PROFESSOR SONNTA.G'S
THRILLING NARRATI'VE
OF THE
GRINNELL EXPLORING EXPEDITION
IN THE YEARS
1853, 1854:, AND 1855,
IN SELARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN,
UNDER THE COMMAND OF
DR. E. K. KANE, U.S.N.
CONTAINING
THE HISTORY OF ALL PREVIOUS EXPLORATIONS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN, FROM THE
YEAR 1618 DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME;
SHOWING IIOW FAR THEY ADVANCED NORTHWARD, WIIAT DISCOVERIES THEY MADE,
AND Tl'EIR SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS.  THIE PlIESENT WIIEREABOUTS OF SIR JOHN
FRANKLIN AND IIIS PARTY, IF T11EY ARE STILL ALIVE. A STATEM lENT OF TIIE
ONLY PRACTICABLE METIHOD BY WHIICH THE NORTH POLE MAY BE REACHIED;
TIIE REASONS WHY ALL EXI'LORING EXPEDITIONS IIAVE IIITI1ERTO
FAILED TO PENETRATE TlEt ICY BARRIERS OF THE POLAR REGIONS.
HIGHLY I31PORTANT ASTR~N.MiCAL OBSERVATIONS,
PROVING THAT TIIERE IS NO SUCIT TIlING AS APPARE\,T TIME AT TIIE. NORTI{ POLE; SUF FERINGS OF DR. KANE'S EXPLORING PARTY; IOW THEY WERE BURIED FOR TWO YEARS
IN THE ICE, ENDURING A DEGREE OF COLD NEVER EXPERIENCED IBY ANY IHU.MAN
BEING BEFORE; ThEIR MIRACULOUS ESCAPES AND UNPRECEDENTED IIARD         SRIPS; TIIEIR ABANDONMENT OF THlE SIIIP; AND PERILOUS
JOURNEY OF FOUR HUNDRED MILES OVER TIHE ICE.
WITH NEARLY ONE HUNDRED SPLENDID ENGRAVINGS.
BY
PROFESSOR AUGUST SONNTAG,
ASTRONOMER TO ~HE EXPEDITION, FORMERLY OF THE ROYAL-'BSERVATORY AT VIENNA, AND
LATE OF THE U. S. NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON CITY, D.C.
PHILADELPHIA, PENN.:
J A S. T. L L O Y D & C o.
CINCINNATI, OHIO:
JAS. T. L L O Y D & Co. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
MRS. ELLA LLOYD,
In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
STEREOTYPED BY GEORGE CHARLES.
PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN & SON.
_ t    
~~~~~
PROFESSOR SONTAG. 
it
SEEKING SECURE QUARTERS FOR TI1E NIGIIT.
it
1'I,
PiA;,'!<;i
_.._ -  
DED ICAT ION.
TO COMMODORE ROBERT F. STOCKTON, U. S. N.
DEAR SIR:-Aware of the deep interest you take in every
enterprise which is calculated to exalt the reputation of the
Naval Service of your country-an object to which your personal efforts have  been  long and successfully directed-I
dedicate this Yolume to you, confident that you will not disapprove of the association of your name with the narrative
of an undertaking which was worthy of the chivalric and
heroic character of the American Navy; and which was designed to serve the cause of science and humanity.  While I
avail myself of that additional claim to public consideration
which this Narrative will acquire from the use of your name,
I rejoice in the opportunity thus afforded me, to offer this
tribute (however unnecessary and valueless it may be) to
your private character and public services. When I express
the hope that these services may meet with due appreciation
from the country of your birth and my adoption, I feel that
all has been said which can declare the good wishes of your
obliged friend and obedient servant,
THE AUTHOR.
(5)
_e       v.......' *  *:
0 
P R E F A C E.
IF the publication of such a book as this required any explanation or apology, it would be sufficient to say that every
item of information relating to Arctic discovery is eagerly desired by the public at this time, and it would be almost criminal for any man who possesses such information to withhold
it from the world. The undersigned having purchased Professor Sonntag's Narrative of the Grinnel Expedition, some
months since, have used their best judgment and abilities in preparing this thrilling narrative for the press, to make it as acceptable to the reading public as possible. The artistic embellishments and electrotyping are of the first order; and we feel
assured that many highly interesting facts recorded in this
work have never appeared in print before. We are equally
confident that no man who ever visited the Polar climes could
be better qualified by nature and education to give an accurate
and satisfactory account of Arctic affairs, than the gifted and
scientific gentleman whose narrative we now offer to the
public. All preceding journals of Arctic travelers have been
more or less vague and incomplete, being for the most part
diaries of personal adventure rather than graphic descriptions
of the localities, incidents, and peculiarities of those myste.
fw~~~~~~ ~~~(6)
.In.  
PREFACE.
rious regions which surround the Pole, and their almost equally
remarkable inhabitants.   In this work, as we confidently
believe, the reading public will have the most concise and
complete description of the manners and habits of the Esquimiaux tribes that has ever issued from the press.
Professor Sonntag is now engaged with a party of scientific
genitlemen in making explorations in Central America and
in MIexico; accounts of their observations in those countries,
together with drawings, maps, &c., all of the highest importance to geographical and geological science, will appear in book
form as soon as the work can be made ready.
Respecting the price of this Volume, we have concluded to
put it at such a low figure, as will enable all classes to read it.
The first edition has been ordered in advance of its publication,
and we confidently believe that it is destined to have an unprecedented circulation.
JAS. T. LLOYD & CO.
Philadelphia, Jan. 1st, 1857.
7 
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Observations on Voyages of Discovery and Exploration in Gene ral.-The Unfortunate Expedition of Sir John Franklin.-Ineffectual At tempts to Discover his Whereabouts and afford him Relief................ 11
ChIAPTER II.
Captain Kane's Expedition starts from New York-Affecting Scenes at its
Departure-Arrival at St. John's-The Tribulations of the Adventurers
begin Early.-The  Expedition reaches  Greenland.-MDodes of Living of
the Esquimaux.-Visit to the Danish Settlement.-Frequent and Terrific
Appearance of Icebergs.-IIow they are Formed, etc.....................
CHAPTER III.
Further Observations on the Difficulties of Arctic Navigation.-" Floes" and
" Hummocks" of Ice described.-Ships Built expressly for Navigating the
Polar Seas.-Preparations for Passing the Winter among the Ice.-We
begin to Experience all the Horrors of the Climate.-Great Mortality among
the Dogs............................................................ 33
CHAPTER IV.
Our Situation becomes more and more Unpleasant.-The Arctic Winter sets in.
-Intense Cold, and its Surprising Effects.-Polar Scenery.-Dreadful. Suf  ferings of our Excursion Parties.-We are visited by the Savage Esqui maux.-Their Personal Appearance, Dress, Manners, and Character......   41
CHAPTER V.
Some Account of the Esquimaux Dogs.-Their Singular Habits and Great
Utility.-Further Account of the Manners, Customs, and Superstitions of the
Savage Esquimaux.-We obtain another Dog-Team, and send out two new
Traveling Parties, one commanded by Dr. Kane in person................ 51
CHAPTER VII.
Numbers of Walruses or Sea-Horses are Diseoverea.-Description of the Ap pearance, Habits, and Peculiarities of these Animals.-Summer Scenery in
the Arctic  Regions.-Vegetation.-Animal  Life.-Arctic  Birds,  Bears,
Foxes and Rabbits.................................................. 67
25 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
Terrific Water Spout.-A Thrilling Scene.-Large Fire Ball Precipitated into
the Sea.-Seals, and their Mode of Hiding.-Wearisome Journey across the
Ice. —How the Esquimaux hunt Seals.-Water Torrents.-We prepare to
Spend another Winter in our Ship, without Fires at Night.-Great Suffer ing.-Failure of Dr. Kane's Party to reach Beechy Island................
CHAPTER IX.
Troubles and Disappointments.-Another Winter sets in.-Scarcity of Fuel.  Two Bears visit our Ship.-A  Battle.-Severe Suffering and Sickness.  Esquimaux Architecture, &c.-Their Sleeping Apparatus.................
CIIAPTER X.
Arctic Sportsmanship. —Frequent Visits of the Esquimaux.-Life in the Es  quimaux Huts.-Modes of  Cooking, Cooking Utensils, etc.-Occupations
of Men, Women, and Children.-Laziness and Gluttony of the Esquimaux.
-Their IIunting Excursions: Difficulties and Dangers thereof.-Interesting
Anecdote of two young Esquimaux Hunters............................
CIIAPTER XI.
Esquimaux HIlunting.-Bear Baiting Extraordinary.-Walrus Catching.-Sin  gular Customs.-Esquimaux Generosity and Benevolence.-Fourierism in
Greenland.-Our Situation becomes Desperate.-Abandonment of the Ship
and the Main Object of the Expedition..................................  95
CHAPTER XII.
The Reasons why all Arctic Expeditions have been Failures.-Captain Parry's
Explorations the most Successful.-Suggestions for a New Plan of Arctic
Exploration.-The Possibility of Reaching the North Pole.-How that Ob ject may be effected.................................................. 100
CHAPTER XIII.
An attempt to Answer the Question "Of what use are Arctic Explorations?"
-" Will they Pay?"-Hints for Enterprising Capitalists and Yankee Spe  culators.-Advantages of Polar Researches to the cause of Science, an object
worthy of the Noblest Ambition.-Observations to be made at the Pole.... 105
CHAPTER XIV.
Devotions on Shipboard.-We bid a Final Adieu to the "Advance."-The
Celebrated Boat Journey commenced.-Appalling Dangers of this Enter  prise.-Terrible Sufferings.-Narrow Escape from Drowning.-Distressing
Accident.-Death and Funeral of the Carpenter.-A Grave unexpectedly
Provided............................................................ 112
CHAPTER XV.
Arrival at Open Water.-Embarkation.-Adventures at Sea.-Arrival at Hak luyt's Island.-Great Sportsmanship.-Dreary Aspect of the Coast.-The
Transportation of Rocks by Icebergs.-Scarcity of Provisions.-Large Sup  plies of Duck Eggs. —Want of Fuel to Cook them....................... 120
PILOX
75
80
88 
CONTENTS.
PAGe
CHIIAPTER XVI.
We arrive at a Spot well Populated by Feathered Bipeds.-Great Slaughter of
the Inhabitants.-We expect to Meet with Whalers, but are Disappointed. Vexatious Deceptions practised on us by the Icebergs.-Arrival at Melville
Island.-Difficulties of Navigation at that Point.-Three White  Men are
Discovered on an Island.-Arrival at a Danish Settlement.-The end of the
famous Boat Journey................................................ 127
CHAPTER XVII.
Our Cool Reception at Upernavik.-The Esquimaux Treat us Handsomely.
The Curious Religious Notions of these People.-Their Government.-Their
Strange Duels.-Improvements in their Modes of Living................. 135
CHAPTER  XVIII.
Dresses and Decorations of Esquimaux Ladies.-An Ingenious Signal, or a
Beau-Catching Contrivance.-Admirable Construction of the Esquimaux
Boats.-Reindeer Hunting by Water. —Ve Proceed in a Danish Ship to
Disco Island.-Our Hospitable Reception.-Arrival of Captain Ilartstein's
Expedition in Search of Dr. Kane.-We Embark for the United States.  Arrival at New York.-Conclusion of the Narrative..................... 141 
SONINTAG'S NARRATIVE
OF T1IE
GRINNELL EXPEDITION
IN SEARCHI OF
SIlt JOHN FRANKLIN,
IN"  18E. t-, -13.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS ON VOYAGES OF DIS< OVERY AND EXPLORATION
IN GENERAL. THE UNFORTUNATE EXPEDITION OF SIR JOIIN FRANKLIN.
INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS TO DISCOVER HIS WHEREABOUTS AND TO AFFORD
HIM RELIEF.
TIIE exploration of un                 ______~_     ~known r e g i o n s has al                               - -     ways been a favorite ob                           =__  __  ~ject with men of a bold
- - ___~~~~==               and adventurous spirit,                ____~ ==9:,__  ~and if we trace the histo           s_.   ~~~~ _                  ~~ry of the world, back to
;-;~~~,         ~the remotest periods, even
to the age of fable and
_____~-:          ki,,: poetic  exaggeration,  we
shall find many memora.~ ~~~~~~~~~ble examples of those dar                                      ing enterprises which
aimed at the discovery of
-          ~>   }- lands or seas the very ex.,h       istence of which was ques. ——'~                         r7,* ~~tioned by the generality
___~~~                 ~of mankind.  The re                                      nowned Argonautic expedition was probably an enterprise of this kind, though the real objects
and events of that undertaking are hidden under the misty veil of
(11) 
12       SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIEE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
mythological narration. The Phoenicians were the most remarkable
nation of antiquity for the extent of their maritime researches, and the
number of their colonial settlements. But the enterprise of all early
voyag,ers had its limits, as coasting was the only kind of navigation in
which they could venture without encountering risks which were too
formidable for human courage to undertake.  The invention of the
mnariner's compass was the commencement of a new era in nautical
affairs, as it enabled navigators to dispense with the land-marks
which had hitherto guided them through the trackless deep, and to
venture boldly through seas and oceans which had hitherto been deemed
impassable. The splendid achievements of Columbus, Yespucius, and
Vasco de Gama, were among the earliest results of this grand improvement in the art of navigation, an improvement which was soon followed
by many others in marine architecture, and in the rigging and equipment of ships, the construction of which must necessarily be modified
to suit the new service for which they were now required. The ships
of earlier times were mere coasters, not at all adapted to the navigation
of extensive seas or vast oceans, which now presented themselves as
practicable fields for human enterprise.
After the discoveries in Oceanica, by Capt. Cook and others, the
spirit of maritime adventure seemed, for a time, to come to a pause, or
we may say, "for lack of argument." The opinion seemed to gain
ground that very little more was left, in the way of exploration, for seafaring, people to accomplish. Navigators were tempted to sit down and
weep, like Alexander the Great, because the earth could afford them
no other islands or continents to explore. Some attention, indeed, was
directed to the Arctic regions; but the bounds of exploration in that
quarter were believed to be well defined by an icy barrier, beyond
which the enterprise of man could never penetrate.  In the contemplation
of this stupendous obstacle the most ardent enthusiasm became chilled
and benumbed, and the proverbially reckless spirit of the sailor was
appalled. There was a feeling of romantic and almost superstitious
terror connected with the idea of sailing to a locality which appeared
to be beyond the limits of the habitable globe; a locality the
approaches to which were enclosed by portals of ice more repulsive
than gates of adamantine rock; and which, if once passed, might be
closed again on the too-daring traveller, shutting him forever from all
intercourse with the cheerful world without, and confining him in the
dreary dominions of perpetual winter, without any prospect of release.
Imagination presented the frozen corpses of preceding adventurers lying
" unknelled, uncoflined, and unknowh," the victims of their own reckless 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
hardihood in having dared to venture beyond those limits where nature
herself assumed an aspect of terrible menace, seeming to declare" thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." To disregard this prohibition
seemed to be almost an act of impiety, and many persons of sober
judgment and scientific attainments thought that the experiment of
Arctic exploration had been sufficiently tried, and that further attempts
of the kind were utterly hopeless.
ay early as the beginning of the sixteenth century efforts had been
mov1e by navigators, under the auspices of different European powers,
to open a passage to China and the East Indies, by circumnavigating
tlhe northern coast of America.  In  the year 1527, the idea of a
passage to the East Indies by approaching the North Pole, was suggested
b- a Bristol merchant to Henry VIII; but it appears that no voyage
was undertaken for the purpose of navi,ating the circum-polar seas
until the commencement of the following  century.   In 1607, an
expedition, having this object in view, was fitted out at the expense of
certain London merchants. To this attempt several others succeeded,
at different periods; but although they were well projected, and were
carried out with energy, and as much skill and science as the times
could command, in every instance they proved total failures with
regard to the main object of the enterprise.
At length, after the lapse of more than a century and a half, this
interesting object obtained the royal patronage of Great Britain; and in
1773, an expedition under the command of Captain Phipps was planned
and equipped by the British Government. Though Captain Phipps found
it impossible to penetrate that vast rampart of ice, which extended for
more than twenty degrees between the latitudes of 60~ and 810, "the
belief of most scientific men of the age in the possibility of proceeding
further, under nmore favorable circumstances, remained unshaken. In
1775-76, the lion. D. Barrington, an En,glish lord, published a book
in which he discussed the possibility of approaching the North Pole, and
notwithstanding many important and significant facts were contained in
his valuable work, he was ridiculed by the most of his countrymen as
an idle and visionary projector.
In 1806, a certain Captain Symmes, of Cincinnati, Ohio, produced a
treatise on the Arctic regions in which he suggested that the earth
was probably hollow, and that a passage might be found somewhere
beyond the Arctic circle, which would afford the means of entrance to
the cavity within.  He offered to verify his theory by actual experiment, to be made by himself, and expressed his willingness to stake his
life and fortune on the result. This captain, in all other matters
13 
IN A GALE, AMONG THE ICE.
Page i 
SONNTAG'S NARPRATIVE OF THiE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
conducted himself like a man of sound judgment, and his theory, singular
and startling as it was, obtained considerable credit for a time, both
in Europe and America.  Even at this day, "Symmes' IHole" is not
quite forgotten, though the captain's theory is believed by scientific
men and the public in general to be quite as hollow as the earth itself,
according to his representations. The Dutch made three several
voyages, in 1594-5-6, for the discovery of a north-east passage, but
were equally unsuccessful as the English.
All these efforts were made abortive by the icy obstructions, which
are always encountered in those narrow seas which lie between and
contiguous to Baffin's Bay and Behring's Straits. There is every
reason to believe that this obstacle will always exist, causing the navigation of these waters to be attended with great peril and uncertainty,
even in the most favorable seasons. This consideration goes far to
preclude all hope that any object of much practical utility to the world
can be accomplished by the navigation of these seas, even though the
regions beyond could offer the strongest inducements to commercial
enterprise. The passage recently discovered by the gallant exertions
of Messrs. McClure and Inglefield, is not at all exempt from these
difficulties, and the chief results of their discovery, made with so much
labor and peril, are the solution of a geographical problem and a more
precise knowledge of the localities.
During a period of forty years, the most strenuous and expensive
exertions were made for the attainment of the grand object specified
above. The English were the principal aspirants for the glory of that
discovery, and the voyages of those celebrated British navigators, Ross,
Perry and Franklin, contributed in a high degree to elucidate the
geographical position of the northern'American coast, and many additions were made by the exertions of these brave seamen to the stores
of physical science:
So much has been said and written on the subject of a north-west
passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and so many erroneous notions
have been afloat concerning it, that I will account for the recent revival
of the attempts to discover it.
Among the changes and vicissitudes to which the physical constitution of our globe is perpetually subject, one of the most extraordinary,
and from which the most interesting and important results may be
anticipated, appears to have taken place in the course of the last ten or
fifteen years, and is still in progressive operation. The convulsion of an
earthquake and the eruption of a volcano force themselves into notice
by the dismay and devastation with which, in a greater or less degree,
15 
16      SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
they are almost always attended; but the event to which I allude has
been so quietly accomplished, that it might have remained unknown,
but for the extraordinary change which a few intelligent navigators
remarked in the Arctic ice, and the reports of the unusual quantities of
this ice observed in the Atlantic; this event to which I allude, was
the disappearance of the whole or greater part of the vast barriers of
ice, which for a long period of time, perhaps, was supposed  to have
maintained its firm, rooted position on the eastern coast of old
Greenland; and its re-appearance in a more southerly latitude, where
it was met with, as was attested by various persons worthy of credit,
in the years 1815-16-17, by ships coming from the East Indies and
America, by others going to Ifalifax and Newfoundland, and in different parts of the Atlantic, as far down as the fortieth parallel of
latitude. Some of these detached masses were of an unusual magnitude
and extent, amounting in some instances to whole islands of ice, of such
vast dimensions that ships were impeded by them for many days, in
their voyages; others were detached icebergs, from a hundred to a
hundred and thirty feet above the surface of the water, and several
miles in circumference. The Halifax Packet reported in 1845, that she
had passed a mountain of ice nearly two hundred feet high, and at least
two miles in circumference; a ship belonging to the old Greenland
Mlissions was eleven days beset on the coast of Labrador in floes of
ice mixed with icebergs, many of which had huge rocks upon them,
gravel, soil, and pieces of wood. In short, every account from various
parts of North America agreed in stating, that larger and more
numerous fields and bergs of ice had been seen at greater distances
from their usual places in the years above mentioned, than had at any
time before been witnessed by the oldest navigators. The fact, therefore,
might be considered as too well authenticated to admit of a doubt; it
was at once concluded from whence the greater part of these immense
quantities of ice were derived. In a letter from Mr. Scoresby, an
intelligent navigator of the Greenland seas, to Sir Joseph Banks, he
says: "I observed on my last voyage (1817) about two thousand
square leagues (18,000 square miles) of the surface of the Greenland
seas, included between the parallels of 74~ and 80~, perfectly void of
ice, all of which had disappeared within the last two years." And he
farther states, "that, although on former voyages he had very rarely
been able to penetrate the ice between the latitudes of 760 and 800, so
far to the west as the meridian of Greenwich, on his last voyage he twice
reached the longitude of 10~ west; that on the parallel of 740 he
approached the coast of old Greenland; that there was little ice near 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
the land," and he added, that "there could be no doubt that he might
have reached the shore, had he but a justifiable motive for navigating
an unknown sea at so late a season of the year."
This account was fully confirmed by intelligence received at
Copenhagen, from Iceland, in the year 1816, that the ice had broken
loose from the opposite coast of Greenland, and floated away to the
southward after surrounding the shores of Iceland, and filling all the
bays and creeks of that island; and that this afflicting visitation was
repeated in 1817; circumstances hitherto unknown to the oldest
inhabitant. About the same time the whale ships that frequented the
fishery in Davis' Straits, and the Hudson Bay traders, experienced an
unusual number of icebergs, and large floes of ice drifting to the
southward, down the straits, and along the coasts of Labrador, and of
Newfoundland. Yet as to a certain extent those masses of ice
were of frequent occurrence in these quarters, and occasionally met
with in the Atlantic; it was those from the eastward that attracted
particular notice. Whatever the cause may have been for the disruption
of this immense barrier of ice from the eastern coast of Greenland,
whether by its own weight, after centuries of accumulation, or from the
partial disruption of the coast itself, the fact is unquestionable that the
notoriety of it given in the several journals of Europe, and more
especially in those of England, corroborated by various private
communications, was among the circumstances which, combined with
others, gave rise to the revival of those voyages of discovery for
attempting a passage round the northern coast of America to the Pacific
Ocean, and also to another attempt to reach the North Pole by proceeding
between the east coast of Greenland, now freed from ice, and the west
coast of Spitzbergen, generally niot much hampered with ice. It may
be observed that none of the old English navigators were able to
penetrate any part of the Polar Sea, all their discoveries were confined
to the straits, and inlets, and islands, on the eastern coast of America,
and the large straits of Davis and Baffin, on the western coast of
Greenland. Had Baffin entered Lancaster Sound from his own strait,
he would at once have discovered the sea which communicates with the
Pacific, and then there is no saying what this able old navigator and his
contemporaries might not have effected; indeed, at the commencement of
Parry's, Ross's, Franklin's, and Inglefield's voyages, from 1818 down to
the voyage of Captain Back, in 1835, nothing was known of any entrance
into the Polar Sea from the other side of America. All that was known
on the first attempt, which hardly deserves the name, was that the Polar
Sea did exist, that the ships of Captain Cook had looked in at it through
2
17 
18       SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Behring's Straits, and that Fearne and Mackenzie, two North American
travellers, had arrived at the northern shore of North America, at
different points and at different times, and reported, somewhat doubtfully,
that they had viewed the sea. From these circumstances, and more particularly from undoubted authorities it was quite clear that a current was
constantly found setting down Davis' Strait, and the Strait of Hudson's
Bay, and also along the shore of Spitzbergen, all to the southward; no
doubt, therefore, could remain that there must be a water communication
between the seas of the Pacific and the northern Atlantic, that the
water supplied through the strait of Behring (a well-established fact)
into the Polar Sea, was discharged by some opening or other yet to be
discovered, into the Atlantic.
Many scientific men, however, turnod into ridicule the idea of a
polar basin, and others endeavored to show that if these currents
existed, they must be very temporary or occasional, as they would
otherwise drain this polar basin of its water.                      n
It may be worth while, now, that the shores of this Polar Sea have
been visited and surveyed, one part by English navigators, and the
Asiatic part by the indefatigable Baron Wrangle, and others, to show
to these would-be-wise gentlemen, what that sea really is, what are its
inpourings, its outpourings, and its dimensions. In the first place, it is
an immense basin of water, included by the shores of Asia, of Europe,
and of'America; of Asia from Nova Zembla, in 500 east longitude to
East Cape in Behring's Strait in 170~ west longitude; that is, 140~
extent of coast; in Europe from Nova Zembla in 50~ east longitude
to Baffin's bay about 70~ west longitude, an extent of coast equal to
1200; and in America from the last point 70~ west longitude to Cape
Prince of Wales, 168~ west longitude in Behring's Strait, an extent of
coast equal to 100~. These including the opening of Behring's Strait
and that between Greenland and Spitzbergen, comprise the whole circle
of 360~, an extent of coast which no other detached sea in the world
can boast of. It is a circle of two thousand four hundred geographical
miles in diameter, and seven thousand two hundred in circumference.
Considering the latitude of 70~ to be the average boundary line,
which it nearly is, by taking the inlets of the land, to balance the
outlets of the sea, and in order to satisfy the malcontents, regarding
the currents exhausting its waters, it may perhaps be sufficient to state
what are its supplies; they consist of the constant influx of a stream
through Behring's Straits, of five or six great rivers from Asia: the Obi,
the Jenisci, the Sena, the Indigiska, and the Kolima; Europe supplies
the waters of Dwina with numerous streams from the coasts of Norway 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
and Lapland, and the eastern coast of Greenland and the western coast of
Baffin's Bay; and America pours in several copious streams from the
Rocky Mountains with the Mackenzie, the Hearne or the Copper Mine,
the Bock, and several other minor streams. To talk, therefore, of its
,being exhausted by the southerly currents, is absolute nonsense.
