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FOREST AND STREAM. 



{Teb. 2, 1893. 



■he ^^oHsnimi ^am[isL 



HUNTING IN GREENLAND— II. 



With the Peary Relief Expedition. 



BY "WM. E. MEEHAN (BOKIFACIUS), 

 Member of the Expedition. 



On Monday morning, tlie second day after otir arriTal 

 in McCormick Bay, a boat journey was made to Herbert 

 Island, twenty miles aAvay in Whale Soimd. Those who 



i participated were Mr. Gibson and Mr. Verhoeff of the 

 ^eary party, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Hill, Dr. Mills, Mr. Stokes 

 and Mr. En'trikin of the Belief Kxpedltion, the head fire- 

 man of the Kite, and four Eskimo hmiters, who had set- 

 tled about Mr. Peary's winter quarters. 



It was bright and warm when they started and the ex- 

 ercise of rowing and of keeping the numerous pans of 

 floating ice from crushing the frail rowboats soon brought 

 out the perspiration quite as freely and unpleasantly as a 

 summer's day at home. After much ditHculty and some 

 danger the party reached the island, where, fastening the 

 boat secm-ely to some rocks, they all sat down together to 

 luncheon. Scarcely were they comfortably seated when 

 one of the Ekimos, with a jerk of his thumb toward the 

 summit of a steej) hillside, uttered the one word, ''TuctiC 

 (reindeer). Then without asking leave or license seized 

 Mx. VerhoeflE's gun and began stalking the animal, which 

 was plainly visible only a few hrmdred yards away. Pres- 

 ently, when the Arctic native hunter liad got near enough 

 to hit the reindeer with a stone, he stopped, and resting 

 the rifle on a rock took a long, carefl^l aim and fired. At 

 the soimd of the discharge the reindeer raised its head 

 slowly and looked about him, and then went on feeding 

 with apparent unconcern. Evidently the rifle ball had 

 gone wide of the mark, and the report of the gun was too 

 much like that of a breaking iceberg to cause alarm. The 

 Eskimo took another shot with no better success, and a 

 third without terrifying or harming the tuctu. Before 

 the native could try again another Eskimo who had in 

 the meantime made free with Mr. Hill's rifle in the same 

 manner as the fii"st, crawled up, and being either a better 

 marksman, or having luck with him, put a bullet behind 

 the reindeer's left foreleg and brought him down. The 

 calm cheek of these two imtutored savages of the far 

 North in thus appropriating the rifles and going hunting 

 on their own account had so much of humor in it that the 

 party stood by and watched them stalk and kill the deer 

 vnlthout any interference, although they regretted their 

 inaction when it came time for them to retm-n to the ship 

 without having seen as much as the fur of another Uve 

 tuctu, and this regi-et was much deepened by the time 

 the3^ had made the long and toilsome journey back to the 

 ship, which they reached early on Tuesday mornmg. 



A few hours after their return, it being reasonably cer- 

 tain that Mr, Peary and Mr. Astrup would not be back 

 from their great journey over the great ice cap for at 

 least a couple of weeks, Prof. Heilprin determined to 

 make an eflfoi't to reach Hxrmboldt Grlacier. This great 

 river of ice is believed to be the largest in the world, its 

 discharging point in Kane Basin extending from the "iOth 

 to beyond the 80th parallel, or more than twenty mUes. 

 As this jotu'ney would take us not only into a section 

 famous in Arctic exploration Mstory, but into magnificent 

 hunting grounds, where polar bears, reindeer and musk 

 oxen are said to be plentiful, we heard the order to up 

 anchor with great satisfaction and felt the Kite moving 

 with us out of McCormick Bay a few hours after the de- 

 cision was arrived at with much enthusiasm. 



It was a glorious day. The sun shone from a cloudless 

 sky and the green waters of the ocean were broken only 

 by smaU waves, which spai'kled like jewels. All about us 

 were huge icebergs of countless and fantastic shapes, their 

 dazzling white color, with here and there broad streaks 

 of deep azure, forming a strong contrast to the water. 

