NATURAL HISTORY. 



MAMMALS NEAREST THE NORTH POLE. 



W. T. HORNADAY. 



Nansen's story of his unparalleled sledge 

 journey, from the ice-bound Fram up to 

 86° 15', and thence down to Franz Joseph 

 Land, and safety, is of intense and even 

 thrilling interest. To the naturalist, as well 

 as to the meteorologist and geographer, it 

 is even more than that; for it is full of 

 zoological observations, all given with that 

 exactness of detail which creates value. 



It will be remembered that on March 14, 

 1895, Nansen and Johansen, with 3 sledges, 

 2 kyaks, 1,340 pounds of dead weight and 

 28 Siberian dogs to draw it, left the good 

 ship Fram at latitude 83 50', where she was 

 frozen fast in the ice pack, and drifting 

 slowly across the polar basin toward 

 Greenland. On their first night out the 

 cold registered 45 below zero. Those 2 

 men left the ship without the slightest pos- 

 sibility of returning to it, and staked their 

 lives on their ability to reach civilization 

 and safety, somewhere, by their own ef- 

 forts. 



Over rugged ice-fields, and through 

 blinding blizzards, they toiled toward the 

 pole until, on April 8th, they attained what 

 is now the " Farthest North," at latitude 

 86° 15' — nearly 3 farther than the point 

 reached by Greely's men! No land was 

 visible, and, finding it impossible to pro- 

 ceed farther, the retreat Southward, toward 

 Franz Joseph Land, began. 



Very soon Nansen's observations on the 

 animal life of that desolate and terrible 

 region became of absorbing interest. The 

 first signs of animal life were tracks of the 

 arctic fox, observed on the 85th parallel — 

 a warm-blooded animal, living and thriv- 

 ing, within 300 miles of the North pole! 

 The proof that Vulpes lagopus had recently 

 dined was unmistakable. I have always 

 said that if any wild animal ever reaches 

 the pole, it will be the one to whom Nature 

 has kindly given thick fur on the bottoms 

 of his feet. 



At 83 20' the explorers found the water 

 lanes in the ice-pack "full of narwhals;" 

 but to any one save a whaler, narwhals are 

 not exactly " game." On May 20, at 83 

 10', the first tracks of polar bears were seen. 

 Other bear tracks were found 10 days later. 

 The first living thing actually seen was a 

 bird — a fulmar petrel — which was observed 

 on May 29th, when the men must have been 

 at about latitude 82 30'. The next day 

 2 ringed seals (Phoca foetida) were seen on 

 the ice. but they found safety in a water 

 lane. A black guillemot circled round the 

 party several times. 



" It is beginning to grow lively here," 

 says Nansen; "it is cheering to see so 

 much life." 



On June 4 (latitude 82 17'), the ex- 

 plorers made their first killing — an ivory 

 gull (Larus ebumeus), which was flying over 

 the tent. Others were seen, but even in 

 that wild ice-world they knew enough to 

 keep out of gunshot. Nansen went after 

 them, fired once and missed. 



" One cartridge wasted; this must not 

 be repeated! " said he. More seals and 

 narwhals were seen that day, but none 

 were killed. Strangest of all, however, " a 

 small bird flew over, which Johansen, who 

 was standing outside the tent, took to be a 

 kind of sandpiper." 



On June 18 (same latitude as before), 

 Nansen shot 2 fulmars, 2 Brunnich's guil- 

 lemots, missed 2 seals in a water lane, and 

 wrote, " there is a good deal of life here, 

 now." For all that, however, the men were 

 faring badly for food. Little auks were 

 numerous, but so small it was an extrava- 

 gance to shoot them. They had only 148 

 shot cartridges, 181 rifle cartridges, and 14 

 ball cartridges; and their supper was 2 

 ounces of bread and one ounce of butter to 

 each man. 



On June 22d, a great event occurred. 

 They saw and killed a bearded seal (Phoca 

 barbata), and instantly the whole world 

 brightened. 



" We now have an abundance of food, 

 and fuel for a month," says Nansen. " We 

 need hurry no longer! " 



They camped right where they were, for 

 several days, and presently became " rich 

 beyond the dreams of avarice," by killing 

 another seal. 



On July 10th (latitude about 82 10') 

 Nansen's camp was visited by 3 polar 

 bears, a female and 2 cubs, all of which 

 were killed. On the 15th " a Ross' gull 

 came by," and from that time on many 

 others were seen. From that point down 

 to where the 2 wanderers spent the winter, 

 polar bears were numerous, and many were 

 killed. 



On August nth, at the Northeast corner 

 of the Franz Joseph archipelago, in lati- 

 tude 81 ° 30', the 2 kyaks of the explorers 

 were surrounded by walruses, who threat- 

 ened to sink the whole fleet. A little later, 

 2 arctic foxes were seen on the ice, fight- 

 ing over a little auk that one of them had 

 caught, while myriads of little auks flew 

 overhead, " screaming shrilly from the 

 ledges in the mountain side." 



On August 27th Nansen and Johansen 

 landed on Frederick Jackson Island, (Franz 

 Joseph Land), in latitude 8i° 19'. and pre- 

 pared to spend the winter there. An arctic 

 highlander would have called it a paradise. 

 for all around them, even at their very 

 door, were walruses and polar heirs liter- 

 ally to burn! At once the men went forth 

 slaying and to slay, and ate and burned 



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