The main object of the English expedition in 1827 was, to discover
an entrance from the eastern side of America into the Polar Sea. But
it was not done by the first as it ought to have been done, and as the
second (1835) most readily accomplished it, and, moreover, navigated
one half of that sea to the westward, why then it may be asked, have
future attempts failed to navigate the other half? The answer is easy
enough; they failed by deserting the direct path that gave them half
the passage towards Behring's Strait, and tried various new ways in
search of openings into the Polar Sea, and found but one other on the
whole eastern coast of America, and that one not navigable;  the old
route of Captain Parry through Lancaster Sound and Barrows Strait, as
far as to the last land on its southern shore, and thence in a direct line to
Behring's Strait, was the route ordered to be pursued by Sir John
Franklin, in his last and fatal voyage.
The unhappy fate of Franklin, which for a time was involved in profound mystery, did not deter others from following in his dangerous
track.  On the contrary, a feeling of enthusiasm was awakened in his
behalf and that of his sorrowing and devoted consort, whose untiring
exertions to save him from protracted suffering, or a horrible' death,
excited the sympathy of all Europe and America. This feeling stimulated nautical adventurers to that activity which has characterized the
recent explorations of the Polar seas.
Captain Sir John Franklin, K. C. B., made several daring expeditions
to the Polar Sea, but his endeavors to make further discoveries were
only partially successful. His sufferings and hair-breadth escapes would
have daunted almost any other man and deterred him from making other
attempts of the same kind. But in 1825-26-27 we find Franklin again
on a perilous journey to the polar climes. On this occasion he proceeded over land to the mouth of Mackenzie River, and firom thence, by
water, to the northwestern extremity of the American continent. The
particular object of this expedition was the exploration of the coast
between Mackenzie and Copper Mine rivers.
In this undertaking, Franklin started from Liverpool, February 6th,
1825, and arrived at New York on the 15th day of March following.
His reception in the last-named city was extremely cordial and
flattering. Invitations to attend the meetings of the various scientific
19 
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SONN-TAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
institutions were sent to him and his party, and every other mark of
respectful attention was shown by the civil and naval authorities, as well
as by private individuals; all of which demonstrations were indicative
of the lively interest, which the Americans took in his enterprise.
From New York city Captain Franklin and his party proceeded up
the Hudson River to Albany, and from thence again to Niagara Falls,
where they remained several days. Afterwards they proceeded to Lake
Huron, where they embarked in canoes, and followed the water communications to the western side of the Great Bear Lake, where he fixed his
winter quarters.  In the Spring of 1826, Captain Franklin pursued his
way down Mackenzie River to the open Polar Sea. In December, 1827,
the party, after undergoing unspeakable hardships, returned to England,
where they arrived in safety; but from his next Arctic voyage, Captain
Franklin never returned.
;~~;~~
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
21 
22      SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
In 1836-7, Captain Back of the English Navy, was sent on a voyage
of discovery to the Arctic shores. He commanded the ship Terror,
which had been chosen for this purpose. He made several important
discoveries and having accomplished his perilous voyage to the satisfaction of the government which employed him, he returned in safety to
his native country.
In 1845, Sir John Franklin, notwithstanding his painful experience
in Arctic navigation, incredible sufferings, and miraculous escapes
from death, was induced once more to take command of a polar expedition. His subsequent adventures are not matters of history but of
conjecture only; and, until very lately, the world was in doubt whether
he had ceased to exist or was still enduring a living death in some icy
prison of the far North. In his final expedition, Franklin commanded
the ships Terror and Erebus, the crews of both vessels amounting to one
hundred and thirty-eight men, officered and manned as follows:
TERROR.
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, Captain.
JAS. FITZ JAMES, Commander.
GRAHAM GORE, Lieutenant.
J. D. LEVESCONTE,  "
JAS. WM. FAIRIIOLME,              F
CHAS. F. DESVAUX, Mlate.
ROBT. O. SARGENT,   "
E. COUCH,            "
H. F. COLLINS, Second Master.
STEPHEN F. STANLEY, Surgeon.
H. D. GOODSIR, Assist.
JAS. REED, Ice Master.
12 WARRANT AND PETTY OFFIcERS
58 SEAMEN AND MARINES.
RICHARsD CIJOZI ERP, Captain.
EDWAR      D  LI TTLE, Lieutenant.
GEO. H. HODGSON "
~JOHN IRVING,          "
F. HARNBY, Alate.
ROBT. TiIO0IAS, "
Tios. BLA.NKY, Ice LAaster.
G. A. MACLEAN, 2d Ice Master.
JNO. S. PEDDIE, Surgeon.
ALEX. McDONALD, Assistant.
J. H. HELPMAN, Clerk in Charge.
11 WARRANT AND PETTY OFfICERS.
57 SEAMEN AND MAIINES.
68 TOTAL.
Captain Franklin was required, by his instructions, in the first place,
to attempt a passage by Lancaster Sound, and any channel leading
therefrom in the desired direction.   The only intelligence of  the
Expedition ever received was in the first summer after its departure.
When the want of further accounts from the exploring party began to
produce a feeling of anxiety in England, a search was commenced by
expeditions following on Franklin's supposed route, and others, entering
EREBUS. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Behring's Straits with the hope of meeting him. Land-journeys were
also undertaken for the same object. Most of these enterprises were
planned and set on foot by Lady Franklin, the exemplary wife of the
~ I.   
LADY FRANKLIN.
missing traveller. At the solicitation of this meritorious lady, the
American Government accepted a generous offer made by MIr. Henry
Grinnell, a merchant of New York, who proposed to furnish two
brigantines for the purpose of fitting out an expedition for the relief of
Captain Franklin.  All the preparations having been completed, this
first American expedition to the Arctic seas sailed from New York in
Mnay, 1850, under the command of Lieutenant E. J. DeHaven, of the
United States Navy.
The American public need scarcely be reminded that this expedition,
in company with that commanded by Captain Penny, discovered the
first traces of Captain Franklin's party; these traces, however, were
23 
24      SONiNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
very melancholy and unsatisfactory, consisting of three graves with
tombstones, the remains of several rude huts, and a wooden pillar
bearing an inscription, which unfortunately gave no information
respecting  the  route which the party intended  to  take.   These
mementoes merely indicated that Franklin had established his winterquarters on that spot. The place was Beechy Island, which had been
previously discovered by Captain Parry. It was a subject of much
regret that no record of Franklin's intended movements was found, as
that would have furnished a clue for the subsequent search. These
discoveries, therefore, only intensified the anxious desire to learn more
of the mysterious fate of the distinguished commander.
The Senior Surgeon of Lieutenant De Havenr's expedition, Dr. Kane,
returned to the United States with a determination that something more
should be done to restore Captain Franklin and his surviving followers
to the world; hopes being still entertained that some of the party, at
least, might have lived through the terrific dangers, hardships and
privations which they must have encountered and endured. Dr. Kane
had adopted the opinion which was commonly held in England by
persons acquainted with the circumstances attending Arctic navigation,
viz: that Sir John, after leaving Beechy Island, had penetrated through
Wellington Channel in a northern direction.  This opinion was founded
on observations which were made on the state and position of the ice,
as reported by those who had discovered the traces of Franklin's
expedition. In pursuance of the plan of search which had been
devised by Dr. Kane and other scientific men, assisted by the counsel
of experienced navigators on both sides of the Atlantic, a second
American expedition was determined on. It was to be conducted under
the auspices of the United States Government, and was placed under
the command of Dr. Kane, who had been detailed for that service by
the Secretary of the Navy. 
CHAPTER II.
CAPTAIN KANE'S EXPEDITION  STARTS FROM  NEW  YORK-AFFECTING
SCENES AT ITS DEPARTURE-ARRIVAL AT ST. JOHNS-THE TRIBULA  TIONS OF THE ADVENTURERS BEGIN EARLY-THE EXPEDITION REACHES
GREENLAND-MODES OF LIVING OF THE ESQUIMAUX-VISIT TO THE
DANISH SETTLEMENT-FREQUENT AND TERRIFIC APPEARANCE OF ICBE BERGS-HOW THEY ARE FORMED, ETC.
The new expedition to which reference was made at the close of the
last chapter, was the result of private enterprise, and was fitted out at
the expense of several wealthy and munificent citizens of the United
States. The American Government merely extended its patronage and
protection to the glorious object, by providing such scientific instruments
as the undertaking required, and designated some persons under naval
appointments, viz:
THE BRIG "ADVANCE."
ISAAC J. HAYS, M. D., Surgeon.
AMOS BONSALL.
GEORGE STEPHENSON.
GEORGE. WHIPPLE.
WM. GODFREY.
JOHN BLAKE.
JEFFERSON B]AKER.
PETER SCHIUBERT.
THOMAS HICKEY.
DR. E. K. KANE, Commander.
HENRY BROOKS, 1st Officer.
AUGUST SONNTAG, Astronomer.
GEORGE RILEY.
JAMES McGARRY.
HENRY GOODFELLOW.
JOHN W. WILSON.
C. OHLSEN.
WM. MORTON.
In several particulars, the plan of the new expedition differed from
any which had been attempted before. It was assumed theoretically
that there existed an open or navigable sea on the north of the 80th
parallel of latitude. The term open sea was understood to designate
one which was so far unembarrassed with ice as to be navigable in the
summer season. It was proposed to reach this sea, (if such a sea could
be found) by that route which was apparently the most direct, that is to
say, via Smith's Sound; and to descend for the proposed search, to
(25) 
__ _  fii
A — 
____________                                      _____________________                                                                                                                                                           11)1!
~           ~    A~~~Y
BUILDING SNOW HUTS. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
the southern and western shores. The search was to be extended from
the station of the ship by means of dog sledges, parties being sent
out in various directions to establish depots of provisions in advance of
the parties employed in the search.
We left New York on the last day of May, 1853, amidst the acclamations of thousands of spectators, who had assembled on the wharves
to witness our departure. It was a radiant spring morning, the aspect
of nature was cheerful and composed, but there was many a sad and
agonized heart among the friends and relations of the voyagers, and
the leave-taking was such as intimated that many fond parents, wives,
brothers and sisters, feared that the parting would be forever.   Many
persons, at that time, regarded such a voyage as a desperate undertaking,
and looked on the officers and crew of the Advance as persons selfdoomed to certain destruction. They were, therefore, objects of general
admiration and pity; the noble and benevolent cause for which they
sacrificed themselves consecrated the rash and suicidal deed; and thus,
according to the fancy of many spectators, the humblest sailor who
walked the deck of that ship appeared to wear the crown of martyrdom.
But the expeditionists themselves were of a different temperament,
otherwise they never would have offered themselves for such a service.
The frowning genius of the icy ocean had no terror for them, but seemed
to hold out wreaths of glory and renown for their acceptance. Accordingly they commenced  their voyage with something like rapturous
enthusiasm, which was scarcely checked by the loud and despairing
lamentations of the dearest objects of their affection. In some cases
the love of distinction appears to be the strongest passion of the human
soul.
At the very outset, however, the crew of the Advance had a
foretaste of the troubles which awaited them. The passage to St.
Johns, in consequence of unfavorable weather and other causes, was
unusually tedious.  We  stopped  at this port two days, and obtained
nine dogs of the kind which is used in Newfoundland, Labrador and
other northern climates, for the purpose of drawing burdens on the
snow. All the fresh meat which could be obtained at St. Johns was
bought for the purpose of "marling," a preservative process which
consists in rubbing the outside with salt and enclosing the pieces in
hoods of canvas. The authorities of St. Johns showed all possible
kindness and attention to the persons engaged in the expedition, and I
rejoice in this opportunity to offer them my grateful acknowledgements
for their generous hospitality, and the assistance they rendered us in
making preparations for our subsequent travels.
27 
28      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
From St. Johns we proceeded to the coast of Greenland, where we
entered several Danish settlements, which extend at intervals between
latitudes 60~ and 73~. These are a kind of missionary establishments,
intended in some measure for the instruction of the natives, but serving
at the same time to carry on a profitable trade in furs and oil. These
settlements are under the charge of a Danish officer, who is called "the
merchant," and who exercises the somewhat complicated duties of store keeper and governor. The storehouse under his superintendence is
replenished at the annual visit of a ship sent from Denmark for this
purpose. His Excellency, (if we may afford him that title,) buys from
the Esquimaux the skins of seals and reindeer, and the blubber of
whales, sea unicorns, &c., for which he gives them in exchange bread,
coffee, butter, salt, and pork, which are almost the only articles of food
these people obtain by commerce.   The gubernatorial storekeeper
supplies them, likewise, with coarse cloth, linens, and gaudy calicoes,
for the fashionable Esquimaux ladies, who are desirous of improving on
the seal-skin dresses of preceding generations. The storehouse is
similar in appearance to one of the large country stores of the United
States. The habitations of the Esquimaux themselves are small huts
of wood or stone, the seams of which are stopped with clay and moss,
and the roofs are commonly covered with painted canvas. The floors
are of wood, and, taken altogether, these savage dwellings are superior
to the abodes of the Irish peasantry, and to those of the corresponding
classes in many countries which pretend to civilization. The Esquimaux hut, however, seldom has more than one apartment, and that
single room often affords shelter and lodging for half a dozen married
couples, with their  numerous  progeny.   These  small  houses  are
extremely well lighted, one cortlick, or lamp, of blubber, being sufficient
for that purpose. Some of the conservative Esquimaux, who are obstinately attached to the customs of their ancestors,warm their rooms with
a kind of large blubber lamp, contrived for the purpose; but others who
are more progressive use stoves, some of which are made of clay, after
the Russian fashion. Those of the Greenlanders, who aspire to be of a
more refined and superior order, are supplied with pots, pans, and other
cooking utensils of cast iron, which are furnished to them by the mercantile Governor.
At Fiskenaes, where the expedition was received with great hospi.
tality and enthusiasm, we obtained the services of an Esquimaux youth,
aged about twenty years, who afterwards became very useful as a
hunter and driver of the canine teams, to which duty he had been well
accustomed. This settlement occupies a spot which is picturesquely 
SONNTAG S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
secluded behind some hilly islands, which partly obstruct the view of
the village, without concealing it.  These islands afford an excellent
harbor. The settlement derives its Danish name from the abundance
of codfish found in the adjacent waters. A large fleet of Kyackers
surrounded the Advance on her arrival and escorted her into the harbor.   The native ladies, themselves, resolved to take their part in
this grand reception, for they came out to meet us in their omeaks or
little vessels, made expressly for the use of their delicate sex, being
constructed of transparent skins stretched over wooden frames. The
Greenland naiads can manage these "fairy frigates" with surprising skill,
and their nautical abilities so charmed the hearts of some of our
sailors, that they were received on board with much cordiality, and
banquetted on the fore-deck with the most sumptuous fare that Jack's
aquatic larder could afford them.
Fiskenaes drives a considerable trade in eider down, seal skins, cod
fish, and salmon. The Governor, Mr. Lassen, who resides at this spot,
is an intelligent and polite gentleman, with a portly person and ruddy
countenance.  His large pipe was in such incessant use, that it appeared
to be a part of himself. He looked the very picture of Scandinavian
hospitality, and he gave  us a welcome  that deserves  to  be  comemorated, spreading for us a board which groaned under all the
oleaginous luxuries of the climate, and many imported ones, besides.
The native delicacies of Mr. Lassen's table, the flesh of the seal, reindeer, &c., were improved by the arts of European cookery, so as to
make them highly grateful to civilized palates, and especially so to
sailors, whose privations on shipboard are apt to correct their gastronomic tastes, when they happen to be too epicurian in their tendency.
The next port we made was Suckertopper, which derives its name
from a high peak in its vicinity, which is so called from its imagined
resemblance to a sugar-loaf, with the white top protruding from its dark
envelope.  Suckertopper, in the Danish  language, signifies "sugartop." At this place we procured a quantity of seal-skins and other
furs, also some additional saws, axes, and other tools, which we thought
might be required in our further progress.
From Suckertopper we proceeded to Proven, where we had the good
fortune to obtain several more teams of dogs, numbering about thirty
of these useful quadrupeds.   Mr. Karl Petersen, who'had been engaged
as interpreter to Penrny's expedition, came on board at Upenavick, where
the Advance stood off and on to communicate. Dr. Kane accepted the
proffered services of Mr. Petersen, and he became one of the ship's company. His services were eminently useful to us afterwards.
29 
30      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Soon after we left Upenavick, (which is the most northern civilized
station on the face of the globe), among other indications of a higher lati tude, which presented themselves, was the increased number of icebergs.
The appearance of these was now so frequent, that they ceased to be
matters of curiosity, and we learned to look on these stupendous and
dangerous objects with a degree of indifference. Imagine a mass of
congealed water, far exceeding in its dimensions the largest Egyptian
pyramid, looming up above the surface of the water, higher than the
tallest steeple, threatening, every moment, to topple over and submerge
every object in its neighborhood. Such floating mountains of ice are
continually presenting themselves to the view of those who undertake to
navigate Baffin's Bay.   They often enclose huge pieces of rock, and
masses of sand or earth, which they take up, in the manner we are
about to describe.
The interior of Greenland may be considered as almost one entire
mass of ice, as it is only~pn the mountains near the coast and on the
smaller islands that the earth, with any of its vegetable productions,
is visible. Immense processes of ice fill up the valleys and extend to
the sea. The huge masses of ice resemble those of the Alpine glaciers,
not such ice as that which is formed by the freezing of pure limpid water,
but more like snow, which is congealed to a solid substance after
being partially melted.   It is opaque and granular, and has a slow
motion, in those vast frozen valleys, towards the sea. According to
Professor Forbes' theory, their motion is similar to that of a semifluid,
and is produced by the gravitation of the whole body on a plane
inclined towards the sea shore, the foremost masses being urged on by
the pressure of those which are more remote from the sea coast and
higher up in the valleys. According to the observations of Professor
Forbes, and the reports of travellers among the Alps, the ice moves
more slowly on both sides than in the centre of the glacier, where the
velocity amounts sometimes to a foot per diem, and sometimes still more.
On its edges, the glacier takes up and carries along rocks, sand, and
other movable objects, which fall into the sluggish stream, or are
washed down from the surrounding mountains.
When two such ice streams meet together and become united, the
stones, sand, &c., which they hold in suspension, appear in the middle
of the united streams. These ice-currents form continued lines, longi
tudinally and parallel to the sides of the valleys in which they have
their origin. At the point where the glacier enters the sea, huge
masses are formed, the pressure from behind heaping up the ice which
has alreadv entered the water, in vast piles. Thus the icebergs are 
SON\TAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
formed, and are driven by the winds and the currents out from the
shore. In this way they are set afloat in the northern seas; sometimes
to a great distance. Large bergs are often seen as far south as the
Banks of Newfoundland.
The appearance of many icebergs is grand and magnificent beyond
all power of description. Their size alone would make them objects of
admiration; but in other respects they are calculated to overwhelm the
spectator with awe and astonishment. Some of them appear like floating palaces, castles, or towers of stupendous dimensions, with spires,
domes, or minarets, often formed with such regularity that the beholder
is almost persuaded that they are works of art.  Often when they reflect the beams of the sun, or the more lurid glare of the aurora borealis, they appear like immense structures of glass or crystal. The
colors of icebergs are various; the majority of them are white or
vitreous in appeararnce; but when seen on the shady side, or at a distance, or through mists or fogs, they wear a dark and frowning aspect,
resembling mountains on the shore, or precipices of rock. Sometimes
again, their colors are variegated, and I have occasionally seen some
which had all the hues of the rainbow, and no imagination could picture
a more splendid spectacle.
The motions or evolutions of icebergs are often no less awe-inspiring
and wonderful. When some portions of them are melted away, and
their form is thereby changed, so as to remove the centre of'gravity,
large masses often break off with a detonation like the explosion of an
immense mine of gunpowder; the disrupted mass falling into the sea,
produces a swell and agitation of the waters, which threaten to engulf
ships sailing at a considerable distance from the dismembered iceberg.
Sometimes the whole berg whirls over with the rapidity of lightning,
and occasionally it makes several revolutions before it settles in a new
position. These movements of icebergs constitute some of the most
appalling dangers of Arctic navigation. It will easily be believed
from what is here stated, that the approach of an iceberg is always regarded by mariners with feelings of intense anxiety, and much care is
taken to give these marine prodigies what sailors call "a wide berth."
The principal risk is that of running against them on a dark night.
31 
ffl;~
ENTRANCE TO SUKERTOPPER. 
CHAPTER III.
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF ARCTIC NAVIGATION  " FLOES " AND " HUMMOCKS " OF ICE DESCRIBED-SHIPS BUILT EX  PRESSLY FOR NAVIGATING THE POLAR SEAS-PREPARATIONS FOR PASS  ING THE WINTER AMONG THE ICE-WE BEGIN TO EXPERIENCE ALL TIHE
HORRORS OF THE CLIMATE-GREAT MORTALITY AMONG TIHE DOGS.
In the summer season, pools of water are formed in pure marble-like
basins, on the top of the icebergs, and cascades of clear and brilliant
water often fall from them into the sea. Similar cascades and streams
percolate through the glaciers. Owing to this cause, the surface of the
glacier is very rough, being full of small chasms or indentations formed
by the passage of the rivulets.
I have stated that icebergs are often objects of dismay to the navigators of those seas; but after the mariner has become accustomed to
their appearance, much of his terror is dissipated.  While the bergs
are visible, they may generally be avoided with but little trouble; but
in the dark season, or when the weather is foggy, the danger becomes
more imminent. It is a fortunate circumstance that there is day-light
during almost the whole of the navigable season on those waters.
Still more formidable obstacles to navigation in those seas are the
immense fields of floating ice which are formed in the sea itself. There
are narrow passes or openings through these fields, called leads, in the
technical language of the sailors, through which the navigator must
penetrate, with the momentary risk of having his bark crushed between
the sides of the icy chasm. These sides often collapse, or come
together with a force more tremendous and irresistible than that of a
tornado or earthquake.  On such occasions, vessels built in the ordinary manner would be crushed like empty egg-shells. Some ships,
however, are constructed expressly for this service, in the manner
which I shall describe hereafter.
The whalers and other northern navigators, when they do not find a
"bight" or indentation in one of the parallel fields of ice, or floes, (as
3                         (33) 
ID SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
they are technically called,) endeavor to saw one; but, unless this is
done before the motion commences, it is too late, and a fearful catastrophe is inevitable. In many cases, ships have been cut in two by the
collapse of the fissure, so that the upper part of the hull was left on
the surface of the ice, while the lower part went to the bottom.  Sometimes the destruction of a vessel is instantaneous, not affording the
crew sufficient time to escape, by precipitating themselves on the neighboring ice-fields.  It is authentically stated that Captain Penny, the
veteran Arctic sailor, on one of these perilous occasions, was obliged
to run up the rigging to the cross4-trees, and to leap from thence to a
platform of ice, a feat which he was just able to accomplish as the
mast, with all the rest of the ship, disappeared in the closing chasm.
These dangers have produced a necessity for constructing ships
which are intended for Arctic voyages on a new and improved plan.
The hull is formed with many additional beams and timbers, so as
greatly to increase its solidity, and the sides are so shaped that, instead
of being held fast by the collapse of the ice-crevice, the vessel is
forced upward until it rises above the surface of the floe, and so escapes without damage. The pressure of two floes or platforms of ice
against the sides of a vessel is called, in We language of the sailors, a
"nip."   By these nips, vessels of the improved pattern just described
escape the crushing to which ordinary ships would be liable, but are
lifted entirely out of the water.
Captain Kane's vessel, the Advance, received several quite noticeable
"nips," without sustaining much damage thereby.   She had been carefully prepared for the duty which she was appointed to perform, and
proved that the ship-wrights of the United States could make  their
w-orklmanship equal to any emergency. It is not only as a precaution
against "nipping," that ships intended for Arctic service should be
built in the most substantial manner that is possible. On other accounts
it is highly necessary that they should be strong and well fortified.  In
order that any progression may be made, it is sometimes requisite,
that they should be butted, under a full press of canvas, against "bight
tongues," or ridges of ice, which join two heavy floes together, and are
thus interposed, like a bar, across the passage, completely shutting it
up. At other times, the ship must make headway against large pieces
of floating ice, for the purpose of breaking them or thrusting them
aside, in order to clear the track. Such pieces are often crowded
together in water, which would otherwise be open. Obstructions of
this kind yield, when a sufficient force is applied, and when it is necessary to overcome them, the ship is driven at full speed against lumps of 
SONX\TAG' S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
ice, which are almost as solid and obdurate as rocks. Any vessel
built in the usual manner would, infallibly, be wrecked by such collisions.
In such circumstances as we have described, the Arctic steamer,
under the command of Captain Hartstcin, made extraordinary progress
in her voyage through these seas.  She was the very kind of vessel,
which the purpose required; it was necessary to bore a passage, and
she was equal to the task.
The Advance had a very fortunate and prosperous passage through
Melville Bay, which name applies to that part of Baffin's Bay which
forms a deep indentation, opening to the South-East, between 74 and
76~ North latitude.  This is the most perilous passage in the whole
range of Arctic navigation.  Here the ice accumulates, after emerging
from the Sounds which open upon the Bay, and here it is detained,
within a certain centre, by opposing currents. Melville Bay is a vast
wilderness of ice, and it is only on extraordinary and fortunate occasions that a few "leads,  or narrow passages of water, are open for the
purposes of navigation. The surface is covered with fields of ice, varying in thickness from five to thirty feet, and extending in lengthl for
miles. Hummocks of ice and icebergs afford the only variety in the
dreary prospects here presented to the observation of the mariner.
These " hummocks" are commonly produced by the meeting of two
large floes of ice, the edges of which break off, and are lifted up as the
pressure goes on. These operations of nature are accompanied by a
harsh grinding sound, additional fragments are broken off, and piled
up, until a rough wall, of considerable altitude, is formed.   Other
hummocks originate with pieces of ice, of unusual size and thickness,
which rise above the surrounding surface, and become stationary by
freezing in contact with larger and less mobile masses. By this means
the hummock becomes a hill of considerable elevation among the smooth
and level ice which surrounds it.