 On the right, close at hand, were the red cliffs of the 

 western shores of Greenland, rising almost in .sheer preci- 

 pices for one, two and even three thousand feet from the 

 sea, broken only at iatervals by fiords or by deep valleys 

 which slope ui:)ward gradually and sinuously to the great 

 interior ice cap, which seemed to glare forbiddingly at us, 

 and made us feel that there was small wonder that no 

 Eskimos can be induced by any offer of reward to venture 

 upon it, for fear lest thej Korkoya, a ijowerf ul evil_,spirit, 

 would eat him. 



Toward evening we reached and passed Cape Alexander, 

 said to he the handsomest piece of scenery in the whole 

 of Greenland, entered Smith's Sound, and passed in i-apid 

 succession the winter quarters of Dr. Hayes and the aban- 

 doned settlement of the Etah Eskimos, where Dr. Kane 

 spent much of his time during the winters of 1853-54. 



When we entered Smith's Sound, with the excejation of 

 bergs there was no ice in sight, and there seemed nothing 

 in the way of our making a quick and successful passage 

 to the Hmnboldt Glacier, But exactly as 8 bells mid- 

 night were struck, as most of us were about turning into 

 our bunks, the engines of the Kite were suddenly stopi:)ed, 

 and a moment or two later we were nearly thrown from 

 om- feet by the vessel striking some object. The latter in- 

 cident in itself would have excited scarcely a passing 

 thought, for the Kite was almost continually striking bits 

 of ice, but when in connection With it came a stoppage of 

 the engines, the alfair assumed a different aspect, and we 

 rushed on deck to see what the matter was. We found 

 out. Perhaps never was there a more desolate scene 

 spread out before human eyes than we beheld. Overhead 

 or nearly so blazed the midnight sun. Before us as far as 

 om' eyes could see a vast field of unbroken ice extended, 

 binding the Greenland and the American shores, and ren- 

 dering further jirogress impossible. Snow and ice com- 

 pletely buried the American shore, but the Greenland 

 coast, free from this white covering, frowned darkly on 

 the death-like stiUnees. The entrance capes of Rensselaer 

 Bay where Kane's vessel, the Advance, was lost in 1854, 

 loomed clearly up not far away. Cape Sabine, where the 

 Greely party nearly all stai-ved to death, was plainly vis- 

 ible, and the spot where the Proteus was crushed was in 



e were not left long to look upon this scene of desola- 

 tion. Nrmierous sounds of barking broke the awful stOl- 

 ness of the sunlit night, and huge dark forms were seen 

 swimming about in the water or lying asleep on the ice. 

 They were walrus in vast herds. Adnairation for scenery, 

 awe at being in visible proximity to localities of famous 

 j^ctio exploits vanished, and in their place came power- 



fully and masterfully the instinct of tho hunter. Hastily 

 a boat w^as lowered and it was speedily filled by sailors and 

 members of the expedition, the pSskimo interpreter, 

 Daniel, his black eyes flashing and his fat cheeks red with 

 excitement, occupying the bow, armed with hai-poon, line 

 and bladder. 



Before the boat was allowed to push off. Captain Pike 

 made a careful survey of it, to be sure that it was weU 

 supphed with hatchets and gaffs, for it was a dangerous 

 enterprise that was ahead. Finding tilings to his satisfac- 

 tion, with words of catition he gave the party leave to go. 

 Those of us who had been miable to find a place in the 

 boat stood on the deck of the Kite and watched the frail 

 craft with its load of precious human freight moving 

 silently and swiftly toward a great iceberg less than a 

 quarter of a mile away, at the base of which in a pan of 

 ice some half dozen huge walrus lay sleeping. Presently 

 we could see the rowers stop their work, and those wdio 

 had rifles raise them and fire into the slumbering prey. 

 Before the reports of the discharge had fairly died away, 

 there was a great commotion among the walrus, and all 

 save one dived into the sea with great splashes, throwing 

 spray liigh into the air. The one, jsierced by several bid- 

 lets, "lay dead upon the ice pan, and with a ringing cheer 

 the oaxsmen resumed their work, and in a few moments 

 the animal was harpooned and the party started to tow it 

 to the Kate, singing joyously. 



