspiring 
 religious feeling. How far this circumstance may have 
 had an influence with me I can not say ; but certain it is, I 
 would not exchange the memory of the notes of that little 
 organ of the small Julianashaab church, as I first caught 
 them there on that peaceful Sunday morning in that 
 Greenland dell, for those of any other church-organ that I 
 ever heard. Afterwards, when I had taken my seat among 
 the congregation, the effect was not the less pleasing as I 
 listened to the voices of the choir, and reflected that they 
 were the voices of God's children, who, through the instru- 
 mentality of Christian love, had been reclaimed from bar- 
 barism. 
 
 As sometimes happens elsewhere, a large majority of 
 the worshippers were women. They generally appeared 
 to be inspired with a devout feeling, which even the pres- 
 ence of strangers could not disturb, and they sang the 
 hymns in a manner peculiarly agreeable. 
 
 The Esquimaux language is by no means lacking in eu- 
 phonious sounds, and, as pronounced by a native, is often 
 music itself. Mr. Anthon had caught the accent and pro- 
 nunciation perfectly, and the entire service, sermon in- 
 cluded, was in the common tongue — a language peculiar 
 to the Esquimaux, and the same with all the tribes. 
 
 The organ of the little church is of the quaint device of 
 a hundred years ago, having been presented to the mission 
 by Queen Juliana, in recognition of the compliment paid 
 her by the naming of the town. A native played it with 
 reasonable skill, and the catechist led the singing, in which 
 the entire congregation joined with a good voice. 
 
100 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 I have never seen a congregation pay closer attention 
 to their pastor than these rude people paid to Mr. Anthon. 
 They seemed eager for instruction, and drank in his every 
 word. The sermon was well adapted to the minds of a 
 people exposed to the dangers of the sea, as they are con- 
 tinually. As I sat looking at their upturned faces, I could 
 not but reflect upon the great change that had come 
 over the people who subdued the Northmen. Then they 
 were steeped in the worst form of barbarous superstition. 
 Earth, sea, and air were peopled with horrid spirits ; now 
 the love of Christ rules in every heart, and they are all, 
 without exception, converts to the Christian faith. 
 
 As a specimen of their language, I quote a stanza from 
 one of the hymns sung (with a literal translation append- 
 ed), which no doubt my readers will find no difficulty in 
 singing for themselves. 
 
 Aut nellekangitsok, That blood, that inestimable, 
 
 Pirsaunekangarpok, Hath a very great power ; 
 
 Kuttingub attausingut, A single drop, 
 
 Innuit nunametut, The men that are upon earth, 
 
 Annau-sinna-kullugit That it has power to redeem them 
 
 Kringarsairsub karnanit. From the cruel hater's jaws. 
 
 Another, which was an exhortation to all men to come to 
 Jesus, began thus: 
 
 ' ' Krikiektorsimarsok 
 Jesuse innulerkipok.' - 
 
 The services ended, I went with Mr. Anthon to the par- 
 sonage, and passed the greater part of the day with his 
 agreeable family. The pastor himself has devoted much 
 attention to gathering the traditions and legends of the 
 people, and in his recital of them I found much entertain- 
 ment. 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. \ 101 
 
 CHAPTER Xni. 
 
 A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. 
 
 The condition of the Esquimaux has not only improved 
 spiritually since they arrived in Greenland, but they have 
 improved in their temporal affairs as well. Formerly they 
 led a purely nomadic life, and dressed solely in the skins 
 of wild beasts ; now they live in permanent communities, 
 and have adopted the habits and, in some measure, the 
 costume of civilized men. Unlike many savage peoples, 
 the introduction of the forms of civilization among them 
 has not been attended with any corresponding mischief; 
 a circumstance due, in a great measure, if not wholly, to 
 the paternal care of the Danish Government, aided by the 
 missionaries. That care, beginning with the missionary, 
 Hans Egede, has been continued with much skill by his 
 successors, and by none more conspicuously than Dr. H. J. 
 Rink, who has passed a considerable portion of his life in 
 the country, and was, until lately, Royal Inspector for the 
 Southern Districts. 
 
 The principal feature of Dr. Rink's administration is the 
 Parliament of natives ; and in the establishment of this 
 arrangement Dr. Rink has earned as much credit for skill- 
 ed benevolence as he had before acquired for scientific ex- 
 plorations ; and his efforts are entitled to the highest enco- 
 miums. 
 
 The civil organization of Greenland is very simple. The 
 six northern districts constitute the Northern Inspector- 
 ate, the inspector's residence being at Godhavn ; the six 
 southern constitute the Southern Inspectorate, with the 
 inspector's residence at Godthaab. Each inspector's au- 
 
102 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 thority is absolute throughout his jurisdiction, and there 
 is no appeal, except to the home government, against his 
 decisions and decrees; but each district within the In- 
 spectorate has certain privileges of its own, granted by the 
 royal will. These privileges are exercised by the Parlia- 
 ment, which is based upon the principle that every native 
 is a subject of Denmark, and amenable to Danish law. 
 Happily, in the administration of that law the people 
 themselves are not denied a voice. 
 
 The idea of a Greenland Parliament struck me as some- 
 thing ludicrous when I first heard of it ; but upon gaining 
 an intimate acquaintance with its workings, I changed my 
 mind, and became convinced that if all Parliaments did 
 their work only half as well, the world would be better 
 governed. 
 
 The population of Greenland at the present time equals 
 about 7000 souls — an average to each of the twelve dis- 
 tricts of near 600. In the district of Julianashaab there- 
 are about 800 people, distributed, along the line of its ex- 
 tended coast of a hundred and fifty miles, in a number of 
 small settlements, all pitched either upon the shore of the 
 main-land or some outlying island (it must be borne in 
 mind that the interior is nowhere inhabitable), at some 
 point where there is a convenient harbor.. These are all 
 outposts of the capital town of Julianashaab, and their af- 
 fairs are regulated according to orders received from the 
 governor, or bestyrere, of Julianashaab. Each one is pre- 
 sided over by a Dane or half-breed, whose principal busi- 
 ness is to keep the Company's accounts, dispose of the 
 Company's stores, and to gather products for the Com- 
 pany's profit. The stores are brought annually by ship 
 to Julianashaab, and thence they are distributed to the 
 various outposts, and, in like manner, the products are 
 gathered at Julianashaab by the time the ship arrives. 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. 103 
 
 These products consist of stock fish (thl cod, dried with- 
 out salt), eider-down, furs, seal-skins, and blubber, of which 
 the latter furnishes the chief profit. 
 
 The Greenlanders, and not the Danes, do the principal 
 hunting and fishing. The store-house of the station is the 
 place of trade, and at certain hours of the day the besty- 
 rere is obliged to have his place of business open. 
 
 Now these Greenlanders, or Esquimaux, are not prone to 
 be governed ; yet the Danish rule is satisfactory to them, 
 and they submit to it without a murmur, and none the 
 less readily that they have a voice in their own affairs. 
 Each little town or hunting-station is at liberty to send 
 up a representative to sit in the Parliament of Julianas- 
 haab. The number of representatives is twelve. The 
 names of the most important towns besides the capital are 
 Nenortalik, Fredericksdal, Lichtenau (these two latter are 
 missions of the Moravian Brethren), Igalliko, and Kraksi- 
 meut. 
 
 The Parliament-house is not an imposing edifice. I 
 should say its dimensions are about sixteen by twenty 
 feet. It is one story high, is built of boards, lined on the 
 inside, and painted blue, and on the outside is plastered 
 over with pitch. It has no lobby for the accommodation . 
 of people who come to the capital with axes for the public 
 grindstone, nor committee-rooms for the better confusion 
 of the public business. 
 
 In the centre of the one room there stands a long table 
 of plain pine boards, and along either side there is one 
 long bench of the same material ; and on each bench sit 
 six Parliamentarians, dressed in seal-skin pantaloons and 
 boots, and Guernsey frocks, with broad suspenders across 
 their shoulders. The faces of these Parliamentarians are 
 all of a very dusky hue, the color of their hair is very 
 black, and it does not seem to have any greater familiarity 
 
104 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 with combs and "brushes than their faces with soap and 
 towels. However, they are an amiable-looking party — at 
 least they grin and show their fine white teeth when I 
 enter, and are altogether, perhaps, quite clean enough for 
 ordinary Parliamentary work. Every man of them has a 
 pencil in his hand and a piece of paper on the table before 
 him, and each one is as busy taking notes thereon as some 
 of our own honorable members are said to be in taking 
 " notes " of another description. 
 
 But I must not neglect to mention one article of the 
 Parliamentary costume, for it shines out so conspicuously 
 that it must be noticed — I mean the official cap (always 
 worn when the House is in session), which is supplied to 
 each member by royal bounty. This cap is of the bright- 
 est kind of scarlet cloth, with a broad gilt band around 
 it ; the royal emblems are emblazoned in front, and above 
 these there is a golden polar bear, with a crown on his 
 head, standing uncomfortably on his hind legs, to typify 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. , 105 
 
 Greenland. There is a thirteenth cap at the head of the 
 table, and this thirteenth cap covers the head of the genial 
 Mr. Anthon, pastor of Julianashaab, and president of the 
 Julianashaab Parliament, ex officio. 
 
 The aggregate amount of dignity possessed by this 
 Parliament was quite wonderful, and was, in truth, as 
 overwhelming as the fishy odor with which it was im- 
 pregnated. But neither the fishy odor nor the dignity 
 appeared to interfere with tlie transaction of business ; on 
 the contrary,' tbey seemed to be working away like bea- 
 vers^ and, indeed, they disposed of matters with such an 
 amazing degree of promptness, that I fell instantly to 
 wondering whether dignity would not be a good thing to 
 introduce into Parliaments, Congresses, Assemblies, and 
 such like, things generally; and as to the fishy atmos- 
 phere, I have no doubt that it was quite as wholesome as 
 the atmosphere of some of our own legislative halls, where 
 lobbyists are so thick about the doors and avenues, that 
 all the purity which ever does go in is soon done for. Of 
 the kind of business, brought before this dignified tribunal, 
 I will give a few samples. 
 
 The first was a petition for relief. The petitioner him- 
 self stood there in person, looking the very picture of for- 
 lorn destitution. He stated that he had lost his canoe 
 (kayak), and he produced evidence enough to show, with- 
 out any swearing, false or otherwise, that it had been 
 crushed and lost in the ice. The man, who had hardly 
 clothes on his back to cover his nakedness, showed fur- 
 ther that he had a wife and family, who had no friends to 
 assist them, and were entirely dependent upon himself for 
 support. I thought it a doubtful support at best, and so 
 appeared to think the Parliament, since they voted an order 
 for a small stipend of food and clothing, as per schedule, 
 to be drawn by the wife from the public store-house, and 
 
 E2 
 
106 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 paid for out of the Parliamentary funds. The man was 
 sent to work in the Government blubber-house, at twenty- 
 two skillings (eleven cents) a day. 
 
 The next case was similar in character, only the peti- 
 tioner was a well-known young hunter who had lost his 
 kayak by a fearful accident, which had nearly cost him his 
 life as well as boat, and from the effects of which he had 
 barely now recovered. All that I could comprehend was 
 that some of his ribs had been stove in. The case being 
 proven, the question before Parliament was whether they 
 should grant him relief, which was unanimously voted in 
 the affirmative. How much ? was the next question. Af- 
 ter thirteen pencils had ciphered for a minute or so, they 
 made it out fourteen dollars (seven American) for material 
 for the kayak, four dollars for harpoon, spear, etc., and six 
 to pay debts contracted at the Government store-house for 
 necessary comforts during his sickness. 
 
 A third case was that of an old man who received one 
 dollar to buy a spear with ; another was from a man who 
 had a family of girls, and no oomiak. He received twen- 
 ty-four dollars, one-half of which he was to refund within 
 two years. One hunter got a rifle on the same terms. A 
 sick woman obtained some flannel for a shirt; some or- 
 phan children, an order for bread ; a widow, the means to 
 bury her dead husband. 
 
 These, and a number more of similar character, were 
 soon disposed of. Some of the cases were represented by 
 proxy, the applicant residing at Nenortalik or other dis- 
 tant outpost, whence to come would be difficult ; others 
 presented their petitions in person. Some appeals were 
 thrown out in part, or altogether; but these were very 
 few, for public opinion is strong in Greenland, and a lofty 
 sense of pride prevents begging, except in the last extrem- 
 ity. In the case, however, of the kayak and the oomiak 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. 107 
 
 there was presented a prospect of future public advan- 
 tage ; for, in encouraging these people by providing them 
 with boats, the public revenues are increased by their add- 
 ing to the public industry. Thus do we see that as " vil- 
 lage Hampdens " and " mute, inglorious Miltons " may 
 sometimes lie in the village church-yard, so savage legisla- 
 tors and lawgivers may be Solons and Adam Smiths all in 
 one, and they not know any thing about it, and the world 
 be none the wiser. 
 
 And thus we see these Greenland Parliaments serve an 
 excellent purpose. They take care of the poor; they render 
 assistance to the unfortunate ; they provide certain means 
 of punishing the indolent and guilty; they reward the in- 
 dustrious ; and when they have finished with their busi- 
 ness, they adjourn, and go home to do their talking ; and 
 what more do you want with a Parliament ? Nobody, cer- 
 tainly, would desire them to vote away millions of acres 
 of the public lands ; for, although they might very well 
 do so without injury to any body, there are no dangerous 
 corporations to be benefited thereby, and no public inter- 
 ests to be sacrificed by such procedure, and therefore no 
 motive. 
 
 I was much interested in their manner of encouraging 
 industry. The system is regulated on an increased valua- 
 tion of all products of the. hunt and fishery brought to the 
 public store-hou^e after a certain figure has been reached. 
 Then follows a sliding scale of prices, which at the maxi- 
 mum is double the ordinary standard. 
 
 The punishments are confined to fines, to be deducted 
 at a certain percentage, until paid, from every thing the 
 hunter sells to the Government ; and the means of collec- 
 tion are quite effectual ; for, unless the criminal comes into 
 the arrangements of his plan as decreed by Parliament, he 
 is wholly excluded from any participation in the benefits 
 
108 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 of the colony ; that is to say, he is not allowed to buy or 
 trade for any thing — neither a rifle, ammunition, bread, cof- 
 fee, sugar, nor tobacco — a penalty against which no one 
 was ever known to hold out long. Cases of actual crime 
 are rare. If the offense should be a capital one, or one 
 involving the sentence of a court of justice, the offender, 
 or supposed offender, is sent home for trial to Denmark. 
 But one case falling under this head came to my knowl- 
 edge. This was a young mother suspected of infanticide. 
 The child that would have dishonored her was found 
 upon a rock whence the tide would soon have carried it 
 off, had not some prying individual there discovered it and 
 taken it to the village, where it was interred. The young 
 woman was charged with having destroyed it. She con- 
 fessed that it was hers, but that it was dead when born ; 
 and since she could not bury it, and could not bear to 
 throw it into the sea herself, she placed it on the rock and 
 hid herself away, that she might not see it disappear. Her 
 story was accepted on the simple ground of the unnatural- 
 ness of the crime charged; for the love of the mother for 
 her offspring among these Greenlanders is wonderfully 
 strong. What would our ancesters of a few hundred 
 years back have said to being hauled up for an act like 
 this, when they had not only natural law, as they thought, 
 but human law as well, to support them in " exposure of 
 infants," when they were either too poor or too lazy to 
 provide for all the little ones that were brought into the 
 world ? 
 
 The funds for the disbursements above mentioned are 
 provided liberally by the Danish Government — not direct- 
 ly, but indirectly — so that the system works to mutual 
 advantage. For instance, the price paid, according to Gov- 
 ernment, at the public store-room for a seal-skin is, say ten 
 cents, and for the fox-skin fifty cents ; which amounts are 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. 109 
 
 paid, either in money or in kind, to the hunter, who goes 
 away well satisfied. To this payment the Government 
 then adds a further payment of twenty per cent. — that is, 
 two cents on the seal-skin and ten cents on the fox-skin, 
 which is credited to the Parliamentary account; and so 
 on for every barrel of blubber or other article. Thus, if 
 the cost price of the products of the district of Julianas- 
 haab should reach fifteen thousand dollars, the Parliament 
 would have a fund of three thousand to dispense in char- 
 ities and benefits. This sum bears no relation, however, to 
 the commercial value of the several articles in the Copenha- 
 gen market. For there a fox-skin, which is worth in Green- 
 land one Danish dollar (nearly equalling our half-dollar), is 
 worth in Copenhagen from ten to thirty ; and most of the 
 other products swell in the same proportion during the 
 voyage across the Atlantic. So in like manner, though 
 not in the same degree, the value of a pound of bread in- 
 creases on the voyage from Copenhagen to Greenland. 
 Yet such are the expenses attendant upon the transporta- 
 tion, the keeping up of special Greenland bureaus at home, 
 the wear and tear of the sixteen ships of their fleet, and 
 the cost of the Mission, that, notwithstanding this ar- 
 rangement of values, the Royal Greenland Fishing and 
 Trading Company turns in a very small sum annually to 
 the royal treasury. Some years they actually run be- 
 hind. And so it comes about that, since there is not much 
 in the best of times to be squeezed out of this Land of 
 Desolation, the Company simply suffers its business to go 
 on in the old even tenor of its ways — every thing system- 
 atic and orderly, its ships neat and well disciplined, its of- 
 ficers honest and capable, its sailors well drilled for any 
 emergency that may call them into the naval service, the 
 mission schools and the churches well kept up. If by this 
 means a few officers are provided with small but sufficient 
 
110 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 salaries, and a number of people are supplied with com- 
 fortable livings (and are sure of a pension if disabled, and 
 their families provided for when they die), surely no great 
 harm is done to any body if the Danish Government is not 
 greatly enriched ; while, on the other hand, seven thousand 
 human beings, but for this admirable system, instead of 
 living in the light of Christian civilization, and in the en- 
 joyment of its benefits, would still be steeped in that same 
 condition of barbarism that their forefathers were when 
 they overran the fair villages of the ancient Northmen. 
 To-day the two races live in perfect harmony, and in mu- 
 tual dependence on each other. A single Dane may be 
 surrounded by a hundred descendants of the murdering 
 and revengeful Krassippe, and is encouraged by them in 
 every thing he may attempt to do. 
 
 These all seem like homely practices ; but then it must 
 be borne in mind that Greenland is a long way ofi", and the 
 Danes are a gallant people. I do not believe there is any 
 other country in the world that would maintain colonies 
 and support missions without some prospective advantage 
 to themselves. There is one prohibitory act, which the 
 Company exercises in all these colonies, which I can not 
 refrain from mentioning before I quit this interesting sub- 
 ject. It is the commendable policy which they pursue 
 in absolutely excluding that villainous : " fire-water," that 
 has played such a conspicuous part in the demoralization 
 and destruction of our own Indians. Once a year only are 
 the people allowed to smile at the bottom of an empty 
 glass. This is on the king's birthday, when every able- 
 bodied man in Greenland is allowed to march up to the 
 Government store-room, there to receive, each in his turn, 
 a glass of " schnapps," which he drains to the health and 
 happiness of the mighty NaUgahsoak who occupies the 
 Danish throne. -The women are excluded: but a man 
 
A GREENLAND PARLIAMENT. Ill 
 
 may kiss his wife just when he pleases, without offense to 
 any body; and, while in the act, he may drop from his 
 own capacious maw (like the cooing dove that feeds its 
 mate within the cot) whatever portion of the king's boun- 
 ty he may feel inclined to spare, and nobody be any the 
 wiser for it ; nor can any body be much hurt, as the 
 schnapps glass is none of the largest, and the wife's por- 
 tion is not likely to be more than the half. 
 
 A system which is thus kept so well under control, with 
 the niceties of administration so carefully preserved, could 
 hardly be otherwise than successful. In fact, I do not see 
 that any thing of human devising could better suit the 
 purpose of its founding than this Greenland Company, 
 which transacts business and does good works under the 
 name and title of " Kongelige Gronlandske Handel, i Kio- 
 benhavn." 
 
 It was founded in the year 1781, much upon the same 
 plan as that of the Hudson Bay Company. The whole 
 trade of Greenland is, through this Company, an absolute 
 monopoly of the Crown, and a foreigner is not allowed to 
 trade to the value of a skilling with Dane or Esquimaux — 
 a system which all the better enables the benevolent in- 
 tentions of the Government to be carried out, as spirits 
 and other hurtful articles can be excluded from the coun- 
 try. The Company is controlled by a Directory in Copen- 
 hagen (Kiobenhavn properly) ; and to its present presiding 
 officer, Herr Justitsraad C. S. M. Olrik, knight of Danne- 
 brog, and formerly the enlightened and genial Inspector 
 of North Greenland, the Company's increasing prosperity 
 and usefulness are largely due. 
 
112 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A GREENLAND BALL. 
 
 Monday was occupied by our party in a very agreeable 
 and profitable manner — by the photographers especially, 
 who, early in the day, took possession of one of the gov- 
 ernor's rooms, and photographed the whole town and near- 
 ly every body in it. The following day was fixed upon 
 for our departure ; but the only pilot in the place was 
 otherwise employed, and we were forced to wait until he 
 was ready for us. In short, he was bringing in another 
 vessel, and one of infinitely more importance to Julianas- 
 haab than any number of Panthers. It was the one ship 
 of the year, a ship bringing to the colonists their sup- 
 plies for the next twelve months, and was to return home 
 laden with the wealth which they had gathered. 
 
 I do not remember any thing in all my experience in 
 Greenland that has left a stronger impression upon my 
 mind than the arrival of this ship, nor any thing which 
 made the isolation of the Danes who dwelt there so appar- 
 ent. In these days of telegraphs, and steamships, and quick 
 transit everywhere, it is rather painful to contemplate 
 civilized, refined, and Christian families being a whole 
 year without once hearing from the world. To be sure, it 
 has its advantages, for they are saved many annoyances, 
 and are spared the everlasting bore of writing letters for 
 the mail. But then, what hopes and fears the mail must 
 come charged with when it comes but once a year ! with 
 what almost terrible anxiety they must look for news from 
 home ! what changes may have taken place in the year 
 
A QBEENLAND BALL. 113 
 
 gone by ! what may Death not have done with the loved 
 ones in that long interval ! Fathers and mothers, broth- 
 ers, sisters, and friends, are sending tokens by that winged 
 messenger across the sea ; but what if they should be sad 
 ones, and not those they hoped for ? 
 
 When the announcement was made that the ship was 
 in the offing, the excitement was at first intense, and the 
 hours of the day while the ship was coming up the fiord, 
 with baffling winds, were most anxious ones. Of course, 
 there were many exceptions. Indeed, the people general- 
 ly could have no other possible interest in the arrival of 
 the ship than the mere selfish one of what they would 
 gain thereby. I speak only of those Danish residents who 
 were bred in Denmark, and whose friends dwell there now. 
 To these, the arrival had something in it of a painful char- 
 acter, mingled with anticipated pleasure. Hope and fear 
 seemed alternately to prevail in the breasts of the families 
 of the governor, the pastor, and the doctor. 
 
 Meanwhile, every boat in the settlement had gone down 
 to assist in towing up the ship ; and at length the sound 
 of splashing oars was heard upon the still night air ; then 
 voices were distinguished calling to each other or issuing 
 the word of command. Soon, above the rocky point of the 
 harbor, we saw the tops of two masts, with their black 
 yards, creeping nearer and nearer ; then a vessel burst in 
 view, through the brilliant moonlight. The ship was now 
 pointed for the harbor, and was coming slowly up beside 
 us, towed by half a dozen boats, and surrounded by a 
 swarm of men in their little kayaks, shouting, talking, and 
 gesticulating, in their exuberant happiness. 
 
 I stood upon the Panther's deck watching this scene of 
 animation, until the anchor had gone into the phosphores- 
 cent sea with its unearthly " cr-r-r-r-r-r-r-up." The moor- 
 ing-lines were soon all out and made fast. The crowd of 
 
114 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 people then left the sea, and no sounds were heard but the 
 orders on board the newly-arrived vessel for stowing the 
 sails and making every thing snug on board. Then I 
 heard people getting down into a boat; the oars were 
 splashing again, and, as I traced the streak of phosphores- 
 cent light that trailed away and lengthened as the boat 
 receded, I knew that it was carrying ashore the mail, with 
 all its freight of words. 
 
 The vessel proved to be the Tjalfe, one of the best of 
 the Company's vessels — a brig of three hundred tons, and 
 as taut and tidy as a man-of-war. I had a visit from her 
 master in the morning, and was rejoiced to find in him an 
 old friend, to whom, in 1855, when I had escaped with Dr. 
 Kane from the abandoned brig Advance, I was indebted 
 for many serviceable attentions— Captain Ammondsen, one 
 of the most tried and trusty servants of the Royal Com- 
 pany. 
 
 Upon going ashore in the morning with Captain Am- 
 mondsen, I was pleased to learn that every body's letters 1 
 brought good news. We found them in a wilderness of 
 papers, and books, and packages, containing every con- 
 ceivable thing that thoughtful friends would think of send- 
 ing to cheer and gladden lives that must be at times over- 
 whelmed with loneliness. It was very touching to see 
 these evidences of remembrance scattered about, and very 
 gratifying to be a partaker of the general joy. Photo- 
 graphs were there by the dozen ; one of a little stranger 
 that had come into the world within the twelvemonth, and 
 sent his compliments and his picture ; another, of a newly- 
 married couple, who looked peculiarly happy for people 
 who had been married nearly six months, and sent their 
 picture in proof of it ; another was from an aged mother ; 
 another, from a brother who had gone into the army ; an- 
 other, from a boy at school. I went from house to house, 
 
A QRMMXLAZW BALL. 115 
 
 and everywhere it was the same. Happiness was univer- 
 sal ; and it really seemed as if solitude might be " sweet so- 
 ciety," if retirement brought such occasional bliss : only, 
 the retirement of a year for the sake of the emotion is a 
 little too much for ordinary mortals. 
 
 As for the people in general, they were delighted beyond 
 expression. Nothing but the presence of actual starva- 
 tion could possibly have induced any hunter to go out at 
 such a time. Shouting and singing were the order of the 
 day. The harbor was alive with their cunning little kay- 
 aks, shooting hither and thither, the boatmen indulging 
 themselves in the most ludicrous speech and gesture, by 
 way of exhibiting their satisfaction, not only at the arrival 
 of the Danish ship, but that two vessels were in the har- 
 bor at one time — a sight which they had never seen be- 
 fore. Then, to cap the climax, when the evening came 
 they would have a dance. Every body was invited, and, 
 of course, none of. the sailors of the two ships made any 
 objection to a frolic of that nature. They had not shared 
 the people's satisfaction in the least; they would be glad 
 enough, on the other hand, to be anywhere else almost ; 
 but a dance ! what sailor could resist that ? And as for 
 our officers and passengers, all were alike ready for a little 
 fun, to break the monotony of life, either as actors or spec- 
 tators, and willing to take a hand in any thing that might 
 be turning up. 
 
 I asked the governor if there was nothing to be feared 
 from letting two ships' companies loose among the peace- 
 ful villagers, where there were no police to take rude fel- 
 lows into custody? "Oh no," he answered, " not in the 
 least ; let them come. If the men are rude, the women 
 will take care of themselves, I promise you ; and if not, 
 they have big brothers plenty. Ha\e no fear; there are 
 no more modest women in the world than these Green- 
 
116 TMB LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 land girls, and sailors are notoriously quick to detect hon- 
 esty, and, when found, to respect it." 
 
 So a dance was arranged for, or a " ball," as our people 
 facetiously called it. The carpenter-shop was secured for 
 the occasion, and a neighboring shed for a supper-room ; 
 and the preparations went on all the afternoon. The or- 
 chestra of Julianashaab (consisting of a dilapidated keg 
 with heads of tanned seal-hide, and the cracked fiddle 
 already mentioned) was secured, and all was ready by 
 eight o'clock, when I went ashore to see the opening. 
 
 The decorations of the ball-room in the way of flags, 
 and Danish and American bunting generally, were aston- 
 ishing to the natives. Candles were stuck around the 
 room in reckless profusion. Maria had about a bushel of 
 coffee, which she was roasting and boiling in the shed. 
 The whole village was in commotion. Women in red 
 boots, women in white boots, women in blue, and green, 
 and yellow boots, were hurrying to the ball-room from 
 every quarter. They had all turned out in their very 
 best, and some of the toilets were, to say the least, stun- 
 ning. Boots, beads, pantaloons, and ribbons were all of 
 the gayest and the finest. The maidens and matrons of 
 Julianashaab sustained the credit of their sex ; and they 
 showed, too, that they were conscious of appearing to bet- 
 ter advantage than usual ; for they looked about with less 
 timidity than on ordinary occasions, as if to say, " Look at 
 me now, and see what I can do when a great occasion 
 makes it worth my while." Several of them were pretty, 
 and quite stylish, and certainly this is saying much, for 
 their peculiar style of costume is rather trying to the ordi- 
 nary female figure. As for dancing, no costume could pos- 
 sibly be more suitable, and, when on the floor, its advan- 
 tages were quite apparent, for I have rarely seen dancers 
 that were more light and graceful in their movements. 
 
A GREENLAND BALL. 11? 
 
 I would not, however, be understood to recommend the 
 dress for general adoption by dancing girls. 
 
 The confidence with which the ladies approached the 
 ball-room seemed to forsake them when they had got in- 
 side and there awaited the men ; for the moment they had 
 passed the door they darted to the remotest corner, where 
 they all huddled together as close as they could pack 
 themselves, like a flock of frightened sheep run one by one 
 into a pen. The men did not keep them long in this state 
 of timid embarrassment ; but they seemed, however, to be 
 in no very particular hurry, sauntering along quite leis- 
 urely, with their hands in their pockets, and short clay 
 pipes in their mouths. Most of them were capless, and 
 none of them seemed to have thought of " dressing " for 
 the occasion, except the Parliamentarians, who, out of re- 
 spect for their own dignity (as I suppose), wore the offi- 
 cial scarlet on their heads, royal emblems, gold lace, and 
 all — a top-covering which, taken in connection with their 
 Guernsey frocks, broad suspenders, and huge seal-skin pan- 
 taloons, coming up under the arm-pits, made a style of 
 official get-up not, I fancy, to be seen in any other coun- 
 try. Yet the lord chancellor wears his frizzled wig, and 
 why not they their scarlet caps ? 
 
 The sailors came ashore from the two ships, jabbering 
 away at each other quite frantically, in Danish and En- 
 glish ; and the officers and passengers came likewise. 
 
 But where was Concordia the while, and where was the 
 Prince? for they were to open the ball. The question 
 was asked repeatedly, and as often remained unanswered. 
 Whispers began to pass around the room. Had there 
 been an elopement? Marcus was there, trying hard to 
 look unconcerned by smoking a short clay pipe, and keep- 
 ing his hands in their usual place of safety. Every body 
 seemed to look to him for explanation; 
 
118 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 At length the mystery was cleared up, and very sudden- 
 ly, for the Prince came bouncing into the room holding 
 Concordia hy the hand. The arrival created a sensation. 
 Concordia was literally dazzling. The Prince had clearly 
 been assisting at her toilet. She was covered with beads 
 and jewelry. A magnificent plaid shawl which the Prince 
 had sported through the voyage, and which had two days 
 before suddenly disappeared, now reappeared in the shape 
 of a jaunty jacket, trimmed with eider-down, on Concor- 
 dia's graceful shoulders. And then, what shining panta- 
 loons of the softest silver seal-skin ! what spotless, snow- 
 white boots inclosed her dainty little feet ! But the 
 Prince — ah ! what a stunning get-up, to be sure ! Sea- 
 boots matching Concordia's for length, if not in purity of 
 color ; a bright scarf across his shoulders and around his 
 waist ; a Scotch cap, with a dissipated feather in it — 
 what a picture for a ball-room ! No wonder that Marcus* 
 grew several shades lighter in color; no wonder that his 
 pipe fell out of his mouth and broke in pieces on the floor ; 
 no wonder that he stole out of the room as if the place 
 were too hot for him, and should show himself no more in 
 the ball-room that night ! 
 
 " Strike up !" shouted the Prince, bringing down a sea- 
 boot on the floor. " Rat-tat-a-tat " went the keg, " cr-r- 
 r-p cr-r-r-p cr-r-r-p" went the cracked fiddle, and then 
 both went in to do their best and win ; but the keg, hav- 
 ing got the lead, kept it, and the cracked fiddle was no- 
 where. When both had become well warmed up in the 
 race, the Prince brought down his sea-boot again, making 
 the old carpenter-shop fairly quake and tremble ; then, 
 with a shout which was probably taken for an American 
 war-whoop, he seized Concordia by the waist ; others fol- 
 lowed his example, and never did " Pop goes the Weasel " 
 do duty before to such a whirl as followed. 
 
A GREENLAND BALL. 121 
 
 The ball was opened ! The Prince and Concordia had 
 gracefully done their duty, and satisfied the public expec- 
 tation. They had given countenance to the revelry, and 
 the revelry went on. To say that it never stopped, would 
 be to exaggerate ; but to say that it never wou}d have 
 stopped had there been something of what Dick Swiveller 
 called " the rosy," might possibly be, to speak the truth, 
 within bounds. The revellers certainly made " a night of 
 it," if a night ever was made in a Greenland summer. As 
 it was, the coffee had all given out, a whole box of tobacco 
 had disappeared, the keg had resolved itself into its origi- 
 nal staves, and the cracked fiddle had but one string left, 
 and that had been twice tied, when the ladies, with their 
 beautiful boots all knocked out of shape, began to drag 
 their weary bodies off to their huts, and the sailors, with 
 their coats on their arms, hailed for boats. 
 
 Meanwhile, much consternation had been produced by a 
 report which was set in circulation, that a Parliamentarian 
 had danced himself away, all but his cap ; and a girl had, 
 in like manner, disappeared, all but a ribbon. The con- 
 sternation was allayed, however, when it was discovered 
 that the two had stolen away together, and were getting 
 married at the parson's. 
 
 Marcus never appeared again in the ball-room after his 
 discomfiture ; but I saw him crawling in the shadow of 
 a rock, where he could look through the door and catch 
 an occasional glimpse of his lady-love as she swung round 
 in the Prince's arms. He beckoned me to him, and whis- 
 pered in my ear, pointing to the gay and festive room 
 from which the bright light was streaming out into the 
 night, "He no good; me" (pointing to his breast) "son 
 of head man of Bungetak." Saying which, he smiled in a 
 self-satisfied and "bland-like" manner, and immediately 
 drew himself deep within the shadow of the rock. Then I 
 
 F 
 
133 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 went my way on board, marvelling how very much a man 
 was hall-savage Marcus. 
 
 As this was my last visit ashore, I had bidden my 
 Mends good-bye, after exchanging some little souvenirs 
 with them. Early in the morning the anchor was tripped, 
 and we were away. The little town in the wilderness was 
 at our backs, and we were threading once more the wind- 
 ing fiord among the islands and icebergs, rejoiced at hav- 
 ing seen a spot of earth so full of romantic associations ; 
 had beheld its ruins, 
 
 "Trod upon them, and had set 
 Our foot upon a rev'rend history." 
 
"But these recede. Above me are the Alps, 
 The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls 
 Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, 
 And throned Eternity in icy halls 
 Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls 
 The avalanche — the thunderbolt of snow ! 
 All that expands the spirit, yet appalls, 
 Gather around these summits, as to show 
 How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
PART THE SECOND. 
 
 PALACES OF NATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ICE AND SNOW. 
 
 Lsr the previous chapters we have traced the history 
 of the Norman-Greenlanders from their first appearance 
 to their decay. We have witnessed their early straggles, 
 have observed them in their prosperity, and have stood 
 beside the ruined edifices erected by their hands, and read 
 there a mournful story of a fallen race. 
 
 Upon the causes of their fall we have, however, barely 
 speculated. Among them all, none possess an interest to 
 equal that one mighty cause which has been silently work- 
 ing there for countless ages. Beside those, determined 
 Northmen, Nature herself was erecting edifices which, by 
 destroying the life-giving heat of the atmosphere, paved 
 the way for poverty and death. "With just propriety we 
 may call these edifices palaces of Nature ; and now to ex- 
 amine them will be our task. To do that, we leave the 
 fiord of " the deserted homes " and steam into one. that lies 
 to the north of it. This is called the fiord of Sermitsialik, 
 which signifies "the place of ice." 
 
 And here we will witness phenomena such as are not to 
 be witnessed elsewhere in the whole known world. These 
 phenomena exhibit results grand beyond any thing in or 
 upon the earth, not excepting the earthquake and volcano. 
 
136 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 This fiord of the ice is about of equal length with that 
 of the " deserted homes." The two are separated from 
 each other by a mountain-ridge which culminates in the 
 Redkammen. The same ridge continues to the south, 
 and, reaching the sea again, incloses the region of Erics- 
 fiord, and the little earthly paradise where dwelt the kings 
 of the sea in ancient times. 
 
 The mountain-ridge which thus encircles Ericsfiord like 
 a horse-shoe has no break in it, and it is therefore a bar- 
 rier. Northward of it there is another great ridge, and 
 between the two there is a wide valley. This valley 
 comes down to the sea at the head of the fiord of Sermit- 
 sialik, but it is not green like the valleys that lie beneath 
 the shelter of the ridge of the Redkammen, but is filled 
 with ice. This ice is in places more than a thousand feet 
 in depth, and from two to four miles wide — occupying the 
 valley completely. 
 
 The ice which thus fills the valley is called a glacier. 
 Ice-stream, however, the Danes distinguish it, thus mark- 
 ing the difference between it and the eis blinken, which we 
 call the mer de glace, or ice-sea. 
 
 The ice-sea is the great reservoir of ice which covers the 
 interior of Greenland, and the glacier of the fiord of Ser- 
 mitsialik is but a branch — a stream — that descends from 
 it through the valley to the fiord. It is one of many hun- 
 dreds of similar streams which are to be seen upon the 
 Greenland coast, and by which the precipitations from the 
 atmosphere are discharged into the ocean. They corre- 
 spond to the rivers of other lands. These precipitations 
 are in the form of snow. The air, which dispenses heat 
 and cold, drought and moisture, life and death to the ut- 
 termost ends of the earth, is not neglectful of Greenland. 
 The air soaks up the vapor from the sea, and drops it as 
 snow-flakes upon the sides and summits of the Greenland 
 
ICE AND SNOW. 1«7 
 
 mountains. These snow-flakes harden to ice, and the proc- 
 ess goes on until the mountains are covered, as Mont 
 Blanc of the Alps is covered, and the ice flowing down 
 their sides has filled the lower lands between them. In 
 many places this process has so long continued, that the 
 valleys between the mountains here and there have be- 
 come level with the summits of the mountains themselves, 
 and there is a desert waste of whiteness, smooth almost as 
 the sea, as void of life as Sahara, and more dreary to look 
 upon. 
 
 I ascended once to such a level plane, reaching eighty 
 miles from the coast, at an altitude of five thousand feet. 
 This ascent was upon the glacier, at an angle, when I first 
 set out, of about six degrees with the horizon ; but after- 
 wards, upon the mer de glace, it was by a scarcely percep- 
 tible acclivity. Unhappily I was set upon by a tempest. 
 The temperature sank to thirty-four degrees below zero, 
 having steadily fallen to that point as I climbed higher 
 and higher in the air. Nothing could possibly be more 
 terrible than a wind under such conditions, except, per- 
 haps, a furnace-blast. Mercury hardened almost to the 
 consistency of lead. The moisture of the breath froze on 
 the beard in solid lumps of ice. The nose and cheeks 
 , grew white, and life was in danger. The drifting snow 
 which came whirling along the icy plain was like the 
 sand-clouds of the desert, which oftentimes overwhelm 
 travellers. There was no chance for life except in flight. 
 I was accompanied by five persons, who were all less ac- 
 customed to such exposure than myself. We turned our 
 backs to the wind, and descended as rapidly as possible 
 to the level of the sea, where the temperature was zero, 
 at which degree of cold life is supported without incon- 
 venience. 
 
 It would be diflicultto inflict upon a man greater tor- 
 
126 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ture than to expose him to such a storm. The effect, after 
 a time, is to make life undesirable. First comes alarm, 
 then pain, then lack of perception. When one dies from 
 freezing, it is the brain which first suffers eclipse. True, 
 the cold has not solidified it, but has made it torpid, like 
 certain animals in the winter-time, with which one may do 
 any thing and they will not resist, being quite incapable 
 of receiving an impression. One of my comrades said, " I 
 can not go any farther ; I do not want to ; I am sleepy ; 
 I can not walk." Another said, " I am no longer cold ; I 
 am quite warm again ; shall we not camp ?" This proved 
 that there was the greater need of haste and exertion, if 
 we would not all be destroyed. 
 