Old floes are fre(quently found from twenty to thirty feet thick; and,
occmsionally, their thickness is three times as great.  The age of these
floes can be estimated when it is remembered that within the first
year the freezing seldom exceeds nine feet in thickness, and is
often not more than six feet, and the yearly accession afterwards is
still less-a phenomenon which we will account for in another part of
this work.
To the North of MIelville Bay is an expanse of water, which is usually
free from ice.  This expanse is known to whalers by the name of North
Water. The Advance met with no very serious obstruction, until she
had1 passed Littleton Island, in latitude 78~. Here we hove to, for the
85 
"~);,                                             ~~t                                                       it"
ESQUIMIAUX WVOMNEN. 
SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF TlHE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
purpose of erecting a cairn and flag-staff. While detained in this manner-the weather being thick and foggy-the ice formed around the
ship, and pinioned her, as it were, to the spot.   We were obliged to
wait a few days, when the ice fortunately relaxed, and our gallant
vessel was released.
By means of persevering labor, we made some progress along the
coast, where the ice was broken up somewhat by the rise and fall of
the tide.  Through the passages thus afforded, the ship was" warped"
or forced along, by means of hawsers and lines wound around the capstan. This process is exceedingly toilsome and tedious, and tends
much to dishearten the seamen; however, it was the only means of
progression which circumstances afforded us.
Towards the close of the short-lived summer of this climate, the "bay
ice," as it is called, begins to form. By this term the new ice, or the
first ice of the season, is designated. This new formation being added to
the old stock, makes the operations of the seamen still more difficult. On
the present occasion, by the fourth or fifth day of September, the new ice
had become strong enough to bear a man's weight, and before the middle
of the same month it became necessary for the expedition to take winter
quarters. The idea of passing several months among the dreary scenery of this region was gloomy and dispiriting enough, even to the most
ardent temperament. However, we went to work energetically, and
made all the preparations which promised to make our situation tolerable, if not comfortable. The ship had nearly reached the latitude of
78~ 50'; but we were compelled to retrace our course for several miles,
in order to find a place suitable for a winter harbor. The spot we
selected for this purpose was in a bay, near three small islands, and
only five hundred yards from the main land. In making our preparations for warmth and shelter, during our long incarceration, a house of
boards was erected over the upper deck of the ship, the holds being
first cleared of provisions, which were stowed away in a hut built for
the purpose, on one of the small islands. Our cooking stove was set up
between decks.
At this time several exploring parties were sent out to make observations by land. One of these parties penetrated inland, through the
mountainous country, to the distance of fifty miles, where their progress was stopped by a large glacier; perhaps a portion of the same
mass of ice which covers the whole interior of Greenland. This party
consisted of three persons, who carried all their baggage on their
backs. This baggag,e consisted of provisions and two small buffalo
skins, intended to serve them for bed'and bedding; and, as you may
37 
38     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TiE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
suppose, the supply was scanty enough, considering that the couch on
which they might be obliged to repose would probably be the frozen
ground or cakes of ice. The average temperature noticed by this
travelling party was 10~.
The other journey was undertaken for the purpose of establishing a
depot of provisions for the use of future exploring parties which might
be sent from the ship during the winter. These excursionists travelled,
for the most part, over the new ice along the coast. For the last fifty
miles of their journey, they proceeded over a causeway, or elevated
ridg,e of solid ice, the issue of an enormous glacier in the sea. The
frozen sea all around was covered with innumerable icebergs, of all
shapes and sizes, through which the ridge over which they journeyed
formed a road as straight and level as if it had been artificially constructed for the purpose of travel. It is highly probable that this vast
collection of ice is a branch of the glacier which had been discovered
by the inland party. This hideous journey lasted for more than a
month, the temperature through the whole time being generally below
zero. The party sheltered themselves every night in a small tent
which was pitched on the ice. One buffalo skin served them for a
mattrass, and another for a blanket, and these two skins constituted all
their bedding, which, together with their stock of provisions, was carried on a sledge. The provisions which they took with them amounted
to about six hundred pounds of pemmican, or meat minced and dried,
and mixed with a large proportion of fat or suet. It is a fact very
well known and sufficiently accounted for by physiologists, that the
most greasy messes are the most acceptable to the human stomach in
these intensely cold climates. Hlowever much a man may abhor such
provisions when in more temperate regions, he soon learns how to
swallow them with relish and avidity when his gastronomic powers are
invigorated by the sharp breezes of the Arctic Ocean. The desire for
animal food in these regions is insatiable. I apprehend that any disciple of Graham, the renowned vegetarian philosopher, would find it
necessary to abandon his principles, or his dietetic practices at least,
if fate made him a wanderer beyond the polar circle. Notwithstanding the weight of their baggage and equipments, this travelling party
proceeded, on an average, more than ten miles per day. On this and
all future journeys made by parties sent from the ship during the winter, the tourists were obligedl to obtain water for drinking by melting
snow or ice, and this made it necessary to take a great quantity of
fuel, alcohol or lard, on the sledge, a circumstance which tended greatly to increase their burden. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Nearly all of the Esquimaux dogs, and many of the Newfoundland
ones, died in the early part of the winter.  This extensive mortality was
occasioned by a singular spasmodic disease, resembling the Asiatic
cholera, which was very prevalent among the unfortunate quadrupeds
however, their untimely decease was a greater misfortune to us than to
themselves; as it, probably, put an end to their troubles, but increased
the nmagnitude of ours. This fatal canine epidemic was produced, as
we  supposed,  by a change of climate  and diet; though it was  a
remarkable circumstance of the case that the Newfoundland dogs
appeared to bear these changes better than the Esquimaux animals,
though the latter were natives of a more northern region.
The death of the dog,s made the tasks of the men more laborious, as
the duty of drawing the sledges now  devolved upon them.  The pro
gress of the excursion parties was, likewise, much slower after we hadl
lost the services of the canine teams, as the sledges could not be drawn
more than ten or fifteen miles per diem by the men, while the do,gs
drew them, with ease, from forty to sixty miles.
89 
-,  --
~.-.. —' I
CUTTING INTO WINTER QUARTERS, MIELVILLE BAY.
'I'''   1
Il) l 
OCHAPTER IV.
OUR SITUATION BECOMES MORE AND MORE UNPLEASANT-TITHE ARCTIC
WINTER SETS IN-INTENSE COLD, AND ITS SURPRISING EFFECTS —POLAR
SCENERY —DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF OUR EXCURSION PARTIES-WE ARE
VISITED BY THE SAVAGE ESQUIMAUX-THEIR PERSONAL APPEARANCE)
DRESS, MANNERS, AND CHARACTER.
The increasing darkness and cold made long excursions from the
ship too perilous to be thought of during the remainder of the winter.
The sun had disappeared on the 16th of October; its last beams were
seen shining rather dimly on the tops of the highest hills four days
later, and this was our latest glimpse of the celestial luminary, until the
arrival of the 24th day of February, in the following year, (1854).
From the time of the sun's disappearance, the atmosphere became
darker and darker every day. The twilight, which appeared at the
commencement of the Arctic night of three thousand hours, and which
was visible daily abor.t 12 o'clock M., became dimmer and dimmer,
from the early part of November to the middle of January, when it was
a little brighter on the southern horizon, at noon, than it was at midnight. Only for a small part of each month, did the moon offer us the
use of her pallid lamp, which sufficed, however, to show the vast desolation which surrounded us, and to give a more ghastly and appalling
effect to the funeral silence which hung over the scene. The mountains,
which bounded the horizon on one hand, were covered with a shroudlike mass of snow, relieved at some particular points by a few black
cliffs-the precipitous form of which would not afford a lodgment for
the snowy mantle.
The moonlight gave a singular, I had almost said an unnatural brilliancy to the night-the radiance of the lunar orb being much increased
by the reflex from the white surface of the sea and land. When
the moon disappeared, "primeval darkness" seemed to return. The
aurora borealis was often visible, but its light was too feeble to have
any perceptible effect on the "solid darkness."
(41) 
42    SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
The cold increased simultaneously with the darkness.  Mercury was
frozen firom the latter part of November to the end of March. The
exhalation from our lungs began to congeal on our whiskers and mous taches as soon as we left the ship, and our beards, which we cultivated
as a useful article of dress, became solid masses of ice, giving us all the
appearance of venerable patriarchs; even our eyelids were encased with
ice formed by the freezing vapor; the hair and all the clothing near
the head were coated with a thick frost, like a wedding cake. Whenever
we looked at each other, we could scarcely refrain from laughing,
although our sufferings generally disposed us to be serious. Any article exposed to the air was almost immediately congealed; mercury,
spirits and molasses became solid, or acquired a gum-like consistence.
Inside the ship, everything which was not directly exposed to the
heated air soon obtained a coating of ice.  Our occupations on board
were various; some of us passed several hours of each day in making
scientific observations, and preparing for the spring journeys. Some
employed themselves in reading, writing letters, &c.   Various pastimes were devised, chiefly for the entertainment of the seamen, to
whom this tedious imprisonment seemed to be an almost insupportable
affliction. Among, other amusements, we had private theatricals, and
several of our performers might have been termed north-stars, as they
succeeded in eliciting thunders of applause from the Arctic audience.
Our people enjoyed better health and more comfort during the winter than we had much reason to expect. When daylight began to return, we were amazed at the strange and rather awful appearance of
each other's faces. Our complexions had become so pallid that we all
looked like a company of ghosts, such as that which Ihomer represents
Mercury as conducting to the infernal shades. This appearance I ascribe to the long absence of the solar light; it was not discoverable by
the light of the lamps.
On the 24th day of February the sun Qnce more shone on the tops
of the mountains, and a few days later his beams began to gild the
tops of our masts. The re-appearance of the blessed luminary was
hailed with the enthusiastic cheers and acclamations of our people,
with the display of flags and other demonstrations of grateful joy.
The long absence of light and heat, those two important elements of
life, could not fail to have some depressing influence upon our minds;
but all sadness and discontent vanished as soon as the light of day
came once more to cheer us in this frozen wilderness.
For the greater part of the time the sky was perfectly unclouded.
Although we now had glimpses of sunlight, the cold was unabated. In 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
fact some of the coldest weather we experienced was in the month of
February, after the Arctic dawn had commenced. On several occasions
within this month, the temperature was more than 60o Fahrenheit below
zero. Such a low temperature would have been insupportable by any
human constitution, perhaps, had it been accompanied by wind; but
fortunately, the atmosphere was generally calm on the coldest days.
The harbor in which the brig wintered was so well sheltered from rough
weather that my observations on the temperature can give no perfect
idea of the severity of the season in more exposed situations. Comparisons of the temperature observed in the early part of the season
by our sledge parties, showed that the cold was more severe by several
degrees outside of the harbor than it was within, though all possible
care was taken to secure our thermometers from any local or artificial
influence which might be produced on shipboard. It was our general
practice to place the thermometers on posts stuck in the ice hundreds
of yards from the ship.
The principal occupation of the officers and men now consisted in
making active preparations for the spring journeys.  Among the equipments provided were canvas boots, blanket-bags, large enough for one
man to sleep in, reindeer skin stockings, mittens of the same material,
and canvas tents of improved construction, the inside of wlhich was far
more comfortable than that of an ordinary tent.  Many other articles,
of minor importance, were also provided for our vernal excursions.
About the 17th day of March, a party, well equipped in every respect,
was ready to leave the ship. This party consisted of eight persons,
who were commissioned to make a depot of provisions, (about five
hundred pounds of pemmican,) on the opposite side of the channel in
which our ship was stationed. This channel takes a north-easterly
direction.  It was found expedient to cross it in a northern direction and to establish the depot on the north-west shore The provisions
thus deposited, were intended for the use of another party, which had
been appointed to continue the search to the north and west from that
point which had been reached by the party sent out in the preceding
autumn. The severe cold and the difficulties of the icy path, made their
journey the most painful and troublesome one, that was ever accomplished by mortal man. To give some idea of the embarrassments,
occasioned by the frigid atmosphere which our travellers met with, it may
be mentioned that it required more than two hours to cook a meal or
boil a little coffee, and when these articles were prepared, it was necessary to swallow them as expeditiously as possible, or they would be
frozen before they went down.  The lodging, on the first night of the
43 
010~ss~N   TIIE  CIIA~LNEL,
I
I
I "I 
,.:F" 'i, 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
excursion, was tolerably comfortable; each sleeper being enveloped in
the fur clothing which he usually wore, placed himself in a blanket-bag,
and then stretched himself on the buffalo-skin mattrass on the icy floor
of the tent, after which he tucked himself under the buffalo-skin coverlid. These arrangements answered very well for several nights, but the
evaporation from the bodies of the sleepers became condensed on the
blanket-bags and buffalo-skins, which acquired a lining of ice as soon as
the men emerged from them in the morning, and after this, these bedclothes were stiffly frozen, when they were required for use at night.
The tent was covered on the inside with frozen vapor, which hung in
large flocs, and fell off like a heavy shower of snow, with the slightest
shaking. The temperature inside of the tent, when the whole party
was in it, was seldom warmer than 20~ below zero; while on the outside,
the air was twenty or thirty degrees colder.
A few miles from the ship, the travellers found the ice exceedingly
rough and full of ridges or hummocks, which made travelling very
laborious. Very often it required great exertions to get the sledge
over the hummocks, and sometimes this could not be done without unloading. The labor of these operations was so great that, notwithstanding the severity of the cold, the men were often thrown into profuse perspirations, and this was scon followed by freezing, the clothes
being frozen together so firmly that they were not thawed asunder until
the men entered their sleeping-bags. So many hardships and obstacles
defeated the objects of the journey, and the travellers, finding that
they could not reach their point of destination at the prescribed time,
returned to the ship. Their progress had been distressingly slow and
toilsome.  When they had proceeded about forty miles, the feet of
several of the party were badly frost-bitten after a day's march over
the ice, with the temperature of the air 40~ or 50~ below zero, and a
fresh wind blowing from the north-east. On the following morning the
feet of four of the party were found to be so badly frozen as to make
it impossible for them to walk. The other four were not able to transport them on the sledge, and so it became necessary to leave one to
take charge of the sick, while three went back to the ship for assistance.
After a painful journey of thirteen hours they arrived at the ship, and
almost immediately after started again at the head of a new party,
to carry comfort and succor to their disabled comrades. This last
party, on account of the haste with which it was fitted out, could not
be very well equipped for the journey, and the sufferings of the poor
fellows are not to be described. The temperature during the whole
time they were en route, was more than 40~ below zero; and to make
45 
46      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEI)ITION.
matters still worse, there was a hard and piercing wind.  Nevertheless
they reached the tent, and succeeded in conveying the half-frozen occupants back to the ship, where two of them died a few days after, mortification having supervened in their frozen limbs; and two others lost
several toes each. It was a long time before the other members of
this party recovered from the effects of the severe hardships and exposures to which they had been subjected.
The unfortunate issue of this journey occasioned considerable delay
in the fitting out of another excursion party, which did not leave the
ship before the last day of April. In the meantime the ship was visited
by some savage Esquimaux, of very wild and grotesque appearance.
While we were sailing up the channel, about thirty miles south-westerly
from our winter harbor, we descried an Esquimaux hut, which exhibited all the sig,ns of having been inhabited a short time previous.
Some fresh meat and two bags containing blubber were found in it.
Besides this, many other ruins or remains of Esquimaux habitations
were found: also, graves, fox-traps, and other indications of a country
lately inhabited, were discovered all along the coast. We were convinced, therefore, that this large tract of country must have been very
densely populated at some former and not very remote period.
The Esquimaux savages who visited us came in sledges drawn by
ldogs; about seven or eight of the quadrupeds being attached to each
sledge,c. These people were dressed in "jackets" or jumpers of foxskin,
with hoods to protect their heads from the weather. Under their
hooded jackets they wore vests or shirts of seal-skin, or the skin of
some aquatic bird.  They had likewise short pantaloons or " inexpressibles," made of the hides of polar bears, and boots of seal-skins, and
dog-skin stockings completed their picturesque apparel; to procure
which  they seemed  to  have made extensive drafts on the animal
kingdom. Their hands were covered with bear-skin mittens.
The fur side of all the skins, except those which composed their
stockings, were turned outwards.   They had long black hair, which
was divided in the middle, and hung down on each side to their waists.
Their complexion was a light-brown. Their eyes were large, or rather
long, and appeared to be placed in a more oblique position than the
eyes of the human species usually are; the outer angle being elevated
towards the forehead. Their noses were invariably small, broad and
flat. The large mouth exhibited a set of strong white teeth; their
cheeks were extremely fat, and had a puffed-out appearance, but their
hands and feet were small, though not exactly of a shape which I should
call delicate.  Some of them had small beards, but the majority of 
SON0NTAG' S NARRATIVE OF TI1E GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
them were unprovided with such ornaments. In stature, they were not
Cuch below the average height of Europeans and the men of the United
States. There were several females among the party, whose appearance was not at all fascinating, but some of the sailors, who are apt to
have eccentric tastes in such matters, endeavored to improve their
acquaintance with these Arctic ladies; and I suspect that they found them
less frigidly repulsive than their climate. These visitors approached
our ship on both sides, having left their sledges at some distance.
They appeared to be but little alarmed or embarrassed on finding them
selves in strange company, and we were soon enabled to carry on an
intelligible conversation through Mr. Petersen, our Danish interpreter,
and the Esquimaux boy whom, as mentioned before, we shipped on the
southern coast of Greenland. They showed a great fancy for articles
or utensils composed of wood or iron, and were much delighted with
several small presents of that kind. Everything on board seemed to
excite their curiosity; they were very inquisitive, and tormented us
with questions on every subject which occurred to them. One thing
seemed to surprise them in a high degree, viz: that we should come on
such a long journey without bringing any women with us, and they
remarked that our condition must be very cheerless and disconsolate in
the total absence of the other sex.  Nothing, (they averred,)  could
induce them to submit to a similar privation. Their conversation, the
details of which will not answer for publication, occasioned much merriment among our junior companions. These savages appear to be of a
sanguine and jovial disposition, and their visit afforded a very acceptable relief to the tedium and monotony of our polar life. They showed
very little relish for tea, coffee or any article of diet on board of our
vessel, and what surprised us still more-they did not tax our liquid
hospitality, showing no inclination for brandy, spirits, &c. They would
drink nothing but pure water, anl example of teetotalism which we certainly did not expect from them, as we had heard some account of the
bibulous propensities of savage tribes in general.  The stories told by
some travellers respecting the fondness of the Esquimaux for train oil,
as a beverage, appear to be slanderous and without foundation; none
of those whom we met were inclined to any such practice, but treated
all invitations to imbibe such greasy liquids as a mere joke..
It is generally believed that people of a merry temper are disposed to
be honest; but this characteristic description would not apply to our
Esquimaux visitors. They laughed almost incessantly, but were always
on the alert when an opportunity to steal something was presented to
them. Knives, forks, spoons, and other small metallic articles, seemed
47 
48      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
to be the principal objects of their cupidity. Some aspired to more
considerable larcenies, attempting to possess themselves of our buckets,
tinware, crockery, &c., and one fellow put himself to the trouble of conveying half a barrel of coal to his sledge, with the intention of carrying
it off. In short, their love of thieving was so inordinate, that no portable article was safe within their reach, and they were as adroit in these
felonious operations as any well trained "prig" in the christianised
cities of Europe or America. When detected in a theft, they returned
the stolen article very good-humoredly, without exhibiting the least
shame or compunction. One of our india rubber boats, which had been
left on the ice about six miles from the ship, had been found by them,
and they immediately cut it open; the floats which were left around it
were likewise cut in two by these worthy gentlemen. This was probably done from motives of curiosity, the same feeling which impels
children to dissect their toys, in order to discover what is inside of
them.
The Esquimaux will sometimes attack boats, for the purpose of robbing them, if the crews are not sufficient in number to protect themselves. In Sir John Franklin's second expedition, July 1826, the
crews of two boats were attacked by hundreds of these savages, who
attempted a general massacre of the Englishmen, but did not succeed.
On another occasion, Captain Franklin himself was beset by two powerful chiefs in one of his own boats. They grasped him by the shoulders,
and held him fast; he shook them off several times, and stood on the
defensive until a third chief grasped him by the arm, and thus prevented
him from using his knife or pistol. They then attempted to paddle.the
boat to the shore, Captain Franklin being still held firmly by some of
their party. As if to pacify him, the chiefs tapped him gently on the
breast repeating the word "Seyma." As they approached the beach,
two omeaks, filled with women, met them, and filled the air with exclamations of delight on account of the prize which they supposed their
countrymen had obtained. The Captain having been thus secured, as
they thought, on shore, the Esquimaux men stripped themselves to the
waists, drew their knives, and rushed to the other English boats, as if
resolved on murder and pillage. Lieut. Back, and his crew, resisted
manfully, and succeeded in rescuing many articles from the grasp of the
robbers. However, the English were overpowered, and one of the
Esquimaux had the audacity to snatch Franklin's knife and cut the
buttons from his waistcoat.  Many times during this scuffle the savages
tried to carry off the box of astronomical instruments, but one of the
sailors secured it by tying it to his leg, resolved, that, if they took it 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TI-IE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
away, he would be dra,gg,ed off with it. The crews of the English
boats were harassed and maltreated in this way for several hours, until
the commander directed his interpreter to tell the Esquimaux that he
would order his men to shoot all of them who came within reach of their
muskets. This had the desired effect; the thievish villains desisted
from their operations; but they had already stolen many things of
incalculable value to the exploring party.
This account will show that the Esquimaux know how to make themselves unpleasant neighbors and disagreeable guests, when they take a
fancy to do so, and a fair opportunity offers.
4
49 
~ ~ ~~                 \-\\
~~~ ~
____  ___  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                  _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DAVIS'S STRAIT.
--          —.  —                  -. -      1.  -           ---  -   -                  -     -            -                         -      -      -- ---------
-  p, -.-.                       &    
CHAPTER V.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ESQUIMAUX DOGS-THEIR SINGULAR HABITS AND
GREAT UTILITY-FURTHER ACCOUNT OF TIlE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND
SUPERSTITIONS OF THE  SAVAGE ESQUIMAUX-WE OBTAIN ANOTHER
DOG-TEAM, AND SEND OUT TWO NEW TRAVELLING PARTIES, ONE COM
IANDED BY DR. KANE IN PERSON.
The Esquimaux dogs, so highly celebrated for their utility as draught
animals, have an extremely wolfish appearance. The head is long, the
nose black, they have stiff, upright ears, like those of the wolf, and
their hair or fur very much resembles that of the last named animal.
Some of their habits are very remarkable. Every day they held regular meetings, for what purpose we  could not ascertain.  One of the
canine assemblage, who appeared to be the orator of the day, began to
howl in a very impressive manner, curving his back and fixing his eyes
very earnestly on the sky. After a while all the others began to howl
likewise, producing a grand concert of vocal music, which the human
portion of the auditory had not taste enough to appreciate. Their
general appearance at these meetings is melancholy; the chief speaker,
or solo performer, might, to a fanciful observer, be supposed to commence the performance with a descant on the troubles and afflictions
incident to a dog's life in the polar regions; after which, the whole congregation unite in a grand chorus, to express their perfect agreement
with the orator's views and sentiments.
Notwithstanding all this display of fine feeling and delicate sensibility, these dogs sometimes exhibit a very cruel and ferocious temper.
Troops of them have been known to attack men and to devour children
who happened to fall in their way. Greenlanders are sometimes killed
by them, and when this happens, every bone of the victim is cleanly
picked by the hungry brutes. In fact, to a solitary traveller the appearance of a troop of them is scarcely less formidable than that of a gang
of wolves. Their size is very little less than that of a Newfoundland dog;
51 
59        SONNTAG' S NARRA.TIVE OF TIIE GRININELL  EXI'EDITION.
they have long bushy tails, which they carry in an elevated position
over their backls, except when they are fatig,ued or hungry.   By this
sign the wayfarer may often judge when an attack by them is to be
apprehended.  For, unlike pirates or buccaneers, who hoist their flags
when they design to make an assault, these canine freebooters of the
North loz,ter their caudal banners when starvation impels them to battle.
The representatives of the canine race in this region do not bark, as
civilized dogs are accustomed to do.  Barking is one of those acquirements of the species which come by cultivation and an improved state
of society; although, like it is with many other improvements which
follow in the track of civilization, its blessings or benefits are not very
obvious.
ESQUIMAUX DOG-IN HIIARNESS.
IVhen these dogs are taken into service by an Esquimaux, they are
fed by their employers, in the summer season, once or twice in each
week. In winter, their supply of food is still more scanty and unfrequent, except when they are engaged in actual service, at which times
their tasks are very severe. In these circumstances they are supplied
with one full meal every day, or every second day, at farthest.
Their food is similar in kind to that used by their masters, consisting, 
SONNTAG' S NATRRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL. EXPEDITION.
for the most part, of the flesh of the seal, bear or walrus, but this meat
is seldom or never given to the dogs unless it happens to be in a
spoiled condition. ThQ dogs are sometimes fed with pieces of walrus
skin, frozen and cut up in small shreds. When seals happen to be very
plentiful, a whole one, stripped of the blubber, is sometimes given to
the dogs.  However, as these animals have large appetites, they often
suffer greatly on account of a deficiency of food.   When  anything
eatable is thrown to them it is commonly torn to pieces and swallowed
before it reaches the ground. When they are feeding, their ferocity is
such that they would kill each other while fighting for the provisions,
if whips and staves were not in constant use to keep them in order;
on this account some of the men, armed with weapons of terror and
punishment, are obliged to superintend their Scythian banquets.
W.hen these brutes are harnessed for service, each dog is attached to
the sledge by a line of seal or walrus skin. All run in one rank, at
equal distances from the sledge. They are guided and controlled by
the voice of the driver and the whip. Their speed and power of traction are wonderful.  A team of six or seven dogs will draw  a sledge,
laden with three men and baggage, at the the rate of fifty or sixty mailes
per day. On the ice, when it is level and there is not much snow on
it, the progress is usually eight or ten miles per hour.  Every  dog
keeps his place in the rank with great precision, unless thrown out by
some unavoidable cause; in that case, he immediately leaps back into
his proper station. When travelling over rough ice, or hummocks, the
Esquimaux dismounts and goes behind the sledge, where hlie takes hold
of two pieces of wood which project like the handles of a plough. By
this means, he guides the sledge, and helps it over the ridges and inequalities of the route.