But they were not allowed to proceed far uninter- 

 ruptedly. Presently w^e saw a huge wakus thrust his ugly 

 head and gleaming tusks above the water not more than a 

 hundred yards from the hunters, and after giving a hide- 

 ous bellow disappeared from view. Then another and 

 another appeared until the sea on all sides of the boat 

 seemed ahve with enraged and bellowing walrus, and 

 these made straight for the himters. The latter had but 

 httle time to prepare for the onslaught, which Avas un- 

 exampled for ferocity, but they met it bravely. The oars- 

 men seized hatchets and gaffs, and the riflemen hastily 

 charged their magazines. Then ensued a terrific encounter, 

 a battle for fife on the part of those in the boat, a fight for 

 revenge on the side of the wahus. For fully ten minutes 

 the au- resoimded with reports of the g-uns, the beUowing 

 of the enraged animals, the cheering of the hunters and 

 the shrdl cries of Darnel. Suddenly, as by magic, the 

 wahfus disai^peared, and the fight was over. With shouts 

 of triumph the htmters resumed their way to the sliip with 

 another dead animal in tow, one of the many victims of 

 the battle, harpooned by Darnel as it Avas sinking, riddled 

 by bullets. 



When these two monsters, 14ft. each in length and 

 weighing combined perhaps more than two tons, were 

 drawn upon the ice beside the Kite we could better see 

 the kind of animal that had been hunted, and the better 

 understand tho peril the boat's crew had been in. Even 

 in death tlie countenances of the brutes bore a horribly 

 ferocious look, which their fierce whiskers and two long 

 gleaming ivory tusks added materially to. But most of 

 the members of the Peaiy Rehef Expedition, as weU as of 

 the ship's crew, had become so hahituated to danger that 

 the battle that had but just passed became merely some- 

 thing to enthusiastically talk about, and a whettener for 

 more contests of the same character. As a result, as soon 

 as breakfast was over, parties were made uj) and all day 

 long fierce battles raged between the hunters and the wal- 

 rus, in which many of the latter, probably a hundred or 

 more, were slain and six or eight secru-ed. 



Toward the middle of the afternoon the himters were 

 all recalled, and then the Kate's nose was tm-ned once 

 more toward McCormick Bay. A stoji was made at 

 Littleton Island, and a visit paid to the abandoned Etah 

 settlement on the shores of an adjacent bay. In tins bay 

 we had another walrus limit with the usual accompany- 

 ing battle, which in this case, while not so long, was per- 

 liaps more furious than the first one described, and which 

 came more nearly having a disastrous ending for the 

 hunters. In the boat witli us on this hunt was Professor 

 Heilfrin armed with nothing more deadly than a KodaJi. 

 Leaving the slfip we cautiously approached fom- huge 

 walrus asleep on a small pan of ice, and when near enough 

 the Professor proceeded to shoot them all with his Kodak, 

 and then gave way f'.<r our more deadly weapons. 

 Whether we were too greatly excited to aim straight or 

 whether the boat rocked too much for correct marksman- 

 ship win never be known, but it is nevertheless a fact 

 that at less than 30yds. distant six buUets fired simultane- 

 ously failed to do more than make the ice fly in all dhec- 

 tions and awaken the slumbering animals, who timibled 

 unceremoniously into the sea. A moment or two later 

 one of them poked his head above water to see what it 

 was that had so rudely disturbed him, and as he did so a 

 ball from my rifle .struck him fair in the neck and he sank 

 dead to the bottom of the bay, leaving a stain of crimson 

 on the blue waters. Then m sohd phalanxes, it seemed, 

 his companions who gathered as if by magic from f ai- and 

 near attacked us. Carried away by photographic enthusi- 

 asm, the ^^Professor once more brought his Kodak into 

 play, and as one huge beast rose a httle above the waves 

 attempted to take a picture of him, but at that instant 

 another brute rose up beside the boat and seized with his 

 teeth the oai the Professor had charge of, and nearly 

 wrenched it from his grasp; at the same moment a third 

 thrust himself up against the keel of our craft and nearly 

 ca,psized it, causing the Prof essor's.Kodak to take a beauti- 

 ful photograph of the sky, and half fiU. the boat with 

 water. 