 The whole continent of Greenland is, say, 1200 miles 
 long by 600 broad. This gives 720,000 square miles of 
 superficial area, and, assuming the ice, which covers the 
 greater part of it, to have the very moderate average 
 depth of 500 feet, we have a grand total of 70,000 cubic 
 miles of ice — a result which seems almost fabulous. 
 
 It is not uninteresting to know that all this vast accu- 
 mulation of ice is the property of Denmark. And there 
 are probably few persons who understand fully the loss 
 we suffered when we failed to purchase from that country 
 the earthquake island of St. Thomas ; for it was then in 
 contemplation, should the Senate ratify the treaty of an- 
 nexation, to open negotiations for buying up all these 
 Greenland glaciers and the Iceland Yokuls besides. And 
 there can be little doubt that the Danish king would have 
 gladly sold out the whole of them. A king who does not 
 appreciate the value of an earthquake can hardly be ex- 
 pected to bestow his confidence on glaciers. 
 
QLACIEB8 AND ICEBERGS. 129 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS. 
 
 Before proceeding with our narrative we will dwell a 
 little upon the great phenomena of nature to which the 
 previous chapter called attention. 
 
 We have seen that the. great sea of ice which covers 
 Greenland, and makes it the Land of Desolation that it is, 
 is formed from snow-flakes. That formation takes place 
 only in certain conditions of temperature, which of course 
 vary with the degrees of latitude. 
 
 The formation of glaciers has been for a long time a 
 fruitful source of speculation among men of science. Into 
 these we will not enter at any length, for my purpose is 
 rather to give the results" of personal observation and inci- 
 dents of adventure, than to recite either the facts or reflec- 
 tions of others. Yet a few words of discussion may not 
 be here out of place. 
 
 Every reader is aware that in the upper regions of the 
 atmosphere the moisture which is precipitated on the 
 mountain-top assumes the form of snow, while down at 
 the mountain's base it is rain. In descending a mountain 
 nothing is more common than to pass from one condition 
 to the other — first a storm of dry snow, then moist snow, 
 then water. In Greenland the snow falls dry. The 
 mountains are lofty, and it never rains upon them at all. 
 A fresh layer of snow is laid on every year. Should this 
 continue uninterruptedly, of course the mountains would 
 rise to an indefinite extent. Enormous quantities break 
 loose and i - oll down the mountain-sides in avalanches; but 
 
 F 2 
 
130 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 this is but a small amount in comparison with the deposit. 
 The glaciers are the means of drainage of these great 
 snow-fields. These snow-fields are turned to ice by a 
 very simple process, and the ice flows to the sea. 
 
 The surface snow on the mountain is white, dry, and 
 light. Deeper down, it is hard ; still deeper, it is clear 
 transparent ice. The clear ice which forms such grand 
 and beautiful arches of blue and green in the glaciers as 
 seen along the Greenland coast, was once powdery snow 
 upon the loftiest mountains, probably in the very interior 
 of the continent. The transformation is an interesting 
 process, and the movement of the ice itself from the 
 mountain to the sea is one of the strange mysteries of na- 
 ture. With respect to the former, Professor Tyndall has 
 stated the case so clearly that I can not refrain from quot- 
 ing the following passage from his excellent work en- 
 titled "The Glaciers of the Alps :" 
 
 " Could our vision penetrate into the body of the gla- 
 cier, we should find that the change from white to blue 
 essentially consists in the gradual expulsion of the air 
 which was originally entangled in the meshes of the fallen 
 snow. Whiteness always results from the intimate and 
 irregular mixture of air and a transparent solid ; a crushed 
 diamond would resemble snow. If we pound the more 
 transparent rock-salt into powder, we have a substance as 
 white as the whitest culinary salt ; and the colorless glass 
 vessel, which holds the salt would also, if pounded, give 
 a powder as white as the salt itself. It is a law of light 
 that, in passing from one substance to another possessing 
 a different power of refraction, a portion of it is always re- 
 flected. Hence, when light falls upon a transparent solid 
 mixed with air, at each passage of light from the air to 
 the solid and from the solid to the air, a portion of it is 
 reflected ; and in the case of a powder, this reflection oc- 
 
GLAOIESS AND ICEBERGS. 131 
 
 curs so frequently that the passage of the light is practi- 
 cally cut off. Thus, from the mixture of two perfectly 
 transparent substances we obtain an opaque one ; from 
 the intimate mixture of air and water we obtain foam. 
 Clouds owe their opacity to the same principle; and the 
 condensed steam of a locomotive casts a shadow upon the 
 fields adjacent to the line, because the sunlight is wasted 
 in echoes at the innumerable limiting surfaces of water 
 and air. 
 
 "The snow which falls upon high mountain-eminences 
 has often a temperature far below the freezing-point of 
 water. Such snow is dry, and if it always continued so 
 the formation of a glacier from it would be impossible. 
 The first action of the summer's sun is to raise the tem- 
 perature of the superficial snow to 32°, and afterwards to 
 melt it. The water thus formed percolates through the 
 colder mass underneath, and this I take to be the first 
 active agency in expelling the air entangled in the snow. 
 But as the liquid trickles over the surfaces of granules 
 colder than itself, it is partially deposited in a solid form 
 on the surfaces, thus augmenting the size of the granules, 
 and cementing them together. "When the mass thus 
 formed is examined, the air within it is found as round 
 bubbles. Now it is manifest that the air -caught in the h> 
 regular interstices of the snow can have no tendency to 
 assume this form so long as the snow remains solid ; but 
 the process to which I have referred — the saturation of 
 the lower portions of the snow by the water produced by 
 the melting of the superficial portions — enables the air to 
 form itself into globules, and to give the ice of the neve 
 its peculiar character. Thus we see that, though the sun 
 can not get directly at the deeper portions of the snow, 
 by liquefying the upper layer he charges it with heat, and 
 makes it a messenger to the cold subjacent mass. 
 
133 THE LAND OF DESOLATION; 
 
 " The frost of the succeeding winter may, I think, or may 
 not, according to circumstances, penetrate through this 
 layer, and solidify the water which it still retains in its 
 interstices. If the winter set in with clear frosty weath- 
 er, the penetration will probably take place ; but if heavy 
 snow occur at the commencement of winter, thus throw- 
 ing a protective covering over the n'evk,, freezing to any 
 great depth may be prevented. Mr. Huxley's idea seems 
 to be quite within the range of possibility, that water- 
 cells may be transmitted from the origin of the glacier to 
 its end, retaining their contents always liquid." 
 
 We have thus briefly explained the process by which 
 the mountain-snow changes its character, and, without act- 
 ually melting and again freezing, the clearest ice may be 
 formed from it, and go on accumulating, layer by layer, to 
 an almost inconceivable extent. 
 
 I allude now to mountains generally, for Greenland is 
 not the only ice-factory of the world. That country has 
 by no means a monopoly of the business, for nearly all 
 parts of the earth have their great reservoirs of ice formed 
 in the same manner from snow as the ice of Greenland, 
 only with this difference, that the climate and the tem- 
 perature necessary to the formation of glaciers from snow 
 is higher above the sea-level in most other places than 
 in Greenland. This climate and temperature are found 
 above what is called the " snow-line " — that is to say, a line 
 above which the snow does not disappear in the summer, 
 and is therefore perpetual. At the equator this snow-line 
 is of course higher than either to the north or south of 
 that point. Towards both poles it descends steadily. 
 For instance, on the two great equatorial mountains of 
 Chimborazo and Popocatapetl, it is about 15,000 feet ; 
 above which all is ice and snow, and below which vege- 
 tation, beginning with an arctic type, passes through all 
 
GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS. 133 
 
 the stages of climate, until at its base we find the rich 
 vegetation of the tropics. Frequently glaciers from that 
 upper region descend into the lower regions of vegetation 
 to a considerable distance, but they are gradually melted 
 away at the end, and can not, therefore, go beyond a cer- 
 tain line, terminating in, or rather changing from streams 
 of ice to rivers of water. 
 
 By the time we have gone so far north as Greenland we 
 have discovered a great depression in this snow-line. In 
 latitude 61° north, I have observed it to be 2400 feet. I 
 
 si i 
 
 r 5 euc- \ 
 
 sf'...- 
 
 r\_ r- r - 
 
 -dl 
 
 have found it to be 1Y00 feet at latitude 69°; at latitude 
 78°, it was 500 ; and at between 80° and 82° the snow- 
 line appeared to touch the sea, having no belt whatever 
 for vegetation. 
 
 The piling up of these mountain-snows is like the proc- 
 esses of a geological epoch in the steady growth by deposit. 
 There is this difference, however, that ice formed in this 
 manner is not, like rock, hard and unyielding, but, like 
 putty, is, in a measure, ductile. In fact, it flows downward, 
 and the superabundant accumulations find their way thus 
 to the ocean. It is estimated that the snows of the Alps 
 would increase the altitude of those mountains four thou- 
 sand feet in a thousand years but for this strange ductile 
 property of ice. As we have before seen, an ice-stream is, 
 in effect, a frozen river, flowing at a very slow, but still at 
 a very perceptible rate. The rate of flow in the Alps, va- 
 
134 THAI LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 riously estimated by different explorers and at different 
 places, where there were different degrees of descent, is 
 from six to fourteen inches daily. In Greenland the rate, 
 as determined by me, is about from five to eight inches 
 daily. The Greenland glaciers possess another marked 
 difference from those of the Alps. The ends of the latter, 
 descending into a lower and warmer level, are melted off, 
 and disappear as the end of a tallow candle would disap- 
 pear if held near a hot stove. Before this takes place, the 
 ice, descending through the valley, conforms to all its ine- 
 qualities, and the actual river which ultimately takes its 
 rise from the glacier front does not more readily mould it- 
 self to the rocky bed over which it flows — widening and 
 contracting, deepening or shoaling as the river-bed expands 
 and narrows, or increases and diminishes its declination. 
 An ice-stream, or glacier, like the river, has therefore its 
 cascades, its rapids, its broad lagoons (so to speak), and its 
 smooth, steady, even flow. It carries rocks along with it 
 upon its surface (rocks which have fallen upon it from the 
 cliffs along its sides), as the river carries sticks of wood ; 
 and, when the ice melts, these rocks fall in front, and, roll- 
 ing down the valley, form moraines. But with the Green- 
 land glaciers the result is different. The end of the glacier 
 never descends into a level that is warm enough to melt 
 away the end of it, as in the Alps, but it reaches the sea 
 in all the glory of its cold and crystal hardness. When 
 this happens, its end penetrates the water, and makes a 
 coast-line of ice. The temperature of Greenland, down 
 even to the water-level, is too low to allow of any con- 
 siderable melting, but the result is the same. A fragment 
 breaks off from the glacier and floats away upon the ocean, 
 and is drifted to and fro with the ocean currents. Rocks 
 which may have fallen upon the glacier from the cliffs are 
 inclosed within it, or are carried upon the top of it. 
 
GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS. 135 
 
 The fragment which has been broken off, as above de- 
 scribed, is known as an iceberg. This iceberg is dissolved 
 but slowly as it drifts south with the arctic current, often 
 ' reaching as far as the Banks of Newfoundland before it 
 disappears entirely. Often it endangers vessels crossing 
 the ocean, and it deposits at the bottom of the sea its 
 burden of rock and sand, as it melts down. The Banks 
 of Newfoundland have received constant accessions in this 
 way. It was in like manner that those great . boulders 
 which we find upon plains, like our Western prairies, were 
 deposited at a period when they were the bed of the 
 ocean, and icebergs drifted that way from the Arctics. 
 
 And thus it will be seen that the Alpine glaciers and 
 the Greenland glaciers, although disappearing by different 
 direct processes, come to the same final end — the mount- 
 ain-snows reach their natural home in the sea at last. 
 
 Many of the Greenland glaciers are of amazing extent. 
 There is one sixty miles wide. Its front is in the water, 
 and it is washed by the waves like any other coast-line. 
 The rock-cliffs on either side of it are very lofty, from five 
 hundred to a thousand feet. The ice-cliffs are from fifty 
 to three hundred. Below the surface of the water this 
 wall of ice extends downward to the bottom, and in 
 places the depth is over two thousand feet. This great 
 glacier, the largest known, lies at the head of Smith's 
 Sound, and was discovered by Dr. Kane, who called it the 
 Great Humboldt Glacier. 
 
 Another, twenty miles across, may be seen in North 
 Greenland, in the fiord of Aukpadlartok. This I have 
 surveyed, and shall have occasion to refer to it hereafter. 
 There are several that are five miles over; others two and 
 three, and indeed of every size, down to the very diminu- 
 tive one that might be called an ice rivulet. Many of 
 them have reached the sea, as already stated — some of 
 
136 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 them ages ago, others very recently ; others have not yet 
 flowed so far ; but in all cases the flow is steady, and the 
 accumulation within the inland reservoir goes on. The 
 flow of a glacier may be likened to the great flood which 
 sweeps down the valley from a broken dam. Though it 
 comes very slowly, it comes very surely. It is irresistible. 
 It moulds itself to the hill, it swells up over an acclivity, it 
 pours over a cliff, and pursues its course with a strength 
 and impulse that is grand and terrible to behold. And it 
 is not noiseless, for its movement is attended with con- 
 stant breaks, sometimes extending through its entire 
 body. The sound occasioned thereby is truly appalling. 
 The glacier is, therefore, often an object of real terror. 
 The whole region is, in fact, full of startling wonders and 
 novelties of nature. Its history is replete with violent 
 convulsions. Once those were of fire, for the country 
 shows evidence of volcanic heat ; now they are of frost. 
 The Land of Desolation is worthy of more consideration 
 than it has ever yet received from the learned and curi- 
 ous, or even the adventurous. 
 
THE SOLITARY HOUSE OF PETER MOTZFELDT. 137 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 THE SOLITARY HOUSE OF PETER MOTZFELDT. 
 
 It is time now that I should recur again to the Panther, 
 which we left steaming out of Ericsfiord. 
 
 When the revellers from the Julianashaab ball appeared 
 after breakfast we were well away at sea. Most of them 
 had either forgotten or had never been aware of the inten- 
 tion of the captain to sail so early in the day. When, 
 however, they discovered where the steamer's head was 
 pointed, they were well pleased with the sudden change, 
 and found a lively satisfaction in the prospect of new 
 fields for adventure ; all except the Prince, who was (or 
 at least so affected) much grieved that no opportunity was 
 allowed him to go ashore after the ball. The captain 
 may, indeed, have anticipated some possible mischief to 
 the young gentleman, and so lifted his anchor when all 
 were sound asleep. What, indeed, might possibly have 
 happened may be readily guessed from an account of what 
 actually transpired, according to our sagaman, who wrote 
 the following description of it : 
 
 "It was a thousand pities, sure, to wound a tender youth 
 in his most tender spot ; the ship had sailed three hours 
 when first he found that she was steaming off at least ' six 
 knot.' The youth was furious, vowed he would go back, 
 and cried, in anguish, ' Launch me that kayak.' The kayak 
 was the pilot's, so he failed to sacrifice his very wretched 
 life ; then, after groaning once or twice, he hailed the 
 steward : ' Here, man, as you love your wife, go quick 
 and bring me paper, pen, and ink. I'll write a letter ; then 
 my will, I think.' 
 
138 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 " Sad are these partings to the virgin heart — I mean the 
 heart that never felt decay ; when all the life has been the 
 sunny part ; no shadows flung into the gladsome day ; and 
 hard, indeed, it was upon our Prince ; it was his first af- 
 fair, and made him wince. No wonder ! But the ink and 
 pen were here ; and so our hero grew more reconciled ; 
 he dashed away — they say it was a tear ; and wrote, and 
 wrote, and grew exceeding wild. Here's what it was, and, 
 if you're so inclined, you may learn something of a tor- 
 tured mind : 
 
 " ' Concordia, dear ! Concordia, dear ! My heart is with 
 thee on the lonely isle ; I'm forced to say adieu to thee, 
 I fear, for I am carried off; I slept the while; I did but 
 sleep that I might dream of thee, and, sleeping, off they 
 carried me to sea. Concordia, dear ! Concordia, dear ! 
 Thou only oh this earth my heart hast got. Oh, listen to 
 me while I shed a tear, of which I have shed enough to fill 
 a pot. I'd fill a dozen could I go to thee ; then from this 
 lonely isle away we'd flee, o'er the glad waters of the deep 
 blue sea ; our thoughts quite boundless, and our hopes 
 quite glad. Those seal-skin breeches ! oh, Concordia! they 
 are bewitching, and they make me mad ; and then that 
 top - knot on thy head so fair, I've yards of ribbon for 
 thy raven hair. My messmates all, hard-hearted fellows 
 they ! do call me spooney when my pain they see. Ah ! 
 who can tell my sufferings, thou away ? I'll ever be a 
 faithful spoon to thee. My image in thy bosom once in- 
 stall, I'll take them then, ay, breeches, boots, and all.' 
 
 " Which, and much more such stuff outlandish, our hero 
 wrote unto his lady-love ; doing it in very bad Greenland- 
 ish ; he'd billed and cooed with her like turtle - dove ; 
 learning thereby a string of koos and Jcahs, and these he 
 emphasized with ohs and ahs. A language which all maid- 
 ens understand, of each and every nationality ; you may 
 
THE SOLITARY ROUSE OF PETES, MOTZFELDT. 139 
 
 write Greek and Choctaw with the hand ; a maid will 
 comprehend a sigh, you see ; and every lover, be he green 
 as grass, will wisely sigh, if he would catch his lass. 
 
 " The letter written, then the pilot went, bearing the 
 missive with abundant warning, to take it safe and go 
 where he was sent, and give it to the maiden in the morn- 
 ing. It must have touched her, Heaven only knows ! the 
 steamer steamed away ; and thus it goes ! — The tender- 
 hearted must be torn away — sometimes it is ' stern parient,' 
 sometimes steam. In this particular case you'd surely say, 
 ' The Prince is certain now to kick the beam.' Oh no, not 
 he ! The youth but went below, slept, woke, then cried, 
 ' Now for another go !' " 
 
 And another " go " he had, and we all had, sure enough, 
 but of a very different character from the Julianashaab 
 " go." 
 
 By keeping well inside the islands, which almost every- 
 where form a barrier along the Greenland coast, we man- 
 aged to escape, in a great measure, the ice which had so 
 much annoyed and alarmed us when we first "made" the 
 Land of Desolation. Towards evening, our pilot, who had 
 been on the bridge most of the day, approached the cap- 
 tain, and said : 
 
 " Captain, you see ?" 
 
 " Yes," said the captain. 
 
 " Two icebergs there — go between." 
 
 " Yes," said the captain. 
 
 "Starboard then" — explaining further the route into 
 the port — "no, hit rock — go for iceberg — port, no deep 
 water — starboard, plenty ice — port, small — starboard, 
 plenty — let go- — Kraksimeut — you see ?" 
 
 " Yes, pilot," said the captain, " certainly, clear as mud ;" 
 then, addressing himself to another quarter, he cried out, 
 " For'ad, there !" 
 
140 TEE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 " Lay out on the jib-boom and keep a sharp look-out for 
 rocks. Stand by to heave the lead." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 And now, what with dodging first one way and then 
 the other, and with taking the ice first on one bow and 
 then on the other, with shaving the rocks most uncom- 
 fortably close, they managed, between the pilot and the 
 captain, to give the Panther a pretty lively time of it, un- 
 til we had finally come into a very narrow basin of water, 
 where, in apparent danger of running our jib-boom into a 
 solitary house, the order was given- to "let go" — and we 
 were at anchor in the harbor of Kraksimeut. 
 
 There was a great number of people about the solitary 
 house. So far as appearances went, Kraksimeut com- 
 prised this one house only, and it was but one story high. 
 Over it floated a Danish flag about the size of a pocket- 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " My house," said our pilot. " Governor's house, Kraksi- 
 meut — me Governor." 
 
 Our pilot was Peter Motzfeldt, already mentioned in 
 a previous chapter ; and a right noble fellow is Peter Motz- 
 feldt, if he does live in a solitary house, and is governor of 
 Kraksimeut. 
 
 Kraksimeut stands upon a very small island, on the 
 very outer extremity of the dividing ridge between the 
 fiord which we had left and the fiord for which we were 
 bound. In order to reach it, we have sailed north-west ; 
 to reach our next halting-place in the other fiord, we are 
 to sail north-east. It is a good half-way station, and we 
 resolve to spend the night there. 
 
 Peter Motzfeldt invites us ashore, and ashore we go to 
 the government-house. The people we see are like those 
 of Julianashaab ; they smell of fish exceedingly. There is 
 
THE SOLITARY HOUSE OF PETER MOTZFELDT. 141 
 
 not another white man except Peter Motzfeldt. His wife 
 is there, but she is a native, and has the inevitable native 
 boots, and seal-skin pantaloons, and short jacket, and horn- 
 like top-knot of hair, tied about with a profuse quantity 
 of ribbons. Peter Motzfeldt's twenty odd children are 
 there, including the two boat-loads heretofore mentioned, 
 who had gone down to Julianashaab to see the sights, and 
 have returned in anticipation of our arrival. 
 
 The scenery around this solitary house is dreary enough ; 
 there are only faint traces of vegetation in the crevasses 
 of the rocks, and there is a glimpse of water only to be 
 seen here and there among the icebergs and islands ; but 
 there is a golden sky above the setting sun, and golden 
 splendors dropped from heaven upon the sparkling jewelry 
 of the sea. 
 
 I took a walk about the island, and came back to the 
 solitary house, after all my comrades had assembled there, 
 to encounter a great surprise. Instead of finding this only 
 white inhabitant of the place 
 
 "Steeped in poverty to the very lips," 
 
 he was rejoicing in abundance. Eatables and drinkables 
 were on the table in great profusion ; pipes, tobacco, and 
 even cigars, were circulating freely, and a livelier party 
 than that which greeted me on my arrival would be diffi- 
 cult to imagine. They had literally taken possession of 
 all there was to see of Kraksimeut, including Motzfeldt 
 himself, whose genial face beamed upon me through the 
 mists which arose from a steaming punch-bowl ; and, as 
 he stretched out a hand to give me welcome, he bowled 
 down at least half a dozen bottles. 
 
 "Have a cigar?" said the Prince, passing along a box 
 out of a smoky cloud. " Capital Havanas ! plenty of the 
 same sort left." 
 
143 TEE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 The Prince was clearly quite at home, as usual, and was 
 already looking out generally for the public pleasures ; for 
 he continued : 
 
 "Lively times expected. Old chap there has sent for 
 girls, and we're to have a dance." 
 
 And sure enough he had ; for the girls came streaming 
 in presently, and there was a repetition of the Julianas- 
 haab " break-down " (I know no better title by which to 
 distinguish it). Of course, the Prince managed to pick 
 out the prettiest girl, who had the advantage of being the 
 daughter of Motzfeldt, and, by a pleasant coincidence, bore 
 also the name of Concordia. This one had black hair and 
 eyes, however. But, since there did not appear to be any 
 Marcus to torment, the young gentleman clearly preferred 
 the girl (with the auburn hair) he had left behind him. 
 
 Kraksimeut is one of the dozen principal outposts of the 
 Julianashaab district, and the most remote one on the 
 north ; and it is, besides, one of the most productive. Its 
 products are exclusively (if we except a little eider-down), 
 the skins and blubber of seals ; and during the season it 
 is, according to all accounts, a very lively place. Peter 
 Motzfeldt gets his pay out of the colony's production^ 
 upon which he receives five per cent. This, added to his 
 salary (one hundred Danish dollars), makes his income over 
 a thousand dollars of that money annually, and sometimes 
 reaches fifteen hundred, which equals about seven hundred 
 and fifty of ours. Upon this he has lived happily, as he 
 says, and I do not doubt it, for fifty years. He has raised 
 two families, and provides now for twenty-four persons, 
 himself and wife included. This wife is a most tidy per- 
 son, a native, with a slight mixture of Danish blood, and 
 dresses always in the native costume. Indeed, there is 
 not, and never was, a petticoat in Kraksimeut. From 
 pitying Peter Motzfeldt, as I did at first, I began in the 
 
THE SOLITARY SOUSE OF PETER MOTZFELDT. 143 
 
 end to wonder whether he was not a most sensible fellow 
 after all, when I discovered that his income was more than 
 sufficient for his needs, and that even, although his family- 
 was large, he lacked for nothing that he wished to send 
 for from Copenhagen. Really, it is not so bad after all, to 
 be the solitary white man, in a solitary house, on a soli- 
 tary island. 
 
 Besides the Motzfeldt family, there are about forty other 
 inhabitants, all natives, who live in the usual native huts, 
 that^re scarcely distinguishable in the general waste of 
 rock. 
 
 I found that an American had been at Kraksimeut be- 
 fore, and that Motzfeldt preserved the most lively recol- 
 lection of the "Americana," who had taught him the lit- 
 tle English he knew, and instructed him to sing "Yank 
 Doodle " and " Hail Columby," which he repeated for us 
 with variations not originally made and provided. This 
 American was Colonel Shaffner, who some years ago, after 
 the first failure of the Atlantic Cable, interested himself 
 to establish a line by way of the Faroe Islands, Iceland, 
 Greenland, and Labrador; and it was a pity that his 
 scheme was impossible of success. You would think so at 
 least if you heard Pejer Motzfeldt praise him ; and I doubt 
 not that he well deserved it all, for there have been few 
 more spirited enterprises set on foot this many a day. I 
 say it was impossible of success ; not that the cable might 
 not be laid and the shore-end secured, but it would be 
 simply absurd to think of keeping it in a sea where ice- 
 bergs ground in two or three hundred fathoms water. 
 
 On board the steamship Panther there was a man, com- 
 mon enough in point of rank, but the like of which never 
 was seen before with respect to qualities. He was the 
 mate. Why he was ever put there in that capacity, unless 
 it was to " try our virtue by affliction," I can not imagine. 
 
144 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 He would beat a " reformer " any day for wrong-headed- 
 ness, or a discontented donkey for obstinacy. As if these 
 qualities were not enough, he was afflicted wfth the curi- 
 osity of a magpie. But the particular direction of his 
 curiosity was aquatic. He was great on finding bottom. 
 Upon one occasion he tried to find it by dropping over- 
 board a gun ; on another he got into a kayak and shoved 
 off from the ship's side, to find himself very quickly head 
 downward, with the boat fast to his heels ; and he would 
 have been as certain of drowning as if he had undertaken 
 to swim with his feet fast to a bladder, had his head not 
 struck bottom, where luckily there was a lot of sea-weed, 
 which he grasped and drew himself out among the shells 
 and slime ; there he got a footing, and, the water being 
 shoal; he came right side up, with a great deal of water 
 and very little breath in him. Had his disposition to find 
 the bottom with the top of his head terminated there, it 
 would have been well; but unhappily his weakness ex- 
 tended to the Panther's keel. If there was the remotest 
 chance of putting her on the rocks at any time, he was 
 sure to make the effort. And he was, moreover, very sly. 
 He always waited until the captain was down below or 
 had gone ashore, before he gave his mind to it. At Krak- 
 simeut, he waited until the captain was well enveloped in 
 a cloud of smoke, in the house of Peter Motzfeldt, before 
 he tried the depth of the water in the harbor. Slacking 
 up a rope, or neglecting to put out one, it matters not 
 which, he let the Panther swing with the tide, and her 
 stern slid up as nicely on a rock as if she were coming to 
 her bearings in a dry-dock. This astonishing mate then, 
 with great apparent satisfaction, looked over the stern, 
 and amidst the mud and sea-weed, which had been loos- 
 ened, and which was bubbling up about the rudder-post, 
 there read XIV. ; and thus he had found the depth of 
 
TEE SOLITARY HOUSE OF PETER MOTZFELDT. 145 
 
 Kraksimeut harbor, and was satisfied. Then he smoked 
 his pipe while waiting for the water to fall ; and we came 
 on board to find the Panther's stern going steadily out of 
 the sea, with great danger of breaking her unfortunate 
 back. Meanwhile the mate was never before known to be 
 in such capital spirits. 
 
 Fortunately, as it happened, the Panther was not mate- 
 rially damaged, owing to her amazing strength of back- 
 bone; but we were detained nearly a whole tide beyond 
 our time. But when at length under way, we had a splen- 
 did sail among the islands, until we struck the open water 
 of the fiord of Sermitsialik, when we stood fairly up mid- 
 way between its lofty banks, directly for the glacier. 
 
 For a time we could not see the object that our eyes so 
 eagerly sought, owing to a bend in the fiord, but, passing 
 this, a great long line of whiteness came gradually out 
 against the sky, and beneath it dropped a white curtain 
 to the sea. As we proceeded this seeming curtain be- 
 came a solid wall. 
 
 G 
 
146 TUE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GLACIER. 
 
 How shall I describe the scene which steadily opened 
 to us as we steamed rapidly up the fiord. 
 
 Imagine it ! The fiord is two miles wide ; the valley 
 beyond is of corresponding width, and the glacier fills it 
 perfectly. How thick it is, of course, can not be told, but 
 hundreds of feet it must be everywhere ; it is probably 
 from one to two thousand feet in many places. The banks 
 of the fiord continued to be the banks of the glacier for 
 about ten miles, gradually vanishing to a wedge-like 
 point, and merging then into the great mer de glace, 
 which, expanding to the right and left above the highest 
 hills, carries the eye away upon its boundless surface as 
 upon the ocean. 
 
 At length the inclined plane was lost; the distant line 
 of the mer de glace was lost also, and we were beneath a 
 line of ice-cliffs from one to two hundred feet high, as 
 Clear as the purest crystal, and emblazoned with all the 
 hues of heaven. 
 
 A cold shudder crept over me as the vessel steamed in 
 close to the front of this great reservoir of frost. The 
 sound of falling waters filled the air, and ever and anon 
 deep sounds, which seemed like convulsions of the earth, 
 were emitted from it. The falling waters were of melted 
 snow and ice from the surface of the glacier, which, gather- 
 ing into streams of considerable size, leaped over the cliffs, 
 and sent a cloud of spray floating away upon the air to re- 
 solve the sun's rays, giving back to the eye the fluttering 
 
THE GLACIER. 149 
 
 fragment of a rainbow. The sounds were occasioned by 
 the movement of the glacier in its bed, and the resulting 
 chasms which opened from time to time in the ice. 
 
 We probably enjoyed here an opportunity such as was 
 never enjoyed by any previous explorer. I know of no 
 glacier accessible as this is, for the reason that the fiords 
 are interrupted either with islands or shoals, which, by 
 preventing the free discharge of the icebergs that break 
 from the glacier front, render the navigation of the waters 
 quite impossible, even to a boat. Such is the character 
 of the glacier of Jacobshavn, in Disco Bay, North Green- 
 land, which I have made the most strenuous efforts to as- 
 cend, and which is crowded with a perfect wilderness of 
 icebergs for the space of nearly thirty miles, often being 
 so tightly packed together as to be scarcely distinguisha- 
 ble from the surface of the glacier itself, even when one 
 looks down upon the fiord from an elevation of a thou- 
 sand feet. 
 
 But the fiord of Sermitsialik presents no such embar- 
 rassing feature. The water steadily deepens from the 
 glacier front (where in one place it is 270 fathoms) to- 
 wards the sea; and the current being rapid, owing to 
 causes which I shall presently have occasion to explain, 
 the icebergs float away as fast as formed. While coming 
 up, we passed several of large and many of small size, but 
 none of them were aground, and all were hurrying out to 
 the ocean, as if in haste to mingle their crystal particles 
 with the rolling waves, and once more enjoy the freedom 
 of the boundless sea. 
 
 We approached the glacier to the left, and when so near 
 that we had barely more than room to wheel about we 
 changed our course, and slowly steamed over to the oppo- 
 site side, a distance, as I have before observed, of nearly 
 two miles. 
 
150 .THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 I have spoken of the glacier front as a wall, a cliff, and 
 a coast-line. As a coast-line it is winding; as a wall or 
 cliff it is perfectly vertical; but it is far from smooth. 
 On the contrary, it presents the most fantastic collection 
 of forms that can be conceived of — caves that are ap- 
 parently limitless, peaks like church spires in symmetry, 
 Gothic arches, clefts that wind away until they are lost in 
 deep blue. And in this blue we see the most perfect of 
 all transparent hues, changing too with every moment, 
 and subtle as the colors of the opal. Talk of painting it ! 
 the " light of a dark eye in woman " would not be more 
 difficult. The green of the caves is not less subtle, nor 
 less beautiful. This green is observed wherever the ice 
 overhangs the water. In the sunlight the surface is pure 
 white, except where there has occurred a recent fracture ; 
 and the effect is that of the most delicate satin, in all its 
 changes of surface, produced by the different angles in 
 which the light is reflected to the eye. 
 
 We enjoyed a most excellent opportunity of observing 
 all these phenomena while passing over, as we went only 
 at half speed, and spent almost an hour in reaching the op- 
 posite side. Near the centre, and not far from the front 
 of the glacier, we found the deepest water, the color of 
 which changed, soon after passing the centre, from a light 
 green to a dirty brown. The cause of this was soon ex- 
 plained. The eastern side of the valley, in which the gla- 
 cier rests, is much deeper than the other side, and the 
 waters from the surface of the mer de glace, and the gla- 
 cier itself, which find their way down through the chasms, 
 gather in the deepest portion of the valley, and, rushing 
 on over the rocks beneath the ice, reach, finally, the front 
 of the glacier, where they bubble up like a huge, seething 
 caldron — a Stygian pool of fearful aspect. This muddy 
 water discolors that side of the fiord all the way to the 
 
THE OLA CIHS. 151 
 
 sea; a circumstance which I was quite at a loss to ac- 
 count for until I had actually witnessed the cause of it, 
 and seen the Panther carried, by the force of the current, 
 bodily off from the glacier against the action of her helm. 
 
 I have mentioned the irregularity of the line of the 
 glacier front. It presented numerous projecting angles. 
 Near the centre, it forms almost a right angle. Thus do 
 we observe how much more rapidly the centre of the gla- 
 cier moves than its sides. 
 
 Having reached the southern shore, we discovered the 
 water to shoal very rapidly at thirty fathoms from the 
 rocks, showing that there was a wide shelf there ; and, 
 upon ascertaining that it was good holding-ground, and 
 finding nineteen fathoms, we anchored, and swung into 
 the stream, which was there found to flow at the rate of 
 four knots, thus accounting for our inability to cross over 
 without drifting away from the glacier. Our anchorage 
 was a hundred fathoms only from the ice-cliff, and this 
 rising two hundred feet above the surface of the water, 
 it seemed, at that short distance, to be hanging almost 
 over us. To one at all familiar with the tricks of gla- 
 ciers it was evident, from the first, that the situation was 
 one of danger. But the captain, who was solely responsi- 
 ble for the vessel, appeared to like his holding-ground, 
 which was thick mud, and said that if we were going to 
 stay at the glacier, there's where the Panther must con- 
 tinue, for there was no other anchorage, as he could see. 
 It was accordingly determined to take the risks, such as 
 they might be, and hold on there until the morning, at 
 the least. 
 
 We went ashore after supper and, climbing over the 
 rugged rocks, ascended to the summit of a hill twelve 
 hundred feet above the sea, and saw the sun go down be- 
 hind the mountains; and against the brightness of the 
 
152 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 sky, in the lingering twilight, we beheld the great ice-sea 
 of Greenland, lighted with the gorgeous tintings of the 
 clouds. Oh, what a sight it was ! — that desert waste — its 
 cold, hard surface glittering with a borrowed splendor, 
 and taking to itself the robes of heaven, as if to cheat the 
 memory of its right to hold it as the very type of what 
 might ever bear the name of Desolate. 
 
U&OMSINU THE GLACIER. 153 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CROSSING THE GLACIER. 
 
 The night did not prove promising for the safety of the 
 Panther. At intervals alarming sounds proceeded from 
 the glacier, and now and then a quick sharp crack, fol- 
 lowed by a heavy thud, would tell us that a mass had 
 split from it and fallen to the sea, which in the morning 
 was covered with small fragments that had been thus dis- 
 engaged ; and masses, some of them of considerable size, 
 were drifting past the vessel with the current. 
 
 At an early hour I set out to cross the fiord, accompa- 
 nied by the captain, with the purpose of seeking a har- 
 bor, or at least a more safe anchorage. Owing to the 
 loose ice, the passage was not accomplished without diffi- 
 culty. In many places the boat .could not be propelled 
 with oars, and we were obliged to push our way along by 
 main force, using the boat-hooks and the oars as poles. 
 
 The scene had greatly changed in every respect from 
 the day before. Besides the fragments of ice upon the 
 sea that had been broken off during the night, the sky 
 was leaden, and there was a perfect absence of color 
 everywhere. The ice was a dull cold gray, the atmos- 
 phere was chilly, and, although our labors were by no 
 means lightj overcoats were not uncomfortably warm. 
 The sun had scarcely risen above the hills when we 
 reached our destination^ where we were fortunate enough 
 to find a good anchoring-ground, with plenty of room to 
 swing, in a bay where there was no current and very 
 little ice. There being only five fathoms water, there was 
 
 G2 
 
154 THE LAND Oil 1 DESOLATION. 
 
 no chance of any large pieces of ice coming down upon 
 us. Accordingly it was determined to shift our ground ; 
 but, since we had come so far, we concluded that we would 
 go farther ; and so we landed, to find ourselves upon a 
 green slope, with the side of the glacier to our right, a 
 cliff to our left, and a gorge in front. Over the green 
 slope we walked half a mile, then through the gorge a mile 
 farther; and, having arrived at this point, we concluded 
 to cross the glacier, and to return to the opposite side of 
 the fiord on foot rather than by boat. So we sent back 
 our crew and set out upon a hazardous adventure. 
 
 The captain, always ready for any proposition of an ad- 
 venturous nature, had quickly responded to my own de- 
 sires ; in fact, he was the only man on board who was al- 
 ways prepared for whatever might turn up. Such anoth- 
 er captain there never was, as I believe. Brave almost to 
 temerity ; yet, possessing excellent judgment, he was just 
 the man to get into a difficulty, and the very man to get 
 out of it. Although only twenty-five years old, he had, 
 nevertheless, been eight years in command of one sort of 
 craft or another, and was a thorough sailor. Buoyant 
 and clever besides, he was always good company ; but on 
 a journey his indefatigable zeal and long legs were apt to 
 lead his companions a lively race. 
 
 We had no difficulty in climbing the side of the glacier, 
 at a point where the slope was almost thirty degrees. 
 The ice here contained much foreign matter — stones and 
 sand — which deprived it entirely of a slippery character. 
 In a few minutes we were on the summit, and a dreary 
 scene it was that met us there. Imagine the rapids above 
 Niagara Falls congealed to the very bottom ; the falls 
 and river frozen everywhere, and Lake Erie solid: then 
 imagine the banks above the falls lofty like those below, 
 and yourself standing on the rapids. Imagine Lake Erie 
 
CROSBING THE GLACIER. 155 
 
 so near that you can see its frozen surface, and you have, 
 on a small scale, the mer de glace which we saw when 
 looking at the glacier. The frozen rapids are the glacier 
 itself; the falls below, the glacier's front (with the horse- 
 shoe reversed) ; the river sweeping down to Lake Ontario 
 is the fiord ; and Ontario itself the ocean, into which the 
 icebergs drift that break away from the glacier, and go 
 off with the current. 
 
 There is this great difference, however — the river, from 
 bank to bank, is straight upon the surface, while the gla- 
 cier curves. The accompanying cuts will better illustrate 
 my meaning. 
 
 It was along the gorge formed by the curve of the gla- 
 cier on the one side, and the slope of the land on the oth- 
 er, that we made our way up from the sea, all except the 
 first' half mile, which, as I have said before, was over a 
 green slope, formed by the lofty land breaking away and 
 leaving a beautiful spot which is one day destined to be 
 completely covered with the ice-flood. And it was such 
 a beautiful spot that I could but regret its ultimate blot- 
 ting out ; for, notwithstanding the wall of ice that was so 
 close to it, it was covered with thick brush-wood, consist- 
 ing of birch, dwarf- willow, and juniper; among which 
 were matted tufts of heather, crake-berry, and whortle- 
 berry ; and many bright flowers were here and there scat- 
 tered over a rich turf of grass and moss. A greater con- 
 trast could hardly be imagined than between this spot of 
 green which we had left and the glacier upon which we 
 stood. 
 