The sledge is supported on two runners, composed of wood and bone,
the part which touches the ice being constructed entirely of the lastnamed material. Many pieces of both substances are lashed together
with thongs of seal skin, so as to obtain a length of about seven feet, and
a breadth of eight inches. These runners are formed in a very artistical manner, care being taken that the leathern strips which fasten the
work together should not be exposed to any friction, as that would soon
separate the parts. In front, the runners are slightly turned up.
Pieces of wood and bone, about eighteen inches in length, are lashed
cross-wise to these runners. At the back of the sledge there are two
* upright posts, about two feet long, to the tops of which a transverse bar
is fastened. This dorsal fixture, when it is covered with a buffalo skin,
supports the back of the driver, and when the travelling is very much
53 
OUR PERILOUS JOURNEY HOMEWARD. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
embarrassed with hillocks and ridges of ice, the same fixture serves for
a handle, by means of which the dismounted traveller may lift his
vehicle over the obstacles of the road, as I have mentioned before.
The transverse bar is used, moreover, to hang hunting lines on, when
the Esquimaux driver is engaged in a venatic enterprise. These hunting lines are made by cutting the skin of a seal from the dead body of
the animal, not lengthwise, as usual, but around the carcass, and removing it in a narrow spiral strip. In this way a very strong lasso is
obtained; and one great advantage of this kind of lines is that they
will not break when they have been soaked in water and afterwards
frozen stiff. On the sledge a large seal-skin bag, similar in construction to one of Uncle Sam's mail-bags, is placed as a receptacle for
pieces of meat, knives, and other articles intended to be used on the
Journey.  The Esquimaux tourists usually carry some  kind of arms
with them, likewise, when travelling. Their principal weapons, on such
occasions, are a lance and a harpoon. The staff or shaft of each of
these weapons is commonly formed of the horn of the narwhal, several pieces of which are lashed together so as to make a pole about two
inches in diameter and five or six feet long. The lower part or handle
is made of ivory. The blade is of iron, and is shaped like a half-moon.
These spears and harpoons are used both in hunting and warfare, and
they have no other implements, except their knives and hunting-lines,
for either occupation.  The seal-skin boats, or kaiaks, which are used
by the Esquimaux of the Danish settlements, on the western coast of
Greenland, are not known, or at least not used by the savage tribe
which I am now describing.
The dress of the Esquimaux women who visited our ship differed very
little from that of the men; the principal variation was that their pantaloons were shorter and their boots higher. Their hair was gathered
up in knots, and tied on top of their heads. As I have hinted before,
their personal beauty, either of form or feature, was not of the most
attractive character; but they found some admirers among our sailors,
whose attentions did not occasion any outbursts of jealous passion
among the males of the visiting party. Their sang froid inll these circumstances was as admirable as that of any married gentleman of
France or Italy. In joviality of disposition the Esquimaux women
even transcend the men, although the latter are the most jolly fellows
that ever my "conversation coped withal," in any climate, rank, or condition. They were all, male and female, very hospitably received on
board of our vessel. It appeared from their conversation that they
had no other idea of the object of our expedition than that we came
55 
56        SO-ONFTAG'S  NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
to their country for the purpose of hunting, which is the only business
or pursuit of which they have any notion. Not being able to comprehend the operations of weaving, they believed the linen, cotton, or
woollen cloths on board of the ship to be the skins of some kinds of
animals.  White linen they supposed to be the skins of our own countrymen, a mistake which was very complimentary to the fair complexions of the Anglo-Saxon race.  Bread they took to be the dried
meat of the musk ox, an animal of which many remains, skulls especially, are seen in that country, though no living specimens are now to
be found.
The origin of the white race is thus accounted for by these savages:
An Esquimaux woman once had the ill-luck to give birth to several deformed children.  Being ashamed of her offspring, she put them into a
shoe, and set them a-drift in the sea. The shoe increased prodigiously
in bulk, changed its form, and became a ship, and the mis-shapenEsquimaux brats became men and women of a burlesqued pattern, with
hidcleously pale faces, and forms of an unseemly outline, unlike that of
their elegant and handsome Esquimaux ancestors. From this account
of our origin, you may judge how they estimate the beauty and excellence of the Causasian branch of the human family.
They tell a somewhat imaginative story, concerning the sun and moon,
which exceeds in extravagance any parable of Grecian or Egyptian
origin. The sun, as they report, was once a fair Esquimaux maiden,
bearing the pretty name of Melina. The moon was formerly her
brother. She had often observed when the light in the hut was extinguished, that she was approached and caressed by some unseen lover.
In order to discover who he was, she stained her hand with lampblack,
and when her invisible adorer made his next nocturnal visit, she applied
her hand to his face, and made a mark by which he might be distinguished
when the lamp was re-lighted. By this means she discovered that her
clandestine lover was her own brother. Horrified at this discovery, she
fled from the hut, pursued by the iniquitous young rascal, who chased
her over sea and land, until they came to the verge of the horizon,
where she sprung up into the sky, or was conveyed thither by some
divinity, who pitied her misfortunes. Her form was now changed, and
became still brighter and more beautiful than it was before. In short,
she was transformed to the solar luminary. The wicked lad, who still
followed, was changed in like manner to the moon, and the chase is still
continued through the azure fields of heaven. The face of the incestuous
lover still bears the mark of lampblack; the same mark which the
inhabitants of other countries have mistaken for "the man in the moon." 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TlIE GRIN.NELL EXPEDITION.
Our Esquimaux guests informed us that they had seen an unusual
appearance in the skies, some years ago, (referring to the solar eclipse
of 1825,) and they concluded from thence  that the two lovers (the
sun andl moon) had come in actual collision at last.  The eclipse, as it
appeared in that latitude, gieatly alarlmedl them, their seers and wise
men predclicting that it would be followed by disastrous consequences.
A correct view of this natural phenomenon as it presented itself to
Captain Franklin and his companions on board of their ship, in Baffin's
Bay, will be found below.
ECLIPSE OF TIE SUN.
The drawing was made by-one of the party and is certified to be
perfectly accurate.
A belief in the metempsychosis prevails in this country; but the
inhabitants are too fond of animal food to adopt the rule and regimen
of the Pythagoreans.  They suppose that the soul of a deceased Eslqu;maux passes into some animal of a certain species; and they pretend
to know, in every case, what species it is. The relatives of the
deceased, therefore, for a certain length of time, abstain from the flesh
of that species of which some individual is supposed to be the present
abode of their departed friend.  Unluckily they do not know what
individual contains the transmigrated spirit, and so it is a matter of
conscience with them to reject as food all animals of the kind, lest they
should happen to devour their own kindred.
They have many ceremonies Which correspond with the mourning, of
civilized people for the death of their relations. When an interment
takles place, all the hunting apparatus and the personal equipments of
the deceased are buried with him, according, to the custom of the abo
57 
IIEMIMIED IN LANCASTER SOUND.
- I -~
-i: 
SO0N',TAG'S NAIRATIVE OF TIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
rigines of the southern portions of the American continent. For some
days after the funeral no fire is kept in the hut inhabited by the surviving relations of the deceased. The mourners keep their heads
covered for a certain time with the hoods of their jackets. They weep
a great deal, even a long time after their departed friends are buried,
especially when they happen to be the subject of conversation; and all
strangers who are present at the time are expected to weep likewise.
We obtained some dogs from the Esquimaux, in exchange for knives,
poles and planks. These dogs, together with a few which survived
the winter on ship-board, were sufficient to form one team.  The expedition, therefore, had the use of one dog-sledge, at least, witli seven
powerful dogs to draw it.  This sledge, and another drawn by men,
were fitted out for another excursion, the travelling party, in this case,
being commanded by Dr. Kane himself.  It left the ship about the
latter end of April, intending to pursue the search as much as possible
according to the plan which has been mentioned before in this narrative. But only a few days after the party started, the leader was
taken sick, and was obliged to return.  This party, and the preceding
one of autumn, 1853, had followed the north-eastern shore of Smith's
Soutnd; or more properly, the sea-coast above that locality.
Still another party, consisting of two persons only, with the dogsledg,e, was now sent out, with instructions to cross the channel in a
northerly direction, and to search the north-western coast. This party
travelled in the month of May, carrying with them scarcely anything
~~s
OUR SMALL BOAT.
59 
60  SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
except a sufficiency of provisions, consistilng, entirely of pemmican, to
serve themselves and the dogs for one fortnight, and two blanket-bags
for sleeping in.  The ice was still much in the same condition as was
observed by the party which left in the preceding March.  The same
route which that party had taken was now followed up, the travellers
proceedings with as much rapidity as possible over the unequal surface,
the ridges and hillocks of ice often compelling them to dismount and
lift their sledge over the obstructions.   In this way they succeeded in
crossing the channel, which is about seventy miles wide, and they made
land on the western coast, in latitude 79~ 50'. Their provisions and
equipments were not sufficient to justify them in attempting a journey
towards the north; they therefore proceeded soutlihwardly, along the
wvest coast, and explored about forty miles of the coast-line wvithout
meeting with any traces of Sir John Franklin. The mountains on this
coast are much hi,gher than those on the eastern coast.  Several deep
bays and two islands were discovered.  The interior of these islands
appeared to be covered wvith a glacier, and in this respect, the country
resembled that on the east side of the channel. The snow was very
deep, which made the travelling extremely laborious; but a much
greater discouragement now presented itself.  The stock of provisions
was exhausted, as it was impossible to carry a large amount  of them
on our s]edge, and  two men, together with seven  dogs, require  a
considerable stock of victuals in a climate like this, where every individual eats four times as much as he could in a more temperate region.
For the last two days of the journey, the travellers were  obliged to
put themselves on very short allowance, and, of course, were much less
able to endure the cold. That these privations in the way of eating
were rather severe may be judged from the fact that they were obliged
on the last days of their journey, to breakfast, dine and sup on their
own seal-skin boots and pantaloons; dishes which cannot be supposed
to have been very palatable or digestible; and, besides, these articles
of apparel could not very well be spared for the purposes of refection,
when the low temperature of the air made a large supply of clothing
necessary. They journeyed for the last seventy miles of their trip,
with no better provision than that which has just been mentioned,
cutting pieces from their boots and pantaloons, and masticating these
dainty morsels as they proceeded. The reflex of light from the surface
of the snow affected their eyes to that degree that they were almost
blinded, and suffered severely from pains in the visual organs. One of
them was entirely deprived of sight during the latter part of the jour
ney, and for several days after his return. It strikes ine that this 
SO-N-XTA(G?S NARPATIYE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
nconvenienlce might have been prevented, in some measure, at least,
by wvearing, a shadle of thinl green silk over the eyes, to mitigate the intensity of the light.  I would recommend Arctic travellers who find
themselves in similar circumstances, to try the experiment.
Owiing to these various difficulties, the party was obliged to return to
the ship sooner than was intended.  The hardships endured by those
who undertook these excursions, always caused sickness, more or less
severe; indecd, nothing less than experience could convince  me that
the human constitution can support such trials as I have seen it subjected to in the high northern latitudes.
At the time to wlhich reference is now made, it was constant day-light.
The sun which had set, for the last time that season, on the 19th day of
April, vwas now constantly above the horizon.  Even at midnight, its
altitude wass not less than twelve degrees, while its meridian altitude
wad thirty-five degrees, which was the greatest elevation it attained,
except in November and January, when it may have ascended two
de,grees higher. Thie apparent movement of the sun, as witnessed
fromn this point, is in a circle, not much inclined towards the horizon,
below which, during the continuance of the Arctic day, it never sets.
Notwithstanding the continuous sunshine, the thermometer always indicatedcl a temperature much below the freezing point, in the shade.
During the first part of June, and even in the warmest days of July, the
temperature was seldom more than forty degrees above zero.
K ______
_ 
L               _
SLEDGE PARTY RETURNING.
61 
If I I
'"ALRUSElS
,  "  I
'I,'i'' "I \
"I,,;"/,,:i, I "    )           ll I,, 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Before the last-mentioned party returned from their journey across
the channel, another sledge, drawn by men, was sent out on the same
route which was taken by Dr. Kane in the preceding autumn. When
the party with the dog-sledge returned, that sledge with its canine
team and several men, was sent after the party which last left the ship.
The dog-sledge detachment overtook the other near the southern
extremity of the large glacier, which I mentioned as having been discoverd in the autumn preceding.
Near this locality, while the men were sleeping in their tent, which
had been pitched on the ice, a large white bear, who had been attracted
to the spot by curiosity, perhaps, or the smell of the provisions, put his
head into the door of the tent, and saluted the inmates with a growl
which awakened them and made them start to their feet very promptly,
to receive their unexpected guest with due courtesy. As the sleepers
were enclosed in their blanket-bags, and other dormitory appliances,
it was some time before they could make any demonstrations, either of a
friendly or a hostile character, and Bruin, in the meantime, forced his
way inside of the tent, and deliberately smelled of each occupant, as
ladies smell chickens in market, to ascertain if they are fresh and
wholesome articles of food. The travellers were considerably annoyed,
and, to say the truth, very much alarmed by this unseasonable visit,
especially as no means of defence could be thought of in the exigency of
the moment. Their rifle and shot-gun, the only weapons they possessed,
had imprudently been left on the outside of the tent,'and none of them
had a knife large enough to be useful in this emergency. In these em.
barrassing circumstances, one of the men bethought him of the expedient of lighting a;.box of lucifer matches, and applying it to the nose
of the bear. This offensive operation only made the intruder raise his
head, and stare at the offender with a stern and vindictive aspect, as if
to check his audacity and presumption.   In the meantime, another
member of the partv remembered a boa-hook, which was stuck in the
snow at the back of the tent, on the outside; and, in order to obtain
the use of it, he cut a hole in the canvas with his pen-knife, and, to his
great joy, found that the instrument was within his reach. He grasped
it, drew it into the tent, and made a resolute punch with the spear-like
weapon at the bear's countenance, which manoeuvre caused the animal
to retreat to the sledge, where he began to devour some of the dried
seal's flesh, which had been provided for the subsistence of the travel.
lers. The man with the boat-hook followed him, and with another punch
drove him to the distance of several yards from the sledge, when
another of the party seized the rifle, took aim and fired. The bear
63 
64      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIHE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
was shot in the head, and died almost immediately. It was a large animal,
much larger than any individual of the species exhibited at the menageries.  The travellers cooked some of the flesh, which proved to be very
unctuous, but not unpleasant to the taste. All who partook of it, however, were very sick afterwards. It appears that the liver formed a
part of the mess which our travellers obtained from the carcass of this
bear; their sickness is attributed to this circumstance, as it is a general
belief among the Greenlanders that the livers of bears are poisonous.
No Greenlander can be persuaded to eat this part of the animal, and
those of our people who used it for food, even in small quantities,
experienced some disagreeable effects afterwards.   The usual consequences were nausea, vomiting, and eruptions of the skin; and, as
these symptoms invariably followed the eating of bear's liver, it is
highly probable that the opinion of the Esquimaux, in relation to its
unwholesome qualities, is well founded. By the way, it may be remarked that the flesh of the polar bear is far inferior, as an article of
diet, to the meat of the black bear, which is found in more southern
latitudes. The former has a fishy taste, which is offensive to some
palates, and besides, the meat is harder and more indigestible than that
of the black bear.
After a journey of several days continuance, the travellers arrived
at the provision depot, which had been made, (as I related before,) in
the autumn; but they found, to their great disappointment, that this
depot had been overhauled by burglarious bears, notwithstanding great
precaution had been used to secure the property from depredation.
An enclosure had been made with stones, blocks of ice and snow, and
the whole was cemented together by throwing water on the pile,
which being instantly frozen formed a compact mass. The roof of the
enclosure was formed in a similar manner; but the bears were cunning
and skillful enough to force an entrance and carry off the spoils.  All
the provisions left for our use was of such a quality as their ursine
lordships contemptuously rejected; and it seemed that they had taken
a malicious pleasure in playing indelicate tricks with some of the
victuals which they did not consider good enough to be eaten.
At this point, the dog-sledge was laden with as much provisions as it
could conveniently carry, and was despatched on a journey towards the
north, with a travelling party consisting of two persons. They followed
the direction of the glacier, which runs almost due north, and after
some very toilsome travelling over rough ice, they came to the entrance
of another channel running to the north, in lat. 800, long. 67~ w. from
Greenwich. In this channel they found open water and abundance of 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TItE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
living animals, especially aquatic birds. On the eastern shore, there was
was much ice, of a formation so rugged as to prevent them from continuing their journey, for more than ninety miles in a northerly direction.
At this point, there is a precipitous cape, and beyond this all appearance
of ice ceases. The channel is between thirty and forty miles wide, and
the land on the west side appeared to be quite elevated; so much so
that it was seen, at a very great distance, in a northerly direction, from
the last point which this travelling party was able to reach. From
what has been stated it will be perceived that the situation of this high
land must be north of 82~ latitude. A gale from the north, which blew
for a long time, did not bring any ice down the channel. From this
we may conclude that there must be a mass of open water beyond this
point. Remains of Esquimaux inhabitants, consisting chiefly of an old
sledge, were also found on the eastern coast of this channel.
65 
~;' --                                  - I
I
I
/                                                   fi
III   I I'L~' III     /(/fl/ /  ~,) —-                  ___________________
GLACIERS. -SPITZ BEl  GEN.
IT
- - -- - - 
CHAPTER VII.
NUMIBERS  OF WALRUSES  OR SEA-HORSES ARE DISCOVERED.-DESCRIP  TION OF THE APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND PECULIARITIES OF THESE
AN-I.IALS.-SUMMER SCENERY IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.-VEGETATION.
-ANIMAL LIFE.-ARCTIC BIRDS, BEARS, FOXES AND RABBITS.
IN the channel spoken of at the close of the last chapter, vast
numbers of walruses were discovered.   As these animals have not
been very accurately described by travelers and natural historians, I
will here give the reader a description, which may not be found uninteresting. The walrus is much larger than an ox. Though its formation is similar to that of the seal, or sea-calf, and other amphibious animals
-it is never found out of the water, except when reposing on the ice.
The skin of the walrus is covered with short hair, like that of the seal;
its mouth resembles that of the lion; the head is small in proportion
to the size of the body, which is very bulky and unwieldy. The upper
part of the face is very much like that of the human species; and the
animal wears a kind of mustache, which gives him a military aspect,
like that of a French officer. They have no external ears; but are
provided with four feet.  Long tusks project from the mouth, one on
each side, and these are as good ivory as the teeth of the elephant.
The female is often seen lying on floes or cakes of ice watching the
gambols of her young brood, which are usually two in number. When
fishermen approach, or any other object alarms her maternal sensibilities, she takes up her interesting offspring, one at a time, and pitches
them into the sea; after which she herself plunges in, seizes her babes
in her affectionate arms, and disappears under the ice, or water. The
female of this species, as well as of many others, is more ferocious
than the male, especially when she conceives it necessary to act in
defense of her young. On such occasions, she is sometimes provoked
to make an attack on the fishermen who approach her place of resort;
she then tosses her cubs from her, and with all her force rushes against
the side of the boat, as if with the design of crushing it by the collision.  In combat, this animal is what some people would term "an
ugly customer." It is impossible to kill one unless you can succeed ia
striking it on the forehead.  At all other points they are nearly invul                                                         (67) 
68       SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
nerable. Walruses are more numerous on the western coast of Spitz bergen than in Baffin's Bay, Behring's Straits, or any other part of
the Arctic seas with which I am acquainted. In fine weather, they
resort in large numbers to large pieces of ice floating about the edges
of the great marine glaciers. Hundreds of them are often seen in a
herd, and many different herds may be in view at the same time. They
appear to enjoy themselves very much, tumbling about on the ice and
making the air resound with their bellowing, which much resembles
that of bulls.   When they fatigue themselves with these diversions,
they betake themselves to repose; but these wary animals, before they
resign themselves to slumber, always take the precaution of appointing
a sentinel to arouse them on the approach of any danger. So univer sal is the observance of this precaution, amongst the species, that no
sleeping herd, however small, is ever seen without one wakeful fellow
in their midst, who stretches his long neck in the air to the full extent
of the muscles, every half minute, and looks around him with a glance
of anxious scrutiny. In case of any alarming appearances, the faith ful sentinal begins by attending to his own safety; and, as these ani mals always lie huddled closely together, the motion of one is imme diately communicated to the whole group, which instantly begins "to
make tracks" toward the water. Having arrived at the edge, they
pitch in head-foremost, sidewise, and in every imaginable posture-such
is their hurry to escape from the object of their terror.
On some occasions, however, they show none of the timidity which
is imputed to them in this description. In the year 1818, Captain
F. W. Beechy, while on an expedition to the Arctic seas, had a furious
assault made upon one of his boats by a herd of walruses, or sea horses, as they are sometimes called. It required great activity and
perseverance on the part of the boatmen to beat them off.  They rose
in great numbers about the boat, snorting with rage, and rushing on to
meet their enemy with great intrepidity. They attempted to upset the
boat by hooking their tusks to the gunwales, or by butting against the
sides with their heads. It was with great difficulty that the men could
prevent the boat from being capsized by these operations. Old whal ers believe that these assaults, which are not of rare occurrence, are
conducted and directed by some particular walrus of a daring and chivalric disposition, worthy to be the commander of such a warlike band.
The attacks are managed with as much order and military tact, (to
say the least) as many of those which were made by the combined
troops of. France and England, at Sebastopol. In the case, which we
'have just been speaking of, the herds were so numerous, and one de 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
tachment after another came on so rapidly, that the party who stood
on the defensive had scarcely time to load a musket; and no other
weapons except fire-arms could have the least effect on such hardskinned assailants. The purser of the English boat fortunately had
his gun loaded; and when the whole crew were nearly exhausted with
the futile exercise of striking and punching at their assailants, he
snatched up his piece, thrust the muzzle down the throat of the leader,
and fired into his bowels. The wound proved mortal, and the captain
of the marine corps fell back among his companions. The latter de
sisted from the attack to assemble round their dying chief, and offer
him their condolence and assistance. They actually bore him off
with their tusks and assiduously prevented him from sinking.
In the year 1608, one of these animals was taken alive to England,
where it was exhibited to the king and court, but it died soon after its
arrival.
While on the journey last spoken of we saw a great many  bears;
but as they were very shy, we succeeded in killing but two of them, viz.,
an old female and her cub. The meat was given to our dogs. This
traveling party returned to the ship about the 1st of July.   By this
time the thawing season, or Arctic summer, had commenced. The
water ran in large streams from the hills and formed pools on the surface of the frozen sea.  These ponds were very great obstructions to
the passage of the sleds; and, at several places, they were almost impassable.  Snow-blindness was a great affliction and inconvenience to
all our traveling parties, the disease being both troublesome and painful. The party which had separated from this one on the south side
of the glacier had returned to the ship some time before, all of them so
much blinded that they were scarcely able to find the way back.
As the season advanced, the appearance of the country began to undergo a change..The snow disappeared from the south side of those
hills which were nearly perpendicular, showing the dark barren rock
without any superincumbent soil or any appearance of vegetation.
Tile white mantle of winter still overspread the more sloping declivities, anl the almost horizontal shelves-so that the hills presented alternate horizontal stripes of white and dark brown, or gray.
At the bottom of the ravines were large pools of water, formed by
the torrents of melted snow which descended from the mountains, with
great power and velocity, leaping from rock to rock, and forming very
brilliant cascades which fell into the capacious reservoirs below.  Each
cascade was attended by a wreath of mist or water-cloud, which in receiving the rays of the sun, assumed all the colors of the rainbow.
69
A. 
____                ~
ESQUIIMAUX ATTACKING TILE BOATS. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
The lively motion and variegated colors of the objects, the thunder-like
sound of the falling water and the rolling stones over which it flowed,
formed a most striking contrast with the horrid gloom and stillness of
the Arctic winter through which we had so lately passed. It was like
a transition from death to life, and produced a feeling of buoyancy and
exhiliration I cannot describe.
At some favored spots-the rocks which flanked or surrounded the
cascades were covered with a luxuriant growth of moss, very green and
beautiful, and occasionally a dwarfish willow was seen projecting firom
the clefts, in which some little mold had accumulated. The stem of
these willows was seldom thicker than a man's little finger. We saw,
besides, a few poppies; and a beautiful little flower which sprang up in
some places from the thin soil formed on the surface of the rock. We
observed that this flower made its appearance as soon as the snow dlisappeared from the ground, and its life must have been of short duration, for we never saw it in any place which had been freed from the
snow long enough to become perfectly dry. Occasionally, likewise,
we met with small bunches of scurvy grass (cochlearia), which much
resembles the water-cress in appearance and character.  It is an edible
plant, and we sometimes obtained enough of it to make a salad-a very
great delicacy to people in our situation, who had tasted no fresh vegetables for many months. In every place where there was any soil,
something green appeared; and the process by which nature tries to
produce soil in these stony, desolate regions, is truly wonderful. At
first, on the naked rock the stone-moss begins to form-this is so closely
connected with the stone on which it grows, that it appears to be a compound of mineral and vegetable substance-the dry, small, and almost
invisible leaves appear, at a short distance, like red, green, yellow, or
black spots; as these molder  away, they are succeeded  by  a more
dense and compact growth of green moss. After a considerable time
this also decays, leaving a thin mold on the rocky surface; and this
mold becomes thicker and more susceptible of vegetation every year.
From this statement it must appear that vegetation is slowly but constantly advancing in these regions; and, be the cause what it will, it
is obvious to me that the climate itself is gradually improving, and that
the time must come when all this ground will be inhabitable. As more
depth of soil is obtained, higher orders of plants and herbs will appear-birds visit the locality, and a deposit of manure makes still
further improvement in the productive energy of the ground. In all
places which have been frequented by birds or the Esquimaux, the vegetation is always most luxuriant, and very often in such localities the
71 
72        ONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
earth is covered with large plots of grass. The Esquimaux leave
traces of their presence at every place which they have visited.  Ruins
of their huts-circles of stones with which they fasten their summer
tents to the ground-bones and skulls of the sea and land animals in
which these people make their prey-and sometimes human skulls are
found at the places where they once fixed their residence.