Each man was now fighting for dear fife, each engaged 

 with a separate animal mad for revenge. As rapidly and 

 eft'ectuaUy as possible, each man discharged his piece at 

 the attacking enemy. Then, in the midst of it aU, I got 

 into trouble. By some mischance a wrong sized cartridge 

 had got into the magazine, and in throwmg it into the 

 rifle barrel, it stuck half way in. Here was a critical 

 state of affairs. An enormous bud, with tusks more than 

 a foot long, was swim m ing rapidly our way, and unless I 

 was ready for him nothing coidd save us, for the other boys 

 had their hands full. I tugged with might and main, and 

 luckily, just as the brute was making the iavaiiable short 



gause at the side of the boat, before attempting to throw 

 is tusks over the gunwale, I succeeded in extracting the 

 wrong cartridge and got a right sized one in its place, and 

 as the animal with giai'ing, savage eyes, and huge red 

 mouth extended into a f erocius beUow, was rising for Jiis 

 fatal attack, I held the muzzle of the rifle to his throat, 

 and pulled tlie tiigger, A volume of blood gushed up, and 

 with a last roar of rage the waliais sank dying below the 

 smiace. A few minutes more finished the combat, in 

 which, although it was estimated we had slain more than 



a dozen of these mighty warriors of the north waters, -wei 

 did not succeed in securing one. j 



Once more the Kite resumed her way southwardly,; 

 stopping here and there at important iilaces for scienttflc) 

 and geogra]ihical work, so that it was not imtfl about seven; 

 o'clock in the evening of the second day that we turnedl 

 Cape Robertson, which divides the south side of McCor- 

 mick Bay from Robertson Bay. 



Just as we had done this Mr, Mm-phy, the fii'st mate,» 

 who was in the crow's nest, a huge barrel perched on the; 

 top of the foremast as a lookout place, cried, "Polax bear 

 on the point," Excitement ran high in an instant. Cap-i 

 tain Rike made a rush for the bridge and signalled to stopt 

 the engines, while Mr. Dunphy and the first mate with; 

 two sailors made a break for the long boat and loweredj 

 it with aU speed. Over the side of the vessel scrambled 

 the members of the Relief Exjjedition, heavily armed; 

 and Larry Hackett, the ship's steward, followed, holding, 

 a long seahng rifle, carrying an immense explosive bul-t 

 let. As the boat was rowed rapidly ashore Larry, who, 

 had hunted polar bears before, gave us exj)licit directions 

 how to behave, and when we landed we carried out hia 

 instructions to the letter. Separating into groups of two' 

 we cautiously aj)proached the ridge, on the other side o£ 

 which J\lx, Mm-phy had seen the beai's. Two of our party 

 being quicker than the others reached the summit first; 

 they were two sailors. They peered cautiously over and 

 then as one man they uttered exclamations, and each; 

 seizing a stone hurled it at some object beyond. In lesa 

 time than it takes to tell it, there were two flashes of 

 white and two large Arctic hares went scampering up! 

 the mountain side as fast as their legs coifld carry them. 

 A shout went up from all hands except Larry, who, re- 

 membering his long lectm-e on polar bear hunting, stood' 

 silent and glmn, and bore with ill-concealed discontent 

 the chaffing he got on the way back to the ship, and he: 

 only brightened up and aUowed his countenance to resume-' 

 its wonted serenity when, on reaching deck, the chaffingi 

 was transferred to Mr. Murphy, who took it good-natm-- 

 edly and with the remark of, "Wha,t difference did it' 

 make; you all had a good time ashore, didn't you? You! 

 ought to thank me instead of chalfin'." 



[TO BE CONCLUPED.] 



A TRAMP THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS. 



I, 



Having taken a long tramp through the mountains of 

 East Tennessee and of western SoutJi Carolina, we want 

 to convince the readers of the Forest and Stkeaji that 

 it is imnecessary for them to go to Switzerland to find 

 mountain scenery or steep ridges with which to tire theii- 

 legs. My friend. Prof. Chas. Forster Smith, of Vanderbilt 

 University, often varies the monotony of deciphering! 