156 TME LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Here the glacier is two and a half miles wide. To cross 
 it was no easy matter; nor was the effort without dan- 
 ger, for it was full of cracks, into which we were constant- 
 ly in dread of falling from the slippery ridges which sep- 
 arated them. These cracks, or crevasses, were, in a gen- 
 eral way, parallel, running inward and upward from the 
 shore at angles varying with the locality, hut averaging 
 ahout forty degrees. In places they were very near to- 
 gether, heing separated hy only a few yards; in other 
 places they were twenty or thirty yards apart. But they 
 were continually running into and crossing each other, 
 although pursuing a general sameness of direction. It 
 was this circumstance that gave to our journey its dan- 
 gerous character ; for as we followed the ridges in their 
 course inward and upward we were, from time to time, 
 hrought to a stand at a sharp jpoint where the two chasms 
 united. We had then to sfuaj5gH)ver an unfathomable 
 ahyss, or to retrace our steps and seek a better track. 
 Sometimes we did the one, sometimes the other.. Lucki- 
 ly we were both sure of foot ; yet the leaps were often 
 such as could only have been made under the spur of cu- 
 riosity to see, or the no less common one of unwillingness 
 to abandon an undertaking. 
 
 Towards the middle the travelling became better. Here, 
 for the space of a couple of miles, there was a dead level, 
 and the ice was very little disturbed ; while above, where 
 the glacier appeared to have poured over a precipice, or 
 at least down a very rapid descent, there was the most 
 wonderful jumble that can be conceived of. The crevas- 
 ses there ran in every direction, though the prevailing one 
 was, as in other places, inward and upward. The ice ap- 
 peared at one point to have been let down by successive 
 stages, forming a series of terraces, or escalades, which 
 might be likened to the steps of some giant temple. In- 
 
CROSSING THE QLAVlEJi. 157 
 
 deed, it was a stairway befitting the grand palaces of na- 
 ture which lie away upon the mountain-tops beyond. 
 
 I never tread these ice-wildernesses without awe. One 
 sees so much, and yet so little. There is nothing to with- 
 draw the attention from one sole manifestation of nature. 
 In other places as in the forest, where there is life in va- 
 rious forms ; by the sea-shore, where there is perceptible 
 movement, and at all times something suggestive of life ; 
 anywhere, indeed, almost, the thoughts are not concen- 
 trated upon one, and only one, peculiar force. There is 
 something almost terrible in this boundless desolation. 
 God seems nearer in these deserts ; His laws, which never 
 change, are not hidden from the consciousness by delight- 
 ed senses ; and the mind is there inspired with a lofty 
 emotion when contemplating the simple grandeur of His 
 handiwork. 
 
 I was particularly impressed on the present occasion. 
 The groaning of the mighty river of ice, which could not 
 have been less than a thousand feet in depth, was con- 
 stant, and proceeded from every side; even beneath my 
 feet there seemed to be an uneasy trembling ; and how 
 much soever I might have been alarmed, I would not 
 have been surprised had a yawning chasm opened beside 
 me or underneath me at any moment. 
 
 These deep voices of the ice were, however, not the 
 only sounds that greeted the ear ; for rivulets meandered 
 here and there over the icy plain. In one place many of 
 these uniting formed a considerable stream, that ultimately 
 found a crack into which it fell roaring and hissing down 
 through all the vast depth of ice to the glacier's bed, there 
 to help swell the stream which, as before described, pours 
 out from beneath the glacier into the fiord. 
 
 By this time the sun was well up, and the day was 
 gi'owing warm. Even here, upon the summit of the gla- 
 
158 TEM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 cier, the temperature was not at all chilly or uncomforta- 
 ble. The ice and snow were melting rapidly, and our in- 
 convenience was rather from dampness than from cold, 
 for we were often, in our efforts to get along, compelled 
 to crawl upon all-fours, or even flat upon our bellies, to 
 get over treacherous places, so that our clothing was soon 
 thoroughly water-soaked. 
 
 In crossing the middle part of the glacier we experi- 
 enced little difficulty ; but when we had begun to descend 
 towards the opposite shore from where we had started, 
 our troubles of the beginning were renewed, and even 
 magnified. It became often a serious question whether 
 we could proceed at all — whether we would not, after all 
 our labor, be compelled to return. The crevasses were 
 then of great width, much too wide for us to spring over, 
 and, after winding to and fro, springing here and there, 
 we were several times forced to take our leaps over again 
 on the backward track, as there was no place to be found 
 where a leap forward seemed possible. At length, as we 
 neared the shore, the case became desperate. After much 
 effort we found ourselves out upon a very acute angle, 
 with a deep chasm on each side. Two crevasses had here 
 crossed ; but from the two sharp points there appeared to 
 be a bridge, or at least a connecting link. When the 
 cracks were formed a large mass of ice had apparently 
 fallen off, and become wedged between the walls as one 
 sometimes sees a rock in a mountain gorge. It had not 
 fallen far, and was not difficult of access, but it was sharp 
 like a house-roof, and slippery as a house-roof when cov- 
 ered with sleet. It was, clearly, take this natural bridge, 
 or turn back and return over all the tedious distance 
 which we had already traversed. This, however, was not 
 to be thought of while there was a possible chance ; so 
 we tossed hats for the first venture, and the lot fell to me. 
 
O THE OREVABSK ON AN IOF. BRIDGE. 
 
CROSSING THE GLACIER. 161 
 
 Getting down on all-fours, I crawled out as far as I 
 could go in that way. I then bestrode the ridge, and pro- 
 pelled myself along upon my bare hands, making a few 
 inches headway with each effort. On either side there 
 was a bridge, with a yawning depth of blue beneath me 
 melting into" darkness most profound," from which came 
 the roar of falling waters. It fairly made my head swim 
 as I clung insecurely to the sharp, narrow, slippery bridge 
 and looked down first one side, then the other, into the 
 abyss. Retreat I could not, even if so disposed, for I 
 had descended from the start, and could not back myself 
 up with my hands, nor could I turn round. There was 
 nothing to do but push ahead ; and this I did, cheered on 
 by the captain's shouts to be careful and not break down 
 the bridge, for he wanted the use of it. Finally, the effort 
 was rewarded with success, and as I scrambled up the 
 slope and along the ridge of the other side to a place 
 where I could sit down and rest myself, I experienced a 
 profound sensation of relief. The captain followed, and, 
 after accomplishing the feat successfully, as I had done, he 
 said, looking back at the dangerous pass, " Well, I don't 
 want any more of that sort of thing," a sentiment which I 
 very heartily echoed. But the very next crack we took, 
 although having much less the appearance of risk, had 
 like to have proved fatal to me, for, on a leap of about 
 eight feet I partly missed my footing, and fell short of my 
 intended mark. When I felt myself going back I experi- 
 enced that horrid sinking feeling which comes over one 
 only with the prospect of immediate death, without the 
 chance for a struggle. So far as I could know, I was 
 gone; and in an instant more I should have been plung- 
 ing down into the chasm, had not my foot brought up on 
 a slight projection, which gave me an opportunity to use 
 my hands ; and the captain coming now to my assistance, 
 
162 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 I scrambled up to a place of safety. After this we en- 
 countered no more serious difficulties, and, discovering a 
 smooth slope, we descended by it to the shore, which we 
 reached very wet, very sore, and much fatigued. 
 
 We were about two miles now from the vessel, which 
 distance was traversed through a gorge corresponding to 
 that by which we had ascended on the opposite side 
 of the glacier. It was, however, much rougher, and the 
 shore being more abrupt, the disturbance, both of rock 
 and ice, was much greater. And here we observe a most 
 interesting feature of the glacier movement and formation. 
 
 n CM TTO.I.S 
 
 f i .o n B 
 
 / ^?- 
 
 
 iUK.H..inmr,s 
 
 The glacier, in its progress down the valley into the fiord, 
 must necessarily adapt itself to every inequality of the 
 bank. But this is not done without serious resistance. 
 Thousands and millions of tons of earth, sand, and rock 
 are rooted up, and pushed aside when the glacier expands 
 into the side valleys, and, when a solid cliff receives the 
 pressure, the crushed and disturbed condition of the ice, 
 as the glacier impinges against the rock, shows how im- 
 
csossusra the glacier. 163 
 
 mensely powerful is the force. Something must give way 
 before this irresistible flood. In" one place there was a 
 ridge rolled up to the height of fifty feet, and rocks weigh- 
 ing hundreds of tons were treated as if they were the 
 merest pebbles turned over and scattered by the mould- 
 board of a plough. 
 
 Our descent through the gorge was not without inter- 
 est of another character. Down near the fiord the dis- 
 turbance of the ice had been greatest in consequence of 
 passing over a more rapid declivity, and here several 
 cracks opened from the bottom, and, closing more or less 
 perfectly at about fifty feet altitude, appeared like the 
 mouths to great caverns. Inspired by curiosity, I entered 
 one of these, to find myself scrambling along over rocks 
 and through deep mud, while water dropped down upon 
 my head in torrents, for a distance of about thirty yards, 
 when I came upon the border of a rushing stream of 
 muddy water. This was the stream already mentioned, 
 which gushes out from beneath the glacier's front. 
 
 Of all the signs and tokens of watery tumult that I have 
 ever witnessed this excelled them all. The roar of the 
 fast-flowing stream as it dashed down the steep declivity 
 over the rocks beneath, and against the ice above, break- 
 ing around the enormous boulders upon which the glacier 
 was supported, was perfectly deafening. I had come in 
 alongside of a ledge of a rock about ten feet high, upon 
 which the ice rested firmly. This ledge, terminating 
 where I stood, formed a protecting barrier, behind which 
 I could witness the spectacle in perfect security, though 
 not with comfort, for to be drenched with ice-water is not 
 at all agreeable. 
 
 As I stood here, I realized more perfectly than ever be- 
 fore the process by which' have been formed those mark- 
 ings on the rocks which Professor Agassiz has so conspicu- 
 
164 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ously pointed out in regions which were once covered with 
 ice during the glacial epoch. The effect of this enormous 
 pressure of these hundreds of feet of ice that were above 
 my head, sliding down over the rocks, and rolling upon 
 the boulders, was there evident to the senses. The mova- 
 ble rocks were being rounded or ground to powder, and the 
 bed was being scarred with deep and ineffaceable scratch- 
 es. Below me the bottom of the cavern allowed of my con- 
 tinuing down beside the stream about fifty feet to a point 
 where both a stream of light and a stream of water were 
 admitted into the blackness through a wide crevasse. 
 
 Curiosity once satisfied, I began to realize the perilous 
 situation into which I had thus voluntarily come. The 
 darkness through which I was groping made it not im- 
 probable that I might stumble and plunge headlong into 
 the muddy river and be borne away by the 
 
 "Dark water that tumbled through the gloom." 
 
 Then it seemed as if the great arch might give way and 
 bury me in its ruins, or a mass might break off from above, 
 and, falling upon my head, crush me to death ; and while 
 creeping cautiously along, with my face turned towards 
 the opening by which I had rashly entered, and with no 
 longer an unsatisfied longing to quiet my fears, I could 
 not but accuse myself of an absurd temerity, when I suf- 
 fered myself to be led into a place where, 
 
 "Bellowing, there groaned 
 A voice as of a sea in tempest torn 
 By warring winds." 
 
 I was soon, however, in the open air again, and as thor- 
 oughly water-soaked as if I had fallen bodily into the sea; 
 and being perfectly chilled, I did not long delay in finding 
 my way down to the beach, where I joined the captain, 
 
CROSSING THE GLACIER. 165 
 
 who was awaiting me. He had hailed for a boat, and 
 I was soon out of my shivering condition, but not soon 
 enough to prevent me from moralizing over the unfathom- 
 able depths of human folly, while yet reflecting upon the 
 wonders we had seen, and the unusual adventures we had 
 experienced during our morning walk ; for be it known 
 we had started off without breakfast, and after six hours' 
 continuous labor we were returning at eleven o'clock, with 
 stomachs which could not be beaten for emptiness. It is 
 only in such a bracing air as that of the Arctic regions 
 that one can endure such continued exposure without suf- 
 fering severe prostration. The idea that people necessari- 
 ly consume more food in that region than another, is a pop- 
 ular error. Excessive feeding is everywhere a habit and 
 not a necessity ; but as " the sleep of the laboring man is 
 sweet," so is his appetite vigorous everywhere. 
 
166 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SPECULATIONS. 
 
 I tettst that I have made plain, even to the least scientific 
 of my readers, the nature of the glacier which we are visit- 
 ing, as well as the general principles of glacier formation 
 and movement. Why ice, a solid, firm substance, should 
 move in obedience to the same laws which govern the 
 movements of fluids ; why, for instance, a glacier should, 
 like a river, move more rapidly at its centre than near its 
 banks, is a question which the wisest philosophers have 
 sufficiently discussed without my attempting it here. 
 Taking the fact for granted, and knowing that the vast 
 reservoir of ice in the interior of Greenland is the great 
 source of supply to all the glaciers that pour to the sea 
 through the mountain-passes, we may here, I think, not in- 
 appropriately, pause a little to watch the progress of this 
 glacier of Sermitsialik. 
 
 Even within the period of a generation it has undergone 
 very perceptible changes. Peter Motzfeldt has told me 
 that fifty years ago he walked across the valley in front 
 of it, and plucked whortleberries upon the identical spot 
 where I had gone into the ice-cavern to hear the waters 
 rushing to the sea. He pointed out to me the line of the 
 glacier front at that time, so far as he could remember it 
 (and the memory of such men is apt to be accurate) ; and, 
 accepting his memory as correct, the movement of the gla- 
 cier from that time to the present has been about seven 
 (V) inches daily, the distance being a fraction over two 
 miles. 
 
WiMMmmSXMM. 
 
SPECULATIONS. 169 
 
 With this positive assurance before us we may, in im- 
 agination, witness the spectacle of this glacier's growth. 
 Going back to the time when it first emerged from the 
 mer de glace (to the time when the ice first began to bulge 
 downward into the valley which it now fills completely), 
 we see the valley clothed with verdure, sparrows chirrup- 
 ing among the branches of the stunted trees, herds of 
 reindeer browsing upon its abundant pastures, and drink- 
 ing from a stream of limpid water which, melting from the 
 glacier, pours down over the same precipices, and through 
 the same defiles which the ice now fills and covers. This 
 must have been about two hundred and fifty years ago, 
 since the distance from the sea to where the break oc- 
 curs in the mountain-chain through which the ice-stream 
 emerges into the valley is about ten miles. We see it 
 then just appearing, and we watch its progress through 
 this long time. Its front is hundreds of feet high and 
 miles across. We observe the icy flood moving steadily 
 and irresistibly onward, over precipices, down steep de- 
 clivities, upon level plains — sometimes advancing with 
 comparative rapidity, sometimes slowly, but steadily, year 
 by year, coming towards the fiord. We see it swallowing 
 up rocks and pastures ; we see the deer retire farther and 
 farther down the valley with each returning year ; we see 
 the hillocks within the valley overwhelmed with the flood 
 of ice, the crystal stream pouring over and around them 
 as if it were some semi-fluid substance ; we hear the crack- 
 ing of the ice as the strain here and there becomes too 
 great ; and we hear, too, the echoing sound of the ava- 
 lanche of ice and snow, crumbling from its front, and 
 crashing down into the plain beneath. We thus watch 
 the ice-stream until the front of it has reached the fiord. 
 But here it does not stop. The bed of the sea is but a 
 continuation of the same inclined plain as the bed of the 
 
 H 
 
170 TSS LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 valley, and its onward course is continued. It pushes 
 back the water; it makes a coast-line of ice where there 
 had been a beach ; and a white wall now stretches from 
 one side of the fiord to the other. As it flows onward, it 
 gets into deeper and deeper water, its foot still resting on 
 the bottom of the sea. Thus the icy wall sinks gradually 
 down as it moves along, and in course of time it has almost 
 gone out of sight. Then it gets beyond its depth. 
 
 When fresh ice floats freely in sea- water, there is one- 
 eighth of it above the surface to seven-eighths below. If 
 these proportions become disturbed — that is to say, if 
 the glacier should project far enough out into the sea and 
 
 f.y™» LC " L t '- , • ... « •; 
 
 VERTICAL SECTION OF GJ.ACIEB. * 
 
 deep water to present more than seven-eighths below to 
 one-eighth above, then the buoyancy of the water will lift 
 the end of the ice-stream until it attains its natural equi- 
 librium. To do this,. of course, a break must occur, as the 
 ice will not bend. But for a long time the continuity of 
 the ice is not interrupted — so great is its depth (many 
 hundreds of feet), so great is its width (two miles). But 
 finally it is compelled to give way ; the foi-ce applied be- 
 comes too great for its powers of resistance. A crack, 
 beginning at the bottom, is opened, with a fearful crash. 
 The crack widens, and when it is completed to the top a 
 fragment is detached. This fragment is buoyed up to its 
 proper level ; and while the loud noise of the disruption is 
 echoing among the hills, and the great waves of its cre- 
 ating are rolling away, the monstrous mass is coming 
 
SPECULATIONS. 171 
 
 slowly to rest, ready to float off with the current to the 
 ocean. This fragment, as we have already seen, is the ice- 
 berg. Its birth, as we shall presently notice, is attended 
 with the most violent disturbance of the sea and air, and 
 presents a magnificent spectacle. 
 
 The accompanying vertical section of the glacier of Ser- 
 mitsialik, run up its axis from the fiord to its junction with 
 the mer de glace (a distance of ten miles), will illustrate 
 the fact I wish to prove, and the theory I wish to illus- 
 trate. The view of the same glacier, on page 14V, will 
 still further aid the reader ; and this, examined in connec- 
 tion with the small map on page 162, will explain what 
 any number of words would fail to make clear. This ver- 
 tical section shows an iceberg just broken off and floating 
 away. The line of the section is from A to B, as shown 
 on the map. 
 
173 THE LAND OB' DMS0LAT10N. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MEASUREMENT OF- GLACIERS. 
 
 As we have seen, the glacier does not accommodate it- 
 self to the bed in which it rests very readily. The , sub- 
 stance, though possessing a sort of ductility, is not suffi- 
 ciently plastic to mould itself with much rapidity. A 
 sudden squall will snap a twig, or uproot a tree which a 
 gale would only bend. In like manner, the pressure upon 
 the ice becomes in places too great, and, unable to bear it, 
 the ice snaps. Professor Tyndall has said — and this is 
 borne out by my own experience — " By pressure ice can 
 be moulded to any shape, while the same ice snaps sharply 
 asunder if subjected to tension." Hence arise the great 
 crevasses which so much embarrassed the captain and my- 
 self while crossing over the glacier of Sermitsialik. These 
 cracks are therefore continually occurring. Beginning as 
 a loud and alarming peal, they become in the end a crash. 
 This particularly happens when the glacier, flowing over a 
 quick descent, moves rapidly. 
 
 In this manner are opened those crevasses already men- 
 tioned as running inward and upward from the shore, and 
 pursuing a general parallelism. The force is not that of 
 pressure, but of tension. The sides hang more or less upon 
 the shore, while the centre moves on, and thus the ice is 
 drawn apart. The shore-ice thus lags behind, and the to- 
 tal amount of that lagging is told in the aggregate width 
 of the crevasses. 
 
 I have mentioned that the rate of progress of the centre 
 of the glacier of Sermitsialik must have been about seven 
 
MEASUREMENT OF GLACIERS. 173 
 
 inches daily. Others move at the rate of five. The proc- 
 ess for this determination is simple enough. I have per- 
 formed it many times, and may thus briefly describe it. 
 
 After climbing to the surface of the glacier, I staked off 
 a base-line near the centre, and parallel with its sides. I 
 then set up a, theodolite, first at one, then at the other 
 end of this base-line, and, having connected it by careful 
 angular measurement with some well-defined object (read- 
 ily again recognized) on the land,, at the side of the gla- 
 cier, the work was done. After an interval of weeks or 
 months, the process was repeated, and then a very simple 
 trigonometrical computation revealed the fact that the 
 base-line was moving down the valley, and the rate was 
 determined to a small fraction. 
 
 The unequal movement between the centre and the 
 sides was shown by quite another method. A line of 
 stakes was set up across the glacier from shore to shore. 
 After a few weeks this line became a slight curve ; after a 
 few months the curve was very perceptible. Could the 
 observation have been continued through years, it would 
 have been like a well-bent bow, or the letter U. 
 
 Such measurements as these I once made upon a glacier 
 at Port Foulke, North Greenland. The top of the glacier 
 was reached, after much difficulty, by cutting steps with 
 an axe. The cracks were not, however, found to be so 
 wide or so numerous as those of the glacier of Sermitsialik, 
 but they were sufficient to inspire me with a lively sense 
 of the danger of such exploration. When my first exper- 
 iments were made, there was a strong wind howling down 
 from the mer de glace, bringing with it sharp, cutting 
 snow-drifts. The brass instrument which I used froze to 
 the eye, and had to be covered with buckskin. The moist- 
 ure of the breath condensed upon the lenses, and I had to 
 breathe through a tube while observing. The men who 
 
174 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 carried the chain " scorched " their fingers with the cold 
 metal. Under such circumstances the pursuit of science 
 becomes a species of martyrdom, and is therefore not 
 much in favor. 
 
 In the movement shown by these measurements we 
 have conclusively exhibited the likeness of the glacier to 
 a river, and the assertion that it is but a flowing river 
 of ice is fully borne out and proved by observation with 
 mathematical nicety. In my own experiments upon the 
 Greenland glaciers I have but followed the example and 
 practised the methods of Professors Agassiz, Forbes, Tyn- 
 dall, and others, not forgetting the experts of the Alpine 
 Club, whose explorations of the glaciers of the Alps have 
 latterly become so familiar to the public. 
 
THE BIRTH OF AN ICEBERG. 175 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 THE BIRTH OF AN ICEBERG. 
 
 I can imagine no more grand and imposing spectacle 
 than the birth of an iceberg ; and we have now, I think, 
 gone far enough in the examination of glaciers and their 
 movements to contemplate such a spectacle, which, what- 
 ever it may seem to the reader, was to me most thrilling. 
 It did not happen in connection with the Panther, and 
 may at first, therefore, seem to be a little out of place ; 
 but as it serves my purpose, I make free to use it, by way 
 of illustration. 
 
 The scene was in a fiord ten times wider than that of 
 Sermitsialik, though not much longer. Unlike that of Ser- 
 mitsialik, it was studded with islands and shoal places. 
 The glacier which terminated it was twenty miles across, 
 although not quite uniformly; for the ice had poured 
 down into the sea, and, while having blotted out some of 
 the islands, it had barely touched others ; otherwise the 
 coast-line of ice was perfect and continuous. The islands 
 and shoal places in the fiord arrest the icebergs; and 
 within ten miles or more of the glacier it is almost impos- 
 sible to go. With great difficulty I came within five, in 
 a boat. Farther I could not force my way by any possi- 
 bility ; and, accordingly, we made the land and climbed a 
 lofty hill for a view. 
 
 The fiord which I thus describe is known as the fiord 
 of Aukpadlartok, a native word signifying " the place of 
 the red rocks." I had gone up the fiord from Uperna- 
 vik to the hut of a hunter, who was the bestyrere of a 
 
176 THE LAND Off DESOLATION. 
 
 small settlement of that name belonging to the Uperna- 
 vik district. 
 
 It was a grand spectacle that met my eye as I stood 
 upon the hill-top overlooking the fiord, with its thousands 
 of icebergs, its dark rocky islands, and the immense quan- 
 tity of loose ice which filled up the space between the 
 bergs and islands, until there was scarcely a patch* of wa- 
 ter to be seen anywhere as large as a good-sized duck- 
 pond. Very different from the fiord of Sermitsialik, 
 where there were no islands nor shoals to arrest the ice in 
 its progress down the fiord. 
 
 I was accompanied by the bestyrere of Aukpadlartok, 
 whose name was Philip. We stood together looking at 
 the glacier and the great sea of ice which stretched away 
 into the interior, blending mountains and valleys into a 
 vast plain, when Philip said, "Listen ! the glacier is going 
 to ' calve ;' " for that is the name by which they distinguish 
 the breaking off of a fragment. 
 
 I heard a loud report, but I could not at once distin- 
 guish the source of it. An instant afterward it was re- 
 peated, now louder than before. It resembled the first 
 warning sound of a coming earthquake. 
 
 Philip had detected the spot whence the sound proceed- 
 ed, and said, " Look ! it is rising." 
 
 I could now see that a portion of the glacier was being 
 lifted by the water. A great wave was rolled back with 
 this upward movement, and dashed fiercely against the 
 icebergs that lay farther down the fiord. Another in- 
 stant, and the sound, which was before so deep and loud, 
 broke through the air with a crash that was like the dis- 
 charge of heavy artillery near at hand. I knew now that 
 a crack had opened in the ice-stream, and that a mass had 
 been disengaged. 
 
 The position of the crack was quickly apparent, and we 
 
TBA' BIRTH OF AN WBBERG. 177 
 
 could see that a fragment of enormous proportions had 
 been set at liberty. It first reared itself aloft as if it were 
 some huge leviathan of the deep indued with life, and was 
 sporting its unwieldy bulk in the hitherto undisturbed 
 waters. The crack had now opened wide. The detached 
 fragment plunged forward ; the front, which had been ris- 
 ing, then sunk down, while the inner side rose up, and vol- 
 umes of water that had been lifted with the sudden mo- 
 tion poured from its sides, hissing, into the foaming and 
 agitated sea. 
 
 Thus an iceberg had been born. 
 
 It would be impossible with mere words alone to con- 
 vey any adequate idea of the action of this new-born 
 child of the Arctic frosts. Think of a solid lump of ice, a 
 third of a mile deep, and more than half a mile in lateral 
 diameter, hurled like a mere toy away into the water and 
 set to rolling to and fro by the impetus of the act — as if it 
 were Nature's merest foot-ball — now down one side, until 
 the huge bulk was nearly capsized ; then back again ; then 
 down the other side once more, with the same unresisting 
 force ; and so on, up and down, and down and up, swash- 
 ing to and fro for hours before it comes finally to rest. 
 Picture this, and you will have an image of power not to 
 be seen by the action of any other forces upon the earth. 
 
 The disturbance of the water was inconceivably fine 1 '. 
 Waves of enormous magnitude were rolled up with great 
 violence against the glacier, covering it with spray; and 
 billows came tearing down the fiord, their progress marked 
 by the crackling and crumbling ice, which was everywhere 
 in a state of wildest agitation for the space of several 
 miles. Over the smaller icebergs the water broke com- 
 pletely, as if a tempest were piling up the seas and heaving 
 them fiercely against the shore. Then, to add still further 
 to the commotion thus occasioned, the great wallowing 
 
 H2 
 
178 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. . 
 
 iceberg, which was the cause of it all, was dropping frag- 
 ments from, its sides with each oscillation, the reports of 
 the rupture reaching the ear above the general din and 
 clamor. Other bergs were set in motion by the waves, 
 and these also dropped pieces from their sides; and at 
 last, as if it were the grand finale of the piece — the clash 
 of cymbals and the big bass-drum of nature's grand orches- 
 tra — a monstrous berg near the middle of the fiord split 
 in two, and, above the sound of breaking waters and fall- 
 ing ice, this last disruption filled the air with a peal that 
 rang among the bergs and crags, and, echoing from hill to 
 hill, died away only in the void beyond the mountain-tops ; 
 while to the noisy tune the icebergs of the fiord danced 
 their wild ungainly dance upon the waters. 
 
 It was many hours before this state of wild unrest was 
 succeeded by the calm which had preceded the commence- 
 ment of it ; and when at length the iceberg that had been 
 born came quietly to rest, and the other icebergs had 
 ceased their dance upon the troubled sea, and the waves 
 had ceased their lashings, it seemed to me that, in behold- 
 ing this birth of an iceberg, I had beheld one of the most 
 sublime exhibitions of the great forces of nature. It was 
 in truth a convulsion. 
 
A NARROW ESCAPE. 179 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 The birth of the iceberg described in the preceding 
 chapter will better enable the reader to comprehend a 
 much more fearful event which happened in the fiord of 
 Sermitsialik. 
 
 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° 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 ex- 
 plosive violence, and, falling to the sea, produced a fine ef- 
 fect as the spray and -water spurted from the spot where 
 they struck. Scarcely an instant passed without a dis- 
 turbance occurring of this kind. It was like a fusillade 
 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 every body had come on board to din- 
 ner, and for a while we all stood on deck watching the 
 spectacle and noting the changes that took place with in- 
 terest. It was observed, among other curious phenomena, 
 that when the ice broke off the fractured surface was deep 
 
180 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 blue, and that if any ice, as sometimes happened, came up 
 from beneath the water, it bore the same color ; but after 
 a short exposurse to the sun, the surface changed, and be- 
 came almost pure white, with the satin glitter before de- 
 scribed. Our situation for a view could not have been bet- 
 ter chosen, and it is not likely that such an opportunity 
 was ever enjoyed before by explorers, since it is not prob- 
 able thaj a vessel ever rode before at her anchor so near 
 a glacier. 
 
 After dinner the work was to be resumed. The photog- 
 raphers hastened ashore, hoping to catch an instantane- 
 ous 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 the shore 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 an- 
 other in quick succession. A number of large pieces had 
 broken off, and their fall 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 centre 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 
 
A NAHBOW ESCAPE. • 181 
 
 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 two hundred 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 bot-, 
 torn. 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 
 
182 • THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 riot 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. Shouts 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, all 
 particular reports were swallowed up in one universal 
 roar, which woke the echoes of the hills and spread con- 
 sternation 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 peal, 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. 
 
A NAMSOW ESCAPE. 183 
 
 The whole glacier about the place where these disturb- 
 ances 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 a rainbow^ fluttering above the vortex. 
 
 While the fearful sound was pealing 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 ins.tinct 
 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. It rolled beneath 
 the Panther, lifted her upon its crest, and swept her to- 
 wards the rocks. An instant more and I was flat upon 
 the deck, borne 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. A second wave followed 
 before the shock of the first had fairly ceased, 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 fath- 
 oms of the shore, but she did not strike. Thank Heaven, 
 our anchor held, or our ship would have been knocked to 
 pieces, or landed high and dry with 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 the steep acclivity before the first wave had 
 
184 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 buried them. Flinging themselves fiat upon the ground 
 when they discovered that escape was hopeless, and cling- 
 ing to each other and to the rocks, they prevented them- 
 selves from being carried off or seriously hurt. One had 
 been lifted from his feet and hurled with much force 
 against a rock, but, excepting 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 favored by the rocks, which were of 
 such formation that they could readily spring up from 
 ledge to ledge, they must all have 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 under-tow. Their implements 
 — bottles, plates, every thing — were either gone, or were a 
 perfect wreck. Fortunately, their cameras were upon the 
 hill-side, 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 af- 
 ter the first wave broke upon us. This was partly a pro- 
 longation 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 semicircle, so it was the rocking to 
 and fro of the monster that continued the agitation of the 
 sea ; for this new-born 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 
 
A NARROW ESCAPE. 185 
 
 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 one hundred and 
 forty feet, which, supposing the same proportions to con- 
 tinue all the way down, would give a total depth of elev- 
 en hundred and twenty feet, since the proportion of ice be- 
 low to that above is as one to seven. Its circumference 
 was almost a mile. No wonder that its birth was attend- 
 ed with such fearful consequences. 
 
 The part which had been the top of the glacier had be- 
 come 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 fiord it wore 
 the usual opaque white which distinguishes its older broth- 
 ers 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 that 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, anchor- 
 age was found which promised safety if the glacier should 
 take upon itself once more to perform such fantastic freaks 
 as the one of which we had like to have been victims ; 
 and we had no mind now for another such dangerous en- 
 counter. 
 
180 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 
 
 We named our new harbor " Panther Bay," and, while 
 resting there until another day comes to invite us to new 
 work and new adventures, let us, more critically than we 
 have had opportunity to do before, examine into the char- 
 acter of these icebergs of the Arctic Sea. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not surprising that so few people should 
 really understand what an iceberg is, seeing how few peo- 
 ple go where they come from. The icebergs of the North- 
 ern hemisphere have but one birthplace: they all come 
 from Greenland — at least all of any magnitude. There 
 are many glaciers in Spitzbergen, some of which reach the 
 sea; but they are of diminutive proportions, and the 
 fragments broken from them are few in number and very 
 small. There are many glaciers in Iceland, but they are 
 confined to the mountains. There are also glaciers upon 
 some of the lands north of Hudson's Bay ; but, like those 
 of Spitzbergen, they occupy a small space compared with 
 the vast accumulations of Greenland. And from Green- 
 land they discharge mostly on the Baffin's Bay side. In a 
 former chapter we have observed how the ocean current 
 comes from the north along the eastern coast of Green- 
 land, freighted with ice-fields (not bergs), sometimes bear- 
 ing trees from the Siberian forests. This current sweeps 
 thence around Cape Farewell, and continues north along the 
 Greenland coast, with greater or less velocity, to almost 
 the seventy-fifth or seventy-sixth parallel of latitude, before 
 taking a westerly course, and then again a southerly one 
 
ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 187 
 
 to the coasts of Labrador, Newfoundland, and the United 
 States. The icebergs are discharged by the fiords into 
 this current, and the result is that, unless there should be 
 a prevalence of strong northerly winds for a considerable 
 time, sufficient to force them against or across the current 
 and out into the Atlantic, their drift is northerly at all 
 parts of the coast up as far as Melville Bay. The easterly 
 winds, however, affect them ; and they are in great num- 
 bers blown across Baffin's Bay until they touch the south- 
 erly-setting current, when they drift down into the North 
 Atlantic, as if for no other purpose than to annoy the 
 crews and captains of Liverpool packets and other craft 
 sailing in those waters. 
 
 It will thus be seen that, unless driven by the wind, 
 they never leave the great Polar current of the Spitz- 
 bergen and Greenland seas, and the waters of the Labra- 
 dor — a current which is a mighty one and has worked 
 mighty changes on the surface of the earth. We all know 
 and can trace its course now, but that course was once 
 very different. In a remote geological age it must have 
 swept over the greater part of what is now North Amer- 
 ica, when that land was the bed of the ocean, just as at 
 the present time it sweeps over the growing Banks of 
 Newfoundland. Then Lake Superior discharged into it as 
 a gulf: afterwards, when this gulf became an inland sea, 
 Huron and Michigan were the outlets ; afterwards Erie, 
 then Ontario, now the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which latter 
 will, no doubt, in the course of time, form another fresh- 
 water lake of the great chain, as the sea becomes more and 
 more filled up. 
 
 We have seen already that many of the icebergs that 
 drift down with this current carry imbedded in them 
 vast quantities of rock and sand, which are, necessarily, 
 deposited at the bottom of the sea when the iceberg melts. 
 
188 TMM -LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Thus do they add something every year, as we have also 
 seen, to the Newfoundland shoals, and likewise strew the 
 ocean bed along their path with gatherings from the Green- 
 land hills. When these now submerged regions come to 
 be elevated above the sea, the geologists of that day will 
 have less trouble to account for the boulders being there 
 than our forefathers had to explain the presence of similar 
 masses of rock on the Illinois prairie, or in the valleys of 
 the Mohawk and Connecticut rivers. 
 
 The melting of an iceberg is far from rapid. Many 
 years are required to mingle its crystals with the waters 
 of the ocean. Yet its rate of drift being slow (and it may 
 be held for years grounded among a cluster of islands or 
 among shoals), and the distance great, by the time it has 
 reached the track of vessels the largest part of it has dis- 
 appeared ; and, immense though they sometimes appear to 
 be when seen from the decks of ships crossing to and fro 
 between America and Europe, they are then but a frag- 
 ment of their former greatness. Indeed, very few of them 
 ever reach so low a latitude at all, going to pieces, little 
 by little, long before the current has carried them so far. 
 
 A very homely illustration will bring an iceberg more 
 clearly to the mind of the reader who has never seen one 
 than the most elaboi - ate description. 
 
 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 Green- 
 land. In form, in general transparency, in the play of 
 light upon it, in its prismatic character, in the shape of its 
 
ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 189 
 
 projecting tongues which lie beneath the surface of the 
 water, 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 come sailing 
 down Baffin's Bay with the Polar current in all their state- 
 ly grandeur and magnificence. 
 
 It- is difficult for the imagination to conceive of the 
 great magnitude of some of these Greenland icebergs; 
 and yet, as we have seen, they are but comparatively 
 trifling pieces, torn by the sea from glaciers. The iceberg 
 is indeed as the paring of a finger-nail 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 tum- 
 bler 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 pro- 
 portion 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 store-house 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 mountain- 
 ous it truly is in size. Lift it out of the water, and it be- 
 comes a mountain five hundred, a thousand, two thousand, 
 or three thousand 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 re- 
 
190 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 semblance 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 melt- 
 ed snows of the late winter, which have fallen upon it, and 
 also of the ice itself, after the snows have disappeared be- 
 fore the rays of the summer's 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 youth- 
 ful impulse was strong to say " I have done it !" — a dis- 
 ease which I believe to be amenable only to that treat- 
 ment 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 rare- 
 ly happens in winter) when you are least expecting it. I 
 have often climbed them, however, and with different mo- 
 tives ; 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, how- 
 ever, the sides are quite vertical all around, and it can not 
 be scaled at all. On one occasion, I measured an iceberg 
 that presented on one of its sides a vertical wall that rose 
 three hundred and fifteen feet above the level of the sea. 
 Another one that I saw in the upper part of Baffin's Bay, 
 and measured carefully, I will describe minutely. The 
 sea was quite smooth, and the day calm, so that I enjoyed 
 a most excellent opportunity, such an one as I never had 
 before, and probably shall never have again. 
 
 This iceberg was not only remarkable for its size, but 
 
ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 191 
 
 for its great variety of feature. I rowed all the way around 
 it, and measured it as carefully as possible. One of its 
 sides was nearly straight and regular, having the appear- 
 ance of being recently broken from the glacier. When 
 facing the sun, it glistened marvellously. This side was 
 six thousand five hundred feet long — over a mile and a 
 quarter. At one end it was two hundred and forty feet 
 high, rising squarely from the sea. At the centre the 
 height was less, being only one hundred and sixty feet ; 
 at the other end it was one hundred and ninety. 
 
 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 chronome- 
 ter — 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 berg, 
 and then, rowing out a hundred fathoms, I had a tolerably 
 good base-line for obtaining the altitude — a pocket-sex- 
 tant giving me the necessary angles. Say that I made a 
 mistake of twenty-five feet, it is yet near enough for all 
 practical purposes. It was big enough in all conscience, 
 any- way. ■ 
 
 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 eighteen hundred feet across. Here it termi- 
 nated in a rounded bluff that was one hundred and 
 twenty feet high. 
 
 Turning at the base of this rounded bluff, I came upon 
 a side wholly different from the one I had before meas- 
 ured. It had evidently been for a long time the front of 
 the glacier — perhaps for a period of fifteen or twenty 
 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 
 
192 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 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 a 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 
 they were as Governor's Island and Ellis's 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 hummocks, and the water on the berg was quite 
 shoal. Yet 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 any thing more exquisitely 
 soft, tender, and transparent in color than the green of the 
 sea, nor had I ever 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 foot- 
 ing 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 two hundred and ninety, the other two 
 hundred and seventy 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 
 
ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 193 
 
 lake a quarter of a mile long. Its course was winding like 
 the lake of Central Park, which it resembled in size. I fol- 
 lowed 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 about 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 revolv- 
 ing ; and, as I steered my course back by the sun, I natu- 
 rally 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 stud- 
 ded with icebergs — hundreds of them there must have 
 been — of every conceivable shape, from the great wall- 
 sided mass that looked like a 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 kittiwake gulls flew about my 
 head, and, perching upon a hill, set up their noisy chatter ; 
 and one old burgomaster 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 a predatory jager, who had seemingly been hovering 
 round for just such a chance ; and, with an angry scream, 
 
 I 
 
194 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 the burgomaster, who had started off when he saw his en- 
 emy, gave up his prize, which the jager quickly caught in 
 mid-air. 
 
 It was altogether a strange sensation, afloat at so great 
 an elevation on an ice-mountain in the sea. Yet my foot- 
 stool was firm and solid as the eternal hills. 
 