The advance of summer made a revival in the animal kingdom like wise. The little snow bird was the first feathered immigrant from more
southern regions-snipes, ducks, geese, loons, and several species of gulls
soon followed, for the purpose of depositing their eggs, which are easier
protected here from predatory animals, than in the country where these
fowls pass their winter. The charming little ptarmagan which passes
the winter in this climate, now changed its plumage. The raven alone
underwent no variation-for that "gentleman in black," who inhabits
all climates, never changes his sable habiliments. This increase of ani mal life was not so much observed near the ship, as it was more to the
south, where the water was open. Although it was now near the middle
of July, the ship was surrounded with a belt of ice forty miles in breadth,
which separated it from the open sea.
Foxes, which could often be seen and caught in winter, now became
scarce. These animals are very different from the foxes of our own
country-they are of two distinct varieties; one kind is white, and the
other dark bluish gray. They are smaller than the foxes of southern
latitudes; the blue ones, as they are called, have a very fine fur. They
feed chiefly on birds, which they catch with great dexterity. Sometimes they follow the bear as jackalls do the lion-to pick up the
remnants of the larger animal's banquets. During the winter the foxes
thronged about our ship and made strenuous efforts to break open the
store-house in which our provisions were deposited on one of the small
islands, situated near our winter harbor. We caught numbers of them in
stone traps; some of them were kept alive and domesticated on board,
where they ran about the deck and became the pets of the sailors.
They are easily tamed, and when permitted to range through the
vessel they destroyed the rats and mice very effectively. In fact, no cat
or terrier could perform this duty more faithfully.
The rabbit of this country differs greatly from the common American rabbit-being much larger, (some of them weighing more than ten
pounds,) and they are perfectly white. We saw no walrus; they are
very scarce, or perhaps there are none of them on the eastern coast
of Baffin's Bay. We saw some foot-marks there, which were either
those of a wolf or cf a very large dog. Several reindeer were shot. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION
These animals are very scarce and very shy in this northern country.
The Esquimaux never catch any here, as they cannot approach them
near enough for the purpose.   The flesh of these deer, and that of
the seal, was very useful to the ship's company as a remedy for the
scurvy, some slight cases of which appeared among us in the spring
months.
THREE GRAVES DISCOVERED BY CAPT. PENNY.
73
IEL F-LF E 
__                   ~   _  - --  __
II;   '\                                            ________
TIIE TERRIBLE NIGHT OF THE 15TH MAR( 
CIIAPTER VIII.
TERRIFIC WATER SPOUT.-A THRILLING SCENE.-LARGE  FIRE  BALL
PRECIPITATED INTO THE SEA.-SEALS, AND THEIR MODE OF HIDING.  WEARISOME JOURNEY ACROSS THE ICE. —HOW THE ESQUIMAUX HUNT
SEALS.-WATER TORRENTS.-WE PREPARE TO SPEND ANOTHER WINTER
IN OUR SHIP, WITHOUT FIRES AT NIGHT.-GREAT  SUFFERING.  FAILURE OF DR. KANE'S PARTY TO REACH BEECHY ISLAND.
WHVILE we were off Clermont Tonnere, we had a narrow escape from
a water-spout of more than ordinary size. It approached us in a very
awful and imposing manner, accompanied by heavy rain, thunder and
lightning. The obscurity of the atmosphere prevented us from seeing
the dangerous marine prodigy until it was very near the ship. As
soon as we were within the sphere of its influence, a gust of wind struck
the ship so suddenly that she was almost thrown on her beam-ends.
All hands were immediately engaged in taking in the sails; but before
this could be done, some of the canvass, especially the fore top-sail, was
split into shreds. The wind blew with astonishing violence, momentarily changing its direction, as if it were sweeping around in short
s p i r a l s. The rain, which fell in torrents, wa    s        precipitated in curves,
with intervals of cessation. Amidst this thick shower, the water-spout
was discovered. It extended, in a tapering form, from a dense stratum
of cloud to within thirty feet of the water, where it was hid by the foam
of the sea, which was whirled upward with a tremendous gyration.
These water-spouts are of common occurrence in the northern seas.
In 1826, a similar spectacle was witnessed by Captain Beechy's exploring party, which was then detained by the ice in the Arctic ocean.
Captain Beechy, in his report of this phenomenon, says that just before
the water-spout appeared, a large fire-ball was precipitated into the sea.
One of his boats was so completely enveloped in lightning that Lieutenant Belcher thought it advisable to get rid of the anchor by hanging
it some fathoms under the water, and to put the seamen's muskets
under a cover. From the account given by their officers, who happened
to be at some distance from the ship at the time of the occurrence, it
appears that the column of the water-spout first descended in a spiral
form, until it met the column ascending from the sea. A second col                                                        (75) 
76      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
umn, and a third, were afterward formed at a short distance from the
first; and finally, these all united in one large column. This again
separated into three small spirals, and then dispersed.
WATER- SPOUT.
In our wearisome journey across the ice, we had little time to hunt
for animals.  A  considerable number of seals was shot during  the
spring and summer. They lie scattered about on the ice during these
seasons; but they always take care to be near an'" air hole," so that
they may creep in and make their escape as soon as any living
thing approaches them, or the slightest noise is heard.   The  hunter
must, therefore, be very much on the alert, if he hopes to come within
shooting distance before they retire from his observation.  The  Esquimaux creep along the ice, screened from the sight of the seals by an
interposing hummock, and by this means approach near enough to spear
or harpoon the animals. But the hunter employed on board of our
ship made use of a small sledge, on which was a square screen of white
cotton cloth, measuring about four feet each way, behind which he concealed himself, pushing the sled along before him until he came near
enough to the seals to obtain a good shot. In the middle of the screen
was a small hole through which the rifle was pointed and fired at the
unsuspecting animals, who were not sufficiently acquainted with the
tricks of human rascality to shield themselves from the unseen dan'ger.
When the seal is not killed on the spot, he usually contrives to get into
the water and effect his retreat, before the hunter can overtake him.
Up to the middle of July the ice continued unbroken for many miles
around our vessel, and it became doubtful whether it would be sufficiently broken up during that season to liberate the ship from her gelid 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
fetters. Every evening, when the weather was clear and calm, a thin
coat of new ice formed on the surface of the fresh-water pools which
surmounted the old ice-fields. In fact, the season showed all the indications of more than the usual frigidity.
Our provisions were sufficient, perhaps, to last through another winter,
but they were not of a kind or quality to secure us from the attacks
of scurvy, if we should be detained in that region for a great length
of time. Dr. Kane concluded, therefore, to attempt a boat journey to
Beechy Island, in Lancaster Sound, where the head-quarters of the
English Arctic squadron were established. The party started about the
middle of July with a whale-boat, which had to be transported over the
ice for about thirty miles before it could be launched in the open sea. A
large field of ice, which extended across Baffin's Bay, from Jones' Sound
to Whale Sound, offered an insuperable barrier to our progress. This ice
was broken up into pieces so small that the boat could not be transported
over them, and they were too closely packed together to permit the
boat to push through them. In this mortifying state of affairs, all that we
could do was to surrender to necessity, and return to the ship. This,
in fact, we did after we had remained at this place for about a week,
hoping for some favorable change.
At the end of the first week in August, a water torrent, which had
made a small channel in the harbor, swept away the broken ice to the
distance of several hundreds of yards from the ship, and the rise and
fall of the tides broke it up along the shore. As the ship was not imbedded, she was soon afloat, and by blasting the ice around her we
contrived to open a considerable space-outside of which, however,
the icy barrier remained unbroken. In order to make further attempts
at extrication, we tried the same expedients which we had used formerly when coming up the channel. But to saw a track for a ship
through thirty miles of ice, and to warp her along that track afterward,
are undertakings which might have made Hercules himself shrug his
shoulders and shake his head with apprehensions of a failure. As I have
stated before, the belt of ice which surrounded the ship was thirty miles
in breadth, and new ice was forming every day. After a day spent in
great exertion by the whole ship's company, crew and officers, scarcely
had we advanced so much as a ship's length. It was soon evident that
open water could not be gained within the year, if our progress were
no greater than this. However, the work was continued, until nature
herself peremptorily forbade us to proceed. This happened about the
middle of August, when the new ice, which had become strong enough
to bear the weight of a man, connected all the broken pieces together
77 
-___    _            ~~        U
~~\              I
PERILOUS SITUATION-ICE GIVING WA 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
so firmly that it was not possible to move them out of the way or force
a passage between them. The ship was therefore presumed to be fast
for another winter, and preparations were made for spending it as comfortably as our much reduced means would permit. The cabin was enlarged, so that the fore part afforded accommodations for the men, and
the cooking stove was placed in the new apartment aft. We had but a
small quantity of coal left, and so all the spars which could be spared,
and all the planks and timber which could be taken from the ship without making her unseaworthy, were cut up for winter fuel. Still there
was not a sufficiency of burning material to enable us to keep up fires
constantly, and the ship's company had to dispense with them during
many of the nights. In consequence of this privation the temperature
in the cabin was generally under 400, and the cold was much greater
near the floor, as the heat rapidly ascends.
The Esquimaux savages, who had not visited our ship since May now
returned, as the new ice had become strong enough to bear them. They
exhibited a more unfriendly disposition at this time than they did on
their former visit. Several articles were stolen by them; among other
things a buffalo-skin, which one of the party carried off with scarcely
any attempt at concealment. A boat, which had been left on the shore,
at some distance from the ship, was partially broken up by tho thievish
scoundrels, and the oars were taken away. Probably they were encouraged to commit these trespasses by the belief that we were tied up,
like the bear to the stake, without any available means of defense.
79 
CHAPTER IX.
TROUBLES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS.-ANOTHER WINTER SETS IN.-SCAR  CITY OF FUEL.-TWO BEARS VISIT OUR SHIP.-A BATTE. —SEVERE
SUFFERING AND SICKNESS.-ESQUIMAUX ARCHITECTURE, &C.-TIIEIR
SLEEPING APPARATUS.
FROM the time of the return of Dr. Kane and his boat party from
their ineffectual attempt to reach Beechy Island, (the head-quarters
of the English expedition,) which was on the 6th of August, the
anxious thoughts and hopes of all were directed to the breaking up
of the ice, which we expected to take place. The season had effected
a good deal toward bringing about this much-desired event. The frozen
masses in the middle of the Sound, and indeed those outside of the Bay,
were in motion. The ice in closer proximity to the vessel was very
rotten, especially in those spots where the coal ashes had been thrown,
the black surface absorbing more heat from the rays of the sun. Icebergs, moving in stately march, were seen in the seaward horizon; and
even streaks of open water could be discovered sparkling in the sunshine. Dr. Kane had approached with his boat within five miles of the
open water, by means of a "lead," or open channel among the ice,
which extended along the shore.
When the water streams had partly opened a passage for the ship, as
mentioned on a preceding page, she was warped, close in shore, around
the islands which lay to the westward, and along the coast which extended toward the north of the harbor. In this way, with immense
labor and difficulty, we proceeded about a mile-still, for five miles at
least, an almost unbroken sheet of ice was interposed between the ship
and the open water. Thie last days of August found the avenue, or
"lead" of water, in the neighborhood of the ship, choked with ice.
Nevertheless, the new ice, which formed in rather strong cakes every
night, was not yet solid enough to last through the winter. But very
soon this state of things underwent a change. Before the end of
August the ice would bear a heavy weight, and would have almost
borne a wagon and team of horses in those places where it had formed
for several nights in succession and remained unbroken through the
following days.
(80) 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
During this period of suspense, the hopes of the party had depended
on the probability that a heavy gale of wind and the consequent commotion of the sea would break up the icy inclosure; and you may
imagine with what interest every change in the weather was observed.
About a week after the solidification of the water was complete, a
heavy gale did come on; but it came too late to do us any good.
Had this gale visited us one week sooner, it might have realized our
hopes, by releasing us from the hideous bondage in which it was now
our evident doom to be confined for another long period in cold and
darkness.
All the signs of approaching winter were now visible. The summits
of the loftiest hills reflected the pale rays of the setting sun at two
o'clock in the afternoon; the horizon opposite the sun was draperied
with a dark purple. The crepusculum above the declining luminary
was variegated with tints suggestive of cold; but still beautiful, displaying a coronal of splendid violet and all the prismatic colors. The
shadow of the icebergs became of a dark greenish color and a snowy
shroud was spread over the shelves and ridges of rock and the whole
landscape. The advance of winter was regarded now with a feeling of
apprehension and more unpleasant forebodings than we had experienced before; because we were but indifferently provided with means
and appliances of warmth and comfort. However, we continued to
make every preparation our circumstances permitted. Fuel was the
chief object of our solicitude. The coal was soon exhausted. All the
loose spars, planks, and timber about the ship were cut up for firewood,
and this stock was likewise consumed in the early part of the winter.
Stern necessity then compelled us to make depredations on the ship
itself; we cut away  the bulwarks, the  monkey-rail, many  of the
strengthening beams, the sheathing of the deck, and all the wood that
could be spared. All this was done under the directions of our able and
indefatigable carpenter, who was constantly engaged in the most energetic efforts to obtain fuel for the winiter,-notwithstanding the state
of his health unfitted him in a measure for these tasks, the performance
of -whichl required much exposure and hardship.
As our stock of fuel would allow us to keep but one fire, it was necessary that the whole ship's company should live in the small cabin,
to the length of which about twelve feet had been added. In this
apartment our cooking and all the other domestic operations of the ship
were performed. The temperature was seldom so high that water would
not freeze in some part of the room, and it often froze within ten feet
of the stove.  One of our greatest difficulties was that of keeping the
6
81 
jk~j~~ Y
L
1~                                                      __          ;~~~:
___          ~~;\"'L~~\\F\ \\\.  ~~>' ~'/    if.       ~~~
>-            ~~
FAST IN THE ICE.
I
I
I
I
I -
i,
li
I 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
mattresses dry, as the condensation of moisture on the sides and in the
bottoms of the bunks produced a constant dampness among the bed ding. The scurvy, in a severe and dangerous form, prevailed among
our people. All of the company, except four or five, were disabled by
this disease, at one time or another, during the winter; and the greater
number of them were sick with it almost without intermission.
About the end of October, two bears, an old she-one and her cub,
were killed very near the ship; and although at some former periods
we had rejected the flesh of the vwhite bear as unsavory and unwhole some food, we were now glad to obtain a supply of it, as fresh meat of
any kind had become quite a rarity.   These bears afforded us about a
thousand pounds of meat of an antiscorbutic quality; whereas our
only animal food before we succeeded in killing these creatures, were
salted pork, beef, seal's flesh, &c., all of which, on account of its saline
nature, tends to produce the scurvy and to aggravate the disease where
it already exists.
These bears had evidently been impelled by hunger to approach our
ship.  Their object appeared to be the robbing of our depository of
provisions; and in this enterprise thev exhibited a boldness which was
worthy of a better cause.  When they were first discovered, they had
mounted a pile of provision barrels situated about thirty yards from
the ship; and the old she-one backed down from the heap with one of
the barrels grasped in her fore legs.  When she had descended to the
ice, she emptied out the contents of the barrel, and by significant gestures and her own example, invited her cub to make a hearty repast.
In the mean time, all the men and dogs on board had been mustered to
repel the robbers, and the dogs commenced the attack with admirable
resolution.  The old bear finding that she must  fight for her dinner
before she would be permitted to enjoy it, seized the large dogs in her
fore paws and pitched them to a considerable distance, apparently with
the greatest ease.  As for her biped enemnies, she appeared to treat them
with supreme contempt, as objects too insignificant to deserve her notice;
and even the repeated volleys discharged from our fire-arms for a while
made no perceptible impression on this haughty and heroic old lady.
After a while, however, she began to think that something serious was
to be apprehended even from us.  One of our shots badly wounded
her; but she was not yet disabled, and she began to beat a retreat in
good order.   But her flight was retarded by the inability of her cub
to keep pace with her, one of its legs hlaving been broken by a pistol
b~ill from a Colt's revolver, fired bv Dr. Kane. Two well-trained Esqiimaux dogs started in pursuit of the retreating animals, and annoyed
87
ce 
84       SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
the old one on both sides. One dog would assail her on the right, and
when she turned that way to defend herself, the other would  make his
assault on the left; and so they kept up the battle, assailing the retreating party on each flank alternately, and with such good generalship,
that the bear seemed to have the worst of the engagement and the dogs
to require no aid from their human auxiliaries.  Nevertheless one of
our men leveled his musket at the unfortunate brute, and the bullet
inflicted a wound which  made  her perfectly helpless, so that she was
immediately dispatched by the combined forces of men and dogs.
This we regarded as a more signal and complete victory than that which
was obtained gver the Russian bear by the combined forces of France
and England.
0 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~_                   #  ~~;$
POLAR BEAR.
The winter, at the very commencement, was unusually cold, even for
that climate. In November and( December, the temperature was often
from 50~ to 60~ below zero. Snow was much more abundant than it
was in the first winter of our icy captivity. Cold gales of wind were also 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
very frequent. The Esquimaux suffered a good deal from the severity
of the weather. As early as November they began to emigrate to the
north; this to the uninitiated will seem to be an unaccountable movement; but by way of explanation, I may state that the freezing begins
southwardly. About 77~ latitude, strong currents and the absence of
"pack-ice" keeps the water longer open; and for hunting the walrus,
these savages find that the edge of the ice is the most favorable
locality.
There are, between latitudes 76~ and 78~ 20', about ten little Esquimaux villages, each containing from two to five huts, but they are not
all inhabited at the same time. These huts are most commonly built
of stone, and they are always situated near the water. They have a
dome-like shape; the diameter of the interior being about eight feet and
the height about five feet.  The roofs likewise are made of stone, and
in the construction of them the Esquimaux show a peculiar art. Sometimes large whalebones are used for timber or rafters to support the
stone roof. All unnecessary holes and crevices in these dwellings are
carefully stopped up with moss; and in winter the whole building is
covered with a thick layer of snow. The way in which they put this on
is somewhat artificial. With a sort of a hatchet made of the tusk of a
walrus, the Esquimaux architect cuts out blocks of snow about a foot
square from places where this gelid material has be'en drifted in piles
or ridges by the wind. These blocks are used for tiling and stuccoing
their dwellings; and being very neatly put on, they give the building
somewhat the appearance of white marble, besides making it more airtight and comfortable.
A long tunnel, built of the same materials as the hut, forms the entrance. This tunnel, or vestibule, is just wide and high enough for a
man to creep through; and the floor of the hut is elevated about one
foot above the floor of the tunnel, leaving a small aperture through
which the Esquimaux enters his habitation, the passage being almost as
difficult as Hans Spiegler (in German story) found the entrance to
Paradise. The hole or portal is never more than a foot high, and about
as broad as the master of the mansion's shoulders; so that if any larger
individual were to attempt to follow him, he would probably be stuck
fast in the gateway. At three sides of the hut (the entrance being on
the fourth side), there are elevated platforms, (or bunks, as the sailors
would call them,) which do the duty of bedsteads, beneath which provisions, boots, hunting implements, and all sorts of lumber are stowed
away.  The platforms, bedsteads, or bunks  (or whatever  title you
may choose to give them), are heaped with dried moss and grass or hay
85 
EXPEDITION DRIVEN INTO THE ICE.
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~-  __~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIV  OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
-which makes a warm and luxurious couch.. It is a custom among
these people to go to bed with their boots on, though the same trick in
civilized countries is regarded as symptomatic of an advanced stage of
intoxication. The Esquimaux likewise wear their mittens in bed; and
as both boots and mittens are pretty well stuffed with moss or dried
hay, the hands and feet of the sleeper are well protected from the
attacks of Jack Frost. The sleeping bunks occupy so much space in
the interior of the hut, that little more than a square yard is left clear
of the incumbrance, and in this small vacancy all the domestic operations of the family must be performed. Their mossy couches are covered with sheets or blankets made of seal-skins or bear-skins, and the
walls of the hut are tapestried with the same articles. These skins
in the summer time are removed from the huts and used for covering tents, in which these savages reside during the warmer season.
Across the top of the hut several poles are extended, on which the
skins are stretched to be dried in the process of preparing them for
Be.
87 
CHAPTER X.
ARCTIC SPORTSMANSHIP.-FREQUENT VISITS OF THE ESQUIMAUX.-LIFB
IN THE ESQUIMAUX HUTS.-MODES OF COOKING, COOKING UTENSILS,
ETC.-OCCUPATIONS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN.-LAZINESS AND
GLUTTONY OF THE ESQUIMAUX.-THEIR HUNTING EXCURSIONS: DIF  FICULTIES AND DANGERS THEREOF.-INTERESTING ANECDOTE OF TWO
YOUNG ESQUIMAUX HUNTERS.
A FEW ptarmagan and rabbits were shot, while we had sufficient daylight to answer the purpose of hunting. This duty devolved chiefly on Mr.
Petersen, our Danish interpreter, and Hans, the Esquimaux boy, whom
we had shipped on the south coast of Greenland. They were both good
marksmen and were very fond of the sport, in spite of all the inconveniences which attended it in that region. The flesh of the animals
which they "bagged" was eaten raw; and even in that state, it was
found much more wholesome than the salt provisions to which we had
been confined, and which had been the means of introducing the scurvy
among our people. As soon as this fresh meat was obtained, the invalids on board began to recover.
The Esquimaux savages now began to honor us with repeated visits.
They brought with them some fresh walrus meat, and bartered it for
knives and other small articles of merchandise with which we were able to
supply them. We sent Hans and one of our men with the dog-sledge to
one of the nearest settlements of our savage neighbors; they carried
with them some articles of traffic for which we wished to obtain more
fresh provisions in exchange. This mission proved very successful, and
we obtained thereby an abundance of wholesome victuals, the effect of
which on our sick people was wonderful. In less than a month after the
arrival of these supplies all the invalids were much better, and some of
them were soon restored to perfect health.
Mr. Petersen, after his return to the ship, furnished us with some
other particulars concerning the Esquimaux mode of living, which may
be interesting to the reader. During the dark season, their huts are
very well lighted by means of two large lamps, which are placed opposite the entrance on the edge of the platforms or sleeping bunks described in the preceding chapter. These lamps are made of soft stone
(88)
6 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
and are nearly in the form of a half moon; the hollow part inside is
about an inch deep and twelve or fifteen inches long, and this is filled
with blubber or oil, the wick being of dried moss, which is first rolled
out in the hands to a string-like shape. Over each lamp hangs a pot
of an oblong shape about three inches deep, which is likewise made of
stone; it is suspended from the roof, and is used for melting snow for
drinking water, and also for cooking the meat, this being the best and
only contrivance they have for that purpose. Around these lamps
stand the crockery-ware or table equipments, consisting of two or three
little round vessels made of seal-skin stretched over a framework of
bone (which serte them in lieu of cups and saucers), and certain substitutes for plates which are made of the shoulder bladebone of the
walrus. They have a kind of forks also, which are nothing more than
pieces of bone pointed at one end.   Sometimes  they use metallic
knives obtained from Europeans; but if they have none of these, knives
rudely constructed of bone are made to answer the purpose. Near the
roof, above the lamps, is a small frame composed of transverse pieces
of wood or bone, resembling our unglazed window-sash, which lies in a
horizontal position, and is used for drying the clothing.
By the side of each lamp, there generally sits an Esquimaux woman,
the mother of a family, (two families usually occupy each hut,) who
keeps the lamp trimmed and attends to the boiling of the meat or the
snow-melting. The snow which is intended for conversion to drinking
water is cut in square cakes of about one foot in size, and in this form
is piled up in the hut ready for use.
Within the small interior of one of these huts from eight to ten people
usually reside, and sometimes a larger number. The animal heat of the
occupants, with the radiation of two or three large lamps, raises the
temperature, even in the coldest days of winter, to 90~ or 100~ above
zero. In consequence of this excess of warmth, the inmates strip
themselves quite naked, and sit- or lie in crowds on the bed-place or
bunk, avoiding the floor, where the cold air always settles. Here the
women are seen attending to their domestic avocations; the men, when
at home, are either sleeping or eating, and the children are waddling
about and eating likewise, whenever they have an opportunity. The
whole forms a group which an admirer of unadorned human nature
might contemplate with pleasure; but to most spectators who have
seen a better style of living and more favorable specimens of the human
race, the sight is any thing but agreeable. In one of these huts you
have an opportunity to inspect the anatomical structure of these people
to the best advantage, as their personal charms are not concealed under
89 
Ti ~ ~                                             -             ~
,E - ERfSC.
CUTTING OUT.
Page 90.
ll 
SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
any kind of drapery. The huge square head, the muscular and almost
herculean arms, and the well-developed breast of the Esquimaux, form
a striking contrast with the thin, short legs and small feet. The upper
part of the figure is that of a giant: the lower part is that of a child.
Although I am  not of a very facetious temper, I never could look
at these undraperied figures without laughing.   Their appearance
reminded me of those incongruous pictures which are seen in the comic
almanacs. The disproportionate form of the Esquimaux has been
observed by former travelers, and it has been accounted for by referring
to the circumstance that the men of this tribe pass a great part of their
time in their boats or kaiaks, in which their upper limbs are exercised
by rowing, while their legs remain perfectly inactive. But this explanation will not answer the purpose. The Esquimaux of the northern
coast of Greenland, in whom this personal deformity is most conspicuous, have no kaiaks, and never learn to handle the oar. They exercise their legs I believe nearly as much as their arms; for when traveling they run as much behind the sledge as they ride in it; and, what is
still more to the purpose, the children have the same corporal peculiarity
before they begin to exercise either their legs or their arms. I will say
nothing about the corresponding formation of the women, as delicacy
forbids to touch on that branch of the subject; but it appears to me
that the oddity of shape observed among these people is hereditary and
a peculiarity of the tribe.
The occupations of the women, while they are in the hut, or tent,
are not much varied; the females attend to the lamps, (as observed
before,) they do the cooking, sew the men's clothing, and attend to the
children. Their maternal affections appear to be very strong; but no
signs of attachment or endearment among grown people-husbands and
wives, for instance-are ever witnessed by strangers. Perhaps the
men, like French and Italian gentlemen, are ashamed to be seen in the
act of kissing their own wives; but we never could discover that they
were at all acquainted with the art of kissing, or that any practiced it
in any circumstances whatever. My young readers of both sexes may
find it difficult to believe this statement, but it is nevertheless true to
the letter.