 Greek inscriptions by taking tramps through the Gi-eat 

 Smoky Mountains, and months ago began to m-ge me to; 

 go with him. Now, I had never "done" any mountains, 

 but for yeai-s have been an enthusiastic angler for the 

 black bass, king of all the fish that swim the waters, audi 

 am in consequence used to roughing it, and can walk all 

 day without fatigne. Smith and I are fight, active men, 

 but Mi-, W, E. Myer, of Carthage, Tenu., who was of om- 

 party, is built on more lieroic fines, being 6ft. tall, and, 

 weighing 1851bs., not thebufid best adapted for taking! 

 long tramps over pathless mountains. Mr. Myer is an 

 amateur geologist, but his chief passion is the gathering 

 of Indian relics, and he has done some fine work for the 

 Smithsonian Institution. On Tuesday, Aug. 'A, we met 

 in KnoxviUe, where we bought some provisions, canned 

 meats and "sich liko," These, with a change of under- 

 clothing, we stowed in om- haversacks (of the U. S. Ai-my 

 type), and strapj^ed our gum coats on the outside. A 

 flannel shirt, a soft hat, a coat, and a stout, broad-bot- 

 tomed shoe completed the make-up of each man. A 

 poficeman gave me a famifiar nod and said, '-Hello,: 

 Hank! back again? " "HeUo, Jack! " said I, and passed, 

 on. I am sm-e he took me for some tough whom he hadi 

 ' 'run in" more than once. Albert Henry, a negro preacher, 

 om- driver, was, by long odds, the best dressed and most 

 dignified man in the party. At 5:15 we reached Wfid-i 

 wood, thirteen mfies from KnoxviUe. We took our 

 knapsacks on our backs and started for Mt. Nebo which' 

 may be on the very spot where Miss Murf ree's "hamti 

 walked ChiUiowee." If so, he had some pretty stifE 

 climbing. On the way we overtook Mr. Landon Smith, 

 brother of one of our pai-ty, who had come on to join us. 

 He was a welcome acquisition. In a little while we' 

 reached the Mt. Nebo Hotel, kept by Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, 

 the last decent house we were to slecj) in for many miles.| 



After an early breakfast the next morning we finished 

 the ascent of Chilhowee and went down into Miller's Cove 

 to find Devil Sam Walker, to secure him as guide. We 

 met him near his cabin, with a half -bushel of com on his 

 shoulder, bound for mUl and the polls. Dr. Smith, who 

 is aji old acquaintance of Sam's, introduced the party and 

 said, "Uncle Sam, we want you to guide us to Clingman's; 

 Dome." "It's 80 mfies thar and 40 back; it's too fm-, 

 boys." However, he wanted to go, and httle trrging was 

 needed, Whfie Sam was making a few preparations I 

 talked with his wife and soon learned that Sam was made] 

 of "bibtflous clay." On one occasion he and a vagabond 

 doctor who was boarding at Sam's staid drxmk for seven 

 months. Finally Mrs. WaUier grew indignant, pomed 

 seven gallons of "mountain dew" out to the pigs and 

 smashed jugs and bottles. The spree was over, 



De^^l Sam no doubt deserves his soubriquet. He is no-w 

 nearly 70 years old, and in appearance reminds you of an 

 old bear. He is profane and vulgar, but with these excep'^' 

 tions, is thoroughly companionable. No man is better; 

 acquainted with the Tennessee side of cne Smokies than; 

 is. Needless to say that he is proud of his knowledge,, 

 and a trifle fond of posing as the "Wfid Man of the! 

 Mountains." He says that a life-size picture of himseff is 

 on exhibition in Cincinnati, and that some day he is going; 

 there to see it. 



On we tramped toward distant Thtmder Head. Throughj 

 Miller's Cove into Tuckaleeche Cove, wading Little River, 

 several times, an operation most comf oi-ttng to our feet.' 

 We stopped at a cabin, bought a peck of meal, a few 

 pounds of bacon and a coft'ee-pot. We ate dinner at a 

 noble spring near a school-house, and were soon joiaed. 

 by the "schoolmarm" and her 65 pupils. All save the' 

 teacher were barefoot. They were typical mountaineers, 

 but their dialect was about the same as that of people of 

 the same rank of life in middle Tennessee valleys. And, 

 so we found it all the way. We had mountaineers for 