 Had time and circumstances admitted, 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 silver- 
 ing an iceberg, now coloring it, while it floated sometimes 
 in a sea of blue, and again of green ; now blazing with red 
 the rugged cliffs of the fiord ; now throwing them in shad- 
 ow, as if they were the gloomy walls encompassing the 
 abyss of Dante's Giants ; now gilding the distant mount- 
 ains, now robing them in purple ; now silvering the far- 
 off mer de glace, then melting it into a sea of rubies, or 
 blending it with the blue sky ; for such scenes I have oft- 
 en witnessed in the Arctic seas, though not from the sum- 
 mit of an iceberg. 
 
 But this camp on the iceberg was not possible; so, 
 when I had found my way, I descended from my lofty el- 
 evation 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 imprison- 
 ment, 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. 
 
ICEBERGS CRITICALLY EXAMINED. 195 
 
 The side along which we were now passing proved to 
 be six thousand feet in length. The end beyond was thir- 
 ty-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 a total cubical contents of 23,850,000,000 feet. 
 Convert 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 any thing like an adequate idea of the enormous mag- 
 nitude of this huge vagrant of the Arctic seas. Its beau- 
 ties 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, there chalcedony ; 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 can not say of the floating ice-mount- 
 ain. Words fail utterly in the description of such a 
 mighty work of nature — fail us as completely as do the 
 pigments of the painter. Who could paint or who de- 
 scribe the leap of Niagara, or the roar that rises from the 
 great abyss ? At best, the effort of the artist gives but a 
 vague idea of the truth. The iceberg — in its birth, growth, 
 and immensity ; in 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? Noth- 
 
196 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ing but actual observation will even so much as suggest 
 the long period occupied in its formation. Close inspec- 
 tion will reveal an infinite number of lines of stratifica- 
 tion, which, like the multiplied rings of the old forest oak, 
 mark 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 snow-flakes which compose it were first 
 dropped upon the Greenland hills; nothing to show its 
 steady growth through the recurring cycles of time. 
 
MAN VERSUS MOSQUITOES. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MAN VEMSUS MOSQUITOES. 
 
 On the morning after we had anchored in Panther Bay 
 I went ashore to stake off a base-line, preliminary to a 
 survey of the glacier and surrounding region, in which 
 operation I was kindly assisted by two of my shipmates 
 and Peter Motzfeldt. We had a clear level space of half 
 a mile for our work ; but the operation was attended with 
 some difficulty on account of the willow and birch bushes, 
 which were about four feet high — too high to clamber 
 through readily, and too thick to allow of crawling. But 
 this was not the worst. When the sun was fairly up we 
 were sweltering in heat, and the mosquitoes, coming out in 
 swarms, excelled any thing I have ever seen. We perse- 
 vered, however, and reached the glacier, close beside which 
 we put up our last stake and fixed our last station. To 
 observe with the instrument was, however, not possible. 
 The eye was blinded by mosquitoes, the lenses were cov- 
 ered with them ; the air was positively thick with them. 
 They were in the mouth, they were in the nostrils, they 
 were down the neck, they were everywhere, inside and 
 outside the body. We breathed mosquitoes into the 
 lungs and took them into the stomach. It was not that 
 a swarm rose here and there from the marshy places or 
 from among the bushes, but they hovered over the plain 
 in a misty cloud. 
 
 I tried to return upon my track and take some sights, 
 but the thing was impossible. Human nature could bear 
 it ho longer. I turned back, and, joining my comrades, 
 
198 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 together we made a break for the, glacier, and, clambering 
 up its sloping side, we found a convenient perch, and from 
 our cool retreat looked down upon the scene of our re- 
 cent battle, and, in peace, soothed our wounds. Our ene- 
 mies did not dare venture on the ice, and we had got the 
 best of them at last. 
 
 And we had besides a very convenient situation for ob- 
 serving the movements of our friends, the artists, who were 
 ashore photographing and sketching the glacier from 
 every available point. They had their heads covered 
 with mosquito nettings at first; but that did not appear 
 to make any difference? The mosquitoes got through and 
 under them, in one way or another, and the nettings were 
 torn off. Then they flirted them about their heads, and 
 for an instant cleared a breathing space, but as soon as the 
 work was resumed, back they came. The oil sketches of 
 the artists became like geological formations which repre- 
 sent innumerable trilobites imbedded in the strata. Blob 
 was so confused with his incessant efforts to keep his eyes 
 cleared out, that he actually could not tell sky from wa- 
 ter, nor ice from rock, when he came to expose his sketches 
 in the. cabin. 
 
 But the photographers had the worst of it; the "colo- 
 nel" (who was first operator) especially, for he had to 
 focus his instrument, which proceeding required time and 
 care ; and the agony of that interval of enforced quiet was 
 most intense, if we might judge from the fierce pawing, 
 and stamping, and running to and fro that followed, all of 
 which would have been very amusing, had we not known 
 by experience that it was very distressing and very pain- 
 ful. Then the insects got into the instrument and ruined 
 the plates, which was a still further aggravation. The 
 "major," who was second operator, could do nothing satis- 
 factorily in " developing," for they filled his tent in place 
 
; MAN VERSUS MOSQUITOES. 199 
 
 of air. Like ourselves, they were all finally forced to own 
 defeat, and, darting for our perch upon the ice, escaped the 
 torture. From this safe retreat we managed to raise sig- 
 nals of distress, and a boat coming to the shore, we made 
 a bold dash for the beach, and, getting on board, were at 
 last in safety, for they did not venture so far out to sea. 
 Our faces were swollen, like a prize-fighter's fresh from 
 battle. 
 
 Here, so close to such a great body of ice, we thought it 
 strange, at first, to find the temperature so high ; but, in 
 that locality, to be attacked by mosquitoes surprised as 
 much as it disgusted us. They were even much worse 
 than at the ruins in Ericsfiord, where there was no ice 
 at all. 
 
 Late in the day, when the sun was getting low, and 
 the heat was less, the work was resumed under better 
 auspices, and in the morning the labor was finished. I 
 had in my port-folio as complete a map as was needful for 
 my purposes, excepting some sights that I wished from 
 the summit of the glacier, and these we proposed to ob- 
 tain immediately. 
 
 While we were fighting the mosquitoes several icebergs 
 broke away from the glacier with a very grand effect ; 
 but we were too much distressed to enjoy the scene fully, 
 as we had been before too much alarmed. So, after all, al- 
 though we had very lively impressions of the commotion 
 caused by the birth of an iceberg, there was always some 
 disturbing element to make the scene something less than 
 perfect. However, after our ignominious retreat from 
 fighting the mosquitoes, when, from our new anchorage, 
 we could watch the glacier with perfect security, we had 
 the good-fortune to see a berg somewhat larger than the 
 first, broken off in the midst of much the same grand dis- 
 turbance of the sea. Having no occasion now to look to 
 
200 TMM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 our safety, we watched the crash, and listened to the loud 
 reports with the eagerness of fascination. We saw the 
 waves rolling away to the shore and sweeping over the 
 ice that lay scattered upon the fiord; we observed the 
 newly-liberated iceberg wallowing in the sea, and admired 
 it as it floated off, slowly gathering to itself a white cloak, 
 as if its tints were too delicate to bear the light of day. 
 
A PICNIC ON THE GLACIER. 301 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 A PICNIC ON THE GLACIER. 
 
 Two oomiaks loaded with women, and half a dozen men 
 in kayaks, had followed us up from Kraksimeut ; and they 
 pitched their camp upon the shore as near our vessel as 
 they could. An old seal-skin tent gave them shelter; 
 the andromeda - leaves furnished fuel, and, in considera- 
 tion for some trifling service, the stores of the Panther 
 supplied them with food. They were not in any respect 
 an attractive party, and, even with the best intentions in 
 the world to play the amiable, I doubt if the Prince ever 
 made the slightest effort to prove himself agreeable to 
 these Kraksimeut ladies of the oars. They were not to 
 be compared to Maria and Concordia, and the rest of them 
 at Julianashaab. 
 
 One difficulty, however, was, that their camp was unap- 
 proachable on account of the mosquitoes, which, however, 
 did not appear to disturb them. They were sometimes 
 seen to brush off the insects when they settled too heavily 
 on one spot ; but otherwise they might bite their fiercest 
 and remain unnoticed. They had grown so accustomed to 
 them that even the blood did not seem to be poisoned. 
 
 These people were, however, useful to us in one way. 
 On the last day of our stay in the fiord, it was determined 
 to scale the glacier in a body, seeing that it might be pos- 
 sible, after the experience of the captain and myself. Ac- 
 cordingly, a party was made up, and these native men 
 and women, whose boots were better adapted for climb- 
 ing upon the ice than oiirs, were engaged to carry our lug- 
 
 12 
 
202 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 gage, consisting of surveying instruments, artists' materi- 
 als, provisions, and cooking-fixtures. 
 
 After crossing the mosquito-infested plain, we entered 
 the gorge between the glacier and the rocks, where we 
 were free from our pestiferous enemies. Thence we clam- 
 bered along for a little over two miles before we ventured 
 to climb the ice. This was almost a mile beyond where 
 the captain and I had before ascended. 
 
 The ascent was made with no further diflieulty than 
 would be experienced in climbing any steep hill. Here 
 we were not much embarrassed by crevasses, for we were 
 approaching the level plain mentioned in the former de- 
 scription, where there had been very little disturbance of 
 the ice. The amount of foreign material was immense. 
 Rocks weighing many tons were imbedded in the glacier, 
 or were lying loose upon the surface, owing to the ice 
 having melted away and left them free. These we amused 
 ourselves with rolling down the declivity; for some of 
 them were much rounded by ice-action, and were not so 
 large but that they could be raised with a lever and two 
 or three pairs of hands. 
 
 When upon the surface, we experienced something of 
 the same difficulty that had been encountered before by 
 the captain and myself. In one place only, however, was 
 the track so rough as ours. Here there were clefts of 
 such fearful character that it fairly made one shudder to 
 look into them as they yawned before us at every few steps. 
 In order to get on at all, however, it was necessary that 
 some one should take the risk of the first leap. This usu- 
 ally fell to the lot of the captain by his own election ; for, 
 being both vigorous and fearless, he was usually at the 
 head of the party ; and when any place more than ordina- 
 rily dangerous was encountered, he was heard to cry out 
 (from the opposite side of the danger), "Come on !" But 
 
A JPICNIC ON THE GLACIER. 203 
 
 not every body could come on, especially those who car- 
 ried burdens ; so a rope was thrown across and secured, 
 and a safe passage was obtained for the entire party. Once 
 only was an accident seriously threatened. This occurred 
 to a man who had put something in him to make his legs 
 unsteady; and but for the captain's rope he certainly 
 would have disappeared into the bowels of the glacier. 
 He was hauled up in a lively state of wonder as to " how 
 we all got down there ?" Our " fair " companions in the 
 seal-skin pantaloons required very little assistance, and in 
 their soft-leather boots were more sure-footed than we. 
 They seemed quite surprised at our gallant offers of as- 
 sistance ; fo"f they had been in the habit not only of help- 
 ing themselves, but their lords as well, in every thing 
 where help was possible — a practice universal among sav- 
 ages and half-civilized people. Gallantry is a fine art, the 
 sentiment not being natural to man. 
 
 "When at length we had reached the level part of the 
 glacier, for which we had directed our course, and every 
 body that had any particular business to attend to had 
 gone about it, the romance of a picnic was illustrated in 
 form, if not in fact, by an improvised dance. The Prince of 
 course led off, saying, " What's a picnic without a dance ?" 
 and never did couples " trip the light fantastic toe " upon 
 a spot apparently less adapted for it. Yet, if many of the 
 conditions of a first-class summer entertainment in the 
 open air were wanting, we did not lack a warm sun, nor 
 merriment, nor singing. The dancing did not amount to 
 much, it must be owned. As for the accompaniments to 
 the singing, there was the music of a babbling brook which 
 flowed near by, across the icy plain ; and right in front of 
 us it dashed down into a cleft, to seek the glacier bed, and 
 there mingle with the sub-glacial river which carries to 
 the sea the summer meltings of the mer de glace. 
 
204 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 The view from our camp was one that I shall long re- 
 member. From the midst of the motley group of men 
 and women that surround me, I look to right and left, and 
 there rise the dark, rugged, rocky shores of the glacier, 
 and then, continuing away to the south-west, become the 
 shores of the fiord, which, dotted with icebergs, winds 
 away like a noble river, and, in the distance, melts into 
 the ocean. Turning in the opposite direction, I scan these 
 same coasts for a few miles, and, like two wedges, there 
 they sink into the white slope which rises above them 
 and vanishes in the limitless distance. 
 
 We were not at any time cold. Our dinner was cap- 
 ital, abundant, and much enjoyed, and it was not the less 
 appreciated that the labors of the day were over, and that 
 it was prepared without the aid of the ship's cook and 
 steward. The artists had accomplished all they came 
 for ; and with the same assistants, who, as before, had aid- 
 ed me, I had staked off a base-line, taken my angles, and 
 obtained every sight that was necessary to connect my 
 measurements with the same hill-tops that had been my 
 guides in the survey on the mosquito-plain. And thus I 
 had all needful materials to complete the map which ap- 
 pears on page 162, and the section on page 170. Then, 
 amidst much enthusiasm, we flung our flag to the Arctic 
 breeze. 
 
 The reader may, perhaps, regret, as I did, that there was 
 so little of thrilling interest to mark the day's adventure. 
 It was simply a novel experience ; an unusual place for a 
 picnic — an unusual place to stand on a warm midsummer's 
 day. 
 
 Such as the day was, I have, however, recorded it, leav- 
 ing the reader's imagination to supply whatever may be 
 lacking in the sentiment of the solitude and desolation of 
 our surroundings. He may, perhaps, fancy that women, 
 
A PICNIC ON THE GLACIER. 205 
 
 dancing, and festivity were strange accompaniments to 
 such a scene, as they surely were. 
 
 We did not, however, care to make the venture quite 
 complete by sleeping on the ice. Gathering up our traps, 
 therefore, we made our way back as we had come, and, 
 arriving all safe on board, we picked up our anchor, and, 
 as we steamed down the fiord, the wonderful ice-stream, 
 which had afforded us so many adventures, melted away 
 in the gathering twilight of the evening. 
 
206 THM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XHL 
 
 BOUND FOR THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 
 
 Having our pilot, Peter Motzfeldt, on board, we were 
 obliged to put into Kraksimeut. After passing a few hours 
 there, we made a direct course for the open sea. Motz- 
 feldt, in the generosity of his heart, insisted upon it that 
 we should rob him; but even the professional habits of 
 our trader would not suffer a gift without a quid pro quo ; 
 and I trust that this worthy inhabitant of the solitary 
 house on the dreary island may not have been damaged 
 by our visit. 
 
 Passing along near the coast, we had a fine view of the 
 mountains which rise there directly out of the sea ; and, 
 after rounding the south-western cape of Greenland, which 
 bears the name of Cape Desolation, we shaped our course 
 for Arsut fiord, where the famous kryolite mine is situa- 
 ted, at a place called Iviktut. The entrance to this fiord 
 is often seriously obstructed with ice-fields. We were for- 
 tunate enough to find it free, and, aided by our excellent 
 Danish charts, we got in without trouble. 
 
 A man with a very sailor-like rig boarded us, and, ad- 
 dressing us in English, said he was Captain Abel Rey- 
 nolds, of Boston, agent of the American Company. 
 
 This great kryolite mine is managed after a most incon- 
 venient fashion. In the first place, it is a monopoly of the 
 Danish crown, which has leased it to a Danish company 
 for a period of years, to work upon a royalty of twenty 
 per cent. This Danish company have sold to the Penn- 
 sylvania Salt Company the exclusive right in America 
 
BOUND FOR THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 209 
 
 to the disposal of the ore, if such it may be, for conven- 
 ience, called, to the extent of one half the production of 
 the mine. This Pennsylvania Salt Company, having no 
 means of transportation of its own, lets out that part of 
 its business to a company in Boston, the Messrs. Ryder & 
 Crowley, and Captain Reynolds is their Greenland agent. 
 Then the Danish Government has its HegjeringensCon- 
 trolleur, Captain Harold Saxtorph ; the company has its 
 superintendent, Herr S. Fritz ; its assistant-superintendent, 
 Herr H. Stockfelth ; and its surgeon, Herr E. C. Nobel ; 
 and a right good set of fellows they proved to be, if rather 
 numerous for the business. The American agent made us 
 snug as possible in the worst anchorage that ever was; 
 the controller entertained us hospitably; while his wife 
 treated us to the music of a Yankee sewing-machine. To 
 the superintendent we were indebted for the offer of any 
 amount of coals, which he had there in abundance for the 
 use of the engines which he employs to pump the water 
 from his mine; and personally I had to thank him for 
 much useful information, and for the gift of the only fine 
 specimens of kryolite crystals that I have ever seen; and 
 to his assistant I owed more than thankB for a superb 
 photographic plate of the mine and Arsut fiord, taken by 
 himself, and other similar favors. Nor was the doctor 
 lacking in the offer of his services ; but luckily none of us 
 required his professional attention, a circumstance which 
 imposed a double share of thankful acknowledgment. 
 
 This kryolite mine is really a wonderful affair. Why 
 Nature should have ever taken it into her head to drop 
 this valuable mineral in Greenland, and nowhere else, is a 
 puzzling matter. The mineral is a -Quorate of sodium and 
 aluminum (mostly the former), the best specimens con- 
 taining ninety-nine, the worst ninety per cent. Besides 
 these, I found iron, tin, lead, silver, copper, arsenic, and 
 
210 THE LAND OV DESOLATION. 
 
 molybdenum; but none of these latter exist in sufficient 
 quantities to make the working of them profitable. 
 
 The soda is the product which makes the mine (or rath- 
 er quarry) valuable. And a mine of riches it would be, 
 truly, were it anywhere else almost in the whole wide 
 world. Its great distance from manufacturing marts; 
 the extraordinary dangers attending the shipment of it, 
 owing to the ice; the high royalty which the Govern- 
 ment imposes; and the shortness of the season during 
 which the miners can work, make it comparatively of lit- 
 tle importance in a commercial point of view. Yet one- 
 half the product of the mine (six thousand tons) is an- 
 nually shipped to Philadelphia, in from fifteen to twenty 
 vessels, whence it is carried by rail to Pittsburg, to be 
 converted into commercial soda by the Pennsylvania Salt 
 Company, who would, but for this mine at Iviktut, be com- 
 pelled to make their soda from artificial sources. 
 
 The discovery of the mineral was made by the natives 
 many years ago. It is said they used it in a powdered 
 state, as ,civilized men do snuff. At first it showed itself 
 as a little round, yellowish hummock above the general 
 gray of the metamorphic rock which inclosed it. Upon 
 coming to the knowledge of the world, only a few frag- 
 ments were brought away ; and I can remember the time, 
 when my mineralogical studies first commenced, that to 
 obtain the smallest fragment, even, of the Greenland kryo- 
 lite was to add to a collection one of its most rare and 
 costly minerals. Now it has no other value than to boil 
 down into soda for ordinary commercial uses. 
 
 The mine has been in operation under the present com- 
 pany about twelve years. An effort to work it had been 
 previously made, but failed for want of capital, and under 
 the present management it has only lately been profitable. 
 The mineral appears to exist as a sort of conical injection 
 
BOUND FOR THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 211 
 
 through the overlying rock. It is now worked down un- 
 til the mine, or quarry, is about sixty yards in diameter 
 and fifty feet deep, forty of which are below the sea-level ; 
 and since the solid rock is interrupted for a short distance 
 on the sea-side, the water has constantly endangered the 
 mine by flooding — ra catastrophe only prevented by the 
 admirable engineering skill of Mr. Fritz. 
 
 The number of miners employed is about one hundred, 
 and since there are no settlements in the neighborhood, 
 and therefore no natives to bring them supplies, their pro- 
 visioning is entirely done from home. The miners were a 
 well-contented-looking people, and, so far as I could see, 
 did not suffer in their isolated situation any thing worse 
 than the torment of mosquitoes, which there, as in all oth- 
 er parts of South Greenland, where the ice does not over- 
 run the land, are thick as the sands on the sea-shore. 
 
 The kryolite is the only mineral product of Greenland 
 that has proved of any commercial value. Yet, judging 
 from the appearance of the country, one might think 
 Greenland abounded in mineral wealth, and, if properly 
 explored, a profitable return would certainly be obtained. 
 An unsuccessful effort was made to work a plumbago 
 vein near Upernavik, but to this and the kryolite the min- 
 ing operations of Greenland have, T believe, been confined. 
 
 Unfortunately, the day of our visit to Iviktut was as 
 dirty and disagreeable an one as ever was seen even in that 
 country — rain, hail, snow, wind, cold, every thing possible 
 almost in the way of badness. We did not, therefore, re- 
 main long, but, picking up our anchor again, we steamed 
 away once more, ajid, passing through a narrow gate-way 
 at the foot of the Great Kunak, or Arsut mountain, as it is 
 sometimes called, we were soon out at sea, heading north- 
 ward for the Arctic Circle, to find the midnight sun. 
 
 The midnight sun ! A word of strange import ! A new 
 
218 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 existence was to open for us now, in a summer of per- 
 petual brightness. For days and weeks together lamps 
 would be held in great contempt ; we would be careless 
 of the hours ; there would be " no morn, no noon, no 
 night — no any time of day ;" no time for " turning in " or 
 " turning out," except as the ticking clock might show us 
 what to do, 
 
 "In that strange, mysterious clime, where springs 
 Are but the twilights of the summer day ; 
 Where summer an eternal sunshine brings ; 
 The winter, darkness and sublimity — 
 Where reigns dread solitude, and rolls the Polar Sea." 
 
'The lands are there sun-gilded at the hour 
 
 When other lands are silvered by the moon — 
 The midnight hour, when down the sun doth pour 
 A blaze of light, as elsewhere at the noon.'' 
 
\ 
 
PART THE THIRD. 
 UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ACKOSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 
 
 When we came to cross the Arctic Circle, instead of 
 having the midnight sun, we had no sun at all ; for one of 
 those villainous fogs, so prevalent during the summer in 
 the Arctic regions, set upon us and hung about us, hiding 
 every thing for several days. 
 
 It rolled over us like a great wave, submerging us in 
 damp and darkness. The wind was southerly, and the air 
 was charged with moisture, which was precipitated by the 
 cold water and icebergs over which it passed. I verily 
 believe there never was such another fog. A thin layer 
 of mist rested on the sea, above which one could climb 
 and sit upon the royal yard and be in sunshine, and from 
 that delightful elevation overlook the great waste of roll- 
 ing vapor, and watch the glittering icebergs now and then 
 protruding through it into the light; and in the distance 
 trace the great white mountain peaks, and illimitable gla- 
 ciers of Greenland. This was the sublime aspect of it ; 
 but down on deck there was nothing to be seen at all. 
 Three ship's lengths away the atmosphere was as impene- 
 trable to vision as a stone wall. From the quarter-deck 
 we could scarcely see the look-out on the forecastle. The 
 fog trailed about the rigging, sometimes in great streaks 
 
216 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 like festoons of white " illusion," and down upon the deck 
 came dripping a perfect shower of the condensed vapor. 
 In five minutes every thing was as wet as if the clouds 
 had been dropping rain. The Panther was bewildered. 
 Her compasses, never reliable at the best of times, were 
 here, in the far North, utterly worthless. Every compass 
 seemed to have an idea of its own as to where North was, 
 and only changed its mind on being vigorously joggled ; 
 and no two of them agreeing after they were joggled. 
 The situation was rather embarrassing; but for all the 
 captain would not heave to. He would keep going some- 
 where, at any rate. The danger was that he might hit an 
 iceberg. The sea was dotted all over with them. "All 
 right," said the captain ; " I don't think we'll hurt it much !" 
 
 That we should have a chance of proving it seemed the 
 most likely thing in the world ; for we sometimes heard 
 from them as the billows broke against their sides or 
 rolled within their wave-worn caverns, and their smoth- 
 ered voices were often painfully near ; yet we did not see 
 any of the bergs themselves, until suddenly there came a 
 thrilling cry from the look-out, " Ice close aboard — dead 
 ahead ! " This warning went through the ship as if it 
 had been "breakers" — the worst of all sounds to hear. 
 The captain said never a word, but rang his bell, " Stop 
 her "— " Back astern "— " Full speed !" 
 
 The cabin was cleared in a twinkling, and the people 
 rushed on deck in a violent state of alarm, to see before 
 them a huge mass of whiteness looming through the fog. 
 It seemed impossible that we should escape it. Notwith- 
 standing the reversal of the screw, we were yet forging 
 ahead. The moments were like that terrible interval on a 
 railway train, between the first thump of the car off the 
 track and on the ties, and the crash which follows, scat- 
 tering death and destruction. It was one of those short 
 
ACROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 217 
 
 periods of one's life when the memory is apt to be remark- 
 ably fresh respecting misspent time. Happily, this was 
 the worst of. it. The ship slewed to starboard, which 
 saved her jib-boom, and by that time the headway was 
 stopped, and we began to go astern. But we were then 
 in the very vortex of the breaking waves — in the hissing 
 foam of the angry sea. 
 
 A few moments more, and the iceberg that had caused 
 us such a fright was swallowed up in the gloom; and, 
 giving it a wide berth this time, we steamed on more cau- 
 tiously at " dead slow," groping through the worse than 
 darkness of the night. 
 
 We had no further adventures of that description ; but 
 the uncertain currents of the sea, and the unreliable state 
 of our compasses, caused us to become bewildered in our 
 course. We did not once get even a glimpse of the sun 
 for three days, and of course were running wholly by dead 
 reckoning. The fog had become so deep that we could 
 no longer climb above it and sit in the sun on the royal 
 yard. "I'd give my old gun," said the captain, weary 
 with watching, and disgusted with uncertainty—" I'd give 
 my old gun (a rare instrument) to know where we are." 
 
 Now the captain had just come into the little cabin, 
 which for the cruise we had " shoved up " on the main- 
 deck amidships. The window overlooked the bulwarks, 
 and the noises of the deck and of the machinery were kept 
 away — a lucky circumstance, for at the very instant of 
 the captain's speech my ear caught an ominous sound. I 
 listened again to make quite sure, and then told the cap- 
 tain that if he kept on three minutes longer at the present 
 rate of speed I would claim the gun. " Where would we 
 be, then ?" inquired the captain, somewhat incredulously. 
 "On the rocks?" 
 
 The sound was unmistakable. The low murmur that 
 
 K 
 
218 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 comes from the shore is very different from the loud roar 
 from the waves breaking on the iceberg in the deep sea, 
 and the practised ear can quickly distinguish the one from 
 the other. The headway of the ship was arrested as soon 
 as possible, and the fog lifting a little, we could faintly see 
 the fatal line of surf. But we had still twenty fathoms 
 water under us, and had plenty of room to wheel round, 
 and crawl back upon our old track until we were beyond 
 soundings, when we returned to our old trade of groping 
 for another day, at the end of which, to our great joy and 
 relief, and with the sudden bound of a mouse popping 
 from its dark hole, we slid from under the oppressive can- 
 opy of vapor into the bright sunshine. Indeed, the limit 
 of the fog was almost like a wall — sharp and well-defined; 
 and while the quarter-deck was still in shadow, the fore- 
 castle was brightly illuminated. Fearful now that the fog 
 might roll over us again, the Panther was made to do her 
 best, and we steamed on into a scene of a very different 
 description — still, however, among the icebergs — but now 
 in a bright, instead of a cloudy atmosphere. 
 
 It was fortunate that the fog terminated when it did, 
 for otherwise we would have been in great jeopardy. The 
 icebergs were, in fact, so numerous, that the horizon was 
 for a time' quite obliterated. We turned and twisted 
 among them to right and left, as one would follow the zig- 
 zags of the Boston streets, from Brattle Square to — well, 
 any other place you choose to mention. 
 
 We might have been in a state of constant terror had 
 we not been in a state of constant admiration. The at- 
 mosphere from a wonderful fog changed to a wonderful 
 brightness. I have rarely seen any thing to compare with 
 it. The hour was approaching midnight, and the sun, 
 nearing the north, gradually dipped until it had touched 
 and finally passed close to the horizon, with its upper limb 
 
ACROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 219 
 
 just above the line of waters. For some time previous 
 the sky had been peculiarly brilliant; but when the sun 
 went fairly down, the little clouds, which had before been 
 tipped with crimson, melted away, and the whole sky be- 
 came uniformly golden ; while the sea, quite motionless, 
 unruffled by even the slightest breath of air, reflected the 
 gorgeous color like a mirror ; and the icebergs, of every 
 size, from the puny fragment a few fathoms only in diam- 
 eter to the enormous block hundreds of feet in height, and 
 of every shape, from the wall-sided semblance of a giant 
 citadel to the spired effigy of a huge cathedral, presented 
 an aspect of indescribable brilliancy as they floated there 
 in the golden sea. 
 
 In color they were wonderfully varied — against the 
 brilliant sky dark purple, shading away to left and right 
 into amethyst, and then into green and blue and pearly 
 white ; and away behind us, against the dark fog-bank 
 which lay upon the waters, chased silver ; while every- 
 where around were flecks of lustrous splendor stolen from 
 the sky. 
 
 Emerging from this dazzling brightness, we glided on 
 through the night in view of some of the finest coast 
 scenery of a region where the scenery is never tame.. First 
 we passed under the gloomy, cavernous Black Hook ; and 
 then near the stupendous cliffs of the main-land, which, cut 
 by deep gorges, seemed like grim old time-worn columns 
 holding up against the sky a vast white entablature — the 
 great ice-sea of Greenland. Then we came beneath one 
 of the noblest landmarks of the coa|t — a cone-shaped 
 mountain rising from the sea, which we had seen some 
 sixty miles or more away. At first it was but a dark 
 hummock against the sunset; now, through the breaks 
 in a fleecy cloud which girdled it, we caught occasional 
 glimpses of its crest brightened by the morning sun. 
 
220 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 With helm a-port, we wheeled in on the south side of 
 the mountain, and entered, close beside its base, a narrow, 
 winding fiord as the sun was dropping his earliest rays 
 down upon a silvery thread of ice-incumbered waters that 
 wound between cliffs of unparalleled magnificence. The 
 base of the mountain formed the cliffs on our left, and, as 
 I afterwards determined, they were at one point 28*70 feet 
 high, rising so squarely from the water that' it seemed al- 
 most as if one might drop a plumb-line from the summit 
 into it. 
 
 The mountain is an island some ten miles in diameter 
 east and west, by six north and south. This line of cliffs 
 is almost uniform around its base, above which the conical 
 top ascends quite regularly to an altitude of 4500 feet. 
 This is the Kresarsoak — the " big mountain " of the na- 
 tives — the "Sanderson's Hope" of old John Davis, who 
 sighted it in 1585, soon after he had first discovered this 
 Land of Desolation and been so nearly wrecked among 
 the ice that beset it. 
 
 The cliffs upon our right were not less lofty nor less 
 gloomy than those of the mountain's base. The fiord 
 widened a little by-and-by, and we opened a more cheer- 
 ful spot, where, for a short distance, the cliffs at the base 
 of the mountain are broken away, and the slope of the 
 mountain itself extends down in an almost unbroken de- 
 scent from the crest to the sea. Here there are some 
 signs of life. Up to about five hundred feet elevation the 
 slope is in places green — little patches of mountain heath- 
 er, and moss and stunted grass, which some flowers speckle 
 with white and yellow. It seems like a green curtain 
 hung across the entrance to the interior of the mountain, 
 where, according to native tradition, dwell mountain gi- 
 ants. By this same legend the mountain is but a shell, 
 the whole interior being one great cave, which, if true, 
 
THE PEAK OF KRESAESOAK. 
 
ACROSS THE ARCTIC! CIRCLE. 223 
 
 gives the giants plenty of room. Had we been wholly 
 unused to Greenland scenery, we might have imagined 
 ourselves steaming into some mysterious region where 
 creatures of a supernatural sort actually held possession 
 of land and sea in their own right ; for, as we came near the 
 base of the cliff, and directly under the peak of Kresarsoak, 
 we detected something moving upon the water, and loud 
 noises came floating on the air. Slacking our speed, until 
 there was barely headway enough to keep us free from the 
 icebergs, we were soon surrounded by a perfect swarm of 
 amphibious creatures, in all essential particulars like that 
 marine centaur of a pilot we had fished up out of Erics- 
 fiord. Despite the colder climate (for we were now seven 
 hundred miles nearer the North Pole than then), they bore 
 no further appearance than he had done of being cold, 
 wet though they were. They gathered about us on ev- 
 ery side, and accompanied us. with every manifestation of 
 delight. Afterwards a boat came off with four of the same 
 fishy-looking creatures at the oars, and a white man at the 
 tiller, who was not slow to announce himself as the " gov- 
 ernor " of a settlement called Karsuk, lying at the base of 
 the mountain, on the very green slope which had attract- 
 ed our attention. Esac was his name. A sorry-looking 
 governor, to be sure, was Governor Esac; but then it 
 would never do to allow a governor of any sort to pull 
 alongside; so we hove to and hauled him aboard, and 
 then let his boat drop astern in tow. 
 
 Governor Esac was in a very bad way. He had the 
 rheumatism, for which what seemed to be a suitable pre- 
 scription (as he thought at least) was administered, and 
 when he finally left us he carried off a bottle of the Same, 
 a gift from the doctor. The medicine worked like a 
 charm, for the patient soon ceased his complaints, and de- 
 clared himself in possession of the very thing he stood 
 
304, 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 most in need of, which seemed very likely, seeing how 
 happy he looked, and great as the prospect appeared of 
 his being more so. 
 
 Esac's rheumatism being provided for, we pushed on 
 towards our place of destination, which was a great trun- 
 
 ENTEEINO THE FIOED. 
 
ACfiOSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 225 
 
 cated cone standing in the middle of the fiord, and right 
 before us. This truncated cone we came to know right 
 well afterwards. Its height is 2300 feet. Its sides slope 
 a little only from the perpendicular, and at our position, 
 when Esac left us, there was no perceptible break in the 
 line of the cliff to an altitude of 1460 feet. Above, the 
 top is more or less ragged, yet the crest is nearly level, 
 and the whole aspect of the rock is one of such great sym- 
 metry that it seems almost as if it were carved by man 
 for a gigantic monumental pile. 
 
 Only by a close inspection of it can one realize its im- 
 mense height. Even after having visited and examined 
 it, I was quite amazed when I came to measure its dimen- 
 sions. We were, indeed, all much deceived, and none more 
 so than the captain, who^ when a full mile away from it, 
 thought he was quite as near as it was safe to go; and 
 accordingly he hauled the Panther up alongside of an 
 iceberg, and tied her fast. 
 
 How rejoiced were we all now to get once more out of 
 the ship ! A " landing " on the iceberg was easily effect- 
 ed, and we ran about over it as if it had been dry land. 
 It was comparatively small, being not over a hundred 
 yards in diameter by fifty feet in height, and it was undu- 
 lating on the top. In the little valleys the water which 
 the warm sun had formed of the pure fresh ice had gathered, 
 and from one of these little pools we filled our water-tanks. 
 
 Satisfied that this was a place for birds, I persuaded the 
 captain to take a boat with me and row towards the cliff, 
 which, owing to a strange optical illusion, appeared to be 
 only a few rods distant. To the captain's great amaze : 
 ment we had a pull of twenty minutes before reaching it. 
 The sight then, up or down, was grand. Upward the cliff 
 rose nearly half a mile above our heads : downward its 
 image was repeated in the clear, bright waters. 
 
 K2 
 
THE LAM) OF DESOLATION. 
 
 THE LUW.ME OE THE AltOTlO SEAS. 
 
 A strange feature of this cliff, and others of like geolog- 
 ical formation, is that the rock is fractured here and there 
 horizontally, and that scales have splintered off from time 
 to time, leaving a series of narrow ledges, or steps, which 
 extend from the very bottom to the top ; and these ledges 
 are in the summer-time the home of myriads of birds. 
 
AC210SS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 227 
 
 These birds are the well-known " bacaloo bird " of New- 
 foundland and Labrador, and the St. Lawrence region gen- 
 erally, where they winter. They are the lumme of the 
 Arctic seas, and the Uria Brunichii of the naturalist — a 
 species of what are popularly known as " divers." 
 
 When about half a mile away from the cliff we began 
 for the first time to perceive something of its character. 
 Then birds came flying over us in considerable numbers. 
 Many of them were on the water, and, like all the divers, 
 who rise with difliculty, they made a great noise about us 
 as they prepared to take the wing, flapping along close 
 over the surface of the sea. As we kept nearing the cliff 
 they became still more numerous. 
 
 Presently we heard a murmuring sound like that of 
 distant falling waters. When we had arrived under the 
 cliff, this sound increased in volume, and became so loud 
 that we were obliged to elevate our voices to make our- 
 selves heard by each other. This result was caused by 
 the constant fluttering of innumerable birds, and their in- 
 cessant screaming. Some of the ledges, or shelves, on 
 which they sat were very narrow, others were two or 
 three feet wide ; some were but a few yards in length, oth- 
 ers were many rods ; some were in pretty regular order, 
 one above another, others were sloping and irregular ; but 
 upon all of them, from near the water's edge to the sum- 
 mit of the cliff, birds were sitting, packed close together, 
 and facing outward — sitting bolt upright, row above row, 
 crowded into the smallest possible compass, and looking 
 for all the world like soldiers with white coats and black 
 caps standing shoulder to shoulder on parade. Low down 
 the birds were easily counted ; but higher up they melted 
 away into scarcely distinguishable lines of whiteness, and 
 higher still they disappeared from sight altogether. 
 
 At first it puzzled me to account for their strange atti- 
 
■iM 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 tude; but when I discovered that each female bird lays 
 but one egg, it was readily explained. 
 
 They make no nest whatever, but lay their single egg 
 upon the naked rock. The bird can only cover it, there- 
 fore, by placing it upon its end, which is acconrplished 
 
 BIIOOTING LUMJIE. 
 
ACROSS TEE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 229 
 
 with the bill, and then she sits down upon it as if it were 
 a stool. 
 
 After listening a while to their strange cries, and watch- 
 ing their movements, we remembered that we had come 
 out to try our luck at shooting. Our guns were fired si- 
 multaneously, and down came plump into the water birds 
 enough to make a meal for the whole ship's company. 
 But what a change now there was in the aspect of the 
 cliff! Following the discharge of the guns there was an 
 instant of calm. It seemed as if every scolding voice was 
 hushed. Every bird had leaped into the air ; and now the 
 wild flutter of their wings, as they darted away from the 
 xock, was like the rush of a tornado ; while they were so 
 numerous as they passed over that they threw a shadow 
 on us like a cloud. Having sprung from their eggs so 
 quickly, many of them were left insecure, and a perfect 
 shower came spattering down the cliffs. 
 
 But the birds did not long keep the air. They soon 
 lit upon the water, with a great splash, about a quarter 
 of a mile from the cliff, perfectly blackening its surface. 
 Some of them did not even go so far; but, wheeling about 
 in mid-air, they put back in haste to get once more upon 
 their eggs before they had time to cool ; and those who 
 took the water quickly came back, despite the danger, to 
 shelter their precious treasure of a single egg. 
 
