278 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



bles laid directly across the Atlantic would fail, and that telegraphic communica- 

 tions between London and New York must be mainly by land. The proposed 

 line, starting from the mouth of the Amoor, to which point it was already con- 

 structed, should bend around the head of the Sea of Okotsch, thence run east- 

 ward and northward through Kamchatka to the 63d degree of north lati- 

 tude, then cross the narrow Strait of Bering, and run southward through what 

 was then Russian America, British Columbia, Washington Territory, and Ore- 

 gon, to San Francisco ; thence across the American continent to New York. 

 A dispatch from London to New York by this route would travel something 

 more than 25,000 miles, while the distance in a straight line across the Atlantic 

 was about 3000 miles. The company undertaking this enterprise had survey- 

 ed a considerable part of the distance, and expended some millions of dollars, 

 when it was announced that the Atlantic cable was a success, and the work was 

 abandoned. 



In the mean while Mr. Whymper undertook a trip up the great River Yu- 

 kon. This is essentially an Arctic river, though its mouth is far southward of 

 the Arctic Circle. It is probably the greatest of the Arctic rivers, and in length 

 and volume of water is exceeded by not more than six rivers of the globe. 



The party of which Mr. Whymper was one consisted of six Europeans and 

 three Indians. In October, 1865, they started from Unalachleet, on Norton 

 Sound. A trip of 200 miles would bring them to Nulato, a Russian trading- 

 post 700 miles from the mouth of the river, which here runs almost parallel 

 with the coast. 



They were to travel on foot over frozen rivers and through deep snow. To 

 convey their supplies they had four sledges, each drawn by five dogs. Such a 

 team will draw about 350 pounds. The dogs of this region are not of a good 

 class. Mr. Whymper thinks they have in them quite as much of the wolf as of 

 the dog. Their usual food is fish ; their regular daily allowance in winter is a 

 dried salmon a day : in summer they are expected to fish for themselves. They 

 will, however, eat almost any thing, and, if they can get enough, will grow fat 

 upon it. They even took kindly to beans, provided they were boiled soft — a 

 thing which Kane could never induce his Esquimaux dogs to undertake. 



They set out on the 27th of October at 11 o'clock — that is, just after sun- 

 rise — the thermometer standing at 30° below freezing-point. Their trip was 

 begun a little too early, for the deep snow had not become packed hard, and a 

 bit of thaw would transform it into slush ; and the streams which they had to 

 cross were not all frozen over. Fortunately, they had a light skin boat, which 

 not only stood them in good stead now, but served them afterwards for more 

 than a thousand miles of winter travel. Whenever they came to a frozen 

 stream, the Indians would break a hole through the ice to get a draught of 

 water. They always filled up the hole with loose snow, through which they 

 sucked the water. This they said was to filter out the little red worms with 

 which they said the water was infested. 



The travellers wore snow-shoes ; the use of which, although indispensable in 

 going over the soft snow, is very fatiguing, obliging the wearers to lift a dozen 

 pounds of snow at every step. Sometimes they had to break a path for the 