The children assist their mother in the preparation of skins for wearing apparel; the boys make fox-traps, which they set along the beach.
The flesh of the fox is considered as a delicate article of food, and the
skin of this animal formis an important part of the winter clothing.
The men are excessively addicted to loaferism and gluttony. They
take no more out-door exercise than is absolutely necessary to supply
91 
92      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
their families with food and clothing, and the greater part of their time
is spent in their huts, where their only employment is eating, and their
only recreation is sleeping. The quantity of meat which an Esquimaux
man can consume is astonishing.' Eight or ten pounds at a meal is
supposed to be a moderate allowance. A whole seal is brought into a
hut: it is speedily skinned and stripped of its blubber-the men, in the
meanwhile, devouring the raw flesh without intermission. The women,
all this time, are getting some portions of the carcass ready for the
pot and boiling it, to furnish out the regular meal, as the gentlemen
of the household consider the raw flesh which they have been swallowing
in huge gobbets as a mere preliminary snack or luncheon. When the
regular meal is cooked, they fall to with as much animation as if they
had not broken their fast for a fortnight. They never discontinue eating
as long as a morsel remains to be swallowed.
Between meals they often solace themselves with a kind of sandwich,
made by inclosing a slice of blubber between two pieces of seal's flesh,
cut from a lump of meat which has been frozen. Among their greatest
dainties, the livers of the seal and walrus take precedence.
When the men go on a hunting expedition, they take a sufficiency
of meat and blubber with them to last as long as they expect to be
absent from home. They are seldom away more than forty-eight hours
at a time.  On these occasions their operations or repose are not regulated by the time of day. They hunt for twenty-four hours "at a
stretch," perhaps, and then spend about as much in listless idleness.
Their hunting operations are attended with much hardship and danger.
One of the hunters is occasionally killed by a bear; sometimes one of
them drifts away on a cake of ice, and is never heard of afterward.
A very marvelous escape of two young men happened in the winter
of 1854-5. They traveled from their place of abode, situated about
seventy miles from our winter harbor, to a distant village, at a season
when traveling is most dreary and dangerous, namely, in the latter
part of the month of December, a time when the cold is most severe
and the darkness is most profound. Their purpose was to hunt the
walrus, and in pursuit of these animals they took a route over the new
ice. They succeeded in killing a walrus at a considerable distance
from the shore; but they had scarcely despatched their prey, when a
tremendous gale of wind arose, which produced a commotion in the sea
that broke up the ice and left them exposed to the mercy of the waves.
They took refuge on one of the largest icebergs which happened to be
within their reach, dragging with them the carcass of the walrus which
they had killed. The berg on which they were stationed soon became 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
detached from the surrounding ice and floated in the open water, being
driven about by the winds. There was not even snow enough on the
berg to make a hut, so they were obliged to encamp on the naked ice
without any shelter; with no protection from the cold except the clothing
they had on, and no means for making a fire.  Their only food was the
raw flesh of a walrus, and the frozen blood of the animal was their
only drink, if it may so be called. In this condition they lived twenty
days; when the gale ceased, and soon after the berg was again surrounded by young ice strong enough to bear them, whereby they were
enabled to reach the shore. The place where they landed was about
thirty miles distant from the spot from which the iceberg had started,
and they were the first, perhaps, who ever traveled so far on the same
kind of conveyance.   The feet of both of these persons were frostbitten; but one of them visited our ship a short time after this adventure, and he was then as well as ever.
Other hunters have been obliged to abandon their dogs on the ice, at
times when it broke up so rapidly that they were compelled to fly for the
preservation of their lives.  As lazy as the Esquimaux are by nature or
habit, their situation compels them to bestir themselves occasionally; but
their indolence and ill-luck combined often reduce them to a deplorable
state of starvation. During December of 1854, and the first two months
of 1855, the kinds of game which they are accustomed to hunt were
very scarce, and the wretched savages suffered terribly for want of food.
Such was their necessity that they were compelled te slaughter their
dogs and make butcher's meat of them; but as these animals were as
lean and emaciated as so many poets, an inconsiderable amount of
food was obtained from their dead bodies, and the quality of the viands
was such that they would not have been acceptable to any stomachs except the well-toned ones of the Esquimaux. Dr. IKane's celebrated
suppers on fricasseed rats were much more savory. During this season
of scarcity, the want of blubber with which to supply the lamps on
which the Esquimaux depend for light and warmth in their huts, compelled the poor creatures to sit in the cold and dark.  However, the
famine lasted only for a few months; and as the Esquimaux resembles
in constitution the bear, the anaconda, and other voracious animals,
they can endure hunger or a scanty supply of food for a long time,
without much apparent inconvenience, taking care to make themselves
amends by excessive gluttony when a plentiful supply of food is obtained.
93 
~k
SITUATION AFTER THE DISRUPTION OF TH] 
CHAPTER XI.
ESQUIMAUX HUNTING. - BEAR  BAITING EXTRAORDINARY. - WALRUS
CATCHING.-SINGULAR CUSTOMS.-ESQUIMAUX GENEROSITY AND BE  NEVOLENCE.-FOURIERISM IN GREENLAND.-OUR SITUATION BECOMES
DESPERATE.-ABANDONMENT OF THE SHIP AND THE MAIN OEJECT OF
THE EXPEDITION.
WHEN  the Esquimaux go on a bear hunting expedition, the first
object is to discover Bruin's tracks on the ice. When these are seen,
the dogs attached to the sledges go in pursuit at full speed. As soon
as the bear appears in sight the dogs are released from their harness,
and  soon overtake the object of pursuit.  They attack him  on all
sides, or rather menace him with battle, but take good care to keep
out of his reach, seeming to understand that they are no match for
the enemy at close quarters. In fact, the Polar bear can kill a large
dog with a single stroke of his paw.  While the bear is engaged with
the dogs, turning around and around to repel them on all sides, the
Esquimaux approaches and takes a fair opportunity to pierce the side
of the beast with his lance. But one stroke is not sufficient to kill
him, and the hunter must withdraw his spear and make another thrust.
As soon as the bear is wounded he turns furiously on the hunter, disregarding the insults of the dogs.  At this critical moment  all the caution, skill, and tact of the hunter are required to save his own life.  He
watches every motion of the bear, steps aside to avoid his first onslaught, and before the creature can wheel around the lance is again buried in his side.  It often requires many such wounds to dispatch a bear,
or even to unfit him for battle.  During the whole fight the wounded bear
groans in a horrible manner, and the incessant howling of the dogs in creases the frightful din of the combat.   Considering how imperfectly
the Esquimaux hunter is armed-his bone-tipped lance being but an
awkward and comparatively inefficient weapon-it certainly requires
some chivalric spirit to undertake such a combat; and it is really a
matter of surprise to find the human c(,nb,t,lnt generally successful,
as the advantages seem to be on th,  sid Of the bear.  When the ani mll is slain he is immediately cOtt,,'ictor, and the entrails
,e given to the dogs.   By t',  i                the hunters  and the
(95) 
96       SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
dogs the carcass of a bear is soon made a bare skeleton, every eatable
portion being devoured with astonishing celerity.
The walrus is caught by harpooning, in which operation the Esqui maux exhibit some dexterity. The hunters keep a watch on the edge
of the ice, and as soon as a walrus shows himself above water the harpoon is launched at him. This instrument is fastened to one end of a
stout strip of seal skin, the other extremity of which is wound about
the hunter's body. His feet are planted firmly against a small hummock of ice, to prevent the animal from drawing him into the water.
As soon as the harpoon is fastened in the body of the walrus, it dives
below the surface, as the whale does in similar circumstances, but soon
after reappears to take breath. At this moment the hunter hauls in
the slack of his line and stabs the animal with his lance; and this he
does every time the walrus appears on the surface of the water, until
it is killed. It sometimes happens that when the walrus is wounded he
grows desperate, and comes up on the ice to make battle with his foe.
But his form is so unwieldy and his motions so clumsy, when he is out
of the water, that he is easily dispatched by his antagonist. The white
whale, narwhal, and sea unicorn, are killed in a similar manner.
There is a singular law or custom among the Esquimaux in relation to
the division of game, when several persons are present at the time it is
killed. He who gives the first wound is entitled to the best part of
the animal when it is killed; but every person who is on the spot, whether he assists in killing the beast or not, is entitled to a share.   On
other occasions much liberality is shown by these people. When one
of them has caught any animal, he dispenses a portion of it to his less
successful neighbor.  Likewise, when the autumnal hunting is unsuccessful among the inhabitants of the southern villages, they migrate
to the northern settlements, the residents of which share with them,
not their provisions only, but the use of the huts, sleeping conveniences, and every thing else which their necessitous circumstances require.  I fear that so much brotherly kindness is rarely to be met with
in Christian communities.   A sort of socialistic system seems to prevail among these savages, but they have not yet attained to the last
refinement of Fourierite philosophy-the community of wives; and
it is to be hoped that they will long remain ignorant of that modern
improvement in man's social and domestic relations.
The philanthropy of the Esquimaux is not confined to a narrow
sphere. Their benevolence shines not only on their own countrymen, but
on strangers likewise. iMany persons attached to our expedition bear in 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
grateful remembrance the many acts of kindness and friendly attention
they received from these soi disant "savages."
It has already been mentioned, that the fresh meat which had been
supplied to us by the Esquimaux was the means of restoring many of
our people who were sick with the scurvy.  This  was a circumstance
of great importance to the success of our enterprise, as some of the men
who had been sick, and apparently at the point of death, soon became
able to travel, or to make preparations necessary for a long journey in
boats.  We had now abandoned all hopes that the ship would be libe rated from the ice that season; and truly it appeared not very impro bable that she had found her final resting place. In the preceding
year, the sea had not opened within less than forty miles of the Ad vance; and, as the last winter was much more severe than the first
one which we passed in that locality, there was good reason to suppose
that the ice would not break up this year as far as it did in 1855; and,
in that case, the escape of the ship would be still more difficult, and,
in fact, hopeless.  The subsequent event proved that these expectations
were well founded.
Our provisions were almost exhausted, and our fuel was entirely
consumed. Every piece of wood which could possibly be taken from
the ship without making her useless, had been burned before the middle
of iMay. Writing desks, fancy boxes, and many other articles of
considerable value, were likewise devoted to the flames. Some of our
salt pork, which had become rather the worse for long keeping, was
also appropriated to the same  use.  I verily believe that we would
have burned whole cords or tons of the most popular books of the day,
(especially novels and poetry,) or any other combustible matters, if it
had been within our reach.
We found, in short, that it was impossible to hold out another
season, and no alternative remained for us but to abandon the ship
and to attempt a passage in boats to those seas which are frequented
by whaling vessels, or to the Danish settlements on the northern coast
of Greenland. A council of the officers being called, it was unanimously resolved that this retrogressive movement  was imperatively
necessary, and the only measure that could possibly save us from a
horrible death by starvation.  The reader will perceive that the journey now concluded on was a virtual abandonment of the main object
of our expedition.  We had, in some respects, been more fortunate and
successful than most of our predecessors in the navigation of the polar
seas; we had penetrated farther in a northern direction than any
navigator, Captain Parry only excepted, had ever done before; but it
7
97  
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.9
must not be concealed that all attempts to make a satisfactory exploration of those seas and the adjacent regions have hitherto failed;
and before I proceed farther with this narrative, I will endeavor to
account for these failures in a manner which, I hope, will give the reader
a true exposition of the grand difficulties and apparently insurmountable
obstacles which have constantly frustrated the endeavors of the most
able, resolute, and energetic of the Arctic navigators.
99 
CHAPTER XII.
TIIE REASONS WHY ALL ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS HAVE BEEN FAILURES.  CAPTAIN PARRY'S EXPLORATIONS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL.-SUGGES  TIONS FOR A NEW PLAN OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.-THE POSSIBILITY
OF REACHINil THE  NORTH  POLE.-HOW  THAT  OBJECT  MAY  BE
EFFECTED.
THE nearest approach to the North Pole ever made by an European
or American navigator, was the memorable achievement of Cap  tain Parry, or the 23d day of July, 1827, when he reached the high
northern latitude of 82~ 451. The day was one of the warmest and
most pleasant that Captain Parry had experienced in that climate; and
had it not beon for the soft state of the ice and the strong southerly
current, which operated against the northern progress of Captain
Parry's party, it is conjectured that he might have continued his jour  ney to the pole itself.
In a letter to the British Admiralty, dated London, Nov. 25, 1845,
Captain Parry declares his belief in the practicability of reaching the
North Pole by traveling over the ice; and he attributes his failure in
1827, solely to the causes spoken of above, viz., the mushy condition
of the ice and the strong adverse current. Captain Parry thinks that an
approach to the North Pole is not a matter of such difficult attainment as
is generally supposed, provided the undertaking is begun and carried on
in the right manner. All who have devoted much attention to the sub  ject, are thoroughly convinced that the Pole may be reached. Why
then, it may be asked, has this object never been accomplished? It
appears to me that the ill success of Arctic expeditions in general admit of
an easy explanation. None of these expeditions have been suitably
prepared for the explorations intended. After remaining for a winter,
or two winters perhaps, fastened up by the ice, every exploring party
has been compelled to return for want of a sufficient supply of pro  visions and fuel.  The account I have given of Dr. Kane's failure in
this enterprise is, in the most material points, a repetition of the his  tory of every former undertaking of the same kind. The adventurers
-are invariably driven back by hunger and cold, from  the effects of
we::.   (100) 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
which, with better management, they might have been protected for a
much longer time.
The best plan for conducting a Polar expedition that has ever been
proposed, is the following:-Only one ship should be engaged in the
enterprise; in this ship the exploring party should go to Spitzbergen,
as Captain Parry did in the Hecla. But the time of starting should
not be too early in the season; for it was to that error chiefly that
Captain Parry imputed his failure. The first object, or the main object
for the first year, would be to find secure winter-quarters as far northward as possible. For this purpose it would be necessary merely to ieach
Hakluyt's Headland by the end of June.  This would afford a sufficiency
of time to examine the more northern lands, especially about the Seven
Islands, where, in all probability, a secure nook might be found to
serve as a station for the ship, and a starting point for the proposed
expedition-which from thence would proceed by sledge conveyance over
the ice and snow. This starting point might be fixed some forty or
fifty miles in advance of the place where Parry's first wvinter-quarters
were established. The winter might be passed in various preparations
for the spring journey, and in magnetic, astronomical, and meteorological observations, which, being made in that latitude, would be of
great interest and importance.   The expedition should leave the ship
about the middle of April, when the ice would present one hard and
unbroken surface, over which, as I confidently believe, a progress of at
least thirty miles per day might be made with little difficulty.   Among
the advantages of this course, I may mention that it would be
attended with comparatively little exposure to wet and to that disease
so annoying to Arctic travelers, called snow-blindness. Besides, the
ice at this season would probably be stationary; and thus the two
great difficulties which Parry's party had to encounter would be entirely
obviated.
It would likewise be advisable to establish depositories of provisions
one hundred miles in advance, by sending out a party for that purpose
in the latter part of the winter, or at the beginning of spring, before
the journey of the exploring party is commenced. By this means, the
last-named party could begin the journey without being overburdened
with luggage, as they would depend on the provision depot for a part
of their supplies.
With regard to the mode of traveling, it may be remarked, in the
first place, that expedition would be highly necessary, as the whole
journey would have to be completed before the end of May; or before
any disruption of the ice or any material softening of the surface should
101 
4
_            fj
"NIPPED" BY THE ICE-FOX'S CHANN
~~~~~/!~/'%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, 
SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
take place. During the absence of the exploring party supplies of provisions might be stationed along the route for the use of that party on
its way back to the ship. With respect to the draught-animals to be
used in this enterprise, I think that reindeer are far more eligible than
dogs. The former have more speed and greater powers of endurance
than the latter; they are more healthy animals, equally as tractable,
and require much less food; and the latter would be an important consideration, as it would be desirable to carry as small a load of provender as would answer the purpose.
A supply of these useful creatures might be obtained at Hammerfisk,
on the passage; and I think there would be no difficulty in keeping
them alive during the winter, as they could be fed on such farinaceous
food as the resources of the ship could supply.
Nothing can be more admirable (the operations of the "iron horse"
alone excepted) than the performance of the Lapland reindeer il harness. This deer is the paragon of traveling quadrupeds. Its docility
is wonderful; the Arabian courser is not susceptive of better training.
With a simple collar of skin around his neck, a single trace of the same
material attached to the pulk, or sledge, and passing between his legs,
and one rein fixed, like a halter, around his neck, this intelligent creature is perfectly under the command of an experienced driver, and is
able to perform astonishing journeys over the softest snow. His
motions are more easily directed than those of the horse. When the
rein is thrown over on the off side of the animal he immediately sets
off at full trot, and he stops short the moment it is thrown back to the
near side. Shaking the rein over his back answers all the purpose of
the whip. For his maintenance the animal requires only four pounds
of clean moss per diem, but in case of necessity they can travel five or
six days without food; nor does this abstinence seem to affect their
health or good spiritst. The case is very different with dogs, which
require a large amount of animal food-a sort of provision which is
often very hard to procure; and besides there is such a difference in
the ability of the two, seeing that six or seven dogs are required to
perform the same amount of work which one reindeer can execute with
apparent ease. The only drink required by these deer is snow, which
need not be melted for the purpose. They can sleep on the naked ice;
and, in short, they are the least troublesome and expensive animals
that ever entered into the service of mankind. A reindeer can travel
eighty miles in one day without much exertion. From what has been
said I think it will appear that these animals would be of immense
advantage to an Arctic expedition; and the great wonder is that a
103 
104      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
truth so very obvious has not forced itself on the attention of every
man who has attempted to explore any part of the Polar regions.
The distance from Hakluyt's Headland to the Pole is six hundred
geographical miles. Supposing that the traveler should proceed but
twenty miles in twenty-four hours, only one month would be required
to enable the adventurer to place his foot on the very pivot of the
earti-h's axis. Hle might remain there a month, if necessary, to collect
all desirable information,  and then return in one of those easilyconstructed canoes which are made and used by the Esquimaux on the
southern coast of Greenland.   The southwesterly currents, within a
fortnight, or less time, perhaps, would bring him back to Spitzbergen.
I am aware that many persons will see great difficulties and perils
in attendance on the plan of exploration here proposed. But where is
the undertaking which promises either glory or profit that has no
attendant risks or inconveniences?   To  the timid and  irresolute
objector, I will make the same answer which was given by that brave
old navigator, Sir Martin Frobisher, when his friends would have persuaded him not to engage in a northwest passage.   "It is the only
thing in the world (said he) that is left undone whereby a man of moderate abilities may become famous." We may still say that the North
Pole is almost the only thing in the world about which we know
nothing; and the time has come (according to my views) when our
ignorance on that subject admits of no apology. 
CHAPTER XIII.
AN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, " OF WHAT USE ARE ARCTIC
EXPLORATIONS?"-" WILL THEY PAY?"-HINTS  FOR ENTERPRISING
CAPITALISTS AND YANKEE SPECULATORS.-ADVANTAGES OF POLAR
RESEARCHES TO THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE-AN OBJECT WORTHY OF THE
NOBLEST AMBITION.-OBSERVATIONS TO BE MADE AT THE POLE.
"WHAT advantage would the world derive from a thorough exploration
of the Polar regions?" I am sorry to say that this question, or something like it, is often asked by men who pretend to intelligence and
good judgment. The utilitarianism of this age is often extravagant in a
high degree.   Some people can see no use in any thing which does not
immediately put money into their pockets.  Pecuniary profit is the
only consideration. A dollar-producing enterprise, whatever may be
its objects and tendencies in other respects, is altogether glorious with
them, and every thing else is a stumbling-block and foolishness. In
order to meet the objections which such people make to Polar explorations, we may refhark that the enterprise may "pay well," according
to the common commercial acceptation of that phrase. We do not
know what valuable productions of nature may be obtained from the
lands or seas in the immediate neighborhood of the North Pole. If a
tract were once opened, or a practical route and available means of
travel and transportation were once devised, who knows what new fields
would be opened for commercial enterprise? Who can estimate the
value of the Polar fisheries, or the Polar fur trade? Who knows what
handsome sums might be realized by conveying passengers to a spot
where every object would be novel and curious? The day may come
when excursions to the Pole may be as much within the scope of Yankee
contrivance, as Fourth of July excursions to Washington city or the
Falls of Niagara. Who knows but that a veritable sign-post may be
erected by some "Down East" speculator on the very turning-point of
the terrestrial sphere, where a house of entertainment may be established, with a table richly furnished with all the delicacies of the climate, and a bar well stocked with choice liquors, for the convenience
of those who may prefer the North Pole, as a place of summer retreat,
(105) 
DESPERATE ATTACK OF WALRUSES ON THE ENGLISII BOAT.
: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.                                        f.: -:,1. x:v. >....._i
i
I -__,             -: 
SONNTAG S NARRATIVE OF TIlE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
to Cape May or Saratoga Springs?  What an opportunity for a "good
investment" is here suggested!
But apart from all considerations of a mere pecuniary nature, there
are other objects connected with Polar discovery which should claim
some attention from the men of this refined and intellectual generation.
Dr. Samuel Johnson once said that the man who had seen the great
wall of China might be considered as shedding a lustre on his grandchildren. But, after all, what a comparatively insignificant thing is the
wall of China! Many of our small-beer poets and traveling newspaper correspondents, in their desperate struggles for distinction, and
their anxiety to obtain piquant materials for a paragraph, have scaled
the broad parapets of the China wall and promenaded its summit for
miles together, without being one jot or tittle the wiser or better for
such achievements. How much more glorious in the estimation of every
truly wise man, would be that individual who should succeed in placing
his foot on the extreme point of the earth's axis; and what a lustre
would he shed on his descendants to the third and fourth generations!
To stand where no mortal man has trodden before-to perform what
many adventurers and heroic men have attempted in vain-to walk
over the most remarkable spot on the earth's surface-these, I should
think, are objects which ought to satisfy any rational ambition-far
more excusable objects of ambition than the slaughter of armies and
the subjugation of empires.
As the land adjacent to the Pole is all terra incognita, it is impossible to say what additions to the stores of natural science a visitor to
those regions might be able to make. Certain it is, however, that a
new and wide field would be opened for his investigation. Every thing
there would be novel; and that circumstance alone would be well calculated to stimulate his attentive faculties. The difficulties which would
present themselves to the investigator may be appreciated at home;
but they would be greater or less according to circumstances of which
we  know nothing.  We know not, for example, whether  the Pole is
covered with open water, or icy sea, or dry land; nor do we know
which of these three conditions would be most favorable for investigation. It may be presumed, however, that an open sea would be, in
several respects, the most disadvantageous. In the first place, it would
in all probability be so deep that the ship would be unable to anchor;
and the current might be too strong tb permit her to keep stationary
long enough to make accurate observations. In the second place: if she
could not maintain her position steadily at one point, the commander
would experience a new embarrassment, viz., as every meridian must
107 
108      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
extend southlwardly, he would be apt to lose that on which he had approached the Pole-and consequently he would be at a loss how to
shape his course homeward.
The occurrence of this strange difficulty will naturally present itself
as one among many novel phenomena which will arrest the adventurer's
attention, and the following observations would probably occur to him
on the spot. The time of day (to use that phraseology for want of any
other that would be more appropriate) would no longer be marked by
any apparent change in the altitude of the sun above the horizon; because to e spectator at the Pole no such change would appear, except to
the small amount of the daily change of declination. Thus, not only
to the eye, but also for the practical purpose of obtaining the time by
astronomical observations, the sun would appear throughout the twentyfour hours neither to rise nor fall, but to describe a circle round the
heavens parallel with the horizon.  Therefore, the usual mode of ascertaining the time would utterly fail; and indeed, however startling may
be the assertion, it is nevertheless true, that time, or the natural distinction of time, would be no more. This will appear from the consideration that the idea of apparent time refers only to the particular
meridian on which an observer happens to be placed; and is marked or
determined only by the distance of the sun, or some other heavenly
body, from that meridian. Now, as an observer at the Pole is on no one
meridian, but is stationed at a point where all meridians meet, it is evident that "apparent time" for him has no existence.
Before Sir John Franklin left England on his last,voyage to the
Arctic regions, his attention was naturally directed to the best means
of insuring his return from the Pole on the right m,eridian.  The only
two practicable methods which occurred to him, were: —l. By the help
of the compass: 2. By means of chronometers. From the observations
which have already been made in regions far toward the North it may
be considered that at the Pole, the magnetic needle would freely traverse, and that the compass would retain all its efficiency. For, as it
is to the magnetic pole and not to the pole of the earth, that the needle
is directed, and as the dip of the needle amounts to but 82~ 22t at the
most northerly point which has ever been reached, it is probable that
the horizontal or directive force of the needle would remain strong and
efficient at the Pole, and, consequently, that the magnetic bearing of
ally point on the globe might be ascertained by the instrument even at
the Pole itself.
Captain Parry on his voyage through Barrow's Strait observed some
remarkacble phenomena in relation to tie& nIovemeints of the magiletic 
SONNTA.G'S NARi-RATIVRE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
needle. The north end of the needle at one time pointed directly to the
south, and then shifted to the southeast.   The counteractive influences
of the iron on shipboard made the compass entirely useless in that
locality, as the attractive power of the iron nullified the directive force
of the needle. But we need not apprehend that such effects would be
witnessed at the Pole of the earth. For the reason specified above, this
inconvenience would be very unlikely to occur at the extremity of the
earth's axis, because the central point of attraction to which the needle
is directed lies in a much lower latitude.  Our readers may be aware
that Captain Ross actually visited the magnetic pole, or the point so
designated, and planted the British flag on the spot.  Hence it appears
that there is a sufficient difference of position between the magnetic
pole and that of the earth to make the mariner's compass an available
instrument at the latter.