 Many of the birds were now observed to be in a state of 
 violent anger with their nearest neighbors, and, as they sat 
 there upon their stools, they reminded me of angry fish- 
 wives. With ruffled feathers they were continually scold- 
 ing each other at the very top of their shrill voices; and, 
 not satisfied with this, they plucked out each other's feath- 
 ers, and tried to gouge out each other's eyes. When it is 
 borne in mind that the birds must have numbered mil- 
 lions, the volume of sound may be well imagined. It was 
 
230 THE LANS OF DESOLATION. 
 
 at first difficult to account for all this disturbance, except 
 upon the ground of pure love of fight. Presently, how- 
 ever, I observed that there was a deeper cause at the bot- 
 tom of much of the difficulty. Many of the birds were in 
 fact arrant thieves, and were guilty of all manner of dis- 
 honest devices to cover up their crimes. In short, they 
 stole each other's eggs, seemingly without compunction of 
 conscience. The bird must sometimes leave her egg, for 
 she can not remain there and starve to death while the 
 chick is hatching. She may be a careless bird, and as she 
 leaves the ledge, her precious egg may roll off the cliff 
 after her and thus be destroyed; or her neighbors may 
 roll it off while quarrelling. Upon her return she looks 
 for her egg, but does not find it ; she at once suspects that 
 it is lost, and knowing that to remain virtuous is to be 
 chickless, she instantly decides in favor of theft, and steals 
 the first egg she can lay her bill upon; and then down 
 she sits upon it with as much coolness and unconcern as 
 if it had belonged to her from the beginning. When the 
 true owner of this stolen egg comes back, she may steal in 
 like manner, or she may accuse some other bird with the 
 theft. Perhaps she may accuse the right one; but right 
 or wrong, if there is an accusation, there is sure to be a 
 fight; and perhaps, before the fight is ended, the egg 
 which is the cause of the quarrel may roll down the cliff; 
 and then both birds get even by turning thieves again. 
 But the egg is not always left without a protector, for the 
 male bird sometimes sits upon it while his mate goes off 
 to feed. The poor fellow, however, likes this business lit- 
 tle enough, and I observed that the female did not -trust 
 to his faithfulness to the family interest holding out very 
 long, for she invariably caught her breakfast (small shrimps) 
 as speedily as possible, gave herself a hasty dip in the sea 
 by way of a morning bath, and hurried back; whereupon 
 
ACROSS THE AMCT1U CIRCLE. 231 
 
 the uncomfortable benedict of a lumme betook himself to 
 freedom with a scream and a rush that is very enlivening. 
 It did not require a great many shots to satisfy us with 
 lumme-shooting. It was a barbarous sort of sport, and 
 verily, in the sportsman's sense of the word, there was 
 no sport in it at all. Having knocked over about twelve 
 dozen, we returned on board, leaving the poor frightened 
 birds at such peace as they might find in the confused 
 state of the private property which must have resulted 
 from our so often driving them from their family stools. 
 
 Upon our return to the Panther every boat was at once 
 manned, and the hunters all set out for the cliffs. The 
 day was calm and pleasantly warm, and at its close we 
 were the richer by almost half a ton of birds, after which 
 successful raid upon the feathered inhabitants of the cliffs 
 we cast off from the iceberg, and steamed over to the 
 little bay of Karsuk, where we found good anchorage with 
 sandy bottom, and paid a visit to "Governor" Esac, who 
 proved to be the only white person there. 
 
a32 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 The Government - house at Karsuk is of the uniform 
 style of architecture that prevails throughout the village 
 (and, indeed, throughout Greenland generally), and differs 
 only from the others in its superior size, increased com- 
 fort, and greater ornamentation — that is to say, the ves- 
 tibule is not so long as that of the others, and does not, 
 therefore, accommodate so many snarling dogs and litters 
 of puppies, the owner being rich enough to afford a sepa- 
 rate shelter for those ordinary members of a Greenland 
 family. Then this same vestibule is four instead of three 
 feet high, and you run a correspondingly less risk of 
 knocking your brains out as you go in. The interior — 
 roof, floor and wall — is lined and covered with planed 
 boards, which Esac has obtained from the Government 
 stores at TJpernavik. 
 
 The house has but one room, it is true, but then it is six- 
 teen by twenty feet, while the native houses are only ten 
 by twelve, and their walls are lined with seal-skins instead 
 of boards, and the floor is covered with flat stones. As 
 for the walls, they are all built alike, six feet high and 
 four feet thick, of stones and turf. There is a roof of 
 rough timbers and boards; then the whole, roof and 
 walls, are covered with heavy sods, which grow green, and 
 convert the hut into a sort of mound. At fifty yards you 
 could hardly distinguish Esac's house from the general 
 green of the hill-side but for the Government stove-pipe 
 which projects through the roof, and the smoke of Danish 
 coal that comes from it, for it must be understood that this 
 country produces no fuel save dried moss and blubber, of 
 which the natives make, in an open dish of soap-stone, 
 their only fire. 
 
 Esac had made good use of the doctor's prescription, for 
 he seemed to be now entirely free from pain — at least he 
 did not once mention it ; but he pointed to an empty bot- 
 
ACROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 235 
 
 tie with one hand, while extending the other to welcome 
 us. Then he introduced us to his wife, and invited us to 
 be seated, with immense decorum, and with a high appre- 
 ciation of the rights of hospitality. Half the floor was 
 raised a. foot above the other half, and down we sat on 
 this, along with the different members of his family, in- 
 cluding a son recently married and his blushing bride — at 
 least it is fair to suppose that she was doing what brides 
 always do, as a matter of course, only she was too dark to 
 allow the. blushes to be visible. Along the back part of 
 this raised place, or dais, there were piled up great bags 
 of eider-down, which are spread out at night, and there 
 the numerous family of Esac would bestow themselves to 
 sleep, after such fashion and in such place as they found 
 most suited to the taste and convenience. There being 
 no partitions, the choice was limited only by the walls 
 and certain claims of modesty, which drove the females 
 all to one corner, and the males to the other. 
 
 Esac's wife was a thorough-bred Esquimaux, and when 
 we entered she was seated beside a lamp, over which 
 hung a steaming kettle that gave forth the pleasing aro- 
 ma of coffee. 
 
 This housewife was a woman worth knowing. She 
 wore yellow boots of extraordinary length, seal-skin pan- 
 taloons, a Scotch plaid jacket lined with fawn-skin, and 
 hair twisted into a top-knot after the native fashion. Al- 
 together she looked neat and matronly; of course also 
 after the native fashion. Esac's approbation left no doubt 
 on that score. "Mine frati! " said he, pointing to the lady 
 of the yellow boots. "Mine frau — all same you speakum 
 vife." He had been on board many a whale-ship, and had, 
 with the singular facility of the Danes everywhere, picked 
 up a little English. Then he continued : " Very good 
 vife she. Plenty vurks ;-" and with his right forefinger he 
 
236 TEE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 counted this item number one off upon his left forefinger ; 
 " plenty good cooks " (finger number two) ; " plenty good 
 coffee makum " (finger number three) ; " plenty sew " (fin- 
 ger number four) ; and then, after a pause, and dropping 
 his fingers, evidently regarding them as of no further ac- 
 count, he threw back his head, sniffed the air, and said, 
 triumphantly, and as if there was no use talking further, 
 "No smell." 
 
 But if Esac's frau did not smell, the Government-house 
 did, so that we remained only long enough to pat the 
 babies, bestow some presents, and receive some in return, 
 when we took to the open air for relief; not, however, 
 until we had partaken of a really excellent cup of coffee 
 of this estimable lady's preparing — coffee being the uni- 
 versal and, besides the pipe, almost the only luxury of 
 these Arctic wilds. 
 
 It is offered to you everywhere, in every hut and tent 
 even of the lowest savage. It has, of course, only been in 
 use since the Christians came there; but now it is a na- 
 tional beverage, and one of the principal articles used in 
 trade. In the Upernavik district alone the annual con- 
 sumption is about six thousand pounds among a total 
 population of less than seven hundred souls — nearly ten 
 pounds to each man, woman, and child. And every man, 
 woman, and child has free access to the Government 
 store-rooms, when they go provided with blubber, walrus 
 or narwhal ivory, eider-down, or some other merchanta- 
 ble commodity ; and in return he receives every needful 
 article of civilized comfort and convenience, save and ex- 
 cept only, as I have before observed in my relation of Ju- 
 lianashaab, the villainous "fire-water." The exclusion of 
 spirits from the Greenland natives is but one of many evi- 
 dences of the paternal care which the Danish Government 
 exercises over these children of nature. The whole sys- 
 
ACROSS TSB ARCTIC CIRCLE. 237 
 
 tern being devised with the view of making the natives use- 
 ful subjects, instead of reducing them to dependents, and, 
 while causing them to be taught Christian doctrines, in- 
 culcating at the same time the practice of Christian vir- 
 tues in conformity therewith, a circumstance not so usual 
 as to be unworthy of mention. It is thus that, finding no 
 conflict between precept and example, the Greenlanders 
 have embraced Christianity, with its churches r.nd its 
 schools, and present an exceptional example of the current 
 of a savage nature being turned into the stream of modern 
 civilization. 
 
 "We were bound to the colony of Upernavik, capital of 
 the Upernavik District; and having accomplished our 
 business in the fiord, we steamed around the base of the 
 " big mountain," and in a couple of hours were at anchor 
 again in a most uncomfortable situation, among a great 
 quantity of drift-ice, directly off the little town, which, 
 perched upon the naked, treeless rocks, presented a most 
 woe-begone appearance. Yet hearty hospitality and a 
 warm welcome were in store for us, as I knew they would 
 be ; and we soon forgot the desolate surroundings, as one 
 would forget the desert in the wild flower that he finds 
 growing by the way. My good old friend of former 
 years, C. N. Rudolph, M.D., Bataillonschir, and governor 
 of the Upernavik District, was there to greet us ; and his 
 great ancestor, the father of all the Hapsburgs, could not 
 have welcomed guest with more lordly courtesy than did 
 this true-hearted gentleman offer us the freedom of his 
 house. 
 
 And his house was snug and comfortable. Two chil- 
 dren and a kindly, gentle wife comprised the family; and, 
 after seeing them, we needed not to see the fragrant flow- 
 ers growing in the windows, nor to eat an excellent din- 
 ner, to oonvince us that we were in a home as happy as it 
 
288 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 THE QOYKENOE AM) FAMILY. 
 
 was refined. The wild winds might whistle as they would 
 over the boundless wilderness beyond the window-panes 
 — they could not disturb the peace and comfort that 
 reigned within. 
 
 I never shall grow weary with recalling the tender love 
 of flowers that I witnessed everywhere in Greenland. I 
 never saw there a Danish house without them. They 
 
ACROSS THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 239 
 
 would not bear, throughout the entire length of any single 
 day, exposure to the open air ; but then, dear souvenirs of 
 love and love's sweet offices, they keep them safe behind 
 the glass, and nurse them as they nurse within their 
 hearts the kindly ties that bind their lives and memories 
 to sunny skies and summer gardens far away. 
 
240 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 BEYOND CIVILIZATION. 
 
 Upbenavik District extends from about latitude Y0° 
 to latitude 74°, and enjoys the pre-eminent distinction of 
 being the most northern spot of all the earth where civil- 
 ized industry is carried on. The settlements comprised 
 ■within this most northern of the Greenland Districts are, 
 TJpernavik (which is the capital), Proven, South. Proven, 
 Karsuk (the home of Esac), Aukpadlartok, Kresarsoak, 
 Kryatok, and Tessuisak. Of these, the latter is the most 
 northern, and is, moreover, the most northern spot of earth 
 where any Christian people dwell. It lies some fifty miles 
 to the northward of TJpernavik, in latitude 73° 35'. There, 
 after leaving TJpernavik, and twisting for many hours 
 about among a perfect maze of islands, we made our next 
 halt. The place differs in its general features from Kar- 
 suk, already described, only in having for its trader, gov- 
 ernor, or bestyrere, whichever you like to call him, a man 
 of more intelligence than Esac, and altogether of very dif- 
 ferent character. This governor's wife is Danish, and he 
 brought her with him from Copenhagen to this last bound- 
 ary of the Christian world, and he lives in a comfortable 
 little house of civilized construction. His wife, when she 
 first came here, was a fresh young bride ; and here four 
 children have been born to them. One of these sleeps in 
 its cold grave among the stones. 
 
 The town itself is otherwise not unlike Karsuk, and has 
 about the same number of native inhabitants, an equal 
 number of yelping dogs (I should say about a hundred), 
 
EWYOND CIVILIZATION. 243 
 
 and the average proportion of the filth and stench insepa- 
 rable from a town of such description. Among it all the 
 trader's little whitewashed house loomed up cheerily, and, 
 like a light-house in a dirty fog, it was a pleasant thing to 
 look upon. It was late at night when we dropped our an- 
 chor, but the photographers had time to get out their cam- 
 era and bath; and as the clock struck twelve they made 
 a picture of it — the most northern house upon the globe, 
 photographed by the light of the midnight sun! a feat well 
 suited to the place and the romantic circumstances of our 
 situation. We carried the picture off as a pleasant sou- 
 venir. 
 
 But, unhappily, the proprietor of this house was not 
 there, nor his family. They had all gone off reindeer- 
 shooting — the entire family camping out in the open air — 
 a circumstance which I regretted the more that the man 
 had served me before as interpreter and dog-manager in 
 1860-'61, and I was naturally desirous to see him. We 
 sent off a native courier, but the courier missed him, and 
 after remaining twelve hours, and the case appearing hope- 
 less, the Panther was headed once more northward, and 
 over the classic ground of the whalers we were soon pass- 
 ing Wedge Island and Cone Island, and Horse's Head, and 
 Cape Shackleton ; and finally we fetched up at the Duck 
 Islands, sixty miles beyond Tessuisak. 
 
 The Duck Islands were in former years a sort of whale- 
 men's rendezvous. To this point they fought their way 
 among the great ice-fields along the Greenland coast ; and 
 here they are beyond the Danish colonies, and beyond the 
 reach of human succor if misfortune happens them. Ahead 
 of them lies Melville Bay, and the " middle ice " or " pack," 
 which they are bold to enter, and if lucky enough, in the 
 end, to pass, they are pretty sure to find an ample reward 
 in the cargo of whale blubber and whalebone which they 
 
244 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. . 
 
 will gather in the northern and western waters of Baffin's 
 Bay. In former times this fleet numbered something like 
 a hundred sail; but now about a dozen steamers do the 
 work of the noble old sailing ships, of which the recently 
 destroyed True. Love was the last. As the fleet " take the 
 ice " here early in June or late in May, we were of course 
 too late for them. 
 
 When a little more than half-way between the first and 
 second of the Duck Islands we ran, at nearly full speed, 
 upon a sunken rock not laid down on the charts — perhaps 
 for the reason that nobody ever hit it before, but more 
 probably, as it seemed, because of the disposition of our 
 mate to allow no opportunity to be lost for sounding Baf- 
 fin's Bay with the keel of the Panther. We struck it first 
 with the stem, and fortunately glanced off to port, thus 
 easing the shock, and, by somewhat deadening the head- 
 way of the steamer, the better enabled us to take the 
 rock again and get fast aground. 
 
 The shock was, I need hardly say, rather startling. The 
 worst results were, not without reason, anticipated. The 
 timber-heads were of course, as everybody supposed, start- 
 ed and glaring wide open ; of course the ship had sprung 
 a leak ; of course we would have to take to our boats, and 
 make our way as best we could to Tessuisak and Uperna- 
 vik, and there meet the Danish ship, and reach home by 
 way of Copenhagen, leaving the Panther to go to pieces 
 on the rocks. It was not a pleasant prospect, but there 
 was no help for it. The artists were in a great stew 
 about the "negatives." Our special artist" (the very .live- 
 ly young gentleman, much given to caricature, already 
 mentioned, who, for short, bore the cheering name of 
 "Blob") was much alarmed for the safety of his numerous 
 sketches. " The Professor" bemoaned the fate of his col- 
 lection of specimens. But to every body's great surprise, 
 
BEYOND CIVILIZATION. 245 
 
 and to the utter destruction of every body's well-laid 
 plans of misfortune, a careful examination proved that no 
 harm had been done whatever, except to the cabin furni- 
 ture. The shock set our cups and plates shying about 
 the deck in a very fragmentary state, and sent our cabin- 
 boy, who was, as usual, asleep in the pantry, head foremost 
 through the door, where he tripped up the steward, who 
 was bringing in a pot of boiled mush, all of which the un- 
 happy boy received on the abdominal region, and for the 
 first, last, and only time during the cruise got thoroughly 
 waked up. 
 
 It was none of our (that is to say, the passengers') busi- 
 ness whether the Panther got off the rocks or not. That 
 was the captain's affair ; and therefore, when we learned 
 that no hole had been made in her bottom, we were eager 
 to get ashore, and after the birds. " The Professor " was 
 easy in his mind about the specimens ; " Blob " was re- 
 lieved about his caricatures, and the "negatives" were 
 ■ safe. What was to prevent us ? Nothing but the settle- 
 ment of the question of responsibility as to whose fault it 
 was that we hit the rock. The mate said it wasn't his. 
 Oh no ! who ever was at fault when any mischief was 
 done ? But the captain declared it was ; and the mate, 
 with equal zeal, repeated that it was not. But the second 
 mate was against him, and every body else appeared to 
 be; so he protested very loudly that it was no part of his 
 duty to keep the run of all the rocks in Baffin's Bay; 
 which was rather hard upon the captain, who kept the 
 charts, and, if there were any rocks lying around loose, 
 should know about it. 
 
 This home-thrust incensed the captain greatly; and, 
 without making any secret of it, he advised the mate to 
 go home to his mother (which he would, no doubt, have 
 been glad enough to do), and, with a consistency peculiar 
 
246 
 
 THE LAMD OF DESOLATION. 
 
 to maritime people, told him, with the same breath, that 
 he had better go and scrape the rust off the anchor, as 
 that was all he was fit for. This settled the matter ; and 
 the matter being settled, a calm followed on the heels of 
 the storm ; and, upon the first lull, we got a boat off the 
 davits, and got ourselves and our guns and heavy shot. 
 
 ELDLU-UUO^S. 
 
 for the promiscuous slaughter of ducks, landed on the 
 beach. Then we all filed off to left and right, and march- 
 ed inland, the ducks very obligingly getting up before us 
 as we went along, and hurrying away with a terrible flap- 
 ping of wings and quacking with fright — at least, such as 
 
BEYOND CIVILIZATION. 347 
 
 we did not bring down — and, since they rose superbly, 
 any body with half a hand could have knocked over his 
 bird. The sport was good, and by all odds the best we 
 had yet enjoyed. 
 
 The islands proved, indeed, to have been well named. 
 The birds were the famous eider-duck, close kindred of 
 our much prized canvas-back, though much larger, and, 
 feeding on shrimps, their flesh is not so well flavored. 
 
 The whole aspect of the place was forbidding in the ex- 
 treme — too bleak and desolate to make one think of look- 
 ing there for game did he not know better beforehand. 
 But there were, towards the centre of the island, some 
 small pools or lakes of snow-water, which furnished moist- 
 ure for the growth of great quantities of moss ; and in 
 this moss, after the waters had subsided and left it dry, 
 the birds had built their nests, lining them with the deli- 
 cate down which grows upon the breast. This the bird 
 plucks off with her bill to the extent of a good handful, 
 leaving the feathers intact ; and when she quits her nest 
 to feed, she covers her eggs with this warm material to 
 keep them warm. In regions farther south the Green- 
 landers make descents upon the islands, and carry off this 
 fine lining of the nests, which, when cleaned, becomes the 
 well-known and very valuable " eider-down " of com- 
 merce. " Live down " is the commercial name for it ; and 
 it is a singular fact that the same material plucked from 
 the bird even an instant after death is worthless. The 
 wonderful elasticity which gives such great value to the 
 " live down " is wholly wanting in the dead. 
 
 During the early part of the season the ducks go in 
 pairs, and the contrast between the two is very great — 
 the female bird being brown and homely, while the male 
 is black, with cream-colored breast and neck, and has the 
 most beautiful tints of green upon his head. If the nest 
 
■ 348 THE LAND OF. DESOLATION. 
 
 is robbed of down, and the female's own supply is exhaust- 
 ed, the male will sometimes obligingly pluck himself to 
 accommodate her ; but after she begins to " sit " he is' sel- 
 dom seen about her nest or in her company, and, indeed, 
 is not allowed there except when she has been robbed, 
 and wants his help to refresh the family. nest. - The. males 
 then flock together — like hen-pecked husbands at the 
 clubs— and are very wild. To get within range of them 
 at all one must lie low behind tfcfe rocks, and wait for 
 them to fly overhead. . In this manner we shot quite a 
 number, and found their flesh a little fishy, but very fair. 
 We enjoyed the afternoon's sport immensely, and perhaps 
 not the less that the captain had come ashore very soon 
 after we landed to convey the pleasing intelligence that, 
 the tide having risen, the Panther was afloat and all right. 
 And apart from this, we liked to have the captain on all 
 hunting expeditions. He was generally the best shot, 
 which detracted something, of course, since he was pretty 
 sure to be the winner. But then he was always gay and 
 lively; and he carried a gun which nobody but a tall, 
 powerful man like himself could possibly have used — one 
 of those Newfoundland sealing-gunS' — long enough, ordi- 
 narily, to knock a bird over without firing. . But the cap- 
 tain was too fond of sport for work of that sort, and he 
 invariably allowed the bird to get beyond the muzzle be- 
 fore he pulled trigger. Fifteen dozen birds rewarded us 
 well for some fatigue, undergone in a temperature warm 
 enough to enable us to dispense with coats, even although 
 we were in latitude 74°, and surrounded on every side by 
 ice. • ■ 
 
 The islands were so full of interest, and possessed so 
 many romantic associations, that I wandered about them, 
 from one" to the other, rather in pursuit of my own fancy 
 than of game.' Everywhere that I went there appeared 
 
BEYOXJ) CI-VIMZATIOX. 249 
 
 traces of the whalemen — at one place a flag-staff, at an- 
 other place the fragment of a wreck; here they had built 
 a fire, and there they had made a camp; and upon the 
 very' summit of the outer island, five hundred feet above 
 the sea, we discovered the walls of an old look-out station, 
 behind which many a hardy mariner whose ship was " be- 
 set " among the ice had come and watched, perhaps for 
 days, waiting and hoping for some favorable change of 
 wind and weather to bring a change of ice and change of 
 fortune. 
 
 On another part of this same island we came upon seven 
 graves. They were about fifty yards from the beach, on a 
 rapidly sloping hill-side facing the west, beneath a great 
 tall cliff, which forms a conspicuous landmark for vessels 
 approaching from that direction. 
 
 Never was place of human sepulture more desolate. 
 Here there were no birds ; there was not even a blade of 
 grass, nor a bit of moss — not a living thing — nothing but 
 a waste of naked rocks and loose stones, that had been 
 tumbled by the frosts of winter from the cliffs above. 
 The dead had been laid in some convenient place among 
 the rocks, and the stones had been heaped upon the cof- 
 fins ; and at the head of each rude sepulchre there had 
 been placed a board on which the shipmates of the dead 
 sailor had carved his name and age, and the place of his 
 nativity, his ship, arid rank, and day of death. 
 
 There was something very touching in the evident care 
 with which the last sad offices of the living to the dead 
 had been performed. But even there, in the drear soli- 
 tude, -other; men had followed after the mourners, and 
 graves which the wild beasts had respected, and which 
 showed such signs of tender solicitude, had been most bar- 
 barously desecrated. The graves themselves remained as 
 they had been originally prepared, but the head-boards, 
 
 L2 
 
250 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 on which careful hands had carved the brief record of a 
 career that the grave closed over, were broken into splin- 
 ters, and strewn upon the rocks around. A party from 
 some whale-ship (it could be no other) had landed there, 
 and, using the head-boards of the graves for targets, had 
 blown them all to pieces with ball and shot. Not a single 
 one remained intact, and the resting-place which each was 
 meant to tell of could not possibly be identified. Nor 
 could much be made of the splinters that I found. The 
 records on two of these ran thus : 
 
 " Of the ship Jane, of Hull, died April 28, 1832 :" 
 
 " Who died on board of the ship Alexander, of Dundee, June 21, 1842, 
 adged 42 years." 
 
 But to neither of these was any name attached; and 
 
 even this much was deciphered with difficulty, so effectual 
 
 had been the aim of the vandals. Another splinter told 
 
 that 
 
 "Wm. Hardy, aged 59," 
 
 had died, but I could not make out the name of his ship 
 or the date of his death. Even about the " Wm." there 
 was uncertainty. The only perfect one ran thus : 
 
 " To the memory of Thos. Roberts, seaman, Leith, who died on board 
 the Alphen, of Peterhead, July 6th, 1825, aged 37 years." 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when we brought up at the 
 summit of the island in the whalers' old look-out station, 
 where we commanded a superb view of the surrounding 
 region. How grandly the mountains and glaciers of 
 Greenland loomed up on our right ! How splendid was 
 the sea around, speckled with ice, while here and there 
 appeared a dark rocky island among the general white- 
 ness. How tempting Melville Bay ahead, with its inter- 
 minable "pack." 
 
ICE-NAVIGATION. 351 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 ICE-NAVIGATION. 
 
 While the chain is clicking in the hawse-hole, let us 
 take a quiet view of the situation. There is no need, how- 
 ever, to describe with much minuteness the " Melville 
 Bay pack" which lay before us. The ice freshly broken 
 up in any large river is a sufficient illustration, provided 
 the imagination will stretch the river to three hundred 
 miles in width, and magnify the drifting fields of ice in 
 proportion. In the early part of the season this ice is 
 very hard, and many feet in thickness ; but by August 
 (which was the time of our being there) it has become por- 
 ous, its thickness has been greatly reduced, much of it is 
 on the eve of disappearing altogether, and still more of 
 it has quite melted away. Almost all the fields, or the 
 " floes," as they are called by the whalers, have been eaten 
 through in places ; and over all there are pools of water 
 formed of melted snow, which give them a mottled ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 In the month of August this "pack" is mostly confined 
 to the Melville Bay region ; hence the name of " Melville 
 Bay pack," which I have used before. At that season the 
 navigation is not particularly difficult or dangerous. By 
 keeping well away from the land the passage can then 
 always be made with safety. It was by following the op- 
 posite course that Captain Sir Francis M'Clintock found 
 himself delayed in 1857, with his ship firmly frozen fast, 
 and with no alternative but to pass the winter drifting 
 with the "pack" in a most uncomfortable and hazardous 
 
253 THE LANS OF DESOLATION. 
 
 situation. Had he followed the example and advice of 
 Dr. Kane, he might have won his knightly spurs a year 
 sooner, and with less discomfort. 
 
 Earlier in the summer the pack extends far down Baf- 
 fin's Bay ; and south of the Arctic Circle it stretches away 
 to the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland. And it is 
 here that commerce profits by it, for the seals flock to it 
 the moment it has ceased to be the solid ice of the winter, 
 and become the "pack" ice of the spring. . Of these seals 
 there are many varieties. Some are permanent denizens 
 of the North ; others are migratory. These last only are 
 found so low as Newfoundland and Labrador. Seeking 
 the ice in the month of March, they crawl upon it, and 
 there bring forth their young. These seals come up from 
 the South — from the St. Lawrence region and along the 
 shores of New Brunswick and Maine, where they have 
 wintered — and with the ice. they drift back south again 
 until it melts away. Other varieties (the true Arctic 
 seals) adhere to the solid ice, as far as possible, arid, if 
 drifted off southward with the pack,return north again to 
 winter, and then, in order to breathe (for the seals are not 
 fish, arid can not breathe under, water), they are compelled 
 to keep holes open in the ice ' with their sharp claws. 
 These true Arctic seals are not so numerous as the south- 
 ern varieties, of which latter millions inay sometiihes be 
 seen at one time upon the drifting ice. It is the young 
 of these (when from two to three weeks old) that are 
 slaughtered in • such great numbers by the seal-fishers. 
 The vessels, usually small schooners, but sometimes steam-', 
 ers like our Panther (which was built for that service), en- 
 ter the pack, and- the crew, scattering to right and left 
 over the ice, gather up the seals as they go along, the ves- 
 sel merely keeping pace with them. Upon the first attack 
 the old ones abandon "their young to their fate, and the 
 
r *,y 
 
 >JiA 
 
 wmmmm 
 rim?, up 
 
 ■ft. - , -. :',' m 
 
 THE POLAH BEAU 
 
ICE-NA V1QA TION. 255 
 
 innocent, whining "baby seals," too young to appreciate 
 danger, are captured without difficulty — a tap on the nose 
 with the toe of a boot or with a boat's " gaff" robbing 
 them quickly of what little life they have. 
 
 From the seals let us pass to their enemies, the bears — 
 I mean, of course, the true Arctic bears, known in different 
 localities by different names — "ice-bears" they are usu- 
 ally called in the far north, because they are not found 
 elsewhere than on the ice. But farther south this is not 
 always true of them, since both from choice and necessity 
 they often take the water, and are generally known on 
 "the Labrador" as "water-bears." They are often car- 
 ried off from the pack upon a single ice-field, which, going 
 to pieces under them, forces them to swim, perhaps, many 
 miles before reaching another. I have seen one swimming 
 in a heavy sea, where there was not a piece of ice in sight. 
 They seldom take to the land, and never voluntarily. 
 Their food has either failed them on the ice, or they are 
 pursued by enemies, or the ice has all melted away and left 
 them no alternative. The naturalist's name, Ursus mari- 
 timus — "the bear of the sea" — expresses their character 
 perfectly. In color they are yellowish- white — quite dark, 
 indeed, when contrasted with the snow. "White bear" 
 is therefore a misnomer, as is also " Polar bear ; " but this 
 latter is the name most commonly in use, and is the one, 
 therefore, which I shall employ whenever referring to 
 them. 
 
 The food of the seal consists of those low forms of ma- 
 rine life known to us as shrimps, and to naturalists as in- 
 vertebrata, and sometimes certain varieties of rnollusca. 
 The former exist in vast numbers in the icy waters of the 
 North; and it is this abundant supply of food which at- 
 tracts to that quarter of the world not seals alone, but 
 those enormous flights of birds of which we read, and 
 
a50 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 some idea of which was given in former chapters of this 
 book. On the other hand, tbe food of the bear is the seal. 
 Therefore, wherever ice is seen seals may be expected ; 
 and where seals are seen, yon may look out for bears. 
 
 We had seen seals and we had seen the " pack," and 
 thns bears were suggested ; and the suggestion was pe- 
 culiarly welcome to the people of the Panther. The an- 
 chor was aweigh in almost no time at all, and, steam be- 
 ing up, the Panther was pointed northward, in the calm 
 
 evening. The sun was in the west, a good way above the 
 horizon, and a pleasant glow was over sea, and land, and 
 glacier. 
 
 We steer for Wilcox Point, fifteen miles in a north-east- 
 erly direction from the Duck Islands, and it is a very lofty, 
 noble headland. We spread out the map on deck to see 
 what comes next, and where we are to go. Eastward 
 from Wilcox Point we observe that the coast trends some 
 miles, and then comes a mountain called "The Devil's 
 Thumb ■" and as we subsequently see it, it has very much 
 the appearance of a thumb projecting vertically above the 
 
. . 1CE-NAVWAT10X. ,257 '■ 
 
 hand when it is' placed edgewise on the table, with' the lit- 
 tle finger down. We afterwards discover the hand to be 
 an island, and the thumb the centre of it, but we did not 
 know it then. "Why the Devil's Thumb, rather than the 
 thumb of some' more respectable character, might seem 
 puzzling; but I fancy that that. dark spirit of evil was 
 complimented with 'this monument on account of his sup- 
 posed influence over the neighboring sea. The sea is 
 there, indeed, very perilous, and no part of Baffin's Bay is 
 so much dreaded as that vicinity. The icebergs' are so 
 numerous that the locality is often called " Bergy Hole ;" 
 and the currents are so swift that a sailing vessel, once be- 
 calmed off "The Thumb," is very likely to be sucked in 
 and whirled about, as if there were some secret and super- 
 natural influence at work upon the waters ; and if the ship 
 escapes without getting battered against an iceberg or 
 so, and being much damaged in consequence, she is very 
 lucky. Dr. Kane's brig, the Advance, got whirled into this 
 dangerous situation, and I shall not soon foi'get the strug- 
 gle of hours at the oars, by which means the brig was 
 saved, though not until every body was thoroughly worn 
 out, and ready to drop down with fatigue. . . 
 
 In a north- westerly direction from the Devil's Thumb, 
 and distant from it about two hundred mile's, lies Cape 
 York, and between these two points the coast makes a 
 deep cui-ve,and the space thus embraced is Melville Bay 
 — though the name has really a wider significance— the 
 term Melville" Bay being usually meant to signify that 
 part of Baffin's Bay west of it, where the "middle ice" is 
 always lying.' The entire sweep of Melville Bay. is one 
 vast line of glaciers, wholly unapproachable, ' and from 
 which are cast off an incredible number of icebergs," that 
 are scattered over Baffin's Bay in all directions, and by 
 accumulating in greater numbers year by year; gather the 
 
358 THM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ice-field about them more and more, and thus render navi- 
 gation each year more difficult and perilous. Since ships 
 first penetrated Melville Bay a very perceptible change 
 has taken place. 
 
 Most of which information we gather from the map ; 
 and while gathering it the Panther is coming, bows on, to 
 the very first field-ice we have seen. There it is before us 
 — a great, long, level plain of white and blue, stretching 
 beyond the line of vision. It does not look so very formi- 
 dable, after all, and is rather disappointing, until the ship 
 takes a projecting tongue, and, by the shock that it gives 
 us, shows there is more body to the ice than first appear- 
 ed. In fact, from seven-eighths to nine-tenths of it lies 
 below the surface of the water ; and not until the Panther 
 had split a fragment off and turned it up on its edge, as 
 the bow slid over it, did we appreciate its really solid 
 quality. 
 
 But this was a brush not worth mentioning ; and on 
 went the Panther beyond and across clear water until we 
 approached another great field, which had at first appear- 
 ed to be a part of the one which we had passed ; but the 
 event proved that there was a wide streak of open water 
 stretching to the northward, which a whaleman would 
 call a " lead ;" and, seeing that our farther progress in the 
 direction we had chosen was cut off, we bore away from 
 Wilcox Point, and steamed north at great speed between 
 the " floes." 
 
 Very soon there was no water to be seen except the 
 lead we were in — everywhere limitless ice — unless we 
 went aloft, when other leads were visible, meandering 
 among the floes in all directions. The lead we had enter- 
 ed was at first at least a mile wide ; but as we proceeded 
 it gradually narrowed, then became crooked ; loose floes of 
 small size were lying here and there upon it. The mate, 
 
ICE-NAVIGATION. 359 
 
 who was aloft, kept the man at the wheel busy enough 
 with his " starboards " and " ports " and " steadys," until 
 it was reported that our lead was a blind one, and we 
 were coming to the end of it. An immense floe lay be- 
 tween the two great floes to right and left of us, jammed 
 tight, and squeezed and broken up upon its sides. This 
 was the report from aloft, and the mate cried, " Starboard ! 
 — hard a-starboard !" 
 
 "What's that for?" shouted the captain, with stentorian 
 voice. " What do you want to starboard for ?" 
 
 " Jammed tight everywhere, and we must go back," said 
 the mate. 
 
 " Is there no opening anywhere ?" 
 
 " None ; but the ice looks weak on the port hand." 
 
 " Keep her for it, and put her in," roared the captain. 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir ! Starboard a little ; steady — steady as she 
 goes." 
 
 And down we bore upon the ice, the rakish bow and 
 stem of the Panther well up out of the water, and looking 
 defiant, as if it were a matter of no kind of consequence to 
 her what amount of ice lay before her. It seemed as if 
 she could crush it down, and trample on it, and ride over 
 it rough-shod, and never wink until the affair was finished. 
 Perhaps the captain's threat — seemingly made in earnest 
 — to " put her through, or knock her bloody eyes out," 
 may have had some effect upon her, and have inspired her 
 with additional resolution. 
 
 We were soon so near the ice that the opening could be 
 seen from the bridge, and the mate was called below. 
 " Mind your helm, Mick," said the captain to the man at 
 the wheel ; " mind your helm there !" 
 
 And still on we went, still rushing towards the ice at 
 full speed,, the screw grinding fiercely, and making the 
 ship tremble in every timber. It was soon too late to 
 
■260 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 check .her headway, even if the captain should have de- 
 . sired it; to wheel round now was quite impossible. ' We 
 ■braced ourselves for the shock that was coming — every 
 man catching hold of something to steady himself with. 
 The captain watched the point he wished to make ahead. 
 "Port— port a little — steady, steady, as she goes." 
 
 Cr-r-r-r-ash— the solid iron cut-water of the Panther has 
 taken the ice. She cuts into it, slides upon it, and crushes 
 it down ; the ship rides up again, and sinks, and buries 
 herself one full length in the body of the floe ; but still 
 she slides up once more and crushes the ice farther on, but 
 going slower now ; and then she stops and settles down 
 to her proper level, and the groaning of the ice seems to 
 be a' cry of relief and satisfaction from the noble ship, 
 which only wants a little breathing-time before she begins 
 again. 
 
 She isn't hurt— not in the least. Her masts are all 
 standing right, her bows are sound as ever, her solid, iron- 
 bound 'sides have not a scratch. Pretty well for a first 
 beginning ; and no one now doubts the Panther's ability 
 for. any thing. . , . 
 
 . " Back astern," shouts the captain ; and we ha,ul out 
 into clear water a hundred fathoms or so, and butt away 
 into the opening we have made before. We ride over the 
 broken ice ; the cut-water strikes again ; again we feel the 
 ship.'going up forward; again she sinks and rises, and then 
 she settles down again at rest. Then we go below, in 
 great glee, to supper, and the captain tells the watch-offi- 
 cer .to!" keep her at it;" and the screw, thumping against 
 the .ice that has come about the stern, is kept revolving, 
 and the wedge-shaped Panther is pushing in between the 
 floes, forcing them asunder. 
 
 When we come" on deck again the crack is opening. 
 The jar and steady pressure have had their eflect; the 
 
ICE-MA riGATIOX. 
 
 261 
 
 floes have been set in motion, the crack widens, and we 
 grind through into clear, open water. 
 
 This bold dash into the very teeth of the enemy saved 
 us a wide detour, and brought us by a short cut into an 
 extensive area of open water, which gave us a free passage 
 northward as far as the eye could see. But still we had 
 
 heavy floes on the starboard hand, which prevented us 
 from hauling in, as we desired, close under Wilcox Point. 
 We had, however, a fine view of the noble headland at a 
 distance of five miles. 
 
 Running now along the edge of an old floe that lay to 
 
262 TEE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 our right, all eyes were strained, and all glasses were do- 
 ing service in search of bears. Men were in the rigging 
 and up aloft. We soon opened Melville Bay, the tall spire 
 of the Devil's Thumb corning in view through a blaze of 
 sunshine exactly at midnight. 
 
 It was a midnight long to be remembered. The bright 
 sun stood in the heavens before us but a little way above 
 the horizon, glittering upon the icebergs and flinging 
 gems broadcast upon the floes. The great glaciers that 
 climbed up from the sea at the bend of the bay, until they 
 were lost in a line of purple against a belt of golden light, 
 reflected the light from their glassy terraces ; the cavern- 
 ous old cape which towered above our heads was warmed 
 and reddened by the- glow ; upon the summit of the Dev- 
 il's Thumb there lingered a brilliant ray ; and, as the lofty 
 column roese from out a vast cluster of icebergs, it seemed 
 as if it were a church spire mounting to heaven above 
 some nameless city. 
 
HUNTING ST STEAM. 363 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HUNTING BY STEAM. 
 
 At length there came the cry of " Bears ! hears !" 
 which had been so long eagerly desired. With the first 
 alarm the people swarmed up from below, and the deck 
 was alive in an instant, every body shouting " Where ?" 
 And " Where ? where ?" rang through the ship loud 
 enough, as one would think, to have frightened all the 
 bears of Melville Bay into fits. 
 
 But there were the bears, sure enough ; and they ap- 
 peared to be the very ones we were looking for. Clearly 
 they had seen the Panther long before we had discovered 
 them; but they did not appear to be at all frightened, 
 but stood their ground boldly, looking at us evidently 
 with more curiosity than alarm. There were three of 
 them, an old mother and two cubs, standing about three 
 or four hundred yards distant from us, and quite still. 
 The mother was in the middle, with a cub on either side, 
 in a very cool and composed manner. They appeared to 
 be an affectionate sort of family, and were a very odd 
 sight as they stood upon the old ice-field, the only living 
 things on that desolate waste. It seemed, indeed, a pity 
 to disturb these denizens of the Polar wilderness. 
 
