372 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



deep and stuck fast in the snow. We had to 

 pass three times heavily laden, and twice emp- 

 ty, over every bit of the road, and half our num- 

 ber were scarcely able to move a sledge or boat. 

 After the exertion of some days, raw wounds 

 appeared on the shoulders of several, and, to 

 add to our trials, we suffered intensely from 

 thirst. Nine men were sent back to the ship to 

 bring away the jolly-boat and more stores, and 

 it took just three hours to do the distance which 

 it had cost the advance party eight days to ac- 

 complish. On onr return to the boats, we found 

 their crews were sitting up, and looking out like 

 young birds in a nest, to see what we had 

 brought from the ship. . . . Happy the man who 

 has any tobacco; happy he who after smoking 

 his pipe does not fall into a faint; happy, too, 

 the man who finds a fragment of a newspaper in 

 some corner or other, even if there should be 

 nothing contained in it but the money-market 

 intelligence, or, perhaps, directions to be fol- 

 lowed in the preparation of pease-sausage. En- 

 viable is he who discovers a hole in his fur coat 

 which he can mend; but happiest of all are those 

 who can sleep day and night. Of these latter, 

 tome have stowed themselves away under row- 

 ing-seats, and above them reposes a second lay- 

 er of sleepers; but nothing is visible of either 

 party but the soles of their feet. . . . The end 

 of the Franklin Expedition, and the history of 

 the two skeletons which were found in the boat, 

 is told again for the twentieth time a story 

 which never fails to produce a harrowing effect, 

 and to rouse the firm and resolute to yet greater 

 efforts and self-command. . . . One solace is left 

 us the solace of smoking. Some, indeed, have 

 exhausted their whole stock of tobacco. He 

 who has half a pouch of it at his disposal is the 

 object of general respect, and the man who can 

 invite his neighbor to a pipe of tobacco and a 

 pot of water is considered to do an act of pro- 

 fuse liberality. Tobacco becomes a medium of 

 exchange among us, and provisions are bought 

 and paid for with it, its value rising every day. 

 There is no difference between day and night, 

 and Sundays are only distinguished by dressing 

 the boat with flags. In this enforced idleness 

 passed away the days between the 9th and 15th 

 of June, save that on the 14th we changed our 

 place by three hundred yards, in order to select 

 a more convenient spot for seal-hunting, and to 

 keep up the appearance of traveling." 



The unparalleled hardships of this strug- 

 gle raay be inferred from Lieutenant Payer's 

 remark, page 364, that, " after the lapse of 

 two months of indescribable efforts, the dis- 

 tance between us and the ship was not more 

 tluin nine English miles.'''' 



But the open sea was at length reached, 

 and on the 15th of August the boats were 

 dressed with flags, ballasted, the sledges 

 left behind, and the expedition put off. The 

 party had passed ninety-six days in the 

 open air after leaving the Tegetthoff, when 



a small boat was descried, with two men in 

 it, apparently engaged in bird-catching ; 

 and, upon turning the corner of a rock, two 

 ships were discovered, within a few hundred 

 yards. They were Russian vessels, engaged 

 in salmon-fishing ; and the strangers were 

 received on board with mingled feelings of 

 wonder and sympathy. Lieutenant Payer 

 remarks : 



" No grandees could have been received with 

 more dignity than we were. At the sight of the 

 two ukases which we had received from St. 

 Petersburg, and which required all inhabitants 

 of the Russian Empire to furnish us with all the 

 help we needed, these humble seamen bared 

 their heads and bowed themselves to the earth. 

 We had an example before us to show how or- 

 ders are obeyed by the subjects of that empire 

 a thousand miles from the place where they were 

 issued. But we were received not only in this 

 reverential manner, but were welcomed with 

 the greatest heartiness, and the best of every- 

 thing on board was spread before us salmon, 

 reindeer-flesh, eider-geese, eggs, tea, bread, 

 butler, brandy. The second skipper then came 

 on board, and invited us to visit him the first 

 of a series of invitations. Dr. Kepes was very 

 pressingly invited, for he had a sick man on 

 board his vessel, and our doctor returned with 

 an honorarium of tobacco in his hand. These 

 simple Russian seamen of the arctic seas freely 

 produced their little stock of good thiuf^s to give 

 us pleasure; and one of them, after observing 

 me for a long time, and thinking that I did not 

 express myself suflSciently strongly for a happy 

 man, persuaded himself that something was the 

 matter with me, and that I wanted something. 

 Forthwith he went to his chest, and brought me 

 all the white bread he had, and the whole re- 

 maining stock of his tobacco. Though I did not 

 imderstand a word he said, his address was full 

 of unmistakable heartiness, and so far needed no 

 interpreter." 



We have preferred to let the author of 

 this work speak for himself rather than to 

 attempt any description of it, which would 

 certainly be unsatisfactory within our nar- 

 row limits. But we may add that it is a 

 volume of great scientific interest. For 

 half a century arctic adventure has been 

 inspired by a sentiment of rivalry to reach 

 the pole, although more and more it has 

 been recognized that its real object should 

 be the extension of our knowledge of Na- 

 ture under its remarkable arctic aspects. 

 Lieutenant Payer has entered fully into this 

 view ; and his volume is not only charming 

 as a narrative, but contains a great deal of 

 important scientific information. 