The other method of insuring the return of an exploring party on the
right meridian, is by means of the chronometer. It is evident that to a
spectator at the Pole, the sun, at the precise moment of apparent noon
at any given place, would appear exactly in the direction of that place;
and consequently that the time of noon at that place ascertained by the
chronometer, would be a certain indication of the right direction.   But
as watches are usually made with the hours on the dial plate marked
from one to twelve only, a difficulty might arise in distinguishing 12
o'clock at noon from the hour of midnight, in a place where there is
perpetual sunshine and no change in the altitude of the solar orb to
distinguish one time from another. To avoid the possibility of such a
mistake, it would be necessary to use a chronometer, the dial-plate of
which would be marked with all the hours from I to XXIV; the hourhand making but one revolution in the whole period. Then, when the
chronometer indicated apparent noon at Greenwich, the sun would be
exactly over the meridian of that place, and the same rule would serve
for any other place of known longitude.
It is impossible to say what benefits to the cause of science might
result from an accurate examination of large tracts of sea or land,
which had never been examined before. But with respect to the enterprise now under consideration, there is one object of very great importance, in a scientific point of view, which might be attained by a visit
to the Pole, viz., the measurement of a Degree of the Meridian, commencing from the Pole itself.  Many readers of this narrative are
aware that the form of the earth has, long since, been ascertained to be
that of an oblate spheroid, having its equatorial diameter much longer
than its polar diameter; or, in more popular language, the earth is
109 
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__~~~~~ _.                                                          __.,nrlimitu
_______~~            I                            I /'f'___
SITUATION AFTER THE DISRUPTION OF THE ICE.
Page 110.
4' 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION
turnip-shaped, being flattened or depressed at the poles.  But it still
remains a matter of doubt, in what degree this flattening exists; and
there is no conclusive way of settling that question except by the actual measurement of a degree at the Pole, and comparing it with the
length of a degree at the Equator. The attainment of this object alone
would be an ample compensation for the labor which would be required
to effect it. If a sufficient length of line could be measured on one of
the meridians which are clustered at the Pole, the operation would require
the most rigid attention, as the accuracy of many future calculations
would depend on the precision of that measurement.
The ellipticity of the earth may be ascertained by the swinging of a
pendulum, but this method is liable to some objections. It is an operation which may be conducted by one person however, whereas the
actual measurement of the meridian line would require several persons;
and, as an increase of gravitation takes place from the Equator to the
Pole, it is desirable that the requisite observations should be made at
the latter point, or as near it as possible. But a ship on an open or
icy sea would not afford a convenient locality for these experiments.
Should land, or any portion of it, however small, be found at the
Pole, or near it, all the required observations might be conducted to a
successful issue. It may be presumed that if any such land exists, it is
not of a mountainous character, as no icebergs are ever sent down
from that quarter.   These  masses  are known  to be  the products
of glaciers on the sides of high mountains and in the intermediate
valleys, especially those glaciers which exist in Spitzbergen and Greenland.
On a piece of land, at or adjacent to the Pole, the pendulum may
be swung, and the rise, fall, and direction of the tides may be observed.
It would be interesting also, to examine the nature of the soil and its
vegetable productions, the disposition of the strata, and the mineral
products, if any. And, if the land be of sufficient extent, the moridional distance may be measured.
The tides at the Pole would be a deeply interesting subject for examination; and many other important matters, such as magnetic phenomena, atmospherical electricity, and the aurora polaris, with various
other meteorological facts, would claim the attention of the scientific
observer. I hope, therefore, that the ultra-utilitarians themselves will
concede that Arctic discoveries are of practical importance enough to
justify the labor and expense which may be necessary to prosecute
them to a successful result.
ill 
CHAPTER XIV.
DEVOTIONS ON SHIPBOARD.-WE BID A FINAL ADIEU TO THE " AD  VANCE."-THE CELEBRATED BOAT JOURNEY COMMENCED.-APPALL  ING DANGERS OF THIS ENTERPRISE.-TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS.-NAR  ROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING.-DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.-DEATH AND
FUNERAL OF THE CARPENTER.-A GRAVE UNEXPECTEDLY PROVIDED.
HAVING resolved to abandon the ship, we all applied ourselves to
making the most active preparations for our journey over the ice,
which promised to be a very toilsome and unpleasant enterprise.  Provisions were put up in canvas bags, made to fit under the seats of the
boats in order that they might occupy as little space as possible.   The
mode of traveling we had decided on was by sledge conveyance,
as long as the ice should be found solid enough to answer that purpose;
and after we had crossed the icy girdle which surrounded the ship, our
plan was to proceed in the boats, (three in number,) which we were
obliged to carry with us, as heavy and unwieldy as they were.  To
carry out this design, we constructed three sledges, each one large and
long enough to carry a boat. The boats were placed on the sledges
in the same positions which they would have assumed in the water.
Our sick people and the provisions were then placed in the boats, each
of which was very heavily laden; and indeed to prepare them for the
hard service they would be required to perform, it was necessary to
strengthen the boats by additional planks and timbers, which of course
greatly increased the weight.
lVhile these preparations were going on, Dr. Kane himself made two
final attempts at exploration in a northern direction, his principal ob-.
ject being to cross the channel and to continue the examination and
search which had been commenced in the preceding year. In pursuance of this plan, he commenced his journey in a dog sledge with
two Esquimaux attendants, one of them doing duty as a guide, and the
other as driver of the dog team. But when he and his savage companions had proceeded to the distance of a few miles from the ship.
some bear-tracks were unfortunately discovered on the ice-and then
no persuasions or inducements could prevail on the Esquimaux guide
and driver to proceed one yard further in the direction which Dr.
(112) 
SONNTAG'. NARRATIVE IkF TIIE (RINNLf.  LI;I'EDITIO.N.
Kane wished to travel.  They held to the opinion that the capture of
a bear was an enterprise of infinitely more importance than any plroject
which could engage the attention of Dr. Kane. The Doctor was enforced, therefore, much against his inclination, to accompany his ardent
companions on a bear-hunt, from which, when the first opportunity
offered, he returned to the ship, very much out of humor with the Esquimaux race in general, and with his late guide and driver in particular.
His second attempt was equally unsuccessful, though from a different
cause. The condition of the ice, a few miles from the ship, was such
as to make sledge traveling impossible; the whole surface being covered
with hummocks  and( hillocks, over which the vehicle could not pass.
These attempts having failed, the Doctor turned all his attention to that
hazardous boat-journey which had been resolved on as the only means
of extricating his company from the certain destruction which menaced
them in their present situation.
The preparations for this journey having been completed, all handls
were assembled on the deck of the ship for the last time.   Our cotmmander then made a solemn and impressive address to the company,
reminding them of the obligations which they owed to Divine Providence for their preservation through so many dangers, and admonishiig them to implore Almighty God for guidance and protection in the
still greater perils through which they were about to pass. This address
being finished, Dr. Kane read an appropriate and beautiful prayer,
which had been written by the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New
York, expressly for the use of the Arctic expedition. There was something in these devotional exercises, or rather in the circumstances which
attended them, which was well calculated to impress every auditor with
feelings of reverentiM awe;  and never perhaps did the incense of
prayer ascend to the Throne of Grace from hearts more truly contiite
and sincere, though our best and only temple was a dismantled  shipi
clasped in the horrid embrace  of the icy ocean.   Many of the worsluipers there assembled had lately risen from beds of sickness, and
some of them were still afflicted with a painful and dangeus  disease,
with the gloomy probability before them that their last hours would be
spent far away from home and kindred, with no sympathizing friend
to whisper words of hope and consolation in the hour of death, and no
pious drops of affection to soothe the anguish of their last moments.
Even the wild and grotesque appearance of the worshipers, in their
uncouth fur garments, added to the solemlnity of the scene, by forcibly
reminding us of our isolated condition, far removed from all hope of
succor and aid from our own species.  But we reiiiembered that we
113 
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r,].OZI:.N- 1,N  T~llr   ICE~' OF,F  CAPE' COi'ONl'T.
I.
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I
---
Ii.
rium 
SONNTA'.('S N8R.RuIATIVE OF THE (GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
were still in the hands of that powerful and benevolent Being wlose
dominion extends even to the uttermost parts of the earth, an(l this
assurance inspired us with hope and confidence; for we knew that no
calamity could befall us, and no destruction overtake us, without his
permission.
It was in the afternoon of May 17, that, after the performance of
the acts of devotion just spoken of, our journey was commenced.  TI'e
atmosphere was very much obscured by a dense fog, and Nature herself appeared to assume a gloomy and foreboding aspect.  We began
to experience the formidable difficulties of our undertaking at the very
outset.  Our dog teams were useless at that time, as the strength of
the animals was altogether unequal to the task of drawiin, the heavily
laden sledges.  It was necessary therefore that the men themselves, or
such of them as were not disabled by sickness, should be employed in
the severe labor of drawing the sledges through the deep snow with
which the frozen surface of the sea was covered. A canvas strap
wis attached to each sledge, and the men, taking this strap on their
shoulders and marching in Indian file, drew the ponderous load along
by dint of great exertion, their progress being most discouragingly
slow, scarcely exceeding half a mile per hour.  A small troop of pioneers, armed with shovels and axes, went before, to free the track as
much as possible from obstructions.
When one sledge, with its superincumbent boat and lading, had been
dragged by the tedious and laborious process I have described, to the
distance of about one mile, the whole party returned to bring the second boat in the same nmanner; and so with the third, and last.  In
some places it was necessary to use levers to force the sledges over
hummocks, and other obstructions which could not otherwise be passed.
Dr. Kane, in the mean time, was engaged in conveying provisions in
the dog sledge to a point some distance ahead, where, as soon as he
had deposited one load, he returned for another. By the time at which
the third sledge was dragged up to the spot where the tw Ohers were
waiting, the men were all so thoroughly fatigued that   ing more
could be done that evening, although we had advanced scarcely one mile
from the ship.  To afford the men an opportunity for repose, canvas
covers or awnings were placed over two of the boats, and- all hands,
(except one who was appointed to keep watch) "turned in," as the
sailors say, or in the phraseology of the land service, went to bed.
Meanwhile the watchman, who also exercised the functions of cook,
prepared a pot of hot tea for the refreshment of his coalhrades when
they should turn out.
115 
116      S8iNNTAG'S NARIt'ATI-E ()F THlE GRINNELL EXPFDITION.
Tile slow progress we made was dishearteining, especially when we
considered that, in all probability, the immense platform of ice over
which we were traveling became more extensive every day, as the freez ing process was still going on.  The  difficulty of traveling increased
every day-the ice becoming rougher as we proceeded southward.  At
many places the current beneath had worn or washed the ice away,
making it too thin and frail to afford us a safe pathway.  Several
times the sledges broke through, and it required our most strenuous
exertions, for hours at a time, to place them again on ice that was
solid enough to support them.   Of course, the men broke through with
the sledges, and several of them had very narrow escapes from drown ing. One in particular disappeared under the ice, and we had given
him up for lost, when to our great surprise and gratification he appeared at another opening, and was dragged out in a state of iilsensibility, from which he recovered in about half an hour. Besides the
danger attending these accidents, the repeated wvettings which the men
received were seriously afflictive-as the water in which they were
submerged was of the temperature of melting ice, and we had no conveniences for warming ourselves or drying our apparel. Another great
trouble to us was the prevalence of snow-blindness among our party;
as this disease, besides producing a great deal of suffering, occasioned
much delay and inconvenience, because every person afflicted with the
malady was compelled to keep his eyes closely bandaged, and to be led
along by some other member of the party who had the use of his eyes.
And there was yet another cause of distress; our provisions began to
grow scanty, and that which we had was not of a very agreeable or
wholesome quality.  We suffered very much from this cause, especially during the last days of our journey; and we might have been
absolutely starved had we not, by a fortunate accident, met with seveiral Esquimaux hunters, who charitably supplied us with some sea-birds
which they had killed; and on these we subsisted for several days previous to orrival at open water.
The te    ature, which was below zero when we left the ship, became
warmer every day; in consequence of this change, the snow became
soft or mushy, and our imien were obliged to travel all day with
wet feet.   As snow aipv e:rs to have a peculiar tact in penetrating
tihrough evxirv.iling, our seal-skin boots afforded us very little protection
from the (t,l,iip and cold. As stated above, our progress seldom exceeded tvo or three miles per diem, except on several particular occasions, when we happened to be favored with a fair and strong wind. 
SONNTAGC'I  NAR,PRA.-TIV-F, 4-)F'r[ILE  (IIINNFLL  FXPEDITI()N.
At such times sails were hoisted ini the boats, anal all hands getting
aboard, we skimmed over the ice with considerable rapidity, but experienced some difficulty in keeping the boats on the right course, for
want of suitable steering apparatus.   Sometimes our sledge-boats, when
propelled in this manner, would be driven into huge snow-drifts, from
which they could scarcely be extricated with all the exertions that we
were able to make.
On one of these occasions, our carpenter, Mr. Ohlsen, while. making
great efforts to return one of the boats to the right track, ruptured a
blood-vessel and died in consequence two days afterward.   His death
was an irreparable loss to the Expedition, which had often been extricated from great difficulties by his energy and ingenuity; indeed, there
was no man of the party whose individual efforts had been of greater
service to the enterprise.  The circumstances attending, his death, as
well as the loss of his valuable services, made a very painful impression
on us all.  Latterly he had shown a very anxious desire to return to his
family, and he exerted himself more than ever to accomplish this object;
but when the principal obstacles were surmounted, and we were almost
within view of the open sea, this most unfortunate accident took place,
effectually cutting off all hopes of his return to his wife and children.
When he perceived that his speedy death was inevitable, the only feelings of regret which seemed to disturb the tranquillity of his last
moments, were apprehensions for the welfare of his family, and the
painful thought that he must die so far away from the dearest object of
his affections.
After he had breathed his last, the company halted for several hours
to provide means for his interment.  These means were scanty ind(leed,
for we had not even boards enough to make a coffin; but a tomb was
provided for him in a manner most unlooked for and surprising to us
all.  We happened to be in the neighborhood of a small isolated spot
of ground called Littleton Island, which had formerly been discovered by
Captain Inglefield.  As this offered a suitable place for buri/e took
the corpse on shore; and you may judge what was our asfishment
when almost the first object we discovered on this island, was a grave,
which Nature herself had excavated from the rock!  The form and size
of this sepulchre were exactly adapted to the melancholy purpose which
we came thither to accomplish; and while we performed the funeral rites
of our deceased companion, a feeling of superstitious awe seemed to
pervade the whole  company, as we stood around  the tomb which
appeared to have been miraculously provided for the occasion. We
117 
.......... ~~ ~,.~-~... ~...............~"
IIAKLLTYT'S TIEADLAND. 
SONNTA(,' S NARRATIVE OF TIlE (4p'INNELL EXPEDITION.
covered the grave with moss and stones, securing it from the deple(lation of wild beasts; and this was the only monument we could afford to
the memory of a man who had perished in the service of the cause of
science, and who better deserves to be held in grateful remembrance
than many whose epitaphs and dubious panegyrics are recorded on
brass and marble.
119
bar# 
CHAPTER XV.
AllRIVAL AT OPEN WATER.-EMBARKATION.-ADVENTURES AT SEA.  ARRIVAL AT HAKLUYT'S ISLAND.-GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP.-DREARY
ASPECT OF TIlE COAST.-THE TRANSPORTATION OF ROCKS BY ICEBERGS.
-SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.-LARGE SUPPLIES OF DUCK EGGS.-WANT
OF FUEL TO COOK THEM.
A FEW days after the sad accident recorded in the last chapter, we
reached the edge of the open water, which, in that direction and at
that time, was eighty miles from the ship; but, as we had been compelle(l to proceed in a circuitous course, we must have traveled over two
two hundred miles of ice.  But as soon as we arrived at the open sea
a heavy gale from the southwest set in, which broke up the ice at the
edges without floating it away; and, for several days, the boats were
obliged to retreat, in order to find a secure position on the fast ice, as
the breaking up at the edge was continued by the heavy swell from the
southwest. The open sea. which now rolled before us in all its majesty,
presented a grand spectacle, and a very agreeable one to us.  The
large, unincumbered expanse of water was bounded only by the horizon; no other limits were discoverable even from the tallest ice-hills.
The dark color of this watery expanse was to us an object of curiosity,
so strongly was it contrasted with the white surfaces of ice and snow
to which we had been accustomed for two years. The change was a
most grateful relief to the diseased eyes of some of our people, who had
been almost deprived of the sense of sight by the dazzling brightness
of the snow and ice.
Large icebergs were seen in rapid motion; the high, white-capped
waves brewng on them and dashing the spray aloft, while the sunbeams, glancing through the misty showers, imparted to them all the
richest and loveliest tints of the rainbow.
On the morning of the nineteenth day of June the gale had ceased,
and the boats were lauuched from the icy embankment. A light
breeze, which soon increased to a moderate gale, relieved the men from
the labor of the oar. All were in good spirits, as no discouraging
obstacles were now opposed to our progress. Within the first day after
we had betaken ourselves to the boats we proceeded almost as far on
(1 ~o) 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
our homeward course as we had done in the preceding month; and
this we did with scarcely any exertion at all, whereas our month's
journey over the ice was a labor worthy of Alcides himself. In the
afternoon, after a run of about fifty miles, we were brought up by a
collection of ice, which, being broken up in small pieces, was a complete obstruction (though a temporary one) to our passage. All hands
then turned in and took a comfortable nap of eight or ten hours, leaving
but one of our party to keep watch. On the next morning the ice had
opened sufficiently to give us a clear track. When we had proceeded,
with all sails set, a little more than fifteen miles, and were but a short
distance from a small island called Hakluyt, a gale from the south
sprung up, and soon became so violent that we deemed it prudent to
steer for the land. After immense labor (having to work against a
head wind) and no little danger, we reached the island. in struggling
to gain which we had consumed several hours. One of our boats was
nearly filled with water, and all of them had sustained damages which
made repairs necessary.  On this island we were compelled to remain
two days, before the ice and wind permitted us to proceed on our
voyage.
The coast which had been in sight to the eastward during a great
part of our trip, is one of the most desolate that imagination ever portrayed. Mountains, from one thousand to two thousand feet in'height,
rise from the sea and extend almost without intervals along the whole
coast. These mountains are covered with snow, where the sides are
not too precipitous to retain it. The precipices show the dark naked
rock, unrelieved by a single tree, bush, or any sign of vegetation. The
few valleys which appear between these mountains are occupied by
those rivers of ice called glaciers which emerge from the great ice
basin, which covers all the interior and extends to the sea, squeezing
through every passage, and heaping up those immense mountains of
floating ice with which these waters abound. In no part of the world
is the aspect of nature so repulsive.  Nothing is visible but, ice, water,
and rock. In the midst of these ice streams, which oftend present, at
the point of junction with the sea, a face of more than ten miles in
breadth, sometimes are seen dark rocky peaks of great height and
completely surrounded by ice. The semifluid rivers of ice being divided
into two branches by these peaks, are reunited after they have passed by
the obstruction, but a black line extends from the point of reunion to
the sea. This black line consists of the stones and rubbish which the
glacier carries away from the sides of the peak, and afterward inserts
them in the icebergs formed on the coast.  By these again they are
121 
ITIVC)Il           l1l-il ll -l fl:17.11                    K(l           I''!,',"I~'        &'          i:'     i                    V~
I                                                                     ~_
- -. -.
., -, -- - -
-L. -.;'  - —  
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
conveyed over seas'to remote shores, where they are deposited on the
bottom when the icebergs melt. Some of these stones or boulders are as
large as medium-sized houses. It sometimes happens that they are deposited by icebergs on planes or platforms of rock of a very different
kind, situated at the bottom of the sea, thousands of miles from the
place of their origin. Here they remain isolated, and when the land
rises, as it now does in Sweden, Norway, and the west coast of
South America, the boulders are brought to light and attract attention by their singularity, as no similar rocks perhaps are to be found
within a compass of several hundred miles.  Such phenomena, not very
l(ong ago, caused much embarrassment among geologists, who were unable to explain how these masses of stone were transported to such great
distances from the sites of their original location.
It is a curious speculation, but not a very improbable one, to suppose
that those large masses of stone, evidently of foreign origin, which are
now found on the plains of northern Germany, and in other parts of
Europ?.; and which, more than a thousand years ago, supplied altars
for Druidical sacrifice, were transported by erratic icebergs at some very
remote  time, firom the mountains of the Polar regions.  These transportations are certainly among the most wonderful operations of
nature.
After we left Hakluyt Island, (our first resting place subsequent to
our embarkation,) our progress was less rapid than it was on the first
day of our voyage in the boats.  Immense quantities of drifting ice
often interrupted our passage; and, on several occasions, we were compelled to lay by for several days at a time. At the commencement of
our trip we shot a great number of birds called little auks, which in
our straitened circumstances were considered as tolerably palatable
food. These birds migrate, every spring, from the latitude of Labrador to the regions of the high north, where they perform their incubation, returning with their brood in September.  Their nests are placed
on the slopes of the hills and artfully concealed under stones, so that
it is almost impossible to find them.  These fowls are very numerous;
the flocks of them being even larger than those of the wild pigeons, which
visit some parts of the United States.   The mountains and seas are
often covered for many miles with the auks; millions of them at a time
must have been in sight from our boats. They were so densely crowded
together that the most unskillful or unlucky gunner could not fail to
make a good shot. This was rare sport for those who liked it. Scarcely
troubling ourselves to take aim, we blazed away, and very often twenty
or thirty auks were killed by each discharge of the gun.  The quantity
122 
1 24     SONNTAG S NAIFtA{TIV:F'riiTE -;RINNELL EXPEDITION.
of these birds consume(l  by ouir party was enormous.  Each of us ate
fi-om  tlhree to six at a, mneal, a,id all of the men who could  be spared
from the service of the boats were almost constantly employed in preparing them for the kettle.  Lest this account shoul(d cause  us to be
suspecte(d of ogre-like voracity, let me  remark  that the  auk  is not
la.rger than a snipe, and that we  had nothing to eat with  them-rio
veg,etables. and very often no brea(l.  Besi(des, the Arctic breezes,:; I
hlave mentioned in another plce, p  l~ae a surprising effect in slarpe:!i,g
thl-e appetite.
A R C TIC DOG SLED G E-FU L L G A LLO  P.
But  ttils abundant supply of' birds was of short continuai)(e.  As
we increased( our distance from the shore the auks became sca,ice!', and
very soonI we  saw no more of thenm.  Had it not been for tlhis fortunate supply of birds, it is probable that our stock of provisions would
have been exhausted before we  could have  reached any place where
f-eshI supplies might be obtained.   As  it was, we were  compelled to
(,',tttetbt cursel'ies with very short rations, consisting of two ounces of
l, eaid an(l a spoonful of lard for each meal.   Such small allowance of
p)rovisions did( not agree very well with the large amount of work which
our men were require(l to perform.  The consequence was  that  many
of them becamne sick, and all of them were too weak to execute their
tasks in a very efficient manner.
About the middle of July wNe reacheled another little islan-l called
I)all,y'yl ple iRok, whlere w,-' pct, reil  a goodl supply of fresli piovisiols. 
SONNTAG S NAPRTATIVE (EF Tile  GINN'.;LF, EXPlDIl''ION.
This island is a great place of resort for eider (lucks, and here we found
their eggs in great abundance. During the two or three days of our abode
on this island, where we were detained by the closely packed ice and the
want of favorable winds-several thousands of these duck eggs were
collected from this small rocky island, which is little more than a mile
iii circumference. These eggs are nearly twice as large as lien's eggs,
tile shells are of a greenish color, and thle taste of thle enclosed  ali iment is very much like that of the colmmon duck eggs, rather stronger
perhaps; but as our stomachs acrie strong likewise,  they  were not
d(aunted by the flavor of the eggs.  The nests of these (lucks are of a
circular form, and are composed entirely of eider-down, which the bird
plucks from her own breast for the purpose of forming her "procreant
cradle." The stock of eggs which we laid in at this place furnished
us with provisions for several days, but afforded very little variety in
the way of eating.  We breakfasted, dined, and supped on eggs, and on
eggs only, except a small allowance of bread at each meal.  However,
we had a sufficiencg of eggs, and that to people in our situation was a
blessing for which we felt bound to be grateful.
But another difficulty now occurred to us.  Our fuel had become
very scarce, and we apprehended that we should soon be unable to get
(ur eggs cooked.  Before we left the United States we laid in a large
stock of pork fat, intended for lamp fuel and other combustible purposes; but this article had now become extremely scarce.   It was resolved, therefore, in solemn conclave, that the lard fuel should be
reserved for the purpose of boiling our tea, and that the eggs should
thenceforth be eaten raw; which resolution was carried into effect,
much to the discomfort of some of our party.
1'.2 
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PO)STTION OF TIIE BRIG  cAI)VAN',I,.'
I;.i' ":
I 
CHAPTER XVI.
WE ARRIVE AT A SPOT WELL POPULATED BY FEATHERED  BIPEDS.  GREAT SLAUGHTER OF THE INIIABITANTS.-WE  EXPECT TO MEET'
WITH WIIALERS, BUT ARE DISAPPOINTED.-VEXATIOUS DECEPTIONS
PRACTICED  ON  US  BY THE  ICEBERGS.-ARRIVAL  AT MELVILLE
BAY.-DIFFICULTIES OF NAVIGATION AT THAT POINT. -THREE WHITE
MEN ARE DISCOVERED ON AN ISLAND.-ARRIVAL AT A DANISH SET  TLEMIENT THE END OF THE FAMOUS BOAT JOURNEY.
JUST at the time when all our eggs were used up, our progress was
effectually stopped by large floes of ice which adhered to the shore,
and were too thin to admit of the transportation of our boats ovei
them on sledge-runners as formerly. All that we could do, therefore,,
was to wait patiently until, by the action of the wind and waves, tlis
obstruction should be broken up or removed. We landed on the coast,
where we were detained for three weeks; but fortunately the pl,ce
afforded us an ample supply of food. This locality was a "rookery"'
of loons, situated among some cliffs, which rise from one thousand to
fifteen hundred feet perpendicularly from the sea.  The loon is a marine bird which migrates, like the little auk, to high northern latitudes,
in the summer season, for the purpose of depositing its eggs and hatchling them. The rocky precipices were covered with these animals. 0Ot
every little projecting shelf of the rock the birds were seen in close
ranks, sitting on their eggs. Very often fifty or more of them were
ranged in one straight line with their breasts toward the sea. They
do not build any nests, but hold their eggs on their feet, and so perform
the operation of hatching them.   They execute this maternal office
with admirable patience.  The water from the melting snow often runs
from the rocks above directly under them; but they seem to disregard
this inconvenience.  The noise made by the vast congregation of birds
which frequent these rocks is almost stunning, exceeding the roar of
Niagara; millions of the feathered performers being engaged in the
grand concert. Their melody, however, is not of the most fascinating
kind.  To say the truth we did not like their music, and therefore we
felt no compunction or remorse when we fired among the vocalists, and
silenced some of them most effectually.  When a gun is discharged into
the rookery, so many birds fly up that the sky seems to be filled with
(127) 
128     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
them, considerably thicker than "the leaves which strew the autumnal
floods in Valambrosa," and the horizon, for a time, is scarcely visible.