 The steamer was stopped^as quickly as possible, and we 
 lay there watching them, and they us, both parties en- 
 deavoring to make up their minds what the other was go- 
 ing to do. The bears probably did not see us — only, the 
 steamer — since we kept our heads as much as possible be- 
 low the bulwarks; and whatever wind there was being 
 
264 THE LAND. OF DESOLATION. 
 
 from the north, they had not discovered an enemy, with 
 their noses. The steamer was but a black curiosity, and 
 we were well pleased when they manifested a disposition 
 for a nearer inspection and a closer acquaintance. The 
 old mother led off, and the two young ones came shuffling 
 along beside her, very slowly and cautiously, edging away, 
 however, towards the vessel's stern, manifestly for the pur- 
 pose of coming as far as possible around to the leeward 
 of us. , And here, the ice favored the old bear's design, for 
 a long tongue projected far out from the general line of 
 the floe. If they should reach the end of it they would 
 be able to discover us, but then they. would be at the 
 same time in a trap of their own making. In this design 
 we encouraged them by lying low- behind the bulwarks. 
 It did not'seem to be in accordance with the rules of the 
 hunt to allow your game to crawl around where he could 
 wind you, and this it was, of course, within our power to 
 prevent; but since the captain had the management of his 
 own vessel, and knew. what he could do with her, he be- 
 came, the master hunter, by virtue' of his office. ■ "We'll 
 get the whole lot of them now," said he, "if they. only 
 crawl along out on that point a little farther." And he 
 told the engineer, to go ahead at half-speed, and told Mick 
 to shove his helm hard a-port. The action wheeled the 
 Panther around upon her heel, and; she now stood upon 
 the dead waters facing the bears, who still, slowly and 
 cautiously, were going out on the tongue of the old floe. 
 
 "Why, captain, what are you. going to do how? The 
 moment the bears scent us they will take off!" exclaimed 
 an anxious hunter. 
 
 "But before they do," replied the captain, "I can cut 
 in behind and head them." 
 
 " But the ice, the ice, man You will surely not drive 
 her into a floe like that ?'.' 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM. 265 
 
 " That I will," said the captain, promptly ; " drive her 
 into an iceberg, if necessary." 
 
 So now it was the skill and strength of the Panther 
 against the skill and fleetness of the bears. 
 
 Bears are not graceful animals in their movements. 
 Their enormous legs are carried along as if they had no 
 joints in them, and their immense feet are lifted in a man- 
 ner to suggest their being mounted on snow-shoes. The 
 long, tapering neck is the only graceful thing about them. 
 
 I was particularly struck with the old mother's exces- 
 sive caution. She would not come near, and yet she would 
 not go away. Had she taken to her heels when she first 
 discovered us she could, of course, have defied pursuit, for 
 the ice-field was so extensive that we could never have 
 overtaken her. But she seemed to be fascinated with the 
 steamer, and her curiosity got the better of her discretion. 
 It is not the first time that this same quality, inherent in 
 all living creatures, has involved its possessor in trouble. 
 
 She moved along with great deliberation. She appear- 
 ed to be a well-fed bear, and probably had breakfasted re- 
 cently and felt lazy; for she did not once attempt to run, 
 nor did she wade through the pools of water which were 
 on the ice, but deliberately walked around them, as if in- 
 disposed even to wet her feet. Sometimes she would turn 
 her back towards us, sometimes her front; often she 
 would stop, stretch out her long neck and sniff the air all 
 round, turning her head to right and left, throwing her 
 nose as high up as she could get it, and then dropping 
 it on the ice as if she might discover something there. 
 Meanwhile, the little ones -were cutting all sorts of antics 
 about her. Seeing that she was not alarmed, they were 
 in great glee, evidently regarding the Panther as a very 
 wonderful show, got up by their mother for their special 
 benefit. They chased each other like a pair of kittens; 
 
 M 
 
266 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 raced round and round the old bear, rolled each other 
 over on the ice, using their paws and teeth upon each oth- 
 er after the usual innocent and playful fashion natural to 
 dumb animals in their youthful state. They splashed the 
 water right and left as they ran through the pools ; and 
 altogether they appeared to be a pair of very lively, and 
 highly delighted young bears, who regarded the present 
 occasion as rather a jolly sort of entertainment. 
 
 It took this family party somewhere near half an hour 
 to get around to where the old one wanted to be, to satis- 
 fy herself as to whether the Panther was a friend or a foe. 
 Once she seemed irresolute, and turned about as if she 
 would retrace her steps and make off; but then she turn- 
 ed back again, and for some minutes after seemed to he 
 dragged by two antagonistic impulses, first one way and 
 then the other, with a general gain of force, however, on 
 the string which drew her out to the point of ice. 
 
 By-and-by she got where she seemed to be satisfied, for 
 she suddenly stopped short, threw up her head, gave a tre- 
 mendous snort, wheeling around at the same time in a 
 state of alarm, and looking about as if for some means of 
 escape. After a moment's reflection she took the back 
 track. The alarm spread to the little ones, and the lively 
 creatures ran around their mother as if they would inquire 
 what the matter was, and if the show was over, and they 
 were to have no more of it, while she seemed to be en- 
 couraging them by assurances that it was no great affair, 
 but that it was necessary for them to use their legs as 
 nimbly as possible, for they must get out of that. So 
 their gambols were ended, and the little things whined 
 piteously, and did their best. ' They appeared to be as un- 
 happy as children caught in a thunder-shower on their 
 way from a country fair. It was now not less amusing to 
 watch them than before. In the confused state of their 
 

 
BUNTING BY STEAM. 269 
 
 minds they grew utterly careless of what they were about, 
 and they often sprang upon rotten places in the ice, and 
 broke through, and by the time they had crawled out 
 again the mother was some distance ahead, and was 
 obliged to wait, and often to run back, if not actually to 
 render assistance to her cubs, at least to encourage them. 
 As for herself, she could readily have escaped ; and she 
 appeared to be quite conscious of the fact ; but she would 
 not leave her young : her devotion to them was indeed 
 touching, and worthy of all admiration. 
 
 Meanwhile the Panther had not been idle. The mo- 
 ment the old bear got the wind of us, and began to show 
 symptoms of alarm, the captain rang his bell, " Ahead, full 
 speed." The screw began to revolve, and at the top of 
 her speed the vessel bore down upon the ice, across the 
 line of the bears' retreat. 
 
 This was the captain's plan from the beginning, and it 
 now became a. mere question of time ; though on the Pan- 
 ther's part there was in the minds of most of us a question 
 of strength and power. 
 
 We came upon the ice as before with a grand crash, 
 striking what appeared to be the weakest spot. The 
 shock was worse than any thing we had yet felt, the ice 
 being firmer than before; but the solid iron cut-water 
 opened her way into it as formerly, and she rode up on it 
 and crushed it down, and rode up again and settled once 
 more ; and in the conflict every body was very uneasy on 
 his legs. The jar made lively work in the pantry, where 
 the cabin-boy had retired when he had shouted " bergs " 
 instead of bears, and, quite exhausted by the effort, had 
 fallen fast asleep there, and was aroused by the soup-tu- 
 reen coming down and landing, bottom up, on the crown 
 of his head, which nearly cracked his skull, but saved the 
 crockery, and in a measure woke up the young man. 
 
270 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 "Blob," who was standing beside the coamings of the 
 main hatch, making a sketch of the bears, turned a somer- 
 set into the coal-hole, where his picture was turned into 
 a black bear instead of a white one. Otherwise no dam- 
 age was done ; but the ruse was altogether successful, as 
 the captain had anticipated; for the force of the shock 
 started the ice, and a crack opened right through in front 
 of us to the water on the other side. The point to which 
 the bears had gone was thus broken from the main body 
 of the floe, and the game was now on a raft, and at our 
 mercy. 
 
 The crack, opening very rapidly before the steady pres- 
 sure of the vessel, gave us a free passage through, and see- 
 ing themselves thus headed off, and the, steamer bearing 
 down across their line of retreat, they took the back track, 
 and now, all thoroughly frightened, ran across to the op- 
 posite side, behind us, thus compelling us to wheel about 
 and return through the crack. At this moment the pho- 
 tographers came rushing on deck demanding the right of 
 a "first shot." Quick as a flash the camera was down and 
 focused, a slide with a little hole in it was dropped before 
 the lens, and the family group of polar bears was taken at 
 a distance of about two hundred yards. To accomplish 
 this feat required the very first degree of enterprise and 
 skill. The camera was stationed upon the top-gallant fore- 
 castle, and the impression was obtained while both ship 
 and bears were in motion. The brightness of the light, 
 of course, greatly favored the success of this altogether 
 novel experiment in the photographic art. The artists 
 (Mr. John Dunmore, of Boston, and Mr. George Critcher- 
 sen, of Worcester) deserve the highest commendation for 
 their successful accomplishment of so difficult a feat. The 
 bears now took the water with the manifest intention of 
 swimming to the solid floe ; but here we again anticipated 
 
HUXTIXQ BY STEAM. 271 
 
 them, and they wheeled about again, and swam back to- 
 wards the ice which they had left but a few moments be- 
 fore. Putting the helm a-starboard, we now came direct- 
 ly in upon their wake, and when within fifty yards of them 
 slackened speed. 
 
 At this moment they presented a magnificent sight, 
 their beautiful long hair waving gracefully in the clear 
 blue water, and their round, buoyant bodies floating along 
 swiftly towards the ice and hoped-for safety. The tender 
 regard of the mother for her offspring was here as strik- 
 ingly apparent as when on the ice. She would not aban- 
 don them ; but, on the contrary, the nearer we approached 
 the more she stuck by and encouraged them, still, as be- 
 fore, with one on either side. Once she invited them to 
 dive, and, imitating her example, the three went down to- 
 gether and paddled themselves along for some distance 
 about twenty feet below the surface, where we could 
 easily see them striking out for dear life. When they 
 came up we gave them a volley from our rifles, and the 
 old mother and one of the cubs lay lifeless upon the blood- 
 stained water. 
 
 The other cub, by some mischance, escaped with only a 
 slight scratch, and reached the floe, where, as he rose, an- 
 other ball entered his side, and sent him off with a mortal 
 wound, whining piteously. The captain now jammed his 
 steamer into the ice, and, clambering down over the bob- 
 stays, gave chase. The bear soon stopped and hid himself 
 behind a hummock, and when the captain came up with 
 him he was disposed to make fight. His whine was con- 
 verted into a defiant growl, and he charged his pursuer ; 
 but a well-aimed shot brought the game down and com- 
 pleted the hunt. 
 
 It only remained now to get the animals aboard, to 
 weigh and measure them, to award the skins to the rifles 
 
272 TUB LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 which had given them death-wounds. This last was no 
 easy matter; but finally, after much discussion and some 
 rather animated assertions, such as usually take place on 
 like occasions, the award was finally made, and we tied up 
 to an iceberg that promised us a chance for watering ship, 
 and, after the excitement and exposure of the night, we 
 were well prepared to enjoy a good breakfast of the game 
 we had brought from the Duck Islands. 
 
 Casting off from the iceberg next day, we set out to 
 look for further game, steaming up in a north-easterly 
 direction through a wide lead. Presently we saw some- 
 thing dark on the edge of the ice, and soon made it out to 
 be a seal, a very large one, of the barbed species. We 
 knew from former experience how very wild they were, 
 and, slacking speed, we approached cautiously. At first 
 he appeared to be asleep, dozing lazily in the warm sun; 
 but if so, the noise of the steamer awoke him, and he grew 
 restive and alarmed. Evidently he was not to be caught 
 as the bears had been, and if we would shoot him we must 
 exercise great care ; so the headway of the steamer was 
 slackened still further, and we all lay low behind the bul- 
 warks as we glided slowly along, thus stalking the ani- 
 mal in a somewhat tinusual fashion. But he was too old 
 to be cheated, and when still two rifle-shots away he threw 
 up head and tail, and floundered into the water. Then he 
 swam ofi", and brought his almost human - looking face 
 above the surface not twenty yards away, then took a 
 deliberate look at us, and before a rifle could be aimed he 
 had apparently satisfied himself, for he turned heels over 
 head, and with a terrific splash disappeared to be seen no 
 more. 
 
 This little incident would not be worth naming, since it 
 was an entirely unsuccessful feat t»f hunting, had it not 
 been that at the very moment the seal disappeared from 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM. 273 
 
 the ice an immense bear sprang out from behind a ridge 
 of hummocks, along which he had evidently been crawl- 
 ing, stalking the very same seal that we were after. We 
 had clearly robbed the beast of his breakfast, and he ap- 
 peared to be more disgusted with the circumstance than 
 alarmed by us. Yet he was not quite so unsuspicious as 
 the bears we had before encountered. He was the largest 
 bear I had ever seen, and we wanted him badly. He 
 looked splendid as he stood there upon the floe. The mo- 
 ment he saw the Panther he came to a dead stand, and 
 made no further movement than to turn his head first to 
 one side and then to the other, in a sort of measured oscil- 
 lation. There was evidently upon his mind a feeling of 
 irresolution that was constantly increasing ; yet it did not 
 seem as if he was willing to own to himself that he was 
 afraid, until the steamer coming in contact quite unavoid- 
 ably with a piece of ice made a considerable crash, which 
 settled the bear into a suspicion that the object he was 
 looking at was hardly to be trusted. He wheeled sud- 
 denly round on his hind-legs, like a horse wheeling at play 
 in a pasture, made a most magnificent bound across a pool 
 of water, and then took himself off quite leisurely, turning 
 his head back over his shoulder with every step, to have a 
 further look at us. Occasionally he would give a snort, 
 attended with an extra leap, and then go waddling on 
 again at the same stiff-legged and snow-shoe pace as be- 
 fore described in the case of the other bears which we had 
 hitherto pursued and captured. But for all he had still 
 clearly some lingering doubts of the Panther's hostile dis- 
 position, and, allowing this feeling to get the better of him, 
 he came to a dead stand, and squared himself round to 
 have a better look at us ; then he advanced a few paces, 
 stopped and fixed his gaze upon us steadily. Meanwhile 
 the Panther lay still upon the waters, and appeared to 
 
 M 2 
 
274 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 have her eye upon him, and the two stood, as if trying to 
 stare each other out of countenance, for some minutes. 
 The bear seemed at length to be getting charmed, for he 
 advanced a hundred yards or so with the greatest cool- 
 ness and deliberation ; and then, as if suddenly recollecting 
 his previous prudential notions, he wheeled short around 
 as before, took a huge leap, and went upon the back track 
 again. 
 
 To look at the animal now and watch all his antics, one 
 would think him as mad as a March hare. He turned 
 first to the right and then to the left, after he had gone a 
 little way, and then he began to move up and down in 
 front of us, like a sentry on post, acting very deliberately 
 all the while, poking out his head and drawing it in again 
 like a turtle, elevating his nose as high as he could, and 
 then depressing it again close down upon the ice, occa- 
 sionally stopping short and looking at the Panther side- 
 ways. 
 
 All of these manoeuvres, it must be understood, were for 
 the special benefit of the Panther, for we on board of her 
 were closely hidden behind the bulwarks, with nothing 
 but our eyes exposed. Up to this time it was clear 
 enough that the bear had not been seriously frightened. 
 Like the others, he was in some doubt and uncertainty 
 about the meaning of the dark object, and was filled with 
 curiosity. "We had, therefore, great hopes that he would 
 become reconciled to the Panther, and be inclined to closer 
 acquaintance. It is not an uncommon thing for a bear in 
 Melville Bay to leave the ice and swim off to a vessel. I 
 have known them to come deliberately alongside, attract- 
 ed thither, no doubt, by the smell of bones which were 
 burning in the galley — a whaleman's device for attracting 
 the bears. But the sight or smell of a human being, or of 
 a dog, alarms them at once, and they instantly make off. 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM 275 
 
 In the burning bones they find, no doubt, something sa- 
 vory and suggestive of food. 
 
 We felt greatly encouraged when we saw the bear 
 begin to march up and down in front of us, as if standing 
 guard ; but unfortunately the Panther could not forever 
 hold her breath, and with the first gush of steam through 
 the escape-pipe old Bruin bounded up in the air as if pos- 
 sessed, gave a fierce snort, and ran away as fast as his 
 legs would carry him ; and in order that he might make 
 the best time possible, and show ofi" his points to the best 
 advantage, we fired a volley from our rifles after him, 
 without the least hope or chance of doing him any dam- 
 age, owing to the great distance. He did not now pause 
 until he was a good quarter of a mile away from us, when 
 he faced round once more, seemed to bestow upon us an 
 approving nod, and then, with much deliberation, made for 
 the opposite side of the floe, where we now busied our 
 minds with devising ways and means of reaching him. 
 But no way could we see but once more to put the Pan- 
 ther into the ice — no very difficult matter ; but here the 
 ice was unusually thick, and there did not appear to be 
 much chance of breaking through it. To go around the 
 floe was to make a circuit of several miles, and long be- 
 fore we could reach the point towards which the bear was 
 going he would be far enough away. 
 
 Running down a little way near the edge of the floe, 
 we discovered a narrow isthmus, against which the cap- 
 tain put the vessel, as before, under full headway, but with 
 less happy results. Only a few fathoms of the ice were 
 broken away. Owing to this circumstance the shock was 
 greater than on either of the former occasions ; but, noth- 
 ing daunted, the captain backed her out and put her in 
 four successive times, and was rewarded in the end by 
 starting a crack, through which the steamer was forced. 
 
276 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 We were now in the same lead for which the bear was 
 making, and we could with our glasses still see him upon 
 the ice, though very near the water, which by this time he 
 could readily have reached had he done his best. We 
 bore down upon him with all possible haste. Presently 
 he disappeared. He had taken the water, and was mak- 
 ing for the opposite ice, which was very solid, and was 
 held firm and fast by a great number of icebergs, which 
 were imbedded in it. If he once reached this the game 
 was up. 
 
 The second mate was sent aloft, and detected him in the 
 water heading for a point which, instead of being low and 
 flat, as is usual, was rough and hummocky. The Panther 
 was pointed there also, with the view of cutting off his re- 
 treat. This once accomplished, the bear was of course 
 ours. §eeing our purpose, the animal, now evidently in a 
 great state of terror, swam away for dear life, making a 
 splendid spectacle of himself as he floated along with his 
 nose only above the surface, and was clearly in. much the 
 condition of the soldiers who swam the river from the 
 battle of Ball's Bluff — he was not Burt, but fearfully de- 
 moralized. 
 
 We were only about sixty yards away when he reached 
 the point, and we now felt sure of him. We had not suc- 
 ceeded in cutting off his line of retreat, but we had come 
 within easy range ; and since the vessel was forging 
 ahead, we should be almost atop of the animal by the 
 time he got out of the water. The Panther was going 
 fairly for the ice, and we were all ready to fire the mo- 
 ment he showed himself. But the animal was too cun- 
 ning for us. The rough hummocks of the point hid from 
 our view a bight on the_ opposite side, into which the 
 bear swam for safety ; and now, thoroughly sheltered be- 
 hind the ice for which we were making, he was getting the 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM. sSTO 
 
 better of us. With that quickness of perception character- 
 istic of the skillful sailor, the captain grasped the situation, 
 and, seeing that to round the point was to lose the bear 
 for certain, he shouted to the man at the wheel to put his 
 helm hard a-port, which caused us to bring up with a ter- 
 rific thump a short distance from the point, where the ice 
 was comparatively thin. The moment the ship struck and 
 buried herself a little, the captain let himself down by a 
 rope from the cat-head, and, followed by two other rifles, 
 ran over the floe towards the bend of the bight for which 
 the bear was making, but not in time to intercept him. 
 He reached the ice, and drew his enormous body out of 
 the water a hundred yards from the riflemen, and bounded 
 away with the speed of the wind, not stopping even long 
 enough to shake himself of the great quantity of water 
 in his long hair. Every body tired at him, of course, 
 but none of our balls took effect; at least none of them 
 produced any impression upon his speed. The captain 
 thought he saw blood, and kept up the race for half a 
 mile, hoping to see him drop or halt, as the one he had 
 chased before, mortally wounded ; but the animal was soon 
 out of sight among the icebergs, and our eagerly coveted 
 game was gone. 
 
 We we're all much chagrined by this mishap. Every 
 man had regarded him as his own particular prize, and 
 felt quite sure . of him. We had even taken the measure- 
 ment and weight of his body. One was going to have his 
 skin spread out for a mat, with his head stuffed and his 
 paws on. Another was going to drive four-in-hand in the 
 Park, and have him for a sleigh-robe ; another was going 
 to sell him for two hundred and fifty dollars currency, and 
 he knew where to place the article ; but all these bright an- 
 ticipations came to a most lamentable end when the bear 
 carried off his own skin in his own four-in-hand fashion. 
 
280 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 We were soon consoled for this disappointment by an- 
 other alarm. It came from the look-out up aloft, and was 
 answered with a universal " Where away ?" which was 
 answered in turn by the most satisfactory assurance that 
 they were down on the extreme point of a long, narrow 
 floe, and were apparently easily accessible. They were 
 three in number. We bore down upon them without de- 
 lay, the man aloft conning the ship, until they were seen 
 from the deck, when the captain, as usual, gave his own 
 orders. 
 
 The ice upon which the bears were proved this time to 
 be very thin and rotten, as was evidenced by the fact that 
 the animals frequently broke through. They could not, 
 therefore, travel very fast, even if they should become 
 frightened ; and then, besides, as we came nearer to them 
 we perceived that, no matter how fast they might travel, 
 there was but little chance of their escaping us, for in 
 whatever direction they might attempt to go. we could 
 follow them ; and when in the water they would be easily 
 overtaken, as they would have at least a quarter of a mile 
 to swim before reaching another floe. 
 
 The Panther tore through the ice this time without dif- 
 ficulty ; and she actually broke the ice up with such facil- 
 ity, and approached the bears with such rapidity, that 
 they were almost dropped into the water — at least a 
 crack was forced open ahead of us, almost underneath the 
 bears' feet. They took to it immediately, and we almost 
 ran over them. As we approached we might have shot 
 them very easily ; but the photographers were . crazy for 
 a chance at them, and, seeing that there was no possibility 
 of their escape, we sacrificed our impatience in the interest 
 of art. 
 
 The bears having swum a little while, crawled upon the 
 ice. By this time we had wheeled round, and the photog- 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM. 881 
 
 raphers had a fine chance at them. The hunters were 
 impatient, but they had not long to wait, for the delight- 
 ed " colonel " soon thrust his head out of his photographic 
 box and shouted, " I'm done with them, gentlemen." At 
 this moment the bears took the water again. 
 
 "We made short work of cutting through a tongue of 
 ice which intervened; and, coming upon the animals as 
 they swam, we ceased playing with them as a cat plays 
 with a mouse before swallowing it, and at thirty yards 
 gave them a volley, and three more bears were added to 
 our trophies. The carcasses were soon hoisted on deck, 
 and we then steered for Wilcox Point, without, however, 
 seeing any bears by the way. Then we headed in for the 
 Devil's Thumb, and, discovering a moderately firm floe, 
 which seemed to be held in its position by some grounded 
 icebergs, we steered for it, run the Panther a hundred 
 yards into it, and proceeded to let our six prizes down on 
 the ice, where we soon had the skins off, some for speci- 
 mens, and some for robes and mats — each one who was 
 the fortunate possessor of a skin following the bent of his 
 fancy in the matter. 
 
 Pushing off from the floe, we steamed to within two 
 miles of the Thumb, and anchored. Probably no vessel 
 had ever been so near it as we were, and although our sit- 
 uation was one of some peril, we did not feel justified in 
 losing the opportunity so auspiciously presented to us. 
 We climbed the bills all round, and everywhere we went 
 we discovered numerous traces of reindeer, but we did not 
 succeed in finding any of the animals themselves. There 
 can be no doubt that they exist there in considerable 
 numbers, and had we followed them inland it is equally 
 certain that we would have found any number of them. 
 But for an enterprise of that description we had not suffi- 
 cient time to stay — or, rather, the threatening nature of 
 
283 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 the ice, and the uncertainty of our situation, made it im- 
 portant that all hands should be at least within signalling 
 distance, that we might steam out from underneath the 
 Devil's Thumb upon the first threat of danger. 
 
 To climb the Thumb we found to be impossible, but we 
 reached its base, and from there — an elevation of thirteen 
 hundred feet, according to my barometer — we overlooked 
 one of the most remarkable scenes that ever met the eye 
 of man. Such a wilderness of ice, such a forest of ice- 
 bergs, such boundless desolation, would be difficult to de- 
 scribe, or to be appreciated except by the actual observer. 
 Let me, in a mechanical sort of way, make the attempt to 
 convey to the reader's mind some idea of this remarkable 
 scene. 
 
 The Devil's Thumb is an island — at least, without actu- 
 ally sailing round it in my boat (being prevented by the 
 ice), there were such indications as to make it certain that, 
 if not an island, it is connected with the main-land only by 
 a very low and narrow isthmus. It lies at the. head of a 
 deep bay, and it is from five to eight miles long, by from 
 three to five wide. The Thumb itself is on the farther 
 side from the sea, and is about six hundred feet high 
 above its base, rising like a church spire, and as abruptly. 
 Down into the bay, to the north and east from the island, 
 come two great glaciers, one about twelve miles wide, the 
 other about three. These glaciers climbed up steadily, or 
 descended, I should rather say, between the coast, mount- 
 ains in steady streams, which, joining together, and with 
 others to the north and south of them, form a long level 
 line against the sky; and this is the summit of the great 
 icy sea — the mer de glace — which covers the whole length 
 of the Greenland continent, and which, from its exhaust- 
 less bed, sends down through every valley opening to Baf- 
 fin's Bay such streams as these. And these streams send 
 
HUNTING BY STEAM. 383 
 
 off into the sea the icebergs, which are but trifling frag- 
 ments of the glacier itself. 
 
 The icebergs coming from these two glaciers about the 
 DeviPs Thumb were altogether countless. They filled up 
 the whole north side of the bay, and extended out to the 
 sea for miles. The time of my visit was near midnight, 
 and with a clear, bright sun illuminating the scene, scat- 
 tering everywhere its splendors^I could but wish for some- 
 thing better than a simple note-book and the use of words 
 to embody an idea of the view before me. An artist 
 alone, with his pallette and his pencil, could convey any 
 proper effect of it. My powers of sketching were quite 
 inadequate. "Blob" might have done better, but no 
 amount of persuasion could induce him to climb a hill 
 marked in the devil's name. Of all the situations of the 
 cruise, this view was the finest beyond comparison, and to 
 see it was enough to repay one for all the trouble and vex- 
 ation and hazard of a dozen such voyages. We missed 
 a photograph of it for the same reason we missed "Blob's" 
 sketch- — a fearful superstition. Had it been called " The 
 Pillar of the Church" instead of "The Devil's Thumb," 
 the whole cabin mess would have climbed it willingly. 
 
284 THE LAND OF DMSOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMONG THE ICE-FIELDS OF MELVILLE BAT. 
 
 I was much disappointed that we could not prolong our 
 stay in the vicinity of the Devil's Thumb. But our situa- 
 tion there was indeed a hazardous one. The ice was 
 crowding about us all the time, and, driven by a three- 
 knot current that whirled it round in the wildest manner, 
 it was not surprising that the captain should declare the 
 Thumb to be no proper place for the Panther. Accord- 
 ingly, after doing the best we could hydrographically, top- 
 ographically, and artistically, we crawled out while the 
 chance was good and steamed northward into the pack. 
 
 To describe our adventures of the next few days would 
 be to repeat much of what I have said before about the 
 pursuit of bears and encounters with ice-fields. Neither 
 ice-navigation nor bear-hunting can present much of vari- 
 ety. Even to ourselves both became monotonous in the 
 end ; and we even received the cry of " bears " without 
 excitement, and were knocked off our legs by the thump- 
 ing of the Panther against the ice without emotion. 
 
 Besides the bears and an occasional seal (none of which 
 were we lucky enough, however, to shoot), we saw no liv- 
 ing thing except an occasional flock of little auks, or 
 rotche, as they are called by the whalers. These are the 
 cunningest little divers imaginable. They are family rela- 
 tions of the lumme already described ; and, although only 
 about one-third the size, are like them in color. The wa- 
 ter is alive with shrimps about a quarter of an inch in 
 length; and these little birds, whose flight is very rapid, 
 
AMONG THE ICE-FIELDS OF MELVILLE BAY. 385 
 
 come from the distant land to feed. Myriads of them 
 whizzed over us, affording a fine opportunity for the 
 sportsman. Sometimes large flocks of them would alight 
 upon the water and, after satisfying their appetites, would 
 crawl out upon the ice, and, sitting along the margin of it, 
 dry themselves in the warm sun. 
 
 Our hunts after seals were most tantalizing. Great 
 numbers of them came up out of the water, and stretching 
 themselves on the ice in the blazing sunshine, went to 
 sleep there. But they were all too shy for us. We ap- 
 proached them with steamer and with boat, but it was of 
 no avail. If they did not sleep with one eye open, they 
 certainly never slept with both ears shut ; and long be- 
 fore they had come within effective range of our rifles, 
 they were off the ice and into the water, and although 
 they might bob up and down in the sea, looking at us 
 within a distance of fifty yards or so, they were always 
 careful not to expose themselves long enough to allow of 
 our drawing a sight on them. 
 
 The weather was superb ; for the most part the air was 
 entirely calm, and in the perpetual sunshine our enjoyment 
 was uninterrupted. Sometimes we were beset among the 
 ice-fields, once or twice drifted upon an iceberg while we 
 were helplessly involved among heavy floes, and there was 
 therefore enough of danger to deprive the days of absolute 
 stupidity. This ice-navigation, is never wholly free from 
 hazard, and nothing can be more treacherous than the 
 movements of the pack. Great skill and caution are al- 
 ways necessary on the part of the officers of the ship, and, 
 since we were out of sight of land much of the time for 
 several days, the mate had no temptation to indulge his 
 favorite pastime of sounding with the Panther's keel. He 
 would, indeed, be at all times a capital sailor but for his 
 weakness for running the ship ashore. 
 
286 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 I have, unhappily, none of those harrowing adventures 
 to record which usually make up the accounts of Melville 
 Bay voyagers. Once only did we encounter a real " nip." 
 The Panther was then pretty badly squeezed, and we had 
 a lively exhibition of the power of the closing ice-field. 
 Strong though the Panther was, we could readily see that 
 she would be as an egg-shell in the hand if caught where" 
 the ice was in rapid movement. Fortunately it was only 
 a revolving floe which beset us, and not the moving pack 
 that was passing down bodily. 
 
 At length, after winding and twisting about to our 
 hearts' content, and having seen the Melville Bay pack and 
 the Melville Bay icebergs in every aspect possessing inter- 
 est for us, the Panther was brought up alongside a heavy 
 floe many miles in extent, and there she was, for the last 
 time, made fast. A consultation revealed the fact that no 
 one cared particularly to go any farther. A meridian al- 
 titude fixed our position at latitude 75°, near the Sabine 
 Islands — farther in the direction of the North Pole, cer- 
 tainly, than any pleasure-seekers had ever gone before in 
 that quarter. We were at least a hundred miles within 
 the " pack," and every one was abundantly satisfied with 
 his performances, whether they had been sporting, artistic, 
 scientific, or what not. 
 
 Our last day, tied up to the old floe, was a memorable 
 one in our calendar. The temperature was quite warm, 
 at one time reaching 60° in the shade, and, exposed as we 
 had been so long, this seemed to us a sultry heat. And 
 this was the more strange that we were in the midst of 
 a perfect forest of icebergs. The floe to which we lay 
 moored was, so far as the eye could perceive, limitless in 
 extent — the thickness was about two and a half feet, and 
 for the most part it was as level as the sea in a calm. 
 The snows of winter had melted from its surface, and here 
 
MOORED TO \ FLOE 
 
AMONG THE ICE-FIELDS OF MELVILLE BAY. 289 
 
 and there the water had gathered in shallow pools, giving 
 something the appearance of a marsh. Through the field 
 numerous icebergs protruded, like huge rocks rising above 
 a plain ; the universal whiteness, broken only by the deep 
 blue of the water, produced a glare that was sometimes 
 painful to the eye, and, when the sun was shining at its 
 brightest, quite overpowering. 
 
 Our people amused themselves in various ways. Some 
 carried out boards from the ship, and, dropping them upon 
 the ice, went soundly to sleep upon them in the hot sun. 
 Others played foot-ball; while some exercised their skill 
 with pistol and rifle upon a target painted with ink upon 
 the side of a berg. Others, again, ran foot-races, and all 
 hands made the most of the strange and unusual situation. 
 There were neither bears nor seals to attract to more se- 
 rious pastime, and no living thing besides ourselves was 
 seen in this brilliantly illuminated wilderness except a 
 flock of rotche, which came from the northward, and 
 dropped down in the sea only a little way from us. After- 
 ward they climbed out of the water and stood in a row, 
 bolt upright, on the edge of the ice, staring at us in a most 
 cunning and saucy manner. No doubt they had come 
 from the extensive rookeries on the north side of Melville 
 Bay, where the shore is for miles and miles literally alive 
 with them. 
 
 While the idlers were thus amusing themselves, the art- 
 ists were busy enough ; and, for myself, I found sufficient 
 occupation in measuring and closely examining an iceberg 
 which lay partly imbedded in the floe about two hundred 
 yards from us. It was a very remarkable berg, both in 
 form and dimensions, though, in the latter particular, 
 many that I have seen exoeeded it. Its greatest height, 
 determined from a carefully measured base-line, was 230 
 feet, and its extreme length 1040 feet. We called it "the 
 
 N 
 
290 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ruined castle," and, indeed, there was only required a very- 
 slight assistance from the imagination to complete' the out- 
 lines of an ancient work of defense turned adrift upon the 
 sea in some unaccountable manner, as if to make room for 
 more modern inventions. I estimated its cubical contents 
 at fifty millions of tons. 
 
 Our castled iceberg can hardly be appreciated even by 
 a detailed description, for if is difficult to describe so grand 
 an object even by contrasting it with familiar things. In 
 the first place, there was an open portal and a lowered 
 draw-bridge ; but the latter did not look very secure, be- 
 ing but a portion of the ice-field on which we stood, that 
 had been crowded into the opening. So we did not ven- 
 ture upon the passage, but rather gazed through the arch- 
 way at the blue sky beyond, until the curiosity was satis- 
 fied, when we walked as far around the ruin as the nature 
 of the ice would allow. The rear proved to be much 
 lower than the front ; and, in fact, the front and one side 
 presented from both points of view a no bad imitation of 
 a lofty wall (now partly crumbled down), which had once 
 been the half of the wall inclosing the central space, or 
 court-yard, to which the portal led. This space was about 
 one-eighth of a mile in diameter, and was very rough and 
 rugged, and it lay some fifty to eighty feet above the sea- 
 level. When the sun came around to that side, and shone 
 down upon that part of the wonderful ruin, and we stood 
 upon the ice-field in front and in deep shadow, looking 
 through the open portal, the effect was most enchanting ; 
 and it is, indeed, impossible to conceive of any thing more 
 delightful in the way of light and shade and color than it 
 presented. "When the sun was shining on the ice, as seen 
 through the portal, the surface had the appearance of del- 
 icate white satin. The shadows were the most tender and 
 delicious azure, while in those places where the ice-field 
 
THE ICEBERG CASTLE. 
 
AMONG TSE ICE-FIELDS OF MELVILLE BAY. 293 
 
 was removed from the berg, and an overhanging portion 
 of it received the reflected light from the water below, the 
 color was the most perfectly transparent green that can 
 be imagined. 
 
 I have so many times described these icebergs in all 
 their varying characters, that any thing more might seem 
 like too much ; but I can not pass from the description of 
 this castle-like natural formation without alluding to the 
 wonderful variety of shapes assumed by these floating ice- 
 mountains. There is scarcely a conceivable form that I 
 have not seen: birds and savage beasts and effigies of 
 domes and towers, and other objects, animate and inani- 
 mate, are seen continually. Human faces stare at you on 
 every side ; huge busts of men and forms of women I have 
 often observed ; and once a giant statue stood against the 
 sky, outrivalling the famous Colossus of Rhodes, which it 
 imitated in form and size. 
 
394 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LAST WHITE MAN. 
 
 As this was to be our last tie-up in Melville Bay, and 
 as every body was well satisfied that Melville Bay had 
 been thoroughly " done," there was now some impatience 
 to hear the order given to " east off." 
 
 But the order did not come even with the close of the 
 day, and there we were clearly to remain until the mor- 
 row. Meanwhile a light wind set in from the south-east, 
 and, coming directly from the Greenland glaciers, it 
 brought the temperature down below the freezing-point; 
 and when at length " seven bells " aroused the ship's com- 
 pany from their slumbers, the Panther was a prisoner. In 
 every direction, as far as the eye could reach, the sea, 
 where it had been open the evening before, was now cov- 
 ered with ice. In many places this young ice would bear 
 a man's weight. It was a very needless predicament to 
 have been placed in, but these Newfoundland sailors must 
 not for the world be robbed of their night's rest. 
 
 Luckily the Panther was strong, or we should have 
 lain there beside the ruined castle all winter. It was at 
 least a quarter of an hour after we had actually at length 
 cast off from the floe before we budged an inch, and then 
 it was a long while before we made much headway. By- 
 and-by, however, we went ahead at the rate of one knot 
 an hour, and then, after that, crunched through the trans- 
 parent film that was on the sea. The crystals flew to left 
 and right ; and when the sun came out, shining upon the 
 flying fragments, it seemed as if we were cutting through 
 
WE STEAM AWAY FROM THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 
 
THE LAST WHITE MAN. 297 
 
 a waste of- jewelry. A few hours of this sort of running 
 brought us into the clear water of an opening lead, and 
 thence our flight from Melville Bay was made much after 
 the same fashion as that of our going in — the same cut- 
 ting through and breaking down of floes, and the same 
 wild excitement as before. 
 
 Our good ship seemed to have a realizing sense of her 
 situation, and to enjoy as much as we the prospect which 
 had so suddenly overtaken us together of wintering in the 
 dreaded, "pack." Welch, the fireman, declared that the 
 Panther was a ship " as knowed a thing or two." 
 
 When the day closed we had Wilcox Point and the 
 Devil's Thumb abeam. The great ice-fields which on our 
 way north had so much embarrassed us on entering Mel- 
 ville Bay had by this time either drifted or melted away; 
 and now through an unobstructed sea we held our course 
 for the Duck Islands, and steamed away from the mid- 
 night sun. 
 
 From the Duck Islands we groped our way down the 
 coast through one of those provoking fogs which so often 
 come to pester the life of the Arctic voyager, and which 
 set upon us early in the night. 
 
 I do not remember to have ever seen any thing more 
 gloomy than the scene before us when the fog lifted in 
 the early morning. We had been lying to for some time, 
 not really knowing where we were; but, as good -luck 
 would have it, we found that we were pointed fairly be- 
 tween two remarkable islands, known from their confor- 
 mation as Cone and Wedge. Beyond was a straight pas- 
 sage of twenty miles, between lofty, cavernous, brownish- 
 red, rocky islets ; and beyond these, again, was to be seen, 
 in the far distance, the cold line of the mer de glace, from 
 which come pouring down cold glaciers to the sea. Cold 
 icebergs lay upon the leaden waters; a cold wind was 
 
 N"2 
 
298 THE LAXD OF DESOLATIGN. 
 
 moaning from the hills ; and although the sun shone out 
 after the fog had vanished, it failed to throw any glow of 
 warmth over the general desolation, or to dissolve the op- 
 pressive chill. 
 
 Steering south-east, we passed presently around a large 
 iceberg which had before obstructed the view, and then 
 we opened a low point of land, rugged as any other land 
 in sight, and as utterly without sign or trace of vegeta- 
 tion ; and yet a little white house stood upon the naked 
 rock, and the white and red emblem of Danish sovereignty 
 fluttered from a little flag-staff on the roof. This was the 
 house we had seen and photographed on our way north — 
 the most northern house of all the world ; and in this lit- 
 tle house, in this fearful desert, dwells a Christian family, 
 with no other human beings within fifty miles of them 
 save a few ignorant savages. 
 
 The head of the family met us among the ice in • a boat 
 a mile or so away. He had a swarthy crew of skin-clad 
 men, and as he hauled in alongside of us, and stood up in 
 the stern of his boat, I recognized at once the sturdy fig- 
 ure, sandy hair, and striking features of Peter Jensen. I 
 was heartily glad to see him, and had him on boai'd and 
 by the hand without a minute's loss of time. Then we 
 steamed into a good anchorage and went ashore, and called 
 upon his wife, and petted his children, and dined with 
 him off venison and eider-ducks. The wife made us some 
 capital cakes, and we had cigars and Danish pipes and ex- 
 cellent coffee; and we smoked and drank and chatted 
 away the evening, and were very much surprised, when 
 we came to think about it, that we had had a very pleas- 
 ant time here in this remote and solitary place, within a 
 thousand miles, measured as the crow flies, of the North 
 Pole. 
 
 But there was something indescribably sad to me in the 
 
THE LAST WHITE MAN. 301 
 
 dreadful isolation of this family who had entertained us. 
 It is worse than loneliness, for the savages around, with 
 their filth and wretchedness, and their packs of howling, 
 vicious dogs, can not give companionship to a woman 
 bred in Copenhagen, nor to the three little children whom 
 she nurtured with the carefulness of a Christian mother. 
 
 These children were two pretty flaxen-haired girls — Jo- 
 hana Maria and Jennie Caroline — of five and seven years. 
 But the hope of the house was Julius Christian, aged three 
 years and some odd months. 
 
 They had all been troubled with the scurvy, and I did 
 not wonder at it. What could these poor children do to 
 preserve their health by outdoor exercise and outdoor 
 pastime in a climate where the snow is on the ground 
 nine months out of the twelve, and where the sun is not 
 seen in winter for more than a hundred days ; where the 
 house must be banked with snow, the windows double 
 glazed, the stoves and lamps kept burning constantly, to 
 ward off the piercing cold, which often sinks to 50° below 
 zero, and even lower, and where howling gales, filling the 
 air with snow-drift, are of almost daily occurrence ? 
 
 The four rooms of the house were fitted up with a 
 reasonable degree of comfort, and with great neatness. 
 There were some ornaments upon the walls — photographs 
 of relatives and friends, and cheap colored prints of Dan- 
 ish battle - scenes, in some of which Jensen had patri- 
 otically borne a musket in the ranks before he came to 
 Greenland, and was deservedly proud of the share he had 
 in the war of 1848 against the hated Prussian. 
 
 For warmth they had stoves and Danish coal ; and then 
 there were huge bags of eider-down, among which the 
 children buried themselves through the dark cold nights, 
 piled upon the beds, and one might think the cold could 
 never reach them when they had crawled to rest. But 
 
302 THE LAND OF DESOLATION, 
 
 even children can not sleep all the time, though it may be 
 always dark; and the loneliness of that prison-house to 
 those three little creatures, when the winter comes, was a 
 painful thing to contemplate. But then the wife ! The 
 children were born there, and had no other associations ; 
 but through the desolate winter do the wife's thoughts 
 not wander sometimes mournfully and regretfully back to 
 the society and the changing delights and changing fash- 
 ions of the world wherein she lived before she became a 
 bride, and left it for this desert, simply that she might be 
 with the man she loved ? for surely there could be noth- 
 ing else than love to tempt her there. She made no com- 
 plaint ; she appeared cheerful, and may have been happy. 
 It was hard for me to think so. Hopeless, indeed, to her 
 this life of toil, anxiety, and suffering, unless the blind god 
 gives her some vast measure of bliss utterly beyond 
 man's power of appreciation. Alas, how little men really 
 know of the sacrifices women make for them continually ! 
 "Was the man ever born who was capable of such an exhi- 
 bition of unselfishness as this Betty Jensen ? I doubt it. 
 
 And the life of her husband is a very hard and, as it 
 seems to me, a very thankless one. Strange as it may 
 seem, Jensen came here to seek his fortune. The little 
 money that he had saved up from my expedition of 1860- 
 '61, enabled him to return to Denmark, and there to mar- 
 ry, and come back to Greenland and set up for himself. 
 He had been promised the charge of this remote settle- 
 -ment of Tessuisak, which is fifty miles above Upernavik, 
 and on the very confines of the great ice-barrier. He was 
 always a fine shot, an active man, and an expert hunter ; 
 and he thought by coming here he would in a few years 
 accumulate a competency, which he would carry back to 
 Denmark. But I fancy it must have been something of 
 his restless nature besides that impelled him to this life. 
 
TBE LAST WMITE MAN. 305 
 
 He had lived several years in Greenland before I knew 
 him, and, like all other men who have returned to the 
 • primitive life of the hunter, he never again took kindly 
 to other ways, but clung lovingly to independence. It 
 is not, however, so with women, and hence to them the 
 greater hardship and privation. Without the same mo- 
 tives to action, they can not find society in the animals 
 of the chase. 
 
 Unhappily, Jensen had overestimated his skill and the 
 resources of Tessuisak, and in spite of all he was disap- 
 pointed. The whole productions of the place per annum 
 do not exceed five thousand dollars, chiefly made up from 
 seal-oil, eider-down, and bear and fox skins. On this Jen- 
 sen receives but five per cent., a salary besides of five-and- 
 twenty dollars, and one Government ration. There is no 
 provision for his wife and children. Clearly the Royal 
 Greenland Fishing Company never contemplated such a 
 thing as a wife going to so distant and woe-begone a 
 place. 
 
 But if the fact of Christian people selecting this remote, 
 forlorn, and frigid corner of the world, voluntarily, for a 
 residence is incomprehensible to the ordinary understand- 
 ing, the pluck of the thing will be appreciated by all. I 
 know of nothing that would require a greater degree of 
 moral courage than to face life in such a situation. Yet 
 Jensen gloried in the work he did, and grew very ani- 
 mated when he recited his bear and reindeer hunts, the 
 skill and success he had in the seal and white-whale fish- 
 eries, and boasted of his good-luck in making the natives 
 be to him, what no other Dane had succeeded in doing, 
 " hewers of wood and drawers of water ;" or rather, to 
 speak practically, as we must of a region where there is no 
 wood to hew, and where all the water used is made from 
 snow, the butchers of his game, and the drawers of his 
 
306 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 blubber. In a small way he is a sort of feudal lord, with 
 natural rights and privileges which I doubt if he would 
 exchange for the benefits of an inferior station in some in- 
 ferior latitude. 
 
 The population which he thus rules comprises sixty-two 
 savage souls, scattered about in huts and tents upon the 
 rocky hill-side. The dogs, which in the winter-time are 
 used to drag the sledges, are beyond counting ; and the 
 stench that arose from the carcasses of decomposing fish 
 and seals, and other offensive sources, exceeds belief. I 
 pitied the wife, and mentioned it to Jensen. " Oh, she's 
 got used to it, and don't mind !" One of the native fam- 
 ilies had, with peculiar impudence, pitched a tent close be- 
 side Jensen's door, and he told me that it could not be 
 removed without giving offense to the whole village. 
 Barren though the land, the Esquimaux, with laughable 
 gravity, proclaim themselves the true proprietors of the 
 soil, and they do not hesitate to tell the Danes — though 
 not in hostile fashion, calling them foreigners — that they 
 are intruders. 
 
 What made the presence of this tent the more obnox- 
 ious was that the wife was supposed to be a witch, and 
 often made night hideous with her devilish incantations. 
 Although nominally a Christian now, she can not yet re- 
 frain from her old practices. And surely if ill looks had 
 ever any thing to do, as they always seem to have had, 
 with the general make-up of a witch, she was entitled to 
 be looked upon as the mother of them all, for a more 
 frightful-looking being surely never walked in darkness 
 and conspired with the evil one. Yet this monster had a 
 child, and its innocent baby face did not exhibit any evi- 
 dence that it was conscious of its dangerous parentage, 
 but it sucked its fist as contentedly as any other baby that 
 had been born all right and in the mortal fashion. Her 
 
THE LAST WHITE MAN. 
 
 307 
 
 AN AEOTiC WITCH. 
 
 original name was Annorasuak, which is something equiv- 
 alent to "Mother of the Winds." Her history, as I had it 
 afterwards from Jensen, is not without romantic interest, 
 and will be again referred to. 
 
 I could not part from this little family of Jensen with- 
 out emotion. For seven long years the wife had seen no 
 living soul from the great world from which her love 
 had called her, and the children looked upon us with 
 amazement. They had never seen a ship in all their little 
 
308 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 lives before, and the smoking, snorting Panther was a won- 
 der in their eyes. We made them up a store of such good 
 things as we had on board, including every thing of an 
 antiscorbutic character that we could lay our hands upon, 
 added a couple of tons or so of coals, and then, with Jen- 
 sen on board to pilot us through the intricate passages 
 between the islands, we bore away from this most north- 
 ern house of all the world, and shaped our course for 
 Upernavik. 
 
THE FIORD OF AUKPADLABTOK. 309 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE FIOKD OF AUKPADLARTOK. 
 
 On our way to Upernavik we wheeled into the fiord of 
 Aukpadlartok, to which I have hitherto made allusion, 
 and I verily believe there never was such another wilder- 
 ness of desolation — such an interminable array of islands 
 of ice and islands of rock ; and when at last we saw an- 
 other house like Jensen's, pitched like his upon just such 
 another point of land, and reflected that these houses are 
 dotted here and there in this dreary waste at intervals of 
 forty and fifty miles, and that their inmates hold commu- 
 nication one with the other perhaps once in the winter 
 with dog-sledge, and once in summer, and not more, with 
 boat, it seemed as if proof was positive that life with- 
 out social intercourse was really possible — a fact which I 
 should never have believed for a moment otherwise. 
 
 The ice was so thick along the shore that we could not 
 get within a mile of the little house and the miserable 
 huts which surrounded it. So we had nothing to do but 
 tie up to an iceberg, and take to a boat and pull in as best 
 we could. The shore was reached at last, but only after 
 we had passed through many very dangerous places, in- 
 cluding a hole in an enormous iceberg, and then we were 
 landed on the rocks, where we were met by the most re- 
 nowned of all the Greenland hunters — a blue-eyed and 
 fair-complexioned and most " mild-mannered man," named 
 Philip, who was backed up by a staff of five sons — Chris- 
 tian, Wilhelm, Simon, Hans, and Lars ; while still farther 
 in the rear was the wife, Caroline, with her two daughters, 
 
310 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 WE GO THROUGH AW IOEliERG TO UALL OH PHILIP. 
 
 Christina and Maria, and the various wives and sweet- 
 hearts and children of all her five boys, the lover of Chris- 
 tina, and some forty other savages and half-savages, who 
 constituted the promiscuous population of the village of 
 Kresarsoak — " the village beside the mountain ;" and the 
 
THE FIORD OF AUKPADLARTOK. 313 
 
 mountain reared its great white crest five thousand feet 
 above our heads, pushing itself away up among the 
 clouds. 
 
 The family of Philip was a very different one from that 
 of Jensen. His wife was a full-blown Esquimaux. His 
 b,alf-breed children were happy and well-contented, and re- 
 joiced in the possession of every thing needful for the hunt 
 or domestic comfort. Christian was married, and had a 
 small hut and seven children all to himself. Simon ditto, 
 but he lived with his wife and baby in a seal-skin tent. 
 Wilhelm had recently been in trouble about his lady-love, 
 who was a thorough-bred native, she' at first preferring 
 another fellow, who was a fine hunter, and evidently the 
 -superior of Wilhelm. But then Wilhelm was the son of 
 the " governor," which made all the difference in the world ; 
 and so the marriage was settled upon, and was to take 
 place as soon as the priest could come up from Upernavik 
 to bless the nuptials. For the rest, they all lived in the 
 paternal mansion, which had but one room, and was di- 
 vided with seal-skins into a number of stalls like an oys- 
 ter-cellar, and in these the different members of the family 
 retired to rest among their bags of eider-down. 
 
 Having enjoyed the benefit of Philip's hospitality, which 
 was displayed chiefly in the form of seal-steaks, smoked 
 salmon, and coffee, I strolled out with Jensen, who had told 
 me that near by once dwelt the witch Annorasuak, who 
 now lived at Tessuisak, and had become a Christian — that 
 is to say, after the Greenland fashion. I accepted with 
 alacrity his offer to guide me thither. 
 
 Crossing the neck of a promontory, in half an hour we 
 came down into a valley, or rather wide gorge, bounded 
 on either side by lofty cliffs, that were broken by immense 
 clefts, which had a most glaring and forbidding aspect as 
 they frowned down upon us from underneath the great 
 
 O 
 
314 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 white caps that untold winters had woven round their 
 heads. Fitful gusts of wind came moaning down the 
 gorge, chilling us to the very bone. 
 
 Our situation at the entrance to the gorge was very- 
 striking and remarkable. Looking up the fiord, we could 
 faintly see the glacier of Aukpadlartok over the tops of 
 innumerable icebergs, which crowded the fiord, and upon 
 which the sun, breaking through the clouds that had ob- 
 scured the sky for some hours previous, shone with great 
 brilliancy, without, however, reaching us or giving any 
 warmth. Looking up the valley, we saw the front of a 
 small glacier, perhaps fifty feet high and two hundred 
 yards over, which crossed the valley from cliff to cliff 
 about a mile up from the sea, and from which was gather- 
 ed a stream of limpid water that came rushing down over 
 the rocks, breaking in falls and whirling in pools, and ev- 
 erywhere hurrying along as if it were glad to get its free- 
 dom again, and was making the first use of it by bounding 
 away to the sea and the warm sunshine. 
 
 The ascent of the valley was difficult and laborious ; but 
 by dint of hard scrambling we succeeded finally in making 
 about half a mile, when we had reached a point where the 
 cliffs rose almost perpendicularly from the border of the 
 stream, and were scarcely more than thirty yards apart. 
 Between them the water rushed in a series of picturesque 
 falls, the sound of which, added to the roar of the wind, 
 that seemed as if it had accumulated beyond, and was be- 
 ing forced through the narrow passage, greatly heightened 
 the gloomy aspect of the scene. 
 
 Continuing on our course, we finally reached the summit 
 of the falls, and came then upon a level plain of consider- 
 able extent — a sort of natural amphitheatre. Here in this 
 wild and desolate place, close to the fall and beneath the 
 glacier, Annorasuak had, many years ago, chosen her res- 
 
THE FIORD OF AVKPADLARTOK. 315 
 
 idence. From here went forth her decrees, which stilled 
 the winds or made them blow, and sent good-fortune to 
 her friends, and disaster to those who disregarded her. 
 The heathen natives hejd her in the greatest awe, and 
 were glad to propitiate her with the offer of food, clothing, 
 and every thing needful for her comfort ; and even those 
 who had professed to embrace the Christian religion held 
 her in superstitious dread, and thought it no harm to add 
 a contribution to the witch's wardrobe and larder. The 
 ruins of her hut, which was entered through a long and 
 intricate cleft in the rock, were still visible. I examined 
 this ruin, and heard the story of this last trace of the 
 heathen practices in Greenland, with intense interest, not 
 alone on account of this circumstance, but because of the 
 peculiar mystery which shrouded her history, and the ro- 
 mantic side of which culminated in a daughter — a girl 
 with light complexion and black hair. The father of this 
 girl was believed to be a criminal who had escaped from 
 an English whale-ship, fled hither with this woman, and 
 managed while he lived to avoid detection through her 
 arts ; .for it .was at the period of her flight there that she 
 first assumed to be the " Mother of the Winds." Prom 
 that time forth no native was ever known to enter the val- 
 ley, except to a certain spot, where he left his offering ; and 
 even the Danes seemed to have a superstitious dread of it, 
 associating it with the evil one. They called the glacier 
 hanging above the witch's home " The Devil's Castle," and 
 the valley itself borrowed its name from its wicked mis- 
 tress. It was " The Valley of the Winds." The daugh- 
 ter's name was Annore — " Daughter of the Winds ;" and 
 she had been really taught to believe that she was born 
 of the air. 
 
 Love, which is and always has been the disturber of so 
 many human devices, finally broke up this nest of witch- 
 
316 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 craft and sorcery. A youthful Dane, named Elsen, saw 
 the child, and had pity for her. His tenderness soon sug- 
 gested means by which to approach without frightening 
 her, and without her mother's knowledge. Then he fell 
 in love with his wild favorite, and addressed the mission 
 of Upernavik for help to save her. " Poor Annore," the 
 lover wrote, in his despair at her condition ; " she is a 
 wild flower in the wilderness. Can the wild flower be 
 transplanted ? Will the lustre of the leaves come out in 
 other soil, and will gentler airs bring brightness to the 
 blossom ? Poor misguided child ! — her birth a mystery 
 to her ; her very name a falsehood to her mind perpetu- 
 ally. And yet she is taught to honor it, and taught to 
 think with pride that she was born of the winds, and to 
 the winds will go away again, to wander to and fro, do- 
 ing good or ill, forever. Annore, poor Annore ! Will the 
 falsehood pass away ? Will the daughter of the winds 
 become a child of God ?" 
 
 And the lover's question was answered favorably. The 
 missionary became interested, and the two together man- 
 aged, in the end, to entice the mother and daughter away; 
 and through their efforts Annore became Nina, and the 
 wife of Elsen ; and Annorasuak, her mother, became Bar- 
 bara, and the wife of a Christian native, and she is now 
 the ugly hag that has pitched her tent at Tessuisak, right 
 beneath the nose of Jensen, who hates her cordially. 
 
 We did not remain longer in the valley than was neces- 
 sary for an inspection of the place. The wind shortly in- 
 creased in violence, accompanied with occasional gusts of 
 snow, and sometimes it fairly shrieked along the cliffs; 
 and it seemed clear enough that if there ever was a place 
 on earth fitted for the abode of evil spirits, this was it. 
 As if to increase that impression, and leave no doubt at 
 all about it, an ancient raven, with a ragged coat, flopped 
 
THE FIORD OF A UKPADLAETOK. 
 
 317 
 
 down near by, and set up a dismal croak. Then lie walk- 
 ed off deliberately, muttering to himself the while in a 
 sejiulchral tone, and, mounting to the ruined wall of the 
 witch's hut, he croaked again. Then he cocked his head 
 to one side, and looked at us in a very sinister way out of 
 one eye ; after which he went to the edge of the fall and 
 looked over into the foaming abyss. Then he croaked 
 once more, flopped himself over to the other side of the 
 stream, and, lighting on a rock, began sharpening his bill, 
 as if preparing for a sacrifice, croaking all the while. He 
 
 I §n sfSfi 
 
 
 TUE BA.VEM. 
 
 seemed to know the spot, and to be at home there, for the 
 moment he struck the rock I perceived there was a double 
 echo, so that his voice resounded from cliff to cliff, until 
 it seemed as if the air were peopled with spirits that were 
 in league with him, and were answering to his call. 
 
 By the time we had reached Philip's hut it was snow- 
 ing heavily, and it being clear from the first that we had 
 come up the fiord for nothing, the icebergs being so thick 
 above as to defy even the passage of a boat to the glacier, 
 we got aboard with all haste, and steamed away. 
 
318 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 UPERNAVIK. 
 
 I had set my heart upon making a thorough survey of 
 the fiord of Aukpadlartok. As recorded in a previous 
 chapter, I had previously heen there and penetrated to 
 within five miles of the glacier. It was, therefore, with 
 much regret that I found the water wholly impassable to 
 a boat. Even the air was so thick that I could not see 
 the front of the glacier, so that I failed to note any 
 changes which might have taken place in the interval of 
 eight years since I had visited it before. Philip.told me, 
 however, that during the past two or three years the dis- 
 charge of icebergs had been much greater than formerly, 
 and that if they continued to increase in the same pro- 
 portion he would be obliged to quit the place, as he could 
 hardly at any time get in and out from his hut. Indeed, 
 his residence appeared to me even more dreary than Jen- 
 sen's, for about the latter the icebergs were comparative- 
 ly few, while Philip was thoroughly encircled by them. 
 What measureless powers of- endurance and hardihood 
 such men as these must possess ! I confess that I never 
 look upon them except with astonishment. 
 
 Our voyage to Upernavik was without incident worthy 
 of note, except that our mate was blessed with his usual for- 
 tune in discovering soundings. In a place where a rock 
 was never before known to exist, he found one which by a 
 miracle we grazed without damage to. the Panther'' s keel 
 or bottom. 
 
 To our arrival in Upernavik I had looked forward with 
 
UPERNA VIK. 319 
 
 some real pleasure ; and not the least among those which 
 I actually found was a civilized bed, and other homelike 
 luxuries which Dr. Rudolph was good enough to place at 
 my disposal. And oh the luxury of that bed after eight 
 weeks in the narrow quarters of a ship's bunk, always 
 damp, and black with coal-dust, and daily rendered worse 
 by the unsuccessful attempts of an idiotic cabin-boy to put 
 it to rights and keep it clean ! 
 
 The window of my room opened upon the sea, and was 
 full of sweet flowers that had been nurtured tenderly by 
 my good hostess, as if they were children. It was strange 
 to look out through a little wilderness of roses, mignon- 
 nette, and heliotrope, upon a great wilderness of icebergs. 
 The sea was, indeed, as cold as cold could be, and the 
 waves broke fiercely right beneath me on the rocky shore ; 
 but about me all was peace and quiet — the pictures on the 
 wall, the fire in the stove, the home comforts of the mod- 
 est house which sheltered me — all spoke defiance of place 
 or climate, and told a tale of tranquillity and contentment 
 that was worth going thrice three thousand miles to see, 
 even though the storms were never so threatening, and 
 ice-barriers without number intervened. 
 
 We remained a week at Upernavik, and during that 
 time I never saw the Panther. I never was so glad not 
 to see any thing in all my life before. I was quite willing 
 to believe that the artists wjere painting and photograph- 
 ing icebergs without limit, and were getting into their 
 camera every thing from a native to a mountain, but I did 
 noltwant to see it. My enjoyment of the little home into 
 which I had fallen was too fresh to court disturbance. To 
 forget for a time that there was ever such an enemy to 
 man as a ship's cook, and to partake of some simple fare 
 with which a woman's hand had had to do, was too great a 
 luxury to be profaned, and I lived along through my week 
 
320 THE LAND OF DMSOLATION. 
 
 at Dr. Rudolph's in a state of bliss. I wrote, and read, 
 and played with the children, Anne and Christian. I 
 talked with Jensen about his life, and the Greenland le- 
 gends which he had gathered in his long experience. I 
 helped my host, the governor, to make up his annual ac- 
 counts for the next ship home ; and I bungled through my 
 Danish with his amiable wife, making her laugh continu- 
 ally at my mistakes ; and altogether, quite free from care, 
 gave myself up wholly to enjoyment for the seven days. 
 
 Now the coming of the ship was a matter of serious con- 
 cern to Govornor Rudolph. The store-rooms were very 
 empty, and there was much danger of famine if the ship 
 did not come at all. To the governor's family there would 
 be a lack of every luxury. She was overdue almost a 
 month, and great alarm was in the settlement already. 
 But she did come at last, and I never saw people more re- 
 joiced. The ship was the Constancia, and Captain Bang, 
 her master, was as intelligent a man as he was good fel- 
 low. He spoke capital English, and helped us with our 
 pipes and punch in the evening, and enjoyed the flowers 
 as much as I did, and the delightful breakfast of smoked 
 salmon, venison sausage, and pickled halibut, and the sub- 
 stantial lunch, and the late dinners, that were none the 
 worse for the cigars and wine and Santa Cruz that he 
 brought off one day to help out with ; for the doctor was 
 the most hospitable of all old-fashioned gentlemen ; and 
 having three times dined our whole huge cabin mess, and 
 opened his house to every body every day, his supply of 
 cigars and liquors, after a whole year's pulling at therm on 
 his own part, had run rather low. Our mess would glad- 
 ly have replenished the doctor's fast-failing stock ; but 
 with true American energy we had gone to work at the 
 start as if to get through with what supplies we had in 
 the shortest possible space of time; and there was not 
 
UPERNAVIK. 321 
 
 now among us so much as a single " Havana," or even a 
 bottle of ale, to bless ourselves with. 
 
 The doctor surprised me one day by coming into my 
 room, and in his genial way calling out, " You know dis 
 man; you know dis feller, eh?" producing from behind 
 his coat a rascally face, which I never could forget in any 
 length of time. It was the face of Hans Heindrich. 
 
 Now Hans is a man of some celebrity. In 1853 Dr. 
 Kane took him from Fiskernaes, South Greenland, upon 
 his famous voyage into Smith's Sound. His age then was 
 about twenty years ; and he lived well on board the brig 
 Advance, and waxed fat, and tricked his master, from 
 whom he finally ran away, and joined the Smith Sound 
 savages, marrying one of their women, by name Merkut. 
 Among these people I found him in 1860, and took him 
 aboard with his wife, Merkut, and his baby, Pingasuk. I 
 ought to have known better. He tricked me worse than 
 he had tricked Dr. Kane. I am fully .convinced that he 
 was instrumental in causing the death of two of my com- 
 mand, though it was never possible to prove any thing 
 against him positive enough to insure conviction. It is 
 hard to collect evidence where there are no eyes to see 
 nor ears to hear. Being unable to verify my suspicions, 
 I brought him back in 1861, and delivered him over to 
 the Danish authorities, from whom Dr. Kane had taken 
 him eight years before. Even now he could not cease 
 from mischief, breeding quarrels wherever he went ; and 
 his wife was in a state of chronic dissatisfaction because 
 she could not live in her old-fashioned savage way, and 
 her children (she had two now) were a burden on the 
 poor-fund. I gave Merkut some money to buy clothes 
 for the children, and within an hour it was all spent at 
 the Government store-house for figs and sugar-candy. 
 
 The untutored savage is not a peculiarly delicious crea- 
 02 
 
322 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 1IAN8 AND UIS FA.M1JLY. 
 
 ture under the best of circumstances. He is apt to have 
 very crude notions about meum and tuum, and the truth 
 is not in him. Truth, indeed, seems to be, like gallantry, a 
 fine art, and men have to be cultivated to the understand- 
 ing of it. But Hans was not altogether an untutored sav- 
 
UPBMNA VIK. 323 
 
 • 
 
 age, for the missionaries had control of him before Dr. 
 Kane took him in charge, and had taught him to read the 
 Testament and Thomas a Kempis, and to sign his name. 
 The story of his proficiency in these respects having got 
 abroad, in connection with supposed services rendered to 
 Dr. Kane's party in Christian charity, Hans has been 
 made much of in a Sunday-school book that I have seen 
 somewhere within a year or so, as a striking example of 
 the power of Christian labor among the heathen — just as 
 if he did not use what he had acquired for a cloak to hide 
 his true character, something after the manner of Uriah 
 Heep when playing a part before the pious Creakle and 
 the zealous board of visitors. 
 
 I do not mean to be understood to give this as by any 
 means a fair sample of the influence of Christian civiliza-* 
 tion upon the Greenlanders, for I have had frequent occa- 
 sion to testify* to the excellence of the native character in 
 many conspicuous instances. Hans is nothing more than 
 one of that very numerous class common to all peoples. 
 Even the pastor of the little church at Upernavik can do 
 nothing to help the mischief-making sinner; for the read- 
 er must know that Upernavik has a church. It was here 
 that Mr. Anthon, now at Julianashaab, performed his first 
 missionary labors. The pastor of this Upernavik flock 
 surely fills Cowper's description of the Moravian brethren, 
 going forth, 
 
 "Fired with a zeal peculiar to defy 
 The rage and rigor of a Polar sky ; 
 And plant successfully sweet Saviour's rose 
 On icy plains, and in eternal snows." 
 
 A new pastor, accompanied by his wife, came out in the 
 Constancia to take charge of the mission. They were a 
 young couple. Certainly no one would charge them with 
 
334 TEM LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 * 
 
 undue regard to things earthly when they subject them- 
 selves to such banishment. 
 
 Yet one might, after all, be worse off than here in 
 Greenland ; and, for a certain length of time, I think the 
 banishment might be bearable enough. One of the happi- 
 est, best contented, and most cultivated men that I have 
 ever met, did not live much south of this, and he has de- 
 clared to me that he would not exchange his Greenland 
 lodge for the most comfortable quarters in his own fine 
 city of Copenhagen. And it does seem strange that such 
 a large number of superior men — superior in education 
 and refinement — find their way to this inhospitable region, 
 as governors, missionaries, and physicians. It is either be- 
 cause the home Government is particularly careful of its 
 Agents, or that the region possesses some peculiar attrac- 
 tion for thoughtful and reflective minds. "It is," said my 
 friend before alluded to, "the best place in the world to 
 read books in," and great readers most of these Danes in 
 Greenland are. 
 
 Dr. Rudolph is a fine specimen of the best class of 
 Danish gentlemen who accept appointments here, and who 
 seem to take root and never desire to be transplanted 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In early life he was an assistant surgeon in the Danish 
 army. Later, he was largely engaged in private practice 
 in the vicinity of Copenhagen. His health failing him, he 
 went to Greenland as physician to the colony of Jacobs- 
 havn, and thereby saved his life ; but his life once saved, 
 he had no mind to renew the humdrum existence of pow- 
 ders and pills, and his old age now finds him both govern- 
 or and physician of one of the most productive of the 
 Greenland Districts, even although it is the most north- 
 ern of all points of Christian occupation. His children 
 are at school in Copenhagen, all except the two youngest, 
 
UPEBNAVIK. 325 
 
 who are now with him; and there seems to be no end to 
 his plans of doing for them oat of his percentage of the 
 Upernavik production, which furnishes him a moderate in- 
 come. 
 
 Judging from the seeming shortness of the week I spent 
 at Dr. Rudolph's house, I should say a winter would not 
 be tedious; but then it must be borne in mind that my 
 week was a continual sunshine. I was used to it then, as 
 I had been before, and did not observe or think of it ; but 
 now to look back over the time, and remember a week, 
 and weeks, and months even, passing away without once 
 lighting a lamp ; to take a walk at midnight as an appe- 
 tizer for sleep, just before going to bed, and do it in the 
 daylight; to watch through day and night the shadows 
 going round and round, is to recall a now strange experi- 
 ence. I have, indeed, never seen a person with the least 
 sentiment who has ever been beyond the Arctic Circle, 
 whose fancy did not cling lovingly to that long, lingering 
 day and the never-setting sun. 
 
 But all things must have an end, and so at length I* 
 found myself once more back in my damp and smoke-be- 
 grimed quarters in the Panther's cabin. On the same 
 day the Constancia was ready to sail, and our captain of- 
 fered Captain Bang a tow. He was going down the coast 
 forty miles, to Proven, where he was to take in more car- 
 go before returning home to Copenhagen. But, as ill luck 
 would have it, a small iceberg had drifted into the middle 
 of the harbor and grounded right in front of the two ves- 
 sels, which lay almost side by side. It seemed at first as 
 if we were both fast there, but the Constancies cable 
 slipped out and freed the ship, while ours stubbornly re- 
 fused to budge ; so that we had the mortification of see- 
 ing the vessel we were going to tow move off without us 
 under oars. It was a most aggravating situation. Doc- 
 
326 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 tor Rudolph was on board the Constancies, on his way to 
 Proven. He cried to us that he would be back in three 
 days, and we were quite welcome to the harbor. The 
 captain of the brig offered us a tow if we would only pass 
 along a line. The order of things was quite reversed. 
 The steamer was helpless, while the sailer was oft". 
 
 Our captain, vexed by the detention (and these taunts 
 did not in the least soothe him), was evidently coming to 
 a desperate determination. " Pay out chain," he shout- 
 ed from the bridge. Then he rang his bell to " back 
 astern." The vessel moved away from the berg as far 
 as the chain would let her go, and then he rang again, 
 " Ahead full speed." Down the Panther came with a 
 steady helm, and with her iron forefoot she took the ice- 
 berg fairly in the middle. The shock was terrific, and 
 there was a great scattering of men on the deck and of 
 plates in the pantry; but fortunately the iceberg at that 
 point was sloping, and the Panther slid up about five feet 
 out of the water, which partly broke the force of the blow. 
 Then she slid back again, luckily with her masts all stand- 
 ing. The Gonstancia's people cheered us, and we backed 
 off again and went at the iceberg once more, with the 
 same result — we did not budge or damage it in any way 
 further than to splinter off 1 innumerable fragments, which 
 covered the sea all around us. But the berg: was thin at 
 the centre where we had struck; and the captain, growing 
 more and more determined, backed off and butted away 
 at the berg again and again, until, finally/the sixth effort 
 proved successful. The berg split with a fearful sound. 
 The two masses, each pivoted on the bottom, rolled over 
 with a great swash; the Panther sheered ahead between 
 the fragments, and then, picking up our anchor, to the uni- 
 versal astonishment we steamed out of the harbor in tri- 
 umph, and kept our promise to the Oonstancia. 
 
UPERNAVIK. 327 
 
 Dropping the Constancia off Proven, we continued 
 south through the night, and on the following morning 
 sighted the lofty mountains of Disco Island. Passing the 
 Waigat, and the great stream of icebergs which emerges 
 from it, we kept close to the bold and picturesque shores 
 of Disco, and on the following day dropped anchor in 
 Godhavn, close beside the town which takes its name 
 from the little landlocked bay. 
 
THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DISCO ISLAND. 
 
 "A rocky islet in the sea, 
 A lonely harbor on its lee, 
 
 The roaring snrf around! 
 Chill are the winds and cold the sky, 
 Dead in the dells the flowers lie, 
 
 The snow is on the ground! 
 
 ' ' A desert drear as e'er was seen ; 
 It seems as if there has not been 
 
 A trace of human life ! 
 I write again. Upon the rock 
 I've found a home, a loving flock — 
 
 A husband, child, and wife. 
 
 "And thus it is — here Greenland frowns, 
 The name to others harshly sounds; 
 
 'Tis everywhere the same! 
 If we but taste the sweets of love, 
 It matters little — rock or grove — 
 There's nothing in a name. 
 
 "God bless -that home upon the rock! 
 God bless that happy, loving flock, 
 And keep them from all harm! 
 My bark again bounds o'er the sea; 
 Away, away once more I flee 
 To nothing half so warm!" 
 
 Our Sagaman. 
 
 Disco Island is one of the most notable localities in 
 Greenland. There is a legend that a mighty sorcerer, or 
 angeikut, dragged the island there from the south; and 
 even to the present time they point out a remarkable hole 
 
DISCO ISLAND. 829 
 
 in the rock, on its north side, through which the evil gen- 
 ius of the island rove his rope. The island is upwards 
 of a hundred miles long, is everywhere very lofty, and pre- 
 sents the most superb lines of cliffs of trap rock that I 
 have ever seen. On the south side of the island, in lati- 
 tude 69°, there is a low and ragged spur of granite rock, 
 near a mile in length, which incloses as perfect a little 
 harbor as can anywhere be found, and this the Danes 
 have expressed in the name Godhavn (Good-harbor), which 
 they have given it. This rocky spur is a peninsula at low 
 water; at high water an island. On the north side of it, 
 facing the great tall trap cliffs which tower up two thou- 
 sand feet above the harbor, stands the little town which 
 takes its name from the harbor, though better known by 
 the English whalers' name of Lievely, which is probably 
 a corruption of lively, for the town is the metropolis of 
 Portia Greenland ; and, having been a general rendezvous 
 for whale and discovery ships almost from the beginning 
 of the present century, its metropolitan gayety has be- 
 come widely celebrated. 
 
 It was on a cold, gray, misty morning that we arrived 
 at Godhavn. There had been heavy frosts and a light 
 spurt of snow ; and the little town being hidden from 
 view in the gloomy atmosphere, it is not surprising that 
 it should have impressed our sagaman, as it did all of us, 
 rather unfavorably. But this feeling speedily wore off af- 
 ter we had landed and called at the inspector's house — a 
 house to me not new, for there I had in former years spent 
 many pleasant days with the prior incumbent, Justits- 
 raad Olrik, now director of the Greenland Company in Co- 
 penhagen. 
 
 The present inspector is Herr Krarup Smith, a young 
 man of perhaps two-and-thirty, who possesses the same en- 
 thusiastic fondness for scientific discovery for which Mr. 
 
330 THE LANJJ OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Olrik was distinguished, and the same cultivated apprecia- 
 tion of its importance ; and being obliged every year to 
 visit each of the districts and subordinate stations within 
 his inspectorate, he has made many valuable observations, 
 and collected many rare and curious specimens ; among 
 which are some fossil remains of the limestone, coal, and 
 slate deposits of Disco Island, and other localities of Disco 
 Bay. This bay appears to have been a great carbonifer- 
 ous basin, coal being found to crop out on almost every 
 side of it. 
 
 The inspector's wife seemed to be quite as well content 
 with her Greenland home as the inspector was himself, 
 and there never was a happier baby than the Greenland- 
 born Elizabet, whose first birthday we were hospitably 
 called upon to assist in celebrating immediately after our 
 arrival. 
 
 The inspector's house is not, by any means, an impos- 
 ing edifice, being of the usual pitchy hue ; but it is com- 
 fortable, and sufficiently capacious. The suite of rooms 
 — comprising billiard-room, dining-room, and parlor — into 
 which we were ushered by the same Sophy who had pre- 
 sided there as housekeeper these many years past, and 
 who wore the inevitable silver seal-skin pantaloons and 
 dainty snow-white boots as of old, had nothing to indicate 
 that we were three degrees north of the Arctic Circle. 
 Some prints of fruits and flowers were hanging on the din- 
 ing-room walls, and the parlor was literally strewn with 
 books and family souvenirs, and also music. A piano 
 stood in one corner, and bore evidence of being well used. 
 Bright flowers were blooming in the windows, and the 
 faces of two bright young ladies, one the sister of the in- 
 spector, the other of his wife, were there, as if on purpose 
 to make the picture quite complete and leave nothing to 
 be wished for. 
 
DISCO ISLAND. 331 
 
 These young ladies were on a visit, having come out 
 from Denmark the previous summer ; and now, at the end 
 of the year, they were about to return in the Hvalftsken, 
 a brig which came into the harbor soon after our arrival. 
 I asked how they liked this Greenland life ? They had no 
 fault to find with it at all, except the ending of it. They 
 would stay another year, only for the homes across the 
 sea, where they were sadly missed, as I could well imagine 
 they must be. 
 
 Godhavn is not so lacking in life as most of the other 
 towns. Here all the Danish ships are obliged to come to 
 receive their orders from the inspector, both upon their 
 arrival and departure from the Greenland waters ; and of 
 late years, during the search for Sir John Franklin, here is 
 where all the searchers came to taste the first sweets of 
 home, after a long imprisonment in the inhospitable re- 
 gions around Beechy Island and elsewhere. And none left 
 without carrying away the most lively recollections of the 
 place and of the genial Justitsraad Olrik; nor did any 
 body ever forget the Justitsraad's housekeeper, the inim- 
 itable Sophy. 
 
 Godhavn is too far north for the production of such gar- 
 den-luxuries as we found at Julianashaab on our first ar- 
 rival in the country; yet little round red radishes were 
 not wanting any more now than they had been when Mr. 
 Olrik formerly invited me to his table. But they were 
 grown beneath glass, and not in the open air, the earth 
 being brought in barrels from Copenhagen. There was 
 also a head of lettuce, reared in the same manner, for the 
 perfection of the very excellent luncheon to which Mrs. 
 Smith invited us upon our first appearance. 
 
 As Godhavn is the most pleasant and lively of all the 
 Greenland towns, so Disco Island presents the most pic- 
 turesque and attractive scenery. Looking from the town 
 
332 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 across the harbor, which is not over half a mile wide, you 
 face the lofty cliffs of trap rock, which extend to right and 
 left for miles. Above they are capped with snow ; below, 
 the waves break upon them fiercely, and the icebergs are 
 ground to pieces on their sharp angles. 
 
 I walked out with the ladies of the inspector's family, 
 and had a fine view of the cliffs from behind the town ; 
 thence we proceeded across the narrow neck of rocks 
 around the head of the harbor, and, after strolling along 
 a beautiful sandy beach which stretches in a grand curve 
 for a mile, we entered a valley beside a broad and rapid 
 stream, called Rothe River, which breaks through deep 
 caverns of the most picturesque description, and over the 
 tortured rocks dashes in falls of rare beauty. I can not 
 imagine any thing more wild than the scene before us at 
 the summit of the principal fall. Looking up the valley, 
 I could trace the winding stream to an immense glacier 
 that descended from the lofty hills. Directly abreast of 
 these, to the left, was another glacier, which, having poured 
 down over a very steep and rugged declivity, was twisted 
 into the most fantastic shapes. Above towered the grand 
 crest of Lyngmarkens Pjeld, over which snow-clouds were 
 sweeping before a wind that did not reach us in our shel- 
 tered situation. The air in the valley was calm, and the 
 day was unusually warm for the time of year. The light 
 snow that had fallen three days before, and which gave 
 such a gloomy aspect to the land upon our first arrival in 
 Godhavn, had now disappeared, and there was still some- 
 thing of the summer green which had clothed the valley. 
 Even bright flowers, though wilted by the frost, and 
 drooping languidly, were there, yet they seemed to be 
 pleading mournfully for life. 
 