But the vast numbers which rise on their wings make no  perceptible
Timinution of the less timid( crowds which remain on the rocks. From
two to five, and sometimes more, are killed at every shot; and such is
tie thronged condition of the birds, that it makes little difference
\" hether you take aim or not.  As the startled flocks rise up at the
ie port of the gun, immense quantities of eggs are thrown into the sea;
nor is this the only waste, for at least a half of the birds which are
sllot fall on the shelves of the rock where they were sitting, and
lremain there, far beyond the reach of the gunner.  A sufficient number
lowiever fell down on the ice or water at the foot of the cliffs, and
these were reserved for the uses of our culinary department.
The average weight of a loon is about two pounds. The legs, wings,
and bill of this bird, like those of the little auk, are black. The
breast is white.  Two of them are often seen fighting on the surface
(f the water, an(d thev are so intent on their belligerent operations that
nothing else can attract their notice until the duel is ended.  While
these fights were going on, a man in a boat often approached the scene
of battle, and took possession of one or both of the combatants with
perfect ease; their warlike ardor not allowing them to perceive the
advance of their common enemy. While we were waiting under these
cliffs for the breaking up of the ice, we feasted luxuriously on loons
and their eggs-and likewise put up for future use several bags full of
the birds, which were cleaned and dried for the purpose.
In the meanwhile, a watch was kept for whaling vessels, as we were
now in the track which is frequented by ships engaged in that service.
Several times we were all excited by the report that a ship was in sight,
but in all cases this proved to be a mistake. The object which our man
on the lookout mistook for a ship, invariably proved to be an iceberg;
and the mistake was excusable, for the bergs are very deceptive when
seen at a distance, assuming all imaginable forms, and old sailors are
often deceived by their close resemblance to ships in full sail. The delusion is sometimes most wonderful; the spectator sees, or imagines he
sees the mast, sails and rigging all traced out with the greatest precision, the dark lines which help to make out the picture being nothing
more than the stones, earth, and rubbish which are incorporated with
the ice.  I have often been startled by the appearance of magnificent
buildings rising from the sea; and not until I had been repeatedly
taught by experience that the appearance was fallacious, could I be
persuaded that the splendid object before me was merely an iceberg. 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL IEXPEDITION.
After many such excitements and disappointments, the ice opened
sufficiently to let the boats pass. We then worked our way slowly
along the coast, passing another community of little auks and observing
a constant succession of dreary mountainous scenery such as I have
described in the preceding chapter. The position of the ice was always
changing with the changes of the tides, closing in toward the shore
when the tide set in that direction and opening again when the tide set
outward. We were obliged therefore to be always on the alert, laying
by and sheltering ourselves in the cover when the ice pressed in toward
the shore, and proceeding onward as expeditiously as possible when the
track was reopened. Warping along in this way made severe labor
for the men, who were kept actively employed so long as the passage
remained unobstructed, which was sometimes from twelve to fifteen
hours. The time allowed them for repose was seldom more than five or
six hours per diem.
By the nineteenth day of June we reached Cape York, at the entrance of Melville Bay.  This bay is an indentation on the coast of
Greenland of sixty miles in depth. It lies south and east of Cape
York and to the north of a point called the Devil's Thumb. From this
point to Cape York the water is generally covered with immense fields
of ice, called by navigators the "land-ice,"  or "fast-ice of Melville
Bay," along the edges of which the whalers work their way to the north.
Outside of this vast ice-cake are moving fields of ice composed of slabs
or pieces of all sizes, which are broken up by the motion of the water
and their collision with each other.  This last-mentioned ice is called by
sailors "the middle pack," it is in constant motion, being driven about
oy the winds and currents.  This collection of ice is formed by the discharges from the several channels of Lancaster, Jones', Smith's, and
Whale Sounds, which discharges are accumulated at this point by the
currents flowing in various directions.   On'the west coast of Greenland
or east side of Baffin's Bay, a current sets in and runs northward until
it approaches Cape York, when it turns to the west.  WVhen it reaches
Lancaster Sound it unites with a current proceeding from that channel,
and both together run southward along the western side of Baffin's Bay
or the east coast of North America.
There is a large expanse of slack-water between the current running
northward on the east side of the Bay, and that which runs southward
on the west side. In this slack-water the ice carried out by these currents is accumulated, and forms those large tracts of movable ice called
the Middle Pack.   By  southerly and westerly winds  this pack is
driven toward the  fast-ice, anti then the passage through  Melville
129 
~j>~;~<~~                         x,xxwxxx///~/7/~~X~
~
" NIPPED" BY THE ICE-FOX'S CHANI 
SONNTAG' S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
Bay is shut up. But it is opened again by winds from the north and
east, and then there is an unobstructed track for ships between the fastice and the "pack." Often when the wind changes, and from other
causes, the pack ice is driven in suddenly and unexpectedly, and then
the ships which happen to be in the passage are in a very dangerous
situation, as we have explained in a former part of this narrative.
For the most part of the time our little fleet of boats was favored
with fair winds and a free passage through these accumulations of ice.
Only on a few occasions were we obliged to resort to our sledge runners
to transport the boats over ice cakes which shut up our passage. At
one time we were full seventy miles from the nearest land. We again
found it necessary to economize our provisions in this part of our voyage, and all hands were put on the very short allowance of two ounces
of bread for each individual, at a meal. In this exigency, the marksmanship of Mr. Petersen, the Danish interpreter, afforded us unexpected relief. He had the good fortune to kill a large seal, which
supplied us not only with meat, but also with fat or blubber for fuel.
The whole company was much revived and inspirited by this timely
supply of provisions, whereby the men were enabled to do more work,
and our progress was somewhat accelerated.
On the third day of August the boats were again in open water,
moving onward quite briskly under the impulse of a fresh breeze from
the north. Our squadron now consisted only of two boats; the third
one, the Little -Dingy, was cut up for firewood soon after we entered
Melville Bay. She was smaller than the other two boats, and much less
swift. Finding therefore that she only retarded our movements, we
condemned her to the flames; and we were rather glad to have a fair
excuse foi supplying ourselves with such capital fuel.  The crew of the
condemned boat was equally divided between the other two, so each of
our remaining boats had eight men.
The fourth of August was a memorable day. In the afternoon of
that day we saw the first white men which, with the exception of our
own party, we had seen for more than two years. The sight of these
persons was almost as grateful to us as if they had been our own
kindred. The manner of our meeting with them was as follows.
While we were sailing among some small islands, human voices were
neard, and soon, through the spy-glass, we discovered a tent on one of
the islands; shortly after we observed the masts of a large boat; and then
three men were discovered on the side of a hill. So eager were we to
exchange greetings with them, that all hands betook themselves to the
oars, and the boats were made to shoot with arrow-like swiftness to the
131 
132     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
shore. The strangers proved to be three Danes, who had come thither
in a very large boat to procure oil and blubber from the Esquimaux,
whose summer habitations are scattered about on these islands.  Our
new acquaintances were from the northernmost Danish settlement,
called Upernavik.   They behaved  in  the most hospitable manner,
offering us three luxuries which we had almost forgotten, viz., coffee,
beer, and tobacco, all of which were thankfully accepted.   According
to the estimate of these Danes we were sixteen Danish miles, equal to
seventy-five statute miles from Upervavik.
~ ffi~~~
S E A L S.
We made a halt for several hours with these persons, partaking of the
refreshments which they freely offered us, after which we re-embarked
and steered directly for the settlement, which we reached on the eighth
of August, having been much incommoded on the last days of our voyage by the densest fog that ever came under my observation.
Our arrival made a tremendous sensation among the people of the
settlement, who all assembled on the beach to receive us, and wonder
at our outlandish and almost unearthly appearance. Mr. Petersen, our
interpreter, was a resident of this place, and his wife and children were
among those who thronged the beach to give us a welcome. The meet 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
ing of SIr. Petersen and his relations, some of whom probably never
expected to see him again, was joyful to themselves and affecting to
the spectators. The joy of his wife was the more excessive, because
she had been impressed with the belief that he would never return, the
dangers of Arctic travel being much magnified by her affectionate
solicitude. Our boats were hauled up on shore, and our people slept
in them that night for the last time.
133 
;j;jy/ / jiji/ji $\\
I-X
M-ffifl~ffl~Thffiffl~M
~
OUR RUDDER-POST, AFTER A SEVERE "cNIP."
Page 134. 
CCHAPTER XVII.
OUR COOL RECEPTION AT UPERNAVIK.-THIE ESQUIMAUX TREAT US HAND  SOMELY.-THE CURIOUS RELIGIOUS NOTIONS OF THESE PEOPLE.  THEIR GOVERNMENT.-TIIEIR STRANGE DUELS.-IMPROVEMENTS IN
THEIR MODES OF LIVING.
THE governor of the settlement, Mr. Fleischer, was absent, and,
without his permission nothing could be given out of the public stores.
We were compelled, therefore, to live for several days on the provisions
which we had brought with us from the north, hoping that we should
fare better when the governor had returned. We were quartered in a
loft over a storehouse, and our mode of living was not much more stylish
and comfortable than it had been for the preceding three months in the
boats. The Esquimaux inhabitants and the priest, Mr. Kragh, showed
us much kindness. Observing that the loft in which we lodged was too
cool to be agreeable, they invited us to their tents, giving us permission
to sleep on the floors, but they were unable to afford us any bedding;
we were constrained, therefore, to use that which we had brought with
us from the ship. We remained here about three weeks, waiting for
the Danish vessel which makes an annual visit to the settlement. On
the arrival of this vessel a passage for the whole company was engaged.
The vessel was a brig called the Mariana, of about two hundred tons
burden. On her departure she was-freighted with seal skins and oil;
and as the cabin was merely large enough to accommodate three persons, it was appropriated to Dr. Kane and two of his officers. The
others were lodged a-midships, among the oil casks, but the captain
endeavored to make the whole party as comfortable as possible.
The Esquimaux inhabitants of the Upernavik settlement appeared
to be sorry to part with us. In justice to them I must say that they
had treated us much better than the other settlers did, though the latter
pretend to more civilization. As I became more intimately acquainted
with these singular people, I felt disposed to like them better. Of all
savages, so called, they are, perhaps, the most amiable-especially those
of them who have been least in correspondence or contact with civilized
nations. While we remained at this settlement I applied myself to
(135) 
136     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
the study of the Esquimaux character; and being under the necessity,
like my comrades, of passing much of my time in the Esquimaux huts,
I had very good opportunities for learning various particulars concerning their customs, religious impressions, &c., which, not being comprised in my former accounts of these tribes, may be here introduced,
with the hope that they will be as interesting to my readers as they
were to myself.
All the Esquimaux tribes depend on the sea, or the productions
thereof, for their subsistence: their places of residence, therefore, are
always  near the coasts or on  small islands.  Their dwellings  are
sparsely distributed over a large space; thus the tribe which inhabits
the shores at the head of Baffin's Bay occupies a coast line extending
more than three hundred and fifty miles, yet there are not more than
twenty huts, arranged in clusters of from three to five, within that
extent of ground, and the population is probably less than two hundred
persons, including men, women, and children. Their life is subject to
many vicissitudes, perpetually alternating between a feast and a famine.
They are never moderate in prosperity, but always patient in adversity.
No prospect of want can make them economical. When they have food,
they use it freely, and indeed extravagantly; and when they have
little or nothing to eat, they submit to their privations with admirable
fortitude and resignation.
They subsist for the most part on animal food; viz., the flesh of
the bear, walrus, seal, and fox, and occasionally certain aquatic birds;
but when pressed by hunger, they devour the few edible herbs and
roots which their sterile country affords, and especially the lichen, or
moss, which is found on some of the rocks; and it sometimes happens
that they are obliged to maintain themselves for months together on
this "lenten entertainment."
The religion of the Esquimaux is, of all curious systems of theology,
the most curious. Nevertheless they are not polytheists, demon-worshipers, nor even idolaters, in the common acceptation of that term.
They believe in one supreme deity, whom they call Toongarsoon; likewise in a devil, who is of the feminine gender, but whose proper name
(if she has one), I could never ascertain. Their god is supposed to
reside in a handsome stone dwelling, situated somewhere in the sea.
His occupation, according to their notion, is a very benevolent one: for
he is said to keep large herds of seals, sea-horses, &c., for the express
purpose of providing entertainments for the souls of good men, which
are transported immediately after death to the apartment assigned to
them in the marine palace where' his godship resides. A large apart 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
ment of this palace is said to be fitted up with cooking apparatus, all on
the most extensive scale; pots and kettles of such huge dimensions,
that walruses, sea-unicorns, seals, &c., in large numbers, are boiled or
baked therein every day, to furnish a perpetual banquet for the happy
spirits of deceased Esquimaux hunters, or such of them as have behaved
themselves with tolerable propriety while in the flesh.  Hence it will
appear that the Esquimaux heaven consists of a never-ending feast of
fat things, an eternity of well-cooked walrus-meat and seal's blubber.
The devil (the female one, remember), is supposed to be an unworthy
sister of the divine Toongarson. She resides at some distance from her
brother's palace, on an island, where game of all kinds is very scarce,
where she takes charge of deceased sinners, who, under her domestic
management, fare worse, if possible, than the inmates of some of the
cheap boarding-houses in New York. In fact, these delinquent spirits
suffer the pangs of starvation, and their cries and shrieks of agony are
often heard above the howling of the Arctic gales and the angry roar
of the mountain torrents.
The Esquimaux are almost the only people in the world who have
no government. Every man among them is absolutely his own master.
They have indeed a nominal patriarch or chief-officer of the tribe, who
is called Noolegook; but his office is a sinecure, and his prerogative is
not to enforce obedience but to give advice. His advice is given freely
and seldom gives offense, for the Esquimaux have not learned that it is
an insult to offer a man good counsel; however, they often adopt the
rule which is operative on a majority of our species, that is, to accept
no advice which does not accord with their own opinions.
They acknowledge no law except public opinion, and this seems to
have great weight with them. Crimes are seldom committed because
they are disgraceful and inconvenient, the criminal being shunned and
abhorred by his fellow-countrymen. Injuries are sometimes but not
always punished by acts of private resentment; but the principal way
in which their vengeance is exhibited is by making their enemy ridiculous. For this purpose he is invited by the offended party to meet at a
certain time and place where the matter in dispute becomes the subject
of a satirical controversy, a number of persons being assembled to hear
and decide according to the real merits of the case. The accuser then
makes a speech full of biting sarcasm, in which the conduct of the
accused is represented in the most unfavorable light; and when this
harangue is finished, the opposite party rises and makes another speech,
intended to throw back all the odium and contempt on his opponent. In
this way the discussion is continued until an overwhelming laugh is
137 
\-'11
__________             _______________                             I~/I 
__                                                                    mm ___
I I1I
SEEKING SEiCr,E QUAITERS FOR THIE NI 
SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
raised at the expense of one of the controversialists, who makes a hasty
retreat, pursued by the scoffs and jeers of the whole auditory, while his
opponent, triumphantly claims the victory. All disputes and quarrels
among these people are settled by this whimsical mode of duelling; and
the wordy contest being over, the opposing parties are generally
reconciled and as good friends as ever.
By the arrival of the annual ships at Upernavik, the Esquimaux
residents were supplied with various articles of food which they covet
exceedingly, particularly coffee, which they consume in great quantities
when they have become accustomed to its use. It is fortunate for them
that they have not the same passionate fondness for alcoholic liquor;
but, as I have said before, they have no relish for any thing of the kind.
As soon as the lading of the ship was deposited in the storehouse, the
Esquimaux customers thronged to the place with the commodities for
which they receive European productions in exchange. Soon after a
fire was kindled before every tent, and scores of Esquimaux women were
employed in the preparation of coffee. They make it very strong, and
drink it without milk or cream of course, as these articles are not within
their reach; but for the purpose of sweetening the beverage, they hold
small pieces of sugar candy in their mouths as the Netherland ladies do
ESQUIMAUX AND I1IS KYAIK.
when they drink tea. While their store of coffee lasts, they drink the
liquid preparation ten or twelve times per day.
The Esquimaux of this settlement do not live in stone houses like
139 
140      SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
those on the northern coast; their dwellings are made of sods or turf,
and have wooden roofs and sleeping bunks of the same material;
though the interior of the huts are arranged, in other respects, much
like those of the northern tribes. At this settlement it is no uncommon
thing for marriages to take place between Danish men and Esquimaux
women; the consequence is that a mixed breed is produced, which is
superior in some particulars to the original stock on either side. The
women of the mixed races are much handsomer than those of pure
Esquimaux blood, the latter being scarcely distinguishable from the
men except by their dress. The Esquimaux of this locality have begun
to learn some of the arts and to appreciate some of the comforts of
civilized life. Their houses are kept very neat and clean; the sides or
walls are sometimes papered or covered with pictures, chiefly of German
or Danish production, representing southern landscapes, agricultural
scenes, cities, soldiers and other objects, of which' these people can have
but a very faint conception, as they are so very unlike any thing that
may be seen in their own desolate country. Some of the huts have, in
addition to the common Esquimaux lamps, very convenient iron stoves,
which are exported to this region by the Greenland Trading Company.
These stoves, as a matter of policy, are sold to the natives at very low
prices, because the use of them makes less consumption of oil, and the
company obtain larger supplies of that commodity for exportation to
Denmark, Sweden, and other European countries.
A priest and a schoolmaster are stationed at this settlement, and the
Esquimaux children are taught to read and write in their own language,
for which a suitable alphabet has been contrived. Like the tribes of
the north, the Esquimaux of Upernavik change their places of residence
twice in each year, occupying their huts in winter and tents in summer.
Their tents are made of prepared seal skins stretched on poles. 
CHAPTER XVIII.
DRESSES AND DECORATIONS OF ESQUIMAUX LADIES.-AN INGENIOUS
SIGNAL, OR A  BEAU-CATCHING CONTRIVANCE.-ADMIRABLE  CON  STRUCTION OF THE ESQUIMAUX BOATS.-REINDEER HUNTING BY
WATER.-WE PROCEED IN A DANISH SHIP TO DISCO ISLAND.-OUR
HOSPITABLE RECEPTION.-ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN HARTSTEIN'S EXPE  DITION IN SEARCH OF DR. KANE.-WE EMBARK FOR THE UNITED
STATES.-ARRIVAL AT NEW YORK.-CONCLUSION OF THE NARRATIVE.
THE women of this settlement aim at some elegance in their style of
dressing. Their boots are made of tanned seal skin of various colors,
white, red, yellow or violet, and profusely embroidered.   They wear
pantaloons of tanned seal skins, ornamented with colored strips of the
same kind of leather. Their jackets or jumpers, are composed, sometimes, of printed cotton cloth or calico, and sometimes of woolen cloth
embroidered with silk tape or colored galoons. Their garments exhibit
as much variegation of color, if not as much richness of material, as
the dresses of the ladies who promenade Chestnut street and Broadway.
All of them wear an unsightly knot of hair on the tops of their heads,
which counteracts all their efforts to look pretty. Around this topknot the married ladies wind a narrow blue ribbon; the unmarried
ones use a red ribbon for the same purpose; and this ornament answers
the purpose of a sign or signal to advise male spectators that the wearer
is still in the matrimonial market; and I dare say some of the young
ladies of other countries would be glad to avail themselves of a similar
mode of advertising. The head-dress is completed by tying a colored
silk-handkerchief, neatly folded, around the brow, like the ancient tiara
or diadem. These ladies are fond of bijouterie; few of them being
seen without rings in their ears and on their fingers.
Near the tents are low stands or racks made of wood, on which the
sledges and kaiacks are placed when they are not required for use.
The kaiack, or Esquimaux boat, deserves a particular description. It
consists of a light wooden frame, covered with tanned seal skins: the
length is about eighteen feet; their greatest breadth on deck, is from
eighteen to twenty-one inches, and their greatest depth about ten
inches. The wooden strips of which the framework is composed, when
(141) 
142     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF THE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
separate, are not thicker than a man's finger. The seal hides which
cover this frame are sewed together with the tendons or sinews of the
same animal. The deck is formed in a similar manner and of the same
materials, but has a circular hole in the middle, through which the
boatman squeezes his lower extremities, which are pretty well secured
from wet and cold, while the other parts of his person are protected
from the weather merely by his ordinary wearing apparel.   The  hole
in which the boatman sits has around it a seal skin rim or belt about
two inches wide, which the man ties around his waist, and so makes his
little bark perfectly water-tight, above deck and below it, whereby he
is enabled to float her in the roughest seas, as it is impossible for his
boat to sink. On the deck immediately behind the boatman is an airtight bag or bladder, made of seal skins, which is kept inflated, and is
intended to be attached to the line of the harpoon, for the purpose of
retarding the progress of the animals which the boatman may succeed
in harpooning. Before the Esquimaux boatman a stand or reel made
of bone is fixed to the deck, and on this the harpoon-line is coiled.
The harpoons and lances are also carried on deck. The kaiacker, or
boatman, is dressed in water-tight seal skin clothing.  He propels his
kaiack through the water by means of a paddle about one foot long,
having a blade on each end. In these boats the Esquimaux can move
at the rate of five miles or more per hour; and, on long journeys, they
average from thirty to forty miles per day.  When  land or ice interrupts his progress, the boatman takes his kaiack out of the water, and
carries it, with all its freight, on his shoulder or back. Besides their
kaiacks, the Esquimaux have boats of a larger size called oomiaks.
These are their family boats, and are used for the conveyance of the
women and children. The oomiaks are made in all respects like the
kaiaks, differing from the latter in size only; and are rowed or paddled
by the women themselves, as the men seldom or never accompany them
on their excursions.               J
The Esquimaux of Upernavik use their boats when they hunt the
reindeer, as these animals sometimes betake themselves to the water
when they are pursued, and continue therein until they are so much
fatigued with swimming that they are easily overtaken. They are so
numerous on the mainland that four or five thousand of them are killed
in one season by the inhabitants of a single settlement.
After leaving Upernavik we had a quick passage, in the Danish ship,
to Godhaven or Lively, on Disco Island, where the Royal Inspector of
North Greenland resides. This place has quite a respectable appearance; it contains, besides many huts and small buildings, some eight 
SONi,TAG'S NARRATIVE OF THIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
or ten handsome wooden houses of considerable size, built in the modern
style; the sight of which made us feel almost at home. Among the
residents of Godhaven, besides the Inspector, are the Governor, Mr.
Sanderson, and his Assistant, Mr. Olrick, and several other gentlemen
of education and refinement, who treated us with the greatest hospitality-doing all in their power to compensate us for the hardships and
deprivation of comforts, to which we had so long been subjected.
Certainly the kindness of their behavior to us will always be held in
grateful remembrance by every member of our party.
A Danish ship visits this place once every year; and we were fortunate enough to find it there when we arrived. This ship is sent from
Copenhagen for the purpose of supplying the settlers with clothing,
provisions, newspapers and letters from their friends in Denmark. As
the good people on the island receive their newspapers but once in a
year, it may be supposed that they are not well posted up in the affairs
of the world at large.
A short time before the Danish vessel intended to start on her homeward trip, two other ships were reported to be seen standing for the
harbor. They were soon made out to be a propeller and a bark; and
we doubted not that these were the vessels belonging to the American
expedition under Captain Hartstein, which had been sent out to search
for Dr. Kane and his party. We had heard some account of this
expedition while we remained at Upernavik. As soon as the vessels
came near enough to satisfy us respecting their identity, several boats
were manned for the conveyance of our company on board. When we
reached the bark, which was towed by the steamer, we met with a
hearty and joyful reception from Captain Hartstein and the officers
under his command. They had past our boats in Melville Bay while
we were returning and Captain Hartstein Was proceeding northward,
but it so happened that we did not come within sight of each other.
They approached within forty miles of our deserted ship, when their
progress was stopped by the fast ice. They then returned on the west
side; and as no traces of our expedition were found, they intended to
return to the north, and renew their search during the winter and the
succeeding spring and summer. Their voyage had been quite a rough
one, as the condition of their ships sufficiently testified.  These vessels
remained for several days in the harbor of Godhaven, where the officers
were most generously entertained by the gentlemen of the place. All
the members of Dr. Kane's expedition being received on board, we
started for New York, and arrived at that city, after a very quick
passage, on the eleventh day of October, 1855.
143 
144     SONNTAG'S NARRATIVE OF TIIE GRINNELL EXPEDITION.
To many of the friends whom we had left in the United States when
we engaged in this arduous enterprise, our safe return was equally gratifying and unexpected. Our protracted absence had confirmed many
persons in the belief that we had perished in the realms of perpetual
ice. Some did not even admit that we had sacrificed ourselves in
a good cause, but judged that we had paid with our lives the just
penalty of our presumption in attempting to search that dark corner
of creation, where Nature shrouds herself in an impenetrable tabernacle
of ice. To our own perceptions this happy restoration to our homes and
friends was a fortunate event; for on more than one occasion during
our absence we had almost ceased to hope for such a consummation.
We had passed through scenes of severer suffering, perhaps, than any
human beings ever endured before; we had lived through a succession
of hardships which thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow-men
could not have survived; we had been literally buried in the ice, and
could deliver ourselves from that frightful inhumation only by attempting a journey which nothing but desperation could have prompted us
to undertake. Need I say that our hearts glowed with emotions of
gratitude to God when we found ourselves restored to the blessings of
a temperate climate, social intercourse, and domestic comfort; blessings
which, by long privation, we had learned to appreciate according tc
their worth.
TI9E END.
tAI       19 t9