 One must come to these Arctic wilds to perfect his love 
 and reverence for these sweet gifts of nature. They seem 
 
DISCO ISLAND. 333 
 
 to be clothed here with a new significance — an intelli- 
 gence of their own, which warns them that their life must 
 needs be short, and that they must quickly prepare for 
 their end, and provide speedily for their posterity. From 
 the time when " lingering winter chills the lap of spring " 
 to that when the very slight warmth which the summer 
 has given to the earth has been dissipated by the return- 
 ing frosts — between the deep snows of those two periods — 
 there occurs a remarkable series of transformations. The 
 snow has scarcely disappeared before the seed swells into 
 life ; and in a few days green supplants the universal 
 whiteness. Blossoms gay and smiling burst forth with 
 corresponding rapidity; the new seeds are formed, and 
 fall to be covered with their winter cloak; and from the 
 beginning to the end there is scarcely an interval of six 
 weeks. One can not look upon this astonishing growth 
 — flowering, seeding, and decay — and witness this adapta- 
 tion of life to the conditions of climate, without wonder. 
 Alfieri has beautifully expressed the feeling in these lines : 
 
 "Oh, 'tis the touch of fairy hand 
 That wakes the spring of Northern land. 
 It warms not there by slow degrees, 
 With changeful pulse, the uncertain breeze; 
 But sudden on the wondering sight 
 Bursts forth the beam of living light, 
 And instant verdure springs around, 
 And magic flowers bedeck the ground." 
 
 The Governor of Godhavn, Mr. Frederick Hansen, whom 
 I had before met at Proven and Upernavik in a similar 
 capacity, was of our party ; and, being himself a famous 
 walker, it was proposed that we should attempt to scale 
 the glacier to our left, and climb to the summit of the 
 Lyngmarkens Fjeld — a feat which had never been per- 
 formed. The great white rolling plain that stretched 
 
334 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 away so high above us was indeed tempting; and none 
 of us were more eager to make the trial than the ladies 
 themselves. Mr. Hansen, who had climbed every thing 
 that it seemed possible to climb, was of opinion that the 
 thing could not be done ; and the first suggestion of the 
 effort appeared, in fact, more like a jest than sober earnest. 
 It came from one of the ladies, however, and gallantry alone 
 was of itself sufficient to prompt a ready response. We 
 would climb the glacier, certainly, if the ladies, who were 
 "both young and fair," were so minded — of course we 
 would ; but it must be confessed that there were doubt- 
 ing eyes cast upon the Lyngmarkens Pjeld. 
 
 It being agreed that the effort was to be made, we re- 
 turned to the village and had a game of billiards at the 
 inspector's house. On the following day, in company with 
 the "Professor," the "Prince," the "Colonel," the "Ma- 
 jor," and our chief " Nimrod," I made a preliminary ex- 
 ploration. After ascending the valley to the falls, we pur- 
 sued our course along the bank of a stream which tears 
 down through a cleft in the solid rock about two hundred 
 feet deep, and came finally to the glacier, by the side of 
 which, sometimes on the ice and sometimes on the rocks, 
 through the gorge formed by the ice-stream meeting the 
 base of the cliffs, we climbed to an altitude of eighteen 
 hundred feet above the sea. The ascent was very diffi- 
 cult. The ice was here broken up in the most wonderful 
 manner. The lines of stratification showed a great variety 
 of curves, especially in one place where it had poured over 
 a cliff, as if it had been a tenacious, plastic, semifluid mass 
 flowing down by force of gravity, and moulding itself in 
 conformity with the changing bed over which it had de- 
 scended. 
 
 The ridge of sand and rock that had been ploughed up 
 in front measured one hundred and twenty feet in alti- 
 
DISCO ISLAND. 335 
 
 tude. By watching it carefully we could see and hear it _ 
 moving. A great boulder, losing its balance, rolled from 
 the crest above, and, loosening a great quantity of stones, 
 mud, and sand, came rolling down near where we stood, 
 making a fearful uproar. At the same moment the tall 
 cliff above us let loose some immense fragments, which, 
 bursting in pieces like bomb-shells, bounded down the 
 steep slope at its base ; and the two avalanches, meeting 
 in the gorge, changed their direction, and went crashing 
 down to the valley at a fearful rate, directly over the 
 track which we had pursued in coming up. Had this oc- 
 curred a few minutes sooner we should have been over- 
 whelmed ; for not only were enormous rocks zigzaging 
 their way along with increasing violence and velocity, 
 but the air was filled with lesser fragments, which flew 
 almost with the speed of lightning. 
 
 This catastrophe impelled us the more earnestly to con- 
 tinue the ascent, and to find, either along the base of, or 
 over the Lyngmarkens Fjeld, a new way to Godhavn. But 
 our efforts proved unavailing. The ice-cliffs could not be 
 scaled, and there was nothing left for us but to take the 
 back track, which we did with fear and trembling. For- 
 tunately, there were no more avalanches to disturb us, and 
 we arrived on board the Panther with nothing worse than 
 great fatigue and a thorough drenching ; for while we 
 were upon the ice, to add still further to the discomfort 
 of our situation, a heavy shower of rain, sleet, and snow 
 set upon us. 
 
 The report of our failure to find a passage to the sum- 
 mit of the mountain did not at all discourage the cour- 
 ageous ladies ; but, on the contrary, only inspired them 
 with greater eagerness. Even the story of the fearful 
 avalanche did not cool their adventurous ardor, nor the 
 doleful account of the cold storm dampen their zeal. It 
 
336 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 was resolved to make the attempt Toy the great cliffs 
 across the harbor. 
 
 The cliffs are there cut through by the most sublime 
 gorges that eye ever looked upon. These gorges appear- 
 ed, however, to be as inaccessible as the valleys of the 
 moon. 
 
 Mr. Hansen laughed at the idea. " Impossible !" said 
 he. " These brave ladies will climb with any body, as I 
 know well enough, after a year's practice with them, but 
 neither they nor you can go up that way." 
 
 But the matter of the trial could not be settled at once, 
 as the next day promised a storm like that of the day be- 
 fore ; so I gladly availed myself of Mr. Hansen's obliging 
 offer to lead me to other fields of investigation, and for 
 three days thereafter I was well employed. 
 
 Mr. Hansen communicated to me many interesting facts, 
 and through his instrumentality and that of the inspector 
 I was enabled to visit the coal-fields, which are here very 
 extensive. > * 
 
 I found Mr. Hansen to be an enthusiastic naturalist. 
 Among other valuable specimens which I owed to his 
 kindness was a large collection of birds' eggs and skins, 
 and some fossils. To the study of the birds of the region 
 and their habits he has devoted much attention. The 
 great auk, long since supposed to be entirely extinct, he 
 told me had been recently seen on one of the Whale-fish 
 islands. Two years before one had been actually captured 
 by a native, who, being very hungry, and wholly ignorant 
 of the great value of the prize he had secured, proceeded 
 at once to eat it, much to the disgust of Mr. Hansen, who 
 did not learn of it until too late to come to the rescue. 
 How little the poor savage thought of the great fortune 
 he had just missed by hastily indulging his appetite ! 
 
 The great auk is not the only mysterious creature in 
 
DISCO ISLAND. 
 
 337 
 
 Greenland that seems likely soon to become entirely ex- 
 tinct, for there is, besides, the fierce and powerful amarok, 
 which has been in latter times rarely seen, and is much 
 dreaded. It is the national terror of the nursery; and 
 children are frightened to sleep or kept at home with 
 
 THE GEEAT AUE. 
 
 threats of calling the awful monster, whose rapacity is so 
 great that he can take off any number of Esquimaux ba- 
 bies that you choose to name. This animal, which is an 
 enormous wolf, is not, however, quite as fabulous as the 
 old wives' stories would incline you to believe, one having 
 actually appeared in the country within a few years, and, 
 
33S THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 after committing the most fearful ravages among the dogs, 
 and terrifying the people, was finally shot. His skin now 
 adorns the Copenhagen Museum. The story has spread 
 everywhere, and is related by every body with the same 
 zest that a frontiersman would tell of an Indian raid. 
 
 Disco Bay, which separates the island from the main- 
 land, is sixty miles wide, and is a splendid sheet of water. 
 Several glaciers pour their frozen floods into it, and grand 
 processions of icebergs stretch over it towards the outlets 
 above and below the island. One of these glaciers is ex- 
 ceptionally fine. It is known as the Jacobshavn Glacier, 
 or, as the Danes call it, Jacobshavn's Eis-strom ; and this, 
 since we could not at present climb the hills of Disco Isl- 
 and, we resolved to visit. Its name is derived from a lit- 
 tle town near by, and for this little town we steamed 
 away in the early morning, while the sun was silvering 
 the mountain crests and melting away the chilly mists of 
 the night. 
 
JAGOBSBAVN. 339 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 JACOBSHAVN. 
 
 The view of the southern shore of Disco Island as we 
 crossed the bay was truly magnificent. The gnarled 
 shore, full of clefts and caverns, was white with the foam 
 of the sea ; the great tall cliffs were red with the glowing 
 sun ; the distant hills were bathed in purple, and long 
 streaks of bright yellow sandstone, marking the coal- 
 measures, broke in here and there to complete a picture 
 which will be remembered long. The icebergs, too, were 
 more than ordinarily beautiful. There are few places 
 along the Greenland coast from which such large icebergs 
 are discharged as Disco Bay. We stopped frequently to 
 photograph them, and thus dawdled away the hours, so 
 that we did not arrive at our destination until nightfall, 
 for it must be borne in mind that there was a night now — 
 the midnight sun having left us many days before, dark- 
 ness coming on as soon as ten o'clock. 
 
 One of the icebergs that particularly attracted our at- 
 tention had almost the perfect shape of a truncated cone. 
 But its chief peculiarity was an immense arch running 
 directly through the centre of it, which was apparently 
 large enough for our ship to pass through, since it could 
 not have been less than a hundred feet high and seventy 
 feet wide. It would have been a very hazardous experi- 
 ment to have undertaken to steam through the berg ; but 
 it would have been so novel a thing to have done, that I 
 believe the consideration only of the berg's liability to 
 fall to pieces about us restrained every body from asking 
 
340 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 the captain to do the thing. This remarkable hole had 
 been once a portion of a great natural culvert through 
 the glacier into which the waters from the surface found 
 their way and drained off to the sea. 
 
 We carried along with us from Godhavn a native pilot ; 
 but owing to the lateness of the hour, and the great num- 
 bers of icebergs that lay about the mouth of the harbor, 
 it was found to be impracticable for him to get us to the 
 town before daylight, so he tied to some grounded ice. 
 We managed, however, to penetrate to the harbor with a 
 boat, and surprised the governor with an evening call. 
 
 Never had steamship been there before, and of course 
 every body was given a new life by our arrival. Some of 
 the governor's family had retired to bed ; but our coming 
 had quickly roused them, and every possible thing was done 
 to give us welcome. The governor, or colonibestyrere, 
 Herr Knud Fleicher, was personally known to me before, 
 he having been at Upernavik in that capacity in 1853 and 
 1855. I was much surprised to find him there, and the sur- 
 prise was not the less agreeable when he brought into the 
 room a pretty, modest, and intelligent young lady of nine- 
 teen, whom he introduced as his daughter, saying to me, 
 " Know you dis one ? She comes to tank you." For what 
 I could not at first understand ; but when she brought in 
 a mechanical contrivance which bore unmistakable evi- 
 dence of having been devised impromptu, I recognized my 
 own handiwork of sixteen years before, and in the young 
 lady a deformed child, whom I had the great satisfaction 
 of seeing now able to walk as well as any body upon 
 legs apparently perfectly straight and sound — a circum- 
 stance which gave me not less surprise than pleasure ; for 
 when I had constructed the instrument for the helpless lit- 
 tle girl of three years, there appeared to be but a small 
 chance for her ever being any thing but a cripple for life. 
 
JAC0B8BAVN. 341 
 
 She was followed into the room by her mother, who was 
 a fine matronly-looking lady, and very neatly dressed in 
 some dark stuff sprinkled with snow-white spots, and look- 
 ing as fresh as ever. Three lusty sons came in also ; so 
 did the parson and the doctor, with their respective wives ; 
 and altogether the reception was a lively and agreeable 
 one. The governor produced cigars, long Dutch pipes, and 
 tobacco; a seal- skin betrowsered half-breed girl brought 
 in a huge waiter with an urn of steaming coffee ; and like- 
 wise hot water, sugar, rum, and sherry for the inevitable 
 Danish punch. 
 
 The Prince was of course around, and was not long in 
 getting the girls together; when he improvised a dance 
 upon the green in front of the governor's house, which 
 proved to be quite a picturesque affair, the more especial- 
 ly as the scene was lit up with lanterns stuck about' on 
 the rocks around; while above an aurora flashed across 
 the heavens in the wildest manner, emitting tongues .of 
 flickering light of every hue, and throwing a weird bright- 
 ness upon the sterile rocks, and ice, and snow, as well as on 
 the gay and festive merry-makers. Nor were we inside 
 the house without some lively entertainment. The govern- 
 or's daughter treated us to some music on a piano, which, 
 although not in the best of tune, was yet played with con- 
 siderable skill ; and, considering that music teacher? do 
 not abound in Greenland, the success of this young lady, 
 who had never been south of the Arctic Circle, was quite 
 remarkable. Then we had some songs of the viva la vo 
 order, and the great Danish national air of 1 848, Den tap- 
 per Landsoldat (The Bold Soldier-boy), with immense ef- 
 fect ; after which we went on board to sleep, with the 
 "derfor vil jeg slaaes" and the "hurrah!" and the rest of 
 it ringing in our ears in a delightful manner. 
 
 On the following day we tried very hard to get to the 
 
342 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 Jacobshavn glacier, first by the fiord, then overland, with- 
 out, however, accomplishing our purpose. The fiord was 
 so crowded with icebergs that no headway could be made 
 even with the smallest boat, and it was, in fact, as much 
 as one's life was worth even to make the attempt ; and the 
 overland journey was found to involve too much time and 
 labor to be undertaken at so advanced a stage of the sum- 
 mer — at least thus thought the party generally, and that 
 settled the matter. So it was resolved to go at once back 
 to Godhavn. But, before doing this, we dined the entire 
 white population of Jacobshavn on board the Panther, 
 and I made two visits in the morning that gave me great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 The first was to the missionary, whom I found to be one 
 of those kind and gentle men with whom one would nat- 
 urally associate the idea of the peculiar unselfishness need- 
 ed in a missionary. Certainly, at least, if he had not a 
 very unselfish nature he would not have been there. As 
 it was, he seemed to be exactly the right man in the right 
 place ; and since he appeared to have plenty to do, and to 
 do it with a will, I was glad that " his lines had fallen in 
 such pleasant places." But not so his wife. What on 
 earth was there for her to do in this land of desolation? 
 nothing, as I could see, but grow sick as she had done, and 
 shudder, as she must have done, when she looked out upon 
 the dreary church-yard beneath her chamber window. 
 Jacobshavn is one of the oldest of the missions in North 
 Greenland, and contains, in connection with the church, 
 a seminary for the education of the native youth who 
 seek such instruction as may qualify them for teachers of 
 their own people; for the missionaries have given to the 
 natives a written language, which they never had before ; 
 and it is rare to find a man or woman who can not read 
 and write. Until the Christian missions were established, 
 
JACOBSHAVN. 343 
 
 the language of the people was only oral ; and they did 
 not possess, even in the crudest form, any means of con- 
 veying the most simple idea except by word of mouth. 
 The " picture-writing " of our North American Indians 
 was unknown to them. They have now at Godthaab a 
 printing-press, established there by Dr. Rink; and not 
 only have they printed many interesting historical ac- 
 counts and native traditions, but have illustrated them , 
 with wood-cuts of native manufacture that are quite as 
 creditable as specimens of art as those which illustrate the 
 travels of MandeviUe, and similar works of our own lan- 
 guage published a few centuries ago: 
 
 In fact, these Esquimaux possess remarkable ingenuity. 
 Even in their savage state their inventions are very cred- 
 itable ; a fact that was well proven during my second call 
 in Jacobshavn, which was upon the surgeon of the dis- 
 trict, Dr. C. G. F. Pfaflf, in whom I had the good luck to 
 discover an enthusiastic antiquarian. His opportunities 
 have been great, and he has employed them well in gath- 
 ering a very valuable collection of implements of ancient 
 native manufacture, of which he had several hundred spec- 
 imens — embracing knives, pots, lamps, axes, spear-heads, 
 needles, drills, ice-hooks, etc. — all made of stone, and all of 
 superior workmanship. The knives were very sharp; so 
 also were the needles and drills ; and, being made of chal- 
 cedony and other like minerals, it seemed very wonderful 
 how they had managed to grind them down to sharp 
 points and edges, and to polish them as if they had possess- 
 ed all the appliances of the most skilled mechanics, with 
 all the modern inventions. I have not seen anywhere so 
 fine a private collection illustrative of the " Stone Age " 
 of man's existence. This Stone Age of the Esquimaux, 
 however, instead of having ended in a period of remote 
 antiquity, comes down to the time when Fulton was in- 
 
344 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 venting steamboats. The spear-heads were mostly of red 
 cornelian, and these, as well as the other implements, were 
 generally polished, and in every respect showed a skill su- 
 perior to that of the North American Indians. The doc- 
 tor was good enough to present me with a few samples 
 of this native art ; but the main collection he reserves for 
 the Museum in Copenhagen, of which every Dane is so 
 justly proud. 
 
 Jacobshavn, like all the other Greenland colonies, owes 
 what prosperity it has mainly to the seal-fishery. Besides 
 the seal there is the white whale, which arrives in its an- 
 nual migration from the North about the middle of Sep- 
 tember. A great many halibut are likewise caught and 
 preserved. This latter is of a variety peculiar to Jacob- 
 shavn, being caught there upon a bank of limestone, 
 deposited from the water which comes from under the 
 glacier. 
 
 It was a matter of much regret to me that that glacier 
 could not be reached — the more so that it had, two years 
 before, been visited by Mr. "Whymper, who had conceived 
 the idea of travelling over it to the interior of Greenland, 
 a feat which I believe to be impracticable on at least any 
 of the known glaciers of the South. My own journey of 
 eighty miles inland at the remote North was the only suc- 
 cessful effort of the kind that has ever been made ; but 
 this was in a region where the ice, owing to the conforma- 
 tion of the land, is exceptionally smooth. Greenland might 
 perhaps be crossed in that quarter, though the undertaking 
 would be an exceedingly hazardous one. No food could, 
 in my opinion, be obtained by the way, as I entertain no 
 doubt that the whole interior of the country is but one 
 vast sea of ice. It is only on the outer land that the 
 snow melts and flows to the sea. While upon this sub- 
 ject, it is not inappropriate to mention that to Dr. Rink 
 
JACOBSHAVN. 345 
 
 we owe most that we have known hitherto of the Green- 
 land glaciers, and I believe he was the first explorer who 
 pointed out the origin of icebergs. 
 
 Jacobshavn needs no description further than to say that 
 it is but a repetition of the other towns we had visited. 
 It is, however, somewhat larger, and has a better climate 
 than Godhavn, as was shown by the fact, if by nothing 
 else, that we found upon our cabin table, when we were 
 ready to sail, a small basketful of round red radishes, 
 which the Fraulein Fleicher had raised in the open air, 
 and obligingly sent off to us as a parting gift. In return 
 we sent her some American table luxuries, considering 
 ourselves greatly the gainers by the exchange ; for not 
 only were these Arctic radishes delicious in themselves, 
 but they were a great surprise to us, grown as they had 
 been in latitude 69°, and in the very shadow almost of a 
 frowning and formidable glacier. 
 
 Of this glacier I had a fine view, just before leaving, 
 in the afternoon. Climbing a lofty hill in company with 
 the captain, I overlooked the fiord, and traced its winding 
 course through thirty miles. The icebergs that had been 
 detached and floated in the fiord must have numbered 
 thousands ; and as they moved along with the current, or 
 touched the bottom, they were grinding against each oth- 
 er continually, and the air was filled with the ceaseless 
 sounds of the avalanche tumbling from their sides. A 
 grand scene of this description occurred near the mouth 
 of the fiord. As we were about coming away, an iceberg 
 of large dimensions went almost literally to pieces, first 
 rolling nearly over, and then breaking up as it rocked 
 from side to side. Others in the neighborhood became 
 likewise disturbed ; and as crash after crash followed each 
 other in quick succession, the peals that rang along the 
 cliffs from crag to crag were loud and piercing. Upon 
 
 P2 
 
Ji6 
 
 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 1CEEERG TN J AO" I iyil AY N FIOP.Tk 
 
 reaching the town, we found the people in a state of con- 
 sternation. The disturbance of the ice which we had 
 witnessed from the hill-top had been the cause of great 
 waves setting out of the fiord ; and, although the harbor 
 of Jacobshavn was two or three miles distant, and is per- 
 fectly land-locked, yet the swell reached there, and the 
 surf washed far up on the shore, greatly endangering the 
 lives of some hunters who were in the act of landing from 
 
JACOBSHAVN. 347 
 
 their kayaks. I was told that fearful catastrophes some- 
 times happen from this cause. Even when we reached 
 there the water was still in motion ; the ship was sway- 
 ing to and fro, and the ice all over the harbor was snap- 
 ping and crackling in a very spiteful and fiendish sort of 
 way. When the disturbance had subsided so that a boat 
 could come to land, we went aboard, and, after cautiously 
 steaming among the icebergs at the mouth of the harbor, 
 we headed for Disco Island, carrying with us pleasant 
 recollections of Jacobshavn ; and all feeling abundantly 
 rewarded, save and except, perhaps, the trader, who found 
 nothing to buy but a pin-cushion. 
 
348 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A WEEK IN GODHAVN. 
 
 We returned to Godhavn on the 10th of September, 
 and for a week thereafter travelled about the Island of 
 Disco as we found opportunity and inclination. To the 
 geologist, as previously intimated, Diseo presents a most 
 interesting field of study, and the professor was accord- 
 ingly busy all the while, pursuing his researches with 
 characteristic enthusiasm. The artists were constantly at 
 work with camera and pencil. In this, the metropolis of 
 Greenland, it was not difficult for the pleasure-seekers to 
 find opportunity to amuse themselves; and the captain 
 whiled away the time by tearing to pieces the wreck of a 
 whale-ship which had been run aground at the mouth of 
 the harbor, as rumor had it, in order to secure insurance 
 money. If such was the case, her people certainly took 
 good care to insure their own lives, for the vessel was 
 within sight of the town on a sandy beach, where the sea 
 never breaks, and full a quarter of a mile out of the chan- 
 nel. The people were sent home in the Danish ships, and 
 if they obtained their insurance they surely did not get 
 their deserts. 
 
 To Governor Hansen I was again indebted for aid in 
 such investigations as I desired to make — especially in 
 relation to the coal-fields, which are chiefly interesting be- 
 cause of their being so far north. Vast quantities of veg- 
 etable matter were deposited here in a remote geological 
 epoch, which goes to show that Greenland would once 
 have deserved its name had human beings existed there 
 
.1 WEEK IN GODMAVN. 349 
 
 to give it the one which is now as absurdly inappropriate 
 as Achilles to an organ-grinder. I was enabled to obtain 
 a good collection of specimens, many of which I owed to 
 the politeness of Inspector Smith, and among others of 
 particular interest, a fragment of a cone of an evergreen, 
 that had ripened here in the era of the lower miocene of 
 Europe. In relation to these coal deposits of Greenland, 
 Professor Oswald Kerr has made many important discov- 
 eries, and from his able report I make the following ex- 
 tract : 
 
 "Among the most interesting specimens" [collected by 
 himself] " were the flowers and fruit of a chestnut — the lat- 
 ter, however, in a very imperfect condition. The discovery 
 of these proves that the deposits in which they are found 
 were formed at different seasons — in spring as well as in 
 summer. The known miocene plants of Greenland have 
 now reached the number of 13 1 species ; and those of the 
 Arctic miocene flora altogether number 194 species. Of 
 the Greenland species 46, or exactly one-third, agree with 
 those of the miocene deposits of Europe. The determina- 
 tion of the age of the beds as lower miocene has been ac- 
 cordingly ascertained." 
 
 These coal-measures of Greenland are not confined to 
 Disco Island. Extensive veins crop out as well on the 
 main-land. On the north side of the Waigat coal is found 
 in abundance, and also around the margin of the Great 
 Omenak Fiord. This latter is, with the exception of Mel- 
 ville Bay, the most thickly studded with icebergs and gla- 
 ciers of any part of the Greenland coast, and while view- 
 ing them it seems strange to behold in immediate proxim- 
 ity great black streaks of carboniferous deposits, suggest- 
 ive of a former condition of life and heat instead of cold. 
 
 I had the more occasion to feel indebted to Mr. Hansen 
 for his assistance, that he was busily engaged with prepara- 
 
350 TMK LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 tions for returning to Copenhagen, with his wife and their 
 little son Fred, a bright Greenland-born boy of four years. 
 I found him well posted in the doings of naturalists. He 
 even knew that there was a " Central Park Museum ;" and 
 at his request I took charge of a present he desired to 
 make them — a commission which was duly executed, and 
 politely acknowledged. I likewise did the same with the 
 Smithsonian Institute, with a like result. Among those 
 that went to the latter was a pair of gyrfalcon skins, which 
 Mr. Hansen sent more than fifty miles to get for me, He 
 was equally generous with his collection of native curiosi- 
 ties, and to a member of the party, who valued such things 
 more than objects of natural history, he freely offered al- 
 most every thing he had ; and I much fear there were a 
 good many friends disappointed in Copenhagen that win-/ 
 ter when the governor's empty boxes were exposed. This 
 generosity was the greater that such articles have a com- 
 mercial value at home. 
 
 TJie event of our week's stay in Godhavn, however, was 
 the ascent of the cliffs facing the town, to the summit of 
 Lyngmarkens Pjeld. Mr. Hansen could not accompany 
 us on account of pressing business; and, in fact, he had 
 no faith whatever in the success of the undertaking. Our 
 party, when made up, consisted of the two young ladies 
 mentioned in a previous chapter ; the inspector and his 
 secretary ; and half a dozen adventurers from the Panther, 
 including, of course, the captain and the Prince. Armed 
 each with a pocketful of lunch, we sallied forth at nine 
 o'clock in the morning, and crossing the bay under as 
 bright a sun as ever shone, in a most delicious autumnal 
 atmosphere, we landed on a broad green slope, which we 
 ascended to the base of the first crest or ridge of trap rock, 
 where we paused to rest. 
 
 Up to this point we had followed the bank of a stream, 
 
A WEEK IN GODHAVN. 351 
 
 which was now seen to break through a cleft of immense 
 depth, and tumbling then in a beautiful fall, came out from 
 beneath a great cloud of spray in a rushing torrent of 
 white foam. This ridge descends gradually towards the 
 sea in a south-easterly direction, and then spreading out, 
 presents a wide plain, which the action of the weather has 
 left in a most singular condition. The softer rock has been 
 worn away, while the more solid parts remain ; and for a 
 mile the aspect of the surface resembles a clearing dotted 
 over with stumps. Some of the forms are quite remarka- 
 ble : one about twenty feet high, bears the name of "Lot's 
 wife." 
 
 After crossing this ridge the real labors of the day be- 
 gan, for we came then to the great slope of naked rocks 
 which had fallen from the cliffs, that now towered above 
 our heads until they seemed to touch the sky. 
 
 Of all the climbing ever done by " ladies fair," I think 
 nothing ever could have excelled the performances of our 
 very agreeable companions on that rocky slope. The 
 stones were sharp, the footing was insecure, and the whole 
 foundation on which we stood seemed liable to give way 
 and send us all rolling down to the black gorges beneath, 
 in the midst of a fearful avalanche. To look down made 
 one fairly giddy ; to look up made one tremble ; and yet 
 the ladies held firmly to their purpose, and were always 
 the last to pause for breath, and the first to say, " Shall we 
 go on again ?" Their courage never flagged, as on and on, 
 over the rugged stones and through the ugly gorges, we 
 made our way, steadily nearing the Lyngmarkens Fjeld, 
 which human foot had thus far never trod. It was not 
 the height of it that made the climb such a serious mat- 
 ter — it was the great roughness of the track. Several 
 times stones gave way, and feet and legs were jammed, 
 skinned, and bruised ; twice a general slide was threat- 
 
352 THE LAXD OF DESOLATION. 
 
 ened ; but only once was there very serious alarm. Then 
 two of the party had imprudently clambered on ahead, and 
 loosened some rocks which went bounding past us, whirling 
 away down into a cloud of vapor which rose out of a deep 
 cleft from the foot of a water-fall. One rock seemed to be 
 making directly for our fair comrades, who were then rest- 
 ing, quite unconscious of harm ; but this the gallant cap- 
 tain, who was following up the two who were in advance, 
 was quick and bold enough to intercept by throwing him- 
 self upon it bodily. 
 
 Over this rocky debris we climbed, how far I can not 
 tell, though probably for about two miles ; and then we 
 stood at the base of the cliffs, and, by barometric meas- 
 urement, 1500 feet above the sea. Here a cleft opened be- 
 fore us, which we entered, and between lofty walls of dark 
 reddish-brown rocks, and beside the stream we had before 
 followed to the falls, we ascended by a less difficult and 
 dangerous route, until we reached the permanent snow, 
 where the stream itself originated. This was 1700 feet 
 above the sea. Here we rested, lunched, quenched our 
 thirst, and then, upon the soft snow we mounted up to the 
 glacier, 250 feet higher. The glacier only here and there 
 showed its icy character, and, presenting but few crevas- 
 ses, we found little difficulty in getting above the cliffs, 
 and at length to the summit of the f jeld — a word which 
 quite expresses its character, for nothing could be more 
 desolate and barren than the great plain of whiteness on 
 which we stood. "We were then 3016 feet above the sea, 
 and the view which burst upon us at that lofty height 
 was extremely fine. The air being perfectly clear, except 
 at one point away below lis, where some light mist was 
 trailing along the cliffs, we could see certainly at least 
 eighty or ninety miles; Overlooking the village to the 
 south, we saw the Crown Prince Islands, twenty miles 
 
A WEME IN GODHAVN. 353 
 
 away, sharply defined like dark specks upon a silvered 
 surface. Beyond them, still with the silver setting all 
 round, were the Hunde Islands ; and the lofty coasts and 
 hills of Bunkee Land, in the neighborhood of Egedes- 
 minde, rose farther in the distance, but still far within the 
 bounds of vision. Looking east, over the top of the Great 
 Skarve Fjeld, the mountains of Jacobshavn pierced the 
 sky with their snowy crests, and all around in that quar- 
 ter through an arc of seventy degrees the vast plain of 
 the mer de glace appeared beyond the mightiest peaks, 
 and melted against the sky in a pearly line of light. Be- 
 hind us were the icy peaks and snowy plains of Disco. 
 But the most novel exhibition was on the sea. Thou- 
 sands of icebergs were scattered over the bay in all direc- 
 tions, presenting the most diverse shapes,. Near by they 
 were few in number, and widely distributed ; but they 
 multiplied rapidly, and their track became more concen- 
 trated towards Jacobshavn, until beneath the dark land 
 they melted into each other and were lost to view be- 
 tween the walls of the great fiord. And yet in the scene 
 before us this immense glacier of Jacobshavn was but 
 a white streak, and the mammoth icebergs but pigmy 
 «pecks. 
 
 We spent about an hour in this novel situation, wan- 
 dering about over the white snow, which (the tempera- 
 ture being three degrees above freezing) was quite soft, 
 though in places a firm crust had formed. We saw no 
 true ice there, and, not being provided with any imple- 
 ments for digging, we could not ascertain at what depth 
 the ice forms ; nor were there any crevasses to embarrass 
 us until we attempted to explore a way back by the Rothe 
 River valley, where we were speedily interrupted. There 
 was nothing left for us, therefore, but to return by the 
 way we had come, after the fashion of that famous French 
 
ao4 T11M LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 army which marched up the hill and then, marched down 
 again. And £he results of our labors were of quite as lit- 
 tle importance to the world ; but we had gratified a not 
 unreasonable curiosity, and enjoyed an adventurous expe- 
 rience of a very unusual character. 
 
 Our opportunities for a demonstration were rather mea- 
 gre. We did not have an American flag to float and sa- 
 lute; but, out of compliment to the ladies and to their 
 country, which owns the mountain, we improvised a Dan- 
 ish one, using a red kandkerchief for a groundwork and 
 two white ones for the cross. This being unfurled to the 
 breeze and lustily cheered, we set out on our return jour- 
 ney, which, not having now the stimulus of ambition and 
 curiosity to spur us on, was even more tedious, and seem- 
 ed more wearisome than the ascent. At the gorge by the 
 water-fall we were met by a messenger from the inspect- 
 or's wife, with a hamper containing some refreshments, 
 which were most eagerly devoured. They were, indeed, a 
 timely gift. The thoughtful lady had watched the mount- 
 ain-side with a telescope, and when we came in sight she 
 graciously contrived this agreeable surprise for us\ 
 
 It was eight o'clock when we reached the inspector's 
 house, having been just eleven hours on the march. The 
 sun had passed around behind the island, and the dark 
 shadow of the cliffs was on the town ; but above arose the 
 great spotless crown of Lyngmarken, all radiant in the 
 gold and purple light that burst up from the north. 
 
 The following day was a lively one in Godhavn. The 
 Constaneia, with Captain Bang, our friend of some days 
 back, was there now; and both he and Captain Saxtorph 
 of the Hvalfislcen, were eager, as were we also, to be on 
 the way out of the region of icebergs before the nights 
 grew any darker; but the Constaneia had to remain for 
 the last dispatches home from the inspector. We were, 
 
A WEEK IN GODHAVN. 355 
 
 however, ready, and offered to tow the Hvalfishen out to 
 sea, which offer being accepted, every preparation was 
 made for leaving early the next morning. The passen- 
 gers took up their quarters on board the brig ; but, re- 
 turning ashore in the evening, we had another pleasant 
 entertainment at the inspector's hospitable house, the en- 
 joyment of which was only broken by the knowledge that 
 it was to be the last. I could but think, too, how lonely 
 must be the inspector's wife on the morrow, with her two 
 sisters gone away, and with not another white woman 
 there to keep her company ; for the new governor was a 
 bachelor, and there was neither priest nor doctor in the 
 place to bring wives there, even if they would. 
 
 There was even no one of her own sex with whom she 
 could converse in the Danish language, except the half- 
 breed Sophy, or Sophia Tabita, as she was universally 
 known in all North Greenland — and even she was going 
 away ; for at last the little love-god had found his way 
 through the hitherto impenetrable barriers of her heart, 
 and in a month or so she was to marry the Colonibestyrere 
 of Christianshavn, and, resigning the proud place of belle 
 of Disco, would henceforth be buried in obscurity among 
 the icebergs of Jacobshavn Fiord, where no ship ever 
 comes by any chance, except the one ship of the year, and 
 where none of the merry times of good old Lievely will 
 ever return to enliven her new home. 
 
 The bright rays of the morning sun had just fallen upon 
 the little town when we dipped our flag to the royal en- 
 sign which waved over the governor's house, cheered the 
 inspector, and steamed away with the HvalflsJeen. As we 
 rounded the outer horn of the harbor I saw the inspector 
 and his wife mount to the look-out station, where they 
 stood watching the brig that followed us, and waving 
 adieus to their sisters, from whom dangerous seas were 
 
356 THE LAND OF DESOLATION. 
 
 sure to separate them for many a long year, and perhaps 
 forever. 
 
 At length the island disappeared against the cliff, and 
 we saw them no more; then the cliffs sank down — the 
 Great Lyngmarken became a speck of brightness on the 
 waste of waters; then it too was lost; and this "Land of 
 Desolation," around which will always cling pleasant mem- 
 ories of hospitable people, unusual adventures, and a prof- 
 itably spent summer, fades away, and an experience the 
 like of which might be had by many at small cost and lit- 
 tle risk, takes its place among the " departed joys." 
 
 We have still, however, one Greenland token left with 
 us, and that we propose to leave behind us too, for dark 
 clouds are rising in the sky, and a dirty night is coming 
 on ; besides, an ugly sea is getting up, and the Svalfisken's 
 hawser is in danger. 
 
 " Brig ahoy !" roars out the captain. 
 
 A head appears above the bulwarks, and an answering 
 " Ay, ay," comes across the water. 
 
 " Stand by — we are going to cast you off." 
 
 "Stop, stop a bit," cries the sagaman. 
 
 " What for ?" the captain asks. 
 
 " You shall see;" and sure enough we do, for he whips a 
 scrap of paper from his pocket, on which something is writ- 
 ten ; he hands it round; we sign it, one and all; the cap- 
 tain puts it in a bottle, which he corks tightly, and, along 
 with another bottle of more portly size, labelled " Reserve 
 L. G. L.," he puts it in a tin box, which Mick ties to the 
 hawser and lets fall into the sea. We hear a lively cry 
 on board the brig as they haul in the line ; we see a sailor 
 find the box and take it .aft ; and we know, presently, that 
 the paper is deciphered, and our pledges responded to, by 
 the appearance of heads above the quarter-rail, the flutter- 
 ing of handkerchiefs, and the unmistakable appearance of 
 
A WEEK IN 60DBAVN. 357 
 
 glasses raised at arm's length, all of which evidences of 
 hilarity will be best understood by repeating the round 
 robin our sagarnan had written, and we had sent through 
 the sea as our final adieu to " The Land of Desolation." 
 Thus it ran : 
 
 ' ' We drop you a line, and we bid you adieu ! 
 Now fill up your glasses and pledges renew, 
 In this wine of the South — this foaming Champagne! 
 The Lady of Disco — that right queenly Dane, 
 With whom we hare left (let the wine freely flow), 
 Our hearts and bright wishes and prayers also. 
 
 "May the bleak Norland winter — that night of despair — 
 Leave the bloom in her cheek and the gold in her hair, 
 And the light in her eye, as bright as the blue 
 Of the sky in the summer, the clouds breaking through. 
 Those round her she loves, may the storms, sweeping wild, 
 Pass over them gently — the father and child. 
 
 "A bumper! The ladies in Hvalfiskens brig; 
 Another ! Her captain, that sailor so trig : 
 To the governor too, his frau and his Fred ; 
 To all a good-night on their wave-rocked bed; 
 To the brig a good voyage. Hip! hip! and hurra! 
 The last cup is drained, and — there's no more to say." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 Fellow and Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical.Societies of France 
 and England, H. M.'s Consul in West Africa. With Maps and numerous 
 Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 BAIRD'S MODERN GREECE. Modern Greece : a Narrative of a Resi- 
 dence and Travels in that Country. With Observations on its Antiqui- 
 ties, Literature, Language, Politics, and Religion. By Heney M. Baikd, 
 M.A. Numerous Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 BROWNE'S APACHE COUNTRY. Adventures in the Apache Country! 
 a Tour through AriSona and Sonora, with Notes on the Silver Regions 
 ofNevada. By J. Ross Beown e. With Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 BROWNE'S AMERICAN FAMILY IN GERMANY. An American Family 
 in. Germany. ' By J. Ross Beowne. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 BROWNE'S CRUSOE'S ISLAND, CALIFORNIA, &c. Crusoe's Island: a 
 Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk. With Sketches of "Ad- 
 venture in California and Washoe. By J. Ross Beowne. With Illustra-.-- 
 tionsi 12mo, Cloth, $1 T5. '•>" 
 
 BROWNE'S LAND OF THOR. The Land of Thor. By J. Ross Beowne." 
 
 . Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 BROWNE'S YUSEF. A Crusade in the East. A Narrative of Personal 
 
 Adventures and Travels**n the Shores of the Mediterranean, in Asia - 
 . Minor, Palestine; and Syria. By J. Ross Beownii. Engravings. 12mo. r 
 Cloth, $1 75. 
 
 BUFFUM'S SIGHTS AND SENSATIONS. Sights and Sensations in 
 France, Germany, and Switzerland ; or, Experiences of an American 
 Journalist in Europe. By Ebwaed Gould Bottom, Author of " Six 
 Months in the Gold Mines," &c. 12fbo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 BAKER'S CAST UP BY THE SEA. Cast Up by the Sea; or, the Adven- 
 tures of Ned Grey. By Sir Samt/el W. Bakke, M.A., F.R.G.S., Author 
 : of the " Albert N'Yanza Great Basin of the Nile," " The Nile Tributaries 
 of Abyssinia," &c. With Ten Illustrations by Huard. 12mo, Cloth, 75 
 cents. 
 
 BELLOWS'S TRAVELS. The Old World in its -New Face :. ImpressfonB 
 of Europe in 1867, 1868. By Henby W. Bellows. In Two Volumes. 
 l2mo, Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 CURTIS'S THE HOWADJI IN SYRIA. By Geobge William Cubtis. 
 12mo, Cloth, $1 5JL 
 
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